I was thinking about the Beijing Olympics, and realized that the U.S. men’s basketball team had zero Clippers on it. But then, neither did the Vancouver Olympics. Have any Clippers on the U.S. team.
Though clipper ships presumably sailed to Vancouver, but not Beijing, it being too far from the ocean. Hong Kong? Sure. But not […]

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The meltdown in print journalism has produced an unfortunate side-effect:
Diminished newsrooms largely populated by timid journalists.
They might not be timid with sources. (Though I have to wonder.)
What I am fairly certain of is that the print survivors are scared stiff of their managers, and what I believe was the healthy skepticism and byplay of a […]

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A former colleague of mine, recently laid off but, thankfully, just now back in journalism … has what I consider to be a great idea for a murder-mystery novel.
I’m going to put the idea up here so that if/when someone else does it, my colleague and I and everyone who has read this entry will […]

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I may have written about this before. I don’t recall, and I’m not going to search my own site, because I feel like writing about it again. Or anew. Or with more emphasis.
The latest round of print journalism layoffs prompted more thinking, and reminiscing, and I Came to A Conclusion that may not be original […]

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Again, I reserve the right to come back and write about any one of these items at greater length.
–They should consider a law here on “hands free” walking. At least once a day I almost crash into someone meandering/veering down the street while fiddling with their BlackBerry, or while texting someone, while playing a tiny […]

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Just heard this from the man himself. He was responding to my note wishing him good luck, because there were rumors around …
But it was too late, he wrote back to me in a short note.
Steve got a call last night from people in the L.A. Daily News office. He is out, and he is […]

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I’m not sure how many employees at what used to be the San Bernardino Sun-Ontario Bulletin-San Gabriel Valley Tribune were fired today, but it was more than one and … more than 10, even?
A couple of things:
1. One of those fired was my friend and former colleague Doug Padilla. I can’t imagine Doug was shocked. […]

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If I’m picking up on this correctly, from the other side of the ocean, 2008 can’t be over fast enough for a lot (most all?) of people.
“People” meaning Americans. Or at least English-speakers.
Like, everyone is all fixated on this “economy” thing … Letting it get them down.
Hey, 2008 wasn’t that bad. Take it from somebody […]

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Matt McHale was a near contemporary of mine. We got into sports journalism about the same time, and we left it within a week of each other, each laid off* by the L.A. News Group earlier this year.
Matt died today in Connecticut. He had fallen ill in late May, three months or so after the […]

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I take no pleasure in the cuts at the Los Angeles Times. Even though the Times was the main competition for most of my journalism career, and it’s a test to avoid the instinctive “what’s bad for them is good for me!” mind-set of days gone by.
This was the newspaper derisively known as “The Whale” […]

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