Saturday, October 2, 2010

Bullies not just for middle school

Writing a blog allows the writer to set his own limits. In the old days, writing for a newspaper of general circulation meant that I'd have to watch my language. There were certain words I couldn't use.

I'm not about to become a foul-mouthed pundit, but there are a few news stories that make me mutter The Word as in "What the ----?

One such story came to the surface last week.

Two Rutgers University students outed a gay classmate by streaming across the Internet live video of a sexual encounter with another man in his dorm room. The victimized student subsequently committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. His body was recovered from the Hudson River.

Tyler Clementi, 19, a talented musician, now belongs to the ages. We think of bullies as roaming middle school playgrounds. Obviously, they are all around us -- from dorm rooms to board rooms -- and of all ages. They always have been, of course, but now they've turned to the Internet and technology to attack and embarrass.

What the ....

OK, I won't use the word. But I'm thinking it.

* * *
It appears Atwood Resort & Conference Center is on life support. A story last week didn't offer much hope that it could be saved without a large infusion of money.

Let me ask this: Would the lodge have been a good project for federal stimulus money? Would the masses (read Tea Party) have gotten really angry over using public money to fix a resort and save jobs and tax base?

One other question: Would the lodge's fortunes have been better had it been built on the water rather than on a hill overlooking Atwood Lake? You know what they say about hindsight.

* * *
The only reason I mention this next item is because the few people I've mentioned it to have been surprised. I am by no means an expert in such matters.

Did you know all of the Columbus network-affiliated TV stations are available on Time Warner Cable in the Dover-New Philadelphia area? So is Cleveland's PBS affiliate, WVIZ. But you can't get them if you use a cable box or have an old TV set. You need a newer HDTV that can access HD channels such as 25-1, 25-2 and so on.

If this is important to you, get yourself a digital two-way splitter, inserting one coax feed from the splitter directly into the back of the TV. The other feed can go into the box, which should be connected to your TV via HDMI cable. That way you can have the best of both worlds.

The Columbus channels and WVIZ are not available through the box. Press the TV button on your remote, then find the menu and rescan for the available cable channels. That process can take a few minutes, but when it's done check Channels 97-38, 97-41, 97-42 and 97-43 for your Columbus connection.

I don't know why Time Warner is currently carrying those channels or how long it will continue to do so. But it's been that way for awhile. The Columbus channels, incidentally, are in standard definition.

If you have questions about this e-mail me. I don't want to spend a lot of time on this because it is really boring stuff for a lot of readers. And to those readers I apologize.

2 comments:

lilmikkii said...

Hey Dick It's Mikehla Remember me!!!!!!???

lilmikkii said...

OMG it's dick ferrel remember me Mikehla from FL you could of told me u had a blog I was getting on a fecbook app from my gmas facebook and I saw you had a link I clicked on it and KaPow it popped up!!!! Your blog...LOL!!!!!