ABC is reporting the CEOs of the big-three automakers traveled to Washington, DC, on their companies’ private jets to ask Congress for $25 billion. While arguing their companies are “burning through cash,” these CEOs are irresponsibly contributing to the problem. From ABC:
[GM CEO Rick] Wagoner’s private jet trip to Washington cost his ailing company an estimated $20,000 roundtrip. In comparison, seats on Northwest Airlines flight 2364 from Detroit to Washington were going online for $288 coach and $837 first class.
Okay, so perhaps one trip isn’t so bad, but in the case of Ford:
Ford CEO [Alan] Mulally’s corporate jet is a perk included for both he and his wife as part of his employment contract along with a $28 million salary last year. Mulally actually lives in Seattle, not Detroit. The company jet takes him home and back on weekends.
And:
Ford continues to operate a fleet of eight private jets for its executives. Just Tuesday, one jet was taking Ford brass to Los Angeles, another on a trip to Nebraska, and of course Mulally needed to fly to Washington to testify.
Doesn’t it seem prudent that the management of these ailing companies ought to make concessions themselves especially after the unions last year made their own concessions in a effort to ameliorate the financial situations of the big three? If these CEOs truly understand the situation and are committed to fixing it, they can demonstrate their understanding and commitment with visual, measurable steps to personally contribute, such as forgoing the private jet and taking a significant pay cut. Otherwise, for the CEOs to ask for tax-payer money while they frivolously spend their companies’ money is outrageous and insulting.
Diego Doval writes on his blog an abridged script for Quantum of Solace. If you’ve seen the film and only if you’ve seen the film check out this hilarious spoof.
Brandnoo has a great post of Bond girls then and now. It’s interesting to see which actresses still try to embrace their former character, even years or decades after the role, and which have moved on. Pussy Galore from Goldfinger:
Paul Lukas at ESPN’s Page 2 has a very interesting article on the uncredited designer of the MLB logo. He ends with this note:
He’s got a right to feel proud it’s a sensational design. And the more you learn about people like Dior and Sherman extremely talented creative professionals, most of whose work is done anonymously the more ridiculous it seems that designers don’t have higher public profiles. Here’s hoping this is one case where the designer finally gets the recognition he deserves.
Yes, save for a few “rock stars,” those of us in the creative industry remain anonymous. Such is the life we chose.
Adopt a Pet launched presidential-pooch-pardon.com aimed at convincing the Obamas to adopt a shelter dog for that puppy that will accompany them to the White House. Someone did a great job with all the campaign design parody: “pal around with terriers.” Priceless.
Fumin Yang, a good friend of mine from undergrad, recently started a blog. Originally a native of China, he had this to say on election day:
I personally don’t believe that the presidential election has the sole purpose of choosing an American President. The United States is such a prominent figure on the world stage, in which direction this country is heading to will have direct impact on rest of the globe. When the US economical engine is running at full speed, other countries benefit too. I’d like to see an electoral college map based on the entire global population, and then see what kind of result we’ll be getting. […]
Don’t think having a new guy in the oval office will fix everything. He can only do so much. To turn this country around is a responsibility of every American people. Hope doesn’t come from Barack Obama, hope comes from thousands and millions of Americans who are eager to see change and willing to work together and work hard to make the change happen.
Agreed. And the message of “yes we can” was the central tenet to Obama’s campaign. This election wasn’t about him; it was about the power and willingness of the people to effect change.
The Goggles can kick in late at night on weekends. The feature requires you to solve a few easy math problems in short order before hitting “send.” If your logical thinking skills are intact, Google is betting you’re sober enough to work out the repercussions of sending that screed you just drafted.
At the Flash On The Beach (FOTB) conference in Brighton, Sr. Director of Engineering at Adobe Systems Paul Betlem, confirmed that Adobe is indeed developing a Flash Player for the iPhone. However, Apple calls the shots as to when it’ll be available.
The Amazon is being deforested more than three times as fast as last year, Brazilian officials said Monday, acknowledging a sharp reversal after three years of declines in the deforestation rate. […]
Amazon destruction jumped 228 percent in August when compared to the same month a year ago, according to a report from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research. Some 756 square kilometers (292 square miles) of Amazon was destroyed last month, compared to 230 square kilometers (89 square miles) in August 2007.
The environment, including global warming and a responsible energy plan, is a much bigger issue than we’re pretending it’s not.
I think I have to tame my excitement over a new Ghostbusters movie. Coming Soon reports an email from Harold Ramis to the Chicago Tribune:
columbia is developing a script for GB3 with my [Year One] writing partners, gene stupnitsky and lee eisenberg. judd apatow is co-producing [Year One] and has made several other films for sony, so of course the studio is hoping to tap into some of the same acting talent. aykroyd, ivan reitman and i are consulting at this point, and according to dan, bill murray is willing to be involved on some level. he did record his dialogue for the new ghostbusters video game, as did danny and i, and ernie hudson. the concept is that the old ghostbusters would appear in the film in some mentor capacity.
Hmm, Ghostbusters meets Superbad? No thanks. I’ll save my excitement for when we have more details.
Columbia Pictures is getting serious about scaring up a new installment of its blockbuster “Ghostbusters” franchise.
The studio has set “The Office” co-exec producers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky to write a script for a film designed to bring back together the original cast of Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson.
I couldn’t believe this when I read it. One of my favorite movies growing up.
Why biofuels like ethanol are not the solution to the looming energy crisis:
The nation’s corn crop is fertilized with millions of pounds of nitrogen-based fertilizer. And when that nitrogen runs off fields in Corn Belt states, it makes its way to the Mississippi River and eventually pours into the Gulf, where it contributes to a growing “dead zone” a 7,900-square-mile patch so depleted of oxygen that fish, crabs and shrimp suffocate.
My dad passed this along to me: ZIPskinny, where you can see census data on any zip code in the U.S. You can also compare data for several zip codes, so if you’ve lived in several zip codes, you can compare those places to see which had better economics, diversity, etc. Good luck staying on the site for less than twenty minutes!
