JayStream

The economic numbers just came out, and they were somewhat surprising – surprisingly good. The city of Sioux Falls, South Dakota ended 2008 with a balanced budget for the third straight year. Not only that, but the city of 125 thousand people finished the year during “the worst economy since the Great Depression” with a five million dollar surplus. Isn’t that a unique concept for a government body, ending the year with money in the bank?

Sioux Falls is the largest city in South Dakota, a state which adheres to a constitutional requirement of a balanced budget. The governor has presented two budgets to the state legislature in the past two months. Based upon lower income projections, the second contained serious cuts – including closure of a state school for the deaf, repeal of a teacher pay-boost program, and elimination of 76 state jobs.

While legislators from the opposing party balked at some of governor’s proposed cuts, they counter-proposed budgetary fixes of their own. Make no mistake – when the legislative session ends, South Dakota will have balanced its books. It is the way things are done.

Compare that to the dysfunctional state of California, which faces a forty billion (B) dollar shortfall with no stomach, backbone, or brain power to fix it. Teachers balk at larger class sizes, government employee unions refuse to give back any of their nation-high 14 paid holidays, and environmentalists scream about any suggestion that might delay reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

California is considering issuing IOU’s for tax refunds; the state controller says he may withhold payments to social service providers and loan installments to college students. (Watch out for those college students Governor Schwartzenegger. In Iceland, they rioted when the cost of their education increased.)

So how will California cope with its economic irresponsibility? On the backs of the rest of America, of course. Estimates are that one-quarter of its budget shortfall will be covered by California’s share of the Obama administration’s “economic stimulus” package. Is it not ironic that some of the federal taxes paid by financially-prudent South Dakotans will be used to bail out uncontrolled, unjustifiable government spending by the state of California?

Jay News budget cuts, California, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

It was the day after the inauguration, and America tuned in to see what jabs the late night comedians would administer to the new administration. Conan O’Brien mentioned the new president a few times, but mostly in poking fun at someone else, e.g. “President Obama’s chief of staff ordered federal agencies to freeze funding for a lot of projects that President Bush tried to push through in his final days… no national Scooby Doo museum.” Jay Leno did a segment interviewing a presidential impersonator – President Bush, not President Obama.

David Letterman ran another episode of “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches.” The clip showed President Bush stumbling over the word missile in a speech about missile defense. Letterman was clearly un-bothered by the fact that Bush is no longer president. If Letterman had wanted to show a presidential misstep, he could have aired a clip from a press conference earlier in the day in which Barack Obama had to ask an aide to explain the meaning of an executive order Obama himself had just signed. (On second thought, maybe that was more troubling than funny.)

Comedians seem unwilling or unable to pick on Barack Obama – but which is it? Letterman treated his audience to a barrage of Democrat guests during the campaign season. During his program, O’Brien called Obama’s inauguration speech “fantastic” and “inspiring.” Perhaps we are in an era of entertainers as political operatives.

Maybe we should give comedians the benefit of the doubt, and conclude they don’t have the skill to create jokes about the new man in the White House. Standup specialist Chris Rock called Obama a “comedian’s worst nightmare” because he is too inspiring to make fun of. Last July, at an Obama fundraiser, comedian and Obama supporter Bernie Mac tried to make jokes about the man who would become president – and the audience turned on him.

It is early in the term, but already one doubts the nation’s comics will mock Obama with the zeal they mocked President Bush. It appears America will be a whole lot less funny for the next four years.

Jay Television industry comedy, Letterman

The coronation of Barack Hussein Obama came off exactly as scripted by his media machine – the new president surrounded by friends and relatives, cheered on by adoring fans, and worshipped by embarrassingly-fawning journalists.

Young people across the nation watched the unprecedented spectacle on television, and at least some said it would be a memory they would carry with them the rest of their lives. It just might be. If you think about the current generation, what shared national experiences does it have? Baby boomers remember crowding around TV sets to watch a space shot or that first walk on the moon. Younger adults may remember seeing the Berlin Wall come down. But what shared historical events do today’s teenagers have? About the only significant spot news events they have watched en masse on television were 9/11, shuttle disasters, and the acquittal of O.J. Not much to be proud of as Americans.

It seems odd to already describe a simple inauguration of a rookie president as a life-impacting moment. But for a generation starved for something big to feel a part of, this might be as good as it gets.

Clearly, after seeing the ceremony, pageantry, parade, and late night parties – it appears the best part about becoming president is becoming president. The tough part is actually doing the job, and that is what President Obama must now do. If he doesn’t deliver, the inaugural festivities fade from those teenage memories, the historical event remembered as just another reality TV show.

Jay News inauguration, television

In theory, it sounds good: Combining wind speed and air temperature into one number, intended to indicate the rate a body cools on a chilly, windy day. But wind chill has become so misused and misunderstood as to render it meaningless as a legitimate meteorological value.

Wind chill was created in 1939 by Antarctic explorer Paul Siple, who measured the temperature effects that wind had on containers of water. Those results were later transformed into a complicated formula called the Siple-Passel equation, and the wind chill was born.

Siple’s equation was used until 2000, when it was discontinued because it was found to dramatically overestimate the chill caused by strong winds in a cold environment. The National Weather Service, which officially recognized wind chill in the 1970s, performed some tests on the skin of real human beings in simulated wind to come up with a new wind chill formula. In it, the conditions which used to create a wind chill of -40 now result in a wind chill of only -20. Wind chill values just don’t sound as ferocious as they used to.

The whole wind chill idea is flawed. The public (and some broadcasters) say the wind chill is what it “feels like” outside. But wind chill is aimed at determining the effects of wind on bare skin on a stationary person facing into the wind. To say that a wind chill “feels like” -20 assumes that a real person won’t turn their back on the wind, put a hand over their face, or wear a scarf. I assure you that those of us who live in a colder climate do those things (except for teenagers, who don’t let wind and cold interfere with attitude and fashion).

Another issue is that wind chill is generally calculated at the nearest airport. Since there are few trees or tall buildings on air fields, measured wind speeds are higher than in neighborhoods and business districts where people live and work. Again, we don’t “feel like” the wind chill says we do.

But people still love to refer to the wind chill. I guess it makes us all “feel like” we can stand up to the best that winter weather can bring our way. Or give us something to brag about the next time someone says, “Sure is cold this winter…”

Jay Weather wind chill, windchill

The National Association of Broadcasters says it donated tens of millions of dollars in free commercial time to get the word out about the pending conversion of television from analog to digital broadcasts. Even as television stations prepare to flip the switch to turn on their very expensive new digital equipment, politicians insist on a delay in the changeover. Despite all the publicity, they say the public just doesn’t get it. Government vouchers to pay for set-top conversion boxes have run out, and lots of TV viewers still haven’t figured out whether they need a box or not.

The problem, I think, is that a good portion of TV viewers simply decided to wait until the last minute (or even until their favorite program turns to snow). Now, with time running out on their old television sets, procrastinating viewers still haven’t figured out whether they need a converter box or not. For those still unclear, let me offer my simple guide to the digital conversion:

-Do you pay a monthly cable TV bill? If yes, you do not need a box.
-Do you pay a satellite TV bill? If yes, you do not need a box.
-Is there a set of rabbit ears on your TV? If yes, you need a box.
-Is your TV connected to an antenna on the roof? If yes, you need a box.

Maybe part of the reason the government has run out of vouchers is that people who do not need boxes mistakenly went out and bought them anyway. It would be pretty cynical to think that the 565 digital converter boxes up for sale on ebay today are there because somebody is just trying to turn a fast buck. Or is it?

Jay Television industry digital converter box, vouchers

In the past couple of days, I have received emails from several of my friends who are television weathercasters around the world. Hopefully they won’t mind if I share their comments, because I found their reports fascinating. (One reminder – the temperature values mentioned are in Celsius, so a temperature report of -10 to -15 really means +5 to +14 Fahrenheit.)

Jill Peeters – VTM in Brussels, Belgium: “All the papers and the television news of the day were talking about the snow we had last night. We now had some snow: up to 2-12 cm. Not that much compared to other countries, but we’re not really used to it. Tonight polar air is coming in and we’re expecting one of the coldest nights of this winter, with temperatures between -6 (coast) and -12°C. Tomorrow we’ll face an ice day with max temperatures around -2 to -7°C, probably the coldest day of this winter and in the top 5 of coldest 6th of January since 1833.”

Francis Wilson – Sky TV in London: “Here in the UK it’s the coldest spell since 1996. This night we will have our coldest at -12. No sig snow. But odd snow flurries have made the news.”

Claire Martin – CBC in British Columbia: “Western Canada is suffering right now too. Vancouver recently got clobbered with 41 cm of snow (Xmas night through Boxing Day), and has seen 20 straight days of below seasonal temps. We ended Dec with 89.0 cm of snow (all time Dec record for snow 89.7 cm). The avalanche threat remains extreme for most of the entire western Rockies.. we had a very shallow early snow pack, followed by some frigid weather. The Arctic air literally sucked the moisture out of that early snow pack, turning if fine and sugary.. the recent heavy snow is therefore falling on a very precarious base. We have had 15 avalanche deaths so far, two in Whistler (host of the Olympics next winter). The Prairies continue to see morning temps in the -40 deg C mark, wind chills close to -48.”

Jean-Christophe Vincendon – Meteo-France: “In France, ‘snow’ and ‘cold’ are the two principal words in the media. Around 5 cm of snow yesterday in the north, including Paris. Snow is now forecasted for the next hours in the south-east (5/10cm possible between Avignon, Marseille and Nice). And now (it’s 7PM), temperature is -9°c in Paris. I think it could be around -12°c tomorrow in the morning!”

Frank Cavallaro – CBC in Montreal: “As of today Jan 5th, 2009 Montreal has already picked up almost 110 cm of snow. The record is 383 cm for a whole winter, so we’re well on our way to a record.”

And then there’s this…

Dr. Jose Rubiera – Cuban TV in Havana: “In Cuba we’ve had splendid sunshine weather and higher than normal temperatures from mid-December through these days, corresponding with little exchange between the tropics and higher latitudes.. But the period from mid-November to the beginning of December was cold (to us) with lows up to 8 Celsius degrees in some stations and around 21 degrees in afternoon highs. From January 7th, however, another “cold” spell is forecasted with cold fronts arriving to Western Cuba again in a row. Water temperatures are around 26C, so tourists are enjoying beach resorts!”

Jay Weather arctic blast, European weather, world weather

During a previous life as a sportscaster, I spent a fair amount of time at NFL games. One of my vivid memories of those occasions was how slow and boring the games could become for ticket holders, because during frequent TV commercial timeouts, those in attendance had nothing to watch for several minutes at a time.

Fast-forward twenty years, and the commercial load during NFL games has reached an even more ridiculous level. During the first quarter of Sunday’s playoff game between the Vikings and Eagles, there was one period where one play was followed by a commercial break, followed by two plays and one more commercial break, and one more play followed by one more commercial break. Four plays, three breaks. I’m sure those who paid $80, $120, or $160 per ticket inside the Metrodome were thrilled to sit through that.

With one minute left in the third quarter – and with my interest in the game waning – I documented a similar chronology:

Fumble, 1:50 commercial break

Incomplete pass, 1:40 commercial break

Running play, 1:50 end-of-quarter commercial break

Incomplete pass, punt, 1:40 commercial break

During that sequence, the clock inside the stadium said that one minute and 22 seconds of the game had elapsed. The clock in my TV room said that 13 minutes of my life had elapsed.

I know what you’re saying: “Commercials pay the freight so TV viewers can watch the games for free.” Consider those Thursday night games carried on the NFL Network, a cable channel you have to pay money to watch. They have excessive commercials during those games, too.

Jay Sports commercials, NFL football, TV timeout