Jacob F. Roecker's Blog, page 3
June 25, 2014
POTD Camera Under Candle Light
June 24, 2014
POTD: A Clean Patio
Yesterday’s project turns into today’s Picture of the Day
February 9, 2014
Polish Pottery Trip Photos
Get your Pinterest ready and GO!
February 4, 2014
Good Timber
The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.
January 17, 2014
In Defense of a Gentleman
In late 2011/2012 I got the kick to start posting videos to youtube. In the production of these videos I used various songs for the background and one in particular has proven to be an extraordinary gentlemen that my humble blog must speak. Unfortunately for you, I’ve been listening to Oscar Wilde, Jules Verne, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and so this post will probably have a late 18th century tone.
To continue: I made videos and used songs in the background. Now we’ve all heard of grandmothers getting sued for illegally sharing music and so it should come as no surprise that as a general rule you need to have the artists permission before using his or her songs in your video. What happens if you don’t? Well, if you’re monetizing (putting an add on the video) then they can flag your video for not sharing some of the proceeds and instantly stop the monetization. If you’re just putting it out there, as a general rule these days no one cares. Why? Because some songs are used in response to other works. Major sections of the music industry have recognized that derivative works are productive and do help the original artist.
Over course of making videos I have received permission from ThePianoGuys to use their songs and a gentlemen called Ronald Jenkees. Let’s start off with ThePianoGuys. They were this awesome St. George little group that was so accessible, creative, and clever in what they produced and how they shared it on youtube. In September of 2012 they signed with Sony and now getting permission to use their music must be coordinated through Sony’s music bureaucracy. In their defense, Sony does make it easy, they just charge the normal industry standard fees that independent content creators can’t generally afford. This also applies retroactively which means that if I had uploaded a video using their work it’ll get flagged by Sony for violation. Sony is the one company you don’t dispute in the industry. As a result I no longer use ThePianoGuys in my videos. I’ve sadly noticed that my interest in what they’ve been producing has dwindled as well.
Ronald Jenkees has thick glasses and looks like the kid you’d pick on in junior high school. But if you let that get in the way you’ll be one of the dumbest people on the planet. Thankfully one’s attitude in junior high school changes after leaving the institutionalized intermediary holding pen. I’m so glad I’m not the same person I was then, because if I was I would be the one missing out. Ronald Jenkees has an incredible ear and an incredible talent. If you’re going to start listening to him, may I suggest starting with Disorganized Fun? It was one of the first songs he’s written/performed that caught my ear in a big way.
In January of 2012 Ronald gave me permission to use his songs in my videos, and today he still stands by that. Over the course of his musical career he’s given lots of people permission to use his music. This permission is how I heard about him. I was watching a show on JupiterBroadcasting.com and was enthralled with the sound. It’s like a chocolate fountain with nuts–wether or not that’s physically possible.
Ronald has proven to be a true gentleman. Up until this morning my last email exchange from him was in 2012 when he gave me permission to use his songs. I didn’t even reply to say thank you (I can be a prude). This morning I wrote him about my current dispute with youtube and one of my videos. Turns out, I wasn’t the first one to write, but he took the time to write several replies in our exchange. I’ve learned from his blog that he cares more about keeping his word to folks like me then then he does about his contract. He plans on getting out of it as soon as possible. This is the mark of a gentleman in this industry.
Tip of the hat to you Ronald. I’m going to keep listening.
January 2, 2014
16 Years Ago…
SIMSBURY — In 1998, Jacob Roecker, a local resident, was recognized for the sixth generation Roecker to join the U.S. Army in a feature article published on Jan. 2.
The article, written by then-Courant Correspondent Phil Lemos, said that Roecker, 19 at the time, was preparing to leave for Fort Jackson, S.C., for boot camp.
An excerpt from the article, which ran on page A3, reads:
When 19-year-old Jacob Roecker was nervous about leaving home Wednesday morning for boot camp in Fort Jackson, S.C., he drew from his father Frederick’s experiences to allay his fears.
January 1, 2014
Health Care Freedom In 24 Months
Maybe I’m a little late to this game, but I have some thoughts about that new website where you can shop for healthcare. I’d like to talk about what a great step forward this actually is–because no one seems to see it that way.
We’re translating more and more of our lives in digits these days then ever before. Why? One reason is because it’s convenient. It’s way easier for me to keep a library of books on a digital device and move it with me wherever I go then to pack a bookshelf on my back. I love talking to relatives in person, but being on a separate continent I don’t feel like talking a long plane ride just to discuss the weather. I’ve got a webcam, and we video can chat instead. We do this not because we’re forced to but because its convenient for us.
One of the things the internet has made more convenient is shopping. Remember buying CDs for $20 each just to get one song? Heck for $.99 I can now get that catchy Neil Diamond tune delivered to my computer, synced to my phone, and played on my car. Internet shopping accounts for 5.9% of all the shopping done in the US. That’s no small change when you factor in things like gas and groceries which are less convenient to have delivered to your doorstep.
Now we can shop for something we don’t need delivered to our doorstep: Health Insurance. The new healthcare website has been labeled as an opportunity for businesses to compete in a market for your dollars as their insurance provider. Cool stuff! Markets work.
Online free market usually means that the marketplace is flatter and larger, but not in this case. The current program uses the internet (so good at removing restrictive borders) and places artificial borders around each state. I don’t think this can last too long. People who are used to getting exactly what they want online with the help of some great interactive reviews are being sent to a website that doesn’t deliver anything like their current shopping experience anywhere else. They only way it can succeed is if people are forced to use it.
How long do you think it’ll take before people wonder why they can’t by an equal plan for less money from a company out of state? After all, sometimes you just need someone to pay the bill. Why does the someone paying have to be in the same state as the service? I buy stuff out of state all the time. The current solution shows a great lack of understanding for how the internet works and consumers wont tolerate it as long as their online shopping experiences everywhere else continue to improve and cater more towards the individual.
I believe we’re two years away from having health insurance hosted by a major online player in competition with a series of smaller ones. 24 months from the time that someone gets the idea who is willing to knock down the barriers this will happen. Someone out there is the Southwest airlines of the healthcare industry. The stage is set for a serious game change. The internet has already given birth to new segments of our vocabulary. Someone out there probably already has the name picked out for the website that’ll deliver a true free market exchange that isn’t artificially confined by physical boundaries.
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November 8, 2013
Morning Rainbow
Science is awesome!
October 29, 2013
Question?
What do you do at the beginning of an adventure?
Post your reply to twitter.
October 26, 2013
Going Pink: Why I Ditched AT&T
AT&T has some of the nicest and most talented people in the industry working for it, but over the years those people seem to be the ones who are kept out of the boardrooms making decisions that make sense for their customers and away from the phone lines when I call.
In 2006 after returning from living abroad for years my family signed up with Cingular–even though I generally dislike the color orange. Because I was a Cingular/AT&T customer for the past 7 years I got to enjoy being a part of every innovation in the cellular industry late. Currently AT&T’s tagline is Rethink Possible but it does this only when it can’t seem to do anything else. Let’s review the things I didn’t appreciate during this experience:
I didn’t appreciate being on one of the last carriers to allow me to call family members on other carries without it costing minutes. Rethink Possible (only after everyone else has done it first)
I didn’t appreciate that when I changed my phone number to a new location it involved three hours of phone calls.
I didn’t appreciate that a year after the iPhone came out AT&T’s website did not have a mobile version or even an app to let me check my minutes, check my messaging, or pay a bill. It wasn’t fun to scroll across their cluttered site to click on little links with fat fingers just to get some basic data.
I didn’t appreciate that when you call AT&T to try and talk to a live person they send you a text message while you’re on the phone informing you that a website called att.com may be able to handle your issue. It’s annoying enough to have to call, but then to get a text while you’re on the phone waiting for someone is absurd.
It’s frustrating that in our sub development in Georgia with over 300 houses that had been there for more than 5 years we had to go outside to make a phone call because the signal was so bad. After calling I got a letter from the head network technician in the state telling me how they had invested millions in their network over the past year. I’m not sure how that was supposed to make me feel better, because you told me you invested millions of dollars and I still didn’t have signal. The AT&T rep recommended I spend an additional $200 to buy a AT&T Microcell. So one month I paid my bill for being able to use their network and paid for a microcell to be able to use their network. (Full disclosure after an epic rant in an AT&T store I did have a manger call me and credit my account to more than the amount of the microcell–6 months later the purchase and only after an epic rant).
I didn’t appreciate having my phones grandfathered in to the unlimited data plan but not being able to add a new device with similarly unlimited data.
I didn’t appreciate paying for my phones after I had paid for my phones. This is probably the biggest scam of all. You see when you upgrade part of your bill is the payment of the phone throughout the term of the contract. Once your past contract and the phone doesn’t get upgraded AT&T still takes just as much money as they would if you were paying off that phone. It’s a cash-cow for them.
I didn’t appreciate when I walked into an AT&T corporate store to ask them to unlock my phones the staffer told me to go to ATT.com and fill out a form, then wait 3-5 business days…. Aren’t they my phones? I paid them off months ago, shouldn’t you automatically unlock them once I’ve paid them off?
I don’t appreciate att.com. It’s too cluttered. It’s gotten much better, but compared with Ting.com it’s terrible.
Now let’s talk about what I did like:
I liked how some of the people at AT&T tried to add a human side to the otherwise unfeeling behemoth. There were many instances where people tried to take care of us. The non corporate AT&T store in North Logan Utah has some of the nicest and most effective people I’ve ever met in any industry. Someone from corporate ought to take a look at how they treat others and make that the standard especially on the phone! The good folks in Lawton Oklahoma took a look at our plan and found 3 or 4 different ways we could save money on our bill–we didn’t even ask them for a review. We had come in for one thing and they helped us get more and save more. Remember that epic rant I mentioned above? It was at the Lawton store. The guy was polite and listened to me then had someone from corporate call me back to try and resolve my issues.
The network. When I travel there’s generally signal. It’s just unfortunate there wasn’t signal when I was at my home in Georgia. I’ve been on several interstates and back roads where I’d have enough bars to make a call. I know it wasn’t easy putting that together and I was grateful when it was there.
What finally got me to switch?
AT&T isn’t global–or it is–but at a premium. T-Mobile’s new offer to be able to use data/text in over 100 countries just makes sense. You’re routing my data over the internet anyway and it doesn’t cost you any more to route it in one country vs another. I’m sure in 6 months AT&T will have that feature, but why am I paying them to Rethink Possible after the other guys?
I’m only paying for my phones until they’re paid for, and I can see how much I owe on them and pay them off when I want to.
They don’t send me a text message to go to their website when I call 611 and treat me as if they were trying to help an old friend on the phone, not just a customer.
I’m going to hang up the phone now.
