Monday, July 20, 2009
Man On The Moon - Plus 40 Years
How odd to sit in my den and watch Neil and Buzz walk on the moon again. Some cable channel is rerunning all the old CBS footage. I'm sitting in the same room I watched them the first time, 4o years ago. I couldn't imagine then what the next 40 years would bring; I can't imagine what the next 40 will, either. It was a grand time, though; think of the contrasts, and the parallels to today. Next up on the nostalgia front: Woodstock.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
...And That's The Way It Was.
I'm glad to see the attention paid to Walter Cronkite's passing. In this day of 24 hour news cycles and incredibly short attention spans, it's good that so many people recall Cronkite's contributions, even though he's been off the air for a generation.
Cronkite told it like it was. He knew how to edit; how to keep personal opinions and hype out of the story and stick to the five W's -- who, what, where, when, and why.
As towering an influence in media as he was, it's sad that once he was gone, the floodgates that held back news-as-entertainment opened and flooded us with crap like Fox News. Younger Americans avoid the evening news like the plague, and the Internet, not the networks, shape our perception of what's important and what we should care about.
All we have left of quality journalism can be found in a handful of sources. The New York Times; The Washington Post; National Public Radio, and PBS. Even 60 Minutes isn't what it once was. That's about it for consistently good reporting. At least we had Uncle Walter -- he was the man for the age. We won't be seeing his like again.
Cronkite told it like it was. He knew how to edit; how to keep personal opinions and hype out of the story and stick to the five W's -- who, what, where, when, and why.
As towering an influence in media as he was, it's sad that once he was gone, the floodgates that held back news-as-entertainment opened and flooded us with crap like Fox News. Younger Americans avoid the evening news like the plague, and the Internet, not the networks, shape our perception of what's important and what we should care about.
All we have left of quality journalism can be found in a handful of sources. The New York Times; The Washington Post; National Public Radio, and PBS. Even 60 Minutes isn't what it once was. That's about it for consistently good reporting. At least we had Uncle Walter -- he was the man for the age. We won't be seeing his like again.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Coors: Mentally Out In The Cold?
Why, oh why, do we need a "cold activated can"?
Coors apparently thinks their new can, parts of which turn blue when the can is chilled, is really, really important enough that it deserves a mammoth advertising campaign.
Are people who prefer Coors so frequently and totally inebriated that their hands (or brains) no longer can tell the difference between warm and cold?
Is there a larger than previously known segment of the beer drinking public that have nerve damage to all their fingers, and deserve a beer they can call their own?
Perhaps the new can is to aid alcoholics who buy their beer, immediately put it on ice, and, salivating like Pavlov's dogs, repeatedly grab the cans every ten seconds, hoping by some miracle their suds have suddenly gone cold?
Or those who, so absolutely bored with life, find this technological advancement fascinating to watch? ("Lookie here, Helen! Watch...here it goes! Whooee! What they gonna think of next!")
This marketing gimmick makes anything ever pitched by the late, but not lamented, Billy Mays look as revolutionary as the electric light. Gimme a break.
(Thanks to the wife for pointing out this bit of lunacy.)
Coors apparently thinks their new can, parts of which turn blue when the can is chilled, is really, really important enough that it deserves a mammoth advertising campaign.
Are people who prefer Coors so frequently and totally inebriated that their hands (or brains) no longer can tell the difference between warm and cold?
Is there a larger than previously known segment of the beer drinking public that have nerve damage to all their fingers, and deserve a beer they can call their own?
Perhaps the new can is to aid alcoholics who buy their beer, immediately put it on ice, and, salivating like Pavlov's dogs, repeatedly grab the cans every ten seconds, hoping by some miracle their suds have suddenly gone cold?
Or those who, so absolutely bored with life, find this technological advancement fascinating to watch? ("Lookie here, Helen! Watch...here it goes! Whooee! What they gonna think of next!")
This marketing gimmick makes anything ever pitched by the late, but not lamented, Billy Mays look as revolutionary as the electric light. Gimme a break.
(Thanks to the wife for pointing out this bit of lunacy.)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
What's Next For Government Motors
So, GM came out of bankruptcy this week, ridden of debt, a few brands, hundreds of dealers, and solidly in ownership of the taxpayers of the United States and Canada.
Well, who-ray.
None of this solves the true problems of General Motors.
The suits have kept telling us it is because they were burdened with the so-called "legacy costs" of union retirees -- pension and health care. They said they couldn't compete with Toyota, Honda, et al because it cost them too much money to build cars.
Bullshit.
People will pay more if you give them more, and GM continued to offer us less for the same money. Why would anyone buy a car from a company that creates ugly, unreliable machines, even if (wave the flag!) they're made in America.
So here's my fix for GM:
Fire everyone in the design departments of Chevrolet and Buick, with the exception of Corvette. Not a single vehicle coming out of those brands has had an iota of great design.
Go hire a bunch of recent design school grads, all of whom probably have never driven a GM vehicle. Give them a fleet of European and Asian cars to drive for the next year and tell them they are their benchmarks.
Make every Suit in GM go undercover and try and negotiate a car purchase with their dealers. Then have them go to a Honda store and do the same thing. Same goes for the service department. Tell them they have 90 days to fix their dealers, or find themselves unemployed.
Make an honest effort to change public opinion about the new GM, once these changes are made. Cut up a Toyota and a new GM car on TV, little by little, every night, and compare side by side how GM's welds are better than their welds; how your widgets are better than their widgets. If they're not better, fix them.
No magic, no razzle-dazzle, just facts. Over and over and over and over and over. Put a fleet of cars and trucks on the road 24/7, with web cams attached, and let the public see just how many miles these cars can go before something serious goes wrong. Let's see if you can get a Chevy Cobalt to go an average 35 miles an hour, every hour, for a year... that's 306,600 miles, by the way. Let the public wager on how many miles it'll go; winner gets a new GM car or truck of their choice.
End the rebate madness, too. It's not good for GM, it's not good for the consumer, who still ends up paying taxes on the rebate.
Well, who-ray.
None of this solves the true problems of General Motors.
The suits have kept telling us it is because they were burdened with the so-called "legacy costs" of union retirees -- pension and health care. They said they couldn't compete with Toyota, Honda, et al because it cost them too much money to build cars.
Bullshit.
People will pay more if you give them more, and GM continued to offer us less for the same money. Why would anyone buy a car from a company that creates ugly, unreliable machines, even if (wave the flag!) they're made in America.
So here's my fix for GM:
Fire everyone in the design departments of Chevrolet and Buick, with the exception of Corvette. Not a single vehicle coming out of those brands has had an iota of great design.
Go hire a bunch of recent design school grads, all of whom probably have never driven a GM vehicle. Give them a fleet of European and Asian cars to drive for the next year and tell them they are their benchmarks.
Make every Suit in GM go undercover and try and negotiate a car purchase with their dealers. Then have them go to a Honda store and do the same thing. Same goes for the service department. Tell them they have 90 days to fix their dealers, or find themselves unemployed.
Make an honest effort to change public opinion about the new GM, once these changes are made. Cut up a Toyota and a new GM car on TV, little by little, every night, and compare side by side how GM's welds are better than their welds; how your widgets are better than their widgets. If they're not better, fix them.
No magic, no razzle-dazzle, just facts. Over and over and over and over and over. Put a fleet of cars and trucks on the road 24/7, with web cams attached, and let the public see just how many miles these cars can go before something serious goes wrong. Let's see if you can get a Chevy Cobalt to go an average 35 miles an hour, every hour, for a year... that's 306,600 miles, by the way. Let the public wager on how many miles it'll go; winner gets a new GM car or truck of their choice.
End the rebate madness, too. It's not good for GM, it's not good for the consumer, who still ends up paying taxes on the rebate.
Out With The Old...
We went to Carlson Hardware last night, and all I got was a pizza.
The new Ramano's restaurant occupies the old Carlson's building, and it's quite the showpiece for little old Redlands. A great deal of thought and expense went into converting the place into an upscale bar and restaurant, and the food and atmosphere are very good.
Still, I miss my old hardware store. It was a place where you could always find the odd bolt or fitting or gadget that the big chains just didn't have, probably because there was no profit in it. Carlson's filled that niche, but their business model just doesn't make sense any more in today's world. You can't make a living selling wood screws for nine cents a piece.
Alas, you can get a lot of people to fork out fifty bucks for pizza and beer. Which is why Ramano's exists and not Carlson Hardware.
The same goes for the building next door. Some (!) of you will remember when it was occupied by Harry's Stereo. It was rendered obsolete by the big chain electronics stores, which now are themselves faltering. Harry's shop is now the home of a very trendy eatery as well. One of Harry's nicest stereo receivers probably cost less than a dinner for two with wine and an appetizer.
Go figure.
The new Ramano's restaurant occupies the old Carlson's building, and it's quite the showpiece for little old Redlands. A great deal of thought and expense went into converting the place into an upscale bar and restaurant, and the food and atmosphere are very good.
Still, I miss my old hardware store. It was a place where you could always find the odd bolt or fitting or gadget that the big chains just didn't have, probably because there was no profit in it. Carlson's filled that niche, but their business model just doesn't make sense any more in today's world. You can't make a living selling wood screws for nine cents a piece.
Alas, you can get a lot of people to fork out fifty bucks for pizza and beer. Which is why Ramano's exists and not Carlson Hardware.
The same goes for the building next door. Some (!) of you will remember when it was occupied by Harry's Stereo. It was rendered obsolete by the big chain electronics stores, which now are themselves faltering. Harry's shop is now the home of a very trendy eatery as well. One of Harry's nicest stereo receivers probably cost less than a dinner for two with wine and an appetizer.
Go figure.
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