March 29, 2005
Image of the Week: Korean Cover
This gave me a huge kick when I saw it: the cover of the Korean edition of the book, with everything (including my name) translated into Korean. I don't have a hardcopy yet, although I'm dying to see one.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:29 AM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2005
All the President's Hair
Here’s a historical website that’s a bit on the wiggy side, testing visual acuity and historical expertise: All The President’s Hair. I must confess I did baldy—I mean badly—at this hair-brained quiz, so I guess I better brush up on my presi pompadors.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2005
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury
I just finished up jury service on a case in civil court. It involved about 5 days of testimony and one day of deliberations. The experience was absolutely fascinating, especially the dynamics of 14 people in the jury room trying to come together on an understanding of just what actually in happened in what was essentially a he said, she said case. I was very impressed with the judge and my fellow jurors. They were attentive and thoughtful during the trial and deliberations, cheerful and lighthearted in the recesses, and quite serious about wanting justice to be done, whatever that might entail. Our deliberations were spirited but respectful, and they really helped us to come together for our final verdict. The whole thing gave me at It gave me great faith in the jury system.
Something quite unexpected was that the judge let us ask questions (in writing) of the witnesses. After the lawyers were done with a witness, Judge Hines asked if members of the jury had any questions. After we wrote them down and gave them to her, she went over them in sidebar with the attorneys to hear any objections they might have, and then she asked the questions that made the cut. This was a great way to keep the jury involved, and it also elicited some very interesting information that otherwise would never have come out. In my opinion, this should be a regular feature of all jury trials.
We found for the plaintiff on one count, and had to award damages for mental pain and suffering (it was a racial discrimination case). This was very difficult to do, as there are no guidelines. You are pretty much pulling a number out of thin air. We were all over the map on numbers, and reasons for those numbers. Coming up with a final number that at least 12 of the 14 people could agree on involved a lot of comprimise.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:46 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2005
Image of the Week: George Patton
I've just added a new feature to the site called Image of the Week. Since historical photos, drawings, maps etc. are a huge part of the books and documentaries I create, I thought it would be fun to share some of them on the site. This one is a picture of World War Two General George Patton taken some 30+ years earlier. I'd love to hear any comments anyone has about it.
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:33 AM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2005
Looking Backwards...and Forward
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the publication of The Greatest Stories Never Told, which coincides with the anniversary of the start of the Iraq war. And just a few days ago I delivered the manuscript and artwork for my forthcoming book, of The Greatest War Stories Never Told. It will be coming out in October.
I expected the second book to be easier than the first, but in fact it was harder. The first book leaned heavily on the research done for the Timelab series. This book required a much greater amount of original research. Plus, my wife Marilyn says my standards for what makes a good story are getting higher—I hope so! Anyway, I’m delighted that it is now into production. Of course there will be lots of publciity work to do when it comes out, but that's months away. Meantime I can get started on the third book in the series, The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told. (Can you spot the trend?)
Posted by rickbeyer at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2005
Albert Einstein and a Pretty Girl
I noted in the paper this morning a mention that this year marks the 100th anniversary of Relativity. Einstein supposedly explained the complex theory this way:
"When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity."
The other day I came across a wonderful flight of fancy based on that quote
Scientific American: Einstein's Hot Time
Great theoreticians know that hypothesis must be confirmed with experiment.
Enjoy!
Posted by rickbeyer at 11:55 PM | Comments (0)