Am I Over-thinking new NFL Over-time Rule?

Call it the “Brett Favre” Rule. Ok, I’ll call it the “Brett Favre” Rule. You can call it what you like on your blog. But I digress.

The NFL has tweaked overtime rules for playoff games. Up until now, winning the coin clip meant a lot. The odds favored the team winning that coin flip. First to score won the game. Cut to losing team holding their heads in disbelief.

That’s no more.

Now both teams have a shot in over-time. Well, sort of. If the team who wins the coin flip then scores a touchdown, the other team goes home. Cut to losing team holding their heads in disbelief.

But…if they only score a field goal, the other team gets a shot to score. Cut to team jumping up and down for joy.

So, touchdown and you go home. Field goal and you hit the field.

Not everyone likes the idea. It’s hard to please everyone all the time. (Google Health Care Reform)

One of my favorite ESPN commentators, Michael Wilbon has no problem with it. He says if you’re on defense, then man up and play defense. If you can hold the other team to a 4th and 2 on let’s say outside the 40, chances are you’ll get your shot. Then get the ball back and score a touchdown. Cut to other team holding their heads in disbelief.

Personally, I’d like to see the rule apply to regular season games. But it’s a start. I believe Brett Favre will like the change, especially if he comes back for another season. We’ll leave that for another blog, likely around training camp time.

John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO and Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
Contact him at ceo@videoprofessor.com
Follow John W. Scherer on Twitter: @VidProf

To 3D or not to 3D? That is the question.

Having seen a couple of 3D films in the past few weeks including Avatar (Brilliant) and Alice in Wonderland (Brilliantly weird) I can say without fear of contradiction that the way we watch movies going forward has changed forever.

But what about at home? Soon we’ll be seeing 3D HD sets at electronics stores, and like the early generation HD sets, they will cost in the thousands of dollars.

But the folks making those sets learned a lesson. HD had been around forever. You could go to trade shows as far back as the 80’s and see pretty pictures on HD screens of flowers and butterflies. Impressive but forgettable once you got home.

What drove the huge and rapid migration to HD sets? Sports. Especially “Left-Right” sports like football and hockey that are a great match for the 16x9 format. When viewers could see the individual blades of grass to the eyeballs of the players, they were hooked.

As HD sports programming increased, so did sales. When sales go up, prices go down.

So it’s no surprise to see networks like ESPN jumping in big time with 3D HD sports programming. What will everything from football to basketball to auto racing look like in 3D HD? I have no idea.

But I can’t wait to find out. See you at the Big Box store!

John

John W. Scherer

John is CEO and Founder of Video Professor, Inc.

Reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com or find John Scherer on Twitter: @VidProf

99 Cents for 99 Hours? YES!

Ok, you’ve seen me holding up CD-ROM lessons on TV for more than a few years and they remain a great way to learn. Millions already have.

But I want to share with you, what has been a bit of a “Best kept secret” around here and that’s Video Professor Online.

Same great Video Professor lessons, but instead of waiting for the lessons to arrive in your mailbox, you just log on and start learning with full access to the entire Video Professor Learning Library. All you need is access to a high speed Internet connection.

Our proven “What you see is what you do” method of learning is available online! How convenient is it? Here’s what you see when you click the “How it works” link:

“Today, your credit card will be charged just $.99 for a full 99 continuous hours of access to over 60 titles. After your trial period, you will be charged just $29.95 per month until you cancel. There are no refunds. Or simply call (800) 424-0277 and cancel at anytime.”

Yep, just 99 cents for 99 continuous hours of learning from over 60 titles. Should you decide to cancel, just one toll free call does it.

Check out a great alternative for your computer learning needs, Video Professor Online.

Click and learn. It’s just that simple.

John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO and Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com
Follow John W. Scherer on Twitter: @VidProf

Online News: Searching for News and Dollars.

The Pew Research Center’s “Project for Excellence in Journalism” just released a survey as to what condition the online news condition is in. (Thanks Kenny)

You can read the entire report here:

It wasn’t hard to find the bottom line. Revenue, or lack of it. Pew found that while there is a rapid growth in people going to the Internet for news and information, they’re not quite as anxious to pay for it. According to the study, 79% of those surveyed rarely click on online ads.

People still listen to radio, and watch TV for news, but those outlets are also facing revenue challenges with networks to local stations losing revenue, cutting staff and doing more with less.

The demise of the traditional newspaper is well-documented. Chances are you don’t even have a local paper where you live.

So why are the same people who willingly paid for a newspaper subscription, so hesitant to support the online sites they’re going to?

But as writer Derek Thompson reports in Atlantic Online, actually we do. Thompson points out people pay an average of $41 each month for Internet access at home. So yes, we are paying. But what part, if any of that revenue stream, is reaching the content producers you pay for access to through that monthly bill?

More and more papers like the Wall Street Journal now charge for “Premium” content. So you get some news free, but not all of it. Cloth seats vs. Leather.

Another model for some online editions of papers is getting “X” amount of story clicks each month. Go beyond that and you’re charged moving forward.

What has sustained any news organization, whether radio, television or print, has been paid advertising. But the online advertising model is a different animal and one marketers and apparently consumers are still trying to figure out.

The Pew Study also points out that a little more than half of us rely on about 2-5 sites for our routine news and information “fix.” That’s certainly the case for me.

Pew says a total of 199 websites get at least half-a-million visits per month. You can ask someone for instance what’s their favorite news website and they might say CNN or FOX. But these websites have multiple versions that deal with everything from news to sports and business.

Conclusion:

Just one from my point of view. It’s always has, and always will be about revenue or as Pew reports, the lack thereof. Click on the story, but not on the ad.

We all know there’s no such thing as a free lunch. That goes for online news too. Now we just have to figure out how to do it. Advertisers and consumers.

John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO and Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
Follow John Scherer on Twitter: @VidProf

It’s mad to mess with March Madness.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch the Sports Reporters Sunday Mornings on ESPN, you ought to. It airs at 7:30am Mountain Time. The podcasts can be found at here. Great insight and analysis, week in and week out.

A recent topic of discussion included thoughts by the NCAA to increase the number of teams in the college basketball tournament known as “March Madness” from 65 to 96. Yes, 96. Which would essentially mean everyone gets in. Even making #65 in what used to be a 64 team bracket via a “Play-in” doesn’t make sense. In fact it’s nonsense.

But 96 teams? Come on folks! The three weekends that make up the current structure are as good as any in sports. The best, in the minds of many fans. What makes the current format successful, along with exciting basketball and the opportunities for Cinderella teams to make it in is the involvement of fans. The biggest being filling out your bracket sheets in the myriad of office pools and on-line games. There’s nothing like it in sports.

Can you even imagine a 96 team bracket? Nope, this idea just won’t fly. It’s anything but a slam-dunk. More like a slam-dud, dude.

What’s truly weird is that the same “Brain” trust behind all this is the same one that refuses to install a playoff in College Football. Yet now they want to ruin one of the best events in sports.

Even with the current format, let’s face it, the only people watching #3 play #14 in first round action are fans of those teams. Now should #14 win, welcome Cinderella! Then we watch and it’s when the fun begins, except when our brackets self-implode the first weekend.

So please NCAA and the Networks involved, leave a great thing just that, a great thing.

It’s madness to mess with March Madness.

John

John W. Scherer

John is CEO and Founder of Video Professor, Inc.

You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com

Follow John Scherer on Twitter: @VidProf.

“Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor gloom of night.” (Except for Saturdays and holidays.)

Recently I  shot a commercial where I mentioned the 22 years we’ve been in business at Video Professor and the millions of people we’ve taught over those years.

At the time, I didn’t know the folks at the United States Postal Service were considering cutting mail delivery on Saturdays. It caught my attention for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is we ship our lessons to you via USPS and last year they honored us with their Distinguished Business Achievement Award.  The USPS team is great to work with.

One thing that has impacted the USPS is e-mail. How many actual letters do you get in a week, if you get any at all? Then there’s competition from other package delivery services like FedEx and UPS.

But certainly computers have had an impact on the way we communicate. If you send an e-mail, you don’t need to mail a letter. If you bank electronically, the bank doesn’t need to send you a statement in the mail. When you invest online, you can opt to get your financial statements sent via e-mail instead of your mailbox. Paying your bills online means not having to wait for a bill in your mailbox in the first place, or having to mail your payment when you do get a bill.

So less traditional mail means less business for the USPS. Less business means less revenue. Less revenue means having to cut back if you can’t find a way to make up for the lost business; which could mean no mail on Saturdays.

We’ve taught over 15 million people to put the computer on their desk to good use, to make their lives more efficient and organized. The machine on their desk or on their lap, in many cases has replaced the mailbox outside their door.

But there is no small irony in the fact that what you order online, which saves you time and in many cases money, will now be delivered Monday instead of Saturday. I suppose some day, some scientist will finally find a way ala Star Trek to simply “beam” products to your home. Not likely in our lifetimes.

So what will the impact of one less “mail day” mean to you and me? I conducted an online discussion on the subject last week via linkedin.com and got dozens of responses. Just about everyone’s reaction was different as to how eliminating mail delivery on Saturday would impact them. The funniest came from a Canadian friend who told me they haven’t had Saturday mail delivery for a long time and added they won the Gold in Hockey! (Not sure what the connection is but I’m sure it was a bit of a shot and I don’t blame him!)

We’re about to find out. Either way, we’ll also find a way to adapt. Pending of course, what Congress decides and when.

John

John W. Scherer

John Scherer is CEO and Founder of Video Professor, Inc.

You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com

Follow him on Twitter: @VidProf

Professor makes extreme point.

Ok, I just play a professor on TV. But I came across this video of a real professor who apparently doesn't like the use of laptops in his classroom.

Granted the clickety clack of keys can be annoying, especially those keyboard pounder-types, but to not use laptops in today's classrooms seems a tad foolish.

You watch. You decide.

John Scherer
John is CEO and Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
Reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com
Follow John on Twitter: @VidProf

Mr. Dithers, Jeremy and Hi on Social Media.

Reading through the “funnies” the other day (a guilty pleasure) there were three different comic strips that included Social Media in their story lines.


First up, the popular comic strip Zits®. Young teen Jeremy is talking about spending too much time on Facebook®. His mom tries to chime in with advice, but he quickly tells her that he’s on Facebook asking his friends for advice.

Then reading Blondie® we visit the offices of the J.D. Dithers where Mr. Dithers is chewing out the staff for wasting time playing online games.

Finally a stop to catch up on the adventures of Hi and Lois®. Hi is talking with a friend who uses a PC at work and a Mac® at home. Asked about the conflict of machines, his friend tells him he’s seeing a “Computer Therapist.” (Maybe he should try the Video Professor!)

All these strips are must-reads for me every morning, online of course. In the case of Blondie and Hi and Lois, these strips have been around for decades. No one has aged a bit but they’ve all kept up with the times nonetheless. At least Jeremy recently turned 16 after several years of being 15.

But the latest gags are about Social Media. Just more proof, it’s here to stay.

Like it or not.

John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO and Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com
Visit him on Twitter: @VidProf.

Happy 100th Birthday to the Boy Scouts

Congratulations to America's Boy Scouts, a wonderful American Institution.

John W. Scherer
Video Professor, Inc.
Reach me at ceo@videoprofessor.com or follow me on Twitter: @VidProf.

Got Mobile? The video floodgates are about to burst.

I’m going to do my best to translate tech talk to people talk as I comment on some research released by the folks at Cisco. You can read it here, which has an additional link to more tech info.


The bottom line is, according to writer Sarah Perez, is not that the mobile web has a future but just how big is that future. It appears to be huge. (Not that there was any doubt as one person who posted about the article noted.)

Traffic on portable devices increased 160% in the past year alone and according to the Cisco study is expected to increase 39 fold by 2014.

We are becoming a nation of big screens at home, and small screens on the go. But wherever we go, we want content on demand.

All this is getting noticed by consumers because it’s win-win for them. More and more mobile devices, PDA’s and iPad-like devices will be flooding store shelves in the big box stores. Competition is good for consumers.

But those of us who market everything from computer lessons to car parts are already making use of this new and rapidly growing pipeline. The biggest demand will be for mobile video and this isn’t just here in the United States. The demand is world wide.

Nations like Iran and China are working hard to “narrow” the pipeline and what comes through it. But technology will trump ideology.

That’s a good thing.

-John

John W. Scherer
John is CEO and Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
Share your thoughts and ideas with John at ceo@videoprofessor.com
Follow me on Twitter: @VidProf

Teens Text, We Tweet.

The folks over at the Pew Internet and Life Project have been studying how we communicate on Web 2.0.


They found some interesting facts. I wasn’t surprised that communicating online is a multi-generation thing these days, but there are generational differences in how we do it.

What Pew found:

• Teens tend to text while older generations are more likely to use Twitter®.

• Blogging is on the decline for those under 30, but people over 30 are blogging more. Blogs are popular in business, hence mine each week.

• Sites like Facebook® remain popular with the younger generation but more and more “Boomers” are connecting on Facebook as well.

All of the above remain a work in progress. There are no experts as we’re inventing all this together as we go along.

Regardless of method, wireless interconnectivity is growing and will continue to grow. There are many ways to do so and different sites ranging from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn® offer young and old alike ways to catch up, make new friends and even market themselves or products.

I came across an interesting description of Social Media Networks from Mike Hanbery of Hanbery & Hanbery, ) a Denver-based marketing firm. Mike posts,

“The Office, The Water Cooler and The Bar: A Tale of Three Social Networks

Here’s a real easy way to think about the cultures of the “big three” Internet social networks: LinkedIn is the office, Facebook the water cooler, Twitter the bar after work. Source: Swift Kick Blog.

A pretty good description if you ask me. (He posted this on Facebook by the way.)

Remember that famous line from the movie “Cool Hand Luke?” The boss of the prison camp says to Luke (played magnificently by Paul Neuman,) “What we’ve got here, is failure to communicate.”

They didn’t have PDA’s back then. Not that ole Luke likely would have used one.

As always, a word to the wise: Once you post something via Twitter, Facebook or whatever, it’s out there. Forever. The good thing about the ‘Net is everyone has access to it. The bad thing about the ‘Net is everyone has access to it.

Look both ways before you cross the digital highway.

-John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.

Should Super Bowl be a Saturday Night Special?

Another Super Bowl is over, and millions of bleary-eyed people are showing up for work this morning, if they haven’t called in sick. But congrats to the Saints who've gone from "Who Dat?" to "We Dat!"


Super Sunday. Eat, drink and be merry. Not so good on Monday. I wonder if anyone has done any productivity, or lack thereof, studies about work the day after the Super Bowl. I did hear one analyst on the radio say this morning the cost is in the millions.

I was listening to Mike & Mike in the Morning on ESPN before the game, and they raised the idea about moving the Super Bowl to Saturday night. It seems to make a lot of sense. Let’s be honest, people party hearty during the game; it’s become a tradition. An unofficial national holiday.

I think a Saturday night game would actually be good for both fans and the teams. Certainly sports bars would get better business if people had the next day to recover. (Remember, always bring a designated driver.)

Long as I’m on the subject, do we really need a four-hour pre-game show? It’s not like there hasn’t been wall-to-wall coverage the weeks(s) leading up to the game.

So that’s my idea. Shorter is better for the pre-game and let’s make the Super Bowl a Saturday Night Special.

Sunday you can sleep in, or better yet, go to church and ask for forgiveness for over-indulging the night before!

I’m just sayin’ …

John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.

NASA, Inc?

We have a magazine exchange here at Video Professor. Once someone has read a magazine, instead of tossing it, they share it.


Digging through the box, I found and read the January 2010 edition of Popular Science. The cover story dealt with the commercialization of space travel.

Several companies led by Richard Branson, uber entrepreneur, and Burt Rutan are offering commercial space travel. Still pricey but the line for flights is a long one.

Meanwhile, NASA fiddles and faddles. NASA is a bad mix of politics and science. As said in the movie “The Right Stuff,” “No bucks, no Buck Rogers.” There also seems to be no direction or definitive goals set for the agency either.

Commercial space vendors are soaring while NASA is running out of shuttles and ideas. Soon we’ll be hitching a ride with the Russians just to get to the space station.

If you have a spare $25 million or so lying around, the Russians will actually fly you to the space station. Not so with NASA. Heaven forbid they actually try and make money from space.

The commercialization of space is nothing new, and it’s creating international partnerships. The television programs you watch are transmitted from satellites launched, in many cases, on American Atlas-Centaur booster packages with Russian Proton motors. Many commercial rockets are transported to Cape Canaveral aboard Russian-designed Antonov AN-124s (think the C-5A Galaxy on steroids) flown by a Ukrainian air transport company.

Do you believe the Cold War is over?

The bottom line is that if you have the cash, you can go into orbit.

Is it time to turn over the space program to private enterprise or for NASA to operate as a for-profit entity? Just think what Apple® or Google™ would be willing to pay to have their logo on the shuttle.

Competition means progress. Competition produces results. Free enterprise does the best job of it.

Space isn’t just for Buck Rogers anymore. It’s for anyone with the bucks to get there. The list grows every day.

John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.

Is Privacy "Passe?"

If you haven’t read the Jan. 25 edition of Bloomberg BusinessWeek, I recommend you do so and turn to page 13.


In an Ideas column, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg is quoted as saying that privacy “is no longer a social norm.”

Think on that for a minute.

Tech bloggers are chiming in. Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote on http://www.readwriteweb.com/ that “the notion of privacy can no longer be equated with absolute secrecy.”

Blogger Evgeny Morozov wrote on that some governments are “moving towards reinforcing privacy protections.” France for example is thinking about laws to allow citizens to have old online data about themselves deleted. The technology, however, doesn’t exist to do that.

With the growing number of social media web sites, it’s so easy for someone to bend, fold and electronically mutilate anyone’s reputation. A sober reminder that in a world where everyone has a camera, a picture of you is just seconds away from being posted.

Let me say that social media sites are great fun, a wonderful way to stay in touch with friends and family. As one of our employees here said: It’s a way for her to “have a high school reunion every day.”

But once something is posted, it’s out there. Forever.

We all treasure our privacy. These days you have to work very, very had to protect it.

The great thing about the Internet is that everyone has access to it; the bad thing about the Internet is that everyone has access to it.

Privacy need not and should not be passé.

-John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.

Sports will break your heart.

I’m writing this prior to the Jan. 16-17 playoff games but wanted to talk about both the Texas-Alabama NCAA championship game and the extraordinary battle between the Packers and the Cardinals in their NFL wildcard matchup.


Both are perfect examples of why we love sports, and why sports will break your heart.


As for the Texas game, the strategy was obvious. Stop the Tide, and get the ball to Colt McCoy. It worked for two minutes until McCoy was sacked on only his fifth play of the game, which he left with a limp throwing arm. He never returned. Fifty-eight minutes left on the clock. So much for that idea. In comes Garrett Gilbert, true freshman and thoroughly unprepared.


But the Longhorns battled back to get within three points. There was hope, right up until the ‘Bama “D” got to Gilbert, who was sacked and fumbled the ball. Then, the Tide “rolled” into the end zone and that was that. But Gilbert, the most highly recruited high school QB in the country, showed grit. There’s much to feel good about in Austin.


Then, watching the offensive free-for-all between Green Bay and Arizona, it looked like the Pack was out of it early. Proof again that you should never leave a game before it’s over.


The Pack battled back, and after a missed chip shot field goal by Arizona’s placekicker, the game tied up at 45-45 and went into overtime. The Packers got the ball and began their drive. Put another brat on the grill!


Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is good, very good, especially making plays when everything around him is falling apart. Early in overtime, he made a simple three-step drop but held on to the ball too long, perhaps expecting to make magic one more time. He ran out of rabbits up his jersey.


Just like the Texas QB, Rodgers got hit, lost the ball and Arizona ran it in for the game-winning touchdown.


The emotions for both games ran the full gamut, and if fans have fingernails left from either game, I’d be surprised.


But in sports, one team has to win and the other has to lose. Texas and Green Bay fans had their hearts broken.


But the nice thing about sports is that both those teams will be back next year, likely to break a few more hearts, and both are hoping it’s the hearts of their opponents.


For you non-sports lovers, this is why those of us are so passionate about sports, because it’s so full of passion.


And heartbreak.


-John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.

Eighty Football Fields of E-Bliss!

The annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) just finished up yesterday in Las Vegas. Although the economy has had an impact on attendance, it remains one monster of a showcase for all that’s new in technology.

Imagine over 80 football fields-worth of displays from all the major players in tech, plus tucked away here and there—and out in the open—the next big thing.

Absent as always is Apple®, who does their own thing, not the least of which is the anticipated release of the ”iTablet” on Jan. 26 in San Francisco.

By any measure 2009 was a disappointment for folks who make their living selling tech toys, but optimism was seen everywhere looking ahead through 2010.

What will be hot in 2010 (my humble predictions):

My “super hot product” prediction for the upcoming year will be 3-D HDTV. Like any other technology there will be early adaptors, there will be bugs and of course, like anything new, the first sets will be expensive. With both ESPN and TLC rolling out HD it provides incentive for potential viewers to invest in the sets, but do satellite/cable program providers have the bandwidth and, if so, at what price?

But 3-D HDTV, especially in sports, is guaranteed to be a hit eventually. The transition from HD to 3-D HDTV will be faster than it was from standard def to HD (depending on the economy of course).

Also hot: E-readers like Kindle and tablet-style computers. I blogged elsewhere that Amazon.com reported that they actually sold more digital books than traditional ones on Christmas Day 2009. According to the CES web site, there were 23 different exhibitors with various types of e-readers.

Small will be big, and as a result, “hot.” Handheld TVs with both off-air and premium programming will also become very popular. Prices should be affordable from the start and only get better as more players enter the market.

DVDs are on the way out, as it will be more and more common simply to download movies right off the Internet to your TV. There will be a myriad of ways to do it, and it will be confusing for many at first, but it will catch on. Actually, it already is.

CES isn’t open to the general public, but attracted more than a hundred-thousand industry folks and media who cover tech. Has the tech turnaround begun? I think so. Proof will come when all these goodies hit store shelves throughout the year.

See you at the Big Box store!

-John

John W. Scherer

John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.

You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.

It’s about the terrorists, stupid.

Call it a Christmas miracle, but for some reason the bomb carried by 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria didn’t go off the way it was supposed to while he was seated in 19A aboard a Northwest Airlines jet.

He tried to set off some sort of explosive device while the jet was approaching Detroit. There was smoke; there was fire but no explosion, which is doubly lucky because 19A is very close to the fuel tanks.

Catastrophe averted. Abdulmutallab claimed to be Al Qaeda-trained and, within a few days, a murderous group linked to Al Qaeda claimed he was a “brother” and that they had trained him.

So how did it happen? We know he started his “mission” in Nigeria where security screening involves just getting on the plane. Oh yes, he paid cash for his ticket and had no bags. Destination: USA. No red flags, at least not in Nigeria.

By then he was in the system. There were additional security screenings in Amsterdam, but he sneaked by those as well.

Initially, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the system indeed worked. Oops. Last Monday she “recalibrated” her position to say the system, in fact, didn’t work.

Passengers are already being impacted. Some airlines won’t let you leave your seat within an hour of landing. Laptops and the like also have to be stored at that time. Bomb sniffing dogs are everywhere, especially in international departure areas.

Sadly, there has also been some political sniping going on. Cheap shots are out of order.

Much of the talk remains on the “system.” Can it be made better? Absolutely, but terrorists aren’t flying from here, they’re flying to here. The problem isn’t the system, it’s the terrorists!

They keep trying. They keep coming back. They’re not giving up. They’re relentless in their “jihad” against the West.

They’re sponsored by, and find refuge in, nations like Yemen and Iran. Countries like Nigeria simply let them walk on.

All the security here in America won’t keep them from boarding planes in other countries. The terrorists know that. Their modus operandi is pretty basic. Bombs, made from stuff you can buy at a drugstore. Scaled down versions of the improvised explosive devices, or IED’s, killing our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Our high tech vs. their low tech.

What we continue to underestimate is their cunning. Intelligence gathering is getting better. The capture of Najibullah Zazi in Denver is proof. By holding the 9/11 terror trials in New York, who knows how many young, misguided people will only be inspired to join the ranks of terrorists because you can bet the bad guys on trial will take every opportunity to portray themselves as glorious martyrs.

So, while we take our computers out of bags, slip off our shoes, are submitted to random pat downs, etc., here in the United States, terrorists will simply continue to refine their techniques and continue to walk on to planes in countries that have few if any security checks.

Keeping people in their seats an hour before landing just means the terrorists will try an attack more than an hour before landing.

We know where the safe havens for these terrorists are. We know who is bankrolling them. What we’re not doing is anything to stop it at the source.

The horse has long since left the barn. No need for a new lock. What we need is a new door. A door that locks from the inside rather than the outside.

-John
John W. Scherer
John Scherer is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.

A good time to look ahead, not back.

This is a time when many news organizations present end of the year stories, or in this case, end of the decade.

I remember as a kid looking forward to the new century. Back then the year 2000 seemed so far away.

There have been some rough, make that awful, times since the big ball in Times Square dropped, not the least of which was 9/11. Then the economic crash. We’re at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Many around the world, and sadly some here at home, are writing off this nation. Our time on the world stage is over, they say.

I don’t buy any of that for a minute. The United States of America was, is and will remain the most powerful, prosperous and—most importantly—generous nation in the world.

Truth be known, we remain the envy of most of the world.

Can we do better? You bet. It can begin with our own government, where votes might as well be sold on eBay®. Bitter and petty partisanship must end. Immediately if not sooner.

Ultimately, it’s us who live along Main Street, USA who will carry on. We remain a nation of great people and problem solvers.

Just a few weeks ago we teamed up with a group of parents, educators and businesses to provide 130 computers and Video Professor lessons to deserving kids in Brooklyn, New York. As a result, kids who would have been on the wrong side of the digital divide are sitting at home with computers, learning and communicating. We didn’t need the government to help us make it happen, just the willingness to work together to make a difference.

So I remain optimistic about this nation’s future. Look back at our history. Seismic events throughout our history have simply made us stronger, as people and as a nation.

It’s with that spirit that I wish each and every one of you a most prosperous and happy new year.

-John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.
You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.

Is Santa real? I have proof!

There always seems to be some discussion this time of year about whether or not there is a Santa. The naysayers tend to be Grinch-like personalities.

So I did some checking to set the record straight once and for all.

I didn’t have to go any further than the Newseum in Washington, D.C. It’s a great place that honors the best traditions of journalism and those who did, and continue, to practice them. If it’s in the Newseum, it’s fact. Period.

They list an article that, to me, is absolute proof that Santa does exist. It all started when a young girl named Virginia wrote into New York's The Sun back in 1897. Apparently, some of her friends had been telling her there was no such person as Santa Claus. Concerned, she wrote a letter to the editor, and this was the response she received:

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Francis Pharcellus Church
The Sun

So there you have it, proof directly from the Newseum itself. Santa does exist. (Was there ever any doubt?)

Ho Ho Ho!

-John
John W. Scherer
John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.

You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.

NASA can learn from NASCAR.

I’ve been reading about entrepreneur extraordinaire Richard Branson who, along with engineer extraordinaire Burt Rutan, is building a commercial space facility in New Mexico.

Starting as early as 2011, you’ll be able to take a short suborbital hop for $200,000. Hundreds of folks have already placed deposits for a flight 70 miles above the earth and five minutes of zero-G.

The Russians will take you up to the International Space Station for $20 million.

All these prices are out of reach for most of us, but the bottom line is … the bottom line. Making money off space travel.

This leads me to wonder why NASA hasn’t gotten on the bandwagon. Theirs is a constant fight with Congress for budgeting. As they said in the movie "The Right Stuff," “No bucks, no Buck Rogers.”

There are ads on everything these days from busses to stadiums to race cars. Why not the space shuttle, or whatever next generation rocket comes along? Can you imagine what some companies would pay to have their brand on the side of a spaceship? Or on space suits?

Hey, it works just fine for NASCAR, so why not NASA?

Space exploration is important. It’s in our nature to want to explore to see what’s over the next hill or the next planet.

Why not earn a little advertising revenue along the way? Or would that make too much sense? Tax dollars are hard to come by these days and the voters are getting restless.

-John

John W. Scherer

John is CEO & Founder of Video Professor, Inc.

You can reach him at ceo@videoprofessor.com.