9 chapters across the catalog
A quiz based on Robin DiAngelo's book "White Fragility" is being circulated by its publisher, Beacon Press, as a marketing tool. The hosts take the test, which asks participants to identify feelings of being "singled out" or "outraged" when accused of racism. They conclude the quiz is a "setup" designed to recommend the book regardless of the participant's answers, labeling it demeaning and manipulative.
Spotter EDU Student Tracking and Campus Surveillance
A company called Spotter EDU is deploying Bluetooth beacon networks across 40 U.S. campuses to track student attendance and movement. The system, which can flag students for being two minutes late, is criticized as a "slave training" mechanism similar to the Chinese social credit system.
Retailers are increasingly using sophisticated Wi-Fi beaconing systems to track customers' movements within stores down to specific aisles. This data is then used to serve targeted advertisements, such as toothpaste ads after a customer visits the dental care section, leading to a recommendation to disable Wi-Fi when in public spaces.
Pop Culture Podcasts, The Bachelor, Unreal TV Show
A segment from a pop culture podcast discussing "The Bachelor" is analyzed for its focus on reality TV drama. The scripted drama "Unreal" is recommended as a more accurate depiction of the manipulative behind-the-scenes production of reality television.
Google removed several apps from its store that were found using ultrasonic frequencies to track users' locations and television viewing habits. These high-frequency "beacons" allow advertisers to profile consumers based on their physical proximity to retail stores or exposure to specific commercials, a modern evolution of psychographic marketing.
A compilation of media figures and politicians, including President Obama, predicting that Donald Trump would never become president is played. The hosts note that they have played similar clips before but find the "golden Bible" and "spaceships with dinosaurs" comments particularly amusing in hindsight.
Washington Free Beacon, Hillary Clinton Misery Mashup
The Washington Free Beacon produced a video montage interspersing clips of Hillary Clinton's aggressive campaign speeches with scenes of Kathy Bates from the film Misery. The edit focuses on Clinton's "Why aren't I 50 points ahead?" remark, drawing a satirical comparison between the candidate's public persona and the Stephen King character.
On the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a 500-page report reveals that the aircraft's underwater locator beacon battery had expired a year before the crash. This lapse in aviation maintenance is characterized as inexcusable, leading to a broader discussion about the maintenance standards of various Asian carriers compared to Western civil aviation protocols.
Discrepancies in the reported frequency of the MH370 underwater locator beacon suggest the search data may be unreliable. While official reports mention frequencies drifting to 33.3 kilohertz, technical specifications for the DK120 beacon indicate it should remain near 37.5 kilohertz even as battery power wanes. The segment also references CNN aviation analyst Richard Quest's past legal troubles in New York City while questioning the validity of the ongoing search narrative.
