Leonard Downie is finally retiring after seventeen years of running the Post he is calling it quites. Leonard Downie, who replaced the famous Ben Bradlee, has worked in a newsroom for over forty-four years. The Washington Post had been run by some pretty ‘Larger than Life’ characters in Bradlee and Katharine Graham but unlike those publishers Leonard Downie kept out of the limelight. He is best known for his incredible work ethic, telling it like it is and not backing down from anybody, even President Bush. Bush had personally asked Leonard Downie to cancel a story that was not too flattering to the administration but of course Leonard Downie went with the story. Read the rest of this entry »
For twenty years the Don Drysdale record of 58 consecutive shutout innings remained untouched. It was something to marvel at even once broken. Drysdale stands apart from many for various reasons; he was an all around great baseball player, and his early death in the 90s was a shock and a loss to all baseball lovers. Even if not a Dogers fan, it’s hard not to have a soft spot for Mr. Drysdale.
In ‘65 he was the Dogers’ only hitter with a record of .300 and even tied his own record in his league in home runs. That’s pretty nifty, especially considering that he was indeed a pitcher. In that year he led his team to be world champions for the third time. Drysdale unfortunately had to quit his beloved sport early due to an injury. If he were able to continue on who knows if he would have made or broken a handful or two more records.
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It was forty years ago that Robert F Kennedy was gunned down by Sirhan Sirhan with Juan Romero busboy kneeling at his side.
It was 1968 and Bobby Kennedy and his wife were out celebrating the California Primary victory, well on his way to the Presidency. After his speech at the Ambassador Hotel, Robert Kennedy walked through the pantry and kitchen of the hotel where he was to meet with the kitchen staff including a young busboy Juan Romero. Moments later the third young Kennedy* was lost to a Nation by the hand of Sirhan Sirhan (possible; more on that in another article). As Kennedy lay on the floor with Juan Romero busboy leaning over his, rosary in hand it is said that Bobby spoke the now famously unselfish words, “Is everyone alright”.
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Car sales surpass truck sales
Pickups drop in sales, lag behind cars for the first time since 1992.
GMC trucks and suv sales have declined by 38% over the same period last year. That is a lot of trucks. It’s not that people have stopped buying, the decline in truck sales has been replaced by sales in more fuel efficient cars. I don’t think it’s a case of folks getting wiser. I think it’s simply a case where they can no longer afford it. Read the rest of this entry »
The JM Smucker company has announced that it wiil be merging the Proctor and Gamble owned Folgers brand into its company, a deal valued at over 3 billion dollars. As part of the deal Smucker will assume Folgers’ 350 million dollar debt but the will be acquiring the leader in retail coffee. Folgers has always been know as THE name in cheap coffee but they have been able to maintain market share in a day of growing appreciation of gourmet coffee. Folgers is actually a billion dollar brand name and will do much to strengthen the overall name of Smuckers. Smucker wants to dominate their niche and by growing the value of their brands from 1 billion in 2002 to approximately 15 billion today I’d say they are doing a pretty good job. Smuckers with the addition of Folgers now has ten number one brands with names like Jif, Crisco and Pillsbury in their stable.
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Ouija Board game starring…
In the nineties when Jumanji came out it was kind of interesting to see a film about a board game coming to life and interacting with its players. Its sequel, Zathura from a few years ago, was an alright kid adventure and hat its moments as well. These films were stories that revolved around kids playing a game. That seems like the good old days since films based on board game ideas are now getting the Hollywood spotlight shone on them.
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Wine tours greatly affected by California Drought
Things are going from bad to worse as California experiences worst spring drought in 150 years.
“We’re in a dry spell if not a drought,” said California Secretary for Resources Mike Chrisman. “We’re in the second year, and if we’re looking at a third year, we’re talking about a serious problem.”
Agriculture, which consumes about 80% of California’s water, is being hit the hardest. Many farmers are switching to crops that are less dependent on large volumes of water. A few avocado farmers cut all their trees down to stumps saying that they’ll wait until the water situation corrects itself before resuming their trade. It’s possible for farmers to switch crops but what of California Wine. It has taken some time but California wine has finally established itself as a respected wine. On top of the maturing of the California wine market there are tens of thousands of tourist that take part in California wine tours.
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Clinton to be offered a dignified exit within days
All signs are indicating that it’s a matter of days now that Barack Obama will be the Democratic nomination. But what to do with Hillary. Obama’s theme of course has been steeped in the idea of change. How can he justify offering the country a change at real change them stock his cabinet with the same old hacks. Read the rest of this entry »
Usain Bolt has broken the 100 meter tarck record with a time of 9.72s.
Due to his lanky frame and height of 6 foot 4, Usain Bolt was more of a two hundred meter specialist. He was using to 100 meter race as a tune up and hadn’t yet decided to run the 100 meter race at the upcoming Beijing Olymoics. I’m pretty certain that a decision was reached tonight after his blazing performance in the 100 meter.
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Robbie Lawler vs. Scott Smith
in Championship Mixed Martial Arts Fight
Robbie Lawler is currently ranked #5 in the middleweight category by MMA Weekly and Sherdog. Originaly from San Diego he went to Mixed Martial Arts school in BettenDorf Iowa. Mixed martial Arts school may not be for everybody but if you want to get to the top you need proper training. Robbie is a protoge of Pat Militich, one of the greatest mixed martial arts fighter ever.
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