On The Turning Away

The Guardian reported that BBC is launching an ad-supported website by first quarter next year. The website will feature “still ads”, appearing in the middle of online articles. There were no plans for pop-up or banner ads, the most common advertising formats for online publications.

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Between football and tennis, you would hardly have time for anything else. Unless, of course, you’re fighting for blog obsession.

How about a ride to Graceland on Air Force One? Or a more mundane version of hitting the road to…scène à faire.

In some privileged corners, a romantic notion of the unconscious, effortless grace holds sway. Elsewhere, the proletariat lunge for everything, including political office.

It’s time for “course correcting”, exhorted Arianna, of Huffington Post, after being enraptured by presidential hopeful Senator Joe Biden’s “I’d rather be humping” declaration at a rally of young supporters.
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What a perfect start to the last working day of June. Bright and a cool 68 degrees Fahrenheit. A blogosphere equivalent is an andecdote about the famed British playwright Sir Tom Stoppard (née Straussler).

Courtesy of NRO - When Tom Stoppard was a young man, reports the Sunday Telegraph, he wanted a job at the London Evening Standard. The editor, Charles Wintour, a chilly Fleet Street veteran, quizzed him sternly: “I gather you’re interested in politics,” said Wintour. “Who’s the Home Secretary?” “Look,” blustered Stoppard, “I said I was interested, not obsessed.”

A fun personality test à la superhero, via Sully.

We celebrate life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness with gusto each 4th of July. Such fantastic fireworks for something so dull. So we turn to Wikipedia for inspiration.

Do you know that -

Adam Smith coined the phrase “life liberty and the pursuit of property”?

John Locke said that “no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions”?

Thomas Jefferson exhorted his country men to endeavor towards life, liberty and “the pursuit of happiness.”

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What else explains a passionate defence by Glen Hubbard, Dean of the venerable Columbia Business School?

Having gallivanted through an interesting MBA program ourself, it’s a shocker to see the rising level of skeptism toward a once coveted professional training program billed as the boot camp for industry captains. What happens to the touted leadership cultivation, 3Ps (powerpoints, powersuits, powerlunches), and above all, the blue-sky thinking sharpened while boozing with your fellow visionaries?
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If you have to ask, you are most definitely not in the know.

Like the proverbial cat, Radar has nine lives. Its relaunch last year amid fanfare sadly proved to be short-lived. As the NYT noted, this is the third incarnation for Radar in three years. Its previous lives, though evanescent, have earned it an entry on Wikipedia, as the (former) magazine about “Pop, Politics, Scandal, Style.”
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That is, if you’re vegetarian and teetotaler, you need not apply.

Ample anecdotes float through the media, now with the addition of Fifth Estate, mocking iBankers but from time to time you need to be reminded of a certain characteristic of the rarefied group. From the blogshpere, it takes the form of advice to summer associates, aka starry-eyed iBanker wannabes -

Don’t eat meat? Vegetarians don’t belong in finance. And if you want to say that you don’t drink, you might as well say that you don’t have sex.

Only boozy over-sexed canivores thrive on Wall St.

WSJ broadened our horizon from the confines of YouTube to Veoh, a racy online video-sharing service launched last year with prominent backers including Time Warner.

While still in Beta (who isn’t nowadays?) version, Veoh has made a reputation for its willingness to host racy videos that other sites, such as YouTube and Google Video, prohibit. Now the audacity has landed Veoh in legal hot water. Io Group Inc., an adult entertainment company, last Friday filed a lawsuit against Veoh, alleging that Veoh “was responsible for copyright infringement by allowing videos owned by Io Group to be accessed through Veoh’s online service without permission.”
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