David N. Townsend
THE SITE
Me: DNT@DNTownsend.com
Statement of Purpose
Site Options
The Latest:
This is my "personal" Web site. Its purpose is twofold:
- (1) to give out my personal background information showcase my interests and writing to
anyone who might be paying attention, including old friends and colleagues who might wish
some deeper insight into who I am, where
I've been, what I'm up to
(saves valuable conversation time -- this way, when we get together or talk for the first
time in awhile, we can skip all the biographical updates and jump straight to "How
'bout them Red Sox"); and
- (2) to provide cheap entertainment to Net-voyeurs who like spying on the private lives
of total strangers, fulfilling some inner urge to reach out beyond their lonely
workstation cage and touch the vast expanse of humanity, if only through the window of a
computer monitor (soon to be WebTV, or Web toilet-reading-appliance), an urge that might
otherwise be satisfied by peeking through windows, or scrounging among garbage cans, or
cutting little clippings of celebrities and graduallly assuming their identities, until it
become necessary to ELIMINATE
the original so that the new personality can take over at last ... !
HEY! Don't follow that link! It's just a jump to somebody's John Lennon/Mark Chapman
musings, for effect. Stay here, and put that mouse down before you hurt yourself. My point
was (I think) that this page is also providing a public sevice by keeping psycho's off the
street, and hence all of the cost of creating and maintaining it should be tax-deductible.
(Now let's see how much nasty e-mail I get
from members of Psycho's Anonymous.)
SO, if you've read this far, then the subliminal alpha-wave signal emitting from
your terminal has had time to take effect, and I now have control of your mind. You are
commanded to choose one of the following links. (I recommend the Beanstalk if you have no clue.)
Site Options:
- The BEANSTALK: New
and improved for the 21st Century! It started as a nondescript weekly op-ed column in the
"D", the campus daily of Dartmouth College, in the early 1980s. And it never
went anywhere after that. Until now, that is. Revived from the graveyard of youthful
ambitions, come follow the musings and meanderings of a tall guy, who likes to talk, and
occasionally eats beans. Take it for whatever it's worth, but take it, at least once a
week.
- ROCK 'N' ROLL: The
music, the bands, the culture, the album collection, the global ideology, the concerts
with all those flashing lights and smoke swirling in the air and echoing temporary
deafness. The radio stations and CDs. The funny clothes. The transcendent sensations and
mystic experiences. The exhileration of a screeching guitar solo, the emotioinal impact of
an acoustic melody, the irresistible urge to dance. The slightly twangy, out-of-tune cheap
electric guitar and the kid with the new drum set who doesn't know how to SHUT UP when the
rest of us are trying to rehearse. The pristine new shrink-wrapped album, just arrived in
stores, home ready to be played for the first time. The rhythm, the harmony, the lyrics.
And stuff.
- The BUSINESS: David
N. Townsend & Associates is an international consulting firm specializing in
communications: policy, economics, markets, regulation, development. We've provided
analysis, advice, and assistance to governments in South Africa, Mexico, Costa Rica, the
Philippines, Hungary, Tanzania, Turkmenistan, and many more. We've worked for public and
private clients throughout the U.S. and Canada on a wide range of communications related
projects, and have produced a large number of studies, reports, papers, and market and
economic models, both theoretical and practical. Really.
- ComView: Views
on the world of Communication, the industry, the technologies, the social and cultural
impacts, policies and plans and prognostications. I've been in this field for almost 15
years, and all over the world, and it only gets more fascinating every day. We're living
right now in a revolution the equal of the industrial revolution, or even the Renaissance,
and just observing it all is a wonderous passtime. So I like to throw in some commentary
from time to time. Because that's what I do.
- BASEBALL: This is only
for the faithful, and you know who you are. It's hard core, for people who know that the
right question to ask is not, "Who's winning?" but "What's the score?"
For Rotisserie-afflicted junkies: nobody else truly understands, do they? For everyone who
instantly understands the universal meaning of such numerical symbols as .300, 3.00, 61,
56, and especially, 1918. Come on in, you'll like what you find.
- The BIO: I don't suppose you're
really all that interested in this stuff, unless you're from the FBI, or one of the
aforementioned Psycho's, or perhaps an old teacher of mine, wondering if her prodigies'
lives have turned out any less pointless than her own. If you know me already, then
you already know most of this. Besides, I've left out the actionable stuff, except
where the Statute of Limitations has expired.
(By the way, my family took
the ferry ride to visit the Statue of Limitations last Spring. I was surprised how
small it was. And that inscription was bizarre: "Give me your tires, your powder,
your unmatched socks... I'll take whatever ya got.")
- TRAVELOGUE: How much
do you know about Ashkabad? How much don't you want to know? Well, if you want
to make a good investment, open the first shoe-shine franchise in the capital of
Turkmenistan; since few of the roads are paved, and there's no such thing as a sidewalk,
*everybody's* shoes get dirty all the time! You'd make a killing (although you'd
have to spend it in Turkmenistan, where the only thing to buy is potatoes and oriental
rugs). Anyway, this and much more fascinating information can be gleened, or even
discerned, from this seemingly dull summary of my many world travels. Travel agents
with free tickets to offer are welcome to advertise here, too.
Comments? Questions? Massive unsolicited financial donations?
Contact me:
DNT@DNTownsend.com
David N. Townsend: The BIO
- Who am I? No, I'm not that David Townsend. They don't even have computers
on Death Row. I'm also not the one married to Kathleen Kennedy, the congresswoman,
although I'd be happy to pass on any donations to her campaign chest. Yes, I'm the one
from Swampscott ('77). And Dartmouth College ('81). Oh, and the Kennedy School ('83). That
one.
**MORE SOON**
(c) 1997 David N. Townsend