Cleaning My Office

I have an office here at home. I’m not sure of the official definition of office. Its got a desk and computers and crap… lots of crap.

I’m not from a family that threw things out. In our little apartment in Queens, the walls were closing in because of all the things pushed up against them.

I particularly share my father’s obsession of never throwing out a wire or cable. You just never know. Someday, somewhere, someone will need that power cable from a Commodore 64 or the adapter you use so you can hook up cable TV instead of rabbit ears – and I’ll be ready!

The same goes for computer components. Need an ISA&#185 modem? How about an AT keyboard? Here’s a motherboard for a computer 1/50 the speed of today’s state-of-the-art.

My bigger problem is creating 5 pieces of trash from one. An envelope will arrive. I open it and remove the paperwork inside. Now each piece of paper and the envelope find a space. Each is on its own never to be reunited.

Cleaning my room is reminiscent of an archaeological dig. You start near the present, but as you work your way down through the piles you go further and further back in time.

Here’s what I learned in today’s straightening. I need to do a major reconstruction. Otherwise, this clutter problem will reappear before the week is out.

&#185 – ISA and AT describe standards which in turn specifies the pin spacing on these components. They are incompatible with everything anyone is still using as a computer.

Diner Discussions

This was originally going to be called “Dinner Discussions,” but when I made the type to “Diner Discussions,” I realized it fit better.

I got a call this afternoon from my friend Farrell. He and his wife were in Connecticut at Mohegan Sun Casino. Actually, I think Farrell called out of a sense of boredom because casinos were not built for him!

I asked when they were driving back to New Jersey. When it seemed like a reasonable time, I asked if they’d like to stop for dinner in New Haven?

Farrell said he was in jeans and I didn’t feel like shaving&#185, so we decided to meet at the Greek Olive. The Greek Olive is a diner located right off I-95 at Long Wharf in New Haven. It’s about 15 minutes from here and under an hour from Mohegan Sun, but on the way home for them.

Tony and Anna who own it, used to own the luncheonette next to the TV station. I’ve known them and their daughters for years. I eat there two or three nights a week.

I drove to Long Wharf, getting there before Farrell, his wife and sister (who lives in Derby and was invited to join us). It was reasonably crowded, but someone was leaving a circular table tucked away in a corner of the dining room and Anna asked if we’d like it.

I know this blog is read all across the world (that continues to completely stun me), so I should explain the concept of a diner. They will make pretty much anything – from prime rib down to scrambled eggs and everything in between. The service is fast. The portions are generous. The coffee is never ending.

Though I’m not eating desserts at the moment, diners are known for their amazing baked goods – and this place is no exception. As you walk in, it’s tough to miss the huge cakes sitting in a refrigerated, glass walled case.

I have known Farrell for nearly 25 years. He was responsible for me getting my first TV job in Buffalo. I try not to hold that against him.

Everyone sat down, and the small talk began. It wasn’t long before we began to talk politics and the election. There is no doubt in my mind that the interest in this particular presidential election is just as great, maybe greater, than any in my lifetime.

I don’t think the country has been this divided Nixon – McGovern in 1972. By that I mean the supporters of either candidate find it difficult to understand how anyone could vote for the other guy. Back in 1972 the two side were also far apart in policy but very mismatched in strength. Nixon was a juggernaut in that election.

This time the lines are again well drawn, but the supporting camps are more evenly matched in size.

After a little while Tony walked by, pulled up a chair and sat down to join the discussion. It was great.

Really good discourse of any kind (but especially political) is a lot of fun. It is to your brain as exercise is to your muscles. It made a good meal with friends even better.

I watched Jon Stewart of the Daily Show on Crossfire on CNN a few days ago. He criticized the hosts (Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson) for using dogmatic arguments or quotes out of context or just plain spin to promote people they supported. Stewart claimed this ‘ends justifies the means’ method of political argument seen so often on cable TV does our country a disservice.

I agree.

That’s why this discussion, which was so free wheeling and open was so much fun.

I don’t agree with everything everyone said… in fact I disagree with lots of what I heard. I was just glad to have the workout and suspect everyone there was enjoying it too.

What I expected to be a terribly lonely night, in the house by myself, turned out better than anticipated.

&#185 – If Helaine found out that I shaved on a Saturday while she was away, she would call for an investigation – and be justified doing it.

Gene Klavan

When I was growing up, my parents (mostly my dad) listened to WNEW. To me it represented what adult life was about. It was sophisticated and upwardly mobile. The stars of that era of popular music hung out at WNEW and socialized with the disk jockeys.

It was a Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra, Jack Jones, Steve & Eydie kind of place.

The morning show was Klavan and Finch. Gene Klavan was the comic and Dee Finch his straight man. This past week Gene Klavan died at 79.

I was speaking to my dad tonight, looking for the right moment to tell him about Klavan, when he told me.

I stopped for a minute. Is it right to tell a 78 year old about the death of a 79 year old? And then I asked him.

I didn’t want to pry, but I wondered how my dad looked at death. I think (and he reads this so he’ll tell me if I’m wrong) that he just sees it as a part of life. Where he lives, in Florida, he is surrounded by it.

His life now is the best it’s ever been. He and my mom are incredibly active – much more so than ever before. He says, 78 is an age he never imagined, much less consciously thought of.

I see my parents living forever. But they are so much better at dealing with reality than I am.

Continue reading “Gene Klavan”

The Future of TV

In today’s ShopTalk, a daily newletter for broadcast journalists (and those who sit in the same room with them), Alan Mendelson of KCAL wrote an interesting letter:

From: Alan Mendelson

MoneyLA@aol.com

We are only a few years away to find the reach and penetration of high-speed Internet access to be on par with Cable TV. And when that happens, perhaps in only five years, broadcast and Cable TV news will also be on par with Internet-TV News.

In that time, families will have a “video wall” with a handheld remote with which to choose TV, Cable, Satellite TV or Internet video.

And when that happens, companies will not pay hundreds of millions of dollars to buy a TV broadcast station (and along with it the limitations of government regulation) but they will be able to start up an Internet-TV station for the cost of a server — about $2,000. And unlike broadcast TV and Cable TV, Internet TV will have no geographical boundaries.

Alan Mendelson

KCAL-TV Money Reporter and www.moredeals.com

This is a subject I’ve thought about a lot. So, I responded:

I read, with great interest, Alan Mendelson’s letter concerning the future of Internet video. If it were only that simple.

Alan mentions the startup cost of $2,000 for a server. That’s a server without bandwidth. Unlike broadcasting, where one single transmission reaches out to anyone, current Internet technology requires a discreet, individual signal to each user.

That’s also a server without any viewers. Broadcast stations provide something an Internet start-up can’t (and here’s their real value) – a well known address. Don’t underestimate the value of prime real estate. It’s no surprise that when the same program is seen on both broadcast and cable channels, broadcast gets the higher audience share.

Even when Internet television finds an audience, it takes a lot of bandwidth to serve an audience. As far as I can tell, it’s a lot more expensive to transmit that many bits than with our current system of broadcasting.

I’m not saying that what Alan predicts won’t happen. It just won’t happen in the way he anticipates.

Internet television will be watched as the Internet is watched – very close to the screen. It will be watched as we browse and check email and do all those other things we do with computers… and will do with computers.

For the most part, Internet video programming will not be watched full screen. Certainly not for news and information programming. There is no need for it. Watching news, or even sports, in a small window on a computer desktop is perfectly satisfying and reduces the bandwidth cost greatly.

Already, here in Connecticut, University of Connecticut women’s basketball is streamed on a subscription basis by our local Public Television station. Major League Baseball does it too. In neither case is the service designed to be full screen viewing. In neither case would this be economically possible without a significant subscription fee, for what is a small amount of programming.

The good news for most of us is, Internet or broadcast, our skills will still be needed. The bad news is, increased dilution of the audience will lower margins and probably lower salaries.

My small town, a suburb in a medium sized market, might be served by a one man TV station, where a single person does every function from reporting to shooting to editing to anchoring to sales.

Will the cable companies, who provide a huge chunk of the broadband Internet access now available, try to control this use of bandwidth? They have a vested interest in seeing that they are the source of subscription programming, not a flat rate pipeline by which others profit… at their peril.

Whether change will be good or bad remains to be seen. What is unavoidable is, there will be change.

My Presidential Prediction

This blog is non-partisan. I don’t favor one ideology or candidate over another. I work in a newsroom, which is supposed to be balanced and objective. So, even as the weatherman, this seems like a reasonable policy.

On the other hand, I am not blind. I am watching the ‘dance of the candidates’ as the 2004 presidential campaign gets under way – long before either convention. I can’t remember as early a start. With the insatiable appetite of cable TV news, we’ll soon be sick of it all and anxious for November 2nd, so we can just put all the petty sniping behind us.

I’ve been thinking about the candidates and watching poll numbers over the past few days. Who is vulnerable? Why are they vulnerable? Why is Kerry already head and shoulders ahead of the president (though it is so early that poll any numbers are meaningless)?

It won’t be long before President Bush starts looking to work around his negatives. It is my opinion that he will see Vice President Dick Cheney as a liability.

Again, this doesn’t represent my opinion of Vice President Cheney or President Bush. But, I see the vice president’s association with Halliburton as a huge target for the Democrats. They will try and paint Halliburton as representative of everything bad with this Republican administration and use Cheney’s prior association (he was its president) to drive their points home.

Here’s my prediction. When November comes around, the Republican ticket won’t be Bush/Cheney. The Vice President could find any number of reasons, from health on down, to graciously bow out.

There are a number of Republicans with squeaky clean reputations that come to mind… like Colin Powell or Rudolph Guiliani. Either of those two would more benefit the president’s re-election bid.

I mentioned this tonight to a number of people I work with, and most said it sounded reasonable, though not likely. I called my dad in Florida and he said it was an idea he had thought about, and accepted, a few weeks ago.

If it happens, remember today is March 10, 2004. If it doesn’t happen, it was my dad’s idea.

The Worm My Dad Sent Me

My dad loves his computer. I think, like his son, he is obsessed with this unbelievable access to nearly anything. But, he is not a sophisticated user. And, in his defense, that puts him squarely in line with the vast majority of other computer users.

Earlier this evening, my dad received the official looking email on the right from Microsoft. With all the viruses and worms going around, Microsoft was proactively sending out a patch to fix yet another weakness. Except, the message wasn’t from Microsoft.

I wouldn’t know any of this, except, sometime after 10:00 PM Thursday, I received the very same email. But, to me, something looked fishy. Microsoft doesn’t email software patches! In fact, though I’ve registered all my Microsoft products, I don’t think I’ve ever received anything from Microsoft.

I ‘opened’ the email up and took a look at the code. I could see the path the message took to get to me. It originated somewhere on adelphia.net. Adelphia is a cable TV provider with high speed Internet service and my dad is a subscriber.

I looked closer.

The originator of the email was there… not in name, but in IP address. Though we type www.somethingcool.com or email to foo@bar.com, these ‘people friendly’ addresses are translated into the raw IP numbers (the equivalent of street addresses) before they’re sent on their way.

The IP address was my dad’s.

I said, “You know not to open unexpected attachments.” He said, “It was from Microsoft.” And, of course, to him that’s what it seemed.

The writers of this worm, which I’ve since learned is Win32.Swen.A, knew no one would execute this program unless they were tricked. And, it’s a damned good trick. The email message looks legit.

In the past I’ve gotten similar messages posing as security queries from PayPal. Send us your login name, password and credit card.

Enough is enough. It’s time we changed our methods of email.

As it stands right now, this network of networks, designed when only those invited could get on, is too trusting. If you say you’re someone, the Internet inherently believes that. But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

It’s time for a new mail protocol which will verify the sender is who he says he is. Maybe we can cut down on, or even eliminate, spam while we’re at it.

It will be a painful transition, because the mail programs we now use aren’t up to the task. But, we have gone beyond the point of hoping the Internet will cure itself.