The Thursday Ramble: Media - Media Everywhere

Growing up in an era and place before cable television, our options were ABC (American Broadcasting Corporation,) CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System,) and NBC (National Broadcasting Corporation.) All of these were air-wave broadcasts, received on a large antenna. All of them had genuine news programs, with real verify the facts journalists.  PBS (Public Broadcasting) came late to the countryside and reception was spotty. I recall the family switching between the NBC and CBS for the evening news. NBC had the funny weatherman. CBS had Walter Cronkite. 

In an era of air wave broadcast, television required a federal license, permission to use a specific radio frequency. The bandwidth licensed was quite wide, limiting the number of licenses available in a given area. This same system is still in place. With improvements in technology the bandwidth is narrower, allowing more licenses hence Fox and others have joined the fray. When the administration threatens the media, the strongest power is the authority to revoke a broadcast license. YouTube does not have a broadcast license. With online access does the broadcast license really mean that much today? 

There are still areas in the country that do not have cable television, and where high speed internet is difficult or expensive to access (The United States and Canada are immense land masses.) The majority of the population in both countries live in area where high speed data is widely available by cable, fiber or phone networks. 

For the majority of us, if NBC, ABC, and CBS left the broadcast world and went to streaming video only, we would hardly notice the difference. I am not sure why they don't just shrug their shoulders, tell the news the way they want to, and say "see you on CBS-Tube, NBC-Tube, and ABC-Tube."  The advertising model is slowly changing to support this move, if the broadcasters all moved - the money would move with them. 

My World of Wonders February 4, 2026 edition

What surprisingly made me smile this week?  We went grocery shopping last Thursday, and unintentionally ended up on Senior Discount Day, an extra 10% off.  It was the first time I had been in the grocery store on Senior Discount Day. I don't know why it made me smile, once a stingy b@st@rd, always one? 

What have I been up to in the kitchen?  Roast Salmon with noodles, slow cooked pulled pork, chicken and tortellini soup with corn bread. Lamb stew.

Where have I been this week? Close to home. We did a grocery store run last Thursday. Beyond that the gym, the pool, a reception at the Grill. 

Who have I talked with this week? Giuseppe, Ruth, Mary, Marcel, Warren, Paul, my sweet bear, and Zack.  

What was on the easel? I finished a 24 by 24 inch color block, and have primed in a deep red an 18 by 24. I have an idea for this, if I can make it work.  

What have I been reading? The extreme cold weather has made this complicated, I ran out of library books, took a couple of days off, then went to the bookcase in the building library. I locked up a history of Emma Lazarus, the wrote the poem that is featured at the Statute of Liberty.  The book had a hidden history, the bookplate shows it was a gift to a young woman, in 1967. It was a history book, that is a history of itself. 

What brought a sense of relief this week? It took over a week, but my Mac rebuilt my photo archive - messed up by a recent operating system upgrade. There are over 101,000 images in the file. 

Where am I headed? San Antonio Texas for an American Bar Association Senior Lawyers Division meeting. 

 

Travel Tuesday: Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to get out of the house for a few hours while some maintenance was being done. I hopped the subway into the city, and spent a couple of hours in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I was there when the museum first opened for the day, and had an hour or so, before the children descended with the accompanying cacophony of noise. I would pay to have a couple of hours of silence in a couple of the museums. 

 

Monday Moods: Free yourself from Regrets

If you are reading this you woke up still alive this morning. I sincerely hope that you see that as a good thing. Human life is surprising robust and at the same time shockingly fragile. Someday, we will not see the sunrise again.

What can we do today to reduce the regrets when that morning arrives? 

Reach out and tell others you love them. Leave a kind comment on a blog, stop and visit, make a phone call, send a text, send an email, send a "just thinking about you" greeting card.  I regret not reaching out to my grandmother in the last few months of her life. 

Take a moment to savor your meals today. Slow down, smell the coffee, let the chocolate slowly melt in your mouth. You will never regret the enjoyment of even the simplest of meals. 

Step outside, even if only for a couple of minutes and breathe.  Even if cold, or hot, or wet. You will never regret a moment to just breathe. 

Take a moment to forgive. Forgive others, not for them, but to free your mind from the burden of holding onto past transgressions. 

Take a moment to forgive yourself. We all make mistakes, the burden of which is regret. Forgive yourself, say you are sorry, free yourself from the burden of regret. 

The Sunday Five: People!

1: Are you an introvert, or an extrovert by nature? 

2: How do you cope with People? 

3: Is it easier to be alone in a city or the country? 

4: Are you ever intentionally difficult, just because you feel like being difficult? 

5: When was the last time you wondered how someone made it out of the house without assistance? 

My Answers: 

1: Are you an introvert, or an extrovert by nature? I am probably more of an extrovert, but I am also very comfortable spending time alone. 

2: How do you cope with People? As long as they are not trying to hurt me, I ignore them. 

3: Is it easier to be alone in a city or the country? I can be perfectly alone in a city, I don't really like crowds. 

4: Are you ever intentionally difficult, just because you feel like being difficult? Very-very seldom. 

5: When was the last time you wondered how someone made it out of the house without assistance? Everytime I drive my car, I wonder how some these people made it out of their driveway without hitting anything. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

 

The Saturday Morning Post: Take Ten Minutes

Ten minutes, that is all it takes. Find a photo on your phone or computer, go to Chat GPT, or Google, or whatever AI program is running on your phone, your tablet, or your desktop, and ask the AI to create art based on your photo.  The product is not a photograph, it is art created based on a photo with tools that are now readily available.  

Work with it a little bit, the first version of this, added a person just over my right shoulder looking at the viewer.  I didn't like that, so I used the magic eraser function on my phone to take him out - what it did was turn him around facing in the other direction.  

Before we mire ourselves in the debate of "is it art?" We can pause and think of the past. The guys and gals painting on cave walls with the burnt end of stick, very likely raised the same question, when someone tied a tuft of hair on the end of a stick and created the paint brush - is that really cave painting? It is, but it is different, technologies change, the creative process evolves. From oil painting to photography, portraiture changed, but it is still an art. 

I took this ten minute art challenge one evening with a group of friends.  I was surprised by how fast and easy it was. Try it and see if it brings you joy. 

This one is going into a show with the theme of Portraits and Self-Portraits, clearly described as AI created art based on an original photograph. 

Freestyle Friday: Pardon Me, Do you have any Breton Whisky?

A couple of decades ago, we rented a Gite in rural Normandy for a week, and discovered Breton Whisky in the local Carrefour Supermarket.  As I recall, it was inexpensive, something like 15-20 euros a bottle. I am always up for a novelty - so I packed a bottle in my bag for the trip home.  The French generally do things very well, or not at all, and this was no exception. It is very-very good. 

Several times in places that claimed to have an extensive whisky selection I have asked, "do you have any Breton Whisky." The response is almost always a dull stare, only once has the answer been yes. 

It is a single malt, the primary grain is malted barley, very much in the style of what is made in Scotland. Light, flavorful, with a little smoky wood in the background.  The bottle became a treasure, kept in the back of the cabinet.  As the level went down, and I went in search of a restock. Virginia does not offer it - liquor sales in Virginia are run by the state with a large catalog, but few rarities. I found a store in New York city that stocked it. And I have bought a couple of bottles there. The last of those was in the back corner of the cabinet, tasted once in a rare while. 

A couple of years ago we were in Provence, and I looked for it, asked about it, and the answer was "that is from Brittany, not here in the south." An honest answer, but it didn't replace my diminishing supply. 

A YouTube video recently talked about those open bottles, the special one's saved for just the right moment, sitting there oxidizing in the back row. And the YouTube was right, once in the bottle whisky does not get better, and a partially full bottle is slowly oxidizing. Better to enjoy it while it is at it's best. Hence as I write this I am sipping the last of the last bottle from Nestor in New York. 

You can see Washington, DC from the top of the building across the parking lot, and DC has a very liberal liquor sales licensing. As long as the city gets the tax, they don't care how the retailer gets it. (There a several shops that buy and sell unopened rare bottles.) 

A careful Google search revealed a couple of places with it on their websites. The first one listed it and showed it as out of stock- they would special order it and let me know when it came in. The second place, a small shop on P Street near Dupont Circle, showed it in stock. They can't ship to Virginia, but I can pick it up. And I did. They had three varieties, the standard bottling, one aged longer, and one finished in sherry casts. And they had it on the shelf, just below a single malt made in India. Talk about a wide selection of rare and exotics. The aged in sherry casts is wonderful.  

Friday Face Off: 

Nicole at DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening, regularly features the Friday Face Off, a chance to post a portrait you have been working on. 

Here is my latest.