from California, USA
A freelance writer, published author, and online since 1996.
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The U.S. Army’s New Solar Power Plant.
Reflecting on the US Army’s use of solar energy, I think that fuel cells and wind power would also make sense. Imagine the tactical advantage of NOT having to truck in tankers of gasoline. Imagine what you could do with tanks that ran on hydrogen fuel cells. Of course, imagine what it would be like without our armies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, THAT’s a thought…
OC METRO> UCI’s Policano: Make Detroit our new China.
Difficult times breed novel ideas. I like Policano’s idea of sourcing work back to the American industrial center. But not just manufacturing jobs, I think new incentives could drive a whole range of services back in-country with two benefits:
ONE: obviously, we get more people back to work.
TWO: increase tax revenues.
It’s time to push the envelope folks. – HP
I’m thinking about the extent of the Lord’s grace and his peace. This, after I heard a man say, “The Lord doesn’t want to have anything to do with me; Jesus doesn’t care about guys like me.” The man did not say this in jest; he was as serious as any man could be. I tried to cajole him out of this funk – but he didn’t want to have anything to do with it – saw no need for grace; had no feel for peace. He suffered deeply, and all I could do was feel sorry and go about my way. The moment taught me that some people never understand; some people simply do not want to understand. For them, ache is the only reality they know. They feel their existence through personal anguish – about things that happened before, dreams that never came true, and pain yet to be. On this night, I pray for them; I pray deeply that perhaps one day they may find grace and that peace may discover them.
Goodwill to all; and good night.
I’ve been bragging about my solar panels. I suppose it’s time that I show folks what they look like. By the way, those panels are from First Solar – note the frameless design, rack mount system. Very high geek factor. Solar City worked the installation – nice job guys.
Solar panels on my roof
CNN MONEY: How the profits stacked up – Nov. 2, 2009
SP500 profits are up
Good solid news for the economy. On other online venues, I’m known for my high optimism for the recovery of the US economy. As reported by CNN Money, the recovery is producing profits for key SP500 corporations – the companies that are in the best position to tell us if the economy is on the rebound. Apparently, this is the case.
For a little perspective, one should also note that only a year ago people were trembling in their boots that we were headed toward a 1930s style depression. Thanks to an unprecedented balancing act by two Presidential administrations and an uncharacteristically cooperative and speedy Congress, we ducked that bullet. Okay, we ended up with the Great Recession – but really, it cannot be understated how badly things could have gone.
Of course now comes the hard part… sustaining that growth and building back the jobs. Stay tuned! - HP
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On the quiet, the US is legalising marijuana – Times Online.
I just read this article and commented elsewhere that the problem with the American “War on Drugs” was that it was more about controlling people than actually trying to control access. The only accomplishment was waste: billions of dollars and millions of lives. At some point, we must stop and seek out better ways to manage the American craving for marijuana.
I have always been a proponent of licensing pot sales and to use the money to fund diversion and vocational development programs for primary and secondary school kids. Others have suggested that taxes from pot sales alone could offer significant funding for health care. The bottom line is that the continued prohibition of this WEED makes about as much sense as the Prohibition of alcohol – and the result has been about the same.
Moreover, it seems unnecessarily cruel to keep this valuable herb away from people who could really benefit from its use. I know that there are people out there who are dubious about the medicinal qualities of marijuana, but I know from personal experience (my brother and my mother) that chemo patients find measurable and sustained relief from their disease and treatments. Several peer-reviewed medical studies seem to also bear this claim out.
Time for a change, folks. -HP
I received an email today announcing that a defunct magazine that I once edited has won the “2009 Best of Laguna Beach Award” in the graphic arts category.
Amazing.
The magazine – Laguna! Life and People – was not what I would call award winning material. The owner, Ford Design Group, had trouble pumping out issues even when the company was healthy. Add a messy divorce into the mix… you get the idea. That was nearly three years ago. Katie Ford – the true brains of the Ford group – has gone on to rebuild her business. I’m back to my usual trouble-making. So, imagine my surprise when this weird little out-of-the-blue email showed up.
As it turns out, this is part of a wider nationwide email campaign. The Spokane, WA office of the Better Business Bureau tracked down the source in July 2009 and arrived at a simple conclusion: it’s a scam. Aside from the email announcements – which started several months ago – not much else is known about the company, the people or the awarding criteria, or even the recipients. Moreover, from what the BBB says, you really don’t want your name on one of their plaques. Seriously. The award designee – the U.S. Commerce Association – is also closely tied to another organization called the U.S. Local Business Association – a business that the BBB office in Washington DC gave an “F” for business practices among other things.
So here’s the bottom line – they want you to buy their $189.00 plaque or trophy, and that’s pretty much it. Not much else to say than SCAM BEGONE ! - HP
I’m not really a political man. I don’t join parties. I don’t like ideology. I take ‘political aptitude tests’ when I’m bored. One time I tested as a “Liberal Economic Libertarian.” Another test, I surfaced as a “Moderate Republican.” It really depends on the issues.
Take health care reform. I’ve actually done some research in this area – mostly in the service of clients but also in covering healthcare issues for OC Metro and Brentwood Magazine.
A friend of mine knows that I support the present legislative effort to reform healthcare. He does not. After some email sparring over our counter opinions, he sent me a link to an article written by a technologist named David Goldhill published this summer by Atlantic Monthly entitled How American Health Care Killed My Father. Almost as dramatic as my OC Metro article “How Men Die.”
Goldhill’s article reads well, but I found it filled with errors. Moreover, many of his assumptions are based on simple anecdotes and nary any serious research.
For instance, while he decries any government involvement in health care delivery, he concedes that a ’single-payer’ system – e.g., a public insurance system – might provide a better solution (but doesn’t state why). Then he goes on to make the very common mistake of using Medicare and Canada care as examples of how costs will increase and care will decline under single-payer. It’s a bad assumption because it assumes that upward trend for demand will be constant.
While he correctly describes the cause of the present crisis – distorted demand – he fails to identify where the distortion came from. If he had, he wouldn’t have come to the conclusion that he makes (i.e., no government involvement, let the markets decide). For that lesson, you have to roll back the calendar to the early 1970s when “managed” healthcare took over the doctor-patient relationship. Instead of a personal relationship with your doctor (ala “Marcus Welby MD”) – there was a switchboard, an appointment desk, a patient timeline and productivity quotas. Doctors who wanted to participate in the new system were DISCOURAGED from offering preventative healthcare advice because the Managers said that such interactions were off task and wasteful (Greenfield, Kaplan, et al, 2003).
That’s how the two errors are related – when Goldhill notes the benefits of good patient-doctor relationships but fails to mention that every patient care research conducted for the last twenty years has found that good doctor-patient relationships (as opposed to cost-containment measures) tend to curtail demand (Gerteis, Edgman-Levitan, et al, 1993). Moreover, improved patient-doctor communication also produces measurable improvement in clinical outcomes (Greenfield, Kaplan, et al, 1985; 1988; 1989) – thereby reducing demand again.
And as most of us know, when demand goes down, overall cost to the system goes down.
That’s why I’m engaged in the present debate – working with a handful of non-partisan physicians and researchers to ensure that any meaningful reform includes provisions that removes the distortions created by managed care in the first place. Our assertion is that not only should we encourage greater doctor-patient interaction, but reward doctors for dispensing wellness advice and resources. I also believe that American health care is due for some ‘deprofessionalization’ – especially in areas of dispensing wellness services, treatment maintenance, non-critical care (Ehrenreich, 1978; “The Social Economics of Health Care” Davis, 2001).
By the way, variations of this concept are found under “Wellness Programs” or “Patient Wellness” in one proposal now circulating in the House and in the current draft of the so-called “Baucus Reform Proposal.”
Clearly, this is not an issue for laissez-faire capitalism to solve – yet many people have been hoodwinked into believing that it is. Just remember that we’ve tried that experiment already and look where it has left us. Universal greed makes the private sector ill equipped to provide a fair and timely solution for Universal Care. That’s why we need to support the current legislative effort and engage Congress and the President – to make sure that old mistakes are not repeated. - HP
A few days ago, I clicked into a conversation between some LinkedIN colleagues that had been kicked off by Vatrice Jones. Ms Jones posted this simple question: name the “3 EFFECTIVE WAYS to introduce a new niche publication.” This question caught my eye because the boundaries of niche publication are still in the process of being rethought, redrawn and reorganized. “Are there three?” was my first thought. Questions like these are long-form twitters – they force you to think rationally in short bursts. Therefore, forced into picking three, I wondered, which of the myriad of “vital” ideas have my colleagues settled on?
The first answer was from Sarah Daniels. She pegged what I believe are indeed the “top three” – the elemental answers that seem to hit all professional publishers. I lifted her comments right off the page and added my own:
1.) Go digital. Publish an online flipbook magazine, web-exclusive content, a blog, a Twitter feed, etc. Deliver different information in different formats; allow your readers to access what they want, where they want. Supplement with a print product 2-4 times per year, as necessary.
I draw emphasis on the flip book magazine – here’s an example of Rest Magazine – a publication that I produced with my partners Michael Wollner and Gary Bedian before the “Great Crunch” late last year. The real kernel in this thought is how digital increases access to the print version and makes advertisers very happy. As an archive, nothing works better than a digital flip book. The only critique on Ms Daniels here is a little mix-up on what “going digital” really means to a publication. I’ll get into that later.
2.) Go remote. Do not have any offices for the magazine. Utilize the talents of remote employees, contractors, and reputable freelancers. Reimburse for phone/internet usage instead of providing hardware.
Magazines started the trend for decentralization – taking non-essential business functions off the G&A and placing cost-controls on everything. This has been a top-level management concern since – gosh, I don’t know when, but it’s been a long time. That’s why many niche magazines have decentralized offices – one small management office, many contributors. Present technologies make it possible to eradicate the management office, as was the case for Rest Magazine, Color and Aroma, and several other publications I have had the pleasure to work with.
3.) Go off. Eschew traditional display ads and find a new form of advertising that will produce clear results for your advertisers. Media dollars are stretched thin; you must be able to show your clients ROI as it related to their specific business.
Again, Ms Daniels makes a very important and salient point; one that I believe is missed by many niche publications. Advertisers have become far more sophisticated in selecting their media. They still care about circulation and reach, but they see right through inflated readership numbers (who believes 5x circulation rates anyhow?). While marketers rise to strong and relevant demographics, experienced media buyers want more from “ROI” than BPI reports, age groupings and buying habits. Advertisers want to engage your audience and feel that they’ve been engaged. It’s not all that hard to drive the middle ground between credibility and “selling-out” for a buck. Successful niches have found ample room for collaborative content – stuff without compromising good, authoritative reporting. Look to advertiser collaborations that deliver dialog and interactivity with the audience (e.g., ad-utainment, ed-utainment); think gadgets, incentives, and widgets – ponder new, interesting and memorable things you can do with audience participation.
The fact is, I’m lousy when it comes to being succinct. Why yes, of course, there’s always more than three reasons for anything. So, here. I’ve added three more ESSENTIAL WAYS for niche magazines that I believe are just as important as the former three:
4.) Be in control. That means structuring your editorial for relevancy and consistency; plan originality on every page-turn. Flip through Rest Magazine and you’ll note the unique visual appeal that’s been designed into the entire production. In this case, we had one master graphic designer (aforementioned Michael Wollner) and one photographer (Eric Stoner, who is an art photographer, not a photojournalist by the way). Even the editorial took a more artistic approach by dispensing with the run-of-the-mill AP Stylebook structure for something looser, personal and more personable.
5.) Go Social. This is my one critique of Ms Daniel’s first item. I believe that this level, “going digital” can mean either “digital publishing” or “digital promotion,” which are very distinct things. By the former, we think of placing most or all of the content online. In the latter, I think of “Guerrilla Marketing” (ala Levinson): bloging, tweeting, mixxing, digging, stumbling, and Facebooking (et al) to drive a vital viral vibe (buzz) to your relevant and original content. Per Levinson, therefore, you must go where your audience goes for recreation and research; tap into their wonder and wit. Talk about what they talk about, and use their comments and observations as a tip-off for where you may drive the conversation deeper. And repost/retweet frequently.
6.) Finally, don’t forget the impact of print. Print is still king as a visual consolidator; a vehicle that has greater locking power for your advertiser. Despite the penetration of online, people like print for its portability and practicality. Sorry trees – but we still need ya.
So there you are – 6 ESSENTIAL WAYS to introduce a niche publication – with apologies to the original poster and contributors. I’m already working on six more.
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