Craig's Corner

I like planning ahead.   I get that from my Mom, not so much from my Dad who would inevitably be planning his lesson plan right up to the moment when the bell for class would ring.   I was also never a Boy Scout, well, at least in the official sense!  Being prepared is probably a control issue –if things are set up in advance then I have a higher likelihood of knowing the outcome.   Of course that’s a myth, but it makes me feel better.   When I see other people who plan ahead I generally have a positive reaction of a like minded soul.   That wasn’t the case with the planning that happened around the recent Presidential election. It was terribly amusing and a little bit embarrassing when Mitt Romney’s President-Elect website went live after he had conceded the election.   It became a metaphor for what didn’t work about his candidacy.   Humorous as it may be that the site went live when it shouldn’t have, it is comforting to know that there was planning going on in the event that

The potential death of the Twinkie has captured the imagination of the American media.   Like the snack cake itself the company is well beyond its expiration date.   Despite some hyperventilating this situation again proves Mark Twain’s famous saying:   “Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.”   It’s the type of story that seems tailor made for today’s media culture – no matter what your perspective there’s good guys and there are bad guys and the loser is nostalgia. Since its founding in 1930 the company has undergone more than 25 mergers and acquisitions, the first in 1937.   This activity indicates that from its inception the company has undergone significant and near constant change in its corporate structure and ownership as a variety of individuals, companies and conglomerates have attempted to maximize profits from the various breads and snacks they make and sell.   Despite America’s nostalgia for their products, this has never been a family run affair. The

The pundits and politicians are hyperventilating about “the fiscal cliff” as if the end of civilization is at stake.   It’s not a cliff at all – more like a pothole.   The Federal Government has been spending more than it brings in for generations.   As part of a bipartisan agreement in August 2011 Congress and the President agreed to raise the so-called ‘debt ceiling’ to meet the ongoing spending deficit only if certain ‘draconian’ cuts kicked in starting in 2013.   The theory was that the cuts would be so unpalatable politically that the politicians would have no choice but to compromise.   It’s these very cuts that Congress and the President agreed to that they are now saying are going to destabilize the western world and the global economy which is, of course, not quite true. The approx. $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts and the expiration of the Bush-Obama tax breaks to the rich would have a significant impact on the U.S. economy if they all happened at once, which is

This week most American’s ‘gained’ an hour with the end of Daylight Savings time.   The ‘additional’ hour provided many the ability to get some more sleep but it doesn’t solve the fact that part of the US is always ahead of the rest of it.   For those of us who like to be in the know as events happen, some events happen in real time while others are held with the hope that those in different time zones won’t need a spoiler alert. Major cultural or sporting events have an accommodation where people simply adjust to realities of a varied timeline.   Many reality competition shows are tape delayed to keep with the structure of prime time viewing habits.   ‘Major events’ are different.   The Oscars are presented in Los Angeles with people arriving on the red carpet at 4pm in the afternoon so that the show can begin at 5 – or at 8pm on the East Coast.   To do the show at the traditional 8pm on the West Coast would mean that a large part of the country wouldn’t see it since it wou

It’s raining, It’s Pouring. This old man was snoring.   I was fortunate that the Superstorm Sandy had nary an impact on me – other than a deluge while walking the dogs.   ( That happened in St. Paul too, but that soaking came with a sound and light show.)   Sandy’s devastation has been significant – and the most telling impact is in how people prepared.   Some got water, prepped food, put out sand bags, etc.   Others, like me, went to great efforts to make sure that the laptop, the phone and the Kindle were charged.   I even have a hand crank gizmo that I can wind up to generate a charge for a device. Approx. 8.2 million households went dark during the height of the storm – and huge numbers of people won’t see power return for days or even weeks.   Hollywood has kept us entertained over the years imagining a world without electricity. Reality is the scariest storyline of all. The U.S. electric grid is described as a “complex matrix of transmission and distribution lines.”