The Monday Media Diet with Crispin Burke

On Wikipedia, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Hood River, Oregon

Crispin Burke (CB) is a retired Army Officer transitioning into Cybersecurity in the private sector. We’re happy to have him for our final MMD of 2024. -Colin (CJN)

Tell us about yourself.

Hi! I’m Crispin Burke. I’m a retired U.S. Army officer who’s had a career doing everything from flying helicopters to writing speeches for senior military leaders. My last duty station was at the Pentagon, where I worked on Talent Management, including the Army’s new selection program for senior-level commanders. After I retired, I went to Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (no, I didn’t know the spy). Most recently, I’ve been in the job hunt. Although it hasn’t exactly been successful thus far, I’ve had some comical misadventures involving everything from foreign spies to the seedy underbelly of the Disney Princess industry.

Describe your media diet.

I consume media voraciously. My browser opens up at least a dozen news sites – including mainstream media sites, professional journals, and social media sites. It’s one of the first things I do when I wake up at around 5:30 each morning. I’ll keep consuming news throughout the day, keeping up with the endless breaking news stories I get from countless news apps on my phone.

Although I monitor most major social media news sites for information, I’ve been increasingly active on Threads, where I went once Elon Musk ruined Twitter (I refuse to call it X).

If you’re interested in what I’m reading, I publish many of the most important news articles three times a week in my Substack blog.

What’s the last great book you read?

I just finished “The Sympathizer” by Viet Thanh Nguyen over the summer on the advice of a friend. It’s the story of a North Vietnamese intelligence officer who infiltrates the South Vietnamese refugee community in the United States after the fall of Saigon – only to be captured by his former comrades after he takes part in a mission to overthrow the new government.

At times, it’s a fascinating social satire. At one point, our protagonist winds up as an advisor on a Vietnam War movie that's eerily similar to nearly every war movie you’ve seen in the past. So much so that there are quite a few Easter eggs.

What are you reading now?

I’m reading “AI Snake Oil” by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor. Like every new technology, AI has a lot of promise. But having listened to some of the rhetoric coming out of companies—especially OpenAI—I think there’s a lot to be desired.

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication?

I’m a compulsive highlighter. I usually use pink or orange highlighters because I find they don’t fade as easily as yellow highlighters. Physically interacting with the page helps me remember what I’ve read. Although Kindle books have highlighter features, they just don’t compare with pulling out a pen and marking down a good passage.

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not?

Many of my friends are authors, and I always make sure to read their books as soon as they come out. Most recently, I read a book by the excellent Kelly Kennedy about the Defense Intelligence Agency turncoat Ana Montes, nicknamed the “Queen of Cuba.” Kennedy co-authored the book with Peter Lapp, the former FBI agent who eventually led the investigation against Montes. The book brilliantly switches back and forth between the perspectives of Lapp and Montes as they play a dangerous cat-and-mouse game.

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone?

Runmeter is my one true fitness app. I first downloaded it in 2012, shortly after I arrived back in the United States from Germany and picked up a new iPhone 4s. I use it pretty much every day, and I even synch it with my calendar so I can look back and see some amazing runs I’ve done over the years.

Plane or train?

Train for sure. I began to love trains when I was stationed in Germany back in 2010-2012. European trains are much faster than American trains for sure, and it’s far less stressful than driving on the autobahn. It’s perfect when you want to head to Munich for the afternoon, have a few beers and schnitzel, and head back home in the evening.

More recently, I took the California Zephyr from Denver to Truckee, California – a town just outside of Lake Tahoe and the site of the infamous Donner Party, erm, “incident.” I got stuck in the mountains for several hours due to a snowstorm. Oddly enough, as we did so, I was reading a book about the ill-fated Essex, the whaling ship that inspired “Moby Dick”, in which the remaining crew members survive by eating each other.

The train eventually freed itself from the snowstorm, only to get stuck in the mountains again due to an avalanche. But it wasn’t all bad -- I had dinner that evening watching the sun go down in the Colorado Rockies. I guess there were worse places to be stuck.

What is one place everyone should visit?

A hidden gem is Hood River, Oregon, just an hour outside Portland: amazing hiking, excellent craft beers, and terrific food. The entire town is completely walkable, too. Best of all, it’s just a few hours away from nearly every climate zone. Within an hour, you can be on the beach, a dense forest, a snow-capped mountain, or the high desert.

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into.

Drunken Wikipedia is the best Wikipedia. I’ve often returned to my computer in the morning and wondered just what I had gotten into the past evening. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to state that Napoleon’s War of the Sixth Coalition is just six clicks away from all manner of bizarre cryptids.

But my favorite rabbit hole? Going onto the Internet Archive and looking back at my old Geocities web page. There’s just something about the Internet of 1997. (CB)