I have not opened a phone book in almost five years…yet AT&T thinks the internet does not exist. So they dropped off these two trees…or shall I say “books” at my door.
I certainly did not ask for them. Sure the postal carrier feels the same way.
Its best save trees and make phone books optional. Now I have to drop them in my recycle box on garbage day.
Technorati Tags: at&t, phonebook, recycle
Daniel Ellsberg‘s Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers is about his direct experience in Vietnam and more importantly his role in leaking The Pentagon Papers. Daniel’s lessons in both academic research and military battlefields helped me learn more about the times he lived in and how it ultimately caused him to steal and publish top secret files regarding the war in Vietnam.
The Pentagon Papers showed world the surprising role of US involvement in Vietnam dating back to Harry Truman through the Nixon Administration. His influence is not to be under estimated. I was impressed to learn of his work with President Kennedy in David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest. There was more to Ellsberg than meets the eye.
His background: undergraduate studies at Harvard and post graduate Woodrow Wilson fellowship at Cambridge in England. Daniel returned to apply for Marine officer candidates courses but had to wait a year — so he went to grad school at Harvard (during the Korean War) where he was expected to serve. In the beginning Ellsberg was a political hawk regarding communist expansion in the world especially Soviet aggressiveness in Czechoslovakia and Poland.
A week after getting his PhD he was in the military training to be a lieutenant. He would command a rifle unit in the second Marine division. As his tour was ending his first son was born. He was awarded a three year junior fellowship back at Harvard, but asked the Marine commandant to extend his tour as war in the Middle East appeared imminent. Daniel drafted secret plans against Egypt and Israel. As a research fellow back at Harvard in economic and decision theory he attracted attention of the Rand Corporation and in ’58 accepted an economic position with RAND in California. The Soviet Union launched Sputnik during this time-frame. The cold war was beginning to really heat up.
The power and reach of today’s internet makes our world dynamically and digitally connected. During the dotcom boom telecommunication companies dropped high speed fiber around the globe. Networks and ecommerce merged and as a result China is as close to America as Mexico. Face facts, the fast broadband internet places China just three seconds away from any company seeking to expand their business to a billion new customers.China’s economy is growing annually at 9% and is projected to be the second largest economic power within the next 15 years. China’s large population is adapting technology. More Chinese citizens connect wirelessly to the web than the total American population in our own country.
American business are beyond looking into China for business potential, just to remain competitive companies must begin to see the benefits in expanding operations as China begins to ramp up preparation for the upcoming Olympic games, giving the Chinese a new view to the world…and an invitation many will be looking at for the first time. That’s quite an opportunity….
One lesson: Abu Ghraib and Photography…just don’t mix. Seymour Hersh has provided the details and background to this scandal in great depth in the pages of Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib.
As one who learned about this breakdown from traditional news sources Hersh provides criticism for the Bush Administration and Donald Rumsfeld with a new insider view of the breakdown of command and control.
Clearly the treatment depicted in photographs now famous only harms future American interests and the war on Al Qaeda.
Acceptable Torture? Hersh has stated our actions (photos) have given the green light to our current and future enemies: a ready-made excuse to ignore Geneva Conventions. Don’t like where this goes…for our futures.
Television viewership continues to shrink. The week of July 4th was the least-watched week in recorded history.
Although you may look at the holiday and traditional weather and events, its clear TV is losing is hold on popular culture…summer reruns ring a bell? Only 20.8 million viewers were tuned in to primetime television at any given moment. The previous low: 21.5 million viewers set last July. But even traditional high ranking shows have fallen to thier lowest ratings, including the Academy Awards. But our media attention-span society is looking at YouTube, video games, iPods and of course the internet.
Technorati Tags: tv ratings, trends, television, tivo, academy awards, technology