If you’ve been thinking about hitting the OldRadio.Network Shop to pick up some of the Fundrasier discs there that support the OTR Digest, The Nostalgia Pages Forums, this blog and podcast, and the other services we provide, now is an excellent time. For a limited time, if you spend $30 at the OldRadio.Network Shop using your PayPal account, PayPal will rebate you $15!

All you need to do is sign up at the PayPal Promotion website, thien hit the OldRadio.Network Shop and pick out a few Fundraiser discs. Spend $30 or more using your PayPal account, get $15 back, and all to help support the OTR Services at the OldRadio.Network! (If you don’t have a PayPal account, no problem - sign up for one at the promotional website!)

From The New York Times: Jobs Calls for End to Music Copy Protection

From the article: “Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, jolted the record industry on Tuesday by calling on its largest companies to allow online music sales unfettered by antipiracy software.”

While I tend to disagree with Jobs more than I think he’s right, in this case I am in complete agreement.

From CNN: Astronaut to face attempted murder charge

From the article: “A NASA astronaut charged with pepper-spraying and trying to kidnap a romantic rival was granted bail Tuesday, but her release was delayed after police announced they were filing an attempted murder charge against her, a corrections department spokesman said.”

Apparently, the fates are conspiring to destroy all my heroes. I wish I could be a boy again, watching the Mercury 7 test the bonds of Earth, instead of watching the Keystone Kops try to bind love rivals…

As promised over a month ago (nothing like being on top of things, eh?), I am posting two episodes of The Halls of Ivy which contain the complete theme song. This second episode is from November 21st of 1951.

Note other episodes of The Halls of Ivy are available on the Fundraiser Discs which help support the mailing lists, podcasts, and other OTR-related stuff here on my little corner of the Net.

(And apologies for the delay.)

 The Halls Of Ivy - The Minister's Son/Songwriter [25:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s been a truly bizarre day. I’m finally up-and-around after being laid low by some virus that took away my ability to stand upright (I now understand the meaning of the word “vertigo”), and odd things keep happening.

First off, there’s that OTR Digest thing. Seems someone decided to bring up the whole McCarthy/Red Channels issue again, which of course started a liberal-vs-conservative (or conservative-vs-liberal, whichever) discussion. While the discussion has value (assuming it remains civil), we all know where it’s headed (been there, done that, been burned), so I find myself asking everyone not only to be nice, but to avoid all discussion of contemporary issues. The last thing anyone needs is for the OTR Digest to become mired in an argument about the merits of the Iraq war, you know?

So the letters start coming in…some people want the discussion stopped in its tracks, some people appreciate that it is going on, and a tiny minority are determined to argue contemporary politics, as if there aren’t enough places on the Net to do that. And all I want is to get out of the discussion without being accused of being a pinko or a fascist (or both). Yeah, I know, that ain’t gonna happen, since I’m clearly biased against whatever side the rejected message is on, but one can dream. I mean, it’s impossible for me to win in any way, shape, or form, since I’m either “abridging someone’s free-speech rights” (never-mind that only applies to the government, and not to me guiding the discussion on the OTR Digest) or “allowing someone to wander off-topic” (like that’s never happened before). So since I’m pretty much screwed no matter what I do, I’m dealing with it the way I’d want it to be handled; trying to allow the thoughtful posts through while stopping the ones that are aiming to pick a fight. And looking forward to a resumption of the argument over the first name of The Lone Ranger which while a little repetitive is at least on-topic and apolitical.

So then I get a “signup” to the Nostalgia Pages Forums from yet-another-spammer…nothing unusual about getting spammers registering for the forum, and I work hard every day to try to keep them away. But this one had a new wrinkle I have to admit was interesting…seems the pr0n website she was advertising has an interesting computer program which allows any words to be placed on a legal tablet she’s holding, simply by adjusting the name of the file requested (like, to get “Hello Folks” the request would be for “Hello%20Folks.jpg”). Of course, in the series of photographs, she is in various stages of disrobement, holding the tablet at…er…interesting places.

No, I won’t give the spammer what she wants by giving you a pointer to the URL (besides, this is a family website where parents shouldn’t need to worry about stumbling over pictures of nekked wimmen), but it was another bizarre incident in a bizarre day. Even Jack Bauer couldn’t cheer me up by torturing his brother.

As promised over a month ago (nothing like being on top of things, eh?), I am posting two episodes of The Halls of Ivy which contain the complete theme song. This episode is from May 5th of 1950…stay tuned for the other episode I promised.

Note other episodes of The Halls of Ivy are available on the Fundraiser Discs which help support the mailing lists, podcasts, and other OTR-related stuff here on my little corner of the Net.

(And apologies for the delay.)

 The Halls Of Ivy - Student Actress/Mrs. Hall's Letter [29:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Strongly suggest you avoid Lycos like the plague…and avoid MJJ Designs, too, since it’s operated by Mike Jandreau, the Lycos Customer Service Manager.

Why am I being so hard on a company that’s been around for ages? Simple - check out this blog entry and see what happens when unprofessional people work for unprofessional companies. (If anyone can suggest where Mr. Jandreau’s petty email is “professional,” I’d love to hear it.)

Anyway, avoid Tripod, Angelfire, Lycos Planet, Hotbot, and WebMonkey. If you have an account on any of those “services,” why not cancel it and tell the Sales department why - don’t bother writing the “service” department, since you can see where they’ll end up…

From The New York Times: 2 Arrested in Boston Ad Campaign Turned Bomb Scare

From the article: “Boston temporarily closed parts of bridges, subway stations, an Interstate highway and even part of the Charles River on Wednesday after the authorities found what the police described as suspicious devices at nine places.”

With all apologies to my readers from Boston (who, since they are here are clearly the intelligent ones), I have to seriously ask what the heck is wrong with people up there. They panicked, according to the mayor spending $750,000 on their reaction, over the modern equivalent of some LiteBrites. I mean, c’mon, people, Seattle, Philadelphia, New York, and other cities didn’t act like the sky was falling, so what’s up with you folks? Have your elected officials frightened you so much over “terrorism” that you become apopletic over a kid’s toy used in a gorilla marketing campaign?

From Ars Technica: Apple pays sites’ legal fees in free speech victory

From the article: “The Mac News Network is reporting that Apple has declined to to appeal its loss in last year’s Apple v. Does decision. MacNN says that Apple has paid nearly $700,000 to cover the sites’ legal fees.”

Very cool. It’s past time blogs and on-line magazines were granted a little respect, legally-speaking.