-----Original Message-----
From: b <rrdd3939@aol.com>
To: rrdd3939 <rrdd3939@aol.com>
Sent: Sun, Oct 23, 2011 12:26 pm
Subject: POTPOURRI...
(Copies of emails sent to nieces and nephew in the past; prior submission to their
From: b <rrdd3939@aol.com>
To: rrdd3939 <rrdd3939@aol.com>
Sent: Sun, Oct 23, 2011 12:26 pm
Subject: POTPOURRI...
POTPOURRI
by Richard DePersio with Citizen Journalist
FOX NEWS ALERT: This article is being investigated by Ellery Queen.*
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Six Degrees of Separation
by ? and the Mysterians
(Copies of emails sent to nieces and nephew in the past; prior submission to their
parents for approval or censorship).
Are you taking anti-bullying classes? Public schools, even superior magnet schools,
indoctrinate rather than educate.
The Other Side
Yes, there is another side. Bullying has been going on for thousands of years.
You uncle was bullied and he bullied. It is part of growing up. School should
prepare you for the adult world: adults bully. People tease friends and insult
enemies. Be on guard for people exploit the weaknesses of others for their own
advantage.
You were right when you said, "People should be judged as individuals." Judged
by their intelligence, personality, attractiveness and physical attributes. They
should also be judged by the company they keep: the kind of friends that they
have. They can be understood by the groups for which they are a part: gender;
race, nationality, ethnicity; religious affiliation; political party; clubs. You can
gain a full picture of a person by how much money that they have, their
musical preferences, job, etc. All are important in formulating an opinion.
There is nothing wrong with teasing and joking. PC people are dull people. There
is nothing wrong with responding to an insult with an insult.
Your uncle's friend is Citizen 'Your Shoot-from-the-Hip/Non-PC Cripple Journalist.
Your uncle is proud to know 'the talking horse' Mr. Ed. Recently, your uncle sent him a
treat: oats. He had phoned and complained that he tired of just hey. I placed it in a
sealed-container, otherwise, post office wouldn't deliver it.
I know the banker Topper and his companions - the ghosts George and Marion for many
years. They visited me the other day and I took their picture which I am sending to you
as proof that I know them.
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TELEVISION
by You
Back in the 1960s, 27 to 40 fresh episodes of a television series were made per year. The
number decreased as you moved from decade to decade. Today, a paltry 22 or 23 episodes
are made which explains why there are a lot of repeats during the year in addition to the
summer repeat season.
Back then, a 60-minutes show was 50 minutes plus commercials and promos (ads for other
shows on the same channel). Over time it has been reduced to today's 43 minutes. Have
you ever watched an old episode of one of your favorite series from the past and had a
feeling that a scene or two was missing? You're not crazy. The powers-that-be have been
known to squeeze in a 30- or 60-second commercial at your expense.
CBS created color television in 1954 but it didn't fly. RCA's version did in 1954
Color shows are more expensive to make than black-and-white ones. Back in the
1950s, shows were owned by the sponsor or the sponsor and the studio (if the studio didn't
own a piece, it was paid for the use of its facilities were the series was made; if they owned
a piece, the executive producer worked for them) or the sponsor and the network or the
sponsor, network and studio. Fifty per cent were owned only by the sponsor.
A show took the summer off and was replaced by a summer replacement show which may
or may not return the following summer. On rare occasions, a summer show would graduate
to the regular season. Shows began going into summer repeats in 1954 and by 1960 virtually
all shows were doing so. Around 1960, people began to wonder: what will become of episodes
of old series? The concept of repeat syndication was born. Now, CBS, NBC and ABC wanted
to own a piece of all the shows that they aired. Further, they didn't like the creative control
that sponsors had over shows. And, it was becoming too expensive for sponsors to own all
or part of a series in which only their commercials aired. The networks bought out the
sponsor. What if the sponsor didn't want to sell? After the series ended, it would be replaced
by a series that was owned by the network and executive producer or the network, executive
producer and studio. By 1970, the networks owned a piece of all the shows on their network.
The FCC decided that this was bad and that the networks could only own a piece of 15%
of their shows. It took until 1980 for them to completely comply.
Your thinking: You are A.D.D.-tripping. The more shows that were made in color, the more
color sets were sold; the more color sets that were sold, the more shows were made in color.
It was a commitment - a commitment of more money. RCA owned NBC but that didn't mean
that all shows were made in color in 1954. CBS didn't want specials or weekly series in color
because RCA would profit. ABC had no such qualms but was the third placed network. Only a
few specials, sitcoms and anthology series were in color prior to 1959; that year, Bonanza was
the first weekly drama.By 1966: NBC aired about 75% of specials in color and about 50% of
weekly series and ABC about 50% of specials and 15% of series and CBS none. By 1970,
everyone (CBS included) and everything was in color.
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Spinning Wheel
by Blood, Sweat and Tears
The earth orbits that sun at about the distance of 93 million miles. The sun orbits the center of
the Milky Way Galaxy which is 100,000 x 6,000,000,000,000 long. The sun is about 1/3 of the
way in from the edge. The Milky Way contains 150,000,000,000 stars and moves through space.
Let's not forget that the earth rotates. Don't you feel dizzy?
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*He was the author and the main character in the Ellery Queen series of books. Actually, it was the
pen-name for two authors. Citizen Journalist knows Ellery Queen too.
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