Tsunami Disaster & How to Offer Much Needed Help and to Donate

The Toronto Star reports that the tsunami death toll is now over 117,000. People are fleeing coasts. How to help:
Click on: Tsunami/Earthquake Relief.
Canadian Red Cross , or 1-800-418-1111 or contact local Red Cross office.
World Vision Canada or 1-800-268-5528.
UNICEF Canada, or 1-877-955-3111.
Cdn. Relief Organization for Peace in Sri Lanka at 416-429-2822
Any police station.
Development and Peace: 1-888-664-3387
Christian Children's Fund of Canada: 1-800-263-5437
UJA Federation of Greater Toronto: 416.631.5705
CARE Canada: 1.800.267.5232
Foster Parents Plan: 1-800-387-1418

Choosing a Successor to Dan Rather

In looking at who would be the perfect successor to Dan Rather over at CBS, it would be great to have John Roberts (a Canadian) who used to be called J.D. Roberts when he was a veejay on Much Music and a journalist on City TV in Toronto, Canada. He's got an interesting bio and he's a cool guy too.

As Doug Powers writes, if CBS isn't afraid to show its bias, they should go outside the network to find a much better choice as anchor. A great spinmeister, James Carville comes to mind first.
"Entertaining, fiercely partisan, and unapologetic about it, Carville isn't afraid to admit when he's wrong. On "Meet the Press" recently, James pulled out an egg and smashed it on his head, covering his dome and mug with slimy yolk, the egg oozing down his warlock-esque face, a visual that must have made even the hardiest of iron-bellied Cajuns projectile hurl their gumbo halfway across Shreveport. Carville did it to demonstrate how he had egg on his face after predicting Kerry would win the election. This kind of shtick would be great on the network news, and had Rather done this, it could have saved his job." Click here for the full story.

"Powell: Intelligence suggests Iran trying to adapt missiles for nukes"
Haven't we heard this story before? Play it again Sam... Go to CNN for the full story.

Business Week Finally Shines on Sun

An interesting piece in Business Week. It's the first upbeat Business Week article on Sun Microsystems I've seen in years. I guess all those emails and visits to Jim Kerstetter and Assistant Managing Editor, Kathy Rebello may have actually paid off mildly. This one was definitely a hard nut to crack.

Fascinating & The Price of Sleep

Wired has a great story about the price of sleep. We pay for oxygen and water so why not sleep right? Ludicrious I say. Ridiculous.

There's a new biz in New York called MetroNaps that offers a potential solution to your nap problems. Since May 2004, the company has offered 20-minute naps in specially designed, futuristic-looking pods in a suite in the Empire State Building. Click here for the full Wired story.

What to blog about?

Here's a cool site to use as a reference if you're "scratching your head trying to find something to write about." Blogideas

Bush vs. Kerry in The New Yorker

“The Choice” for President in The New Yorker

The New Yorker’s November 1 editorial on the upcoming election offers a strong case for voting for John Kerry on November 2nd. It is true that according to polls over the last several months, jobs, health care and education haven't counted much for the electorate when weighed against the prospect of another terrorist attack. Therefore, the essay argues that the most important Presidential task of the next four years, as of the past three, is the “war on terror”.

Face to Face with the 'Holy Grail' Media: Business Week, San Jose Mercury News, Wall Street Journal

Last week, I went to a panel discussion with Kathy Rebello, Assistant Managing Editor of Business Week, the managing editor of the San Jose Mercury News and SF Deputy Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal. The whole issue of blogs and how they're changing journalism came up. The main issue is that with blogs proliferating as much as they are, journalists are turning to news releases less and less. Blogs kill two birds with one stone. First, they provide news in usually a timely fashion and second, they allow the journalist to get the executive's opinion without having to get through the gatekeeper first READ: PR! So, the question I ask is what does this mean for the PR industry. It obviously means change is coming.For more info, go to Micropersuasion.

Benjamin Fox Aronson at 2 years old.