My Glorious

August 18, 2006

God is bigger than the air I breathe
The world we’ll leave
God will save the day and all will say
My glorious!

Filed Under Faith

Life

August 17, 2006

One day, God created the dog and said:

“Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.”

The dog said: “That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?” So God agreed.

On the next day, God created the monkey and said: “Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year lifespan.”

The monkey said: “Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?” And God agreed.

On the next day, God created the cow and said: “You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.”

The cow said: “That’s kind of a tough life. You want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?” And God agreed again.

Then on the next day, God created man and said: “Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.” But man said: “Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?” “Okay,” said God, “You asked for it.”

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Filed Under Randomness

Bus Radio

August 16, 2006

Hope this makes you as disgusted as it did me.

Kids, Listen Up–or Maybe Not
Washington Post 8/2/06

Is Bus Radio “a low-grade form of child abuse” or a clever way to protect schoolchildren from inappropriate, sexually-loaded advertisements?

I guess it all depends on whom you listen to.

BusRadio is a start-up company in Massachusetts, the latest brainchild of the kids-marketers who gave schools free book covers full of bold, colorful ads for Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, Calvin Klein, Nike and other major national advertisers.

Now, Michael Yanoff and Steven Shulman want to create a private radio network that plays music, public-service announcements, contests and, of course, ads, into school buses.

As BusRadio’s Web site explains: “Every morning and every afternoon on their way to and from school, kids across the country will be listening to the dynamic programming of BusRadio providing advertiser’s [sic] with a unique and effective way to reach the highly sought after teen and tween market.”

BusRadio, the Web site adds, “will take targeted student marketing to the next level.” Marketers can advertise and sponsor contests or provide a celebrity deejay (perhaps to promote that next CD or movie). They can also use BusRadio’s Web site to conduct surveys and test songs, CD covers, packaging and ads. In an hour’s broadcast, 44 minutes will be devoted to music and news, six minutes to public-safety announcements, two to contests and eight to advertising. On most commercial radio stations, usually 10 to 12 minutes, sometimes more, is devoted to advertising.

BusRadio says pilot tests have shown that students behave better when its programs are on. Noise is reduced, and students are more likely to remain in their seats and more willing to follow school rules. What’s more, it says the private network guarantees kids won’t be listening to songs, DJ’s or ads that are inappropriate for their ages.

But U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) has a different opinion about BusRadio. “I think it’s absurd, a low-grade form of child abuse, that forces a captive audience to listen to commercial messages. I don’t think parents want it either,” said Dorgan, whose two nearly grown kids used the school bus regularly when they were younger.

In late June, Dorgan persuaded the Senate Commerce Committee to unanimously pass a measure that would direct the Federal Communications Commission to study the concept of BusRadio and the advertisements it carries, to see whether its material is age-appropriate and in the public interest. The provision hasn’t been approved by the House, so the FCC isn’t yet required to conduct such a study. But Dorgan said he hoped the agency would see the lopsided nature of the committee vote as an indication that the agency should go ahead and study BusRadio—before the company starts operating in earnest this fall in Massachusetts, broadcasting to more than 102,000 students. By September 2007 it plans to take its programs national, reaching 1 million students.

BusRadio, in an e-mail, said its “interests are aligned with Senator Dorgan and we look forward to showing him and his colleagues in Washington, D.C., that Bus Radio is offering a superior alternative to the commercially available AM and FM radio programming currently played on school buses. Existing programming is geared towards adults 18-34 and features adult lyrics, advertisements for alcoholic beverages and R-rated movies, and sexually explicit DJ banter

Filed Under Politics

Avoid AOL

August 9, 2006

Lots of people (including myself) have reported going through months of grief when they tried to drop AOL, with many having to resort to drastic measures such as canceling their credit cards or closing their bank accounts to stop the charges. (I had to close down my bank account to cancel AOL!) Vincent Ferrari’s recording of his call to AOL customer service made the rounds on the Internet recently. Now it seems AOL “customer service” personnel won’t even take death as a reason to cancel. That’s what Maxine Gauthier found out when she tried to cancel her father’s account after he died.

Filed Under Randomness