The Rotary Calls
I was invited to speak at the Springfield, MA Rotary luncheon on Friday. An associate, Paul MacDonald, at a company I work with saw the article in BusinessWest magazine, and decided that I had what it takes to stand up in front of 100 or so businesspeople and talk. So […]
Are you an Owl or a Lark?
Vladimir Putin wakes up each morning at about 11 am. George Bush, a lark, wakes up at 5 am and goes to be no later than ten each night. Today’s New York Times styles section includes a story about early risers and what that all really means. In the story, […]
The War Ain’t Over and Recruiting is Tough
Today’s New York Times included an article about how tough it is to be one of the army recruiters now that the war has put so much death and injury in the news. “Recruiters said falling short often generates a barrage of angry correspondence, formal reprimands, threats or even demotion. […]
From Fort Apache to Little House on the Prairie
We went to a big swish party last night, it was the fifthtieth birthday of a neighbor of the friends we were visiting in Westchester County. It was a grand time; there was a raw bar with briny, plump little necks, and delicate crab cakes passed by staff. I met […]
Kifaya Echoes in Egypt and Lebanon
William Safire writes in the New York Times magazine about words, and he picked up on a new one floating around Egypt. The country is ruled by a dictator named Hosni Mubarak. He wants his son to replace him, and the Egyptians are finally saying “Enough!” There was a protest […]
Podcasting Goes Mainstream
I have written before about our interest in developing podcasts, short interviews with travel writers to reflect and add depth to stories they have published on GoNOMAD. I envision a wonderfully synchronous new feature, that you could load on your little Ipod and listen to while on the airplane headed […]
Waiting for the Easter Mouse
In Australia, farmers and others HATE bunnies. That’s because these creatures decimate the farmland and eat everything in sight. Because of this popular hatred, when it comes to Easter icons, the rabbit is out. Now it’s time to celebrate the Easter Bilby. Rabbits, according to today’s Wall Street Journal, are […]
Reporters Call–And We Answer!
Today began with a meeting with our new bookkeeper who is going to organize us and show us how to use the wonder that is Quickbooks. Her name is Bonnie, and she has climbed big mountains with the famous outdoorsman Phil Buck. Buck is known for his voyages, among them […]
Condi: Crack the Whip Cool
Tina Brown in the Washington Post on Condi Rice’s evolution to cool… For sure, it’s great to see how Condi has changed now that she’s out from under. Like Hillary Clinton’s confidence when she escaped from the suffocation of being first lady, Condi’s has begun to unfurl like a flag. […]
A Museum Quality Pension Plan for Artists
Some times you come across ideas so clever you wish you had thought of them. Moti Scriberg, as described in the most recent issue of Wired, is an artist who has devised a pension plan for artists, using the value of their peer’s donated artwork in the future as a […]
A Sleek Little Jet in Every Driveway
Last night’s chill brought a cozy fire and some fun on television. The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” was about pilots who live with their planes. There are now more than 400 communities where residents park their private planes next to their houses, and taxi right out to the runway. A […]
How Long Does it Take to Read the Newspaper?
The Washington Post ran a story about the volunteers at “Washington Ear” who read every day’s newspaper for the benefit of the blind. It takes about 24-25 hours to read every single word, including each panel of each comic, and every television listing. “There’s a bit of skill to reading […]
Actually, Sex Doesn’t Sell.
Movies about sex are usually box office flops. says CNN. Last year, five of the top-10-grossing movies were PG. Of the top 25, only four were rated R. “Increasingly, if a movie is rated R,” says producer John Goldwyn, “audiences won’t go.” Outside of the sophisticated urban art-house milieu, most […]
An Interesting Fellow
This morning brought bright sunlight. And when we drove up to the office door, there was a guy waiting for us holding magazines. “Uh, oh, I thought. Here must be the ad sales guy, who, seeing the feature story in Business West, is ready to try to get me on […]
The Siren Call of Television
Matt from ABCNews 40 called, wanting us to come on and speak about Internet issues. It is always fun to oblige, but by this time I did ask to be on at 5:30 pm and not earlier. The subject is a new website called zoominfo.com and its ramifications for internet […]
Sony and the Big D
Sony Stark is a vivacious and energizing woman who I met a few months ago. She radiates a positive energy that is infectious. Tonight I heard she is going to Dallas to write her first story for GoNOMAD.com. We couldn’t be happier and we know she will bring back a […]
Just Before the Surge–Treasures Revealed!
Today’s New York Times told a tale about the treasures revealed so briefly, when the water receded way, way back, just before it rushed forward in a dreadful surge. “For a few minutes on Dec. 26, after the water had receded far from the shore and before it came raging […]