It's Very Simple Actually
Excerpts from radioandrecords.com :
Clear Channel...late yesterday announced that it has put an indefinite hold on the airing of the syndicated Howard Stern Show by any Clear Channel station. CC called the decision consistent with its "Responsible Broadcasting Initiative," announced earlier in the day. Six stations are affected by the move: WBGG/Miami; KIOZ/San Diego; WXDX/Pittsburgh; WTKS/Orlando; WTFX/Louisville; and WNVE/Rochester, NY.
The surprise is that Infinity-syndicated Stern was carried on any stations owned by Infinity competitor Clear Channel.
In Clear Channel Radio President/CEO John Hogan's prepared testimony for this morning's House Telecommunications Subcommittee hearing on indecency in broadcasting...[he] says he is very much against the idea of license-revocation hearings over indecency: "Radio stations are valuable assets. We have paid more than $100 million for a station in a large market. For the gov...
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OEMPER is Official
(See my entries on February 11 and 13 for more background on this.)
On February 18 I finally made it to Tequila Hoppers , formally signed up OEMPER as an NTN Players Plus member, and got in a couple of trivia games.
As of today (2/25), I am one of the top 50 players at Tequila Hoppers (see upper right corner). In fact, I will probably still be in the top 50 players as of 3/25. Why? As of today, only 9 Players Plus players have played at Tequila Hoppers. (Compare to McAlans .)
The location of Tequila Hoppers has a history of having tenants stay for a bit, then close down. Hopefully Tequila Hoppers will stay a bit longer....
Inland Empire Launches Attack on Los Angeles
OK, so the LALA Times is clearly marked as a satirical website, but let's forget that little tidbit of information for a moment. We're invading Ellay !
Inland Empire Launches Attack on Los Angeles
WITH EMPIRE TROOPS OUTSIDE POMONA — The Inland Empire's forces swept into strategic positions today in their mission to liberate "the people of Los Angeles."
Tensions between the Inland Empire and Los Angeles reached a peak a couple weeks ago when negotiations failed between the two counties and the Inland Empire cut off Los Angeles' water supply. The water rights issue stirred long-simmering political animosities, paving the way for an invasion known as "Operation: Angelinos Freedom."
During an engagement between Empire troops and Los Angeles loyalists, the 13th Infantry Division managed to breach the county line, then prepared for stiff resistance from the residents of Pomona. Elsewhere, there ...
Stop! in the Name of Traffic Safety
A few bicyclists ruin it for the rest of them.
This morning I was in the right lane of a low-traffic road with plenty of stop signs. I needed to make a right turn in 1/2 mile, and there was a bicyclist ahead of me. I figured that I'd go into the left lane, get around the bicyclist, then get back into the right lane before I had to make my turn. There was one stop sign between my current location and my right turn, so after I got into the left lane, I stopped at the stop sign.
The bicyclist didn't.
Because I was now unable to get around the bicyclist, I had to get behind the cyclist (driving at bike speeds) until I got to my right turn.
Bicyclists refusing to stop at stop signs is a common problem. Presumably the thought is that if the bicyclist "unnecessarily" stops at a stop sign, s/he will have to start up again, exerting muscular force which is not necessary. (Ironically, many people bicycle to stay healthy, so stop...
Exile One
I was going to write about Johnny Marr, but then I felt better.
Whilst uploading two new MIDIs to Sloganeering , I took a few minutes to sample my December 2000 collection Exile One . This collection contains the MIDIs "Little Vegas One" and "Little Vegas Two," neither of which are for headbangers. These were written at the same time as the MP3 "Madrid" (no longer available) and the poem Dining in Madrid . You know how John Bell Hood visited Romania? Well, I lived in New Mexico in a similar manner. And everything was mildly captivating (see "Little Vegas One"), then it was very calm (see "Little Vegas Two").
Inspiration is a mysterious thing. Let's face it: if I can write an entire CD ( Road Array ) about the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 , I can write about anything.
The Smiths Revisited
Back on October 24, I entered the following in this blog:
When Patti Smith married Fred Smith, did she take her husband's last name, or keep her maiden name?
Well, I haven't found the answer to that question, but I have found Patti's observations on the subject:
It was March 9, 1976, and we met in front of the radiator at that hot dog place, Lafayette Coney Island, in Detroit. The Sonic Rendezvous Band was opening for us, but I didn't know anything about him. Lenny introduced me to this guy. I heard that his name was Smith, and my name is Smith. We just looked at each other and I was completely taken by him. I had no idea who he was or anything about him until afterwards when Lenny told me. Lenny introduced him and said "He's one of the great guitar players." I said, "Perhaps you'll want to play with us tonight." And he said, "Maybe so." Then he left and I asked Lenny if he was really good, and Lenn...
Back in the Good Ole Days
TV Acres features a biography of Colonel Sanders. Required reading. Here's a brief story about how Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials were back in the day:
On February 18, 1964 Sanders sold his franchised chicken business (more than 600 outlets in the United States and Canada) for $2 million to a group of investors but was retained on salary as spokesman for Kentucky Fried Chicken often appearing in television commercials. One such TV spot in the 1960s showed an angry housewife who kidnapped the Colonel, interrogated him in an abandoned warehouse and demanded he give up his secret recipe. Of course, he didn't.
Kitchen Fresh Chicken?
Just to prove that I am incredibly behind the times, everything worth saying about "Kitchen Fresh Chicken" (formerly KFC) (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) has already been said by other bloggers.
From balnaves.com :
How PC. Personally I find Kentucky Fried more appetising than Kitchen Fresh.
From A Musing or Too Much :
Their latest ads tout "Kitchen Fresh Chicken." I don't know how successful they'll be, but I'll certainly give them credit for hutzpah.
From Biding My Time :
What does that mean anyway? You would hope it would be fresh and prepped in a kitchen. Nobody wants bathroom fresh chicken Or kitchen rancid chicken.
Heh Heh Heh
Yes, I like Beavis and Butt-Head. They were true heroes for the Clinton Administration. But I'll never buy the versions of their TV shows that are on sale right now. Probably for licensing reasons, the videos don't include the best part of the TV shows - their commentaries on current videos.
Melinda Morrow has written an article on that very topic. Excerpts:
...This essay will address one of those overlooked questions: Why does MTV broadcast and support Beavis and Butt-head, a show which is often critical of the music videos that are MTV's bread and butter?...
...Story lines or social commentary are often totally lost on Be, avis [sic] and Butt-head, but do not necessarily interfere with a video's coolness provided enough hard rock elements are there. For example, the video for D.R.I.'s song "Acid Rain" creates a post-environmental-disaster world where people have inhalers and ponchos to protect themselves from the polluted atmosph...
I Coulda Been a Contender
I already talked about Amway back on December 2. When the stellar exponential opportunities of Amway were presented to me at the time, I ended up thinking about the David Naughton song "Makin' It" :
...Number two to no one
I've got looks, I've got brains
And I'm breakin' these chains...
Success is mine
'Cause I've got the key
I'm makin' it...
Later, I thought that the Peter Gabriel song "Big Time" expressed a similar sentiment. The lyrical parallels are obvious:
I'm on my way, I'm making it...
the place where I come from is a small town
they think so small
they use small words
-but not me
I'm smarter than that...
I'll be a big noise with all the big boys
there's so much stuff I will own
and I will pray to a big god
as I kneel in the big church...
And if I had just signed up to sell that shoe polish, I would be so much better than you today. :)
RFID Tracks You Down...Or Does It?
Excerpts from Ephraim Schwartz's InfoWorld column at http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/02/13/07OPreality_1.html . Mr. Schwartz lists two possible scenarios identified by Hal Etterman, an "expert on data encryption and surveillance systems" at MindForce Consulting .
...You're sitting in the food court at your favorite mall...when a cordon of mall police surround your table, guns drawn, screaming at you to "Drop the bun and put your hands up!"...[T]he clerk at the Gap forgot to deactivate the RFID (radio frequency identification) tag in the sweater you just bought. When you passed an RFID reader, connected to the Wi-Fi enabled network, it sent a message to the security desk, and as you passed each RFID reader along the way, they tracked you down in the food court.
You don't need this level of overkill. All you need is a very loud alarm as you exit the Gap. These alarms exist today, although RFID will allow bet...
Football? You Bet!
In my February 1st entry in this blog, I made the following comment:
Many people are probably poo-pooing the first half because of the lack of scoring, but to me that made it even better. A good defense just makes the few offensive scores that much better. (So then, why aren't I a rabid soccer fan?)
Well, ever since I started watching Fox Sports World , that has been changing.
Part of it is my fascination with the league structure. The very fact that a team that loses a lot of games could be kicked down to a lower division is compelling. Imagine how the Los Angeles Clippers would play if they were threatened with demotion. Imagine how Donald Sterling would run the team if he was threatened with demotion.
To a newcomer, the whole myriad of teams and leagues is somewhat overwhelming. Even for a single team it's confusing. During 2003/2004, the Fulham Football Club plays friendly games, Premier League games, FA Cup games, and one game for the C...
Increase Union Pension Funds - Invest in Grocery Companies
The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) governs itself by the use of eight Guiding Principles . Number five:
Obtaining the highest return on our investment portfolio to survive, prosper, and grow in a safe and prudent manner.
It therefore stands to reason that CalPERS would not knowingly want to invest in any stock that is about to tank. They would violate their duty to their constituency by maintaining investments that they know will lose value.
As of December 17, 2003, CalPERS reported that they maintained investments in the following firms:
Safeway: over $77 million as of 12/17/2003
Albertson's: over $31 million as of 12/17/2003
Kroger: over $71 million as of 12/17/2003
So how have their investments done since that time?
Safeway: from $19.98/share on 12/16 to $22.43 on 2/13 (12%+ in 2 months)
Albertson's: from $20.17 to $23.95 (18%+)
Kroger: from $17.33 to $18....
I'm a rEbEl d00d! tAke mE to tHe sToRe m0M
Recently, grocery stores have offered gift cards to use at other locations: restaurants, retailers, hotels, and the like.
Well, Kroger grocery stores are now offering gift cards that can be used to purchase songs from Napster . This is of course the new, politically correct Napster that doesn't rob rocker or torture babies or whatever it is they used to do that made them so evil.
And now Kroger stores are luring young impressionable kids into their institutions of corporate greed. Will the UFCW boycott Napster?
Enjoy the Silence
Disney has made no official statement on Comcast's bid since the following statement , made 2/11/2004:
February 11, 2004
Contacts: Zenia Mucha
(818) 560-5300*
STATEMENT BY THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY
The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors has received and will carefully evaluate the unsolicited proposal from Comcast Corp. In the meantime, there is no action for shareholders to take. Today and tomorrow, the company will present to Institutional Investors and Analysts at a previously scheduled conference its broad array of unique and valuable businesses, as well as the strategies being deployed to fully realize the tremendous long-term value of those assets. # # #
Obviously a response to such a bid must be more than a "yes" or a "no." Presumably the response, when publicized, will be a very long no with voluminous justification of why a higher share price is warranted.
Perhaps Disney's drafting the response, or perhaps ...
Together Again
If you had visited the home page for depeche mode dot com several months ago, you would have encountered a page that led you to several separate sites, including solo sites for Dave , Martin , and Andrew (Toast Hawaii) . At the same time, rumors were flying about that Depeche Mode had broken up, etc., etc., etc.
Now if you go to depeche mode dot com today, the links to the solo sites are much smaller. Although there's no new news on the site about any forthcoming album, the subliminal suggestion is that the band is proceeding ahead together.
Catching Up
Obviously I have some gaps in my knowledge of Billy Idol's career, but I filled them in by reviewing "A Brief History" at www.billyidol.com . A few semi-random excerpts:
...Mr Broad decided when Billy was just 2 that they should all set off to follow ‘the American Dream’ & they relocated to Long Island in New York; it was here that sister Jane arrived two years later. The Broads returned to the UK after about four years, Billy bringing back many happy memories, in particular of the cars & the music....
...Worthing High School provided Billy’s education & it was here that one of the teachers unwittingly became responsible for Billy’s eventual stage name. Not realising that Billy was actually bored at school, he described him as ‘idle’ in his school report. It was a comment which would stay in Billy’s mind for a long time....
William Broad Raked the Lawn
Bought Whiplash Smile last night. This is one of those albums that I once owned on cassette tape, and am finally getting around to purchasing on CD. (I tossed my cassettes several years ago.)
Billy Idol is a fascinating character. Let's start with an excerpt from Stephen Davis' Led Zeppelin biography Hammer of the Gods :
In November [1978] the whole band moved to London to rehearse an album that would be recorded the following month in a Stockholm Studio owned by the group Abba....The rehearsals were sensational, and the musicians realized they still could do it. Led Zeppelin had been scornfully ridiculed as musical Goliaths and anal-retentive tax exiles by the punks and new wavers. Now they could fight back with what they realized was their best, most sophisticated music. In the next rehearsal hall, the punk band Generation X was preparing for a tour. As Led Zeppelin were leaving one night, Generation X's spike-haired young singer hur...
Update on Tequila Hoppers
After putting Fred Astaire to shame, I drove by Tequila Hoppers . There was a line. A long line. Don't think Friday night will be the night to play NTN trivia .
Incidentally, while mentioning Fred Astaire, I'm reminded of the famous comment by a Paramount executive at Astaire's first screen test: "Can't act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a little."
No, I'm Not Talking About Gilbert O'Sullivan
For some unknown reason (ha), a particular song by Leo Sayer has come to mind. No, not the one that starts with the words "You got a cute way of talking...." No, I'm talking about "Long Tall Glasses" . Let's pick up in the middle of the first verse:
yeah there was ham an' there was turkey, there was caviar
an' long tall glasses, with wine up to yar
an' then somebody grabbed me, threw me outta my chair
said before you can eat, you gotta dance like Fred Astaire
So Leo launches into the first chorus:
you know I can't dance, you know I can't dance
you know I can't dance, you know I can't dance
I can't dance
Yes, this has come to mind. I am making my triumphant return to the stage after a 33 year absence. For those of you counting on your fingers, toes, your spouse's fingers, etc., that's since 1971. (Yes, I know that I've publicly claimed th...
Don't Read What It Says
I've seen billboards for ready.gov , so I finally checked it out.
Under "Make a Kit," it lists the following links:
Water & Food
Clean Air
First Aid Kit
Supply Checklists
Special Needs Items
So, are we supposed to make a kit of clean air? Buy an oxygen tank?
It gets better . Although the site basically admits that you can't protect yourself against all airborne WMDs (while noting that "something over your nose and mouth in an emergency is better than nothing"), the suggestions are bound to incite ridicule.
Other Barriers
Heavyweight plastic garbage bags or plastic sheeting
Duct tape
Scissors
I can't wait for the filmed instructions . ( more ) ( still more ) ( even more )
Addictions Available in Upland in Two Days
My name is OEMPER, and I'm an NTNaholic .
Although I've played in Minnesota and South Carolina, I usually get my fix at Double Decker's Pub and Diner in Ottawa, Canada.
That may change. The long-awaited opening of Tequila Hoppers will occur in two days. And yes, they are still scheduled to get NTN .
This may be trouble...
This Blog is on Blogshares
There is a website called BlogShares which is "a fantasy stock market for weblogs...blogs are valued by inbound links." And the Ontario Empoblog is listed. In fact, several blogs that I frequent are listed:
Ontario Empoblog is valued at B$1,366.67 with a share price of B$0.33.
KOER Synthetica Radio Transcripts is valued at B$1,000.00 with a share price of B$0.20.
eclecticism is valued at B$17,867.10, with a share price of B$408.79.
T.M.I. About April is valued at B$1,478.73, with a share price of B$45.30.
Pointless Gorilla Marketing
Haven't done this in a while!
From the Yahoo! group Silliness and Nonsense :
How to engage in SLOGANEERING
We got the eats that can't be beat!
One day longer, one day wronger!
We gonna need to get some greed!
SLOGANEERING.
From the Silliness & Nonsense section in Eddyland (proboards) :
How to engage in SLOGANEERING
Poppycock! U2 rocks!
Janet Jackson, get some action!
Justin Timberlake, make your Shake N Bake!
SLOGANEERING.
And, in a totally different Yahoo! group :
I should have posted this in GROCERYSTRIKE
I should have posted this in
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GROCERYSTRIKE/
"Sloganeering" has begun.
http://ontarioemperor.tripod.com/music.html#sloganeering
Current contents:
"Template Cannon"
"Mills Around"
All this for a couple of old MIDIs. Well, it's 2004...
Howard Dean is Still Leading in California!
Just checked CNN again. Dean still has 15 California delegates - more than anyone else - and he has 182 delegates - more than anyone except Kerry.
Current totals:
Kerry: 510 (gain from 482)
Dean: 182 (gain from 181)
Edwards: 163 (gain from 117)
Clark: 98 (gain from 84)
Sharpton: 12
Kucinich: 2
Late 2
I live on the West Coast. I watch special events on TV. This is the origin of one of my major pet peeves. You know how many great television events are live "except on the West Coast"? Well, we hardly get anything live. For example, take the Grammys - big event, especially when you consider how much of the music industry is out here. The Grammys took place just down the street from Ontario. But we couldn't see them until three hours after they started. (Not that we wanted to, but that's another story.)
About the only major events that are televised live out here are sporting events. Make that most sporting events. When the Los Angeles Lakers play on the East Coast, we get the game on tape delay. For example, if you tuned in to KLAC AM 570 at about 5:30pm, you would have heard Lakers pre-game show stuff. Go up the dial to KFWB AM 980 , and you would have heard the halftime score.
Late 1
So I'm being a good boy and I'm avoiding those greasy slammers that Carl's Jr sells (though I have been known to call their fried zucchini "health food." I avoided them so long that I forgot what they were called.
So today I'm being a bad boy, and I drive up to Carl's Jr and try to find the things on the menu board, and I can't. So I ask them if they still have the sliders.
They are puzzled.
I clarified that I wanted the little burgers.
They responded that they no longer sell slammers.
I was late.
Howard Dean is Leading in California!
Michael Hanscom has stated that Howard Dean is in second place in the Democratic primaries:
As long as Dean is in one of the top three spots (and he's currently in second, though few media reports are likely to point that out), I think he should stick it out
At first glance, this flies in the face of the conventional wisdom. Everybody knows that Dean is losing. Everybody knows that Kerry is winning most everything, with Edwards and General Wesley "General" Clark winning here and there, and Dean isn't winning anything.
Only one problem - the news isn't focusing on the real race for the nomination. They're focusing on vote counts, not delegates, with the unspoken implication that whoever gets the most votes gets all the delegates in a particular primary or caucus.
When you look at the delegate count , the story is somewhat different. As of today, here are the delegate counts for the various candidates:
K...
False Prayers
A statement that I made on Saturday on the Yahoo! SWY stock board requires some explanation.
First, here's what I said:
The union knew they wouldn't be able to get within 1/2 mile of Burd's home. It was simply a publicity stunt, and a Satanic one at that.
This was in response to a recent action by Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice , who staged a pray-in near the home of Steve Burd, Chairman and CEO of Safeway. From CLUE's account:
Scores of religious leaders and supermarket workers, some with children in tow, had traveled hundreds of miles from Southern California to personally deliver a message to Safeway Inc. Chief Executive Steven Burd....they were met by security guards and local police, and a nattily dressed man who identified himself as Guy Worth, Burd's personal representative. "Our message to you is to please come back to the bargaining table and don't leave until there is an agreement," said the Rev. S...
Tons 'O' Links!
Faq-O-Matic allows a webmaster to host a FAQ, and allows visitors to append responses. See the FAQ on this page for an example.
MyWorld66 includes a neat tool to chart the countries and/or states you have visited. For example:
create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide
Here's the time (in the Pacific time zone, anyway).
Super Bowl
Another Super Bowl come and gone...
The game was a very good one, even in the first half. Many people are probably poo-pooing the first half because of the lack of scoring, but to me that made it even better. A good defense just makes the few offensive scores that much better. (So then, why aren't I a rabid soccer fan?)
I was disappointed in the commercials , but probably because I have such high expectations. Every year I expect "1984." I never get it. Many of the commercials weren't even that entertaining, although the Budweiser donkey commercial was a good one. Willie Nelson doing a commercial for H&R Block sounded like it had promise, but I'd rather see Willie in a booth giving tax advice than see the Willie doll.
I guess that just leaves the entertainment . All praise to Steven Tyler for still being able to hit the high note on "Dream On" (that sounded like a live performance to me, but I could have been fooled). Everyone ...