Tag Archives: bad ideas

| TV, Video

Watch an hour of iCaught for five minutes of YouTube videos

ABC premiered its new show iCaught tonight (hope iCaught Data Management Services doesn’t sue). It’s their YouTube clip show, in a sea of upcoming YouTube clip shows that seek to cheaply license popular clips owned by people who have no idea of their actual worth. The show’s reason for watching it instead of, say, just checking out YouTube’s most popular videos directly? They give “the story behind the videos,” which apparently means having a couple of talking heads say how cool it is and the creators say how they didn’t expect it to become this popular.

And isn’t that worth sitting through all those commercials?

Here’s a roundup of the videos they showed for their premiere:

  1. Battle at Kruger (Wikipedia entry). OMG. Animals get into fight! Film at 11! Don’t we see this stuff all the time on the National Geographic Channel? Oh wait, we do! It’s already been licensed to them.
  2. A bunch of videos about dancing at weddings. Clips from 13 going on 30, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Footloose and So You Think You Can Dance. This is an ABC News story about dancing at weddings, with the same level of silliness. Congratulations ABC, you went a whole 10 minutes before figuring out this show’s concept is stupid and abandoning it in favour of a newsmagazine-style format. The one (non-professional) video that gets more than a couple of seconds is the Wedding Thriller video, which has already been talked about to death.
  3. Venetian Princess … wait, no. She’s just thrown in as a completely unrelated intro to…
  4. The Obama crush video, which was created by an advertising executive, which is about as counter-culture as you can get, right? Sigh.
  5. Lee Paige, the DEA agent who shot himself in the foot while teaching kids about gun safety. Does agreeing to appear on this program mean he’ll be dropping his lawsuit against the government for allowing the tape to be disseminated? (The lawsuit, of course, was not mentioned on the show)
  6. The Merry Miller / Holly Hunter interview disaster. Kudos for ABC for pointing out its own failures, but it still seems fake and silly. No mention of what actually went on (she’s horribly unqualified, but Joel Siegel thought she was hot, I guess), and just some footage of her giggling about how she couldn’t interview someone without a prompter running.
  7. The Women in Art morphing video. No interview with its creator or anything silly like that.
  8. A bunch of uninteresting crime-related/surveillance camera/MySpace video news segments that sound a lot more like World News Tonight than a new primetime TV show.
  9. David Elsewhere at Kollaboration. Shots of his dad. That’s about all I remember.

In case it’s not clear enough how little money they put into this show, it’s hosted by a nobody standing in front of a white screen. It has no sets, and its stories are setup like back-to-back two-minute TV news reports, which just serves to remind us that the networks aren’t spending their budgets reporting on, you know, news.

To recap:

  • The show seems to be about running YouTube videos, but only shows clips from those videos. Not once did it show the entire thing in one sitting.
  • The show claims to tell the stories behind the videos, but there’s plenty of important facts that are left out, as you can see above. A quick check on Wikipedia will, for the most part, find you more information than you’ll find on this show. (The fact that Wikipedia considers many of these videos to have insufficient notability says something.)
  • The show tries to think of itself as cool, with its green-screen usage and “click” sounds matched to the host’s hand jabs, but the interviews are setup old-school, complete with blur filters to make everyone look younger.
  • The show tries to be new and current, but the videos are months or even years old.
  • The show tries to plug its website (well, actually, it plugs ABCNews.com), but the website provides no easy way to, you know, look at the videos featured in the show which you couldn’t actually watch because of all the fuzzy interviews going on.

In other words, it’s a complete and utter joke. Any guesses on how long it’ll keep going?

| Montreal, Public transit

When justice fails, block public transit!

If you’re planning to take a train from Central Station next Tuesday at noon, you might want to arrive early, ’cause there’s some protestin’ goin’ on. No doubt disrupting the populace during their inter-city and commuter train travel will magically cause CN to drop lawsuits, George W. Bush to forget about a planned economic summit, and for everyone to start calling North America Turtle Island again. You know, in solidarity.

| Business, In the news, Montreal

Cours Mont Royal is watching you pee

Someone complained to the Gazette about video cameras in the men’s room at Cours Mont Royal. Apparently, according to the proprietor, the cameras aren’t running, due to that minor matter of it being illegal to film someone in a bathroom.

But they say it’s working, deterring illegal acts like drug dealing, vandalism, gay sex, peeing on the floor, and, of course, forgetting to wash one’s hands.

I just hope Jeff Goldblum doesn’t get his hands on it.

| In the news, Montreal

Rats or humans: Who is stupider?

There’s an episode of the Simpsons where Lisa performs a science experiment comparing the relative intelligence of her brother and a lab rat. The rat learns quickly that the cheese is hooked to electrodes and stops trying to eat it. The brother doesn’t.

You hear stories about things being stolen for their value as scrap metal. Statues, plaques, etc. Some of the really stupid guys go after electrical wire, while it’s still electrified. In all cases I’m aware of, they cause serious injury to themselves, and never succeed in their task. And yet, they keep coming back.

How can humans be that stupid?

| In the news, TV

“Pilot-reporter” says it all

When news of a mid-air collision between two news helicopters hit the news forums (read: Fark), the immediate reaction was “it was just a matter of time”. While mainstream media is slashing real reporters, they’re shelling out more and more for gimmicks like police-chase news helicopters, so viewers can get real-time updates on how some idiot is trying to get away from police.

The problem isn’t that there are too many helicopters trying to cover the same thing. It’s not that air traffic controllers are failing to separate low-flying aircraft. It’s one, simple phrase:

“Pilot-reporter”

These news choppers have two people on board: A camera operator, who focuses the video camera on what’s being covered, and the reporter, who describes what’s going on while, you know, piloting a low-flying aircraft in heavy traffic.

The fact that this is common doesn’t make it any less ludicrous. A pilot’s sole mission should be to fly an aircraft. So many aircraft crashes and near-crashes have taken place because pilots become distracted. To have a pilot in a dual-role which requires him to concentrate on some non-flying activity is just asking for trouble.

It’ll be a while before we find out what exactly led to this crash. Perhaps it was something out of both pilots’ control. But either way, I can’t imagine how separating the duties of reporter and pilot can’t lead to safer flights.

| Montreal, Radio

Rampaging shooter takes break, listens to Vancouver talk radio station?

You would be forgiven for missing this story, curiously buried in the back pages of Saturday’s papers: a Vancouver talk radio station has been slapped on the wrist and forced to apologize by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council for broadcasting the location of people inside Dawson College during the Sept. 13, 2006 shootings.

Here’s the story:

On the afternoon of Sept. 13, as media around the world began to clue in that a school shooting was in progress at Dawson, Vancouver’s CKNW News Talk 980 broke into its morning show (they’re three hours behind, remember) to pick up a live feed from Montreal’s 940 News. Both stations are owned by Corus.

Like every other media outlet in Montreal, 940 was desperately trying to get information on what was going on. The police didn’t know how many shooters there were or where they were or anything else. So the media filled their otherwise dead air with rampant speculation. There were four gunmen. They were shooting up Alexis Nihon. All sorts of stuff.

Fortunately in this age, everyone has a cellphone. And though the cell sites around Dawson were saturated, some calls got through. And among those were calls to the radio stations from students inside Dawson.

One of those was a girl named Sannah, who told 940 she was in a lab on the 7th floor with 30 other students. Then there was Dahlia, who 940 said was on the 3rd floor. After the interviews, host Michael Dean repeated their locations in a summary of what was going on.

There are a couple of ways of looking at this. On one hand, announcing (and repeating) the locations of people hiding from a gunman on the air can be seen as mind-numbingly stupid, allowing a loose gunman to find sitting ducks by listening to the radio. On the other hand (and this was the station’s argument) that same information would also be helpful to police to find them first.

Of course, a call to 911 would have had those advantages without the drawbacks. Whether they couldn’t get through to 911 or whether the police already knew of their locations isn’t clear.

And, we should also mention, all of this is sort of a moot point. By the time anyone was talking on the radio, Kimveer Gill was dead, and he wasn’t listening to the radio. So this is really just an academic argument.

Nevertheless, the British Columbia regional panel of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council concluded that the Vancouver station was in violation of a Radio Television News Directors Association Code of Ethics article which is surprisingly on point:

Reporting on criminal activities such as hostage-takings, prison uprisings or terrorist acts will be done in a fashion that does not knowingly endanger lives, offer comfort and support or provide vital information to the perpetrator(s). RTNDA members will contact neither victims nor perpetrators of a criminal activity during the course of the event for the purpose of conducting an interview that would interfere with a peaceful resolution.

Now, some logicians and common-sensers in the audience out there might be asking themselves: Why are we talking about a Vancouver radio station? Why isn’t this applying to 940 News?

Because nobody complained about 940 News.

Unfortunately for the CBSC, someone has to file a complaint against a station before they can act. Even if they find evidence of wrongdoing, they can’t take action. The ruling made mention of this:

[The panel] also observes that it would have been pertinent to apply its conclusions to CINW-AM [940 News], the Corus sister station in Montreal, as well as to any other Corus stations running the challenged portion of the live feed. The CBSC’s procedures do not, however, permit such a conclusion. In the circumstances, no complaint having been received from a Montreal listener, the Panel confines the requirements of its conclusions to the Corus Vancouver station, with respect to which it did receive the complaint with which this decision has dealt. Moreover, since all CBSC members are bound by the principles established in all CBSC decisions, the Panel recognizes that the reach of the conclusions will mandate the application of the principles established here in all Corus and other broadcaster newsrooms.

I’m at a loss to figure out what part of this story boggles the mind more.

| Public transit, West Island

Leave de Salaberry alone

Speaking of Mayor Ed and his wacky ideas, he’s changing his tune on the development of de Salaberry Blvd., an undeveloped East-West route from Kirkland to Sources Blvd. and beyond.

For those unfamiliar with de Salaberry, most of it is a two or four-lane road, starting from Sommerset Street in the West (where it crosses into Kirkland) and ending just east of Sources Blvd.

What makes this road unusual is that right next to it, for almost its entire length in Dollard, is a wide grassy area with power lines on it. The plan was to eventually turn this small road into a major East-West thoroughfare, halfway between Pierrefonds Blvd. and Highway 40. That never happened, mostly because it would just shift traffic onto Sources and wouldn’t solve West Island traffic headaches.

Unclear on the fact that nothing will solve West Island traffic headaches so long as the airport, the rail yards and Highway 13 stay where they are, he’s been trying to push through a development plan that would extend the street through the Bois de Liesse park:

De Salaberry development route

Needless to say, that plan didn’t win over too many people. So instead, he’s now proposing that it be a bus-only lane. Now you can’t accuse him of not being environmentally-friendly. He’s pro-transit!

There’s a few problems with the idea though:

  1. There’s already a dedicated public transit system running through the Bois de Liesse. It’s the Montreal-Deux Montagnes train line. And it’s used plenty.
  2. The big problem isn’t rush-hour service but the rest of the time when there’s no express shuttle between Fairview and the Côte-Vertu metro station. The success of the 470 Express Pierrefonds bus (which runs shuttles during rush-hour and then continues north and west) should give the STM the idea that a regular-service express shuttle (like the 211 between Dorval and Lionel-Groulx) is a good idea, but they haven’t done anything. Outside of rush-hour, the shuttle time is 20 minutes.
  3. The only logical place for a bus to go is the massive Fairview bus terminal. This would mean the bus would go north, then west, only to go back south again. Why do this when the highway is right there?
  4. It’s still just as bad in terms of developing one of Montreal’s few remaining natural preserves.

Sorry Ed. The Chronicle may love your idea, but I don’t see it being necessary. We need more buses to the West Island, not more bus lanes.

| West Island

Since when is not doing anything a crime?

Dollard-des-Ormeaux mayor Ed Janiszewski isn’t unusual. He’s like a lot of suburban mayors. But that doesn’t make his ideas less silly.

In a bid to stop those Evil Teenagers Up To No Good (TM), Dollard’s council passed a new by-law prohibiting loitering in public areas of the town.

“Loitering” has always been one of those terms I found odd. It sounds bad, like something a drug dealer or gang member would do. But what is it, exactly? Well, technically, “loitering” means “being somewhere just because you feel like it.”

Now, you might think a law forbidding people from standing in a public place without a grown-up reason would seem somewhat unconstitutional. In fact, such laws have been declared unlawful in the U.S. But still they persist. Businesses and other institutions have “no loitering” signs posted outside, and laws are drawn up with complicated definitions to try to outlaw something which feels illegal but is not actually a violation of any law.

The logic is best explained by this Janiszewski quote:

“Kids aren’t all bad. They need to hang out, to be with their peer group, but it shouldn’t be in public. They should be at their home or at somebody else’s home.”

Yes, folks. Dollard’s mayor doesn’t want kids hanging out in public.

Next time adults wonder why kids feel alienated or rebellious, maybe they might consider that adults are taking away kids’ rights to be kids.

| Business, In the news

It’s supply and demand, stupid

Every time gasoline prices rise by one per cent or more, we get the SUV-driving public’s arms up in the air complaining, and opportunistic politicians climbing over themselves to do something about it.

So I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that the Quebec government is considering price caps on gasoline prices. Sure, artificially limiting the price of gas will only encourage consumption and that can only be bad for the environment, but then the gas-guzzling public doesn’t care about the environment when maintaining it inconveniences them.

This news is especially funny considering what’s going on in Zimbabwe. There, ruling moron Robert Mugabe, trying to control his country’s 9,000 per cent inflation due to his idiotic economic policies, has simply decreed that the price of everything in his country be cut in half.

As anyone with half a brain will tell you, when you force someone to sell stuff at less than they bought it for, they’ll stop selling it. So now gas stations are dry as the country continues its economic freefall.

Hopefully at some point the Quebec government will learn that copying Zimbabwean economic policy is an idiotic thing to do. Even if that means it’ll please the idiots.

| Media

Bureaucracy killed the Journal’s website

Ever wonder why the Journal de Montréal doesn’t have a real website? Legal reasons, apparently.

Apparently the Journal’s union contract has some vague language about the use of its members’ work on the Internet. It states that the Journal’s parent organization can use the content online, provided certain silly requirements are met (the Journal’s logo has to appear, and people can’t be assigned exclusively online unless they’re given a new job title or something).

An extra sentence added later says that the employer should negotiate before starting a new website.

The union tried to sue, claiming Quebecor broke the agreement by setting up this kinda-website without talking to them first.

The judge saw right through their flimsy argument, referring the case to union arbitration.

Hopefully that will talk some sense into both sides. This is a really stupid reason for the Journal not to have a true web presence for itself.

| Montreal, Public transit, Video, West Island

Da train! Da train!

The Gazette’s Linda Gyulai has an article about some railway buffs criticizing Montreal’s plan for commuter rail service, specifically the route of the Train de l’Est (stupidly running from Terrebonne east to Repentigny instead of running west through Laval, using existing tracks, to the de la Concorde metro station) and the apparent abandoning of the plan to use the Doney Spur, which splits from the Deux-Montagnes train line near Highway 13 and runs between Hymus and the 40 west to Stillview.

One important correction to the story: It mentions the building of a Home Depot west of St. John’s Blvd on top of old Doney Spur right-of-way. In fact, it’s east of St. John’s, which mean any rail link to Fairview (which would still have to cross Highway 40 somehow) would have to run through, under or around this new hardware store.

Here’s a bonus for you: A YouTube video of rail buff Avrom Shtern asking Pierrefonds/Roxboro mayor Monique Worth about the Doney Spur in March, and having her give the kind of non-answer that you’d expect to find in a first-chapter exercise of Politics For Dummies.

| Uncategorized

Bad driving, meet bad ad placement

Dangerous driving is the topic du jour in today’s letters section. One picks up on something I completely missed in Friday’s paper:

Fast driving

This article (whose deck says “Panel blames ‘fast car’ ads”) is paired with this ad, which says in absolutely atrocious grammar: “Action speaks louder than words” and “1-100km in 4.7 sec top speed: 240km over 1G of lateral force. Toyota powertrain.” I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but I think it’s talking about how fast the car goes (or more accurately, how fast it accelerates).

The letter shoots the letter by blaming The Gazette for running it. In fact, it’s the car companies who should be shot for encouraging dangerous driving.

And whoever wrote that ad should be fired.