The Wall Street Journal launched a new column The Numbers Guy — “a new column on the way numbers and statistics are used – and abused – in the news, business and politics.” First column was about how deadly is bird flu?
I couldn’t help wondering if Crichton’s State of Fear served to help launch the column. Here’s a NY Times profile of Crichton and the book. Crichton’s web site has speeches he’s given in recent years.
NY Times: U.S. Diet Guide Puts Emphasis on Weight Loss. More ammunition for my doctor.
ACBJ: Where to go for America’s hottest small biz market
Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal: Sealant could save lives by stopping internal bleeding
The Business Journal of Minneapolis/St. Paul: Companies start blogging for sales, dialogue
Entrepreneur: Corporate checks make venture’s balances
Entrepreneur: Focusing on unique Indian cuisine, Annapurna creates customer base — from scratch
Entrepreneur: Wood protection the natural way
Entrepreneur: Recruiting software firm founders create product, make their own way
Entrepreneur: Postage partners: Friendship endures 28 years, this time as founders of Nexxpost Inc.
Boston Business Journal: Report: Raytheon ‘heat beam’ weapon ready for Iraq
Los Angeles Business: Fleetwood taps AFL to supply components to motor home line
ACBJ: More markets see job gains, but others still suffer
@Work: As new year approaches, look to better your career
Sales Moves: Getting on their friendly side is crucial to making the deal
BusinessWeek reports this week that NY Times Online is considering a subscription fee. Stories by Reuters and ComputerWorld. NY Times had 18.5 million unique visitors in November. If NY Times charges, will others follow or try to boost their page views from viewers who decide to not charge.
The model of newspapers charging for online content is Wall Street Journal. From Reuters: “The Journal had about 701,000 paid subscribers for its Web edition as of the third quarter.” Since it first began charging, the WSJ has slowly let a few pieces from behind the wall.
It was interesting that in November, the WSJ had a free week, like the old free HBO or Showtime weekends.
Comments from Terry Heaton: “The real conundrum for any publication taking this risk is the loss of influence — the ability to set and maintain the editorial agenda of the community it serves” and rexblog: “For the past ten years, the NY Times has been mulling that over. Unless they actually DO announce they are going to charge, IT IS NOT NEWS.”
NY Times: With Cameras on the Corner, Your Ticket Is in the Mail
While Baltimore reports that violations for running red lights have gone down 60 percent at the 47 intersections with such cameras, several studies in recent years – in places like San Diego, Charlotte, N.C., and Australia – have offered a fuzzier picture. The studies have shown that the reduction in side-angle collisions at the intersections has been wholly or largely offset by an increase in rear-end accidents like Ms. Correa’s.
In addition, there has been criticism of the cameras’ use to generate revenue from fines – in some cases exceeding $300 per violation, with points on a driver’s record – and of revenue-sharing arrangements with providers of the technology. Those arrangements, critics contend, have led to the placement of cameras not necessarily where they would best promote safety, but where they will rack up the most violations.
Back in Sept., Ed Cone pointed to a report by two profs from N.C. A&T Urban Transit Institute. Their conclusion: “The results do not support the view that red light cameras reduce crashes. Instead, we find that RLCs are associated with higher levels of many types and severity categories of crashes.”
There wasn’t much pick-up of the Sept. study, but now that it’s in the NY Times where more journalists can see it…
NY Times: What Corporate America Can’t Build: A Sentence
A recent survey of 120 American corporations reached a similar conclusion. The study, by the National Commission on Writing, a panel established by the College Board, concluded that a third of employees in the nation’s blue-chip companies wrote poorly and that businesses were spending as much as $3.1 billion annually on remedial training.
Wall Street Journal: Wi-Fi Access to Be Offered in Cars and Sirius Sets Deal With Microsoft For Mobile Television in Cars
Recalled from last summer just as resolutions are tested.
NY Times: The Fat Epidemic: He Says It’s an Illusion.
Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, an obesity researcher at Rockefeller University, argues that contrary to popular opinion, national data do not show Americans growing uniformly fatter.
Instead, he says, the statistics demonstrate clearly that while the very fat are getting fatter, thinner people have remained pretty much the same.
Learning Moveable Type is a good, self-paced site on the details of using Moveable Type with lots of tutorials ranging from controlling spam to converting to PHP. Today the blog is 1-year-old.