Radio or television stations etc. that base their programming decisions on what they think the public wants (or are told by 'poll takers' what the public wants) are taking their first step into homogeneous programming. Think for yourselves! Have some ideas about shows that aren't being done already!

There's a local, AM, independent radio station here that had Rush and Dr. Laura's programming denied them because one of the big broadcasters is trying to run them out of business so they can buy them up. As a result of the new space in their schedule they are trying a lot of different, off the wall programming - it's not "LOUD & AMAZING", just different, and my god it's FUN to listen to them! It's refreshing as hell! They were being told that they wouldn't survive without the 'big shows', but I think they're finding out otherwise. Sure, there will always be people who want the nationally syndicated shows, and there will always be radio stations to play them. But I'm just loving that this radio station is stepping out of the box (even if they were initially forced) - that ugly, off-white, generic, force-fed programming box. Not that I feel strongly, but no, contrary to marketing surveys, many of us DON'T CARE what Rush or Dr. Laura or Michael Savage have to say. And many of us WANT new and different programming, and that includes GOOD MUSIC too - not just what agents pay the radio stations to promote. There IS a niche for uniqueness (I realize that's probably an oxymoron), and it's getting bigger. It's metaphorically equivalent to the growing interest in Unix/Linux in the computer world. Hey, I'm getting good at this ranting thang!
posted:11:20 AM | link |

Two shots of the hawk on our shed, taken from a ways away, and through a window, so pardon the graininess. :-) It came back a few times already, hopping around, surveying the territory. Although you usually only hear their long screeching cry in movies and on tv, hawks actually chatter a lot. Later, I was outside with the dogs and it hopped onto an aluminum heating vent outside and Merlin saw it and was staring at it in silent fascination.
posted:1:19 PM | link |

A few tidbits for the moment. First, thanks tom for giving me a clue about that error message I was seeing here - am working on fixing that and got rid of the msg for the moment. Second, yesterday that Code Red Virus made its way around the internet - I checked my logs today and there were *24* attempts at the TCP:80 (port?) on our computer - thank god for firewalls! *grin* Thirdly, yesterday I spotted two full grown (about 10-11 inches tall) hawks hanging around our trees here and was able to get really close to them. They're still hanging around and John got some shots (not too close) of one sitting on top of the old shed we have in the yard - will post one later. (One book interpretation says that hawks mean you will be receiving a messge - oooooh!) (tom's got an eagle, we have hawks - neat!)
posted:10:03 AM | link |

If you see a line that says, "[an error occurred while processing this directive]" in the upper left corner of this page, consider that part of the "dust" I mentioned in an earlier post. Of course, it might be blogger and not me, but when you change a zillion variables at once, well, you know. :-)
posted:7:03 PM | link |

Hey - look around! :-) Firstly, notice the NEW URL: www.foxvox.org - yay! (I've set up forwarding, but it would be best to change your links - you can take your time though - LOL) Secondly, you'll notice the NEW DESIGN - a little simpler - we'll see how that goes. Since this is officially my personal site, I'm going to add photo sections, food sections, and other things as they come to me. (see the words above that will eventually be linked.)

In other total weirdness today: I've been working on our new sites and although the scripts are WORKING, none are really working the way I expected them too, including the referrer log files that we've set up before on our OTHER sites. Lines of code disappeared and reappeared and then disappeared again from source code. A few of our desktop applications unexpectedly terminated (including our firewall, which never does ANYTHING weird) and I have to reboot and they can barely be coaxed to run. Then I find out that the phone company cut some lines from our ISP to the Internet around noonish. And now blogger's down for some emergency repairs! (writing this offline) I detected some weird unsettled energy this around morning and this is definitely a manifestation of it. Apparently the whole internet was taking a sick day today! *grin*
posted:6:40 PM | link |

There's going to be some behind the scenes work going on here today, and there will probably be plenty to say about that once the work is done, but for now... if you see any 'dust', please pardon it. *grin*
posted:7:05 AM | link |

I have recognized a public domain sound loop that I used in a flash animation called Align in a free mini-CD of music I got at an art gallery opening in a club in Seattle, and now in a Honda commercial! Very strange. To quote an episode of Daria, "It really makes you think." ;-)
posted:7:37 PM | link |

Sliced peanut butter is going to be on store shelves soon because 'they' want to make it easier for kids to make a sandwich and not make a mess. Um... if kids are making a mess with peanut butter, wouldn't these be the same kind of kids who would leave the 'peanut butter slice' wrappers and bread crumbs laying around too? *grin* I wonder what new scheme marketers will come up with when the general public starts doubting their "it's easy! it's convenient!" angle?

All I can think of is the honest advertising slogans in the movie, "Crazy People"....
* "Volvo... boxy, but good."
* "Metamucil... without it, you'll get cancer and die."
* "Jaguar... for men who want hand jobs from beautiful women."
* "The Freak - this movie won't just scare you, it'll fuck you up for life."
* "National Airlines... more of our passengers get to their destination alive than any other airline."
(you get the idea - heh heh)
posted:2:13 PM | link |

Referrer logs telling you that someone is using your images on YOUR server? Here's some info: Best Evil Use of an Animated Gif Ever, Best Revenge for Stealing Images AND Bandwidth Ever, Best Answer if your Domain Runs on Apache. *grin* (Ironically, all links were SWIPED from the clever individuals at metafilter)
posted:8:26 AM | link |

Does anyone else think that the Levi's commercial with all the bellybuttons singing "I'm comin' out" is a tad... disturbing? Oh, the nightmares that will surely follow...
posted:7:45 PM | link |