Past Articles

Venice illustrates some of the complicated political and economic issues involved in tourism. The city receives 16.5 million tourists a year, most of whom shuffle down the main route from St Mark’s Square to the Rialto Bridge. The latest plague there is the cruise ships. Forbe’s Anna Somers writes in […]

The Boston Herald editorial staff wrote a doozer today, on their website. “So does anyone think Aramark Concessions went to the Yellow Pages and by chance picked a security firm owned by a Suffolk court official who also happens to have a sister on the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission? No? […]

A smart woman named Cindy emailed me this story from the International Herald Tribune by Thomas Fuller. “Christopher Clarke, the president of a headhunting company cites studies showing that women are better at performing many things at once, or multitasking, and that they have more sophisticated emotional intelligence, like being […]

The Internet has proved to be a moneymaker for traditional newspapers, as they ring up big-time online ad revenue. David Utter reported today in Web Pro News. “Quiet the carillons and stop the procession. Newspapers aren’t quite dead yet. Readership of the printed page may be down, but the online […]

Agents seized $700,000 in fake U.S. postage stamps and blue jeans worth several hundred thousand dollars, FBI Deputy Director John Pistole said, in a report on AOL News today. They also got 42 million in viagra, meth amphetamine, and fake cigarettes. Eight of those charged were arrested on their way […]

Philip Wartel is out of business, and after two years he has nothing good to say about the funeral directors in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts who ran him into the ground. Wartel opened Pioneer Valley Casket Co just a year ago, and has faced the wrath of the funeral […]

Chris Waddle, director of the Knight Community Journalism Fellows writes in the Annistonstar.com, delivering more bad news to newspapers. “Modern media advocates from the American Press Institute love to stump newspaper executives by asking if they can identify Craig Newmark. Few can. Too bad. He’s the inventor of craigslist.org, the […]

Marie Javins has written a lot for GoNOMAD and she has moved to Uganda. Here is a slice of her life there with HM, her partner. “Sunday mornings are the quietest time at Paraa, the small ranger/tourist village at Murchison Falls National Park where I share H.M.s home. Mornings are […]

Calvin Broadus is everywhere. The famous rapper by the name of Snoop Doggy Dogg has made the mainstream….you see him on Chrysler commercials, teeing off with Lee Iacocca, and you read about his new youth football league, that’s poaching all of the best coaches from the other kids leagues. His […]

Jay Fitzgerald writes in today’s Boston Herald that gas station owners are hurting despite the huge price increases we are seeing at the pumps. “Huge rivals such as Wal-Mart and Stop & Shop that now sell gasoline at cheaper prices to draw customers into theirlarge stores. But the biggest current […]

Symphony orchestras are becoming a hard sell to time pressed, distracted Americans. But some orchestras have begun introducing novel ways to stem the outgoing tide..with martini bars, free buffet lines, speed dating and special event tee shirts. The rub is that the biggest drop is in the subscriber numbers. People […]

Some villages in South Korea “haven’t heard babies crying in 18 years,” said Lee Kwon Hee, an official who was quoted in today’s NY Times. So the country has changed its national health care plan to cover reversing vasectomies and tubal ligations, in order to spur more couples to have […]

My mother Valerie visited us last week, and showed me a column by David Brooks from the NY Times. Apparently there has been a huge increase in virtue in America. According to Brooks, family violence in all forms is way, way down. Violent crime overall is down by 55% since […]

Donna Goodison writers in today’s Boston Herald about an ingenious idea. “It could answer Boston’s pesky parking meter woes. Instead of fishing for a quarter to feed the meter – or jamming it – dial your cell phone. Representatives of a Finnish company were in the Boston area this week […]

Lakshmi Mittal had a good year. He made $19 billion in profits from his, the world’s largest steel company, by acquisitions of other mills. Forbes gave details about this $25B Rich Dude. “Mittal’s Wharton-educated son, Aditya, is the group’s president and chief financial officer. But it was Mittal’s other child, […]

Carla M. Collado writes in today’s Boston Herald: “The woman behind the striped bikini silhouette that launched millions of iPod sales says she sees herself everywhere but still can’t afford one of the digital tune toys. Mandy Coulton, 26, a dancer and nanny from Los Angeles, was paid $1,500 to […]

“The magazine should be called ‘Brandon,’ after the new editor. Jane doesn’t exist. Jane has left the building,” says Robin Steinberg, director of print services for Publicis Groupe’s MediaVest…”I will definitely monitor to understand the audience’s reaction,” she adds. Today’s Wall Street Journal weighed in: Tradition says that magazines named […]

In May a New York television reporter who apparently thought he was off the air lit into two men who had intruded on his shot, broadcasting a word-bomb to the five boroughs. From the New York Times Style section July 31 “This month a card player at the World Series […]