The Emily Rooney Show

From WGBH in Boston this is the Emily Rooney show. Thursday February 11 2010 I'm Emily Rooney. On today's show we're going to get eight inches of new snow in the Boston area. Cancel school send your workers home. Better yet don't make them come in tow the cars. Host a winter weather advisory. We've become a nation of weather weenies what happened. David Ropeik who has made a career out of explaining people's irrational fears joins us and will also speak to Terry Elias in the executive weather producer at WBEZ TV about what happens when a hyped up storm never comes to fruition. Plus do break down Google's big broadband announced. This week I'm joined by tech guru will Richmond. And finally I ask Admiral Stanley Bryant what he's hearing about some hot button military issues. All that and more today on the Emily Rooney show. But first the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi Singh. The European Union's finance ministers believe they have found a way to help Greece overcome its debt crisis

an issue that has riled world markets in recent weeks. Twenty seven E.U. leaders attending an economic summit in Brussels are expected to offer more details on that agreement later today. Investors are still wary they're worried the Greece's growing debt will spread to other vulnerable European countries and stunt economic recovery. New unemployment claims are down again in the U.S. reversing its upward trend from recent weeks. The Labor Department is reporting applications drop by 43000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 440000 this is welcome news to the White House but University of Maryland economist Peter Morici says economic recovery requires two vital elements. Businesses need costumers and capital to expand. That requires fixing the trade deficit with China and fixing the broken bank measures addressing financial reform are still under debate in Congress. But lawmakers are reporting progress on getting people back to work. Senate committee leaders have unveiled a bipartisan bill that includes a tax break for companies to hire people this year and

funds for highway construction. Anti-government protesters are back out in the Iranian capital demonstrating on the anniversary of Iran's Islamic revolution. NPR's Mike Schuster describes the police response. They used some violence tear gas truncheons there were reports that there was life fire used on the crowd. There were also reports that police fired paint balls at the crowd in order to identify protesters perhaps later on for arrest. NPR's Mike Schuster. Alexander McQueen one of fashion's most influential designers has died. A spokesperson confirms the 40 year old was found dead at his home in London this morning. Official cause of death is unknown. The queen was widely respected for his unconventional flair reflected in dramatic pieces that earned the Briton a number of awards. A federal judge in California's Central Valley is rejecting farmers urgent requests to permanently lift restrictions on pumping water from the state's Delta region.

Bob Hensley of Capital Public Radio has more from the dust of California the restrictions on the amount of water pumped from the Delta are in place to protect an endangered fish trying to take advantage of a recent series of storms farmers petitioned the court to allow the water to flow freely again so they could increase the amount of acreage down Iran to bury president of the Fresno County Farm Bureau was disappointed that the judge rejected their request. There also is able to pump water in this time of the year when. I have a lot of water running through here because of all the rain. It just means our last opportunity Agriculture Organization say a three year drought has driven some farmers out of business. And with water still scarce more are likely to follow. For NPR News I'm Bob Hensley in Modesto California. Dow's up 88. This is NPR. Researchers have discovered the first genes for stuttering. It's a disorder that afflicts three million Americans and often runs in families. NPR's Richard Knox reports.

Many people think those who stutter have an emotional problem perhaps rooted in an unhappy childhood. The new research published online by the New England Journal of Medicine may change that. Scientists have found mutations in three genes that account for about 9 percent of all stuttering. They think more genes will be discovered. Jane Fraser heads the Stuttering Foundation of America. Her businessman father started it because of his own struggles with the problem. Fraser says he would be very happy to hear that stuttering can have a genetic basis with adults who stutter who do feel guilty about not trying hard enough or that they're stuttering because they're nervous or whatever. I think it would be a tremendous relief. So I just hope the research will also lead to better treatments. Richard Knox NPR News. Prisoners may become a major political factor in the U.S. census this year. The government will make information on inmate populations available to states earlier than usual which could lead to congressional redistricting. The change could also determine how much and where federal money is allocated. Security forces in northwest

Pakistan a reeling from a second attack in as many days at least 15 people have died and been to at least eight people were killed earlier and more than 20 wounded from two explosions at a security complex again the death toll has since risen the second blast came as people were responding to the first deadly strike. No group immediately claimed responsibility however security forces suspect the Pakistani Taliban were behind it. I'm Lakshmi Singh NPR News Washington. Support for NPR comes from the pajama Graham company offering the hoodie for the Snuggle suit delivered overnight and for Valentine's Day at a pajama Graham dot com. It's live and it's local. Coming up next two hours of local talk the Emily Rooney show and the callee Crossley Show. Only on WGBH. I'm not to belabor this except to say I told you so. We New Englanders were in a

freefall panic the last three days canceling events and things as early as Monday and even common sense blew out the window yesterday when despite the fact that there was no even field of snow in the air it was already 33 degrees and climbing. We were being told and believed we were about to be buried by snow. Now listen I'm not actually to blame anyone for this I'm not blaming the meteorologists or the school superintendents certainly not the governor. This is a collective goal of all guilt. We all share right here to talk about that angle of the story is David Ropeik author of the forthcoming book How risky is it really why our fears don't always match the facts. He's also a former Channel 5 reporter who spent many a snowstorm standing outside in the cold and wind in front of a camera. Also joining me by phone is Terry Elias an executive weather producer and meteorologist at WBEZ TV Welcome to both of you. Thank you. All right here Terry I'm going to start with you. I mean a lot of the meteorologists were apologizing this morning. That's fine. But the the part of this that I

really doesn't compute is is yesterday because most of the day it's one thing Monday Tuesday and you know forecasting. But yesterday morning it was kind of a broken sky. It didn't really have the feel of that snow it was kind of almost balmy and still people were reporting that we were going to have this big snowstorm Plus it was going to be 36 37 degrees. That didn't compute. Well what I can say to that is that even if you're correct even as of yesterday morning not only us but I think most stations were still forecasting that the same you know eight to 12 you know pick pick your your number we're still forecasting a foot of snow on average. And frankly what was what was supposed to happen and what was what Model via computer models to happen was that the winds were supposed to shift from a northeast to a more northerly direction and therefore draining down some colder air. And that happened in parts of Worcester County. County and you know Western Mass but unfortunate there wasn't really any precipitation to be had there to make it know enough so there really were two main factors that came into play and that was the lack

of cold air being drawn into the system and the fact the storm track ended up being just about 50 miles further south than we expected. But it was if it was felt like people were hanging on to the air forecast sort of hoping it was going to be true even as late as six o'clock last night I got to say there was a prediction of snow last night. Yeah well we as of 6:00 last night we had lowered our amounts to I believe it was we had three to six south of Boston and there actually was in Plymouth County parts of Barnstable County on the Cape. They did actually have between five and eight inches in the late hours of last night. You know the whole thing kind of wound up. We certainly lowered them dramatically lowered the totals dramatically as of 6:00 p.m. last night talking to Terry Eliason meteorologist at WBEZ Teevan TV and here in the studio with David Ropeik author of the new book How risky is it really. You know David I was thinking even if this storm had hit let's say the meteorologists had been dead on and we had eight to 12 so what.

I mean the cancel mentality the hysteria the utter panic. This is this is kind of new. People are trying to say oh well ever since the blizzard of 1978 or ever since that storm of two years ago in December when everybody got trapped but there's something else at work here I'm trying to put my arms around it. I'm not sure that it's necessarily all that new I think we are good at remembering. Risks threats messes. In the recent past and what was it last year when was the traffic things you know years ago. Yeah well that was that was that. That's glaring in people's minds so in this case it's not just the forecast that was the when my wife does independent work for example and she had a morning interview in an afternoon interview she went to the morning one she canceled the afternoon one it was the when so and I noticed that the governor suggested that non essential executive branch workers from southern counties come in so look. I'd like to have a weatherman's job who you know they get paid even though sometimes they get it wrong as much as they get it right. They sometimes get it wrong

because they don't make the wind blow and they look at these computers and so forth and and predict as best they can. But we don't just use computers we use this kind of vague computer in the back of our head. Yeah yeah. Which is particularly sensitive to things that have burned us in the past which if you. In terms of risk and survival is a good deal right because it got us into trouble in the past. We want to remember that so it doesn't get us into trouble the next time going into that dangerous neighborhood or taking that hike where the snake was on the walk. Well we remember the mess that an afternoon snowstorm a couple years ago made and as a matter of both policy and instinct we don't want to get caught in that again. There's also the high awareness of snowstorms making a mess that we had to Washington and that was that was big on everybody that was in the back that was going to so it's all of it yeah. David Ropeik author of the new book which hasn't come out yet it's a unique about how risky is it really in Terry Elias and WBEZ TV meteorologist Terry somebody asked me this

morning when I was defending the meter a logic community I mean they're saying well do these guys all use the same sources or are they really looking at their own data. I mean it seemed that virtually everybody had it was almost an identical forecast Monday Tuesday and yesterday morning. So I mean do you listen to each other decide to say does anybody dare break out of the pack. Well in this particular case you know we do the question is yes we do look at all the same weather models I mean they're all the same data is out there for us all to see it's not like we have you know we have different and information each one of us we all use the same stuff. And this particular storm essentially every single weather model was saying basically the same thing and that was that the snow was going to make it far enough north. The temperatures were going to be cold enough and I think that's why everyone pretty much had the same forecast give or take a few inches we don't have time. You know when we're properly prepping for storms or during the storm to watch the other stations see what they're doing. I honestly have no idea what the other stations did during the day yesterday

but we absolutely all look at the same information and that information unfortunately was bad information that we were looking at during the storm. All right I have to say there one thing that everybody did today too which this could have been a first was I heard apologies across the board from weather people every television station has a little what they had to say. And yesterday at this time we were telling you we're going to go. 8 inches of new snow in the Boston area and that eight inch line set up farther south than forecast. So a lot of us did not get the snow that we were expecting to get by the time we got to Boston it's about an inch and a half and it was just nothing. The timing was a little off. I know when the snow totals were a little off of the morning after the almost snow storm I guess. Certainly not what we were expecting. But Terry lies and there's almost a disappointment and then you know just what is that. I mean was it for their own face that it didn't pan out or was it genuine apology for blowing it.

I can I can speak for us here at WBEZ and honestly there's so much work and preparation and planning that goes into these events you know literally starting Sunday night I was conversing with our news director with our meteorologist making a preemptive plan and then as the days went on and we go over every model run and every computer and we did so basically for three days we are fully invested and trying to make the best forecast we can and then when it comes down to it and all in the end kind of breaks down and falls apart it's extremely disappointing. I mean obviously clearly we feel horrible for the bad forecasts but it's almost like you know you plan for a big game or a big event and then you know it just doesn't happen. It's extremely disappointing from a personal you know perspective as well. I feel for you I was actually hoping when I went to bed last night that the storm would turn around and I actually believe that I looked out the window this morning I was hoping I'd see something like that. Terry Eliason who's a meteorologist at WBEZ TV and David Ropeik author of the fourth in the new coming upcoming book how risky is it really. David we were talking

earlier about this about this kind of panic mentality or weenie mentality is as I have said that set in and I'm just going to disagree with you. I mean it happens three days out now. I had people personal friends calling in canceling dinner last night in downtown Boston by the way which is never going to be hit that bad. And by the way these people live in Boston as do I you know like you couldn't walk around the corner to go to a restaurant. I ended up going to a restaurant last night. They lost the hundred fifty you know reservations from last night this one big restaurant I mean this has a profound effect and it's and not just saying it's all about the mirro it's all of us. It's like we can't walk out in a snowstorm. What's going to happen is going to blow away. Well. I don't understand it. Well first of all was it an overreaction by some Peter I think you have to go I know you have to do a weather forecast I'll let you go now. Thank you for the time. Thanksgiving not right as you can but I write thank you.

We do overreact in a way of protecting ourselves. We just instinctively do that. We're not computers we use aspect of emotional sorts of cues to judge whether something is a big or small risk and sometimes that leads to what I call in the book a perception gap a gap between our fears and the facts. Who knows maybe your friends didn't want to ruin their nice shoes and dress walking in the snow whatever as if they were afraid of falling in said once fallen in the snow that goes to your oh yeah well I have a friend who in a 4 inch snowstorm a couple weeks ago broke her hand and has 5 or 6 pins in it so she's probably pretty freaked out about 4 or 5 inches a coming. We're freaked out when we see what happened to Washington D.C. closedown the fact was that argument below that was 28 inches followed by 16 inches say on top of the eight inches it was the when and our memory of the mess of the traffic. Yes did we over react. Yes. Do people do this all the time in the name of survival. Yes no it's just we do it. I'm disagreeing something else is taken on here for instance. A couple of people

who work in the just happen the studio crew told me the other day that they got an email message from Stop and Shop it which I said forwarded to me I want to see it. This was the most unbelievable thing that went on for two pages and it was a survivor's list of things you have to have in the next 24 hours including a gallon of water per person in you know sterno of us time anybody you start out with what is it for. I mean everything you can imagine you know. Canned goods. I get easily. I mean she's crazy that they were ready for the run. They were looking for a run on the supermarket read to the marketers at Stop and Shop. But any this was playing into yes dear duchess it fuels it it's one other step. People start thinking yeah better go get some stir. You don't even have to use it for. Absolutely but you said it exactly right. It plays into what is instinctive in us which is to sound the alarm early and loudly. We overreact to lots of risks. He want to get really profound. Of the United States was ready to buy the

lie that there were terrorists working with Saddam Hussein to bring weapons of mass destruction to the United States and 80 percent of us thought going to war there was a good idea because we were scared a lot by Nine one one. There are lots and lots of examples of this. Is there something unique about the surety awareness of the Washington storm and the the traffic mess a couple years ago but instinctively your point is exactly right as a commercial that we do overly economic commercial venture. These all these storms. There is one if the television station I guarantee you the ratings are way up the last three days. It's good for this supermarkets. It's not good for the restaurants it's not good for the I don't know but the hotel industry is not good for the airlines. That's something I have learned something that's really important to point out their instinctive things that make any risk scarier or less scary if it involves a lot of pain and suffering it'll be scarier for example regardless of the probability. Well all of those characteristics that define a risk is more scary to you and me make news people more excited. Why because people you know pay attention at this while we spend all that yeah I'm out in the snow

saying back to you Natalie. You bet. David Ropeik author of the forthcoming book How risky is reality. David you have struck on something that is just so true because here's what happens. We both know having worked in local news and I want to not criticize the Knicks I know how this works. They pull pull in a team of people and they dispatch them all up and down you know they you know the whole and all the cliche places are water lines and you know places where they think they're the most snow is going to be and suddenly those teams are in place. What are they going to do that I going to cover a bank robbery and off and they got to do the report on the story that they're assigned to and suddenly got team coverage back to back wall to wall on a story that's not happening and the team coverage is because they know people are at home worried about the storm and buying their Sterno. Just tuning in right. So it's a chase for those eyeballs and it's all the same psychology the same thing that has us more than freaked out than we need to be. Has a newsroom saying uh alert

alert alert. And that's the kind of stuff that fact does get played up and Weathers a glaring example of that. And I can remember this years ago when we were doing this kind of thing. I remember Mike Barnicle writing a column in The Boston Globe critical of you know weather casting and hyping the storms and I remember our old boss at the time Phil Boney got so upset. You know it's just so and you know barnacle fires back you know sort of get a grip on yourself but back then it just seems like people took it more with a grain of salt with whatever you told them. Not so much anymore. Well we certainly live in a greater 24/7. He screams loudest wins were true. Absolutely true in fact I was on Facebook this morning and there's already 15000 members of the snowless Wednesday Facebook group. Really Yeah absolutely. That's one of. Yeah they're all joking about where was the storm that didn't exist a few years ago that didn't exist a few years ago much less after the blizzard of 78 so things do

absolutely get magnified in the louder more pervasive information age how many people yesterday twittered before they decided whether to go to a restaurant can't do that a while ago and all of those voices in the media as we've just been discussing. Are playing up to things they think will get people's attention which are things that threaten people like bad weather does. Talking to David Ropeik author of the forthcoming book How risky is it really and why our fears don't always match the facts. It is a lot about fear isn't it. It's what you're afraid of happening. And it is the media likes to play into that is part of it. And as I say we're we're all couple we're all gullible you've got to wonder though in the future if people won't be more cynical or considerate that's a great question and that's a key question because we look to the media and certain places in the media not all of them. You don't look to People Magazine to get the weather forecast right. But you look to Terry to get it right and Dicky and Harvey and all those guys. And

there is a degree of trust that's on the line with the things that they report and say not just the weather guys but the news guys and to the extent that we have become suspicious of the news media in general for over hyping the scariness of the world I think that's directly reflected in the declining trust figures in the media on the part of the public now. Let's give the weather guys a break everybody. Like you have been. Yeah. Everybody knows that sometimes the wind changes direction. I understand. I'm not blaming them. I'm so I'm not sure the trust is necessarily on the line as much with the meteorological guides here. But it's gotta be your own instinct that changes in how you how you react. I mean that's what I think but I guess what's changing and selling things. But what I was saying is Well you know I didn't mind if I was a parent of a kid who was going to be on a school bus on snowy streets coming home at 2 o'clock in the afternoon my kid is safer staying home in the morning it's a hassle to stay home and figure out something to do with my kid but there's a safety call in that that I don't particularly mind it's

absolutely destructive of the restaurant industry and so forth but the precaution in the case of what the evidence was in the morning I can understand the point I want to make to get back to is. So when the weather guys get it wrong that's one thing. But the same phenomenon happens with other scary stories as we've been observing it is instinct to protect ourselves from fear we pay attention to that but when media build beats a drum that it's a scarier world than maybe it actually is for the same reason right. Not on snow but on something else. Over time we do lose trust we do become skeptical which is bad for society because we have to look to the media to tell us kind of what's going on. It's good to be skeptical though I'm talking to David Ropeik author of the forthcoming book How risky is it really and by the way David I'm looking now snowless snow day Wednesday now has almost 20 thousand friends. And you're right about another thing too. I mean a lot of just anecdotally a lot of people are saying you know I don't really mind. I didn't mind the fact that people were put safety and caution ahead of you

know taking a risk that this thing could have happened. That's one thing. I understand that it's it's it's the other gross overreaction you know the Stop and Shop e-mail cancellation. Well two three days out when you could wait until you could've waited until 4:00 yesterday afternoon and then you would have had to cancel it all. True enough except I am remembering back to 1978 which by the way was the first stories I reported from there I've talked about it talked about was still in Hartford. We started in Hartford together that's all right. Talk about a beginning point. And for years thereafter when a six inch snowstorm was coming you couldn't buy milk within six hours of the store. It's not a new phenomenon altogether it's heightened by the media now if it is because 24/7. All right David Ropeik look forward to having you on when your book does come out. David Ropeik author of the forthcoming book How risky is it really why our fears don't always match the facts. Will be back but tell us what you think Send us your thoughts links to our Facebook and Twitter pages at our website WGBH dot org slash. Emily Rooney we're going to put up a link to your book too. You

know it's not out yet David but boy it is really there. Thank you. All right we're going take a short break and when we return you're listening to Emily Rooney show. We'll be right back. Support for WGBH comes from you and from Trader Joe's a neighborhood grocery store where you'll find a variety of dinner options including marinated meats heat and heat sides and stir fries all with flavors inspired from around the globe. Locations at Trader Joe's dot com and from the members of the WGBH leadership circle. Benefits include invitations for special radio events and sneak peaks for WGBH television series. Learn more at WGBH dot org. Discussion your support.

On Valentine's. It's the thought that counts. That's why I designed this. Campaign in mind. We honor fund raising. If that sounds good then please for the love of public radio. Five dollars a month when you call for securely online. I'm only here for news. Hello again this is the Emily Rooney show. I'm Emily Rooney. Is Google your favorite search engine. Well now it could be your favorite broadband

service. Google says it is constructing an experimental fiber network that will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today. Joining me in the studio is Wil Richmond editor publisher of video news. One word and you Z. A leading market intelligence publishing and consulting firm specializing in broadband Well I'm told that this is a big deal that's going to have sweeping implications for consumers and other Internet providers but you know just for the lay person tell us what this means that Google wants to get into the broadband business. Well I think it actually means very little right now because it's nothing more than an experiment that Google has announced. They've said that they're going to reach anywhere between 50000 and 500000 homes in the U.S.. Of course that's a very small fraction of the total number of homes there are about one hundred ten million homes in the U.S. So a very tiny fraction. It's also just a plan at this point it's not actually deployed. And as I've written on video used today I am actually quite skeptical of Google's ability to actually pull this off

because Google has no experience whatsoever in deploying fiber networks in neighborhoods or doing the in-home work that's required to actually get this up and running. You also have throw out some figures I mean just you say it could be seven hundred fifty million dollars or more and they're also assuming something you know there's a presumption that they're going to get a certain number of people in a neighborhood and if they don't get it and they still can be bypassing houses that stick with BIOS or Comcast or they had so could be significantly more than that. Right so just to very quickly run through some basic numbers. By my calculations it's possible that Google could spend 750 million dollars or more on this experiment which even by Google standards is is a very substantial amount of money. If you look at what Verizon is doing which is building a comparable fiber to the home network publicly available information from Verizon says that they spend about a thousand dollars per home passed. So if you who passed by our home passed Exactly so let's

say Google was going to pass 500000 homes at a thousand dollars apiece that's 500 million dollars. But then they also have to do all the work inside the home so the on premise equipment the in-home wiring the truck rolls the labor et cetera. Verizon says that that's somewhere around $500 for home so if Google reached 500000 homes at $500 per home plus the neighborhood cost that gets to 750 million but as you were just saying and as I elaborate on video news today passing 500000 homes with fiber is not the same as actually getting 500000 homes to take the Google broad internet service so today there are about 60. There are about 70 million homes in the U.S. to take broadband internet service. That's about 65 percent of the population. So let's say Google went into a community that had 100000 homes 65000 of them take broadband internet service right now whether it's from Verizon or Comcast or whoever else just assume for a second that Google gets 15 percent of those homes to switch over 15 percent of 65 percent means that they get about 90

700 homes out of that hundred thousand home community. When you go through all the math it turns out that Google will have spent somewhere between 10000 and eleven thousand dollars per home to connect to its broadband service now. Google says that it's going to charge competitively for this broadband service which means it probably would be somewhere between 50 and a hundred dollars per month. There's no way that there's a positive business case for Google if it's going to spend between ten and eleven thousand dollars for home and only get 50 to 100 dollars per month of revenue. Will Richmond editor publish or a video news what's this all about me there's some speculation that it's just a sort of scare the competitive juices out of horizon and Comcast. Yeah I think there's two things going on here. The first is that Google is a very strong proponent of what's known as net neutrality which is the idea that broadband Internet access networks should be completely open and not biased toward any particular service application or content. And there is concern that the biggest private Internet service

providers like Verizon and Comcast could because they're also big video service providers bias in favor of their own content so Google has been a very strong proponent of net new this concept of net neutrality. So on one point you could argue that Google is trying to make a statement that building open networks and operating open networks is the right way to go. They're essentially trying to influence policy. That would be one explanation another explanation which I think is at least partly involved here is that Google is an extremely wealthy company that has always sort of walked to the beat of its own drummer. People who are familiar with how Google makes decisions know very well that it is not always the most disciplined in terms of how it chooses to allocate its resources. Even by Google standards making a 750 million dollar bet on an experiment is extravagant which really you have a contract in. Well to put things in perspective Google earned it in 2009 Google earned 6.5 billion dollars. So even 750 million for a project like this would be pretty significant by Google standards. But again based on

the math that I just took you through Amalie That's 750 million could actually be on the low side. It could be far more than 750 million. If Google decided indeed to go all the way to 500000 homes right away all Richmond editor publisher of video news. Well Google is asking that companies governments that are interested in participating they're asking that individuals and local governments. Apply for this by March 26 of this year. I believe they want to have five experimental communities. Boston has said they're interested. I don't understand this whole thing I mean Boston is so screwed up with its cable since it is a mess. I've never gotten it straight there are certain communities who can't get certain cable services they want and this is ongoing kind of battle with RCN and Comcast and the violence is in on it. I mean it would be easier but I know it's not competitive just one cable service or you know digital company service City understand why they don't do that but it's a mess the way it is.

But how does this work with the competitive bidding. Well I think first of all we only know what Google has shared so far which is not a lot. As you said they've put out this basically this concept that if cities want to apply to have these networks built they should apply. They say they need to do so by March 26 which I think alone shows Google's naivete about how this process works to give municipalities six short weeks to basically respond to whether they want to have their streets potentially dug up for a service that's experimental in nature and there's very little detail known about it I think shows that Google does NOT VERY does not understand very well how municipal government works but. Assuming that they'll get some cities and communities supplying saying hey build here then we'll see where the process goes we have no understanding at this point of what criteria Google will use in terms of which communities it will actually choose to deploy this experimental network in. So we don't know what a lot just yet. What's your guess on what the real motivation is here I mean Google which

has access to more content probably than any search engine or any any content provider in the world. Are they going to get into the content providing business in terms of video and all of that. Well Google first of all is already in the content providing business because they own YouTube which is by far the largest online video site. In December a court December 2009 according to comScore there were about 33 billion online videos watched in the U.S. alone. And of that number about 40 percent so approximately 13 billion of those were via YouTube so Google is already very much in the content business. The question is whether it. Really wants to start producing its own study such as a broadcast network or cable network. Google has been emphatic in the past in saying that it has no interest in doing so. I wouldn't interpret this initiative to build experimental broadband networks as indicative of them being interested in going to the content business. But I do think there's a possibility that Google is in fact interested in going into the broadband

internet service business and that of course would be a whole new sort of curveball for incumbent providers like Horizon cop cast that Saturday night it will Richmond editor publisher of video news well you're familiar with this demand studio Demand Media as your command media and they are they're contracting with freelancers and to get you know video producers to produce stuff for YouTube as they understand it but is that also a Google connection. Well Demand Media is a partner of YouTube as you said they produce a lot of video that is then distributed on YouTube so they have a business relationship. But there's no other you know equity or financial relationship between the companies that I'm aware of anyway because they're going for news items as well this demand video I think is more than just silly stuff there. It's primarily or. Yeah actually source material they are in demand that the demand model is primarily around how to content so they will contract with independent videographers to put

together short videos on everything from you know how to iron your shirt how to you know run Windows on a Mac to you know how to fly a kite. I mean it's all over the board but it's primarily how to related material. You study this. Well Richmond editor publisher of video news I mean what is coming down the pike what else. I mean this is pretty profound with you know it's been with Google getting into the broadband ban business but what else. Well there's a lot of stuff happening in it all of it is primarily driven by just the relentless progress of technology development so. What we're seeing right now as I just mentioned before is a huge amount of online video being consumed on people's computers. What's really next step in with this is the next big leap for online video is the ability for consumers to be able to watch all of that on their TVs themselves Ackley. So I wanted to write Yeah absolutely you know as I like to say frequently if somebody had said five years ago that there would be these tens of billions of videos that are going to be watched but oh by the way they're virtually all going to be on computers not on

TVs. I think most people would have said that's crazy because consumers want to watch video on the TV. Yet here we are with you know 33 billion videos being watched in December 0 9 primarily on people's computer so then stop and think what happens when online video is readily accessible on people's TVs in the comfort of their living rooms couches you know. So that's that's really the next big thing in a lot of that is already starting to take shape. I mean we really want our computers and our TV to be absolutely interchangeable. No difference between that and indeed the big flat screen in your room and the others. Exactly. Put your pocket in exactly a screen is a screen as a screen. As I like to say and the reality is that that world is fast approaching we already have multiple devices whether it's X boxes or p s 3s or TV or Roku or Apple TVs or laptops themselves that people are connecting directly to their TVs. We see a lot of so-called convergence that's happening now between online video and TV and that is going to fundamentally change

consumers experience with entertainment over the course of the next five to ten years. I mean it could be your video still doesn't quite have it down I mean I know you can connect to things like Hulu and stuff and you can look really good during that. But a lot of other stuff it's not there yet. I mean we pull a lot of stuff off or Beat the Press and that kind of thing. It's just not even there it's not close yet. Well it's a real mix back as you said and Hulu is a perfect example of a site that has premium programming whether it's TV shows or movies. You can now stream a lot of different TV shows in movies through Netflix if you're a subscriber directly to your lap or to your TV as you know. Right so there's certainly more and more premium so-called premium content coming available. But to your point if you go on YouTube on any given day you'll see still a lot of you know cats singing karaoke and other acts. Out of Sync I'd like to add out of sync and while skateboarding I would add. Oh I love that skateboarding stuff. You know I used to be a bulldog owner and there's nothing better than the skateboarding bulldog. All right I've been talking to Will Richmond editor publisher of video news one word

video news and a leading market intelligence publishing something for specializing in broadband video. Thanks Will for your insight today on Google and other stuff. Thank you. All right. What do you think Send us your thoughts and links to our Facebook and Twitter pages at our website WGBH dot org slash. Emily Rooney we're going to take a short break when we return. What are you hearing. Admiral Stanley Bryant will give us an earful on all things military. You're listening to the Emily Rooney show. We'll be right back. Support for WGBH comes from you and from Curious George. Let's get curious. The new exhibit at Boston Children's Museum where you can experience the world of Curious George and visit places featured in the books and television show now through June 6.

Curiosity runs wild at Boston Children's Museum and from the growing number of WGBH sustainers who manage their contributions to public radio with the help of monthly installments and automatic renewals. Learn more about sustaining membership at WGBH dot org. I'm Cally cross-legged from the bus stop to the boardroom. We'll bring you a wide ranging conversation that taps into the talk of your town. We want to hear from you too so call in and become a part of the daily discussion. That's today at 1:00 right after the show only here on the new eighty nine point seven. WGBH Boston NPR station 4 news and culture. If you trust public radio to review important issues federal health officials are

urging all Americans to get vaccinated against the flu by the art of storytelling has been acquired we don't like what we're going to show to my hometown. Don't forget to renew your support to eighty nine point seventy seven. You can review your support anytime by clicking on the TV. If more news sounds like the best way for your public radio station to view this program is coming to you fundraiser for 7 9 4 2 4. You're listening to the Emily Rooney show. I'm Emily Rooney. Rear Admiral Stanley Bryant served 32 years as a pilot and staff officer in the Navy. He was also a commander of the USS Roosevelt and was aboard during President Clinton's now infamous visit. During the height of the don't ask don't tell debate

Bryant is also a former Reagan advisor and he joins me here in the studio welcome. Stanley BRYANT Thank You know it's good to be here. Good to see you. You know here we are more than 10 years later having this debate again over Don't Ask Don't Tell I know you've been involved in discussions with high level people in the military about that. What's your sense of whether this should change and whether there's general consensus in the military at all about whether it should change. Well I think the bottom line is that it's going to change one day and it's a matter of when. And that's a matter of public sympathies and public support for it as well as the support for it within the military itself which is not always the same as the overall public. So it's really a question of when I think and is it too soon and or if we do it now or the next year or so. How difficult how visceral a transition is it going to be.

So the issues involved are numerous and difficult and they are the military that the secretary defense and Chairman Mullen are are taking a measured approach to it not fast enough for the supporters of the repeal. But I think it's necessary it's only fair to the people in uniform and the people that will be coming in in uniform to do it. You know in a measured way to do a poll the service people as to how they feel and to look at every possible thing that could go wrong or any possible thing that need to be changed or modified or massaged before we go in. I mean to there there's some real sensitive issues here as you know having been commander of the USS Roosevelt and these are very tight quarters. These guys for the most part stay in. But you've dealt with this before with women with African-Americans I mean with you know race issues the military has had to deal with it you know you don't necessarily take that into consideration you bunked a black guy in a white guy in a women. You had to separate for various

reasons but it. Not like this issue hasn't come up before why is this one so much more sense well this is a personal opinion now so I don't get this from the military leadership but the difficulty here is posed to integration and women in the Navy is in my opinion is that those two issues were that the black man or a woman just doesn't have the intelligence in the case of perhaps the African-Americans or the physical strength in case the women to do the job. That was the issue that was the issue in my opinion. So it what it amounted to was there's two groups proving themselves the Tuskegee Airman etc. etc. etc. and women in all branches of the service line are planes driving ships whatever it is that they can do the job that African-Americans and women are the intellectual and physical. Perry's on parity with with men. So I think. So that was the issue in the case of the homosexuals don't ask don't tell

I think it's a little more visceral in that I think that everyone feels that the the individuals in the gay community can physically do the job as well as the straight population if you will. But it's a question of religious very visceral religious issues and lifestyle issues and that sort of thing that transcend the just can this person pull the trigger fly the airplane drive the ship and these things come from upbringings religion's religious training etc etc which aren't just wished away or for or demonstrated away by the fact that this person can indeed physically do the job. I think what about Admiral Stanley Bryant who was commander of the USS Roosevelt What about the comfort factor. Should that be taken into consideration I raise the issue of bunking a white guy and an African-American guy. I mean maybe can't take that a

consideration when you're assigning rooms would you take that into consideration with homosexuals. I think it's going to have to be considered at least initially because there is such visceral. Feelings about this that I think is going to be a strong consideration when they talk about what do we need to change. Which brings up real physical issues in terms of the barracks the ship berthing areas that sort of thing. We in the Navy we found that it was it was pretty difficult to carve out space. Women only spaces which you have to have aboard ship very difficult requires a lot of money and ship alterations and that sort of thing. Bathrooms they have rooms privacy because when it was an all male environment privacy wasn't really an issue where you could walk through a birthing area and people were in their underwear and didn't matter. So you deal with a lot of issues not only just making the birthing but where is it so that it's you know has privacy it's not it's not in the public domain if you will.

So there are real expensive and difficult issues to to take on when you talk about birthing. And I again with with this issue I think you're going to have to at least look at I think Chairman Mullen and and separate are going to have to take a look at do we. Make if you will people birth together if the if the straight doesn't want to move the homosexual or it could be the other way. I don't know you know I don't know. It says I have so much stuff I want to cover here with you today I'm tied to Rear Admiral Stanley Bryant who served on the USS Roosevelt for a number of years. Right now what's going on in Haiti. I mean the Navy is or the city is there the floating hospitals I mean do those guys train for this I mean suddenly these ships come in. These are the patients are being taken off the island of Haiti and brought out by helicopter and other means to these floating hospitals which are essentially run by the Navy. Well the answer is partially yes and fortunately more than just a little bit. They do

train for this. In the case of the floating hospital the hospital and the ship Bataan they are both trained for and are able to be fitted out with in the case of the amphibious ship extra doctors and extra medical personnel force things similar to this to take on battlefield casually usually but but of course when you go on a humanitarian mission you strip all the sort of military paraphernalia either way and you and you enlarge both in terms of numbers of doctors and hours and that sort of thing on the ship. And they're very capable to begin with because of the battlefield casually. Situation so the baton was was ready to go. From that aspect with just a little augmentation they also stopped in Morehead City North Carolina where they usually pick up the Marines and they picked up a relatively new package that the Marines were putting to our putting together have put together to that for just such a mass emergency like this so the timing and the training in the institutions this new capability was was was critical. So they had they were training for

this. You know I mean just reading the stories and hearing what some of the people who are working on these ships are saying they've never seen anything like this. You talk about battlefield casualties and I think it's this is completely different. Mostly it's you know these this is an enormous trauma to limbs and heads and that kind of thing it's a lot of amputations. I was in thousands of amputations. I mean I understand you know battlefield injuries are even worse and respect is a lot of the internal you know putting people's insides back together but this is something completely different and there are a lot of kids involved. It's got to be an emotional turmoil it's a very emotional ride for the people that are giving this medical care there's no question. And one of the things that's here in spades where in the battlefield not so much because the transportation quickly the medical facilities all these serious infections you know a lot of the habitations are coming not from the original injury but from

the massive infection that set in. So there they are slightly different from battlefield injuries in the terms I think of I'm not a medical person obviously but in terms of the amount of infection that's going on and then the consequences of it. The other issue was of course getting the opening of the shore. And the Navy turned around and there was there is has been for a long time a concept called Jay Lodge which is joint logistics over the short jail otiose little known but working its way into the vernacular and training and and the fleet commander just turned around and said you know give me some of this Jay lot stuff. I mean not not exactly but but and people raise their hands as I know all about that. And pretty soon the jail lots. In what was down in Haiti in force putting stuff over the shore where there wasn't any peerage where there were. That's what it's designed to do is go sure where the infrastructure is destroyed or or there aren't any Piers. So it puts logistics over the shore where the facilities aren't there and it's

it's there putting infinitely much more over the shore into the country than they were ever capable of doing when all of their facilities were up and running. Time to Rear Admiral Stanley Bryant who is also commander of the USS Roosevelt. When can they pull out of there. Have you. How do you know you have a relationship with them Mike Mullen Joint Chiefs of Staff I mean as has he said anything about that. No I haven't talked to Mike about it. I did have a chat with the fleet commander down in Norfolk and well John Harvey who is a good friend I had lunch with him the other day and and he it's really is kind of open ended it's when we can look at the situation see it stabilized enough to start backing out. There is no timetable. The Atlantic Fleet is really stretched with this effort. I think you said we had 65 percent of our ships at sea which is unusual. A lot of them because of the Haiti situation and diverted from other missions by the way the Carl Vinson was going

around the Bataan was was not well diverted for a mission but diverted from an upcoming physical yard period. So we have to deal with that and there's a tremendous dollar burn involved here I would think where you know I don't remember the numbers exactly but if you're you're burning several million dollars a day in this effort. The fleet commander is going to run out of money before the end of the year. And so you know how do you handle that. You start cutting back on other things now do you hope for a sort of a supplemental type thing at the end of the year. It's a it's a very difficult situation for the people who are running the budget. The Navy's budget right now especially in the in the fleet. So there's both a physical aspect of this you know what we got to get the baton out of there and get it in its much needed yard period. When do we do it how do we do it. It's a it's a. It's a puzzle of many many parts.

I talked to Rear Admiral Stanley Bryant another issue that we've talked about in the past but it's ongoing and it comes in and out of the news. And actually it's in the news now but very much under the radar and that is the Somali pirates. The role of not only the United States Navy Nido everybody else involved in how to deal with these people was just another two or three in a row where they were they paid these enormous ransoms. We've talked about this before with these ships should be armed in some way. I mean where does that stand. Well interestingly since the last time we talked which was about a year ago I think things have changed a lot the national international commitment to the cause. In the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean has increased. We got 50 nations over there three different groups that are working in concert. And they're beginning to work really well. You know it is interesting enough it wasn't even in the papers I picked up on the Internet. February 5th was the byline were a ship. I forget the flag but it

was attacked it put out a mayday and five different countries were involved with with stopping this. And it was a an Indian ship picked up the signal. A French airplane flew over it a Danish ship came up and actually scared the parts away really. And then a Russian ship actually picked up another boatload of pirates that were involved in the thing. So there's a there's an effective international effort going on. The ship builders ship carriers are also starting to put stuff like barbed wire around the outside of the ship and and some other preventive means. But no weapons yet. A few weapons some some ships are actually putting armed you know not professional seamen but professional nurse in areas I guess professional folks not shooters sharpshooters. And because the use of weapons on the pirate side is and is increasing so the the the war according my sources the ones that are getting hijacked are the ones that are

primarily are sort of getting the word on stay in this lane don't go here really. And I think the next big jump is going to be in the communications process between ships to tell ships where the pirates are give them a heads up. It's an alphabet soup of things that ships can use to stay abreast of what's going on and that sort of thing. It's worked well in the Straits of Malacca and some of these things are migrating to the to the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean. So it's having an effect but twice as many attacks last year as the previous year but only half as many successful. All right well we'll see what happens. All right rear admiral Stanley Bryant thanks for coming in. Thanks it's always a pleasure and good to see you. It's going to do us going to do it for us this afternoon way back tomorrow at noon in the meantime tune into Greater Boston tonight where you talk about that controversial film industry tax cap and conflicting reports over what the tax break has meant for the economy here in Massachusetts we'll have that

and more tonight. And WGBH Channel 2 It's 7:00 on Emily Rooney this is been the Emily Rooney show which is a production of eighty nine point seven WGBH Boston NPR station for news in culture on the web at WGBH dot org slash Emily Rooney the Kelly Crossley Show is coming up next. And Emily Rooney. Have a great afternoon.