Ron's Log

Jon Stewart Points Out Republican Progress On Equal Rights

No longer marrying turtles.

South Boston Getting Reality TV Series

A&E will be bringing us a reality TV series called "Southie Rules." They say it will follow "a South Boston family as they battle the relentless gentrification of their neighborhood." That might provide a rich opportunity to hear some traditional Southie residents saying those things they are so infamous for saying. I hope they don't bleep the language.

A couple of days ago I was in the Rancho Mirage Home Depot and was startled to see a big guy coming around a corner towards me wearing a t-shirt with a green shamrock and the single word "SOUTHIE." I hadn't seen anything like that since leaving Boston. I gave him a wide berth.

The Boston Herald gives more detail on the preliminary work on the TV series. It sounds like they are looking for extreme hard core alcoholics. But "'We're not just looking for drunk people in bars,' [Devin Hennessey of Epic Junction Productions] said. 'We've also been looking in gyms and nail salons, places like that.'" So, alcoholics with nice bodies and pretty hands. Sounds like TV.

Colbert Seeking Lincoln Tunnel Dirt Biker

Dirt Bike Badass in the Lincoln Tunnel

Ultimate Reality TV In China

A popular television show in China features Ding Yu interviewing death row prisoners only days or minutes before their executions.

In one scene, a prisoner in his 20s falls to his knees before his parents, who have been allowed to see him. He pleads: 'Father, I was wrong. I'm sorry.'

Moments later, his parents see him about to be led away to his death. His distraught mother apologises for beating him once as a child and implores her son: 'Go peacefully. It's following government's orders.'

Prison officers then push her aside and drag him away.

The show focuses on murder cases, avoiding political crimes. An equivalent program in the U.S. would select only one death row inmate and then follow his entire legal case. It would obviously run longer than Gunsmoke, but probably couldn't match the 40 million viewers of the Chinese program.

When it's a VERY slow news day in Des Moines

Their headlines scream VCRs' days are numbered in Des Moines area. Next they'll be telling us we have to switch to unleaded gas.

Check it out, the date is February 25, 2012. It is relevant to point out that the Des Moines Register is a Gannett paper.

The article says the VCR was introduced in 1963, an oversimplification of history. This Wikipedia article provides more information. It was November 1975 when the Sony Betamax hit the market.

The comments on this so-called "news" article are worth reading, and it is not entirely mere coincidence that the most clueless comments come from one Toni LeAnn Williams who has publicly and voluntarily identified herself as a "Postage Due Technician at United States Postal Service - retired."

My crystal ball tells me that in exactly 20 years, the February 25, 2032, Des Moines Register will alert us to the declining popularity of the CD. They will tell us the MP3 player was introduced in 1995. Lamentations will fill the comments.

Harry Morgan Dead At Age 96

Probably best known as Col. Sherman T. Potter in the TV version of MASH, I liked him best as Officer Bill Gannon on Dragnet. In the photo above he's Judge Mel Coffey in Inherit The Wind. He died today in Brentwood after a bout of pneumonia. His filmography.

Oh, those Mythbusters!

The Mythbusters fire a cannonball into a residential neighborhood in Dublin, California, hitting two houses and a minivan.

The TV show's website.

Apps For The Kindle Fire Not So Restricted After All

We have been told that you can only download apps for the Kindle Fire from Amazon, and they are screening the apps to assure there is no malware. But, if you have access to an Android phone, PC Magazine tells you how to get around that limitation, so you can happily download all the crappy malware you want.

You'll need a microSD card in that Android phone and Astro File Manager. On the phone you select apps and then back them up to the microSD card. Copy the files from the microSD card to your computer. With your Kindle Fire, download "Easy Installer." Then hook up the Fire to your computer via USB. Move the app files from the computer to the Fire. Disconnect the Fire and use "Easy Installer" to install the apps.

Real Kindle Fire Photos

From real people who got their real Kindle Fires yesterday:

By Andy Ihnatko. His complete set of photos is here.

By nateog

Huell Howser Donates It All To Chapman University

His entire life's work is going to Chapman in Orange, California, where it will be digitized. For those poor people who live outside California and might not have access to Huell's programming, here is just a leetle taste:

He will be speaking Thursday night on the Chapman campus.

...after more than 20 years in production, California's Gold is one of the longest-running and most beloved series about California ever produced. Huell Howser's shows can be viewed six nights a week on KCET, and at various times on California PBS stations statewide and in Oregon, Nevada and Tennessee. Huell's work in television has also taken him on travels worldwide, including Egypt, Israel, Haiti, Cuba, Nicaragua, Australia, Europe, and twice to the former Soviet Union.