Parkour: a 21st Century or Post-Modern Sport
Parkour is the new, urban, extreme sport of elegantly and efficiently overcoming obstances.
Author: Vin
Producing the Past in this Information Era
Are Britain and France producing history as their main products in the Information Era?
Giant Fin Arises Within Mount St. Helens Volcano
Giant Fin Arises with Mount St. Helens Volcano.
Great TV Commercials
Some great TV commercials.
Qi Pao That Hugs the Skin
Qi Pao dresses that hug the skin.
Retired Actor Cheeta Turns 74
Retired action/adventure actor Cheeta turns 74.
Wishful Thinking versus Reality
Since George Washington was sworn in as president of the United States, 42 men have held that office. I lived through the criminal administration of Richard Nixon, but I had thought the odds were good that I wouldn’t live during a incompetent president (Nixon’s unelected successor, Gerald Ford, although prone to tripping over his own feet, was a competent administrator). When I think about incompetent U.S. presidents, I think about Andrew Johnson, Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover, or other names from past generations. I’ve however realized that I am living through the administration of who may be the most incompetent president in U.S. history. Andrew Johnson’s administration (1865-69) may have been a nadir, but the U.S. wasn’t the world’s only superpower at that time. The incompetent George W. Bush‘s United States is. Six years into it, I cannot name anything he has competently done. Quite the contrary. Almost five years since the terrorist attack on New York City, the site of the destroyed World Trade Towers is still an empty lot and no one directly involved with those attacks has subsequently been captured, prosecuted, or convicted. Bush quite rightly led the United States to invade Afghanistan after that country’s government refused to prosecute or extradite the people (notably Osama bin Lauden) who openly claimed to the masterminds of the New York and Washington terrorist attacks. The U.S. military conquered most of Afghanistan (the first time anyone had successfully done that since Alexander the Great), but refused (reputably at the White House’s insistence) to send its troops into the Tora Bora Mountains where those masterminds were hiding. Osama bin Lauden and the other masterminds apparently escaped into neighboring Pakistan. No one publicly knows if Bush demanded his extradition. Moreover, widespread evidence arose that the chief of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb project had been providing bomb plans and materials to North Korea, Iran, and Libya (the latter country’s dictator admitted this and turned the plans and materials over to the U.S. government). Yet Bush didn’t flinch when Pakistan’s own dictator pardoned the bomber and continued to shelter the September 11th masterminds. Bush this past week visited Pakistan and called it an “unwavering ally.” With allies like that, we’re in big trouble. Bush then proclaimed a doctrine of ‘pre-emptive war’ and invaded Iraq because, according to the White House, there was ‘slam-dunk’ proof that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction. The […]
27 Years in the News Business
Ah, I’m entering my 27th year in the news industry. I started as a reporter covering cops, fires, and courts for a small daily newspaper in Connecticut. Later, I worked for the old UPI, Reuters, and News Corp. My thanks to Prof. Ben Compaine who at the start of the 1980s interested me in the potential of new media and to venture capitalist Jon Gilbert who in 1993 brought me into new media full-time. I’ve never regretted that move. (By the way, I don’t think the Connecticut State Police really minded that I didn’t return my police pass after 1979 ended. Indeed, I felt it odd being nearly invulnerable to speeding and other motor vehicle infractions during those years. The police departments of many towns and state police barracks knew my auto and wouldn’t stop it in speed traps. Only once was I pulled over, when I was late for work and driving 85 m.p.h. on a 45 m.p.h. rural road. The officer, rather than asking me for my driver’s license and vehicle registration, said , “Has anyone told you the problem we in the police union are having with management?” and gave me a story. Oh, to be a police reporter again!)
Signal Your Kharma Before Changing Lanes
National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition briefly reports on a driving school in Southern Maryland that employs a Buddhist monk as an instructor.
Opinion on the Middle East
Al Jazeera’s English-language website has a very good interview with Alastair Crooke, a former official with Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency, who has the same opinions that I do about the causes and possible solutions to the tensions and conflicts between Islamic and the Western countries.
Some of My Recent Work
(The original was released on PR Newswire this morning.) TV Search Provider Critical Mention Inks Marketing Partnership with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions MacNeil/Lehrer Expands Paid Distribution Opportunities and Extends Brand Through Partnership With Critical Mention New York – April 26, 2005 – Critical Mention, Inc., the leading Web-based television search and monitoring service for corporate communications and business intelligence professionals, today announced a marketing partnership with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, producers of the PBS program NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Under the agreement, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions will receive a partnership fee based on the usage of clips from NewsHour with Jim Lehrer within Critical Mention’s TV search services. This relationship underlines Critical Mention’s commitment to partnering with the world’s most prominent broadcast and cable news providers to help them expand their content distribution and generate revenue in online applications. “Besides providing business and government leaders with the most comprehensive online TV search service available today, it is our goal to extend the model to enable content producers and broadcasters to participate in the explosive revenue opportunities of aggregated video search.” said Sean Morgan, CEO of Critical Mention. “We look forward to providing MacNeil/Lehrer Productions with new revenue opportunities as video search and related services become pervasive online.” Close to 3 million people tune in to The NewsHour each weeknight (1.1 HH rating) and close to 8 million unduplicated viewers watch at least one night a week. In addition, the Erdos & Morgan Opinion Leader survey ranks The NewsHour first among all television news programs as the most credible, most objective, most influential and most current news program on television. “People look to the NewsHour to get the full story and information about what’s going on in the world. We’re very pleased to have Critical Mention distributing our program to corporate and government organizations in a new way,” said Dan Werner, president of MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. About Critical Mention Critical Mention Inc., the most comprehensive Web-based television search and broadcast monitoring service, is changing the way corporate communications and business intelligence professionals search, track and view critical information from television news. The company’s CriticalTV platform provides real-time monitoring and email alerts for organizations that require up-to-the-minute news about their company, customers and competitors. CriticalTV allows users to easily find a video clip online immediately after its broadcast; instantly share the clip within a workgroup via secure video-email or a private video gallery; and order a professional transcript or […]
April Fool's Day
As a native New Englander, I was relieved to hear U.S. National Public Radio’s Robert Siegel reveal the tragedy in Vermont.