Category Archives: Past

A happy 75th anniversary

My parents (that’s them, Eleanor and Allen Searls) were married on 17 August 1946, seventy-five years and two days ago. I would have posted something then, but I was busy—though not too busy to drop something in Facebook, where much … Continue reading

Posted in Family, Past, Personal, Photography | 4 Comments

On Amazon, New York, New Jersey and urban planning

In a press release, Amazon explained why it backed out of its plan to open a new headquarters in New York City: For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Business, Culture, Ideas, infrastructure, Internet, new york, Past, Photography, problems | Leave a comment

What happened to nonviolence?

Two graphs tell some of the story. First is how often “nonviolence” and “non-violence” appeared in books until 2008, when Google quit keeping track: Second is search trends for “nonviolence” and “non-violence” since 2004, which is when Google started keeping track of … Continue reading

Posted in history, Past, Personal, Social | 7 Comments

Props to Pop on Memorial Day

Thinking today, with great appreciation, about my father, Allen H. Searls, who served twice in the U.S. Army, first in the Coastal Artillery and again in the Signal Corps, during World War II. As I put it in the caption under that … Continue reading

Posted in Geography, history, Military, Past, Personal | Leave a comment

Where the nickname came from

My given name is David. Family members still call me that. Everybody else calls me Doc. Since people often ask me where that nickname came from, and since apparently I haven’t answered it anywhere I can now find online, here’s the story. … Continue reading

Posted in advertising, Art, Blogging, Broadcasting, Business, Friends, Fun, Geography, history, North Carolina, Past, Personal, radio | 5 Comments

Saving High Mountain

  I’ve long thought that the most consequential thing I’ve ever done was write a newspaper editorial that helped stop development atop the highest wooded hilltop overlooking the New York metro. The hill is called High Mountain, and it is … Continue reading

Posted in Geography, history, Journalism, News, Past, Personal, publishing, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Remembering Big Davy

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. — Mahatma Gandhi I’m not sure if Gandhi actually said that. Somebody did. My best human chance of finding who said it — or … Continue reading

Posted in Berkman, Friends, history, Life, News, Obituary, Past, Personal, Photography | 9 Comments

Where the dead receive guests

This is about visiting my great-great grandfather, Thomas Trainor, dead since 1876 and reposing in Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York. Thomas and a friend bought the Trainor family plot, two graves wide, in 1852. It now lies roughly in … Continue reading

Posted in Family, Geography, Geology, history, Past | 2 Comments

On @Cluetrain, @advertising @social and #NewClues

In There Is No More Social Media — Just Advertising, Mike Proulx (@McProulx) begins, Fifteen years ago, the provocative musings of Levine, Locke, Searls and Weinberger set the stage for a grand era of social media marketing with the publication … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Business, Cluetrain, Future, Harvard, history, Identity, Internet, marketing, Past, Social, Technology | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Sports as a propaganda laboratory

The other day a friend shared this quote from Michael Choukas‘ Propaganda Comes of Age (Public Affairs Press, 1965): This is not the propagandist’s aim. For him the validity of an image must be measured not by the degree of its fidelity, … Continue reading

Posted in Journalism, News, Past, Personal, Places, Politics, problems, Research | Tagged , , | 5 Comments