Social Blend enters its third ‘century’ with episode 201, where special guest Tom Cheredar aka Tched from Venture Beat joins in the show sitting in for Jay and Terr. We kick off the show with some light banter about Star Trek, along with some rumors of the upcoming sequel by J. J. Abrams.

We look at some interesting news from Australia, where it seems the Victorian Police used civilian vehicles as a “human shield array”. Bizarre tale, to say the least. Dominating the mainstream news and discussions on the web this week has been the debates surrounding Same-Sex Marriage – we review the politics from the week on the issue, and uncover the reality of the situation.

Later, we look at the mammoth opening for The Avengers, and look at the rumors surrounding DC‘s possible upcoming plans to establish a Justice League film franchise after Marvel had such major success this week. As always, we close out the show with our WTF stories of the week and the Countdown to the Gutsfuck of Humanity. All this and more on this week’s edition of Social Blend!

It’s hard to believe, but Social Blend is still here after 200 episodes. For our special bicentennial edition, we’re joined by special guest Brian Bickerton aka Tau_Zero. Our main focus of Social Blend 200 is a look back on the podcast – where and when and why it started, as we reflect on and discuss some of the highlights and accomplishments we’ve made since 2012.

While we do review many of the big events and stories we covered, and how we evolved from focusing on Social Media, we also reveal some of the behind-the-scenes info and tales as of yet unheard – as well as bringing forward some current opinions on previous issues that had been raised during difficult moments.

Aside from the look back on the podcast from 2008 to today, we also discuss the current state of social news in the form of Reddit and Digg. We look at the recent news of Obama endorsing gay marriage; and the newest outrage caused by the TSA involving a young diabetic teen who had her insulin pump ruined by the body scanners.

During the show, as part of our celebration, we play the full versions of our previous and current theme songs: "Dreamonic" by Corey Hodgetts; "Weight Of The World" by Gold Tooth; and "Not Ready For Love" by Emerald City. We also reveal where our WTF stories of the week came from and how it all started. All this and more on this week’s edition of Social Blend!

We are on the eve of the SB Bicentennial, and in Social Blend 199, we’ll be rustling your jimmies. We kick off the show looking at the recent developments and fallout from the Roadrunner Records downsizing, and examine a good piece about the issue over at MetalSucks.net. We then highlight today’s big story of a college student who was taken into custody & abandoned in a holding cell for 5 days without food or water.

Later, we report on the TSA‘s continual infuriating conduct, in which they engaged in an “enhanced patdown” of a 4 year old girl. We also continue our coverage of CISPA, as the bill passes the House and moves to the Senate. In tech related news, Australia has issued a parliamentary inquiry into why downloads and software cost so much more down under than elsewhere.

In entertainment, we come back to our discussions on The Avengers, which opens this week – and Prometheus, which opens in June. Before we close out, we talk a little Game Of Thrones, and also examine the news that Digg is looking into being acquired by the Washington Post or CNN. As always, we close out the show with our WTF stories of the week. All this and more on this week’s edition of Social Blend!

Social Blend 198 features special guests Nathan Jurgenson and PJ Rey from the fascinating Cyborgology web site, which looks at the societal impacts (and more) of our augmented reality. We examine social media and technology from the perspective of culture and society, and beyond – as we look at a growing view of our age from a slightly different angle.

In tech news, we explore the recent developments on the CISPA front, as the bill progresses towards the voting stage, while the White House publicly vows to veto the bill. On a related note, we look at the claim that 20th Century Copyright Law is analogous to 1920′s Prohibition; while Australian ISP iiNet wins a landmark legal case down under.

On the entertainment news front, we discuss recent viral-designed promotions for the upcoming Prometheus movie, and briefly talk about The Avengers. As always, we close out the show with our WTF stories of the week. All this and more on this week’s edition of Social Blend!

Episode 197 hits the web without a title, as we’re joined by Keith Wagner aka DarkNemesis618 who is sitting in for Jay this week. We kick off the show debating the merits of time travel, timelines, and alternate universes in the lore of Star Trek, but then pay our respects and tributes to the late Dick Clark, who sadly passed away on the day of this recording.

We follow up on our CISPA coverage this week, with a look into the interesting Calyx Institute Project, a push to create a new ISP with user privacy as its highest priority, being driven by crowdfunding. Megaupload is back in the news this week, as we discuss the posturing by the US Government in trying to restrict the legal defense.

We also take a glimpse at recent Anonymous tales, including one were a killer posted his actions on 4chan, and later had his house burned down by authorities to end his standoff. Later, we bid another farewell to the Space Shuttle program and discuss the fascinating photos of it buzzing the city on the way to its new location. We close out the show with our WTF stories of the week, and the Countdown to the Gutsfuck of Humanity. All this and more on this week’s edition of Social Blend!

We are happy to announce that Terr Ciavarra aka Media Nox has officially joined Social Blend as a permanent co-host! For her first co-host episode, we’re joined by Tom Cheredar aka Tched from Venture Beat who is sitting in for Jay this week. We kick off with some chatter about Star Trek, and jump into Netflix news and discussion.

We also discuss the latest news surrounding the new CISPA legislation looking at cybersecurity and resurrecting elements of the horrid SOPA bill. Meanwhile, in the UK, the government pushes legislation for monitoring of digital communication via the internet and mobile devices, a move that has many concerned with the Big Brother style move by the government.

We take a look at Gawker’s Fox News Mole, and Greg complains about Jay spoiling Games Of Thrones for him; while we point at laugh at Stupidese On The Retardweb. EA enters more controversy and debate, by both surrounding their status as a shit company, and then following the alleged boycott of games including gay characters. We close out the show with our WTF stories of the week, and the Countdown to the Gutsfuck of Humanity. All this and more on this week’s edition of Social Blend!

For Episode 195 of Social Blend, we’re joined by Tom Cheredar aka Tched from Venture Beat, and ks136, as we kick off the show reviewing a recent thread at Reddit we were involved in that became a shitstorm involving hate mail and death threats: a debate on the health care system in the United States. We also briefly offer our opinions on the media circus surrounding the Treyvon Martin coverage on television and on social media.

We turn to Australia for an unusual story of a massive house explosion that has many people scratching their heads. Google broke news with the announcement of Project Glass, delivering hands-free heads-up-displays as a medium for future mobile devices. We review this year of April Fools on the web, from Google’s awesome 8-bit maps, to Reddit’s Time Machine, to some of the awesome reports at Geeks of Doom.

Later, we take a moment to dive into discussing Game Of Thrones, as Jay impatiently demands Old Greg finish reading the first book! We also briefly discuss the upcoming seventh series of Doctor Who. Finally, we review recent news surrounding severe weather and the phenomenal tornado footage from Dallas, and we close out the show with our WTF stories of the week, and the Countdown to the Gutsfuck of Humanity. All this and more on this week’s edition of Social Blend!

For the 194th episode of Social Blend, CRANIUMELODY returns – a special of our podcast that underrated or obscure tunes for you to listen to, by some awesome artists that you really should check out! For this edition, we’re making a musical bucket list, or a Bucket Play List, if you will. We are making a list of songs that we believe everyone should listen to at least once before we shuffle off this mortal coil.

Joining us for Craniumelody are our good friends, musicians Corey Koehler aka Music Goat and Terr Ciavarra aka Media Nox. For this episode, each of us have chosen a few songs from our own Bucket Play Lists, and hopefully some of which you might not have heard before.

And this time we had some rules we had to follow. Check it out, and let us know if you think we broke any of them! Here are the rules:

The songs must be obscure and/or underrated.

The song, and the album it came from, must NOT have achieved any Top 100 chartings from US, UK, or Australia.

Independent and Unsigned Acts are fine to select.

The songs chosen must be ones you consider people must have listened to at least once before they die.

Selection Criteria:

• Must have some impact on you OR
• Given you chills OR
• Made you cry OR
• Motivated you to make life changes OR
• Is always a song that gets you pumped up OR
• Be a song that you consider to be epic

For our special Craniumelody 12, we play some music from Henry Rollins and the Hard Ons, Flotsam And Jetsam, Nina Simone, My Terrible Friend, King Kobra, Chris Knight, Razed In Black, and Devin Townsend.

From punk to jazz, and from metal to indie, we give to you a collection of tunes you should listen to before you drop off your perch!

And if you like what you hear, please check out the artists’ links below to find out where and how you can get more of their music!

Was there any doubt that we would be covering Jason “KONY 2012” Russell‘s meltdown this week on Social Blend 193? That’s right, we wax the totem to create invisible children – and joining us for the beat down are Terr Ciavarra aka Media Nox, Corey Koehler, and Keith Wagner aka DarkNemesis618.

Following our ejaculatory examination of the Kony controversy, we dive into the debate over the War on Drugs, as many Central and South American nations ponder the possibilities of decriminalization. Meanwhile, the scumbags at the RIAA and MPAA are at it again: reaching a deal with major ISPs to begin policing copyright infringement amongst users. Also, we mark the (sad) milestone of Encyclopedia Britannica ceasing publication after 244 years, and moving strictly to the web.

Later we take a look at the trailers for Prometheus and Dark Shadows, and also mention the return of KISS with their new outfits as they plan to head out on the road with Motley Crue. We close out the show with our WTF stories of the week, and the Countdown to the Gutsfuck of Humanity. All this and more on this week’s edition of Social Blend!

It’s Social Blend 192, and this week we have Terr Ciavarra aka Media Nox and Brian Bickerton aka Tau_Zero joining us in the house. We discuss Greg’s new podcast show with Lee Garnett aka nComment, called Disquisition, while Jay picks a bone with us about the impending Baldur’s Gate announcement.

In the news, we examine the recent events in Afghanistan, proving to be a difficult sore situation for the US, when a “rogue” staff sergeant went on a killing spree murdering civilians. Or did it actually happen that way? Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh‘s situation looks increasingly shittier, as over 140 advertisers, including the US Army, pull away from his show.

We follow up with some news on the West Memphis Three, and continue our deconstruction of the Kony 2012 scam, in which we see the impact and reaction from victims of the wars in northern Uganda, and discover that big banks and big oil are supporting the propaganda campaign from Invisible Children.

But it’s not all seriousness, as we diverge into discussing Game of Thrones, as well as some oddities relating to Star Wars that popped up on the web this week. We close out the show with our WTF stories of the week, and the Countdown to the Gutsfuck of Humanity. All this and more on this week’s edition of Social Blend!