Half full or Half empty ? Can you tell ?

Two stories, posted at the same time, quoting the same sources, have two totally different conclusions.

How can anyone be expected to gain an understanding of what is actually going on with the economy ??

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American consumers slowed their spending pace in April and a key measure of inflation moderated, a report showed on Friday, giving the Federal Reserve (news - web sites) leeway to make only modest interest rate hikes to keep inflation in check.

And then this...posted at the same time.

AP -
Consumers — whose behavior plays a crucial role in shaping economic activity — increased their spending in April by a solid 0.3 percent, a good signal that the recovery remained firmly rooted as it entered the current quarter.

NBA and its offensive offense

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was raised to believe that the object of the game was to take the round ball and throw it through the orange ring." Bob Ryan

For Some, the Blogging Never Stops

Once you start...

Roadside architecture...find your neighborhood

http://www.agilitynut.com/roadside.html

How Americans Can Buy American

The Power of Consumer Patriotism

I might argue that buying things at lower prices helps American consumers save money and invest in savings/retirement etc...but I know that it just makes them buy more!

So if we're going to spend, lets at least consider keeping our money here in the US.

Get Moving

Action cures all ills
Inaction multiplies them

Grrrrr....Pink Dinosaur Invades New Zealand

AUCKLAND (AFP) - Scientists using a camera to monitor a remote New Zealand volcano over the Internet have struck an odd problem -- a pink dinosaur.

When to water

The Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC) at Cornell University has
introduced a Lawn Watering Input Web site to make it easy for homeowners
and groundskeepers to prevent lawns and grassy knolls from being saturated.

The site is at http://www.nrcc.cornell.edu/lawn_water

Northeasterners who want to know if their lawns need watering can enter
their ZIP code on the new Web site and click "submit" to get a fast answer.

He who laughs last thinks slowest

 

From blog to prosperity

The New Yorker looks at the journey from blogs to books

Speaking of weather...

The old sailors saying "red sky at night sailor's delight..." is not pure
fancy. For the most part, weather moves from west to east. When the setting
sun is seen through the dust of dry air it will appear red. Fair, dry
weather is likely the next day.

Pete Bouchard - whdh weather

http://www1.whdh.com/weather/

Mostly accurate weather forecasts...with a bit of schtick worked in for
good measure.

Water Garden

How to Build A Water Garden or Fish Pond

http://www.watergarden.com/pages/build_wg.html

Spam now two thirds of all e-mail

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-5219078.html

By Munir Kotadia
ZDNet (UK)
May 24, 2004, 8:59 AM PT

There is no sign of relief for companies already overwhelmed by the sheer volume of unsolicited and unwanted e-mail messages clogging their mail systems. E-mail security firm MessageLabs' filtering statistics for April, which were published on Monday, show that 67.6 percent of all global e-mail traffic is spam.

Student Teaches Robot to Fold Paper

Associated Press - May 24, 2004

PITTSBURGH - Most people can fold a piece of paper by the time they're in kindergarten, but it's not child's play for a robot, which must use complex mathematical formulas to accomplish the task.

That's why officials at Carnegie Mellon University are excited about a graduate student who has developed a robot capable of doing origami — the traditional Japanese art of folding paper to make figures or sculptures.

Life is full of ebbs and flows
Handle them each with care.
If you dwell too long wishing for the other
You'll miss the life that's waiting there.

Drivers Eye Vegetable Oil As Cheap Fuel

By LAURA WALSH, Associated Press Writer
May 24, 2004

WESTON, Conn. - As the nation grapples with pumped-up gas prices, car owners are turning to their favorite restaurants for a solution: recycled vegetable oil.

Environmentalists have been using the fuel alternative for years as a way to cut back on sooty emissions, but as gas prices soar above $2 a gallon, they say their "veggie cars" are also a great way to save some cash.

Greasecar

Other than experiencing uncontrollable cravings for French Fries, this is a pretty good idea.

http://www.greasecar.com

Biodiesel

The Simpsons...past, present and future

http://www.snpp.com/


EVERYTHING you ever wanted to know about The Simpsons

http://www.theonion.com

Satire is a beautiful thing.

http://photographymuseum.com/exhibits.html

The American Photography Museum

Invisible bug/rock car shield

http://www.ultrashieldofne.com

http://www.howstuffworks.com

You can't really break it until you know how it works.

One liner

"You really can't go home again...but apparently you can shop there."

- John Cusack in Grosse Point Blank after learning that is childhood home has been leveled to become a QuikMart.

Up, Up, and away...home

http://www.airplanehomes.com

For those with a lot of land and a love of airplane food !

Cracking up

http://www.crackedatbirth.com/

Funny lady from Groton

MarketingProfs

http://www.marketingprofs.com

"Marketing know-how from professors and professionals"

Textbook meets real world in a quick, easy to read format.

New England Tech Wire

Quick, daily email source of what's happening in New England's tech industry. Other regions also available.

eMarketer.com

Good source of research and information on electronic marketing.

Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.
It is the spirit of the men that follow and of the man that leads that gains the victory.  - George S. Patton

Red Hot Dogs !!

Put a little of Maine (and authentic FD&C Red No.3 and Red No.4 food dyes) in your freezer !

"Having red hot dogs in your refrigerator is better than having money in the bank and clean socks in the drawer. You get to decide whether to share them, or keep them secret and just sneak down in the middle of the night to steam one up, load it with your favorite gahhnishes, and savor every crispy-skinned bite."

Let us be thankful for the fools.
But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
-Mark Twain

Taken from an ad for the Wall Street Journal

"News for the rest of us" was the closing tagline

neuromarketing

(new.roh.MAR.kuh.ting) n.
The neurological study of a person's mental state and reactions while being exposed to marketing messages.
Also: neuro-marketing.

http://www.wordspy.com/words/neuromarketing.asp

A morning with a San Francisco feel
Cool morning air and low clouds wrap the anticipation of warmth
How we wait for the sun to do its work
A sieve, a trickle, a torrent of sunshine
The day awakens from a well deserved rest

Your choice

"But, it's Tuesday ?"

"...people work on Tuesday."

A line from one of my favorite commercials of a man in a suit watching
wistfully as another guy drives by in a Nissan Pathfinder...with a mountain
bike (or surfboard) on the roof.

Talk about nailing the thoughts of their target customer.

Nobody every says "If I'd only spent more time at work."

It might be a quarter life crisis
Or just the stirring in my soul
-John Mayer

Is it the message or the medium ?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=487&ncid=762&e=13&u=/ap/20040513/ap_en_ot/publishing_declining_sales

New Study Shows Big Drop in Book Sales

By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer

NEW YORK - Not even Harry Potter could prevent a big drop in book sales in 2003. With a struggling economy and competition for time from other media, 23 million fewer books were sold last year than in 2002, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Book Industry Study Group, a non-for-profit research organization.

Awareness

There is just as much beauty visible to us in the landscape as we are prepared to see - not a grain more.
Thoreau

Katahdin view...nice, but accuracy is questionable

This is a cool picture, but I don't think that this view actually exists in town. The mountain(although impressive)is nowhere near this big when looking at it from town...and this road faces 90 degrees in the wrong direction from where you can even see the mountain.

http://www.michelestapleton.com/Millinocket/pages/Millinocket_Katahdin%20.htm

Swiss jagermeister

http://www.appenzeller.com/

I was told that this kept the Swiss healthy...by the bartender doing shots with us in Luzern.

Rough Translation
In 1902 Emil Ebneter invented the Appenzeller alpinebitterly. Today, after over 100 years, its prescription is top secret. An open secret against it is that almost any adult Swiss knows the inimitable beverage from 42 herbs and 29% Appenzeller Spirit. So we can state with good conscience that hardly another alcoholic beverage enjoys such high Bekanntheitsgrad. And we are confident that remains also in such a way.

Pictures from around town

http://www.ci.groton.ma.us/xml/community/citizens_gallery/images_of_groton_-_robert_bicknell/index.htm

There is always something to photograph if you stop looking and start seeing.

Some pretty nice shots from around town here.

The ripple effect of your actions

Man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of his accomplishments. - John Steinbeck

What I do and where I do it

http://www.schwartz-pr.com

I've been with Schwartz Communications for almost 5 years

My daily life consists of working with companies to identify, create and manage opportunities to get the media interested in what they are doing.

Attaching what they are doing to current market/technology or workplace trends or creating something new for the media to run with is an important part of my job. I'm always trying to figure out the "back story" of news and events to help my clients navigate through their marketing communications actions.

Writing press releases and other marketing materials is part of the job, but the real work is behind the scenes developing relationships with reporters who trust (and therefore repsond) to what I am telling them.

I've worked on technologies such as XML and Web services for eXcelon, CRM and BPM for Applix, video over DSL for mPhase Technologies, human resource self-service applications for Authoria, network performance management for NetScout, compliance management for IBS and embedded intelligence technology for Questra. Key placements include USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, BusinessWeek, Business 2.0, Computerworld, CFO Magazine, Field Force Automation, InformationWeek, PC Magazine, CIO Magazine and many other national and local publications

Why does news have to be negative all the time ?

Are happy, fun, thoughtful stories less interesting ? When we travel to Maine, I'm always amazed at the amount of stories that are on the news that would never be covered in Mass. Do fires, accidents and crime not happen up there ? No, they just choose to focus on informing rather than shocking their audience to generate ratings...

This broadcast brought to you by...

Love them or hate them, find them here. See what's trying to get you to put that remote down.

http://www.adcritic.com/