Sigh... Beeeeeeeeeeeyooooooooooooteeeeeeeeeefuuuuuuuuuuuuulll...

I know! Ironic, 'eh?

It's truly astonishing how much this rat-bastard can think up - as he systematically

burns down every institution we've all revered, respected, and counted on.

LOVE this! Gotta take some time to enjoy this properly!

I majored in "playing radio."

Actually, Studio Art. Thought I'd be some sort of graphic artist because I was the "art girl" in grade school and high school. But I saw a big poster extended across one wall in the dorm commons dining room during O-Week (Student Orientation Week, before the full start of classes for the new school year) promoting the student radio station, a real live FMer, too! Its message was "Be a DJ, See the World" - something like that.

I went "hmmmm..." and decided to go check it out. And that was that. Calling, found. Career, launched. Life, changed. Fell in, face first. I had NO idea where it was gonna take me. But I'd run the student newspaper in high school so I figured I might qualify for something going on there. Back then, I also discovered it was also a great way to meet guys! Women were few and far between: a ratio of about 15 guys to every girl. Since then, the newsroom doors all over the place are wide open to so many more women, that it's quite gratifying to see. Never thought I'd see two women cohosting the "Today" show, but there they are - Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb - and they're real role models! Kinda cool, that evolution.

I'm so keeping this one!

Thanks for this, Heartstrings!



Virtual !

Terrifying. And unfortunately, TRUE. STAY AWAKE, EVERYBODY!!!

Thanks back atcha, mvd!

It's just more data food for us nerds to pig out upon! And I'm certainly speaking for myself here.

For somebody who didn't like math all through school, I am fascinated by numbers now. I think for me it started in radio when all you heard about, beyond the next hot record was "the numbers." Translation: "the ratings." People almost literally lived and/or died by the numbers. Certainly their careers did. And their shift assignments absolutely did! You were good enough and were getting lots of good feedback? You might get pulled off nights and slotted in morning drive.

Numbers, numbers, numbers. Stars were born, and heads rolled, by and on the numbers. But I began to appreciate what they meant and what people who could do something about them and use them professionally made of them. You could design campaigns. Maybe do it around your new morning talent. Or your obscenely-large ratings results from the latest book. Or the big-name guest you were gonna have in to be guest-DJ on such and such a morning. Or your hot new contest where you're giving away an obscene amount of money.

When I worked at the big oldies station in L.A., they devised a contest wherein the winner got - I think - 100-thousand dollars or a million dollars. Back then, in the 1980s, that was a ridiculous amount of money. Usually it'd be thousands of dollars, or maybe 50-grand. And this contest was promoted multiple times every hour, around the clock, before and during the contest. And viewers responded accordingly. And there was a winner, and the winner got a big fanfare and an equally big check! But the station got numbers. Bigger numbers. WAY bigger numbers! Boy did it work! They got a million new listeners. The air staff got bonus checks and a ride around Marina del Rey in a big boat! That was a nice touch. Usually only the morning man (it was always a well-established male), and MAYBE the morning team got the VIP treatment. Not this time. Everybody on the air got to go. Even us lowly news folks!

The numbers start to take on added layers of significance as you start splitting hairs and looking at how many of which groups of people/where/when are listening or present or purchasing or otherwise indicating a level of receptivity to your message. Demographics. That becomes SERIOUSLY fascinating, and it's almost as infectious a pursuit as a virus is. Anal-compulsives like me are like the kids who've given up candy for Lent and then Easter morning means you can HAVE all the chocolate eggs in the Easter Basket that the Easter Bunny left you overnight, and all the ones you can find at the Easter Egg Hunt!

Another update -

At 6:53am
Confirmed cases worldwide - 9,631,793
Deaths worldwide - 489,916
Confirmed cases US - 2,436,387
Deaths US - 125,073


At 8:06am
Confirmed cases worldwide - 9,632,289
Deaths worldwide - 489,937
Confirmed cases US - 2,436,883
Deaths US - 125,094


At 9:05am
Confirmed cases worldwide - 9,641,862
Deaths worldwide - 490,001
Confirmed cases US - 2,446,456
Deaths US - 125,456


At 9:51am
Confirmed cases worldwide - 9,641,862
Deaths worldwide - 490,001
Confirmed cases US - 2,446,456
Deaths US - 125,158

At 10:08am
Confirmed cases worldwide - 9,642,355
Deaths worldwide - 490,006
Confirmed cases US - 2,446,949
Deaths US - 125,163

At 10:15am
Confirmed cases worldwide - 9,642,381
Deaths worldwide - 490,007
Confirmed cases US - 2,446,975
Deaths US - 125,164

At 10:21am
Confirmed cases worldwide - 9,642,762
Deaths worldwide - 490,010
Confirmed cases US - 2,447,356
Deaths US - 125,167

At 10:23am
Confirmed cases worldwide - 9,643,739
Deaths worldwide - 490,021
Confirmed cases US - 2,448,333
Deaths US - 125,178

At 10:30am
Confirmed cases worldwide - 9,650,126
Deaths worldwide - 490,107
Confirmed cases US - 2,454,720
Deaths US - 125,264

None. Here's how I do this:

I go off the stats I see as I track mostly MSNBC. We do switch to CNN every so often and until lately, other stuff like the Weather Channel and Food Network etc.

But I started seeing the graphics that MSNBC was running. And they were intriguing to me. And I kept wondering if there was something I could use them for. Might be worth keeping track. Of course, once you start, it's like having an itch. And you scratch it, and you can't stop scratching from then on! I'm anal-compulsive enough to be grimly determined to see this through to the bitter end.

In order to make sure I didn't rely on my memory or my ability to scrawl (write, especially since when I'm going really fast, my already-shitty penmanship goes straight to Hell) I took a photo of the graphic with my phone. Many times over, I'm glad I did, because many times over, I've gotten some numbers inaccurately entered, or mistakenly juxtaposed. Sometimes I hit the "9" when I thought I'd hit the "8". Lots of times I had too many spaces, or too few. That sort of thing.

But taking photos of all this has been REALLY helpful for accuracy. I can go back and check my work by the photos, and edit accordingly.

There may be links of this somewhere on the MSNBC site. They're usually pretty thorough. I haven't had time to research that far down. I trust the sources - Johns Hopkins University and NBC News. And I note that cable competitor CNN also credits Johns Hopkins University for its own sets of graphics. It's just that I happened to start keeping track of what MSNBC showed since I happened to be watching that network more consistently at the time. Same now, btw. MSNBC and CNN. Worked at both NBC and CNN. I'm in more intense news-junkie world. But this info is important. To have and - okay - to hold.