Podcast 368

Asteroid. As a huge asteroid comes within striking distance of the Earth – relatively speaking – one wonders whether the now controversial Jade Helm exercise in the American West, and the mood of people in the last few weeks is connected somehow. While the object in question (1999 FN53) will come only within about four million miles of earth it’s the one they don’t see that will hit us. Begging the question, if they knew an object that was over a mile wide and could do catastrophic damage to the planet, would they tell us? This is a great story that provokes all kinds of questions. So much of our lives these days depends on supposedly making precise predictions about the future that are expected to be correct, even about outlier events. Yet life is rarely predictable and very messy. A person’s life can be changed in a blink of an eye, as can the life of a nation. This podcast shares one friend’s story of instant change. Probably everyone has a story about something that happened, and after that, their lives were different. There’s plenty of books, TV shows and movies about these kinds of situations, from The Walking Dead to Jericho and of course the Mad Max movies. What happened? Sometimes the show’s story line tells us and sometimes they don’t. Not knowing is half the fun, and maybe that’s what keeps us watching. Oddly enough, at the same time a new survey from Pew says that fewer and fewer Americans identify with the Christian Faith, provoking an honest personal observation about religion, religious people and the movie ‘Left Behind’, with Nicholas Cage. What role does religion play in our lives? After 9/11, people were more likely to go to church and identify with a faith. As the old saying goes, there’s no atheists in Fox Holes. Or are there? One of the topics of the Bob Davis Podcasts is often technology, disruption because of technology, and the impact it has on the way we work. This has been a topic of discussion on these podcasts since almost the start. Suddenly a lot is being written about autonomous machines, robotics, 3D printing, and automation in industries that have never been automated before. Now, we’re starting to see the first impact of truly autonomous machines in retail, fast food and semi skilled labor and a lot is being written about the impact. Sometimes the writer tries to persuade the reader that it must be stopped, other times writers appear to be trying to predict a jobless future because of these machines. What will happen and how do we get ready for it. A lot of things to think about in this unusual, candid and off beat midweek update. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

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Podcast 251

Boycott Black Friday. Updates for your midweek from The Bob Davis Podcasts. Observations from the most recent speaking engagement at the Liberty Tea Party Patriots meeting in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, caps final discussion of Election 2014. If CNN and MSNBC ratings (getting beat by the Weather Channel) are any indication, most people have moved on, or are ready to move on. We’ll save discussion of what could, should, might happen until after the new congress is sworn in, after January 7th, 2015. Meanwhile it has started again. ‘It’, is the incessant need of the media to dissect and predict the ‘outcome’ of Black Friday sales numbers, and what they mean for the greater ‘economy’, or the indication of the ‘mood of the consumer’. Can we please give it a rest? Every time a retail chain announces it will be open on Thanksgiving day, more coverage ensues. Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday. Yes, the Pilgrims prayed, but these days it’s more about Turkey, Football, three bean salad and the cheese ball than anything else. If people want to go shopping, let them, but we should boycott Black Friday, and Black Thursday Night, and Black Saturday and Black Sunday just to stymie the National Retailers Propaganda wing and the news channels crowing. Meanwhile, women no longer want to be thin. They want booty. Big Booty. According to French Sociologists its about economic security. In tough times men are drawn to the hips and buttox of women, and psychologically they want to comply, to the extent that sales of padded panties, botox buttox injections and implants are skyrocketing. Sir Mix A Lot is a prophet! The President has a new executive order initiative; In a deal with China, the US pledges to cut carbon emissions (again) 25 to 30 percent lower than 2005 levels, and China pledges to (wait for it), work on the problem. Question: Does President Obama ever actually get anything in a negotiation? You’ve seen the movie ‘Birds’, right? The Alfred Hitchcock Thriller Classic? Double Crested Cormorants – 800 of them – are holding up demolition of the old Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge. Authorities have decided to spend 33 million dollars (forty thousand dollars per bird) to move them. Just blow the bridge. They’ll move. Does news like this make you want to go underground? A developer has turned an old SAC Missile Silo into a luxury ‘doomsday bunker’. Several 1800 square foot apartments, swimming pool, recreation space, and special forces trained armed guards make your ‘Walking Dead Scenario’ sweet! A new lost gospel says Jesus was married, had two kids and was connected to Elite Romans. And finally, the Mormons are finally saying Joseph Smith had as many as forty wives. His first wife only knew about four of them and she was not pleased. Sponsored by Xgovernment Cars and by Depotstar.

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Podcast 228

Predicting the Future. Are TV shows and movies predicting the future? How do humans predict the future? On Wall Street they use computers and physics to create algorithms to tell traders what is happening across a wide spectrum of the market, and help make trading decisions. Other traders and analysis use models and theories like the Elliot Wave Theory, The Dow Theory and other technical analysis disciplines. Some people prefer Astrology, Tarot and other forms of Divination. Some suggest humans don’t predict the future well at all. Aside from the idea we are writing history as it happens, not living it as it is fated, it’s fun to ask whether movies and TV shows have some ability to predict the future, whether the writers and producers of those movies know it or not. Why do we resonate – internationally – on certain movies. ‘Titanic’ was a hugely popular movie, right before 9/11. A whole slew of movies at the end of the 90’s – from American Beauty and Magnolia to Fight Club and The Matrix – seem to predict a much more chaotic and unpredictable world than what we were experiencing during the Clinton Era. Would anyone argue we seem to be living in a world that is increasingly chaotic and unpredictable? Did the movies ‘predict’ it, or ‘depict’ it subconsciously? Or are these movies a subtle form of propaganda, pushing us subconsciously toward this kind of world? Finally, there’s TV. The shows we love. The shows we binge watch. House of Cards, Homeland, Breaking Bad, MadMen, and The Walking Dead. Shows that seem to be depicting a world where people in authority have short term, selfish and cynical views on how to manage, are just managing a government seconds from catastrophe, are losing their grip on reality, or are literally running from crowds of zombies. With the Ebola and Enterovirus outbreaks, border security in question, presidential security in question, thousands of thugs loose in the desert beheading people and keeping western governments at bay, economies slowing down, and confusion about what comes next, it makes you wonder. Will a new era break through, creating chaos and washing away the old, or will be it brought through by people who are free to innovate and solve problems? It’s up to us. Sponsored by Baklund R & D.

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