North Coast Connections

In my last posting, I lament the disappearance of stock and mutual fund quote tables from a growing number of the country's newspapers (including the Times Standard). Directly on the heels of removing stock quotes at the beginning of 2008, the San Francisco Chronicle has now taken another step affecting their business news ... as of Feb 25, they've stopped providing a separate business section on Mondays and Tuesdays, merging it into the Sports section instead.

Rather than chide the Chron for dumbing down the paper by making business news less readily available, I have to admit that the venerable Bay Area newspaper is actually having serious financial difficulties and therefore taking several cost-cutting moves to stop the flow of red ink. They also promise their readers that the amount of business content will remain unchanged. I have to hand it to them in the manner in which they pulled off this feat.

This Monday and Tuesday, the Business Section ran at the back of the Chronicle Sports section, all right ... only it ran from back to front, they continued to give it a separate section letter, and the pagination ran backward for the entire Business content. Sports was Section C and Business was Section D. It was a novel way to read a newspaper -- backward.

As I was about to launch into another rant about how business was taking a back seat to entertainment, I noted that the Chron was consolidating other newspaper sections as well. On Sunday, Feb 24, the Insight (opinion) section was merged for the first time with the Book Review. An odd pairing, depending upon your point of view. On Mon Feb 25 and Tues Feb 26, the Calendar (entertainment) section included several pages of classified ads in the back. As a result, I stifled my criticism and chalked it up to belt tightening by the news print industry that has taken a number of financial hits.

Before I completely let the Chronicle off the hook, one of the the reasons I fume when newspapers play fast and loose is that I have high standards ... by way of example, let's look at another venerable news publication, the South China Morning Post, that bills itself as Hong Kong's premier English-language newspaper. Having spent a lot of time in Hong Kong from 1996 through 2001, I immediately took a liking to the SCMP. Some newspapers are easy to love, but when I tried to analyze my feelings I found the answers to be obvious (at least to me).

First, the newspaper had three business sections (count 'em, three), and the sports section was usually hidden behind one of the business sections. This speaks volumes about Chinese priorities. Next, their columnists were a mix of home-grown pundits and world-renown thinkers. One columnist in particular, Nury Vittachi, captured the real Hong Kong in his wry observations and glib bemusing. I ended up buying two of his books, and would meet him occasionally at selected HK pubs and dives. Finally, their comics included Calvin and Hobbs.

Who could ask for anything more?

Chris Crawford
www.justiceserved.com

photo credit = Microsoft clipart

Posted by Chris Crawford at 01:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Some milestones pass with a bang, and others with a whimper. One such milestone passed recently and most people scarcely noticed. Most newspapers have dropped stock quotes from their business sections, offering them online instead. The San Francisco Chronicle dropped printed stock quotes in early January. The Times-Standard did so a week or two ago. More's the pity.

Sure, I understand the pure accounting logic of sparing newsprint and paper whenever possible. Even newspapers that printed stock quotes didn't print everything. There are thousands of mutual funds and penny stocks that you would only find online or in pure business publications like the Wall Street Journal in any event. However, most "real" newspapers would carry the big board stocks and mutual fund listings and even vary the display by day of the week ... for instance, year-to-date summaries would appear on Saturdays, 52-week highs and lows would appear on Thursdays, etc.

Why do I think it's important to keep stock quotes for average readers? Because we're all dumbing down at an alarming rate. In his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, author Robert Kiyosaki demonstrates the stark differences in how the financially savvy approach household finances as compared to the average working stiff. He even collaborated with Donald Trump to write Why We Want You To Be Rich: Two Men-One Message in an effort to improve the financial education of the general public.

We should all be shocked to know how many people can't balance a checkbook, don't understand how to invest, can't budget household expenses and even have trouble making change from cash transactions. It starts with kids, and accessing stock quotes in the local newspaper is just one more resource that is now only available to those with Internet access ... the technology "haves," and not the tech "have-nots." The digital divide strikes again.

If you have kids, visit the Rich Dad, Poor Dad website and consider buying some of the games they offer that help to teach kids how to handle their finances. That is, if you have a computer and have access to the Internet.

Chris Crawford
www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Microsoft clipart

Posted by Chris Crawford at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My recent business trip to Jamaica was the usual combination of fun-exciting-new-experience and tiring-difficult-constrained.

First, the airline connections are a huge challenge. I had to take a red-eye flight to the East Coast two days before I was scheduled to work, because most connecting flights to Jamaica leave the East Coast in the morning. Sleeping on an airplane is a real trick that I only master on occasion. This wasn't one.

Second, logistics in a foreign country are usually a challenge. If you're on vacation, these can turn into an adventure, but if you're working, they can be a real pain. The bus ride to the hotel from the airport took nearly three hours. Sheesh !!

Finally, the icing on the cake was the lack of access to reliable and affordable broadband. Sure the resort hotel had a business center with rent-a-computer stations. But working all day restricted how often I could access the service within their limited hours of operation. Ten there was the price ... $6 (US) for 30 minutes. Yikes !!

Sure I could chalk this up to a necessary business expense, but working on borrowed computers also restricts your ability to access needed files, write, prepare spreadsheets, create PDFs, and the whole array of computing chores that accompany my normal Internet-access routine.

What was the alternative? Use your laptop in the hotel lobby to access a wireless network that was not available in your room. Sound reasonable? Sure, for a mere $24 a crack for 24 hours access. And did I mention that the lobby also housed the open air lobby bar and rotating musical entertainment? Double yikes !!

As a consequence, I had a few windows of opportunity to check and respond to email during a six-day trip, and most of this consisted of copying and pasting an apology response and asking to postpone action until I returned. I had hoped to do some catch-up at the airport before my flight but there were no electric outlets to charge my laptop and even though there was wireless access they charged $16 an hour despite a sign that announced free wireless service. Since my laptop battery was low, I didn't take the chance.

To compound these inconveniences, I now return to an email-box full of dozens of urgent replies. Grrrrr.

On the plus side, the project was successful, the weather was wonderful and I got to enjoy the resort amenities between chores. The Jamaican people are lovely and accommodating, but I didn't get a chance to explore or even leave the resort compound to reconnoiter.

There is a lot to be said about the benefits of a good telecommunications infrastructure, but even physical access to broadband should include some attention to affordability. I can afford it, even if I don't like the price, and I was grateful when I was able to connect. But what about average Jamaicans and kids? I doubt that they are able to harness the Internet to improve their future.

Chris Crawford
www.justiceserved.com

Posted by Chris Crawford at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the joys of my career is sometimes also a pain ... I travel a lot. Sometimes it's to not-so-pleasant spots like Newark, NJ (last week). This coming week, my travels include Jamaica. Fun, you say? A great chance to thaw out, lay around in the sun and par-tey? Yeah, sure.

Sure, I'm looking forward to working in common law courts to help make things run smoother. It's a nice change from US courts, and the cultural differences are stimulating. I've already worked extensively common law courts in Hong Kong, especially after the momentous handover from British sovereignty to Chinese rule.

I've also worked elsewhere in the West Indies. A couple of years back, I had a chance to work with the Magistrates in Trinidad-Togago, the Southern-most Caribbean islands near Venezuela. Magistrates preside over the lower jurisdiction courts hearing traffic, misdemeanors, small civil claims and early stages of felony processing. The actual work took place on Tobago, where Robinson Crusoe was purported to have been stranded in the classic Daniel Defoe novel.

So let's get to Jamaica ... the plusses are the weather, interesting work, another new stamp on the passport, cultural immersion, probably good food (and grog) and the chance to positively affect justice outside our shores. Here are the minuses ...

1) It's four time zones away, making travel all the more taxing.

2) Most flights leave the East Coast in the morning, leaving two options for West Coast travellers: either leave the day before and spend the night at an East Coast airport hotel, or take the red-eye and arrive in the morning in time for a connecting flight. I (bravely) have chosen the latter and only pray I am able to sleep on the plane overnight.

3) While the location may be interesting and fun, I'll be working. That means boning up on local issues on the plane ride, and working full days while I'm there.

4) While Jamaica is not technically a third world country, there is significant poverty and crime. Accordingly, it's not the kind of place you'd want to take unrestricted strolls through the countryside. I'm hoping I'll do some exploring, but it is likely I will be stuck in the hotel compound for a vast majority of my time there.

OK, so I don't expect any sympathy from you. Those who think that extensive travel is fun and exciting will not change their view until they get enough travel under their belts to grow weary of it. Those of us who travel for a large part of our career learn survival skills that take the edge off of the downsides, while maximizing the plusses.

Getting paid to go to interesting places is a job benefit, and I am aware of my good fortune in this regard. Just remember, Jamaica today may also mean Minot, North Dakota tomorrow. There are definitely tradeoffs.

Chris Crawford
www.justiceserved.com

Photo credit = Mapquest

Posted by Chris Crawford at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)