Keeper of the Clown Bell

Mandated Payments Back in the early days of the commercial Internet (1998) an interesting business strategy book titled Unleashing the Killer App: Digital Strategies for Market Dominance by Larry Downs and Chunka Mui hit the market. Filled with good ideas and interesting observations about technological change and it's effects on business and society as a whole I would still recommend it today - especially for those youngsters who are wondering what bright bulbs were thinking the impact of IT and the networked world would be on our lives in the near future (which is coming to an end). One of the  observations, sighted early in the book, is that lowly e-mail is a "killer app" with adoption so fast and pervasive that it effectively killed it's major competitor - a 200 year old monopoly called the postal service. As proof they sight congressional testimony from then US Postmaster General who complained mightily about the "electronic bypass" that allowed pe...

When you're trying to sell a product on TV you need to buy advertising time and it's a complex process achieved through negotiation . No one wants to spend money on an audience that isn't there so a key part of this ad buy negotiation is to secure "guarantees". These guarantees are a clause in the contract that protect the buyer if, for example, the star of the show doesn't make it (for whatever reason) and the audience share falls off a cliff. When you buy TV ad space you can, and should, negotiate for what are called guarantees.  Ad rates are based on projections (estimates) of what the audience will be.  You want a guarantee that your ad will reach the audience projected and if not, that you’ll receive money back or additional air time to compensate if the shows your ad aired on did not achieve their guarantees.  You do not pay more if a show reached more people than projected. With this in mind a broadcaster can charge $500K (or whatever) for 30 seconds...

Vanity Vulgar Don't Mess With MEGYN KELLY proclaims Vanity Fair with cover photo of Fox's Queen Bee and glowing copy stuffed inside the magazine between the pricy ad pages. Graydon Carter (long time Trump hater from his days at Spy Magazine in the '80's) editorializes : To Trump’s followers, I would offer advice similar to the old expression that says you shouldn’t shop for food when you’re hungry: Don’t vote for a presidential candidate when you’re frightened. Americans who don’t buy into his act are coming to realize what New Yorkers have known all along: that Donald Trump is one of the more vainglorious and vulgar people ever to enter the public arena. This is very rich coming from a man who makes his living by promoting and serving the vainglorious and vulgar. Chalk it up to "New York Values" and willful ignorance but rest assured Graydon, there is an endless supply of vainglory and vulgarity that will keep you publishing your detestable rag (pr...

I've got to say that I just love interviews that Barack Obama gives to friendly press outlets like the NYTimes where he just sort of, you know , speaks his mind. Readers get the real deal, unscripted and off-propter which is pretty amazing but only because he knows that the interviewer already knows exactly what he's trying to say because the interviewer feels exactly the same way as he does. “We had as competitive and lengthy and expensive and tough a primary fight as there has been in modern American politics, and she had to do everything that I had to do, except, like Ginger Rogers, backwards in heels,” Mr. Obama said. “She had to wake up earlier than I did because she had to get her hair done. She had to, you know , handle all the expectations that were placed on her. She had a tougher job throughout that primary than I did.” Yes, the Democrat musical of 2008 was wondrous to behold - Barack dancing on the ceiling and Hitlery doing her best to keep up with all his c...

It's about time someone with clout decided to boycott the Oscars - I've been doing it for years, but it's been sort of lonely mediaspherically speaking (I know I have many comrades who quietly boycott with me from their home) and if Will Smith, of all people , wants to join me then come on brother - let's do this thing. I'm all in. There are many, many awards handed out in America - people get awarded all the time at every level of life and in every profession . The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a different kind of award in that about 40M people watch it in the US and something like 1B watch it world wide. As The Donald would say - It's Huge! Why does everyone tune in? Because they love movies stupid and they enjoy the spectacle of glamorous people living the life and patting each other on the back for being so great. Most folks (i.e. the ticket buying public) don't live the Oscar lifestyle or "work" at amazing locations playin...

Hillbilly is old, tired and slowly oozing across the frozen NH ground. Must-see video: @billclinton w/echoes of 1992 talking Republican/attack machine #ClintonClassic @jmartNYT @danbalz pic.twitter.com/0qtm87Pqud — Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) January 20, 2016 "leave no smear behind" - immortal words from The Great Stainmaker himself. And though I've covered it all before in a definitive posting illuminating the heart of the matter it needs to be said one more time that Bill and Hillary had no business being in the White House in the 90's and they certainly don't deserve to get handed the keys a second time. The two of them are fabulists and film flam artists who've bounced their way to the top of the heap in a political party full of second string flakes lead by erudite internationalists and programed golden children. They buy this "distract, divide, and demonize" clap-trap at full price and wear it home where they stomp their feet i...

To live in America is to live in a drug culture. I've often wondered why we have a war on illegal drugs and copious advertising of legal drugs? Its sends a mixed message in my view, but that's probably just me. Anyway, with the plentiful supply of opioids at your local pharmacy and legions of unscrupulous MD's scribbling out prescriptions to just about anyone there's little wonder that many of my fellow citizens feel FANTASTIC (except for their bloated bowels that haven't moved in two weeks) and now their going to feel even better because the scientist have developed pills for OIC (that would be Opioid Induced Constipation for you squares). Just be prepared for the side effects: severe stomach pain that will not go away; severe, persistent, or worsening abdominal pain, diarrhea, or nausea; nausea or vomiting that are new or worsening symptoms; or symptoms of narcotic medicine withdrawal - anxiety, sweating, chills, yawning, stomach pain, diarrhea. It'...

It is a shame that " the biggest little hobgoblin in the union " has dropped out of the Democrat Party primary battle because the reported sexual abuse at St. George's School in Middletown (not Newport) RI would allow one of the moderators at the next debate, assuming there is another Dem debate scheduled, to serve up a big, hot, juicy question on the urgent topic of boarding school sexual abuse and how he plans to stop it. It's true that Lincoln Chafee spent his boarding school years in Andover, MA but he is a RIer, his dad was Senator of the State during these scandalous years and, unlike his Democrat competitors, he is able to speak with authority on the subject of boarding school. Also, Chafee is an Episcopalian and St. George's School is, if anything, and Episcopalian institution. Anne Scott and Katie Wales Lovkay, who both attended St. George’s in the late ’70s, described on Tuesday how Gibbs allegedly led them into the training room and instructed the...

With the passing of Alan Rickman I am compelled to call out what I consider his most compelling and successful film role. There are many, many characters that Mr. Rickman brought to life on the silver screen including, of course, the conniving kraut Hans Gruber who blew up Nakatomi Tower in a grim foreshadowing of terrorist tactics. But his greatest achievement, in my mind, was his role as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the horrible Kevin Costner vehicle,  Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves . It is show biz rumor that at the early test screenings of the film the audience cheered Rickman and rooted for him to kill Costner in the final sword fight - the producers had to go back to the editing room and cut out chunks of Rickman's scenes to make him less appealing and even after that butchery it's a toss up as to who to support - the tortured charismatic sheriff or the bland American interloper.

Stop me if you've heard this one before... The light worker showed up on Capitol Hill for his last SOU and rode the prompter for an hour (which for him is brief and to the point). Not much to report as I really didn't listen to it but I figure it was uplifting and "Hopeful" with shout-outs to selected cast members so when I passed by the TV for the close I was blown away by Barack's prescription for Washington DC and the nation: " It*  will only happen if we fix our politics* . A better politics doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything* . This is a big country, with different regions and attitudes and interests. That’s one of our strengths, too. Our Founders distributed power between states and branches of government* , and expected us to argue, just as they did, over the size and shape of government* , over commerce and foreign relations* , over the meaning of liberty and the imperatives of security* . But democracy does require basic bonds of t...

There's something kind of sad in the design of the MoveOn.Org web site which is hard to describe, but I'll give it a shot. It's simple and it's clean with bold Red&Blue colors on a White background, but there is this institutional, public sector quality to the site that jumps right out at you. It's almost like they designed it with a focus on making it comfortable for SEIU members who must spend their working hours looking at very similar web sites which deliver regulatory information, forms for procurement, policy papers or tax information (honestly I go on listing for many paragraphs). It's bland, stale and lifeless or (ironically) un-moving just like the Socialist utopia the organization tirelessly advocates. All that being said, there is something wonderful about 80% of the Move On "members" voting to endorse a Constitutional Monarchist for President instead of the wife of the man that gave their organization life - spurred it into soc...

In the early 90's I listen to A LOT of Bongwater (everything Shimmy Disc actually) and I always loved this song. The Double Bummer album was spun more than a few times on my trusty McIntosh with amp turned up to 11. Kramer and Magnuson nailed it in this dreamlike memory of an encounter with Ziggy and his American 2nd cousin David Byrne. Funny and weirdly true. But it was Negativeland that made the definitive judgement in 1987 on the Escape from Noise album. Over the course of 3 years David Bowie made some wonderful, though derivative rock n' roll albums and deserves high praise for that burst of creativity and excitement he brought to the art form. RnR is a young mans game and he rode the beast with gusto and style. The Man Who Sold the World (1970) Hunky Dory (1971) The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972) Aladdin Sane (1973) Pin Ups (1973) Of these 5 records Hunky Dory is my favorite though they're all pretty good. The...

My prognostication: Biden will run as soon as HRC gets formally charged with espionage and treason later this month. I think this has been the plan for over a year and explains last years leak to the NYTimes and the strategic "long game" at play. Let Hilary squander a year making a fool of herself while Barack holds all the cards and he's about to drop a royal flush on the Arkansas gambler and clean him out. These big wheel Democrat thought leaders have always hated Clampett but they couldn't get rid of him because he took a chance in '92 and grabbed the brass ring which at the time seemed impossible. He brought his crew of crooks up from Hot Springs and made a mess of Washington DC because the Big Dog is, bottom line, a criminal (he also has a big dog sized libido). I remember well a springtime 1992 lunch at some M. St. bistro with my dear uncle who is well connected with Capitol Hill power brokers and his response to my absolute dismay that the Democrat Part...

Like most people I'm waiting for the Powerball drawing tonight because the prize is something very close to a billion dollars and hell yes I bought a ticket because, hey, somebody's got to win it. Unfortunately it wasn't this guy: JUST IN: The winning #Powerball numbers for the $949.8 million jackpot are 32-16-19-57-34 and the Powerball is 13. pic.twitter.com/KoEHljqWlt — ABC News (@ABC) January 10, 2016

Swank Pirates Only! I've received reports from a spy in Boca Grande, FL and the short of it is: Bushie no like Trump! at the Gasparilla Inn & Club they like they're pirates romanticized and long dead. When the real thing comes along and raids the clubhouse making fun of the members and taking measurements for his planned renovations they don't like it at all - not one bit. Watching the "conservative" pundits freak out over Trump has been great for the KOTCB Blog and the vitriol has increased day by day , month by month as NH primary day approaches (T-minus 31, 30,...) and now Michael Gerson, W's speechwriter and assistant for policy and strategic planning, has pulled out the gun from his desk drawer . American political parties are durable constructions. But they have been broken before by powerful, roiling issues such as immigration and racial prejudice. Many Republicans could not vote for Trump but would have a horribly difficult time voting fo...

When you detonate a nuclear weapon people take notice - especially if you go blabbing about how great it was. Do it once and you'll get your hand slapped and screamed at by the international community. Do it 2 or 3 more times and world leaders will be pissed off big time and say things like "three strikes and your out, do you understand me?" and you'll say something like, "well, I've already done it 3 times" and the international community will get really pissed off and look at you all serious and pause for dramatic effect before saying (again), "three strikes. That's it Kim, do you understand?" So you kick back in Pyongyang, watch some movies and live the life for a while and let 'em all cool out and then, while no one is looking, you light off another one, ha, ha, ha. No one's going to do anything about it, hell, they can't even accept it as a reality - you're operating outside their conceptual framework and they can...

I have no love for  Marmota monax but I do pity the furry troll in this outrageous Fiat commercial extolling the joy of young snowboarders motoring through the pristine natural environment in their jaundiced micro-car, music blaring and spraying snow on God's peaceful (though annoying) creatures en rout to some unknown destination. Is this advertisement meant to spur my interest in buying a Fiat? Count me out as a FCA customer. As I watched this yellow blob scurry across the snowscape my only wish was that it would get swallowed by a bottomless crevasse and leave the forest animals in peace.

One might be justified in asking why I host the KOTCB blog on Google since it's a racist, degenerate machine mind organization that despises (and works tirelessly to destroy) everything I believe in. Why not use GoDaddy or some other fine web hosting firm more in line with the overall "message" conveyed through my postings? Well, the answer is simple, 1. I started this blog on Blogger - not Google - before it was acquired by the Borg 2. I love the simplicity of the interface and Google has made it better over the years and 3. I love the fact that Google hosts this damn thing - they deserve it. Take a look at Google's NYE propaganda film and then click some KOTCB links for associated commentary and you'll see what I mean: 0:12 Immigrants 0:22 Confederate Flag 0:31 Letterman 0:55 Same Sex Merge 1:05 Robots (or is it Cyborgs ?) 1:10 Star Warz 1:13 Pope 1:15 French Terror 1:28 Jenner Search on my friends, search on!