I'm not a podcast guy, but I follow Hobbes on Twitter and he's very good there too.

I finally intuited his old handle here (not the name of his current blog) and found some old posts on Bing. Those were the days.

Wait, what's his current blog then?

One recent post-Michael episode of YWA I particularly enjoyed was the one on the Dyatlov Pass Incident. Much less depressingly emblematic than usual about (gestures at everything) while still being cogent.

3: Rotten in Denmark.

Although I guess he puts more onto Substack these days?

What was his past blog then? (Are we treating it as something to be emailed privately?)

I don't know if there was an older blog, although there was an older URL, dead now; I think it just had to move. He commented here under a slight variant of that name. I'm avoiding saying it as a general gesture at right-to-be-forgotten.

Got it. Right, from when he was actually rotting in Denmark and making nice travel blog posts biking through Europe. His use of photos definitely influenced my personal blog, and got me to see that I can disentangle prose from photos and just write, plopping photos in wherever I want, and it's an aesthetic.

That was mostly before my time.

I find deep dives on almost anything engaging when they're done well. I wouldn't want every MP episode to be about a terrible diet book, but I still find the conversation entertaining. And Au/brey Go/rdon is a g.d. national treasure.

I keep meaning to watch Parks and Recreation.

And Au/brey Go/rdon is a g.d. national treasure.

The google-proofing reminds me of when Michael Scott says something like, "Look, I wouldn't say it to her face, but Pam is actually a truly lovely person."

11: That's how I feel about Main / tenance Ph / ase too. The topics they cover often don't seem like things I would be interested in, but I usually wind up getting sucked in.

14 was me pe / ep.

Lately I've been in to podcasts that feel like good company - interesting people are chatting, and I can listen in. Maybe I'll learn something, maybe the jokes are funny, but the topic actually isn't super important for that to work.

V / ibe Ch / eck is more explicitly designed to encourage parasocial hangers-on than YWA or MP, but it's also fun and relevant and insightful.

Do people with podcasts not want other people to find them?

16.2 Oh! That show features one of Columbus's 3 famous poets! I bring that up just because it's exciting to me that Columbus has 3 famous poets.

I tried to listen to Vi / be Ch / ek but I couldn't take it. Too expliclity parasocial for me, I guess.

YWA does have some seriously parasocial hangers-on as is evident if you follow them on Twitter. When Mi / chael and Sa / rah did that "reunion" episode and there was all the talk about "mom and dad getting back together"! oy!

And yes, Moby - pod / casts are all about the secrecy.

Lately I've been in to podcasts that feel like good company - interesting people are chatting, and I can listen in. Maybe I'll learn something, maybe the jokes are funny, but the topic actually isn't super important for that to work.

I like this, too.

16/19: I've liked some of those in the past, but there's a near-infinite number of podcasts that are semi- to un-structured gabfests, some entertaining, most not, and I have no way to sort between them.

I've tried a bunch of podcasts but there was something wrong with the sound on all of them. I couldn't understand ANYTHING

I mostly listen to music-related podcasts and a few fairly cosy British podcasts like Adam Buxton's. The music ones can be wildly variable, and I don't know if I've hit particular on any that I'd recommend to others. There's a few by various British guitar players that I listen to which I quite enjoy, even if it's all a bit inside-baseball about the lives of obscure rock-fusion musos and theatre musicians.

I went through a phase of listening to a lot of the big tech/developer podcasts but just went totally sour on it.

||
"What the heck? He's like the Rasputin of figure skating."
|>

I get the feeling that Russia isn't in a healthy place, even compared to here.

They just retreated from Kherson, so I'm sure we're about to learn some fun details about their treatment of the local populace there.

By far, the podcast I listen to most is Heebieville City Council Meetings. It's kinda like hanging out with a bunch of yahoos.

There's a frightening number of people who think that the secret to success is just being willing to be cruel enough. The recent track record of that sdvice is not good, but it's supporters seem to be increasing.

27 to 26.

It's a mixed bag. There's some of that, but not as much as in a straight up republican town.

Also I tried out Vibe Check on my way home today and enjoyed it. There was a quote at the beginning that I'll try to fine because it really hit the spot.

30: What's the fine for hitting the spot?

And then I fine five dollars.

Here it is: https://twitter.com/solomonmissouri/status/1590006614345781250?s=21&t=qD6kqbaA2otZTfaT9x0BYw

(and the next couple tweets after.) It sounded better when the podcast guy read it outloud than my dweeby mental voice.

27: For most people in it now, cruelty is an end in itself.

27: For most people in it now, cruelty is an end in itself.

27: For most people in it now, cruelty is an end in itself.

27: For most people in it now, cruelty is an end in itself.

27: For most people in it now, cruelty is an end in itself.

27: For most people in it now, cruelty is an end in itself.

My apologies to the person who has to clean that up.

I've proposed legalizing cock fighting to give people like that an outlet, but nobody elected will write me back.

As someone who's been lurking on this site for decades and loved You're Wrong About, this was a delightful post to read. Anonymous internet connections!

If we legalized cock fighting, we could tax it and use the money to fund schools.

Write your elected officials today. Be sure to clarify that you mean roosters, not penises.

Assuming that's what you did mean.

Por que no los dos?

Call me a prude if you like, but I don't want chickens with razors near my penis.

To the OP: There's absolutely a major theme/inclination of really picking at scabs that does nothing for me. If something's bad, I want to know why/how in pretty concise terms, then move on. I'm open to learning that it's not really that bad--my goal isn't a blinkered view--but "you thought it was bad, but it was really worse!" has zero appeal for me.

I actually wonder how different the new pods are from YWA, which went/goes into obsessive detail about its topics that frequently delves into "you thought coverage of Lewinsky was sexist, but it was REALLY sexist!"

This is purely disposition, I don't think this is like a moral stance or whatever, but I will say that I'm not convinced this approach is overall healthy, since it involves spending a lot of time focusing on awful people and also creates a market for half-truths that make banal badness into EVIL.

And then I found five dollars. But did you know that finding five dollars is actually bad? On the podcast today we'll be hearing why someone less privileged could have found the five dollars if you hadn't, and about an exciting new movement that believes five dollars should be left invested to protect billions of future humans from hostile AI..m

Be sure to clarify that you mean roosters, not penises.

Wait, what do roosters have to do with anything?