“The least of us is improved by the things done by the best of us.”
– Walter Cronkite, 1969
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Distinguished Eagle Scout Neil Armstrong’s Out Of This World Souvenirs
Archive for the ‘Media’ Category
Man On The Moon Leave a comment
Wall Mount Surfer Thermometer Leave a comment
OK, perhaps you’re intrigued by the title. You wonder if I’m making thermometers now?
Nope.
This is a story about media in our society.
Yesterday, this blog’s traffic blew up. The number one search used to find MowryJournal.com: “Wall Mount Surfer Thermometer.” And, as you probably know, that has nothing to do with what I do. At all.
I make things that do wall mount. And, I make things shaped like surfboards. But surfers? Thermometers?
Nope.
However, somehow, someway, some of my photography made it into Google Images yesterday … when you search for “Wall Mount Surfer Thermometer,” you see several of my Magic Bottle Openers fairly quickly. This is the most popular image that I shot:
Magic Bottle Opener 16 – 027. Cherry, Black Walnut, Hard Maple, Yellowheart & Goncalo Alves.
The weird part (as if this isn’t odd enough) is that the most popular image in yesterday’s blog wasn’t a Magic Bottle Opener as seen in the most popular search … it was a cheese board:
Cheese Board 15 – 058. Hard Maple, Yellowheart & Cherry. 8″ x 11″ x 3/4″.
And, for the record, this isn’t my prettiest effort.
Why did traffic for that image blow up yesterday? No idea. The only search that garnered significant views yesterday was “Wall Mount Surfer Thermometer,” and that search didn’t yield any images for cheese boards from any maker, including me.
So how did an image of a cheese board have huge, unprecedented traffic, when the only search delivering an unusual number of people to the site was “Wall Street Surfer Thermometer?” No clue.
In our society today, much of our information gathering is driven by online search. Advertising in this “medium” has absolutely exploded … ending the virtual monopoly that Yellow Pages had on “searching for information” just a few years ago. Today, I don’t even keep the Yellow Pages when somebody places them on my front step. They go straight to recycling.
Revenues from search has made Google into the $75 billion corporation that it is today. And with all of that success … they still point information seekers here when all they want is to know how hot it is, surfer style.
My Favorite Posts From Year 4 1 comment
Installing Oneida’s V3000 Dust Collection System
MowryJournal.com is now 4!
Only one of my favorite posts from this past year also appeared on the “most read” list that was posted yesterday … and that post was about installing my new Dust Collection System. This post was linked by a reader on the woodworking Reddit forum, and it went viral from there.
I’m happy that many people found that post worthwhile, but I’m actually a lot more excited that the V3000 has made such a huge improvement in the air quality in the shop! That’s why that installation was so important; the blog post just documented that importance, and other people are interested. That’s a good thing.
The first 2 threads that I see in this collection of favorite posts are that I like writing about learning, and I’m doing a lot in the garage woodshop.
And I don’t see those trends changing any time soon.
Just like the other common thread that’s here: family. Also, not changing any time soon. Right?
Here are my favorite blog posts from the past 12 months. If you missed some of these good reads along the way, please enjoy!
13 Things Learned In The Shop Last Weekend
Five Things I Didn’t Know About The Confederate Flag
Things I Learned Watching The Superbowl
Installing Oneida’s V3000 Dust Collection System
Ten Things That Will Disappear In My Lifetime
The Board Chronicles: California Strawberry Festival 2016
The View From The Hubble Telescope
Things I Learned At The Street Fair, 2015
Things I Learned Watching The Superbowl
Why? You Ask Why?
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Most Read Posts From Year Four 1 comment
Wild Mushroom Cobbler
“The winner … and STILL champeen … Wild Mushroom Cobbler!”
For the 3rd year in row, Velda’s recipe has been the most read post on MowryJournal.com. Two quick facts result:
- If you haven’t made this recipe yet, then you are missing out.
- Velda made this recipe only once this past year, and I’m the poorer for it.
Here are the most read posts from MowryJournal.com’s 4th year:
Installing Oneida’s V3000 Dust Collection System
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
US Flag: Common Display Mistakes
Ulysses S Grant, Official White House Portrait
Petrified Forest National Park
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Smoked Paprika
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Installing The Oneida V3000 Dust Collection System
You Get Your News Where? 4 comments
I don’t trust anybody.
Really.
When it comes to news, I trust NO ONE to tell me the truth. I think it’s as likely that Bill Maher tells me the truth as Katie Couric. Both work in media, after all. Both are known to stretch the truth to make a point.
So I don’t trust them to tell the truth.
My recommendation is don’t get your “news” from a cable comedy show. And, don’t get your “news” from a journalist that freely admitted she edited an interview to make a point … while misrepresenting the people she was interviewing.
Today, I read Pew Research’s latest finding about where people are getting their news today, and it saddens me to report that more and more people are getting their news from … online providers with no proven journalistic integrity. You know, companies like Google. Facebook. Verizon.
Big tech companies, every one. Proven to skirt the truth, every one. Pushing their agenda over truth, every one.
In the case of Google, they were investigated by the DOJ, who found that they were slanting their search algorithm to favor their profit over quality information. The specific case was about travel providers: they put their in-house company above outside providers even when the outside provider had better options for the traveler.
Did they disclose this? No.
Then, they were found to have skewed search results so that if you were using the auto complete function for searches, you might miss that Hilary Clinton was being investigated and might be indicted. Specifically, if you typed in “Hilary Clinton Ind” the auto complete suggestions were Hillary Clinton Indiana and Hillary Clinton India. The result that was actually 8 times more popular was “Hillary Clinton Indictment,” and that wasn’t an autocomplete option.
Facebook employees have gleefully disclosed that they made sure conservative news stories were de-emphasized in their member’s news feeds. Was this sanctioned by management? By some management? No one is admitting it, of course, just as the IRS never admitted that it targeted conservative non profits. It just happened. Oops.
Verizon’s case is just as insidious, and it’s rooted in the idea of “net neutrality.” Verizon believes that it should be able to sell its piece of the information superhighway to the highest bidder … so, if, for example, they can get more money from Fox News or CNN or ABC, then they should be able to provide that information to their subscribers in a powerful way. They want news that you get on “their” devices to be controlled by their profits. You, the subscriber, committed to a 2-year contract, should get no say in the matter.
According to Verizon.
Fortunately, that concept was just shot down – resoundingly – by the US District Court of Appeals. Perhaps Verizon won’t get their way.
And that’s a very good thing, as more and more people are getting their “news” from these high tech companies, and those companies are getting an ever-increasing share of the advertising pie … meaning that traditional media companies have fewer and fewer resources to provide good journalism that’s vetted by multiple sources and untainted by a secret political agenda.
Here’s how TechCrunch describes Pew’s findings about our news consumption habits:
Pew found that nearly four-in-ten U.S. adults (38%) said they often get news from digital sources, including news websites or apps (28%) and social networking sites (18%). That still trails the 57% who often get news from a television source but outpaces both radio (25%) and print newspapers (20%).
Instead of news media benefiting from growth in digital ad spending, Pew notes how tech companies such as Facebook and Apple have succeeded in supplanting the choices and aims of news outlets with “their own choices and goals” as their platforms have become the dominant sources for content distribution, taking over the role that used to belong to newspapers.
And while the concentration of digital ad spending in the hands of a handful of tech giants began on desktop platforms, Pew says the data shows it “quickly took root in the rapidly growing mobile realm as well” — which the report also notes accounted for slightly more than half of all digital ad spending last year.
So, beware of who you trust in the information game. High tech companies have no legal responsibility to be “agenda neutral,” and yet more and more people are trusting them to give them (key word: GIVE) information with a minimum of fuss.
Journalism, I mourn for thee.
More
New York Times: Court Backs Rules Treating Internet Like Utility, Not Luxury
Tech Cruch: Pew’s 2016 News Media Report Is A Tough Read For Journalism
Wall Street Journal: How Google Skewed Search Results
Fox News: Google Helping Hillary Clinton
Gizmodo: Former Facebook Workers….
FierceWireless.com: MoffettNathanson: Net Neutrality Ruling….
Watching Baseball Movies Leave a comment
This is a re-post of a blog from 6/8/13. Baseball is America’s Pastime, and these are still the best movies about my favorite spectator sport!
It’s Opening Day!
For those of us that can’t watch their favorite team play today….
The Best Baseball Movies
“A good friend of mine used to say, ‘This is a very simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.” Think about that for a while.”
– “Nuke” Laloosh as played by Tim Robbins, in Bull Durham, 1988
A glorious game.
A wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
It’s true that there are 162 games in a season, but it’s also true that every team gets a day off occasionally. And sometimes it rains. For those days when you need more baseball, here are my favorite baseball movies.
The Starting Nine
1. For Love Of The Game
- Stars: Kevin Costner, Kelly Preston
- Position: Pitcher
- Team: Detroit Tigers
- Year: 1999
- IMDB Rating: 6.3
- Plot: Kevin Costner said he was going to keep making movies about baseball until he got it right. He did. Any movie with Vin Scully doing play by play will be great.
2. Bull Durham
- Stars: Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins
- Position: Catcher
- Team: Durham Bulls
- Year: 1988
- IMDB Rating: 7.0
- Plot: Costner is a long-time minor leaguer sent back to A-ball in the minors to mentor a young hot prospect. Sarandon also thinks the prospect is hot … she married Tim Robbins after they were in this wonderful, fun movie. For Love of the Game is a serious look at baseball … this is the irreverent turn that shows the joy in the boys’ game.
3. The Natural
- Stars: Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger
- Position: Right Field
- Team: New York Knights
- Year: 1984
- IMDB Rating: 7.4
- Plot: Redford is a prodigy from the country that is welcomed to the majors late in life. His talents are almost wasted because of the distraction of a woman. Great film, great acting, great script.
4. Trouble With The Curve
- Stars: Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, Justin Timberlake
- Position: Eastwood is a major league scout, looking at a high school player with the Grizzlies from Asheville, NC
- Team: Atlanta Braves
- Year: 2012
- IMDB Rating: 6.7
- Plot: Eastwood directs, and basically reprises his role from Gran Torino as a fading curmudgeon. Amy Adams is his baseball-loving daughter, helping him on one last scouting trip where she meets Timberlake, who is on his first scouting trip.
5. A League Of Their Own
- Stars: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis
- Position: Pitcher
- Team: Rockford Peaches
- Year: 1992
- IMDB Rating: 7.0
- Plot: Tom Hanks is an alcoholic ex-major leaguer chosen to manage a girl’s pro team during WWII. The assembled team includes Geena Davis as the star pitcher and Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna for comic relief. The iconic line of the film: “There’s no crying in baseball!”
6. Fever Pitch
- Stars: Drew Barrymore, Jimmy Fallon
- Position: Fan
- Team: Boston Red Sox
- Year: 2005
- IMDB Rating: 6.1
- Plot: Fallon is a Red Sox season ticket holder, which means he believes in hope. Barrymore meets him, and a match is made … that has to survive Fallon’s obsession with the Sox.
7. Moneyball
- Stars: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Position: Manager
- Team: Oakland Athletics
- Year: 2011
- IMDB Rating: 7.6
- Plot: This biopic is about Billy Beane, the A’s manager that challenged and re-made baseball with his beliefs about what statistics are important, and which ones are important enough to pay for. Another film with great acting.
8. Major League
- Stars: Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen
- Position: Catcher
- Team: Cleveland Indians
- Year: 1989
- IMDB Rating: 7.0
- Plot: It’s described as a screwball comedy, for better or worse. It’s an ensemble comedy that holds up – it’s not an award-winner, but it’s a fun couple of hours. (Warning: do not bother with the sequels.) This movie is an entertaining look at a lovable bunch of misfits assembled by a maniacal owner that wants them to lose. Berenger is the aging catcher that holds them together; Sheen is the fire-balling bad boy that needs to save the day.
9. Summer Catch
- Stars: Freddie Prinze, Jr, Jessica Biel
- Position: Pitcher
- Team: Chatham Athletics
- Year: 2001
- IMDB Rating: 4.7
- Plot: Prinze is a local kid struggling to escape from his home town. He’s playing in the Cape Cod Baseball League and hoping to get a break when big league scouts come to town to watch the stars on the roster. He falls in love with the boss’s daughter … it’s a romantic comedy. It’s a baseball movie. I’m two for two, and really like this film. I don’t care what some may say. Enjoy the popcorn!
Relief Pitcher: Field Of Dreams
- Stars: Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta
- Position: Fan
- Team: Chicago Black Sox
- Year: 1989
- IMDB Rating: 7.5
- Plot: This film is cited by many as their favorite baseball movie, but I just can’t go there. Costner plays an Iowa farmer that has visions and builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield … that is then visited by major league players that only he can see. Emotionally wrenching moments ensue. Where I come from, farmers don’t have visions, so I can’t support this film.
Extra Innings: The Sandlot
- Stars: Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar
- Position: it’s a team game
- Team: it’s a neighborhood team
- Year: 1993
- IMDB Rating: 7.6
- Plot: We follow a bunch of kids playing a never-ending game through their summer vacation. It’s really a nice movie about kids, baseball, and the importance of having fun.
More
The Art of Manliness: 15 Best Baseball Movies
Things I Learned Watching The Superbowl 3 comments
- I was working in the
garagewoodshop Sunday afternoon, working to finish the soap drying rack. At 2:30p, it got creepy quiet … apparently EVERYONE was somewhere other than driving or walking on my street. I mean, it was totally quiet! But then there was a dog walker, calling her Mom & apologizing that she was late because she was still walking Bailey. Who must have been the dog. After Bailey went home, I did not see one other person outside before I buttoned up thegaragewoodshop & went to prepare to watch the Superbowl … on my DVR. Of course. 
I don’t like red sparkly eye shadow. Lady Gaga did a fine job singing the national anthem. I didn’t love her makeup, though. Too much product in her hair and her eye shadow was, uh, odd. But then, she is Lady Gaga.- I must be old.
- I have never been a fan of Cam Newton. His father apparently didn’t sell him to Auburn (perhaps he just failed at selling him to Mississippi State). In any event, whatever the situation and whatever happened, I wasn’t a fan. I didn’t follow his career, and I didn’t know what a great year he’s had leading the Carolina Panthers. Wow. And he’s 6′-5″? I had no idea. No wonder they were favored to win.
- Instant replay may not have gotten the call right according to their announcers. The Panthers challenged the call, and the CBS expert chimed in & said it was def def definitely a catch … and then the NFL said it was not a catch. CBS was caught flat-footed, and never explained what might have happened. In general, I’m not a fan of this broadcast team and today was no exception.
- Defensive struggles are great games … but not outrageous spectacles. I wonder if people are enjoying the game at all, or is it just about the commercials today?
One of my favorite commercials was the Doritos commercial, showing a mother having a sonogram, and the baby reacting to the Doritos that dad was eating. I later learned that this commercial was seen by some as anti-choice, as it humanized a fetus, which would be anathema to pro-choice enthusiasts. And I just thought it was a cute commercial.- Beyoncé led a racist halftime show, screamed headlines from the other side of the political spectrum. I read that her dance chorus wore Black Panther uniforms (and I’m pretty certain the Black Panthers didn’t wear uniforms. Just sayin’.) Apparently, the problem is that she’s actually pro-Black Lives Matter and elements of her performance were an homage to the Black Panthers. Since she has a political stance, allowing her to sing her non-political song with a bunch of dancers wearing black costumes and black berets was politicizing what was otherwise a boring halftime show. Be clear, I’m not a fan, but I didn’t find her performance offensive. Maybe I’m just too old or too white to understand, but I don’t care what she thought it meant: I care what I saw, and what I felt. I was not entertained (at all), but I was not offended. As always, your mileage may vary, of course.
- I think people need to take a minute (as the song Bruno Mars performed does suggest, after all), and allow that political views are not expressed by a dancing chorus clad in black spandex, nor are they expressed by the animation of a baby reaching for a tortilla chip. IMHO.
Worst moment of the game: learning that The Good Wife only has 9 more episodes, and will end at the end of this season. The best show on television is going away? I am very, very, very upset.- Where were the Clydesdales? Where were the wonderful Budweiser commercials? The Bud Light commercials were OK, but meh. The one Budweiser commercial with Helen Mira was good, but she’s no big horse playing with a puppy. Obviously.
- Still don’t like sparkly eye shadow. Mrs Bowlen did nothing to impress me as she accepted the Lombardi trophy. Coordinating her makeup with Lady Gaga was not a good choice, either.
- I liked that the Broncos won, and gave the NFL’s Winningest Quarterback Ever! the opportunity to retire a champion. Peyton Manning is a true student of the game, and he is a great representative for football (who wants to drink Budweiser!). Cam Newton didn’t handle losing very well, but his career is at the beginning. He should have better days ahead of him.
At Long Last: Mrs M’s Handmade Leave a comment
It became a joke.
We would be at an event, and Mrs M would be asked, “Do you have a website?”
The inevitable reply: “Yes, but it’s under construction right now. I may have to fire that webmaster if he doesn’t get it updated.”
I am, of course, the webmaster. And I was standing right there.
And that was the sorry state of Mrs M’s website for nearly 12 months. I have a few excuses, all very reasonable, of course:
- The software auto-updated and locked up.
- I ran out of gas.
- It was a dark and stormy night.
- My dog ate it.
- I was playing golf with a client.
- My allergies flared up.
- I had guests from out of town.
- My cat had to go to the vet.
- The flight got canceled.
- It’s a 24-hour thing. I hope.
- We had rolling power outages.
- I don’t know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ no babies, Miss Grace.
- I’ve had the most awful time of it. What was your question?
But, GOOD NEWS. I finally got it together, didn’t go into the garage woodshop for a few days, and put together the new & improved Mr’s M’s Handmade website, powered by Shopify. It now has all of Mrs M’s products & current scents featured (which wasn’t possible on the old site: the proximate cause of the original problem).
Please, visit Mrs M’s site. If you happen to find a typo or experience a glitch, please let me know! You can sign up for Mrs M’s rarely-published newsletter, and we’ve even got a discount code for you: “FINALLY”, which is valid through Valentine’s Day. That discount is good for $10 off any order of $30 or more. Just click on the picture below, and enjoy!
My Favorite Posts From 2015 1 comment
When I started this blog, I promised that the topics would be varied.
Check.
Since I’m spending a lot of time in the garage woodshop lately, there’s been more of a focus on woodworking this year than in year’s past, but even with limited time, I managed to do some exploration into genetics, history, food and prognostication. If you haven’t read these articles, please do. I believe you will enjoy them!
Five Things I Didn’t Know About The Confederate Flag
Ten Things That Will Disappear In My Lifetime
The Board Chronicles: Fine Craft Show
The Board Chronicles: Santa’s Art Shop
Things I Learned At The Street Fair, 2015
Things To Do When Velda Is Sick
Velda’s Kitchen: The Dark Side
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The Best of MowryJournal 2015 1 comment
These are the most viewed posts of 2015. The blog had visitors from 149 countries this year.
Velda will be happy that her recipe for Wild Mushroom Cobbler is the most viewed post of the year. For that matter, a great many people will be happy after they follow her recipe. Now, if I could just get her to do so again….
These postings are about equally split between Velda’s recipes, my portraits series about the American President, my series on the National Parks, and then a few odds and ends from MrsMowry and myself.
If you haven’t read any of these before, please enjoy. After all, they are the most popular things published on MowryJournal.com this year!
Wild Mushroom Cobbler
Petrified Forest National Park
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
US Flag: Common Display Mistakes
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Smoked Paprika
US Flag: Common Display Mistakes
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Cue the sailboat….
