Ocean Views and Ways

THE ECONOMY CON

2012-02-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

Behind The Obscene

The so-called "Buffett Rule," proposed first by President Obama last year, was created to ensure that people making more than $1 million each year pay a little more of their share of income taxes than middle-class households who make less.

To make the point indelible, Buffett's own secretary attended the State of the Union address in January. The point being made is incapable of being missed. She goes on record saying she pays a higher effective tax rate than her boss, who is a billionaire

"Middle-class families shouldn't pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires. That's pretty straightforward," Obama said just six months ago.

Putting Obama's budget forward in the last few weeks, the administration, made clear that they are not expecting to initiate the Buffett Rule at this time. They're using it alright, but to help as a guiding principle to use in planning for that time Congress again takes up the task of tax reform.

So far, only one Republican has taken Buffett up on his offer. In a letter to him, Buffett said he would be happy to match all donations. Rep. Scott Rigell of Virginia. Rigell gave 15% of his salary to the Treasury in 2011, and stated his plans to do so again in 2012.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, one of Mitt Romney's most popular and visible surrogates, frequently mentioned as a possible 2012 running mate for the Republican party's eventual nominee, opened his mouth in front of the recording Press and let the elephant out of the bag, entering into public record what may turn out to be the GOP's covert Battle Cry. It's right up there with "let them eat cake."

His words should become the catch phrase of the rich and greedy, the ones who give wealth a bad name, those disillusioned, psychologically broken, empty souls who cannot, and will never, get enough. He spelled out clearly the typical Big Business/No heart Corporate policy in every business they operate in this land Of The Free.

Forget about "Have a nice day," fellow American drones. Christie just came up with the mantra of the multimillionaires: "...just write a check and shut up..."

--0--

RADIO COUNTED OUT BY CBS

2012-02-13T21:24:00.000-08:00

Listeners Lose Their Invisible Friends

Got an email from old pal Ron Parker (KFRC, 90s) who is now in New York City, working with the same Program Director that was his boss here on the West Coast just a decade or so ago.

Ron's on the air and sounding great. But his mind is not at ease. He sends along the following, as a Head's-UP Alert. Just in case I didn't know:

It won't come as a shock to the thousands that have felt the sting of radio's downsizing -- but it still hurts to see it in print. CBS MONEY WATCH asks, "Will these 10 jobs disappear in 2012?" -- and 'Broadcast Announcer' is #6 on the list.

Reports CBS, "It may come as no surprise that the job of newspaper reporter is going the way of the buggy whip maker -- but have placed some unexpected occupations on the endangered species list as well. Using statistics from THE BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS' Occupational Outlook Handbook 2010-2011, we identified 10 of the most surprising job categories whose numbers are projected to shrink in the coming years, plus a few that will grow so slowly that you might as well be sending your resume to GREECE for a civil service job."
        1. Judge
        2. Fashion designer
        3. Insurance underwriter
        4. Travel agent
        5. Newspaper reporter
        6. Broadcast announcer (yikes!)
        7. Plant manager
        8. Chemist
        9. Economist
        10. CEO
Regarding the loss of broadcast jobs, CBS writes "The play-by-play for this occupation isn't pretty. Consolidation has eliminated many jobs already, and technology is hijacking off-air tasks, such as editing, once performed by announcers (and future announcers paying their dues). Add the increased use of syndication and the growth of satellite radio and the picture is even bleaker. By 2018, broadcasting is expected to lose 2,400 radio and TV announcer jobs."

No, not a bit surprised. I know. Been watching, Ronnie. Heck, these jobs weren't even invented until about a half dozen years before I decided I wanted to be a Disc Jockey. I remember thinking, "what an awkward phrase, 'disc jockey.' Couldn't they come up with something better than that?"
No, not surprised at all. I know the flow, having been watching this ugly, mismotivated scenario for quite a patch of time now.

I feel like some Time Crusader who saw it coming, was well aware of it and am well prepared to deal with it in a number of ways whenever I choose. But, we ARE talking about a small niche in an immeasurable flow.

Still, it was a rich one. Memories alone ensure, without exception, that swinging those mighty swords was a thrill. Still is, just in a different arena. Using those timeless methods of mastery, honed to razor's edge perfection on professional broadcast radio, once again proves be quite a gleeful run of fun.

That's what radio has always been, for most of us, certainly me - fun. Fun was a byproduct of the way we worked. Whenever fear is felt in the work place, it is poison and must be removed. You can hear fun on the air. Fear, on the other hand, has a boring 'sameness.'

In time's passage, while that fun job of being a DJ may disappear, the skills involved are still relevant online (in almost every working environment, from Sales Presentations to Web Image and Presence) and still as enjoyable and rewarding as they ever were. Still fun. That's great news.

Funny how the word 'fun' seems to make Those In Charge, at broadcasting facilities, with no experience in Show Biz or Presence, squeamish. It's their minds; can't process the notion of 'fun' and it kills 'em. Maybe it's the part about the magic...

It's a natural thing, fun, to the types of people that sing on their airwaves, natural to those who were fans and listened, who used to know all about the hits, artists, eras and labels. They knew the industry and it showed. They became DJs. They were the perfect compliment to the product. It was fun for them. But I guess they neglected to give the new radio station owner the User's Manual. Programming: It's Not as Easy As It Sounded. Fun is a required ingredient. You practice until it all hits the right tone and flow, or it's no fun.

EXAMPLE OF PARALLEL EXPERIENCES:

So, while the Rulers of Frequencies Without Entertainment Experience were watching, without looking, at a football game and half-time show, Show Biz Masters naturally looked deeper and experienced, at once, a multitude of different planes and relative merits, say, between a Micheal Jackson or Madonna presentation during the Half Time show during the Super Bowl. Experienced in showmanship, words are near irrelevant as they they don't miss much, immediately recognizing patterns, meshing Jacjson's recent DVD release, This Is It, with what they see unfolding between the end of the second and the start of the third quarter. Instantaneously, wordlessly, they intuit the similarities, the matching Marching Uniformed Bands, the Industry Overtaking Nature recurring Themes, the hyper choreography, extreme Fashionista leadership, uncanny synchronous lighting, freezes, fantasy mechanical devices, elevator trap doors, smoke, steam and motherboards.

Both, in front of the flat screen, are Humans, both claim broadcasting as their vocation, both are temporal creatures, obsessed with the shifting nature of the world and the flux of their own imagined self. One type knows show biz and saw a spectacular, the other does not and did not.

It would seem beneficial, even joyously remunerative, for Those Who Do Not Know Winning Ways to become friends with Those Who Do Know And Have Experience In The Practice Of Winning Ways. But this has not been the case.

Having been shown no loyalty, time for the winners to proceed. Those Who Do Know And Have Experience do not desert radio; they may become clients. If they ask nicely and their checks don't bounce.

Now, with the economy reflecting fearful changes on a global scale, Those Of Us Who Know Winning Ways Without Boundries, take an unintentioned small sense of security from those Gloom And Doom Forecasts by aiming our energies at what works, commands attention and heals. We do this, firm in the knowledge that our amazing planet still works, is still rotating, remaining in motion and growing. Aside from knowing this, we give it little thought. The movie is still rolling.

What, really, can one think about magic; hard to talk about, contradicts itself, cannot be explained. How is it that the rotation of a planet is there? On the other hand, if one can be comfortable in the knowledge that there's more here than can be explained; if one can be realize "all of these things are done through me by the Father; by myself, I can do nothing," and be OK with it, things can really get wonderful. As in 'beyond description' wonderful.

Every denizen is well aware that, into our world has come still another high tech, obsessively interesting, useful and fun spin-off. We have been given a voice that can be heard around the world, effortlessly. This is no small feat. It's not unlike a wonderful, fantasy movie script in which the few lucky heroes mysteriously receive a gift from future generations. The few lucky ones include those smart enough to read a blog, like yourself.

Special Effects, Too:
Everyone in this movie has the same, unbeleivable, global set of communication systems, just like the Star Trek Communicator, putting into play previously impossible scenes and circumstances, saturated with endless possibilities for fun and genuinely lucrative and helpful enterprizes. We can communicate with and receive data from anywhere in the dense interwoven nooks and plains of this vast earthen ball of organic sticks and stones and blood and bones.

This seemingly delusional make-believe "movie" we find ourselves in almost requires a willing suspension of belief and disbelief, in order that one's awareness may simply follow that last bit of unbelievability along, unhindered. To do that, take out your Smart Phone, keep the faith.

Faith means there is no script proceeding us. The movie is a "happening," and it's spontaneously occurring all at once, as if in direct defiance of everything logical. Go with that.

The part of "Radio" in this further act of the movie is not played by Cuba Gooding, but by many million. They go by the name, "Online Marketing" (awkward name, but fun) and all the deft tricks, styles and proceedures we learned for effective measurable success in competitive pro broadcast battles are also viable here online. ReTweet THAT.

We can use all the tools we became adept with on the air to make any story: first good, then better, and better. In this parallel, multi-task profession, no skills are lost, all values are still available and afresh. Find another like yourself, watch your collective power grow; Three, you have a team.

As a team, you can overcome many. Especially the less experienced. From this (your) vision, you now have the credibility and satisfaction only a winner can feel. You HAVE past rating victories, experience. You'll be taking the clients of those who don't, right? What is it you see in your competition?

One weak spot after another.

Example:

Is it sad, pitiful, or just spectacle, that, for the most part, Corporate Radio Broadcasting, has an almost official policy, no longer recognizes the power, sales dynamics and value of "Talent" kicked off the ship? Is not any policy of "no longer recognizing" something, good, bad or otherwise, a Policy of Deliberate Ignorance?

A clearer vision might reveal how obstructed the non-broadcaster's vision is, blinded by a combination of fear and the prospect of faking a win, Impressing The Shareholders with a few Saved-Dollar Figures, which, in fact, fare much worse for stock bearers than show hosts. So elated in finding a noteworthy statistic in the debris left behind after getting rid of a living person in favor of a recorded talking device, the owners lost their face.

Couldn't be worse for the radio station. Grade school business classes tell you to "put a face on your product." That's why frosted flakes and gasoline have a tiger mascot and why you see a chihuahua selling tacos on TV. Yet, across this fruited plain, radio station owners have lost their only human relatable asset, their common ground between product and buyer, their face.

It also works out that they lost it in the other sense of the phrase. No face equals no trust. Not a great spot to be in when your business, Show Business, is located in the heart of the Social Media Marketplace, and all your prior listeners know you fired life-long employees just to make your numbers look good. The listeners still remember the names of those you fired while you've already forgotten. Not really the reputation you want in today's on-line on air listenership. Good thing this is just an analogy, isn't your radio station. Gad that would be a disaster.

This very turn of events is hardly a world-ender for the discarded DJs. There ARE a multitude of ways to take the many things learned in broadcasting and leverage them online. For myself and a few other Online Marketers that have roots in radio, it will be fairly easy - and much fun - to woo unhappy broadcast clients away from any radio stations we choose to plunder and enlist them in our Online Ventures. My studies (two concentrated years now and still churning) indicate I can see a double - even quadruple - of my client's investment. Radio Sales people cannot make that call. Especially today's unprofessional lot.

Fun is just what we all need right about here. Tell ya a story...

In this story I feel more like a piece of a too-large-for-logic picture than a limited being, or person. There, the pieces and the players' game board, rather than a player. I have no other stake in this than to watch it all unfold. I've learned how to look deeper than the limits of logic. What I know and see make this story a little more understandable, give it a bit more dimension and enable me to sense the underlying fun.

Until a few months ago, I had been working at a top rated station in San Francisco; worked there for three years or so - part time, just keeping my headphones limber, did it for fun mostly. I had really accomplished all I was after in the profession to this point, but was asked to join the already number one rated station staff by its then PD, who steadfastly wanted to continue forward with an all-pro, seamless presentation. That also was fun. This was a gentleman, not a politiko, and made the air time seem more like playing, than working. He had kept the station ranked in Popularity's Top Three forever, something like 15 years or more, I lose track it's a record set so unbelievably high, no one else could touch the accomplishment. It was fun being Number One so much of the time.

This Programmer's ongoing Ways Of Winning made everyone's assignment, even Sales, a task without effort. It was fun.

In the past few months, the corporate owners, relatively new to the business (with an awful track record: don't look up Entercom in Sacramento if you want the owners to remain happy and appear unblemished. There was a listener death involved) have fired dozens of major market, professional, honestly contributing, hard working souls, then heaped their duties upon those remaining. Misinformation was spread to divide any sense of being a team. I have watched a great radio station cease to be itself, lose the spark that made it entertaining and become a studio of equipment babysitters, a playlist repeater, an Automatron Reciter of empty slogans and a third rate organization.

San Francisco is this corporation's first attempt in a metropolis this large. Here, they immediately and unceremoniously fired the P.D., and his most trusted, efficient cadre. Then went the top salaried jocks. Next the money-focused out-of-towner corporation brought in a stranger from Louisianna, who, it might be assumed, will work for a fourth the salary, and has no sense of this slice of geography. Will the things that worked in the Mardi Gras capitol work as well on the Barbary Coast? We shall see.

Me, I never heard from that station again. They didn't even possess the common courtesy to say "adios," nor I the curiosity to see what they even looked, smelled or sounded like beyond what I already knew. No fun.

THAT kind of attitude and conduct has been going on all over town and all over the nation, at practically every radio station. It is a perfect reflection of the way broadcasting has devolved, during our watch, across our land. Expect to be treated as more of a liability than an asset yourself. If you have any business with the people in charge of what was your favorite station today, which ever one it was, just don't expect it to be anything like it was even six months ago.

And, or course, Slam-Jam Sally and Rock-a-Bobby Pipeflames are missing, too. They're either right behind you in the Unemployment Line, or somewhere in front.

Sad, again, kinda. That a once indomitable station of San Francisco caliber and status now seems headed in the same downward spiral as another, once thought unbeatable, station has gone just a decade hence. And another and another. If you have the patience to look, they're all where stations that can no longer serve their audiences end up, at the very bottom of the ratings heap. And, there's very little fun there.

These new corporate radio owners and their tassled leather mocassin and matching shirt-tie wearing lords and lackies have no experience in large cities, especially this city. Boy, is that (going to be) audible. If there is any entertainment to be had in this wierd experiment, it will certainly be in watching them pretend to know what they're even doing here, and then enjoying their decisions. Decisions always make their way onto the airwaves.

Non-broadcast owners and their chosen crew remind me of insects in a way. They have just one thing one their tiny no-frills agenda and it's not even their idea. These crawlies have a Head somewhere and they act on the shared impulse to make that head happy. They MUST make that head happy. It's that or join the ranks of unemployed.

Very soon, it will be theirs to ponder, "Why in the world, in our one chance, did we think our listeners would settle for two dimensional recital when they had already experienced dynamic three-D? Easy. We thought that, by keeping the Head happy. we were clever businessmen. We all were later fired by the Head..."

San Francisco and Northern California deserve better. All of America deserves better.

In the meantime, as a former disc jockey of near enough to 50 years to comfortably call it that, may I, on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of on-air broadcasters who, because of "the forces of modernity" didn't or won't have the opportunity themselves, say, "goodbye," and "thanks!" The feeling of knowing someone like you was listening, filled a huge hole in my hitch-hiking soul.

"And, thanks for the tuna."

--0--

AN ONLINE AUDIO STREAMING SPECIAL

2012-02-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

High school picture, or has time gone by?

In Celebration Of Our Whence
For the uninitiated, an "aircheck" is a recording of a radio broadcast. As a DJ, hearing how the ideas translated from my head to on the air was critical. Airchecking - recording one's show and listening for ways to improve is not unlike a Major Leauger taking batting practice.

Airchecking was also used to scout players, hear what ideas other cities were exposed to and, of course, comparing music charts. Recently, a recording from the first days of "Boss Radio" in Los Angeles caught my interest. It is a partial - there are pieces missing. but it's a rare gem. It is, I believe, the first time they presented "The KHJ Big 93 of 1965," a countdown of the pop hits.

The recording is being "refurbished," put back together in its entirety. Where a disc jockey or music is missing, the audio museum site is carefully, seamlessly re-inserting it.

And I get to play!

That means pulling out the old Bobby Ocean headphones and lips, dusting them off and playing great favorite songs along with fellow turntablists I haven't seen for ages. Some no longer call this planet their home. But we'll all be together again this weekend.

THIS SUNDAY, The Reelradio Aircheck Channel is playing the entire 93 songs, in order. Putting the music back in where missing and using all the original KHJ jingles from that era.

As Bobby Ocean, former Boss Jock at all four Boss Radio stations in California -- KNYO, Fresno; KGB, San Diego; KFRC, San Francisco, and KHJ. Los Angeles, I'll be on the Aircheck Channel's KHJ Countdown of the Top 93 hits of 1965, as if I had been there all along! Actually, I arrived at KHJ a full decade later.

This is an wonderful recording, blasting cobwebs from memories of early Boss Radio in L.A., the first year of the phenomenal Radio format on KHJ that soon engulfed San Francisco, America and the planet.

Listening as a young man with a microphone for his working tool, these airchecks were riviting in the collective originality originality and professional streamlined presentation. No one had ever heard radio like this before - as smooth, simple in its complex formatics and as clearly defined.

The entertainment world was changing as rapidly as the new, younger target audiences.Society was transforming and this was another exelent standard of West Coast thorough comprehension, execution and ingenuity.

Boss jock wanna-bes blossomed across the land.

Several generations of broadcasters watched with amazement as KHJ grabbed ratings, listeners and the very pulse of each market within which it took residence. Giants of the Industry were listening with all their might as these new, trancendentaly aware Programmers and performers percolated behind the design Among them:

Bill Drake, the ultimate radio wizard, able to see beyond the chaos of creation to envision the bigger picture radio audiences of the era were hungering for.
Ron Jacobs, whose whose mind was constantly overflowing, like a popcorn in a tub too small, bursting with evolutionary new broadcast techniques, impressions, ways, concepts and whose vision was constantly exploding with programming ideas and evolutions.
Bill Mouzis, who fought for America's freedom in the Navy, turning battles that seemed destined for defeat into U. S. victories, then continued into the broadcasting arena, where he discovered he had a master surgeon's skills in the Production Room, turning tape recorders into magic lanterns that would do exactly what he wanted. He was the original technician behind the Drake Consultancy's phenomenal Radio Presentation, The History Of Rock And Roll.

The Boss Jocks on the air during this "must listen-t" aircheck were Johnny Williams, flawless, smooth consistent; The Real Don Steele, bigger than bigger-than-life, and the Boss Format specialist, whose signature was perfection, Johnny Mitchell.
And I'll be with them all, counting down your favorite songs from 1965 (in fact, my second year in broadcasting).

Unca Ricky of The Aircheck Channel, and most professional broadcaster subscribers would agree, however - it takes a real Boss Jock to provide authenticity to Time Travel PLayback like this. That's why I was drafted to pop up on ths link: to keep it real for you (that, and the indelible fun). I'll jump in occasionally with a few short "Between-The-Lines" In-Progress Bookmarks... - to keep the official countdown songs from this live recording FLOWING.

Having worked all the Boss Radio Shops in the West, I was at KHJ as well, from the mid-70s for a half dozen years. It was a dream-come-true for me, to finally make it to Hollywood. I got to know the Boss Ground Of Being well enough to create programs in my sleep. Along with Reel-Radio's Richard Irwin, Uncle Ricky, on all tech duties (without which, this would not be possible) I'll fill in the blanks, with intentions of making this one of the biggest, most thoroughly researched, recreated and entertaining Countdown Airchecks you have ever heard.

You hear the countdown sounding even better than the first time, with more KHJ staff and support involved in the presentation. You'll hear cleaner, more ear-friendly digital audio and all the original Boss Radio jingles.

When I say this is a Collector's Item, you sense in your bones, eardrums and soul it is true. Hope this info reached you in time!!

--0--

IN THE BEGINNING, whoops, wait a min...

2012-01-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

How Could There Be WORD With No Lips Yet?

Words are so much fun, so fragile in their understanding and, at the same time, oh, so powerful.

They can also be so misunderstood. In English, my native tongue, there are numerous little traps and pitfalls, misunderstandings and close-enough calls, that accuracy is a constant challenge.

Are You Up For The Challenge?
Here are two words, along with their meanings, to help make this point. You have used them all your life.

1 - AFFECT: To have an effect on; to make a difference, produce a result, leave the impression of...

2 - EFFECT: linked with "cause" meaning to bring about the state or its opertion, label its progress and, in Physics, a phenomenon named after its discoverer.

Both are verbs and nouns but only 'effect' is in common usage as a noun, where its definition is "result, consequence, affect; used principally as a verb." Just two words, in an entire vocabulary, that show how complicated our communications and their understanding can be.

It can become a real challenge, as one takes steps toward learning more about Life's Big Questions, "Who are we, really?" and "What are we doing here?" The Bible has been translated so many times, through so many different languages that, in order to study it in earnest, this fact must be taken into consideration from the first page. Other scripture, books on mysticism, the occult, the Meaning of Life, Meditation, Yoga, Lives of the Spiritual Masters and so on, can be very helpful or mere hearsay, depending on the student's state of being.

I Remember A Story...
It wasn't an easy walk for this fellow traveler, either. From my own career choice as a radio broadcaster, which means jack of all on-air trades, mostly DJ work, communication was held in high regard but still misunderstandings would occur. Memory provides a few cobbled together scenes from personal occasions here and there, wherein this situation of uncertainty we all share in the use of language was nailed home again. It happened just the other decade or so. Seems like yesterday...

The whole point of this story revolves around the setting in which it took place, and while I cannot remember where, I DO recall it was a fun gathering of radio folk, probably a small convention or large conference, visiting jocks, job possibilities and fresh stories from other metropolis hot spots.

We enter the story and it's abuzz, rolling in full tilt boogie. Everyone in attendance, it seems, is having a peak moment and these were all spilling over each other; while this took place in a spacious room but seemed elbow-room full. There were plenty of chairs, the necessary tables for literature snacks and purses and many spirited people.

There was then in progress, as there always was, an enthusiastic, raging war of words that we then referred to as "talking stink," or putting our spin on things. What sorts of things? Every. Jovial conversation involved sharing promotions, jingles, recordings, and DJ stories of the trade.

It was in this setting I witnessed a Personal First that, to this day, still retains the power to impress. I learned another of what I call "Universals," which are powerful broadcast styles, tools and tricks that make what you're doing better.

There they were - the bigger-than-life DJs, personalities and characters had clustered, found common language and begun to share their stories. This is WHY everyone was there in that room, really.

The tales flew like frisbies on the beach, and the band of strangers-become best friends, had landed a juicy prey! In the fury of their over enthusiastic conversation they pounced upon one particular word (I forget which; not necessary to this story) and were conducting an autopsy for the purpose of determining what it really means. Examples, processes of defining, degrees of distinctness and use-in-sentences were being brandied and parried in the attempt at reaching a more exact, or far out, meaning.

To set the picture more distinctly in your mind's eye, add: the roar of human voices over each other, the night time ambiance of music, outdoor traffic, several different TV shows above the open bar, and, overall, a wonderfully encapsulated cocktail and Happy Hour snack fueled evening. This was typical broadcast after hour conduct - boistrous but beautifully slurred voices, opinionated for effect, synopses on every tongue of any topic in the world, but more frequently the love of our lives, top-forty radio and its menu of possibilities, from current music acts, other DJs and other stations, ratings inaccuracies, to that hilarious thing we did in San Diego last Fall and all the stuff of our so-called great civilized conversation.

Then, during a heated debate over some language distinction, the always-hoped-for Bomber One Liner hit and everyone heard. One phrase, well paced, perfectly placed, landed as if scripted, and the entire roomful of attentive participants stopped silent. As it happened, one man, affected with frustration over not having his definition either understood or accepted, threw up his hands as if to discharge the entire argument exclaiming, "Ah, that's just semantics!"

Not missing a beat, his adversary immediately rejoined, "Semantics? That's ALL there is!"

Stillness.

The room fell suddenly silent as his point sunk in. Every skull in the room seemed to have been opened up for a split second.

Then, applause. Cheering. Not everyone understood what had just been exchanged, but they instinctively knew, as there was a truth behind all this loud verbal fencing that, that answer was more powerful than the regular question-and-answer dynamics they were used to. The argument had very effectively been Grand Slammed.

It was a magic moment, shared by all, and the electricity that passed among us seemed as if it could have easily lit up the entire metropolis.

Reviewing on playback, we can see all the elements in effect there. The rhythms of call-and-response one-liners between professionals. The rising and waning volumes of tone, the precision inflections, the uncanny timing. This is what these mad men were really capable of - fast paced, highly stylized oral presentation. Each and every one in this room had the DNA markings for a screamingly funny stand-up comic.

What more than a few minds missed was the stiletto of truth in that final rejoinder. One guy said, as if to end the debate, "It's JUST semantics." The other guy topped him with his come-back, "It's ALL semantics".

What a perfect zinger. That comeback liner didn't object to what had just been said (so there was no resistance, nothing left to swing at) but included his opponent's argument in a well chosen, more inclusive statement, in effect, "That's all there is!"

There was nothing left to come back TO.

"Semantics - THAT'S ALL THERE IS," (truly a spiritual koan if there ever was one).
Meaning, "it's all in the eye of the beholder."
Meaning, "It's all relative."
Meaning, "Ego is a product of thought. While of and about it, never real, never actual.
Thought is a concept of something else, something real. Any thought, even a word's most correct definition, is still only a concept of the real thing; as are all words and symbols.
Meaning: "You are not what you imagined yourself to be.
Meaning: "It's ALL semantics."

Following that which is Real, is its wake, all swirling spin-offs, reflections, innuendo and reference; not things. Real You is perfectly silent, solidly still and loving without effort. Its shadow, or mental clone, is made of thought-logic, so-called Common Sense, conceptual form, implied reference and the Stuff Of Semantics, is other than the Unmanifested Reality and is very needy. This imitation you needs your attention to feel really alive.

Only You are the Real Thing. Not the idea, notion, opinion, definition, humanity, personality, or any other shade of You. Being you is a full time job and your Principle Purpose here.

Everything else is Semantics.

--0--

Lock Em And Load Em

2011-12-07T14:26:00.001-08:00

Big Shots Named

The Big Guns in the U.S. Commercial Gun Industry acknowledge that the most powerful and strangely secretive force among them is The Freedom Group, and this single private company is quite a thing of a mystery.

Never heard of The Freedom Group? Neither had I, until only recently. Already, I'm guessing they're pro-gun. Or not. Depends on which rumor I warm up to, however.

By its own count, the Freedom Group sold 1.2 million long guns and 2.6 billion rounds of ammunition in the 12 months ended March 2010, the most recent year for which figures are publicly available. Within long gun circles where the big money is, that is the stuff of myth and folklore.

That's also just about 1.2 million guns and 2.6 bullets more than I've peddled lately at my garage sale.

I operate out of California, The Freedom Group originates from Manhattan.

But, ooh, TV movie conspiracy plot:
Backing this gargantuan Freedom Group is the private investment company, Cerberus Capital Management, which may cause a flicker of recognition to sweep across your windscreen.

Cerberus first came to a higher level of national attention when, as if on a tip in 2007, it acquired Chrysler. That deal meant widespread cash flow, never mind that Chrysler soon afterward had to be fiscally rescued by taxpayers.

So! You and I - we - had never previously been aware of this virus called "The Cerberus Freedom Grope," yet it has already cost us a heap of money. Huge Dollars; not immediately grasp-able amounts of dinero. We "bailed out" multi-billionaires? My mind'll have a time getting a grip on THAT.

It's just like a sci-fi TV show where the bad guys have been there in the shadows all along, maneuver with limitless funds, can have any of the latest gear they want and designer hideouts too. Headquartered in New York City, Cerberus has silently been acquiring big guns and ammunition.

Sold to Cerebrus:
Bushmaster, with gas-powered "black guns," that fire as rapidly as fast as the trigger can be squeezed. "It's clear that the militarized stuff is the stuff that sells and is defining the industry," its previous owner said on record.
DPMS (Defense Procurement Manufacturing Services) Panther Arms manufactures a wide range of military and civilian rifles. They're huge.
Remington, who, from flintlocks to M24 sniper rifles, is now making handguns for the first time in decades and supplying firepower to other governments including Afghanistan.
S&K Industries, which supplies wood and laminate for gun stocks,
Advanced Armament Corp., which makes silencers.
Barnes Bullets, which makes copper-jacketed bullets popular with precision shooters and police departments.
Marlin Firearms, a classic maker with two niche shotgun brands,
Harrington & Richardson, and
L.C. Smith
Dakota Arms, not an apartment complex,as the name might suggest, but a maker of high-end big-game rifles.

"We believe our scale and product breadth are unmatched within the industry," Carebrus' Freedom Group has recently said, sounding not unlike some puffed-up, stuffed-into-his-suit, spokes-cartoon.

Camera pulls back, pans over a multide of colorful graphs and dollar signs which tell the whole successful tale to this point: Cerberus manages more than $20 billion in capital. The companies it owns together generate a revenue of about $40 billion annually - more than either Amazon or Coca-Cola lately. Now they're practically an artillery monopoly.

With just one word, the Pandora's lid flies open with an ear-splitting, sky rocketing flare up. One word, one query: "Why?"

Once this inside info enters the Realm Of Our Attention, it finds a vacuum of intelligence and a nice, dry mound of conspiracy tinder, and boom! --all precipitation is over; it has happened. The catalyst has met its anticipated element. The predicted chemical reaction, known as, "Let The Rumors Fly," seems to explode everywhere at once.

And now everyone hears as the rumor bandwagon marches by. Maybe that's part of the plan. Wondering Why is certainly part of the plot in this script.

Oh, The Rumors!
Some Pro Gun Slinger theories suggest that the mysterious shadow power behind Carebrus' Freedom Group is actually some liberal and hedge-fund billionaire with a secret agenda all his own.

You don't need to know that "Hang the Second Amendment slash Secret Agena Rumor" because it's already been discredited. The shameful speculation involving dismantling the gun industry was so powerful that, just this October, the National Rifle Association issued a statement denying it. As far as rumors go, THAT rumor has SOME street cred.

You Say "Toom-Ah-Tow."
Bush Had Skull And Crossbones, These Guys Got A Mean Dog. The company's name is taken from Greek mythology, and a fabled three-headed dog, Cerberus, who guards the gates of Hades - to keep the resident in or the relatives out? Only now, we wonder.

But, nice ambience. Company's named after a dog from Hell. Oka-a-ay. Sure trumps wearing a red power tie at the next meeting. Wonder if they provide Dental Coverage at Dog-from-Hell Company; they'd have my fangs.

There's a rumor that this new gun industry has sold weapons to several questionable kingdoms, not only of Afghanistan, but also Thailand, Mexico and Malaysia, among others. Oh yes, and the USA! Cerebrus apparently obtained a brand new batch of business from our own U.S. Army, including a contract worth up to $28.2 million. [note: NOT a rumor, that; already been done.]

So, who are these guys? Who is it that's Involved In all this? Let's check the script's credits and meet our Cast Of Characters:

Financial Backer, George Soro; mysterious, very wealthy shadow figure behind sunglasses, lurking in streetcorners, shady side of boulevard. Stephen Feinberg, Co-Founder Cerebrus, chief Executive Officer and Senior Managing Directors.

The longtime Chairman of Cerberus' Global Investments Group, is a renowened individual. Perhaps you've already heard of him? An affable guy, Mr. D. Quayle. Yep, that Quale! Army Nation Guard Seargent, and former Vice President, Dan "Pototato" Quale.

Cerebrus' subsidiary Freedom Group, not to be outdone, has TWO retired generals on its board. Marines AND Army:

George Joulwan, former Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, retired from the Army, and

Michael Hagee, formerly Commandant of the Marine Corps.

These are the names behind the mystery. Ask them what's going on and you will not get the truth, but a good spin.

These guys cost you SO much of your future. These guys, a Secret Zillionaire and a handful of Once-Upon-A-Time Power Players, cost you SO much money, and the country more hassle and trouble than most of the famous bad guys you can think of. Most, not all. Still that's way too much to go unacknowledged, that'd be like trying to cross the freeway with your eyes closed.

Whew! And just think: next time a Chrysler Event pops up and they need a broad daylight "Highway Bailout," they got the D-list celebrities and the firepower to back it up.

DRUGMAKER MERCK CHALLENGES POP SOCIAL SITE

2011-11-26T11:50:00.001-08:00

Wants To Know Why Rival Has A Facebook Page They Thought Was Theirs
It's an enormous world. Although we may continue watching in earnest, everyone is bound to miss something. Maybe that's why there are so many of us.

You know how you start noticing specific names, things, and trends only after they are brought to your attention? You may have gone a lifetime without discovering the value of Acid Stained Concrete Floors, or Pomegranate Jelly, but once someone you know raves about it, you give it a try, you begin to notice it wherever it is. And it has been there in the open all along.

That happens to me all the time, especially since I enjoy reading. After Victor Hugo, I have a whole new POV regarding Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. Before, it was only a lyric in a pop tune.

And so it is with my Attention Span falling upon the Merck Chemical Companies of Germany and the U.S.

Never heard of them, or really payed any attention, until I read the rock autobiography of Rolling Stones co-founder, Keith Richards, The book is simply entitled "Life," and contains the surprisingly well documented recollections of the guitarist, songwriter, performer and conciousness alterer, Richards, among which include mention of this distinctive drug maker's honorific monitor.
Now I seem to notice that name more often, and when I do, a flicker of recognition lights up inside whenever I see it.

‘If you wanna get down, down on the ground, cocaine..."

Piracy On The High Seize
The webpage, www.facebook.com/merck, was established over a year and a half ago by Merck KGaA in Germany, but, inexplicably, is has been seized and is being utilized by it's US rival, Merck & Co. in New Jersey, and now proclaims, "...This site is intended ONLY for residents of the United States and its territories..."

The German drug making firm, Merck KGaA, established nearly three-and-a-half centuries hence by a pharmacy owner in the city of Darmstad, in 1668, has begun legal action against social networking site, Facebook, after discovering the apparent takeover of its Business Page by American rival of the same name and origin, Merck and Company of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. The Germans believe the Facebook page is owned by them and that the American-based chemical manufacturer is, in fact, poaching.

The two drug makers both originated from the one commercial enterprise set up by a pharmacy owner in the German city of Darmstadt in 1668. After World War I, as part of the Reparations Package imposed on Germany, the business was split into two separate entities.

Lack Of Either Understanding Or Fair Play
Merck KGaA's lawyer, reportedly stated that he had sent a letter and a series of emails to various Facebook staff asking to discuss what had happened to the webpage.

Simple enough: "please explain to your customer what happened to our web page." I understand that last sentence and I think you do, too. But, Merck KGaA says the Facebook crowd "either did not understand the problem... [or were] intentionally giving unresponsive answers".

Merck's attorney said that when he had requested a telephone conversation, one of Facebook's staff "incredibly replied that 'no-one is available for a call at this time....' Later, Facebook limply recited, "We are looking into it."

I don't think this could EVER make a good reality TV movie with overused lines like that, long since cooked lifeless and limp.

"Don't forget this fact, you can't get it back, Cocaine..."

Are Legal Steps Taken Even On The Path Of Justice?
Merck KGaA has documentation: these materials prove it had entered into an agreement with Facebook for the exclusive rights to www.facebook.com/merck in March of 2010. The German firm added that a number of its employees had been subsequently assigned administrative rights to the page, something that can only take place during the originating process, not afterward.

However, Merck KGaA said that when it had checked the site on 11 October this year it had discovered it had lost control of the page, and that content on the site now belonged to the American Merck. Of course they were surprised. A petition was filed immediately with the Supreme Court of the State of New York by Merck KGaA for the purpose of obtaining information as to why a website believed in good faith to be owned by the German firm suddenly is not anymore.

Covering Their Assets And Eating Them, Too
Merck KGaA filed in New York rather than courts in California because that is Facebook’s headquarters state, and doesn’t allow pre-action disclosure to identify defendants.

"We are just trying to learn what happened,"a spokesman for Merck KGaA, Dr Gangolf Schrimpf, told the BBC.“We took action against Facebook and not against Merck & Co.

Someone's In Trouble
However, while Merck KGaA stressed that it had not taken any further action than requesting information, against its US counterpart at this stage, the court filing states that: "Merck is considering causes of action for breach of conduct, tortious interference with contract, tortious interference with prospective business advantage, and/or conversion."

Merck KGaA said Facebook “had not been cooperative” in attempts to seek information about the change. E-mails to Palo Alto, California-based Facebook’s press department didn’t receive a response. Facebook was unwilling to make a comment beyond saying that it was looking into the case.

Check That Cloud Lining:

The good new for online marketers is found in between the lines. The "asides," comments seemingly thrown away or used in garnishing these statements, present a bright belief that, for commerce, Social Networks offer a much better way.

Branding experts say the Merck vs Merck Case reflects a growing realization that Social Networks can offer firms a better way of reaching their customers than through their own websites.

"Company communication departments have realised that many of the people they want to reach and influence are already on Facebook," said Simon Myers, speaking for the consultancy Figtree Network.

"As corporate content becomes more tailored and engaging, social media sites such as Facebook represent a brighter future of greater customer dialogue and interaction than the current corporate website with static content and pictures of people shaking hands."

That's an A-plus for Social Media marketing overall, and lesser grades all around for a few of it's manifold, confused players and users.

This is still a story with more questions than answers.
Is Facebook playing favorites, being purchased under the table like a polititian or just plain stumbling through stupid missteps on its Way? Is Merck USA cutting a line?

None of the above? All of the above? Let's keep watching.

--0--

On Becoming Better At It All

2011-11-16T13:24:00.001-08:00

IF POOR RICHARD HAD A BLOG
by Bobby Ocean

[first posted on Obtuse Angles just a few days ago)

The fastest way to accomplishing any goal is to first realize that aim inside. Once you take the time to know your idea's design well, your deeper, intuitive, creative mental facilities have a blueprint with which to undulge in Mysterious Ways.

That's a nice little piece of knowledge there. Just those words alone at the begining of a project can eliminate a lot of mis-steps, save a huge chunk of money.

As we all travel along through Life, many Common Sensical Sayings cross our attention span to remind us our priorities, pass along valuable insights, help us more surely achieve our goals. When it so happens that certain adages continue to apply, decade after decade, we know we have a Truism, what I call a Universal. Universals cross almost all barriers, work as currency Here as well as Over There, as Down Yonder, everywhere.

UNIVERSALS, A HYPER DRIVE STARTER SET:
There are some real gems in this marble bag:

ON LOOKING FORWARD
• Looking Forward means ALWAYS looking forward, into infinity, where anything can happen and the One Looking had better always be ready. There's only one way to always be ready and that is to Look Forward, Expecting Anything. This leaves no time for looking back or measuring sideways.

TWO POWERFUL FORCES
• Circumstances never turn out the way that you expected. Also, they continue turning. Because you know these Two Invaluable Insights they may act on your behalf. These are powerful forces you got going for you here.

THINK POSITIVE, ATTRACT POSITIVE •
Take care of yourself and maintain a sense of humor. If you are not well, don't come to work and infect the staff, stay in bed and recuperate at least until it's worked its way through your throat. If you have a bad cough go to the theater.

EACH TURN PRECARIUS
• The experience of yearning for that which is "out there" springs from one large false notion we call Desire. The choice to covet bears a Terrible Price. It leaves a Blind Spot. Similarly, one is frustrated with fighting such negative influences toward longing; go against them and you not only spend energy, you surrender the sum of it to the very thing you resist. Choose carefully.

STAY FAMISHED
• It is not supposed to be comfortable taking the time with eager business partners to define how you will share expenses or the division of labor until the terms have been agreed to afterward.

BE STILL = RESIST NOT
• Concerning negative thoughts and emotions: just be completely aware of them. For Each One, Bring Into Your Acceptance.
   -The current frame in which these impolses exist,
   -The feelings experienced,
   -The connections beneath the surface,
   -Your opinions, feelings, views of the entire picture,
   -Everything, and purely witnessing, just really be there.

GETTING CLEAR.01
• Bringing your completely non-judgmental understanding to each negative thought thread, past failure or unhappiness only seems difficult; it's not. those ghosts are not even here. Only the chemicals you call emotion and the images you call thoughts are here, at your beckoning. You can bear it. Bear witness.

GETTING CLEAR.02
• Novice executive samaraii and very green disciples who are seen getting rid of personal belongings, are not only practicing a protocol of non-attachment, but are also dis-attaching from poor grammer, such is redundant language. How, for example, can a belonging be other than personal?

GETTING CLEAR.03
• Being more concerned with how the other sees you than with the other, is a typical example of how and why the magicians' tool, Misdirection, works, this time as always with Thought being the Deceiver and the One Concerned, the Deluded.

EVEN SHORTER:

• A mind filled with fear is the melting pot of failure, a devout mind the portal to unlimited success.

• Dashed expectations may be only the surge or crest of the wave whose ocean of possibilities is still in motion.

• A disappointing income appies to the future, a disappointing outcome to the past. Neither addresses the present moment.

• Humor travels a twisted way to here, but usually brings a friend and makes more.

• It's hard to go against cravings that seem to come from the heart. If it helps, they don't come from it but at it, attacking. Resist not. Instead, watch the watcher.

• Pay less dues; pay more attention.

• Cease desires,
   Still the heart,
   Regain your sight,
   Then re-start.

• Often you can recognize your true direction by the simple observation that it's not going the way you expected.

• It's often just a case of crossed wires. Pull back, take a breath. Next time you come together see where things stand from a WiFi POV.

• Anchor yourself in the present moment and prevent yourself from becoming swept away in thought and emotion.

• Boy have I got problems,"- epitaph, math teacher; "Boy. have I got Projects," - joyful exclamation of Someone Playing In The Infinite.

• It's play if you like what you do. It's work when you MUST play. It's art when you do your best soley because you can.

• Get it down. Lift it up. Pay it forward.

• Be willing to allow Higher Design to speak through you.

• Today is far too immense for just one word and yet it IS both the tomorrow you helped create yesterday, and the only game in town right now.

• Every time you remove a label, look deeper, the world around you feels more alive, fresh and new, and grateful. You broaden the dimension of space.

• Perceiving without interference is the 'looking deeper,' beyond name tags and brand names, without engaging in concepts.

• Being open means not blocking new information trying to reach you with a shield of having all the answers. The seeming contradiction, "Be less so that you may be more," insists on continued inclusion.

• Leave the audience wanting.

--Hoping for that effect, I'll stop here.

In the ideas, special tips and enlightenments expressed above, that worked for countless others, self included, please find inclusive tools, no-strings helping hands, honest contributions - from a gradient sampling of souls, bakers through candlestick makers, the lofty, the lowly, enlightened, even lost, all intending us well. Ponder in good heart,

--0--

Notes On Radio:

2011-11-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

What It Was Like To Be On The Air

YOU HAD TO BE THERE

I get a lot of requests which I suppose is normal for a person who played at being a disc jockey while playing the hits.

Readers of this space ask for my reflections on the wonder of what it was like to be square in the middle of that magical time when radio was really in service to its listeners, respected them and actually liked them. It was very transparent. You can hear when someone's smiling while talking to you on the phone. Same deal for someone on the radio.

Once, not very long ago, Radio was the most fun in the whole wide world. It had no world wide web sites, no way to Tweet about itself and rather than streaming online was making waves freely in the air outside.

"Look Ma! No wires! I'm just modulating the atmosphere!"

For many of us it was, at first, the entire world, and then later, our personal doorway, opened just for us, to the inside power knowledge of The Real Deal outside. Radio was power.

Radio just a few yesterdays hence was way ahead of merely being listenable, it was compelling in the sense that a magnet is to steel. Compelling all across the dial, not by force, coercion or constraint but by being so alive and entertaining as to necessitate listening.

One didn't want to miss a thing; this was one of a kind and all ours, these songs, fashions and events. It was the first time the largest slice of the demographic had even been recognized by the rest of society and it intoxicated us with the satisfaction that can only come from an audience wanting more. These things we couldn't miss were all so much bigger than life and fit into each one's imagination like it was cut to their lifestyle by an excellent tailor.

The dream became surreal and hyper enjoyable if you were the one on the radio, playing the records, the disc jockey!

Disc Jockys, that amalgem of the savage and the sacred, were the ones holding open that new doorway, our personal portal. They inspired wonder. Who were these guys? The very association with show business was for them like a Harvard diploma, elevating the headphone wearer to either the head of the table or very near the power players there seated by power of their sheepskins or relatives.

The era was one of the Top-40 radioman as much as it was of the chart topping songs and artists of the day in the same way hand-held wax cartons were a part of drinking milk then. The DJ's adulation was unfair in comparison and performance with hard driving, well rehearsed troubadours but it was popular vote. It was pure pop, non-stop and all part of the show.

We worked six days a week and there was no recorded DJ shows. You had to be there. Yes we were professionals and yes we deserved our paychecks. and yet, if you were to look a little deeper into each DJ, certainly the ones I have known, broadcasting was not so much our vocation as it was our obsession, a hobby-gone-wild more than a career. When the music grooved, when our scripts were clearly written, when the mic switch cracked open and the studio muted, we were at play.

WHAT HAPPENED
It was play because we wanted to do it. Play ceases to be play and becomes work only when we MUST do it.

It was play to execute our play better then the other station in contention. it also stops being much of a game when there are no competitors, no adversaries.

Once, not very long ago, entertainers and broadcasters owned all the radio stations all across the land. Then, laws written to protect people from any one owner posessing too many broadcast facilities, radio and TV - too much influence in any one market - were re-written, blotted out, the protection afforded your ears terminated, ethics quashed and careers dashed. Radio stations all across the land were made offers they could not refuse. They sold their heritage business to corporations that gobbled up radio stations like guitar players on pot gobble munchies, or brass sections down boilermakers.

For too many radio folks, the corporate environment, through cost-cutting, removed too many of the people we need to play WITH, but worse, eliminated our opponents, and thus the game itself.

I wonder how many stories there are from Broadcast Owners who, having heard what happened, now regret having sold out. We never hear from them.

--0--

DO WHAT YOU LOVE

2011-10-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

In Passing, On Steve Jobs' Passing

In trying to find words to express how I feel about the recently deceased Steve Jobs, I find his words work best. I know that he communicated his ideas through words and, unerringly, he chose them with deliberateness. Constantly, he used them for furthering.

In Steve Jobs' own words, then, from the Commencement address at Stanford, spoken to the graduating class on June 12, 2005 when he was CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios:

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle."

I love those two words, they're deep: "Don't settle." Don't ever think you don't have another option because you do. What you hold dear is worth more than assenting to another's limitations. It may not be the easiest path, but it will bring you back the love you invested through joy and satisfaction.

When it's a truth, it has universal application. The same advice that can bring you success in business also applies to the dance floor.

"As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

There is is again - don't settle for less. In fact, push to make it even better than originally conceived. Know yourself, invest yourself.

Steve continues, "When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: 'If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.' It made an impression on me, and since then...I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

Listen to these words from renowned mystic, scholar, activist and Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, in his book, "Be Still And Know," said, "Understanding and love are values tht transcend dogma." Jobs said much the same to the Stanford grads.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Jobs was right on the mark there, too. It does take courage to empty your head and heart of old thinking and concepts to embrace the complete unknown. Empty, you do not block out new information. That courage is in you. Own it.

"When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation....On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now...I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish."

Follow those words and you could just end up making a dent in the universe.

--0--

Bobby Ocean's Stuff For Sale

2011-10-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

Pick Through it; See Whatcha Like...
Times are tough, I don't hafta tell ya. Most of us are lightening our load, selling our stuff and traveling lean.

I'm cleaning the garage and thought. "...this is a perfect time to inventory some stuff, might discover a few assets, never can tell. Well?" Could happen...

So let's look over da moichandise. Lessee...

An Air Freshener...
Keychain with Compass...
A Couple Of Those Dollar Wire Mesh Back Supports...
One Back Scratcher.
Used Paperbacks, Assorted...
Drug Store Readers In Different Strengths...
Bottle Of Stain Remover...
Micro-Fibre Towels, Two.

Oh yeah. There's a fortune here.

I could go on eBay and say, "Hey, best offer," but I'm far too much of an old Bob Barker Fan. (Please spay and neuter your pets, but don't tell them I said anything)

Instead, I just wonder, if there was a Special Showcase Channel For My Stuff, ya know? Would I push it?

Tell em what's in the Showcase, Johnny...

--0--

POPULAR OPINION HAS CHANGED AGAIN

2011-10-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

It's ALWAYS Time To Update Our List

I have always had more than a keen interest in Pop Culture. As I grew through grade school, television added to my fervor. Then radio.

Pop fascinated me. Any popularly held viewpoint could change; it could be expressed in almost any way. There were experts who had a professorial delivery. There were snobs with their better-than-thou pontification, there were opinions in editorials, there were positions to protest, there were comedians with current relateable barbs. Popular opinion was entertaining and all over -- the news, it was in the papers, the movies. And it was in the songs on my almighty radio.

Popular Opinion was very commercial. marketable. It wore many masks and even occasionally surfaced as just what it is, the more current references to the past. It has been called Trivia, Name That Song, Books Of Lists, tons more, but its one common factor is its transience.

It's called "popular" opinion because the trendy, prevalent perspective would change all the time, like the weather. It could well be termed "Current Opinion," but that doesn't have the same phonic fluidity. Looking further, the whole phrase seems to infer an opinion involved, when it's really just complacent, dazed mental grazing. What was giddily popular one day becomes another's trivia.

During a career in radio broadcasting, as a DJ playing popular music ("the Pop Hits!, the Top-40, then 30, then 20"), the value of Popular Opinion became instantly apparent and, of course, grew with the ongoing experience. I had already decided that, if I was going to go on the radio and make a fool out of myself, it might as well be the most popular one. Now, decades later, looking back on the whole thing, I see a string of number one ranked stations on my resume. And much valued experience.

Occasionally, it so happened on the radio dial that a dark cloud formed over a frequency and its station's type of presentation completely failed with the public, When this happened, it was not an uncommon practice to change the call letters along with the music playlist and all the previous players. Sadly, I knew powerful people who really enjoyed the firing process.

Not very deep thinking but that's the way it was. And, that's the way it is. job insecurity is everywhere today, with a slight update. It's no longer so much "you're fired," as it is "we're changing the direction we're going and you're too closely associated with what we're leaving behind," or "we're eliminating that position. You'll have to apply for the new one."

Truth be told, it has little to do with the workers; it's their salaries that go beyond the newly hired boss' dictated pay grades. The Boss also has his strings being pulled and will also most probably be let go soon enough.

Why get rid of the personnel who were only doing what they were told? Because the new regime wants to totally distance the station from that previous "loser" image, Thus, a clean slate. In radio that meant "re-branding" the call letters successfully enough to go out and sell time again.

Re-branding. It can certainly be misused. In radio slang, it is called "putting lipstick on the pig." I know broadcasting so I use it as a metaphor, but it is just one of thousands of industries suffering the same disabling effect of greed at the top.

The Top Ten Of List Disappointingly Ineffective Industries is such a small fraction of all of them that you might run away, crying if the entire list was posted. Still, it's a start. My immediate top Ten List includes: the Oil Industry, The Medical Profession, Fast Food, Banking, Wall Street, my own Broadcasting Industry, the Oakland PD and a few others that have achieved such a Massive Amount of Nothing, or Sustained Evil In Such Propensity that, if they were radio stations, would have been repackaged long ago.

Popular opinion, and consequent re-branding, is moving faster and faster now. You can see it everywhere. Some will see it in the current Occupy Movements, others in the Netflix Switcheroo from Quickster and back to square one again. Others witness radical changes from the standpoint of practicing To Live Without As Much, which can be akin to spiritual.

Considering how disastrously current popular opinions have changed on so many of the products, and institutions with which we grew up, it occurred to me to draw up a Short List that most needed a re-branding if they are to survive. (I'll leave the Long List for you to compile, k?)

Tracking Current Popular Opinion, we note the following need Emergency Re-Branding, stat! Your list may vary:

Fast Food Industry - Seen As: selling Mystery Meat along with chemically injected ground beasts and artery-clogging fried potatoes, to go. They've lost the Wholesome Feeling. Need to regain trust. Hmmm..
Should be Re-Branded as: Keebler Burgers.

Broadcast Radio and TV News - Seen As: completely missing the concept of the product they're assigned to deliver, losing focus of the big picture and constantly re-hashing shared footage. This is a result of corporate "cost cutting," the two-dimensional juggling of numbers that fired just about all the reporters, and reduced even shareholders' TV content to bad play-acting and rendering that new HD-TV screen close to useless, unless you like re-runs. They've lost the entire nation's trust. How can they be repackaged?
Should be Re-Branded as: "Ken and Barbie World News Rehash."

Banking Industry - Seen As: so greedy as to be institutionalized in a mental hospital, hiring only McHelpers with no authority whatsoever, willing only to make 30-years loans.
Should be Re-Branded as: "Safe Stay-cation Theme Parks," where you can still stand in long lines, spend all your vacation money and not have to go on those pesky rides.

Apple's New iCloud - Already Seen As: way easier than Facebook, but, then, isn't everything? It's looked upon as as way to save a lot of money and time by easily, effortlessly synching up all proprietary appliances with no cords, redundant downloading or personal time spent; it's automatic. Seen as a huge parting gift from Steve Jobs, it enters the marketplace beloved.
Could be Re-Branded as: "iCant Do Without It"

The Oakland P.D. - Seen As: that place in TV shows, like Wired, where everyone on the force has dark secret and multiple shadow alliances. Seems they go through their own Chiefs Of Police faster than TV Season pilot shows; been through three Chiefs and hundreds of cops in the last few years. They badly need to rid themselves of old thinking and start fresh.
Need to be seen as doing their job, so, in order to reestablish believability, so should be Re-Branded as: "The Oakland Boy Scouts," but until they achieve that stage, just call them: "The Oakland Raiders"

Oil Industry - Seen As: heartless fiduciary ticks on the warm, unprotected underbelly of an innocent populace. The people bought the damned cars they saw whizzing around corners, parking with ease, in the commercials. Now the people are inching along in Reality towards their jobs spewing fumes from the poisonous gas they were sold at a daily fluctuating price. They know they've been suckered. They pay for parking, maintenance, bridge fares, and know the money trap machines are addicted to gas. As SOON as any alternative is put on the market, they'll be all over it.
Should be Re-Branded as: "Not Snakes."

That's a Short List. Half a dozen embarrassing cases only. There are too many more; we could both blog for years. point is: their CEOs should, at the very least, resign.

Popular Opinion mutates and spirals in all different directions every day, faster and faster. In Online Marketing, it is becoming more and more important to protect your "Net Reputation." One sure way to maintain this critical focus is to concentrate on serving rather than harvesting for self.

When you find other ways, be sure to share. That's how our perception changes, twists and rolls. It is a spiraling energy. A revolution.

--0--

Big, Or At The Least, Very Imposing, Brother Broadcasters

2011-09-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

CORPORATE RADIO NEW HOUSE RULES, STRUCTURE, DRESS CODE...

When I entered radio a few decades ago, Programming was recognized as Top Priority, from where the money came. That which is on the air RIGHT NOW was paying for everyone's groceries and its Fearless Leader and those who worked under the Programming banner were respected, if not understood. As long as the ratings were good.

Times have changed, as Radio Solutions Experts (Time Peddlers) love to tell me when I visit any station in L.A., for example. "SALES is in charge NOW," they boast. Hmmm... Since when has the listener bonded with Sales?

More, since Sales is the new boss, what are they doing with that ability to attract, entertain and maintain an audience? I'll tell you this: when the coin obsessed don't know a thing about entertainment or broadcasting, they outsource it. They hire a programming consultant. Some of these radio consultants are priceless. I've even heard of one "expert" with a consultant of his own: a fortune teller. It was true; he mistrusted his own instincts so much he had to pull in Madam Turban and her crystal ball. Funny, and inadequate is REALLY funny.

A monstrous Conference Call of Radio 'Who's' for This One Corporation In Particular was reported to have taken place last week. It was between Those Who Tell Others What To Do on your air waves, (what songs to play, who to hire and fire, what costs to cut) and Those Who Must Obey.

The conference call was held by radio programming consultant Mike McVay, who, among other dictates, apparently informed his troops, "All contracts with programming consultants will be severed immediately." If this is so, Mike just axxed himself, a first that deserves to be applauded.

But, dang, no. There was an even more recent interview, designed to spin the previous one, and, in it, we learn he didn't say, or especially MEAN that.

Nor did he mean there were 500 corporate managers and programmers on the line. That was just the inability to spin a lower number of attendees, is all. But there were enough on the call, maybe 350, to eventually realize everything he said would turn out to be otherwise.

So - when he said, "Jan Jeffries is the head of Country, Top 40 and Hot AC stations." what he meant is that Jan has been doing that all along. Still doing it NOW. I guess he just threw that in or thought it required repeating.

The statement, "Programmers will also receive a list of...(song) adds, other(s) ... will be subject to corporate approval." in fact turns out to include an open season reverse loophole: "...we're going to give those PDs the ability to decide the songs they want to play." (from that list they received?) "Part of my whole thing is that I want to get the very best broadcasting minds in the business in our company..."

Well! That's a big difference, even though that last sentence was completely irrelevant to the topic of Choosing Music or Following Corporate/Consultant Play Lists.

But, let's keep rolling. The edict made during the conference call, mandating "Stations will no longer be permitted to talk with record company promotion personnel..." is ACTUALLY: "...100% wrong," according to McVay. "They can absolutely talk to record company promotion personnel and can go to lunch or dinner or with them. I did say we have rules and regulations we all must live by, and I want record company promotions to run through corporate." Then McVay added, to underscore absolutely no point made earlier: "By the way, it is all about entertainment."

Well, I AM being entertained. By the acrobatics; indefatigable flip-flipping.

When, during the vast conference call, it was said, "All adds by all stations will be reported exclusively to Mediabase by one person in Atlanta," McVay INTENDED to say, rather, that they want the programmers to report all adds exclusively to Mediabase by one person, John Kilgo here (in Atlanta), who has always (done that)..." And to clarify, "I don't ...think that's too much to ask for a programmer, particularly if we're utilizing their input in the music they provide to us."

Huh? trying to follow that sentence was not unlike following a Mobius Strip. You give up trying to make sense of it and wait for it to end. but it just goes on and on. I lost the scent of reason at the part of the trail where "all stations were to be reported by ONE PERSON."

What about the new rule: "Programmers will have to make 'good arguments' if they choose not to carry Citadel Media-supplied programming?" What that really meant, says McVay, "...wasn't said in those words, either...What I said is that...if we have shows on our network that you're interested in and they're available in your market, I encourage you to take them....I heard one of our stations playing music and rolling sweepers with no air talent whatsoever, no voice-tracking, nothing that connected us with the community on a holiday weekend. [editor's note: nice to see that even the suits notice the effects of their own cost-cutting. OK, sorry]...I'd rather you carry syndicated programming than just play music and sweepers...."

And IF that Programmer WOULD RATHER NOT choose from Citadel Media-supplied programming, NOR finds interest in any other syndicated shows, THEN, before hiring anyone to do weekends, she can start writing out those "good arguments," right?

That tidbit about "Sometime in October, a new 'Programming Operating System' will be put into effect..." doesn't exactly mean that either. It goes into effect within days (or a few days ago, depending on when you're reading this) and it's absolutely not new; nothing different about it at all. The so-called 'New' Programmimng OS is not at all unlike what McVay called his Media's Systems Management Manual for years. Looks like the man is recycling his assets.

The news blip that said "Format Managers will be appointed, and programmers are being encouraged to apply for those posts" had a spin. (And, of course they'll want to apply! It's either that or lose their income. That's a typical, undignified, cookie-cutter corporate scheme to avoid bestowing raises: eliminate the position, then create it again with a new name and make proven employees go through the application process.)

McVay says that, after the telephone conference, he "...got about 150 emails from individuals inside Cumulus who are interested in being brand managers, format captains, more involved in programming and having their responsibility and role enlarged." [read: keep pulling in a paycheck even if it means extra duty at less pay]

"So," says the Big Brother-man who keeps HIS paycheck and security at the expense of an entire corporation of others, "I'm really looking forward to digging within our company, as well as without, to find the best programmers and give them greater responsibility."

Gut it, Mighty Hunter Mike. Fill it with the desperate. Then sell it.

Here's the so-obvious-that-he-now-denies-it-Big-Brother-line: "...individual employees are not permitted to talk to the trades." That would be against Free Press, so... Not true, right, Mike?

Big Bro Mike says, "Not true; it never came up on the call. I would encourage our programmers to be interviewed and have profiles... the names that I'll announce sometime in the next 30-60 days are ones who ...I'll want ...to be interviewed. (In other words, re-apply for your old job IF you have created a corporate profile)

Finally: "...A dress code has been implemented: no blue jeans, flip-flops, piercings or exposed tattoos."

The next day, McVay was interviewed and said, "...Honest to God, it was never mentioned. I mean, today is casual Friday. I am wearing jeans, no socks, brown shoes and I have on a shirt that's tucked out."

I'm aghast, Mike, you hippy. He goes on, "...I've been saying I want to change the culture...SVPs stuck a note on my door that said, "I'm changing culture, not clothes." (Bet that SVP is wearing a gray suit, white shirt and red tie today)

And the Corporate Choke Chain, gagging your drones at Big Broth... um, corporate cluster of radio stations, that's all in our minds and not at all true either, right Mike?

"I'm sure if you're in Cumulus", he said, using the old scaffold analogy, "you feel like the noose around your neck was loosened. And I'm sure if you're in Citadel, you went, 'Hey, there's a noose around my neck.' So it's all perspective."

If you say so, sir. Point of View, then, got it. Way ya look at it, sure. Shee... I practically have a blog with that name...

Here's a POV: Instant irrelevance. A gentleman I've always had a nice chunk of admiration for, as I watched his radio programming consultancy move along over the decades, suddenly blows all that perseverance in one conference call. Now he's sounding like a writer for Rush Limbaugh. It's like one of those zombie virus movies.

--0--

Add Another Dimension.

2011-09-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

YOUR VIDEOS MORPHED INTO 3-D
How could YouTube, owned by Google, get bigger and what good can come of it for you? Well, strap on your 3-D goggles and hang on.

With zero cost for expensive new gear, another dimension has just been added to your video-making. That's right! Your vids can be seen in 3-D.

I was spying, um, researching... Ok, Ok, my FB friend Robin shared a link with me. That led to another, and so on, until it became so dimensional. Literally.

From the official YouTube blog, this week, of Product Manager Shenaz Zack Mistry, entitled "Additional Creator Tools from YouTube," these gems:

Sparkler-1: One-click 3D video conversion! It's beta but before this cutting edge app showed up, you had to set up two cameras, combine the footage from each, and use special software to synch it up and make it look just right. No more. Today with Youtube you can enjoy 2D to 3D conversion. "Converted videos will be viewable by everyone in 3D." Yay.

Added Luster: No more time limit.

I HATE that online streaming dialog box that pops up saying, "you have already watched 72 minutes of Mega Video. Sign up or go away for a specified amount of time." As of today, less limitations. "The Google-owned video site announced... (select users will) no longer be limited to 15-minute videos."

In a statement that could have been written by Steve Jobs, the Marriage Of Humanities And Arts With Doing Business was once again underscored, "YouTubers are some of the most innovative, entertaining and inspirational people in the world, and their creativity often needs more than the current upload limit of 15 minutes."

Sparkler-2, and 3: Free apps! To edit your video and add ost production effects. "We’re adding two additional video creation platforms for you to make your videos even better: Vlix and Magisto. Vlix lets you spice up your videos by adding cool effects and text to the video intro and closing. Magisto takes your unedited video and automatically edits it into short, fun clips."

Just a few decades ago, it seems, computers started showing up in homes and the spread didn't stop. With them came the entire publishing business, from type-setting to word processing to printing with lazors.

Ray Kutzweil seems to be right on about ubiquitous machines and exponential costs. Today, it seems the computer makers are stumbling all over each other to bring us the video industry.

--0--

AN UPLIFTING UPDATE

2011-09-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

Twin Tower Remembrance, Rebuild

As this month begins we'll see a lot of different points of view concerning what has enterd our lexicon as The Nine-Eleven Tragedy.

Of all the stories you've heard, could you ever describe one as a story
you like? Well, maybe one or two.

A picture's worth a thousand frames.

Certainly this one.

Here's a future memory. It's something that will have your chest thumpin', make you proud to be an American again.

Also you'll probably feel uplifted and delighted with the hard working New York construction crew in this great video, sent along to me by a friend, passed on to you likewise, as yet another of the endless Views and Ways.

--0--

BEFORE CORPORATE RADIO : REMEMBERING IT ALL

2011-09-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

The Inaccuracy Of "Nothing But Good Times"
Radio was the carnival I ran away from home to join, the raft I sailed through the infinite river of my Huckleberry imagination, the obsession with which I wrestled all my life.

As I began my career in broadcasting, it was limitless in scope, with the future as promising as living in the house right next door to Heaven. It was show biz, it was exhilarating, it was a slice of Eternity.

But it wasn't all good times, and to sequester the favored moments is flawed perception. A personal choice of limited outlook can only be described as delusional. The good times that, in fact, there were, stand out as even better only when one recalls the everyday flaws in the mix.

Memory isn't for just looking back on the so-called "good times," but all times -- every kind of situation that can be imagined squeezed into that dynamic duration.

Look again:

Remember the anxiety as ratings were yet to be announced?
Remember the things promised you that were never delivered?
Remember the disappointment when part of the team shirked their duty?
Remember when you found out a so-called friend turned out not to be?
Remember the sinking feeling when your ratings took a dip?
Remember when the listener called to ask you to play a song you just played?
Remember the many times you weren't acknowledged for your contributions?
Remember the embarrassment when inadvertently doing something not in the format?
Remember the suspense when you did something deliberately not in the plan?
Remember the empty feeling when a good programmer was replaced by a lame one?
Remember the lousy feeling when an entertainment choice was sacrificed for financial gain alone?
Remember when the phone never lit up?
Remember the drive in to work, through a drop-dead beautiful day, to a dank, closed-off studio?
Remember when the other guy was late for his shift, leaving you stuck?
Remember the phone calls asking, "What did I win?" when you weren't having a contest.
Remember wincing when the new boss delivered a stupid, minor market, newbie directive?
Remember being sorry for the good people axed in favor of an imaginary budget?
Remember losing a great jingle package for a newer, lesser one??
Remember records being replaced by playback media with no labels to see rotating on the turntable?
Remember knowing what you were capable of and being hobbled by a supervisor in fear??
Remember finding out that a few others made more money than you?
Remember wading waist high in the doubt created by others on the team?
Remember the PD coming back from a convention or focus group with bad ideas?
Remember the good ideas you had that weren't considered?
Remember breaking the rules and how it felt when you were wrong? Right? And then, caught?
Remember being typecast?
Remember reading and re-reading stale liners; worse: cut-and-paste copies from the last regime?
Remember how you felt when you learned your boss had to taught the names of the Beatles?
Remember imported programming stooges who always said, "The way we did it back in (town)..."?
Remember headphone hair?
Remember when the only motivation for career furtherance was being fired?
Remember having to clean up the mess in the control room from the previous pig?
Remember the multitude of means available for feeling isolated?
Remember the lay crowd talking glowingly about the other station?
Remember constantly having to prove yourself? Especially to each newer, younger PD?
Remember working when sick?
Remember having to apologize for something you still think was funny at the time?
Remember being told that the one who hired you was fired?
Remember when the lyrics you knew so well meant different things when heart broken?
Remember when you pushed a button and nothing happened?
Remember knowing it was a bad idea and having to sell it anyway?
Remember having to cross plug another jock you didn't like?
Remember feeling inadequate?
Remember finding your headphones, used by another, broken?
Remember fighting for an absolutely essential budget?
Remember when the other station's jocks had jingles and you didn't?
Remember discovering you were cheated out of money you rightfully earned?
Remember being misused, as opposed to properly being used?
Remember cue burns?
Remember control room filth, built up like plaque from lack of regular maintenance?
Remember your plans for the future beyond Boss Radio?

Do yourself the kindness of remembering it ALL, good and bad. Helps you see the future.

There were plenty of great experiences, but you would hardly remember them if it wasn't for their counter balance, the less-than-good times.

--0--

BILL THE SLAUGHTERED

2011-08-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Utility Plans To Charge Customers For Pipeline Repair

One year ago a tragedy that could and should have never happened blasted its way onto front page news in the Northern California Bay Area. Sept. 9th, 2010: a PG&E pipeline exploded underneath a San Bruno killing eight people and turning 38 homes to which they provided gas into toothpicks and shrapnel.

Get out your checkbook.

Now the Utility Company wants the VICTIMS AND CUSTOMERS TO PAY for repairs for which it is solely responsible. After what we've since learned, are not all customers of PG&E, essentially a monopoly, now its potential victims? Seriously.

That PG&E is completely at fault has been verified by tons of evidence. There were people in the PG&E organization well aware that they had a seam weld risk - for some reason it wasn't getting addressed. As one example, a company engineer recounted a visit to a site earlier where an inspection crew was checking for corrosion on a pipeline in the immediate vicinity known as Line 132. He reported learning that before he got there, crews had identified as many as 20 suspected cracks on an angled bend in a short piece of pipe.

Royce Don Deaver, an out-of-state pipeline consultant who worked for decades in the pipeline industry, agreed that the discovery of a gap in the seam weld as well as a crack on the pipe that was about 1 1/4 inches long. should have triggered inspections across all of Line 132.

"Had they addressed this," Deaver said, "and if they had investigated this thoroughly, they might have found problems with other parts of the line, even where the line failed."

He wrote that he had found a gap in the seam weld as well as a crack on the pipe that was about 1 1/4 inches long.

The maintanance crew had dug up the line when it lost electronic signals, an indication that corrosion might be present in the pipe. When workers kept digging they found the flaws, the engineer wrote. but, after reporting the problem, NOTHING WAS DONE ABOUT IT.

State and Federal investigations investigating the tragic explosion have also uncovered bad welds, inconsistent testing for safety and documentation so disorganized as to suggest suspected concealment. This scrutiny has shown us records so inconsistent and shoddy that it becomes obvious the Utility didn't at all know what condition most of its pipes were in, probably doesn't right now.

At first. it might seem a relief that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is, at last, planning a long overdue, extensive upgrade to its natural gas system. That it is proposed in the wake of the San Bruno tragedy, unfortunately, indicates the plan is an afterthought. Makes it seem as if they HAVE to do it, but otherwise wouldn't. (One can imagine a board meeting, "Only eight people? We have thousands and thousands of other customers piping money to us, so what if we lose a smattering?")

Cementing the cold perspective of their lack of compassion and sincerity, comes news of PG&E's stunningly callous intention to make their customers pony up almost 90 percent of the $2.2 billion cost necessary to replace miles and mles of more defective pipeline, that could actually blow up more neighborhoods before even one valves is upgraded.

As you would expect, the idea of forcing PG&E customers pay the far greater portion of the project's costs enrages both the Utility's customers and critics.

Our Assemblyman Jerry Hill (Dem, 19th dist.), who represents San Bruno, was waiting for this. "We knew this day was coming, when PG&E would expect the ratepayers to pick up the cost of the repairs," he says. "This $2 billion capital expenditure will increase their profits down the road. That should be looked at carefully. They should not be allowed to profit from this."

How does Pacific Gas and Electric feel about passing this enormous bill on to their customers? They simply avoid that key issue and redirect attention to their delinquently configured patch-up. PG&E Happy Face and Executive Vice President Nick Stavropoulos, who was only recently hired this spring, AFTER the deadly Big San Bruno Bang, prefers to speak of what's going on his resume: the blueprint to overhaul the company's gas operations,"What we're proposing here is a massive, order-of-magnitude change to the way we've done business in the past," he said.

This would only matter to the relatives of those lost in the San Bruno catastrophe in that it is as near a direct admission of the Utility's guilt as could be found. You don't make massive changes unless there's been massive wrong doing.

But - where IS the change? One may ask: What's so different about the way you're doing business now? Have you designed a new manner in which to continue to ignore your customers?

Is the differing element in the "order-of-magnitude" that part where the customer pays for the slovenly maintenance of his Utility? Why should those threatened with harm because of deferred maintenance and cost-cutting pay to replace 186 miles of gas transmission lines, then go on to foot the bill in order to retrofit nearly 200 miles more, putting in place machines that can inspect the pipes properly from inside? Is this a business transaction or "protection money?"

PG&E says they will replace 228 shut-off valves, when actually it is you who will pay their workers, put their kids through college. You'll front the whole operation with your cash.

As newer models of faucets, valves and pipes, that can stop the flow of gas automatically or by remote control are installed, you are intended to pay the cost. While the company centralizes and digitizes all its pipeline records, as they should have done years ago, you will finance the undertaking. And the cost is not only beyond enormous, it is behind schedule by decades.

The big deal, yipee-skippy, intricate PG&E Pipeline Replacement Plan was only very recently filed with the California Public Utilities Commission. It went public the last Friday in August, nearly a whole year after San Bruno exploded, blowing away eight human lives and decimating 38 residences.

Investigations into the blast, both State and Federal, have revealed a portrait of a lazy, company that takes it's paying customers for granted and ceased any effort towards excellence, cutting it's maintenance budget to the point of not only being ineffective but not being there at all. Bad welds, inconsistent safety testing and record-keeping so inept illustrate a disorganized Utility that didn't know the condition of many of its pipes. Still doesn't.

As August comes to its close, we look forward to a final report card. The National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to report its conclusion on the cause of the explosion. Will this report justify PG&E heaping onto its customers' backs this heavily priced and massive clean-up? The pricetag: $768.7 million through 2014, ADDING $1.93 to a typical homeowner's monthly bill.

And that, unfortunately, isn't all Pacific Gas And Electric plans for those paying for its energy services. Additionally, all new equipment installed would become part of the company's "rate base." soon, you'll get a letter explaining the new look of PG&E's monthly statement.

The shareholders portion will be significantly less. Their total would be $220.7 million through the next three years, with money coming out of PG&E's profit. Shareholders would spend an additional $314.5 million on pipeline safety programs already under way. (And what the hell does PG&E know about public safety? That it practices. I mean.

"Over the long term, it certainly will have an impact on customers' bills, no doubt," says Piggy Head, Stavropoulos. "But this is something that needs to be done..."

"They (PG&E) have no integrity at all," Deaver said. "You can't trust these people with public safety issues."

"When we're done ... we're going to know everything we'll need to know about these facilities from the standpoint of safety," Stavropoulos said Friday.

Too damn bad we can't choose from a menu of utility companies one that knows how to keep us safe from inadequate maintenance, deadly accidents and deliberate gouging.

--0--

CANCELLED FAITH IN TRAFFIC GUY, SIR

2011-08-26T22:02:00.000-07:00

BOTTLENECK OF TOO MUCH HOT AIR, REVIEWED
(Addressed to you as if you were a person making their living online)
Time to pay up!

Recently preparing incoming funds and statements for delivery to my bookkeeper, a significant American Express bill was discovered . Memory didn't offer a marker, so I looked further into that envelope for a clue as to what I had purchased that month for such an amount.

The charge was from an Online Marketers Tool-Set By Subscription, Trouble Geyser, (real name altered to obscure the guilty, but you know who). I thought it was an ongoing fee for the continued use of their software, available to members by fee for a fixed time, and that the time had run out. Ah! But, not the case, they said.

I was informed that my entry fee took me through the end of this year. Well then, if I'm good through December, why the charge? That entry fee was hefty.

A Tariff Guzzler finance person on the phone was asked about this mystery charge, and I received an immediate, though disappointing, response. It was a pre-fab answer, as you will read.

The very moment that question was answered with that formatted reply was the same time, to the micro-second, that the White Camel In The Room had it's back overburdened to collapse. It was the famous "Final Straw," and precisely when the Treasure Grabber firm's entire online marketing scheme broke through its flim-flam cover film and was seen suddenly as ludicrous. I mean embarrassingly farcical, in the way only an amateur on stage in front of thousands on opening night can turn absurd.

All at once the parasitic reality of the situation became clear, if surrealistically silly can pass for a description of "clear." Time seemed to stop as that ill-fitting, stock reply stood out as the loudest, most inane bleat in the room, pulled into use in only the manner of the scripted who cannot at all remember her script.

A "pat answer" was given, immediately attempting to blot out, rather than answer, my quite differently shaped question. Instantaneously, at the speed of light, i recognized that answer didn't fit and I was being mislead.

I think we all know how it feels to put our money down, walk away with our purchase, then find it was a hoax perpetrated only to take our money. The word oft used is "taken." (Old school: "taken down town," as if to the darker alley ways. and pilfered)

Bad Answer:
I was informed that the charge "probably" stemmed from "that aspect" of my other email account, established when I signed on with them, at their urging, with another of their tools (I refuse to mention but can be compared with Monster Foul Up). It couldn't; I didn't. That data is unchanged. Translation: "ya da, ya da, ya da...".

Huh? I'm sorry. What did you marketing geniuses just say to me? Did I hear right? This additional money being charged to my account "PROBABLY" ...started with ..."that ASPECT" of my other email...

What ASPECT? How precise is this "PROBABLY" that she casually threw out at me? Those WORDS offered by way of EXPLANATION in exchange for ACTUAL, not maybe, money? Sorry, nope.

And while the assumption to use those words may have been formed from seeing the collective data on my other business email (I have a few email accounts as do most, you too?), I need facts, not suppositions, when it comes to what I'm purchasing, not unlike the cashier who requires actual cash, not its possibility.

The baffling thing is why a company representative would settle for so much less than the reality of this situation. Obviously, this tactic has been working for years.

Whenever I do MY job, whether on public airwaves or for clients online, I find the best with whom to work, and do the best I can. That's the professional way. When I was on the radio as a music presenter, if I were to let even one detail slip, I'd get a call on the Hot Line and have to account for it. I understood that. It was a given, because we wouldn't think of anything less than owning up to our actions, our words, and giving our best honest effort. Holding one's self responsible requires one to adhere to higher standards.

There's too much missing data in words and phrases like "probably," "chances are," "in all likelihood," and other evasive responses. Whenever I get runaround words when dealing with significant monetary investment, alerts go off inside like a submarine in war maneuvers.

Right away I know I'm not dealing with a business I can count on nor have faith in.

At the same time, I may not want to admit it. Perhaps it was enough money that I don't want the further distress of feeling the fool. There's turmoil inside, until I stop resisting. Then, it's as plain as can be.

Finally, fool or student, fist unclenched, heart open, I have to admit to myself: I don't want to continue my association with anything that any heartless, moneygrubbing prefabricated newbie actors (bad liars), or the reps in dinosaur-suits that hired them, are pitching. Why did that take so long? (Answer: blinded by desire.)

I should have noticed that clue hidden there in the feeling of needing to take a shower I had after seeing each of their spokesperson's videos, after each of their too oft repeated Inner Circle tenets and catch phrases, the obvious retreat in company policy from black hats to white hats, the further Platinum, Gold and Elite money levels established well before the bugs are removed from each level of access to the software...

But now... Whoa! Once that box of wrong doing is opened up, the plaque that held it all in place loses its grip and lets the rest slide right out.

All over the place.

Here comes more. I never did like their shoddy manner of teaching. I would have preferred a more distinct, orderly outline for study. Essentially they throw you in the bug pool and leave it up to you to figure out how to make the software swim. Too often it sinks, did I mention that?

At Tariff Guise, they have a nice collection of knowledge. Unfortunately, there's no real Lesson Plan, no leadership, no direction. Other than that Sink or Swim policy, I mean.

And boy is it breezy in there! There are numerous holes in the information. And infuriatingly lagging updates. While I was offered help, techs are slow (sometimes days) to get back to you because they're software simply isn't finalized while the internet never sleeps, constantly grows, reformulates. Often the out-dated software just doesn't work, then they might mention it two or three days, weeks later.

This slow-as-molasses reaction time is absolutely maddening to show-MUST-go on types. But the only show they know is the one: standing in front of a green screen and pitching another app to make up for the inadequacey of their own programs.

At best the Tarnished Geezer company, software and schemes are not dependable. This pulls its integrity into an area of High Doubt, a zone in which there is no longer trust. Many say out loud that TG released their product before it was completely bug free. Others say the original software was intended to cheat the system, but had to be changed or its users could be banished from the net for six months. These are lingering queries that have never been honestly responded to.

In fact, where, among the earnest promises of easy profits, was the honesty? While they pitched, "It's Easy," it is not at all. Great effort is required. No one could EVER honestly describe Social Media Marketing, its Search Engine Focused Strategies, the learning of methods to make videos that will actually be watched, the hundreds of forms to master and the thousands of other components of doing business online as "easy." It ain't.

The very ones who did make that claim of effortless income, in actuality, later told us that we could make money because it is NOT easy. We were told that prospective clients' eyes would glaze over in fear, as they pondered how hard and time consuming it could be, establishing and maintaining an online social presence.

That part is true. When talking about the diversity of social sites and how to use them, clients often DO think, "it's too much! I don't have time!" Once they see online work as too hard, we were taught, "you've got them." This pitch completely contradicts their original assurances to us, given at the time WE were thinking, "this seems too hard."

How many other promises were manufactured to keep questions quiet while pushing their suite of not-ready-for-prime-time products, one wonders. They lost our trust; gone, evaporated.

Of course online marketing is not easy. Doing business on the internet is far too broad to be "easy." We know this only now, AFTER we bought in to the TG BS.

We sure didn't know it then. We handed over our money for this guaranteed new, easy way to make more money. Then, once inside the Tragic Gate, one learns the hard reality: You've been had.

Inside, one becomes all too aware that, among the fractured software and complicated, murky instructions, there are coaches available, by appointment, to assist with the software. Coaches? In place and standing by? Dang. This proves they were aware from the start that THIS IS NOT EASY, but said it to us straight-faced, anyway. Pre-meditated misinformation from the start. Again, dang.

Perhaps I shouldn't say this but I will anyway. Making appointments for help on software sold to you as easy-but-not, then waiting, with money-paying clients on hold, for a coach to tell you what buttons to push, is a large waste of time and money. For you and your clients.

The "easy" part of all this for me is my conclusion: These Guys're not worth ANY MORE time or money. Not a second, not a cent.

I have learned a small but expensive lesson here with this misrepresented suite of "easy" applications designed by Trust Grinder, but far more valuable morals and instructions from other online groups and forums dedicated to ethical social interaction and success. having developed my own circle of strength and honorable people in online marketing, with which to really make an impact in a business' prosperity, my company will continue to move from here, staying in touch with trustworthy acquaintances made along the way, making more, rolling forward.

-- Comments, from my experience, to The Grifters on Ways to improve, things that need attention:

(MY) COACH (another thing covered in membership fee) was unreliable at best, canceling our dates numerous times at the last minute and always making an excuse, never wrong. --NEEDS FIXING

TEACHING PLANS were non existent, knowledge unstructured, thus much learning was missed, even more time wasted searching. -- NEEDS SERIOUS STAFF ATTENTION

TRUST ISSUE: Too soon we learn that the head spokes-guy, always pitching non-stop - is a Selling Head ONLY. And ALWAYS. Thus, hardly worthy of genuine confidence. It was his game to lose. Somehow (by talking about how expensive his time now is, showing videos of himself in dinosaur suits, racing cars and focusing solely on the unsympathetic goal of becoming a billionaire?) he did it, managed to lose most of us. We're left with the feeling of being his "mark" rather than a part of what he calls his "family." -- TOO LATE, THE DINO OUTFIT IS PROBABLY ONLY THE FIRST OF MANY SUITS

What we were looking for was a leader, someone we could trust.

NOT READY: The suite of application products seem to have been released in a rush, well before the bugs were worked out, with members paying for research and development as they go. if one person complains about the stuff, it can be overlooked. If three or more say it's garbage, go into the land fill business or buy a trash can. --NEEDS UPDATING, ORGANIZING AND SHOULD WORK ON ALL OPERATING SYSTEMS. ALSO - GET A GOOD WEB BUILDER.

IN FAIRNESS, reparation to unsuspecting, gullible buyers should seriously be considered. Compensation, for money laid out under false pretenses, time wasted, buggy software and many down times should be mandatory. It's only a matter of time before the class lawsuits begin. --QUIT HIDING, START HELPING.

While in the first three months of membership, aside from trying to sell their new list of marks, um members, every marketing app and set of instructions they could write on the fly, Trafficking Gabble came up with numerous so-called, finicky "updates." Their coaches held webinars, for selected members only, correcting terribly flawed information and lesson plans. Newer amendments to their fractured instructions and dishonorable win-at-any-cost philosophy appeared randomly on the home web site. Applications and strategies, which are really work-arounds or corrections (repeat: R&D paid for by earlier fleeded sheep) also stacked up. The email avalanche is another story. It was abusively non-stop.

They haven't learned a thing about integrity, now preaching a new "Building business and community" sales sub philosophy while continuing to pitch these corrections and improvements as "newer, easier." And they are none of that. Just as before. Real philosophy: be a Bazillionaire, whatever the loss in morals and integrity.

New hordes of eager-faced Social Media Marketers, fresh from glitzy, baloon laden pep talk seminars, are arriving every day, focused on prosperity and experiencing disappointment. Didn't want 'em to think they're the only ones taken downtown, as the rest of us were.

Truth be told, Social Marketing is not easy but you CAN do it. And look for people to work with who reek of integrity.

--0--

FROM THE BOSS JOCK SCRAPBOOK

2011-08-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

REMEMBERING FRANK TERRY

This mental scrapbook, bursting its binding with pictures, emotions and bigger than life recollections, has just flipped open to one of my best-loved characters. Some of my favorite people in the world are stored among these memories.

I open it up from time to time and must always wear shades. Careful, don't wince. That's just the blazing light reflecting off of one of radio's most brilliant, shining examples. That's Frank Terry, one of the original Boss Jocks.

As far as being a disc jockey goes, playing hits on the radio in the 60s and 70s, was, for most of us, the pinnacle. Being chosen as a Boss Jock meant you were among the best of the best. It was more than a high point in a radio career, it was the Golden Fleece. Frank Terry belonged there, fit in as naturally as green felt on a turntable.

Just starting out as a Boss Jock, I had heard rumors between the legendary tales of Robert W. Morgan and the Real Don Steele, of a "James Bond of DJs" who could travel, trouble shooting, from one Boss station to another and sound as if he had been there all the time. Moreover, you felt you knew and loved him all that while. He had little personal attachment to his past achievements to get in the way so, without that sort of demanding ego, when on the air, he really was your friend.

Off the air, too.

Growing along, learning the business, I was able to hear recording of his work, Like so many other "baby DJs," I listened and looked up to him. On the air, his easy style of delivery and attitude of sharing was a college education, a broadcast seminar and a wonderful, entertaining example of how to do it right the first time.

Years marched forward, I made it into the realm of the Boss Jocks. I started at their Fresno facility, KYNO, and worked my way up through San Diego, San Francisco , then L.A. When I became a Boss Jock worked alongside him, he was more approachable than many others. No investment in his own personal history was too big to block his friends from view. Not all that common among those in show business. I have had associates surprise me with their ambition and near desperate motivation to grab the limelight. Frank was already center stage in his own soul, thus comfortable to be with and always easy to communicate with.

We laughed often, long and hard, from a place deep inside, as if we had known each other all our lives. Instant family. Frank was like that, the epitome of the word, "inclusive."

When our career paths went in different directions, he seemed to fit in seamlessly at every station, no matter what kind of music and programming they were presenting. Frank seemed to effortlessly make it all his own, the mark of a professional and self starter. This was my chance to see his ability to adapt to any show, any audience. It was another education altogether, seeing how diversified he was on other music presentation, their various formats.

I heard he had moved to the northern part of the state. I heard he was not well. I heard he conquered the illness. I made plans with friends for a trek north to visit. But, before we could motor up that way, the news arrived that Frank had passed on.

Today, I still find myself looking up to him in memory. Now that he's moved on, he still manages to impress, still sounds and looks good. You can hear many examples of his air work, showcased at the official Disc Jockey Museum, the "aircheck channel," www.ReelRadio.com, where "the beat goes on."

New DJs and pod casters: look him up, listen to his ease and fluency, learn from the best. You can find him in various web niches. Frank Terry, remember him. He was the 007 of DJs, a jock's jock. But on the air he was none of that. He was simply your good and reliable friend.

--0--

IT'S THE ECOMONY, CUPID

2011-08-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

The LOVE IT OR LOSE IT Top-40 TEST

With so much news of the declining economy crawling over and through every crevice of our lives, perhaps it's a good time to examine what we hold true about this experience.

Everyone has some sort of answer for today's economy. That answer is wrong. The guy with the hammer looks at everything as needing a good pounding. The lawyer wants new laws, The candlestick maker thinks we will all benefit from having a little more light shed on the subject.

The solution is not going to happen with these answers. Real knowledge has taught us that Love Is The Answer to all questions. We might do ourselves a real favor by mentally disengaging and putting all the questions on the desk and having our Inner Cupid review them.

We used to be better informed by the journalism in our country. Once, TV and radio news had integrity. But that integrity came with a budget. That's no longer the case.

News isn't being covered today with anywhere the same integrity as it was just three decades ago - it has devolved - because corporate owners decided to cut costs. This made them look good to numbers crunchers, but cheated shareholders and eliminated salaries for the reporters, editors, watch dogs.

You don't get the real news any more because there's no one there to cover it, the newsroom is all but empty, except for a few babysitters of the automated equipment.

This is unacceptable, yet goes without protest from the general public.

But, what if we threw out the answers, wiping the blackboard clean? The answers we have aren't working. Perhaps we can ponder the questions once more, this time, not being so hasty to jump to conclusions, but rather remain with them and ponder a while longer.

Maybe answers aren't what is called for here. How can a situation be resolved when it is always in motion?

The following is what will amount to a difficult experiment for some. The test is whether or not you can immerse yourself in the following Top-40 questions WITHOUT ANSWERING THEM. Just let them be there, acknowledge them, but do not answer. Here we go:

Do you consider yourself poor?
Do you label yourself as a loser for not making enough money?
Are you a loser?
Are you affected by our country's Downward Slide?
Do you have a certain goal towards wealth in mind, or simply the hazy term "richer?"
What does the loss of middle class status mean to you? Your family?
What was your idea of middle class?
How much is "more than enough?"
How is wealth measured? In money only?
Is there someone so much more rich that it unsettles you?
How much of your wanting more is fear based?
How much thought each day do you give your lack of wealth?
How much thought each day do you give your surfeit of wealth?
Is there such a thing for you as enough wealth?
What does the driving force to acquire more feel like?
Does the ambition for more riches make you happy?
What does the term super-rich mean to you?
Should anybody be able to get a decent paying job?
How many jobs should you have? Should your spouse work?
Do you have adequate insurance?
Do you now have to carefully manage money for groceries, utilities, rent, gasoline?
Is Big Business being fair with their fellow Americans?
Is the Democratic System broken? Is it the Administration's fault? Congress?
Is it your fault that you're not as wealthy as you once were?
Do you have an opinion on unions?
What are fair taxes?
Is Wall Street trustworthy? Should it be more tightly regulated?
Does it bother you that your fellow Americans surrendered to Big
   business without a fight?
What is your description of being poor?
Would you give an employee a raise? Why? Why not?
What are your feelings - pro or con - on monopolies? Are you able to express them?
Is it OK with you that wages have remained stagnant for the past 30 years?
Have you given up your idealistic principles in the pursuit of more money?
Are you waiting for someone else to make the first move?
Would it be OK with you to Have Everything while your fellow citizens Have Nothing?
If you care about others' financial situations as well as your
   own, what would you do to get the economy rolling?
Do you feel 200 million citizens is a majority over the several hundred in
   our congress and Senate?
Is your comfort zone so cozy you won't leave it to help bring back a
   balance to the world's greatest nation, or can you still move?
Is The American Dream all over? If so, can you make a new dream?
Do you feel lied to, betrayed?
Are you a victim or are you a participant in your own success?

Again - do not answer these questions immediately. Wait a couple of days, even a week or two. There is incredible pure action in the stillness of your being, trust this. Just having these questions right in front of your blazing awareness for any length of time ought to do more for genuine positive growth than any economic genius could hope. Let them roll around unanswered for awhile inside yourself and watch what happens.

--0--

When Sad Mixes With Glad

2011-08-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

Keeping An Open Heart Anyway

Been away from my blog for awhile, sorry. Family comes first.

This is a sad note I write to you. It is through quite a large helping of melancholy I must report: I lost one of my brothers toward the end of last month. Heart attack. No one saw it coming. All so very suddenly, one beautiful, sunny morning, no more brother Brian.

Being the offspring with a taste in commercial radio in my blood, I was instantly nominated for delivering Brian's eulogy. What an impossible task - to sum up an intimate, wonderful, colorful lifetime in a scattering of words.

And - what an indescribable honor.

I am one of seven children, reared and steered by what I feel were the best parents on Earth. Funny, as we "kids" get older, our mom and dad continue to look better and better.

As people grow and gather world experiences, their understanding expands, and parents are placed under that super electron magnifying scope for a closer look. Mine just get better and better.

As do my siblings. There couldn't be a more diverse collection of individuals. All that I am, is the result of influences by mom and dad, and the sharing and learning that happened growing along with my brothers and sister.

Brian was the one with the wide open heart. Most folks you meet seem to have so many things about which you must learn before they can really let loose and befriend you. Not Bri. What you got, when he walked in, was instant, full force Brian, no pretenses.

As the hours began to gather momentum after the initial feeling of shock at this all-too-final news, it became more and more obvious this characteristic was a signiture in itself. At work, as Brian grew from the earthen vineyards to a management desk, he managed to keep all his friends along the way. ("He is my angel," one young lady told me through sobs) She and they all have become his loving extended family.

And so, there it was, all of a sudden; the eulogy wrote itself around his natural open-heartedness. The words came in a rapid blur. I jotted down the ideas as fast as they came. It was written not by thought, but by heart.

Somehow, I found this old school language in the Bible (Book of Psalms, 50:14) and I instantly understood the deeper meaning: "..Offer to God praise as your sacrifice and fulfil your vows to the Most High; then call upon me in times of distress; I will rescue you, and you shall glorify me."

To me it translated into something like this:"Give up crying over your loss, and instead offer genuine thanks and reverence for the gift your brother, Brian, has been and continues to be. Choose to focus on your Higher Power within, especialy during overwhelming sorrow, and, with an open heart, be consoled, see clearly and brought to peace. Then, thank God."

And that's what I DO feel. Such gladness everywhere, such thankfulness that I got to spend so many moments as part of the family we all made by being together. There are tears, of course, but behind them, in the stillness that is our backdrop for all in motion, is a pure streak of gratitude so real as to have no polar opposite.

As a family, we learned many years ago to end practically every phone call and meeting with "I love you," tagged onto "good bye," so I know I remembered to tell him and I know he knew I loved him. That's more of a solace than I could have known until now.

And his standard of always acting with an open heart is gleaming brighter by the hour. I aim to follow his example and do a much better job of it than in the past. When my heart is still and attentive, I can feel my brother as if he were sitting right beside me.

My huge thanks to you for allowing me to share pieces of my heart here like this. Guess you're part of our close, extended family.

--0--

USING NEW ENERGY SOURCES NOW

2011-07-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

TWO BLOGS IN ONE:

Fresh Approach AND/OR Old Defenses...
I love cool, new advances in science. Like that unreal scanning, printing replicator I recently blogged about!

Well, here goes again.
Socket To Me
This time, scientists from the National Physical Laboratory, an organization that slipped under this blog jockey's radar, have discovered a heretofore unused energy source. If you didn't know it was there before, it's a discovery, right? Well, close enough.

As reported everywhere, including here in Views and Ways, an entire neighborhood in a San Bruno suburb exploded. The Gas Energy Provider, it turns out, couldn't find records of the latest maintenance. In fact, it has pretty much nothing reliable in its maintenance records at all. Your neighborhood could be next. Or mine. No records...

The keen minds at NPL have researched ways to harness energy unused in its first attack, or initial effort. It's the runoff stuff that our fellow bright minds have taken a second look at. They have scrutinized its source for energy that is otherwise wasted - dissipated as vibration, motion, uncaptured heat, even the vibrations of sound.

One of the ways mentioned, in a recent report on harnessing unused energy, is the use of a thermoelectric generator. A researcher explained, "...if you warm two metal plates up by rubbing your hands, getting friction and thus generating heat," he said, "it then will be turned into electrical power,"

           "If it is ultimately determined that we were
           responsible for the cause of this incident, we will
           take accountability," a Gaseous Explosion Person
           said. "Our thoughts go out to everyone affected by
           this terrible situation."

           Thoughts?

Other basic actions were sorted out as examples. "The second device is somebody pedaling on a bicycle connected to a generator, and a third system is a piezoelectric device - if you squeeze it or bend it, you put a strain on it and it produces an electrical signal and you can capture that."

None of these technologies are new, but today, it is becoming more and more economically important to capture energy instead of wasting it.

And some forward thinking companies are already doing it.

           Here's what those thoughts amount to. In what must
           be a new low in the preoccupation of becoming a
           limbo lawyer, it was suggested that the Giant,
           Gaseous Energy monopoly's legal firm will sue its
           own customers, somehow holding the grieving San
           Bruno residents responsible for those horrifying gas
           pipeline explosions that disintegrated their
           neighborhood.

Volkswagen, for instance, is using a piezoelectric generator connected to the exhaust to capture the heat produced by a car's engine.

At two train stations in Tokyo, power-generating mats have been installed under the floors to capture the vibrations from tens of thousands of commuters and then renew this energy as electricity.

Getting more from less. That's another way of saying it and not a new idea, either. But discovering ways to do tap energy unused so far can happen all the time, any time.

--0--

HAVE YOUR SCAN PLAN READY?

2011-07-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

YOUR FUTURE'S STILL WAY AHEAD OF THE GAME
I love emailing back and forth with my good friend, Bill Young, who heads up the outfit I just joined. He is so ahead of the curve it's almost uncanny.

Bill's book, "Dead Air - The Rise And Demise Of Music Radio," chronicles the amazing voyages and people his choices brought through him in radio's Airwave Carnival as he operated from the land he loves so much, Houston Texas.

Rather than go on and on about the sci-fi nature of our current existence, I'll just beam you aboard the very latest discovery to which Bill alerted me as you click on the cartoon that anchors this particular blog.

Besides, all I can say right now is, "Wow!"

LAVE SUS MANOS

2011-06-29T11:55:00.000-07:00

IF YOU KNOW HOW...

It's almost here! In July the Food Safety Law, otherwise known as SB 602, goes into effect. That, however, is not the most fascinating piece of news in this particular state-wide story. What's disturbing is: practically no one knows about it.

According to the new edict, all food service employees, must take and pass the California Food Handler Training test by July 1, 2011. Not only is the date already here, most restaurants don't even know such a law has come into being.

As July unfolds, it appears there may be a whole new herd of criminals. If you look, you'll see a profusion of restaurant owners and their employees breaking the new law, named "SB 602," or "The California Food Handler Card Law." And with good reason. For the most part, restaurants, at least in San Francisco, apparently haven’t even been officially notified.

Did you know about this? The bill was signed into law six months ago, goes into force this month, and requires California restaurant employees must now take the mandatory training in food safety.

Food Safety doesn't mean they're trying to avoid cruelty or accidental injury to a Harris steak or Cobb Salad. It's aimed at protecting your digestive system.

While it’s a law for which anyone would most probably show strong approval, its lack of an official announcement signals weak intention. And nervous food workers.

The few who have heard about it are feeling a range of emotions from perturbation to full tilt anxiety as they learn they are each expected to pay a tuition, take the course, and pass it. Then, when they win their Food Handler Safety Card, good for three years, it must be secured in their employers' file.

Most in the food industry know nothing about this, but the minority of employees that do, are clambering to find the two-hour, $15 test, hoping to meet the deadline.

Readers of this blog may have a few questions of their own.

Why, for example, there are still hundreds of places that haven’t heard about the new law? Or the test? Or where to take it?

Why, also, do you suppose, is the new Food Handler Safety Card Law course offered only in two languages - English or Spanish? At this writing, employees who speak only Chinese, for example, are pretty much out of the food service loop for now. Why is that? Does the Health Department assume only certain races qualify for this kind of food safety?

Or is this one of those deals that wasn't properly thought out?

And how will this new unpublicized ruling be enforced? Well, that will be the task of the county health departments, who are responsible for notifying restaurants of the laws and consequent penalties for noncompliance. One imagines a task force, dressed in California gold and brown jumpsuits, converging on suspected eateries, rounding up all the employees and giving them a good soap and water lathering.

Seriously, how can a law be enforced when no one knows about it? I mean, other than cramming that tired old saw, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse," down our pie holes. That's not what we chose from the menu...

Who's in charge here, anyway? Reportedly, the Public information officer Eileen Shields, hadn’t even heard of our new law.

But the Director of Environmental Health Regulatory Programs, Richard Lee, has. He's been meeting with other directors around the state, trying to untangle the wording of the law and thus make it viable. He says "don't panic." Not just yet, anyway.

Lee says his department has not yet apprised any restaurants, as our lawmakers stall the passage of SB 303, in an attempt to clean up the language in the previously written rules. He says his department doesn’t plan to enforce the law until next year; he will send out information in September.

So, remember to wash your hands before chowing down. Eventually the Direstor and his staff WILL start enforcing the law.

The punishment for noncompliance after the Food Handler Law finally does go into effect in another seven months? “I don’t think there will be a fine,” Director of Environmental Health Regulatory Programs, Lee says. (Wanna bet, says I?) “We’ll just note it as a violation.” If the restaurants still don’t comply, the department will take away their health permit to operate.

And force them to scrub behind their fingernails and ears.

--0--

PRIMATE PRESS RELEASE!! TALKING GORILLA BORN!

2011-06-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

RARE ADDITION TO BILL YOUNG'S VANILLA GORILLA VOICE ARTIST ZOO

There's a new baby gorilla at the world famous Storyteller Branch of Bill Youngs Amazing Texas based Audio/Video Emporium in Sugar Land. His Vanilla Gorilla section of the Media Zoo is all happy-faced and celebratory. Free bananas for all.

The newest arrival will be called "Bobby Ocean."

The Vanilla Gorilla compound announced very recenty that the blessed event earlier this month is the first gorilla addition in nearly 20 years.

In honor of the new arrival, all microphones are being cleaned and detailed. Fresh straw is being digitally installed.

Vanilla Zoo officials say the mother, 22-year-old Pacifica, a western gorilla, is taking excellent care of the new arrival, who is busily practicing inflections and phrasing into a pretend microphone which is actually a banana. They are attempting to inform the father, a proud male silverback named Kerouac. He's on the road.

While early reports list it as quite "heavy," Vanilla Keepers have not been able to weigh the baby as of yet, and, as it insists on wearing a Speedo Loincloth, the sex has not been determined. We think the answer is "yes."

Officials say, in addition to offering an ample stable of regular primates, the award winning Vanilla Park studios <http://www.vanillagorilla.com/facility.asp> were designed by the best technitions Dallas has to offer and include leading edge edit suites for audio, video, graphics, animation, and website design plus great new rubber tire swings. And, of course, now the Vanilla Gorilla Studios boasts the boldest and most diverse selection of voices from among its western speaking gorillas, a species listed as critically imaginative and inspiring. This is extremely effective and powerful Vanilla.

The Vanilla zoo experts say a newborn gorilla, such as Bobby Ocean, catches on quickly, grows quickly and can talk on its own, interpreting scripted material in a surprisingly short time. All orders for it's vocal services should be planned now, with the addition of easy-to-follow pronunciations for words in excess of three syllables.

The last birth of a gorilla at the Vanilla Gorilla Safari Park was in the previous century.

--0--

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

2011-06-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

A Dad's Day Greeting

...that I found on the net and had to to pass along to Dads everywhere...
(The foot needs to be tapping; click it...)

SPIRIT AND WORD

2011-06-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

BEING INTELLIGENCE AND BEING CLEVER: THE DIFFERENCE

My good friend, Charlie Van Dyke, (KIXL, KVIL, KLIF [Dallas]; CKLW [Detroit]; KFRC [San Francisco]; KGB [San Diego]; KHJ, KRTH [LA]; WLS [Chicago]; WRKO [Boston]; KOY, KTAR, KFYI, KGLQ [Phoenix]) another Pioneer of Truth, has opened the portal to a refreshing new online presence, Spirit And Word. It is a gathering place for souls who are searching beyond the perimeters set by organized religious practices for something more recognizably true, something less limited, something guilt-free, something beyond the old concepts of good and evil, as is the core of this post.

I write under the tab, "Beyond Religion."

It is said the one cause of evil in our world is human consciousness, unexamined. This happens when we are not present in each moment's awareness, instead "lost in thought."

No blame. We're wired that way, to compare and differentiate, for survival. Yet, we know there's more. Accepting only concepts of life, rather than living it, is such a small experience. It is like having a delicious meal set before you, then thinking about but never actually tasting it.

What a waste of taste buds.

We can change our "fate," break free and feel life's full explosive force if we choose. The way has been shown again and again. This mental structure is not the least bit permanent, while its witness is.

Look around at people; notice how many are lost. You can see it in the eyes.

When we know this fact about ourselves - that we fall into unconscious repetitive opinion and belief patterns, listen to an inner narrative and take the words as our reality, that we follow patterns of emotional reaction and off-purpose thought over and over and, get caught up in mental movies, sleepwalk through most of the day - this knowledge is the first step.

Only the power of awareness will work in cleaning up this mess and clearing the path to percieving, and thus freeing, Real You.

Fortunately, it's already started. It always starts with Knowing.

Pure Self - You - are much deeper than the notions of curved space, retreating galaxies or apparent surfaces sensed by vision. Add to this, you are waking up. Beneath the mind-chatter of everyday existence, something akin to an earthquake has began the first movement in a powerful, consequential sequence, each motion designed to take you to a clearer perception of who you are and what you're doing here..

For example, just KNOWING you are following patterns informs the rest of you, deeper within, that those same patterns may also NOT be followed.

There is incredibly efficient action in the process of knowing, uninterrupted by thought. Knowing the nature of your situation immediately reveals that there is an awareness here inside that KNOWS you recognize it. While simple and pure, this initial certainty of knowing, before even understanding, is extremely powerful.

But, too many thoughts, and emotional reactions to those thoughts, go unchecked, accepted and digested as true. As they are not actual or real, the result is misunderstanding, desperation, failure and chaos.

Many, when hearing the term "intelligence," can accept its definition as "being clever." THIS is a classic instance of unexamined thought. Being clever has nothing to do at all with being intelligent.

Intelligence is able to perceive the larger whole, the sum of all parts, the connectedness. Cleverness is small, follows its own little impulses.

Negativity in any thought or plan is not intelligent. It stems from the ego, and while it may be clever, intelligence is nowhere there.

Intelligence is intuitive. Clever thinking is selfish.

Clever superficial ingenuity is driven by self-interest, and it is very short-sighted. Many politicians, experts and authorities are clever, but very few are intelligent. Whatever is gained through cleverness is temporal, over quickly and always turns out to be working against true self. One does not obtain anything through intelligence as much as truly"see" what is, and understand.

Cleverness separates into parts; intelligence unites.

This tendency toward cleverness arises from our mistaken identity with flesh and bones plus mind fabricatin rather that awareness-only of same, and dissolves immediately when you allow pure perception. When you KNOW these inclinations are happening to you. your light is introduced and what was previously darkened can clearly be seen.

The mere act of knowing these previously unexamined urges of mind and body are there, at once validates your Real Presence and is the beginning of the end of their alleged grip on you.

This process of knowing dissipates false self and clears the way to realize your Real Self, or Presence. There is nothing so powerful as your awareness of your Presence.

--0--

MAKING A FEDERAL CASE

2011-05-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

IT WAS 5 - 3 AGAINST THE ECONOMY AND THE NEWBIES.

The United States Supreme Court just steered clear of a tie by one vote and rendered a decision to uphold an archaic Arizona law that, in the name of Justice and Fair Play, takes a clear stand on the Illegal Alien situation. The Law is the Law, no matter that it was passed during the Middle Ages, and punishment must be dealt.

One imagines for a moment the guy applying for the job as State Punisher. Must be able to numb remaining vestiges of human spark and swing 20 lb metal mace, hairy shoulders required.

In their limp stab at highest intelligence, our Supreme Court, in a vote that shouldn't have been close, decided to deal the punishment out to the very citizens of their own Nation (no matter that their nation's President objected). Maybe, because they own a brick and mortar address, they're just easier to locate and extract money.

Well, who ARE the Bad Guys supposed to BE, anyway? Somebody had to decide -- those with no money and no passport, or those with no money and a business.

Should be easy. The people who have entered our borders without the usual government agencies haven't played fair. Like the Big Banks and Wall Street cheats, they must be punished. So, to teach them a lesson, our representatives and legislators carefully chose to uphold a Rule, dragged out of the previous century --or perhaps before, I don't know, maybe it just sounds that decrepid.

This Rule is the State Punisher's Iron Spiked Ball-on-a-Chain. It punishes U.S. businesses. Right where it hurts, too, in the economy. "Shame on border crossers," says the United States S upreme Court! "We'll shoot our free market resources right in the foot, that oughta teach 'em! We're sending in The State Punisher to go after his fellow citizens, the same ones who have been paying for our health Insurance. Seems they had enough left over for hiring immigrants. Those people are not here in the US legally, and are very probably, desperate as well!"

Opponents of the law, including the Obama administration, argue that the old Arizona State law "steps on the traditional federal oversight over immigration matters." Uh, tradition? THAT'S what wa sstepped on.

Ultimately our businesses have to pay the price for Government Pecking Order?

What happened to "E Pluribus Unem?" Somehow, I don't think the guys making the rules at the top ever got around to learning the meaning of that inscription on the Statue Of Liberty, written in Latin.

FRONT LINE LINKS UPDATE

2011-05-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

FROM THE AFRICAN CONTINENT TO YOUR NEW LAPTOP:

LINK WITH POSITIVE GROWTH IN ACTION:
"Once I put my 8-year-old son to bed under a hot and sticky bed net after his first full day in Africa, we consumed more than our fair share of Nile Specials, which we consider the best local beer..."
They earned earned it, as you discover.

LINK WITH GOOGLE GROWTH HERE:
CAREFUL WHAT'S EDGING TOWARDS YOUR THIGHS -
The online evolution continues with an abrupt burst so powerful as to render security software archaic AND make Microsoft obsolete in one blow. Google is on the verge of releasing its new laptop, the Google Chromium! Think about that. Google with it's own laptop! Does this require a security clearance?

LINK WITH SUCCESSFUL BROADCAST RADIO:
This dude's still bringing it. Into the most magic, guarded spot in the known universe, your imagination, as accessed by broadcast radio, namely KOIT FM and HD1, based near his studio in San Francisco.

From time to time this blogger can be heard in the role he made uniquely his own before they told him he couldn't do that stuff, the part of Bobby Ocean, a friendly old-school-but-cool radio DJ, playing his metro's favorite music, a diverse blend of hits much more like an extremely hip, current take on Top-Forty than the Light Rock under which they are known.

By request, a few of the upcoming Bobby Ocean ON-AIR dates.

   May:
       Tuesday the 24th, 3 - 8P

   June:
       Tuesday 7th, 10A - 3P
       Wednesday, 8th, 10A - 3P
       Tuesday, 14th, 3 - 8P

--0--

NETFLIX TOPS FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE AS WEB TRAFFIC LEADER

2011-05-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

McLuhan Was Right
I've said it here before: the language of the internet is video. The data to back up that statement seems to arrive daily.

Because of our seemingly insatiable demand for quickly accessing information and entertainment, we search constantly, online and through many other different mediums, finding one satisfying morsel after another.

It reminds me of the prehistoric cave dwellers in Jean Auel's series of "Children Of The Earth" novels written several decades ago, beginning with "Clan Of The Cave Bear." The denizens were always foraging for roots, plants animals and other valuable items as the season's changed. Staying alive through winters meant shopping for supplies in the huge super warehouse of Nature.

Is that quest in our DNA? Do we not feel the urge to stock the pantries in our lives, with not only food and clothing but knowledge, protection and even entertainment? Have we not all learned about our "fight or flight" responses, buried deep inside our sense of survival, itself almost forgotten in the stupor of a safe, organized "society?" Do we not try to insulate ourselves from what fears the future may hold?

The quest, if it's any good, will take us into new areas, places we haven't been before. With safety in quantity and an the sheer numbers of people in an organized society, we explore now, not to find safety from predators as much as to find what's there that we can practically apply in our lives.

These journeys of ours into finding answers, from mundane to profound, have made monstrous successes out of Clans (companies) that bear the most simple, easy-to-remember downright childish monikers, almost as if they were all made up Cave Dwellers, or Paul McCartney in the 70s - Google, Yelp, Yahoo.

Used to be Yahoo was the number one search engine (or online Phone Directory) but then Google poured it on and took the leader position. But that was yesterday, and in this rapid growth phase, 24 hours can be the equivalent of last century's decade. Things change fast.

We wake up to find YouTube is the number one video search engine today. There's that pattern again - videos, videos, videos. This culture of generations in which we find ourselves living, while offering vastly individual tastes, shares a consistency in our hunger for stories. Stories told online, in pod casts, blogs like this one, and, of course, videos!

Which brings us to the latest stats on our online horse race. We have a new leader.

It's Netflix. According to a new report released Tuesday, Netflix, Inc. has taken its place at the front of the pack. It is now the single largest source of Internet traffic in this hemisphere, leading a huge spike in digital entertainment that represents nearly half of the bytes flowing to online consumers in North America.

Videos, again.

In Europe, BOTH non-recorded, entertainment performed in real-time AND previously recorded shows available for download share two-thirds of the online peak traffic with BitTorrent holding as top-used application.

We, on this planet, have become a gathering of the tribes who cluster in Social networking, who regularly go Web surfing and to whom file sharing is commonplace, like a trip to the produce section.

“The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium / that is, of any extension of ourselves / result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.” -- Marshall McLuhan

--0--

DIGITAL DEJA VU

2011-05-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

Advances in Radio Alternatives

Every now and then we get an experience or two that has such a tang of familiarity that we almost recognize it as having happened once before. Saw an item in the online radio trades that struck me exactly that way.

From Inside Radio, another nail in the Satellite radio coffin:

Headline: PANDORA SPEAKS, AND TELLS A JOKE.
"Six years after launching a service designed to allow users to
personalize their music listening experience, Pandora will do
the same in the spoken word realm. Pandora today launches a
comedy clip service that lets users tailor their channel to
their own sense of humor."

Isn't that the way the satellite radios started off? Remember, there were two at first, and they PROMISED never to merge. They kept that written promise for as long as they could. Then they didn't.

They competed with each other. Each bragged of roughly 200 channels. Hungry channels that had to be fed music and entertainment so the satellite radios could continue making new receivers, installing them in new autos and upping the ante on their bragging rights. They made no money and accrued enormous debts, both.

And, we got the doubles of the usual - 50s on channel-five; sixties on six, and so on. Nothing really changed when the two birds became one under the chauvenistic stock-manipulative dictates of their leader whose vast entertainment experience seemed to begin and end with the whimperings of Howard Stern.

There was jazz, world music, ranchero, a Stones Channel, Oprah, Rap, even Bob Dylan became a DJ and got into the act, thanks to Lee Abrams. Satellite buttons punched up sports of all genres, from car races to ball games. There was every brand of news you could imagine. And dramas. And audio books. Still, there were always more channels to fill... and no money.

There were comedy channels, too. Just like on Pandora now. Only thing is, you must subscribe to the satellite channels and pay a monthly premium. The online music box is free.

And, today, they have more options than any other broadcast facility, including plenty of comedy choices. Listeners can create as many personal channels as they like.

Something more for Howard to whimper about...

--0--

CORPORATE RADIO INTERCEPTED MEMO

2011-04-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

Upcoming New Rules

As I have a background in commercial broadcast radio, I have many friends in the business, few not disgruntled. We stay in touch with email and social media. They watch my progress as an professional in online marketing strategies, wishing me well, keeping me in touch and often sending me things, some of which I can not share and some that I can share right here.

This is one such Show and Tell.

I KNOW only that I received the following INTERCEPTED CORPORATE MEMO from a blog follower whose name may be "Anne Onnimas" or might not be and whose location other than her cryptic, "inside spy," is a mystery. Is that a reference? Inside which corporation? The Clear? the Cume? The Enter? The Satellite Merge? Who? As I post, that remains unknown, but there is an overall consensus that it's safe to say the following goes for them all:

EFFECTIVE JUNE 1, 2011:
NEW OFFICE POLICY

   Dress Code:

1) You are advised to come to work dressed according to
your salary.

2) If we see you wearing Prada shoes and carrying a
Gucci bag, we will assume you are doing well financially
and therefore do not need a raise.

3) If you dress poorly, you need to learn to manage your
money better, so that you may buy nicer clothes, and
therefore you do not need a raise.

4) If you dress just right, you are right where you need
to be and therefore you do not need a raise.

   Sick Days:
We will no longer accept a doctor's statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor, you are able to come to work.

    Personal Days:
Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturdays & Sundays.

   Bereavement Leave:
This is no excuse for missing work. There is nothing you can do for dead friends, relatives or co-workers. Every effort should be made to have non-employees attend the funeral arrangements in your place. In rare cases where employee involvement is necessary, the funeral should be scheduled in the late afternoon. We will be glad to allow you to work through your lunch hour and subsequently leave one hour early.

Bathroom Breaks:
Entirely too much time is being spent in the toilet. There is now a strict three-minute time limit in the stalls. At the end of three minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet paper roll will retract, the stall door will open, and a picture will be taken. After your second offense, your picture will be posted on the company bulletin board under the 'Chronic Offenders' category. Anyone caught smiling in the picture will be sectioned under the company's mental health policy.

    Lunch Break:

* Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch, as they need to eat more, so that they can look healthy.

* Normal size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a balanced meal to maintain their average figure.

* Chubby people get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim-Fast.

Thank you for your adherence to these rules which were initiated by Human Resources in an ongoing effort to improve your worth, which proves your loyalty to our company.
We are here to provide a positive employment experience. Therefore, all questions, comments, concerns, complaints, frustrations, irritations, aggravations, insinuations, allegations, accusations, contemplations, consternation and input should be directed elsewhere.

Keeping it profitable and positive,

The Management

--0--

TO WHAT WERE YOU LISTENING?

2011-04-23T15:43:00.000-07:00

BEFORE THE PASSION WAS THE RECEIVER
I call today's Smart Phone the "transistor radio" of this generation. Even though, I know it's actually multi-generational.

Invented by an older, more experienced generation, the building blocks re-imagined and pushed forward by an incoming evolutionary generation, radio merges with the life that welcomes it from within each culture, like it always has, and emerges into this era's incarnations as an app embedded in our mobile device.

Last time it was nearly killed off - with the advent of television, close call! -- but radio hung on, then flourished, remember?

Like a drought-resistant, organic consciousness, it found a new HEARTBEAT in the primal groove of rock and roll. That four-beats-to-the-bar was the first beta OS for the newfangled ubiquitous crops of transistor radios kids were keen on. Those transistors replaced bulbs, and so were the 'grinchiest!' Now, transistor sisters and brothers of the first teen years, astonished at the power of being recognized as a group, were as mobile as their souped-up cars, and could take the powerful support, offered by their music, with them anywhere.

Then, as now, everything is in motion. Very quickly, in our retro perspective, came the next version of heartbeat. Then the next, and the next. Survival-101, Vampire Movie-101...

Rock and Roll One had revived radio for a new few generations. The newest, with a restlessness reminicent of existentialism-idealized, were already pushing the boundries of their previously comfortable nests.

The music industry noticed immediately. The newest raw beat was incorporated and reclassified.

The throbbing vital meter was smoothed over and presented as R&R_One-point-two. Bugs Fixed included: Bill Haley replaced by Elvis (that was a biggie); Patty Page, Kaye Starr and Doris Day, supplanted by newer versions called Connie, Frankie and Annette, you know, the Pat Boone covering Fats Domino pattern, that kind of thing...

More updates followed. Beatles Pop, with a tweak toward Chicago based blues, gave us Stones, who were, in turn, added to, tweaked and immitated. Borrowing from American algorhythms, already established as winners then repackaged as imported, British OS Models became as popular as Dylan changing music styles, and ever-present as cover-songs, with performer after songwriter, sampling the HTML, or DNA, or "inspiration" of their predesessors, then rendering their version.

Looking at the heartbeat, we see as well as hear a pattern, woven from countless recordings fueled by admiration and homage.

One such example might be the V-Morrison, S-Winwood and Clapton Music Modulator Models, all directly based on those of Ray Charles, Chuck Berry or Muddy Waters, just to start a much longer list. Even as these Tribute Heartbeats were extremely successful at recreating a sound and establishing a "new standard," it wasn't long before even they were typed as "old school" and being rewritten and updated by for many other generation's personal voices and choices.

In just a few decades, everything previous appears archaic. [Until explored by the following generation.] Like it always has.

Like the one using the very latest computer Operating System today, knows it was only yesterday she had installed the previous one that said the same thing, so that earlier collection of radio's strong minds, usually led by its strongest, banded together in the station's Programming arena, and did battle with like-minded tribes in other stations until they were "updated."

This competetive positioning led to a nation of copycat formats, each with a tight music playlist. Eventually, even the programmers left this tight, uncreative machinery and now the industry is over run by corporate poseurs (whose entertainment credentials consist of allowing their children to change the CD for them).

But audio online is entirely different. Listeners reveled in their internet's freedom from commercial broadcasting's kind of branding tyranny. Just as people have always celebrated freedom.

Today's connection is called "Wi-Fi," ; radio's first nickname was "Wireless." Yesterday's mobile played tunes. Today's let you play the tunes, plus has world-wide iternet connection, takes pictures and can even act as a DSP plug in for an electric guitar one moment and an audio mixer the next.

I wonder how long before they release an app that allows you to switch your cell phone to "Stun."

Because it is such an integral ingredient of this now unfurling generation of global voice, I call it their "transistor." But it's everyone's, in actuality. Mine, too. It has quite a few more bells and whistles than the transistor radios of only a few generationce whence, yet still, with memory enough to hold our favorite songs, can still accurately be referred to as "groovy."

--0--

MONEY AND COMMON CENTS

2011-04-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

THE WISDOM OF CHARLIE MUNGER

How could I EVER improve on the words of worldly wisdom from Charles Munger, the Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, former hedge fund manager, and billionaire value investor, often known as Warren Buffet's right hand seer and fellow big picture man , speaking at USC Business School, in 1994?

Can't. So, I'll entice you with a few snippets and one web address to visit, which will leave you hungry for more...

Here's a great quote, you can put to use right now, from Charlie:

"...So you have to figure out what your own aptitudes are. If you play games where other people have the aptitudes and you don't, you're going to lose. And that's as close to certain as any prediction that you can make. You have to figure out where you've got an edge. And you've got to play within your own circle of competence."

--0--

HOT OR NOT

2011-04-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

Et Tu, Google?

From the Relevance Champions, Google:

A graphic has received promotion. The top Google Dogs have decided to move their popular new status weighted ad vehicle, Hotpot, up the chain of eminence in its inventory. It is to become a permanent part of the search engine-turned-online directory's core local listing offering, Google Places." OK, so far...

But, as they continue, things get murky: "It is hoped," they tell us, "this choice will help simplify the connection between the places that are reviewed by millions of people who search for and find them every day, and..." THE MORE THAN 50 MILLION OTHER SPOTS that merely have a free online presence through Google Places and nothing more.

Plenty simple. Google is in it for the money, natch, and here's where the freebees end.

Feel the pressure? It's being turned up, and not too subtly either. The message is: HEY, YOU: Get that little red graphic splotch, ON TOP OF the free listing, OR BE LEFT OUT. No hot little dot and you instantly become one of the unnoticed "others," an also-ran, a loser, invisible.

Sound the bugle: this is a rare Google misstep.

By choosing to make it a "must have/must pay for," icon, Google's recently created upside-down red questionmark shape pretty much leaves us questioning their intelligence, while, at the same time, damns the rest of what the prestigious online leader has working towards for the past several years. Suddenly, almost overnight, the graphic-for-hire is rendering their "ordinary" Google listings, maps and searches as "IRRELEVANT."

If you were ever curious about what it looked like to see someone shoot themselves in the foot, there it is. Gawk and enjoy.

Damn, and I like Google, too. But- no longer trustworthy, no longer dependable.

Many asked at Hotpot’s launch: Why that name, "Hot-POT?" [I always thought it was "HotSPOT," which makes infinitely more sense until they straightened me out with this article] which, in effect, leads to migraine confusion.

They explain, "Hotpot," the dish, not the medical herb, is meant to describe a "shared eating experience." (I would LOVE to have been in the meeting that made this determination) To Google chieftains, [appearing more and more to us now, a being brought up, without siblings, as only children] the name embodied the "communal experience of sharing your ratings and reviews with friends," and hopefully getting recommendations in return. [Not to mention the amped-up bad feelings generated between competing businesses.]

Hopefully? Hmmm... I hope monkeys fly out of my butt, showering me with crisp hundred dollar bills. And they will...hopefully.

Also, hopefully, Google can answer this question: why, in the middle of all this six-city testing and associated pomp, why would anyone in their right mind CHANGE THE BRAND NAME? Yes, it's a wacky name but you went with it, tested it and now it has been established in major US cities. Changing the name at this juncture flys in the face of clarity. We need clarity right now. The web's social media is changing fast, and all the time. That's confusing enough. (see earlier blog "Losing Face" <http://bobby-ocean.blogspot.com/2011/04/losing-face.html>)

Google reasons without further explanation, as if they are the only site on the internet, that although their brand new name Hotpot may be going away, (huh?) we can expect even more “Hotpotness” (huh?) in Google Places.

They actually said that. "Hotpotness." My face is red for them.

As if that ridiculous word, from which even Madison Avenue would recoil, might be capable of explaining ANYTHING. Go on, try it: Interpret "hotpotness" in any other context. OOP, sorry, can't let that one slip by, dear Google. You're the ones that set so high a standard, and I love you, but that's just plain B-Sness, one friend to another. There is no meaning to it at all. It's just some beleaguered writer's not-too-clever attempt at saying "I really don't know how to explain this to you any better..."

Goog: "...We have big plans to continue adding more features to Google Places that make it even easier to rate, discover and share the places you love whenever you’re using Google..."

(More features? Should we be thankful? Any gratitude is severly tempered with the reality of having to sit through another learning curve, and then another and another, because you guys got together and had a meeting? "Whenever" is going to be curtailed because it's lost the fun factor, is now something we do not understand and are required to LEARN. Google Places is getting itself in the same hole Facebook slipped into, difficult to use or understand anymore.

There is an abrupt perception today that the Google folk took something cool away from us, have stopped offering a genuine service and are now doing whatever pleases them or turns a buck. Their philosophy of being "Relevant" has been displaced. Google is rapidly becoming easier to recognize as "Ruthless."

Open Question to Google Powers That Be: You DO realize that you distance us with each of these cryptic decisions, right?

"So stay tuned to the new Google Places Blog," they continue (and did you even KNOW they had a blog? If so, you are among the rarified few). It's more of a warning than chat-friendly blog. On the way to a confused cerebral cortex near you will be a flurry of new Google product updates, tips, tricks and news from their six test city campaigns.

Great. For Social Media Marketers, not for Main Street USA. This pinata load of new doo-dads and widgets, introduced as "easier," means more and more confused people who just throw their hands up in frustration. The constant new buttons and switches at which they must become proficient is looked upon as a major inconvenience. "What have they done to my Google?"

We who work the web by vocation learn this stuff because we have to, because we have undertaken the task to make businesses grow. Once friendly social portals are now acting more and more independently of each other, while promising to connect and make thing simpler. It's the opposite.

Google has Places, Facebook has Places and their "Places" mean entirely different things. Now Hotpot is changing its name. To what, "Hot Place?" Sheesh.

Overwhelmed, average business owners, wanting to remain in the game, are more likely to come to strategic social media firms like mine for interpretation and execution. Professionals in this arena can offer businesses real help, instead of an always-changing, uncertain workplace, populated by eternally new, cute little nicknames, all of which have been reviewed and voted on by a slew of online dictatorships with superficially endearing names of their own like "Yahoo" or "Google."

Could it be these once relevant sites are finally growing into their names?

-0-

REBOOTING - GOOD FOR RE-SETTING COURSE

2011-04-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

ADVICE FROM OUR ANCESTRY
-- Let It Be - Beatles
-- Just...Now - Deepak Chopra
-- Be Here Now - Hippies
-- Be Still And Know - Bible
-- Don't Push The River - anon
-- I close my eyes, then I drift away,
        into the magic night I softly say
        A silent prayer, like dreamers do,
        then I fall asleep to dream my dreams of you - Roy Orbison
-- I can always see what I've done wrong. I'm always learning.

I'm the perennial student - Pat Oliphant

-- My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello
-- Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything- Wyatt Earp
-- You are the light - Echart Tolle
-- Some situations you cause yourself - Little Richard
-- I Am That - Nisargadatta Maharaj
-- I wish it, I command it. Let my will take the place of a reason - Juvenal
-- Being noticed can be a burden. Jesus got himself crucified because he got himself noticed. So I disappear a lot - Bob Dylan
-- Resist Not Evil - Jesus
-- A peaceful man does more good than a learned one - Pope John XXIII
-- Fish recognize a bad leader - Conan O'Brien
-- They're gonna think what they're gonna think, anyway -- Bobby Ocean
-- Get rid of your present thoughts, that is all - Ramana Maharshi
-- I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done - Lucille Ball
-- Cultivate a limitless heart, here and now.- Buddha
-- I think of life as a wonderful play, and my purpose is to have fun playing - Shirley MacLaine
-- Nobody sees a flower really, to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time - Georgia O'Keeffe
-- When I shall again write to you, or where I shall be tomorrow, I cannot tell - Dolley Madison (the First Lady, not the cookie)

-- You better do it while you can - Buck Owens
-- All action results from thought, so it is thoughts that matter - Sai Baba
-- People see God every day, they just don't recognize him - Pearl Bailey
-- It's good to be anywhere - Keith Richards
-- The strongest arguments prove nothing
so long as the conclusions are not verified by experience - Roger Bacon
-- Even a minor event in the life of a child
is an event of that child's world and thus a
world event - Gaston Bachelard

--0--

LOSING FACE

2011-04-05T19:07:00.000-07:00

The Book Has Gotten Bogus

Well, Facebook's ambitions are rapidly distancing them from their subscribers. Expect a huge revolt. Soon enough, there will be a new kid on the block.

I am seeing enormous rosters of complains, and - not only no helpful responses - that familiar dead look in the eyes we've come to recognize from seeing too many Presidential campaigns.

People, as a rule, do NOT like changes. When these changes appear to be motivated by competition from other portals, like the leading Find-It-Fast Searcher, Google, and not in support of their very subscriber base, it's just a bunch of "new rules" to which we are forced to learn, not an improvement, as they'd like us to believe. It's a gimmick, we get that.

Here's a dead giveaway:
Whenever you see the word "relevant," it means Google. That's their war banner. It took hold once they evolved from a search engine, past their maps across the globe, to now, where they are leveraging those maps for profit from businesses located in their "Google Places." Now Facebook has a "Places" place, too, just like Google, only completely different. And totally irrelevant.

Confused? Thank Facebook. They're not making improvements, they're squirming.

You're paying for their misdirection, too. Time is money. How much have you spent trying to figure your way around their useless improvements?

From the Place Of Face: "We are excited to introduce major improvements to Pages. (They are not actually excited; more like frightened.) These new features," FB continues, "will help you manage communication, express yourself, and increase engagement." [That, also, is a load of Horse Droppings.]

Let's look at this mess they left all over the road.

"Facebook Better Communication"
FB says many people "have asked for better ways to keep up with activity on their Page." That's not true; the horse again. Most people haven't differentiated between their FB Profile and their FB "Page." The new FB PAGE is still daunting and confusing, as are the introduction of iFrames, as you'll see below in a correction hack.

Now FB is introducing a LIST OF FEATURES to help? And, now we KNOW they're in trouble: they must provide help. A lot of help. Entire new feature-laden assists. You just have to read all about it, make mistakes as you learn the new help and there you are. [That's moved on my meter from "fun" to "WORK," an activity for which we are supposed to be paid.]

Most FB users thought things were fine the way they were. We liked the Wall. But now, since an entire LIST must be introduced, we're figuring it must have been way worse than we thought. Look! Rats running on the docking! We better follow the vermin's lead and get out now while the deleting's good.

"More Opportunities for Expression"
FB says, "...introducing new opportunities for Pages...We recently launched a new Profile design...now, Pages will benefit from many of the same enhancements."

WHY? That garbage is already on your Profile page. Why reiterate on the other supposedly different page? Really, why?

FB: "...you can feature photos of your Page’s most recent experiences at the top
of your Page. You can highlight other Pages you are connected with as well as
the people who are managing your Page." There follow whole LISTS of
complaints from formerly content Facebook users who were used to the Wall and
are unable to control these new exposed photos.

From FB: no explanation, deaf ears, remain on message.

FB has became very much like a dysfunctional family, no consistency any more. Some pages have a "Like" while others don't. I get emails asking me to "like" a page, but, try as I may, cannot find that thumbs-up. It's getting to be an enormous chore. When, instead of addressing this, FB puts out a vibe that's it's hard work to keep up with their latest improvements, that's just inviting us all to go play together elsewhere. It was their game to lose and, byte by byte, they keep doing it. All that's needed to topple them is a site that does what FB USED TO do. And, they're out there. And, we're all shopping.

Finding new social sites, too. Too many other gatherings exist that don't require such involvement. They're fresh, easier, more user-friendly and don't rearrange the furniture while you're sleeping. They let you put up videos and pictures and it's EASY. We're all noticing.

"FB Will Improve Relevancy"
[read: FB is copying the outer surface of Google without comprehending why. "Relevancy" was introduced by Google, and whenever you hear it henceforth, it means the site that said it is in fear and, thusly motivated and is wanting to drag you in. Also, be careful of who is saying they're "excited." That's a code word meaning "I'm trying to express emotion because it will make my statement more believeable to the gullible." These same people have never really been excited before over anything legal, I'd bet on it.]

FB: "...excited to announce some new features to make your Page even more engaging for users. People can filter these by Top Posts, which shows the most interesting stories first, or by Most Recent..." In other words, they can predict and dictate what they think you're interested in and put what they determine isn't interesting at the bottom. For me, that now means reading from the bottom up.

If I sound like a squeaky wheel here, then let's make it a hit record while I bring in the chorus: (TINY sample follows of the squeaky complaint choir, INCLUDING a wonderful extemporaneous work-around)

...I just clicked to get a preview and don't know how it upgraded on its own. Any way to get back old style? I lost my music player on my page.

...Randomized order of photos at the top of the wall is a problem and inconsistent with what we were told at the Page Upgrade Webcast...that we could put a banner where the five photos are...but... can't...because FB randomizes...the 5 images show.

...FB took away the Information Box on the left side of the page with this...Now, people viewing my page don't know what the page is about....

...HERE'S THE FIX NOW THAT YOU'RE NOT SEEING ALL YOUR FRIENDS ANY MORE ON FACE BOOK: On the homepage click the "Most Recent" title on the right of the Newsfeed, then click on the drop down arrow beside it and select "Edit Options", click on "Show Posts From" and change the setting to "All Of Your Friends and Pages" (you can also access the "Edit Options" link at the very bottom of the facebook homepage on the right) Note: Business pages do not have a newsfeed however page owners should adjust the settings on their personal accounts...

[I delight in and appreciate the ingenious souls who figure out their own way around the ridiculous FB interferences:]

"...The Facebook upgrade will not defeat me! They took away the Information Box ...which was essential to tell fans what my page is about since that affects what they post and the quality of the Wall experience. So I figured a way to put that information into 5 photo images that are the ONLY photo images which show on the top of my wall...."

What can we do? Get used to it: JUST when you think, "everything will be OK, I can work around this foolishness," they add rock salt to our open wounds by telling us this lack of stability will continue:

FB: "We plan to develop even more features and improvements for Pages over the course of the coming months...."

Great. So, get in, buckle up, hold on and shut up, then, Facebook? 'Fraid not.

I USED to like it there. Don't drop by much at all anymore. Found much more friendly "places" that have names other than "Places" and actually listen to their subscribers, thanks anyway.

LIMBERING UP WITH THE POSTURES OF YOGA

2011-04-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

Yoga Asanas - It's A Stretch

Excercise? How about a good stretch? Sometimes that will do nicely, instead of running around the neighborhood in shorts and $125 sneakers.

I'm an older guy now so require a little more care and maintenance of the chassis than when I was younger, could drink copious amounts of products from our planets' distilleries and bounce out of bed, running on little more than enthusiasm. Stretching exercises (also known as Yoga Asanas) are now as regular a part of the week as eating and sleeping.

More Than You May Need To Know:
These Asanas, or poses, are only one of a total of eight branches of Raja, or Ashtanga Yoga, including Yamas - (Diminishing unhelpful aspects of our behaviour/character); Niyamas - (Cultivating helpful aspects of our behavior/character); the actual stretching I do, Asanas - (The famous (Hatha) yoga positions/postures); Pranayama - Breath/Prana control; Pratyahara - Sense Control and returning attention inwards, undisturbed (not yet meditation as comes up soon); Dharana - The practice of concentration; Dhyana - The practice of meditation; finally, Samadhi - The result of all yoga practices: Union, superconsciousness

The practice of Yoga Exercises means focusing both your body and your mind, and is intended primarily to restore and maintain a practitioner's well-being and improve the body's flexibility and vitality. A very short time is invested, albeit regularly, and one is left feeling refreshed and limber.

At first, it takes a little willpower and perseverance to accomplish each Yoga Asana (or, Pose) and to practice it daily. I still don't feel like doing it every day and have to place myself there on the floor without thinking or I could easily talk myself out of it, some days. But the prize for your perseverance is really worth all the hard work. Asanas can improve your health, increase your resistance, and develop your mental awareness.

Physically performing the Yoga Poses requires you to execute slowly as you control your body and your mind. Each pose, like the innumerable phases of consciousness, has a distinct name. In other than English, the lyrical list is seemingly endless with serious stretches named "Surya Namaskara," "Chakrasan" or "Padangushtasan"

The Asanas come with instructions such as, "Yoga should not be practiced on bare floor but keep mat or carpet below," or "stomach should be empty while practicing, that is you should consume solid food 3.5 hours before practicing and liquid 1 hour before," and "One should have faith in Yoga and what he is doing (good idea for all you do)".

You will find all sorts of diagrams and information with a little help from yur favorite Search Engine, and you will probably feel refreshed after trying a pose or two, no need to do all of them (I do maybe ten). Don't overdo it. Under do it.

I learned from seeing it being done by a Yoga illiterate every day in my back yard when this wonderful orange and rust feline (more on him in upcoming posts) squeezes his eyes shut and stretches out the entire length of his furry body. What's good for the feral cat on my fence is good for me.
--0--

FIRST GLIMPSE SINCE WORLD SERIES

2011-03-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

HANG WITH CHAMPS, FEEL LIKE A CHAMPION:

On FORM and ESSENCE

2011-03-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

The Fill(osophy) Of Being Empty While Surfing Life

Pardon me for saying, but - looking at you, it would be impossible to manufacture anything coming close to your magnificence.

I know, flattery will get me nowhere. Good. That is my destination: Now, Here.

Looking at ourselves in a reflection, a photo, our own mind's eye, we see a shape, but we cannot see what is inside that form, making it move. Fact is, we are made up of both Form and Essence.

Some think we know all about form and essence. We don't. Some say they know about one or the other and want to know the rest, yet know nothing but the echoes of hearsay. Others think they know a little about this form we assume, and its invisible energizing force. But, thinking we know is merely thinking. THINKING does nothing more than revolve around past impressions, and so, in fact, thinkers do not actually know anything beyond their own collection of thoughts. They are living in stale tales, shades of the Past.

In the words of Shakespeare, "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Sounds like TV news...

Realizing this drives some to distraction, their minds screaming to know who and what we are, how did we get here and why we are here. Yet, strangely, the answers to these questions are not what they really want to know.

Right about here is where I get a lot of responses that sound like: "Are you nuts? How can you tell what I'm thinking? Of course I want to know who I am and what I am doing here!"

Then, I will agree.

"You agree? Then, why did you say I didn't want to know?"

I didn't. I said THINKING can only take you so far.

Simply, you DO want to KNOW. AND There is a vast difference in our consciousness between THINKING we want to know something and the actual KNOWING of things as they are - as both the 'somethings' they appear to be plus the more they are beyond thought.

Thinking is way different from knowing. Two completely different practices. And, you obscure that clarity of your perception with clouds of THINKING. So do we all; so do I.

When looking closely at the mental proces. we may observe the mind, which is a Thought and Emotion Processor in our employ, but going in its own direction with intent to verify its position and form as real. Thinking that it thinks it wants to know, the mind appears to align with you, when, in fact it is perpetuating the myth of duality, or separation. And, as thinking is a completely different process than knowing, the mind reaches its border right then and there and immediately assumes there is no more.

So, you DO want to KNOW, and you also want to learn to cease thinking so much. It gets in the way.

Because there is more. This so-called "end" is actually a crossover perimeter leading to infinitely more, just beyond the comfort of logic.

Mostly, the mental process with its unfounded assumptions, remains unexamined as "too ethereal," as nothing that can be measured, while we turn our attention away from essence to form. Too bad for those who stop at this border. They miss their biggest enlightenment, shunting continued success and prosperity.

But give it a second try. Turn around and look again at that border you have known all your life, the end of reason. That false ending, immediately assumed after encountering that primal signpost of Divinity: "I am," cannot be left without review. That is where we made our first wrong turn.

The Big Misconception says, "I am ...not enough." In that way, it compels the thinker towards the impossible task of being more than she is, falsely motivates him into inappropriate behavior, and leads all of us into ever more false notions. When you shine your light of attention on this falsehood, however, it dissipates. You will feel the liberation instantly. THAT is real.

When one can be OK with being unlimited, that is, with not knowing who or what to label self, there comes immense freedom from the mind's matrix. USING thought rather than being hounded by it, we find ourselves more alive than ever, unfettered by restrictions imposed by cranial content, conceptual positions, states of mind, emotional charges and all other mental fluff. Vision is unclouded, not restricted to eyes alone and flows in and out as pure light.

So who are you? That is your life's mission, yours to discover by constantly stripping away what you KNOW you are not. Take your time and enjoy the lightening.

And - who is the one spouting all this psych-babble, who am I? In essence, as I am a Being, not a Been, I don't know. Probably never will, And, I'm OK with that. It's more than enough to know what I am not.
--0--

EXPLAINING THE LANGUAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

2011-03-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

The Language is called Videos, and is spoken online by posting them.

Team Ocean: Wudaguy and Deb Webb

This term, "Social Media Marketing" has only recently found its way into our lexicon. The practice has been with us for years, but the actual phrase has only been accepted by the mass of onliners for a half a year or so.

Social Media is all our jumpspots online like Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and the ongoing spinoffs. There are so many relatives crowding in now - LinkedIn, Orcut, MySpace, WordPress, Blogger (you're here) and tons more.

There are so many more ways to connect - videos, pod casts blogs... and everyone wants theirs to be noticed.

That's where I come in. At Bobby Ocean All Media and Promotion (www.FrontPageSocialMarketing.com) I tie them all together and introduce strategies for garnering even more eyes and ears to hear your message. If money is involved and making a profit is part of your online plan, my team has so many different ways to get your online presence noticed, then turn that attention into leads and customers, it's actually overwhelming.

We're careful to only promise we'll do our best. And our best has lead to increased profits and more customers. It's a real win-win chain of events, if ever there was one, because the whole thing works! Automatically.

And it seems there are new social models being introduced every half hour. I do my best to stay on top of the changes, an impossible task. but, having joined similar like-minded wizards in this field, so that I, with my "geek groups (read: heros of national economy) am as informed as any human being can be, and can turn that knowledge into practical uses for my clients without their having to fill out one form. My team is trained to do all the work.

My natural strength is in short, compelling informative videos, such as this. I have been involved in broadcasting for nearly half a century and storytelling, with all its styles, rhythms and colors, is a natural move, first creating the story, then layering in the various audio and video elements.

Just now, I've added Social Media Marketers to my list of clients. I want their videos to be perfect.

I'll blog and video more on this amazing process here on Bobby Ocean Views and Perspectives as we continue spinning through space at 12 miles per second, and just wanted to take this brief time to explain where I've been and what I've been up to, as I sometime disappear into the learning process.

Every day, in every way, it really feels more and more like one big online family.

JUST LIKE OUR OWN

2011-03-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

We Each Have More Than One Helping Hand

I have been fortunate to have made the aquaintance of a few remarkable, powerful women in my ongoing personal saga. Last blog, I shared leslie with you and suggested you add her as a resource.

It's always good to surround yourself with people who understand enough to make things happen in this world. When you do that, you lift your spiritual metabolism or vibratory rate to match theirs and wonderful things begin to happen.

That "Good Vibes" tenet is still around for a good reason. It's the old "What Goes Out, Returns Routine" and it's working all the time, especially noticeable with quality of energy. We always want to be exporting positive, constructive helpful energies, not only because it says so in the Girl Scout Manuals, but because that same quality of energy will be coming right back to us.

And, why women? Why not? I really like women. Especially those who have determined to aim their independent spark at helping their fellow Tweeps (that's Twitter Talk for peeps, or people; thank you Haley Hill HO!), who is another fun blast of refreshing energy.

This time I'm happy to share a woman who comes from the heart and simultaneously arrives ready for action. Her name is Vivian Glyck and I met her recently as she had returned once again, from Uganda.

Vivian goes to places in the world where people appear to be beyond hope, ignites their inner spark, patches them up and establishes them in self sustaining local commerce. What she does is remarkable, has worth that can be tracked and yet is immeasurable and makes some compelling video.

There are more than one of those watch-and-feel-good videos in the web site to which I'm sending you. 'Twatch' and become 'twinspired.'

Bobby Ocean Opens His RESOURCE FILE:

2011-03-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine, Leslie Kossoff, Internationally renowned writer, speaker, serial entrepreneur and confidential advisor to executives and entrepreneurs, has just done all of us who want to make money a favor.

I'm happy to point out your new, free developmental resource site, called "Obtuse Angles," which has been put together by one of our planets' top executive and corporate strategists - one of the good guys making money, not the greedy fear mongering type at all. Leslie is always refreshingly honest and powerful.

I met Leslie when I was riding through my "Ocean's Last Stand" afternoon DJ shift in San Francisco at finally-corporate infused KFRC. I was having problems getting the basic entertainment principles through to the CBS suits, a tough task because they were ALL fixated on looking good to their higher up (then, Mel Karmazen) whose gospel was "cut costs."

She liked the station and music and was a fan saying hello. But I sensed more. I was right.

Turns out she was (and is) an most important figure in our society's economical circles, and who, for decades, has assisted clients ranging from Fortune 50s to start-ups, a broad range of small and mid-sized firms in the United States, Japan and Europe. And a regular person, too. Regular, as in wonderful.

Leslie Kossoff has been leading seminars for MAJOR players, straightening out their decrepit value systems, replacing their old, decayed thinking with new, innovative turns on wisely formulated ideas.

She has written books on her money making and organizational studies and is held in very high respect by many of the world's most powerful money people. And she ceaselessly touts values, integrity and forward thinking. If it can be said we have an ally in this economy, she is that.

She helped me understand the corporate mind and prepare for a meeting with Higher Ups by stripping my Boss Jock attitude and replacing it with corporate cool. I left a paper trail in that one meeting, full of her ideas and mine for moving forward in today's radio economy that is still circulating today.

Leslie says, "For many reasons, for many years, there has been a consistent decrease in corporate investment in training, development and succession. Add the problems with the educational system...and we’re left with a well-intentioned but mostly unprepared group of next generation executives and entrepreneurs."

"That’s not okay with me. Neither for them nor for our organizations – whether they’re churches, charities, start-ups, SMBs or multi-nationals. I don’t care what sector they’re in or if their status is non-, not-for-, benefit- or for-profit corporations."

So, with the intention of offering assistance to those who aspire to succeed – just as the top level executives and entrepreneurs with whom she has worked over the years, she has created - for you - Obtuse Angles.

Leslie goes on, "It is my hope that, because you know me and what I bring to the table, you’ll let your network know that this resource to help them create their own success now exists. I neither need nor want to know who they are. Obtuse Angles is my gift to a world that has given me so much."
Wow, what a gift! Enjoy it in good financial health!
--0--

WHEN A SONG'S STUCK IN YOUR HEAD...

2011-03-08T22:26:00.000-08:00

EVERYBODY SING ALONG!

Dang! I WAS going to leave the previous post up until after the Social Media Marketers Convention in San Diego this weekend. That video is a good calling card.

But this song popped into my head.

The vid's a big deal because it's supposed to remind all my fellow Social Marketing Harry Potters that your video absolutely needs a good, strong, well-planned audio base. Same way you'll pay attention to the meta tags when uploading it, right? Because you want it watched. I have a few spells and potions that enable me to do audio exceptionally well, so practically give the service away as a reliable outsource. Only charge a pittance because my imp develops an appetite.

Hard to keep focused with this song in my head...

Great. Creativity snuck in and 'mingled' with Frivolity and, just like Tribbles, we have all these...well! LYRICS! All over the place... I'll just have to sneak that 'calling card' into a link somewhere, maybe in the graphic's suitcase. Just as well - I made a new, smaller version for mobile phones anyway.

And I'll get that song OUT of my head by sharing it with you. You know this one, too.

(sung to the music of Wilbert Harrison's "Kansas City")

Starts off with a great groove...
Boom-thit-boom-da-boom-da-boom-da-boom,
da-boom-da-boom-da-boom-da-boom-da-boom, then!

Goin' to San Diego.
San Dee-Eggo Here I come.
Well, I'm GOING to San Diego,
San Diego, wheel or thumb,

They got a crazy way to network there
And I'm gonna NET me some

I'll be standing in the lobby
In the lobby of The Westin Hotel
I'll be hanging through seminars,
With that Social Media Gang of mine,

And my brand new Apple iPad
Plus twenty bucks a day, just to go-o-o online...

Well I might take a train,
I might take a plane,
But if I have to walk,
I'll still arrive insane...

Yes, I'm going to San Diego,
San Diego, here I come.
They're into Social Media Marketing,
and they're groovin' to a different drum.

I can help their videos
Give them the certainty of knowin',
Bobby Ocean audio
That's 'zackly why I'm goin',

So - I tweeted it all over the planet
You know I wouldn't lie
And wrote in my blog
And that's the reason why

I'm going to Sandy Eggo,
San Diego, here I come
They got a plane right to the airport
And a Hotel Shuttle To and From...

--0--

BOBBY OCEAN FOR SAIL...

2011-03-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

I LOVE WORKING IN AUDIO

AND AM LOOKING FOR THOSE WHO DON'T

The biggest buzz of my young life was stumbling into commercial broadcast radio. It's language was audio -- specifically, new music.

Over the years, radio's programmers slowly moved away from new music to proven hits. That was their strategy for keeping the ratings up: "Keep the familiar coming;" nothing new.

Look what happened.

Now, our taste for that personal entertainment buzz has grown up a bit. We expand our appetites to include the natural evolution of liberal arts into that personal medium we call the internet. The language of the internet is videos.

Here's the interesting thing: people will forgive a video of poor picture quality if the audio is good. The same people will not forgive lousy audio on even the best quality picture. For reliable communication in this video vocabulary, audio is the foundation upon which the video structure is built.

Well, what do you know... I've been in audio all my life. What a handy coincidence.

So, speaking from both worlds, merged together in the fascinating craft of story-telling, I offer my recording studio to Online Video enthusiasts. We hope to catch your ears and eyes, and what they're connected to, here on the net!

WEE, THE PEOPLE

2011-03-02T20:52:00.000-08:00

LARGE, THE CORPORATIONS

Quickie blog: Wanna see a cartoon? (<--click on that last word.)

It's less than nine minutes long, simple and well done, and totally explains two major facts that involve you and yours and me and mine.

Fact One:
In 2010, our U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case called Citizens
United v. FEC. The outcome: corporations have a “right” to spend
unlimited money influencing elections.

Fact Two:
Corporations are not people. Democracy is for people.

Then the tiny but powerfully informative animation, with arm waving real person sometimes inserted, goes on to pave the way for a correction we can make to ou course - an amendment that changes all that corporate power for purchasing Presidents into the way things for people who vote and take democracy seriously should be.

For real people, not conceptual identities.

This little cartoon really gives you something genuine to mull over. But check it out and you decide. Like the real person you are. -- (Bet you pass this URL along!)

TOUCHING HEAVEN

2011-02-28T08:51:00.000-08:00

"REALLY? You're STILL DOING RADIO?"

Its a question I get often enough it benefited me to examine why this is.

Answer: I love radio. I love the whole conceptual IDEA of broadcast radio to the brick and mortar established studios from which the magic comes. I segued from teen to twenties immersed in broadcasting. It was my first professionally claimed affinity in this version of our society.

When I first became interested in being the guy on the radio, I was emulating others who had managed to sit in that chair before me. Then, the popular DJs were fresh out of the 50s and barging with enthusiastic gusto into the new generation's world, looked like they were much younger than my other favorites from the established pop media voices, comedians, maybe all the way into their creaking mid-30s. Like John Kennedy, young. Closer to my status and representing all the music I recognized as mine.

When I started out in professional broadcast radio, the typical DJ "look" was horned rim glasses, maybe a cardigan sweater, slacks and hip shows like white bucks or penny loafers. The Van Dyke goatee and mustachio were ubiquitous, as was the wacky, zany, rhyming speech patterns. Looking back, they looked like hip nerds.

I went right out and acquired an appropriate sweater, slacks and never stopped buying cool shoes.

I saved up my money and laid it all down for MY OWN EARPHONES. I began collecting movie instrumental albums when no one else had anything but 45 RPM discs, exciting and emotional without lyrics to interfere, that I could use under promotional announcements.

And I crossed the threshold into the fourth, and other dimensions. Once out of my three dimensional restraints, ANYTHING was possible.

What was most magical of all to me was the pictures that seemed to accompany the audio. They were individual for each listener. To accomplish that feat on TV or on film, I would have to have an incredible budget. But, when I needed a few bulldozers, an airplane or a fancy race car, money was not the problem. Rather, the task was to comb through sound effect LPs for the sound -or- make your own.

Then, suddenly the music amped up, was imported from England and the entire radio carnival I had joined changed into a more exciting, colorful non-stop performance. Listeners would be as keenly focused on the next Dylan song, the next Beach Boys masterpiece, the upcoming magical mystery Beatles updates - as we were delivering the information.

We young DJs were so proud if our station was one of those that had the courage and budget to run with a live person 24 hours a day! A never-ending story, a mobius audio trip that spiraled ever-upward in such a manner as to let us all feel its pulse as radio actually evolved.

Having experienced, in my radio times, the refreshing nourishment and awe of the Continuous, Living, Creative, Imaginative, nourishing and loving imagination, the unending supply, of course I'm still involved in commercial broadcast radio. It is the audio platform upon which I build my other activities such as online studies and social media marketing. It is the background without which there would be no foreground, the stillness required to her sound, the universal vibration, the Buddhist may call KYO.

See you in the air this week. I'm filling in for one of the regulars who sometimes gets a case of stay-at-home just so she can listen to Bobby Ocean again.

Yay.

WHAT GROWS UP

2011-02-25T09:44:00.000-08:00

ODDS AND ENDS CONCERNING YOUR YES VOTE

I'm just sayin' --

It's legal in 14 other States than ours. People in Vermont agree with Golden State voters that, safety and moderation forefront, choosing to alter our own consciousness is our own business, our evolutionary right. Hawaii thinks so too, as does New Jersey. The Sesame Street letters go like this: AK, CO, HI, MI, MT, NV, NJ, NM, OR, RI, VT, VI and WA all pro medical hemp. So we in CA have nearly a third of our fellow States as constituents right now.

This agreement will grow exponentially and the Feds will HAVE to finally tag along with We The People, whom are in every part of the Federation now and that's that. It will become as commonly acceptable as it is ubiquitous now. Yes, there will be problems. There will be the balance of knowing people in need are greatly benefiting. All kinds of stuff will happen. But, all in all, it's going to be just fine.

Besides - Good For What Ails Ya, including glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV, Tourette's syndrome, gastrointestinal disorders, and Alzheimer's disease, and there are numerous other conditions on which it seems to have a positive effect.

Medical Marijuana Is Also Good For The Economy; makes a Hefty Profit. In my adopted State, California, Medical Indica and Sativa hybrids generated $100 million in state sales taxes in one year (I get to adopt States because, as a young lad, born in a US Air Force Base, I was made to feel the fort was home. As the family traveled to more than one AFB, each became home. So later, when I Huck Finned my way across and through most of our States by thumb power, it was almost as if shopping through my vast home for a neighborhood or two in which to headquarter. California caught MY heart's fancy, I planted my career here, and I'm still very glad about that very early decision...)

But, I'm just sayin'...

Doc's orders...

It's not just here in California, although this State plays a huge part as a National Trend Setter, but saturated through consciousness all across America. A national survey found that close to 50% of physicians support legalizing medical marijuana. I'm sure each and every one of them are all rock stars to their patients. Still. I'm just sayin'...

Science, also making very rapid advances is sayin' they have data to back it up: Therapeutic Ingredients in Cannabis contain hundreds of Therapeutic Compounds. Many of these are Cannabinoids, which sound like creatures from another planet, but, no - just Earth's chemistry, which can serve as appetite stimulants, anti-emetics, antispasmodics, and have some analgesic effects.

Survey Says - and yes indeed, they poll these things - the Number One use for Organic Cannabinoids is Severe Pain. Coming in second, the Survey is sayin' Persistent Muscle Spasms, such as those accompanying Multiple Sclerosis. Scanning it, I see nothing in the survey about those who simply want to get toasted. And, no side effects anywhere near as scary as the stuff I see them try to speed-read in TV commercials.

Bill Clinton didn't HAVE to inhale. A Pot Pill is in existence. It is called Marinol, available by prescription throughout the U.S.; it contains a synthetic form of THC (the psychoactive substance in marijuana). They've sequenced the Human DNA, why not pot?

Scientist/Researcher/Futurist Ray Kurzweil predicts that by 2020 or so we'll not only have self correcting and updating software (possessive of its own intelligence) but we will have traveled further down the miniaturization trail, with computers and other media machines shrinking past current boundaries imposed by current materials to newer, organic models. Medical dispensers smaller than white blood cells will be floating around in our veins, releasing healing chemical poofs within us, making us smarter, more than naturally enhanced, and what do you wanna bet some of them might contain Marinol.

I'm just sayin'...

--0--

BOOM TOWN NEWS

2011-02-20T10:07:00.000-08:00

Sure Sorry Your Energy Supplier Is Inept...
Again, all I'm doing here in the iPhone Gen, is looking at the paper like Mort Sahl would do in San Francisco's Hungry I, in the early 60s, and "raring," a combo of ranting and sharing.

But good stuff. Like this headline: "We could blow up at any time."

It already happened once, very recently, in San Bruno.

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC Co.'s president has JUST ADMITTED that the utility under his watch CANNOT FIND RECORDS that support pressure levels ON NEARLY A THIRD of its natural-gas transmission system IN POPULATED AREAS.

It is either good news or bad news that he confessed the above to a Member of Congress. THERE'S a House loaded with felons, the U.S. Congress; do a little search and see staggering lawlessness of those who make laws for the rest of us to follow.

So, PG&E Prez, Chris Johns shame-facedly says that PG&E, with its now characteristic poor record keeping skills, has been unable to produce key manufacturing and installation documents for 30 percent of its pipelines in and around urban areas in Northern and Central California. This info comes to us on the heels of the revelation that PG&E had erroneous documents about the pipeline that exploded in San Bruno on Sept. 9, taking the lives of eight of their customers.

Now, the California Public Utilities Commission, which has ordered the state's utilities to produce reliable records for their gas transmission lines by mid-March has an early answer, which, in effect says, "At PG&E, we're clueless."

The records show deferred maintenence, sloppy workmanship, unrelieble safety measures. All the symptoms of cutting costs for the sake of sucking up to shareholders, and upper executive incentive bonus building. Been going on for YEARS...

The member of congress was "appalled." It went on record that there is genuine concerned about the possibility there could similar problems elsewhere in PG&E's system. And now, the PG&E president's response is cause for more immediate concern.

"They don't know what's underground," said the Congressperson, while parts of San Bruno, now reduced to charcoal still smolders.

A spokesman for the energy supplier, however, jumped in and stated he would NEITHER CONFIRM NOR DENY THE CONGRESSIONAL'S REPORT of the utility president's estimate. "We continue to review and validate our records," said the PG&E byte-spitting talking head, whose very records are reportedly "scattered all over the place." by the Public Utilities Commission's Consumer Protection and Safety Division.

Then, lost in the bright light of reality, he snuck back to evasive tactics of speaking from the darkened past, murmuring, "We still have more work to do to validate the percentage. We will have a final report on March 15."

Can't wait for that report, Mark. Explosive content, those "validated percentage reports," no doubt. They'll do a world of good for grieving families.

A pipeline safety consultant in a neighboring State said of California's giant Gas and electric monopoly, "...it would be "really, really sad" if PG&E were missing that much documentation. "This is stuff that can kill in a heartbeat, you don't lose control of it."

Sad? Yes, also the height of incompetence.

So, here's a question - will the guy who didn't get those inspections done right seven years ago keep his job after the San Bruno masacre? Oh, probably. My understanding is the entire affair is going to be smoothed over and covered up - in GOVERNMENT COMMITTEES. They're going to look at the event for possible regulation.

Ahead you and I can expect expensive underground pipe tests which can range from $125,000 to $500,000 per mile (who else do you suppose will be paying for these?) and involvement from, among many others - --The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, --Congress, which should rewrite the stronger rules, --The National Transportation Safety Board --More PG&E spokesmen --The federal Minerals Management Service

All this, while PG&E continues "staggering around in the dark" while working with explosives.

NO FAKE AND SHALLOW FOR ME PLEASE

2011-02-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

It's natural that I would begin a blog or two.

I have been writing since I was able to pick up a crayon and make it go in the direction I had in mind. Seems I started drawing and otherwise expressing my imagination as far back as memory serves.

I sat nearby when my father would tell his friends stories. When dad started in on a tale, usually a long joke, it wasn't like anywhere else when someone told a story or told a joke. Dad had them truly engaged in his tale, held them rapt. Even mom and any available sibling would stop as they were passing through, fall in and listen to a story they had already heard many times. It was always so entertaining.

Dad was a natural story teller. Luckily, much of that interest and ability made it through the DNA encrypting process and was passed along to me. And naturally, I extrapolated.

Later, in my radio career, a real, genuine Program Director, whose job included not only overseeing programming and performers, but the ability to 'read' talent, described me as "having content," which I would have to learn to edit on the fly and simplify for the modern '60s' radio audiences.

That was when I was first introduced to the broadcast craft called an "economy of words," which HAD to be easy-to-follow, compelling, and fit over a 12 second music portion (before the star stated singing) in a hit record. Cut the unnecessary fat. Get the idea across in leaner bytes.

That was one lesson in a Lifetime Portfolio of what I call "Universals." Universals are tricks of controlling attention - with words, drawings, videos, music - that are as viable today as they were when I was first clued in over 45 years ago. Will be tomorrow, in all probability, unless Google decides* differently. Specific things like style, timing, contrast, composition all belong in that file. There are millions of different directions one can go from each of these strong foundations.
[*inside joke for Social media marketers]

Sky's the limit - IF you know about Universals. If someone told you.

They don't have real Program Directors that can do that anymore. As the 70s came on, so did the younger broadcaster gen, with their then-newer PDs, who thought the title was old-fashioned and readily accepted loftier position names such as Operations Director, Manager of Operations and other brightly colored feathers for their headbands.

But, in this small feast of self serving, the age-old Me First process, those hot new Programmer/Operator/Manager entities did manage one thing - to leave out Passing The Important Entertainment Shortcuts, Tips And Tricks Along to the newer members. Eventually, no one was there to make sure the Universals were explained or upheld as the standards they are.

Consequently, we have become saturated with Pretenders To The Titles, just so scared they're scrambling over one another in their eager yelpings, their intent to say the say word, "yes" to the Pretender above them. Now, Yes-Men and Yes-Women abound, accepting substandard conditions, saying yes to replacing entire staffs and damned glad to have a job. "Yes," indeed.

Our memories will recall this as an era of those who will work for extremely low pay and do the jobs of 20 people, partially, without understanding and poorly, of course. We saw the years go by and we witnessed this practice become accelerated, the Universals more and more dimly lit, and finally the calendar rolls around to turning on the radio today.

My dad was infinitely more interesting just telling stories through his tobacco smoke, believe me.

I use a broadcast working model because I'm familiar with it. What you hear on the radio this very day reflects the way ALL businesses, from mortuaries to muffin shops seem to run these very days, with less experience, direction and awareness nor sensitivity to clients, customers, listeners -- and, instead, a hypno-focus on their bottom line (which is always their real Mission Statement).

Stockholders trump customers and audiences, is the message we're all hearing. First one to the trough is the winner, we see them teach us by example.

Yes, this loss is not just in the field of broadcasting, but along all vocations and activities. All Universals have been stunted, from every walk or slime trail of life, from the hard working honest citizen, to the bilking banking scoundrel. And our country and its denizens are no better for it. You really gotta search for those Universals now.

And, horror! - this plastic, fake posing, all issuing forth from the mistakenly motivated process of pretending to be some concocted inner mental identity, includes blogs: <http://tinyurl.com/4usa8mz> Now we need firewall plugs for BS in costume appearing to be information or entertainment?

Not here, though. I couldn't do that and still blink straight. My own father, and a host of broadcast predecessors I was fortunate to have been at the party with, passed along too many Universals for me to even consider cutting costs or words. I do my own writing. All blithering my own. All stolen ideas re-written by my thumb and index finger. All mistakes my own. I learn that way. I enjoy the learning process; keeps me in touch with the Divine, in that in never ends.

When I'm learning, my heart is open, not filled with answers - and I get the unspeakable-because-words-won't-do thrill of just plain BEing. Kids know all about this. So do dogs. You do, too, when you don't think so much.

These days here? These are are nothing like "the good old days." These ARE OUR good old days - to create with our own wits, NOW.

We'll be remembering these times and we'll be much happier keeping it real.

WONDEROUS AND OUTSPOKEN

2011-02-14T17:14:00.000-08:00

Spin the wheel and see if it leads to fortune!

Lazy Little Money Maker!

Thousands of avid web users have discovered a free little gadget
-- the Google Wonder Wheel -- that, since its fairly recent
launch, has benefitted them in many more ways than just being a
free doodad on Google to play with.

Sure, it can show you how products and topics are related and by
how many degrees, separated. But it has this wonderous ability...

Oh, sure, sure, yes, look! It can help you find what's missing,
and more specifically than ever before, where you need to search
for it. Not only will it lead you to better define an idea or
subject, but perhaps give it more than literal meaning, a synonym
or less sought antonym, maybe.

I have been waitin for the wonder wheel all my life. It does
something... HUH? Why, yes, it DOES make Mind Mapping easier --
even fun. Might take that map to previously not thought of places.

But here is the button for which I have been looking - in every new
car or kitchen appliance I've purchased. You know, the one that you
can push that will then make all the payments.

Well, it's kinda like that. By simply putting in words and pushing
the wonder wheel button, it CAN help you make money!

People who are on line a lot see the value from their varied
perspective right away. Finally a gadget - a freebee at that -
that is rich in possibilities which it can benefit those using it.

The advertiser uses the wheel to discover what’s hot and related
to the product he advertises. He can make money from related
products and get more mileage out of his advertising budget.

Pretty hot feature for something Google just added at no cost to
its rapidly growing universe

Those responsible for the pages we see online, the webmasters –
can increase their revenue by discovering related keywords they
wish to focus on while your tweaking their target niche.

The most efficient and effortless way online marketers achieve
success is to choose an area of attention and stay there,
developing focus on a main keyword or phrase which usually gets a
lot of guesses when searchers enter queries into constantly
traveling "spider" engines, crawling the web and looking for
relevent matches.

But it gets more dynamic than that. Additionally, there are other
keywords, that when carefully selected, coordinate with the
search, resulting in even more traffic. This flow is then
cunningly guided to the webmasters' sites, each page carefully
"optimized," arranged or rewriten to improve efficiency of
retrieval, and so convert more visitors to cash. From that POV, people
become "traffic." A common tenet is "Traffic equals Money," and they
never forget it.

Like the Web Master, the Data Manager saves some time and
money, even makes herself and her company a little more by
using the Google Wonder wheel for data mining on ongoing
projects like Mind Mapping.

Just plain users are exploring relevant corresponsing results with the
wonder wheel related to the original keyword searched for. Whether
for a term paper, a research being done, or just about anything
else costly, time eating research is cut down considerably with
this simple, wonderous spiked wheel of associated word kin.

So, yay Google. With the WonderWheel's "Search" icon, they came up
with the results for my search for the perfect button.

TIMES OF THE SIGNS

2011-02-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

Where I live, Marin County, just above the Golden Gate Bridge, the people really band together to keep the place from becoming too overpopulated looking. When it comes to hilltop development, environmental integrity and billboards, they have raised the NIMBY standard to heights of new precedent.

County looks great, too. Not all overcrowded seeming as in other parts of the state.

While untold slices of the counties' population pie is involved in involved in new and better ways to be seen online, there remains one old school method for attracting attention to one's business that still works just fine - a sign.

Provided you follow all the proper procedures.

Which brings us to the issue of that new Manka's sign In West Marin's Inverness. Forever, it seems their old billboard has been pointing the way to their nearly one hundred year old country inn, (http://www.mankas.com/mankas/home.html), a favorite of food lovers around the world. Among the many other feathers in its headband, Manka's was rated one of the top 50 hotel restaurants by Food & Wine magazine, and was announced "the best restaurant in the United States" by London's Telegraph newspaper.

People seem comfortable with and love the place along with its accompanying charming, rustic cabins. Well, most people.

The sign was really old, however, and I guess someone, from within this imagined world-wide sphere of likability and comfort, decided it needed to be replaced with a new one.

OOps! That little decision - to erect a new sign - an 8-foot, stainless steel, bright yellow "M" barely six months ago - has jolted the 1,400-resident community of Inverness, where Manka's has been in business since the early 1900s.

There are those in County of Marin, and in Inverness, who, acting very much like a bitter, jilted ex-spouse, have gotten in a snit about this sign. It's as if they suddenly noticed.

I guess so. The old one was crumbling away and looked like part of a Kinkaid painting, I suppose, while Manka's new one looks...well, bright. and yellow. and new. And way noticeable.

So, now, the county, after scores of decades, has suddenly decreed this sign is "a billboard," which is against the rules. No billboards in the bucolic backwoods of unincorporated Marin County are allowed. The deplorable new "M" has been ordered reMoved from its location on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

I have a good friend with whom I started out in radio, and watched gravitate into the arena of the courts, becoming a fine lawyer, specializing in this signage niche (http://www.signlaw.com/billboards.html). He really knows his stuff.

I shared with Randall Morrison, my old pal, our county's controversy and immediately he responded.

Says my friend, now super attorney for all things legal regarding billboards and signs, "Assuming the old sign was legal when installed, and further assuming that later the local government prohibited off-site commercial signs (as often happens), then the old sign became “legal, non-conforming,” commonly known as “grandfathered.”

"That means the sign could continue in use, but could not be changed..." (Other than enhancing it's now rustic position as "artwork," intrinsic to the landscape's scene, with patchwork, similar paint and retro-strengthening, I muse.)

That's not what happened, though. They made a new sign, painted it bright yellow and suddenly it did what a good sign should do. It made everyone notice. And that was its undoing.

"Unless state or local law provides otherwise, expansion of a nonconformity extinguishes a nonconforming right. This principle applies to any use of land, not just signs.," say Randall. "The sign owners should have sought permission to update / modernize the sign before making any changes." It could have been an even better piece of art.

Now, things are all different. Unless the town or the county is willing to reach into its collective heart and cut them some slack, century-old Manka's, an Inverness institution to the planet, is out of options. Visitors from around the globe, looking for Manka's praised gourmet eats, rustic atmosphere and hospitality may have a difficult time locating it while driving along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. Without our hard core County law makers considering more than one point of view, we'll get a one-group, power-trip decision, automatically creating frustration and confusion.

Sadly, Marin has a history of bufoonery, recently refusing to allow a Marie Callenders Pie restaurant in unless they changed their franchise color scheme for this California county. Marie took her pies elsewhere.

Randy says the law is clear, "They (Manka's) do not have a legal right to return to the original sign. Their only shot now is through the political process, not the court process."

Fore sight, undertanding and negotiation might work here. Adhering to the idea of laws younger than the sign to which they apply isn't the intelligence of leadership, isn't even vision, misses the value of even hindsight

When one's perspective lags behind Hindsight can it be clarifying? Can it move forward? Can it contribute meaningfully to the population it is sworn to serve?

THE LIBERATION WAKE UP CALL

2011-02-10T22:38:00.000-08:00

You've heard it before ... you recognize it. From long ago. Went something like this..

"Wake up little Enn Joy, there is much to realize.

You are one with Life itself, still pulsing with Divine Rhythm, one with Being.

Take shape, and you are always smaller or larger to others. Take credit and receive stress. Give, instead of take, and you have infinite possibilities.

Don't give 'stuff,' Enn, give 'you.' What part of you? Be still and listen. You'll know what You wants of you when you get back to where you left your whence. It's on the side of your bed, right between Sound Asleep and "Zzz-zz - huh!? I don't know who I am."

There was a numbed over moment of terror there, remember Enn? Where you figured you had to BE more or DO more in order to be worth something. That was a mind thought, a mental scribble, a fantasy and not you or who you are. You are worth something without doing or being any more than you are.

And, believe me, you're not THAT easy to define.

Wake up, my heart's Enn, there is much to see.

You can look at those notions and Fear Vampires as orphan flower-a-likes or weeds, but, either way, they are NOT YOU, Ennie, only inclinations. They're unable to live in the Now like you do so Joyfully, so always try to lure you away.

Wake and know, in your actual essence, you are, naturally unlimited, neither fearful nor needing to control, but loving and soaring in the wondrous experience of Being free, as therein lies your Boundless Turf, Bean of Joy.

While Self Confidence and Modesty seem, as ideas, to conflict, witnessed as unlabeled, not data, they are self evident as same. YOU get that, Enn. As a result of that comprehension, you know honest Self-Honor and genuine Meekness are one and the same.

And you my little Enn Joy, you are my darling."

[Names have been changed to protect the numbed-over feelings occasionally arising in a zombie with whom you may carpool.]

Our World, As A Crumbcake

2011-02-07T22:11:00.000-08:00

Soon we can truly say we live in a Digital Age.

It becomes our reality with each passing moment. Remember, this world of ours, as we think we know it, is always moving. (BTW, that's a possible reason the pictures you take of the world can come out blurry.)

As a rule of thumb, the very same thumb I text with, I prefer to ADD the new thing to my Bag Of Endless Possibilities, and would have voted inclusive, but paper makers are slacking off.

The unstable quality of paper today helps ramp up the pace towards an exclusively All-Digital world. Paper isn't made the same ways it always was, which turns out to mean its strength and durability has gone way down. It's been reported that stuff printed on it will probably biodegrade within 25 - 35 years. Better bave a backup data CD or thumb drive of those Family getaways.

I can easily see the Sci-Fi B Horror Movies getting a good run from the fear generated by this natural fact of decelerating motion, or decaying molecular orbits.

Pulp filled Libraries, once bastions against ignorance, fallen into the hands of evil developers and paper mache crafters. No one cares because they are now literally plugged into the Matrix on high bandwidth, thanks for asking.

Then, come the aliens from across space, who, seeing our dependence on electricity to make digital go, eliminate it. Pow, the populace suffers. Three generatins later, our brightest cave dwellers find a way to make ancient digital devices go again with pond scum and ponder a thumb drive, labeled "Backup Data, Family." and this is just the first four minutes...

Here's REALITY 25 years ago: According to the massive Bobby Ocean Folders of Facts, nearly half the books in the New York Public Library were reported to be crumbling away, while there are books printed in the Middle Ages that have endured a thousand years, and counting.

And, THAT explains why I have all VO scripts delivered in papyrus...

RADIO YOU CAN LOVE

2011-02-03T18:58:00.000-08:00

What a time warp treat! So many of my friends wish for Radio the way it USED to be, but I get to do it!

How'd this happen?

Well, first, it IS happening, so: Jot the times: Starting Sunday morning at 9AM on ReelRadio, and continuing for AN ENTIRE WEEK! Wow...

Sorry for the overly excited mood, but - zap - there went nearly forty years. I'm feeling young and frisky. And oh so retro, don'cha know...

Lemme 'splain: I was, at one time, employed as a Disc Jockey. Liked it so much I swam ferociously upstream toward Boss Jock craftsmanship. I would commute to my job, then play.

I played all the songs you grew up with, that fit perfectly into and changed with your life's situations. I was the guy on the radio that put all the hits on the air that made your heart's beat thump happily, ticking like it belonged.

My "job" involved playing the most popular songs and artists of our world, enhancing the shared dream, making memories. I loved my job. Like others in my frequency, you could hear I was having fun.

Unfortunately, it's all changed. Commercial Broadcast Radio, for the price they were asking, has gone to the dark side. The fun was lost and fear was the new currency.

How could it be fun anymore? Great stations were sold to people who paid far too much for them and didn't know the business.

New bosses - stupid people, lousy businessmen and, of course, not a one with a clue about entertainment (one fairly well-known programmer had to be taught the names of the Beatles, and this was 20 years ago) Adding to this chaos, these leaders are also terribly afraid.

PLUS, losing large and feeling ugly.

But, before this mess, it sure was fun once!

Lucky for us, many of those good times were recorded on magnetic reel-to-reel tape, and are available to hear online where everyone can not only enjoy them, but share recordings from their own collections. ReelRadio.com has been making the internet populace smile broadly broadband in this manner for a decade and a half.

To celebrate their 15 years, the Aircheck Channel is having an Anniversary Countdown Special, replaying forty of the hottest radio people and stations ever recorded. I'm Beside-Myself Excited because they chose me to act as the Special's host. And, for a solid block of calendar time, too - a week, the 6th through the 12th.

Not only do I get to play again, but WITH the world's best DJs, Good Guys, Boss Jocks, invisible friends... the best Sonic Souls that ever put headphones on their imaginations and cracked a mic.

So - that's my thrill on internet hill. Starting this Sunday morning.

Tell yer maw, tell yer paw: Bobby Ocean in Motion -- ooh wah, ooh wah.

ONE WHOLE WEEK I'll be online hosting airchecks and hits at ReelRadio.com from nine AM, all day for seven days, the sixth thru the 12th!

Pass it on, and do not Bogart it.

BROKEN IN MOTION

2011-02-03T06:14:00.000-08:00

I was pretty young when I found out that life goes on when you have broken parts. You don't die. You just make it on through with that design flaw.

I crashed my bike into a palm tree and busted my front tooth. As a seven year old, I had to learn to live with the chipped look. And a wobbly front wheel.

Chip Ocean at seven

By the time I forgot it was there, my grandfather took his vagabond kin to the dentist. Perhaps it was that trip that led me into another dangerous obsession.

That is, now that I had a smile, girls were starting to notice. Me-e-e too. That young ladies had me in their charm radar did not go overlooked, and I liked it. Suddenly there were a lot more smiles mapping my face. They just naturally popped up since I had become much more involved in that other kind of human body.

Fascinating.

As was my visit to the sacred shrine of magic --the limitless landscape within a building of no boundarys, the source of MY SONGS, the sounds of my burgeoning world, my first real live radio station!

Didn't take me long -- how long is an instant? -- to discover I had the same stuff in my blood as these broadcast carnies in theirs, both these veterans and this newbie - pulled and motivated to plunk the harp strings of imagination.

Again, I was hooked. Life continued. The hits kept coming.

One by one, these steep attractions have allowed me to realize that life goes on after important parts get busted up. The palm tree had its turn. The girls had their spells. Radio used what it needed then sold out to the highest bidder.

Well, THAT all hurt. Surprising, but, OK; they get to each make their own choices.

Tree was just being tree wen it met my bicycle. The girls, and I, were just chasing dreams that, by now, we have watched evaporate before our very highest hopes.

And, if I wanted more from the radio stations, perhaps I should have purchased one myself. I did not. Owners can do with their property whatever they choose.

All of them still in motion. And, gone, all of them, gone.

I can still hear the songs, see old photos, feel the experiences, almost smell them, but they have slipped beyond my clutches.

One by one, these things that had such an impact, in and on my consciousness, have shown me their temporal nature, the transitory way of all things in motion outside in the realm of perception. They keep moving. Like an object in an orbit, they can't help it. Just like these "Once Upon A Times," either can you and I; all of us - still in motion.

Each episode in its time left a lesson in passing: One goes on, just as these precious increments in our stories have, just as the songs do. Even though such an intrinsic part is fragmented - as a heart.

But it still beats, cares, even loves. Maybe it's not really broken, as in beyond repair, but instead, is in motion, collecting itself and evolving. ...readying itself for what's next.

I am.
--0--

Do We Get What We Pay For - Daily?

2011-01-31T17:53:00.000-08:00

Reprinted and modified from elsewhere online, this is the rant that started a blog:

It was too long, really, for Facebook, but when I saw the news that day, oh boy.

I thought AT LEAST the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District should honor the commuters that have been sending their kids through college. At the very LEAST.

More properly it would appear to users of the Golden Gate bridge they are in for A HUGE RETRO REFUND. CERTAINLY the bridge tolls should be lowered considerably. Why?

Because they're saving so MUCH money. The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District has come up with a plan which would SAVE a projected $19.2 MILLION before ten years is up. That's a huge chunk of change.

The GGDH&T District really likes their plan -- A LOT; even voted very recently (1/ 27/11) to recommend the board of directors move ahead with their bottom line perspective, money-saving proposition. Good news for GG Bridge users who were promised when the bridge was first announced over eighty years ago: no more paying tolls after the structure was paid off?

Not really. This same District has conveniently erected an Imaginary Blockade designed to prevent ANY money getting to its essential commuters or previous employees. They all tout fear as real and insist we pay for it. Fear is not real, only imagined.

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today." --Franklin D. Roosevelt,April 13, 1945

Here's REAL: 34 jobs gone, tollbooths and toll collectors, a fixture at the Golden Gate Bridge since it opened in 1937.

NOT REAL: the districts "imaginary barrier," a self decreed $89 million "projected" shortfall over the next five years. ["projected shortfall" is corp-speak for "I am unable to properly manage resources."]

Whatever else, "Projected" is imaginary, not present, not here. Losing your job, paying real money to drive your car across this bridge IS real, is not imaginary. The phrase, "Projected shortfall," is like an evil spell because it's not real but a notion, a what-if, a make-believe term that pulls the listener away from every possibility HERE, into that fantasy darkness. "Unemployed persons," and "Service cut-backs" are REAL phrases that mean actual, tangible things, and are being overlooked. The impact of this latest heartless ill-motivated decision hits too many lives for anyone to keep track of.

This vicious little plot has been decades in the planning and became public years ago when the GGBD offered those cute little boxes that let you scoot past the bottle neck of cash paying customers, as if you had a VIP pass at Disneyland.

How convenient. for each commuter. How convenient for the Electronic Payment Planners to extract funds from your bank in advance, $40 at a clip, and, in addition to rising tolls, collect interest on that money daily for hundreds and thousands of commuters as they all drive along merrily.

Never mind that harsh reality flows along side the plan to move to all-electronic tolling, as it would eliminate the jobs of 32 toll collectors, two vault workers and negatively impact every single bridge user who loses the infinite services within the roles each of of these people play. Where in this money-saving equation did they figure in Bridge Security, Welcoming Visitors to San Francisco, Detecting Foul Play and Directing Lost Visitors. These are saily occurances on the GGBridge.

I smell "attractive nuisance" lawsuit. Any hungry lawyers reading this? Uh oh...

So we lose real people, untold scores of services and landmarks that have been intrinsic to our Golden gate Bridge - FOR WHICH WE commuters ARE COMPENSATED HOW?

Probably another toll increase. oop - Did I just say what you were thinking out loud? Sorry, I'm into metaphysics and accidentally peeked into your soul...

Most of us who drive across that beautiful span don't think of it as being held captive by a heavily populated elitist clique, today's Commuter Ruling Class, who cluster behind the name "The Golden Gate Bridge Highway And Transportation District (the name itself declares ownership of most of Northern California)."

Who needs so many people in a bridge district that it practically requires its own zip code? Most of us would absolutely LOVE to see that entire bunch of highway robber types seriously considered for replacement with a simple, all-electronic plastic thingie.

SHORT FAST

2011-01-31T09:53:00.000-08:00

WATER EATING RE-TUNER...

An endocrinologist at UCLA says most adults need about 2,000 calories a day. Those calories make energy, or glycogen.

The body and skin specialist says it doesn't hurt — it might even help the body — to fast or stop eating for short periods of time, say 24 hours once a week, as long as you drink water.

It's a fast - no food - but it doesn't drag on. It's all over in 24 hours. That's why I call it a Short Fast. It may just lengthen your life.

Really. Here's why--

For 24 hours, when you stop eating but drink water, and the body undergoes a re-tune. When Short-Fasting in this way, insulin secretion is suppressed and the taste for sugar reduced. The body is retrained so that sugar becomes something you're less fond of taking.

Why less insulin?" Not as much is needed to help the body digest food. That gives the pancreas a rest.

...SHORT FAST IS short and fast, but is all about longevity and feeling good...

On the other hand, trendy spas' favorite, Juice Diets only do a fraction of the job. In fact enough of a job to get you to buy a return trip. While you may lose weight, you don't lose the urge AND your digestive system doesn't get that rest.

It is said among those who study the fasting process that Short, or Partial-Fasting may even extend lifespan because eating less sends a message to the cells of the body that they should conserve and use energy more efficiently.

Further, when they're exposed to the mild stress of a short-fast, a retuning and re-training process occurs automatically. The body's cells learn to be ready for the next time this is going to happen. It may be longer without food, so it evolves in such a way as to be able to deal with that.

Maybe most importantly, short-fasting avoids muscle break-down, common with longer term fasting of days, a week at a time. Another process gets underway during longer stretches without food. Potentially toxic proteins are released. These proteins are partly composed of nitrogen, and too much nitrogen in the body can be toxic to the kidneys and liver. No such thing with short fasting.

There, I've just added a more robust few years to your life. Aw shucks, please, it was the least an old pal can do.

Great Surprise for Old Scool Radio Fans!

2011-01-31T08:57:00.000-08:00

Guess I picked the right blog spot. Just signed in and started looking around. Look what I found! <http://93khj.blogspot.com/search/label/Airchecks>

EXACTLTY what we were talking about on the Book Of Faces... before I went off stating a blog with the first entry a safe one -- living longer thru Short-Fasting.

Looking in and listening to this should help you live longer too, actually feeling great. It's a fellow bloghead's KHJ collection, surveys, airchecks, lots Real Don Steele, the works! I can almost FEEL RJ, noting indiscrepencies and pacing the old Melrose Avenue hallways surrounding the on-air studio.

Enjoy this real KHJ treasure chest from fellow fan, Ray Randolph!