Black Friday For The Sacramento Bee

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Actually, I think they started yesterday, not today. They said they were going to do it a few months ago. They finally did: you now have to pay to read the Sacramento Bee online. A sad, sad day for me.

They're using the same Press+ system the Times- Standard uses except, unlike the T-S, I don't think they give you any free page views before you have to pay. At least I didn't get any.

To add insult to injury, it's not exactly cheap. $69.95 for a year, or $6.95 a month. I went ahead, bit the bullet and paid. I read the Bee a lot and I especially enjoy reading and making comments to the stories.

As an aside, the Bee sent out a news alert when that ambassador was killed in Libya the other day. I immediately posted a comment that, ironically, this might not have happened had Ghaddafi still been in power. He wouldn't have allowed it. Another commentator agreed.

Both of our comments disappeared within a few hours, although stronger ones have since been made. Hmmm???

Prop 37 Goes Before Eureka Council

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Way down towards the end of this article on the next Eureka City Council meeting it's mentioned that a report on Prop 37- the genetically modified foods labeling initiative- will be presented.

This shouldn't be city business. At least supporting or not supporting the initiative shouldn't be, if that's the intent. First of all, it doesn't have any direct relation to city business. Second, I'd argue the city council shouldn't be publicly taking a position on any initiative when the people living in the city might not feel the same way.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this. Will the council screw up and take a position on Prop 37 as the Board of Supervisors did?

Addendum: Here's an L.A. Times article with interesting info on Prop 37, including a look at its major proponents and opponents.

Why Muslims Protest

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Probably the best analysis I've read on why Muslims attack our embassies and generally just aren't very friendly with Americans, to say the least:

"But, as when a single offensive remark from someone you've long disliked can make you go ballistic, the explanation for this explosion goes deeper than the precipitating event. What are the sources of simmering hostility toward America that helped fuel these protests? Here is where you get to answers that neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney wants to talk about and that, therefore, hardly anybody else talks about."

Wasted Votes for Romney Petition

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Not my exact choice, the way it's worded. Gary Johnson supporters across the country worry about Romney getting votes that might otherwise go to Johnson. Votes for Romney, especially in a state like California where he has no chance of winning, are essentially wasted.

Add your name to this petition asking Romney to drop out of the race so as to not diminish Gary Johnson's chances.

LOOK!

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Here's a pedestrian safety idea I can get behind. Placing LOOK signs on the street at crosswalks wont be a panacea for ending vehicle vs. pedestrian accidents, but it does encourage responsibility on the part of pedestrians. Making them feel safer, as most pedestrian safety efforts do nowadays, just seems to make people more careless.

One thing that might make it more effective would be to have an image of a hand pointing a finger on both sides of the word, pointing left and right. That might better remind people to look both ways before crossing the street.

A Passport to Adventure

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For anyone looking to travel abroad, getting a passport is a must to gain entry into a foreign country. The Postal Service offers these passports to adventure in distant lands at many of its offices nationwide. The cost is a reasonable $135 plus an additional charge if someone also needs their photo taken. We know how valuable these documents are when travelling, but let’s take this opportunity to learn a little more about their history and why they were originally created.

Passport use has been in existence in one form or another since before the year 0. The documents back then usually consisted of a letter written by either a government equivalent or a ruling leader authorizing the holder to safely enter certain lands, cities and regions.

The passport name itself is believed to have originated from medieval times when the documents authorized the holder to pass through the gate, or porte, of a territory. It was also during this time that passports were used as a form of privilege, granting individuals who’ve paid their taxes the right to travel to other lands.

Earlier versions of passports included a written physical description of the bearer. It wasn’t until the early 20^th century that photos were attached to the documents for easier identification. Passport use during this time had evolved into a tool to keep out spies from foreign countries and to control emigration.

Unlike the passports of today, passports used to vary widely in look and size from country to country. That changed in 1980 when the United Nations set the standard on passports through its International Civil Aviation Organization agency.

Since August 2007, passports issued domestically include an embedded chip in the back cover that contains the biometric data of the bearer as well as information contained in the data page of the passport.

What technological advances do you think will change the passports of the future?

Its Moving Season....but hurry....

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It is amazing to me that we are about to enter the last weekend of July.   For those of us who work in businesses related to moving and the moving season, the summer months are the ones where we encounter
a greater demand curve and a plethera of so called experts who speak about carriers, rules, customer service, over the road delays, damage claims and a number of confused people who are wondering, what the fuss is all about.    Me too!

I have been involved in the moving segment of the transportation business for most of my adult life
and every year it is the same, just like the Holiday shopping season.   Summer is the time that people with children generally move.   It is not a rule, but the logical time to resettle before school begins a new year.

In reality, all this is about is that there is more demand for moving this time of year, than there is adequate
supply.   So we get prognosticators, we get those who have better ideas, those who know better and at
the end of the day, it is the same thing as the year before.   Some highlight, some lowlights, some crazy
stories, but like a lot of things in life today, we try to make them more complicated than they really are.

For those in the industry who are committed to providing consistently good service and who take care of
their customers, this is nothing new, summer that is.   It is a time where demand outstrips supply and the good firms adapt to make it happen for their customers.   It is also the time that many consumers believe
that some company's can do the same service for half, and those are the ones who end up screaming and
yelling that all the movers are crooks, instead of simply saying they were stupid to believe one provider
could really do the work at half the price of all the others.

Unfortunately, it will always happen as a lot of customers can't resist a deal and two, they might actually think they are actually smarter than the rest of us who pay the regular rate.   People should be smarter, but human nature being what it is, there will always be people who look for the wrong deal at the wrong place.
What is most distrubing is that all of this does not need to happen if the regulatory agencies got off their
butts and did something as the bad operators function in the open and do not hide.   All they have to do
is pose as a customer to catch the bad guys, but instead, they talk and sit and talk and sit and another year
goes by.   It is our industry's lack of leadership and the regulatory bodies own ineptitude that allows this
situation to exist, all at the expense of the customer.

At our firm, Box Brothers, we are into our 26th summer season, and I love this time of year due to its
challenges and rewards, as we practice good service, we hold our heads high, and while not everything
goes right all the time, I am proud to say that every single customer of our firm gets not only our attention,
but our commitment to providing the best possible service we can give.

We hope summer never ends.....for the right reasons