US Air Flight 1549

January 15, 2009 1 Comment

As a child I was deathly afraid of airplanes. I mean, screaming, yanking, get-me-out-of-here afraid to even get on one. Then I moved to a part of New York City right in the landing pattern of JFK airport, and after seeing plane after plane — 1,000 feet up and at times once every thirty seconds, I decided to get over my fear by learning all I could about them.

That led to my morbid hobby — plane crashes. What was it that caused an airliner to fall out of the sky? I’ve read books, researched cases and found Web sites of interest. Now, I love to fly (which helped me when I was at AOL and taking two flights a week from NY to VA).

The above (poorly recorded, I know) video is of a site that tracks air traffic in real-time (Google “Passur” or “Airport Monitor 2.0”). I found US Air flight 1549 and recorded it’s track above — all 4 minutes of its flight before it crash-landed in the Hudson River today at 3:30 PM ET — a mere six blocks west of the building where I work.

And in case you were wondering, I’d go on a flight today if I could, confident that it is indeed (and statistically proven to be) the safest way to travel. After all, what are the odds of this happening again so quickly?

Filed under did you see that?, new york, travel Tagged with , ,

Everyone Thinks They Know Social Media, But…

November 12, 2008 Leave a comment

Great post. One of the problems I’ve observed while discussing this topic with industry types is that companies often have several people, some in high leadership positions, who all believe that they “know” social media simply because they have a Web page, or a Facebook account or have participated in an online discussion here or there . That’s like saying you know how to design a new car simply because you’ve driven one.

Companies looking to connect with their customers where they increasingly live — online — not only need a social media department, they need to hire social media professionals to run them.

Originally posted as a comment by roncasalotti on Jacob Morgan on Social Media, Technology, Marketing, and Life using Disqus.

Filed under Blog Mob, Community, social media, web2.0 Tagged with

Vote Like Your Life Depended On It

November 4, 2008 Leave a comment

Because, you know, it does. Some say that every vote does NOT count, and that is technically true.

After all, a red state voter casting a ballot in a heavily blue state does not affect who gets that state’s electoral votes. Vote by absentee ballot? Hell, they don’t even get read unless the race is very close. And, of course there’s those rejected ballots.

So, why vote? To send a message to the winner. An electoral landslide with a close popular vote tells the winner that they do not necessarily have a mandate to govern without concern given to the minority voters. Oh, and I am not referring to this election nor am I publicly coming out for either Obama or McCain. I just want you to vote and while voting realize the privelege it is to be able to do so.

Filed under Uncategorized

Business Exchange — What’s in there now:

October 21, 2008 Leave a comment

Here’s the latest topic cloud of what business oriented people are sharing on Business Exchange:

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The Emmys, or Patting Themselves On the Back

September 30, 2008 Leave a comment

Catching up after falling behind (wish I had a $1 for every blogger that started an entry with words to that effect), the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (what an intellectually sounding name for something that produces mostly dreck), held its 60th Primetime Emmy Awards a couple of weeks ago. I just want to comment on two things.

First, under the category of “the right things get done for the wrong reasons,” ‘Mad Men’ became the first basic cable show to win Best Drama — and well deserved, indeed. Of course, the writer’s strike led to less network product, which led to less viewership, less episodes, less to enter in the Emmy race. But, the winner was ultimately, the best of the bunch. As was ’30 Rock’ for Best Comedy, and the acting of Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin for comedy; Brian Cranston and Glenn Close for drama. All deserving winners.

Second, why all the fuss about winning an Emmy? Doesn’t everybody have one?

Emmy and Me

Emmy and Me

Filed under Award shows, did you see that?, TV, Uncategorized Tagged with , ,

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