This year, I watched a couple of hours of NFL football. My viewing has dwindled to almost none, due to lack of interest and lack of access. Still, the Super Bowl was this past weekend and I was looking forward to watching the first half and hopefully, some clever commercials. I made it through about…
Author: Steve Ainslie
Make Bad Art
I listened to an interview of the author and art critic Jerry Saltz on the Pivot Podcast last week. I don’t follow the “fine art” world. I have no interest in critics’ opinions or participating in what I assume would be a pretentious domain of wealthy people. So, it came a pleasant surprise that Jerry…
Poor Little Rich Man
The other day I was thinking about my predilection for frugality. At times, I feel like I am outlier in a world of spendy people. I don’t mind being an oddball. I love being frugal. I like having just the right amount of stuff. It’s a relief to only have to maintain things I use…
The Bright Side
I am outside for several hours every day walking my dog. Most of the time, our walks are pretty fantastic. We walk in the early morning hours before anyone else is up except for the paper delivery guy and my 4:30AM girlfriend. We walk after lunch in the late morning through the woods – checking…
Flash In The Pan
Lately, the antics of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Robert and Andrew Tate have dominated the news and many podcasts. I pay no attention to any of these discussions. I don’t look at their pictures. I don’t read their Tweets. I won’t listen to commentary about them. Zip. Zilch. Nada. They don’t interest me in the…
Return On Investment
Sometimes a dream deserves to die. My “If I ever strike it rich…” fantasy of building my own personal lap pool is one of those dreams. My occasional aggravations with finding an empty lane, finding an alternate pool during holiday closures and getting kicked out anytime it thunders, had me longing for my own personal…
Number Sorcery – Stack Ranking
Since I started looking at the source data behind numbers reported by the media, quoted in studies, and referenced by writers, podcasters and the public, I’ve seen the same manipulative tactics used repeatedly. Today, I’m talking about Stack Ranking. If something is presented in a stack rank, the purpose is to shock the audience into…
Word Salad
On podcasts this week, guests included a congressman from Arizona and an Assistant Attorney General in the US Antitrust Division. What stood out to me was that in each podcast, the guests avoided answering tough questions by using what I think of as “marketing speak”, “double-talk” and “word salad”. The congressman stuck to tired party-lines…
Drug Commercials
For the past week I’ve been watching a TV series from the 2010’s on Amazon Prime Freevee. The show has a palatable plot, a decent cast and is mildly entertaining. Unfortunately, Freevee has commercials during the show which will eventually get me to quit watching. Some of the commercials promote other Amazon Prime shows. Those…
In The Bubble
When outsiders opine about the Federal Gov’t and the reporters who cover it, they frequently talk about DC politicians, lobbyists and media as being “In the bubble”. They say that people in DC are concerned with their own little world – DC politics, government policies, procedural minutiae and the like which has nothing to do…