Egypt and Arab States circle toilet bowl

[plthijinx]

i did not know that. interesting. but then again the major broadcasting networks always did use sitcoms for their income. no surprise there.

[tw]

Originally Posted by plthijinx

i did not know that. interesting. but then again the major broadcasting networks always did use sitcoms for their income. no surprise there.

Appreciate a tremendous risk that Ted Turner took when he started CNN. News was not profitable. Turner created a broadcasting news service to make a profit. Because Turner was doing something innovative, he could not raise capital from investment banks – Wall Street. However Michael Milken had developed a way of financing innovators. Junk bonds. In its early days, Drexel Burnham was making possible so many innovative companies. To do things that that ‘we fear to innovate’ Wall Street investment banks would not touch. Risky was to make a profit on broadcasting news.

Drexel Burnham's other success stories are legends of American industry by also doing things so new. Including Steve Wynn's Golden Nugget and Mirage casinos. And many Vegas hotels. Malone's TCI which became the world's biggest cable-TV firm. And numerous Rupert Murdoch projects. All those were also not worthy investments on a Wall Street that could not see innovation even if it is in their cocaine.

Almost nobody thought broadcast news could make a profit.

[Griff]

The f*ckers in Bahrain are shooting their own people with live ammo. One of my friends was ordered to leave a metric assload of ammunition behind when his unit left Bahrain... yay for allies!

Steve Inskeep did an interview with Vali Nasr this morning. His take on the unrest is pretty clear-eyed.