683 Talk To Your Newspaper

683 Talk To Your Newspaper

Be your own editor. You'll soon have to be. Good editors aren't extinct. Yet. but the herd is thinning. There are some notable exceptions, but mostly, The Desk is asleep or ailing or dead. Let's start with the notable exceptions. The Daily Beast website summarizes its main stories so they read like NBC Nightly News "tells," items with facts neatly summarized and wrapped in alluring decoration. You can click on the story, but you get plenty from Beast's condensation.

Then, there's the CNN website that often gives you decent bullet point main topics before the body of the story. And there's Scientific American Magazine which puts "Key Facts" on a list. Kind of previews the articles.

But sloppy copy has become the hallmark of most newspapers, magazines and often the wire services.

Let's look at the wires, first. A full length item is written in a certain way for reasons having nothing to do with reporting. The thing's designed so the receiving paper can cut paragraphs from the bottom so it fits the available space. The most important information is at the top of the story. Or at least it used to be. Many wire service stories now save important facts for last. So if someone has to cut paragraphs for space, where does he start?

The papers themselves often leave out names or parts of names on first reference. So when you get to the middle of a story and a sentences starts "Smith said Jones was to blame..." and you don't know who Smith is, you go back over the whole piece, hunting for the first mention of "Smith" and you don't find it because its not there.

You can be your own editor. Ask questions as you read. Ask the story whatever comes to mind. Something surely will these days, because there are holes in practically everything.

If the info you want simply isn't there, there's not much you can do. But if it is, you may find it by talking to your newspaper.

Shrapnel:

--You may have noticed Ronald Reagan on the current ads for General Electric -- marking the 100th anniversary of his birth. Have you also noticed that all of the sound clips come from public domain speeches Reagan made as governor and President? They aren't using actual sound from his radio and TV commercials and maybe that's because if they did ... they'd have to pay his estate ... and pay it via his union.

--Not only can they not make a pair of glasses that stays clean for more than ten minutes, they can't seem to make a vegetable peeler that peels vegetables cleanly and without cutting the cutter more deeply than skinning the plant. Rachel Ray doesn't peel celery stalks, so maybe we shouldn't, either. Maybe the outer layer is good for you. Or maybe she can't use those peelers either and doesn't want her audience to know.

--Coming attraction: "Home Team" a book about the New Orleans Saints return to real life. It's by coach Sean Payton and Ellis Henican and will be out in July. And it's worth reading even if you don't care either about football or New Orleans.

I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you're welcome to them.®

©WJR 2010

682 A New College Exam

682 A New College Exam

Maxie used to say that college was a great idea. It helps keep the unemployment rate lower. These days, we need no special help in keeping anyone out of the work force. But that said, there's some truth here.

This may be part of the reason so many young people jump through the strangest of hoops to get into the school of their choice, although many will choose "Any school that'll have me."

They go through high school, sort of learning and sort of studying what they think or their teachers think will be on the Regents exams or other statewide tests that allege to show competence in a subject. They'll join the math club or the debate club or the football team and do community service. They'll take those awful SATs. But there's one test they all seem to ignore and it's one that might help them get into schools.

The Personality test.

At Antioch, most of the students -- graduate and undergrad -- seemed to have similar personality quirks. It wasn't universal, and Antioch is a small school with a certain reputation. It might be a good guess that most of the students at Bob Jones University have the same situation, only with different quirks.

Now living in a town that is home to a fairly large college, it's harder to spot these similarities. There are 44-thousand students attending. Maybe more. And yet, most of those encountered seem to have, well, similar personality quirks. It differs by major, it differs by age. But it doesn't seem to differ among genders, ethnic groups or backgrounds. Many many of those kids are very similar in personality.

The king of this heap is NYU. There is a distinctive NYU personality. Once you recognize it, it's obvious. You can spot 'em a mile away. Old, young, recent, ancient, New Yorker, non-New Yorker. Doesn't matter. Never met anyone from there who didn't have it.

So now comes the hard part. You have to figure out what your particular quirks are and where they'd be most welcome. Not an easy task. In fact, if you actually accomplish this two-parter, you're obviously well qualified for a higher education anywhere of your choosing. But if you can do it and land the interview, chances are the admissions guy will at some level, probably subconscious, believe you "fit" and invite you to become a student.

So start those college visits early. Don't go during a semester break. Don't make appointments. Just GO. And see if you can find whether the random students you see, hear or meet are "just like me." If they are, you're likely to get a "yes" on your application. If they aren't, move on.

Shrapnel:

--First day of re-retirement and how to start? Why, by reading the news, of course. Old habits are hard to break.

--Parkinson's Law says work expands to fill the time available. Is there a reverse? Leisure expands to fill the time available seems doubtful.

I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you're welcome to them.®

©WJR 2010

681 Thank You Mr. Heston

681 Thank You Mr. Heston

The chirpy little grocery checker-outer asks "would you like to buy some reusable shopping bags, or do you prefer to continue destroying the earth with paper or plastic?"

Good question. The answer is the latter, plastic in particular.

Those of us of a certain age will not be around for the planetary destruction-by-polyethylene. And should we return in the next life as seagulls or chipmunks, we'll have a better time getting at left over food because these bags tear so easily. No challenge to a gull beak or a rodent paw.

"Listen, your chirpyness, you're talking to a guy who hasn't had to buy a plastic garbage bag in decades."

We hoard the bags awaiting the day they'll be either illegal or stores will start charging for them. What the Collier brothers (and NBC's Ray Geraty) were to old newspapers, we are to supermarket plastic. Even to the point of asking for extras. Even to the point of snitching them from the self-checkout line.

Of course they're bad for the landfills. Of course it takes a billion years for them to degrade in the soil, if ever they do. And, yes, there's the old saw "If everybody did that, what would happen?" So many people now use the reusables. And that's good. But some of us just can't let go of the old ways. Or refuse to. We're plastic reactionaries.

The bags fit nicely in garbage or waste cans in workshops and kitchens, bathrooms and even in the car. They're handy for dust proof storage for countless items. And best of all... they're free!

We're even thinking of forming a National Bag Association, but we'll have to call it something else, because the National Basketball Association would probably object to the use of the initials NBA.

The bags are weapons -- you can ask anyone who ever has gotten his head stuck in one. But... Grocery bags don't kill people. People kill people.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the second amendment protects them. And there are no laws against carrying concealed plastic bags. After all, you can't blame a guy for wanting to protect his home, his family, his possessions, and most of all, his garbage.


As Charlton Heston said of guns "You'll get my plastic bag when you take it from my cold dead hands."

Shrapnel:

--These postings generally strive for a light tone, even on serious subjects. Lately, there's been some gratuitous nastiness, which seems to be airborne everywhere. This sometimes happens when we get so passionate about a subject that it blinds us.

--To be sure, as one friend pointed out, there's more than enough "nasty" to go around these days. And the inference is that it doesn't accomplish much. And he's right.

--When was the last time you saw a skywriter? Is there a shortage of stunt pilots? Or is is it just that it's so much easier and cheaper to advertise on the internet?

I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you're welcome to them.®

©WJR 2010

680 Aman-Pouring

680 Aman-Pouring

Welcome and good luck wishes to Christiane Amanpour, newly named host of "This Week," ABC's Sunday morning competition to "Meet the Press" on NBC and "Face the Nation" on CBS.

When NBC made it's worst-ever personnel mistake, allowing David Brinkley to leave, he went to ABC and started the "This Week" program which he brilliantly guided until just before his death in 2003. He awakened the sleepy Sunday morning talk shows with typical wry commentary and interesting guests, giving the other shows a good run for their money.

Readers and listeners of this production know of the great respect and admiration its author/anchor had for Tim Russert, who brought "Press" back to life and made it the hit show it became and remains. But Brinkley gave NBC a run for its money.

Now, years later, we have Christiane Amanpour, a reporter at CNN known for playing the bad cop.

ABC has hired her for the Brinkley chair. She's the lightest weightless anchor since Rather.

She says in the publicity releases she wants to give the program an "international spin," and show the convergence of domestic and international news. Earth to Christiane and to ABC: America doesn't care about "international" news. America is the country that turns off the radio when NPR tries to tell us about a prison in Afghanistan or a TWTD, a "third world transportation disaster." The America that watches the Sunday talk shows wants to know what its idiot representative in congress has to say. It wants stories about people without health care now getting health care. It does not care about Syria or the the Corsicans or the "troubles in..." Lebanon or Ireland or Bangladesh.

So welcome, Christiane. We eagerly await your stories about Scottish sheep herds or the Sunnis in Iraq. We want to hear about what's happening HERE. And those of us who are or were fans of Russert welcome the increase in audience your presence will bring to the competition.

ABC, the junior among the three major traditional networks still has a lot to learn. And one of those things is: the viewers will reject you and they should.

Shrapnel:

--The gas-hot air furnace needs a change of filter about once a month. The 20 dollar filters don't last any longer than the one dollar filters, and sometimes the cheapies even go six weeks. So there ARE real bargains out there if you're willing to experiment.

--Former President Jimmy is out with a statement on how naughty we all are for being so divided on health care. Pot calls kettle black. The guy has gone a long LONG way on dividing opinion on the Middle East.

--Most well made banjos weigh ten pounds or more, which when you stand holding it for an hour feels like a ton; makes you ache from shoulders to back to feet. So it's not surprising that Earl Scruggs, 86, plays only seated these days. Most guys his age can't even lift the thing, let alone play it standing.

I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you're welcome to them.®

©WJR 2010

679 What, Again?

679 What, Again?

Retiring at the end of the week, and it's a second go at a life of leisure. Something says it's not going to be so leisurely. The first bout certainly wasn't. Join the gym. Take a trip. Sleep late. Get the ceiling fixed -- finally! Make appointments whenever instead of bending the calendar around the work schedule. Sounds great, right?

Well, maybe.

Thing is, some of us get our senses of self from a job -- especially when the job is an art -- even a commercial art like broadcasting. Work is what we DO, what we ARE. Especially those of us who love to work so much that we started early, really early. Imagine a kid who couldn't wait to be old enough to trudge down to the Queens Boulevard White Castle parking lot on an early Sunday afternoon to wash cars for the folks coming out of the late Mass down the street? How many million years ago was that?

That car wash kid covered his first election in 1965 as a fledgling reporter. Then it was county courts and government, local auto crashes and train crashes and sewer scandals. And then it was Vietnam and Watergate. And the never ending middle east war. And the never ending Presidential elections. Nicaragua. Lockerbie. The Berlin Wall. Somalia. Yugoslavia. OJ. The Olympic bombing. And 9/11. Now what?

Not to mislead you, many of those major events -- but not all -- were reporting from a desk in a Manhattan newsroom. But nevertheless, those were some of the landmark stories. But the question remains: now what?

The first retirement lasted a couple of years. Then it was back on the air with a little talk show in a little place. Broadcasters can't keep their mouths shut. This blog is close to its fifth anniversary and will go on. But the little radio program dies at week's end. Scary. And this question remains: "Who am I without this stuff?"

Guess we'll find out. The answer the first time was "not enough."

Shrapnel:

--The tax form again this year lets you donate to public campaign financing. Are you kidding? After the Supreme Court decision on political advertising, your pipsqueak few bucks will mean absolutely nothing -- if it ever did.

--Fast Food Mini Review, Wendy's new "bacon & blue." For a bacon and bleu cheese lover, this was a rubbery dud, to be as kind as possible, with the bacon burned to a crisp and the cheese crumbles tasteless and with the appearance of fish eggs. Calories 680, Sodium 1390 mg., fat 40 gr, taste: 0. Dave Thomas is twirling in his grave.

--Immediately after this gourmet feast, it was a trip to the supermarket and the purchase of two boxes of White Castle cheesburgers. At least with those, the expectations are low and so is the price. Plus if you're having bathroom trouble, they'll solve it for you, because they don't call 'em "sliders" for nothing.

I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you're welcome to them.®

©WJR 2010

678 Leave, Stevie

678 Leave, Stevie

Oops. That should be Steve Levy, the Queens born, Nassau raised lawyer, turned politician, turned Democrat turned Republican and presently the County Executive of Suffolk County, Long Island, New York a job he has held with no particular distinction since 2004, and which followed an equally distinguished career in the county legislature.

Suffolk is a pretty big place. Second largest county in the state and one of the originals. It's more than 2,000 square miles, most of which is water. But it is home to more than 1.5 million people. Suburbs take half the land. Much of the rest is agriculture. And with agriculture, you get farm workers. And with farm workers you get immigrants and with immigrants you get illegal immigrants, and that's where Stevie has staked his claim to fame. He wants 'em out. Big time.

So it only natural that when he first started plotting to become governor, he would cast about for some help. And where better to turn but the TeaPartiers , who have been the object of his affection for months. The final step into the governor's race is to figure out whether a penny pinching anti-immigrant geographical transplant can win in New York as a Democrat.

Fat chance. Even with the sorry excuse for a governor now in office, New York doesn't elect guys like Stevie. So what to do in the lust for office? Become a Republican. A pretty easy transition, it would seem.

Suffolk County has had some notable County Executives. The first, Republican-turned-Democrat H. Lee Dennison, an engineer and a feisty common sense no-nonsense guy led his constituents into the modern age. Another, John V.N. Klein, Republican had policies that youcouldn't pin on a party. Those days are gone.

Here, we have a Democrat in Name Only in such a swoon over higher office that he'll anger the voters who elected and re-elected him, honk off the Conservative Party chairman who wants little to do with him and look like a loser on American Idol who wants the top spot so badly, he'll do anything for it.

In the unlikely event Stevie were to win, he'd be the anti-immigrant governor of a state that was the largest port of entry for legals and illegals in this country's history.

But this is the wrong guy. The only question now is whether he was whoring for office when he ran as a Dem or whether he's whoring now.

Leave, Stevie.

Shrapnel:

--This part of the blog started as a means of shining some light on brief examples of mass silliness, and that's still the goal. But it's getting harder every day because there's too much to choose from, making choosing hard. And sometimes we see so much nonsense that we begin to think of it as normal.

--What is left to fear when you've lost your fear of the dentist? Heights or death or bugs or germs or clowns or rhinos or talk radio or Friday the 13th? Everyone needs something to fear.

--What happens when you move into a state where people can't drive from a state where people CAN drive? You learn to not drive. Wouldn't want to be a social outcast, after all.

I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you're welcome to them.®

©WJR 2010

677 Yeeeehah Scholarship

677 Yeeeehah Scholarship

There's a country song, "All My Exes Live in Texas." Maybe they should write one called "All My Excess Lives in Texas." Talking here about the school book controversy. This is where the right wing muscles in (continues to muscle in) on the content of school text books. The state orders so many of them that publishers routinely give 'em all the warping they want and then shove those books down the throats of buyers in the other 49 states.

The state school board votes on content. Not literally, of course but in practice. And you can argue that these board members are elected and have a right to do so. Yes, they do. Fine if what happens in Texas STAYS in Texas. But it doesn't.

So in the latest round of shoving, we get great detail (call it boosterism) for Reagan's economic policies and Newt's contract with/on America. But we don't hear much about the Latino or African American contributions to society. Maybe Texas SHOULD secede, as some politicians want. Then we could get neutral text books. Or even objective text books, perish the thought.

Here's the view from New England -- from New Hampshire Public Radio:

... the Board approved a curriculum that portrays historical events a bit differently than how you might remember them being taught in school. The new standards reject the separation of church and state, ensure lessons about the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 90s and the moral majority, include lessons on the “unintended consequences” of affirmative action, and defend the actions behind McCarthyism. As a next step, the Board puts the approved standards up for public comment. The final vote is slated for May.

And no one questions the conservative qualifications of New Hampshire. But there's conservatism and Conservatism.

After the next round of book printing, you'll find "Creationism" elevated to a science. You'll learn that President Obama was born in Africa. You'll find Rush Limbaugh's biography, but maybe not Jefferson's. Martin Luther WHO? Maybe they'll also tell you how to buy gold, stockpile non-perishable food, how to form a Joe McCarthy fan club, a local militia and how to look and act like a skin head.

Shrapnel:

--Happy St. Patrick's Day. It's one of the times it's hardest not to miss New York. The parade, the camaraderie, and especially the green bagels, and, of course, no snakes.

--Finally found something totally off base recommended in Consumer Reports. It's a calendar website called Cozi.com. Looks like a central collection point for your data and journal reports you write about your family doings.

--Could General Electric revive it's early slogan "Progress is our most important product" today? Probably not. It's hard to think of a conglomerate like that as a closet left wing organization because it isn't, but some right wing organization might latch onto the "progress" part as a coded message to the initiates.

I'm Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you're welcome to them.®

©WJR 2010