How do you say thanks to everyone you've ever known?

  It's the truth, it's Veteran's Day (observed) and I am trying to figure out how to say thank you to everyone I have ever known...

  Most of my friends are Vets themselves, so I have to thank them for serving with me and making my career an awesome experience.  We have, in part or in whole, all served together in peace and in war, and we came through unscathed.  We have lost some friends along the way, on the field and off duty, but we continue on.  I cannot thank you all enough for making my life what it is, and what it shall be.  We are all shaped by our environment, they say, and if that is the case, I am well shaped :)  (Even after losing 70 pounds..  25 more to go :)

  My friends that were not in the military all put up with me being in the military all those years, so I owe them a thanks as well.  It is sometimes not easy to hang around military folks.  We can break long-made plans at a moments notice if the phone rings and we "have to go".  And then there is our way of talking.  The military has acronyms for everything, and even a book to clarify what acronym means what in a certain context.  Listening to a conversation about work between military guys can be like listening to a foreign language.  So thanks everyone who put up with all that!!

  My co-workers.  Well, most of them are military or civil service, or prior military or guard or reserve… you get the picture.  I have to Thank them because they are active duty or in the same boat as me.  So, thanks all you AD guys who are still "hackin' the Mish".  You're doing yourselves proud!

  My family, well, you were screwed all those years ago.  You had to deal with it… :)  But I do thank you for blazing the trail for me :)

  So there you go, I have to go out there and thank everyone I know for serving or putting up with my serving.

  This is gonna cost a fortune in Thank You cards… I'm buying stock in Hallmark!

lol, Thanks everybody, and stay frosty!

In defense of the ignorant (Mark Zuckerberg).

Most of you know that I very rarely defend the rights of idiots to be... well, idiotic.  The time has come for me, however, to try and put up a small defense of Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

Now please understand, I have fun laughing at this tool too.  He has done some amazingly stupid things lately, and I guess he still refuses to hire someone to polish his image a bit.  His latest fiasco with the iPhone has been pulled from his Facebook page (I wonder why?)

(For those of you unaware, he bought an iPhone this weekend and then posted that he had trouble with it, needed 4 chargers and a land line or some-such and got pretty soundly beaten up for being retarded.)

Lets look at his track record, lately...

- Facebook privacy issues.  Well, this was handled about as badly as anyone could have fumbled it.  He made Adrian Peterson and Eddie George look like great ball handlers.  How do you manage to blow something that big, and then continue to blow it day in/day out for so long?

- Interviews and sweatshirts with cryptic symbols.  I won't go into it, google it of you like.  Suffice to say that looking like a lost little child in front of your peers, pundits and the whole tech twitterazzi is a foolish idea.

- Posting on facebook that you're not quite as competent to manipulate an iPhone as the average...say... 8 year old.  Really dude?  Come on, you didn't really think that the whole world would see your post, have an epiphany and move back to the Palm Pre, did you?

In his defense, however I will say these two things...

1. He is 25 for god's sake.  He's also a multi-gozillionaire and CEO of a pretty heavy-hitter of a company.  At 25 most of us were burned out from college/military life and thinking about career choices.  This guy is thinking about which Bentley to drive today... the black or the yellow private jet... hmmm.  Young people are generally ignorant and have to learn by experience.  Mr. Zuckerberg is filling up his experience bag really fast and will be the better for it.


2. He wrote a massively useful and worthwhile web app (Face Book) and made it into a huge company.  Why do we all of a sudden think that this makes him a wise and thoughtful CEO and technology mover/shaker?  He is capable of making the same, or better,  stupid mistakes as anyone.  His problem is his dumb mistakes end up on CNN while ours end up on a few friends iPhones and other picture cams...  The guy has no experience in managing security postures and concerns for millions of people and made some bad decisions.  He is trying to fix them, lighten up, people.  Warren Buffet wasn't a brilliant investor at 25 (or was he, not sure, have to Wiki that one...), Bill Gates wasn't brilliant at 25... well, he was, but he made his (huge) share of mistakes too.

So let's all lighten up a bit on poor Mark.  He is getting thrashed just because he is successful.  But do remember, that he is laughing all the way to the bank, and he who dies with the biggest bank account wins.  Mark is winning...

Just when you think humans are all too evil...

You come across a story like this.

Forget the inner city vs suburban slant, this was a group of young ladies, coaches and fans that realize there is more to High School Sports than winning and losing, sometimes, it really is all about how you play the game!

I'm not going to drone on about it, read the article and you decide.  For me, I'll go to be a little more peaceful tonight!

We live in a world where Peyton Manning walks off the Super Bowl field without shaking anybody's hand. Where Tiger Woods leaves the Masters without a word of thanks to the fans or congratulations to the winner. Where NFL lineman Albert Haynesworth kicks a man's helmetless head without a thought.

So if you think sportsmanship is toast, this next story is an all-you-can-eat buffet to a starving man.

It happened at a junior varsity girls' softball game in Indianapolis this spring. After an inning and a half, Roncalli was womanhandling inner-city Marshall Community. Marshall pitchers had already walked nine Roncalli batters. The game could've been 50-0 with no problem.

Yes, a team that hadn't lost a game in 2½ years, a team that was going to win in a landslide purposely offered to declare defeat. Why? Because Roncalli wanted to spend the two hours teaching the Marshall girls how to get better, not how to get humiliated.

It's no wonder. This was the first softball game in Marshall history. A middle school trying to move up to include grades 6 through 12, Marshall showed up to the game with five balls, two bats, no helmets, no sliding pads, no cleats, 16 players who'd never played before, and a coach who'd never even seen a game.

One Marshall player asked, "Which one is first base?" Another: "How do I hold this bat?" They didn't know where to stand in the batter's box. Their coaches had to be shown where the first- and third-base coaching boxes were.

That's when Roncalli did something crazy. It offered to forfeit.

Yes, a team that hadn't lost a game in 2½ years, a team that was going to win in a landslide purposely offered to declare defeat. Why? Because Roncalli wanted to spend the two hours teaching the Marshall girls how to get better, not how to get humiliated.

"The Marshall players did NOT want to quit," wrote Roncalli JV coach Jeff Traylor, in recalling the incident. "They were willing to lose 100 to 0 if it meant they finished their first game." But the Marshall players finally decided if Roncalli was willing to forfeit for them, they should do it for themselves. They decided that maybe -- this one time -- losing was actually winning.

That's about when the weirdest scene broke out all over the field: Roncalli kids teaching Marshall kids the right batting stance, throwing them soft-toss in the outfield, teaching them how to play catch. They showed them how to put on catching gear, how to pitch, and how to run the bases. Even the umps stuck around to watch.

"One at a time the Marshall girls would come in to hit off of the [Roncalli] pitchers," Traylor recalled. "As they hit the ball their faces LIT UP! They were high fiving and hugging the girls from Roncalli, thanking them for teaching to them the game."

This is the kind of thing that can backfire with teenagers -- the rich kids taking pity on the inner-city kids kind of thing. Traylor was afraid of it, too.

"One wrong attitude, one babying approach from our players would shut down the Marshall team, who already were down," wrote Traylor. "But our girls made me as proud as I have ever been. ... [By the end], you could tell they were having a blast. The change from the beginning of the game to the end of the practice was amazing."

Roncalli wasn't done. Traylor asked all the parents of his players and anybody else he knew for more help for Marshall -- used bats, gloves, helmets, money for cleats, gloves, sliders, socks and team shirts. They came up with $2,500 and worked with Marshall on the best way to help the program with that money. Roncalli also connected Marshall with former Bishop Chatard coach Kim Wright, who will advise the program.

"We probably got to some things 10 years quicker than we would have had without Roncalli," says Marshall principal Michael Sullivan.

And that was just the appetizer. A rep from Reebok called Sullivan and said, "What do you need? We'll get it for you." A man who owns an indoor batting cage facility has offered free time in the winter. The Cincinnati Reds are donating good dirt for the new field Marshall will play on.

"This could've been a thing where our kids had too much pride," says Sullivan. "You know, 'I'm not going to listen to anybody.' But our kids are really thirsty to learn."

And they are. Marshall never won a game, but actually had leads in its last three games. In fact, it went so well, the players and their parents asked if they could extend the season, so they're looking to play AAU summer softball.

Just a thought: Major League Baseball is pulling hamstrings trying to figure out how to bring baseball back to the inner city. Maybe it should put the Roncalli and Marshall girls in charge?

Anyway, it's not an important story, just one that squirts apple juice right in your face. And who knows? Maybe someday, Marshall will be beating Roncalli in the final inning, realize how far it has come, and forfeit again, just as a thank you.

Rock on!

Here is the link to the ESPN Original Story...

Man's best friend...

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.  He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.  When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?''  This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered.. 'Wow! Would you happen to have some water?' the man asked.  'Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up.'  The man gestured, and the gate began to open.  'Can my friend,' gesturing toward his dog, 'come in, too?' the traveler asked.  'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'


The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog. After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.  As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.  'Excuse me!' he called to the man. 'Do you have any water?'  'Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in.' 'How about my friend here?' the traveler gestured to the dog. 'There should be a bowl by the pump.'  They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.  The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.

When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.  'What do you call this place?' the traveler asked.  'This is Heaven,' he answered. 'Well, that's confusing,' the traveler said. 'The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.' 'Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's Hell.'  'Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?' 'No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.'

Author unknown but I've been told that this story was presented in an episode of Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone".

The F-22, Sarah Palin, Gidget and Jon Stewart... oh my.

A mixed bag of news and views, if you will :)  In no particular order

First up, Jon Stewart is America’s most trusted anchorman.  At first I thought this would make my childhood hero, Walter Cronkite turn over in his (new) grave.  Then I realized that Walter just might agree.  All three of the other candidates for the title have an axe to grind, and a cause to proselytize.  What sets Stewart apart and far ahead, at least in my book... he’s honest about it.  He’s a comedian for god’s sake, he wants you to know he has an opinion.  The other top contenders...Brian Williams in number 2 with 29%, Charles Gibson with 19% and Katie Couric with 7%.  Jon Stewart got 44%.  I can understand Williams and Gibson, but the vapid piece of fluff got 7%?  Amazing. To see that Couric is even mentioned is doing her a favor.  She even fails at being window dressing.  Williams had a great run with Katrina and the Bush administration, it’s kinda easy to get headlines there, but now that there is substance to report, he’s not up to it.  Charlie Gibson?  I think he got his job because the Today show needed new blood, honestly, why is he an Anchor?  Carry on Jon, America needs you!

Looks like the old folksy charm might be wearing a little.  Sarah Palin may have dipped into the old legal trust fund a wee bit?  The jury is out, I guess, and this is a HuffPost story, so there is some bit of shrillness to it, but it could be.  I still stand by the fact that this broad is the WORST thing the republican ever did.  Until she is nothing more than a fund-raising puppet, I won’t be happy.  Oh, and if she decides to run as an independent, I say bless her little heart.  I still think she has been deluded into thinking she is a “somebody” in politics.  How sad...

Well, here it is.  There is no sugar coating for this... Gidget is dead :(  Yup, I still have my stuffed Taco Bell dog from the collection.  The batteries are dead, but it still sits proudly on my computer desk.  Why is this news, you say?  It isn’t.  It’s just an homage to cute little dog.  And what can you say bad about the company the company that gave us the dog, and the Spork!!

And last but not least... I see hope for the future.  I have been Obamatized :)  The senate of this country, while doing a bevy of amazingly stupid other things, managed to TURN OFF FUNDING FOR THE PIECE OF SHIT F-22.  Lets examine the Raptor-come-shitmonster’s record shall we? Oh wait?  You mean we have bought 178 of these over priced pieces of shit and they have NEVER flown a combat sortie?  But we’re at war, how can this be?  Ohhh, they have a few problems and aren’t quite combat ready yet.

But back to the Senate...  What a bunch of morons.  Lets see.  Secretary Gates didn’t want the F-22 funded.  The USAF didn’t want the F-22 funded.  The DoD didn’t want the F-22 funded.  Well, golly gosh, Mr. Wizard, why was there a funding bill on the floor of the US Senate?  Oh, could it be that corrupt pieces of crap like Chris Dodd and the New Mexico Delegation (Udall and Binginthehead) wanted to fund it some more and shove it down the throat of the USAF and up the arse of the American people...  Why yes!

Even the Air Force didnt want any more of these abortions.  They want the F-35 now.  Even the USAF realizes now that these planes are a solution in search of a problem.  They’re not combat effective or ready and they will NEVER face an enemy capable of testing them.  What amazes me the most, is that even when the DENSE heads that run the USAF figure this out, that our senators cannot.  Mr. Dodd, you are cordially invited to go screw yourself.

Apollo – The greatest generation’s greatest failure.

After basking in the glow of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing all weekend and especially Monday, I knew today would come and I dreaded it.  Why?  Because the Apollo program stands as a huge living testament to the greatest failure of the greatest generation.  Yes, I know, I am committing blasphemy, since the greatest generation is a sacred cow and not to be derided at any cost.  I’m sorry, but the failure stares us all in the face and you cannot shrink from it.  (Luckily, there is a faction that believes Apollo doesn’t belong solely to the greatest generation, so I may not go straight to hell... I might get the scenic route.)

Before I go any further, let me just say that I blame no one at all, nor do I mean any of this to paint anyone or anything with a derision.  What the men and women of NASA did will always stand as a phenomenal achievement.  To get to the moon and back, 6 times, with less computing power than my iphone or your average blackberry is amazing.  They did all this in 8 years, with slide rules and nothing more than an unflagging dedication to the truth.  After the events of Apollo 1 on the launch pad, the refocus and dedication to the cause was amazing.  The accomplishment alone stands the test of history as first among the great feats of mankind.  Bringing President Kennedy’s vision to fruition was a mighty endeavor, the kind only trusted to giants.

And all I can think is “Damn Kennedy’s speechwriter to hell!!”

Yep... you heard that right... damn him to hell, whoever he was. (metaphorically, of course, I really hope he has/had a great life with all he ever wanted.)  But with three little words he screwed over generations and set us on the path to not seeing space again for a very long time.

Three little words... “in this decade.”

Most people think that NASA sprang from the ground after Pres. Kennedy made his famous speech.  In reality, they had been going for a few years (since ‘58) and actually were working on things like the moon.  After all, the russkies had spanked us all over space and it was starting to hurt.  There were folks in NASA who were formulating plans to develop a low earth orbit station that could be manned.  (Defense guys loved this since those guys could have bombs to drop on them Russkies.)  From there, we would use disposable rockets and re-entry vehicles to get men and equipment to the station.  There, they would build a lunar spacecraft that would then make all kinds of round trips to the moon and back.  (Keep in mind that Dr. Robert Goddard wanted to go to Mars and not the moon, but he knew he couldn’t get funding for that...)

Then Pres. Kennedy makes his timely speech (May 25, 1961), a political one, to be sure, since the russkies were winning the space race.  Then he has the nerve to get himself killed.  Next thing you know Johnson is latching onto that desire for the moon and telling NASA to DO it.  Don’t think about it, DO IT.  (Remember, Johnson was an absolute space nut, moreso even than Kennedy.)

So instead of an orderly, paced and scientific methodology to get to the moon and back, and then the planets, we got Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.  Crash test programs designed to get us there “firstest with the mostest.”  Lest you think I blame our political leaders for it, I tell you that Werner von Braun had more to do with convincing Johnson (who then convinced Kennedy) than anyone else.

What we did next was a marvel.  From nothing at all, we built a rocketry/guidance/environmental/control and telemetry project that could, and did, take us all the way to the moon and back.  Average men and women moved mountains, thought the unthinkable and truly dreamed the impossible dream, made it a reality and we all basked in the glory of it all.

And then the luster faded.  The glory subsided.  We did what Kennedy wanted, didn’t we?  ANd what was all this getting us anyhow?  Some rocks from the moon.... whooopie.  After building the impossible, we did the unthinkable.  We terminated the program before it even finished.  NASA learned the age old axiom about being careful what you wish for...

And now what do we have?  An aging shuttle that is a poor substitute for a space program and an international space station whose heavy contributions to science are now things like seeing if the hair on mice are sensitive to weightlessness...

It makes a geek/nerd wanna cry.  I have a collection of Slide Rules, not because I know how to use them, mind you, but because I saw the guys at NASA (my heroes) use them to send guys to the moon.  I met Buzz Aldrin once and was moved to tears by his recount of the trip.

WHERE IS MY GENERATION’S APOLLO????  I wanna go to space damnit!  I want my jetpack and I wanna work at Spacely Sprockets!

Mercury, Gemini, Apollo...  They got us there, but like some other great projects, nobody thought enough about what we do when we make it.

Soon, the Shuttle will stop running.  They have to, they’re falling apart and cannot be maintained.  There is nothing waiting in the wings.  Without another massive effort we’re not going back to the moon for a long time.  Pres. Obama was very obvious on Monday that he is not going to put any more money into “A silly bunch of egghead crap”, no President before him has either.  Congress won’t fund them, there are no kickbacks in NASA funding bills.  We’ll see the Chinese flag, the Japanese flag and European flags on the moon long before the stars and stripes.

It’s not just the moon either.  We need to be looking into space, but we don’t have the sight, we lack vision.

Will someone please come forward, have a great vision for space and then get shot?

It seems like thats the only way...

P.S.  There is a great history article over at NASA that talks about how the decision was made for Apollo.  Very interesting reading and has some things that not alot of people know or realize. You can CLICK HERE TO GO TO IT

Walter Cronkite, Rest in Peace, Good Sir.

As I returned this evening from our local AAA baseball team’s game, I learned of the sad news.  Walter Cronkite has left us.  Mere hours before the most famous broadcast (IMHO) he ever made, covering Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon and his descent to the lunar surface.

I suppose it’s not right to say that we are worse for his passing, since it has been 28 years since he last anchored a nightly news show, but he wasn’t gone then.  Now he is.  He was a reporter and anchor at a time when the very fabric of trust in this nation was torn to shreds by Richard Nixon.  Cronkite was one of the few things you could believe.  Cut from the same cloth as Murrow, he was one you could trust.  He didn’t opine, unless he told you that he was doing so.  He gave you the news and let you decide.  Hey Fox, CNN, MSNBC... ever thought about that?

So, without going on and on, I’ll say this.  Farewell, good sir.  Thank you for always being the one I could believe in.

Journalism - Trade or Profession?

Cronkite and Morrow - Real News Men

Ok, here is a break from tradition.  Rather than drinking more wine than is necessary and waxing philosophic on a topic, I’m going to pose a question.  Let me apologize beforehand to any Journalists reading this... I do not mean to belittle, I pose an honest question that I do not know the full answer to.

(As an aside... I’m listening to the newly remastered Moody Blues Days of Future Passed CD. WOW!  Awesome treat to hear that in such clarity as I never have before!!)

We all know that print newspapers are dead, I think that is a given.  While it may be sad in a nostalgic way, it’s a necessary evil.  The world is conquered by “them internets” and the day of the conglomerated news room with 12 hour lead times and print deadlines is soooo 1999.

But even before the death of print, we had CNN and MSNBC (and FoxNews... Bwaaahahahah) website news sources.  A quick perusal of any of these websites, or USAToday in print or virtually any news source is terribly revealing to me.

The Journalists who work for these organizations are not very good.  They do not write very inviting stories.  For most of the stories I get more from the bullet point headers on top of the story than from actually reading their story.   Now, as a caveat, I have been known to butcher the English language, but I also do not claim to be a professional.  When I find grammatical and spelling errors in a CNN online story, I worry.

I suppose that the mass marketing of all news these days is partly to blame.  How can CNN/MSNBC/Fox hope to compete with Twitter and Facebook?  Take into account the political leanings of the major rags and you have what is a very unreliable news machine in the country.

In England, Journalism is a trade.  You get on board with a company, you’re mentored and sooner or later you become a reporter.  With the exception of the labor/conservative rags, you have a decent amount of unabashed, if uninspired reporting over there.

Over here, we have treated Journalists as... well, the 4th estate for a long time.  But really, has the craft deteriorated lately or has it ever really been a profession?  We all know that the press is a VITAL part of keeping our Republic free and democratic.  Without the watchdogs in the press, we are lost.  When they become lapdogs to various concerns (*cough*Fox*cough*), we are just as lost.

Tonight I had occasion to watch the nightly news.  There was a blonde bimbo anchoring one of the major news shows and I was AMAZED at how ineffectual she was.  Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite and heaven forbid, Edwin R. Morrow would be sickened by the hodge-podge of crap that was spewed by this so-called news-room.  It was obvious to me that neither the anchor nor anyone responsible for the content of the show had any journalistic training.  It was more of a variety  show with captions and interviews.

But really, beyond that.  Look at where we are today?  There are literally hundreds of websites devoted to specific news about specific items that appeal to a specific audience.  If you are into 1 handed underwater lacrosse players, there is a web site with news, highlights and the latest scandals for you.  You certainly won’t find anything on Sports Illustrated though...

So, as the print generation of news gathering / reporting dies it’s natural death, are we letting Journalism die with it?  As individuals (i.e. Twitter and Digg.com) take over the news reporting, wither then the reporters?  Granted, the person who blogs/twitters about the things they care about are probably going to be more responsive and current on things within their spheres of interest.  For instance, if I want news about the gaming world, I will go to websites that I know and trust for their coverage on these things.  I will not search CNN.com for news relating to gaming.

But more and more, I also don’t go there for news about anything.  I just don’t trust their reporting style anymore.

So, I sit and wonder...  Were Woodward and Bernstein really great professionals or just good tradesmen who followed a story and wrote about it?  They certainly precipitated a change in governance and doggedly followed the truth, but honestly, did they do something beyond what any other two people could have done?  Quite literally, if 2 other educated, dogged people had gotten that story (in today’s era)  wouldn’t they be capable of doing the same thing?

It makes me wonder, as society embraces the 5 minute news cycle versus the 24 hour cycle, have we lost Journalism as a profession in favor of the rank and file amateurs?

And is it a bad thing if we have?

And then the commenting started...

Paul Parker

First, I have to point out that your given is mistaken. Printed newspapers aren't dead, nor do I think they will ever die, at least not because of the Internet. Three major technological advances in the past threatened newspapers: the telegraph, radio and television. All three altered printed newspapers; none killed them. The Internet is no different because printed newspapers retain the same fundamental advantages over the Internet as over the others, not the least of which is that you can read a newspaper without batteries. Most importantly, though, is an economic advantage: newspaper advertising is the most permanent and persistent of all mass media. Advertisers know we close popup windows as fast as we can. And have you ever tried to remember the 800 number from a radio or TV ad? But newspaper ads can be clipped. They sit on the back of the toilet to be discovered even after you passed them by initially. When something really matters (like their kid scoring the winning goal or the first black man being elected president) people -- of all ages -- want the newspaper to commemorate the event.

You are right that the recent wounding of newspapers has wounded journalism as a whole because newspapers are the font of all quality journalism. Get any radio or TV reporter in a candid mood and they will confirm this. Their days generally start with an assignment director handing out a stack of clips from the newspaper. This is part because the nature of newspapers allows newspaper reporters to be more in-depth and thorough than their colleagues in other media, which promotes greater development of journalistic talent. It is also partly economic. Because of the lopsided advantage newspapers have as an advertising medium, they have long had huge staffs compared to other media. This allows more time to be devoted to reporting of a broader range of subjects. It also allows reporters to become experts in subject matter. So, as newspapers are suffering, all of journalism suffers.

As to your main question, all newspaper reporters know that journalism is neither a trade nor a profession. It is a craft, a skilled activity. People started misapplying the word profession to journalism after Watergate, when thousands of college grads flooded into the business. In the 1960s, college grads were rare in newsrooms. Today, everyone who's been there less than 40 years has a degree. Strictly speaking, a profession is an occupation that is licensed by the government or sanctioned by a private organization. With the First Amendment, neither of those is workable for journalism.

I leave you with Thomas Jefferson, who, most don't know, was no fan of newspapers:

"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

Saturday, May 9, 2009 - 08:14 AM

Bill

Paul,

I had hoped you would jump in here, seeing as this has to be near and dear to your heart.

I do however question your assertion that print is not dead.  As you point out, the economic advantage that saw the newspapers through all the previous conflict was in advertising.  In this age of new media, I do not see the revenue stream continuing, and in fact, I see it not just declining, but reeling.  Many of the major papers are reporting huge deficits in advertising revenue and I do not see the future helping that.  Craigslist and e-bay have decimated the classified ad sections and I see more and more major players disdaining the print media for other venues.  Even Variety in California has seen several major movie releases snub the traditional full page ad on the pre-release day.  Not a game-breaker, but an indication that some very major PR firms don’t feel it necessary anymore, not when a quick clip on Google or YouTube will generate 50 times the response for 1/50th the cost...

I do not think this is a good thing.  I for one, prefer news from someone, like yourself, who becomes a subject matter expert when the need arises.  I trust in the fact that you and your brethren, classically trained, actually work to tell a story and provide a picture of the news of the day, something I know I do not get from the internet specialty sites.

Alas, what I cannot see is how the print newspapers will serve the growing, voracious appetite of the microwave generations who must be spoon fed their information in small doses lest they lose interest and move on.  The current, reigning rule of thumb for web page design is that you have 5 seconds to provide the answer or link thereto your site viewer before they move on.  This generation that is being born today with cell phones in hand and access to the richest, content-filled internet will not wait 12 hours for a printed paper to arrive at the doorstep/newstand.

Hopefully, real journalists will start to move to the electronic section of the business and long standing institutions (NY Times comes to mind) will re-address their online editions pricing and delivery strategies to move into where the market is going.  I still believe that people recognize quality and when they are offered it at the same speed and ease as the schlock that exists now, they will choose Journalists over hacks (myself included in the latter!).

Another 2/100ths of a dollar! :)

Sunday, May 10, 2009 - 04:10 AM

Mike

Bill,

Your comment about "In England, Journalism is a trade" to me appears to be off the make, I watch the talking heads every morning and evening.  If they are in "The Trade Craft of Journalism" I for one feel they are failing miserably.

They talk of nothing but fluff, God forbid that the talking heads would actually dispense hard actual news...............

At least the printed press is not dead here. Page three pictures keep them profitable.........  Thank God for that.  Then again there is little actual news between the front page and the daily picture of some quite lovely lady.......

Saturday, July 18, 2009 - 06:33 AM

15 Days and Counting...

George “Adolph” Bush

U.S. Dictator

2000-2008

As adept as his namesake in making people forget he was either evil or stupid, Bush advanced a 21st century version of fascism that remains with us to this day.
Future wikipedia entry.

We made it...  Only a shade over a fortnight to go and we’re free.   Yes, I said Free.  I meant it too.  I am somewhat convinced that for the last 4 years we have been in a dictatorship.  Oh sure, we had elections and the Senate met and the House debated, but they damn sure didn’t do much to stop him.

Problem with democrats - no balls.  And I don’t just poke fun at Pelosi... She quite possibly has a bigger set than Reid.  Now really guys, how hard, with all the lies and the demonstrated contempt for the constitution, would it have been to tie this asswipe up in impeachment proceedings for 2 years?  I know Reid wouldn’t touch that with a 10’ pole, but for NOBODY to do it?  Eeegads.

So we let this Fascist issue executive orders that abrogated and in some cases, violated the constitution and USC with impunity.  We let him suspend habeas corpus at will and get away with it.  I’m all for prosecuting terrorists, don’t get me wrong, but lets at least prove, or try to prove, or have a SHRED of evidence that they might have done something wrong?  I really don’t like the idea “rounding up the usual suspects” and throwing them into Gitmo.  I may just be one of those “usual suspects” one day, and i’d like my rights intact please.  This ignorant bastard has set precedences now that may actually tie up the courts for ages.

Anyone recall the Patriot Act?  For the love of god, doesn’t ANYONE remember National Socialist Germany in the 1930’s?  They had laws just like that, you know, just to make sure we didn’t let any JEWS have any rights.  This time we just re-wrote them and stuffed “Islamic” in the place of “Juden”.   Wanna have some fun?  Send and e-mail that has the following words... P.RES.I.DE.NT, Moto.rc.ade and B0m-b. in it.  Yes, you’re little e-mail will make it all the way to Langley, Virginia where some overworked analyst will look at it to see if it constitutes a real threat to the Presidential motorcade.  All without any effort on the part of local police, the FBI or the CIA.  That’s right, you have no say in the matter, because your e-mails are not private anymore.  Nor are your cell phone calls in certain areas.  Feel good? I hope so.

So, is the new administration going to set things right?  I hope so, but it will be a long process.  You see, the Shrub set up a pretty neat process in place to make sure this control doesn’t go away.  It strikes to the core of our being and some of our basic political policies.

Problem with Republicans - All balls, too little brains...

See, if you take any of these draconian measures and put them on trial, you’re just not patriotic and probably in league with the terrorists.  Remember, these things protected for the last 5-7 years from any more attacks, and if you start messing with them, you’re doomed.  Everyone knows we’re destined for more attacks at some point, and if any of the Patriot Act or other executive orders have been backed off, well, that will be what did it.  (Remember, everyone, no matter how god-like and noble, has to get re-elected.)

So, in a very neat package, Cheney and other horsemen of the Apocalypse  have pretty much guaranteed we’re stuck with this bullshit for a long time to come.  The FISA courts will be busy and Gitmo will be a busy place for ages (Well, the location might change for PR purposes, but someplace like it will be hopping.)

Dipshit says he will accept the judgement of history.  All the losers say that.  The only reason they say that is because they cannot point to anything they did that they can stand on, morally and righteously, and say “I did this for my country”.  As hard as I try, I cannot think of anything that might vindicate this asshole from the judgement as a liar and murderer.  You went to war, knowing you were doing it for your own jollies and to serve your own misbegotten sense of purpose.  Against the advice and judgement of others, you sent our military into another viet-nam.  I say screw history, why not accept the judgement of a jury of your peers, after being found guilty of lying to the American people, taking the country to war on false pretenses, sending troops to die in foreign soil for no reason and forgetting who the real terrorist bad-guy was.

The problem in Germany in the 1930’s was nobody stood up and said this was wrong.  Our problem is we took 5 years to realize it, and then three years of twaddling before we did anything, and in our system, how much can we really fix?

Barry Goldwater, where are you?

Barry Morris Goldwater

(January 1, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. He was also a Major General in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was frequently referred to as "Mr. Conservative" in numerous media articles.

Or... How I became a democrat without changing parties...

I mean it, Barry, what happened to our party?  I know you’re spinning in your grave as we speak, and I for one, would like to apologize.  You see, I’m a republican.  Well, not really, anymore.  I’m a fiscal conservative, small government, less entitlement, social moderate.  That USED to be a republican, but guess what, now it’s a moderate democrat.  See?  I changed parties and never went down to update my voter ID card.

I really did like being a republican, the Reagan years were a heady time for me.  The problem is, Ron started something kinda bad for the party.  This year, 2008, the slippery slope that he started down has reached the bottom, and poor old McCain is paying the price for it.  I kinda feel bad for him, he could have been a republican, but he had (or felt he had) to sell out and hire the likes of Sarah Palin.

Yep, Reagan started the courting of the religious fringe of the right wing republican party and since that time, no serious republican has been able to move without giving in more and more to the fringe.  No talent hacks like our current presi-dictator have relied on the cash cow that is the religious right and gotten elected.  More and more they pander to the likes of Pat Robertson and James Dobson and more and more the Republican Party loses it’s esteem and history.  And yes, I’m to blame, it’s my fault.  I didn’t see the handwriting on the wall and I didn’t stand up for the Republican values that were established with the party.  So now, I’m a democrat and lumped in with all the rest.

With the current president, I find myself embarrassed to say I’m a republican.  I staunchly maintain that I am a conservative.   I have searched my mind and history to find something, anything he might have done that was either worthy of the title Republican or at least, conservative.  Try as I might, I fail.  This jackass has destroyed my party and taken down a pretty decent guy like John McCain with him.  Poor John was a moderate conservative and his own party, my party, disowned him.  These fucking neo-cons tried to tear down a guy that had more in common with republican values than any of them ever  has ever known.  He was forced to pick the mouthpiece of the Religious fringe wackos as a running mate to solidify a base of foaming, power-hungry mongrels who think that the Ten Commandments are in the Bill of Rights.

NEWSFLASH - ATTENTION NEOCONS - Hey assholes - if you want a theocracy, move to fucking Iran, they have it there, and how is it working??

Don’t Romney, Paul and Huckabee look good now?

Come Tuesday, who knows.  I may just vote for McCain, knowing that I’m in the fringe 33% of the people who will do the same.  Barack Obama is the next President of the United States, get over it, NeoCons.  You built this debacle, and now you get to stew in it for at LEAST 4 years.  And dear god I hope you roast, I hope you burn in the very fires of hell that you try to scare the shit out of everyone with.  You pathetic fucktards deserve nothing less for destroying my party and taking away from me my right to vote for a republican.  Obama will tear down every pillar that you have built in the last 8 years and laugh at you while he does it.

Well, Mr. Duncan and Ms. Davidson, you brought this all down on your heads, and for the love of god, RESIGN!  Leave the leadership of the Republican Party to republicans.  Do you think it was odd that a JUNIOR senator from Illinois could spank the living shit out of you?  Does it bother you that Joe Biden, the doormat of the Senate is going to be bitch slapping you around the beltway?  Do you honestly think that this country SUDDENLY all decided to vote democrat?  No piss-brains, when you traded conservatism for cash, you did this.  You screwed us all and I’m going to do more than withhold my RNC dues.  I’m going to actively campaign to make sure you and your ilk are turned out from the leadership of MY party.  I’m going to find every way I can to make you look like the stupid whores that you are.  Don’t think for a moment that this loss is John McCain’s fault.  It’s yours you fascist fucktards, you and everyone else who thinks like you.

Yep, my party may have left me, and I was floundering there for a while, but guess what.

DAMNIT, I’M A FREAKING REPUBLICAN!!!!!!!!

I’m going to take this damned party back from you, you pathetic excuses for conservatives.

So NO, I’m not a moderate democrat anymore, I’m a damned republican.  I’m tired of hanging my head in shame, looking back at the “good old days”.  I may not vote like it this time, but I swear to you I’ll get this party back.  I may live in the backwater bullshit state of New Mexico, but this is your notice, NeoCons, Bush apologists and all you freaked out fanatics of the right wing...

Republicans are coming, and hell’s coming with us!!

My friend Tony provided a counter-rant... or a support-o-rant, you decide...

Tony

NEWSFLASH - Goldwater's granddaughter is supporting Obama.  She also says that if her grandfather were alive he would vote for Obama as well.

Barry Goldwater?  The man accused the National Education Association of being a communist front.

As much as I found most of John McCain's politics reprehensible, at least he seemed to be an honest man.  That man disappeared after 2000.  No one forced him to suck up to the Christian right.  Do you remember Bill Keating and the Savings and Loan scandal?  Right in the middle of it all, there was John McCain's ass hanging in the breeze.

Small government?
The Wall Street debacle (prior to the bail out) - small government.
Privatization of intelligence and the military - small government.
Over 40 million people with no health insurance - small government.
Predatory lending practices and sub-prime mortgages - small government.
And last but not least, that giant, bloated, festering, Sun blotched elephant in the middle of the room, the defense budget - small government?

Less entitlements?  Christ, that empty-piñata-of-in-issue has been dangled for decades.  "Hey look?  I just found 10 people manipulating the welfare system.  Therefore a thousand others must be manipulating it too and the whole system is bad."  The federal poverty level for individuals (one eligibility requirement for entitlement) is around $15,000 a year.  Try living on that.  I don't know what the poverty level for families is.  However, while you're looking that up, look up the demographics of the primary recipients of welfare.  Hell, if you look at presidential records on welfare gutting in the last 20 years, Clinton is on the top of that list.  Unless, of course, by entitlements you are including corporate welfare in which case both parties have been breast-feeding that for long as I can remember.

Speaking of neocons and theocracies, if you haven't already you should read the book Blackwater.  Jeremy Scahill interviews countless old-money Christian fundamentalists in positions of high influence.  They are quoted as saying that they're especially qualified to counter Islamic fundamentalists because they understand how the mind of a zealot works.  Of all the depressingly disturbing things Scahill wrote about, that rings in my head as one of the worst.

I truly do look forward to you taking on the Christian right.  I'll even help.  Of course, once the subject of religious faith comes up, EVERYONE gets scrutinized. But hey, I don't mind being on the hot seat if you don't.

Anyway, Joe Biden is the MasterCard Senator.  Everyone seems to have forgotten that he was instrumental in gutting the bankruptcy laws during Bush's first term.  Everyone except those with catastrophic medical bills they can't pay or whose homes are being auctioned off as we speak.  As far as Wall Street goes, lest we forget that Obama has obliterated campaign fund-raising records, much of which Wall Street bankrolled.

Even if Barak Obama was willing to make the very hard choices necessary to fix the economy, deal with global warming, and put out the fire that we've lit in the Middle East, neither party would back him: "that would be political suicide."

Now how's that for a rant?

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 - 10:55 PM

Print is dead!

Dr. Egon Spengler... a modern prophet.  (For the, hopefully, few of you who do not know the works of Dr. Spengler - go here)

Print is officially dead, long live the electron!  I just celebrated my 24th anniversary, and my wife got me a Kindle for a gift.  Wow!!!  I have had many a cool gadget in my day, it’s kind of my schtick, but this is the coolest of them all (until the iPhone 2.0).  But beyond being cool, I think this is the beginning of something big.

Now, I have had many e-book readers in the past, and all of them have sucked ass in one way or another.  The Kindle??  definitely does not suck ass!  While this bit of prose will be a semi-review of the Kindle, keep in mind that I am also talking about the future here, and it may not be the Kindle itself that drives the nail in the coffin of the printing presses.  But the coffin is closing, and things like the Kindle are doing it.

I toyed around with the Sony E-book reader a while, at the Borders store in town and I found it to be cumbersome, fuzzy and generally a joke.  Coupled with the paltry selection of books they have and it’s a dead product.  (And that is not just my pure hatred of Sony coming through, they can’t give them things away.)  I also used every version of my PDA with MS-Reader installed.  Too small for most books.

Well, in walks the Kindle, with it’s gorgeous screen, luscious lines and smoooooth buttons. (Ok the buttons aren’t smooth, but that line was getting kind sexy, no?)  It looks at you, with those little “read me” eyes and says - “I’ll even play your MP3s while you read, baby”.  Face it, you’re doing the reading rumba with this thing before you know it.  Best part is... in the morning, it’s still there, ready for the newspaper and a good comedy.

Truly, the screen on this thing is better than white paper.  It has just the right contrast for me, and the print font is perfect.  Of course, the font is scalable, so you can have teensy print or really big print, your choice.  It does everything a book will do an alot more.  You can dog-ear pages, annotate passages and even look up the really big words in the built in dictionary.

Truly, this thing is a wonder.  But beyond that, I think it is ushering in a new era.  Imagine if you will, an 8th grader on the first day of school.  Rather than getting a ton of books to lug around all year, he gets his Kindle (or similar) device with all the years books already loaded on it.  And not the old books that alot of our school systems are struggling along with, revised updated editions.  All the handouts that teachers would give out are now just uploaded to the classes Kindle’s and assignments are handed in the same way.  Even better, spin this up to the same kid in college.  Same device, just has to get the book(s) for each class uploaded at the beginning of the semester.  The cost savings to the school system are immense, as it is to the publishers and teachers.

Obviously, this is a few years down the road, but even now, I get the New York Times delivered to my Kindle every night, ready to read in the morning.  Time Magazine, same deal.  More are coming all the time.  Granted, Amazon is making money with the Kindle now, selling books and their selection is a tad bit limited.  But I have gone to a bunch of sites that offer many books free, all the great classics are totally free.

While I will not say that the Kindle or it’s progeny will kill print media, a device like it will.  A full blown laptop PC (Macbook Air?) with this screen, in this format is coming soon, and you will see it take the world like the iPod did.  Mark my words.

As to reviewing the Kindle itself, I have a hard time doing it fairly.  The thing is just about perfect.  I’m not sure if I am just so enamored with it, or if it is really this good.  I have thirty books on it right now, and I am finding myself staying up WAY too late reading.  What a joy that is!  The controls are intuitive and VERY easy to use, the management of the device is made incredibly easy by Amazon.  Maybe in a future blog I’ll have some things to say against it, but for now, I can’t give it up.

If you decide to get one, please use my store link to get it so I can buy some good books :)

The State of the Music Industry?? Kiss my Arse

Why do stupid but famous people get to talk to the press??  It’s a damn shame, because alot of the time, their opinions are not just wrong, they’re fucking stupid.  Take for example this excerpt from Gene Simmons of KISS.

The music industry is suffering, and it's all because of those darn fans. Er, what? It turns out that KISS member Gene Simmons believes exactly that. He claims that piracy is to blame for the industry's woes, and KISS is apparently taking its ball and going home until the situation gets under control.


"The record industry is dead. It's six feet underground and unfortunately the fans have done this," Simmons said, according to AOL News. "They've decided to download and file share. There is no record industry around so we're going to wait until everybody settles down and becomes civilized. As soon as the record industry pops its head up we'll record new material."


Wow, KISS isn’t going to release anything until this is settled. THANK YOU, GOD!

Mr Simmons, let me help you get your bearings here...

1 - You’re a no talent hack who is famous because of a costume and a brilliant marketing campaign, not the soul searching depth of your musical talent.  After all, you cannot exactly tell me that “Lick it up”, “Detroit rock city”, “Shout it out loud” and “Calling Doctor Love” are staples of the musical library of this or any generation.  Don’t threaten me with something I’ve been hoping for and think it matters...

2 - Piracy to blame for the music industry, get real, old man.  The only reason the music “Industry” is dying is because it HAS to.  It’s an industry mired in the past and cannot seem to figure out that the world has changed a wee bit since Duane Eddy was recording.  The RIAA had alot of chances to make things right, but they clung to the OLD business model.

3 - Your rant about suing every college kid in the world is priceless.  It just really points to how out of touch you and the RIAA are.  You just cannot conceive of the world where the record industry does not own every method and manner of expression in the world.  Wake up, put down the cocaine you can barely afford anymore and join us in the 21st century.

4 - Face it, music is online, now and for ever.  You shouldn’t worry too much about KISS music being stolen, nobody wants it that bad.  But music is going to be stolen as long as it is being overcharged for.  Until you give up your old sales paradigm (album centric) and move to 2008 (song centric) methodology, you’re going to keep losing.  Today’s buyers are not going to buy a CD with 14 songs they don’t want to get the one that they do.  Face it, iTunes and Amazon music will continue to kill you and your kind.

Gene, it’s not the fans, and it’s not a British band that is killing the music industry.  Face it, it’s the RIAA itself that is eating it’s own tail, has been for years and is no digesting it’s own head.  It’s time for it to die.  It’s time to get some people in the industry that can understand where the music has to go.

This one got a great comment that I just loved... brought tears to my eyes...

jack

Whomever...wrote this...against Gene Simmons....you are a no good cock sucking mother fucker...you are not a musician. and you...never will be...and if your job was mowing lawns..and someone came and took your lawns away from you would be pissed off wouldnt you?....

the whole entire music industry has been leveled by interenet jackoffs and limewire type programs.. music artist suffer greatly to people like you and your sheer ignorance.. cds dont sound as good as vinyl anyway....people are getting shortchanged from hell there to...before you write anything else on the interenet...get a reality check ....

Saturday, May 2, 2009 - 01:24 PM

Myself

Wow, thank you for that.  it's cutting, insightful and well... honest.  I like it.
In my own defence, I don't purport to be a musician.  The only thing I can play is a CD.
Really though... vinyl?  Please.
The industry is being killed by it's own ineptitude.  Artists will remain artists until there is no more planet to live on, but the industry that they are being abused by and unwittingly supporting is in it's death throes and thank god for that.  As long as the RIAA controls the marketing and accounting for the recording industry, nobody but the lawyers win.  Not artists, not consumers, nobody!
And lastly, I'll have you know that my music library contains only songs that I own.  I do not pirate anything.  so :p

Friday, May 8, 2009 - 11:52 PM

Bill Castello

Hey Jack...  Did you see, KISS released an album, so piracy must be dead...  Or Gene Simmons is a lying piece of no-talent shit...  Hmmm, which could it be?

Thursday, October 29, 2009 - 07:43 PM

Tim Russert, too young to go!

Wow, Tim Russert.  All those years of “meet the press”.

I’m truly at a loss, as I’m sure his friends, family and colleagues are.  A real journalist, reporter and a true example of the 4th estate.

As some of you know, I don’t hold many members of the press these days in high esteem.  I have a bad habit of holding them up to the light of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, to which they pale greatly.  Mr. Russert didn’t.  He knew when to ask the hard questions, when to back off a bit and he moderated Meet the Press with alot of style over the years.  Anyone who can do that is pretty damn talented.

Godspeed to you, and blessings and prayers to your family, friends and colleagues.

Some snippets from around the web...

Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown ordered that all flags on city property be lowered immediately to half-staff in Russert's honor.

Russert was born May 7, 1950, in Buffalo, New York. His parents were Timothy John Russert Sr., or "Big Russ," a newspaper truck driver and sanitation worker, and Elizabeth Russert.

Before joining NBC, Russert served as press secretary for former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and as chief of staff to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

During his 17-year run as the host of "Meet the Press," the longest of any host in the show's 60-year history, Russert earned the respect and admiration of many journalists and politicians.

He was also the recipient of numerous awards for his work, including an Emmy in 2005 for his coverage of the funeral of President Ronald Reagan.

"I just loved the guy. He had this enthusiasm about all of the things that life brings to you," said James Carville, who often attended Washington National games with Russert. "My wife and I are in a complete state of utter shock."

D + 23360, God Bless the Vets!

It has been 64 years since thousands upon thousand of American, British and Canadian soldiers stormed ashore, or jumped from aircraft to begin the liberation of Europe from Fascist domination.  (Oh, where are they now, when we need them here...)  Casualties for the campaign on both sides were high;

• Germany 30,000 killed, 80,000 wounded, 210,000 missing


• USA 29,000 killed, 106,000 wounded/missing


• UK 11,000 killed, 54,000 wounded/missing


• Canada 5,000 killed, 13,000 missing/wounded

Of course, Eisenhower led the whole thing, got 5 stars, headed NATO and was elected president.  Not bad for a lifetime.  Check out this quote...

On January 17, 1961, Eisenhower gave his final televised Address to the Nation from the Oval Office.  In his farewell speech to the nation, Eisenhower raised the issue of the Cold War and role of the U.S. armed forces. He described the Cold War saying: "We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method..." and warned about what he saw as unjustified government spending proposals and continued with a warning that "we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex... Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

Do you think he saw the Bush administration coming?

Are you smarter than a 5th Grader?

Wow.  Every now and then I catch this show on TV.  It amazes me.  Last night a Magna Cum Laude school teacher didn’t know that the Danube river was on the continent of Europe.

O M F G

Is all I can really say.  Are people today really that ignorant?  Have the cell phone owning, texting generation really taken over the schools?  Are kids really being taught like this?  I could understand if they were getting all the contestants from Mississippi and New Mexico, but they're not.  This girl was a MAGNA CUM LAUDE graduate of her college and had trouble with every question, real toughies like “how many centimeters are in 3.5 meters?”  I do not blame her for her ignorance, mind you.  It was her wedding day and she just may have had other things on her mind, like her tats showing, both ankle and back.  Yep, her tramp stamps were in full view.  And get this, her husband was ALSO a teacher and didn’t know the meter/centimeter question.  How cool is that?

Did you know they have NEVER given away the grand prize on that show?  The $1 Million prize, for answering 11 5th grade questions has NEVER been given away!!!  How brilliant are that show’s producers?  God bless ‘em!  11 questions, 1 million bucks! WOW.

Am I saying I could do it?  NOPE!  I got one wrong yesterday (Who invented Penicillin?  I forgot about Fleming and for some odd reason thought it was Jonas Salk?)  I bet I would have looked funny standing there all smug and been called wrong...

Is the show a dumbed down Jeopardy?... you bet it is.  It’s Jeopardy for the text message crowd.  The ones too ignorant to know better and too stupid to do anything about it.  I have never minded ignorance, but when you are and you know it, and do nothing, you cross the line into the realm of the stupid... and then I despise you.

Here is some fun... a quick quiz for you 5th grade graduates out there... be honest, how did you do?  And then there is the Salina, Kansas 8th grade test hoax that I post here. That really is not an 8th grade test, it is a test developed for the teachers to make sure they knew what they were doing.  Just as the internet seems to screw everything around, this is no different.  For years this has circulated trying to make us all feel dumb.

All I can say is I thank god I was educated when and where I was.  A reason I love living in New Mexico is the feeling of superiority I get when I walk around...  after all, we’re 50th in education, and it pervades every part of our existence here.

Blu-Ray - Part deux

I know most people hate my Blu-ray ranting... but I cannot help it.

Golly gosh, guess what, without competition, blu-ray prices have gone up???  Who would have thunk it?

Unfortunately you would hope that with Sony being able to sell more Blu-Ray players, they could up production and lower price points for consumers. But unfortunately for us, Sony would rather gouge it's customers... They have been doing it for decades, so why not now?  Especially seeing that Sony gets licensing fees from studios on every title sold and not to mention that they are themselves a major movie studio.

Analysts says consumers did not end format war.

“As we poked and prodded through the ups and downs of the format war, we noticed a recurring theme -- HD DVD seemed to have things going in its favor on more than one occasion. Consumers adored the low priced hardware, studios were coming on board and Sony's PlayStation 3 (along with all the other Blu-ray players) was priced extraordinarily high. Not to mention Sony's absolutely awful track record with formats. In a recent interview with ABI Principal Analyst Steve Wilson, BetaNews found that he believed that the outcome of the format war wouldn't necessarily benefit the consumer. Besides being more expensive and less developed, some Blu-ray players have had quite the time performing as advertised. According to ABI, "it wasn't customers' likes or dislikes that powered the fatal blow in the format war, it was Warner Bros.' decision to switch allegiance to Blu-ray, along with subsequent moves to dump HD DVD by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Netflix and Blockbuster." Frankly, we can't argue with that one iota.” - Quoted from EngadgetHD

For me? I'll  be sticking with plain old DVD. As much as we all like the way Blu-Ray titles look, the  cost of the players and not to mention the stupid costs for media compared to DVD is just way too high.  The early adopters, in this case, are going to get royally screwed by a company (Sony) that just got raped by Micro$oft and they’re looking to make you their prison bitch!

Rethinking AIDS in Africa - mind blowing....

Wow, I like this lady alot.  She really makes you think about things in a new way!  By looking at AIDs from an economic standpoint and re-examining the assumptions made already, she really turns the epidemic upside down.  Her points were validated when the UNAIDS foundation revised it’s estimates of the number of world-wide AIDs patients way down.  But like she says, growth of the epidemic is still way up.  I love how she addresses policy issues, without trying to say who should do what, she just says we need to think again... long and hard, about how we need to fight this scourge.

Here is a link to her talk at TED... it’s a VERY good watch.

TED | Talks | Emily Oster: What do we really know about the spread of AIDS? (video)

And here is some links to her other works;

TED | Speakers | Emily Oster

Check this out, you won’t be disappointed.  (Well, maybe you will if you think we should just ignore AIDs.)

President's Day

It’s Presidents’ Day, a holiday which itself has a weird and winding history. In honor of all of the U.S. Presidents who have graced the White House and fearlessly led our country, here (in no particular order) is a list of 10 of the weirdest things you (probably) never knew about some of our Commanders-In-Chief.

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt (President #32) was related in some way to 11 former U.S. Presidents.

2. James Garfield, the 20th president, was a professor of ancient languages; he was also ambidextrous. He is said to have been able to write in Latin with one hand while writing in Greek with the other.

3. John Tyler, the 10th president, fathered an impressive 15 children. He was in his 70s when the 15th child was born.

4. The tall stovepipe hat that Abraham Lincoln (President #16) is usually depicted wearing was, in fact, a useful wardrobe device. He stored important papers inside of it.

5. Our 17th President, Andrew Johnson, was born poor and could not read until the age of 17, when he met his future wife and she tutored him in reading, public speaking, and mathematics. He was later very nearly lynched in Virginia and forced to flee his home in Tennessee when he opposed the South’s secession from the Union.

6. The 22nd and 24th president, Grover Cleveland, was drafted in the Civil War but paid a substitute $150 to take his place so he could stay behind to care for his mother and sisters. Cleveland wasn’t widely criticized for this move: the Conscription Act of 1863 expressly permitted such a substitution.

7. Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president, was reported to be a very interesting character. When not having his head massaged with Vaseline during breakfasts in bed or riding his own mechanical bull, he was ringing the White House doorbell and then running off to hide.

8. So far, all American presidents have claimed ancestry limited to one or more of just seven nationalities: Dutch, English, German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss, and Welsh.

9. Grover Cleveland was the only president to openly admit that he had fathered an illegitimate child. When the allegations came out during his presidential campaign, he instructed his staff to tell the truth about the child. In reality, it was never determined whether Cleveland was the child’s real father; he paid child support because he was the only single man among the mother’s suitors.

Farewell, Roy Scheider

Well, it was a day of mixed emotion.  Odd, I guess.  One of my personal favorite actors, Roy Scheider passed away Sunday afternoon.  He may not seem like a hollywood notable to many, but I was always impressed by him.  When I was younger, probably 12-13 I saw him at the Godspeed Opera house in a production of “Richard III” and he was really good.  He then, of course, went on to do other things, all with reasonable success.  I have to say, I really enjoyed 2010 with him as the lead.   Anyhow, all my best to his family in this sad time for them.

Roy Scheider, Actor in ‘Jaws,’ Dies at 75 - New York Times

Happy Winter-een-mas!!!!

HAPPY WINTER-EEN-MAS to one and all, and to all a good week!

It’s that week of the year again, the geek holiday, the gamers week. All you who play Guitar Hero, BioShock, HALO 3 or whatever can revel this week, knowing that this is YOUR week to lose time, money, friends or whatever!

For the few (I hope) of you that don’t know WEMas, here are some links for you... It’s ok to feel some shame about not knowing, it’s not ok to not learn!

The Winter-een-Mas main page

Winter-een-mas FAQ