(Jared morris writes:)

I’ve decided to put up a few different new podcasts. Rather than sifting through mountains of audio and being inundated with blogs about what’s new — I’m doing a brand-new iTunes ready podcast called: Jared’s Picks..

Here’s the skinny:

“Live from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware - Jared’s favorite segments/clips/bits and moments from his daily radio call-in talk show. Heard Live on WGMD Radio 92.7 FM - Join Jared on Twitter at twitter.com/jaredmorris”

Subscribe on the iTunes store at this URL: (or do a search on iTunes for WGMD)

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=305084442

Or subscribe in your favorite RSS reader with this feed:

http://www.wgmd.com/images/stories/audio/jmpicks/morrispicks.xml

As always, Join me on twitter at www.twitter.com/jaredmorris

Search iTunes for more specialty Podcasts

including:

The Jared/East Gate Pres Church Podcast with Gary Knapp
and The Saturday Lost Show Podcast.

I truly think specialty podcasting is the was to get the podcasts moving, and probably the only way to ever do a successful one. Enjoy.

JMOX

Okay — Dan talked me into it. He’s just having too much fun. You can now follow the Jared Morris radio show on twitter at

www.twitter.com/jaredmorris

show insights
insider humor
bonus audio
things I didn’t have time for on the air
mocking callers
general whimsy

follow me now

www.twitter.com/jaredmorris

Who’s next to join?

Here’s a sample:

– Jared Morris (on talkofdelmarva.com)

I have resisted for months joining Twitter, the mini messaging website that works sort of like blogging on much smaller scale.  Posts or messages or “Tweats” as the Twitter users call them are limited to 140 characters.   This is what I mean by small.  You are limited to these little bursts of thought supposedly to answer the question “what are you doing right now”?

Last night for example I shared with the world and the folks who have decided to “follow me” (another feature of Twitter, keeping you up to date with the people in the world you choose to stay up to date with) that I was throwing away Christmas dinner leftover green bean casserole.  I sent this wonderful update from my cell phone as a text message and it appeared instantly to my Twitter page and to my “followers” and to anywhere else I wanted to put a twitter html code!  Kind of neat in it’s simplicity, which is why I finallydecided to try it.  My thinking is one simple text is easier than updating my website and my blog as separate events!

Since starting with Twitter a few days ago, I’ve already made contact with many new listeners I didn’t know before, and that is a good thing.  I have also used the service to explain my daily on air topics, off air comments during my live show, and I even sent out a Tweat giving the answer to an on air trivia question 20 minutes before I even asked the question!  Yes, a fellow Twitter user won the prize!  I cheated, sort of, in the name of FUN…. and connectivity.

I encourage you WGMD listeners to try Twitter, it’s free, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it.  It’ll be another way we can interact and share during our talks about local issues.

Learn more and follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/dangaffney

-Dan Gaffney

Hello all!

First off thank you to everyone who posted and has made me feel welcome….yes, even you momma.

So this entire week I have been in gaming nerd heaven. There was a convention held in LA called the E3 Convention. All week, the big gaming companies like Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony showed people what they can expect for the upcoming year with new games, updates to the consoles and demos of games. As I sat back and watched all the new game demos and trailers, and interviews, I was in amazement about how far we have come. I remember as a child my parents had a old computer called a Commodore 64. There was a game that I used to be obsessed about called Wizard. it was a simple 8-bit game filled with dungeons and puzzles and over 100 levels to have a ball with. The fact that I can remember certain levels is amazing, but the fact that now I am playing games where I am in whole other worlds, I am someone else, with graphics that make me think I am looking at real time, not a game is amazing. I know that games have had a bad rap these past few years. I was waiting in line with my boyfriend at midnight to get the new Grand Theft Auto IV game. Talk about a game that has gotten a lot of publicity, both good and bad. But that topic is for a whooooooole other blog when I feel like being on a soapbox.

As I sit and think about how technology has come so far, I also think about how the criticism has gotten harder as well. But I also think about how maybe 80 years ago, movies were going through the same kind of criticism, and actually sometimes they still have a hard time. I think that everything has to go through the paces. While right now people have problems with the gaming industry, there will be something else in the future that takes the heat off of the industry. It’s the circle of life baby.

The fact of the matter is, the gaming industry is here to stay. During Microsoft’s conference there was a fact that I found very interesting. More people buy games than anything else. More than DVD’s or music, right now games are “the king of the world”. Instead of a family sitting around the dinner table playing Monopoly, they are all sitting on the couch playing a game of bowling using the Wii. We are evolving every year. Sometimes I wonder if the Parker Brothers would approve or not, but the fact of the matter is, while you may disagree with some games, you cannot deny that they are beginning to bring families together. Instead of Mom and Pop thinking that a kid who loves video games is a kid heading for trouble, now you are seeing more parents trying to understand where the kids are coming from. And trust me, kids are dying for you to be involved and understand.

Another piece of information I found interesting was the fact that the ratio of men who buy gaming systems or games is almost even now with women. 52% of men vs. 48% of women. I am proud to say that I am one of those people. I know that my boyfriend who is also an avid game player enjoys the fact that he can sit down and play a game and I will happily watch him or play along as well. As a matter of fact, I am considering buying a Nintendo DS to add to our growing collection of gaming consoles (between the two of us we have 3 so far).

At the end of the day, video games have made such an impact on my life. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I will always have the memories of playing Wizard with my sister and friends, of playing Decent with my Father and Frogger with my mother, of how Super Mario helped me survive my first semester of college, and how some of the happiest memories of me and my boyfriend has been playing some kind of game just laughing and having a great time being together. The E3 convention makes me think of this every year, of how far we have come technology wise and how far gaming has come with me and the memories I have made in my life.

I wouldn’t have it any other way. Until the next blog, take care!

A couple of months ago the radio station purchased a Flip Video Camera (http://www.theflip.com/products.shtml)– I thought the concept was pretty cool — a handheld digital video camera that plugs right into the USB port on your computer, on-click video, good audio quality, easy storage, no tapes or mini-DVDs, it records up to an hour and only requires two double A batteries.. Now, I’ve read some pretty bad reviews of the Flip, Apparently around Christmas a bad shipment of Flips went out to Bestbuy.com and to Walmart — in fact, the first one that the station purchased was defective…

Yesterday, I decided that the benefits outweigh the bad reviews.. every review on BestBuy.com was either 5 stars or 1 star… an odd combination.. and I threw caution to the wind and bought my own. They cost around $120 dollars and they are indeed easy to use, compact and just amazing (I say this now, but, we’ll see if it lasts down the line.) I often need a video camera to tape live performances, radio clips and just things of general interest… One of my hobbies outside of work is editing video.. I worked for 8 months on a video project converting old VHS and 8mm cam tapes to digital files and finally to iPod ready videos (which was actually a few step process.. 1. copy the vids to DVD 2. rip the DVD into computer (need DVD ripping software) 3. edit the digital videos to more compact cleaner versions (needs video editing software and Audio mixing/Mastering software). 4. Finally convert videos to iPod ready M4P format videos… (needs another special program to convert) — A difficult and time consuming process, especially when you’re using a PC with clunky software.. The Flip Video allows you to edit the videos you shoot and saves them right to iPod ready videos.. It’s quite simple.. Now the video I’ll post below was actually filmed live in the studio with The Flip, but the audio was superimposed over the clip from a direct line out of our radio console.. So the audio here will be slightly better than what you’d acheive with The Flips built in mic, but, I did it this way to show you the great quality video and audio you can possibly acheive with a few very simple steps. i only used the camera and Windows Movie Maker combined with Adobe Audition to record the actual audio line out. Then a quick upload to youtube and you’re ready to go. The actual quality of the saved videos are much better than the youtube version, but if you are a frequent youtube user, than you’ll notice the familiar youtube wash over the video.

Check it, this is Ron Ferrell of Ferrell Cooling and Heating from today’s WGMD broadcast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iedWRP3YJ4I

From Jim Lanard, Director of Strategic Planning and Communications for Bluewater Wind:

Bluewater Wind’s offshore wind park is an investment in Delaware’s future by improving Delaware’s environment, providing much needed electric generation reliability and creating hundreds of “green collar” jobs for Delawareans.  While it may be that the out-of-state wind bids Delmarva Power has solicited cost less, they will not provide these same benefits for Delaware.  Replacing Bluewater Wind’s instate wind park with wind generated in Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, western Pennsylvania and Maryland will not create jobs for Delaware, will not enhance reliability and will not have the same environmental benefits for Delaware.

For months now, Delmarva Power has promised to reveal out-of-state wind bids by the end of March, but they now say the new release date won’t be before June 1st.  Delmarva has used the ever-lengthening release date as an effective way to prevent a decision from being made. Bluewater Wind offers the following facts to put Delmarva Power’s apples to oranges comparison into proper perspective.

Delmarva Power’s out-of-state wind energy plan will result in: 

• Lost Jobs.  Bluewater Wind’s instate wind park will generate 400 – 500 construction jobs and 80 – 100 operations and maintenance jobs for the life of the 25 year contract.  Delmarva Power’s plan will not generate any jobs for Delaware.

• Lost Economic Hub.  Bluewater Wind will establish Delaware as the economic hub to support the construction of offshore wind parks in the region, if Delaware becomes the first state to approve an offshore wind park.  This economic hub will position Delaware as a national leader in the new clean energy economy attracting other “green collar” jobs — purchasing wind energy from out-of-state will not.
• Lost Teaching and Training Facility.  Bluewater Wind has committed to supporting a teaching and training program in Delaware, to be launched with a $150,000 grant, so that Delaware can be the training center for workers learning how to build, operate and maintain wind parks.
• Lost Environmental Benefits.  Bluewater Wind’s offshore wind park will reduce polluting fossil fuel emissions in the Delmarva Peninsula; out-of-state wind won’t.  The National Renewable Energy Labs reports that, “according to the chief operating officer of the PJM  Regional Transmission Organization, wind energy displaced coal-fired generation about 70% of the time in this power market in 2006.”  In addition, offshore turbine foundations become artificial reefs and will benefit coastal aquatic life.
• Lost reliability.  According to experts hired by the State, the offshore wind park, coupled with the proposed backup facility, will enhance electric reliability in Delaware.  This will help avoid future “brownouts” of the type Delaware endured a few summers ago. Purchasing out-of-state wind energy will not enhance reliability.
• Hidden costs.  Delmarva Power’s out-of-state wind bid allows bidders to enter the PJM grid at any point on the system, which will likely expose ratepayers to transmission risks and higher costs than advertised due to inefficiency.  In addition, the contract Bluewater Wind negotiated with Delmarva Power guarantees liquidated damages and termination fees if Bluewater Wind does not perform its contractual obligations; the RFP for the out-of-state wind bidders does not require these protections.

If you have a cell phone, or any phone, you may have noticed that lately you’ve been getting an enormous number of phone calls from a company warning you that “this is the last call you’ll” get regarding your auto warranty which is about to expire.

If only. If only that were the “last call” on the topic of my auto warranty it would be a great day in Sunnydale! But NOOOOO! You may receive that “last call” warning two to three times a day, every day as I did. Well, finally someone has decided to act aggressively to prevent this type of illegal telemarketing.

This information was retrieved from www.verizon.com, I’ll highlight the key parts since it is rather long:

03/26/2008

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Verizon Wireless said today it has filed a lawsuit to stop unknown telemarketers from calling its customers and employees with an offer of an extended car warranty. The lawsuit, filed in New Jersey Superior Court, alleges the telemarketers illegally used an autodialer to reach Verizon Wireless customers and used “spoofing” techniques to mask the origin of the calls.

The lawsuit alleges that Caller ID showed calls were made from a variety of numbers with 281, 614, 801, and 562 area codes. But, when Verizon Wireless customers and employees attempted to call the numbers found on Caller ID, they generally heard a fast busy signal, indicating a non-working number.

“Telemarketers are using increasingly sophisticated methods, such as illegal autodialing, to harass our customers,” said Steven E. Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel of Verizon Wireless. “Whatever the method, these unlawful telemarketing calls are an annoyance to our customers and invade their privacy, and we will continue to use every weapon in our legal arsenal to stop this activity and protect our customers.”

In the lawsuit, Verizon Wireless says that, beginning in January 2008, more than 2 million of its customers and employees received calls on their wireless telephones with a pre-recorded voice message indicating that the recipient’s car warranty was about to expire, and encouraging them to press “1” for more information. When a recipient presses “1”, he or she is connected to a person who asks for the make and model of the car. However, if the recipient asks for information about the company offering the policy, the representative simply hangs up and ends the call.

The lawsuit alleges violations of the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which makes it illegal to use an autodialer to make calls to wireless phones, as well as state fraud and privacy laws. By filing the lawsuit, Verizon Wireless will be able to use the discovery process to help identify the currently unknown telemarketers, and to get them to halt their practices.

Verizon Wireless’ record of protecting customer privacy puts the company at the forefront of the U.S. wireless industry. Over the past several years, Verizon Wireless has won permanent injunctions against individuals and companies that have engaged in illegal telemarketing and text message spamming to Verizon Wireless customers, and against those who have attempted to obtain information about Verizon Wireless customers to sell to third parties.

Finally, someone else has raised a fuss about these annoying calls! Hopefully with the power of Verizon behind it, this suit will put an end to the problem… until they figure out a legal loophole and start back up again.

LOTS of WGMD listeners have their own websites and Dan Gaffney gave everyone an hour to promote their hard work.  Many people have asked for the links - so here’s most of the links that were called in.

• Judson Bennett for County Council - http://www.judsonbennett.com/
• Long Neck Family Practice - http://www.longneckfp.com/
•  Extreme Brewing - http://extremebrewing.com/
• Coldwell Banker/Katy Werner - http://www.cbmove.com/katy.werner
• Katy Decorates - http://www.katydecorates.com/
• Cyber Game Lan - http://www.cybergamelan.com/
• Vintage Delaware Tags - http://www.vintagedelawaretags.com/
• LowTags.com - http://www.lowtags.com/
• Bethany Beach Vol Fire Co. - http://www.bethanybeachfire.com/
• Gumboro Mudbog - http://www.gumboromudbog.com/
• Sussex County Government - http://www.sussexcountyde.gov/
• Delmarva Insulation - http://www.delmarvainsulation.com/
• Your Pet Food Store - http://www.yourpetfoodstore.com/
• Margarita Man - http://www.margaritamande.com/
• Ghost Hunting at Five Locks Canal - http://www.freewebs.com/5locks/
• Mid-Atlantic Regional Sport Stacking - http://www.midatlanticstacking.com/
• Man-Maid Cleaning - http://www.manmaidcleaning.com/ 
• Keenote Music Studio -
  http://www.makingmusik.com/servlet/KM_DisplayMain?s=3083
• Frank Prekup’s Purple Martin Houses - http://www.atlanticbreezes.com/pprekup.htm
• Johnson’s Country Market - http://www.johnsonscountrymarket.com/
• CopyRight Inc - http://www.copyrightinc.net/
• Community of Independence - http://www.independencede.com/home/
• Delaware State Housing - http://www.destatehousing.com/
• Guardian Property Management - http://www.guardian.us.com/guardian/page.html
• My Kids Support.com - http://www.mykidssupport.com/
• Sussex County Bible Church - http://www.sussexbible.com/
• Smith’s Used Cars - http://www.shopsmiths.com/
• Bella’s Cookies - http://www.bellascookies.com/
• Food 2 Go - http://www.food2gode.com/
• Isorobic - http://www.isorobic.com/
• Millman’s Appliance - http://www.millmansappliances.com/
• Indie Rocks Blog - http://www.indierocks.org/

Delaware House Bill 291 would ban text messaging while driving in Delaware.  It proposes a $25.00 fine as a secondary offense.  (you have to be stopped for something else for the fine to take effect).  It’s meaningless and a waste of time, as Dan Gaffney listener Matt Opaliski explains:

“Dan,

There is no need to enact a new law to deal specifically with texting or emailing when we currently have a statute that applies to what the suggested problem is that Rep. Hudson is attempting to combat, inattentiveness. Regardless of what other states are doing which is more likely the reason that it’s been introduced here, legislation like that can carry only one accurate label, Feel Good Legislation…

Excerpt from  Title 21:
§ 4176. Careless or inattentive driving.
(a) Whoever operates a vehicle in a careless or imprudent manner, or without due regard for road, weather and traffic conditions then existing, shall be guilty of careless driving.
(b) Whoever operates a vehicle and who fails to give full time and attention to the operation of the vehicle, or whoever fails to maintain a proper lookout while operating the vehicle, shall be guilty of inattentive driving.
(c) Whoever violates this section shall for the first offense be fined not less than $25 nor more than $115. For each subsequent like offense occurring within 3 years of a former offense, the person shall be fined not less than $50 nor more than $230, or imprisoned not less than 10 nor more than 30 days, or both.”

A better idea for lawmakers:  record some public service commercials to tell folks not to be stupid.  I’ll air them on WGMD.

I’m always interested in tech stories. I’m a little bit of techie, I suppose. I like to read about the newest contraptions, the new trends, new improvements in technology. I don’t often do the topics about technology on the air, so, maybe I’ll post some on here… I mean you’re on our Web site, so you at least have a computer, so they may be interest to you.

The Record Industry, RIAA, is angering everybody today with the latest story about unauthorized music copying. Now, I fully agree that trading, giving away, stealing people’s mp3s, bitTorrent-ing songs, copying mp3s off of other peoples computers, iPods, giving away CD-r copies of songs and e-mailing mp3s is stealing and for the most part wrong. It’s so easy these days with record stores online, amazon.com, Best Buy, Walmart, half.com, iTunes, CDbaby.com, and countless other services and stores to get music, and get it cheap, that trading songs amongst your friends is wrong. CD sales are down again 20% this holiday season because kids, adults and everyone seems to be trading music. To curb this trend, the RIAA is now saying that copying/ripping a CD that you purchased into your computer is illegal.

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122800693.html

So, according to the RIAA, if you go to Walmart(s) and buy the new Barry Manilow Christmas CD, take it home, put it in your PC, rip it to iTunes and jam it on your mp3 player or iPod, you are “Breaking the law” - cue Judas Priest.

I’ve never illegally downloaded a song, call me an mp3 saint. Everything that I have was purchased legitimately at a record store, online, at iTunes or actually given to me by the artist. However, I have copied CDs to my iPod, to listen to in my car, so that these rare CDs I just bought don’t get scuffed. According to the RIAA, that is “unauthorized” - Even if no one besides myself ever touches my iPod or even hears it. It’s not illegal to listen to a CD in my car, but, it is illegal to listen to a copy of that CD. It’s akin to the debate in the 1980s regarding copying that Air Supply record to a tape and listening to it in your car.

A similar debate came about regarding the ownership of Roms of video games about 10 years ago. A lot of people figured out how to “rip” the rom images of old Nintendo and Atari games. Nintendo of America threatened lawsuits and shut down a myriad of Web sites offering free download of Roms of old Nintendo Games. Their legal said “it’s only legal to own a backup rom if you already own the cartridge” - that you could, in effect, own one backup copy, anything else was illegal. It was actually the same problem as the problem facing the music industry. Lots of unscrupulous people were downloading Rom images of brand new Playstation games and Nintendo 64 games, and either playing them on video game emulators on their computers or creating a CD-rom and playing them on mod-ed Playstations, or later, Gamecubes and Wiis.

It’s essentially the same problem. People want to own the content without paying for the right to own it. Whether it be DVD movies, music or video games…. The digital revolution, the lack or a hard copy, has created a generation of people who feel entitled and don’t want to dish out any cash for other people’s work. Bands just starting out feel like they have to give away their music to get any attention, established bands like Radiohead are offering their music for “whatever you want to pay for it” for publicity because their real CDs aren’t selling. The RIAA thinks that telling people that creating back-ups is illegal will help curb this behavior. But it won’t.

It’s a losing battle, but thousand of digital thieves have caused these reactionary tactics.