D5:
Stephen Colbert’s terrific intro for Viacom President and CEO, Philippe “Dough Man” Dauman.
Earlier, we posted this video, then took it down and then put it back up. Confused?
Our fault and not Viacom’s at all.
Daily Archives: June 1, 2007
D Conference Notes
Walt Mossberg asked CBS CEO Les Moonves about Al Gore’s critique of television culture in his new book, The Assault on Reason. “Gore said that TV in general has basically destroyed American democracy. He says the Internet is the hope –”
Moonves interrupted: “That’s because he created it.”
Mossberg grimaced. There was not a single laugh in the room.
It is one sign of hope for the world today that this dead old line — discredited eons ago — now evokes only contempt.
Meanwhile, here is Moonves’s stirring defense of his medium against the complaint that TV caters to too much of our love for celebrity news at the expense of more pressing issues: “I think there are other things that may have hurt the fabric of democracy more than the media.”
Milwaukee’s Briggs & Stratton Once Had the Lead in Hybrids
We are all seeing our personal mobility threatened by rising petroleum prices and dwindling resources. The fundamental appeal of electric cars is that they allow us to use energy sources other than petroleum on the road.”
A quote from a major auto maker rolling out a new hybrid concept at a recent auto show?
No.
In November 1979, Briggs & Stratton Corp., the Wauwatosa, Wis.-based maker of lawnmower engines, rolled out its sleek, futuristic plug-in hybrid-electric concept car with the very same motivations and goals as today’s car makers. On Earth Day the following spring, the manufacturer hauled it to Washington, D.C. and demonstrated the car running on domestically produced ethanol.
Like today’s Toyota Prius, the B&S Hybrid sported hump-backed styling for minimal aerodynamic drag. The forward-looking design was penned by the agency of famed industrial designer Brooks Stevens, who is credited with sketching the Willys Jeepster, Harley-Davidson Hydra-Glide, Evinrude outboard boat motor and the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile.
Fascinating story.