My latest column is posted up on the American Chronicle websites.
Called “Random Thoughts” it has a little something for everyone.
Show of The Year
It is a show I’ve never even heard of.
Not only that, but it’s in it’s 6th season.
Ok. Yeah. Sure. Whatever.
Random Thoughts
This morning (first post of 2011 huh?) I got to thinking about what was wrong with Caprica.
Why did the Sy-Fy Channel cancel it?
Of course, they’ll site viewer numbers and say that people weren’t watching it. I think that would be partially accurate. People didn’t watch it because they didn’t know when it would be on. One of the common problems of networks in general is that they advertise the hell out of everything on their networks which means you have to be watching their networks to see when certain shows will be on.
At least, that’s how it used to work.
Now, I don’t watch any of your network nonsense. In fact, I didn’t watch a single episode of Caprica on Sy Fy. I downloaded the shows from iTunes. I never had any intention of watching Sy Fy to see the show nor did I ever do so. That makes me wonder if Sy Fy ever included those folks when they factor in the numbers?
What about Hulu or TV.com?
(Update: I just stumbled upon this great article about people leaving their cable and television providers in favor of internet based solutions.) The whole story link is here.
The proliferation of viewing devices — including a new generation of TV sets that connect to the Internet — could boost the chances that viewers will do what cable and satellite companies fear most: cancel their $70-a-month subscriptions in favor of cheaper Web options.
People want to watch your shows just like they always have except now they want it delivered their way and not yours.
They are not going to watch your channel but they do want to watch your shows and that is what you need to monetize.
As I said in a couple of paragraphs above, we never knew when the show was going to be on. That is bad. It’s the same rule for podcasts. People stop listening when you stop delivering your show on some kind of schedule. Caprica was horrible in this regard. Do you remember when TV seasons were about 24 episodes long and were fairly dependable? I miss those days.
I could write a big long post about this. Maybe I will.
An Apparent Misconception
People who watch funny videos on the internet at work aren’t necessarily wasting time. They may be taking advantage of the latest psychological science — putting themselves in a good mood so they can think more creatively.
That’s a great discovery except for one small factor…
…the “getting fired for screwing around at work” thing.
Other than that…solid.
This Week’s BS Award Goes To…
This Lifehacker Article that claims that idling your car is bad.
For those readers in chillier climates it’s a common to see people trudging out to their cars to warm them up early in the morning. It turns out all that idling isn’t just ineffective but a waste of money too.
The common belief is that you have to start a car ahead of time in cold weather or else the engine won’t be warm enough and you could damage it. It turns out that engines only require around a half minute of idle time to warm up; excessive idling decreases the life of your engine and unnecessarily kludges things up.
If you really want a good laugh at the expense of the author read the comments below the article. For example…
It’s not just your engine that needs a warm up. You want the fluids circulating freely through the automatic transmission and through the power steering system before driving off. They don’t need to be at operating temperature, but a couple of minutes to let the fluids flow and move about can save wear and tear.
The article is easily defeated by simple common sense.
Yes. The article was written with an obvious “green” bias.
