Last night I subscribed to a handfull of BBC podcasts to help fill up the longer walk that I now have to and from the station. My PSP dutifully downloaded them while I was fast asleep at 6am, and then I deleted most of them a couple of hours later.
Why?
Because the production quality was gash, that’s why.
37 years ago today, a man who came to be known as D B Cooper, pulled off one of the most audacious robberies in the history of aviation when he not only hijacked a 727, but parachuted from the plane with the $200,000 ransom money before vanishing without a trace.
Like many others since, I’ve long been fascinated by the story, and was delighted last year when the superb, but short-lived series Journeyman paid homage to the events in the episode The legend of Dylan McCleen. That episode puts a positive spin on the tale, supposing that the actions of the hijacker might have been for truly selfless ends, although I suspect that’s just wishful thinking.
Whatever the motives of Cooper, though, I cant help but be impressed by someone who could not only plan such a heist, but execute it to a level of perfection that it would leave the authorities scratching their collective heads. To this day, his true identity remains a mystery and the case is unsolved.
This morning I watched the most recent CNN podcast, which contains a segement on the plight of Detroit and the American auto industry. Turns out that if you build gargantuan, fuel guzzling SUV’s whilst your competitors build cheaper, smaller, more economical alternatives then your business model leaves you on the brink of disaster. Who knew?
Aside from Honda, Toyota, and the European arms attached to those Detroit megacorps, I mean?