No Title, Just...

A Happy and Healthy 2009 to all.

And peaceful, too, if that's possible.

Here's a Twist

Recently I extolled the virtues of a "paper" paper as opposed to a virtual paper (newspaper, that is). Well, I may have to back off just a bit. We had a lot of snow recently and then it froze and now my driveway is full of ice. So my newspaper was lying in the middle of the icefield as opposed to being on my doorstep as usual. Retrieving it meant not only facing icy temperature but also dragging in a lot of unmelted ice-melter (you know, those white pellets that are supposed to melt your ice, but don't when it gets too cold) plus the filthy cat litter my wife thinks will help us gain traction on icy surfaces. Maybe it works for cats but I don't think it works too well for bipeds. It just tracks dirt into the house.

Anyway, needing my morning news fix with my coffee, I went online to "Times Reader" (I guess that would be me), the NYTimes on the web. I'm not crazy about scrolling through lines of squares to find a story I like but I have to admit I did find one and I read the whole thing. Then it was time to go and I picked up the real paper on my way to a medical appointment. Here's another miracle (must be the season)-- the doctor saw me right away and I was heading home before I could even unfold the paper. By the way, I'm fine.

So, here's the point: When I got home, the story I read on line turned out to be on page one of the newspaper, but I still enjoyed holding the paper in both my hands and turning the pages one by one as my eye scanned the contents, selecting a story here and a story there to read. This is a wonderful way to spend a morning and part of an afternoon. It even consumed a second pot of coffee.

Nice.

Bailout, Shmailout!

Ok, so now President Bush is offering GM and Chrysler emergency loans with very few strings attached. He's given them until March to come up with a plan for long-term profitability. For heaven's sake, they've had 30 years to come up with a plan for that and look where they are now! I don't care how much money you send Detroit it will do no good until you get an entirely new and forward looking management team in place to save these dinosaurs from the ice age.

As soon as the first Toyota or Honda came off the assembly lines Detroit should have gotten the message. Better built cars at lower prices were the signals they all missed. As many writers are pointing out the problem with Detroit is that they build cars no one wants to buy.

Hell-o...!

This mess is going to take a long time to resolve but it has to start with housecleaning at the top.

Giving these guys more money to use in the same old way is paving the highway to hell.

I Am Not Evolving!

I've been reading a lot lately about how the news media is evolving. Newspapers are cutting staffs and bureaus, if they have any. Network TV is losing audience. Even local TV ratings are down (they never should have been up in the first place).

I like to read a newspaper. I like to hold it. I like to turn pages. I complain about the newsprint coming off on my hands but that's a small price to pay for the pleasure of savoring a well-turned phrase or diving into a well thought-out analysis of a complex subject.

I do not enjoy sitting in front of a screen for any length of time. My eyes get tired and my fingers seem to find the wrong key when I have to scroll up, down or sideways to follow a story.

Yes, I am fighting a losing battle against economic realities. And I will dabble --as I am now-- in new media (as I believe it's called) but I still open my door each morning with fresh anticipation when I reach for the newspaper on the front step.

Hey, the delivery guy needs to eat, too.

Hello, Again

Been off the blogosphere for a while, not that I still haven't had problems with my Frequently Infuriating Operating System (This is BIG?). Managed to trueswitch my address book from previous ISP but not all email addresses came through and those that did came through in helter-skelter order. Not alphabetized in any recognizable form and hard to find. Outlook's address book is far superior. Organized my groups but, I don't know, why did I switch in the first place? I know, because Comcast gave me the cold shoulder when I asked for the same incentives they gave new customers. Am I happy about the switch to BIG? Stay tuned.

All the Newsprint that fits the fingers

After a wonderful lunch with long-time friends and a subsequent visit with them to the American Museum of Natural History, I returned home to catch up with the Sunday Times and today's Times.

Does the newsprint come off on your fingers as quickly as it does mine? As you turn the pages, do you sneeze when your nostrils sense the ink-drying substance imposed on the paper as it goes through the presses? I love reading a newspaper. But I just realized that reading the same newspaper on line is a lot cleaner and healthier.

My fingers may get tired clicking through the pages but my nose is clear and the news is the same. They say competition from the Net is causing havoc with print journalism. Maybe so, but a slicker, cleaner paper might help.

Or not.

The DVR Conundrum

People love DVR. I love it too. HOWEVER, there is a glaring flaw in the way it records. It records programs only at the time they are scheduled, rather than when they actually go on the air. Example: Last Sunday's NY Jets football game against Denver ran over by about 30 minutes. I had programmed my DVR to record "60 Minutes" and "Cold Case," which normally air at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. respectively.

Of course, DVR began recording at 7 and I had 30 minutes of the game resulting in all other programs shortened by 30 minutes at their beginning or end.

DVR needs to be flexible enough to recognize that when a scheduled program is delayed it should record that program when it actually airs so we can get it in its entirely. Or else it should allow us to program our DVRs to record a specific time span to account for program overuns.

Thus this note to FIOS, my "Frequently Incompetent Operating System". Get on the stick, guys, and improve the product.

Muddling to a Milestone

After seven-plus decades of muddling through, my wife and I became great-grandparents for the first time today. Our contribution to the event was fathering the son who became a grandfather today, also for the first time. The grand-daughter (and husband) who precipitated this event are 6,000-plus miles away in Israel. Yet, thanks to modern technology, we have already seen pictures of the adorable little girl, their first child, who, according to Orthodox custom, will be given her name in Shul on Monday.

I can, after all, open email. We anxiously await more pictures in the days ahead.

Vaya con Dios, VCR

I junked the first of my three VCRs today. I've been taping programs off the air for years on VHS tapes, then playing them back so I can skip the commercials. Worked fine for me. Then, prodded by #1 Son (tip-o-the-hat to Charlie Chan), finally got an HD TV with DVR. Wouldn't you know it, soon as the latest gizmo entered the house, one of the older ones decided to die.

Tried to restore it. Took the cover off, peered inside, had no idea what I was looking at. The cassette refused to eject. It hummed, I hawed. I finally closed it all up and put it out for recycling. Realized I probably will have no further use for it anyway. I do have two other VCRs but after viewing the remaining tapes, what will I do with those? DVR trumps VHS/VCR.

And Marv muddles on.

In Spanish?

I'm a member of Generation O (for over-age). No one cares what I watch or read but I try to keep up anyway. Just switched to FIOS (Really Big!) but found it it stands for Frequently Incomprehensible Operating System. Example: I went to my blog page yesterday and it came up in SPANISH! And I didn't even Press 1. I hope this comes out in English but, hey, you never know.

A very nice young man spent an entire day switching me from Comcast to Verizon internet, TV and telephone service. And now the remote on my tuner doesn't work. His fault or mine for pulling out what I thought were excess cables? Doesn't matter. I can still use the tuner -- but manually.

Post-election Musings

Hello, Blog:

Haven't posted anything for a while. I've been immersed in the election aftermath and can't seem to read enough about what this one says and that one says.

I hope the hope for a new beginning is justified but I worry about the far-right attack machine. I'm sure they can't wait for the first opportunity to spew forth the hate and fear rhetoric the electorate has just rejected. But I doubt it. In fact, "still-president Bush," as Jon Stewart calls him, still couches his public statements with dire projections of what will happen if he is unheeded. Hello? Didn't he read the election results? He IS no longer heeded.

I learned long ago not to argue with ideologues. They are immune to common sense and the lessons of history. They see what they want to see and say what they want to say regardless of reality.

Meanwhile, Jan. 20 cannot come soon enough.

Cheers.

Pundits For Sale

From the New York Times, Sunday, October 26, 2008:

"J. PETER FREIRE is at school, learning to be a better pundit.

"He is being trained to carve his conservative philosophy into bite-size nuggets — preferably ones that end with a zinger — and to avoid questions he doesn’t like. He is discovering the right way to attack opponents (with a smile) and to steer a conversation in his direction (by interrupting).
"Journalists once had to achieve a certain gravitas before appearing on television as a political expert, but not anymore. Thanks to the 24-hour news cycle, a riveting presidential election and the proliferation of cable channels, people like Mr. Freire, who is 26 and has been managing editor of The American Spectator, a conservative magazine, since January, are finding themselves in hot demand."

If you ever needed convincing not to believe anything you hear on TV news this should be the capper. What base of knowledge does any 20-something bring to his pundtry? His ability to smile while smearing? His ability to avoid answering direct questions by "steering" to his pre-paid political message?

I used to "train" business and professional persons to become more effective communicators either in person or through the news media. But one thing I always told them was NEVER LIE.

What does pundit school teach these media tots? Smile, steer, sell your message for all you're worth. Credibility? Forget it. This is the world of never-ending news regurgitated on the all-views-all-the-time cable shows.

The tragedy is that too many viewers take this stuff seriously and then repeat it to their friends and relatives; or worse yet, pollute the internet by forwarding this stuff to their entire email address books.

Please exercise a little more discretion before hitting that forward button and THINK before you put any credence into what a wet-behind-the-ears blowhard has to say on the air.

Thanks and good luck.

The Limb Lives

OK, we're even, thanks to the strong left limb of David Price. Hang on.

Beginnings

This is the first blog entry on my new site, Out On A Limb.

I originated the title when I wrote a column as sports editor of my college weekly. I carried the title over to the division newspaper I edited while serving in the Army. I haven't used it since and I'm grateful it's still available as a name for my blog.

As the title implies, I take contrarian or controversials positions just to stir up a little dust and get the brain cells vibrating. Sometimes I'll be right and sometimes I won't, but I hope to keep it interesting and, of course, civil.

I'll also try to be amusing although I don't tell jokes. But perhaps a skewed vision of the world might bring a smile or two.

I am blessed with an abundance of grandchildren (a hint as to my age group) and they might perhaps provide fodder for this blog. We'll see.

And for you golfers out there, I am a confirmed hacker ruefully anticipating the end of the golfing season here in the northeast. If you have any ideas how to use the downtime to improve my game, I'm listening.

Well, you haven't heard anything controversial or contrarian so far and you're wondering when he's going to get on with it. So here goes:

The Rays in five.

See ya.