Jason Scott Talks His Way Out of It
280 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 35 ratingsHistorian and loudmouth Jason Scott shares stories of technology, retrocomputing, documentary filmmaking, and general schennanigans from his decades of travels and research. From experiences on the road while shooting documentaries to often-obscure points of order, Jason keeps a fast-moving pace and even he doesn't know where we're ending up at the end.
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Episodes
The Ramifications Episode
May 29, 2023 16:05 - 15 minutes - 28.4 MBThe Ramifications Episode. A lot of speculation and consideration of the ramifications of algorithmic intensity and synthetic media from someone who has been thinking about the Blorb for a very long time. Listened best without headphones.
The BIG CHUNGUS Episode
May 26, 2023 16:02 - 22 minutes - 41.1 MBThe BIG CHUNGUS Episode: A Lucky Smart Situation, The Rise of BIG CHUNGUS, 8 Terabytes, Distributions, The Culture of Twitch Videos, A Ride Down The Line, Packs and ROMs, Television and Dumps, A Secret Clubhouse, A Half a Petabyte, The Chungus Among Us, The Closed Future And The Bridgers, A Warm Thermos. Ruminations of BIG CHUNGUS, my ongoing weird project. Nothing stops the Chungus.
The Storage Reckoning Episode
May 22, 2023 16:00 - 14 minutes - 26.6 MBThe Storage Reckoning Episode: Putting Off Forever, Final Consolidations, The Big Sort, An Unpassable Box, The Nature of Contents and Archives, The Plans and Possibilities, Where It All Goes, The Lack of Guilt, Advice and Concerns, The Empty Future. Thoughts on finally consolidating down to a single storage unit again, and how maybe, I might finally have a to-do list that will actually shrink instead of grow. Recorded using a temporary method while travelling. Listening on speakers inst...
The Laptop Loss Episode
May 19, 2023 15:58 - 18 minutes - 34.6 MBThe Laptop Loss Episode: A Eulogy For a Laptop, Largest and Smallest, A Gift From Above, A Quirkly Little Partner, Memories of the PC Convertible, Suspicious Activity, Presentations and Podiums, Signs of Aging, A Secret Of Hard Drives, The Next Generation. A eulogy for a laptop, brave travel companion, editor of my podcasts, now clearly gone and awaiting one last salvage. Noted in this episode is that I recorded this month's episodes using a different method and setup as I am travelling...
The Remedial College Episode
May 15, 2023 15:53 - 17 minutes - 32.5 MBThe Remedial College Episode: A Chance to Reboot, Not Quite Rebooted, A Lot of Effort, Boston or Bust, 4.25 Years, Remedial College, 20 Candidates, Roommate Switch, Sketch, Three Teachers, A Couple Suspicious Moments, The Results, The 19 Plus One, A Final Improvement. A rapidly fading memory of the really odd way I finally got into college.
The Near Miss Episode
May 12, 2023 15:51 - 15 minutes - 28.1 MBThe Near Miss Episode: A Moment of Glass, The Ever-Returning Concern, Ramificiations, Networks of Interlocking Dependency, Divestment, Discouragement. A Near Miss With a Car, Consolidation, Hopefulness. Some musings on a very weird phobia (or coping mechanism) I have with regards to near miss tragedy, in this case, some rather unexpected glass.
The Documentary Urge Episode
May 08, 2023 15:49 - 16 minutes - 29.9 MBThe Documentary Urge Episode: A Fleeting Moment of Weakness, The Three That Made It, The Reasons for a Documentary, The Untold Efforts, The Unattempted Documentary, A Round of Considerations Along a Technical Level, The People Doing What I'd Do, The Things Only I Can Do. A continued reminder about why I stopped making documentaries and why I'm not going to start doing them again.
The VCR Mechanism Episode
May 05, 2023 15:40 - 16 minutes - 30.6 MBThe VCR Mechanism Episode: A Tangential Query, New Old Stock, The Mechanism, The Next Level of Reading, A Bit More Consideration of the Applesauce, An HD Read of a VHS Tape, The Fuzzy Future, One-Off Equipment, VHS-Decode, A Dream In the Days of Reality. Until the day comes.... my dreams continue. Applesauce: https://applesaucefdc.com/ Acronova Nimbie: https://disc.acronova.com/product/auto-blu-ray-duplicator-publisher-ripper-nimbie-usb-nb21/9/review.html VHS Decode: https://github.c...
The Interesting Collections Episode
December 30, 2022 19:34 - 17 minutes - 32 MBThe Interesting Collections Episode: Occult Periodicals, Johnson Catalog, Kirkland's Manual Labor, Input Television, The Reality of a Sore Throat and Debt. Some interesting collections I've stumbled over the last few months. And a little bit about pushing yourself towards commitments. https://archive.org/details/iapsop https://archive.org/details/iapsop_curio_catalogs https://archive.org/details/marionstokesinput https://archive.org/details/a2600-kirklands-manual-labor https://a...
The Genesis Cartridges Episode
December 26, 2022 19:29 - 15 minutes - 27.9 MBThe Genesis Cartridges Episode: Walking the Stacks, Growing the Pile, The Victory and Choice of the Console Living Room, The Second Christmas Morning, The Advantages of Consoles, Many Distractions and Greener Pastures, Returning to the Scene, The Next Sets of Repairs, Dreamcast Probably Never, Consoles Forever. Some work on Genesis Cartridges continues, bringing the total up to 18,000 emulated at the Archive, so I thought I'd bring up how I got into this situation in the first place.
The Whispering Episode
December 23, 2022 19:22 - 16 minutes - 30.5 MBThe Whispering Episode: A Potential New Toy, Learning of Whisper on a Drive, Throwing the Book and a Nightclub at Whisper, The Aspects of Whisper, The Idea of Unadvocated Material, A Job Nobody Wants, A Massive Success, Kalev Leetaru, Extensive Versus Immediately, Experiment Results, Scary Both Ways, Forging Ahead, Mission Critical, The Road Ahead. Some thoughts on the transcription program Whisper, which works too well or not at all depending on the weather but which is going to, in some ...
The DiscMaster Episode
December 19, 2022 19:04 - 16 minutes - 30 MBThe DiscMaster Episode: From Nowhere to Everywhere One Saturday, A Rare Surprise, The Rise of Discmaster, Press and Announcement, Success Stories, The Powers of Searching, The Two Processes, Why DiscMaster Changes Everything, Taking the Brunt, A Bouncer Outside a Nightclub, The Users Not Quite Here, Do It Again Please. An episode about discmaster.textfiles.com, a new search engine created by a developer that completely upends our entire relationship to the software on the Internet Archive....
The Two Decisions Episode
December 16, 2022 18:24 - 10 minutes - 20 MBThe Two Decisions Episode: Lagarith Becomes FFMV1, Large-Scale Digitization, A Future Job Opening, A Sizeable Backlog, The Big Plan, We All Get The Point, An Advisory Future. A musing about two big Decisions made, one about tape and one about life. We'll see how they both do.
The Unstuck in Time Episode
December 12, 2022 18:07 - 12 minutes - 22.4 MBThe Unstuck In Time Episode: Men in Black 3, Griffin, Timelines, Out of Timelines, Inspiration, Gathering of Voices Silenced, Digital and Analog, Lessons Learned, Hope. Plus: Mundane Headlines. Some ruminations on a supporting role character in Men in Black 3 and what it means about my memories and purposes with the flow of time.
The Fanzine Back Throw Episode
December 09, 2022 18:03 - 13 minutes - 25.4 MBThe Fanzine Back Throw Episode: A Long Trip, A Special Collection, Slash Fiction Fanzines, The Coordinators, Calling in Lodrina, 1550 Pounds, Hardcore Lifting, 33 Boxes, The Next Steps, The Event Horizon, Back Damage, Next Steps, Hired Hands and Hotels. In which I do what may finally be the last large-scale lifting in which I play any part except coordinating. And also, putting my doctors through their paces! I don't have a link for the Fanzines at this point, but they look great. As soon ...
The Atlantic Festival Episode
December 05, 2022 17:57 - 16 minutes - 30.6 MBThe Atlantic Festival Episode: A Very Long Drive, A Quid Pro Quo, Getting Back on the Horse, The Real Staff, Late Arrival, Rehearsals and Clarifications, Booties, A Short Relief, Out The Door, Respect, Twitter Spaces, Money and Time, A Turning Away, An Appreciation. About my presentation and appearance at Atlantic Festival 2022 and how it all happened. My short presentation is on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=j9YQUo3dUvg
The Stress Management Episode
December 02, 2022 17:53 - 14 minutes - 27.1 MBThe Stress Management Episode: Recognizing Stress, How Fast Things Change, Mitigating Responsibility, My Air Travel Issue, Your Place in Time, Rarity And Prototype, A Track From and Into Fog. A hopefully-helpful essay on stress, and how to do your best to avoid the pressure when faced with it. I'm answering the question because it comes up a lot. If you have other questions you want me to answer in this fashion, hit me up.
The Luna City Memory Episode
November 28, 2022 17:48 - 11 minutes - 21.8 MBThe Luna City Memory Episode: Vintage Quarters, The Vector Dream, The Rise of Luna City, The Family Days and Personal Visits, The True Artistry of Luna City, The Downfall, The Power of Luna City's Memory. I've discussed Luna City and Vector Dream before, but I wanted to touch on how important it stands, even as a memory, to so many people and how inspiring it is to have been this effective at its intentions, looking back across years. Much love to Peter Hirschberg.
The Longest Nap Episode
November 24, 2022 17:46 - 12 minutes - 22.7 MBThe Longest Nap Episode: Arriving for Thanksgiving, The Nap, A Sleeping Beast, Why Was I So Tired, A Balance at Work But Also Overbalanced, Pushing So Hard, The Riptide. Also: A Stood-Up Date. Have you ever had a nap so epic you remember it 20 years later? Or make a podcast episode about the philosophy behind it?
The Transient Hardware Episode
November 21, 2022 17:43 - 15 minutes - 27.7 MBThe Transient Hardware Episode: A Prayer, A Realization, The First Openings, A Deeper and Deeper Misunderstanding, Two Technical Friends, Occasional Upgrades, A Different Person, Each Machine, And Now, A Finished Task. A rumination on me and my relationship to computers, especially hardware, as a break from tackling a short-lived card installation program. (I finished recording, went back, and it was all working properly.) Sometimes, you really do just need a break.
The HOPE Transplant Episode
November 18, 2022 17:41 - 13 minutes - 24.5 MBThe HOPE Transplant Episode: Going to HOPE 2022, A Sketch History of 2600 and HOPE, Hacker Cons, Podium Drink, Hotel Pennsylvania, St. John's, A Good Experience, My Only Hacker Con, The Foundation. Some thoughts on attending HOPE 2022 in St. John's University in Queens NY and how happy I am they're keeping the events going. There was a presentation I gave and I'll link to the talk when it comes up.
The Rock Tapes Episode
November 14, 2022 17:38 - 12 minutes - 23 MBThe Rock Tapes Episode: A Link To An Auction, The Results of the Victory, Digitizing VHS Tapes, Bootleg Culture, Not a Phone in Sight, The Purpose of a Bootleg, The Easy Process, The Endless Music Ahead. You can enjoy the Diamondhead collection here as it grows: https://archive.org/details/diamondheadtapes
The Return of TEXTFILES.COM Episode
November 11, 2022 17:33 - 14 minutes - 26.1 MBThe Return of TEXTFILES.COM Episode: A Problem Worse Than Thought, Remote Work, Saint Spencer, I Was Once Spencer, Replacing The Machine, The Overkill Beast, The Specs, Fixes and Improvements, SCENE.ORG, Bitsavers, Stone Oakvalley, A New Day for TEXTFILES.COM, Forgotten Love, A Bright Future. It turned out the problem with the TEXTFILES.COM was a bit more than I expected, but luckily, it all got fixed in the end. Here's the process and the progress, and what got better. TEXTFILES.COM is...
The Inside Out Episode
November 07, 2022 17:25 - 15 minutes - 28.3 MBThe Inside Out Episode: A Long Thought in a World of Quick Takes, Growing Up Online, The Inside Out Problem, Solutions If Any, Infinite Friction, A Stunning Plan, My Own Private Inside Out. A particularly thorny and weird consideration I've been mulling out for years, trotted out into a podcast for others to finally here. As downer as it sounds, I'm doing quite fine.
The TEXTFILES.COM Downtime Episode
August 29, 2022 16:00 - 15 minutes - 28.7 MBThe TEXTFILES.COM Downtime Episode: A Strange Voicemail, E-mails, Downtime!, Considering Loss, Host Loyalty, A Simple Job, Bringing it Back, a Momentary Skip, The Meaning of It All. Plus: Ignore the Letters An article on the occasion of the unexpected downtime of TEXTFILES.COM. Here is an interesting situation for the Patreon backers of the podcast - the machine is actually still down. After editing the episode, I discovered catastrophic disk errors and while the machine can come "back", t...
The Secrets From The Future Episode
August 08, 2022 16:00 - 18 minutes - 34.1 MBThe Secrets From The Future Episode: Fun But What About Projects, Faces in AI, MC Frontalot, Damien Hess, Focus and Exacting, A Midjourney Music Video, Key Phrases, Banned Words, Interesting Limits, Shipping to Frontalot, A Final Work, The Fake First. Also: QUESTION BEDTIME. The tale of using my Midjourney account to illustrate an MC Frontalot song. The result: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVm8oZx9WSM Images from the MC Frontalot video: https://www.flickr.com/photos/textfiles/albu...
The Midjourney Descent Episode
August 01, 2022 16:00 - 19 minutes - 35.2 MBThe Midjourney Descent Episode: Where It All Goes Wrong, The First Few Notes, What We've Already Changed, What Is Coming, Nightmares and A Shifting Lens, The Role of the Artist, Drawing People Wrong, What Art in Prompts. What goes up, must come down - some thoughts on what Midjourney and products like it could bring to the world, and some stirred memories long ago of what art even has been to me. This is the second of three episodes about Midjourney.
The Midjourney Ascent Episode
July 25, 2022 16:00 - 16 minutes - 29.4 MBThe Midjourney Ascent Episode: Not a Pitch, A Long Forgotten Feeling, Text to Image in A Few Sentences, The Moment of Power, The Sharing of Friends, The Excitement, A Small Chat, A Hope For More Moments. An introduction to the Text to Image generator MidJourney which I've been spending some time playing with, getting in while the getting is good, before it all comes crashing down. This is the first of three episodes about the situation.
The Basquiat Episode
July 18, 2022 16:00 - 16 minutes - 29.5 MBThe Basquiat Episode: Visiting the Museum, The Phases and Rooms, The Nightclub and Giftshop, Lessons Learned, What is the Purpose, Ice Cream Machine, Inspiration from Logistics, A Strange Lesson Learned, The Real Work of Art. Some thoughts after walking through an exhibit of the works of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988).
The Prank Call Episode
July 13, 2022 16:00 - 16 minutes - 29.9 MBThe Prank Call Episode: An Early Call, The Disappointed Monk, Phones and BBSes as Refuge, Learning Voice Skills, An Eternal Battlefield, The Landline Stare, Middle Distance, Holding Your Own, A Breakdown Of The Disappointing Challenger, Inviting The World to Prank, A Welcome Second Prank Call. A rumination on prank calling and the unspoken rules within, as well as why people know my number. Some time ago, I compiled the many hours of recorded prank calls people had uploaded to the Inter...
The U-Matic Episode
July 11, 2022 00:56 - 19 minutes - 34.9 MBThe U-Matic Episode: A Brand New Brand Old Format, The Tapes of Mark Pines, Broadcast Quality, Working But Not Working, A Street Corner Transaction, The First Steps, Success, The Unintended Bought Pain, Integrating U-Matic, A Cave of Wires. Some thoughts on the event of the reception of a U-Matic tape machine into my workflow and the near-miraculous situation that I haven't broken it yet.
The Boundary Check Episode
June 13, 2022 16:00 - 13 minutes - 25.5 MBThe Boundary Check Episode: Why I Like Frameworks, Limits, The Edge of What I Thought Computers Could Do, ASCII and High Code, Magic Tricks, A Non-Existent Friend, Custom Sprites and Characters, Frames, Boxes, Music, Art, Being Comfortable In The Box, Being Aware of the Box, Finding a New Box. Also: Explaining the NES. Some ruminations of how much I really fall into boundaries and limits rather than trying to constantly upend structure, and where that might come from. I do still dream of h...
The Limited Time Episode
June 06, 2022 16:00 - 13 minutes - 24.3 MBThe Limited Time Episode: Under the Weather, Goals, Plans, Assessments, Considerations. Ends Are Always Messy, Roller Coaster Lifespans, Plans, Priorities and the Legend of Cheese Hands. A quick self-assessment of priorities and goals in life; an affirmation what has happened and what will happen.
The WJST Episode
May 30, 2022 16:00 - 13 minutes - 24.3 MBThe WJST Episode: Airchecks, Mike Schweitzer, Special Days, Radio Transition, The Discovery of WJST, Songs in the Air, Rubber Tubes, Reel to Reels, Baking, Digitization, The Miracle Flight of Jet Radio Audio, Jet Music Everywhere. And: Justifying The App. Some discussion of WJST radio, a collection of easy listening for the air, collected and digitized and listenable right now at https://archive.org/details/chriscromwelltapes as well as many related materials from the same group. The Mik...
The Wonderswan Episode
May 23, 2022 16:00 - 15 minutes - 28.9 MBThe Wonderswan Episode: A Little Extra Free Time, 35 Minutes, The Wonderswan's Story, Boring Emulation, Vertical/Horizontal, The Extra Work, Joy From Obscurity, The Perfect Grey Market, Hashes and Dumps, The Joy to Play. Announcing the Wonderswan collection at https://archive.org/details/wonderswan-library which has settled down to about 260 games, all playable and all rather interesting, especially if the Swan was never a part of your life, like me.
The Tax Bill Episode
May 16, 2022 16:00 - 11 minutes - 21.6 MBThe Tax Bill Episode: The Bill, The Reasoning, A Silly Misunderstanding, A Misunderstanding Without End, Understanding Stress, Living a Life, A Giddy Fire, A Walk Well Taken, A Promise. A quick meditation on some current tax issues I'm dealing with because of the podcast.
The City Reliquary and Panorama Episode
May 09, 2022 16:00 - 9 minutes - 17.5 MBThe City Reliquary and Panorama Episode: My Friend Eric Drysdale, A Last-Minute Spot, The Experience of the City Reliquary, The Mid-Century Panorama, Curation of Collections, The Success of the Experience, A Look Instead of a Glance, A Drowned Car, An Inspiration. Some words on the Mid-Century Stereo Panorama. The website: https://midcenturystereopanorama.com/ Which took place at the City Reliquary: https://www.cityreliquary.org/
The Severance Fox Episode
May 06, 2022 16:00 - 14 minutes - 26.4 MBThe Severance Fox Episode: Two Media Experiences. Puzzle Fox, Zelda Not Zelda, Bewilderment, Ancient Instructions, Severance, Offices, Eero Saarinen, T. J. Watson, Visitation, Hallways, Warrens, Fonts, Machines. An acknowledgement of two modern media experiences I've had that push back through childhood and memories, and the unexpected love I have for a sterile place.
The Compuserve Miracle Episode
May 03, 2022 03:11 - 11 minutes - 21.7 MBThe Compuserve Miracle Episode: Keeping Secrets, Compuserve's Place, Incredible Ads, The Cost, Dinner Jacket, How a Teenager Got On, The Miracle That Is No Longer a Miracle, Hints and Rumors, The Big Announcement. Regarding a bounty of Compuserve that has fallen (partially) into my hands, and what Compuserve means to me.
The Blunders and Mistakes Episode
April 01, 2022 16:00 - 16 minutes - 30.1 MBThe Blunders and Mistakes Episode: Pick-Up, Zappa, Disk Switch, Rocking Tow, Crash Cart. Some stories of me in the middle of blunders both due to me and completely out of my control.
The New Generation of Sorting Episode
March 30, 2022 16:00 - 12 minutes - 22.9 MBThe New Generation of Sorting Episode: A New Feature Lands, A Rediscovery of My Love of Sorting, Pulp Fiction Redux, The Approach and the Result, A Teenager's Categories, The Next Mountains, The Reason Behind it All. A rumination of the act of sorting and presentation, and remembering why I do this. https://archive.org/details/pulpfictionarchive is ready for your attentions and enjoyment.
The 75 Bad VHS Tapes Episode
March 23, 2022 16:00 - 16 minutes - 31.1 MBThe 75 Bad VHS Tapes Episode: A Simple Review, A Horrible Revelation, Diagnosis, Determination, A Crossroads, Volunteer Rescue, The Solution, The Forward Moving, An Iterative Process. A story of a terrible mistake found by random, and the efforts to unravel the knot. To enjoy some fansubs with goodsound: https://archive.org/details/fansubmarine
The Mini-Appler Episode
March 16, 2022 16:00 - 20 minutes - 38 MBThe Mini-Appler Episode: A Classroom Epiphany, Beautiful Boot, 612 BBSes, Safehouse, Midwest Pirates' Guild, Gods Among Us, BBS Documentary, A Living Room Interview, The Art of Luding, Applesauce, A Day Late, The Golden Wake. A full interview with MPG is here: https://archive.org/details/20040125-bbs-612 Here's beautiful boot in action: https://archive.org/details/Dung_Beetles_Ms._PacMan_Pooyan_Star_Cruiser_Star_Thief_Invas._Force There are many games and programs by Mini Appler/Matt...
The HarvardNet Redux Episode
March 11, 2022 17:00 - 12 minutes - 22.4 MBThe HarvardNet Redux Episode: HarvardNet Memories, Fraud and Deceit, The Wonder of a Datacenter, Tiles and Carpet, Loud and Cold, Remote at Any Cost, A Difference of a Year, Smiles and Grimaces, HarvardNet's Doom, See Ya, Pal. A rather ramshackle and rambunctious episode in memory of a wild friend now lost. Also, HarvardNet Sucks.
The Blender Episode
March 07, 2022 17:00 - 17 minutes - 32.1 MBThe Blender Episode: Learning Blender, Doing Nothing, 3D Studio, The Raytraced Canvas of My Yore, A Canvas In Time, Capsela, Knobs and Tubes, The Tools I Now Have, Boom Box, The Missing Imagination. Less a review than a set of thoughts of my interactions with Blender, the free 3D Program now at version 3.0. https://www.blender.org/
The Job Evaluation Episode
March 04, 2022 17:00 - 14 minutes - 25.9 MBThe Job Evaluation Episode: A Yearly Check-in, My Strange Job, The Heaps of Inbox, 100,000 Wojacks, Why It Gets Done, The Need to Continue, A Prediction. January is job self-evaluation at the Archive and it put me in the mood of why I keep doing all this, and here's where I am about my place in this magnificent contraption. If you need 100,000 Wojacks, they're here: https://archive.org/details/wojak-collections
The Mountain of VHS Episode
March 02, 2022 05:07 - 19 minutes - 35 MBThe Mountain of VHS Episode: Back in the Saddle, The Depth of VHS, The Variant Quality, The Results of Digitizing VHS, VHS Vault, A Very Large Auction, 3 Days to Victory, Why Save VHS, Helping Hands, The Foggy Road Ahead. A tale of how I went from having what I thought was a lot of videotapes to having entirely too many videotapes. These tapes are safe and will begin getting digitized later this year. As I explain in the episode, my health is back to normal; thanks for all the kind wo...
The JoCo Cruise Crazy Episode (4 of 4)
February 23, 2022 17:00 - 11 minutes - 21.3 MBThe JoCo Cruise Crazy Episode (4 of 4) Endings, Disembarking, Memories. Never Again, Inner Ear, The Food and The Sea. Highlights and Memories, Not Another Community, Ever Shortening Time, A Cruise as Reality, The Continuing JoCo Cruises, Memories Forever. Plus: A Sickness.
The JoCo Cruise Crazy Episode (3 of 4)
February 22, 2022 17:00 - 15 minutes - 28.6 MBThe JoCo Cruise Crazy Episode (3 of 4) Days at Sea. Meeting The Crew, A Lifeboat Break, A False Island, The Acts and Shows. Wil Wheaton. Coulton as Conductor, Poverty and Vacation, Capsule Hotel, Laser Tag Near Laser Tag, I Got It, No I Really Got It, Lost at Sea.