• On Culture

    Bizarre, quirky, thought-provoking. Some stories that might make you shake your head in wonderment or disbelief.

    Thank You, Donald Trump

    by  • October 27, 2016 • On Culture, On Public Relations

    It has been a horrendous presidential campaign, the most horrific of my lifetime. I am appalled and saddened that a thoughtless, narcissistic clown like Donald Trump is a candidate for the most powerful position on Earth. His candidacy is an indictment of the political process today, the Republican Party and the vacuity of some of […]

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    Teachers Who Have Shaped My Mind and Actions

    by  • July 22, 2013 • On Culture

    The Moody Blues did a tune called “The Balance” back in 1972. It did not get a lot of attention even though it was on a fairly successful album called “A Question of Balance” that featured the hit song, “Question.” “The Balance” advises us to consider the origins of some of our feelings and perspectives, […]

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    Advertising and the Decline and Fall of Western Civilization

    by  • June 30, 2012 • On Culture

    The printing press is unquestionably the most important invention in modern human history, but can the television remote control be far behind? It seems we have long taken the remote for granted, but take a minute to think about its liberating qualities. We’re now a heartbeat away from a channel change when years ago we […]

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    Some Tunes Worth a Listen (We Think)

    by  • December 2, 2011 • On Culture

    Thought we’d share some tunes that never got a lot of air time, but we think are worth a listen. Here are 20 to get us started. Give them a shot if you haven’t heard them and let us know what you think.   Looking Into You                                                      Jackson Browne (A great songwriter at his best.) […]

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    Movies Remind of Life’s Constants

    by  • December 2, 2011 • On Culture

    Writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge noted a long, long time ago that enjoyment of fiction requires our “willing suspension of disbelief.” That, of course, was long before films and television hit the scene. This Internet list of “Things You Would Never Know Without the Movies” is proof of Coleridge’s adage. During all police investigations it will […]

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    Public Relations in Films and on TV Isn’t a Pretty Picture

    by  • December 2, 2011 • On Culture

    Long-time friend Joe Biscontini, one of the funniest men we’ve met in the higher education PR business, has taught an upper-level undergraduate public relations course at Penn State University. As part of his introduction, he has used film clips from feature films and television to show his students how public relations people are typically portrayed […]

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    Just Who Reigns in the Academic Pecking Order?

    by  • December 2, 2011 • On Culture

    A funny take on the academic pecking order shipped to us by Ann Curran, then editor of Carnegie Mellon Magazine. The Dean Leaps tall buildings in a single bound. Is more powerful than a locomotive. Is faster than a speeding bullet. Walks on water. Gives policy to God. The Department Head Leaps short buildings in […]

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    Bart Simpson Learns His Lesson

    by  • December 2, 2011 • On Culture

    Big fan of “The Simpsons” television program and one of the highlights, as fans well know, is the opening scene in which Bart writes the same sentence on the chalk board over and over as punishment. We had to scarf this highly abridged compilation of the best of Bart off the Internet. I will not […]

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