Tonight begins the second season of "Whale Wars" in which a scruffy band of eco-crusaders, the Sea Shepherds, go to war against the evil whaling ships, by any means necessary. The reviews for the first season were great. Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times writes: "Whale...

In an article in today's Wall Street Journal by Anita Elberse, Blockbuster or Bust - Why struggling publishers will keep placing outrageous bids on new books, Ms. Elberse describes how publishers continue to fall back on their old business model of paying large advances for blockbusters, even in these...

In the 17th Century when pirates posed a serious threat to commerce in the Caribbean and Atlantic coasts, the British sent the Royal Navy, which hanged every pirate that they could find. Right now there are more than a dozen warships from Italy, Greece, Turkey, India, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, France,...

This morning I was struck by the odd juxtaposition of an announcement for a festival and a news item. Not long after reading about the upcoming Saint Augustine Pirate Gathering, (November 14th -16th), I also read in the New York Times about a band of Somali pirates ...