Where Do They Keep the Coffee Filters?

Waking up early after a difficult night's sleep. We are visiting dear friends down in Pelham Manor NY, and I'm up early with no one else around yet. I try to make some of the coffee I brought from the cafe, but can't find the filters. You know the feeling of rummaging around in another person's kitchen, trying not to make too much noise, and trying to decipher where they might just keep their coffee filters? Gave up after looking in all adjacent cabinets.

It's the long weekend, the final hurdle of the holidays. Today we'll drive to Northampton, PA, another couple who we try to see a few times a year, invited to spend New Years and see their new house. After they married they decided to sell both of their houses and buy one that is big enough for two of them. He's a big collector, it will be fun to see how much of his treasures have made a new home in their communal space.

New Year's eve is often a conflicted time for me, because I expect that I have to have fabulous plans, lavish parties and festivities to attend. If I don't, I feel that I should. And I don't really feel like a huge celebration, it's only a new year, not a new century or new life or something. So I am glad we decided to battle the south and northbound traffic and make our journey. One of the things I like best about Cindy is that she is a true friend. She shows up, makes the trip, and keeps in touch with old pals, even when she might not feel like going anywhere. I feel the same way, it's better to show up.

Tomorrow it's First Night Allentown, then a lazy day on New Years...then it's time to get back to work.

Ouch! That Smarts....Good People Move On

Oh that smarts! I've just experienced what retail business owners know all too well. Just when you're happy and feeling like your staff is running like a well-oiled machine, something happens. Oh no, not that conversation.

"I have to tell you something," said Britt, my beloved cafe manager. "I'm going back to school so I'm giving my two-week notice." NO, NO, please don't do it. But when you have talented, attractive people, they rarely stay around very long. I had hoped praise, cash, and responsibilities would keep her here, but again, most experienced employers would say--it just happens. People move on. People want to go back to school, have babies, or move away with their husbands.

So now in spite of my confidence going into the new year, we'll have to do it without Britt, who has been with us since the very beginning. I placed an ad on Craig's List and got a response within minutes. This time we'll take our time, ask the right questions, and hope that we end up with someone half as good as reliable, cheerful, wonderful Britt. We'll miss you!

How to Get Three Giants Out of Quicksand

Jason Miller writes on Web Pro news about the ultimate web merger and google killer.

"How do you get three giants out of quicksand? The biggest giant eats the other two and makes a boat from their bones.

That seems to be Wall Street's approach to building an apt competitor to Google. Shortly after analysts dreamed of a Microsoft-owned Yahoo, they've amended their solution to include AOL.

Last week, Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen told reporters that an AOL Yahoo merger was possible in 2007. Cohen said an AOL Yahoo merger was "one of the more logical combinations" to take on Google, cut costs, and combine audiences, and that Time Warner was open to it.

This caused quite the buzz, spawning charts with potential combinations of companies that could merge with or be acquired by another company for strategic reasons.

A Yahoo AOL combination is considered among the most likely, as is a Microsoft buy out of AOL and/or Yahoo.

Or, if we get out our pie-in-the-sky caps, the ideal scenario is Yahoo merges with AOL and Microsoft buys them both. MSN is sinking in the search market. Yahoo is stagnant. And AOL is ready to be sold for parts. But, theoretically, the high profile threesome could make one hell of a Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger.

Dont' You Hate it When the Shingles Give off Shocks?

Up ridiculously early this morning, for some reason five am seemed like time to rise. Jumped on the laptop and read the Boston Herald...a truly scary tale of a man who built his dreamhouse 27 feet from high tension wires.

The flourescent lights in the house were going on when they weren't plugged in. The doorknobs and exterior shingles give off big shocks.

Chris Zagami, of North Attleboro, has lost his own $70,000 and the bank is threatening his $290,000 mortgage after he built the house too close to the flowing currents.

Despite this, he got a building permit but National Grid is saying they warned him to stop. He said they built the tower off the easement, and is thus liable. But it doesn't matter 'cause he can't live in the house and he's financially sunk.

Ball Bummer: Why Didn't They Ask the Players?

The January issue of Business West came by mail, thanks to the Chamber of Commerce whose members now get it free. Inside was a sad story similar to the New Coke disaster of 1985--The Spaulding Ball Bummer of 2006.

Local company Spaulding introduced a new basketball to be used in the NBA starting this season. The scientists decided that the decades-old leather balls were too slippery when they got sweaty, so a composite ball was created. Sounds like a good idea. But they didn't ask the men who worked with the thing--the players HATED the new ball.

According to Shaq, the new ball "felt like one of these cheap balls you get at the toy store," and other players reported getting paper cuts, tiny abrasions when handling the dry ball. The result: On January 1, the league goes back to the leather version.

It's been a PR nightmare, and the story focuses on Dan Touhey. Funny thing is, now that the ball is done for, it's become a hot commodity, selling briskly on eBay and all of Touhey's friends are emailing and calling to try to get one.

The funny thing is, every player in the NBA was sent the new ball before the season. Touhey thinks that many of them were never opened. Sounds like the company got the message, even in hindsight. "We realize now that it's important to involve that end user in the actual testing, to ensure you get a buy-in...that's the lesson learned here."

Good Bye Gib

I got the news the other day that Gib Fullerton had passed away. Gib was the guy who hired me for my first newspaper job, back when the Valley Advocate was located in downtown Amherst. I remember applying for the job once, then not getting it, and coming back a few months later and signing on. Gib knew I really wanted to work there, and he chuckled about my eagerness. Back in those days I was like a puppy, always eager and panting to get ahead.

It was a glorious time back then in the late 1970s and there was no place else like the old Advocate office. Located in a rambling former apartment building, we were all a part of the excitement of publishing a radical newspaper.

Gib was a man with a lot of patience, and always the guy who knew how things worked. He could fix any computer or network or phone system, and was the General Manager for publishers Christine Austin and Geoff Robinson. The place was so filled with pot smoke it's a wonder any newspapers ever got published, but they did, and so many decades later, the Advocate still comes out every week.

Right On Arnold!

Arnold Schwartzeneger has become the most progressive and clear-headed governor on the environment. He was profiled by the Washington Post today.

"This year he signed the nation's first environmental law of its kind, committing the state to lowering its greenhouse gas production to 1990 levels by 2020 and setting up an international program that provides manufacturers with incentives to lower carbon emissions, which is supposed to begin by 2012. He has vowed to fight any attempt to drill for oil off California's coast.

Because California has embraced conservation like no other big state, its per capita consumption of energy has remained flat over 30 years, while the rest of the country's has increased by 50 percent. And total vehicle emissions of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons have fallen more than 20 percent in 15 years, even though miles driven by state motorists are up by more than 20 percent.

Noting that Silicon Valley investors are devoting billions of dollars to green technology, Schwarzenegger predicted that a new era is dawning for business. He enthused about a recent trip to the Los Angeles Auto Show, where he test-drove an electric race car that went from 0 to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds. "A battery? I mean that's extraordinary. That's faster than a turbo Porsche," he said.

"All of this is going to be a whole new phenomenon," he said, "where people who are smart and entrepreneurial will not fight it but will get into it."

Send a Cone or Tune by Cellphone

We met the bespectacled Andreas in Goteborg, and enjoyed dinner with him and his wife Elin. He develops internet ad campaigns and one of them was fascinating, it was for an ice cream company.

He showed us how a Swedish cellphone customer can send a tiny bar code to a friend's phone...the friend then goes into one of the chain's ice cream shops and the cashier waves the cellphone handset over a bar code reader. The friend gets a free ice cream!

The generous friend pays for the treat on his cellphone bill. Other applications allow people to pay for parking meters, cokes and sundries from 7-11 using the phone.

This sort of pass along is also now available on Microsoft's new Zune music player. You can send a friend a tune, but there are more catches on this (typically Microsoft, eh?). The songs are only good for three plays and disappear from your Zune after a week.

The more I spend time in Europe the more I realize that any device that is in the pockets of everybody in a crowd has more potential than the computer can ever have. Phones are the way, they will eventually replace many other devices and reign supreme.

Want to Get in the Spirit? Write Cards, Give Money!

Today I took some wise advice from my sister Jenny. I wrote out cards to all of my employees and told them why I value them, and added some crisp bills to make it really feel good. You wanna know how to get into the Christmas spirit? Write cards and give money to deserving people!

My staff at the cafe--Britt, Elizabeth, Meghan, Rose and Kim, my editor Steve, my bookeeper Kim, my webmaster and computer Guru Joe, all are fantastic people with energy, ideas and enthusiasm that they bring to the job every day. I told them how they really are the reason we've been so successful in the cafe and on the web.

While I am trying to pull back from the whole Christmas gift rat race, not wanting any, not giving many, I still got great delight in composing these words and I hope that my heartfelt gratitude comes through to each one of these important people in my life.

Dreams, Goals, and Hope at 33,000 Feet

Winging our way back home from Sweden, in this Airbus 330 I am able to recap all of the things this trip has inspired me to think about. In the internet and cafe business, you meet people and see ideas in action that make you think you should try them. Here are some of the things I will try out upon my return:

*Configuring GoNOMAD's travel content to be viewed on mobile screens. I heard from a web developer that the program we use, Dreamweaver, can save pages in this tiny format. We will give that a try, so on the go people can read the stories.

* Approaching Mark Cuban of HD-Net about developing programs based on GoNOMAD stories. Hey, he said he's looking for content, so why not use our articles as the basis for great video. We've already got Sony working like mad, maybe the combo will work! High Def is perfect for travel video.

*Expanding the size of the GoNOMAD Cafe so we have a bar where people can sit, and twice as much room for people to hang. Hey if we're gonna do this, we need more than 16 seats and the bar would give 8 people someplace to hang.

*Finding a larger outlet to publicize and promote our network of blogs. We've got seven excellent, literate, carefully written and constantly updated blogs. This is a valuable stable of talent, and we will find a publisher/media outlet who can bring these blogs to the next level. Be ready fellow GoNOMAD bloggers, 2007 is our break out year!

* Turning our new websites Flygonomad.com and Gonomadairfares.com into dynamic and profitable transaction sites. We publish a content site now, that's great for inspiration. But if we want people to buy, they need to go to a buying site. We aim to push and pull and link the hell out of these sites to make that buying come true in real numbers. We will take all we know about SEO and make these sites rock!

*Bringing new web developers, more interns, and more energetic and clever people on board to help us steer our way into podcasts, specialized RSS feeds, audio clips for every story and an internet travel radio show people can download and listen to so that each story goes way beyond just the words and pictures. Stay tuned, watch us, we WILL do all or more than this in 2007!

Watching the Planes and the People Down Below

We are sitting in Copenhagen's airport with our flight delayed two hours. No announcement told us, we just learned this by overhearing another passenger, then seeing it for ourselves on the board. Thanks a lot! I always like to watch the planes come and go and see what the workers do down there. I remember as a kid I always thought it would be fun to work a job like that and drive those cool little baggage trains and loading vehicles.

I watched a man drag a huge Airbus in with a vehicle that clamps the front wheel and pulls the plane. Delicately, he maneuvered the plane's wheel right into the place between two painted lines. Then a woman in a reflective jacket chucked a few knapsacks down a stairway...and some of the newspapers flew loose. I watched as the papers blew away in the wind, and she had to run after them. Then a man emerged from the vehicle that pulls the plane...and two women security guards frisked him.

We have wireless access here in the terminal, and since this wait is without decent newspapers, restaurants or even CNN on TV, I guess we'll splurge and hook up. The man next to me used a 3G wireless access that uses a tiny cellphone signal to get the 'Net. Much better, no lousy fees, and the service is faster. Coming here made us realize how backward our cellphone service is, we don't have even 1G yet.

Heated Sidewalks and Other Swedish Surprises

Random thoughts on Sweden: One cool thing I saw here were heated sidewalks, that eliminate the need for snow shoveling. And when we went into the cafes (there are almost 700 in Goteborg), no one was working on laptops except us. Our friend Bo told us that people never bring computers into cafes, here they want to talk, or read a book, but never, ever go on line. So that's why the one cafe called Condeco we did find that offered WiFi didn't have any sign out front, and there was no one except me using it. I admire that sort of euroblase-ness they have here about not working while in a relaxing cafe. Work is for the office, I guess.

Bikes are all weather, all year vehicles. Like in NYC, in December those bike lanes next to the sidewalk are constantly in use, and most bikes are of the utilitarian variety, not the mountain bikes or 'ten speeds' we see at home. The postmen have nice bikes with big panniers on either side...and there was more than one 'military bike,' with olive drab paint and the same utilitarian look of a jeep.

So far the coffee has been first rate, no matter where we found it. This is the world's top per capita coffee drinking population, and no matter what time we popped into a cafe, the place was almost always buzzing busy and full of chatty coffee drinkers.

Sleeping in a Castle in Sweden

We're bunking down in the room called Christina in the Thorskogs Slott Castle outside of Goteborg. This was once a family residence, now it has 30 rooms for lucky travelers to sleep in. No TV, but WiFi and elegant canopy beds and clawfoot bathtubs.

Tonight we enjoyed the Swedish Christmas dinner, dining of course on reindeer (sorry Rudolph) and schnapps and herring and fine wines to accompany. Cindy wasn't hungry so I had to consume most of her reindeer too. Hey ever since Greenland I must admit I've developed an appetite for this animal, also known as caribou in other parts of the world. We sat with an older couple, he is a retired engineer and she a schoolteacher. They travel all over the world, having been to the US, all over Europe and they say they just love it. Their next trip will be to Majorca and other Mediterranean coastal cities in the spring.

Lunch with Bo at the Busy Downtown Market

Bo Kjellberg is a high tech entrepreneur who lives in Goteborg. We joined him for lunch in a restaurant in a crowded market called called Saluhallen. All around us were shoppers picking out hams, fresh fruit, little lobsters, prawns and hundreds of kinds of cheese. The place has the bustle and energy of a thriving market, and we found a booth where we could ask him about Goteborg and life here in Sweden.

We wanted to know what he thought the biggest difference was between the US, where he once lived during college, and Sweden. "Empathy," he said thoughtfully. He recalled some stories about when he lived here where people refused to help him, or to bend any rules. It seemed to him that people in the US were less able to relate or understand the poor and disadvantaged. Here, of course, the government is famously accommodating, no one goes hungry, and the state takes care of you no matter what happens.

He said the new government here might be tightening up the system, but for him he doesn't mind the high taxes...he clearly sees the great value that paying so much provides him and others. While some of his coworkers said they welcome a chance to keep more of their own money, Bo said he thinks it's fine just as it is.

Dinner With a Swedish Family

Last night we had dinner in the home of a Swedish couple named Elin and Andreas. We took a taxi far out into the suburbs, (the driver didn't know how to get there) and as the meter ticked and ticked, we finally popped out of the cab $44 lighter but ready to meet our hosts. When I go on press trips I usually request the tourism board set up visits and dinners with interesting people so we can interview them and get a real feel for the place.

Andreas works for an ad agency specializing in Internet. Bingo! And Elin is an architect, she designs schools and houses--they both work 3/4 time so they can raise their two young kids. It didn't take us long to feel welcome at their home and over noodles and wine we began our questioning about what life is like here. They told us that it's very diffucult to fire somone as an employer, you usually have to put up with them for two months after you fire them. And though the health insurance is free, some companies pay for private insurance policies since there are long waiting lists for all but the essential surgeries, so if you want your workers back, you have to get them into private hospitals.

Andreas showed us his 3G phone, and quickly brought up web pages that he likes to read on the tiny screen. It reflected what I've been thinking about for a while, that the phone is the place where more and more people will access the 'Net. He scrolled down articles, viewed little photos, and could do just about everything we do on laptops. Note to self: begin formatting GoNOMAD articles to fit on mobile screens! (Our site comes up on the phone but is not easy to navigate)

In the couple's cozy apartment, candles burned on the table, and they talked about how nice the summers are here, how beautiful it is in the countryside. Though our guidebook told us there would only be three hours of light in December, we saw that it got light at 9 am and dark about 3:45pm. Thanks for the lousy info Rough Guides! The couple is planning a trip to the Canary Islands in February to escape from the long winter. They each get five weeks of yearly vacation.

They talked about when Prime Minister Olaf Palme was assassinated in 1986 on the streets of Stockholm, how everything changed here--security was suddenly a big deal, and the casualness was gone. When foreign minister Anna Linde was shot, it got even tighter. They said the military service that was once compulsary is no longer, and that most of the nation's military bases have been closed--there is no longer any threats to their country.

What They Were Watching in Goteborg

God Jul as they say in Goteborg, this is the Christmas video show that is projected on the massive wall of the Kunstmuseum. It is sound, motion and holiday cheer, and three times a night crowds stream up the main avenue to watch it.

They're All Watching a Christmas Show!

In Goteborg, each Christmas season there is a video show, projected on the front of a huge building that faces the end of the main boulevard. It shows dancing elves, singing Irish lassies, and tinkerbell, and uses the indentations in the building as part of the show. It's a huge production with stereo sounds and incredible video effects, and this huge crowd gathers three times a night during the holidays to see the 15-minute production. Would love to see this happen in Times Square!

Sweden's Full of Babies, Tots and Nursing Moms

Babies, babies, everywhere in Sweden you see a parade of prams and the shuffling of tiny feet. Our guide Ingrid told us that they are seeing another baby boom here, so many young people are having children in Sweden. If our three-days so far give an accurate read, we'd say she's got to be right. We have seen many woman pushing prams, women holding cooing infants, women breastfeeding babies in cafes, and little rugrats running wild at our hotel during breakfast.

We've also observed many bicyclists, using sturdy bikes with lights like they do in Amsterdam. And there are special sidewalks just for bikes. Ingrid said that the sidewalks on the main boulevards here have heating elements underneath, so there is no need to shovel show. It just melts away.

Like many other places around the world, the Swedes, too, are wondering where the snow is. There has been nary a flake yet this year, and we read in the Herald Tribune that this is the same in Kitzbuhel Austria, where the green slopes are starting to make some tourism folks nervous. And in Vermont, where we just were last weekend, the slopes are pretty bare. We saw some white way up in Barre, but the southern resorts are still waiting. And during the day it is still too warm to make the stuff.

Here in Sweden, it feels like it will snow. It's gray outside, temps are a little above freezing, I am glad we are wearing our long underwear and our scarves and gloves. I hope like hell we get snow soon, I love that feeling you get when it just comes down and you can't go anywhere but stay cozy at home.

How Expensive IS Sweden?

I asked myself before we flew over here...is Scandinavia the world's most expensive place to visit? Sadly for the tourism boards, it has been painted this way to Americans, but after three days here I would have to disagree. Here are some of the things we paid for and how much they cost, to us it seems like Sweden's prices are comparable with New York's. We bought Swedish Kronors at 6.8 for $1.00 at the airport.

* Lunch for two--lasagna, salad (we split that) and a pesto/cheese panini, coffee, soft drink $16.40.

* Three hours internet access at the 7-11 store on the corner $4.26.

* Admission to the Universeum, a science, rainforest, kids museum $12

* Dinner at Avenyn 1, a fancy schmancy restaurant with fine wine, linen tablecloths, and two courses. No dessert. $228. (We didn't actually pay for this, our hosts covered it)

* Hotel for one night in Goteborg at the Elite Park Avenue, four stars $101.

*Transfer by Bus from the airport to the center of Goteborg $10.20 per person.

*Cotton women's pajamas on sale $14.50.

*Draft beer at the Smarta casual bar/restaurant $4.00

*Bigger lunch of a tuna fish sandwich, hot chocolate and chicken salad with bacon at a mall restaurant $17.75 (SEK 121)

*Absolut vodka at the System Bologet, the state-owned liquor store WAS pricey. A 750 ml bottle cost $35.00, it would be about $25 in the US. individual beers here cost about $1.85 each, so a six-pack would be more than $11.00.

*Marlboro smokes...pack $6.00. That was a shock, we thought that they would hammer smokers worse than they do in the US. But that's actually cheaper than our price. (not that we really care about buying ciggies)

Welcoming Bounteous Christmas Spirit in Sweden

Sweden, more than any other place I've visited, really knows how to get into the Christmas spirit. That's Christmas, not that lame 'happy holidays' we get back home. Today we got a chance to wallow in St. Nick, in this city of 500,000 that was founded back in 1621.

We went to an indoor Christmas market where the vendors dressed up like it was 1850 and sold handmade ornaments, toys and decorations. Outside a man cranked up a bellows to heat a piece of iron he then hammered into a coat hook. Then we strolled down to the central plaza and there we came upon dozens of men and women dressed like Santa.

They were skating around a tiny ice rink, forming a festive conga line while disco music blared. Then everyone walked over to a big stand where at the top, one, then in the next row down two, and then three, then four carolers all stood dressed in green capes and red caps: it was the singing Christmas Tree! A man played percussion as they sang sweetly in Swedish, familiar tunes with unfamiliar words.

Goteberg is decked out with every tree on the main boulevard shimmering in blue, green or white lights, and up the street from our hotel there is a lightshow with music and special lighting effects up against the backdrop of a huge performance center.

Last night we had the traditional five kinds of herring, all were good, and mulled wine with three particularly festive kinds of schnapps. Add a Christmas beer and we were very much feeling that the Yule is upon us.

Gothenberg, Sweden: The Lights are Low and Mellow

We arrived in Gothenberg Sweden today, pretty jetlagged and happy to dive into our soft down beds at the Elite Hotel in the center of this seaside city. On the plane I was briefly thrilled to be able to get on the Internet using the soon-to-be-discontinued Connextion service by Boeing. It cut out after just a little while. Here, the place to get email is 7-11, where I bought a 3-hour card for nine bucks.

We got up and walked around this city that is lit up with candles and lights for Christmas. Outside of many shops there are little candles burning and in most windows are the upside down V shape of candle lights. We ducked into one of the thousands of cafes and had a creamy latte, the place was so packed, people here really really love their coffee!

Our first impression of this Sweden's second largest city is that is is cozy. Cozy and warm, the lighting is the main thing you notice. Inside stores, cafes and even the airport, there is this very mellow overhead lighting, halogen spotlights, no where do you see America's famous flourescent floods. No, here along with the wood floors (especially cool in the airport!) it is all very ambient, low light. I never knew what a difference that makes but the effect is to make each cafe or store look cozy and inviting.

We walked a big loop around the city and came to a park where there were four iron firepits with blazing logs, and kids skating on a little pond. It got dark about 4 or so, same as at home, so far we are not experiencing the long long darkness we expected.

Flying to Sweden Tonight

Today I am up early thinking about what I need to do before we fly tonight. We are going to Sweden for a week's trip, visiting the city of Goteborg on the Western coast. I have not thought that much about this destination, letting the place just sneak up on me, and now it is time to take the trip. SAS Airlines offers in-the-sky internet, for free since Boeing is cancelling the service as of Dec 31. They don't charge but again, don't guarantee that it works that well.

We have asked our Swedish hosts to introduce us to interesting people we can dine with to learn about Goteborg. So far they've set up a few techies, newspaper reporters and some artists. This is the best way to get a good story--ask the people who live there to tell you why they do.

Cindy is in charge of actually writing the story this time...I get to just take notes, snap photos, and keep my notebook full of business cards and menus and websites to add details to the story. We originally wanted to be gone for Christmas, but the flights didn't work out, so we'll return next Friday, but still miss a lot of parties and holiday things. We will be home for Christmas.

In the mean time I hope you'll tune into this blog if you'd like to get a glimpse of what it's like in Sweden in December 2006.

Obama: "You Better Not Make Fun of My Big Ears"

Barack Obama was in New Hampshire and coasting to the beat. Everybody was loving what he was saying, and he was quickly being annointed as the savior. At one point he was finished speaking, and he sought out columnist Maureen Dowd of the NY Times.

"Hey you," he said, wading into the crowd. "I'm putting you on notice. Your column made fun of my ears, and when I was in gradeschool I was tortured by teasing about my ears.

"I was just trying to toughen you up," replied Maureen, captured on tape. But it struck Rush Limbaugh as a great big sign that Obama is just too soft to run for president. And he has a point. I mean...as Rush said "I'm putting you on notice," is pretty hard talk. Like what, what will Obama do if Maureen, or a cartoonist, draws huge elephant ears to characterize Barack?

I can't wait to see what happens...now you know why I sometimes listen to WHYN's conservative talk. You learn important things.

Reading about Richie and Carter on the Bus

I traveled to NYC yesterday to go to lunch and a show with my beloved mother Valerie. While on the bus, I got a chance to read the NY Post and found a funny little anecdote about Christmas in Cindy Adam's column and a troubling account about Jimmy Carter.

"Lionel Richieremembers when the Commodores "decided to give ourselves Mercedes for Christmas. I walked into a Mongomery Alabama dealership in bluejeans and a T-shirt and said "I'd like to buy seven Mercedes." Looking at me, the guy asked 'Son can you get me some proof?' So I had him call the Bank of America in Los Angeles. He hung up and I went from 'Son' to 'Mr Ritchie, right this way please!"

Then I turned to a column about Jimmy Carter. I have always known there was a dark side to this guy, and this column made it clear. Rich Lowry writes about the ex-prez' new book, called Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, and according to Lowry, Carter argues that more people would see the Middle East his way if it weren't for the nefarious influence of the pro-Israel American-Israel Political Action Committee (sic). Carter apparently believes that if only the Palestinian Authority had better lobbyists, then members of Congress would flock to the cause of this chaotic, corrupt, terrorist-supporting excuse for a government entity.

"My most troubling experience has been the rejection of my offers to speak, for free, about the book on university campuses with high Jewish enrollment." Does Carter keep track of which schools have lots of Jews? And who does he think is keeping him from speaking at them?"

Damn It Craig, Why DON'T You Wanna Make Money?

Louis Hau writes on Forbes.com about something that baffles newspapermen and capitalists...a company that DOESN"T WANT to make big money.

"Craigslist President and Chief Executive Jim Buckmaster isn't nuts. He just sounds that way, particularly to anyone who thinks that the point of running a business is, you know, to make money. Speaking in an unflappable, near-monotone, Buckmaster calmly discussed with UBS analyst Ben Schachter a business model which, by any rational standard, is completely insane. And yet it's also been shockingly successful, at least in terms of traffic. Craigslist has revolutionized the classified advertising market with its free listings for everything from real estate to jobs to personals. Newspaper companies, in particular, have been hit hard.

So how exactly does Craigslist make money?

By charging $25 for job postings in six of its largest U.S. markets and $75 for job listings in San Francisco and by assessing a $10 fee for brokered apartment listings in New York City, Buckmaster replied.

Period. End of story. All other listings in those markets are free, as are all listings in the more than 100 other markets the company serves in the U.S. and overseas.

"Is maximizing profit not part of the equation?'' Schachter asked.

"That's definitely not part of the equation,'' Buckmaster said. "That's never been a goal ... We have been fortunate to do well by doing good, whatever phrase you want to use, by focusing only on improving the service for users.''

"We certainly have been approached about putting text ads on the site quite a few times,'' Buckmaster said, adding that, "The numbers are quite staggering, the amount of revenue that could be added.''

So why not add them to the site?

"No users have been requesting that we run text ads,'' he replied, as if that were a perfectly sensible answer. Why not raise funds through equity investments or advertising and then give the money away to charity, Schachter asked.

"I think it's a valid argument and one that we don't necessarily have a persuasive answer for,'' Buckmaster said. "That is a proven model for doing good in the world. It just doesn't happen to be our model. Ours is to try to be as philanthropic in our core business as we can be and leave all the money out there in the hands of users.''

We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality, already in progress.

Globe Comes West to Feature the GoNOMAD Cafe

WOW the Boston Globe included a half-page article about the cafe in their Sunday Travel section. Featured in the photo prominently is Elizabeth Bagley, our barista who just returned from Amsterdam, where she traveled to write a story for the website.

Diane Daniels had written about me before, during Kate's wedding in the Dominican Republic. She was in town last summer, so she wrote about us, and I must say she got it all right. Here's a snippet and the link to the piece.

Lhasa, Lisbon, latte at Deerfield stop

SOUTH DEERFIELD -- "This is a traveler s cafe, a little teeny travelers cafe," said Max Hartshorne, with a sweeping gesture toward his compact, map-filled GoNomad Cafe. "It's about computers, travel, and coffee. All the things I love.

Hartshorne has owned and edited gonomad.com since 2002, when he purchased the online travel magazine from founder Lauryn Axelrod of Pawlet, Vt. The popular site and international travel portal focuses on alternative and independent travel. Hartshorne, 48, and a staff of five work in an office in the back of the cafe.

"Now instead of saying come to my office, I say, come to my cafe. Every office should have a cafe," he said.

At the GoNomad Cafe, the menu is coffee, lattes, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches, and pastries. Time at the cafe's five computers is a minimum $6 per hour, and there is free wireless Internet.

"About once every other month I go somewhere overseas," said Hartshorne, who was planning then to head to Austria . "I love the ambience of computer cafes."

At GoNomad, Hartshorne has created a total travel-themed look and feel, from the map cutouts on the wall to the guide books available for reading, in the cafe and its restrooms.

While Internet cafes may be more common in urban areas (and nearly fixtures abroad) , Hartshorne said the town sees a steady stream of visitors, thanks in part to its proximity to Historic Deerfield and the Yankee Candle Co.

"You'd be surprised," he said. "People go through Deerfield all the time."

Boy Fights Hawk to Save His Dachshund

Norman Miller of the Boston Herald had a great story today about a valiant fight to save a dog from a soaring hawk.

"Young Chris Campo had to fight a wild beast for his puppy’s life on Friday when a red-tailed hawk tried to turn the Weston youngster’s Dachshund into dinner. But a well-placed kick by the courageous Campo to the hawk’s head freed 5-month-old Dimi, who quickly high-tailed it to safety.

“I took the dog out to go to the bathroom and he started to run around like he was kind of scared,” said the 11-year-old Weston Middle School sixth-grader. “I felt a tug (on the leash) and I look back and a hawk was on the back of my dog, trying to eat him.”

While the dog was yelping, Chris stepped on the bird’s wing, reared back and let loose with a kick at the hawk’s head, he said. The ravenous raptor did not let go at first and so hawk, dog and child started madly struggling until the dog broke loose.

“I didn’t really think - I just turned around and kicked the bird,” he said. “My dog was being attacked.”Charles Campo said his son was outside their home for about 30 seconds when he heard the boy yell.

“I go outside and there was this enormous red-tailed hawk,” said Charles Campo.“It was trying to carry the dog off, and my son wouldn’t let go and he fought off the hawk. My son was literally fighting a hawk. I was stunned.”

David Phelps Brings Songs of Jesus & God to Barre

Last night we ventured into uncharted waters, we joined more than 700 other folks who filled up the Barre VT Auditorium to hear a concert by David Phelps. The band was tight, there was a fiddle, keyboards, guitar, bass and a big drum set, and the music was all about God and Jesus. He also made an eloquent pitch for World Vision, a group that helps children in Africa.

When I told men friends in Massachusetts that I was heading up to VT to attend a Christian rock concert, the reactions were predicatable. "I wouldn't go," said one old pal, "hey come up to our house Friday and we can hang out." Another chum said he felt sorry for me having to sit through that. It must be damn tough being a born-again in this day and age, with the venom and vitriol the believers have to face. Even now, it's a big evolution that Wal-Mart now has banners that proclaim "Merry Christmas."

The show began with a trio called 'Anthem Avenue,' who sang about Jesus. The man wore a red tie with a red shirt and the two women were decked out in red and black skirts. Then a comedian bounded on stage, this gent, a tall man with a funny cowlick and a quick wit, did a clean routine and had many of the crowd guffawing.

But the main event was David Phelps--a guy with penetrating blue eyes, a curly blond mane and a six-o'clock shadow. His vocals were indeed impressive, his range soaring, and he sang passionately about God and Jesus and spoke between sets about the joy he gets from sponsoring an African child, and from giving back.

I told Cindy why I joined her at this concert, that was produced by her brother-in-law, and attended by various other family members. It was because it was important to them, and because she asked me to. While Christian rock isn't really my thing, the musicians' talent and passion was inspiring, and we all had a good time. I'd be just as willing to attend a Buddhist or a Muslim concert, if the music was as good as this was.

No Atkins Farms in South Deerfield's New Plaza

Last night we joined other business people at a Chamber after five event at Dr. Spooky's Animal museum in Deerfield. In the museum we chatted with Steve Schecterle, who is building a new liquor store and additional retail space in South Deerfield, near Rte 5 & 10.

In the cafe, this new building has been the subject of great excitement, when word came out that they were negotiating with Atkins Farms to bring a grocery store to our village. Many people came in and asked us about it, and we pointed to the Gazette article on the bulletin board..."is this really happening?" they'd ask. We've had no market here since the feeble Deerfield Market closed, and this wonderful food emporium had our mouths watering.

After decades of expansion, Atkins has turned what was once a farm stand in South Amherst into a huge grocery, deli and gourmet food emporium. But they never had to go out and get a huge bank loan, they grew it all themselves, building more and more additions to their store.

I got an update from Steve Senior and Junior last night---it's not going to be Atkins who builds a store here in South Deerfield. "They couldn't do it now, there are four partners, and they just couldn't pull the trigger now," said Steve. So now he is talking with other grocery store people including Randalls Farm, from Ludlow, and Guido's from Lennox, about his location.

Stay tuned, someone is going to bring a market to our town, sooner or later!

The Science of Magnets and Resveratrol

Last night I read Newsweek's latest issue, that included two stories about health. The first was about using magnets to cure depression. While this is still in the testing stage, many people have said that after having a plastic wand embedded with powerful magnets waved over parts of their skull, they began to feel less depressed. The wand, with two circles and a handle, stimulates the brain with electric current, causing neurons in the targeted region to fire and release neurotransmitters, and activating a circuit. It appears that these magnetic pulses reaching about one inch into the brain both increase and decrease blood flow in certain areas that control different functions.

The second story was about tests on mice for longevity. The key here is the chemical resveratrol, a compound found in red-wine grapes. When they gave one mouse a standard diet, a second mouse a high fat, high calorie diet, and the third mouse high calories, high fat and resveratrol, here is what happened. The second mouse died younger, but the third mouse got just as fat yet stayed as healthy as the lean mice.

You'd have to drink 1000 glasses of red wine to get enough of this wonder drug to make an impact---and so far no one has found resveratrol pills that work. Still this is quite compelling, and again and again I conclude that the less calories you eat when you're old, the longer you will live. Some day I'm gonna do this, eat like a tiny bird.

Soma Music Is Like Nothing Else

SOMA fm is what a red lettered sticker says on the back of my car. Nobody ever asks me what that is, but in case you are wondering...it's an internet radio station run by a guy named Rusty out of his garage in Santa Rosa. But what gorgeous music streams out of this portal....I've never heard this kind of quirky funky combination of tunes as I hear on their Secret Agent channel. Now it's Jazzanova, Illicity, later it will be Stellar/Lucie and Ombre, or Walter Wanderly. None of these musicians ever show up anywhere else I listen, but often they provide soundtracks and music for commercials. One of my favorite tunes by Mr. Scruff was used in a Lincoln Navigator ad.

We are making great big strides in our website work, posting sitemaps for all of our sites today. Google has a major initiative working with Yahoo and MSN to use the same sitemap process so that each time GoNOMAD or the other sites are updated, it tells the search engines about new pages and updates. We also are developing email newsletter templates that we think are going to be a great marketing tool for local businesses.

All this so we can finance our big expansion...I feel like if we make the cafe bigger, we will think bigger, and then we will grow our sales bigger. Soon we will have the website in its own bigger office and yes...we will grow into it!

Some Asians Want to Change their Eyes

NorthJersey.com has a nicely reported story on how a "new generation" of Asian-Americans is embracing a cosmetic procedure known as "double-eyelid surgery." Wired news had this story.

"Pioneered in 19th-century Japan, double-eyelid surgery has appealed to Asians by promising to make their eyes larger and more defined. The numbers of Asian-Americans seeking the surgery has climbed steadily, which they get at a far higher rate than any other ethnic group, according to surveys by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery..

The surgery's relative ease has probably boosted its popularity. It costs about $2,500 to $5,000, and takes about an hour.

Is the surgery a rejection of Asian appearance and heritage? Maybe, maybe not.. surgeons have become more conscious of creating smaller folds that they say are contoured to the proportions of an Asian face. Ahn, who performs as many as 200 Asian eyelid surgeries a year in New York and New Jersey, said the new goal is to duplicate the look of a naturally occurring Asian double-eyelid, blunting the notion that features have been "Westernized."

Many Asians seeking the surgery no longer are constrained by its controversial past, and many say they want it to make their eyes less "sleepy" or for more basic cosmetic reasons.

What's In Another Man's Inbox?

About two months ago, Tom Ricks, at the suggestion of another Washington Post editor, started giving his readers a peek into his inbox. Poynter had this in their 'About the Job' section.

"In a regular Sunday feature called, simply enough, "Tom Ricks's Inbox," the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter reprints an excerpt of a recent e-mail or e-mail exchange. Recently, most of the published messages have been coming from Iraq. They range from odd, like the one I link to above, to somber, like this one.

Former Washington Post Outlook editor Susan Glasser, recently promoted to assistant managing editor for national news, gets credit for the idea. Its beauty lies in its simplicity. The feature creates a nearly direct link between the source -- who, in this case, is often overseas -- and the reader.

"I think that, as intended, it gives people a feel of my daily e-mail exchanges about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and about general national-security issues," Ricks said in an e-mail to Poynter Online. "This back-and-forth conversation wasn't really possible in previous wars, for technological reasons. But now a lot of soldiers in Iraq have access to the Internet, and so it is possible to stay in touch with guys on the front lines."

The Joys of Christmas Lights on Little Ones

Last night after dinner Kate wanted to bring Nathan out to see the Christmas lights. He had been amazed upon seeing them from the backseat of the car, so we bundled him into the stroller and set off in the inky chilly blackness to find some more lights.

It is finally cold here, winter feels like it has finally come, no more 65 degrees I hope. We turned onto Cross Street and beheld a true spectacle of lights. One of our neighbors has set up a yard full of displays, all flood-lit and even cheesy music wafts out from the dark corners.

There are two Santas that slowly come up and then down again into inflated chimneys, there are glittering white lights on all the trees, there are twinking toy trains and twinkling Christmas gifts, it just went on and on. Nathan was astonished, pointing from his stroller "look," "look," in that way that only 1 year olds can be amazed.

We kept walking to look for more of these fascinating lights, that to us were crass and overdone, but to his little mind, brilliant, amazing and WOW! We went home and put another log on the fire, and basked in the warmth.

Shopgirl Tells the Tale of Deserved Love

Yesterday was a wonderfully lazy day, and one to curl up and watch a good movie. That was Shopgirl, based on a novella and starring author Steve Martin. Claire Danes is Miribelle, a girl from Vermont who works at Saks in Beverly Hills, and meets two men. The first is Jeremy, a disorganized lovable loser who has big dreams, no class, no money and a car full of junk. Their first date was symbolized by his asking her if she had two bucks to pay for the movie tickets.

Then there was Ray, the resplendent Martin, who swoops in and does it all right. The tasteful gift sent to her house, the dinner invitation to a swank Beverly Hills restaurant, the "plane food," which he clarifies, as 'private plane food,' and the stunning house in the hills with a glittering pool.

Yet Ray can't give our Miribelle much more than lavish gifts; his heart is detached, he tells his therapist how he doesn't really think this is more than a fling. But like any woman, Miribelle wants more than his wallet, she wants his heart. And hers is soon to be broken.

In the background, Jeremy is on the road with a band, getting wiser, and learning more and more. We watch him re-emerge at the film's poignant end, a testament to determination, and to believing. He tells her he'll protect her, he wraps his arms around her, and you can see that he's giving her all he's got, unlike Ray who can't commit and holds back, and is ambiguous. You see how powerful it is when you get what you give, and Miribelle and Jeremy gloriously share honest and caring love. Despite his sloppiness and other faults, he deserves this beautiful woman and she gives it all to him.

Garfield Nails the YouTube Problem in Wired

Bob Garfield has always been one my favorite media writers. When Joe O'Rourke and I used to work together at the Gazette, we'd share our favorite snippets of his ad reviews with relish. I read Garfield's recent cover story about YouTube and Google the other day, and walked away with a new appreciation for my old fav. He makes the point that there are huge problems with Google's new $1.65 billion acquisition, with some cogent examples.

Among the problems are identifying just what each of the 65,000 videos uploaded each day are really about--Google uses metatag data to place relevant ads on all of their properties--gmail, google news, and on millions of websites in the ad sense program. But if they are to monetize this jungle called YouTube, they need to know, and uploaders don't do a good job telling the world what is in the videos. So for example, if Meow Mix wants to advertise on cat videos, they might end up running a text ad next to 'cat blowing up,' or 'dave eating cat' or something equally as gross.

Garfield points out that advertisers hate risk, and try to avoid risky situations, so it is unlikely that Google will be able to reap the billions they're used to with this inherent problem. The other problem is a rebellion of posters...and defections to sites that actually PAY for the uploaded video content such as revvers.com and other sites. Now that people know Google's deep pockets own YouTube, many want, gasp, to be paid. And that has never been a part of YouTube's strategy.

Lastly, the big gorilla in the room are copyright problems. Video Posters don't care if they use music owned by Sony Music, and the videos that come in are often ripped directly from television, with no permission. When you're owned by the richest of the rich, suddenly, these violations become lawsuits, and then....well that might be the Napster-esque end of YouTube's glory days.

Sexy Selling on Social Networking Sites

Market and research developers have to come to the same conclusion time after time: sex sells. With that knowledge in mind, companies have begun to create fake profiles on social networking sites in order to promote their products. Autumn Davis writes on Web Pro News today.

"It was brought to my attention by a fellow writer at my company that an Italian beverage company called Campari was utilizing social networking sites MySpace, Flickr, and YouTube in their campaign. Consumers are so visually driven that it comes as no surprise that Campari has created a fictitious MySpace profile for a woman called "Red Passion", who is based in Milan, Italy.

Both the Flickr and YouTube profiles are similarly constructed and glamorized by photos of Red Passion.

Red Passion is a beautiful, scantily clad woman who enjoys posting pictures of herself on the Internet, which has everything to do with Italian beverage companies. Wait, that has absolutely nothing to do with an Italian beverage company.

That does not seem to matter to consumers as company representatives report that the "Hotel Campari" website received 170, 000 views. In fact, 13.5% of the traffic to the beverage company's site was from social networking sites.

Campari is far from the only company using sex to generate publicity for their company. The Washington Post reported that music and movie downloading site Ruckus created a similar profile on Facebook.

Brody Ruckus, the fictitious character created by the company, created a fake profile on Facebook claiming that if 100, 000 became his friend on the site, his girlfriend would grant him a sexual wish. There was an overwhelming response to Brody's plight, as over 300, 000 responded.

Little did those 300, 000 people know that they were giving a company their email addresses, and would soon be added to countless spam mailing lists."

Cree Lawson Steers the Travel Ad Network Ship

Got back home late last night, after a coffee-fueled drive up I-95, and am still giddy from the events in the city. Our annual visit to the VEMEX show brought us in touch with dozens of tourism boards and we got to say hello to those officials who sent us out on trips last year. It was especially heartening to hear from the French, Spanish and Cypriot people how much they liked the stories we published, and how happy their colleagues in those countries were to have hosted our writers. Picking the right people to send out makes all of the difference. We've stuck with high quality folks like Wendy Hammerle, Paul Shoul, Sony Stark, Kent St. John and that has brought us kudos.

Before the show, I met Cree Lawson under the clock at Grand Central and we discussed stategy for our site's display advertising. A low key guy with a bangs in his face and a soft southern accent, Cree really knows this business. He was just back from visiting a website owner in Rome who runs worldatlas.com, and is one of the stellar performers on the network. "It's all about pageviews," said Cree, "if you can get the pageviews, we'll find the great advertisers to fill your pages."

I love to see the new customers Cree brings in that end up on GoNOMAD, such as Homeland Security Dept, Normandy tourism, Utah Tourism, Alitalia and Australia Tourism. These ads are perfect on our site, and we have an important role--we're a site where travel planning and travel dreams are hatched.