I read a good article titled “For youth, knowledge is currency”. The article caught my eye for two reasons: 1. Despite the fact that I am no longer considered youth, I am as the Daydreamer would say…young at heart and 2. Dion Appel penned it; I really like the feel and concept of Lifelounge, so I said why not?

Dion looks into the concept of urban capital and what it consists of. He states:

“For young people, urban capital comprises knowledge, experience, skills and social connection, that when combined in the right way influence social position.”

Fair point, but wouldn’t this apply to most people? Dion provides some very good insights and examples albeit through the same old quasi-social lens. Being in the marketing / culture / communications type industry, I can’t help but think Dion is just performing yet another exercise in flattery disguised as sociology. After all, being the chief executive and co-founder of Lifelounge, a media and communications company that specialises in the youth demographic, there is good reason for it. (more…)

For those of you who grew up in a similar era, you will know exactly what I’m talking about. The movie Top Gun and those F-14 ‘Tomcats’. Now it wasn’t the greatest movie ever made, far from it. But as a ten year old, it didn’t take much to amuse us all! Those jet fighters and that movie were the ultimate propaganda for influencing young impressionable minds. To the point I always dreamed of growing up a fighter pilot. Many things have changed, but planes… jets especially, still get me excited. Little boy time!

Anyway, the US navy’s F-14 ‘Tomcat’, built to protect the fleet from Soviet bombers, took its last flight off an aircraft carrier yesterday, closing one of the final chapters in its 32-year history. According to the Age, the retirement of the ‘Tomcat’ clears the way for the navy to start using new military aircraft that supporters say can meet post-Cold War requirements more affordably. It is apparently a trend in US government weapons spending that favours cost cutting over performance. Really?

“It’s a Cold War icon with modern day lethality,” said Commander Jim Howe, commander of the navy’s last Tomcat fighter squadron and the pilot on the last Tomcat to make the two second, 240kph catapult launch off the carrier. Pilots and machinists aboard the USS Roosevelt aircraft carrier, off the coast of Virginia, echoed those sentiments this week along with industry analysts.

Beyond reflection about the aircraft’s powerful image, supersonic speed and unmatched dog fighting capabilities, many sailors and analysts agreed the navy just doesn’t need the Tomcat anymore. Simple but deadly ground-based threats such as the roadside bombs used against US forces in Iraq, difficulties securing access to foreign bases and the near total lack of a rival in the air, raise questions over the need for maintaining high spending levels.

Above photo taken Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Todd Frantom, aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, November 2002.

Read the Age article here.

Check out the US Navy’s official take here…

1. you ARE allowed to attack vehicles carrying the ‘Red Cross’, as long as you hit them on the bullseye

2. shelling peacekeepers is deemed to be acceptable practice, as long as you express remorse and disbelief afterwards

While I’m at it, it seems American representatives in the UN Security Council were displeased with the wording of a statement condemning the Israeli bombing of a UN post. I guess that’s fair - when a friend does your dirty work for you, it’s pretty rude to chastise them for the occasional mistake. Never let it be said the Americans don’t look after their friends.