Thursday, May 31, 2007

Modern Times

On occasion, I get a chance to view a teevee with a cable connection. It seems to have disappeared from the offerings here, but I used to be able to get NHK TV - Japanese national television; broadcast in Japanese (sometimes with English subtitles) and in English (sometimes with Japanese subtitles). Altogether, a very satisfying experience. Especially since it appears to be counter to Japanese culture to be shrill and to feign outrage as for instance Fox News, where rational dialog is strictly forbidden. Aside: I wonder how much coaching it takes to get the talking heads on Fox to say "Fair And Balanced" without cracking up?
There is one offering on NKH that's of particular interest - a show that profiles people of some attainment; typically, but not necessarily, something technological in nature. On one occasion they profiled this man:

Daisuke Inoue, inventor of the Karaoke Machine.

In the English dubbing, Daisuke-san was quoted at one point as saying "I never got anything for my invention." Needless to say, I was disappointed to hear that. I personally would have given the inventor of Karaoke something like 20-to-life. I think that's a reasonable reward for enabling pop-singer-wannabes to pump up the volume of their unwelcome noise to new and unprecedented levels. I say, send 'em to the showers! Where the sound is muffled and echoic, the way God meant it to be!
Last year, I went to a friend's birthday celebration. It turned out to be at a club where the patrons were openly committing serial karaoke! It was a terrible sight to behold - or to behear. A few minutes of this caused my innate dislike of noise to coalese around a bitter hatred of karaoke. (Not, however, to this extreme: Man Shot Dead...).
Given all this, as you can easily imagine, I have long been puzzled at the intense fan(atic) respone to the teevee show

a karaoke show set in front of television cameras, and cabled into millions of homes. Somehow, this entertainment-on-the-cheap has captured a huge audience! One can only speculate how truly awful the competing offerings on teevee must be to make a karaoke show such a hit. That, or perhaps the sheer mindlessness of watching people doing nothing-very-interesting, as opposed to doing nothing-very-interesting yourself, is today the very height of entertainment.
Here is a recent also-ran, one whose name I saw almost continuously in major news venues for day after day after day. Now he's a celebrity on the order of Rula Lenska.

    Sanjaya, performing on American Idol.

What! You don't know who Rula Lenska was? I must confess, I don't either, really. I only remember that some (well, many) years ago, she, or perhaps some Rula Lenska Lookalike, had her moment of fame (on teevee, of course) which consisted of looking sultrily (if that can possibly be a word) into the camera, and saying, "Hi; I'm Rula Lenska."
Well, it was a commercial, of course, advertising something, I'm certain. I never could figure out what it was about, though. Eventually, I went to the trouble to look up Rula Lenska somewhere. It seems that sometime back in the '50's or '60's, or perhaps the '70's, she was a first-, or perhaps second-runner-up in the Miss Poland beauty pageant.
You see where I'm going here. If I'm going anywhere at all, I guess this is about famous-celebrity as famous-celebrity. Why should one bother with actual accomplishment if one can simply get on stage and pose? It's the new concept of success. Don't work to become a musician; go directly to being a Pop Star! It's all about image, nothing about substance. Sort of like being a politician, when you think about it.
At any rate; good luck Sanjaya! Someday with a little luck, you'll be able to get a gig like Rula Lenska's

Monday, May 21, 2007

What You Failed To Notice

In all this old/new rehashing of the



Rev. Jerry Falwell's

most psychotic rants, is: Just What Is A Grown Man Doing Watching A TV Show Made For Babies anyway? Nothing can be known for certain, but it is possible that the show, designed as a pacifier for pre-language infants (and their moms) was actually at an intellectual level suited for the Reverend and his multitude of followers.



Purple -- Hue Knew? / Thanks to Rev. Falwell, color is out of closet
The Rev. Jerry Falwell has said that the purple Teletubby, Tinky Winky, is a gay role model. (AP Photo)

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Energy: Part 1

Electricity

First, a few facts about energy generally: There are several different kinds of energy in nature - Electrical, Gravitational, Mechanical, Physical, Mental, and Emotional. The First Law of Energy: "Energy cannot be created nor destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another". This law was first proposed by Lord Kelvin (OBE,BTU), who used this law in the development of the Kelvinator, an early form of Frigidaire, or refrigerator, known today as "reefer".

Electricity can be "made" (remember the First Law!) in several ways. One way is to go fly a kite in a thunderstorm (Be Careful!).
Another way (preferred) is to block a river, and then let the dammed water flow over a windmill. The rotating windmill causes two wires to rub together, making the electrons living in the wires to run to the other end. This is an excellent example of the Conversion of Energy: the current from the flowing river is converted to current flowing along the wire!

Now that we know how to "make" electricity; let's think about the other part of the equation - what we can use it for!

Electricity is used in a myriad ways today.

The main thing we do with it is --- we waste it! Electricity's major use is to Heat Empty Spaces, Cool Empty Spaces. and Light Empty Spaces. It is also sometimes used to fill empty spaces with the sound of "music".

The number two use of electricity is for manufacturing. Electricity is used in (Manu)Factories to make almost anything we want but don't really need: Cars, Cosmetics, TV Dinners and other foodlike items, Levis, iPods, and "stuff" in general. The list is endless! Ummm, now that I look at it, I don't think any of that stuff (except maybe for the TV Dinners) is actually "manufactured" in the US anymore. In any case, this is proof that electricty, like political donations,is fungible; electricity used to make "stuff" we don't need could also be considered in category 1, above (wasted).

In pretty much a tie for third place is electicity used to light up houses - where it is intended to warn people that the occupants are awake and alert, so they should stay away; and commercial buildings - which are lit up like Christmas trees inside and out, hoping to make people think something interesting is going on, and attract them! It's an interesting duality. I have yet to figure if all this light shining in people's eyes has either effect. It's been going on for over a century now, and I guess the jury is still out.

The fifth (remember, there are two number 3's) most common use for electricity is (are you ready for this?) - to power appliances that are "off." Yes; many years ago, Lord Magnavox (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. etc.) discovered that if he wired your television or other essential appliance so that "OFF" really meant "ON - but not so you can use it," people would be happier. Their electric meters would continue to turn happily, thus avoiding a breakdown in the delivery of power to the home (and billing for same).

As I said earlier, electricity has a myriad of uses today. I have mentioned only a few of the most common. The other hundreds of uses perhaps adding up in the aggregate to as much as use number five (providing electricity to appliances that are "OFF").

So, when your local (or national) Candidate For President starts talking about "Clean Power" or "Green Power" remember: He-Or-She isn't talking about electricity. He-Or-She is talking about just plain power (His-Or-Her own).

Next: Energy: Part 2. Combustion

Friday, May 18, 2007

Poor Wolfie!


If only Paul "Iraq Delenda Est" Wolfowitz had just stuck to giving hundreds of millions of tax dollars to his friends in the war profiteering industries As I Said In 2003, to kill people. But no! He moved to the World Bank, and gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to his girlfriend, for love. He should'a stuck to death and destruction. If he had, he'd still be getting plaudits, promotions, and medals. Instead, he's getting the sack!