The Grumpy Old Man Podcast

A couple seemingly small things that are making corporations billions of dollars. But probably shouldn’t even exist but for that fact that you as the consumer are footing the bill.

Things an honest company would say... “There’s no profit in that, next.” But the greedy, money-hungry company says... “How can we fool the unsuspecting consumer to pay for most of this?”.

I really don’t want to play the Social Media game and get pulled into their timesuck. So, I have no FaceBook, Instagram, X (Twitter), or SnapChat accounts. If you want to holler at me, try good old-fashioned email. I know it’s 1990’s, but I’m not likely gonna read it anyway.

[email protected]

Air travel is routinely touted as being the safest way to move from one place to another. Not surprising when you calculate the number of deaths to miles traveled. Each flight covers hundreds or thousands of miles so the denominator is large. But the same is true for rail too. And they no longer even publish travel by ship. Which you can expect to also be low.

Simply put, any form of travel other than being on the road in a car, truck, or motorcycle is very safe. Unless you are in a helicopter.

The problem, and the focus of this episode, is that travel by air unlike others means is a huge pain in the neck and loaded with inequities. From the cost to the inconvenience to being treated sub-human, it could all be much better than what we accept.

If we weren’t always in such a hurry, other means of travel are way better. And if this country was as leading edge as they want you to believe, then we’d have rail service much like Europe and Japan.

For more facts on safety...https://www.bts.gov/content/transportation-fatalities-mode Check out Newark Parking rates, you’ll be surpised...https://www.newarkairport.com/to-from-airport/parking

I really don’t want to play the Social Media game and get pulled into their timesuck. So, I have no FaceBook, Instagram, X (Twitter), or SnapChat accounts. If you want to holler at me, try good old-fashioned email. I know it’s 1990’s, but I’m not likely gonna read it anyway.

[email protected]

Observations and opinions from some dude who’s been around for a while.

TV and commercials are messing with our minds. They tell us what to buy, who to vote for, where to go and how to get there, they even tell us what to think.

This podcast aims to shed a light on some of these tricks, the products that are junk or maybe even harmful. The hope is that we as a society with just a little guidance can start to make our own choices and detect when we are being manipulated.

Your initial reaction might be “This guy is nuts and has no idea what he’s talking about.” That’s because I’m up against decades of marketing and brainwashing. Give it a chance. Let it sink in. Then, think for yourself.

I really don’t want to play the Social Media game and get pulled into their timesuck. So, I have no FaceBook, Instagram, X (Twitter), or SnapChat accounts. If you want to holler at me, try good old-fashioned email. I know it’s 1990’s, but I’m not likely gonna read it anyway.

[email protected]

The “Good Old Days” are called the “Good Old Days” for a reason! I miss them.

I get that there is not enough sheep, wool, cotton in this world for all 8 billion of us. I get that we needed to invent nylon and polyester just so we could make enough clothes for everyone. But that doesn’t make it any better than when we did have enough.

Consumer products used to be good quality and lasted. Today, they are junk that break or quickly become obsolete. Funny how they managed to drain as much money from us as they could with an old product just in time for it to become obsolete because a better one just arrived. Think vinyl, 8-track, cassette, laser disc, CD, DVD, now mp3. They did seem to profit on each and every one. I’d bet they could have skipped a few steps but hadn’t milked us enough yet. Not yet convinced. Well, they also did it with TV. Black and white, then color, SD, then HD, then 1080p, then 4k, now what? 8k? What are we up to? iPhone 15? Microsoft thinks your dumb, Windows 11...yeah right, more like 20!

Think your EV is the ultimate. Guess again, in 5 years it’ll be obsolete and something else will be better.

Today’s consumer products are designed to fail or become obsolete. Most can’t even be repaired when they fail. You are supposed to send them off to recycling or a landfill and buy a new one. We used to worry about the amount of garbage we were creating. Now garbage is our friend, it makes our companies and their shareholders rich.

I really don’t want to play the Social Media game and get pulled into their timesuck. So, I have no FaceBook, Instagram, X (Twitter), or SnapChat accounts. If you want to holler at me, try good old-fashioned email. I know it’s 1990’s, but I’m not likely gonna read it anyway.

[email protected]

A mix of annoyances in one episode. How effective and safe are Over-The-Counter pain relievers? Do Hotdogs really require some of the ingredients that are in them? How much personal hygiene products are we supposed to waste?

Here’s a few links for more info if you want: https://www.goodrx.com/classes/nsaids/nsaid-list https://www.drugs.com/tylenol.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidocaine

I really don’t want to play the Social Media game and get pulled into their timesuck. So, I have no FaceBook, Instagram, X (Twitter), or SnapChat accounts. If you want to holler at me, try good old-fashioned email. I know it’s 1990’s, but I’m not likely gonna read it anyway.

[email protected]