They say your brain cells stop developing after 50. Translation: short-term memory not good. Long-term? OK. Let’s test the hypothesis. Long ago, during the movies, they would test “subliminal seduction” by flashing a few frames, which with 30 frames/second, viewers couldn’t detect consciously. All to sell some Coke and (pop) corns. Then commercials went global…

In the 70’s there were only three major TV Networks competing for the shares of audience. It’s simple and dignified (think Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee; the News Room independence.) e.g. even though head-to-head competition selling soup, soap and cereals, there were this camaraderie….and professional esprit de corps. Today, Artificial Intelligence crammed in ads and…

“It” here was the war, NAM. My friend and I often chatted that had it lasted as its Afghan counterpart, we would have been long dead. Our version of “It’s a Wonderful life”…we wouldn’t be around to affect changes, to do some damage or contribute to build others’ lives better. The immediate next generation wouldn’t…

Less than 100 days before the Fall of Saigon, like you, I was worried stiff. Of course the American were slowly and steadily pulling out, so as to avoid a full-blown panic. Equipment, man and materials – logistically retrieved…after years of build-up and mission-creep (3/4 of multiple Trillion of dollars were for logistical-robotic supports vs…

Empires ended. Products expired. People with own timetables…. with either sudden or slow deaths. We can do without a lot of things, such as pandemic or climate change. Speaking of on the road….with pot holes and parking tickets. Speed traps and traffic schools. No one wants to stay home. Even the PBS Newshour panelists, now…

When I asked for a driving tip (at night), Glen, a college roommate, told me: “just follow the painted line”. Given that we were winding through Pennsylvania mountains heading West, his advice was certainly heeded. Until today. Years later. Glen was from N Hampshire, with curly blonde hair and rolled up his sleeves (short-sleeves to…

Real news are much more painful than fake news. Real news shocked us, surprised us and spinned us in other directions. Real news are slower than fake news. But when they get there, they demand change and action. In other news today, 8 killed in San Jose – on a day the rail cars were…

Like you, I was young once. Barely speak, barely walk…barely able to join others. Of course, join others I later did when we moved a few blocks up the street. Geography and growth curve aligned to make a perfect storm i.e. two dozens kids share one alley (my “cinema Paradiso”… when my cousin brought his…

When I died, I would throw a ball (after all, I have organized a bunch of them in my youth)..for all who had gone before me…people who sat under scorching heat in Nam’s jungle, listening to “Reflections of my Life” (before they themselves got on the Vietnam Memorial Wall). I would put on music we…

Been laying and waiting to be discovered. No none remembers me. Even when they occasionally do, in passing, it’s their mental image of me they think of, not my current and actual stage (rotten to the bones, meatless hence brainless). I am a brainchild of sciences in my days e.g. herbs and preservatives, nice clothes…