The Digital Transition

So a move by Obama was defeated today to move the "digital transition" for local television stations from Feb 17th to June 12th. By some estimates, when the move from analog to digital happens in Feb, it will leave some 6.5 Million households without tv.

Who the hell ARE these people and where in god's name do they live? If you believe the Dems/Obama, they are poor, rural and low-income Americans. I'm sorry if that's true, but I'm amazed that these folks don't have at least basic cable or satellite.

I'm not blind enough to know that there ARE going to be people who on Feb 17th, can't watch their "stories", but for the past 18 months, if they didn't pay attention to any of the 200,000,000 PSA's that have been running, surely buying them another 4 months isn't going to matter one lick.

Admittedly these are the same people who can't access the website http://www.dtvanswers.com that is shown in those same PSA's. Some people take a chance an embrace advancements in society and technology, some are brought along kicking and screaming and some, just will NEVER adopt it.

As someone who occasionally works with data, I'd love to see a cross-tab of who this might impact the most by # of cellphones, # of computers, # of rotary dial phones, # of betamax machines, # of Activision games, etc.

I'm not cold-hearted though. It potentially DOES create a public security risk in that, if someone cannot get the local channels, they can't be forewarned about potential weather approaching, Amber alerts, or other local issues that need to be broadcast however it seems foolish to think that these folks truly will change and get the equipment needed.

When your kid scares the cr*p out of you...

I had a scary moment today. One of those times when there's an immediate sinking in your gut and literally 2,000,000 synapses fire through your brain in less than 10 seconds.

The morning was a normal morning. Aidan woke up at around 6:30 and he took his milk very well. MK got him dressed and ready to go to school and we left the house around 7:00. It's only 2 miles from door to door and today it took about 5 minutes.

When we got to school, I jumped out and opened the back door and he was just sitting in his car seat and didn't look over to me. Normally once I open the door he shoots me a look and starts trying to wriggle his way out of the car seat.

So I leaned in to start unbuckling him and he was motionless. His eyes were wide open and he was staring through the front windshield of the car. I said "Hey bud, are you ready for school?" and he just didn't move. I waved my hand in front of his face and he didn't move. I swear to God almighty that he looked like a dead body with its eyes open.

I yelled his name and grabbed the sides of his head and he jerked into reality with some tears in his eyes. It was like I woke him from the deepest of sleeps but yet, his eyes were wide open.

I got him out of the car and headed into the school, the entire way telling him "Don't do that to me ever again, you scared the hell out of me. Are you okay?" Of course, he doesn't speak yet so there was no answer, but he was looking at me.

I got him into his classroom and took off his jacket and he was just as normal as ever. He has a new teacher today as Miss Leah and Miss Roxayn have left the school and he ran to Miss Kim just fine and started playing. I didn't think to say anything as I didn't want to worry her and I got in the car. Looked at myself in the mirror and just started freaking out.

What the hell happened? Had he stopped breathing? He was so bundled in winter clothes that I couldn't tell and in fact, I was so freaked I really didn't look. It was one of the most unsettling rides to work (14 miles) that I think I ever had.

I got to work and unfortunately had about 2 1/2 hours of conference calls but when I was done I called home to tell MK. We both were kinda freaked and decided we'd call his doctor, if anything to get this on his medical record/charts and to get advice.

While I waited for a call back from them, I searched online. Autism, Apnea, Arithmea, anything I could think of that would make a kid just freeze and nothing really matched. After speaking with one of the CRN's from the office, she said it didn't sound like anything at this point and that she'd consult with one of the MD's and that if they think there's something there, they'd call us back. She asked if he had turned blue (he hadn't) and said that at this point, just observing him and looking to see if it happens again is all we can do and that we need to notify school so in case it happens there, they know to call us as well.

When MK picked him up from school, he had just another normal day there. Well-adjusted and active and his appetite was actually increased from normal. We got him home and it was another normal night of dinner and playing before going to bed. He ate a ton of food (his appetite is really up which means he's probably physically growing right now) and he was a happy, active, engaged child. I tried out a few of the autism tests for infants that I saw online and he didn't "fail" any of them.

In summary, today wasn't the first time, but it was another reminder that in this world, I live not for myself but for someone else who depends greatly on me and MK and now I know what it's like to have your kid scare the living hell of you. As I joked right to him when he was in my arms tonight, "I'm sure it's not going to be the LAST time either".

That guy must have a set on him...

As someone who used to log 25,000+ miles a year on airplanes can I just say how un-f'in-believable that US Airways crash landing was yesterday?

I mean, it was on my most recent trip to Atlanta where I laughed off the whole part of the safety instructions where they talked about landing on water. When the hell EVER has a plane "landed" on the water and stayed in tact? I mean, ultimately they are telling you about flotation devices because your ass better be hanging on to one when that plane takes the dump.

I was pretty damn good at Physics when I was in school. When a body in motion, experiences a significant halt in its motion either from friction or another body, the energy has to dissipate SOMEWHERE. Usually it does in the form of 2,000,000 pieces of an airplane when we're talking about plane v water.

So, to bring that craft in, belly up and to have the wings hit the water at the exact same time is something only LEGENDS can probably do. Of course there were other factors at play here.

• It was daylight. If it was dark, the pilot would have had a hell of a time seeing where the water was and at what point he could put it down
• Gotta hand it to the French. For once they are worth their weight in crepes as the Airbus A320 is French-built and as we found out yesterday has a series of air tubes throughout the cabin which inflate enough to keep the plane floating. So somewhere in Frog-land there was an engineer that had HOPE and didn't say "it doesn't matter"
• The weather was calm for once. For all of us who've spent far too much time sitting at LGA we know that this was probably a very rare day and there's 155 peeps who are thanking a weatherman somewhere who likely was WRONG!

Which brings us to Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, III. a 40 year flying veteran, US Air Force fighter pilot trained (damn straight!!!) and whose resume is stellar. This guy has TWO Masters degrees (Industrial Psychology and Public Administration) and has been a Visiting Scholar at UCal-Berkeley at the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management. Here's the kicker though which ultimately, IMHO, allowed this man to do what hadn't been done in FIFTY years of aviation, he is a Certified Flight Instructor for (amongst other things) GLIDERS!!

Talk about the fabled "Right Place - Right Time" metaphor in life. If this isn't a perfect example of that happening, nothing is. I'd bet that almost any other pilot would have made a trainwreck of that situation. So here's a toast to "Sully"! Just absolutely amazing. Total calm under pressure.

It was 15 years ago today....

Duey L learned how to play.

15 years ago today, I installed and logged on to AOL for the first time. Now, it wasn't the first time I was on the Internet, as I had CompuServe and Prodigy accounts for 18 months prior to that, but it was the first time I truly figured out that the Internet was going to be something big in life.

Looking back, I probably missed the boat on making a career and some money out of it all. I learned how to program in BASIC and COBOL in the mid-80's and while in college, I used a Leading Edge (knock-off IBM) to produce my Fraternity's Alumni Newsletter.

I also wish I still had one of my computers that I bought in 1989, the MacPlus (saw tonight on NCIS a MacSE!!) but I foolishly sold it off in moment of wanting some cash. I do however, have my PowerBook 150. The entire hard drive was something like 4MB!!
Anyway, it's these sorts of moments that make me take stock in how the rise of computers and the Internet just hit me at the right point in our generation.

I see how difficult it is at times for my Dad to use his computer (and don't get me wrong he does a great job most of the time, but when issues happen, he's just totally lost and calls me), and how simple it is at times for me to fix them.

So looking back, sure, I probably missed the boat on being an IT geek, but I've put a lot of that knowledge to good use at my current company. I can move pretty easily between speaking "tech talk" and "putting it in English" and it seems that anytime people have computer issues, they call me, so that's a credit to my knowlege as well.

Finally, for the record, I never had issues with AOL, still don't. During the early 90's when people were constantly getting bumped offline, I never had those issues. I enjoyed it, learned from it and have a wealth of knowledge about how it all works. The sounds of "Welcome, You Have Mail" are sweet tones to my ears and "Goodbye" was a form of finality that said, "You really need to go to bed now, it's 3:00am!!". Of course, I don't pay for AOL anymore. I switched to the totally free version, so I still do have my old email address (not that I've used it anytime in the last 5 years!), but it's almost like wearing a badge of honor. Keeping that email address and having it handy.

Oh well, in the crazy world of Web 2.0/3.0/x.x, you sometimes need to give props to the "old skool web".