First off, apologies for being so tardy this week. I finally went to a couple favorite places that usually clear my head and provide inspiration; the outside deck at Brandon Golf Course and Dunn Bros. Coffee. For some reason, though, my laptop wouldn’t connect to the WiFi networks at either place. After making doubly sure that it was my machine and not their signal, I concluded that in my zeal to speed up my computer, I clicked a wrong button and disabled its ability to hook up to all wireless networks except for the one at home. I know just enough about computers to be dangerous. I figured that I’d go to Youtube and follow the instructions provided by geeks in their basements demonstrating ways to delete certain functions that may be slowing my machine down. I try to be wary of those evil geniuses who also lurk there in hopes of planting viruses just for the fun of it. In the past, I’ve used Youtube videos for instruction on how to properly carve a turkey, improve my putting, shuck corn and, just last week, how to recharge the air conditioning system on our Camaro. (Which, by the way, worked great.) But some internet nerd has done it to me this time which I need to undo before our tour leaves for Alaska on the 19th. I can’t go without a working computer so there might be a new one in the budget if I can’t get mine fixed by then.
A few things in the news caught my attention recently including two incidents that involve the media. One was an ad distributed by AAA called “Great American Vacations” which was distributed across the East Coast. Notice anything amiss?
Of course an apologetic AAA says it’s embarrassed at the faux pas. North Dakota’s Attorney General has capitalized on the error posting an ad on his Facebook page thanking South Dakota for the generous gift.
Speaking of major screw-ups, this one strikes close to home and makes me embarrassed for some in my profession. San Francisco television station KTVU was first on the air to announce the names of pilots at the helm of last week’s Asiana Airliner that crash landed killing two passengers and injuring several others. Trouble is, the information came from a Bart Simpson-like crank caller using racist Asian references including “Captain Sum Ting Wong.” Apparently somebody at the station did have the common sense to double check their validity and received confirmation from a kid at the National Transportation and Safety Bureau. Eventually, a KTVU staffer realized what was going on and had the anchor apologize for the erroneous report later in the same newscast. Now, the NTSB is also apologizing for confirming the fake pilot names to KTVU, citing the handiwork of an overzealous summer intern. Good Lord. Journalism 101; never let being first take precidence over the importance of being right. Just ask the Chicago Tribune editor who okayed the 1948 headline “Dewey Defeats Truman” or those TV stations who reported, prematurely, the deaths of presidential press secretary, Jim Brady in the 1981 Reagan Assassination attempt and Congresswoman, Gabby Gifford who also survived a Tucson assassination attempt two years ago.
And, finally, let’s talk about smoking, shall we?
I must say it was refreshing to read something by Argus Leader managing editor, Patrick Lalley, that didn’t directly have something to do with his obsession about riding bicycles. No, this time his weekly column was a call to arms to close a perceived loophole in state law banning smoking in public establishments. In order to accommodate customers who smoke, many restaurants and bars have constructed outdoor patios for them to enjoy during the short summer season. In his typical snarky fashion, Mr. Lalley recounts a recent unpleasant experience he and his wife had while opting to dine on one of those patios and occasional wisps of tobacco drifted into their nostrels.
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130707/COLUMNISTS0111/307070024/Lalley-Loophole-smoking-laws
I haven’t smoked cigarettes for years and really wish others could quit but I reject the notion that they be shunned like a rebellious Amish teenager or painted with a stereotypically wide brush that suggests all smokers are knuckle dragging insensitive clods who, along with restaurants and bars that accommodate them, must be forced into conforming to more acceptable behavior.
There was a time, during his days with the irreverently funny “Tempest” magazine;(in which Keloland TV and me personally were skewered on a regular basis) Mr. Lalley would have made a mockery of such pomposity. No more.
I wonder what’s next. Maybe an Argus Leader campaign to force business places to provide more bicycle parking space?