Posted by Sara Lopez on August 30th, 2011 ~
0 Comments I recently saw a list of cheesy local TV commercials that got me laughing and thinking. Why exactly do these spots have such a time-honored place in our culture?
In Corpus Christi, Tex., where I grew up, the high priest of the daytime local genre was Mr. Louie of Mr. Louie’s Wig City. Day after day, he took to the airwaves, entering our living rooms while standing in front of hundreds of Styrofoam heads, each with a thousand-mile stare and some kind of Eva Gabor number on top. He’d shout their names as if they were horses coming down the home stretch: the Aspire! The Invitation! The Lite and Airy and Cheer! The Perk!
The grand finale of the spots was Mr. L, in solidarity with his target audience, wearing something that looked like coal on his head, and in full-on monotone, delivering the line that somehow seemed to make female follicles sit up: “Ladies, if your hair is not becoming to you, you should be coming to us!” The camera holds for three full seconds and then pulls back to show the support group of big-haired but vacant faces. Fade to black. Many ye
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Tags: Cheesy, Tv Commercials
Posted by Sara Lopez on August 30th, 2011 ~
0 Comments The Environmental Protection Agency’s new proposal to tighten ozone standards, which by its own estimates will cost up to $90 billion a year in compliance costs, is a perfect example of this dangerous doublespeak. As our economy sputters and millions of Americans struggle to find work, EPA’s voluntary move to impose severe new rules would hobble our recovery. Private sector studies predict that the new standards would cost as many as 7.3 million American jobs by 2020.
Why? Because industries and large manufacturers would see their operating costs skyrocket. Small businesses, from caterers to auto repair shops, would face new regulatory uncertainty and hesitate to invest in equipment or expand their payrolls. Every form of energy—and any product or service relying on fuel for its construction or transport—would become more expensive.
When businesses large and small do the math, they’ll quickly arrive at this bottom line: Soaring compliance costs equal less capital for hiring, business development, and investment. Some comp
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Tags: 90 Billion, Year
Posted by Sara Lopez on August 30th, 2011 ~
0 Comments FCC Chairman Genachowski issued a press release stating that the FCC was abolishing the Fairness Doctrine as part of its clearing of its book of 83 obsolete media rules. What should the reaction of broadcasters be now that the Fairness Doctrine has been officially abolished? Probably, a collective yawn. In 1987 almost 25 years ago the FCC felt that it could not enforce the doctrine as it was an unconstitutional restriction on the freedom of speech of broadcasters. Since then, we have had no instances where the FCC has tried to revive the doctrine. While, as we have written before, the revival of the doctrine is a political issue that is from time to time bandied about as something horrible one political party or another plans to impose on America, there really has been no serious attempt to bring the doctrine back in this decade. So the repeal of the actual FCC rule that sets out the doctrine is really inconsequential, as it practically changes nothing.
What remains unknown about yesterdays announcement from the Chairman is just how far this repeal goes.
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Tags: Doctrine, Fairness Doctrine
Posted by Sara Lopez on August 30th, 2011 ~
0 Comments NetTalk Duo is a VoIP phone solution that can serve as a true phone landline alternative because no computer is needed to make calls over the Internet.
The device, which has recently won a PC Editor’s Choice award from PCMag, is now available from Dell Canada, BestBuy, Amazon.ca and Zellers. Currently the cost for the device is $79.99 which includes one year of free service. For subsequent years there is a $39.95 fee.
Net Talk Duo is a USB dongle that plugs into a phone, a router and a power outlet.
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Tags: Duo, Nettalk Duo, Voip Phone
Posted by Sara Lopez on August 30th, 2011 ~
0 Comments This lovely turmoil is no joke. Amusing perhaps at a local tavern or sushi bar, it will bring a fine dining establishment to its knees. With different silver for each dish, with a tight kitchen, 70 seats in the dining room and 18 stools at the bar, not to mention the communal table, polite chaos and gustatory anarchy can result. And did result several Thursdays ago when our bar turned over twice and the communal table was at full tilt. Walk-ins can share the 10-seat communal table or sit at the bar; the rest of the restaurant is reserved (on busy nights).
Half the 100 guests that night walked in willy nilly. And ordered with a goofy gusto. And everyone suffered.
On the other side of the fence, in the dining area, everyone ordered the prix fixe, by design, and their courses arrived in unison. There were exceptions (an additional dish), but they were the exceptions. On many nights I am thinking about autumnal Wednesdays the bar is a blessing to both guests and staff, but some nights I am thinking about August Thursdays the bar bites us on our striped bass and drags us through the mud.
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Tags: Joke, No Joke
Posted by Brian Reed on August 30th, 2011 ~
0 Comments Article First Appeared In The New York Times:
McGraw-Hill is now weighing what to do with one if its oldest businesses: education.
The company has retained an investment bank, Evercore Partners, to explore a possible spinoff of the business, which accounts for more than a third of its revenue, to McGraw-Hill shareholders, people briefed on the matter said Wednesday.
McGraw-Hill could also sell the division, most likely attracting private equity bidders because of its steady cash flow, though the people briefed on the matter said this option was less likely at the moment. They cautioned that no final decisions had been made and that all options remained on the table.
For years, shareholders and others have complained about the companys stock performance, arguing that the education business has been a drag on the double-digit growth and profit of the companys financial unit. The education business and the financial services business at McGraw-Hill have different capital and operational requirements, and create few if any synergies, analysts have said. Read more…
Tags: Education, Education Division
Posted by Brian Reed on August 29th, 2011 ~
0 Comments Story first appeared in USA TODAY.
Misha Manuchehri slowly picks her way through plots of barley, wheat and peas. Every so often, the graduate student in crop science at Washington State University stoops to pluck an errant weed at the farm just off campus.
With a bachelor’s degree in organic agriculture already under her belt, Manuchehri plans to continue her studies and ultimately find work in sustainable agriculture.
Plenty of others are doing the same at dozens of universities that now offer courses, certificates or degree programs focused on organic and sustainable agriculture.
Experts said those graduates shouldn’t have trouble finding jobs as the agriculture industry replaces aging farmers the average age of a U.S. farmer is 57 and farmers increasingly look to diversify their operations.
Roger Pepperl, spokesman for Wenatchee, Wash.-based Stemilt Growers, the nation’s largest organic tree fruit producer said they are always looking at the university for our future ag workers.
Thirty percent of Stemilt’s crops are organic, comprising 3 million boxes of apples, pears, cherries, peaches and nectarines annually. Read more…