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Friday’s question has been successfully answered. The cities listed were all designated as all-UHF television markets by the FCC’s channel reassignment plan of 1952 and have remained that way ever since. They were designated this way because the country was running out of VHF channels and because most of them were situated close enough to multiple larger metropolitan areas that the shortage was particularly acute…

Before 1952, many of these cities had at least one VHF channel assigned. In Fresno, for example, there was channel 12, KFRE-TV at the time, which moved to channel 30 and now operates as KFSN. Bakersfield had channel 10, KERO, which is now on channel 23. Several cities, Columbia SC for example, retained this single VHF channel arrangement even after 1952…

I knew a lot of this stuff beforehand, because I was a freak and I used to sit around reading things like the channel assignment table when I was a teenager. But I got further information here and here at this cool history of the Dumont network…

Speaking of Dumont, those of you who are really inclined toward trivia might find it interesting that there is a direct link from the fourth network of the 1950s to the establishment of the fourth network of the present thirty years later. Dumont’s owned and operated stations became the Metromedia group after the network folded. This group was later purchased by Ruper Murdoch in the 1980s as the beginning of his new network…

OK, I’ll stop being so damned geeky now…

Until after breakfast, at least…

I’ve been interviewed a number of time over the years and featured in several newspaper articles, but there’s nothing quite like the reaction that comes when the hometown paper runs an article and picture of you on the front page. I got email from my fourth grade teacher to whom I haven’t spoken since Nixon was still (barely) in the White House, ferchrissakes…

It was a nice article. Mom was happy. But, just for the record, I would NEVER say “I’ve gotten e-mails”. As many of you know, I always use the CORRECT phrasing and say “I”ve gotten email MESSAGES”…

Now that we’ve covered me and grammar, let’s get back to me, thanks. Those of you who are really concerned still have a week to select those last minute gifts for my 40th birthday. Not that I’m hinting or anything…

While I’m at it, those of you who might find yourself in the greater Los Angeles area this weekend are invited to drop by my semi-public birthday dinner at Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown LA (648 Broadway) Saturday 7 August at 7:30 PM. I don’t really expect anyone to show up, but surprises are always welcome. I’m not buying dinner, so I’m obviously not a stickler for etiquette; thus, an RSVP is not required. However, if you want to let me know to look out for you, that would be cool…

I’ve got to be honest: despite the fact that it affects me personally, I’m having a really difficult time summoning a healthy amount of outrage about yesterday’s California Supreme Court ruling. Here’s why:

• The court had almost no choice but to rule the way it did. Gavin Newsom DID overstep his authority, and since the City and County of San Francisco ultimately had no authority to perform these marriages, it was a near certainty that they would be ruled invalid.
• The court was NOT ruling on the Constitutionality of same-sex marriage in general, but on the legality of San Francisco’s implementation of it. In other words, the opinion did not state that banning same-sex marriage is OK, but that it is NOT OK for municipalities to decide for themselves what is and is not Constitutional, and which laws they will or will not abide by.

Ultimately, I believe that the California — or US — Supreme Court WILL rule that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, and I believe that this will be the correct decision. Hell, even the opponents believe this, which is why they’re trying to mutilate the Constitution with an amendment…

But yesterday’s ruling in Sacramento had nothing to do with any of this. We engaged in civil disobedience. We knew it, the mayor knew it, and just about everyone else knew it. The very nature of civil disobedience is that it involves violating the law in an attempt to draw attention to the problems with that law. By definition, there are also legal consequences, and I sort of bristle at the the idea of people who knowingly broke the law to make a statement becoming upset at being told that we did in fact break the law. That was sort of the point, wasn’t it?

All in all, we did a good thing. Gavin Newson did a good thing. But it wasn’t legal. Not yet. The court was correct. And that’s why I didn’t feel compelled to march nor to feel too terribly outraged just based on this particular decision. It’s slow and tedious, but that’s how the legislative and judicial process works. And generally it DOES work. Eventually…

Unrelated: I decided to post the notes I’ve been keeping about our Dish Network Dish DVR 510 nightmare. Read this page if you’re thinking of getting one…

I’d never been to Hawai’i. In fact, it had never been very high on my list of priorities. But there was a wedding involved, and I just couldn’t resist the thought of visiting — not to mention doing it in — another state, one of only two which is ever farther west than my own…

Mark and I dragged our asses and our luggage up Seventh Street to the Civic Center BART station at an unspeakably early hour so we could make it to the Oakland airport and catch our rescheduled flight to Kahului. The airport was from hell (who knew there was an even worse option than SFO?), but the flight was just fine. Aloha may be one of the last airlines that actually takes care of its passengers…

We picked up three hours flying west, thanks to that time zone thing, and arrived a little before noon. We got our car, drove out of the airport and were immediately greeted by a Costco and a Krispy Kreme. Just like in America…

It didn’t take us long to find the Longs (for water and snacks) and our hotel (for the elimination thereof). The hotel was budget, but nice, with sort of a faded 1950s glory and a window unit air conditioner which eventually cooled things down. And it was a friendly sort of place. After checking in, we looked around Kahului and got lunch at a burrito place in a strip mall near the Wal-Mart. I sort of liked that we were obviously staying in the “locals” part of the island…

Later, we me KC and Galen at their resort, and they frolicked in the ocean and on the beach while I desperately sought shade. I only do beaches in the fog and at night, and find them to be wretchedly miserable places to spend a hot sunny day, and I don’t apologize for that fact…

Afterward, we had a group of about eight for dinner at a nice Thai place in Kihei…

This was our day for touring the island. We’d planned to do a big circuit, but there were time constraints. So we visited Lahaina, which is nice, if a little too much like Fishermans Wharf…

We started the drive to Hana, but we realized about a half hour in that it was pretty much just another winding road, and that it was going to take forever but not offer sufficient benefit for the time invested, so we aborted and headed back to Kihei to say goodbye to KC and Galen, and we watched the sunset from the correct side of the island…

We were pretty much determined to get local food for dinner, and we found it at Sheik’s in Kahului, a typical Hawaiian plate lunch sort of place. We liked. Muchly…

Afterward, it was back to Foodland (just because we could) and home to the hotel, so we could get up very early and fly back to Oakland…

Like I said, Hawai’i was never high on my list, but I’m glad we visited. People were friendly, the wedding was beautiful, and Spam was plentiful and cheap. Next visit, though, we’ll probably do Oahu. I’d imagine it’s a little more to our liking…