The Weaver Family

For a rather long time now, I’ve been thinking about the night I graduated high school.  Why?  Because of all nights to take a stand against something that I saw as wrong and do the right thing, I stood down, fearing that the diploma I worked for would be revoked.  I had my speech written and ready to go, and instead of giving my speech I grabbed the empty folder and walked off stage, the last student to graduate from the class.

To Brian and Craig, I’m truly sorry for two things.  The first, not standing up for you both when we were all in that classroom and basically held hostage.  I’m not saying you all did the right thing, but basing your punishment on a lie and on revenge for being embarrassed (on the part of the teacher and even in a greater sense the school) was wrong.  Given the other members of the class, myself included, a great number of us should have been expelled for breaking those infamous rules, rather than just you two.  The second, for not giving that speech that night.  I’ve kept the text of that speech in my mind ever since that night.  The original draft has long since been creased beyond belief.

Not that it changes things, but if you want to read it here is my speech from that night. Read the rest of this entry »

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Heck I’ve had XM for close to two years, and I’ve said from the beginning that these two companies ought to merge.  There is no reason why they shouldn’t, and there are a lot of reasons why they should.

1.  The market for satellite radio right now is somewhere at 13-14 million subscribers.  In the big scheme of things this isn’t much.  By combining the companies and therefore 13-14 million subscribers who are willing to pay for content rather than fluff, a merged XM/Sirius could start to compete with traditional radio.

2.  By combining companies, the resulting company could focus on improving content.  Both companies suffer from stagnant content on some channels.  While I can understand trying to grab contracts like Howard Stern and Oprah from a business standpoint, both companies paid more than these people are worth from a content point of view.

3.  I think there is an honest opportunity here for a combined company to open up a couple of channels for independent content such as podcasted audio books, independent music labels, independent news, etc.  Not only does it help the authors of independent content by broadening their market and therefore their potential appeal, it also will attract niche customers who actively listen to programs such as these and who are stuck using an MP3 player etc.

4.  Pretty soon, both companies combined or not will start to have more advertising (It’s all about the cash flow).  A combined company could focus on what advertising they would actually allow, rather than two separate companies who would be fighting each other for advertising content and costs.

Just a thought.

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I have been to politicalcompass.org and walked away convinced that this is probably the most accurate political standings quiz that I have seen.  I used to think that I was a conservative through and through, especially when I was in my 20s.  As I got older I realized that while I heartily agree with the Constitution, I most definitely don’t fit in with most conservatives.  So when someone suggested that check this sight out, I thought what the heck.  I took the quiz a number of times.  The result shown above is my last time.  The first couple of times I rushed through it and didn’t really think about what I believed socially or politically.  I mean I answered honestly, but off the cuff.  The last time I really thought about it.  The difference.  My two previous scores had me at an economic of -1.25 and a social of -.97.  As you can see it didn’t move that much.

After I took the quiz, I read the rest of the website, and I have to say I was impressed.  My answers weren’t skewed from what I can tell.  I still hold to the Constitution more than left/right leanings and the political havoc that is U.S. politics.  But if you are really honest with yourself and you take this quiz, you might find out that where you stand isn’t where you thought.

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