Media

Ok, I’ll admit that I don’t own any smut films or even any toys ~ but that’s due entirely to my current situation and not to any prudish sensibility. Let’s face it, when I go out shopping these days, I have a 4 year old with me. So, perusing the Adults Only section is just not an option. It’s not like the sign says, “18 & over only unless accompanied by an adult”! And, given how my days are filled with choosing new doctors, finding new daycare, seeking employment and then trying to wedge some writing in at the end of the day ~ porn just doesn’t come to mind too often for this spinster. But, today it’s kind of all I’m thinking about thanks to an article written by Mick Farren in LA’s City Beat.

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Everyday there is some breaking news story about some minor or semi-major ‘celebrity’ going to, coming out of, or escaping from rehab. Perhaps the news should have a separate section dedicated to ‘rehab news’ with details of the most recent sad celebrity cases and their addiction adventures.

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Okay, if you're actually blogging for fame, you're likely to be disappointed. But sometimes it can find you all the same. A few weeks back I wrote a two-part series on "Carnival Midway Game Secrets" based on my past work as a carny. One result was that I just concluded a 30 minute telephone call with Kevin Cowherd, a columnist for the Baltimore Sun newspaper.

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Well, I am reading the Yahoo news page today. The story is about Michael Vick and his court hearing yesterday, and low and behold, the race card was played in this story. Why??? I should have seen it coming, but, I for the life of me, cannot understand why this happens everytime.

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Yes, simply because that is the nature of the moment and the age we live in. We cannot turn the clocks back to more 'sensible' times when information was controlled, and only certain people with questionable motives set the public agenda and decide appropriate behaviour for all. We are in new technologically dominating times and we have to get over it. The media revolution we are experiencing, especially with its easy access to instant news, makes concentration on public figures one of the more unpleasant side effects of our new age. But like anything else, media coverage is audience driven. If people did not want to hear a thing about Paris Hilton, if she had no fans or anyone interested in her, she would have faded as a distant memory a long time ago, just like many other famous figures who have long since come and gone.

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I didn't even know who Ben Ferguson was before about 10 minutes ago, and I already believe he's an idiot.

CNN Headline News brought this guy on to support, supposedly, the right's response to Don Imus being fired, saying that if Don Imus gets fired, Rosie O'Donnell should also be fired for comments she's made against evangelical Christians and a statement she made about a conspiracy about what happened on 9/11.

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So I was watching the news the other day and a report about the internet site Myspace was playing. Sure no biggie, it happens all the time, the media have always been trying to give Myspace a negative spin. But this one pissed me off....

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Some people take no thought of the news they link. However, not all news sources are credible. It is not enough just to pick up stories and link.

From the titles alone of these so-called news, you could see that they are catchy but misleading. However, these are calculated to be like that - to tickle your mind to read on if you are not careful.

Let's take this link newly posted as an example: “19 Year Old Diebold Technician Wins U.S. Presidency.�? This means that the election is over and that this technician has already won. It is misleading, but at the same time appears legitimate. It makes people read on, but one has to have a critical eye.

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High-Definition television (HDTV) means broadcast of television signals with a higher resolution than traditional formats (NTSC, SECAM, PAL) allow. Except for early analog formats in Europe and Japan, HDTV is broadcast digitally, and therefore its introduction sometimes coincides with the introduction of digital television (DTV): this technology was first introduced in the USA during the 1990s, by the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance (grouping together AT&T, General Instrument, MIT, Philips, Sarnoff, Thomson, and Zenith)[1].

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TV tuner cards

A TV tuner card is a computer component that allows television signals to be received by a computer. Most TV tuners also function as video capture cards, allowing them to record television programs onto a hard disk.

While typically a PCI-bus expansion card, they can also be a USB device. Some video cards double as TV tuners, notably the ATI All-In-Wonder series. The card contains a receiver, tuner, demodulator, and a analog-to-digital converter for analog TV. Like TV sets, each version is designed for the radio frequencies and video formats used in each country. However, many TV tuners used in computers use DSP, so a firmware upgrade is often all that's necessary to change the supported video format. Many newer TV tuners have Flash memory big enough to hold the firmwares for decoding several different video formats, making it possible to use the tuner in many countries without having to flash the firmware. In addition to the frequency tuner, many include a composite video input. Many TV tuners can function as FM radios: this is because the FM radio spectrum lies between television channels 6 and 7, and the DSP can be easily programmed to decode FM.

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Flat panel display
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Flat panel displays encompass a growing number of technologies enabling video displays that are lighter and much thinner than traditional television and video displays using cathode ray tubes, usually less than 10 cm (4 inches) thick. These include:

Flat panel displays requiring continuous refresh:

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A personal video recorder (PVR)) is a device that records video without videotape to a hard drive-based digital storage medium. The term includes stand-alone set-top boxes and software for personal computers which enables video capture and playback to and from disk.

Hardware Features

Hardware features of security DVRs vary between manufacturers and may include but are not necessarily limited to:

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I’m packing for a cross-country flight tomorrow morning. Yes, another one. Don’t worry, Dude and Dude are ok with it. They hardly noticed the last trip. Just stepped from the third to the last week of April without skipping a beat. When they discovered that they couldn’t remember how they got from the 17th to the 30th of the month, I just told them that they went off with some hot chicks, and if they wanted to remember anything about it next time, they needed to lay off the neat tequila. This sent them off to the liquor store to replenish their stocks of Cuervo Gold. So it’s just me and the empty suitcase here right now.

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The word desensitization has been used often to describe the sense of satisfaction we as a society get from increasingly pushing the envelope within our media. We enjoy watching and experiencing entertainment that both shocks and excites us, and the scope of what shocks and excites us has become vastly more disturbing with every passing generation. Recently, within both the realm of film and television, graphic scenes of torture and dismemberment have become very popular, the latest in this need to push the envelope of what we as a viewing public can handle. The timing seems very strange, with the recent very public actions of the US Military, as well as other controversial corporal punishment and arcane torture methods being decried and exposed throughout the world. Yet, shows and movies of this theme are more celebrated than ever. I don’t for one second claim that media such as this should not be made. On the contrary, I am all for gore and blood and guts in movies, and enjoy seeing the creative landscape explored, even if it may be a little unnerving. Putting a stop to media such as this is not the answer, as stifling creativity never is, but perhaps we should examine exactly why we need to push things this far. Have we become so desensitized that simple murder just isn’t scary enough anymore? Is it enough even to be frightened now, or must we also be shocked and psychologically disturbed to actually feel fear from a television show or a horror movie? The prevalence of psychological and physical torture and abuse in our media today would suggest yes.

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Recently, someone wrote a blog discussing stress management and terrorism, leading to me pondering something that has often crossed my mind since 9/11. How valuable is it to be aware of the myriad of issues and compexities regarding global terrorism assuming there is little any one individual can do to affect change? (which is a completely separate debate).

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