And finally, we have our new managing editor Jason Pontin, referred to
us by one of our former wunderkinds, Nicola Minor. After snagging two
degrees at Oxford, Jason sharpened his pencil at the Financial Times,
Euromoney, and did freelance writing for The Economist. More recently,
Jason was a senior editor at InfoWorld, where he covered the computer
platform business and penned the Robert X. Cringely column.
... I also liked the origin myth of the Red Herring:...
When Chris Alden and I first launched The Herring three years ago out
of a converted maid's quarters in his parent's home in Woodside, CA,
we agreed on two important issues. First, until we were solidly
profitable, we would refer to our first home as "the garage," and
never mention the superlative meals the original team was served every
Wednesday and Thursday night by the house cook, Patty (we lived on
Domino's pizzas and Dr. Pepper the other five nights). This, of
course, was a public relations decision. Frankly, we needed people
pulling for us, not resenting "a couple of rich white boys with
nothing better to do."