Doug Henwood, editor/publisher of the fine Left Business Observer newsletter, sent this note to his mail list the other day:
The spell checker for Adobe's InDesign was stumped by the word "narcoticized," and suggested "Americanized" as an alternative.
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A friend in San Francisco sends this note about his attempts to register his toddler for an appointment with a medical specialist:
I am not kidding about learning the importance of dealing with insurance companies. Astonishing bureaucracy and ineptitude, among other enjoyable attributes--took them 6 tries, and 5 phone calls, to send me an authorization letter with the correct spelling of the name, address, and phone number of one doctor.
Gives new meaning to the term "preventative medicine"...
Perfect newspaper cliche ruined by an overabundance of guns and religious extremism
In the trade, we call it burying the lede (as in, the lead concept, development or image in a story), and it happens a lot despite the fact that most student reporters hear the term before they get out of Journalism 101. Often it occurs when the hard nut of a story is inconvenient, or just plain too gritty for the writer or their employer.
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Read the Slate story here.
Stan Berenstain of "Berenstain Bears" fame dies at 82; parents everywhere get a little less help embracing their own fallibility
CITY PAGES BLOGS
Diablo Cody mixes old business with family during Thanksgiving at the Pussy Ranch.
Britt Robson analyzes the Wolves-Clippers game in the latest installment of The Three-Pointer at Balls!
THESE DAYS
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has told federal officials that the lighted, decorated tree on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol -- known in recent years as the "Holiday Tree" -- should be renamed the "Capitol Christmas Tree," as it was called until the late 1990s. What? It's not called the Freedom Tree?
A 40-foot motor home was converted into a strip club on wheels, offering alcohol and lap dances to football fans outside the stadium before kickoff of Sunday's Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, police said.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Peg Kaplan has pushed herself away from her bridge game long enough to start blogging again at what if?
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Odeo CEO Evan Williams has Ten Rules for Web Startups
A handy-dandy guide to radioactive consumer products
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."
-- Colin Powell's former chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson, on Vice President Dick Cheney, in regard to how Cheney could have believed Iraq was a terrorist training ground
"She'll always be part of Lincoln Financial Field and of the Eagles."
-- Christopher Noteboom, of Tempe, Arizona, who ran onto the field during the Philadelphia Eagles-Green Bay Packers game on Sunday and spread his late mother's ashes on the grass
"The Democratic Party seems to be taken over by the Michael Moore contingent in their attitude toward Vietnam, and they continually call for a withdrawal of troops at a time when we haven't finished the job."
-- Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), getting his quagmires confused Monday on Fox News
Today the AP published lists of the US's 10 richest/poorest states and 20 richest/poorest counties. The state list placed Minnesota seventh with a median household income of $50,750 (Connecticut placed first at $56,409). Two Twin Cities metro suburban counties appeared on that top 20 list: Carver at number 16 and Scott at number 17, with median incomes a little over $74,000. Los Alamos County, New Mexico led the pack at $93,089.
In a pair of lists dominated mostly by the East Coast (highest incomes) and South (lowest), the only other Midwestern state to appear on radar was South Dakota: Three of its counties rank among the country's 20 poorest. Buffalo County has the lowest median income in the US ($17,003), and Ziebach County is third-lowest. Todd County also appears on the list. All 17 of the remaining counties on the list are in states in the deep South or in the Kentucky/Appalachian region.
After the fire was extinguished officers spoke with George Omari Nyagaka. The 28-year-old Brooklyn Park resident allegedly told police that he had set the car on fire because it had been parked for too long in front of his house. He further claimed that the owner of the vehicle practiced witchcraft and was trying to harm him by leaving the car in front of his house.
Nyagaka is charged with one count of second degree arson.
Want to know what company in Minnesota has the most on-the-job injuries? Or what company has been busted the most times for federal labor law violations? Or how much the CEO at said company got paid last year? You can always hire a shamus to find out--or you can check out the AFL-CIO's nifty new searchable database, the Job Tracker. Just click here.
Appointment to library board highlights emerging political class
Word just came in trumpeting the mayor's appointment to the library board, Hussein Samatar. Normally, such an appointment would barely be news, but the selection is notable because it underscores what became apparent in the latest round of citywide elections earlier this month: The Somali community is gaining ground as an active and viable constituency.
Rybak benefited from this, according to most observers, as did Eighth Ward council member-elect Elizabeth Glidden. Hizzoner, apparently, has decided to return the favor in kind.
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