Don Kasprzak

Conversations regarding Globalization, Internet2 and Education

October 27, 2011
by donkasprzak
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Pentagon Papers update

This is taking a bit longer than originally planned.  I’m almost at the half way point of the Pentagon Papers’ 7,000+ pages.  My somewhat stale blog is always due to life getting in the way …. but I became stalled around page 1,009 (volume 4: B-3) which addressed the Gulf of Tonkin shortly after the assassination of Presidents Ngo Dihn Diem and John Kennedy.

As I approach page 3,500 and reading about actions 40 years ago, I cannot convey how sad this is for America.  The loss of life in a war against communism (today we can realize) was doomed from the beginning. Consistently ignored by Washington and every President from FDR to Nixon lied through their teeth to protect US interests during the Cold War.

Interesting to look at the title “US – Vietnam relations 1945 – 1967″ clearly the early volumes indicate before the end of World War II the US sent money and arms to the Viet Minh — yes the Viet Minh.

In 1960 the Viet Minh changed their name to the National Liberation Front (NLF) aka Viet Cong.   So FDR and the US gave money and arms to Ho Chí Minh for one year…however we reversed course, backed the South Vietnamese and welcomed the quagmire that cost 53,000 American lives.  I hope to be done in January 2012.

September 29, 2011
by donkasprzak
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Welcome to the iPad’s Digital Golden Age

Few would imagine what creative minds at Apple and Pixar would invent when the iPad was introduced.  With compelling content and affordable mobile devices my children are growing up in the Golden Age of Pixar, Apple and Disney.  The idea of playing an old school ‘board game’ pales in comparison with the iPad’s interactive, digital game and adventure opportunities.  Beyond driving around Radiator Springs, I believe a gold mine awaits with education for all ages.  But for now….off to the Apple Store to pickup a Lightning and Mater.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quDUzyFqQwY&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

September 11, 2011
by donkasprzak
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Humiliating 9/11 gaffe by Wisconsin College President

Alverno College President Dr. Mary Meehan was the featured speaker at her campus 9/11 Remembrance Service.  Alverno publicized this event as an opportunity to “Hear her compelling, first-hand experience of the day that touched us all” and was sponsored by the Alverno College Civility Project.

To my utter amazement Dr. Meehan was not at the World Trade Center or even in New York City on 9/11.  She watched events unfold from South Orange New Jersey, 15 miles away from The World Trade Center while working at Seton Hall University.

Dr. Meehan: An attempt to share your “compelling, first-hand experience” is an embarrassment for you and Alverno College.

Your address could have described how seemingly within seconds of Flight UA #175 impacting the South Tower, a human leg fell onto Liberty street in-front of the Deutsche Bank Building.  But you could not hear the screams from those standing near the severed limb from Seton Hall.  Your address could have described segments of UA#175 that were on the grounds on the WTC Complex.  But you could not see those from Seton Hall.  And you could have shared how the impact of UA #175 shook all that way down to the entrance of the Deutsche Bank Building.  But you could not feel that from Seton Hall.

If only you were standing in-front of the Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street adjacent to the South Tower when flight UA#175 struck at 9:03am.

Because in all that horror Dr. Meehan — regrettably — you would have stood next to my wife.

August 6, 2011
by donkasprzak
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A pundits rush on Google+ ?

 If you listen to all those social media wanna-bees who jumped on the Google+ bandwagon as the latest and greatest social media tool.  Seems as soon as they received their beta invite the avalanche began.

Proving that ‘tigers eat their young’ those same pundits are already calling Google+….the next GoogleWave.

Wave? Oh, how quickly did you forget about Google’s last B-L-U-N-D-E-R in social media?  Feels like yesterday Google was so slowly handing out Wave invites that it actually killed user adoption by the time they got around to “launching” the product.

Wave was so over-hyped by those same pundits who were also on twitter begging for a Wave invite.  I recall them wishing they could be part of the Wave hype….until the exact moment they logged into Wave they found out how complex the UI was presented. Boy did Google deserve one hard shot right to the groin for that social train wreck.

So those who consider themselves social media leaders (or innovators) are actually voicing their displeasure with Google+ after its been public for just 30 days?  Oh the irony.  I cannot help but relish that quote from earlier this year that puts all those social media so called leaders or innovators into context:

“99.5 Percent Of Social Media Experts Are Clowns”
-Gary Vayerchuk interview

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July 7, 2011
by donkasprzak
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My latest read: Legacy of Ashes – The History of the CIA

Tim Weiner wrote an extraordinary book Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.  He traced the origin back to World War II and movements by former Office of Strategic Services Officers to run the new agency in a post war world.  Weiner’s research (over 50,000 documents and interviews with agents and over a dozen CIA Directors) is priceless.  Legacy of Ashes won the 2007 National Book Award for non-fiction.

I cannot help but look back at sections of his book regarding the CIA’s role in Vietnam from 1954-1975. Weiner book helps indicate where the CIA is today as an organization, regarding their war on terror….also known as the ‘transnational anti-terrorism activities’ including implications of human rights abuses.

Weiner’s rich history of CIA’s vast amount of intelligence gathering required by Presidnets Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon is no surprise, however I was surprised by Weiner’s documentation regarding Kennedy’s distain for the agency and its Director former Air Force General Charles Cabell.

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June 8, 2011
by donkasprzak
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The first wikileak: Pentagon Papers

Finally after 40 years the US Government will publish The Pentagon Papers for the very first time.   The study commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara was officially titled: “United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense” and was a secret kept hidden from President Johnson. and American public for over 40 years.

The study traces US involvement in Vietnam beginning in 1945 just after World War II and ending in 1967 before the Tet Offensive.  The report, a scathing self-examination of U.S.-Vietnamese relations and the Vietnam War, led to one of the largest and most significant court battles ever concerning government secrets vs. freedom of the press.  Nixon’s demand to damage Ellsberg resulted in the Watergate scandal.

The Nixon Library has a copy in that was part of President Richard Nixon’s papers. It will be released at 9 a.m., June 13, 40 years to the day that leaked portions of the report were printed on the front page of The New York Times.