Have you read about the aircraft carrier named for Gerald Ford that is so advanced with its tech, it is practically useless? What is this, a conundrum? An irony? If the situation cannot be remedied, maybe "screw-up" would apply.
There used to be a saying, "get a horse." Cars were new-fangled and obviously could present their issues. So when problems arose, some would invoke the previous mode of transportation, manure and all. We realize such sayings are cute but they are off the mark. Truly, change plugs away. We all know.
I attend a church in Morris that has sound system glitches often. I have begun commenting to fellow parishioners. I mean, someone starts speaking into a microphone and it either isn't working or isn't set right. A fellow parishioner remarked on the - irony? conundrum? - noting that the church has a sound control panel in back that reminded of "the control panel for a 747 (aircraft)."
Just like the aircraft carrier, the system can't seem to get off the ground sometimes. But wait, we're talking about a sea vessel and not a plane, so the vessel would have to make its rounds and do whatever carriers do. Systems on planes had darn well better work.
I remember being at a Morris Area High graduation, covering it for the newspaper, when a planned video could not be shown. As was my tendency in those days, I made rounds in the community, so could learn the truth about incidents like this. And so I heard that a choir member must have inadvertently made contact with a cord that was plugged in, pulling it out. The incident was during George Morrow's time as principal. Sometimes I'd refer to him as "Vic" in memory of the actor, but not in print of course.
I was sitting close to the principal at the time of the video incident. It was Amy Dougherty who had to give him the bad news, as the large audience just sat there waiting. School people really earn their pay when they have to deal with problems like this. I heard Dougherty say to Morrow "we'll have to re-boot it." I can't tell you what exactly "re-boot" means, but the upshot was there could be no video.
Such is the delicate nature of all the new tech. "Get a horse?" Maybe there's a grain of truth.
I remember the standard "slide show" as part of the Hancock High graduation through the years I covered it. I loved covering that event - I could have cried the last year I went there, realizing it was the last time. "Why?" I said to myself. One of the conundrums of life, I guess. Let's all look up "conundrum" after this.
The Hancock slide show had very endearing background music. It almost made you misty to sit there and take it in: images of the various grads from when they were very young, up to the present. It was a "slide show" with tech that I guess we could describe as legacy or analog - at least that was my impression.
Plunging into the digital age, we get layer after layer of new sophistication. It can backfire or confuse people so much, they try to escape it, to live without it.
In my household right now there is no TV. I stuck with Federated Telephone for cable TV as long as I could. Once that ended, I would have been plunged into a whole new world with "streaming" and s--t like that. One gets to the point where you sigh and figure you can live without the whole mess.
I am competent with the Internet because I was forced to adopt it at the newspaper, thank God. I remember getting back to the office from the Met Lounge one night and typing an email to Dan Barreiro, sports columnist for the Strib. He did not answer. But what a thrill.
We are seeing developments with our high school and YouTube that are incredible. So incredible, the whole system for media coverage of our school seems to be getting uprooted. And I realize there is no way to fight change. The YouTube-based coverage is so good - you can watch live or watch it later - one has to wonder if the old media coverage of sentences and paragraphs is headed to obsolescence. Really.
It is becoming much harder to find detailed coverage of Tiger sports through old reliable media like the West Central Tribune. Check our Morris newspaper's website: for sports, you'd think the only teams we have here are the "Cougars." A conundrum again: Isn't UMM sports covered with 100 percent quality on UMM's own website? Needless duplication? I'm wondering to what extent people even care now.
The radio station website is reliable for a few game details on a pretty timely basis. Fine and dandy. But the reviews are short and they are mixed in too much with reports on non-MACA high school teams. There should be more headlines accenting "Morris." More pictures of Morris events too. But maybe a plurality of citizens just like having the YouTube stuff available. And if this is truly fulfilling, wonderful. Maybe electric cars will be totally fulfilling too someday.
The lights at Big Cat!
Here's a bulletin: if you were not at the MAHS Homecoming football game Friday, there was quite the incident that relates to the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, or to the MAHS graduation incident. I had already departed so I didn't witness it. I heard later. The email I got from a friend: "Did the radio station's report on Friday's game mention the stadium lights going out after halftime? I heard that the 'royalty' girls were changing clothes in a utility room after halftime, someone hit the light switch. It takes 20 minutes for those mercury vapor lights to cool down and warm up again."
Be careful what button you push when you're around this stuff. Now, if my church can just get its act together.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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