Who Is Winning The Writer’s Strike

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 2&#189 Men runs out of fresh episodes&#185.

&#185 – 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.

Phone Back – Website Gone

We got a call around 10:00 AM from a phone company technician. A squirrel had eaten through a few lines taking down 3 family’s service. After 19 hours, we’re back.

In other techno news, I woke up this morning to emails from my dad and others telling me my website had disappeared. In its wake was this lovely page saying, “Please contact the billing/support department as soon as possible.&#185″ It is not from the “How to Win Friends and Influence People” playbook.

Here’s what happened. I had been experimenting with a program to produce tide tables. It runs a ‘daemon’, meaning a continuous background process. I have just found out, that’s against my terms of service. The fact that this program used nearly no resources seemed to be besides the point.

It has been removed. I have been reinstated. Life’s never simple.

Hey – at least I was able to call them to begin clearing it up.

&#185 – After sending an email to hostforweb’s tech support, they have changed the message to be less draconian. A quick and correct solution.