Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The End

I’m suspending further publication of this blog due to lack of time. This notice formalizes what has been evident for some time. I intend to concentrate on my favorite blogs History Moments and Literature Daily. While my personal blog may still continue on an irregular basis, my other blogs are hereby discontinued – for the same reason.

Find my complete profile on my LinkedIn Page. Important note on my social media: LinkedIn is my primary place for personal contact. Facebook is mostly for games. My views of Twitter as a social site are negative; I rarely log in to it. My Google+ experience is in its infancy.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Hedy Lamarr on Leadership

Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.

- Hedy Lamarr

More on Hedy Lamarr.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

How the Internet Began

A revelation with an Incredibly Big Message (IBM):

Well, you might have thought that you knew how the Internet started, but here's the TRUE story ....

In ancient Israel, it came to pass that a trader by the name of Abraham Com did take unto himself a young wife by the name of Dot.

And Dot Com was a comely woman, broad of shoulder and long of leg. Indeed, she was often called Amazon Dot Com.

And she said unto Abraham, her husband: "Why dost thou travel so far
from town to town with thy goods when thou canst trade without ever leaving thy tent?"

And Abraham did look at her - as though she were several saddle bags short of a camel load, but simply said: "How, dear?"

And Dot replied: "I will place drums in all the towns and drums in between to send messages saying what you have for sale, and they will reply telling you who hath the best price.

And the sale can be made on the drums and delivery made by Uriah's Pony Stable (UPS)."

Abraham thought long and decided he would let Dot have her way with
the drums. And the drums rang out and were an immediate success. Abraham sold all the goods he had at the top price, without ever having to move from his tent.

To prevent neighboring countries from overhearing what the drums were saying, Dot devised a system that only she and the drummers knew. It was called Must Send Drum Over Sound (MSDOS), and she also developed a language to transmit ideas and pictures - Hebrew To The People (HTTP)

But this success did arouse envy. A man named Maccabia did secrete
himself inside Abraham's drum and began to siphon off some of Abraham's business. But he was soon discovered, arrested and prosecuted - for insider trading.

And the young men did take to Dot Com's trading as doth the greedy horsefly take to camel dung.

They were called Nomadic Ecclesiastical Rich Dominican Sybarites, or NERDS.

And lo, the land was so feverish with joy at the new riches and the deafening sound of drums that no one noticed that the real riches were going to that enterprising drum dealer, Brother William of Gates, who bought off every drum maker in the land.

And indeed did insist on drums to be made that would work only with Brother Gates' drumheads and drumsticks.

And Dot did say: "Oh, Abraham, what we have started is being taken over by others."

And Abraham looked out over the Bay of Ezekiel, or eBay as it came to be known. He said: "We need a name that reflects what we are."

And Dot replied: "Young Ambitious Hebrew Owner Operators." "YAHOO," said Abraham. And because it was Dot's idea, they named it YAHOO Dot Com.

Abraham's cousin, Joshua, being the young Gregarious Energetic Educated Kid (GEEK) that he was, soon started using Dot's drums to locate things around the countryside. It soon became known as God's Own Official Guide to Locating Everything (GOOGLE)

And that is how it all began.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Dale Carnegie on Leadership

You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

- Dale Carnegie

More on Dale Carnegie.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Hope Gets Bombed

It was at Algiers in North Africa in 1943. Bob Hope was there with his USO tour to entertain the troops and to meet General Eisenhower. Ike promised Hope a night of peace and quiet but unfortunately, the Germans chose that night to fly bombers over the town.

As the bombs fell, the general and the star evacuated to the wine cellar. Ike later send Hope a note regretting that Hope had to resign himself to a night in the cellar instead of a bed. Bob Hope replied that it wasn't the cellar that bothered him; it was the stuff flying overhead.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Don't Overlook This


View Larger Map

Next is Syria?

Syrian dictatorship has been part of the Middle East equation since Israel's beginning.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Arab League to Reverse Itself on Libya?

Here's the story in today's Washington Post. First, they had endorsed the "no-fly zone" military intervention in Libya; now that it has actually started, they want to reverse themselves. What are we to make of this?

1) Acording to the story, the Arab leadership had not properly negotiated the meaning and the scope of "the no-fly zone". How could such an endorsement have been issued without the proper understandings having been reached?

The suspicion cannot be helped. They were just playing politics. Blame the West for the rebels loosing but now that their bluff has been called, the new line is to blame the West for intervening.

2) Why could the members of the Libyan League not have intervened themselves? Just how weak is the Arab World both politically and militarily?

The bottom line summary of this potential reversal is to underline the political and military weakness of the Arab nations.

Below is a summary of the day's operations.