Is TV Really Good For Your Kids?

Most studies say too much TV for kids is bad. “Most studies of the impact of television, however, are seriously flawed. They compare kids who watch TV and kids who don’t, when kids in those two groups live in very different environments. Kids who watch no TV, or only a small amount of educational programming, as a group are from much wealthier families than those who watch hours and hours. Because of their income advantage, the less-TV kids have all sorts of things going for them that have nothing to do with the impact of television.”

More China In SF Symphony Future?

“Chinese musicians and musical institutions appear ready to enter a newer and more integrated relationship with the international musical community. And the San Francisco Symphony — looking toward the Pacific Rim as any institution must that is situated on the American West Coast — must surely be thinking about its role in that integration. This was an underlying theme of the recent tour, giving it a slightly different tone from the orchestra’s visits to the major cities of Europe or the United States.”

So Demanding – The Video-When-You-Want-It World

“The phenomenon of appointment TV, where viewers in vast numbers mold their personal schedules to a network’s, is pretty rare these days. It’s mostly a relic of an era before home VCRs gave the audience a measure of scheduling control. An explosion of newly liberating innovations (streaming video and mobisodes; podcasts, vlogs and TiVo) gives you ever more power over what you see and hear — and better access to it, as it spreads everywhere. It’s a gold rush, all right, across the digital universe, with bazillions of dollars riding on which gadgetry and content strike the public’s fancy.”

Want To Make Better Decisions? Don’t Think So Much

Tests show thinking about difficult decisions too much causes bad choices. “The problem with thinking about things consciously is that you can only focus on a few things at once. In the face of a complex decision this can lead to giving certain factors undue importance. Thinking about something several times is also likely to produce slightly different evaluations, highlighting inconsistencies. Participants who chose their favourite poster among a set of five after thorough contemplation showed less post-choice satisfaction than participants who only looked at them briefly.”

London Pirates – Now On Air

Pirate radio is booming in London. “The more established stations with sizeable followings are able to kit out a studio and buy a transmitter for less than £3,000, while raking in up to £5,000 a week in advertising revenue. In addition to advertising income, up and coming DJs are charged a fee of between £10 and £20 an hour for the privilege of playing and the stations often have links to local nightclubs. At weekends there are now more than 80 pirate radio stations operating in London and more than 150 around the country.”