It has come to this. For the second week in a row we are under the specter of winter weather. For the second week in a row there could be snow or ice or both or neither. For the second week in a row schools and businesses are making the early or late decisions about whether they will be open tomorrow as meteorologists study their models and refine and predict mild to moderate to severe weather.
For the second week in a row I stopped at Walmart to study the crowds. For entertainment.
Clearly this is the sign of something wrong. And I don’t mean that last week this same Walmart had four cash registers open and each had lines of people midway back through the store. I don’t mean that tonight there are four lines open and no one is in this place. That this has become a mild manner of amusement is troubling.
Also troubling is the lack of shoppers. This is consumer forecasting at its worst. Last week it was packed and, thankfully, nothing of seriousness happened for the surrounding community. Tonight, with no one here, it is easy to reach the conclusion that we’re sure to get ensconced in ice tomorrow.
But back to why I find this amusing.
It is a strange night. To be outside at any point today you’d wonder how we could have temperatures in the 60s and low 70s and winter weather tomorrow. But, it does have an “anything is possible” feel outdoors as the evening turns into night.
Normally that’s a springtime feeling: This could become anything.
I think, then, that we are in a great seasonal change, even now. Winter is beginning to give up the fight. One last little lashing out, and then we can talk about the glories of springtime.
Things to read … because this stuff is great in all seasons.
When the news imitates satire, and vice versa. Hillary Clinton Hints At Presidential Ambitions By Concealing Information From American People:
Fueling further speculation this week that she has her sights set on the Oval Office, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is said to have hinted at her presidential ambitions by concealing a vast trove of information from the American people. “By using a personal email account to keep records out of the hands of investigators and the U.S. populace, Clinton is making it resoundingly clear that she has presidential aspirations,” said political analyst Stuart Rothenberg, adding that Clinton’s efforts to obfuscate basic facts and hide thousands of documents from taxpayers for years on end demonstrate her capacity to successfully perform the duties of the commander-in-chief.
The Onion is genius at blurring the lines.
Hard men and women right here, ‘We aren’t disabled, we’re inconvenienced,’ veteran says as Ride 2 Recovery group cycles 470 miles:
Wednesday afternoon about 200 injured veterans made a rest stop at Battleship Memorial Park as they embarked on a 470 mile cycling trip which started in Atlanta and is set to end in New Orleans.
The 2015 Ride 2 Recovery Gulf Coast Challenge, sponsored by United Healthcare, supports physical and psychological rehabilitation programs for injured veterans, featuring cycling as a core activity. There are six Ride 2 Recovery cycling challenges this year across the United State and in Germany.
Participants rode hand cycles, recumbents, tandems and traditional road bikes, depending on their needs, as they made their way into Battleship Memorial Park, stopping in front of the USS Alabama battleship. This was one of the many stops the group makes on their six-day endeavor.
Well OK then. Actually this makes senses, and someone had to do it. But I like that there’s a marketing approach ere. There’s a reason why at The Economist we don’t chase the millennial generation:
he starting point for publishers to carve out space in this hyper-competitive environment has to be uniqueness of voice. Without a real sense of mission and purpose, the risk is that your voice will be lost in the noise. Critical as this is in itself, it’s just not enough; media companies must possess a real and deep understanding of just who is interested in hearing that voice.
A prevailing notion in marketing (across many sectors, not just media) is that millennials are the most valuable demographic to reach. They are perceived to be at the forefront of changing media patterns, so the concern is that if you fail to win them now, you lose them forever. But a focus on millennials at the expense of truly understanding a target audience is a dangerous thing.
A sound marketing strategy for a news organization would be a very nice thing to have in place. The other thing to consider here is that if we all go off chasing after the Millennial set, we have a clearly defined group of underserved, known as Everyone Else — and the Millennials who don’t care about what you’re selling.
Which brings us into the journalism section:
How a veteran reporter joined the digital age
The value of digital data
Instagram Will Top 100 Million US Users by 2018
Copyediting for reporters: How to get the basics right
This one just serves to shock by how long ago it was, and how young these guys were: Federal traffic safety board considering fresh look at Buddy Holly crash.
Here at home, 16 percent of Alabama households – double the amount of 2000 – now rely on food stamps:
In 2000, 145,368 Alabama households – or about 8.4 percent – relied on government assistance for food. By 2014, that number had increased to 283,047 households, or almost 16 percent.
The percentage of Alabama households receiving food stamps is higher than the national average of almost 14 percent but noticeably lower than the states with the highest averages. In Oregon, 19.8 percent of all households are on food stamps, with Mississippi (19.4 percent) and Maine (18 percent) following.
Nationally, the explosive growth among those receiving aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has grown from 6.2 percent in 2000 to 13.5 percent in 2013.
Now let’s talk about how effective we are at lowering those numbers.
Officials reveal smart home for wounded Jacksonville veteran:
The custom built 2,800 square-foot house will allow Tomlinson, who lost the use of his legs from a combat injury, to live on his own for the first time since he received a paralyzing gunshot to the neck in 2010.
Holding an iPad on Monday, Tomlinson touched the screen and the front door on the rock-faced porch swung open to applause.
Tomlinson can also raise and lower the stove and countertops to the home by tapping on the tablet computer.
The home comes to Tomlinson free of charge from the Tunnel to Towers and Gary Sinise foundations, which build custom homes for wounded veterans.
And we’ll close with this note, from here on the frontier:
