I’ve been a Howard Stern fan for a long time – a very long time. When I was younger, I used to have a taped copy of his 1987 album “Crucified by the FCC.”

As I’ve posted before, I’m no fan of the FCC. But if you’ve read the news lately, Howard has basically turned the better part of his show into yelling about the government. I still listen, because it’s still more entertaining than the rest of morning radio, but it certainly is frustrating.

The reason his continuous rants are driving me crazy is as follows:

1. More than 15 years ago he put out a full album ranting about how he was “crucified” by the FCC. He has never stopped fighting against the FCC. This battle is not new.
2. He claims this is an assault on free speech (and he’s right), but over the years I’ve heard him (a) Laugh and make fun of Bill Mahr when he was thrown off the air for “indecent” talk during 9/11, and (b) Laugh and make fun of Opie and Anthony when they were thrown off the air by the religious right threating the FCC. Now that the attention is on Howard, he’s pissed. When the same thing was happening to other people, he thought it was a joke.
3. He’s endorsing a candidate that would do the same thing, if he were president. Rather than endorsing a party that actually cares about free speech (ahem, the Libertarians), he’s endorsing Kerry. He’s even stated that he’s not endorsing Kerry because he likes Kerry, he’s just endorsing him so Bush doesn’t win and he “sends a message.” I personally don’t think that’s a bright move.

   It would be much easier to “send a message” if you were taking votes from Bush and giving them to a third party candidate. Even if they didn’t win, you could demonstrate how you created for Bush what Nader was to Gore. If Kerry wins, not only will it be difficult to show that you really affected this (since he’s so well known already) but once he takes office, he’ll continue with the same policies which have only gotten worse over the past decades. Stern supporters have even called the Kerry campaign and been laughed at. The Kerry campaign wants nothing to do with them.

In the meantime, Howard’s show has gone downhill and is practially half political now. He said he was going to be off the air before his Vegas trip, but now that’s just around the corner and he’s stopped saying that. I’m not saying he won’t be off the air at some point, or that the FCC is right in any way, but for now the show is weak, and putting Kerry in office certainly doesn’t seem like a solution.

Callahan’s recent blog post reminded me of a lot of the ways I waste time. Some of them being moderately amusing.

Basically, I feel kind of like those guys (usually married) who have numerous weekend projects and live for Home Depot. The difference is that my projects are much more frivolous and require minimal manual labor.

• The MythTV Project. This is the one I mentioned in an earlier post which I eventually got working on my normal TV (picture here). In theory, this was a good idea. I got to play around with Linux and wound up with what is effectively a TiVo without service fees. The problem is that, as with any “project”, it doesn’t come out quite as expected. The thing locks up when it’s on the TV screen and I try anything as sophisticated as “fast forward” (even though it works fine on the computer screen). This is not to mention the fact that I generally watch less than an hour of TV a day.
• The Linux Answering Machine Project. This was another great waste of time. My intention was to have all of my calls answered by a Linux computer running VCOP with a normal internal modem. It turns out that all of those cheap modems you see are windows-only (sometimes called “Winmodems”). After buying, trying, and returning no less than 3 modems from Best Buy, I was unwilling to actually by a serial modem which surely would have worked (but would have cost $60).
• VoIP. After giving up on the answering machine, I went with yet another solution that would allow me to receive voicemail notifications in my e-mail – Voice over IP. This was another blogworthy adventure. The part I didn’t mention is that I make and receive no more than 3-5 phone calls a month from my apartment.
• Linux Router. Most people who want to share an Internet connection amongst multiple computers at home buy a home router from someone like Linksys or Netgear. That was me too, until I decided that I could put an old computer to use and make it into a router, replacing my trusty Netgear box and saving a little space under the desk. After purchasing a free network card and spending hours reading various documents on how to set one up, I’ve now chucked out the Netgear router. What have I gained in terms of functionality you might ask? Well, for most intents and purposes, nothing.
• X10. After getting a starter kit for X10 stuff, I was convinced I could automate various things around my apartment and operate them all via remote control and/or the computer. What things might you ask? Well, I really should have thought that through. The first thing to try (naturally) are lights. That’s cool and all, until you realize if you use X10 to control a light, you can no longer use your lightswitch unless you buy some extra components and install them for your switch (which I’m not about to do in an apartment). At the time, I also found my cable modem was cutting out from time to time. So I decided to hook it up to the X10 lamp module so I could easily reset it. It worked once, then it blew out the modem and I had to buy a new one. Eventually the one thing I got working was a fan, which I used to turn on at specific times and cool the apartment for when I get home. That’s helpful for a few months out of the year. I have another module on an unswitched lamp, but it only works intermittently.
• This blog. Okay, it doesn’t take much time, but the time it does take is clearly wasted.

I got a new cell phone (Motorola v600), and with it a new number. Apparently the number transfer was going to be a headache, so I’m not going to do it.

The new area code is 508 rather than 603.

For those who know my old number, my new number is this:
First digit: Old-6
Second digit: Old-3
Third digit: Old+8
Fourth digit: Old-7
Fifth digit: Old-6
Sixth digit: Same as old
Seventh digit: Old+4

Maybe I’ll send an e-mail too, for people who don’t like arithmetic. At least this way if I forget to e-mail anyone who reads this blog, they can figure it out.

And yes, I fully expect Schulte will post the decoded number in the comments.