Christmas Eve!

This is me, Christmas 1976, shortly after I had my first paying radio station gig. My brother-in-law Marc is in the background…

… and this was what I was reacting to. A beautiful, old Zenith console tube radio that my brother Jeff gave me. He traded an enlarger for it. (Back in the age of analog photography there were these little things called negatives and to make a print you had to… oh, never mind.) Years later, I had it refinished and restored.

The radio was one of the last made before war production took over, so it was 35 years old on that Christmas Day, which was… 35 years ago?? Yike! I’m not going to think about that and instead I’ll go get some ‘nog.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Fe Fi Fo FiOS

I’m one of the lucky ones who has Verizon FiOS. Not only is the Internet service the best there is for American consumers, HDTV is also the best it can be, because the system delivers the signals exactly as they are received, with no re-compression. I do have one quibble, however, and that’s the HDTV DVR. It pretty much sucks. So it’s good to see that Verizon is working on improving their set top boxes, with an eye toward eliminating STB’s all together.

http://youtu.be/QogfVxtsOP8

And I want FiOS TV to carry BBC America in HD.

Why Medicare?

Medicare exists because the free market doesn’t work for elderly patients. Old people are profit eaters, so private insurers don’t want to cover their medical expenses. Medicare reimbursements are typically low compared to private insurance, so some health care providers are tempted to pad their bills. On Monday the PBS News Hour had a report on alleged Medicare fraud by Prime Healthcare in California.

Watch California Hospital Chain Eyed for Possibly Bilking Medicare for Millions on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

Will there be Tintin fever or failure in America?

Personally, I don’t think Steven Spielberg was the right talent to bring Tintin — who is only a couple of years younger than Mickey Mouse — to the big screen. But it’s too late now, because ready or not, America, Tintin is coming to a movie theater near you for Christmas. Last week, Tom Ashbrook, who apparently has a soft spot for the intrepid boy reporter, devoted an installment of his radio show On Point to the world of Tintin.

[audio:http://audio.wbur.org/storage/2011/12/onpoint_1216_2.mp3|titles=On Point with Tom Ashbrook: Tintin!]