The Vinyl Cafe Storyland is one more proof that the best humor writer in America is Stuart McLean by way of Toronto and Canada. This notion is typical MacLean humor – self-effacing, off-the-wall, but bright as a Nova Scotia Valley day. But we also enter Testosterone Country, a familiar McLean Mantra - in short no laughing matter to project the Canuck among such luminaries as Garrison…
Is this the best Chart used in US Media for 2012? What is growing in popularity on news sites like cnn.com, The Christian Science Monitor, theDailyBeast, HuffingtonPost, NYTimes, The New Republic, and Time Magazine is the frequent use of charts [or infographics] to clearly describe a situation or better illustrate some analysis. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a good chart is worth 10 times…
The Fiscal Cliff has exposed the tremendous political advantage that was lost in the first Presidential Debate. At the time of the debate President Obama had momentum from the conventions [the poor GOP Romney convention giving as much wind in the Democrat sails as their own] plus a growing lead in the national polls. But Obama simply did not show up for the 1st debate.…
What The Republican Party Has Become is the title of a superb post by Steve Kornacki at Salon. This is the story of how Republican Senators defeated a bill originally sponsored by Republican Bob Dole which now was being used as the model for UN recommendations to other UN countries. The bill has little to no cost to the US nor does it encumber US…
The Hostess Twinkies demise is a business case study that also has political implications. I would love to see if any of the major Business Schools like MIT, Harvard, Univ. of Chicago have taken this defining case on. David Weidner of WSJ and Marketwatch tells the story on who killed the Twinkie: Modern finance is ruthless. Desperate companies sell themselves to Wall Street mercenaries who…
Strangely, the DailyBeast gave ink to Michael Medved and his spouting of the GOP propaganda meme that all politicians are liars but President Obama is the worst one. This is a vital Big Lie for the Republicans. Hence concentrating on scandals like the Benghazi scandal and the Obama apology tour – are all birds of a feather. The GOP Big Lie campaigns to establish “the…
Lest we forget who and how delusional the GOP Pundits were. This is remarkably close to what is happening in the GOP. Bart Simpson being punished for not getting permission from Karl Rove to concede Obama victory in Ohio. Very quick but caustically wry humor. But the best analysis is by a Republican in this Kindle Book by David Frum of CNN and theDailyBeast: For $4 you…
Branding is a symbol – a symbol of ownership in the case of an animal brand, a symbol of who made this in the case of a trademark or insignia on a product. But branding goes well beyond marks of ownership or manufacture. Brands are codes in the complex worlds of ownership or market exchange or commerce. In the case of ownership, a brand communicates…
The Emergence of Computing’s New Big 3 Apple, Google and Microsoft have become the dominating Big 3 in the Computing Industry “For the past 30 years Computing has been Consumer-driven” – Ben Acelman In case you have not noticed, there is a new Computing Reality – Apple, Google, and Microsoft have become the BIG 3 in Computing. Yes, the Big 3 like in Chrysler, Ford,…
As this blog has pointed out numerous times, the GOP Congress is nothing short of being morally corrupt and treasonous. Their deliberate running up of the US Deficit during the George W. Bush Presidency is despicable – not just unpaid tax cuts and a drug benefits program but also no money to pay for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Bush added $4trillion alone on his watch to…
Look what turned up outside 30 Rockefeller Center on Tuesday after Sandy. A script remarkably intact given the hurricane’s drenching: ‘ SNL FinalFinal Presidential Election 2012 Skit - L.Micheals eyes only MYTH ROMNEY – Change You Better Believe In! Players: Myth Romney played by Jason Sudeikis sporting a spray tan that brings Myth about one shade darker than Barack Obama. Bill O’Reilly played by Tarran Killam who is…
In a superb and thoughtful article in Salon, Steve Kornacki describes why a Romney victory would be a blow to America not just because of Romney’s policies but more notably because of the great injury Romney and the GOP have done to American Democracy and its principles in the US. This is a gradual [ but accelerating] undermining in Charles Handy frog boiling fashion of American…
One of the key campaign policies of then Senator Obama in the 2008 was a commitmment to Bipartisanship and Unity. 4 Years later and Bipartisanship is a failure and a skit on SNL. What happened and why? Here are three views on what happened. New York Magazine - Why Did Obama’s Bipartisanship Fail? The Guardian – Bipartisanship is not going to work TheModerateVoice – Is Obama hopelessly…
Given that US Banks have more money that they know what to do with [Wall Street Journal]; US Business Businesses are sitting on $5trillion hoard in cash[TheAtlantic] yet corporate taxes are not just declining but at their lowest levels in 60 years[Takethe5th]; and the very wealthy top 20% of Americans now command a growing wealth and income last seen in the 1920s[Center on Budget and Policy…
There is a great deal of coverage of the China’s huge telecom manufacturing firm Huawei after it received a bipartisan sanction from the US House Intelligence Committee. But according to diverse sources such as The Economist there is reason for the concern that goes beyond the hidden ownership and connection to the Chinese military including its espionage group. Huawei has been subject of a number of Business IP…
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Captain Jack Aubrey and Spymaster Stephen Maturin are the matching pieces in this historical novel. It is remarkable that English literature has two series, Horatio Hornblower and Aubrey + Maturin both set in the same era and of such great quality. Desolation Island tells you why the era of the dawning Enlightenment, European Wars and Industrial Revolution was so tempestuous... and on a prison ship voyage to Australia. Such drama!