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.
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.
THESE DAYS
Fatter rear ends are causing many drug injections to miss their mark, requiring longer needles to reach buttock muscle, researchers said Monday.
Despite the support for restrictions, 61 percent of those questioned in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll were opposed to a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Kevin M is plowing through a myriad of very bad sex scenes at The Dead Postman.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Relive an SNL classic as Christopher Walken, Walter Matthau, et al audition for Star Wars.
A craptastic webcam karaoke music performance of "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"There is just no introspection there at all. It is everybody else's
fault--the press, gutless Republicans on the Hill. They're still in denial."
-- A "card-carrying member of the Washington GOP establishment with close
ties to the White House" describes the current West Wing mindset in a New
York Daily News article by Thomas DeFrank and Kenneth Bazinet
"Chewing through staff like an industrial wood chipper."
-- Longtime GOP consultant Rick Wilson, on senate candidate and Florida representative Katherine Harris's congressional and campaign staff turnover
No surprise there. Here is the text of the note that David Schneiderman of Village Voice Media sent to CP publisher Mark Bartel around noon today:
I am pleased to inform you that the Department [of] Justice has approved our merger with New Times. We expect to close in about a month or so. The work on integrating the two companies will accelerate, but we will still be functioning as separate entities until the closing.
Elsewhere, Chuck Taylor writes in the Seattle Weekly that the FTC posted the announcement that there would be no DoJ challenge to the merger last Wednesday, November 23, to little fanfare.
The story is not one of the Journal's daily free features, unfortunately, but if there is not enough wonk in your Monday, you can read the Foote/Goetz paper that the story is based on here.
CITY PAGES BLOGS
Steve Monaco has your Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.
THESE DAYS
Police in Kennewick, Washington, are providing free rides over the holidays to dissuade drunk driving.
Poland's new right-wing government risked a damaging confrontation with Russia when it published a Warsaw Pact map showing detailed plans for Soviet nuclear strikes against western Europe.
The Hayabusa spaceprobe has snatched samples from the asteroid Itokawa, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
You occasionally get sent to the social worker's office when your nom de guerre is "shoot her before she talks her way out of it" or when your blog is called broken hearts are good for stabbing people with.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Serious businesses like Who Represents and Pen Island become a bit more amusing when you type in their URLs.
Flipping back and forth between the 18th century and the hapless efforts of the 21st century filmmakers, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story is the making of a movie adapted from the notoriously unfilmable English literature masterpiece, The Life and Opinons of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, written by Laurence Sterne. The film features Steve Coogan, Gillian Anderson, Jeremy Northam, Stephen Fry, and Ian Hart.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"The inmates are very willing to do this type of work. It's something they can do to better serve the community."
-- Joe Schmidt, superintendent of the work farm where Alaskan inmates will be butchering the meat of moose struck by trains this winter for distribution in soup kitchens
In an release dated November 23, it was announced that Knight Ridder, which locally owns the St. Paul Pioneer Press, has acquired the Minneapolis-St. Paul Edition of the Employment News, a free recruitment publication. Another publication, Minnesota Health & Medical Careers, is also included in the acquisition. Greg Goff, Knight Ridder's general manager of targeted publications, declared the acquisition would "broaden our offerings to customers, helping them effectively reach all segments of job seekers." Barbara LaMotte, recruitment advertising sales manager at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, was named publisher of The Employment News in Minnesota.
That certainly was a fat newspaper landing on doorsteps with a resounding thud yesterday morning, chock full of ads prepping us for today's annual consumer gluttony. To goose things along, the Strib decided the top story was, to quote their headline: Stocks approaching 4-year highs
Of course the beginning of the second graph read, "For the year, the blue-chip stock index is up an anemic 1.23 percent," and if readers bothered to ponder the headline, they would have realized it was a sunny way of saying, "Stocks still haven't matched 2001 levels." But on the day after Thanksgiving, consumer confidence is the name of the game for the folks in advertorial. Now go out and start shopping!
THESE DAYS
Former FEMA Director Michael "Heckuva Job" Brown, heavily criticized for his agency's slow response to Hurricane Katrina, is starting a disaster preparedness consulting firm to help clients avoid the sort of errors that cost him his job.
Hunger and malnutrition are killing nearly six million children a year, and more people are malnourished in sub-Saharan Africa this decade than in the 1990s, according to a U.N. report.
The barge that bore the body of British World War II leader Winston Churchill down the River Thames during his state funeral 40 years ago will go on sale next month and is expected to make over one million pounds.
A New York Barnes and Noble locked its doors around 11 a.m. Tuesday, hoping to stem the crush of spectators trying to catch a glimpse of the Golden Girls cast, who were signing Season Three DVD sets. [via Fark]
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Dida shares Blotter's love of haiku and going home and taking snow days. Read her blog at Highway 47 Blues.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Superman Returns teaser trailer
Tabloid Photographs from the Los Angeles Herald Express (1936-1961) An exhibition curated by Diane Keaton for the Los Angeles Public Library
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"I love giving the golden shower. I've done it before in the shower. It's like so sexy, you know, the temperature of your body and the shower water is very different."
-- Pop singer Ricky Martin, in Blender, on peeing on other people in his shower
Now, a few months after the number "3" made its debut in the lefthand column of local gas station signs, fuel prices have fallen steadily. It appears the "real value" of gas in the weeks after the hurricanes reflected a serious speculative markup. After peaking at $70, crude oil contracts now sit at $55.
As the media have noted repeatedly, the Republicans in Congress aren't faring much better in the court of opinion. Their 2005 Harris rankings, approval number first:
November 27% 69%
August 32% 64%
June 37% 58%
April 36% 61%
But there is a kicker that nearly everyone seems to have overlooked. The Democrats in Congress remain even more unpopular than their Republican counterparts. Their Harris ratings from the same periods:
November 25% 70%
August 31% 65%
June 33% 61%
April 34% 64%
It appears the grand Democratic strategy of standing back and letting the Republicans sink themselves is working roughly as well as it did in the 2004 campaign.
Read the WSJ's free-database story on the 11/17 Harris Poll.
University of Minnesota media ethics prof Jane Kirtley pronounces herself "aghast" at the plan. Indeed: Don't they realize how much more money they could make selling their 10 pm Extra segment? It already consists of product promotions in the guise of consumer news roughly half the time. Here's a list of the last 16 Extras archived at the KARE-11 website, with the consumer pieces in bold:
The new deal on earning [airline] miles [airs tonight!]
Television buying tips
Podcasting, have opinion will share
Best prices on hottest toys
Finding the perfect pair of jeans
Coroner could unlock decades-old mystery
Winning at Texas Hold 'em
Surviving annoying co-workers
Some are sweet on Splenda
KARE 11 Investigates: Reker Case
Eyes all around - Cameras and Cops
The Gift of Life - Part 2
The Gift of Life - Part One
Seeking a Killer - A Cold Case Gets New Life Part 1
Timing is everything -- The traffic light mess
Virtual home tour a big help to buyers
THESE DAYS
Days after Rep. Jean Schmidt was booed off the House floor for saying that "cowards cut and run, Marines never do," the Ohioan she quoted, Danny Bubp, a freshman state representative who is a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, disputes the comments.
City Pages' current cover-scientist PZ Myers tangles with, of all people, Dilbert creator Scott Adams over Intelligent Design.
Fox News is refusing to air an ad critical of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, citing its lawyers' contention that the spot is factually incorrect.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Andrea's an audiophile who someday hopes to be cool. Get her take on recent releases and/or performances by Atmosphere, Electropolis, and Trampled by Turles, at Minneapolitan Music.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Eden Prairie, you just got served! Check out these Christmas lights [sound + NSFW ads]
In a bit of viral meta-marketing, Tigergaming.com is calling on creative types to come up with their next advertising campaign.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"Not really that interested in Murtha, ladies and gentlemen, to tell you the truth. I know he got everybody's dander up all last week, but I think he's just the useful idiot of the moment."
-- Bloviating gas-bag Rush Limbaugh, on Vietnam veteran and House member John P. Murtha (D-PA), who has called for the immediate redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq
The Center for Public Integrity has released a new report scrutinizing the accountability and effectiveness of public utility commissions across the country. These bodies, varying in make-up and duties from state to state, regulate companies that provide basic necessities such as telephone, electricity, and water services. The posts pay quite well, an average of $92,561 nationwide.
The study found that these bodies are rife with cronyism and lack any substantial participation from consumer advocates. For instance, the report determined that 45 of the 199 commissioners nationwide were former state legislators, while an additional 49 had either been employed as legislative staffers or gubernatorial appointees in the past.
A crime study released yesterday by Morgan Quitno Press reveals that Minneapolis is the nation's 34th most-dangerous city, landing just below Philadelphia on the publisher's danger list. Houston, with a population of more than 2 million, is the 54th most-dangerous city; Newton, Mass., which falls last on the list of 369 cities surveyed, is considered to be the safest U.S. city.
The study looked at cities' crime rates in 2004 per 100,000 residents and measured the findings against national averages. In Minneapolis, 4,709 violent crimes were reported in a population of 376,255 last year: Among them were 45 murders/manslaughters, 384 forcible rapes, 2,246 robberies, and 2,026 aggravated assaults, according to the FBI. Philadelphia, with a little over 1.4 million residents, reported 20,902 violent crimes in 2004.
However, when researchers combined Minneapolis and St. Paul (which is 97th most dangerous) with the metro region, the Twin Cities fall to 195 most-dangerous, just above a town you've never heard of, Warner Robins, Georgia. And there's more good news in all of this: At least we're not Camden, New Jersey. The Number One most-violent city, whose population is 80,600, saw 1,824 violent crimes in 2004. Incidentally, Wisconsin metro areas of Fond du Lac, Appleton, Sheboygan, LaCrosse, and Oshkosh are among the top-ten safest places in the country.
Bush Administration eases off pass-fail system for public schools
Four years after enactment of its hallmark education reform, the Bush administration appears to be heading off calls for changes in the law by agreeing not to enforce key provisions of No Child Left Behind. Schools that fail to make "adequate yearly progress" on academic performance under the law to escape the "failing" label can show progress by other means. Some urban districts can offer students in failing schools tutoring instead of a transfer to a better school. States previously under pressure to show that their teachers met certain minimum standards can now show that they made "good faith efforts" toward hiring qualified educators. Testing requirements for disabled students will be eased.
On Saturday, the Star Tribune posted a curious story about the uncertain future of its main rival, the St. Paul Pioneer Press. As noted in this space previously, speculation about the Pi Press is fully warranted, given the shareholder revolt at Knight Ridder.
CITY PAGES BLOGS
Corey Anderson notices a line forming as President Bush pardons the Thanksgiving turkey at American Idle.
Steve Monaco reveals Robert Blake's thoughts as the civil trial's verdict is read at Couch Pundit.
THESE DAYS
A senior United Nations official has accused President George Bush of "doing damage to Africa" by cutting funding for condoms, a move which may jeopardize the successful fight against HIV/Aids in Uganda.
The Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal organization led by Jerry Falwell, promises to file suit against anyone who spreads what it sees as misinformation about how Christmas can be celebrated in schools and public spaces. Hopefully, a tumbler of bourbon and a Seconal still counts.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Fire Glen Mason: A blog dedicated to encouraging the U of M to pursue other candidates for the Gophers head coaching job.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Rock 'n' roll novelist Neal Pollack has a hilarious rant at his blog about his 3-year-old's potty training difficulties. Hottest catchphrase for winter 2006: "I pooped on my animals!"
Ze Frank took the Matt Lauer-Tom Cruise Today Show confrontation and turned it into a monotonal discussion between two aliens. [via Boing Boing]
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"The period between 9/11 and Iraq was not a good time for America. There wasn't a robust discussion of what we were doing. If we stop trying to figure out the other side, we've given up. The person on the other side is not evil -- they just have a different perspective."
-- Hardball host Chris Matthews, in a speech to political science students at the University of Toronto over the weekend
CITY PAGES BLOGS
Steve Monaco has your Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.
Elaine Cassel discusses a prosecutor under investigation in the Detroit terrorism case at Civil Liberties Watch.
If you're jonesing for more awesome Morning Communique-type links, check out the Mid Morning Browse from Karl Pearson-Cater at kpc--weeblog.
THESE DAYS
After 16-year-old Kelsey Swiatko heard that underwear is one of the biggest needs among Kenosha's poor, she launched "Operation Underwear," spending hours outside the local Wal-Mart collecting donations.
Match.com is accused in a federal lawsuit of goading members into renewing their subscriptions through bogus romantic e-mails sent out by company employees and phony dates with people on the payroll.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Shell Shell is an FOB (Friend of Blotter) who shares her psychoses, Jarvis Cocker fetish, and crappy GRE verbal scores for our amusement at War on Dating.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Got a case of the Mondays? Rate My Puppy will bring on the feel-goods!
Fantasy Island meets Saw in a sadistic new thriller produced by Quentin Tarantino called Hostel.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"Yes, obviously."
-- John Kerry, speaking to Wolf Blitzer on CNN, answers his own rhetorical question: "Would I like to be president?"
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