Fascinating trend

Following on this earlier post, isn’t it interesting that companies selling alcoholic beverages are funding some of the most creative product on television?

Merry Christmas from the Family

Back by popular demand is Texas singer-songwriter and Houston native Robert Earl Keens classic Texas Christmas carol and video, Merry Christmas from the Family. Keen will be playing Houston’s House of Blues on Sunday the 28th.

Happy holidays and thanks for reading HCT!

Wallstrip does Cramer on Wall Street

What is this blithering 90-degree rule?

golf cartWhen it comes to playing golf, I’m decidedly old school. Weather permitting, I prefer to walk while playing, which puts me in a decided minority among American golfers, most of whom prefer to ride in a motorized cart.

Golfweek’s British columnist Alistar Tait also prefers to walk, as do most golfers in the United Kingdom, where motorized carts are a rarity. Tait has just returned to the U.K. from his annual golfing trip to the U.S. and he weighs in with this clever article (entitled "Annoyed with America") in which he lists the "peculiarities" of playing golf in the U.S.

He includes one of my favorite cart-riding absurdities — the 90-degree rule — which requires that you drive on the cart path until you are 90 degrees from your ball, then drive to your ball from the cart path, hit your shot, and then return on your 90 degree path to the cart path, where you proceed to 90 degrees from your shot landed. Tait notes:

The 90-degree rule – Tell a British golfer that the 90-degree rule is in effect and you’ll get a blank look. Since we don’t have carts and paths, there’s no need for a rule that says you drive on the cart path adjacent to your ball and then turn 90 degrees to your ball.

Reflections on Mumbai

Jonathan Ehrlich is a Vancouver businessman who was in one of the hotels that was attacked last week in Mumbai. Take a few minutes to listen to his harrowing story and to read the email (under the fold below) that he sent to his family members and friends during his trip home after the attack. A good example of the fighting spirit that is needed to win this battle.

And don’t miss this spot-on analysis of the Mumbai attacks by John Stewart and John Oliver:

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"That’s just not us"

tiger-woods-with-buick-resized While General Motors is making its case in Congress for an $18 billion bailout (didn’t GM need "just" $12 billion last week?), it’s trying to cut corners in other areas, such as its endorsement deal with Tiger Woods that paid Woods $7 million annually over the past nine years.

As one sage headline writer put it — "GM lays off Tiger Woods."

But Conan O’Brien had an even better crack about GM’s termination of its relationship with Woods during one of his monologues last week:

"General Motors announced that they are ending their endorsement deal with Tiger Woods. When asked why, a spokesperson for General Motors said: ‘Tiger Woods is successful, competitive, and popular. And that’s just not us.’”