My apologies to Bob Dylan, but the chapter 11 bankruptcy of one of our local papers, the StarTribune, has been a slow train coming.  Clearly this is one of the worst dailies in the entire US.  Mismanaged, cash-strapped and unbelievably biased, this newspaper has been on the edge of inevitability for 2 years.  Yesterday they finally filed.

I am certain they will cut costs and restructure their debt before coming out of bankruptcy, but in the end I don’t think it will matter.  The game has changed; day-old news printed on paper is a thing of the past.  The world is steadily moving towards instant, on-demand.

Clearly reporting will continue…it needs to, but I think the only sustainable media for newspapers is online.  Develop the website, draw in the visitors and charge advertisers for those pages.

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It is already looking like Thanksgiving here at Select Metrix so it seems like an appropriate time to say thank you to all of our customers, our associates, our friends and our readers.  Many of you span more than one of those categories.  Thank you for your support through this year of change.

May all of you have a happy, safe and blessed Thanksgiving!

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If you are technical geek of sorts you already know about T-Mobile’s G1 and the Blackberry Thunder as a few of the first phones to try to compete with the iPhone 3G.  According to a post on US News & World Report, Blackberry is introducing a new competitor, called the Storm that will offer 2 virtual keyboards.  The Storm will be available exclusively to Verizon customers and features a unique clickable screen.  They do not have an actual release date yet, just stating that it will be available sometime later this fall.

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This topic is one I can really get behind since this is one of the toughest callings you can have in life, especially if you are a single mom.  Kudos to General Mills for being a local company (local to us) that is a perennial resident on this list.

The story is from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal:

General Mills Inc. is among the nation’s top employers for working mothers, according to a 2008 list compiled by Working Mother magazine.

It is the 13th consecutive year that Golden Valley-based General Mills (NYSE: GIS) has made the magazine’s top ranking.

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The recent murder at the Olympics hit home for me this past weekend.  The family is from my hometown of Lakeville, MN.  I was in Lakeville this weekend for my 20th anniversary high school class reunion.  Needless to say, this tragedy was the topic of the weekend.

I think most people are aware of the story, but you can get the details here.

Suffice to say, I am still stunned by the senselessness of it all.

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The Sales Machine blog on BNet features one of those posts I wish I had authored.  The title - Why Office Coffee Tastes So Bad.  A great topic for a Monday morning.  This post contains some of the most detailed information I have read about bad coffee.  Basically, it all comes down to tannins.

Contrary to popular belief, coffee is not bitter. It is supposed to be a naturally sweet beverage. However, the way it is usually prepared tends to concentrate the tanins (sic) in the coffee, which makes it unnaturally bitter. Remove these tannins and you get a good cup of coffee. Tannins come from five sources:

• Exposure to air. The more the beans are exposed to air and light, the more they begin to break down, turning the natural sweetness into tannins. If coffee is already ground, that process is accelerated.
• Brewing residue. Most brewing methods cause tannins to be deposited on the brewing mechanism where they’re transferred into the coffee. Plastic and metal is porous, so even if you scrub it, there’s always residue.
• The brewing process. If the water is not hot enough, the coffee flavor is lessened while the tannins are transferred into the water. Most coffee makers don’t heat up the water sufficiently to make a good cup.
• The filtering process. If the filter is the wrong porousness and not designed to absorb tannins, it will pass them through into the coffee. Many filters just filter out particulate matter and don’t absorb the tannins.
• Time after brewing. If there are tannins in the coffee, they’ll spread throughout the coffee, making it increasingly bitter over time. That’s why reheated coffee — or coffee that’s been sitting in the pot for an hour or more — usually tastes so wretched.

True story - first few months Lee and I worked together at a company with one of those old Bunn coffee makers.  The company supplied some of the worst coffee you have ever tasted.  Folgers tasted better.  Anyway, Lee would get to the office early some mornings to get some work done.  If the coffee pot contained coffee - FROM THE PREVIOUS DAY - he would put it in his cup, nuke it and then drink it.  All without brewing a fresh pot of coffee.

I’m still disgusted 6 years later.

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232 years!

Have a happy and safe holiday weekend from all of us at Select Metrix.

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Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.

-Oscar Wilde

We have made it through another year of posting and pontificating.  Today, The Hire Sense turns two.  Thanks to all of you for allowing us the chance to share our thoughts, opinions, anecdotes and suggestions in this format.

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Interesting history lesson in a short Inc.com post:

William Wrigley, Jr. arrived in Chicago in 1891 with just $32 to his name. The 29-year-old entrepreneur began manufacturing soap, first enticing customers by offering free baking soda with every purchase. He later tried offering customers free chewing gum. The gum soon became more popular – and profitable – than his soap venture. Like many of the famous companies which have sprung up during recessions, Wrigley sold inexpensive goods that could be easily mass produced. Now, I’m not saying that chewing gum actually served as a distraction from the strife of the times, but what kind of startup do you think fairs particularly well during a recession? Do consumers need distraction during downturns? If you have a great business idea, does it even matter when you launch your business?

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We are in the midst of a snowstorm so Easter and Spring seem oddly out of place against the backdrop of 6″ of snow.  It is amazing how stunningly beautiful snow can look before Christmas and how utterly awful it looks before Easter.  However, the JustSell.com guys provided me with some context to this Easter in their daily email (sorry, no link):

Unless you’re 95 years old, you’ve never celebrated Easter this early.

This year Easter falls on March 23, the earliest the holiday has been celebrated since 1913. Nearly 80% of consumers plan to celebrate this year and will spend $14.44 billion (about $135 each) on food, apparel, gifts, decorations and candy, according to the National Retail Federation.

Easter is the No. 2 top-selling candy holiday, behind only Halloween, according to the National Confectioner’s Association. Candy makers produce 90 million chocolate bunnies each year, and five million marshmallow chicks and bunnies each day during the year to fill Easter baskets.

Early Easter = snow in Minnesota.  Have a joyful Easter from all of us at Select Metrix!

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