The Internet of Wh-a-a-a-t?

Remember the year 2000? I do. We expended time and effort to reassure business partners that we had made preparations to prevent all our systems from crashing at one second past midnight on New Year’s Eve 1999. We even had high-tech shorthand: Y2K. (Y2K – get it?) Today, we would expect a logo and theme music as well. All because the tech-wizards in whose genius we relied, didn’t know the year 2000 was coming. Guess what? They’re back. The subsequent tech generation is unleashing the Internet of Things. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Continue reading “The Internet of Wh-a-a-a-t?”

Struggling to Get By on $2,000,000 a Month

It’s not easy being Johnny Depp. It’s not inexpensive, either. Imagine if you had all these financial obligations:

  • Maintaining 14 residences, purchased for $75 million (including a string of islands in the Bahamas)
  • 45 luxury automobiles
  • 200-piece art collection – including Andy Warhol
  • 12 storage units of celebrity memorabilia
  • 70 collectible guitars
  • 24/7 security and 40-person entourage at $400,000 per month
  • Private air travel expense of $200,000 per month
  • Wine purchases at $30,000 per month
  • $7 million divorce settlement ending 15-month marriage

With two recent motion-picture box-office bombs, Mr. Depp’s expenses are outpacing his income. So of course he is doing what any sane person would do: blame somebody else. Johnny Depp is suing his long-time business managers, The Management Group, for $25 million, claiming they never told him he might have some financial problems. TMG responded that they, “… repeatedly warned and advised Depp to reduce his spending and sell unnecessary assets. But ultimately, the decision whether and how to spend his money was a decision for Depp to make. Depp listened to no one, including TMG and his other advisors, and he demanded they fund a lifestyle that was extravagant and extreme.”

And you thought you had problems.

American Legion – Then and Now

The summer of 1970, a year filled with anti-Vietnam War protests across the country, was headed to a climax with the American Legion’s national convention opening in Portland on August 30. The Oregonian newspaper reported that Richard Nixon was to address the gathering. Portland had witnessed its share of demonstrations; this could be the mother of them all. The FBI informed Governor Tom McCall that the so-called Peoples Army Jamboree was organizing to bring 50,000 protestors to disrupt the convention. (Later, evidence showed the FBI had made up the number. Some things don’t change.) Continue reading “American Legion – Then and Now”

Aunt Lorraine & Uncle Roger and The Day the Music Died

A small plane took off from the Mason City Iowa airport in bad weather, shortly after midnight on February 3, 1959. It was a short flight. Killed in the subsequent crash were the pilot, Roger Peterson, entertainers J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly. They had just finished their performances at the Surf Ballroom in nearby Clear Lake. You are probably familiar with the story of the “The Winter Dance Party” tour and “the day the music died.” (Also on the tour were Dion & the Belmonts.)

Continue reading “Aunt Lorraine & Uncle Roger and The Day the Music Died”

Those Annoying Regulations

We know government regulations are bad; we’re constantly being told that, anyway.

Here are a few benefits of free enterprise that were taken from us by bothersome government regulations:

  • Rotting, contaminated meat
  • Automobiles without seat belts
  • Marketing cigarettes to kids
  • Handling with unwashed hands food sold to you
  • Air full of mercury-and arsenic

We take these things for granted; maybe we’ve forgotten how prevalent they were before government regulations got rid of them.

Read more here.