100 Snapshots of Your Vacation is 95 Too Many

Vin and Me at Le D'orsay

If you are like me, you have a problem with photographs.  The problem is: there are too many of them. A lifetime of snapshots, kept meticulously in albums during the first few years and then haphazardly stuffed in shoe boxes and stored on dark closets -- along with old tax returns and other items that you don't use but cannot throw away.  Discovered every few years and put away again with a firm resolve to get the photos organized "one of these days".

We have a ton of  photographs.  Many are of our kids and family over the years.  Most of them are pretty bad photography, taken on inexpensive cameras from the old brownie hawk-eye, then Polaroids, then the 35 millimeter Canon sure-shot pics.

Around  2002  I got my first digital camera, after that point there is a sharp drop-off in the number of blurry, faded, hard-copy photos.  In the pre-digital world you always took 2 or 3 "takes" in case someone moved.  There was no way to know what the photo would  looked like until you got the film developed - weeks, maybe months later.  (The popularity of Polaroid was not drive by the quality of the picture, but the fact that you could see the results in a few minutes.)

But the digital camera allowed an amazing time-shift in amateur photography.  Now, for the first time, you could  see what the photo looked like, instantly!   There was no film to buy or to take to the photography place to get developed.  You just stored the photos on a CD or removable memory stick.  As the photo developing services were disappearing, the Internet via the  web (www) took up the slack, offering to develop selected pictures into prints for as little as 9 cents each.  These days, I use Snapfish to upload and edit and share my digital pictures.  I generally print only the best of these in hard copy, look at them and then put them in a drawer.  Someday I will organize them into an album.  I have half a dozen CD's of photos that were offloaded from my PC to make room for new photos.  The truth is I will probably never get around to organizing this mess.

The worst invention: Webcam

Most digital cameras have a movie setting that allow you to record a video that you can store, and you can get video editing software on your PC so you can upload the video to places like YouTube.


Most of us have taken photos intended as a keepsake to capture a moment in time of  a special occasion, a vacation, an unusual vista...something of personal significance.  What used to be a private collection of memories can now be published to the world.  Evolving photo sharing Technology now lets us "share" photos (and videos) via social networking sites, like Twitter, Facebook and on our blogs.

Typical boring vacation photo

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. So I am appalled that so many people are so clueless that they think others have the time or inclination to look at 100 photos of your recent vacation.

People, it is just rude to send someone an email with 100megabytes of photos attached. (It takes a long time to down load and open).  And it is clueless to expect others to peruse 100+ boring pictures of you standing in front of some church or castle.  Please, just pick the 5 or 6 best photos of your trip - and omit the ones of you -- smugly grinning because you are on vacation and we are not.

Yes, I'm in Paris and you are in Podunk - go ahead and hate me.

Choosing A VPOTUS

The last presidential election was scary.  Even if you don't believe the unflattering characterization of Sarah Palin in the HBO movie "Game Change," an honest reflection of her qualifications makes you think twice about the process for selecting and vetting the VP candidates.   It is probably true that she had more administrative experience than did Barack Obama, but the big difference is that Mr Obama was chosen by voters, not a secret committee behind closed doors.

To be honest, I was not encouraged by the selection of Joe Biden either.  Despite his many years of experience in the congress, he has distinguished himself as a buffoon because of his penchant for the gaffe.

Another previous VP nominee, John Edwards,  is currently on trial for misuse of campaign funds (although his real crime in the opinion most everyone is that he was carrying on an affair with a campaign aid while his wife was struggling with  breast cancer.)

It all makes me wonder why nobody seems to think the system for finding a presidential running mate needs to be fixed.  Why should the party nominee for the highest office be the one who chooses the successor?  Rather than an afterthought to a campaign, VP candidates should be vetted and selected by the same process that should elect the president - popular vote.   Yes, that reminds me, the Electoral College is another concept that is astoundingly irrelevant to modern times.    Let's get rid of that while we are tweaking things, shall we?

Hooray for Apostasy

Hooray for Cory Booker, the Newark NJ Mayor, a Democrat,  who criticized the tenor of the anti Romney (Bain) attack ad strategy. In speaking his mind, last week on TV,  he got into hot water with the democratic faithful, but has opened up the discussion that might engage the big middle.  The WSJ editorial last week:

 Mr. Booker uttered his apostasy on NBC's "Meet the Press," calling out both Presidential campaigns for what he called a "nauseating" focus on side issues. He deplored attacks on President Obama for his long-ago association with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but he added that "I have to just say, from a very personal level, I'm not about to sit here and indict private equity. . . . Especially that I know I live in a state where pension funds, unions and other people are investing in companies like Bain Capital. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital's record, they've done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses."

 was forced into a bit of pretzel prose to praise Booker's 'apostasy' while trying not to condemn all attack ads.

The Obama campaign's attacks on Bain haven't gone very well, in part because the claims are so transparently cynical. Everyone knows they're cherry-picking facts, focusing on the rare Bain Capital failures while ignoring the successes—all in order to distract attention from the failed results of Mr. Obama's economic policies. Presidents who have to take their own party allies to the woodshed for the offense of telling the truth don't tend to win re-election.

  Any thoughtful reader can see the parallels between what  WSJ observes as "cherry-picking facts" can be applied to either side.   When WSJ opens the door to critical thinking by party faithful, who knows where it may lead? Let us hope more voices begin to ask questions about the Emperor's clothes, call out the Boy who cries wolf, castigate those chicken littles and pull the mask off the Lone Ranger.

The Final Click for Inventor of TV Remote

Eugene Polley, the guy who invented the TV remote passed away yesterday.  He was 96.


I have mixed feelings in considering Mr. Polley's legacy.  On one hand, his invention (in 1955) revolutionized TV watching - because it allowed a viewer to switch  the TV on or off, control the sound, channel and as the first ads for the device promised the ability to "...shut off annoying commercials while the picture remains on the screen.”   All with the convenience of not having to get out of your chair.  
On the other hand, perhaps we should  blame him for a generation of obese couch potatoes, not to mention the fact that the remote enables us to click distractedly, instead of concentrating on a single program. 


I don't recall having a TV remote in our house, growing-up.   I remember having to get up to tune the sound or turning the channel (chunk, chunk, chunk).  In those days it didn't seem like so much of a hassle anyhow; there were only 3 stations,  and there were long stretches of time when the only thing broadcasted was something called "Test Pattern."  In those days every house had an antenna strapped to the chimney.  As kids we often went outside to play (unlike modern children whose only exposure to light is the radiated glow from their electronic game devices). 


As more programming was added and more channels came online, especially with the evolution of cable, the need for remote control was pressing, even to those of us who were late-adopters of technology.  With more than 100 channels, you had to click vociferously to find a program worth watching, so the remote became an invaluable staple of living rooms and dens.  Now the average TV  room has at least three remotes:  One for the TV, One for the cable box, and one for the DVD. All efforts to develop a "Universal" device have failed.  So we are stuck with multiple remotes.

So, although Mr Polley's idea for the TV remote has resulted in many of us being fat and unable to concentrate,  you gotta love the brilliant concept of the  mute button.

UnFair & Unbalanced

You probably have read/heard about the latest flap about Obama's birthplace.

I know I have promised not to get political, but I think the national debate has actually gone beyond politics into a worthy discussion of ethics, rhetoric, psychology  and fact.  

It is interesting that many anti Obama pundits will quickly deny that they believe the story, but are just as quick to pass it on, slathered with heavy gobs of innuendo.  Of course, this is like tossing red-meat to keep the mindless rabble aroused, and out for blood.  If you read the comments you will see that there are a lot of folks out there who do not like Obama and eager to join the attack.

Despite the fact that the author of the biographical blurb has admitted that it was her error, the fact that it was repeated over several years and venues, would suggest that Obama was doing nothing to correct the error.  In other words, it appears like he was cashing-in on the claim that he was born in Africa, until he realized that this would be a problem for a guy with presidential ambitions. Critics, like loudmouth radio host Michael Graham are referring to this as his "Elizabeth Warren moment".   Graham also had an amusing week of calls when it was  revealed (apparently someone actually read the Obama autobiography) that as a youth, the future president had eaten roasted dog meat. (Not to be confused with dog food - which used to be horse meat).

On the other side, Romney critics keep trying to dredge-up mud about his past.  The decades-old story of the dog in a cage on the roof of the car has been flogged mercilessly in liberal blogs and op-ed pieces.  More recently the story is about a bullying incident from prep school where the victim (suspected of being gay) was held down while Romney shaved his head.

The most interesting thing about these issues is that they really have little  to do with a candidate's qualifications as a leader or representative at this moment.   Most voters have already made up their minds anyhow, and reports of past sins by their candidate are dismissed as  faux pas (like Professor Warren's hoary claim to minority status) will not change anyone's mind - or vote. (That is, unless someone comes up with an official Kenyan birth certificate.)   It seems that the issue of "character" is an elusive concept, which seems important when your opponent seems to lack it.

 Does the word "minority" mean anything anymore? On May 17th the Globe and WSJ reported that the 50.4% of babies under 1 year are nonwhite.  And the median age for white Americans is over 50, (beyond childbearing), whereas other groups (Asian, Blacks,Hispanics) is young 30's.  Thus the tipping point has been reached where it is only a matter of time before white Americans are the minority.

They even report that 4 states (Hawaii, New Mexico, California and Texas) plus Wash DC are already  "majority minority" states.  Which to me sounds like an oxymoron.

As a fat,old, white guy I have already felt the sting of discrimination. Pretty young girls don't even look at me anymore, no one wants to hire me, Howie Carr wants to take my driver's license away...  My Doctor keeps checking my prostate,  friends and relatives send me articles about losing weight,  the mailbox is full of flyers for "senior" housing.  Where do I sign-up for reparations?

Prime time TV Viewing Down, Mystery Solved.

NYT reports that Prime time TV viewing has decreased.  This is not the normal transfer of viewers from traditional networks to cable, this is across the board.  The reported hand-wringing of the network execs because low numbers means lower ad revenues.

"Though there seems to be no one reason for the decline, many executives say they are concerned that long-term changes in watching habits are taking a significant toll on viewership."

No one commented on the obvious cause:  There are virtually no good shows. And, too many commercials

Reality shows - low budget shows about fishermen, lumberjacks, celebrity cops, housewives, and motorcycle shops have become tedious knock-offs of a standard script that contains high levels of bleeped-out language, phony conflicts, and zero pathos.  We don't care about these players.  They lack heroism; they are just angry people yelling at each other.   These hoked-up dramas are empty calorie fast food, that leaves the viewer bloated with unresolved angst and a brooding guilt for wasting valuable time.

Sporting events are marred by the unceasing yak-fest of announcers who are in love with their own voices, and the forced break in the action to get in pre-arranged commercial messages.  These forces are enough to get me channel surfing between innings, periods, and time-outs.

 I almost never watch prime time TV,  where you can be assaulted by as many as ten separate commercial messages between segments..   It is a huge waste of time.  I can record the few shows that I like with the DVR and watch them at my leisure.  By fast forwarding (I use the jump button that skips ten second intervals) I can watch most 1 hour shows in 38 minutes, or less.  

If there are a lot of commercial-averse people like me, who are not being counted by the network execs, it is no wonder that the trend line of the apparent viewers is going down.

The one show that I do watch in real prime time is Masterpiece Theater on PBS on Sunday night .  Most of these presentations are produced in UK.  These shows are uniformly well-done.  I suppose that makes me a snob.  So Be it.

It should be noted:  PBS formerly boasted that they were commercial free, but greed and money dictate everything, don't you know, so we have seen an encroachment of  low-key 20 second ads where they used to run a list of sponsors.  At least they do not (yet) break-up the presentations into segments punctuated by automobile or Viagra ads.

Stay tuned.

Obesity is the new Tobacco

An opinion piece this week  in the Boston Globe by Derrick Jackson  quotes a prediction that by the year 2030, 4 out of 10 Americans will be obese (i.e., more than 100 pounds) over their suggested shelf weight.

I hate to brag, but once again I am ahead of the curve.  They say that bragging, like eating, is addictive because it makes you feel good.  Apparently, talking about one's self excites the pleasure center of the brain.  I suppose this is why blogs and social network apps like Facebook are so popular.  

My doctor thinks people should try to maintain the same weight they had when they were age 21.  Sure, doc, I'll just stop eating bacon and drinking beer, and start getting more exercise, ha ha ha.

Just thinking about deprivation makes me hungry.

Another Reason to Turn Off the TV

Here is a statistic that every high school kid should know: The unemployment rate for College Graduates is running about 4%.

Neil Shah, blogger at WSJ wrote:

"American adults who hold college degrees are finding it easier to get jobs. The unemployment rate for those 25 years old and over who have at least a bachelor’s degree dropped to 4% in April from 4.2% in the prior month and 4.5% in April 2011. That is roughly half the overall U.S. jobless rate, which declined to 8.1% last month from 8.2% in March.

I was not a math wizard in college, but it seems valid to say that without a degree you are twice as likely to be unemployed.