My Word with Douglas E. Welch

Thinking on a new project for the New Year…  
What is your biggest problem/issue/success with technology?

What do you wish technology could help you accomplish?

How could technology make life easier for you and yours?

What small/large task would you like to see technology address?

I am keeping the questions very general for now to see where the conversation goes?

What are your thoughts? Add a comment!

Douglas

The rains are coming…or so they say. I was a little worried that I had missed the window to get some sandbags from the local First Station and install them since it did rain here a bit over night. A bright, clear and warm day made a perfect day to get them, though. It looked liked a lot of other people had the same ideas. The lot at LA City Fire Station 88 was hopping with at least 8 other groups there.

As an added bonus for some, this is also the same location to recycle your (once) live Christmas Tree instead of just dropping it on the curb or in an empty lot. There is a large dumpster that will be added to the city mulch piles and re-distributed to citizens. That is the next trip I have planned.

City of Los Angeles Sandbag Pickup Locations

City of Burbank Sandbag Pickup Locations

For those outside of the City, check with your local city web sites for more information

Panorama of Station 88 sandbag pickup

The  City provides both bags and sand, but you need to bring your own shovels and elbow grease. It only took about 15 minutes for the 3 of us to file 6 bags and load them in the car. They are heavy, even when only filled halfway, so you may need to bring some help with you, too. Don’t hurt yourself! I would guesstimate about 50 lbs per sandbag if filled 3/4 full. 

I wasn’t sure how much weight my Honda Element could take, but it handled 6 bags with no problem at all. I could probably have gone with as many as 10 without causing any issues with the suspension. 

…and here they are installed in the back yard. For the most part, our yard and garden doesn’t have any drainage problems, but this one spot — at the end of the patio can fill up during the heaviest rains and once it leaked under the garage door. I am placing these just in case we get the heavy rains that are predicted. They will raise the water level just enough to allow the heaviest rains to run around the garage and down the alley to the street.

I highly recommend keeping a few sandbags on hand just in case they are needed. You don’t want to be running to the station and shoveling in the rain, if you can help it.

Links:

City of Los Angeles Sandbag Pickup Locations

City of Burbank Sandbag Pickup Location

You can find my content on all your favorite social media sites. You can see everything I create of just the content you are specifically interested in, like gardening, using the links below.

 

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Due to the wide and differing nature of the work I do, I am often asked by friends and acquaintances, “What are you doing now?” This blog series will keep you informed and up-date-date on some of my bigger projects, blogs, podcast and more! — Douglas

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The John Braheny Archive on the Craft and Business of Songwriting

I have been long-time friend with John and JoAnn Braheny and when John passed away 2 years ago, we immediately started discussing an archive of John’s long work as “The Songwriter’s Best Friend.”

“The John Braheny Archives on the Craft & Business of Songwriting, contains audio interviews, videos, photos, documents, articles and miscellany from the early 1970’s to the mid-1990’s.

John, along with friend and partner, Len H. Chandler, Jr., creators and co-directors of The LA Songwriters Showcase (a non-profit organization for the purpose of discovering and promoting songwriters) which held weekly meetings in Hollywood, California, plus The Songwriters Expo, (an  annual multi-event conference), from which many others throughout the country were modeled. There are articles and interviews from their monthly publication, The Musepaper.

John was a songwriter and performer in the 1960’s. The music “scene” in LA, during the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s is reflected here with all its excitement, especially driven by the community of songwriters along with those who worked in the industry at that time.

John wrote the best-selling book, The Craft & Business of Songwriting (F&W Publications), still used as a text in music departments of schools and universities.

Our intention is to provide as much info as possible to aid those who wish to do scholarly research, authors, documentarians, and those who wish to know how the industry worked in that time period. — JoAnn Braheny

In a recent push to get John’s archive of work cataloged and made available for researchers, I joined the project as the Acting Archivist for the collection. This has meant diving into documents, cassette tapes, audio, video, documents and publications from John’s long career. One minute I am digitizing a cassette tape interview with Lamont Dozier and later happening upon a photograph of John interviewing Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. I’m never quite sure what I am going to find.

You can check out the first efforts of my work on the archive by visiting The John Braheny Archives on the Craft and Business of Songwriting.

 

(All links confirmed as working – September 14, 2015)

As is common, we are in a drought again, here in California, and this makes the occurrence of wildfire more likely and also increases the damage that wildfires can do in the landscape and in populated areas. In an effort to stay in touch with the wildfire situation here in California, I have collected a set of resources to keep me informed when fires break out. While I live in the middle of the San Fernando Valley and fairly free from the direct danger of wildfire, fires in the surrounding areas can cause large problems with evacuations, smoke plumes and ash and also directly effect friends and family who live in or near wild lands.

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“CAL FIRE is a State agency responsible for protecting natural resources from fire on land designated by the State Board of Forestry as State Responsibility Area (SRA). CAL FIRE also manages the State Forest system and has responsibility to enforce the forest practice regulations, which govern forestry practices on private and other non-federal lands. Two major themes are attendant to the CAL FIRE mission. One is the protection of the State’s merchantable timber on all non-federal lands from improper logging activities and the other is the protection of the State’s grass, brush, and tree covered watersheds in SRA from wildland fire. CAL FIRE is a “conservation agency” with origins stemming from the “Conservation Movement” of the last century.”

Cal Fire provides a number of online resources:

• Cal Fire Official Twitter Feeds
• Current Cal Fire Incident Information and Map
• Current Cal Fire Incident RSS Feed

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“InciWeb is an interagency all-risk incident information management system. The system was developed with two primary missions:

Provide the public a single source of incident related information
Provide a standardized reporting tool for the Public Affairs community
A number of supporting systems automate the delivery of incident information to remote sources. This ensures that the information regarding active incidents is consistent, and the delivery is timely.”

InciWeb Resources:

• Photographs, News, Maps and more
• Current Fire Incident Information – Searchable and Sortable
• InciWeb Twitter Account
• InciWeb RSS Feed
• Google Earth KML of current fire incidents

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Enplan Wildfire Viewer

“ENPLAN provides environmental planning and geospatial information services and products to both public and private sectors. We have served over 500 clients since we began in 1980. Throughout our existence, we have remained absolutely committed to leading-edge quality and innovation in the solutions we deliver.”

Enplan Wildfire Viewer Resources:

• @WidlfireViewer on Twitter
• Google Earth Fire Incident KML files

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ESRI Integrated Fire Information Map

Resources include:

• Fire Locations
• Filtered Tweets 
• Wildfire Perimeters
• Fire-Related Weather Watches and Warnings

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Large fire here in Van Nuys, California overnight. I rarely, if ever, take anything approaching news footage, but these videos were requested by ABC7 Los Angeles for possible inclusion in the morning news on September 10, 2015

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New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes. 

 

Please subscribe, review and rate via iTunes 

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New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.

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Listen Now

[audio:http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/10478/1615708/nmi_017_youtube_personnel_changes_and_technology_updates.mp3]

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New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media Network which is launching a series of shows this week including Mindul(l) Media, The Render Break Report, New Media Interchange and More. You’ll find more information about 3rd Pass Media at http://3rdPass.Media.

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New Media Interchange 17: Technology & Leadership Changes at YouTube

This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m your host, Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.

In today’ show…

• YouTube News about personnel changes, new services and technology updates and competition from Facebook
• A number of follow ups on stories from previous episodes
• A VR camera from Nokia in the Hardware Hotlist
• See the complete show notes at 3rdPass.media

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books, Including The Cold Dish: A Walt Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson

Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.

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Los Angeles: Check out your energy monitor at the LA Public Library courtesy of the LA DWP

Picking up books at the library today and noticed this new program. You can check out an energy monitor to test your home appliances and also get some energy and water conservation “goodies” when you return it. 

I spotted this at the Van Nuys Branch of the LA Public Library, but I am guessing it is also available at other branches.

From the LA DWP Press Release…

Los Angeles, June 22, 2015—As the summer begins and energy demand peaks, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Los Angeles Public Library today launched a program that allows city library users to check out an electricity usage monitor to help manage their power consumption and energy costs at home. Approximately 300 electricity use monitors are now available at all 73 Los Angeles Public Library locations. The tool will allow users to plug in appliances and electronic devices and review the usage and cost over time, thereby informing them on how to manage their energy consumption.”I’m proud of the Los Angeles Public Library and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for launching an innovative program to help Angelenos save money while saving energy,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Library patrons can check out an energy monitoring device just like a book, and learn more on how household appliances consume energy, especially during the hot summer months. Residents also become eligible to receive additional free water and energy conservation items when returning the devices.”

Read the entire press release here

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS

Check out a preview of my new podcast, New Media Interchange, from the 3rd Pass Media Network.

New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.

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Listen to Nintendo and Youtubers, Netflix to spend $5B on programming, Best time to post your videos  and more!

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New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media Network which is launching a series of shows this week including Mindul(l) Media, The Render Break Report, New Media Interchange and More. You’ll find more information about 3rd Pass Media at http://3rdPass.Media.

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Nintendo and Youtubers, Netflix to spend $5B on programming, Best time to post your videos  and more!

This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.

In today’ show…

Nintendo wants a piece of that YouTube Money and plans on taking it out of the pockets of Let’s Play video makers, Netflix plans on spending over $5 billion on programming in 2016, and Tubefilter explains the best times to post your YouTube videos for maximum impact.

Will round out the show with some words about “Attracting Attention to Yourself” and end up with the first entry in my Subscribed series, highlighting the podcasts, blogs and YouTube Channels I am subscribed to.

More after this…

Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books. Including one of my favorites, The Hobbit..

Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today. 

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Gaming is the #2 category on YouTube, behind music, and you can find a wide variety of gaming reviews, recaps and a growing number of Let’s Play video series, where a gamer walks you through their experience of game from beginning to end. Some of these Let’s Play series can go on for 30 or 40 episodes as the gamer hacks and slashes their way through the zombies of Dying Light, works to save the fictional country of Kyrat from a crazed dictator or performs speed runs of amazing dexterity in Zelda or Mario Brothers. While many game manufacturers have a good relationship with Let’s Play producers — even providing them explicit license to play the game on video — the aged “big boy” of the gaming world — Nintendo hasn’t been playing nice of late.

Back in mid-2013, Nintendo starting claiming all YouTube revenue from many videos that included Nintendo Copyrighted content, like Let’s Play footage. They eventually backed off this wholesale money grab and last month created a “licensing” program that allows YouTube producers to continue sharing YouTube videos of Nintendo games in exchange for 30%-40% of the revenue according to articles from Game Informer. com.

While this certainly is a better deal than taking 100% of the revenue, I always look suspiciously at large companies taking money away from some of their biggest fans — turning off many of these fans from ever playing or sharing a company’s products in the future. Is this a sign that Nintendo is struggling overall and looking for a quick way to gain a quick cash boost? The company has been struggling of late, but I think trying to level out their balance sheet on the backs of fans might not be the way to do it.

What do you think? Are YouTuber’s getting a free ride on Nintendo gaming content? Is Nintendo making a desperate money grab? What does this mean for the thousands of hours of Nintendo gaming already available on YouTube and its creators? I’d love to know what you think. Send along a comment on the blog or via Twitter to @NMIPodcast.

Read More
Nintendo Updates Their Bad YouTube Policies By Making Them Worse

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In our next story, courtesy of Business Insider, Netflix will spend $5 billion on programming in 2016…

Netflix will spend $5 billion on programming in 2016, more than everyone but ESPN, says Janney

I often comment to people how I am amazed to took so long for large, Internet companies like Netflix, Google and Amazon to get into content creation for their services. Living here in Hollywood itself, I have seen the production companies — those entities that do the actual nitty-gritty work producing a television show — don’t really care who pays the bills, as long as there is money to be made. I knew it was only a matter of time before they started to see services like Netflix, Google Play and Amazon as potential partners in content creation.

Therefore I see no surprise at all that Netflix is going to be spending even more in the future creating exclusive content. With critically acclaimed series like House of Cards, I think they can see a great potential for content beyond the traditional, mainstream, broadcast networks. I would expect to see even more players enter this market, both in the existing ranks of high-tech businesses as well as new startups focused on becoming the next, great, content network.

You can read the complete story using the link in the show notes.

 

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Finally, for all you incipient content creators out there, TubeFilter provides a detailed article on the best days and times to post your videos for maximum viewership. If you are looking to turn your content into an on-going moneymaker, information like this can be critical. Moving the number of views 5% upwards could result in a significant boost in advertising earnings. As a fairly casual producer of YouTube content myself, I tend to post videos whenever I have time and whenever they are complete. After reading this article, though, I think I am going to spend a bit more time and consideration on my video release schedule. All the detailed tables and charts are available in the TubeFilter link in the show notes.

Want To Know The Best Days And Times To Post YouTube Videos? Here’s A Yearly Calendar.

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Attracting Attention Yourself!

Ever since I first heard George Carlin’s comedy album, Class Clown, a certain phrase has always stuck with me… (paraphrasing) The job of a class clown is…ATTRACTING ATTENTION TO YOURSELF! I call this “Carlin’s Law of Attraction!” Replace class clown with any other profession and you will see the universal truth of that statement. Replace class clown with “podcaster” and you can probably see where I am headed.

Podcasting offers anyone the ability to “attract attention to yourself”, your business, your cause, whatever is important to you. Sure, it can be difficult to rise above all the other folks who have already discovered podcasting, but the odds are certainly much better than they ever were in the traditional media.

Carlin’s Law of Attraction, also dictates that you want your media spread as far and wide as possible. This means posting your videos to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and any other spots where your audience might stumble across them. That said, each piece MUST have some links driving people back to your home site where they can subscribe to your content directly.

Everything depends on your ability to attract attention to your content. Scripts and books don’t sell themselves in your drawer (or trapped in your computer), art does sell when it sits in a closet and your podcast doesn’t attract an audience if no one ever gets to see it.

Apply Carlin’s Law of Attraction to everything you do, podcasting, writing, office work, whatever, and you will find that things just start to happen for you.

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That’s it for this episode of New Media Interchange where I talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more.

New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media network. For more information, visit 3rdPass.media. Do you have questions or comments? Send them along to NMI@3rdpass.media or via Twitter at @NMIPodcast .

I’m Douglas E. Welch and I’ll be back next week with more New Media news on New Media Interchange..

I passed over the 400 subscribers milestone today on my YouTube Channel and want to thank all my subscribers. Thanks for supporting all my blogs and podcasts.

 

I’ll get a Channel Update video out soon to highlight some new projects and get your input.

Thanks again!

Douglas