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Blyth, Inc. Comments On Fiscal Year 2009 Outlook
... remarks during such calls and will cover no material, non-public information. Blyth, Inc., headquartered in Greenwich, CT, USA, is a Home Expressions company that markets an extensive array of home fragrance products, decorative accessories, ...
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Allegheny Technologies may be takeover target
... and the catalyst being put forward is that the company may be bought," said Rebecca Engmann Darst, an analyst at Greenwich, Conn.-based Interactive Brokers Group Inc. Calls give the right to buy a security for a certain amount, known as the strike ...
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Fed rate cut ideas up on weak jobs
... easing will stop with a funds rate above 1.75 percent," said Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital in Greenwich, Connecticut. The U.S. Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls fell by 80,000 in March, more than expected, ...
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Inside The Deals: MySpace Music JV Has One Thing In Its Favor - Authority
... personalities don't meld," says Susan Kalla, managing partner of KHX Investments, an investment company based in Greenwich, Conn. The MySpace Music joint venture announced on Thursday has at least one thing in its favor: there's a clear line of ...
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Friendly crowd goes frigid for Gibbons
... living in a low-tax state such as Nevada, but consider hedge fund managers, many of whom are based in high-tax Greenwich, Conn., and not low-tax South Dakota or Las Vegas. High taxes are fine with them because they want to live near other hedge fund ...
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Austin's Sweet Leaf Tea plans expansion with $18 million investment
... Leaf Tea "has just scratched the surface" in sales, said Michael Farello, a partner in Catterton Partners, the Greenwich, Conn.-based firm that invested in Sweet Leaf. Sweet Leaf's products, which have been a hit in Texas and in the natural foods ...
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United Rentals Schedules Annual Meeting for June 11, 2008
... Rentals is a member of the Standard & Poor ' s MidCap 400 Index and the Russell 2000 Index and is headquartered in Greenwich, Conn. Additional information about United Rentals is available at unitedrentals.com .
Friday, April 4, 2008
04/04/08 - After The Bell - Greenwich Business News Update
04/04/08 - (Update) Breaking News - The Chemical Spill At Western Middle School
caused dermatitis of the nails.
Spin Control:
Don't Call The Chemical
Formaldehyde
It's Formalin, Damn It,
It's Formalin !!!!
Fluid spill at Western sends two students to hospital
A Formalin spill today in science classroom 22 at Western Middle School resulted in two students being taken to the hospital as a precaution, according to a Greenwich Public Schools press release.
A student reached for something in a cabinet and accidentally knocked a jar containing the fluid (a Formaldehyde solution significantly diluted with water) into another object in the cabinet, thereby cracking the jar containing the Formalin.
Safety protocols were immediately deployed. Students and staff were removed from the classroom; the fire department was dispatched to the school, and the school district’s Science Safety Officer was consulted. The situation was assessed, and the material was cleaned using appropriate safety measures.
The cleaning protocol includes cleaning with a special solution three times, a PH swab over all surfaces that came in contact with the solution to detect any residue, air monitoring and ventilation. Deputy Fire Chief Keith Millette has determined that the room is now safe for occupancy.
The school nurse and paramedics examined every student and staff member involved. The two students taken to the hospital had complained of symptoms that may have been related to exposure to the Formalin. Both students have been treated and released.
Let us look at formalin.
Formalin is a saturated solution of formaldehyde, water, and typically another agent, most commonly methanol. In its typical form, formalin is 37% formaldehyde by weight (40% by volume), 6-13% methanol, and the rest water. A quick glance at any commercially available formalin product will confirm these numbers. Formaldehyde provides the disinfectant and bacteriacide/germacide effects of formalin. The water content of formalin provides a dilution of formaldehyde. And the methanol content stabilizes the naturally chemically unstable formaldehyde compound.
See The Video At The Previous Post About The
Western Middle School Chemical Spill:
04/04/08 - Formaldehyde Spill At Western Middle School
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04/04/08 - Greenwich Post News Links
Greenwich High School advances in academic challenge
Following its first-round victory, the academic team from Greenwich High School is moving on to the second round in The Challenge, an academic quiz show designed to test students’ knowledge in a Jeopardy-style format. The second round match-up between Greenwich High School and Weston High School will air exclusively on News 12 Connecticut at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, April 5, with an encore airing the next night, Sunday, April 6, at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Weekend famine aims to help hungry people
Members of The First Church of Round Hill will participate starting today in a 30-hour famine to raise awareness and money to fight global hunger.
ALSO:
Possible use of civic center as school causes stir
Relocating Glenville School students into the Bendheim Western Greenwich Civic Center during the school’s renovation remains the favored option of parents and school officials, but questions remain over whether the plan will work.
04/04/08 - Formaldehyde Spill At Western Middle School
Two Quarts Of Formaldehyde Spilled
Greenwich Fire Department's Haz Mat Unit Responds To The Emergency At Western Middle School.
Deer Fetus Specimen Jar Was Broken In A Science Classroom.
Some Students And Janitor Exposed To The Chemical . Formalyhyde Is An Irritant And Can Be Fatal If Swallowed.
Watch The News 12 Video Here:
Chemical spill in Greenwich class prompts evacuation
Greenwich Emergency Medical Sevices Is On The Scene.
More Greenwich Formaldehyde news:
03/05/08 - The Unionized (Teamstewrs) School District Custodial Staff Are Suggesting That There Might Be A School District Coverup At Ham Ave School.
03/31/08 - "What irks me about the formaldehyde is it could be a good five years before my kids get diagnosed,"
04/03/08 - Independent? - Word Is That Fairfield Based Architect John Brice Recommended Navigant Consulting, formerly known as The Metzler Group
04/04/08 - Forget About A Free Press - Censorship At The Greenwich Post - Helping Cover Shay's You Know What
Banned by Greenwich Post!!
by: thomashooker |
| According to Hersam-Acorn publisher Thomas Nash (email address: tbnash@acorn-online.com), I've been banned by Greenwich Post! Here's the sequence of emails leading to my journalistic defenestration. After I submitted the letter to the editor regarding Shays' CO status, which is published here at myleftnutmeg.com, and which I sent in before the deadline for letters to the editor, I received this from assistant editor Sara Poirier: "Dear Mr. Goldrick, That really ticked me off. Here's my response to assistant editor Poirier and editor Kristan Zimmer: Dear Sara, That is complete and utter bullshit, and you, your publisher and your paper should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves. This is a letter to the editor; it's not a news article. So there is no reason whatsoever to require it to be held out in order for Shays to submit a reply. He's perfectly able to respond in the next week's issue. Shays has been dodging my questions to him about his status as a conscientious objector for years now, and you have just helped him dodge the question for another week. And you've not only allowed him to dodge the question for a week, but you've held this question about his record out of discussion during this coming weekend when he is appearing at numerous town hall events. So this amounts to a blackout of important information about an elected official so that that elected official can get in and out of town without having to face up to this important question. What a disgrace. And this comes on the heels of Greenwich Post's having published a sleazy letter about Barack Obama, filled with bigotry and lies. You didn't have any problem about publishing that smear without Obama's input. What's different this week?.... |
| There's More... : |
My Left Nutmeg - Front Page - http://www.myleftnutmeg.com
04/04/08 - Stop The Presses - We Have Breaking News Headlines From The Greenwich Citizen !!!!
- The sunny day and the usual weekend bustle at the Riverside Shopping Mall was punctuated by an urgency among a small gathering in front. Continue »
- Rainy Monday night spirits at Town Hall were lifted by objects in a unique exhibit - kid art, a frothy pink ballet costume, a violin, sheet music, a camcorder, fine art paint brushes, handmade pottery. Continue »
- The giving side of Greenwich's youth was center stage at the North Street School last Tuesday when students of all ages were commended for what they have given of their hearts, their time and their talents to the community - at home and far afield. Continue »
Despite protests by some senior users of the Western Greenwich Civic Center (WGCC), along with a host of unresolved issues, the WGCC site continues to be the desired relocation option for the Glenville School community.
The WGCC was put back on the table some two weeks ago by the Board of Education after being termed too limited a space to accommodate the students of Glenville School while their school undergoes renovation...
Dave Roberson, free-lance writer and former NASA scientist, was elected new chair of the Democratic Town Committee (DTC) last Thursday in Town Hall.
He replaces Jim Himes, who stepped down as chair to concentrate 24/7 on his relentless campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Chris Shays in the Fourth Congressional District - Fairfield County.
In stepping down, Himes received a thunderous ovation from the DTC in tribute to his success in challenging Republicans for seats in the Connecticut legislature.
Roberson, in the local election two years ago, labored tirelessly to get out the vote for Frank Farricker and Ed Krumeich in their races against incumbents Bill Nickerson in the Connecticut Senate and Dolly Powers in the state General Assembly.
The effort fell short, but DTC insiders say Roberson's hard work during the Farricker and Krumeich campaigns made him a natural to succeed Himes....
A "bury the hatchet" milestone was marked in Town government Thursday when First Selectman Peter Tesei reinstated Deputy Fire Chief/Fire Marshal Joseph Benoit to active duty, effective March 31.
He will be "the third highest ranking officer in the chain of command" in the Greenwich Fire Department (GFD). staffed by 104 uniformed personnel and three administrative.
Benoit was suspended last fall by then-First Selectman Jim Lash, who alleged "poor job performance." Hearings to document the allegation were in progress when Lash's tenure ended in November.
It was expected hearings would resume in the Tesei administration that started Dec. 1. But they were not.
Lash placed Benoit, a 34-year GFD veteran, on administrative leave. In that limbo, Benoit continued to draw on his $144,000-a-year annual salary but was barred from reporting for work.
When he took office, Tesei stated he would take a fresh look at the recommendation of the former administration that Benoit be dismissed. Until an agreement, signed March 26 by Tesei and Benoit, the Town of Greenwich and Benoit were locked in a legal battle over alleged age discrimination.
In addition to the reinstatement, there was this good....
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04/04/08 - Another Movie Production Comming To Greenwich
'Bucket List' scribe goes 'Upstate'
... With a budget of $5 million-$10 million, "Upstate" is being financed with equity and tax-rebate money. Zackham and Pecorin are producing for Two Ton; Costa Theo and Joy Mellins also are attached to produce. Zackham's personal story is the kind of fairy tale that could have been a script in its own right. The scribe had written what he describes as a "lot of awful screenplays" and directed a low-budget frat comedy for Showtime until one day, motivated by the creation of his own life's to-do list, he came up with the idea for "Bucket List," about two older men who break out of a cancer ward for a series of life-affirming adventures. The script took Zackham to Reiner, whom Zackham on a lark suggested to his agent was his dream director. A short while later Zackham found himself at Nicholson's Hollywood Hills home, and less than a year later the movie began principal photography. When Warners released the movie at the end of last year, many expected it to stay in theaters a few weeks and earn a modest return. But the picture became a contemporary distribution anomaly: a star-driven, top-grossing movie with legs. The movie earned its money over a remarkable three-month run, never exceeding $3 million in any given weekend but still drawing more dollars in 2008 than any picture outside of "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!"...ALSO:
'Bucket List' scribe gets political with new film
... Set mainly against the backdrop of the 2004 presidential election, "Upstate" follows a group of high schoolers from dysfunctional families who conduct a mock election at school. The film will explore such subjects as postadolescence and failing marriages and also use politics as a force and character. Set mainly against the backdrop of the 2004 presidential election, "Upstate" follows a group of high schoolers from dysfunctional families who conduct a mock election at school. The film will explore such subjects as postadolescence and failing marriages and also use politics as a force and character. ...========================================
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04/04/08 - Lindy Urso says he doubts more arrests would be made in the case. He predicted the men would have separate trials.
Affidavits In Kissel Slaying Are Sealed
Those alleged admissions and evidence are included in sealed arrest warrant affidavits for 21-year-old Leonard Trujillo of Worcester, Mass., and 47-year-old Carlos Trujillo of Bridgeport. A Stamford Superior Court judge ruled Thursday those records would remain sealed until April 24.
Leonard Trujillo is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder and his cousin, Carlos Trujillo, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Kissel's April 2006 stabbing death in his Greenwich mansion. Kissel was due to plead guilty a few days later in a multimillion-dollar fraud cause.
Patrick Culligan, the lawyer for Leonard Trujillo, says the affidavit contains “numerous” purported statements and admissions by his client that could jeopardize Leonard Trujillo's right to a fair trial if disclosed. Culligan also said Carlos Trujillo made statements, but his attorney, Lindy Urso, said his client did not make admissions....
...Prosecutors said six witnesses who gave incriminating information are worried about their safety and privacy if they are identified. Prosecutors did not object to unsealing the affidavits, but said they first want to remove the names of the six witnesses, saying their concerns were legitimate. Urso said the witnesses had nothing to fear from his client.
Judge Richard Comerford Jr. said he would give the attorneys until April 24 to request some portions be redacted before the affidavits are unsealed. But he said he did not want to keep the whole affidavit sealed as Culligan requested.
Reporters argued in favor of opening the arrest records.
“There's a very very high bar to keep anything sealed,” said Dan Mangan, a reporter for the New York Post.
Carlos Trujillo was Kissel's driver and was the last person known to have seen him alive.
Both defendants appeared in the courtroom with their attorneys Thursday, but did not speak. Carlos Trujillo has pleaded not guilty but Leonard Trujillo has not entered a plea yet because he has a probable cause hearing scheduled for May 21 because of the more serious charge.
Greenwich police will not comment on a motive, saying the investigation is still open ...
PLEASE SEE...
04/03/08 - Chief Ridberg called the case “a good story that’s missing a plot.”
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04/04/08 - Water Polo Goes High Tech In Greenwich
On this week's show we will be podcasting live from the Premier League event in Greenwich, CT.
Talking Water Polo At The Planet - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TrevorRFF
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04/08/09 - The Raw Greenwich Business News Wire
Home Prices Fall in 21 U.S. Cities, Led by Drops in Sacramento, Las Vegas
...``Foreclosures are throwing more supply on the market,'' said Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners LP, an equity trading and research firm in Greenwich, Connecticut. ``That's certainly a downward force on prices.''...
...new homes in the U.S. fell in February to an annual pace of 590,000, the lowest level in 13 years, the Commerce Department said in a March 26 report.
Radar Logic's monthly housing report tracks the 28-day aggregated value of a daily index the company compiles based on home sales that is used to trade property derivatives. Using a price-per-square-foot number reduces the influence of property size when calculating price changes, the company said. The data is not seasonally adjusted.
Closely held Radar Logic changed its name from Global Skyline Inc. in 2006.
Peru's Sol Rises to Decade High on Fitch's Investment-Grade Debt Rating
...Mexican Peso Rises
The upgrade will increase pressure on the sol to appreciate ``on the back of a broadening of the investor base in soles and demand for local assets,'' Flavia Cattan-Naslausky, an interest- rate and currency strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Greenwich, Connecticut, wrote in a report today.
Mexico's peso rose 0.16 percent to 10.5595 per dollar, from 10.576 yesterday. The yield on Mexico's benchmark bond maturing in December 2024 fell 4 basis points to 7.56 percent, according to Banco Santander...Another hedge fund bites the dust
According to a letter written by Goldman Sachs, that fund "has already begun unwinding positions in order to ensure an orderly liquidation and close of the fund on April 30." People close to the matter say that the process has been completed...
... under management have shrunk from about $11 billion at the beginning of 2007. According to a Bloomberg report, the Greenwich, Connecticut firm's flagship $2.9 billion Absolute Return Fund was down almost 15% through Feb. 15. AQR's Asset Allocation ...Don Herrema Becomes a Senior Advisor to Stone Point Capital
... with them on future investment opportunities." Stone Point Capital LLC is a global private equity firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut. Stone Point Capital, the manager of the Trident Funds, has raised more than $10 billion in committed capital to make investments in the global insurance, employee benefits and financial services industries. Stone Point Capital has a 20 year track record of successful investments in its targeted sectors.W.R. Berkley to Change Stock Ticker Symbol...
Chad HemenwayGREENWICH, Conn. W.R. Berkley Corp. is changing its New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol to WRB from BER, the insurance holding company said in a statement.
The change.....
Stocks Drop After Rise in Jobless Claims
Wall Street slipped Thursday after the Labor Department reported a spike in jobless claims, sapping some of the market's confidence ahead of Friday's anxiously anticipated March employment report....04/08/04 - Obituary - Donald G. Adam
Chatham professor 'was bigger than life'
"He was bigger than life," said a colleague, Tom Hershberger, former vice president of Chatham and now a professor of psychology there. "He was inspiring. He had a broad range of knowledge and interests."
Mr. Adam of Point Breeze died Wednesday, April 2, 2008, of pulmonary fibrosis at UPMC Shadyside. He was 72...
..."He liked to cook," said Hamilton, 63, of Point Breeze. "He liked to read and do crossword puzzles and grouch about the world of politics."He was such an avid Italian chef that he once accompanied his daughter, Holly, of Greenwich, Conn., on a cooking trip to Tuscany.
...The Burton L. Hirsch Funeral Home in Squirrel Hill is handling the arrangements.The funeral will be private. A memorial service is being planned.
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04/04/08 - 19 Year Old Greenwich Drunk Driver Closes Down A Rye Brook Street For 13 Hours
North Ridge Street: A 19-year-old Greenwich woman was incoherent, police said, after her car struck and snapped a utility pole and continued northbound Striking a mailbox and a stone wall in front of 148 N. Ridge St. at 1:12 a.m. Saturday. Amanda L. Mogrovejo was charged with misdemeanor driving while intoxicated. The 22 Cowdray Park Drive resident did not have any visible injuries. North Ridge Street was closed from Betsy Brown Road to Argyle Road for more than 13 hours, police said.
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04/04/08 - Spioled Greenwich Girls And Boys Gone Wild
A 17-year-old girl was arrested April 1 and charged with interfering with an officer. She turned herself in on the charge, which stemmed from a party on March 22 where there was underage drinking. She allegedly vouched for the identities of two people who were later discovered to have given false names and birthdays. The girl was released on a $1,000 surety bond and is due in court April 9.
04/04/08 WGCH Owner Michael Metter To Appear On QVC
NEW YORK, April 4, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SpongeTech Delivery Systems, Inc. (BULLETIN BOARD: SPNG - News) announced today that Chief Executive Officer Michael Metter is scheduled to appear on QVC Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 3 PM (ET) during the Keep It Clean broadcast.
Metter will demonstrate SpongeTech's Auto Care products, including the "Smart Sponge," SpongeTech's patented Hydrophilic Polyurethane Sponge with wash and carnauba wax imbedded inside, as well as the Detail Sponge and Chamois, which is included in the Company's Three-Pack Auto Care Kit.
"QVC is an extremely valuable way for us to introduce our innovative car wash system to a wide audience," said Metter. "We are excited to work with QVC and strongly believe in its reputation and commitment to the consumer."
For more information, please contact Investor Relations at 1-877-SPONGE-T, and/or visit the Company's website at: http://www.spongetech.com/.
About SpongeTech Delivery Systems
SpongeTech Delivery Systems is a development stage company, which designs, produces, and markets a unique line of reusable cleaning products for the automotive aftermarket parts industry. These sponge-based products utilize SpongeTech's proprietary, patent (and patent-pending) technologies involving hydrophilic (liquid absorbing) foam and polyurethane matrices. The Company's sponges are specially configured with an outer contact layer and an inner matrix, the latter of which comes pre-loaded with specially formulated soaps and wax that are released when the sponge is wetted and applied to a surface with minimal pressure. The Company's primary product line has been designed specifically for automotive/vehicle applications, however, SpongeTech is currently exploring additional applications for its technology including an anti-bacterial, kitchen and bath cleaner, as well as a unique 'foaming' bath sponge for children.
"Safe Harbor Statement" Under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements in the press release that relate to the Company's expectations with regard to the future impact on the Company's results from new products in development are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The results anticipated by any or all of these forward-looking statements may not occur. Additional risks and uncertainties are set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-KSB for the year ended December 31, 2005, the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-QSB for the first quarter ended March 31, 2006. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes in the Company's plans or expectations.
Contact: SpongeTech Delivery Systems, Inc. Investor Relations (877) 776-6438 info@spongetech.com
SpongeTech Delivery Systems, Inc.
CONTACT: SpongeTech Delivery Systems, Inc. Investor Relations, 1-877-
776-6438, info@spongetech.com
Web site: http://www.spongetech.com/
04/04/08 - Obituary - Robert Brown
Robert Brown, Chief of Editor & Publisher, Dies at 95
Robert U. Brown, who spent four decades heading a leading newspaper industry trade publication, Editor & Publisher, died on March 20 at his home in Greenwich, Conn. He was 95.His death followed a brief illness, said Christopher L. Phillips, his grandson.
From 1953 until 1999, Mr. Brown was president and editor of Editor & Publisher, which was owned by his family. The publication has had other owners since 1999.
At the beginning of his career, Mr. Brown, who trained as a printer, worked as a reporter at several newspapers, including The Trenton Times in New Jersey and The Auburn Citizen-Advertiser in Auburn, N.Y.
Later, he helped found the Inter American Press Association, which promotes press freedom.
While working at Editor & Publisher, Mr. Brown wrote commentaries urging newspapers to uphold tough reporting standards. A decade ago, for example, he called on editors to crack down on the use of anonymous sources and decried journalistic sins like plagiarism.
Mr. Brown is survived by two daughters, Elizabeth Phillips of Houston and Robin Woods of Darien, Conn.; five grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
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04/04/08 - Massachusetts Govenor Deval Patrick Is A Big Spender In Greenwich
The taxpayer cost of Patrick’s book deal trip to NY
In the interest of full disclosure, here is a rundown on the costs and timing of Gov. Deval Patrick’s controversial, weekday trip to secure a $1.35 million book deal in New York City.
The governor left the state last Wednesday night – not long after he held a press conference in which he accused House Speaker Sal DiMasi of engineering the defeat of his casino bill; the bill came up for a final vote Thursday — and lost 108-46 — while Patrick was in New York.
Aides said the governor spent Wednesday and Thursday night with friends in Greenwich, CT while he prepared for two days of meetings with publishers about his book proposal (the meetings were held Thursday and Friday).
A security detail that traveled with him (security stays with the governor 24-7) spent two nights in the Stanton House Inn, a 100-year-old bed and breakfast on Maple Avenue in Greenwich.
Patrick aides said the cost of the hotel was $378 for two nights. Room rates on the inn’s web site show that a king standard room is $169; a queen standard $159....
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04/04/08 - News Links From The Greenwich Time
The Greenwich Time RSS Feed
A state Superior Court judge yesterday kept arrest warrants in the slaying of Greenwich millionaire Andrew Kissel sealed to allow one of the two suspects to review the affidavits and seek to delete damaging statements attributed to him. Full Story Sexual crisis center kicks off campaign Rep. William Tong, D-Stamford, attended Brown University in the 1990s, when female students there had scrawled the names of alleged male rapists on the library's bathroom walls. Full Story Author and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich got a taste several years ago of what it was like to be among the country's working poor. Full Story Golfers enjoy opening day at the Griff George Comesana-Vila, 54, wearing his baseball hat and a windbreaker, practiced his golf swing several times before heading out for his first game of the year. Full Story STAMFORD -- Planning officials hope to bring a faster bus service to the region next year, and have launched a study of how to make it happen. Full Story Club honors youth of the year Paola Pena came for the summer camp and she stayed for the camaraderie and club environment. Last night, the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich named the 17-year-old member from Stamford its Youth of the Year, bestowing the club's highest honor on the teenager at its annual awards dinner at Luca's steakhouse. Full Story Hoa Nguyen Greenwich Time - Staff Writer Police raided a Byram house yesterday evening and arrested four town residents on marijuana charges, officials said. Full Story | |
04/04/08 - Forget About Going To Broadway All The Hip New Yorkers Are Going To The Bruce Museum
... NYC Audubon spring field trips include a wildflower hike at Pyramid Mountain and to the Raptor Trust bird rehabilitation center.
Metro-North's one-day getaways include packages to Cold Springs, the Mohegan Sun Casino, and the Bruce Museum of Arts and Science in Greenwich.
Not only is there a Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown NY, but the town is hosting Luci-Desi Days from May 23 through May 25 ...
... Regular tickets to tour the Philip Johnson Glass House in New Canaan, Conn., -- which last year started opening to the public for the first time in its 50 year history -- are already sold out for all of 2008. But "you can still visit the Glass House in 2008 if you book a Private or Patron Tour of the Glass House," according to the website.
In that same vein the Saugerties Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast is now taking reservations for 2009 as this year's mostly booked up. (Although tonight and Friday happen to be open, according to their website.)
Andre Balazs' Sunset Beach on Shelter Island reopens for the season May 16 with midweek rates from $245.
The 1926 Wurlitzer Organ at the Riviera Theatre in North Tonawanda, NY has just emerged from its restoration process and will be used in its monthly Wurlitzer Concert Series.
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04/04/08 - “If you’re a journalist and you don’t have an agenda, you don’t have a pulse.”
At the Brian Storm (of MediaStorm.org) Hearst Foundation New Media Lecture at Columbia J. school. Brian talks about the fallacy of objectivity, or at leas the fallacy of being unwilling to be an advocate, pointing to Darfur, and that it was extremely hard to produce a piece for the non-advocacy Council on Foreign Relations about what’s happening there. “I think Bashir is a bad person,” and should go, he says of the Sudanese leader.
“If you’re a journalist and you don’t have an agenda, you don’t have a pulse,” Brian says much later. Sometimes you have to push hard to get [an audience] to give a shit on the things they should care about,” whether its the Sudan, Rwanda, post-Katrina New Orleans or danger to elephants.
Fascinating to hear him toe this line, which must be anathema to many in these hallowed journalistic halls. Brian notes how when working at MSNBC he was not allowed, for example, to put music in documentary work -- something he does regularly now (and a question about which sparked the discussion).
“Ethics, I do have them,” he says, implicitly arguing that advocacy is actually a more ethical position."
Objectivity, I would argue, is damn near impossible. Where you point the camera, even how you frame the shot, let alone the quotes you choose or the point you make when writing, or what-not, are all choices. With a genuflection to Nanda Kumar of Baruch College (where I just guest lectured in his class) I ask: Is Google an objective search engine? No. Choices are made in how to write its algorithm.
Fairness is possible, and disclosure of ones’ biases helps achieve that aim. But objectivity? Ever seen Rashomon?
FULL DISCLOSURE:
One Of The Authors Of This Excellent Blog Is...
Vin Crosbie has been called "the Practical Futurist" by Folio, the trade journal of the American magazine industry. Editor & Publisher magazine, the trade journal of the American newspaper industry, devoted the Overview chapter of executive research report Digital Delivery of News: A How-to Guide for PublishersRepresentative American Speeches 2004-2005. He has keynoted the Seybold Publishing Strategies conference in 2000; co-chaired and co-moderated last year's annual Beyond the Printed Word the digital publishing conference in Vienna; and regularly speaks at most major online news media conferences. He is currently in residence as adjunct professor of visual and interactive communications and senior consultant on executive education in new media at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and meanwhile is managing partner of the media consulting firm of Digital Deliverance LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut. to his work. His speech to the National Association of Broadcasters annual conference was one of 24 orations selected by a team of speech professors for publication in the reference book
Posted by
It's Time for News Organizations to Stop Defining Themselves by Obsolete Products
A professor today asked me:
"What will the future of the newspapers be?"
Meanwhile, someone on the Online News publishing discussion lists notes:
The question is often asked: 'What will be the future of the newspapers? But, it seems that before we ask that question, we'll have to first figure out what, if anything, constitutes the absolute core minimum of what it takes to be called a 'newspaper.'
What iss troubling about those questions is these people are still trying to define their news organizations according to products that are becoming obsolete. The true question is 'What will news organizations do in the future?'...
The Press Will Be Outsourced Before Stopped
Dorian Benkoil last month e-mailed me asking what I thought about Business Week columnist Jon Fine's recent article, When Do You Stop The Presses?.
In the column, Fine ponders which major American newspaper will be the first to stop publishing a print edition and publish online only. He speculates that it will be the San Francisco Chronicle, which has reportedly lost $330 million this decade, approximately $1 million per week. Fine wonders if how the Chronicle should consider stopping its presses and start delivering news only online....
'Citizen Journalism' Is Only One Of Many Necessary Tools[When terminology gets stretched too far, discussion distorts and tempers snap. A friend in the Poynter Institute's Online News discussion group industry recently stretch the definition of 'citizen journalism' to include Letters-to-the-Editor. That 's when my patience snapped and I released criticisms of the 'citizen journalism' movement, which I've intentionally withheld for years.
Online News is an email-based discussion group, so some other friends have since asked me to post my criticisms here, so that they can hyperlink their own blogs or publications. Here goes:
Letter-to-the-Editor are as much journalism as a man's video of his kid's wedding is cinema. Or as much as a woman putting a Band-Aid (or 'plaster' the British would say) onto her kid's bruised knee is practicing medicine. Or as much as a guy appearing in traffic court to dispute a parking ticket is practicing law. It's too much of a rhetoric stretch.
Does its publication in a newspaper somehow make a person's opinion be journalism? If so, you might as well shutdown college schools of journalism. No need for those.
Yes, too many newsroom have become remote from, and condescending to, readers. Letting readers comment or converse in newspaper (web)pages is a much needed remedy. Yes, it's great when citizens who posses a particular expertise help report stories about that topic. Likewise, when citizens who witness a news event contribute their first-hand experiences. And, yes, it's heartening to believe that citizens themselves might be capable of reporting a significant portion of the news. Don't get me wrong: The concept behind 'citizen journalism' is noble, much like Karl Marx's vision of pure communism or Jean-Jacque Rousseau's vision of natural goodness or Ayn Rand's vision of objective individualism....
Hundreds of American Newspapers Surrender
Newspapers all across America are using newsprint to wave the white flag, surrendering to the major search engines.
Earlier this month, 50 American newspapers agreed to have Google sell some of their online advertising inventories. Those newspapers include The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune.
Today, 176 other American newspapers announced their agreement to have Yahoo! sell some of their online advertising inventories. These include newspapers owned by MediaNews Group, Hearst, Belo, E. W. Scripps, Journal Register, Lee Enterprises, and Cox Enterprises.
Welcome to the wholesale surrender of major American newspaper companies to the search engines!
The chairmen of many of these newspaper companies are claiming the deals represent victories or advantages for their newspapers, but their claims are hardly true. The deals instead represent their failures during the past ten years. You can see this when looking back on the long perspective (which is why I've pictured the white flag atop the mountain, above).
Reporting Yahoo!'s arrangements with those newspapers, The New York Times today mentioned the effort ten years ago by the New Century Network consortium of the largest American newspaper companies -- Advance Publications, Cox Newspapers, Gannett Company, Hearst, Knight-Ridder, The New York Times Company, Times-Mirror, Tribune Company, and The Washington Post Company -- to form a common online advertising platform and also a common news search engine that included all their newspapers content and advertising space. But the executives of those companies bickered and failed to work together, and the New Century Network effort collapsed....What Future Roles for Newsstands, Archives, and Newsrooms?
On this day when eMarketer estimates that Google is well on the way to capturing 25 percent of all U.S. online advertisement spending and almost twice the amount of Yahoo!'s revenues, with which Google's revenues only 18 months ago were on par, here are some other issues that my business partner and I are examining:
° What will be the future role of news agents and newsstands? Although they don't play a sizeable role in distribution of American, Canadian, German, and Japanese newspaper (only about seven percent of circulation in those countries), local newsstands and news agent play a most significant role in most other major countries' newspaper ecology. Plus they play significant roles in magazine distribution in every country.
In most of the world's countries, newspapers and their hired wholesalers distributed daily copies to the news agents and newsstands, who then distribute them to you. when you subscribe to home delivery of a daily newspaper, you make your subscription with your neighborhood newsstand or news agent (not directly with the newspaper as is the situation here in the U.S.) The news agents or newsstand has the relationships with the subscribers; the newspapers themselves don't know who subscribes, just that the wholesalers reports how many copies were sold to the retail newsstand and news agents.
Some digerati simply expect newsstands and news agents to go out of business if newspapers and magazines someday switch entirely to online publication. But that would create a major disruption in countries such as the United Kingdom, where 47 percent of the daily newspapers' gross revenues came from newsstands and news agents....Do More People Read Newspapers Online Than in Print?
Pardon me for writing again about newspapers, but they're often the starting point in the feeding chains of broadcasters and bloggers. And this story is just in about newspapers themselves:
According to the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of America Newspaper Audience Database project, more Americans visit newspaper websites than purchase printed editions. That is, more do sometime during a month. The NAA announced that more than 55.5 million Americans now visit newspaper websites at least once per month and this total grew by more than 31 percent during the past year.
When many of us started publishing news online during the late 1980s (via Prodigy, CompuServe, AOL, and other proprietary online services) or in the mid-1990s on the World Wide Web, the time when newspapers would have more online users than print readers seemed a distant dream.
It's a milestone, an accomplishment that deserve praise.
Yet this dream isn't a wet dream. Nor is it real. The big caveat in the NAA announcement is those numbers are monthly, not daily.
Slightly more than 54 million Americans purchase a printed edition daily while 55.5 million visited a newspaper website at least once per month. Conflating daily print and monthly online figures makes it appear that the American newspaper industry isn't so much losing daily print readers as gaining equally frequent new readers online. That's good PR for the newspaper industry, and more power to the NAA for touting it. But the claim isn't really true.
Daily reach isn't monthly reach and vice versa. There may be 55.5 million users of newspaper websites, but they use those site far less frequently and less thoroughly than daily.
Look closely at NAA's NAD data (which is downloadable as an Excel spreadsheet). How often does the average user visit a newspaper site during a month? There's are no data about that in the NAD data, but we can calculate an indication from the data. Though the NAD spreadsheet is password-protected against any changes or added calculations, you can simply add a new worksheet into it by using Excel's 'Insert > Worksheet' command and link it to the NAD data to make indicative calculations.
The News Industry's Five Stages of Grief
In her 1969 book On Death and Dying, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross (1926 - 2004) postulated the now famous Five Stages of Grief that people undergo when faced with their impending death:
- Denial and isolation - The "This won't happen to me! I don't really have to worry" stage.
- Anger - The "Why me?" How dare you do this to me!" stage.
- Bargaining - The "Maybe I can evade this fate by co-opting or sidestepping it " stage.
- Depression - The "It's really happening and I can't stop it" stage.
- Acceptance - The "Let it happen; I don't want to struggle anymore" stage.
The news industry is dying. In which of Kübleresque stages is this industry. There have been some major changes this year.
But first, do I exaggerate the patient's condition? I don't think so. Nor do others. Furthermore, when I state that the news industry is dying, no, I don't want it to die. I am just stating the condition of the industry. There will always be a need for journalism, but the question is whether there will be an industry in which journalists can work.
Let's examine the patient. Its vital signs have been fading for decades. Circulations and readership of newspapers and news magazines has been evaporating. Listenership and viewership of broadcast news programs have likewise been are dissipating. These declines had been slow, about half a percent annually, but in the past few years have accelerated to a few percentages annually. The industry's heart still beats, and some industry leaders still to profess its vigor, but now even its core vital signs — its revenues (adjusted for inflation) and its profit margins — the pulse and blood pressure of the industry, have begun to wane.
Many industry executives claim that a transplant into the new-media will save the patient. However, an examination of data shows that their online editions are read by fewer people — and less often and less frequently — than the dying print or broadcast editions. Moreover, ten years into these efforts, the online editions are earning only one-twentieth to one-hundredth per user what the dying print edition earns per reader.
The news industry is in critical condition everywhere except countries that only now are forming their economic middle classes such as China and India; places only now rising to the levels North America and Western Europe reached 90 years ago (during the heyday of newspapers). The patient is dying everywhere else. The industry needs a radical course correction...
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