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Terminology Gone Wild                                                                      #402 By Hank Silverberg  Commentary  The mid-term elections are in full swing. The traditional Labor Day start to such congressional elections is a thing of the past. And this year, the election has higher stakes than at any time in recent memory.  But the rules have changed dramatically. While congressional candidates still pound the pavement attending rallies and events to drum up votes, much of the campaigning is done on the internet, unfiltered and often out of control. We are all used to the lack of facts in internet posts by average people and fake news produced by third parties to deceive us, but this year even the candidates have started to misuse terms. With that in mind, I thought a quick review of wh...
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 News Deserts Get Bigger                      #401 Commentary  In January of 2024 I wrote a blog about the growth of "news deserts" across the country and how local newspapers were dying out, leaving local news basically uncovered in many places. Radio news took a major hit when CBS Radio news ceased to exist on May 22nd. That prompted some local radio stations to eliminate newscasts completely.   And the cuts in funding for public broadcasting have hit hard at the 640 NPR stations across the country, which in many cases were a community's ONLY source of local news. Many of them have cut back on programming, including news.     Now the drought on local news is expanding to small and medium market TV stations. Large TV groups like Nexstar and Sinclair have been gobbling up TV stations over the last few years, leading to mergers of competing newsrooms, elimination of news altogether or dramatic cut...
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 The Puppy and The President                                               #400  By Hank Silverberg  Commentary: You will notice a number at the top right hand corner of this blog today. This edition marks a milestone, 400 weeks of writing "Time To Think".  Some weeks have been easy, others have been hard. But whatever I write, I hope it has been relevant. This week my household is in the midst of disruption. Two months ago we adopted a puppy. He is cute, but lively and he has produced a radical  change in our lifestyle. I thought about documenting it all in this blog, or I could have written about the near miraculous rise of my team the Boston Red Sox, who seemed dead right around the same time we adopted the puppy, but have since moved into playoff contention.    But with all that is going on in the world, those topics seem a bit frivolo...
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Trump Wants His Name Everywhere               #399 By Hank Silverberg    Commentary It's not unusual for airports, train stations or buildings to be named after famous people. There's Lincoln Center, Ronald Reagan Airport, and the Washington Monument.  All those names came after the person they were  named for was dead, and someone else wanted to honor them.   But our current president, with the ego the size of New York Harbor, seems to think he can put his name on everything. The folks in Palm Beach, Florida obliged by renaming their airport after Donald J. Trump. And Trump is now trying to get Penn Station in New York City named after him.  But there is pushback. Some people don't want to fly into Trump airport, and a United Airlines memo indicated that people could get ticket changes to go to Ft. Lauderdale instead. But that was later clarified  after it hit the internet  that the name change was not...
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  The Dangers  of AI                                    #398 By Hank Silverberg                                                                                                                Commentary  Remember the old 1970's commercial "It's not live, its Memorex"? The iconic slogan was designed to convince people that Memorex tape quality was as good as hearing the music live.  Well, the audio was good quality. But it was not as good as live music.   I think now we ought to cannibalize that slogan with "It's not alive, its AI!" If you regularly get email that you need to respond to, you migh...
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  A Presidential Address                                                                    #397 By Hank Silverberg  Commentary   Did you watch the President's "address to the nation" the other night? There has been some controversy because some of the broadcast and cable networks refused to carry the speech.  First, let's make one thing clear. The TV networks, both broadcast and cable, have no obligation to give any president air time just because he requests it.  Usually, such addresses are of national importance.  Examples include John F. Kennedy's speech in October of 1962 about the Cuban Missile Crisis, which almost lead to World War Three.   Primetime air spots have also been given to presidents for times of tragic events that affect the entire country, like the explosion of...
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