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NPR, CPB, PBS:  all such powerful voices for deep, reflective, critical thinking in a time when we just tend to want some quick affirmation from those who support our current perspective on reality.  I've often, through the years, speculated that this is indeed the very reason these voices come under attack from political forces that feel challenged by dispassionate reason and reflection.

I've always had such great respect for Bill Moyers' work.  He asks deep and difficult questions in a quest for understanding and clarity rather than persuasion and opinion-making.  I stumbled upon, quite by accident, this Bill Moyers' Journla today:  an interview with Ted Olson and David Boies—unlikely legal partners joined to litigate against marriage inequality in California's ongoing battle with Proposition 8.

Having missed the broadcast (I was completely unaware of it.) I listened with interest as these three men had a provocative discussion of the case.  I was most curious how a brilliant, extremely conservative attorney and a brilliant extremely liberal attorney could in any way find common ground on this, of all, issues.  The conversation with Bill is fascinating and illuminating. In typical fashion, Bill asks some very demanding questions of these men.

This video and transcript, along with many other programs, can be found at PBS:  The Bill Moyers' Journal.

Well, as little as I watched it, I shouldn't have a dawg in this fight, oh... that's Randy Jackson's line: "Yo, Dawg, now listen up." But I hated to see Paula Abdul not return to the show. Even though she appeared to be "heavily medicated" at times, for her back pain, I'm sure, she was nice to the contestants--unlike Simon Fuller, whose remarks could be a bit caustic, if not always on the mark.

I will miss classic lines from Paula, like: "I really liked your second performance tonight so much better than your first.", when none of the contestants had sung a second number yet.

But, even with all of her issues, I still liked Paula. In fact, I'm with a friend of mine: I want Paula on my Death Panel.

But Ellen DeGeneres will be a nice replacement for Paula. She's pretty and comes across as kind and sensible. Perhaps she also takes less "medication."

But had some distant, far removed knowledge of what happened. Reflecting back on this now, 30 years later, I am made somber: the loss of reason, the grave consequences of wicked religious ideology, the sickness of delusional thinking ...

The PBS documentary below is sensitive and informative yet deeply disturbing. Will we learn?

Nov 18, 1977 [sic]
To Whomever Finds this Note,

Collect all of the tapes, all the writing, all the history. The story of this movement, this action, must be examined over and over. We did not want this kind of endin'. We wanted to live, to shine, to bring light to a world that is dying for a little bit of love. There's quiet as we leave this world. The sky is gray. People file by us slowly and take the somewhat bitter drink. Many more must drink. A teeny kitten sits next to me watchin'. A dog barks. The birds gather on the telelphone wires. Let all of the story this People's Temple be told. If nobody understands, it matters not. I'm ready to die now. Darkness settles over Jonestown on its last day on earth.

And, from Charles A. Krause's article in today's Washington Post: (Charles was one of the journalists who survived the Nov. 18, 1978 trip to Jonestown with Congressman Ryan)

Many Jonestown survivors and their families believe that the lessons of Jonestown are to remember and guard against demagogues who use religion as a cover for fraud, deception and imposing their own sometimes dangerous social and political beliefs on their naive and unsuspecting followers.

... It was that theme that dominated Tuesday's memorial service at the mass grave in Oakland. In an emotional and highly charged address, the Rev. Amos Brown, bishop at San Francisco's Third Baptist Church and president of the San Francisco NAACP, warned the mourners to beware of religious leaders who claim to have all the answers and insinuate themselves into politics, as Jones did so effectively in San Francisco.

"Good religion elevates folk, it teaches people to think for themselves. Good religion isn't authoritarian. Good religion isn't bigoted," he said. "Open up your eyes, America. America isn't a theocracy, it's a democracy. . . . And that is the lesson we must learn from Jonestown."

Nick Carr has an thought-provoking article on the revival of Marshall McLuhan's media theories on his blog that was also published at The Guardian. It's well worth the read. Especially sobering to me is his citing McLuhan's statement from Understanding Media, explicating his views on commercial exploitation of electric media:

"Once we have surrendered our senses and nervous systems to the private manipulation of those who would try to benefit by taking a lease on our eyes and ears and nerves, we don't really have any rights left."

The limited ownership of our nation's media, concentrating so much power and influence in the hands of so very few, is of enormous concern to me. If, in the Marxist's opinion, religion was the opiate of the people, in our nation today, the opiate of the people has become a pervasive and continuous diet of media, making the typical American mentally fat, out of shape, and lazy. We have become overweight media slobs.

Thinking isn't dangerous, it's responsible.

be on a rant, but I just returned from Borders Bookstore. The entrance is plastered with 2008 calendars. I don't recall a time in my lifetime (was I just not paying attention?) when so many people were ready to get rid of the president. Five calendars were specific to counting down the days to the end of the Bush administration. Next to these were calendars focused on Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Also at the entrance was a book proporting to be the "inside story" on the Bush administration. In my mind that conjures up the concepts of greed, excess, maximized corporate profit margins, minimized attention to the needs of average Americans, lies, deception, arrogance, deceit, narrow-mindedness, ignorance, and just plain mono-syllabic stupidity.

Contrast that with what appeared next to the Bush book: President Bill Clinton's book, Giving.

From President Clinton's foundation's website:

But the true story of giving is being written everyday with individuals like you. With the power of the internet, everyone has the unprecedented ability to change the world. I look forward to learning your stories and working together to give our children the gift of a brighter tomorrow.

--Bill Clinton

Listen to an inspirational message from President Clinton.

Thinking people go to bookstores, buy books, read, and think. Bookstores market what sells. Don't look to Fox News to tell you that thinking Americans are disgusted beyond any measure. Look inside your local bookstore, and see what's flying off of the shelves.

What a contrast. Night and day. Psst... It's time for a change!

I came across this and loved it! You know, I think that Sally is probably correct!

FOX censored Sally Field's anti-war comments during her acceptance speech at the Emmys.

Some people want to claim it's because she said "god damn", but clearly FOX has no qualms airing "god damn" cause on a recent FOX News program they aired it 5 times in the span of a couple of minutes.

Oh, and the FCC ruled that "goddamn" is perfectly acceptable on broadcast television.

FOX just didn't want you to hear what Sally said, and the majority of Americans already know, that "if mothers ruled the world there'd be no goddamn wars in the first place."

A big thanks to ChrisBG at the Newshounds for remembering this "god damn" segment on FOX News and then actually finding it!

Source: Video: FOX Attacks Goddamn Sally Field

I find my life littered with too much unsolicited advertising as it is. I want all of my visual space less polluted with unsolicited advertising. I want my audio space less polluted with unsolicited advertising--in fact, just less polluted with noise (including the constant beat of what someone else defines as "music") in general. My email box...my mailbox... I want the physical and virtual space I live in to be noise and clutter free! I dream. Sadly, methinks more is to come! Nothing is free--not even space.

It starts with Starbucks - hear a song you like while sipping a latte, connect your iPhone to their wifi, buy it. Take it a step further, and when you walk into a Target, Nordstroms, or Sephora (for example) and get targeted deals sent right to your promiscuous iPhone. Obviously you don’t have to choose to view it, or use the wifi in such stores, but there’s the model! Maybe this Starbucks collaboration will lead to essentially free (ad-driven) wifi in more places. This could really turn the tide as it seems more and more wifi is closing the doors to being offered up for free.

Source: Why Starbucks/Apple Collab is so Interesting

I'm surprised it took this long! But perhaps timing is everythings. Now that the political tides are changing, I hope to see a lot of things "set right."

Dan Rather, the former CBS Evening News anchor, names the network, parent company Viacom Inc. and three of his former bosses in a $70 million suit. Rather, 75, says the network made him a "scapegoat" for a discredited story about President Bush's National Guard service in Texas.

Source: Rather Sues CBS for $70 Million

I have always felt guilty about how little I tag. I see the value of it. I just never think about it when I write. Now tagging goes to a new level pushing the bounds of broadcast technology, making it more interactive.

Thursday, September 06, 2007 - 10:10 PM EDT
Responding to the desire of millions of people who discover music via their favorite local radio broadcasts, Apple, iBiquity Digital, and major radio broadcasting groups unveiled today the result of an industry-wide initiative to create a new, free service called "iTunes Tagging."

iTunes Tagging is designed to make music discovery, purchase and listening even more fun and simple for all. iTunes Tagging enables consumers using HD Radio receivers that have been equipped with a special Tag button, to "tag" songs that they hear on the FM dial for subsequent purchase via iTunes.

"iTunes tagging takes music discovery on the radio to the next level," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPod Product Marketing, in the press release. "When a song plays on your HD Radio that you like, a simple push of a button will tag it and later give you the chance to preview, purchase, and enjoy it with iTunes and your iPod."

Source: MacDailyNews - Apple, iBiquity Digital, major radio broadcasters announce iTunes tagging for HD Radio

Technorati Tags: Apple, itunes, media

Can you tell that I am about to launch into some serious production and encoding projects over here?! I know this bores many of my readers out of their minds, but Mark, you probably need the info, and I need to keep track of this as a reference guide.

This article, by Jesse David Hollington over at iLounge, is very informative and a tad lengthy. I am including a few charts from the article here in this post in case their archive doesn't last long. Jesse does an excellent job of illustrating aspect ratios visually and provides data for the video iPod, AppleTV, and iPhone. He also presents detailed information about resolution, bit rate, file size, anamorphic encoding, and then offers some recommended resolutions settings for typical content formats. As the number of formats is growing, this article is very helpful! The link to the article as at the bottom of this post.

... Even today, however, the video formats supported by the iPod, Apple TV, and iPhone are relatively limited compared to the number of formats available on the market. This means that just about any content that you want to view on these devices is going to require some type of conversion process. The advent of these new devices has complicated the landscape even further, since more options are now available for both the viewing and encoding of videos, but with these changes come more considerations about how to encode video for the best possible viewing experience. ...

Source: The Complete Guide to iPod, Apple TV and iPhone Video Formats | iLounge

Everyone seems to want in on the action now that the Apple iPhone device has lived up to all of the hype. But where was Verizon when they were offered the deal with Apple? I don't think this is as easy as everyone wants to make it sound. From what I read in the blogosphere at the time, Verizon wasn't willing to let Apple dictate how the visual voicemail would work. It was about who controls the way the platform works. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. But undeniably, the iPhone is making an impact on the way consumers want access. The whole telecommunications industry is scrambling. I think this is just the beginning. Way to go Apple!

But let's get real. AT&T has enough money and political influence (said nicely) to keep their monopoly on the iPhone for at least a while. Oops! Did I use the "M" word?

Jeff Croft wrote this little article that I think is helpful. I want to post for my future reference when working with video projects.

The bottom line is that progressive scan has about about 50% more vertical resolution than interlaced pictures with the same number of lines, and does not show the aliasing artifacts associated with interlaced video.

In marketing materials, progressive and interlaced video are abbreviated p and i respectively. They are usually preceded by a numeral, which is the number of pixels (or lines) tall the image is. Since the typical screen aspect ratio is 16:9, you can figure out the width of the image accordingly.

My high definition series three TiVo, named Sheila, now has a new friend to play with:  a Sony KDL-40V2500.  I had no idea the Discovery channel was so gorgeous in high definition!  It blew my socks off!

In only 10 - 15 minutes, I had everything hooked up and working.  This TV has a gorgeous image, and it fits perfectly inside the armoire--as if it were made for it.  But best of all, it was on sale, almost half the price being charged just before Christmas time!  Something newer, better, and even more delightful must be afoot?

I don't watch it often, but this guy, Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, is so funny. And Comedy Central lets bloggers embed their Flash movies (although the links expire). Here is the link to The Daily Show at the iTunes store.

This is documentation of a hidden feature that forces your TiVo to skip 30 seconds ahead to avoid those annoying commercials:

Press the following keys on the remote:

• Select
• Play
• Select
• 3
• 0
• Select
• Then press the ’skip to next track’ button to jump ahead 30 seconds. That button looks something like this: ->|

Technorati Tags: commercials, TiVo

I just watched this little video clip of Bob Metcalfe, filmed at the opening reception for the Emerging Technologies Conference back in September. He is speaking about the impact of video on the internet and offers these interesting observations:

• The internet started as only upper case text, then added lower case, then added a red and black ribbon; gradually advancing over the past 30 years
• Video is now the next step but requires new technologies (bandwidth pipes, protocols, etc.) which we are in the middle of developing
• The world needs to substitute communication for transportation: an answer to the rising costs of transportation is more pervasive and better communication technologies
• Chris Anderson's notion of The Long Tail is an important component of this emerging technology as well: the costs associated with TV required audiences of millions, but the costs associated with the internet are minimal, affording this medium the opportunity to supply more and more sophisticated multimedia content for just 1, 5 or 10 people in "the long tail"
• We had a now "old notion" that professionals would never sit in front of keyboard and type
• Another truism about to be reversed is that face-to-face communication is essential to the marketplace
• Online video communication will at some point in the future replace face-to-face "pressing the flesh"

I suspect he's right! And I for one can't wait. The internet has without doubt begun a radical restructuring of our concept of "broadcast." I think this fundamental democratization of the world has significant implications for cultural, political, and ethical cohesiveness. Aggregation becomes a fundamentally essential skill: sifting and reshifting--creating a new balance between a broad spectrum of (and even intense display of) diversity and the transcending ideas that diversity represents. The war over ideas is only going to grow more complex and more intense.

And I also think our concept of what an aggregator is will change. Rupert Murdoch was probably brilliant to purchase MySpace: the ultimate aggregator of the younger generation's thinking becomes the ultimate marketing tool?!

Technorati Tags: ideaFactory, communication

I spent several hours yesterday introducing Sheila to the home network. Sheila is the new 300 hour Series 3 High Definition THX certified TiVo that finally arrived last week after several weeks of great anticipation. Connecting her to the network wasn't really all that difficult. The most complex part, which took about 3 hours of trial and error without the correct equipment) was identifying and then plugging that correct port into the router.

When I downloaded the 68 page set of directions I thought I would probably never be able to get this to work. Well, 64 of the 68 pages were about all of the horror Windows users have to experience, but, delightfully also included an entire chapter on troubleshooting. As a Mac user, I had to only do the following:

• download the software
• do a basic Mac software install (just a few clicks to "agree" and then enter your password)
• Launch System Preferences and click on TiVo
• Click to launch the streaming server and enable iPhoto pictures and iTunes music to be shared with the TiVo

It was really easy!

I've never had a TiVo, or for that matter any kind of digital media recorder for television before, and I love this thing. It's like Google for TV! The user interface is really user-friendly, like my mac. So here are some things I've already discovered that it does that I love:

• search the TV shows from my cable subscription for keywords, actors, etc. and record them automatically
• find all instances of a particular program (no matter what channels or times) and record them (what they call Season Pass)
• make recommendations to me based on my viewing habits (limited though they are)
• play my photos (in my iPhoto library) and my music (from my iTunes library and playlists) on the TV over the home network
• allow me to schedule recording via the internet

Now I need a high definition flat panel TV with which to use this, but the really good ones seem so needlessly expensive! And now, as usual, I have already logged onto the TiVo website and made lots of suggestions for features for the next generation TiVo!

The press is suggesting this news has huge implications for Apple: billions in revenue! Since so much money will be involved, I'm sure that matter (litigation) is just beginning.

A recent out-of-court settlement between Apple Computer and a Vermont-based inventor has landed Apple the rights to a prestigious software design patent that may allow the company to seek royalties on a broad spectrum of digital downloads.

Michael Starkweather, a lawyer and author of the 10-year old patent, issued a statement on Thursday calling it a "billion dollar patent" that will have affects on the future of the "cell phone, iPod and PDA" industries.

"I believe that, with this patent in hand, Apple will eventually be after every phone company, film maker, computer maker and video producer to pay royalties on every download of not just music but also movies and videos," he said.

Source: AppleInsider | Apple gains control of critical digital download patent

This seems like a novel idea. I have only tried it on a local network, and it works fine, but then so would normal iTunes sharing. I am most interested in how well it works at streaming content over the world wide web. This from their website.

"MyTunesRSS allows you to access the music and videos from your iTunes library over a local network or even the internet. You can access your music from all over the world using a simple web browser. The user interface lets you search for titles for browse your whole library by album or artist. You can access your iTunes playlists or create new ones directly in MyTunesRSS."

Reach out and touch someone!

That "stepped on feeling"

From RocketBoom.com

I am hooked on RocketBoom.com. I recently saw these pictures on one of their vlog episodes and decided to share one a day for the next three days.

Is It Stalin?

Tonight I enjoyed listening to a conversation between the host, Linda Schacht, and her guests, Geoffrey Nunberg and Deborah Tannen, focused on "Language in Public and Private Life" in the Herbst Theater, an event from the City Arts & Lectures series on NPR. Both of her guests were brilliant and insightful. In this post I just want to focus on Geoffrey Nunberg and am including this expert from the City Arts & Lectures website:

"The worst offense you can commit against language," writes linguist Geoffrey Nunberg in his bestselling book Going Nucular, "is to fail to listen to it closely." Nunberg listens carefully to the popular uses of language, regarding words as window into America's evolving culture and values. A professor at UC Berkeley's School of Information, researcher at the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University, and regular commentator on NPR's Fresh Air, Nunberg is a skilled observer of modern semantics. His new book is Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show. An outraged account of "The Great Relabeling" of American language, Talking Right argues that the political center of gravity has shifted to reflect a conservative world-view by manipulating words such as "values," "faith," "liberal," and "freedom."

Geoffrey spoke well of a Republican party that knows what words to use to resonate in the hearts of Americans while busying itself doing whatever--even when completely disconnected from the words it uses. In this view, the words are the thing. A white paper was even circulated among the party faithful six years ago about this very strategy! In my world view, the deeds are the thing.

This reminded me so much of ministers from my youth preaching hell fire and brimstone to an affirming congregation while having illicit torrid affairs with their church secretaries. But today, it's the six-term Republican Representative Mark Foley and the mega church pastor Reverend Ted Haggard with the president's ear to name just a few. They say this but do that on such an extraordinarily bipolar level as to appear utterly schizophrenic!

I hope Americans are disgusted and see the liars for what they are! And I can't wait to read Nunberg's book! And just for the record, I do not like sushi!

"Talking Right: How Conservatives Turned Liberalism into a Tax-Raising, Latte-Drinking, Sushi-Eating, Volvo-Driving, New York Times-Reading, Body-Piercing, Hollywood-Loving, Left-Wing Freak Show" (Geoffrey Nunberg)

Two years ago I was confident that the man the Supreme Court appointed as the previous president would once again not be elected by the American people. I'm not totally convinced he really was. (Too many precincts had 100% turn out and 100% of them voted for Bush?) But one thing is for certain: he is simply stupid.

I was distraught over his returning to office as I believe that stupid people in positions of extreme power become arrogant and indeed dangerous. And now many Americans agree. The Republicans as a party have done more in 6 years to damage my country than any party has done in my lifetime. Will they steal this election?

This little clip would be funny if it were your average Joe on America's Funniest Home Videos. But dear God in heaven, he's the leader of the free world! This isn't funny! It's frightening! Happy Halloween!

I regret to inform you that I agree with so much of what he is saying.

God, I miss having a President that has a brain and is articulate! President Bill Clinton tore into the Fox News Network with Mike Wallace's game of smoke and mirrors. He called names. He set the facts straight. The Republican noise machine, once again trying to re-write history, was silenced. You can read the entire transcript at Think Progress. Or better yet, watch the interview at this link.

And one final question which I've asked several times on this blog to a silent nation: Why the hell hasn't George W. Bush been held accountable for not protecting the nation on 9/11? That's his job--everything else is gravy!

CLINTON: What did I do? What did I do? I worked hard to try to kill him. I authorized a finding for the CIA to kill him. We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since. And if I were still president, we’d have more than 20,000 troops there trying to kill him.

Now, I’ve never criticized President Bush, and I don’t think this is useful. But you know we do have a government that thinks Afghanistan is only one-seventh as important as Iraq.

And you ask me about terror and Al Qaida with that sort of dismissive thing? When all you have to do is read Richard Clarke’s book to look at what we did in a comprehensive, systematic way to try to protect the country against terror.

And you’ve got that little smirk on your face and you think you’re so clever. But I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get bin Laden. I regret it. But I did try. And I did everything I thought I responsibly could.

The entire military was against sending Special Forces in to Afghanistan and refueling by helicopter. And no one thought we could do it otherwise, because we could not get the CIA and the FBI to certify that Al Qaida was responsible while I was president.

And so, I left office. And yet, I get asked about this all the time. They had three times as much time to deal with it, and nobody ever asks them about it. I think that’s strange.

Source: Think Progress

I hope each episode will be available through the iTunes Store!

Star Trek purists, take a deep breath! On Sept. 16, the iconic ‘60s series will return to syndication for the first time since 1990, but with a startling difference: All 79 episodes are being digitally remastered with computer-generated effects not possible when Gene Roddenberry created the show 40 years ago. The news could cause Roddenberry loyalists to have a collective cow, but the longtime Trek staffers in charge of the makeover say they're honoring the late maestro's vision, not changing it. ...

Source: Insider - tvguide.com