Author: kg4vma

coffeebreak? neah… pottybreak.

ok… i need to pick up a copy of the paper, because there’s a letter to the editor which has sparked some hot discussion on coffeebreak… and the democrat hasn’t updated the opinion page on their site.
anyway, the noise apparently has something to do with Rick locking the bathrooms when there aren’t any games. well, i don’t really know as if i can truly say that Rick made the decision, but i believe that i can safely assume that the decision bears his seal of approval, where he is on the recreation board and is acting as interim director.
i’ll try and give my thoughts later this evening, once i’ve read the writing being referenced…

First Post! (to CyntheticMedia)

Wow! This is my first post to the CyntheticMedia.com blog! Awesome!
I’ve been playing around with WordPress for a few months at home, trying to figure out some of the ins and outs before actually publishing anything online. It’s been pretty fun.
I still have no clue as to what I aim to accomplish here. I’ve been kicking around several different ideas, and maybe one of them will actually take off. If not, I’d say this will just turn into my regular blog. I hope it won’t come to that, but, who knows.
What I’d really like to do is try and create a blog which strictly revolves around Cynthiana, KY. (Kinda what I based the name around.)
Oh, well. We’ll see.
For now, I guess it’s time to turn off the maintenance mode, and view this thing.

Fwd: Final Exam

/here’s my final assignment in the os troubleshooting class… sounds
like fun, huh?/
——– Original Message ——–
Subject: Final Exam
Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 00:42:57 -0400
From: Clinton, Erskine
To: Adkins Channon , Allen Gaudinier
, “BAKER, DELLA”
, “CAINES, TIMOTHY” ,
Dwayne Starkey , “ELHITY, MOHAMED”
, Jeremiah Palmer , Kathy
Manley , Ozan Ates ,
“PITZER, LORI”
In Windows XP/Viista, you can use the Files and Settings Transfer Wizard
to migrate a user and their data to another computer.
From the user point of view, to access this tool:
click Start button -> All Programs -> Accessories-> System Tools-> File
and Settings Transfer Wizard
You can also use a similar procedure as an IT administrator to migrate
many users. See the
User State Migration Tool.
For detail information, see:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457090.aspx.
For your final, you will turn in a minimum of two, but no more than
three typed, double spaced pages of the following tasks to Ms. Bratcher
on Tuesday. You can print out the assignment in 128 on June 3rd. She may
come to 128 to collect assignments, but you can go to room 139 if
necessary.
1. Describe how and what you will back up before beginning any task
involving user data.
2. Describe why and how you might also use a system restore point in the
same situation.
3. Read the information on both the File and Settings Transfer Wizard
and the User State Migration Tool provided by the link above. Please
follow links therein for a complete understanding of the tools.
4. Describe how the “File and Settings Transfer Wizard” works at the
user level. That means go through the steps and document your results.
5. Describe how the User State Migration Tool can be used.
6. How can you find out what programs are hogging the computer’s memory?
7. How can you find out what programs is using the most CPU time?
8. How can you quickly find out whether your computer is active on the
network?
9. How and why do you use ping, tracert, and nslookup?
~ Erskine
(859)338-8506

Chris Bailey leaves WKYT.

Chris Bailey, meteorologist for WKYT has decided to leave after a ten year run at the station. Bailey has stated that the decision to leave is “bittersweet” in that he’ll miss the station and all the friends made there, but will thoroughly enjoy the time he’ll have to spend with his family. Bailey’s on-air schedule had him make appearances in the early morning to noon hours, and had him pull random weekend hours as well as “fill-ins” when his partners were unavailable.
Although Chris is leaving the station and thereby leaving a very popular blog behind, Chris has announced to his fans and followers that he is in the process of establishing a site where he will continue to publish weather information. The domain and hosting space for the new online venture has been secured at http://www.kentuckyweathercenter.com. In referring to the new site, Chris stated:

This site is still under construction but will be online later in the summer and will feature everything you need on Kentucky weather from video forecasts to forecast graphics to weather pics and videos and, of course, the blog!

Bailey had mentioned the upcoming project earlier this year, in his April 21st post.
Rumor of Bailey leaving the station has been floating around since May 4th, when Chris stated that he had “big news coming soon,” however the rumor didn’t become something worth believing until the May 20th post, where someone commented that they had seen that the station had an “opening for a broadcast meteorologist.”

related links:

http://www.wkyt.com/weatherblog
http://www.wkyt.com/station/bios/news/3573802.html

[Dial2Do] I dunno. I'm sitting here bored. Waiting

I dunno. I’m sitting here bored. Waiting for Diana to finish her homework. That way, we can back to watching the movie. I’m trying to watch Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. So far, I’m twenty minutes into the movie and that’s it! Because Diana is trying to do her homework and has left me sitting here waiting for–
I sent this email using my voice. Listen to it here:

…rambling on about cell phones an termination fees.

I’ve seen a story pop up a few times now on a proposal Verizon is making with the FCC over Early Termination Fees. The gist of it is that Verizon and other carriers want to re-word the rules so that the “fees” become “rates”. This would enable the charges to be controlled by the carriers without having any regulation by individual states. The carriers would plan to change these new rates to a determined figure which would be prorated for the remaining term of the contract. The idea also keeps the carriers from becoming involved in class actions over said fees. (at least, that’s what I’ve read)
I do not see where this move would be beneficial to the public.
A few years ago when I was selling phones and service, both Verizon and Cingular were already doing this. (If I remember correctly Verizon charged $175 and Cingular charged $250.) After reading these stories, I must assume that the reason these charges were already being prorated was due to something that Kentucky had already put into place.
A move to change fees to rates could potentially do more harm than good by eliminating a state’s regulatory power.
I hope the FCC figures that out.
…and as a side note, with regard to how early terminations were handled where I worked:
In an instance where a customer shopped an “agent” instead of a “corporate” location the customer might’ve faced contractual obligations with the agent in regards to an early termination. We were an agent.
When a customer terminated a contract within the first six months, our store was charged a “termination fee” of sorts; our commission earned for the sale was pulled. Not a good thing. The commission covered our equipment costs. We’d buy a phone at near-retail, then mark the price down to “contract-price” and cover the difference using commission. So, in an effort to recoup that cost should termination come, customers would enter into a separate agreement with us, in which they agreed to pay us a termination fee. (cheesed off several people–mainly those who were too busy playing with their new toy while terms were being explained.)
…and the point?
I dunno, I really can’t remember now.
—
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/05/21/cell.phone.fees.ap/
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080521/ap_on_bi_ge/cell_phone_fees
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080521-wireless-industry-negotiates-to-duck-costly-class-actions.html

dtv and cta requirements…

If you read the last post, I mentioned that I had noticed that WKYT had taken down their weather subchannel, leaving in it’s place a note stating something to the effect that they got caught by an FCC SNAFU, and wouldn’t be putting it back up until they got things ironed out. Out of curiosity, I searched a bit and found a forum where someone had said it was most likely due to the Children’s Television Act (CTA). So, this morning, I set out to search the FCC, to find the dirt on the CTA and how it effects digital television broadcasts (DTV).
From what I took from the FCC said on DTV, stations broadcasting subchannels, or multiple “streams”, must comply with the prior rules of three hours per week for the regular broadcast, with an additional half-hour of children’s educational/informational (E/I) programming for every twenty four hours broadcast on any other stream. I did not, however, see where the FCC mandates that the additional E/I content be aired on the stream in question. From what I read, the FCC is encouraging the stations to experiment with the new capabilities of multicasting, and that the stations can even dedicate one stream to E/I programming to fulfill the CTA requirements. (My interpretation could very well be wrong.)
However, should my interpretation be correct, it may be possible for WKYT to add more content to either the primary broadcast (the CBS affiliate programming) or the second stream (the CW programming). Personally, I would like to see WKYT attempt to adopt a fourth subchannel, and dedicate it to E/I programming.
I did find an interesting bit in what the FCC said in regard to certain exceptions to the rules. A station can rebroadcast the main signal over another stream either simultaneously or time-shifted without the need of broadcasting additional E/I content. This is logical, since the “rebroadcast” would already contain the initial requirements. So, a station could broadcast the main programming on a secondary stream, have it shifted to such a point where children’s programming was knocked out of the required block, and the station would not be in violation of the rules. I don’t see where any station would want to do so, but it could be done.
…and I have no idea why I find any of this interesting, nor do I really think anyone else does. So why did I write any of this in the first place?
…and, should you want to see if I’m completely wrong in my understanding of the rules, here’s what I read:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-221A1.doc or view it in scribd form!
http://www.lasarletter.net/drupal/node/212

WKYT's weather broadcast is off-air…

Is WKYT’s weather radar channel (DTV 27.3) off air due to educational requirements? Maybe…
When I got home tonight, I flipped through the stations and noticed that WKYT’s “Radar Sweep” wasn’t displaying. In place of it was something about “FCC regulations” and that the channel would be unavailable “until further notice.”
Well, out of curiosity, I hit the web in search, and found a forum in which someone asked a question about it. The response: “FCC requires stations air a certian amount of Educational programming for each programming service.”
I do not know if this is the actual reason as to why the channel has ceased it’s regular broadcast, but it would make a bit of sense. The other day I flipped through the channels and noticed an “educational” program on WTVQ’s weather (sub)channel–something I hadn’t known them of doing before. I believe at last look I saw WTVQ re-broadcasting the main channel.
I wouldn’t have thought that the stations would have to broadcast “educational” programs on the subs, seeing as the subs were set as “extensions” of the main channel. I’m curious as to how that regulation reads. I’ll try to remember to go hit up the commission’s site in the morning and look for it.
Right now, I’m too tired to look any further.
Goodnight.

googling cynthiana…

I recently turned on a Google Alert for “cynthiana ky.” While I have been getting a few bum hits and stories that I’m not interested in (such as whenever MTV News writes up something on Idol in Iraq and mentions PFC Puckett) I have discovered a few interesting stories. One of the latest is a posts the alert found was where someone wrote about an article in the New York Times:


Yesterday’s New York Times contained this story on little Ewing, Kentucky and its not-quite-really-new insurance tax (photo of Ewing’s downtown from the NYT):

Leaders of this town in the bluegrass country of northeast Kentucky are facing a problem any mayor would envy: how to spend a windfall.
Well, a small-town windfall at least. Ewing, population 300, has limped along for decades with no independent revenues, and its residents are fed up enough with having to pay county property taxes. But later this year, it will start collecting a grand total of $12,000 a year or more from a new tax that came about through quirks of fate and law.

It’s a neat little story worth reading.
Another story Google found introduced me to a restaurant in Paris, called Varden’s. From the looks of the site, and the entries posted on their blog, it looks like a place I’d like to check out. The article Google found was pulled because the author mentioned Cynthiana, or more specifically, The Rohs Opera House:

There is a great theater in Cynthiana, KY. They show movies, put on plays, have their own variety show, and “Cynthiana Idol”. Jessica and I went to Cynthiana this weekend and loved our visit. We took a nice walk around town and stopped by to see The Rohl’s. The folks who run it were very nice to us and let us take a tour. We can’t wait to get back to see a movie or show.

It’s neat what you can find–or what Google can find–if you take a few minutes to look around.