jaygietl.com

I am so sick and tired of listening to people bitch and moan about the heat. It’s all over the news, locally and nationally. This is not unheard of in Colorado. This is how the weather is here in the summer. We had a very mild spring and early summer. We were spoiled for a change, then it gets hot and everyone is in a tizzy.

Guess what, 6 months from now you will all be bitching that it is so cold. I have a grand idea, move the f*&^ away from Colorado. Go find a nice mild state that is boring as hell and has no seasons.

Pretty simple solution if you ask me. Oh, but it’s a dry heat.

So 9news.com launched their new fangled community site…sadly…it is not their own. They got a template from a sister station, changes some shit around and bam, new site. Hell they didn’t even change the titles. That’s some fine quality assurance they got going on. Can’t even pass the fundamental first glances of a web page. The funny thing is they post this big article about how they listened to what readers and viewers have to say. Is that so?

They are also still sticking with their old tricks of trying to make you fill out a survey before reading any of the stories. If they are so community driven, why do they FORCE their users to get information that they can get from any of the local news sites?

There is nothing this site now offers that is any better than any other site. Boo to 9news.com. I’ll still watch our news, but the site sucks ass. Just so you know I am not a crack baby, you can go look at the sites in question and see just how much they really care about what you have to say. Oh I guess I should be fair, they care about your demographic so they can sell ads.

In the end, this appears to be a Gannet driven thing, if you go to Gannets web links page for their local tv stations you can click though and be amazed. Yes, not all their sites carry this template, but more than a couple do.

Gannet
9news.com
WBIR.com

Sure winter has come and gone. Still, in Colorado we aren’t really done with winter until almost May. Rolling in today is a pretty large storm that they are predicting will dump 3″ - 8″ here in town and up to about 2′ in the mountains.

We missed some great skiing last weekend and typically most resorts are closed by now. I need one more day of skiing to be truly satisfied with this season. The weather is going to be sunny and warm so that will make for a great spring ski day and a great end to the season.

The next step, will be to change the oil on the BMW and get to riding again. We haven’t really had any solid weather for riding. I am eager to get back on two wheels and hit the road.

Sorry this is a pretty mediocre post at best. Not really into posting anything worthwhile today.

Recession! Recession! Recession! Today I run through my daily routine of reading the news. I hit up my local news station site, 9news.com, I notice an article that is entitled: Bernanke warns of possible recession. Immediately I’m like, well this can’t be good. If BB is dropping the R word in front of congress then we might really be in some trouble.

Being interested I get into reading the article, well midway through the second paragraph:

…Bernanke didn’t use the word recession.

Then onto the third paragraph I see

Under one rule, six straight months of declining GDP, would constitute a recession.

Of course that is what is reported by the news source, not Ben Bernanke’s words. Then the article (which I hope you’ve read by now to understand by tirade) moves on to talk about how BB thinks we’ll actually get some decent growth this year. So yeah, 2008 is off to a sluggish start, we did have positive, albeit slowed growth for the first quarter, but we haven’t totally stalled.

I’m not about to delve into a debate on economics, the government or what the future holds for the housing and financial markets, but I will gladly entertain your remarks about the media and their constant grab for sensationalism. Why would you title an article this way when BB never even said that? Here, let me answer that, because a lot of American’s are on the edge of their seat every time someone uses the term Recession. I’m not sure why, the term has been used loosely for the last 9 months.

It’s a lot different today than it was ten years ago. We have instant access to information, good or bad. The media understands this and like any other business they need to make money. They make money by roping you in and keeping you captivated, from airing gruesome pile-ups on the highway, to heart wrenching stories about puppies from broken homes. They take a story, embellish the telling of it and increase viewership which in turn allows them to sell advertisements. This is where they get a lot of money.

My point here is, if you read something that is clearly distorting reality, by misleading the reader/viewer call them out. Their job is to report the news, unbiased and accurately. Car dealers and retailers get sued for false advertising, the press should be held to similar standards. If you are going to intentionally sensationalize a headline only to have the reader find out that the title is inaccurate then you are misleading your reader.

I’m done.

Just go to the record store, check iTunes, check Naptser, whatever your favorite source for music. Ask for Medium Rare from the Mighty Mighty BossToneS. Their first album release in 4 years (or so).

Here is the track list courtesy of the Bosstones (Chocolate Pudding is just an awesome track):

Medium Rare Trak List

1. This List
2. The Meaning
3. Don’t Worry Desmond Dekker
4. To California
5. The One With The Woes All Over It
6. So Many Ways
7. A Reason To Toast
8. Who’s Fooling Who?
9. Katie
10. This Time Of Year
11. Chocolate Pudding
12. Is It?
13. Favorite Records