I clearly remember somehting School House Rock taught me all those years ago: Necessity is the mother of invention. The 2005 version would have to be updated by the likes of Inventor of the Internet, Al Gore, and the new Inventor of the iPod, Michael Powell.

I personally don’t own an iPod, but rather a similar clunky device that was developed several years before Apple (which also boasts conjuring up technology invented by other people) put its shiny happy box on the market. However, I still find it irritating that some people decide to take credit for something with which they marginally had anything to do.

If I tried to capture in a nutshell, we tried to do one thing, which was to get the law right in a way that would stimulate innovative technology and put more power into the hands of consumers. And I think all you have to do is walk into an electronics store today and look at a TiVo or buy an iPod, or look at some of the phones that are available today, and you will see the vision coming into fruition.

If you look at the Internet and the role that it played in the election and the political campaign, if you look at the fact that an Internet blogger can bring challenge to a network as formidable as CBS, you realize that more and more democratization of technology is leading to strong consumer value and that’s what we’re most proud of. And that’s what we really wanted to focus our agenda on.

If anything, Michael Powell should take credit for inventing satellite radio, where mere terrestrial beings will be taking their wares thanks to his idiot policies.

Via Buzz Machine.

Is there hope that maybe every channel can make the jump to cable? Fox, of all networks, is afraid the FCC will unleash its wrath upon them for showing a naked cartoon rear end. The network has had a long tradition of cartoon nudity with The Simpsons, but these being the ridiculous times they are, the network will cube out a cartoon butt of a rerun of Family Guy that had already aired the offending nude part.

I’ve worked with people that have goofed photos and cutlines, but this one takes the cake (blatantly ripped off from Newsdesigner):

It turns out that this is a two-year old photo by Reuters of a tsunami in China. How the Calgary Herald staff came to the decision to publish the photo, which was e-mailed to the parent company, without any cutline or other information, is beyond me. Newsdesigner is a hell of a site, by the way.

To be completely honest (with myself), I always knew there was something wrong, but couldn’t piece the problem together. Scott M. Libin at Poynter was kind enough to let me see the error behind my trying to look for the problem in his end-of-year column titled “New Year’s Resolutions for Newsroom Leaders.” It’s not behind the closed door you keep trying to pry open, it’s behind the open door you dare not approach:

Stop hiding behind that open door. Can this please be the year we admit that an “open-door policy” is sometimes an excuse for lazy leadership? It’s a lot easier to sit behind a big desk and congratulate yourself because anyone is free to come talk to you anytime about any topic, than it is to get up from that chair and go find out for yourself what’s really going right and going wrong.

An open-door policy grants permission for passive management. It also sends the signal that, on the rare occasion that the door closes, the world must be about to end. Try closing that door for a little while every day. That way people won’t panic when they see it closed, and you’ll get more work done. Then open the door, walk through it to the newsroom, and see for yourself how things are going — rather than waiting for the newsroom to come to you.

His other points are valid enough, but this particular gem hit the situation at every job I’ve ever had even better than any Dilbert cartoon ever could.

Via Ethel, a reminder of the personal excess that has been brought into my life by technology. The “Digital Photo Effect” has taken hold of me with a vengeance.

Back in the day, I’d get a CD and I’d listen to it. A lot. A CD was a considered purchase – if I was going to make the effort to go to the store and spend my hard earned money on it, it was going to be worth it. In the car, at the gym, at work, at home – I’d listen to it everywhere. The first few listens usually couldn’t be at work, because I’d be listening. Once my brain knew the album, then it could become soundtrack to whatever else I was working on.

I’m trying to cut back on the digital files that await my perusal, although I might not be able to do so until I catch up with the five episodes of “Joey” I have in my hard drive.

My friend and former colleague Randy Strand died of a heart attack on Christmas Day. He was the photo editor at Donruss-Playoff, where I worked as a graphics designer four years ago. Randy could be a real pain in the ass. I mean, you could be angry at him for days, without really trying. But he was tops at his job, quick to help others, and mended fences with ease, always making you forget why you were mad at him.

During my stay at Donruss, I worked out with him daily, using the company’s gym and sports trainer. He had lost a bunch of weight on the Atkins diet, and remained an active person to keep it off. The last time I saw him was at Chuy’s in Dallas, where he stopped to day hello to a mutual friend, on his way to a concert. He was fifty years old. I’ll miss him very much.

Some other folks have kind words to say about Randy at sportshooter.com.