15 Minutes of Fame

[Guest lurkerspeaks]

Without divulging anything too personally revealing, have you had your "15 Minutes of Fame?" If so, what was it?

Mine was an appearance on Judge Judy back around 1998.

[Guest EXPAT]

I've had two sort of. My first was when I was interviewed on BBC News in London for pan European television about the future of branch banking and electronic banking. It was a 30 minute news segment and I was on 20 minutes of the interview.

The second was participating in the Oval Office when George W. Bush signed the Check 21 Act. The company where I was an executive was deeply involved in that legislation. [The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (or Check 21 Act) is a United States federal law, Pub.L. 108-100, that was enacted on October 28, 2003 by the 108th Congress. The Check 21 Act took effect one year later on October 28, 2004. The law allows the recipient of the original paper check to create a digital version of the original check, a process known as Check truncation, into an electronic format called a "substitute check" thereby eliminating the need for further handling of the physical document.]

[AdamSmith]

Mine have alas been confined to professional talks given to the likes of the Society of Automotive Engineers or the American Council of Engineering Companies or IHEEP (the International Highway Engineering Exchange Program, no less) or else webinars for the devoted readerships of Aviation Week, Off-Highway Engineering, Offshore Engineer, MIT Technology Review and similar electrifying titles.

I do occasionally get quoted in WSJ, Financial Times, NYT, South China Morning Post, Fortune, Newsweek, etc. But those predictably bring in no business leads, in contrast to the dull but profitable citations in the unglamorous trade rags.

(First touched the hem of greatness when, fresh out of college and working for a periodical called -- wait for it -- Industrial Water Engineering, I landed a phone interview with the CEO of reactor maker Babcock & Wilcox.

Which became the highlight of that year's Boiler Feedwater Corrosion Control issue. Second in popularity with our advertisers only to the annual Sewage & Sludge Pumping number.)

[Guest hitoallusa]

Wow EXPAT and AS impressive.. I read some of your articles, AS.. I liked it. I can't believe we disagree on pretty much everything else..

[MsGuy]

Mine was an appearance on Judge Judy back around 1998.

OMG...maybe I saw that!

W/o going into detail, was that the one about a monetary dispute between you and your young (ahem) room-mate?

[Guest lurkerspeaks]

monetary dispute but not with a roommate. He was a stripper. But in the show, he claimed to be a waiter. I had a signed contract for him to pay me back, but he never did. They accepted the case because of the stripper angle of it, but I couldnt bring up the stripper part if he didnt mention it first. I believed his only defense would be that he didnt have a job to pay me back. To which I had proof that he had done nude modeling on the internet since the loan. But again, I couldnt bring that up unless he used the "no job" defense. But it was the juicy angle that the show wanted. I had even sent a link to his nude pics to the show's producers. Unfortunately, no mention came of any of the "juicy tidbits"...But it was funny because I learned that all of the producers, etc of the show had seen his nude online pics..

Judge Judy called him a user and a mooch.. I got my money back, plus an expense-paid trip to LA for the taping. They even put me up at the Ramada in WEHO.

[MsGuy]

monetary dispute but not with a roommate. He was a stripper. But in the show, he claimed to be a waiter. I had a signed contract for him to pay me back, but he never did.

hahahahahaha....that's the one, I just mis-remembered the details!

LOL, if it helps any, I was cheering for you all the way! & Judge Judy pegged him exactly right.

Wow, I feel almost like Rockhard; now I can name-drop about the Hollywood star I know too!

Thanks, Lurker.

[Guest hitoallusa]

Lurker since you also posted about this on the other site a couple of years ago. I was not that surprised this time.

[Guest lurkerspeaks]

hito, sorry to repeat myself, just trying to come up with some interesting topics to get some conversations flowing

[BiBottomBoy]

Called in sick to go see The Rolling Stones.

Did not realize that when I was in the parking lot pregaming, standing on top of my car drinking champagne from the bottle that a photographer from the largest newspaper in the state was taking my picture - which ran on the front page of the paper the next day.

That day at work did not go over well.

[Guest hitoallusa]

Not at all...Thanks for bring it up. I enjoyed it. I went to cheer a friend who went on a quiz show one time.. I don't think he went far in the show but I was captured sitting in the audience... An assistant producer said that there were prizes for the most active audience (clapping, laughing, cheering and etc..) When the show aired a couple of weeks later. I was not edited out. I don't know why but my parents really enjoyed seeing me on TV. I didn't win any prize but I had fun and my friend took me out for a nice meal with his prize money...

Well you are entitled

hito, sorry to repeat myself, just trying to come up with some interesting topics to get some conversations flowing

[AdamSmith]

Don't know where my mind went. My real 15 min would have to be winning OZ's frequent-poster contest here 3 years ago. ...Life has been anticlimax since.

[Guest hitoallusa]

Does it mean that the contest winners are cursed? Like the lottery winners?

[Guest hitoallusa]

You must every photogenic to be on the cover...

[BiBottomBoy]

Oh, about seven years ago we heard they had installed a webcam in the town square so a bunch of us got way drunk and went down there at 3 a.m. took off our clothes and waved our dicks at the cam.

Two days later it was in the local paper with a reward for anyone who could identify us.

Thank god it was a grainy picture.

[RA1]

My only claim to fame is writing letters to various authors telling them about their factual errors regarding aviation. So far, everyone has written in reply. I suppose they "take it" more gracefully than some posters or maybe I come off differently to them vs. posters. Really I don't claim to know everything about aviation but some of it has rubbed off after all these years and thousands of hours of flying, etc.

Best regards,

RA1

[Guest CharliePS]

My only TV appearance was on local TV news in Philly while walking a strike picket line. And I did make the front page photo of Gay News carrying the rainbow flag at the head of a gay pride parade in 1976.

[Guest FourAces]

I've had 14 minutes of mini fame.

I won about $70,000. in a known poker tournament back in the day.

Also part of those 14 minutes were spent in the music industry where I had some minor success.

I decided not to use my entire allotment of 15 minutes though. I am saving the last minute for when I win the mega lotto

[Guest hitoallusa]

Oh my FourAces.. Whether you win the lottery or not.. We love you no matter what... So you sing?

[eeyore]

Well, I did my laundry last week and managed to pair up all of my socks...

[Lucky]

Some 35 years ago I was briefly involved in a court case that made the national news. At the time there were just the 3 major networks, and they all sent sketch artists into the courtroom. I was a focus of one of the sketches, which aired that night across the nation, along with my name. (No, I was not the defendant!) Not exactly fifteen minutes, but a few!

There was a bitter-sweetness to it as I was still closeted and went home to watch the stories all by my lonesome self.

[lookin]

I was once caught on camera during Freshman Weekend at a nearby community college.

It was only a timely note from a doctor friend regarding the anguish of 'sudden leg cramp syndrome' that kept me off the evening news.