Monday, July 28, 2003

It's Official: Boone and Bowden are Gone
Dave Miley will be interim manager of the Reds for the rest of the season starting tomorrow. A new GM replacement for Bowden has not been announced.

UPDATE: The Enquirer has more details.
Boone and Bowden Booted from Baseball's Reds?
The Post is reporting a story from the Sporting News that both the manager and general manager of the reds will be fired this morning.
Need a Second Opinion?
State Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Cincinnati, has introduced a bill to allow either party in a medical malpractice lawsuit to obtain the opinion from a screening panel before going to court. This panel would be allowed to review the case and make a non-binding judgment on the validity of the claim. This judgment would be then be admissible in court.

Is this a good idea? The concept is valid to explore, but likely operation would only benefit the defense. The make-up of the panel would be subject to abuse. Would they be an elected group? Would they be political appointees? Since their judgment would be admissible in court, it could become a de facto judgment that jurors could rely upon as nearly infallible, hurting both sides' ability to try the case.

What is lack in this law, at least in the press account, is the ability of the judge to rule on the admissibility of the panel's judgment. The validity of the judgment would have to be an element of the discovery process before the actual trial. Under current law that would be allowable, but would this new panel change that? Tort reform is a big issue, but up to know we only get the rhetoric, not the details. This bill will not bring down health care costs. All bill will do, and its purpose, is to help doctors and medical malpractice insurance companies.

This story came from the Dayton Daily News. Since the elected official sponsoring the bill is from Cincinnati, why is this story not in the Cincinnati Press? It might be on some of the broadcast outlets, but so far not anywhere on the Internet.
Thanks for the Memories
Bob Hope dead at the age 100. The King is dead, long live the King!.

I was in California on his 100th birthday and visited the Reagan Library's Bob Hope Exhibit. Hope was a simple comic, he did not break taboos, he was not cutting age. He was the establishment of Hollywood, but he was America. He was fun. He was kind. He wanted you to laugh. He will be missed.

Friday, July 25, 2003

Convergys Deal
It has passed City Council by a vote of 8 to 1, with only Alicia Reese voting against it. Cincinnati Bell is next in line according to this and this news report. Kroger got their garage, the sports teams got their stadiums, where is my hand out? I might have to move my blog to Northern Kentucky. NKYblog might be a good name? I would be willing to stay put right here in Cincinnati for chump change. I can get by with a mere $100,000.00. Hell, they wasted more than that on rebuild the Empire Theater. I would even guarantee to not move my blog for the next 100 years. How can anyone beat that kind of a deal?
The Gentlewoman’s Agreement
Life from the other side for Maggie Downs in her latest column. Does she now have the right to make blond jokes without reverberation? Blond women do get a bad wrap. The stereotypical person with light hair is no more likely to be a moron than a dark haired person, unless of course they dye their hair. It is a scientific fact that those who dye their hair, excluding graying hair, are complete idiots, without exception. Whigs are not a problem, well not intellectual, just emotional. Some grow so attached to their whigs they just can't let go when it starts to fall apart. Oh the horror of it, the fake hair in the shower drain, it is just tragic. Anyway..........

If anyone can get my reference with the title they get a gold star for the day.

Thursday, July 24, 2003

Fishing for the Enquirer Weekly
So, how often do you get invited to mingle with the Staff from the Enquirer and many other young professionals at a very exclusive downtown club for drinks and high-class eats? Well, this was a first for me. I am not one to hobnob with the influential all in the name of trying to decipher the form of the Enquirer's soon to debut weekly publication geared toward Generation X. I felt like a fish out of water. I am not a social person. I can tend to be a recluse when not dragged out kicking and screaming by friends and family.

My purpose in attending was, along with many others, to provide some feedback to the Enquirer Staff with ideas on what I think their new publication should be, or should focus on. I was able to provide my thoughts to one reporter, but beyond the hosts from the Enquirer, I was not quizzed by any other Enquirer staffers. I did not notice many staffers mingling with the civilians much at all. I was left thinking that either the staff does not think much of the new publication or they are as clueless as I am as how to attract a mass audience of under 35 year old readers, and still make money doing it.

I did have a nice time. There were nice people there, several of which I chatted with, and free drinks can never be a negative. I did feel a bit over my head. I am not a socialite in the least, so rubbing elbows with city council members and owners of trendy nightclubs is just not my style. I have nothing against the people at the party, per see, I just would feel far more comfortable drinking a pitcher of beer at Crowley’s in Mt. Adams singing along with the jukebox at the top of my feeble lungs, all while theorizing on the value of infinity v. the subplots of Slaughterhouse Five.

Who will staff the new publication? Well I would say that the recently hired new young writers will make up the core of the writing staff. No information on the editor was announced or even discussed. Speculation was that the Enquirer would go outside the organization to find one, but depending on the independence of the publication, one might not need a separate editor. The editing duties could just fall upon on of the existing editors all ready on staff, in addition to their current responsibilities. What would add work is the level of local content the publication seeks to provide. This is key to its success. If they just recycle wire reports or syndicated articles as the core of the stories, with just a sprinkling of new content, then it will be nothing they can’t get on the Internet. The web should be a component of the publication. A “Dead Tree” publication has value, but will remain stale without a unique web presence.

Will the Enquirer Weekly amount to anything? I don't really know. I don't know what it is going after. Do they just want to sell advertising to Gen X targeted vendors (the Starbucks crowd) or do they want to pull in the intellectuals? I say intellectuals in the sense of those who are more concerned with ideas, and less concerned with image. I was at a gathering today of image makers, not idea makers, and image might sell like hotcakes, but will it will taste like cardboard.