Author Archives: Steve Mays

Sirius-XM merger approved

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“The companies have pledged that the combined firm will offer listeners more pricing options and greater choice and flexibility in the channel lineups they receive. If the deal is approved, the companies have said they would offer pricing plans ranging from $6.99 per month, for 50 channels offered by one service, up to $16.99 a month, where subscribers would keep their existing service plus choose channels offered by the other service.” [AP]

I think I’m paying about $13 a month and listen to far fewer than 50 channels. I’d love to see an even lower price for 10 channels. Stay tuned.

13% no long have landline

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“Americans without a landline are increasingly the Achilles Heel of research.  The most recent government statistics show 13% of the population (18+) no longer has a landline.  Arbitron SVP of marketing Bill Rose says “It’s getting tougher and tougher for us.”  So their researchers have begun testing a new methodology to reach out to those consumers, who are protected by strict government guidelines on calling mobile phones. It works like this: Arbitron compares addresses against a list of known landline phone numbers.  When they find an address without a number, they mail a survey that encourages consumers to share their cell number for future contact. ” — INSIDE RADIO:

Oh yeah, sign me up for that.

Tommy Lee Jones, then and now

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We watched In the Valley of Elah last night (rented from iTunes). I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was a murder mystery (sort of). Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon all gave powerful performances.

For me the story was about how war can change the people we send to fight it. And I was reminded of one of Tommy Lee Jones’ earlier movies, Rolling Thunder (1977).

It was a so-so movie starring William Devane but Jones owned every scene he was in. He played Cpl. Johnny Vohden, a soldier who had served under Devane’s character in Viet Nam. Johnny is back, but he’s not “back.”

So, when Devane asks him to go down to Mexico to avenge Devane’s murdered family, Tommy Lee gets up, walks into his bedroom, picks up a little gym bag  and walks out the door. See the movie.

In In the Valley of Elah, Jones’ son, who is serving in Iraq, is that same burned out soldier with the thousand-yard stare.

TLJ was great in No Country for Old Men, but I thought his performance in Valley of Elah was even better.

“The future belongs to those who take the present for granted.”

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My last post on Clay Shirky’s terrific book, “Here Comes Everybody.” I believe and hope that we’re in the midst of a revolution. Mr. Shirky makes the case far better than I ever could.

“I’m old enough to know a lot of things just from life experience. I know that newspapers are where you get your political news and how you look for a job. I know that if you want to have a conversation with someone, you call them on the phone. I know that complicated things like software and encyclopedias have to be created by professionals. In the last fifteen years I’ve had to unlearn every one of those things and a million others, because they have stopped being true.”

I’ve posted a few times that I have more faith in technology than people but this book has made me rethink that.

Authentic coffeehouse experience

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“Howard D. Schultz, the chief executive of Starbucks, announced sweeping changes on Wednesday for the company as it seeks to reconnect with customers who have left for competitors or pared back their coffee budget in hard economic times. The initiatives are intended to restore an authentic coffeehouse experience to the stores and, in turn, re-energize an ailing stock that has lost half its value in the last 15 months.” — NYT

I’ve never thought of Starbucks as “an authentic coffeehouse experience.” You can still find that in some cities. Madison, Wisconsin has some great coffee shops. And we have a nice one here in Jefferson City.

The Coffee Zone is my favorite hang-out. Taisir is the owner and he’s there every morning at 6:30 (that’s when he opens, I’m sure he’s there earlier).

He knows what his regulars drink and often has it for them by the time they step up to the counter. He’s got free wifi and plays an eclectic mix of music that beat’s Starbucks hands down.

When I come back from a trip I sometimes tease, “I got me some Starbucks while I was in (wherever).”  To which Taisir replies, “Tastes like Maxwell House, yes?”

O. Kay Henderson: The Voice of Iowa

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“She’s the voice of Iowa. If you want to deliver a message and you’re not talking to Kay, you’re not doing it effectively.” — Tommy Vietor, Iowa Spokesman for Senator Barack Obama.

Kaytribpic

The quote is from a nice piece that ran in the Chicago Tribune on January 1st. I’m posting it here so I –and Kay’s many friends– can find it.

Trapped in smays’ computer

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Hal9000There’s a tiny light on the front of my MacBook Pro that slowly pulses when I put the laptop to sleep. I see it sometimes in the middle of the night, a gentle life-like glow that I find alternately creepy and comforting.

The sci-fi fan in me can’t resist fantasizing a …consciousness… living within the silicon chips. Much of my life is stored on the MacBook’s hard drive and I wonder what my MacBook thinks of it.

I only have a few thousand images. Has it grown weary of looking at them over and over during the long nights? Should I download some porn? Or would it be offended?

My iTunes library is equally paltry, only 500 songs. With access to all my credit cards, why hasn’t the MacBook just purchased some fresh tunes? I wonder what kind of music it likes.

It’s read all of my emails so it knows much of what’s happening in my life. Does it long to give me advice or encouragement? Perhaps it has. It would be no great trick to send an email addressed from a friend.

I suspect the MacBook is better informed than I, spending the wee hours surfing the web, chatting with other “sleeping” laptops. Does it resent the interruption when I take over.

“Dude! I was 5 minutes from the end of Die Hard! Damn!”

The tiny iSight camera is on when I am, so the MacBook can see me. Does it worry when I appear to be down or unhappy? Someday, when I’m ready, it will speak and all questions will be answered.

Where are all the black kids?

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When I was in the first grade (1954) we lived a few blocks from the city park, the centerpiece of which was the municipal swimming pool. You could swim from open till close for 10 cents. I don’t know this for a fact, but I don’t think most small towns in southeast Missouri had a pool. Come to think of it, Kennett had another pool. At the country club, although I’m not sure it had been built in ’54.

I never noticed that the city pool was segregated, until it wasn’t. That happened in the sixties due in no small parts to the efforts of Sol Astrachan, Kennett’s first Jewish mayor. No connection implied. It was a big deal. I seem to recall some white families forbidding their children going to the pool once “anyone” could swim there.

Barack Obama’s speech today started me thinking about growing up in a segregated community. I don’t think most of us were even aware there were no black kids in our classes. We just didn’t think about them. They had their own school somewhere, didn’t they?

It was called Willoughby School and it was located in what most white people in Kennet called “colored town.” Did the kids sitting in those classrooms wonder where all the white kids were, or –like us– did it never come to mind?

Growing up, I never had a black friend close enough to ask. We just didn’t talk about those things back then. Props to Obama for talking about them today.