Citizenship

Don't know, but something must be in the water around work. For the second time in as many years, a fellow work colleague who was not born in the land of the free decided he would march down to the local courthouse, before a sitting judge raise his right hand and pledge to renounce his mother country and support the flag and Constitution of the United States of America instead. Well it wasn't QUITE that easy, but still, that is basically how it happened.

Anyway it gave me pause to think about here was a person who had to learn US history; US public figures of the last 230 years like George Washington and why he is on the one dollar bill and why Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, all 271 words and maybe the shortest political speech in history at only two minutes is considered one of the most important speeches in our country's history; rudimentary US Constitutional law; and a 100 question reading and speech test, in English; along with the background checks and such over a many year period just to be able to say these words before the Judge:

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Whoa! Powerful stuff!

Anyway, I was working in the News Room when the newly minted American arrived back at work, dressed in his Sunday finest. He was being lead by the assistant News Director to the News Conference Room for an impromptu reception of homemade sheet cake when applause from that mass huddled in cubicals working on the daily details of news gathering rang out in his honor. I took my turn of picking up a paper plate of cake and shaking his hand and said something to him I said two years ago to another co-worker who had also pledged allegiance to the flag and Constitution, "Congratulations.... Citizen." He thanked me and in his eyes I saw a different person, not the prim and proper Englishman of old that I have known for 12 years, but an American. I think for the first time since he was awarded citizenship, it had begun to sink in, he is NOW an American and the good and bad that comes along with that. I told him that 4 O'clock Tea Time was something we didn't do here in the US. He laughed and said that might be a little hard to give up.

You might be asking where did I get the idea to say those two words "Congratulations. Citizen"? Honestly, I stole it. I am not that original nor do I claim to be. Just read this blog, you can tell. In the 1984 film "Moscow on the Hudson" Robin Williams plays a saxophone playing Soviet Russian defector. The film is a comedy about how everyone is from somewhere else and how the US is really that melting pot we talk about. William's character, Vladimir Ivanof's girl friend Lucia Lombardo (played by Maria Conchita Alonso) is awarded citizenship. During the swearing in ceremony, the presiding Judge speaks to the partitionor's or about how they are about to be a part of a great society built on immigrants and how they will no longer be from somewhere else, but from now on they will be just simply be known as "American Citizens." At the end of the statement, the oath is administered and the Judge closes by saying "Congratulations.... Citizens." and for some strange reason it hit a cord with me and I have remembered it all these years later.

In 2004 the wife and I took a vacation up along the Blue Ridge Parkway from the North Carolina/Virgina border with the plan to go all the way to the Skyline Drive in northern Virgina and along the way stop at Thomas Jefferson's Montecello on July 4th since they have a large swearing in ceremony for new citizens then. We thought it would be fun to go and see hundreds of people sworn in as new American Citizens at the birthplace of the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day. Well the 3nd day in to the trip, we are about 2 days away from Charlottesville where Montecello is located, when a hurricane blows in off the coast and starts to dump rain all over the middle Atlantic region. Since the main reason for the trip was to SEE the sights along the Blue Ridge Parkway and up in the mountains with the clouds, you don't see anything much more than a few feet in front of you. We decided to cut the trip short and head back home since the rain had moved into the mountains and had stalled out. So we didn't make it to Montecello.

I finally got the chance to say the words myself for the first time in 2006 with a co-worker in my department who is from Pakistan. It was more wonderful to say it than I imagined. It was a celebration of our now shared country and for the first time in my own life, I realized that the best thing I can ever be called is "American Citizen."

So this time when I said it, the emotional feeling was one of great honor for me to be passing that feeling of being called "American Citizen" on to someone who had never known the feeling. I saw him a short time later in his office as I was leaving for the day and I asked him how did it feel. His response brought a tear to my eye. He simply said, "I feel like an American."

Yeah brother, I know the feeling.

Loserville

OK. It is now official. I am now a LOSER!! Leave it to Facebook to prove it.

I must admit, for someone who is tech savy, has been playing with computers since the 1980's (you remember TRS-80's and Commodore 80's?) and was on the net before most people had ever HEARD of it (remember DARPA Net and then ARPA Net?) and used things like FTP and TELNET and SMTP and GOPHER to navigate since the wonderful graphics rich HTTP that created the WWW in world wide web was only a far off idea; social networking hasn't been one of those things I have been all over. Guess I like a little privacy beyond my private parts.

Fellow employee and quasi friend Stewart Pittman of Lenslinger.com fame started preaching the virtue and power of Facebook and it was something I really needed to get into. After looking at some of the myspace pages, (what do people get out of posting some of the stuff they post on myspace?) and deciding that maybe myspace wasn't the space I needed to be in, I was also intimidated with Facebook. I tried to poke around Stew's Facebook but really couldn't see anything because I wasn't a member. OK. I have been around the block enough times to see when I am being scammed into doing something I am not sure I want to do and these "you can't do anything until you join" just is asking for trouble in my past experience. This was to be also.

After a couple of weeks of going back and forth on it, today I decided to do it. I joined Facebook. Entered my information and then realized, I have no friends. Not on Facebook anyway. The people listed that COULD be my friends are not what I would call friends in the truest sense. They are/were acquaintances at best. People I once shared a very brief time of life with, and had it been more than that, I would have expected to have remained friends or got pissed off at each other and then ended it with a definite ending point. Most were just people I hung out with that faded away years ago. Some are people I have worked with but never hung out with, even less then my quasi friendship with Stewart. I see an ex room mate from college listed, but if his photo was any indication of his current state, then I was wise to NOT continue that friendship all those years ago! I figured I had at leaset one "friend" on Facebook. Stewart. He COULDN'T refuse me as a friend since he was the one who said it was great! Or could he? Well, luckily he didn't since he is the only friend I have at the moment on Facebook, real or other wise.

I guess I don't get "social networking of the Internet age." If the purpose is to see how many "friends" you can collect on these social networking sites, then I have better things to do with my time. If the purpose is to actually rekindle old friendships, then I am really screwed. Either most of my friends don't do Facebook or I really don't have any friends.

Either way, GAME OVER! LOSER!!

Is It Time Yet?

Wow. Another year is about over. When did that happen? I hadn't realized my last post was in August. That doesn't mean I haven't been blogging. Quite the contrary. I have been pretty hot and heavy with my work blog as we get closer to the Digital Transition date of February 17, 2009. After writing that, a lot of stuff I would use here, gets used up there so it really takes a off the wall broadcasting subject like the MaryEllen O'Brien blog, who by the way found it and commented back (Sorry MaryEllen it took me 3 months to realize your comment was hung up in review!) to get posted here. After the transition in February my work blogging should slow down a great deal and I can get back to posting more here.

But here we are about to move into the last year of the first decade of the 21st Century. What an interesting year this past one has been. With the US elections, the media going into the tank for an ideology, economy tanking and the Israeli/Palestinian issue heating up again here at the end of the year, life just seems to roll on. What will 2009 hold in store? More economic bad times for the short run at least and the new President seeing if being a Community Organizer is good enough to run a country. Beyond that? Who knows. Too many characters out there that can change history in a single minute.

As the old Chinese curse goes, "May you live in interesting times." We do.

A Tribute to MaryEllen O'Brien

I have a confession. I have no idea who MaryEllen O'Brien is. Other than what her MySpace page says.

According to it, this is a picture of MaryEllen (who runs her two Christian names together, or least it is written that way on her MySpace page). Also according to it, "MaryEllen O'Brien is a freelance writer and author of two books and numerous articles in the area of spirituality. She is also a rock radio vet who spent 20 years on the air at stations ranging from WBLM in Portland, Maine to 93 Rock, Sacramento, to Atlantic 252, an international radio station based in Ireland and broadcasting to the U.K., and more. After logging all that on-air time MaryEllen took a break from radio to pursue studies in spirituality and theology and to begin writing professionally. Today MaryEllen writes, does voice talent work—and who knows, may just do some radio again too! She also does energy healing work. She has had a lifelong interest in the paranormal." OK. Now you know as much about her as I do.

But you must be asking, if you don't know this woman; never met this woman; and only know what her MySpace page says about her; why are you blogging about her? Fair question. Simply; she intrigues me. And reminds of a bygone era. Well actually one part of her resume' intrigues me and reminds of a bygone era that was near and dear to my heart and keeps great memories alive.

Here's the deal. After finding out there are engineers, as well as non engineers, who have posted transmitter tours of broadcast sites on YouTube (IS THERE NOTHING NOT ON YouTube??!!) I ran across a video of a defunct long wave radio station in Europe, Atlantic 252 (spoken as Atlantic TWO-FIVE-TWO). Now I have always had a subtle fascination with European rock and roll pirate radio stations (illegal broadcasting stations) and the like from the 60's forward. Stations like Radio Caroline and and the American backed Lazer 558.

As a young pup in radio in the early 80's, I had passingly read of the illegal stations Radio Caroline and Lazer 558 in one of the trade papers and how the UK was trying to shut them down. They were two of several radio stations that broadcast from ships in the North Sea to the UK and mainland Europe. Back in the day, I just couldn't fathom (pun intended) how you could broadcast an AM signal from a ship effectively. Well, years later, I now know how; but it ain't easy (that is a different posting, though).

The thing about Atlantic 252 is that it legally broadcast on 252 kHz. Frequencies BELOW the North American standard medium wave AM broadcast band. Frequencies here in North America that houses only aircraft navigation beacons and you need shortwave radios to hear them, but in Europe are as common as your local AM or FM station here in North America. In Europe, they are allocated to broadcasting. The UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Spain all have certain frequencies allocated to them in this "European long wave broadcasting" spectrum. It was and still is mostly government broadcasters like the BBC and RTE and such, but a group of investors decided to try a "national" commercial station in the long waves for the UK. Long waves have the advantage of very large coverage areas day and night per transmitter site without many of the interference issues the AM broadcast medium waves experience. This was the late 80's and Europe still hadn't embraced FM radio as we had here in the US. AM radio was still in vogue in Euorpe. The only long wave frequency they could get for this new station was 252 kHz, hence the branding number, 252. But the catch was the station, that was to broadcast to the UK, had to be located in Ireland because of the frequency coordination, hence, Atlantic in the branding. So the station was located in and around Trim, County Meath, Ireland and Atlantic 252 was born.

So this is where MaryEllen O'Brien comes into the story. Exactly where in the time line of Atlantic 252 I am not sure or for how long she stayed, but it seems she was one of the original disc jockeys or "presenters" as they are called in Europe, when the station signed on.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Anyway, when I surfed over to the tribute site for Atlantic 252, I found in the middle of these high energy, high personality (something that radio today sorely lacks among the cookie cutter radio stations that dot the AM and FM bands in the US) UK, Irish and Scottish rock and roll disc jockeys, an American woman named MaryEllen O'Brien was on the list. It must have been the fashion at the time to have an American woman on an air staff in Europe because even the pirates, whom many of the legal European broadcasters had begun to emulate to retain listeners, had American sounding women on their staffs too. MaryEllen was an American. And from the airchecks I heard on several sites, MaryEllen was good. She could front announce up to the post or kiss the lyrics with the best of the US announcers and never miss a beat in giving the latest weather forecast.

They did rebel rock and roll on Atlantic 252, something that was both a throw back to the classic early days of bad boy rock and roll radio of the 50's and 60's with the likes of the beloved Allen Freed, Cousin Brucie, Murray the K, Dan Ingram or Super Jock, Larry LuJack and a look to the future of the naughty free-for-alls you now hear on morning radio but not in the "shock jock" vein of current radio, but in that fun, just east of blue vein that is so lacking in radio today on the Morning Zoo's. A style that takes talent to pull off, not a dirty mouth. The ole, "fully clothed, undressed woman" concept. i.e the imagination is more powerful than reality.

But all good things must come to an end. And too so did Atlantic 252. FM finally overtook Europe and not only put the licensed commercial AM stations like Atlantic 252 out of business and into the hands of their respective licensing governments, but it did what the governments couldn't do, finally run the AM pirates out of business. In December 2001, Atlantic 252 signed off for the last time. A victim of the changing times as had its North American cousins of two decades before. The long wave frequency and transmitter site reverting back to the Irish government, where the government run RTE has a station on that frequency and facility now.

The pirates didn't even make it that long, being gone in the early 90's due to continued governmental pressure and changing listener patterns. Radio Caroline went though 3 or 4 ships (and in a gale one of the Caroline ships, the MV Mi Amigo went to the bottom off the coast of the Long Sand Bank in 1980 with the 127 ft antenna tower sticking above water for 6 years before it rusted off into the sea) in their 25 years of pirating, The last Caroline ship, MV Ross Revenge, is put up in port as a volunteer support group tries to keep the old ship and its 80's vintage broadcasting equipment from rusting out with high hopes of sailing the old lady on the high seas again and maybe broadcasting, legally. MV Communicator of Laser 558 fame went to the cutters torch just this year. Radio Caroline being the last one still broadcasting more legally on satellite radio now in Europe but nowhere near as popular or as outlandish as in the old days.

So my tribute to MaryEllen is really my memory of when music radio was good and fun to listen to and work in. How even an American could make it big on a European rock and roll AM station when at the time, here in the US, AM music radio was all but dead at the hands of FM radio. I used to be idealistic back then too, dreaming of far off exotic places doing radio. To be young again with what I know now. But she just went off and did it. While I only continue to dream of it.

He's to you MaryEllen. May you always hit the post. May you never have dead air or back time issues going into the top of the hour news. And may you NEVER, EVER had to play Freebird or Stairway to Heaven (or even MacArthur's Park), unless you WANT to or its on the playlist, not because you HAVE to. And from one former jock to another, MaryEllen you KNOW what I am talking about.

Local Boy Makes Good

Chris Daughtry performs for the Greensboro crowd on his return post Idol in June 2006.

Just 3 years ago the world had never heard of Chris Daughtry. Mr. Daughtry at the time was the Service Manager for the local Honda dealership with dreams of stardom and plans to get it through a talent show called American Idol. Being voted off 3 weeks ahead of the final in May 2006, Mr Daughtry's plans looked like they were in shambles.

In this very blog on May 11, 2006 (Another One Bites the Dust, eh maybe not) I made the following statement, "In retrospect, it may be the best thing America could have done for him. If he had been hung with the mantle of "Idol '06" for at least the next 12 months, he would be singing "their songs" and doing "their concerts" and "doing their events" and to be honest, I don't see Mr. Daughtry putting up with that for much more than a day at best." Soothsayer? Naw. (Do you remember who DID win Idol that year? The forgotten Taylor Hicks and his equally forgotten runner up, Katharine McPhee. Hicks was recently dropped from Sony/BMG without a hit and McPhee is still looking for her first hit.)

Fast forward 2 and a half years. Mr Daughtry has is own band, Daughtry, a debut album that has gone triple platinum, the number one selling rock album of the year, and, oh yeah, he still maintains an American Idol connection, being Sony/BMG is the record company behind AI and Mr Daughtry is signed to a unit of Sony/BMG and will make the occasional appearance on the number 1 show on American television. The latest appearance being probably his best to date and he wasn't even live.

For the second year, AI has had one show called "American Idol Gives Back," a telethon with all the stars of screen, TV and music to ask you for money to be given to all kinds of charities. Toward the end of the extended program, Brad Pitt comes on stage to do his part of asking for money and then introduces the next taped piece, this one being Daughtry in Uganda performing the song, "What About Now?"



When you are sent to Uganda for a music video and Brad Pitt intros you, I would say you have made it. I think you can say that the fallen "Idol" of the 2006 season, in reality, was the winner after all.

That is sure a long way from the service department of Crown Honda. Way to go Mr Daughtry. You are a credit to your community and your God. Thanks.

We have met the Martians, and they are us?

In watching a lot of Science Channel lately, there have been many shows dealing with our solar system and the exo-planets. What is an exo-planet you say? It is a planet that is not in our solar system. Twenty or thirty of these exo-planets have been found in other solar systems in our galaxy in search of planets that are Earth like in other solar systems. So far only large gas giants like Jupiter have been found but they say it is only time before a small rocky Earth like planet is found as the scientists get better at finding exo-planets in general. In all of this planet talk, one planet seems to keep being talked about more than any other, Mars. In the last 10 years or so, the interest level of Mars has increased ten fold.

With the 2004 announcement that NASA has been charged to go back to the Moon and on to Mars within the next 40 years, scientists have started looking toward the red planet. The current extended missions of the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity (they originally had a 90 day mission timetable, 4 years ago) having found evidence of flowing water in the recent history (millions of years ago, not the first thought billions of years ago) of the red planet. Along with the discovery of the meteorite that came from Mars with what appears to be the fossil remains of simple one cell life forms that are found on Earth in it, "the question of did life actually start on Mars and then come to Earth?" is being seriously asked in the halls of the planetary scientists.

Of course we have to first prove that there was life on Mars at some time in its past and when. Then what, if anything, is shared with life on Earth? I have a good idea that this question of being a Martian will not be answered in my lifetime, but I would bet by the end of the 21st Century, we will have a good idea what the answer is.

If it is proven we are descendents of Martian life, how will that fact shake up our mind set of where we fit on Earth and in the Universe?

Terrorist's New Tactics?

The day has come when terrorism moves west. With the 3 Iraqi style car bombs in the UK over the last few days, it is obvious that the terrorist are rethinking their MO on how to reek havoc in the west.

I think realizing they over shot their mark with 9/11 when it comes to just how much death and destruction they could heave on us (I really think, Rosie be damned, that bringing down the WTC WASN'T in the big scheme of things on that day. Fire and death yes, but no one had any thought the buildings would come down. UBL is smart, but he ain't that smart! No one is.) that the only way to top 9/11 would be a nuke. I just have to think that a nuke really isn't what they want to do for a very simple reason. As crazy as they are, and they ARE crazy, if you set off a nuke, you galvanize the world against your cause in such a way that you never recover and also sterilize a portion of the Earth that will take thousands of years to be habitable again. Not a receipe for gaining a foot hold in the new world for UBL's version of religion. But like I said, they are crazy and their cause and effect analsys doesn't go much beyond next Thursday at the latest.

So, like everyone else, they seem to be scaling back. Economizing if you like. More "bang" for the buck, pun intended. Iraq has certainly shown them that for a couple of dinars you can put together a whopper of a media event that may not have the wall-to-wall media coverage capacity of 9/11, but in the long run do as much media damage. Hell, out of three V-BIED's (vehicle borne IED's - don't you just love those acronyms the military comes up with!) only one actually did something and it only started a small fire and killed no one and only slightly injured one bystander. But look at the world media. They have gone off the deep end, hanging on to every sniffle and sneeze that comes out of Scotland Yard.

That Al Qaeda media machine is a genius. They pull off a half ass attack and get the coverage of a full scale victory. The end result is EXACTLY what they wanted! They don't care that the cars didn't explode. The media acts as if they DID! The world goes into a panic. As far as Al Qaeda is concerned, mission accomplished!

Maybe we just need to ignore them from the media stand point and let law enforcement and the military go get them quietly. Just tell us when they round them all up or kill them all. Take the camera away and you take 90% of their fuel away. That has been proven time and time again in the Middle East. They play EVERYTHING to the camera. But no one is going to listen to me. Too many hours of time to fill on the all news channels.

This time the good guys got lucky and as the old saying goes, "I would rather be lucky than good any day!" And ah, yes, John Edwards? There really IS a War on Terror. Just turn on your TV set. The world media is covering it, including your beloved BBC. And let's hope to God it DOESN'T come here. It might put a kink in your $400 haircuts.