Gramophones to Grammys

First gramophones, when I think of them, I think antique. In my mind’s ear I hear a scratchy melody either classical or opera, and in my mind’s eye I see a wobbling turntable and a large tarnished tin horn mounted on a box. This visual is in black and white and dust motes are floating in the beams of light that somehow filters in through the gauzy curtains…or is that cigarette smoke? And don’t forget the RCA Victor dog listening attentively, head cocked. My dog Fred (who looks a bit like the RCA dog) would be howling to the music.

Fast forward to the Grammys, not to be confused with grandmothers, grandmas, or as I am sometimes called, g’mas, the Grammys will be on TV this week and they are awards shaped like little gramophones that are bestowed upon prominent artists in the music industry by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This year marks the 55^th anniversary of the awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959 to honor the achievements in music of 1958. Henry Mancini won album of the year with The Music from Peter Gunn, and Domenico Modugno won best song and record of the year with Volare. There was no Best New Artist award at the first Grammys but the following year, the second annual ceremony, Grammy Award for Best New Artist went to Bobby Darin.

This year, LL Cool J, a two time Grammy Award winner will be hosting the award show for a second time.

Cue earworm: Call me maybe…I’m on a payphone…

Wi-Fi Free for All

There are two powerful groups lobbying against each other over the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to create a super Wi-Fi network across the nation so super that we could use it to make cell phone calls and surf the internet without a monthly cell phone bill. Against the proposal is the 178 billion dollar wireless industry, for obvious reasons. For this proposal are Google, Microsoft, and other tech giants that think the free for all will spark an explosion of innovations and devices that would benefit most of us and especially the poor. The super Wi-Fi would be much more powerful (able to penetrate thick concrete and leap tall buildings without a single bound) than existing Wi-Fi networks we have in our homes now.

After reading about this yesterday in the Georgia Times-Union (on the front page, no less), I had to check the byline to be sure this article wasn't written by my little brother because it sure seemed as far out as some of his crazy ideas and schemes! But it wasn't.

Then I got to thinking about the super savings I would see without a cell phone bill. The cell phone companies will probably raise the prices on their phones but they wouldn't be completely put out of business. They also might become innovators and improve the devices we have now. Maybe they will sell their towers to the government for outrageous prices. Maybe they will end up selling their towers for scrap. So much for feeling sorry for them, they have been on the receiving end of plenty of my money and it’s time they start doing something better with it before it is all gone.

And consider the benefits to schools struggling to keep up to date with technology and use its great advantages in helping educate our children. The wireless free for all would go a long way to leveling the playing field between inner city schools and schools with more affluent property tax bases. Then I got to thinking about how (as a last resort) I sometimes turn off the wireless in the house to get my grandson to shut down his PSP3 (usually after midnight on weekends). Oh well, I guess this is where parental control will have to kick in. If not, I am ready to innovate and find some new solutions!

Plutocrats

Who are they? They are the super-rich multimillion and multibillionaires, many of whom are directly and indirectly involved in influencing the political scene in this country. They are small in number compared to the rest of us, non-Plutocrats. Perhaps they get their name (Plutocrat) because the gap between their wealth and the wealth of a poor or middle class person’s parallels the gap that equals the distance between the planet Earth and the dwarf planet Pluto (averaging 3.7 billion miles). According to some things I’ve read they are against so called “entitlement programs” because they don’t want to fund them. Because the amount of wealth these Plutocrats have amassed is so great, achieving the same amount or even close to the same of wealth is considered unattainable for poor and middle class Americans. Some economists are thinking there really is no longer a fair level playing field in our country and this has a direct negative impact on the attainment of the so called “American Dream.”

But one thing to keep in mind is that the United States was founded as a plutocracy. In order to vote, you had to own land, thus proving that your wealth was above a certain threshold, that you belonged to the land-owning class. Voting eligibility along with many other things have changed since our country was founded, but are we still a plutocracy? The Roman Republic, Carthage, and the pre-World War II Empire of Japan were all plutocracies. In the U.S. today Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake, FL are contemporary plutocracies owned and governed by The Walt Disney Company as per state statutes.

At this point in my life, I don’t strive to be a Plutocrat, but there are many people struggling just to get by and I would like to hope that their lives and economic circumstances can improve and thus their burdens lighter. But does the existence and influence of Plutocrats stymie opportunities for economic stability and success for the rest of us? 

Road Kill

The road kill I am referring to here have the pink sticker of death on their windshields and can be found littering the sides of the roads from less traveled byways to the interstates. It must be tough to just walk away from a dead or dying friend that you've had a love/hate relationship with for who knows how long. Do you give the tires one last kick as you abandon or regret the kicks you may have given in the past?  After all what kind of friend leaves you stranded, and how do you get home when you are far from any exit (and civilization) anyway? Maybe thumbs are better used on cell phones rather than for hitching a ride. Maybe your cellphone bill takes up so much of your income that you feel forced to choose abandonment over paying for a tow and repair.

Either way, if you see the pink sticker on the windshield, it means that state or local law enforcement have paid their respects and unless the owner of the vehicle finds a way to resurrect it within a certain time period it will be towed unceremoniously to an impound lot. Information from the tag and registration will be used to notify the next of kin (owner or last owner according to the current registration) and they can pay the towing and impound fees and retrieve the car. If they do not claim their vehicle within a certain time period the car goes to a public auction, where if sold it gets retitled to a new owner. If the abandoned vehicle remains unsold or doesn't go to a smaller aggressive used car dealership, its fate may be to move on to a salvage yard, a potters’ field, the true end of the road for this sort of road kill.

FOMO

FOMO, or fear of missing out, simply put is a term that describes the addictive qualities of social media and I’m pretty sure I don’t have it. I am tiptoeing on this topic because this blog is a form of social media and I don’t want to sound hypocritical. I do find myself checking the blog views (in case I need to reply to comments) and Face Book (since I post a blog link there too) fairly frequently throughout the day. I am also on Skype every night and I check my email too. I don’t have an IPhone or an Android so I don’t do data on my phone or tweet but I text a lot and take phone photos. But then again I usually do make a stop at McD’s for the Wi-Fi when I travel and if I don’t have my computer, I have my trusty Kindle Fire ready and charged for the trip. So maybe I have a touch of FOMO now that I take all this into consideration. My main use for this computer is writing and I have several files and projects, either completed or in the works, including an EBook for Kindle on sale at Amazon (one more place I go to online pretty regularly). I also love to crochet… and I set up an Etsy Shop called ScarfAccessories with Pay Pal and everything for the express purpose of selling the crocheting online. That’s another place I check every day. So maybe I have a little more than a touch of FOMO. Well at least I don’t sleep with my phone like my grandkids do (in case of emergency, they say-or they have to have it on since they set their phone alarm to wake them up for school) so you’ll never see my face appear to float above the blankets, reflecting an eerie blue light in the middle of the night and you won’t find me on Face Book at all hours (even on school nights) either.

The standard meaning of FOMO (fear of missing out) may be alright for some people but for me I think FOMO should stand for found online more often….than (here is where you fill in the blank) –I want to be, -I need to be, or just found online more often …than not. You decide for you…and thanks for being FOMO than not, reading this blog!

Happy Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is a day named for groundhogs, or woodchucks, whistle-pigs, or in some areas land-beavers. Those are some other names for the animal we call a groundhog on February 2^nd. No matter what you call it, the groundhog is a rodent, a rodent that makes weather predictions based on whether or not he sees his shadow when he comes out of his burrow one day each year. Meteorology has come a long way since people began using groundhogs to predict whether spring is coming early or we are stuck with six more weeks of winter. I think the media goes overboard for both rodent prognosticators and TV weather people (especially on the Weather Channel). Most of the sources agree that the groundhog is more often incorrect in his predictions and I find that often to be the case with TV meteorologists too. Then there are politicians and scientists getting in on the hype with predictions of global warming.

Here are my feelings about the weather. It is cold outside today and I, personally, am ready for spring to come early. I figure when the dog days of summer hit I will have some regrets about wishing for this but that will be then and this is now. I saw my shadow today though so I am not sure what that means for the weather here in Southeast Georgia. I also took this photo with my phone this afternoon…spring onions, snow peas, and fresh eggs.

Tweet Seats

I don’t tweet but apparently lots of people do. So many that now Tweet Seats are being made available for tweeters. These tweet seats are not found in nests or birdhouses either (where I figured they would be) and they are not for the birds! These tweet seats are for the tweeters that Twitter. Twitter has a couple of definitions. Short bursts of chirping or chatter by birds is one and a short burst (140 characters or less) of social media chatter is another. The Providence Performing Arts Center is embracing social media by setting up tweet seats where audience members can discuss the show on Twitter while it's happening. Apparently the tweet seat area is towards the back so as tweeters tap their glowing screens, they don’t distract the rest of the audience that has silenced and put away their phones for the performance.

The other place the tweet seat has come into vogue is on First Coast News in Jacksonville. They may have tweet seats on other news programs but other the other channel I watch at 10 PM (so I can go to bed early) Fox Action News doesn't have one as far as I have seen. Keep in mind I am pretty tired by that time and am really watching mostly for the weather. The tweet seat on FCN gives viewers an opportunity to interact and tweet their views during a broadcast which in itself is an interesting concept. There’s a lot of reality TV on as it is and the tweet seat gives viewers a chance to be a part of what’s happening in real time. These programs and news events show tweets at either the bottom or top of the screen and I figure they come from someone (not in a tree or birdhouse) in a tweet seat too.