Life 2.0

Many years ago, when I was still bulletproof and could bench press a small car, I worked as a bouncer on the weekends at a local bar. The first lesson the owner gave me was that I should never argue with drunks or idiots- usually the same thing- because the second you do, they win. In the times we live in now, arguing with dimwits, nitwits and halfwits who are drunk with an inflated political sens...

Hitting the gym for the past 50 years has taught me a lot of lessons and given me some incredible insights into human nature, as a core sampling of society is always on display. I'm indebted to my grandfather Karl (pictured here) for passing along the "Discipline of Iron" and the reminder that no pain means no gain, be it on the bench press or in life. 

I had another episode planned for today, but that "still, small voice" nudged me to take a different route, and I'm glad I listened. I was led to one of my favorite writers and authors, Tom Hanratty, and specifically to his book Master Bao Stories. In this story, the lesson of perspective is revealed as Master Bao and his pupil Ping meet two men, who have very different experiences while traveling...

Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces. It is a day for visiting cemeteries and memorials to mourn the military personnel who died in the line of duty.  There's nothing happy about it. Like many things, it's been hijacked by retailers as another way to sell mattresses, t...

We are swamped moment by moment by information we have zero control over, but that info often takes control of us. Since what you focus on expands, you have to mind your focus (and focus your mind) just to make sure you don't lose the power of perspective. There is a great exercise by my old friend, the late, great Wayne Dyer, that can assist you in not majoring in minor things. A little musical i...

It's one of those days when I suddenly realized that my level was off and the "bubble" that is supposed to be in the middle wasn't. So, I stopped what I was "doing" and took a few minutes to just "be." Amazing what happens when you take a few minutes to lie down on the grass and do some cloud gazing in the middle of the day. 

This episode was created from a conversation with a kid I grew up with, who shared a story of a friend of his, whose mom drove him and a few of his friends to Woodstock when they were just teenagers. That "mom moment" gave me the idea to add a couple more voices. It's Mother's Day memories from Candace Jordan, Chris Joyce, and Mandy Jankus, as well as a few memories of my mom, Carol, who passed aw...

Longfellow once said, "The human voice is the organ of the soul." After attending a live event last week celebrating one of the podcasts I produce, I started thinking about all the voices I have had the opportunity to spend time with over the years, broadcasting. This episode is a montage of some of my favorites, including Ed McMahon, Royce Elliott, Ron Santo, Trudy Gronning, Dale Thomas, Bill Kur...

50 years ago today, on 30 April 1975, the Vietnam War came to a shuddering, chaotic end with the Fall of Saigon. The official war years are listed as 1954-1975, in which 58,148 US soldiers gave their lives. While the war might have ended on paper, for many veterans like my cousin Rich "The Sarge" Hoffman, it has been an ongoing battle. I pulled up a conversation that I had with Rich in 2018, and w...

This past week, the world lost two larger-than-life men. On the day after Easter, Pope Francis took his permanent leave of absence from the Vatican at the age of 89. Two days later, Steve "Mongo" McMichael, the Hall of Fame Chicago Bear, passed away at the age of 67 from ALS. Both men came from different camps, and while exact opposites in many ways, had one very important thing in common, and it'...

That little blue marble hanging in space is the only home we have. The message is clear and simple, as Chief Seattle said, "Contaminate your bed, one night you will suffocate in your own waste." While the environmental challenges at times seem overwhelming, there is one thing you can do to make a world of difference. A little help from Bill Kurtis and John Denver on this one.

On this day before Easter, as many are waiting for the Easter remembrance of the resurrection, it came to me that there have been many times in my life that I had to resurrect myself from something that had died off, be it physically, spiritually, emotionally, or even financially.  The lessons of resurrection are many and often lost in the endless erosion of life. So, it's important to look back o...

I happened across one of those Tesla Cyber-Trucks yesterday, and just a few hours later was listening to a conversation with my late, great friend Hillary Raimo, who spent a week at Tesla. No, not the Elon Musk EV factory, but rather the rooms that one of the greatest inventors-Nikola Tesla-lived in the last years of his life. Hillary's stay revealed the three secrets of the universe...that are av...

Chicago Cubs manager Leo Durocher once said, "Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand." Well, one guy who totally understands is best-selling author and media presence Rick Kaempfer. Rick's just cranked out the updated 7th edition of " Every Cub Ever " a book about every single player who ever played for the Chicago Cubs between the beginning of the 1871 season and the end of the...

The Deepwater Horizon was an ultra-deep-water, semi-submersible drilling rig owned by Transocean and operated by the BP oil company. On 20 April 2010, while drilling in the Gulf of Mexico at the a blowout caused an explosion on the rig that killed 11 crewmen and ignited a fireball visible from 40 miles away. The fire was inextinguishable, and two days later, on April 22, the Horizon collapsed, lea...

There is no question that we are once again living in uncertain times... the key words are "once again." There has never been a time when things are ...certain...and history gives us this lesson over and over again. So, let's take a deep dive back to 1968, when the world was on fire, assassinations were making headlines, the Vietnam war raged on, civil rights marchers filled the streets in protest...

It's another zero dark thirty-type podcast, as I am up one more time before the crack o' dawn. In the turbulent times we live in, it's important to ensure you have anchors that will keep you steadfast and not swept away by the incessant headlines you can do nothing about except getting bent out of shape over. One of mine is hanging out later today and bending elbows with some guys I played footbal...

Just a note of caution. If you are someone who thinks that empathy is a flaw in human nature and that diversity, equity, and inclusion are the cause of all the misery in the world, don’t bother listening to this rant. You won't get it. DEI attempted to erase the "Enola Gay" (for obvious reasons) Maj. Gen. Charles C. Rogers MOH recipient (he was Black) now they are on to the Navajo Code Talkers (Na...

Before Mike Robbins became one of the most sought-after speakers in the world (and the best-selling author of five books,) he was a highly regarded pitching prospect who played in the College World Series and eventually spent three seasons in the Kansas City Royals organization. Arm injuries cut short the fiery southpaw's baseball career but opened up a much larger arena for Mike—becoming a global...

I lost a great friend this past week. John Keith was a titan of radio production for decades and we crossed paths back at Oprah Radio and became fast friends. It was all about baseball (and radio) and if it wasn't for JK, the Earth Matters with Bill Kurtis series would have never been heard around the world as it has. I found the first four episodes of EM that John produced, and while I am very sa...

I try my best to ignore that which evaporates my remaining brain cells. But, for the last two weeks, I've been subjected to the word "gay" from so many different angles, that I had to finally come out (so to speak) and speak out. As the DEI mandates begin to take effect and the references to "gay" and "trans" are scrubbed from various govt. websites, it was time to take a deep dive into the histor...

With all the upheaval in Washington D.C. these days, and so much of it surrounding Elon Musk, I think we'd all be better off if TLC just gave him a reality show and instead of eliminating jobs at the VA, he could just jet around the world wielding his chainsaw. I mean he's a reality show producer's dream! Elon Musk has at least 14 children with multiple partners! But wait there's a spinoff in the...

Fifty years is a long time. The number of people in my life from 1975 is small, maybe 10 or so. My sister, a few high school friends, and extended family members. My mom and dad are both long gone. So, when someone stepped back into my life AFTER one-half century it was cause for both celebration and a bit of sadness. There was a time that I paid my bills pumping gas, checking oil and doing tune-u...

Another interesting week behind me, with some serious reminders about not letting other people stuff your backpack, the importance of finding your path, understanding that it's later than we think, and that a Super Bowl commercial can put one of the biggest names in music history back on the charts, decades after his death.

Bill Bennett is a multi-award-winning Australian filmmaker who captures the human condition like no other. His latest work, "The Way, My Way" is based on his best-selling book of the same name and is the captivating true story of a stubborn and amusingly self-centered Australian man who decides to walk the 800-kilometre-long (497.8 miles) Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route through Spain. He doesn...