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P.S. A Column On Things

BY PAUL E. SCHINDLER, JR. I am from Portland, Oregon, Beaumont '66, Benson High '70, MIT '74. Some things are impossible to know, but it is impossible to know these things.

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Oops! Personal Message Filed On Client Wire

Given that I was only with UPI for 18 months, one might well ask where the hell all these stories come from. Fact is, all the most interesting anecdotes of my three-decade journalism career stem from those 18 months.

I wasn’t the only one who ever filed a personal message on the AAA wire. Three years earlier, it happened to Linda Ellerbee at the Dallas ROX (AP) bureau:

-----------(from a story about Ellerbee’s memoir)------------

[Ellerbee typed…] a chatty private letter into a computer. The letter more or less libeled a Dallas newspaper, the Dallas City Council, Dallas and a man she was dating. She also suggested her employer could meet federal hiring guidelines by hiring a half- black Chicano lesbian.

The computer was owned by The Associated Press. Ellerbee was not computer friendly.

It returned the compliment by sending her letter to every news outlet in the Free World.

---------end ellerbee extract------

All I did was make a cruel and insensitive remark about a NY Times reporter and a woman near death in a hospital.

--------start CYA memo-------- [Explanatory material in brackets]

Oct. 4 [1975]

DAD [Donald A. Davis, Boston Buo manager]

This is in case someone asks. Hopefully, no one will ask.

At about 8 pm [on the Saturday 4pm-midnight trick—as you’ll recall, Saturday night was very slow; most Sunday newspapers had gone to bed and few broadcasters required fresh newscasts.] kgc [Ken Caffarel]  took a call from New York on the bh-bullet sty.

Jack Griffin on the General Desk said the NY Times was questioning our spelling of Stennes and our designation of him as an internationally known clockmaker (the story is in bgh for mon peems).

Pox [police] said the name was as we had it. I called Griffin. "The Times guy sounded pretty authoritative. He was reading from a world directory of clock makers.” [Who the hell had a world directory of clock makers in a newspaper library?]

On Jack's suggestion, I checked the phone book and the hospital. Both had it spelled e-s. We had discussed the nature of the NY Times nitpicking, and were both yocking it up (I was pretty giddy, having been on a double shift since 6am).

So, I sent Jack this message. My reference to Stennes’ critically injured wife was, at the very least, insensitive. In my memory, the message said “The late Mr. S and the soon to be late Mrs. S,” and insulted the Times desk man’s intelligence, but I found the actual AAA wire copy, and it was not as bad as I recalled.

------------------

Griffin-NX

Well Jack, the word from South Shore Hospital, where the somewhat ventilated Mrs. S is taking an unexpected vacation, is that her last name is spelled s-t-e-n-n-e-s. I guess the guy from The Times got us.

Schindler-bh

----------------

[Imagine my surprise when, while I was on the phone with Jack as he was reading the message, the silent AAA wire sprang to life a few moments later. I looked over, saw the first words of my message, and shouted: “Halt the A wire. Halt the A wire. Halt the A wire.”]

Everything but the words "us. Schindler-bh" moved on the AAA wire as A289. [meaning every cli with a high-speed wire already had the whole message in their computer]. Apparently, instead of hitting “delete” on his Harris terminal, Jack had hit “file”

I was told to treat every wire, even the Interbureau wire, like a client wire. I forgot. I won't forget again.

Pls don't get on Griffin or Ennex, and if they do get on you for a formal response, please do not use this, as it is informal.

Since I never heard back from anyone, I assume nothing happened.

PES

---------end memo---------

FOOTNOTE 1: I can’t find Ken Caffarel on the Internet. I was told his dad was a UPI executive; can’t find him either. Anyone know what became of Ken?

FOOTNOTE 2: I just checked the Internet; the police and the hospital were right: his name was Stennes.

Here is the Times story, from the Internet, with the incorrect spelling they edited in and attributed to us:

WEYMOUTH, Mass., Oct. 4 (UPI)—Elmer Stennis, described as an internationally known maker of grandfather clocks, was shot and killed early today by two masked men who burst into his suburban Boston home and sprayed the bedroom with gunfire, the police said.

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Paul on the Top 5 List

  • Paul on the Top 5 2024
    The lazy listing of 2024 appearances
  • Made No. 1 on the Top5
  • Made The Top 5
  • Paul on the Top 5 List
    I appeared frequently on the collective humor site Top5. I have gathered my contributions in two groups: When I made No. 1 on the Top5 list and when I just made the Top5 List.

Love Songs

  • Paul Schindler Love Songs
    Check out my growing list of love songs!

Paul Schindler On TV

  • Paul Schindler on TV
    Starting with

    my 1972 appearance on WBZ-TV's public access show.

    and my 1974 appearance on WGBH (explaining the Alcator nuclear reactor),

    GAME SHOWS

    I've been on local and national TV numerous times, mostly as a game show contestant (I appeared on the game shows Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Scrabble , Win Ben Stein's Money and Merv Griffin's Crosswords) and as an author.
    Video of my game show appearances
    Pictures of my game show appearances Here are my journal entries for
    three of my game show appearances.

    Paul On The Computer Chronicles

    I was the weekly software reviewer in 133 episodes of the late PBS program The Computer Chronicles (1983-1992), as well as a commentator (1984-85) and a regular on what was the Christmas show and became the Annual Buyers Guide show (1985-1999). The show went out of production during its 20th year, in December, 2002.

    The Best of the Computer Chronicles

    Richard Dalton Co-Wrote Most Of My Reviews

    I was the Chronicles’ Weatherman

    A playlist containing three clips from Paul's years on the Chronicles.
    Paul Pans the Macintosh
    Paul's Piracy Commentary
    Paul's Review Schtick

    Find all things Chronicles on S.M. Oliva's Computer Chronicles Revisited

Damn Shame

  • Stephen Michael Schindler, RIP March 8, 1954-May 21, 2020
    My brother's obituary

Stories of a Young Journalist

  • Stories of Journalism from a Young Journalist
    These are stories from early in my career

Recent Posts

  • Start of June 16 Column. More or Less Continuous News Service since 1998
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  • End of June 16 Column (No. 987)
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Blogrolling

  • Semi-Rad | Humor, Essays, Adventure | By Brendan Leonard
    A great site with a weekly mailing. Great links, funny art, amazing stories of running.
  • Outboard Sagas: Disaffected geezer tells about his life
    Steve. this blog's only non-aquaintance reader, has started an excellently written blog.
  • Robert Violino's Embracing Gratitude
    A long-ago CMP colleague of mine is writing a most-excellent gratitude blog. Have a look.
  • Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American
    An historian offers a calm daily look at the news.
  • Richard C. Gross at Counterpunch
    Lucid commentary from a former UPI colleague
  • Phil Albinus
    The personal, professional and political musings of my friend and former colleague of the same name
  • David Strom's Web Informant
    David Strom offers IT industry news and analysis.

Favorite Movies

  • My all-time favorite movie:

    Groundhog Day. I have created a fan site that is universally acknowledged to be the best on the Internet dedicated to this work of art.

    All the rest of my favorite movies (Deadline USA, The Paper, CitizenKane) are Journalism movies

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Paul's Poetry Corner

  • Index of Poems

Paul's Reading Here

  • My Reading List
    As Paul's book list has grown, he has moved it

Paul's Permanent Content

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    Richard Parker Tribute

    Edwin Diamond: An Appreciation

    Edwin Diamond at INS

    Ross Snyder Valedictory

    Norman D. Sandler Tribute Mar 15, 2021

  • Worst Review Ever

    Clive Barnes reviewed Drat in The New York Times. You have to read it to believe it.

  • East Side Boy

    A White Guy Rap about living in NE Portland

  • Dormphone Days
    I worked at the MIT’s internal telephone system; these are my stories.

  • Jon Carroll Cat Columns
    Jon Carroll, who succeeded Charles McCabe in 1982, wrote the world's best personal column for 32 years. He wrote many columns about his cats. I have compiled a listing. I must also note that  
    Mick LaSalle wrote the best-ever cat column written by anyone other than Jon Carroll.
    =====================

  • Techweb Audio
    Techweb was one of several attempts by CMP Media to create a successful web site. Before it failed, I was the audio guy.

    Techweb Profiles

    Byte Week in Review

    =====================================

  • Paul on the Top5 List

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  • Richard Parker Tribute

    Edwin Diamond: An Appreciation

    Edwin Diamond at INS

    Ross Snyder Valedictory

    Norman D. Sandler Tribute

  • Elsewhere at Schindler.org

    Paul's Prairie Home Companion Script

    Paul's Lo-Cal Peanut Buttter Substitute

    Paul on Merv Griffin's Crosswords

    Paul on Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune

    PS...ACOT BACK ISSUE archives

    Journalism Movies

    Journalism Quotes

    You COULD Pay For This Column

    Journalism Books

    Larry King: Letters From Europe

    Kevin Sullivan on Teaching

    My Prarie Home Companion Script

    Groundhog Day: Best Film Ever

    Women in Journalism Movies

    Larry King: British Journalists

    Paul's Tales of Teaching

    Sam Patch, The Greatest Story Ever Told So Far

    The New Eugene Oregon Show

    Audio Editing Hacks

    Fun with electronic editing. At WTBS, these were called hacks. Back in the 70s they were done with spliced magnetic tape. Now they can be done with electrons.

    Alphabet Medley

    Frank Sinatra/Ella Fitzgerald Duet: I've Got A Crush on You

    Alphabet Song from single sung syllables

    Ian Shoales: The Internet Years

    Schindler Jingle/Dream of a Lifetime

    Parodies By Paul... and Robert

    Yes, I am the Paul Schindler who predicted, in 1985, when the Macintosh was a year old, that it wouldn't be a success in business. I stand by that opinion. You can see Paul Schindler Pans Mac .

    I did an audio summary of my career in radio and on podcasts: 35 Years Before The Mic .

    I won Karl Kassel's voice for my answering machine because I won the listener limerick challenge on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me .

    I, Paul E. Schindler, Jr., am driving my stake in the ground right here. I invented the podcast in March 2000 when I worked at Byte.com for CMP Media.

    Index of Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe appearances in PSACOT .

    See how I looked in a Computer Systems News house ad in 1979

    Paul Schindler Quote Page .

    Paul Schindler Spotify Page .

    Paul Schindler iTunes Page .

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Paul’s CMP Work History

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