People bubbled at the parade

This morning, I went to the Memorial Day parade, and I saw 2 people who were in such a festive mood that they bubbled.

DVD recorders will soon be useless

For years, I warned that digital TV signals were inferior to the old analog signals, because the nature of digital signals would cause them to break up. Nobody listened. Congress, the FCC, and the TV industry chose instead to stand around and play with themselves.

Now a new standard for digital TV is finally being developed to remedy this problem, and some stations have already started using it - though you need a whole new TV set to watch using this standard. Now there's another problem in addition to having to buy a new set. Some stations are encrypting their signals under the new standard using digital "rights" management.

DRM is a refuge of scoundrels. It already rendered digital music tracks useless. When consumers transferred their music to a new computer, tracks with DRM stopped working. That's like if records were designed to break if you got a new record player (though Panasonic did little short of that with their shitty styluses in the '90s). How will DRM will affect the new TV standard? With the new standard, stations may prevent DVD recorders from recording off the air.

The FCC has a mandate to make sure radio and TV stations operate in the public interest and provide free service to the public. You might think free over-the-air TV is here to stay. But the FCC is doing nothing to prevent encryption of broadcast signals, despite the mandate to make sure these signals are free.

The Empire State strikes back

Some of you may know that I was gone all week on a road trip to the Northeast. It ruled! It was better than dealing with society's mind-blowing public policy decline that has continued unabated for most of the past 40 years.

My string of fact-finding missions is generally beyond the scope of this blog. That's really Last Word material. However, on Wednesday, as we were sitting in traffic in Troy, New York, a woman who drove past bubbled.

I did my patriotic duty!

I'm planning on going on a fact-finding mission in the Northeast next week, so I won't be home during the Kentucky primary on Tuesday, May 16.

That means I had to cast an absentee ballot! A few days ago, I filled out my ballot for Geoff Young for governor and took the sealed ballot down to the drop-off box at the county building.

At this point, I'm experienced enough to know that it's seldom productive to give detailed explanations for each vote. Never invest too much effort in any public figure. I've seen too many political figures abandon their strongest stances. I also know never to vote for Andy Beshear again, after his botched pandemic handling, his support of a Republican tax bill, and other foibles.

You're also probably wondering why I'm still a registered Democrat after Beshear's many screw-ups. I had planned to change my registration, but I am delaying it because President Biden might actually have a viable challenger in the 2024 primary. But only if poo.

Have no fear, the May ish is here!

May wouldn't be May without the May ish of The Last Word!

This edition is a special '90s flashback ish! In addition to the recent Columbus roadmeet, this ish talks about '90s events like the Highland Heights City Council meeting with the Monty Burns look-alike, a professor finding a mess in a restroom, the Phil's Gum City commercial, and hilarious online trolls.

Scribd is again blocking it, but you can still find this ish by gliding on over here...

http://bunkerblast.info/lastword/lw2305.pdf