tuning out?

[rcjordan]

FCC plans to fine Sinclair $13.3 million over undisclosed commercials

The penalty represents an average fine of about $7,700 for each of the improperly aired spots but is significantly less than the maximum fine Sinclair could have faced under the law.

I'll betcha those spots sold for a LOT more than $7,700 each

Politico, citing unnamed sources, reported in December 2016 that Trump's campaign made a deal with Sinclair to get favorable coverage in exchange for more access to Trump. Sinclair denied that allegation.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, told a congressional committee in October, "All of our media policy decisions seem to be custom-built for this one company."

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sinclair-fcc-exclusive/exclusive-fcc-plans-to-fine-sinclair-13-3-million-over-undisclosed-commercials-idUSKBN1E92C7

[ergophobe]

Thanks for the update

[rcjordan]

Joel Spolsky:

My new year's resolution was to give up on reading Twitter and Facebook.

I gave up on the feeds because they were making me angry. A lot of times I was angry because of politics, but even on non-political things, the feeds seemed like they were full of conflict and stress.

I can't tell you how much happier I am without them. Am I the only one that hated reading feeds? Do they make everybody unhappy? And if they make people unhappy why are they so popular?

https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2018/01/12/birdcage-liners/

[grnidone]

I'm watching more stuff like this.  This is called "The Funeral" with Carol Burnett and a young Robin Williams.  They do the skit twice and it shows how brilliant Robin Williams was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfDyTUiL8xs

[littleman]

Old movies and shows are great, I watch them half-way to see how things use to be.  I've also been getting into YouTube channels that deal with esoteric subjects.

[Brad]

I'm with you on old TV shows and movies.  I confess I have a weakness for B grade 1950's monster and sci-fi movies. Rubber suit monsters cheesier the better.

YouTube has been good.  I've gotten addicted to prepper videos, at least the sensible ones, like 50 things you can do with WD40 and duct tape.

I've noticed I've become reluctant to even open up my local paper and I don't turn the radio on in the car anymore. I think I'm in scandal and craziness overload thanks to Facebook. Time to give FB up.

Adding to the craziness on social media is that people get into competition over who can be more pro or anti something than everybody else.  Then they start denouncing others that agree with them for not being as zealous as they are.  Sigh.

[ergophobe]

Joel Spolsky:

My new year's resolution was to give up on reading Twitter and Facebook.

All the cool kids are doing it (Ta Nehisi Coates)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/20/ta-nehisi-coates-quits-twitter-after-public-row-with-cornel-west

[littleman]

>Facebook

Where you go to find out how crazy your old friends have become.

I still have an active account, to keep a channel of communication open with old friends, but I guess I'm lucky in that the main activity of FB never really held me.

[ergophobe]

"My Year Without News"
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jan/18/my-year-of-living-ignorantly-i-entered-a-news-blackout-the-day-trump-was-elected

[littleman]

I could really appreciate this statement:

For both of us, the decision to tune out was instinctive. It was about sanity and self-preservation.

Though, I have to say that I am not 100% there.  I am still paying some attention to the current madness.

[rcjordan]

The media exaggerates negative news. This distortion has consequences

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/17/steven-pinker-media-negative-news

[littleman]

OK, I need a break for a while.  I'm hoping to get three days without any hard news.

[Brad]

The media exaggerates negative news. This distortion has consequences

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/17/steven-pinker-media-negative-news

The saying in the newspaper industry is, "If it bleeds it leads."

[rcjordan]

>bleeds

I used to filter on 'death & dismemberment' verbs such as murder, dies, death, etc. The list was huge.  Then I noticed and found it interesting that certain 'relationship' nouns were very frequently used;     

' aunt ','babies','baby',' boy ','bride','brother','child',' dad ','daddies','daddy',' dads ','daughter','deputy','family','father','fiancee','girl','groom',
'hero','husband','immigra','infant',
'minister',' mom ','momma',' moms ','mother','pastor','sister',' son ',' sons ',' teen','toddler','uncle','wedding','wife',

[ergophobe]

The Onion take on that was always great. Back in the day when The Onion was a local print newspaper in Madison, it ran on a shoestring and didn't bother with tweaking layouts and getting everything just so.

If they had extra space that didn't fill easily and was messing with the layout, they just created a block of text to fill it with this: "Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the quantity of blood. Passersby were amazed at the"

Sometimes it would run for a whole column