apple juice

I just heard on the radio (KTLK, 100.3) that Dish network customers were about to lose access to FX, Fox Sports North, Local Fox affiliates, Fox News and Fox Business. The “advertisement” encouraged Dish Network customers to switch to DirecTV so that they could get all of what they “deserve” as satellite dish customers. The advertisement ended with a website: Get what I paid for

Did I mention that the radio station and DirecTV are also both owned by Rupert Murdoch? (As are all the rest of those channels)

This is why things like net neutrality should matter to average consumers like you and me. When one dish provider (who happens to also own a bunch of the content) tells another dish provider they can’t have the channels anymore (unless agree to the new, probably unfavorable terms), it’s not the free market at work! More like monopolistic business practices.

Now, I’m not saying the situation in American media is like that of say, China, where BBC news reports suddenly go black when reporting on Chinese dissidents, but on the other hand, it’s not far from it when a few large companies (Fox, Comcast, Disney) own both the content and the distribution channels.

Go back to the “Get what I paid for” website, and read the comments. For example:

One of my favorite channels is FX. I’ve watched The Shield, Rescue Me, Niptuck & now Sons of Anarchy, to name a few. Now I won’t be able to watch the next couple of episodes of SOA’s. There was no advance warning prior to cancellation of this station from DISH. I’ve been a loyal subscriber for about 6 yrs. Well, I grant you I won’t miss anymore episodes because I AM canceling Dish Network. I am already in the process of going with Directv. I am sure I am not the only subscriber that DISH will be losing. So was it really worth it to deny Fox a fair compensation from the services that DISH are clearly making a profit on.

or:

If Direct TV still carries Fox stations why doesn’t Dish? If Dish does not reinstate the Fox channels, I will move to Direct TV.

or:

Dish Network, when we signed up with you we had no choice but to sign a 2 year contract and pay for one of the most expensive packages to get just a couple of the channels we only watch. You need to remember your in that contract too and now your in breech by not giving us the Fox and FX programming that we contracted to receive from you. You guys sure don’t have a problem charging and collecting your money when your customers breech thier contract with you. I say Class Action Suit!!! My family and friends will definitely be leaving Dish and remember word of mouth and bad customer relations can make or break a business.

Ok, the grammar on that last one is atrocious, probably not a plant.

How about this one:

We’ve been DISH customers for 15 years, but if Fox channels including Fox News are ever removed, we are GONE! If you think it’s bad now—just wait! People are getting tired of paying money just to be told what they can, and cannot watch. Turn lose of some of that money and give us the top rated TV channels we want and deserve as loyal customers. We still have SOME choices left in this country!!!

What choice is left when all your media comes from one corporation?

 

A great list of tips, tricks, and advice for travelling with kids.

18. Don’t do too much BUT don’t do too little either. I think the biggest mistake parents traveling with kids make is doing too little not too much. Get out there. Enjoy. Experience. Wear the kids out and get them tired.

(Via kottke.org.)

We just spent our first weekend away from Emilia, it was fun and restful (Sleeping until 9am!), but hard to not want to take her with us! I can’t wait to show her around some cool places.

This is what I’m talking about!

Amtrak Unveils Ambitious Northeast Corridor Plan, But It Would Take 30 Years to be Realized

“After months of sitting on the sidelines as states and regional agencies promoted major new high-speed rail investments, Amtrak has finally announced what it hopes to achieve over the next thirty years: A brand-new, 426-mile, two-track corridor running from Boston to Washington, bringing true high-speed rail to the Northeast Corridor for the first time.”

(Via the transport politic.)

The Tea Kettle Movement

“how can you take seriously a movement that sat largely silent while the Bush administration launched two wars and a new entitlement, Medicare prescription drugs — while cutting taxes — but is now, suddenly, mad as hell about the deficit and won’t take it anymore from President Obama? Say what? Where were you folks for eight years?”

Exactly.

Yeah, I’m thinking about politics again…

“…the biggest problem in this country is…they’re big babies. I mean, people keep saying they don’t want any tax increases, but they don’t want to have their Medicare cut, they don’t want to have their Medicaid [cut] or they don’t want to have their Social Security touched an inch. Well, it’s about time someone tells them, you can’t have it, baby…You have to make a choice. And I fear that—and I always thought, you see, that that was the Conservative position. The Conservative is the Grinch who says no. And, in some ways, I think this in the long run, looking back in history, was Reagan’s greatest bad legacy, which is he tried to tell people you can have it all. We can’t have it all.”

–Andrew Sullivan on Fareed Zakaria

Let me just remind everyone that it was Clinton who last had a balanced budget and made debt payments.

If you really want to scare yourself, check out the Wikipedia entry on the United States Federal Budget

There are different ways to solve these problems. We have limited resources, and we have choices to make.

What are your priorities?

 

If you think expanding regional high-speed rail is a good thing for the country, then you may want to reconsider voting republican…

Republican Wave Could Spell Trouble for High-Speed Rail Projects from Coast to Coast

Two things totally freaking me out:

Can a municipal service like a library hold so central a place that it should be entrusted to a profit-driven contractor only as a last resort — and maybe not even then?

Anger as a Private Company Takes Over Libraries

and…

U.S. Tries to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet

Several privacy and technology advocates argued that requiring interception capabilities would create holes that would inevitably be exploited by hackers.

Steven M. Bellovin, a Columbia University computer science professor, pointed to an episode in Greece: In 2005, it was discovered that hackers had taken advantage of a legally mandated wiretap function to spy on top officials’ phones, including the prime minister’s.

“I think it’s a disaster waiting to happen,” he said. “If they start building in all these back doors, they will be exploited.”

Two incredibly bad ideas, in my opinion.

As quoted in daring fireball:

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Ben Franklin