From CNN: If End is Near, Do You Want To Know? A researcher for Rand suggests that if an asteroid is about to hit the Earth, it may be better if governments didn’t tell anyone. “If you can’t do anything about a warning, then there is no point in issuing a warning at all,” Sommer […]
Continue reading...Springsteen on Fame, Elvis, and Keeping Yourself Fresh
Back in August, I wrote: How is possible to be Bruce Springsteen? … How can anyone deal with a blank sheet of paper when faced with that kind of creative pressure? It wouldn’t be at all unreasonable for this guy to sit at his desk with an open notebook asking himself, ãWhat in Godâs name […]
Continue reading...Free Nikes!
If you live in coastal Washington or Alaska, get yourself down to the beach: Thousands of pairs of Nike basketball shoes are washing up on beaches from Washington state to Alaska after spilling from a container ship in Northern California. There’s just one hitch to finding a free pair. “Nike forgot to tie the laces, […]
Continue reading...Coke in the Banking Business
According the NYTimes, Coca-Cola is offering its customers an electronic payment payroll service. Restaurants, of course, tend to have low-wage employees who are barely on the grid. Many of them do not have checking accounts — and it is the rare company indeed that pays on-the-books wages in cash. Workers who don’t have a banking relationship with […]
Continue reading...Who Gets Hurt When You Pirate Music?
There’s a case study in the NYDaily News — apparently a propos nothing but this Sunday’s Grammy Awards — that breaks down the cash flow of a hypothetical hit album by a hypothetical rock quartet. It illustrates all the people that get paid along the food chain, including some odd recoupable record company expenses, like […]
Continue reading...Iraq Rant
I’ve got a friend I haven’t met, name of Jerry McGinn. Like me, he’s a Downholder — an alumnus of UPI. He and I are on an e-mail list of about 400 other Downholders, and discussion frequently veers away from the Old Days and toward an analysis of current events. Iraq is on a lot of our […]
Continue reading...Expense Account Follies
If you’ve ever filed an expense report, you probably have a funny story about it. Here’s one from Steve Otto, a sportswriter for the Tampa Tribune: “They want my long johns?” I repeated, in disbelief. “They aren’t yours,” she said. “They belong to the Tribune.” The most famous expense account story I know has several […]
Continue reading...Porsche in a Mini’s Clothing
It’s not like you Britain’s The Sun newspaper is the height of journalistic credibility, but I just came across a kind of neat automotive review while looking for something else. Seems there’s a company that’s done some work to the Mini Cooper S that allows the cute li’l critter — already no slouch — to <ahem> […]
Continue reading...The Media Packs its Bags for War
If you want to know what you’ll be allowed to know about Gulf War II while it’s going on, you need to read this item. Editor & Publisher — the newspaper industry’s trade magazine — is reporting which papers will be sending how many reporters and photographers to Iraq, what units they’ll be deployed with, and what they’ll […]
Continue reading...Twitchy Geeks
The Blackberry messaging network is down. So have mercy — or at least pity — on any twitchy exec you see for the next few days. It’s hell being off the grid. You know the Blackberry — the pager-sized device with a thumb-operated keyboard that lets you send e-mails wirelessly. Al Gore wears (or wore) […]
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