tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-97222942009-10-28T03:05:39.270-04:00by Bunnie RiedelNonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.comBlogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-90039366827179623212009-05-28T09:57:00.015-04:002009-05-28T12:00:56.389-04:00

So I’m watching BBC last night and here’s this story on a fella on some rural farm in Japan and he is bragging about his 50 Mbps broadband speed and how he has more time for fishing because he no longer has to commute and can service all his clients from home and it sent me right into a self-righteous diatribe about how crappy broadband service is here in the US. Then to pour lemon juice into the

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-42259163796067339112009-04-22T16:46:00.005-04:002009-04-23T09:01:45.344-04:00

When my kids were little they were quite adept at reading my facial expressions. Especially that expression that communicated to them that I was not pleased. Today they call it the “look” as in “remember when mom would give you the look?” I believe that moms are uniquely endowed with the “look.” The “look” meant “whatever it is you are doing right now, stop it immediately because I do not approve

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-88073475319923342662009-04-08T12:46:00.004-04:002009-04-08T12:50:54.355-04:00

Did you know it’s great to be in love? Love releases all kinds of chemicals in your brain, among them adrenaline, dopamine, fenylethylamine, endorphin and oxytocin. Adrenaline causes your pupils to get bigger, your heart to go up, your breathing get faster and reduces hunger. Dopamine acts like cocaine and it’s addictive. Fenylethylamine acts like ecstasy and speed. Endorphin has the effect

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-4181485515214500842009-03-27T13:57:00.007-04:002009-03-27T16:38:59.249-04:00

When I first heard about Ben Cardin’s (D-MD) bill to allow newspapers to become nonprofits, I said to myself “you need to stew on that for a minute.” I felt I needed time to percolate the idea through my little brain and try to think of all the permutations of the impact of that legislation. This morning I caught an email in which the sender asked a serious question:“Anybody have a clue why it

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-61566445103410114052009-03-18T11:02:00.003-04:002009-03-18T11:12:38.902-04:00

I love international travel, or any travel for that matter. But going to a country where the culture is different, the language is different and the sites are different from what I am used to, is particularly romantic. The challenge, of course, is in the language. I don’t like having to rely on the good likelihood that I will find English speakers. I like trying to muddle my way, however

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-75803246750936263932009-03-09T11:21:00.003-04:002009-03-09T11:28:32.563-04:00

There are 438 people who live in the town of Mecosta Michigan and boy, are they getting shtupped. The University of Minnesota report “Statewide Video Franchising Legislation: A Comparative Study of Outcomes in Texas, California and Michigan” (March 2009) says so. The rate for Basic + Expanded Basic cable went from $41.33 in 2006 to $69.71 in 2009. Now you could say that people in Ingham County

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-61963671277544058592009-03-01T13:56:00.008-05:002009-03-01T17:38:45.885-05:00

Here’s how I got the story. Seems a staffer in Maryland Delegate Sheila Hixson’s office (D-District 20), woke up one night and said to himself, “Gee, I think I’ll write a piece of statewide franchising legislation.” No one can testify whether a hallucinogenic was involved. Unfortunately for the staffer, he didn’t take time to go look at other statewide franchising legislation and his final

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-45595480010693609462009-02-14T00:57:00.002-05:002009-02-14T01:00:43.211-05:00

Just in case you don't open up the comments at the end of my post...from Zane Blaney, ED of Access San Francisco...in the "You Gotta Be Frickin Kidding Me" Category of Comments...Zane Blaney, Access SF E.D. has left a new comment on your post "DIVCA’s Chickens Come Home to Roost":The SF Franchise Fee is about $8 million. Since the 1980's the City has set aside .2% of the 5% for PEG. Today that's

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-14112289565065369162009-02-13T12:56:00.002-05:002009-02-13T12:59:10.835-05:00

I keep asking myself when will I stop being surprised, shocked and saddened by attacks on Public access television? I think the answer is never. I’ve mentioned before that I grew up in Fresno, California, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned that I spent my disco years running up to San Francisco. During college, San Francisco was my second home; I love everything about the City. From the St.

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-13757490312428748682009-02-05T12:20:00.002-05:002009-02-05T12:25:28.224-05:00

Dateline: April 2010Some interesting social trends are emerging across the country. A recent article in “All Things Baby” magazine reported an enormous and unusual spike in births during the month of March.“We’ve seen birthrates suddenly jump to an all time high,” said David Umpdefratz. “We aren’t quite sure why.”In addition to the increase in stork activity, communities are reporting that petty

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-21436820104994523832009-02-02T14:41:00.004-05:002009-02-02T14:56:29.837-05:00

at&t keeps making these “presentations” in places they say they say they are going to build. They pull Public, Educational and Government (PEG) access managers into a room and extol the virtues of PEG on U-Verse. The infamous channel 99 ghetto for PEG channels. The PEG “solution.”“We’ve lowered the load time to 8 seconds.”“Your viewers will be able to watch city council meetings from other cities

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-45105566645476306202009-01-30T14:52:00.004-05:002009-01-30T15:05:38.192-05:00

Not long after Los Angeles stopped being a farming community and became “Hollywood” the competition was on to outdo New York City. But now, even a century later, LA is still just the ugly stepsister that never can quite attain the sophistication, style and intellectual heft that is Manhattan. I say this as a former Angelino, who came to love all that is LA and who still misses the crazy laid-back

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-32661981473402142902009-01-23T12:52:00.003-05:002009-01-23T17:05:05.740-05:00

I have a brother in Missouri who lives on and works over 300 acres of land. He’s a cattle rancher. I rarely receive emails from him and I'm really careful about what I send him. No attachments, no embedded video or pictures, etc. If it’s not plain text, he can’t/won’t open them because it takes him forever and ever amen to download them. My brother’s livelihood depends on information. What is the

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-10584372053697393472009-01-05T11:31:00.006-05:002009-01-06T14:44:14.914-05:00

I am very excited about 2009. Personally I have some fun stuff planned. Professionally I will be expanding my business, adding a larger nonprofit component. As for telecommunications, there will be opportunities this year for modifying or overturning the harmful state legislation of the past few years. And we can all look forward to a “new” FCC being created. There is much to celebrate.In the

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-77034459572147893762008-12-16T11:56:00.001-05:002008-12-16T12:00:59.518-05:00

I am a loyal Comcast customer. Couple reasons. I would like to get FiOS, but I don’t want my twisted copper land line stripped out of my house and so far, Verizon isn’t offering an alternative. Also I just like their commercials, they’re funny.It pleases me to note that Comcast, like all the other cable operators, is taking the digital transition seriously and providing their customers with all

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-80019146180921937022008-11-14T12:19:00.003-05:002008-11-14T17:00:47.549-05:00

Most of us had that experience in grammar school, the being “picked” for the team experience. When it came to softball, I usually was last on the pick list along with the girl with the coke bottle glasses and buck teeth. However when it came to volleyball, not only was I a premium pick, I usually was captain because I was a volleyball diva on steroids. Give me the set-up and I delivered a vicious

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-760532477745302192008-09-16T11:56:00.005-04:002008-09-16T12:16:49.146-04:00

On the eve of a Congressional hearing regarding what has happened to Public, Educational and Government (PEG) access channels since the passage of statewide or state issued franchise legislation, it is heartening to note that the cable and telecom industries (and the FCC) have severely overplayed their hand. Tomorrow, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-30586620993935815682008-07-28T15:14:00.000-04:002008-07-28T15:15:52.686-04:00

I am a huge fan of persistence. There’s always more than one way to approach an issue and usually more than one way to reach a solution. But I have to take my hat off to at&t for the creative tricks they will employ to mislead, deceive and otherwise cheat local communities. The latest Ma Bell ploy is to present a “contract” to a local community or access facility in which they agree to carry

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-30025815320674993142008-07-15T17:46:00.005-04:002008-07-15T18:08:14.717-04:00

I will be the first to admit I love “Spin” just as much as the next guy. But even when you’re “Spinning” you should try to include just a kernel of truth in order to make your “Spin” plausible.Geoff Daily doesn’t seem to understand that concept. He writes a blog called App-Rising where he says “networks, applications and policy collide.” And they really, really collide with fantasy given he is

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-79175877066134423222008-06-12T10:01:00.002-04:002008-06-12T11:05:53.195-04:00

It would be untoward of me to sit around in my little office in Columbia Maryland railing against the cable and telephone operators for the losses Public, Educational and Government access television has suffered over the last couple of years without doing some brutal finger pointing at the “media reform movement.” The very folks who are righteously angry at the current state of media

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-67769978191446843812008-05-22T11:28:00.000-04:002008-05-22T11:29:28.439-04:00

Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin was a bright guy who exerted an extraordinary amount of energy figuring out ways to get over on his boss, Catherine the Great. To prove that he hadn’t wasted blood and treasure in the conquering of the wasteland that was Crimea, Grigori constructed facades, moved sheep from fake village to fake village and even had roaring campfires burning, as he led Catherine on

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-57074751009578478072008-04-10T15:05:00.003-04:002008-04-10T16:23:33.617-04:00

It’s every woman’s nightmare. You take your sweetheart to a dance and your best friend dances off with him. Sure it feels like betrayal, but they couldn’t help themselves, they fell in love with each other while they were dancing. Nothing personal, mind you, nothing personal.I would have loved to been a fly on the wall when at&t, Charter, Comcast and James O. "Jimmy" Naifeh (Speaker of the House

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-88731454352034175482008-03-13T14:35:00.005-04:002008-03-13T18:18:33.745-04:00

There once was a union maid, she never was afraidOf goons and ginks and company finks and the deputy sheriffs who made the raid.She went to the union hall when a meeting it was called,And when the Legion boys come 'roundShe always stood her ground.Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,I'm sticking to the union, I'm sticking to the union.Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-2095000173791983722008-02-29T15:22:00.001-05:002008-02-29T15:33:14.323-05:00

There are people who have contributed greatly to your personal welfare that you will never hear about. One of those is Marston Bates. He studied mosquitoes in South America and his work improved the understanding of yellow fever. You gotta like a guy like that, somebody who does original and actual research. Bates didn’t take himself too seriously either. He is attributed with saying “Research is

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9722294.post-810020335849203132008-01-30T09:58:00.000-05:002008-01-30T10:47:20.438-05:00

I do have a passion for two things, Science and Art. Science because I am in awe of those fifty pound brains that can figure out the solar mass of a black hole or the structure and functions of the GNAT superfamily of acetyltransferases; and Art, because I can’t draw anything more complicated than a stick figure and I’m a big fan of Salvador Dali. Ergo I was a wee bit fascinated to find out that

Nonprofit and Government Consultinginfo@riedelcommunications.com0