Navel Gazing
An update, a question, and a prompt walked into a blog…
First, I have updated the LGM “Who Are We?” page to include (in one convenient place!) much of what’s available on the sidebars and on the drop down menus. A link to this page also shows up at the top of the mobile site, for your convenience. Over time we’ll make additional updates, including hopefully providing bios for the rest of the contributors (nudge nudge).
Second, Erik and I have given some thought to starting a weekly or semi-weekly podcast. Is there any interest in this, and if so is there any format or subjects that people would specifically like to have covered? Along similar lines, would there be any interest in something like a monthly Google Hangout with elements of the LGM collective? And while we’re at it, are there any other features that readers would like to see?
Finally, let me be clear; if you don’t buy something from the LGM store this holiday season, you’ll never forgive yourself. Your family will never forgive you. Whatever God or gods you worship will hold you in contempt. It’s just that important; I already have my new hat. On the other hand, if you’d prefer to express your gratitude directly rather than through the medium of overpriced stuff, just donate (button is on the near right sidebar). If you feel a deep personal connection with one of the authors of LGM and want to make that connection manifest in material objects, we can also make that happen; take a look at the Who Are We page or the drop down menus for links to Amazon Wishlists.
MPAVictoria:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
I would LOVE a weekly LGM podcast. Sign me up!
arguingwithsignposts:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
If you do a podcast, I would like to suggest that a transcript of said podcast be made available as well. I am not in proximity of enough places where I have extended time to listen to podcasts at present, and I end up missing out because I don’t have that much time for a linear format, when I could at least read through a transcript.
I have the same problem with some of the vidcast stuff. I realize it’s not all about me, but it’s a thought.
arguingwithsignposts:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:10 pm
Or at least a good summary.
Thers:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
So what you’re saying is, yet again you refuse to call out the Obama administration.
rea:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:32 pm
Speaking of navel gazing, the blog needs more battleships.
Nathan of Perth:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:33 pm
I did think it said Naval Gazing at first. Then I was disappointed.
Dave W.:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:35 pm
I’d love to see an LGM podcast!
Rob:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:38 pm
The lack of an official LGM pancake mix seems to be a real missed opportunity.
witless chum:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:43 pm
Podcast away. There’s an Opinionated-shaped hole in my regular podcast listening since Amanda and Samhita stopped doing that. You guys probably won’t talk about dance music as much, but we all do what we can.
rea:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:43 pm
I want an official LGM fan.
Or maybe I don’t, on second thought.
jeer9:
November 28th, 2012 at 10:55 pm
I still think a tee-shirt with the LGM logo and the phrase: Nader makes me ejaculate – and not in a good way! is all win.
McKingford:
November 28th, 2012 at 11:06 pm
Would it be possible for you to list the email addresses of the individual bloggers (at the Who Are We link)?
Erik Loomis:
November 28th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
Might get some Ray Price talk in though. Much cooler than dance music.
Erik Loomis:
November 28th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
Actually buying me something off my Amazon wishlist could give one influence in requesting podcast topics.
Lurker:
November 28th, 2012 at 11:40 pm
Is anyone else having difficulty with the PayPal link? I get an error message when I tried to donate. FIX THIS PLZ THX
Anonymous:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:00 am
The problem with your wishlist (and Farley’s) is that I would have to buy two of items, with one for myself.
Jon H:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:05 am
How about the Naval Tactics For Labor Struggles Podcast?
Scott Lemieux:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:09 am
If it can be done without too much spam, sure.
SEK:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:19 am
The deaf guy in me approves of this idea in principle, but the journalism teacher in me knows how tedious transcriptions are to produce. So I’m torn. Volunteers?
SEK:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:21 am
Also, the LGM crew’s meetings ought to be recorded and preserved for history, as they’re damn funny, even if we do spend a good deal of time talking shit about some of you.
SEK:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:21 am
(Slinks off to write about who he is…)
Erik Loomis:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:34 am
Don’t give anti-union forces any ideas.
Erik Loomis:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:35 am
I’ve completely given up on the idea of privacy, so I’m fine with it.
Erik Loomis:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:38 am
There’s some good values on there. I believe you can do it!
Barry Freed:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:47 am
I would regularly listen to a regularly produced LGM podcast. So get crackin’ gentlemen.
StevenAttewell:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:54 am
I spent most of my waking hours listening to some podcast to keep me working, so I’m a yes vote.
Jon H:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:05 am
“This pocket battleship kills Pinkertons”
elm:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:11 am
Surely Erik and Rob could talk a lot about the Kronstadt Rebellion, which is close enough, right?
M. Bouffant:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:12 am
Typed material is better than off the cuff talking/babbling, & who has the time to listen to babble & blather in the first place?
bob_is_boring:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:13 am
I…see what you did there?
SEK:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:27 am
We could also play “Scott Roulette” with the podcasts, so you’d never know whether you’re getting me trying to talk about the Supreme Court or Lemieux disquistioning about Doctor Who. Wait, never you mind, that’s a terrible idea.
Erik Loomis:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:29 am
I’ve wondered this myself, but people listen to podcasts all the time. Not to mention bloggingheads, which I totally don’t understand at all.
scott g:
November 29th, 2012 at 3:56 am
I’d vote to require a Scott on every ‘cast. In case of emergency you could always deputize … well, no, not Erik. Hmm. Throw a plaid on DJW?
scott g:
November 29th, 2012 at 4:02 am
In fairness, it’s much easier to get something out of a show that has some thinking put into it, and which has gone thru some engineering and even production. Most of which = time and money you boys ain’t got. But your thinking is already way ahead. And good conversations really are compelling in a way that words on the page have to work harder to achieve. So do it!
Plus, it’s hard to read a blog while weedwhacking or fixing a porch. Podcasts give me a chance to keep thinking with smarter people than me while doing stuff that needs hands but not-all-of-the-brain.
Molly:
November 29th, 2012 at 4:56 am
I’m a big podcast listener and would love a LGM pod. Perhaps a format like Slate’s Political Gabfest, but shorter? Just a round table discussion on a particular topic.
If it was gonna be a 20 min pod once a week or something, I’d be willing to help with the transcription.
Doug:
November 29th, 2012 at 5:37 am
It’s an Association of Several Scotts?
Grant:
November 29th, 2012 at 6:15 am
Hear it, you mean.
arguingwithsignposts:
November 29th, 2012 at 7:00 am
Yeah, that’s where my initial hemming about a really good summary comes in. I’ve been producing a podcast myself and I’ve been searching for some decent way to get machine transcription to work. Youtube’s video MT (for closed captioning, I just take out timecodes to make a transcript) works okay, but it has to be cleaned up. Dragon has some product that they say does a pretty good job, but they won’t provide a demo. Other than that, there’s the MTURK transcription services, but those cost $.
I’d be down for volunteering to help *clean up* a transcript, but the actual transcribing part I couldn’t do.
bradP:
November 29th, 2012 at 7:03 am
Alright, when I got married I kinda bailed on the whole social media thing. I know I have a google plus account, but I don’t have a clue what a Google Hangout is. Can anyone explain?
Also, your shirts all just carry that LGM logo. I’m not wild about that logo, and even if I was, the logo isn’t prominent enough on your site to merit 100% saturation on the store.
I suggest including some of your taglines or maybe inside jokes on your shirts. Get creative for gosh sakes.
Dave Brockington:
November 29th, 2012 at 7:14 am
good idea (the writing about who i am, not the Nixonian taping of meetings scheme)
Jeffrey Beaumont:
November 29th, 2012 at 7:36 am
LGM wooden wall clock? That’s the weirdest item in the store I think.
Jameson Quinn:
November 29th, 2012 at 7:51 am
Speaking for the lesser lights of the comment section, we’d love to hear you talking shit about us. It would at least show you notice us.
de stijl:
November 29th, 2012 at 7:57 am
And when you gaze long into a navel the navel also gazes into you.
Book:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:02 am
I will gladly subscribe to the podcast on the condition that you postprocess so the 2012-quality is not in fact worse than the transmissions from Apollo 11.
So many people don’t give a toss about this, and I just do not want to spend time on productions where people do not seem to care about what their listeners have to suffer through.
I’m sure people hard of hearing in particular can relate.
If I can make an editorial suggestion, either plan the talking points in advance, or preface your podcast with an introduction of what you will talk about, after it has been recorded. Add an index with some time stamps for each topic in the blog posts for each episode, too.
Sean:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:11 am
Me too!
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:13 am
Omg, BRADP doesn’t like the logo! Whatever shall we do?!!!!
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:14 am
Will Scott L. also be podcasting?
Sean:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:15 am
I listen to podcasts all the time, when performing the following tasks:
Jogging
Cooking
Cleaning
Grocery shopping
Scrubbing the toilet sucks, but scrubbing the toilet while listening to Robert Farley discuss the future of American foreign policy with some other informed-seeming dude sucks a great deal less.
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:18 am
Although, to be fair, I do like the idea of a “keep fucking that walrus t-shirt.”
spencer:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:26 am
+ harrumph.
spencer:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:32 am
I actually agree with BradP – the logo is underwhelming.
And any shirt that bears a witty reference to expansive readings of the commerce clause is a surefire hit, in my opinion.
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:36 am
The thread where everyone trashed the logo was awhile back.
Are we doing it all over again? Goody!
Anyway, yeah, it sucks. Totes.
Scott Lemieux:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:55 am
If the audience demands it!
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:56 am
This small segment would certainly enjoy it.
bradP:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:56 am
And now I don’t like you either, so there.
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:59 am
Also, have y’all decided which one of you is The Cute One, The Quiet One, and which is The One Who Likes to Play Quidditch?
Robert Farley:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:00 am
I’m having trouble putting it into a post; try the button on the right sidebar, which seems to work fine.
Robert Farley:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:00 am
Gotcha; we’ve been slow to add because coming up with the images to apply is, like, work and stuff.
witless chum:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:23 am
Or the German fleet around the same time.
witless chum:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:25 am
Add doing mindless tasks at work to that.
witless chum:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:27 am
I could live with the logo, but agree with Brad that t-shirts featuring LGM catch phrases would be much more fun.
Or one commemorating the fallen of the 6-day war with Crooked Timber, perhaps?
joejoejoe:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:35 am
1) I like the Google Hangout idea. Another blog favorite of mine, First-Draft, has chats that are a lot of fun. Conversation can be a lot more revealing than blog comments.
2) I would like to see a series on major advances in naval technology that transformed naval operations. I think basic concepts like range and capability can be illustrated nicely that way. Nuclear carrier groups have a huge range and massive capability but it took 3,000 years to get there. It’s one thing to send a ship halfway around the world to another country, another to have it be worth a damn when it gets there.
witless chum:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:35 am
I’m one of the people who doesn’t give that much of a shit about sound quality, but I agree that the last paragraph is filled with good suggestions. I’m pretty tolerant of the rambling podcast if I like the people involved.
Topic suggestion: Erik’s written about his hometown occasionally before and I think Farley has, too. Maybe some hometown profile shows, like a more concise, less-stoned version of Kevin Smith’s Highlands: A Peephole History, which were the best podcasts in his vast audio output by far.
Another topic, is Kevin Smith making money on that weird podcasting empire he’s building? If so, how? Okay probably not that.
mark f:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:45 am
Yeah, I often listen to the Bloggingheads/Foreign Entanglements stuff and would listen to more.
Cody:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:48 am
I prefer shirts proclaiming how superior Gin is to Vodka, or how real martinis have Gin in them.
N__B:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:49 am
We could shoot ourselves if only we could find guns.
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:50 am
I will take that only if I cannot get a t-shirt saying I’m not friends with Black Friday shoppers.
Malaclypse:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:01 am
I’m trying to remember the slogan to Lidless Eye’s cellular plan. Hell, I’m trying to remember how that thread started…
Jerry Vinokurov:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:17 am
I would quite enjoy a podcast/Google Hangout.
Brandon C.:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:28 am
If you added the one about liking pigs because they treat us as equals I would buy it in a heartbeat.
Erik Loomis:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:36 am
I don’t think any of us qualify as “quiet” under any circumstances.
The Dark Avenger:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:51 am
E-mail me, and I’d be glad to volunteer to make such transcripts for the podcasts in question, as a member of the hearing-impaired community(99% loss in my right ear) I realize how important transcribing and close-captioning is these days.
The Hearing-Impared Association of North America.
Our Motto: “What did you say?”
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:56 am
I don’t see a denial that one of you plays Quidditch. My brilliant trap worked!
Sherm:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Why do you care, Dr. Kenneth Noisewater? Wasn’t that the fault of some former commenter known as vacuumslayer, who hasn’t been heard from in weeks?
And the logo is perfectly fine btw.
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:05 am
Doesn’t everyone know Dr. N is I? I thought the avatar made it pretty obvious. Plus, I announced it awhile back.
Anyway Dr. N = vacuumslayer. I’d had “vacuumslayer” for loooooooong time. I was ready for a change.
Sherm:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:09 am
I was kidding, and I figured that my compliment of the logo would give that away. Sorry for the confusion.
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:12 am
Well, I’m feeling under the weather today so I’m a little slow on the uptake.
Thanks for the kind words, Sherm.
Uncle Ebeneezer:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:15 am
This. There’s something really nice about hearing intelligent and informed people discussing issues in a more casual manner than your usual prepared tv/radio segment or lecture/debate. That was one of the things that got me hooked on Bloggingheads back when I used to listen regularly. The tangents and asides were often interesting and fun, and it always felt like there was more room for real intellectual honesty (sometimes people would actually admit that their opponent makes a good point, or that the point was something they hadn’t considered before and they need to think more about) than you usually hear in political debate.
Hogan:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:20 am
The Harvard Memory Disorder Clinic was founded in 1958, in 1971, and for the first time in 1984.
Uncle Ebeneezer:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:24 am
If we’re talking wish lists here, I think an LGM meet-up/micro-brew shootout in some major city (or perhaps a tour) would be awesome. Winners chosen by pure Democracy.
mark f:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:28 am
Might I suggest Worcester, MA.
Malaclypse:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:35 am
Waltham has better pubs.
mark f:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:48 am
Is that so?
Juli:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:53 am
I tried to get you something from your wishlist, and because you don’t have an associated shipping address, I couldn’t have it sent to you.
Malaclypse:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:56 am
I think I can make a plausible case.
Also, Waltham is accessible both by public transit and with adequate parking.
Jameson Quinn:
November 29th, 2012 at 11:59 am
Yes, but in their version, there’s no snitch.
Jameson Quinn:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:00 pm
I’m nowhere near MA. But isn’t Lowell the natural LGM location?
Malaclypse:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
In June, certainly.
mark f:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
Touche.
spencer:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
The thread where everyone trashed the logo was awhile back.
Sorry I missed it. Jesus.
spencer:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Oh I know, which is exactly why I never said anything before. I figured the Magic of the Free Market would make my point for me. But since I saw a rare opportunity to agree with bradP on something, I figured I would go ahead and mention it.
Though I certainly didn’t mean to annoy anyone.
Sherm:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
No problem. But one more thing — as a commenter here, wouldn’t a nickname for a left nut be more appropriate than a nickname for a right nut?
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:47 pm
Ha! Yes. But I just didn’t think “James Westfal” was as funny. Plus, if I can’t be a doctor meatspace, I can at least play one on the Internet.
Patrick:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
One suggestion would be for an Amazon ‘listmania’ recommended reading as well. I just added a few interesting books from the wishlists to my own to do list but those are obviously books you haven’t read – I’d love to know what the crew’s top picks are in their areas of expertise.
Bill Murray:
November 29th, 2012 at 2:10 pm
no that would make him a Scot, not a Scott
Linnaeus:
November 29th, 2012 at 2:16 pm
I’d certainly give an LGM podcast a listen. I like the breadth of topics the blog covers.
Scott Lemieux:
November 29th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
I will make inquires! The rumor is that if a sufficient volume of goods are purchased from my wish list, then there will be no choice but to include me. (Interestingly, people who don’t want me on the podcast can ensure this by buying stuff from my wishlist too — it’s a powerful tool!)
JAtheist:
November 30th, 2012 at 4:32 am
I wouldn’t mind a weekly free-for-all post allowing for general chat but also as a forum for certain users (me) to ask questions about something they don’t understand.
JAtheist:
November 30th, 2012 at 4:34 am
I’d like to note that I have asked questions before when a relevant thread existed–it feels a little weird to jack a thread with a question that was completely unrelated, which is why I have to wait for the right moment to strike!
Julia Grey:
November 30th, 2012 at 4:52 pm
Yeah! I love it when people talk shit about me behind my back.
Julia Grey:
November 30th, 2012 at 4:58 pm
I want one that says the toilet paper must always come off OVER the roll.
Malaclypse:
November 30th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
That should go without saying.
Hogan:
November 30th, 2012 at 5:29 pm
My wife and I almost broke up when we discovered we both agree with this. Now what stupid shit are we going to fight about?