Good editorial
Have you read it |
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| Posted on: Feb. 09 2008,11:50 am by bianca |
Editorial: Bad news won’t hurt local efforts
Friday, February 8, 2008 9:10 AM CST
Did you see the front page of the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Thursday?
The main headline read: “Macy’s North division to close.”
The story detailed how 950 jobs will leave Minneapolis and told how the announcement Wednesday at the Macy’s division headquarters in Minneapolis left the staff stunned.
Will this so-called negative news on the front page of the Minneapolis newspaper ruin the ability of that city’s elected officials and economic developers to attract companies? No.
In fact, it is wise for economic officials and others involved with disappointing situations to be straightforward about what happened. Keeping it secret from the media only leads to gossip, rumors and speculation among the general public. It is best to use the media to get the facts out there when economic development news is good or bad.
Because of the Star Tribune story, shoppers know the Macy’s division headquarters will close but, yes, the stores will stay open. Without it, rumors surely would have spread that the stores were doomed, too.
On Jan. 28, a story on the front page of the Albert Lea Tribune told how Albert Lea was the last Minnesota city in an enzyme maker’s hunt for a place to build a plant but that company opted to look elsewhere. Albert Lea Economic Development Director Dan Dorman cooperated with the newspaper in making the story happen while being careful not to name the company because the search still was ongoing.
But some locals were critical of Dorman for talking with the newspaper about “negative” economic development news and some were critical of the newspaper for printing it.
Let’s get something straight: News is not about positive or negative. It is about being honest about events that occur. The Tribune wants success for economic development in Albert Lea — we cover groundbreakings, too. But we don’t believe covering up the truth is the way to go about economic development. Dorman knows that, too.
If the general public is informed about economic development — for better or for worse — they’ll be less likely to make wild speculations about the local efforts being made.
In the story, Dorman made interesting points about competing with Iowa and other states. That has prompted further dialogue in Albert Lea and around the state. We’ve heard opinions about the same subject during many conversations since then. The resulting healthy dialogue is why the news — good or bad — is so vital to the health and vibrancy of a community. You have to be willing to look at yourself in the mirror. 
Well said 
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Polaroid Technology Fades Out
Baby boomers turn another page |
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| Posted on: Feb. 08 2008,10:18 pm by TameThaTane |
Polaroid Technology Fades Out
When Polaroid users pulled a picture out of their cameras, an image would slowly appear before their eyes. Now, like the process in reverse, the image of the Polaroid instant camera -- dimming for years -- has finally gone black.
Polaroid, based in Waltham, Mass., is shutting down factories in the United States and abroad as the company abandons the technology that made the instant photo possible, the Boston Globe reported yesterday. The company will cease production of its film by next year.
The artsy, instantly gratifying Polaroid images, reeking of processing chemicals, have finally been done in by endless Flickr Web pages full of digital images, flawlessly produced by cameras that do not require film, emulsion or anything bigger than a shirt pocket to carry them around.
Polaroid introduced its instant camera in 1948, perfect timing to catch the mad tricycle rides of the first baby boomers, zipping around the new American suburbia. With its finely machined stainless steel body and black bellows, the Polaroid Land Camera looked anything but modern. Its instant film came in roll.
Polaroid moved to cartridge film in 1963 with its 100-series camera, which became a staple of professional photographers. They used the rugged Polaroid to take test photos, instantly checking lighting and composition before committing an image to negative.
But the company's boom and the Polaroid's place in the culture came with the SX-70, introduced in 1972. This groovy camera, with its aluminum and faux-leather body, was perfect for a hedonistic decade that couldn't take enough pictures of itself. They were good times for Polaroid; the company's employment peaked in 1978. A generation later, the Polaroid became a hipster must-have.
Now, it becomes little more than an image in history's digital scrapbook.
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Global warming or Global cooling?
interesting article |
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| Posted on: Feb. 08 2008,7:52 pm by usmcr |
Global warming or Global cooling an interesting paragraph from the following link.
Patterson, sharing Tapping's concern, says: "Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth."
http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=287279412587175
Solar activity fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. But so far in this cycle, the sun has been disturbingly quiet. The lack of increased activity could signal the beginning of what is known as a Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of centuries and can last as long as a century.
Such an event occurred in the 17th century. The observation of sunspots showed extraordinarily low levels of magnetism on the sun, with little or no 11-year cycle.
This solar hibernation corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. Frigid winters and cold summers during that period led to massive crop failures, famine and death in Northern Europe.
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