Craig's Corner

Marking an anniversary is an effective way of tying together events from the past with current affairs.   This time is less of an anniversary and more of a milestone.   It is the 100 th blog of Craig’s Corner.   It’s taken a little less than two years to hit this point.   Along the way “significant” issues have been tackled, some successfully, some less so.   On this auspicious occasion let’s look at some of the behind-the-scenes stories. For a number of years friends (and foes?) have suggested that I take my opinions / perspective and put them on the web with a regular commentary.   I was dubious.   What was a blog anyway – some morass filled with gooey liquid?   I have not only found the process to be intellectually fulfilling, I’ve have quite a few nice things happen.   You’re not alone:   thanks to all of you who generate 1,200 and 1,400 views per month.   It’s my Sally Field Moment (you like me, you really like me!).   OK, well, maybe like is too strong a descriptor.

For the past 18 years I’ve been an absentee ballot voter in California.   I’ve been active (not absent) having not missed voting in any election.   I just don’t schlep out to do it.   In 1994 I went to my assigned polling station with my sample ballot that had my name and all of my information on it which would theoretically help find the listing in the books used to verify identity.   I spent 15 minutes with the poll worker who still couldn’t find my name…even with my finger pointing right at it.   Finally ‘verified’ I was handed the ballot with the comment:   “One of them Liber ones...not a normal one.”   California has separate ballots by party and there were only a handful of non major party ballots at the precinct.   The ballot itself has so many issues that even filling it in from the sample ballot took some time...and many folks just read it in the moment taking forever to vote.   It seemed (and has actually been) much easier to get the ballot it in the mail, research the issue

August 2004.   Google was going public.   $85 a share.   There was a complicated way to get in at that price – you had to get some form or something ahead of time.   I couldn’t quite figure it out and figured I’d jump in hour one.   Shares were at $105 by the time I logged in and it was going north fast.   I was all set to buy some shares – but it was going so high so quickly I reasoned it would tank equally as quickly.   I opted to watch rather than play.   It’s historic high (so far) was $715.   The $530 per share profit that I would have realized would have come in mighty handy on many occasions since then.   Instead of having a huge profit, it goes down as one of my coulda, woulda, shoulda. JP Mortgage Chase announced last week that they lost $2.3 billion on trades.   It’s not quite the same as my phantom loss, theirs is real.   At the end of last year their Balance Sheet showed assets of $2.65 trillion – so while $2.3 billion is a lot of money to a lot of people, it’s j

Birthdays are the time of year when reflections of one’s mortality kick in.   I got a mid-year jolt this week learning about the University of Queensland, Australia study where “researchers have concluded that ‘on average, every single hour of TV viewed after the age of 25 reduces the viewer's life expectancy by 21 minutes, 48 seconds.’”   I immediately created a spreadsheet and determined that based on an average life expectancy and a real conservative assumption of my daily viewing habits, I’ll cut 4 years and 7 months from my time on earth.   Even if I don’t watch another moment of telly, I’ve wiped out 2 years.   Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Newton N. Minow’s famous speech was  51 years ago – May 9, 1961,   "When television is good, nothing — not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers — nothing is better. But when television is bad, nothing is worse. … I can assure you … [TV] is a vast wasteland.” I probably watch more than the ave

Nabisco announced   this week that the Fig Newton will now be known as Newtons, as they were when introduced in 1891.   The packaging now has pictures of strawberries, raspberries and blueberries to show that the Newton isn’t just made of figs.   The soft and chewy snacks are being targeted at adults looking for a healthy alternative to cookies.   Extensive consumer research shows that the baby boom generation is looking for in-between meal substitutes, and Newtons will now be displayed in produce sections because of its fruit composition.   We live in the age of branding where the target audience responds when there is a consistent message between what is being promoted and what is actually being delivered. In 1982 Extra-strength Tylenol was deliberately contaminated with cyanide and 32 people died.    In what is now a textbook crisis response the company pulled 31 million bottles from shelves at a cost of $100 million.   10 weeks later the company introduced the first-ever