Radio Dead Air was started in July 2000 by Nash Bozard as an in-character radio program for a Live Action Role Playing Game. Since then it has blossomed into a regular fandom radio show where advocates of Sci-Fi, fantasy, horror, gaming, comedy and great music can get together on IRC chat and tune in to a one-of-a-kind Webcast.
Live broadcasts happen every Monday night 9pm to 2am EST through Live365 with live IRC chat through Darkmyst in #radiodeadair. Streaming music broadcasts are on the rest of the week. The play schedule and how to listen can be found at Tune In.
More of RDA's legacy can be found at History. Past RDA guests, broadcast recordings, and chat transcripts can be found on the Celebrity Spotlightpage. Fan art and guest pictures are on the Picture Gallerypage. The Dragon*Con pages contain audio interviews and pictures from those events. Buy Stufflinks to the RDA store through 99dogs.com where your purchases help go to pay for this web site and the regular RDA broadcast.
Spread the word about Radio Dead Air! Go to Support RDA and download a banner to post in your blog, online journal, or on your website. And do forget to join us for regular fun and frolics on the RDA Message Board.
I'm not going to recap any of it. Little things are being made huge, and honestly there's nothing "big" to talk about that's relevant to anything or anyone. Paternity? Where he's being buried? Joe Jackson? Lou Ferigno? (Yeah, don't ask.)
But I'm being proven sadly correct on this account. This nonsense isn't going anywhere for a while, that's for sure. It's really different than in the days when Elvis or John Lennon died; used to be they'd sell ads for the paper or the evening news, and that was it. You read the story once, you watched Kronkite sum it all up for you at the end of the day, bang, over.
Now thanks to internet ads, these people get paid based on how often you look at their web page. Doesn't matter if any relevant or important news is actually being reported . . . the point is to get eyes on screens, period. So anything, any little thing whatsoever attached to the name "Michael Jackson" is going to be put up on their sites the very instant they can scribe it.
Take quick notice of two things here. One, no links to these stories. I'm not going to help drive up anybody's ad revenue, even if any traffic I sent their way would be minuscule. Two, no ads here on my LJ. So maybe I can divert some of those funds to absolutely nowhere just by having his name on this post . . . that's right, kids. A web post where nobody profits.
That, my friends, it the distant rumble of the first great New Media Celebrity Death.
Many things have happened since the internet took over our homes in the late 90's. Regan's death, Bush vs. Gore, 9/11, Princess Di . . . huge news stories, one and all. Before all this, 9/11 was easily the watermark for the effect of the internet in terms of needing to find out information, and what part the electronic world would play in the real one. But now there's a new entity lumbering its way across the world wide web: the death of Michael Jackson.
Let's put this in perspective: 9/11, the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan, the second Iraq War, the election of the first African-American President . . . these were all truly important, historic, and monumental moments. The Death of Michael Jackson is not. It's one thing and one thing only: a cultural event. It has no bearing on the way we live our lives, it doesn't threaten our society, it doesn't loom over our safety or continued existence. It is the epitome of popular culture . . . something none of us are truly directly connected to and yet something it seems everyone feels a need to touch. And just because the man is dead, that doesn't mean this is over.
This week is going to be the best week ever to dump bad news. Every day this week, Monday to Friday, is going to focus on Michael Jackson . . . and unlike every other news story, people will be following this as avidly as if their lives depended on it. It began this morning: Debbie Rowe, Michael Jackson's ex-wife, is now claiming that the children she had during their marriage aren't his. Further? She doesn't want custody. In other news, the autopsy report has leaked . . . Jackson's nanny/maid is now saying she didn't say things about his stomach being pumped . . . and bad penny Joe Jackson is slowly sliding front and center. And there's other shady people popping up, like Jackson's doctor who is being scrutinized, and the Nation of Islam, and . . . well, if I were in the White House right now, I would be rushing to get out any and all horrible news stories I had saved up, because no one at all will really be watching. It's the perfect storm of news cycles. Mark Sanford is a thankful son of a bitch at this moment.
So what does all this say about us? Nothing new, honestly. We've been through this before, with Monica and OJ and a host of other stories that grew legs and became their own subsets of the media. But what's going to be interesting is to follow how this thing creeps across the New Media behemoth. The announcement of the man's death threatened to crash Google, after all. We're just a bombshell revelation away from all hell truly breaking loose . . . if it comes out that Jackson was murdered or some other huge "twist," I can't even begin to predict what the reaction will be.
What stuns me is that however you felt about Jackson, his music, his troubles, the accusations against him . . . none of you reading this right now were connected to him. This story literally has nothing attaching it to your lives, and yet it's got this massive popular sway with us that seems to force us to pay attention. And as a result, all our computers, our netbooks, our smartphones, and many other gadgets will be locked on this with a laser-like focus. It's a story that has no practical impact on us, yet it right now commands so much of our communications apparatus as to be terrifying.
So sit back and enjoy the ride, folks. I have the feeling this news cycle's just getting revved up.
Put in a service ticket with Live365 an hour and a half ago. No response as of yet.
Comcast tech support? Not helpful. Service tech didn't seem to know what a "traceroute" was. E-mailed them as well. No response as of yet.
Still can't maintain a steady connection beyond 20 seconds. Not just my computer, does it on any computer coming off this router, or even directly connected to the modem.
I'll keep you posted, but it doesn't look like we'll be on tonight. I'm incredibly sorry. This is very frustrating. With any luck however, I will have the new Crosswire posted soon.
Again, I apologize, and we'll be back up as soon as somebody figures out what the hell is wrong.
I've e-mailed Comcast, and I also called; the person on the phone said there was nothing he could do nor nothing he could tell me about the network. Exceedingly frustrating.
Contacted Live365 as well to see if there's anything they can do.
Working on the second part of the SCaRE thing (still a bit sick, bear with me), but I wanted to take a second to talk to the smokers out there.
There's something rather recent going around now called "e-cigarettes." They're these little electric dealies that can replace smoking. How it works is this: the gizmos have a battery, an atomizer, and a fluid cartridge. You fill the cartridge with fluid, connect it to the e-cig, and smoke it more or less like a regular cigarette. Only the fluid doesn't have the tar, arsenic and all the rest of the crap in a regular cigarette. The ingredients of the fluid are nicotine, propylene glycol (a food additive, used to suspend the flavor and produce the vapor), and some kind of flavoring. None of those are registered as carcinogens.
Now, keep in mind, this shit still has nicotine in it, which means you're still getting an addictive substance and still run all the risks from nicotine (heart disease, addiction, all that). And I don't know about the long term effects, but I do know this: after using one for about thirty-six hours, most of my smoker's cough is gone. I usually wake up in the morning feeling like my lungs took a crap in my mouth; this morning? Much, much better. Also, the fluid comes in steadily lowering doses, so if you were so inclined you could attempt to wean yourself off the nicotine up to and including fluid with no nicotine in it at all.
I'm gonna stress this right now: I do not recommend this for someone who doesn't already smoke. Don't get yourself hooked on nicotine if you aren't already. It's damn hard to break the habit (I've tried quitting at least five times), and always go back when I'm stressed. On top of that, nicotine stimulates crap in your brain, and definitely fucks around with your mental wiring. That's personality stuff there. Don't fuck with it, you hear me?
However, if you do smoke already, you know that the cost of smokes keeps going way the hell up. Cartons for me are already running about $40 USD. That's up from about $27 about a year or so ago. On the other side, fluid for the e-cigs runs about $8 to $10 for a 10ml bottle. 10 ml works out to about 100 cigarettes worth of nicotine. The only barrier to entry is the cost of the e-cig kit itself (around $50 and up, depending where you go). Once you have that, all you need to worry about is the occasional atomizer replacement (about $10, and these things last up to a year if you take care of them) or a new battery (around $15, and they last around 300 to 400 charges, which is a long, long time).
First, let me show you a video demonstrating these things:
Look pretty neat, don't they? They come in a lot of colors, with varying body colors and different colored LED tips. That's a big thing: they look cool. That's a big appeal over cigarettes right there.
There's no second-hand smoke with these things. No more getting the smell in your hair, no more making other people around you sick. The vapor dispels in less than five seconds, I've timed it. If you still smoke indoors, you can get rid of that horrible smell once and for all . . . also, you don't get the tar and gunk going into your computer's intake fans and gunking them up. Not to mention for you musicians out there, it won't gunk up your instruments or your amps. There's also no more ashtrays to dump, or ashes on your clothes. These things are much, much cleaner. And to top it off, no more fire. You can fall asleep with one of these things and not worry about burning your house down.
Now, there is a slight amount of upkeep for these, but it's only as much as you'd normally have with pulling out a smoke and lighting it, or opening a new pack, or dumping out ashtrays. Here's another video showing you basic maintenance on a standard model:
The only two things I have to add to this is that I don't recommend dripping directly onto the atomizer or draining the atomizer by putting a napkin inside of it and against the wick; both of these can clog the atomizer. If you atomizer does get clogged up, a good technique a lot of people recommend is soaking your atomizer for an hour in a solution of 50% white vinegar and 50% warm water for an hour, letting it dry, and repeating until the solution you soak it in runs clear. That's about all there is to caring for one of these things.
There are a lot of models of these things, but the two most popular seem to be the DSE 901 (mini) and DSE 801 (pen style). The 801 is larger, holds a bit more fluid and has a slightly longer battery charge, but aside from that the two are identical. I like the 901, but either seems to be a good choice, mainly because they're so popular and replacement parts (batteries, atomizers and chargers) are easy to come by from a lot of sites. As long as you take care of them, they'll last you a good long time, and there's a large number of color choices.
Also very neat is not only do they make USB chargers for the batteries (excellent for travel with your laptop), they also make a USB passthrough attachment . . . simply put, you can power your e-cigarette straight from the computer while your batteries recharge. Computer as hookah! How weird is that?
There are also a wide variety of flavors of fluid. If you like to keep the taste of your regular cigarette, there are flavors like menthol, Marlboro, Camel, clove, etc. If you want something different, there's vanilla, chocolate, coffee, strawberry, cherry, mint, peach . . . tons and tons of different flavors. I would recommend being careful who you get your fluids from, though; some are not as pure and can clog your atomizer. Also be sure you get from a US source, because while the cigs themselves might come from China, given the news of late I sure as hell don't trust any drugs or consumables from them, you feel me?
I would personally recommend buying a starter kit (which typically includes one atomizer, two batteries, a charger and five reusable starter cartridges) and at least one or two 10ml bottles of fluid. If you need more stuff later after you've decided if you like it or not, pick up another battery or two, a couple spare atomizers, and maybe a regular or USB charger as a backup. Keep in mind, if your atomizer goes out, the thing won't work until you get a new one, so if you're going to use this to replace your regular smoking habit it's a good idea to have a couple spares.
Where can you get these? Lots of places. You can do a google search, or visit the E-Cigarette Forum (which has a lot of reviews and good information). You can also visit E-Vaporize, run by Brad, a friend of mine. He's a bit low on stock right now and doesn't have the DSE 901 available, but he does have the DSE 801, which is a good starter model and only $55 from his site. If you look around, $55 is a good price for a DSE 801. He also offers a 90 day warranty on batteries and atomizers, so if something breaks he'll take care of you. The cigarettes are under his "Products" link and the liquid is under "Accessories."
Update: Spoke with Brad . . . here's what you do: look at his site, put together your order, e-mail it to info@e-vaporize.com and mention coupon code "RadioDeadAir" and get a 10% discount on your order (before shipping cost). Order over $100 and your shipping's free.
I really like these things, I'll tell you. They're still nicotine, but without all the tar, burning paper and other undisclosed additives in a regular cigarette. It's much easier on the lungs and it's wonderful to feel my phlegm going away, especially considering I sing. It's not a perfect solution (I'm still hooked on nicotine), but it's a much better option. I hate the patch, the gum makes my mouth ache and the lozenges taste like hell. This is a much better alternative that still feels like smoking, but without all the nasty crap that goes with it and in the long run is a cheaper alternative. I'd recommend it to anyone who currently smokes.
Cause of death is a long fight with heart disease. At the moment, I'm just stunned. He was one of the nicest folks I'd ever met, and definitely one of the most talented.
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