Where philosophy, reason, and barbecue meet around the fire pit.
Scott Schroeder, Backyard Philosopher
Seek to gather the pockets of light. Live a life of meaning. Goodbye for now.
I’m thankful for you all, and I’m thankful for the continuous awakening and transcendent achievements that suffering and malevolence can spur in humanity.
-Self: This is where it has to start. You can look outward for help and resources, but it begins and ends with the self.-Engendering: To produce, cause to happen, cause an action, give rise to, generate, instigate.-Machine: An apparatus consisting of interrelated parts with separate functions, used in the performance of some kind of work.-Perpetual: Constant, persistent, and unending.-Effectiveness: Productivity, efficiency, capability, and practicality.-Resolve: Willpower, steadfastness, intention, courage, and will.
“I will never lose a friend over politics.” Ever here that one? Of course you have.Decent and conscientious people claim to remove themselves from the fray during times of intense friction and declare they refuse to lose a friend over the issue. The question at hand isn't the divisive issue. Many issues are, in fact, worthy of conflict. What we should constantly examine is the true nature of friendship and who is worthy of that honorific. Social media has warped the concept of friendship and conflated it with all human interaction. This is terribly unnatural and toxic to humanity's well-being.The heart of the matter is if you lost a friend over politics it’s almost certain they were never a true friend from the beginning or the friendship was constructed on a foundation of superficial mutualities. Stop fretting over who leaves your life and concern yourself more deeply with whom you allow in at all. Less is more where friendship is concerned. Quality over quantity, and all that.Here’s the conversation Melina and I had about this and other stuff.
Disengage from psychosis. Stand up and walk away from those who would drag you into the rip current of lunacy and cultural breakdown.
In this wrap up of episode 35 we discuss the elements of rising above adversity.
Human beings cannot process and manage the problems of an entire civilization. You’re not constructed to absorb every problem of every human every moment of your day. The current mental state of the world is mass hysteria and the algorithmic feed of constant friction is cancer to the spirit. Turn it off and shrink your circle. Stop giving away your life’s limited time to toxic people and situations. The co-dependency of misery is not a box in which you want to lock yourself.
Use The SEMPER Principle and The Effectiveness Triangle to balance your life.
Ever wanted to go behind the curtain and see the production of something really great? Sure you have! Here's A Thing is evolving into a new sound with an unambiguous foundation.
HAT 33: Parks & Wreck More often than not, in the relentless crusade for the thoroughly superficial, the wily bureaucrat, the hackneyed do-gooder, and the snake-in-the-grass developer will conspire to take something perfectly fine in its basic state… and choke the life out of it. I mean, why let the space be when you can jam a motley gallimaufry of kaleidoscopic plastic into it? Well, Here’s A Thing…
If you have something to offer that you allow to die for fear of criticism, then you have cheated your own moral prosperity. Do it! Conventional guidelines be damned.
Be mindful. Be fit. Be authentic. Sometimes it's all you have. But, most of the time it's all you need.
Be mindful. Be fit. Be authentic. Sometimes it's all you have. But, most of the time it's all you need.
Be mindful. Be fit. Be authentic. Sometimes it's all you have. But, most of the time it's all you need.
HAT 31: Read, Write, Think, Connect: Refocus & Be Ok With It Inertia. A propensity toward naught. To persist, unaffected, in extant loyalty to a rectilinear state. A property of matter which compels its existing state of uniform motion in a straight line. Unless… unless that state is changed by an external force. Lace up your boots and say howdy to the external force. It didn’t exactly sneak inside the wire, did it?
HAT 30: Independence Is Not A Date On The Calendar It is altogether too easy for manipulative marketing and clever con artistry to turn a culture inside out. Observing the annual recognition of US independence devolving into a putrid hedonistic display of vulgarian bacchanalia is informative. From homemade hillbilly explosions to the mindless inertia of dragging phone-addicted children to an overcrowded seashore to retail blowout sales, little wonder remains as to why we are watching the sunset of human liberty at the hands of elitist Marxists.
Every now and then, and often at just the right time, the universe will remind you that in spite of whatever jackassery du jour is currently eroding what remains of your sanity that things will be okay. You simply have to be courageous enough to play the long game and surrender your trust to the precept that the universe demands balance. One can find balance in sunrise and sunset or even in the bipolar mood swings of a teenager. But, the most delightful place to find perfect balance is right in your pantry. Does that sound crazy? Well, HERE’S A THING…
Welcome and thank you for your time and support of reason. During this special edition of Here’s A Thing I, once again, give you the versification of Rudyard Kipling. Kipling was a man whose perceptions were forged in the crucible of perhaps the most seismic era of the human experience since the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages fell to the Renaissance. These chilling verses could be dropped seamlessly into the present cultural theater of absurdity as a reminder that the next calamity is no more than a sunrise away.
HAT 29: Are You Essential? Words, indeed, have meaning. A few syllables can make us effervescent or disconsolate. A wistful remark can cause deep thought, reflection, and inward deliberation. With skillful selection and artful timing, words can make us laugh out loud. Words strategically distributed by those who control the flow of information are a minefield. Step with caution today on… HERE’S A THING.
From the heart of the Lowcountry, in Bluffton, South Carolina, warmest wishes to: Black Bear Coffee Company right down on Main in Hendersonville, North Carolina. To Little Italy Pizzeria in Auburn, Alabama. War Eagle! To Hakane Sushi in Ojai, California. And to The Devil’s Advocate in Edinburgh, Scotland. From Studio D… HERE’S A THING: Excursus.
From the heart of the Lowcountry, in Bluffton, South Carolina, warmest wishes to: The Red Bar just off 30A in Grayton Beach, Florida. Get those doors back open. To Big Blue Bagel in Auburn, Alabama. To Freebirds and those monster burritos in Isla Vista, California. And Paesano Pizza in Glasgow, Scotland. From Studio D… HERE’S A THING: Excursus.Good Sunday evening to you around the globe, my friends and family. I hope this message finds you truly well and joyful and that your toilet paper supply is ample.This episode, recorded live on Podbean, meanders through a bit of this... some of that... and a dash of the other. Sit back and chill and listen for my recommendations and questions to you.
HAT Excursus 8:For every inscrutable happenstance. After each and every head-scratching act of fatuity. Following the most insipid of banalities. To each and every glassy-eyed, thoughtless, narcissistic, self-indulgent, dim-witted, semi-literate, unfledged, reckless, ludicrously asinine, and galactically ignorant juvenile folly ricocheting about this lunatic habitat… I have three words. Please be kidding.You all know I make every effort to keep things G or PG. Today is not one of those days. I will not apologize for expressing myself with such pique, but I will warn you if sensitive ears may be around. I respect your space.
From Studio D in the heart of the South Carolina Lowcountry… Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and good day to you around the globe, Here’s A Thing family. I hope this message finds you truly well and joyful AND healthy. Coming up is the encore presentation of yesterday’s second live episode of Here’s A Thing. I call it the Wine & Whiskey Hour for those who have put the small, loud people to bed and want to sit back with some brown water or a glass or three of Cabernet and simply chill. The following hour of radio-adjacent nonsense is dedicated to the principle of intentional distraction.Once again, I beseech you you utilize this time… this universal pause… to read, write, think, speak, and listen. Be still. Be calm. That’s what the live shows are about. If you’d like to chill for an hour or so and listen to general chatter about this and that, then join me for the live episodes of Here’s A Thing. And, if you haven’t done so already, please subscribe or follow and download my past and future daily episodes about elevating life to a higher plane.As always, I thank you for your time and remind you to be nothing more complicated than authentic. Enjoy the show and I’ll see you back in this space tomorrow.
From Studio D in the heart of the South Carolina Lowcountry… Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and good day to you around the globe, Here’s A Thing family. I hope this message finds you truly well and joyful AND healthy. Coming up is the encore presentation of yesterday’s live episode of Here’s A Thing. Actually, it’s the first of two live shows I hosted yesterday and I’ll post the second hour soon. With a nod to diversion, my goal with the live episodes of Here’s A Thing is to simply do nothing more than meander through thoughts and conversations to wherever they may lead.Though we’re all on a giant ersatz break from the regular machinations of society, we’re actually closer to what the universe intended. Use this time to read, write, think, speak, and listen. Be still. Be calm. That’s what the live shows are about. If you’d like to chill for an hour or so and listen to general chatter about this and that, then join me for the live episodes of Here’s A Thing. And, if you haven’t done so already, please subscribe or follow and download my past and future daily episodes about elevating life to a higher plane.As always, I thank you for your time and remind you to be nothing more complicated than authentic. Enjoy the show and I’ll see you back in this space tomorrow.
In these trying times, when boredom, annoying children, and YouTube are our most faithful companions… don’t you long for a simple hour of nonsense conversation? No COVID, no economic ruin. Just a decompression chamber in the form of global chat among friends you never knew you had. Well… HERE’S A THING: LIVE! Join me on Here’s A Thing: Live! at 5:30 pm EDT (GMT -4) this and each Tuesday as we chat and take a deeper dive into our daily subjects. Download the free Podbean app and follow Here’s A Thing to join the live version of the show. On the whiteboard for discussion today…-Proper consumption of a Pop Tart-Is this crap around me actually what reality is now?-Football uniforms-Vulgarity-And post-plague strategiesJoin me and all your friends on Here’s A Thing: Live in just a few hours and each Tuesday. What could be more authentic?!? See you there!
HAT 28: Vulgarity: Thy God & Nature Crass, coarse, low, street, base, crude, boorish, indecent, indecorous, inhospitable, nasty, obscene, rude, ridiculous, tasteless, tacky, tawdry, dense, unrefined, loutish, and lowbrow. At what point in society’s arc did we settle on vulgarity as the universal homeostasis? Well… HERE’S A THING.
Thanks for hanging with me through the craziness. I got back behind the mic yesterday for a live episode. Enjoy my ramblings and I'll talk to you shortly with new and edgy topics like... how do you eat a Pop Tart? Edges first and save the center? Or just mow it down.
HAT Excursus : Stop getting married ON the beach and start getting married NEXT TO the beach... and other stuff.Become A HAT Patron
HAT 27: What Kind Of Neighbor Are You? It isn’t about class or race or culture. It isn’t about rules, regulations, and standards. It’s not about where you come from and how they did things there. It has nothing to do with enforcement, dominance, or demands. Nor is it about reprimand, reproach, and submission. What IS it about? Well… HERE’S A THING.Become A HAT Patron
HAT Excursus 6: Reasonably Insignificant Horse Feathers From the South Carolina Lowcountry, where it’s delightfully misty and cool, I say: Hello to my hometown of Marietta, GA; where no pathogen can keep the dogwoods from blooming. Semper Fidelis to the Marines in Oceanside, CA. August in Jacksonville is worse than your hills. Warm Belarusian greetings to my friends in Minsk where you could use a little warmth right about now. And to Stirling Castle overlooking the Forth Valley, salutations from Studio C and… HERE’S A THING: Excursus.Become A HAT Patron
HAT 26: Wolves, Sheep, Sheepdogs, and Turd Weasels A figure of speech. An idiom. A colloquialism. An expression. There are many way to verbally illustrate the perpetual mechanisms of crisis response among the people.Whether in response to a saber-toothed feline attack, the irrational actions of a demented emperor, or a global plague; there are three categories of reaction. I’ll break them down for you on… HERE’S A THING.Become A Here's A Thing Patron
HAT Excursus 5: Podus Interruptus From Studio B Hello, Harbour Town, SC where the will be no RBC Heritage. Good Georgia day to you, Marietta; the hometown of me and Alton Brown. Happy day and welcome to the family, Kansas City. It’s so nice to have you. And from Christchurch, NZ to Mumbai across the Levant and the Balkans, over Liège, Liverpool, and landing on the Isle of Man. From Studio B… HERE’S A THING: Excursus.Like each and every one of you, I've been busy rearranging things both physically and logistically. This caused a bit of a brief operational pause. But, we haven't gone anywhere! Enjoy this rambling excursus of said podus interruptus and I'll see you in a short number of hours with regular programming... such as I'm able to pull off "regular". Thanks for being here, everyone! And a gigantic thanks to new patrons, Carol, Meredith, and Melina. My deepest gratitude goes out to you. Share the love, everyone. And a few bucks. And an episode or two.HAT Patron Page
HAT 25: Arrested Development So, it would appear, that after 165 generations of higher human cognitive development we are here. The entire world is the 1st day of kindergarten where everyone requires instruction on hand-washing and cleaning up after oneself. Yay, us. Maybe it's time to put down the game controller, step away from Batman and the Bachelor, and grow the @#$& up.Here's A Thing on Podbean Here's A Thing Patron Page HAT Twitter HAT Facebook HAT IG
HAT: Special Edition - If by: Rudyard Kipling “If” by Rudyard Kipling is a spectacular evocation of Victorian stoicism. It was written in the form of a father’s advice to his son. An awful lot of lunacy is spreading among a fearful populace. A certain amount of fear keeps one’s wits sharpened, but irrational panicked fear is destructive. In light of this, I give you the words of Rudyard Kipling.Please donate to the cause by becoming a patron of the show HAT Patron. Many thanks and keep charging up the hill of authenticity!
Good day Fort Moultrie, SC, College & Mag, Coronado Beach, Mt. Fuji, and Edinburgh Castle. Today, Friday the 13th, we discuss the eccentricities of superstition, eating things that taste good, and the jackass treating our neighborhood like a road rally. Join the fun. Please subscribe, follow, rate and review the podcast. Holler at me (and I mean that in the colloquial sense) on Twitter @HeresAThing1 HAT Twitter Facebook @HeresAThing HAT Facebook Instagram @heresathingpodcast HAT Podcast IG email heresathing@yahoo.com and the show site heresathing.podbean.com Please become a patron and donate a dollar by clicking the patron badge or going to HAT Patron. Create a joyful weekend and be authentic.
Good day to you in Frog Level, SC, Auburn, AL, La Jolla Beach, CA, Tokyo, & St. Andrews, Scotland. And good day to you, wherever you may be. Let's talk coffee and COVID, shall we? Thanks for subscribing, following, and downloading. Reach out and share your thoughts on Twitter @HeresAThing1 on Facebook @HeresAThing on Instgram @heresathingpodcast and heresathing@yahoo.com.Now, go wash your hands!
Having problems with the download? Play this one. Not having problems...? Sorry for the duplicate.
HAT Excursus 2: Weather, Hats, & Lounge Chairs It’s 68 lovely degrees under cobalt Lowcountry skies on Parris Island, SC. In Auburn, AL it’s 62 with a bit of overcast. It’s 61 and a bit blustery in La Jolla, CA. You folks are having a bit of a rough patch. In Tokyo this morning you’re waking to clear skies and 55. And on the Jubilee Walkway along the Thames your afternoon is pleasant at 55 with a few clouds. Please join me on HERE’S A THING: Excursus.Learn the answers to: Why the weather report, and why those locations???
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and good day to you around the globe. I hope this message finds you truly well and joyful. I think HAT Excursus has taken on a life of its own. Send me a message and tell me your thoughts on these ramblings. Also, send me your tea recommendations! Today's recording was accompanied by a lovely, floral Earl Grey Classic from Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly in London. I added just a dash of steamed milk for my vocal chords. @HeresAThing on Facebook @HeresAThing1on Twitter and email heresathing@yahoo.com
HAT 24b : Understand What’s Going On Calm is not a catchy slogan on a t-shirt. Calm is the result of knowledge, understanding, and preparation. So, turn off the Bachelor, get your phone out of your face, and understand what is happening. Tectonic shifts are unsettling, but one need not panic. The following is from a well-situated friend who requests no attribution. I’m please to share this person’s thoughts, so pay attention today on… HERE’S A THING.
Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, and good day, HAT Family. It's your rambling, random, cheerful bonus content. I hope this finds you truly well and joyful. Remember when put your feet on the floor each morning to be better than you were the day before and always be authentic. It'll pay off!
HAT 23b: Danger, Will Robinson Do not listen to this if you are politically correct, clutch your pearls on a regular basis, or prefer to keep your world G-Rated.If there are children near you, send them away or press pause. If you are a delicate snowflake drifting along the gentle breeze; get out now. If you simply object to coarse and indecent language; run while you still can. I am lit up and I am not holding back. Fair enough? Good. You’ve been warned. We’re going to find out where this audience stands in a few minutes. Well… HERE’S A THING.
An informal chat about the upcoming week. Well, perhaps not a chat as that would involve more than one person. A rambling, unprepared monologue regarding the upcoming week's subject matter. Thanks for being part of the HAT family!
HAT 22: Tolerance Among the countless cultural catechisms inflicted upon the good people of the western world is the pleasant little litmus test known as tolerance. Ah, tolerance; a term co-opted from the realm of science whose definition has been distorted from imperviousness, immunity, resistance, and resilience to now mean total submission to whatever the ruling class dictates. What would happen if you stood in the town square and proclaimed your intolerance of raw onion sandwiches? Well… HERE’S A THING.
HAT 21: Random Day In The Rain As a one-man show podcast entertainment personality, many times life… well, it just gets in the way of the fun stuff. I had too much crap to get done today to put my full might into proper production of an episode. So, at the risk of sounding like Andy Rooney and Bill Engval’s very improbable offspring, I give you random scatterings of my brainwaves on… HERE’S A Thing.
HAT 20: Get Off My Lawn! Historically, there have been two cultural forces engaged in a global battle for control of the masses. At stake… the long-sought new world order, a treasure so desired by the powerful and elite that it was buried by warrior monks on Oak Island. As long as these two mortal enemies remain at war, we exist in a state of equilibrium. Much like matter and antimatter, they can’t coexist. If they meet, they destroy one another. But, allow one to gain an unnatural advantage over the other… well, HERE’S A THING.
HAT: 19 Manners Bad medicine. Bad moon rising. Bad at math. Bad mama jama. Bad bad Leroy Brown. Bad company. Bad credit. Bad day. Bad decision. Bad hair day. Bad headache. Bad influence. Bad idea. Bad joke. Bad luck. Bad news. Bad omen. Bad posture. Bad vibes. Bad weather. What spoils the proverbial meal more indecorously than bad manners? Well… HERE’S A THING.
HAT 18: Influ-ential-enza As I return to the world of the living after my flu-activated productivity hiatus, I find myself eager to direct my attention once again to the primary theme of this message delivery platform. And that is, of course, authenticity. I had the flu. My wife had the flu. Our daughter… did NOT suffer the effects of this malady though collectively we share a common space. This has generated an operational shift for us going forward. Who, what, where, when, why, and how? Well… HERE’S A THING.
HAT 17: Dead Inside? I Refuse. I stand on the verge of laryngitis as I fight off this flu. As such, to the antecedent, please forgive the poor quality of my voice. Instead of giving you an encore of a previous recording, I found a little missive I wrote a couple of years ago to no one in particular. It was likely part of the mental and emotional lead-up to this podcast. My hope is that you get a lift out of this today and going forward on… HERE’S A THING. According to the archives, I wrote this two years ago. I re-read it and wanted to share it here, mostly for myself. I'm sad all the time these days. Not because of the idiotic shenanigans of politicians or the showcase of morons on parade. I've so shut down the world that mostly those things no longer penetrate my shell. I'm sad all the time because I look around my actual world, the real space around me, and most people are just dead inside. I feel like if people didn't have to pay their data andwifi bills that the streets would be littered with dead bodies next to dead cell phones. Anyway, I thought this was worth the time here on this platform. Treat one another with basic kindness. Elevate yourself and those around you, and surround yourself with those who elevate you. The following was inspired by a photograph I made of the sunset color and light show displayed on the frosted glass of my front door.
HAT 16b: That GirlIt's official... the flu got us. Not THAT flu, just regular ol' influenza. Fortunately we have gold in the treasure chest, and you're certain to delight in more Macy. Make sure you stick around for the last couple of minutes. If you need a smile today, you're in for a treat. Be back soon with better health and new things to kick around!
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