Episode 12: Common Cores and Homeschooling!

This is an unusually focused episode...we primarily discuss the PA Common Cores with a little homeschooling thrown in. A public education geekout...

Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_12.mp3

Show Notes: 

• We're recording on the old homestead again...
• Feedback...should we have a pet peeves segment?
• This generation will have a new media version of the embarrassing family photo album to deal with
• Repressed memories as a pop psych phenom in the 80's
• Pennsylvania Common Cores
• Homeschooling

Happy New Year!

Episode 11: Xmas Edition! (With some Twitter thrown in)

Norma and I discuss the holidays (given that it's the holidays) with small digressions into Twitter and NSA fun.

Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_11.mp3 

Show notes:

• Home for the holidays!
• Norma traveled quite a bit
• Xmas shopping...still...
• Wealthy for Xmas?
• Sucking at vacation...thanks, Pete
• What is "wealthy?"
• What's spending over the holidays now?
• Viral airline joy
• I mention someone I know. Know-know. Not Twitter-know.
• Twitter and connecting to celebrities
• People wanting to get close to celebrities
• Twitter Warz
• What is fanfic?
• Twitter as advertising (only) sucks
• Amanda Bynes...we get ugly
• Toenail clippers for terrorists
• You're crazy and you're crazy and you're crazy...
• Climate change
• Holiday traditions - what do you miss?
• Programmers have horcruxes
• NSA - hello! Can we sue you?
• NORAD is tracking the Santa...

Episode 10: FaceBook Spying, Affluenza and Santa is White!

Norma fills in again...I think she's now a cohost at this point. Warning: if you believe in Santa, this is not the podcast for you...

Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_10.mp3 

Show notes:

• Feedback: Pete's drunken hotel trip elicits laughter
• LinkedIn creeps Bart out
• Does knowing exactly who is looking at your profile make a difference?
• FaceBook stores the status you start to type but don't post
• NSA spying via metadata
• 'Murica!
• Obamacare vs. the ACA
• Hearing the wrong information still "sticks" in your mind
• Stereotypes are brain shortcuts
• Affluenza!
• Sex additions just means a bigger party...
• Wealth means no consequences?
• Why are people surprised?
• Get enough press, they might make an example...
• Fox "News" - Santa is white!
• This leads to discussing Doctor Who...
• The reason for the season?
• Teacher makes a comment that DESTROYS Xmas for a high schooler
• KRAMPUS!

Episode 9: Tech Campus Housing and Living Wages!

Norma fills in again as Pete flies home from overseas. We have tech companies creating housing for employees, talk of school stuffs and a discussion about living wages for striking fast food workers!

Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_9.mp3 

Show notes:

• A story of phallusies
• Voretaq7 tweeted feedback!
• Being fined for bad reviews of a business?
• Non-disparagement clauses in terms of use!
• Litigious society and liability
• Tech companies going too far with culture by creating company housing?
• Teachers work all the time, if you count good behavior...
• Haha..."doody pay."
• What good are contracts if you get fired for following them?
• Remember the "company man?"
• Companies will get rid of you, ethically or by other means.
• Is a campus housing community good?
• Golfing for promotions!
• Food strikes!
• Minimum wage...what was it for?
• Surely no one foresaw what exists today when making laws then...
• But fast food would cost SO MUCH!
• Living wages are evil why?
• Unskilled? Worthy of contempt? But they handle your food!
• We subsidize corporations paying low wages!

Episode 8: Sex Ed and Black Friday!

Pete's on a business trip, so Norma filled in.

Warning, we're a little more explicit than in past episodes...

 Direct Download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_8.mp3 

Show notes:

•  Norma fills in as cohost!
• Feedback: none. But Norma did find the "training up" quote from the Bible (see previous episode)
• Focus on the Family article
• Discipline is necessary because people are horrible
• Abstinence education in school
• "Woody the Dong" story
• Remember the sex ed films?
• School sex ed presenters are crappy
• "Vaginas are like Hoover vacuums"
• I should have become a lecturer
• What is your dateability?
• Love vs. infatuation at first sight
• Check out Lookadoo for yourself
• Showing your paycheck on Instagram can get you fired
• Is it practical to just get a better job?
• His fault, or Streisand effect?
• "Responsible social media use"
• Are parents enabling kids now? No consequences for behavior?
• Black Friday!
• Why is it a big deal to be open on Thanksgiving?
• If there wasn't a demand for it...

Episode 7: The Pearls are Swine, Plus Disney!

Pete returns bearing stories of oversized mice and steins of alcohol!

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_7.mp3 

Show notes:

• Pete's back!
• No feedback, but Pete had some notes
• Norma's head will inflate a little
• Pete enjoyed the colony except for the overly scripted feel
• Norma didn't expect her students to ruin things?
• Is y'all an interjection?
• The Pearls who are Swine, not to be mistaken for the PERL that makes you drink wine.
• We talk about kids on subways...when is it okay for them to travel alone?
• While I couldn't recall it in the podcast, the 12 year old captain was David Farragut, given a temporary command of a captured ship headed to port
• Is the world more dangerous today than when we were kids?
• What does the Bible say about child rearing?
• Pete was at Disney! He brings us STORIES!
• Did everyone else know Disney serves alcohol? I didn't.
• TSA = security theater
• We talk about the ACA website (Healthcare.gov) and costs.

Episode 6: Fired Fiance' Fondler and Reality Shows

In this episode our guest co-host returns to discuss the case of the fired fiance' fondler and some not-so-real reality shows, along with a little bit of a crackhead mayor thrown in for good measure!

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_6.mp3

Show notes:

Our guest host returns

Wheelchairs at comic-con would make weary feet happy

Ever been to a bulk-book sale?

Pete and Norma fight by proxy

How about giving some feedback?

News story! Fiance' fondler gets fired from public school job!

I mention "boobies" because I'm a rebel like that

Teachers apparently can't have a past

Solidarity? What's that?

Bart watched The Colony

How realistic are these reality shows for the participants?

We both enjoyed Solitary, though

People are horrible. Or maybe we have watched too much Walking Dead...

Norma rants about Rob Ford the Crackhead Mayor

A freediver died doing what he loved

Episode 5: Boycotts and Vacations

In this episode we focus on boycotts and an upcoming family vacation! FUN TIME!

Direct download:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_5.mp3 

 

Show notes:

•  Pete returns from a trip to LISA
• Norma was convinced Pete would be angry with her...was he?
• Windows 8.1...do we loves it, or do we hates it?
• Pete confesses he's a closet OS X user
• Disney World it thataway...
• Pete is participating in a trial of Disney RFID. It's like the NSA, only with more musical numbers.
• The best part of travel; the TSA freedom gropes
• We discuss Ender's Game. One of us saw the movie.
• Should we have boycotted the move because the author is a jerk?
• Searching for drugs in all the wrong places...so wrong...
• Pete confesses to certain travel fears. 
• Bart's son tries to get Mommy arrested
• Pete expresses appreciation for Norma paving trails on the podcast. I knew there's a reason I have an explicit tag set.

Episode 4: 80's Show Edition

In this episode we review some old TV shows, Airwolf in particular.

Direct download:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_4.mp3

Show notes:

• We had some feedback, even if it wasn't through the usual channels.
• Pete's prepping for a conference, so we have a guest co-hosting!
• Discuss Halloween candy and trick or treating last week
• Someone decided to make the Cannonball Run again...were they irresponsible?
• Remember Airwolf?
• We review The Greatest American Hero
• Do they have to recycle footage so much in old shows?
• The continuity edits were atrocious...
• Airwolf's star had other problems, though
• Norma discusses Blue Thunder and her Blue Thunder club
• TV Trivia for Knight Rider
• There's going to be an Airwolf documentary. (Follow @AirwolfDoc for information)
• Please...don't reboot Airwolf...we saw what you did with Knight Rider.
• Christmas shopping just isn't the same today
• The underwear section of the Sears Catalog was a gateway drug
• Drone crashes in Manhattan?!
• Sensationalism from "authoritative" sources
• My son drives Mommy nuts with his own

Episode 3: Halloween (SPOOOKY)

In this episode we wax poetic on the ins and outs of what it means to be us over Halloween

Direct download: http://geekingafterdark.libsyn.com/geeking-after-dark-episode-3-halloween

Show notes:

• No feedback is good feedback...
• Is Halloween just for kids now?
• The stores ruin the holidays for Bart
• Remember when costumes were home-made?
• Pete lived near a costume manufacturer from the 1920's!
• Know what's fun? Haunted houses!
• Pete talks about the Eastern State Penitentiary
• Bart talks about Bradley Farms haunted attraction
• Bart visited the Jekyll and Hyde Club in Times Square
• Pete finds a list of things to do in NYC over Halloween
• Remember Silent Hill?
• We discuss Centralia, the inspiration for Silent Hill
• What family traditions do we have for Halloween? Pete goes to his sister-in-law's for family trick-or-treat
• Bart's family doesn't live near major trick-or-treat routes
• Is there an increasing popularity of Trunk-or-Treat?
• Are people trying to get rid of traditional "Halloween?"
• We're making kids fat!
• Horror movies!
• Pete admits to a fear publicly for the first time
• For parents, closed captioning is our friend
• Indie filmmakers are blossoming with cheaper technology becoming more accessible
• What should you watch for Halloween?
• Bart couldn't remember the Michael J. Fox movie title "Frighteners"
• Pete's going to go Trick or Treating with family while Bart plans on hanging around for the office party
• Bart's hoping Film Riot covers some short horror movies. Follow Triune Films' Ryan Connolly for information about Film Riot and Film State.

Episode 2: NYCC 2013

In this episode we talk about New York Comic Con 2013 and the hordes of geekiness involved.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_2.mp3

Show notes:

• There are many steps involved in laying the framework for a podcast
• We talk about how, like in software, there are many things that can make it "seem" to be working when you've actually overlooked steps. Things seem "good enough."
• Pete likens it to Sensu, and open source monitoring framework he's trying to test
• Bart mentions the tagging involved in podcasts to appear correctly in iTunes
• We go over some feedback from the previous show
• We have new microphones!
• We revisit tics
• Bart elaborates on the purpose of the first show being about presentations
• Bart took a trip to Comic-Con
• He spent a day listening to presentations (panels)
• Panel seating is hard!
• Bart hates Teen Wolf because of its fanbase
• Comic-Con has several sections to it
• Artist Alley
• Vendor Floor
• Panel discussions
• Autographs
• Why is Chevy at a comic convention?
• Pete wishes he could tackle Vint Cerf
• Wait, celebrities are people?
• Asia Carrera: Pornstar and Webmaster
• Bart and his wife had their picture taken with John Barrowman and Gareth David Lloyd (sorry for the memory spasm, Mr. Lloyd!)
• Pete had a bad convention experience as a kid...
• Costumes are hard to make work in real life
• Comic-Con is full of camaraderie without judgement for the most part
• Pete likes gun shows
• Comic-Con is a lot of advertising
• There were controversies too
• Don't let applications tie to your social media accounts, kids...
• Sexual harassment spoils events for everyone
• It's about respect for people as people
• Visit the blog! But if you're reading this, you already are!
• Follow us on Twitter! @geekafterdark
• How do we end the show?

Get the Show via the RSS Feed

I was discussing our podcast with a friend and coworker who also has a background in podcasting. He said, "You should make sure the RSS feed is posted where people can find it."

"It's on iTunes," I said.

"Not everyone uses iTunes. One of the first comments we had was asking when our channel would be available on the Xbox store."

"...Xbox has a store with podcasts?"

Well, he had a good point. The show is available directly from the Libsyn RSS feed:

http://geekingafterdark.libsyn.com/rss

We're Live on iTunes!

It's official...Apple has accepted our submission to the iTunes Store podcast listings!

You can search for "Geeking After Dark" in the iTunes store or go directly to the listing using https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/geeking-after-dark/id726408893

Subscribe, listen, and leave comments and feedback here on the blog!

Episode 1: Presentation Skills

In this episode, Bart and Pete wax philosophical on positive presentation qualities and the things we hate about bad presentations.

Direct download: http://traffic.libsyn.com/geekingafterdark/Geeking_After_Dark_1.mp3

Podcast Summary

• Bart and Pete introduce themselves and explain that everyone should love their podcast.
• Just a couple of dorks at a technology company.  Very, very stream of consciousness.
• We don't feel like we have fantastic presentation skills, but we know what makes other presentations suck.
• A Technology expert does not a good presenter make...
• Be careful to not bullshit when you're presenting to your peers -- they'll know when you're faking it.
• Um, yeah.  Fillers.  Everyone hates them.  Why do we do those verbal tics, anyway?
• TED-talk quadcopters have balls.  Pete almost broke out laughing while trying to explain about balls on quadcopters.
• Bart has a hyperactive filler detector. "umumumumumum"
• Bill Clinton has one critic: Pete.  He hates Clinton's  "EXPLOSIVE inhale of breath."
• Whenever Chelsea Clinton talks, Bart believes she's talking directly to him.
• Pete goes into pseudoscience and compares public speaking to a computer doing memory retrieval.  He also wishes he could read from a script and not sound like he's reading from a script.
• You should record yourself and listen to yourself.
• Your presentation always goes faster when you're practicing it.  You will spend more time presenting than you did in your practice round.
• Review your post-game footage.  Learn what you've messed up and work to fix it.  Be your own best critic.
• Pete only got two surveys returned from his presentation.  He's not sure if most of the people in his presentation at LOPSA-East were asleep.  Fill out those presentations, people!
• Steve Jobs was an awesome presenter.
• Technical presentations by technical people can sometimes be a shitshow.  You want to make sure your presentation is quality, as if you're giving a testimony at congress.
• Practice with the equipment you'll be using to make sure your technical delivery is as good as your information delivery.
• Bring all of your adapters.  ALL OF THEM.  You never know what you're plugging your PC into when you're at an "away game."
• Test the equipment you'll be presenting on as soon as possible!  Making your crowd wait is totally unprofessional.
• If you're going to "phone it in"  please don't wear your company's swag.  As a result, Pete is going to wear quora tee shirts everywhere.
• Occasionally conferences have afterparties/Birds-of-a-Feather session that involve ice cream and beer.  We find out that Pete goes just for the beer.
• Business networking is another form of presentation -- you have an image to present, not necessarily a technical message.  Don't be a drunk idiot or a "brogrammer."
• Does one bad apple really spoil the bunch?  Behave yourself lest people think your company has a culture of hiring dicks.
• Don't hide behind the podium -- be mobile!  Adam Moskowitz, Tom Limoncelli, Bryan Cantrill are all great at giving presentations and they're all mobile speakers, they move around a lot.
• Bart and Pete realize they're really good at bullshitting for 30 minutes on a microphone.
• Pete says "shit" for the second time on the podcast.  Sorry, virgin ears!
• Bart has a takeaway action item of coming up with an awesome intro and outro.
• Bart takes a swipe at dubstep and the next thing you know, Pete's talking about twerking like Miley Cyrus.
• Bart: "Be careful out there!"
• Pete: "Have a wonderful day!"

Things referred to in the post

• Raffaelo D. Andrea "The Astounding Athletic Power of Quadcopters" -- http://www.ted.com/talks/raffaello_d_andrea_the_astounding_athletic_power_of_quadcopters.html
• "Be careful out there" is actually from Hill Street Blues, not Hawaii Five-O.
• Bryan Cantrill from Sun.  Not Bryan Carrol.  Sorry, Mr. Cantrill!
• It might sound Pete is dumping on LOPSA-East's technology group by talking about "projectors of dubious parentage."  This is just a hypothetical example, Pete had zero trouble with his A/V at LOPSA-East and that's because there are kickass volunteers who make it go awesome.

Coming Soon!

Behold the awesomeness of Geeking After Dark, a podcast where two tech geeks talk about whatever pops into their heads and spills into their microphones!

Okay, it's not actually up yet. But we'll be posting something soon. And when we do, it'll be awesome. Maybe not unicorn toots and rainbows awesome, but awesome enough to be worth posting. And I'm not just saying that because I've seen what else is on the Internet. I'm fairly sure it'll be at least three times better than comments you find on YouTube.