LernerMedia™ Journal

Since the deadly explosion on 20 April 2010, and subsequent sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on 22 April 2010, we’ve been monitoring and contributing to coverage of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The story quickly took on international dimensions, BP (formerly British Petroleum), initially labeled the primary party responsible clean up costs and damages, operated the exploratory Deepwater Horizon on lease from Transocean, a Swiss-based company. While the accident remains under investigation, the finger pointing and attempts to fix blame and legal liability  immediately began between BP, Transocean, and other companies.

Relying on expert colleagues — ranging from marine biologists to senior engineers with experience, access, and insight into the offshore drilling disaster and the fight to contain the leak at sea — LernerMedia creates, contributes to, and coordinates science-related coverage for a number of media outlets.

News and photos of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico  dominated news racks and media broadcasts in Cannes, France, and across Europe. ©2010 LernerMedia

From what we can discern from Europe, the initial coverage in the United States quickly became a political football related to offshore drilling. While that is inevitable, it was hard to find fact-based reporting that did not inevitably spin into political posturing (the spin masters for both pro-drilling and anti-drilling interests were obviously hard at work).  In Europe , we hope that in some very small way that our modest efforts have helped better focus initial attention on determining the exact details of the engineering disaster (facts important to creating an effective response) and the globally catastrophic environmental impacts of the spill.  The impact of this spill will range far beyond damage to fragile wetlands ecosystems and already beleaguered communities along the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida Gulf Coasts.

Because of the magnitude of the spill (and an unanticipated, exiting, new book project set to start this week) some ongoing projects and developmental production work is being reassigned to trusted colleagues. This will free us over the next few months to focus on  continuing to provide fact-based science content and analysis (and, of course,  Brenda provides health impact analysis). We have also been asked to shift gears in order to evaluate and/or collaborate on a number production and documentary projects.  As always, colleagues can keep up with news and opportunities to contribute to projects at our secure forum site.

At this point, our focus remains on helping our publishing and production clients understand and critically evaluate the vast amounts of scientific data produced by DOI, EPA, NOAA, NASA, BP, and what will soon be a bewildering array of federal, state, and NGO  sources. In addition to producing fact-based content. We are also asked to make recommendations about contracting and coordinating coverage of the spill at the local level. We have, quite literally, already received and evaluated hundreds of links to scientist blogs, environmental reporter sites, and citizen journalist’s coverage of the spill.  Within days of the rig explosions, an army of talented people were on scene producing blog posts, YouTube videos, Twitter feeds, etc.  The usual ephemera exists, but some of these resources offer unique and insightful information that many major media outlets don’t have the time, resources, or inclination to report.

We recommend that colleagues evaluate and balance information obtained from a variety of media sources.

As always, part of our job is to help our professional clients identify genuine signal within the noise.   One of our highest priorities remains the accurate translation of sometimes complex science and engineering concepts into content that enhances understanding and critical evaluation of the news by students and lay audiences.

We plan to wrap up work (which yesterday moved into Italy) on the continent as soon as possible and after a set of meetings in London, we hope to be back at the Gulf Coast by mid-month.  Alas, it increasingly appears that the most optimistic projections (e.g., lowest-end estimates of the rate of leakage, time projections for engineering alternatives, etc.) combined  with most dedicated efforts to mitigate damage will fail to prevent a large scale environmental catastrophe.

If is also inevitable that people, equipment, and plans will fail. One of the first things we checked following the explosion was for the catastrophic spill contingency plans on file with the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the DOI. we expected it to be a game plan by which we could evaluate both government and industry response. We made our initial inquiries on 22 April 2010 but have yet to find documentation of such a contingency plan. If indeed the MMS ruled that, in part, because of the distance from shore no  contingency plan was necessary, that would be unconscionable from a scientific and engineering standpoint.

Regardless of how marvelously the engineers perform (and given the challenging environment ANY engineering fix would be a technological marvel) the spill is already significant.  Even under the best scenarios where oil stays largly out to sea or is dispersed, there will be both environmental and economic costs.  One storm can change things in a matter of hours. As I advised one of our publishing clients on 27 April, “I am very skeptical of the (early) minimal impact assessments. They are self-serving to too many interests as there has been no time to make scientific estimation. I know these ocean models very well. They fix a number if variables to come up with snap models… Besides. I remember Nixon.”

Regardless the outcome, this disaster should result in robust inquiry and debate about the real costs and perils of drilling, and hopefully increase our determination toward development of alternative and clean energy resources. But we also live in an oil dependent world, and that will not change soon.  The engineering complexities related to deep water drilling are rivaled only by space exploration.  The technological feats are magnificent, the failures deadly and foreboding to contemplate.

As we are under contract to several media outlets, we will not be posting editorial workproduct or related analysis about the spill in this journal.  I anticipate, however, that we will eventually offer some personal observation, insights, and opinions.

We currently plan to use our Bellessima B. to provide offshore photos, footage, and as a platform for documentary exploration of both offshore and and onshore impacts of the spill.  Bella will allow us to range the Gulf Coast from Texas to the Florida Panhandle. However, although we are experienced blue water sailors, we know not to underestimate the dangers presented by tranquil bays and inland waterways moved to quickly violent by churning winds. In addition to sailing in the Gulf, Mobile Bay, Pensacola Bay, and the Mississippi Sound present unique challenges (including navigational challenges related to changes brought about by Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina, Gustav and other recent severe storms. Very few people have real experience with the special hazards presented by operations in fouled water  (e.g. clogged intakes that can impair generators needed for shipboard operations and for media and communications equipment.  Accordingly, we are seeking and appealing for expert advice regarding “blackwater” operations.

Suddenly, being “stranded” by the Iceland volcano while on a working in Europe is less amusing. Along with Texas, the U.S. Gulf Coast is our home. We raised our children there, the last learning to walk in the sugar white sands of Santa Rosa Island and the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Our daughters have already signed up to help with wildlife rescue and other clean-up efforts as needed.

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We have many friends along the U.S. Gulf Coast, not all of them human (and no, we are not talking about our photographer and cinematographer colleagues).  In addition to the human tragedy of lost lives and livelihoods,  we fear for the dolphins, birds, and other wildlife who routinely surround and follow the Bellissema B. Although our hands are absent for a few weeks, our thoughts are with them all.

Cheers,

Lee & Brenda

Genoa, Italy.

Canard Cuisine

What is it about the otherwise rational and wonderful French culture that drives their love of wacko conspiracy theories? The French obsession with canards obviously goes beyond cooking!  Although I admit that I love the French and their culture, I am especially perplexed by the moon hoax and NASA-obsessed wackos in France.

Alas, reliance on pseudoscience and references to  spiritualism, the occult,  conspiracy theories, and other anti-Enlightenment  lines of thought will always captivate a certain segment of the population in every country. Moreover, as the sometimes clever Yes Men often prove, the tentacles of irrationality and gullibility can sometimes work past the usual social safety nets (e.g., the usual safeguards provided by education, opportunity, etc.). Aaron Sorkin once wonderfully summed it all up by writing a line for a character who said something like, “We now live in a nightmare world that if it were a film, would be titled The Revenge of the Hacks!”  I agree.

It used to be that hacks and wackos were limited to yelling at street corners or distributing leaflets.  The number leaflets they could push into passerby hands was, thankfully, usually limited by the number of nickels that  people might plink into a tin cup out of pity (or in hopes of having them move on). Now, however, wackos have a global audience, their misaligned thoughts captured in orderly electron arrays for the ages.

I assert that over the last two decades, media popularization and exploitation of  anti-Enlightenment thought is on the rise around the world.  Anti-Enlightenment thought is certainly not confined to America.  My personal observation–and as we develop this site over the next few years, we will post some archival examples from our work travels–is that mysticism and other forms of anti-Enlightenment thought still abounds (sometimes even within scientific circles)  in Europe, Russia, China, and developed parts of India and Asia.

Large parts of Australia also seem lost. 

Print, film, cable, and broadcast editors who have the editorial responsibilities and capacity to review and control the dissemination of wacko and hack material should be flogged when they deliberately use or exploit such content. As I have long argued, James Brooks wonderfully insightful1980s  film Broadcast News predicted the inevitable decline to news as entertainment (and subject to the economic and profit drives thereof) that have created the current state of news noise.  Although they can be infuriating, I understand the hacks and wackos, but what I don’t understand are news editors sincerely promoting the disturbed.  For example, with regard to NASA,  not only are the conspiracy theories absurd, they are also insulting to the tens of thousands of men and women who devoted (and sometimes sacrificed) their lives in the exploration of space.

At a minimum, can’t we simply label and consign specious content as entertaining “odd bits.”

Accordingly, we hereby establish such a LernerMedia  Journal category.

Alas, the truth is that it is often not the ignorant who are to be feared.  It is the semi-knowledgeable  pseudoscholars  who cause the most damage to honest studies. A recent thread by Gavin and the other excellent scientists at Real Climate discusses another  prominent and maddening example of this anti-Enlightenment, pseudoscience/conspiracy infatuation in France (See  http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/04/claude-allegre-the-climate-imposter ).

Because the media is always looking for a new angle, hype and hysteria often garner more attention than substance.  As a result, scholarship is shunned and sensational distortions or half-truths are too easily and too often taken as gospel.

Cheers,

Lee

Bonnieux, France

April, 2010

The Beast on the Beast of Provence

Thank you, Iceland volcano and British Airways!  There is nothing better than a “three hour tour” business trip to Europe (and packed for same) turning into a month in Spain, France, and Italy.

On a wild and irrational  impulse I bought bought equipment off the shelf, rented a bike in Girona, Spain, and had good luck with the Spanish mountains.  Encouraged by Spain and “stuck” in Provence, I gave the legendary Ventoux a try from the classic start in Bédoin.

I’ve now ridden in Spain , France, and Italy and, by far, this was the most challenging and beautiful ride. Vineyards and the wonderful smell of apricot trees in bloom fill the air while climbing through Sainte Colombe and Les Bruns. After the famous hairpin turn at St Estève up into the forest, I was absolutely at the limit (of my blood pressure, brain oxygenation, and probably common sense) nearly the entire climb.  My time was nothing Lance or Alberto will lose sleep over, but it was satisfying to see some cyclists who passed me on the final ascent end up having to walk in their bikes over the final hairpin turn at the summit. Being an old rugby player (and a husky tight-head prop at that) I probably put out enough watts to light Paris for a week.

I am very proud of Brenda.  She pushed herself to drive steep sections in the car and had baguettes avec tomate et fromage waiting at the midpoint. Communications on the mountain are spotty and float in and out and she made all the right decisions. Her handing me a hot crepe sucre at 16.0 km (made at Chalet Renard)  was just the trick to help me to the top.  Well… that and finally finding the lowest gear set on my rented (but absolutely grand and featherweight) Trek bike.

It’s not the altitude — in fact we lived at a higher altitude than the summit when we lived in Colorado. It’s the grinding grade of the climb. More about the “Beast of Provence” can be found at  http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?Col=Mont-Ventoux&qryMountainID=4 and  a good history in English can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Ventoux and in French at http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Ventoux.

The highlight of the trip was the French family who interrupted their picnic to walk over to the side of the road to clap and yell, Allez! Cyclists on the road, no matter what their speed or professional status, shout Allez! Courage! Fortitude! Well, the riders going uphill yell that.  The riders flying downhill at 60 kph are too frozen, focused, and petrified to yell or respond to anything. I give on the fact that it has to be more brutal in the heat, but wind and cold (and lack of  conditioning or equipment for same) also presents challenges. Mont Ventoux earns its name and fame.

Thank goodness for my new euro clips; after a day of trouble they also helped force me to the summit. I had trouble with the unfamiliar clips the entire day and had to do several steep sections with my left foot unclipped. There was one very steep section near the summit past Fontaine de la Grave where my legs were screaming and I thought I might need to rest or risk a bonk that might take me over the cliff.  Although I tried,  I could not unclip,  and so I was forced to keep going up the narrow uphill section.

After the Ventoux takes it out of your legs, the final 4 km are just brutal, but at the same time magnificent and wonderful. You move into yourself and it’s a Zen-like, one-pedal-after-another climb into the cycling heavens.

More when I can move something other than my fingers…some pics below…

Cheers,

Lee

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Starting on March 25 we left for New Orleans on what initially was a three day work/road trip. However, evolution happens. An odd combination of work opportunities, family matters, and volcanic natural disasters took us to Europe and stranded us there.

Finished with work in Paris, we took a brief working trip to Lyon, Provence, and Girona, Spain. We were literally at the edge of the Barcelona runway — number 2 for takeoff to London and a connecting flight to Italy– when Eurocontrol closed UK airspace due to volcanic ash. While in Spain, we remained on guard for six-fingered swordsmen and tried to stay sober enough to buy Brandy (actually, Sangria). However, it appears that no one expects either the Spanish Inquisition or volcanic ash.

I’ve always maintained that anyone who relies on the airlines to take of them in a crisis is asking for even more misery.  No airline, even our beloved British Airways, is equipped, staffed, or insured sufficiently to handle a natural disaster the magnitude of the volcanic ash crisis (and perhaps the human folly that followed). Neither should BA or other carriers be the insurer of last resort.  People were seeking care and compensation normally designed to accommodate people after airline overbookings, etc.  The bottom line is that when disasters happen, EVERYONE (airlines, related businesses, and travelers alike ) will lose money. Accordingly, if you are going to lose money, best to find some work to pay for it –or at least get out and enjoy what you are spending. So begins the LernerMedia 2010 Spring Odyssey…

In all, five of our ticketed flights were canceled. BA seemed pleased with our attitude and willingness to provide for ourselves and wait while they took care of more urgent passenger needs. The BA staff were very helpful in moving a number of business flights to later in the year. Some of the agents were stressed –and BA does need to find a way to service North American executive club business members working in Europe on European time. Following the initial airspace closure, things were already quite messy by the time the North American office opened.  However, in our experience, BA ultimately takes care of its regular business customers and this crisis proved no exception. We’re apparently flying back to the U.S. in mid-May without cost or loss of miles. We even have our usual seats reserved. So, we are free to concentrate on work AND enjoying spring in Spain, Provence and eventually in Italy (we have to be in Italy in early May to start a project).  Thank you, British Airways!

Autos were hard to find, but colleagues helped and we’ve been lucky in that regard too. We were told we secured one of the last international rentals in Spain.  Now that we have a car, we can eventually return it in Italy. So, we are driving, exploring and working our way along the Med coast. We are, however, on thin ice with regard to technology.  We have only one computer (and thus no backup), so we covet good wifi when we find it. However, we are fairly savvy young monkeys. I even managed to answer a deadline query from our publisher while climbing Mount Ventoux on a bicycle!   Doug Merrill and other new-media Google gurus would be proud; how’s that for integrating life and work!

Our youngest daughter, Ellie, alleges that  this the “most convenient natural disaster ever.” As long as we navigate home in time to take her to Chicago and her Second City summer improv and writing classes, I think she will forgive us.  We are, however,  working very hard.  Keeping good Internet access is a priority. It was initially a bit tricky, but we are making our deadlines and all projects are on schedule.

Except in the direst of emergencies, we could not get home anyway, so we might as well do good work and enjoy it all. We’ll be posting pictures to the video log below every few days. Enjoy, as you desire.

Cheers,

Lee

P.S. Comments are turned off. Last post we had more than 30 legitimate comments but we also twice as many spam comments. Alas, we don’t have the net access to keep the site tidy. Brenda and I are already on the 200 MB overseas iphone plan and may have to sell some internal organs to pay next months cell phone bill (last time I peeked it was at $700 and climbing). ACK! 

CLARIFYING A STATEMENT I MADE IN A GENERAL POST TO COLLEAGUES: PLEASE DO FEEL FREE TO SEND ME  EMAIL POSTS (PERSONAL OR BUSINESS). EMAIL is NOT taxing on our usage because we can defer downloading posts until we have wifi access.  Cheers, Lee

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Xian Terracotta Warriors Pit 1 ongoing excavation

Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, Tai Chi in Beijing

We just finished what might be our most intense (and insane) week in many years.

Last Wednesday we were finishing work in Xian, China that had started in Paris about a month ago. After wrapping we took the overnight train to Beijing, tied up business and contracts in Beijing,*  flew to London, wrapped up business there and then, at the invite of old colleagues, flew to Berlin for the 20th anniversary “Fall of the Wall” celebrations.

We managed to hook up with some last minute media work to turn Berlin into a business trip and pay for it all. We arrived in time for the last half of the U2 concert at the Brandenburg gate which we could see and hear from our hotel balcony.  The next day, when not working, Berlin offered wonderful long walks through falling leaves. I spent a good deal of free time hunting tickets for the Saturday’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden production of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra  — it was Plácido Domingo first performance as a baritone. After a hard month of work abroad, we were looking forward to a relaxing Sunday of naps and strolls.

Berlin Wall Victim Memorial

In the wee hours Sunday morning, however,  we received a post telling us the incredible news that  VERY late season Hurricane Ida was entering the Gulf,  basically headed for elderly parents and our unmanned sailboat Belissima B.  Although the storm eventually made its predicted landfall as a tropical storm, it was a Category 2 killer hurricane by the time  we busted out of Berlin to catch the early morning BA flights back through London and into Dallas  (the only flight available that day).  While British Airways always treats us well– and the sleeper seats make longhaul travel endurable– all we could manage was about three or four  hours of fitful sleep on the plane. However, that bit of rest turned out to be a lifesaver.

Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, Berlin Wall Memorial

Upon arrival in Dallas both NOAA and the Weather Channel were predicting IDA to hit near Pensacola.  Not wanting to abandon either parents or Bella to the approaching storm (nor risk being stranded trying to fly into New Orleans or Pensacola), we found a car and then drove 11 hours through the night and a series of thunderstorms, to arrive at the coast just as the first bands were buffeting our boat.  After quickly securing house, parent’s house, parents, and pets, Brenda found us some provisions and we finally boarded and secured Bella in a driving rain.

We rode out the storm on the boat, shifting lines and moorings every two hours to compensate for changing winds and tide.

It was a very long night.  We had very gusty rain (with several gusts near 60 mph)  — but we also had a good dinner and the first chance to catch real sleep in 60 hours. Brenda actually slept soundly thorugh the very worst of the storm.

At one point during the tempest we looked at each other and said, “Ummm…. what day is this?

We ultimately agreed that outside of managing weddings overseas during war and disease outbreaks, it was perhaps our most hectic five days ever –and at as we get older not something we will be able to repeat. A colleague back in London quipped, “Right. The only people I know who can manage such schedules work for MI-6.”

My Moneypenny laughed at that joke.

As our colleagues know, for about a year we’ve been experimenting with this LernerMedia journal/blog and dipping our toes into various social media outlets this year in order to see what models best fit LernerMedia work.  Bascially we conclude –and out pathetic posting record confirms that we have little time for the social media scene. We are not sellign anyting and certainly don’t seek ad revenues. Moreoever most of our work involves exclusivity and confidentiality clauses that prohibit us from being too speciifc about projects in our blogspace.  We find that we have all the business contacts we need via word-of-mouth int he indutry and our own simple webpage. As much as I admire the capacity for Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter, etc,  we have yet to find a model that justifies the time investment ot do it all well.  The cynical side of me says, “I suppose that once you are paid well for your work, you tend not to want to give it away for free!”

Muslim Mosque and Quarter, Xian, China

Accordingly, we’ve made our decisions regarding blogs, twitter, YOUTUBE Channels, Athena, phone apps, etc. and we will be announcing those this weekend.   We are going to use all those tools — but is ways that will allow us to more personally connect with colleagues than as a means of drawing or driving business.

We will be fusing blogs, photos, and media from our various sites to create a seamless set of personal journals to create a personal space linked to a new and exciting media project mixing science, art, and travel. This site which will serve as the primary place for us to post personal stories, comments, etc. The LernerMedia forum site will be transformed into the new media project (the name will be announced during the spring 2010 rollout)– with this journal/blog as our supporting and freely available “personal thoughts” site.

Over the next few months we’ll more fully develop this site   and then adding to it in “real time” as we move into new and exciting media ventures in the arts and sciences.

Our goal here will be to poke a bit of fun at ourselves and at our industry. We’ll be exploring some of the oddities and absurdities of the modern era, cultural differences, and new frontiers in science and sustainability.  Over the next few years we hope to share and exchange laughter, thoughts, and insights about  science, the arts, and some of the most interesting places and people on the planet.

Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Lee

*There is a humorous story regarding President Obama’s upcoming trip to Beijing, but I’m not going to tell it until he leaves China.  Tags will include   President Obama, Secret Service, pupillary reflex, Copenhagen, and Mexican food.   I can’t tell the tale, not that it is in any way important or highly confidential (it is not), but simply because I was indirectly asked not to by the Secret Service.  President Obama has a tough enough job to do trying to bring some sanity back to the world, and only an idiot would want to make the Secret Service’s job even a remote smidgen harder.  The U.S. Secret Service represents the very best we have in many areas.  

Louvre shopping annex - inverted pyrimids

As this journal starts here in Paris, I suppose it is appropriate that the first post about “Places” is based on observations made here last December. I wish to thank my daughter Adeline Wilmoth Lerner (Ellie Lerner) for her pictures and for preparing the initial draft of this post. — Cheers, Lee

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In the closing scene of the movie The Da Vinci Code, Tom Hanks’ character peers downward from atop an inverted glass pyramid near the entrance to the Louvre that supposedly marks the resting place of a grave representing the Holy Grail, the goal of thousands of mythical quests. In reality, this now famous movie prop and communal space is nothing more than an artistic skylight that is set in the underground shopping center annexed to the Louvre.

The landmark skylight is now the quest of thousands of tourists, and on the outside is now covered most of the year to keep those tourists off the glass.

The inverted pyramids were obviously intended to compliment the main glass pyramid in the Louvre courtyard and to functionally spread light about the shopping annex atrium. Fortunate to work and visit at the Louvre–and the shopping annex–several times a year, I can personally assure everyone that all that lies in the floor underneath is a parking garage. Moreover, contrary to the claims made in the movie, the inverted pyramids are actually several hundred yards off the rose line running north and south through Paris that is marked by golden “Arago” discs.

With free time one afternoon, Ellie and I stood off to the side of the inverted pyramid to take pictures of people reacting to the space while we waited for Brenda to finish her portion of the days work. I watched as crowds continually gathered to snap group pictures, touch the pyramids, and discuss the book or movie. Some visitors played the role of pilgrims and bent to kneel and pray.

It was maddeningly ridiculous.

What made it maddeningly ridiculous over simply pop culture ridiculous was that off in a corner of the atrium stood an almost totally ignored maze of storyboard panels put up by UNICEF and Medicien Sans Frontiers that carried pictures of hungry children and AIDS orphans that offered real challenges to the mind and heart.

UNICEF Exhibit posters

This was a media (and design) failure. The message on the panels was profound, but the media carrying the message could not compete or connect in that time and place.

Perhaps if the space had been rearranged so that in flocking to the inverted pyramid visitors had to pass thorough the maze of panels, or had the panels surrounded the pyramid, then perhaps a mass of minds seemingly open to the mysticism of a movie might have dwelled for a moment on the panels. Time enough, perhaps, to stir them to a real world quest to tackle real world global issues.

What better symbolism to remind us that although the media is not the message (or should not be), choice of media and engaging presentation are critical to the success of even the most profound of messages.