November 2007 Archives

I didn't get home until 2:30 this morning. I spent the extra time at my desk, working on the new 'look' for our weather graphics.

It was a whole lot easier to do what I wanted to do once everyone else had left. Is that a good thing? At my age, shouldn't I be able to work with a little distraction?

Working through tumult is a great skill to have. It's even better than being able to fall asleep before the airplane has taxied from the gate!

Stef went to an elementary school with open classrooms. To me, it seemed like she was learning in a bus terminal. There was always noise. There were always distractions.

I'll have to ask if she thinks this training under fire was helpful? Is she better prepared to work in the midst of a construction zone than I am?

My project is nearly done now. Unfortunately, the last 10% of a job can take 90% of the time. Exceptions are very difficult to process and need more individual attention.

If it's any solace, I'm pleased by how things look. I wish it was possible to quantify what difference, if any, it will make.

I've just been through more than 3,000 emails! I decided to have a look at my spam folder on geofffox.com. The mail server itself is hosted by Google's Gmail and I use their filters.

The filters do a mostly good job - with notable exceptions.

There were four emails from my Cousin Melissa. They were sent over the last two weeks. Google thinks she's spammy. She was the only human stopped by their machine.

Interestingly enough, other emails from her made it through without a problem.

The filter also improperly trapped warnings automatically sent from my website, telling me there about spam comments needing attention. I found most of them, not all, on my own.

This is one real weakness with Gmail's filtering. You cannot flag specific words or IP addresses to bypass the filtering. The spam filters go into action before anything else.

Nor can you search entries that are spam filtered. So, I couldn't go through the 3,000+ messages, looking for email that originated on my own site!

On October 10-11, a spammer began to carpet bomb the world with messges using my domain, geoffox.com, as his return address. In that 48 hour period, I received hundreds upon hundreds of bouncebacks from closed mailboxes and spam filters. I can only imagine how many messages from the faux Fox got through!

These messages I checked today were only for the geofffox.com domain. Gmail covers me on a bunch of other addresses too. Sometime this weekend, I have another few thousand to pour through.

The false positive rate was slightly under 1% and supposedly Gmail's filters learn by my re-marking the spam. That means the number should be lower in the future.

Still, even one false positive is too many. Right Cousin Melissa?

Just a quick link.

Here's a page featuring photos caught at exactly the right instant. Wow!

It's 11:45 PM and I was in my car, driving home. Like the good son I am, I was on the phone (hands free) talking with my mom.

I have made the same trip nearly every night for the last 17 years. Up State Street and onto I-91. Off at Exit 10 and onto the Route 40 Connector to Hamden.

I'm usually in the right lane for the exit on I-91, but quickly move to the left to avoid slower traffic exiiting Route 40 at Exit 1. I'm in that position 99 nights out of 100.

99 nights out of 100, I would have hit the guy going the wrong way on Route 40 head on.

Who knows why tonight was my lucky night? I needed to pick something up at the market, but it wasn't pressing. Up until the last moment I had been deciding which route to take.

I was in the right lane, getting off, when I heard the sound of metal, saw sparks and watched a car, probably a pickup truck, continue down the highway. Another car, possibly one he'd hit, swerved and went up on two wheels.

It was all a blur. I really don't fully know what happened.

"Gotta go." I said to my mom. "I'll call you back."

911 rang four times before a State Police dispatcher picked up. He already knew about the wrong-way driver. Troopers were on the way.

He was calm and nonchalant. He'd been through this before.

"Are you OK," he asked? It was a nice gesture on his part.

I was thoroughly spooked, but I said OK and got off the phone. A few seconds later I was explaining what happened to my mom.

The person driving the pickup truck... the wrong-way driver... could not have been any more dangerous had he pulled out a loaded gun and fired in a random direction. My suspicion is, his punishment will not be commensurate with his crime.

Abe Katz wrote a winter outlook story for yesterday's New Haven Register. I was one of the 'experts' quoted.

Let's just say my quotes weren't the ones you'd put in the first paragraph.

My problem, however, comes with a quote deeper in the article. I'm not sure whether I was misquoted or just didn't say exactly what I meant.

What I meant to say, or possibly did say, was:

Adding day-to-day makes all the difference, because you would notice a season that's three degrees below normal. That small temperature difference would take marginal rain days and make them snow days. Your heating bill would be significantly higher. You just wouldn't notice it on any particular day.

It's a tiny difference in meaning, but a significant one.

Since Friday, I have traded emails with Ed Rappaport, director of the National Hurricane Center down in South Florida. He responded after I sent an email to two of his forecasters.

I was upset... No, I was livid the National Hurricane Center had decided to stop tracking and issuing bulletins and forecasts on Hurricane Noel Friday at 5:00 PM.

I've attached their final forecast discussion below. Two things to note. First, when they stopped their forecasting, Noel had already begun to take on non-tropical characteristics.

Second, and much more importantly. Noel was going to get stronger!

From a purely meteorological standpoint, NHC was correct. Noel was no longer a tropical system. They cover tropical systems - period.

That misses the point. The Hurricane Center's job is to protect lives, not be meteorological purists.

When they stopped issuing forecasts, advisories, bulletins and maps, the job moved to the local forecast offices, like Taunton, MA and Upton, NY. Those offices have very capable forecasters (some of whom I've known for two decades).

Again, that's missing the point.

By changing Hurricane Noel to an unnamed extratropical low, NHC signaled a diminished threat to the untrained public. That just wasn't so.

There is already enough concern for public perception that the term "minimal hurricane" is no longer used in public bulletins.

Public safety officers, emergency managers and even broadcast meteorologists know exactly when and where to get data on tropical systems. It is specific and very different data than any other forecast product we get. The data from the local offices is totally different.

In the case of broadcasters, we all have equipment which automatically produces maps as the Hurricane Center's data comes in! When that stopped, the ability to produce the most compelling and illuminating maps stopped. These maps made the case Noel meant business.

Based on the response I received from the director, I wonder if a "Hurricane of '38" scenario would also see the Hurricane Center back off!

Something's got to be done. That's the bad news. The good news is, these are very bright people. I hope they find a way to change their policies before someone gets hurt.

We're watching 'the' game on TV - New England vs. Indianapolis on CBS. So far, this battle of undefeated teams, both led by charismatic quarterbacks, is everything promised.

Not a sports fan? Don't stop reading up yet.

CBS added a new feature to today's coverage - FreezeCam. Remember when two words actually had a space between them?

I've tried to find as much info as I could, but there's really not much available.

FreezeCam manipulates a high resolution, wide angle image of the field. There are enough pixels to allow zooming into small areas without the image getting ratty. It looks spectacular, though it's probably not as amazing as it seems. Even in high definition, a television screen has significantly less resolution than a cheap digital camera.

Still, this is a major breakthrough, allowing a view of quick events happening away from the action where a camera would not normally be looking.

FreezeCam comes from Sportvision, the company responsible for many of the best sports video innovations. They provide the virtual 1^st down line in football games, car tracking in NASCAR and pitc trajectory in Major League Baseball games.

I think they also provide the technology for the virtual ads behind home plate you see during baseball games. I'm considering giving them a pass on that, all things considered.

These are my type of geeks!

I've only seen Freezecam used a few times so far, to isolate a runner's feet in possible out-of-bounds plays. Very impressive. It's a gadget with a real purpose and value.

In a few years, we'll probably be as blasé about this as we are about iso-cams and slo-mo. In the meantime, enjoy.

Did you see former Attorney General John Ashcroft's op-ed in this morning's New York Times? My blood began to boil.

This is one of those stories where a very limited subset of the full facts are known to mere mortals like you and me. It seems the federal government asked the major phone companies for all sorts of data on phone customers. That would be people like you and me.

The phone companies rolled over like a collie waiting for a treat.

What kind of data? Who knows.

Did they allow the government to listen in? I wish I knew.

Whatever it was, it was probably illegal. The phone companies are now sweating because they're being sued.

When the White House asks you to help in surveillance, do you say yes in spite of the law? What if you're a big business and feel a significant portion of that will go away if you say no?

I say, "no." Our personal liberties are among the most important rights granted in the Constitution.

Here's what Ashcroft said:

You've got to suspect these telecom giants are lawyered to the teeth. They knew what they were doing. I was only following orders doesn't work here... at least it doesn't work for me.

I lived through the sixties and seventies. I still have a bad taste in my mouth about government surveillance, whether it be against Dr. Martin Luther King or war protesters.

Our government has worked so well for over 200 years because our rule of law is based on what's written, not who is elected.

Oh... did I mention, John Ashcroft is now a lobbyists for the telecommunications industry?

Here's the story:

Guy takes subway.

Guy sees girl on the subway.

No guts, guy looks, leaves and ponders.

It's the 21^st Century. She's still haunting him.

Guy puts up this website and hopes for the best!

It's sweet, right? Or maybe he's a wacko.

I can't explain it. It's just very cool. Go here.

On this one, I specifically solicit your comments, though please no spoilers for those coming after you.

It's election day. I'm about to go to the polls and vote in this municipal election in my town. I don't expect to have to wait (even with new optical scan voting machines). Things move quickly even in hotly contested, major elections.

I'm disappointed to say I don't know much about either man running for mayor. This early afternoon I set out to learn. Now I'm just frustrated.

Neither has a whole lot of specifics on their website. Maybe there just aren't a lot of specific things you can say when running for the mayor of a relatively small town.

I can tell you, one has a vastly superior website to the other. Maybe that shouldn't impress me, but it does. It wouldn't be the first time I've judged someone by their familiarity with technology.

People who proudly announce their Luddite views on computers and technology scare me... especially when they're in positions of power and influence.

There's still some pondering to do. I'm still quite undecided. There's even the chance I'll go into the voting booth and mark neither name. I don't want my streak of voting in every election since 1971 broken.

Maybe waiting until election day is a bad move on my part. Maybe? Who am I kidding?

I am appearing on a panel at Southern Connecticut State University tonight, talking about blogging. What expertise could I have?

Among the subjects I hope they touch on are the permanence of things placed on the Internet. Stay something stupid... do something stupid... it lasts forever. Who can live through that scrutiny?

I needed a good, practical way to demonstrate what I'm talking about, so I searched for my first recorded Internet comment. As it turns out, it was from 15 years ago this coming Sunday.

The message itself was sent on Usenet, a network of discussion groups. Back then it was a large part of the net. Today, it's a repository for tech discussions and porn... not necessarily in that order.

Pithy, right? It was my response to a previous posting. Obviously, I wasn't satisfied with the depth of information available.

As unimportant as this posting was, it's been saved. Today I am glad it wasn't a flame or curse filled rant. I had no clue it would live on beyond that moment.

Parts of my life aren't pretty. I went places and did things I'd rather not remember. I'm glad the Internet didn't start archiving my stuff until I was past 40!

A few days ago, I posted the story of a guy who saw a girl on the subway.

I was pointing it out to Helaine a few minutes ago. When I clicked the link, I was surprised to see a new drawing. He found her.

From there it gets cryptic.

We'll hear more. This story will get picked up. Wait - you'll see.

I often hit the site DownloadSquad. It's a good place to find interesting software to acquire.

Today, I found this entry under the title, "Looking for a few good geeks":

I couldn't resist.

I feel better now.

After last night's 6:00 o'clock news, I headed to Southern Connecticut State University. Jerry Dunklee, a journalism professor at Southern who I knew as a radio talk show host when I first came here, invited me to join a panel on blogging.

The class was already underway when I walked in the room. I was glad to see little has changed. The students avoided sitting close to the front.

Sitting behind a table, facing the group, were Denis Horgan and Andy Thibauld. These guys are much better examples of what bloggers are all about than the navel gazing I usually post.

Andy publishes "The Cool justice Report," while Denis' blog is self named.

Both these guys are capital "J" journalists with backgrounds at traditional media outlets. Denis went though a messy divorce at the Hartford Courant, after editor Brian Toolan told him to stop blogging. I'm not sure of all the steps, but the Courant no longer has Horgan... we do.

As with my blog, though in a much more beautiful, writerly way, Denis choronicles his own life and experiences. A really good writer can make the mundane meaningful.

If that came off as a left handed compliment, it wasn't my intention.

Denis is also author of "Flotsam: A Life in Debris," reviewed quite favorably in the... wait for it... Hartford Courant. You can't make this stuff up!

Andy Thibauld is also a print journalist gone web. This description probably doesn't do it justice, but his site is an outlet for Andy's investigative reporting.

Staunchly liberal (as is Horgan), Andy is answering a calling, more than doing a job. The fact that he's doing this kind of expository reporting in a medium where there's little chance for financial payoff means it's passion driven.

Stereotypically, both men seem directly out of central casting for who they are. That Denis is an Irishman from Boston is totally obvious before he even speaks! Andy wears the same rumpled trench coat nearly every other investigative reporter wears.

There's got to be a warehouse where these are given out to people who whisper, "I know this pol on the take."

Both these guys are passionate about what they do. Neither seems to have a free will choice to stop. It's just too deeply ingrained in their DNA.

I'm not sure how either puts food on the table. There's no money in blogging... certainly in this kind of blogging. People write for newspapers because they need to write and they need to eat. Blogging only fills half the equation.

I can't be sure the students got what we were talking about. Can you understand what drives these two guys before being driven yourself? Don't you first need to understand what it's like pounding your head against the wall for a boss who judges your work by quantity alone?

The students seemed attentive and asked good questions. It's just, I've come to the conclusion experience cannot be taught.

It's a shame the traditional media (print and electronic) are under such brutal financial pressure. Guys like these, to whom principle is king, are amazing role models for college students. I'm not sure if I belonged on the same panel.

There are never enough bright people with principles.

I've been dealing with this swelling thing on my lips, fingers and toes for a few years now. It doesn't happen often, and has never 'hurt' me (it sure has made me look weird), but it still scares the living daylights out of me.

Oh... did I mention, I have no idea what sets it off?

I went for more tests today, trying to find the trigger. It's probably not an allergic reaction... unless it turns out it is.

I really should have gone for the tests a week ago, but they're blood tests. I'm not sure how you are, but I am a 100% All American Wimp when it comes to anything with needles.

My blood was drawn at Yale/New Haven Hospital. Like most big hospital, Y/NH has become a medical factory. On the second floor of the Physicians Building is a 'drawing station." My wait was short, just a few minutes before I was led into a small room.

Judith, my phlebotomist, scoped out the lab request and started thumbing through a book. Nothing. She looked in a second. Zip, again. One of these tests was so esoteric, she needed to look up the instructions for giving it.

By the time all was said and done, six test tubes of blood had been drawn. I'm not quite sure what makes one vial different from another, but they each had individually colored caps and labels.

I'm not going to lie. For the first thirty seconds after the needle went in, my arm burned. Then things calmed down and the next few minutes went easily.

I was still a little frazzled when she told me we were through, and then proceeded to put a Band-Aid on my arm... my hairy arm. That will probably hurt more than the needle.

I'm now thinking, maybe I'm ready to donate blood. For me, a guy who almost couldn't get married because he couldn't take the blood test, that would be quite an accomplishment.

I guess I should wait until they find out what's in it first.

Blogger's addendum: What kind of freak am I? I actually took the picture of the vials of blood just so I could post it here!

I put a PBS documentary about Ansel Adams on my Netflix queue a few months ago. Netflix doesn't stock this title... and after a few months, it looked like they never would.

Enter eBay. The disk arrived Thursday and I watched it last night.

Beyond being a photographic master, Adams was an emotionally complex man. His childhood was marked by family financial problems and the San Francisco earthquake. He was conflicted between being a concert pianist and taking photos. He had both a wife and mistress.

I'm glad that I got to understand more about Adams, but I wish this doc would have given me more about his technique. How did he do what he did? Other than a passing mention of red filtering, there was little to help me as a photographer extend Adams' work.

I didn't even see my favorite Ansel Adams photograph, a non-panoramic documentary portrayal of a California farm worker's family.

There was one thing I took from the show - Yosemite. I knew it was beautiful. I had no idea it was that awe inspiring.

Now I'm obsessed with Yosemite. I've got to go. It's not quite that simple.

Yosemite is different at different times of the year. That especially applies to its waterfalls. Many start flowing with the snowmelt in the spring and stop during the dry California summer.

Summertime crowds at Yosemite are large. I've got to avoid that.

With the problem of TV rating periods added to the equation, April or possibly early June, seem best.

I'd like this to be a real photography trip. That means lots of walking with my photo bag and a tripod. It also means a methodical approach to the shots I take.

Maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew? Right now, it sounds like a plan.

Stef called tonight. It's Sunday night, but there was schoolwork to be done. We spent a little time discussing an assignment from one of her courses.

The professor mentioned George Lakoff and the concept of reframing an argument.

It's actually a pretty effective tactic. Can't win an argument? Reframe it by making the overlying concept something no one could disagree with.

No sooner did I hang up the phone than I read an example.

If I'm reading this correctly, Kerr says get used to having anything you say or do connected directly to you.

Right now, where you are, or what you say and do, is your business alone. This blog is out in the open, but if I send you email, it is private. At least it is now.

I'm not sure how this privacy will disappear, but I'm guessing it's a combination of eavesdropping, spying, snooping and database aggregation.

Who would go for that? Not too many, especially if you use words like eavesdropping and spying. Kerr didn't, though he works in intelligence, also known as spying.

Kerr reframed the argument. Here's the operative phrase:

Of course, safeguard! Who could be opposed to that?

You seldom get to put an abstract concept from a university course into practical terms so quickly. I'm afraid that's not a good thing this time.

One of my co-workers asked a favor tonight. Her brother is in Iraq and she just found out they could have video chats using Yahoo! Messenger (there are other ways, but he was already on Yahoo!).

She asked me what camera to get? I'm a bargain kinda guy, but she had that 'tonight' look. I sent her to Circuit City.

She came back with a little Creative camera that slipped over the display on her laptop. It set her back $60, which she viewed as a good value.

I took out the disk and installed the drivers. I can't remember an install taking this long and installing this many inidividual pieces of software. You do what you can to hold back driver creep, but there's stuff there we'll never identify.

The camera itself is sweet. The video is sharp and though all webcam video is jerky, this was no more jerky than any other.

I think this is a good thing, a loved one talking with their soldier halfway around the world. There's also a potential downside. This technology can bringing unwanted stress or create conflict that snail mail can not.

When my dad was in the Navy, back in WWII, he and my mom traded letters back and forth. The conversation was disjointed, with questions and answers passing each other as he crossed the ocean. Now the conversation is realtime.

How does the military looks at this? Good for morale... or bad? Good for discipline or bad?

As I hooked up the camera, I wondered why this was technology I wasn't using? I've got cameras and have hooked them up. Long term use never seems convenient or necessary.

I read a lot last week about Google's new mobile phone initiative - Android. It's not an actual phone, that much is perfectly clear. Instead, phones will be built on Android.

My current Samsung Blackjack runs on Windows Mobile 5. Android would perform that same function. There are many similar, though different, phones using WM5. I expect the same thing with Android.

Does the world need another mobile platform? Maybe not. But what makes Android so exciting and different is, it's open source. That puts it in the same category as Linux, MySQL and Apache¹.

In a video (see below), Google co-founder Sergey Brin makes it perfectly clear he wants Android to be supported by the same type of free software tools he used to get Google going! This time, in his role as super rich guy, he gets to be the one who pays to have them developed, then set free.

To that end, the Android SDK (Software Developers Kit) is open and free. The SDK is the tool with which Android applications will be developed. SDKs for platforms are pretty commonplace. Having them be open and free is not.

Finally, Google has offered a $10,000,000 bounty for Android software developers. That might not be enough to excite Microsoft or Motorola, but it will spark many propeller head geeks into action. That's big money if you can write a killer app all by yourself, or in a small partnership.

This open source phone talk can't be pleasing my cell carrier, at&t, or any of the other incumbent carriers. Their business model is predicated on control of both the network and the hardware you buy. Right now, they decide what you phone can do, not you.

Understand, this isn't a perfect solution. Free and open software can lead to 'crashed' cellphones, with no one to take responsibility. Still, it's a very exciting concept.

My limited time with the Blackjack has shown me the potential in the mobile platform. We're barely out of the stone age. My hope is, Android takes it to the next step.

For someone like me, who still fancies himself a bit of a hacker, it's pretty exciting. There's a lot of upside potential here. This is actually better than if Google had just gone ahead and announced a phone!

¹ - Even if Linux, MySQL and Apache mean nothing to you, understand that much of the Internet would stop running immediately without them! That includes Google, EBay, and a gaziilion other sites... including geofffox.com

I probably shouldn't do this... embed video from NBC on my blog. After all, my rent money comes from an ABC affiliate. Alas, this is too good to resist.

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I'm a voice guy. Not that I have pipes, but I've always admired those who did. Even as a kid, I could identify most of the network and local voiceover guys by name.

Today, in Cleveland, Brian Williams met one of the most famous voices of all time. I guarantee you've heard him a thousand times... probably more! And now, you get to meet him.

The fact that Brian Williams seems genuinely excited by this only makes this video that much better.

When I carry my camera, I usually also take along my four lenses. I bought two when I got the camera, another one for my birthday and the fourth... do I really need to make up an excuse?

As it turns out, the fourth is the cheapest, simplest, most basic of my lenses. Made of plastic, it feels like a toy when held.

It's called a prime lens - no zooming here. It has a fixed focal length of 50mm. What makes it different from my other lenses is its speed. It is a 50mm f/1.8.

I didn't always know what that meant either.

It's not the fastest, but this is still considered a fast lens. They're called fast because low "f stop" lenses pass more light, allowing you to shoot with a faster shutter speed.

The added bonus is, low f stops produce a very shallow depth of field. In other words, the area in focus is quite small. That 'feature' makes this little lens perfect for portraiture.

I had the 50mm in tow Sunday when I went to a friends house to take some shots of his nearly one year old daughter. I'm not as good with people as I am with inanimate objects like trees and rocks. Still I managed to get off a few nice shots.

I used my all purpose 18-125mm zoom lens too, but the 50mm was absolutely the best. The softness of the background makes the shots.

Every time I pick up the camera, I learn something new. Getting at ease with this lens is part of that process. Even after 30,000 shots (really) on this Canon Digital Rebel, I'm far from proficient.

After seeing a few samples, my friend Steve sent an email tonight:

Lenses are like children. You should never have a favorite. It's just, I'm beginning to appreciate this lens more than I had.

Admission first: I'm a union member. I'm not a strident, by the book kind of guy, but I do participate. I've never been on strike and hope I never will be.

I have been watching, with interest, the labor dispute between the Writers Guild and producers. The economics of entertainment are changing rapidly. I really don't know what the correct solution is.

No conventional broadcasting company is making enough money on the Internet to make up for the money the Internet has siphoned from over-the-air showings.

There is one thing that's perfectly clear in this dispute. The writers are winning the war of PR and winning it handily.

The problem for the producers is, they're up against people who can cleverly frame an argument... who are used to doing it for a living.

Here's an example (see below) I found on Youtube.com. These writers from the Daily Show have taken the techniques they were using against politicians and turned them on the producers.

Substitute George Bush and Dick Cheney with Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch and you'll have the idea.

As with any strike, there is peripheral damage. Lots of non-combatants are out-of-work. The economy in Los Angeles and, to a lesser effect, New York will feel it. And, of course, you and I will suffer when 2½ Men runs out of fresh episodes¹.

¹ - I've never watched the show, but it seems like low hanging comedic fruit to go after them. I have never shied away from a cheap laugh.

The news coming out of Bangladesh is minimal tonight. The AP reports 'at least' 41 people dead from Cyclone Sidr, which came ashore Thursday.

That number will surely rise after this powerful storm hit one of the world's most susceptible points.

Around 20 years ago, I was invited to Western Connecticut State University by Dr. Mel Goldstein to listen to Dr. Bob Sheets, former director of the National Hurricane Center.

Sheets talked about the potential for tragedy in Bangladesh... the futility of knowing a storm was coming, but there was nothing to do and nowhere to go.

The Ganges River Delta, where Bangladesh meets the Bay of Bengal, is low lying land. Storm tides easily wash well inland and up the river toward Dhaka, a city of 6,500,000.

This is a country of poor people, living in mainly flimsily constructed homes and shacks. Many people live directly on the water.

Sheets said one of the things done was build earthen berms, allowing people to rise above incoming water. It was low tech and not totally effective, but it was better than nothing.

Today's solutions seem similar:

To most there, living in Bangladesh represents a sentence of poverty and suffering. It is worse than sad that modern technology does virtually nothing to keep these people out of harm's way.

I don't know how it could.

I have a 'gig' tonight. I've been asked to emcee a Neil Sedaka concert - a benefit for the Hospital of St. Raphael.

Helaine is worried. There will be anywhere from 1,000 to 1,600 people in attendance. "You don't speak to groups that large," she said earlier this afternoon.

I have been worried, but only because I left most of my prep to the last minute. The size of an audience really doesn't enter into the equation.

I know there are many people, my wife included, who'd do nearly anything to stay out of the limelight. I thrive on it. It is my drug of choice.

The benefit takes place at New Haven's Shubert Theater. This is really quite a historic house.

As emcee, I speak for a few minutes, bring on some dignitaries, who also speak, and then introduce Neil Sedaka.

I wasn't sure exactly how to introduce him, so I asked an expert to write a few words I could read.

Stop - - - Cousin Brucie has email! Why was that tough for me to deal with?

I met Brucie while I was in high school. It was an evening still indelibly etched in my mind. That's getting an entry sometime soon.

I'll write more about the show later too. I'm really looking forward to it.

Helaine and I went to see Neil Sedaka at the Shubert Theater in New Haven last night. In order to do the evening justice, let me split it into two - fund raising and performance.

The purpose of the night was to raise money for the St. Raphael Foundation and the Hospital of St. Raphael.

There are two hospitals in New Haven. Even with 511 beds, St. Raphael is the smaller. It's certainly the less glamorous. I was glad to help.

As is often the case, a benefit like this dangles 'fun' as the spoonful of sugar which makes the giving easier. It's a technique that works. The Shubert was mostly full, and a pre-show reception, a separate ticket from the main event, drew well too.

The goal of this night, to raise money for the hospital and its programs, was a success. Everything else is peripheral.

My job was to act as master of ceremonies.

At 7:45, I joined a group of people including the hospital's president and the sister who runs the foundation, and went backstage. At 8:00 o'clock we walked in front of the curtain and I began to do whatever it is I do. The response was very good, but time was of the essence. I edited as I went along.

I can't imagine anyone's crying because I didn't do more material.

By the way, if you're worried about speaking before crowds, you should know in situations like this it's nearly impossible to see the audience! You're on a lit stage. They're in darkness. On top of that, the spotlights leave you blind.

A few folks from the hospital/foundation spoke, then I introduced Neil Sedaka... or actually, I said the show would begin in a few minutes.

I would like to have said "Neil Sedaka" and had the show begin right there. It never does.

The Sedaka show starts with a five minute video retrospective. It's other artists singing Neil Sedaka's songs. There are a lot of those... and a lot of diverse artists. This guy is prolific and his writing style versatile.

As the video ended, the band began to play and on walked Neil Sedaka. He is shorter than I expected. Older too.

The band consisted of a keyboard player, guitar, drums, sax and girl singer, plus Neil Sedaka himself, playing piano/keyboards.

He can still sing. That was obvious within the first few seconds. His vocal pitch was always high. It still is.

There were songs I remember where he trilled his voice to a quick falsetto on the original recording. No more. Adults just can't do that. Ask Frankie Valli! But mostly, there was little, if any, transposing and he sang the full range he had as a kid and staying totally on key.

Everything seemed recognizable and plenty of people sang along or clapped along as he played the hits. I certainly did.

After a few minutes, I began to think, "The sound's a little thin." It wasn't Sedaka who was lacking. It was the band.

The songs called for more vocal backing - more additional voices than one. The sound was also missing the strings, tympanies and other non-traditional rock instruments that gave the originals more feel.

Could have been accomplished electronically? I don't know.

Here's an example. In Sedaka's "Stairway to Heaven," he sings: "I'll build a stairway to heaven, 'cause heaven is where you are." It's followed by a kettle drum of some sort which changes pitch after being stuck. That is an integral part of the song. I felt cheated when it wasn't there.

Maybe it's the large venue and stage which cried out for more than a combo? Whatever it was, I wish he had more players with him.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the show. I just wish there would have been a fuller sound.

It was a night I really enjoyed and a good cause which was well served!

After the show, we headed to a little mezzanine for dessert. Neil Sedaka showed up a few minutes later. A few people took our picture, and I'm looking forward to getting those files.

After all was said and done, I got lots of thanks from the organizers. It wasn't necessary to thank me. That's what I said and I wasn't joking.

I'm a firm believer in using whatever notoriety I have for the common good. Whatever they got from me, I got back more in satisfaction. I'm glad I could help.

Welcome to my hell season! Winter has arrived.

The calendar says not yet, but the forecast says otherwise. There's a chance for a little frozen precipitation early tomorrow morning. A little bit of slick stuff is just as bad as a lot, maybe worse!

My parents in Florida, cousins in Florida and other friends in warm places are probably laughing now. Stop it. I can hear you, damn it!

I remember laughing myself years ago when I lived in Florida. Back then my favorite TV viewing was the hand cream, snow tire and other wintry product commercials that were seen on network shows.

It's different watching it from afar and living it up close and personal! Trust me - they've got it better in California and Florida.

Oh - there's one more thing about winter weather. It's a killer to accurately predict. I suffer through that too.

I went and had my teeth whitened today. Long overdue, my teeth looked like they'd been stained by every cup of coffee I've ever downed and all those cigarettes I used to smoke (thankfully haven't smoked for the last 20+ years).

Who thinks these procedures up? This is crazy. I was stuffed with cotton and plastic and protective stuff was swabbed on my gums and lips. Red coated safety glasses were slipped over my real glasses. Finally, a caustic bleaching potion was painted on my teeth and a bright light, straight from the Jetsons, was pushed up against my mouth.

In three 15 minute segments, the light was allowed to activate the secret potion, which in turn changed my teeth from gray to white! That, of course, was the result I wanted.

Before we started, my dentist picked out a tooth sample which matched one of my front teeth. When we were done, he held it up against the same tooth. I suppose that's cheating, because no one gets to make that kind of A/B comparison in real time.

Still, I was not unhappy. It's a big difference.

So, that's the good news. Here's the bad.

Whether because of the procedure or not, I left with my lower lip swelling. The swelling continued with my lip getting plumper and plumper for the next few hours. No pain, just some discomfort.

At work, I said something probably never before uttered by 'on-air talent' at a TV station: "No tight shots."

Hopefully, the swelling will continue to abate and I'll be ready to actually smile tomorrow!

For the next few days there will be no fruits, no colas, no ketchup and no coffee! The idea is, until everything sets, I shouldn't stain myself back to where I began.

In the meantime, there is one expected after effect from the whitening - my teeth and gums are really sensitive. I can deal with it. A little short term discomfort is a small price to pay.

About twenty minutes ago, the power went out. The automated voice at my electrical company promises it will be back on before some specific minute in the four o'clock hour.

No power means no Internet. But look, here I am!

With a flashlight, I found the cable that fits in my cellphone. From there I plugged it into the USB port on this laptop. A few pushes of a button on the cellphone and - voila - we're back in the 21st Century.

The over-the-air cell connection here at the house isn't too fast. It's faster than nothing.

There's a certain pride in knowing you know how to work the system when the need arises. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to bed - power or not.

I've been on a lot of TV live shots. I've seen a lot of TV live shots. I've watched them come from pretty much everywhere (think South Pole) and under nearly every situation (think reporters on a hotel roof at the start of the first Gulf War).

Yesterday, I saw the best live shot ever.

Now that I've hyped it, let me add, it was by no means the most important live shot. What it portrayed was pedestrian. However, I've never seen a live report that had so much added just by being live.

Ed Lavandera¹ works for CNN. He travels all over the country as a general assignment reporter. Yesterday, he flew cross country, joined along the way by his family.

What made my ears perk up was when I saw Ed reporting live, sitting on a commercial airliner at the gate! His infant daughter was in his lap. As Ed spoke, passengers walked by on the way to their seats.

On-the-air, Ed's video was put inside a graphic, allowing it to be a lot smaller than full screen. That's one way of lessening the impact of bad quality video. It didn't make any difference. Content trumps technical quality.

I would guess the video was sent via a high speed cellphone data link. That's similar to my tethering my phone to this laptop. Exactly what equipment he used and how he accomplished this feat is nowhere to be found. I'd appreciate any insight.

It couldn't be too incredibly complex, because he was live from the plane, meaning really limited space. His daughter on his lap limited him even more.

What made this live shot so great was his ability to let me experience travel on the day before Thanksgiving. It's something we've all heard about. Few of us have experienced it. There aren't more planes flying, just more people who seldom fly!

The pre-Thanksgiving rush is something reporters talk about, but never deliver - certainly never like this.

Hats off to Ed and whoever came up with this idea and then executed it.

Blogger's addendum - The CNN website has a 'package' that was assembled from the elements of the trip. Here's the link, but I don't recommend it. It absolutely pales in comparison to that one live shot while on the tarmac.

¹ - Amazingly, on CNN's own site, Ed's name is spelled two different ways! I think my choice is right.

I just opened a free account with ComVu's PocketCaster:

In other words, I can broadcast video live (with a delay) directly from my cell phone to any Internet equipped computer worldwide.

I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise. I already upload every piece of video I shout with my cellphone directly to YouTube (in a private, not public, directory) using simple and free software from Shozu.

Where this is different is, if you're looking at the right web page and I start 'broadcasting', you're going to see it right then and there. It doesn't make any difference where I am or what's going on. At the ballgame, at a concert, overloooking the nuclear sub base- it makes no difference. You see it (reasonably close to) live.

The quality isn't all that great. What I see, coming through at&t's G3 data network, is pixelated and choppy. However, if it's a situation where content trumps technical quality, this is perfect.

With this software up and running, I realize more than ever my Samsung Blackjack wasn't designed to be a video camera! It's a cellphone with a camera added on as an afterthought. Why else would the screen go blank (as all cell screens do after a while) while I'm shooting video?

For TV stations, this definitely unlocks the ability to have cheap and dirty live coverage for minimal cost. Luckily, the poor quality will keep this from being overused, except where the story itself is compelling.

Anyway, I'll keep playing with it and let you know if I figure anything out... like how this company plans on making money.

I was just looking at some old articles in the NY Times archive (free and worth perusing). I entered the name of my high school, isolated my four years and began to scan.

Most of the stories were about our sports teams. Brooklyn Technical High School (aka Brooklyn Tech) was an all boys school with a 6,000 student enrollment. We fielded teams in every sport.

Because the school was one of New York City's academically elite, with admission limited by an entrance exam, we had an overabundance of wimps and nerds. Most of our teams were awful.

Almost immediately, one story jumped out at me. It is attached to this entry.

The answer to your first question is, yes, I was there. Yes, I participated, even though my mom had to buy me a pair of dungarees to do so! This was the late 60s, and protesting by students was gaining steam, especially as it related to the war in Vietnam.

Oh, yeah, we really did call them dungarees. At that time, they were totally removed from the realm of fashion.

It seemed like a big social issue back then and a way of pushing back against what seemed like irrational rules.

It is a reflection of that more innocent time that this protest caused such angst to the administration of an academically elite high school. The principal was pissed we had defied him.

Until now, I had no idea the New York Times had covered it. They did in 87 words, buried on page 28 of the Saturday, March 23, 1968 edition.

As I remember (not well - I might be wrong), by the end of the school year, jeans were permitted in class.

I offered to accompany Helaine and Stef to the mall this afternoon. Here's the deal - the mall is not for guys... at least not for guys like me.

As far as I could see, at our first stop (West Farms) there was only one store I wanted to spend any time in, the bookstore. Even then, the once sprawling computer section is now a single rack. So sad.

I popped in all the cell phone stores. Glad I didn't wait for the Motorola Q9H. It's too big.

I played around sending live video to my friend/fellow geek Harold and took lots of cellphone photos.

I only ran into one person I knew. It was Chuck, an engineer from the TV station. Chuck, his wife and stepdaughter were there with seven grandchildren. Seven... at the mall. Chuck deserves sainthood!

Oh - all seven were blond!

I'm not sure what Helaine and Stef do at the mall, but it obviously holds more attraction for them than me.

It was nice seeing the decorations and people with a mission. It was fun watching Chuck's grandkids sit down for a photo with Santa.

If it wasn't for the cold, I'd really enjoy the holiday season.

I have been on the radio many times since coming to Connecticut. It comes with the territory and I enjoy it.

It's been pretty well established here, I'll always have one foot in radio - even though it's been over 25 years since I worked professionally there.

Monday morning at 8:00 AM, I take the plunge again, but this time it's very different. On the occasion of our 24^th wedding anniversary, Helaine will join me live on WPLR. This is the first time Helaine has appeared publicly anywhere! I know she's currently having nightmares about it.

Some of this started when my friend Bob spent a few days with us last October. He heard us verbally sparring and thought it might be entertaining on-the-air. Now we get to see if he was right.

Will she talk about how I used to refer to her as my 'friend,' or maybe how I negotiated our engagement? Helaine is fast, witty, and knows every skeleton in my stuffed to the gills closet! She can fillet me like a carp. On radio, that can be a lot of fun.

If you're up, join us Monday morning at 8:00 EST on WPLR, 99.1 FM. They do stream on the Internet. You can try this or go to their homepage and link from there.

We went to a small local park to visit the geese yesterday. We used to go with Stef when she was much younger. Helaine figures that's at least 10 years ago, probably more. The geese were glad to see us.

From a meteorological standpoint, I was a little surprised to see the small pond in the park partially frozen. That's actually a good thing, because when a ring 'flew' off Stef's finger, it was retrievable with nothing more than a stick.

It seems obvious, judging by the soles of our shoes, stomach flu is running rampant in the goose family!

Helaine and I were on WPLR this morning with Chaz and AJ. Details to follow, but here are a few photos.

Today is Helaine and my 24^th wedding anniversary. That was reason enough to head to Milford, and the WPLR studios to join Chaz and AJ on-the-air.

Actually, the story begins in September.

Helaine and I were driving to Long Island to catch a plane for Florida and my mom's birthday. Chaz and AJ were on the radio talking about marriage and anniversaries. I picked up my phone and dialed their number.

A few seconds later I was on-the-air, schmoozing away. The conversation was good - in other words, they let me have my way, telling any story I wanted and dominating the conversation.

Hey, I admit it.

Finally, they asked how long I'd been married. I told them 24 years as of November 24^th.

A millisecond later, Helaine's voice bellowed from the seat next to me. "26^th, a**hole."

OK, that's probably not a good mistake to make. I have no excuses. Guys mostly understand. Women mostly don't.

It was with that conversation in mind that Chaz and AJ invited us on this morning. Jesse, the producer, arranged for us to be on from 8-9:00 AM.

Helaine was nervous. She'd never been on-the-air. The closer we came, the more she dreaded her decision. She did what she could to guarantee they'd like her. She baked!

Early this morning, in the rain and gloom, we headed out. I carried "Clicky," my camera. Helaine carried two trays of baked goods.

Trust me - Helaine's baked goods are irresistible. Her cakes and cookies could easily diffuse tensions in the Middle East. And two disk jockeys? Please, they were on their way to being putty in her hands!

We headed up to the studio a little before 8:00. Chaz and AJ use three studios. Chaz is in one, with Billy Winn. AJ is in another. Producer Jesse is in a third.

It took Helaine a few seconds, but she quickly warmed up to be on the radio. She was dynamite. We retold most of our 'standard' fare: How I resisted commitment. How we negotiated a wedding date. How all men are pond scum!

All the good stuff is about my shortcomings.

It's tough to tell, but I think we were a success. And, I think the radio bug spread a little from me to Helaine.

In the past we've discussed what it might be like to do a husband/wife morning show on-the-air. This was our chance to see if it had any promise at all. It does.

That's not to say we'll ever really do it, but it's fun to think about. It's certainly something that could be done without hurting my 'day job.'

When our hour ended, I asked if we could have an aircheck. That disk should be coming within the next few days and we'll have a better chance to assess exactly how we did.

No matter what, it was a lot of fun. And, though it might not sound romantic in the abstract, being with Helaine... having a good time... made it a perfect part of our anniversary celebration.

Blogger's note: Earlier today, some of the photos posted on the site might not have been visible. If you ever run into empty boxes or other things that don't look Kosher, would you please let me know?

There are certain events I've been doing for a l-o-n-g time. Tonight was an example. This was my thirteenth time emceeing the Connecticut Association of Schools Elementary Program Banquet.

That's a mouthful!

Over 600 teachers and administrators were there. I try and visit each and every table.

This program cites grade schools for good ideas they've put into practice. Then, the ideas are shared. That's a good idea in and of itself.

The whole thing takes place at the AquaTurf, an übercaterer in the Plantsville section of Southington.

It's a family owned business, and business must be good, because this place is really kept up nicely. It is just as clean and fresh as it was the first time I stepped into the place, over 20 years ago.

Now that I've moved past the nuts and bolts, there is one part of the AquaTurf that has always stood out to me - prime rib. At the AquaTurf, prime rib is served in Fred Flintstone sized slabs. It's a little overwhelming.

One of the benefits of my job is the ability to just be able to walk in the kitchen to say hello. I took this shot of the prime rib getting cut into manageable slabs. The kitchen runs like a ballet. I suppose that's the only way to serve hundreds at once... and with the food still hot.

What a tease! Google has brought out some cool, new technology and it doesn't work for me!

Here's what I'm talking about.

Google has replicated many of its full sized web applications for the tiny screens on 'smart' cellphones. One of the coolest ported applications is Google Maps. I've actually used this more than once.

It's just as full featured as the Google maps you see on line - just smaller. As you scroll the map, new panels are downloaded off the Internet. It's ingenious. And, just like Google Maps online, you can have it route a trip.

It's possible to 'mate' this app with a Bluetooth GPS receiver (and wouldn't I be King Nerd to do that) and have it position the maps and move them across your screen, keeping pace as you drive. I've seen some of these pocket sized GPS receivers advertised for under $30.

Of course that's not enough for Google! They've taken it one step further. They've figured out a way to have this map program find its way without a GPS receiver. Neat trick.

Since the maps are running in a cell phone, Google looks at which cell towers are being received, figures out where they are and triangulates!

It's not as accurate as satellite based GPS, but it's not too bad. You can be located within a few blocks. With the maps on your screen, a few blocks is close enough... or it should be.

As I said, there's an unfortunate problem. It doesn't work with my phone!

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's because my Samsung Blackjack uses a strange version of Java which is problematic in many cases. It's a 'me' problem, not a Google problem.

Is there a workaround? Probably. I'll be looking for it.

Meanwhile, I'm impressed by Google... and more than a little bit envious.

My friend Peter is coming to visit tomorrow. He's due to arrive late tomorrow afternoon (though with Amtrak involved, it could be any time tomorrow evening too).

Like many of my friends, Peter is really smart, computer friendly and sports adverse. An article in a New York City newspaper, written while Peter was in his late teens, referred to him as a 'boy genius.' He might still be a boy genius - who can tell?

I know Peter a really long time. We first met on a Sunday afternoon in 1973 at the WGAR studios in suburban Cleveland. Peter was working for our sister station (WNCN) and came by to help my boss analyze the ratings book.

Peter brought his calculator with him, a humongous HP that probably cost a week's salary. It was the first calculator I'd ever seen! I was in awe.

I next ran into Peter in 1975. He was assistant program director at WPEN in Philadelphia. It was primarily because of Peter I was hired. Lat