Episode 11 – Won’t Get Fooled Again

This week, Generation FU goes to work.

Back after a fun week on the yacht, Peter looks at what happens when thirty years of experience somehow becomes a liability, every conversation needs its own collaboration platform, and knowing where the button is starts counting for more than knowing whether you should push it.

Then we widen the lens to culture itself—corporate slang, shrinking attention spans, algorithms, “digital natives,” and the uncomfortable realization that the kids didn’t exactly take over. The rest of us just followed them onto the internet.

Along the way: Waiting Room Olympics, the National Endowment for Talking Before Thinking, Organic Dirt, Chronos Minimalist Watches, and a Recharge Recommendation involving the most neglected feature on your smartphone: the phone.

Change is inevitable. Progress is another question.

Drained Battery Society.

Barely charged.

Fully opinionated.

Episode 10 - The Yacht Rock Roundtable

Episode 10 leaves the dock and heads straight into dangerously smoooooth waters.

Hang onto your captains' hats! Peter is joined (reluctantly, despite promises of superstardom) by DBS contributors Kimberly Q. Delaney and the Fabulous Beth P. for the first-ever Drained Battery Society Yacht Rock Roundtable, a celebration of silky harmonies, questionable facial hair, songs about sailing that may or may not actually involve boats, and the kind of music that somehow makes you want to wear white pants near an open drink.

The panel tackles the big questions: What actually qualifies as yacht rock? Which songs belong on the Mount Rushmore of smooth? If it's the end of the world, what Yacht Rock and Marina Rock songs are thrown into the vault in Norway with the seeds? And how much Michael McDonald is too much Michael McDonald?

Along the way, there are strong opinions, bad decisions, unnecessary awards, marina-level drama, and a five-round Yacht Rock snake draft that might make you consider financing a boat you absolutely do not need.

Pour something cold, drop an umbrella in it, and prepare to sail directly into the soft-rock abyss.

Be sure to check out drainedbatterysociety.com/yachtrock to see and hear more!

Drained Battery Society.

Barely charged.

Fully opinionated.

Episode 9 — Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation

This week, Peter introduces Generation FU—not an age group, but the growing collection of companies, products and systems whose operating philosophy seems to be, “We’ve changed things. Figure it out.”

From parking apps and QR codes to disappearing customer service and AI changing the way we find things, the world keeps getting more convenient—as long as you can keep up with whatever replaced the thing you finally learned how to use. Peter also discovers one small problem with his argument: he’s complaining about our dependence on technology while ordering groceries from his phone and discussing the problem with an artificial intelligence.

Progress is good. Build the new thing. Make it faster. Make it better. Just don’t tear down the staircase before everybody figures out how to use the elevator.

Drained Battery Society.

Barely charged.

Fully opinionated.