| Towns use marketing to create, promote identity
Schultz is an industrial developer who was part of a group that helped Effingham turn 3,000 lost jobs into an additional 4,000 to 6,000 manufacturing jobs. He wrote a book, "BoomtownUSA," on his work and now, still living in Effingham, speaks around the country about building and marketing town identities. "Branding is the buzzword they use now," Schultz said. "Branson, Mo., is a good example." Thirty years ago, Schultz said, Branson was little more than a small town in southern Missouri. Town leaders came up with an idea to market Branson as a live theater showplace. Now the town boasts thousands of theater seats in about 50 live theaters. All of this in a city that, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, has only 6,050 residents. Moorseville, N.C., is another example. In 1989, the city decided to market itself as Race City U.S.A.
A Pair of Bosnian Cafés Compete on a Queens Corner
Something a Serbian-American friend once told me stuck in my head. "In Astoria, all the former Yugoslavians live side by side. Whatever part they played in old conflicts is left behind in the old country. They all speak the same language and eat the same food, and no one asks in the butcher shop, 'Are you a Croat?' 'Are you a Serb?', or 'Are you a Bosnian Muslim?'" Indeed, eastern Astoria has become a wonderland of Balkan food and culture since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991 and the cessation of Bosnian hostilities in 1995. The corner of 42nd Street and 30th Avenue is a particularly rich hotbed of transplanted culture. Black Bull Meat Market (42-10 30th Avenue) anchors the neighborhood, and it's just the sort of butcher shop my friend was talking about, displaying homemade sausages and smoked meats in the refrigerated window case.
Vietnam highlight: Hanging out in serene, scenic Ha Long Bay
Even if we hadn't already spent a week in the bustle and hustle of Hanoi, the mist-shrouded limestone peaks of Ha Long Bay, echoing birdcalls and the water lapping our ship would have been enchanting. But by the time we arrived at this UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Vietnam's Gulf of Tonkin, we badly needed a break from the mad motor-scooter traffic of the nation's second-largest city, the swarming pineapple vendors and the ceaseless capitalist hustle. Three days of swimming, kayaking and just chilling on the deck of the Dragon's Pearl, with drink in hand, were the ideal respite and one of the high points of our two-week trip to Vietnam in October. You can see similar limestone towers in other parts of Vietnam; in Guilin, China; and in Thailand.
Child-proof chemicals
Hand-held sprayers are a typical means for dispensing weed killers, insecticides and other chemicals. We're all familiar with these sprayers being made up of a hand-pressurized container and a dispensing wand. Convenient as they might be, these sprayers are not equipped with child-proof locks. When the sprayers are not in use, oftentimes they are stored with dangerous chemicals still left inside in a garage, alongside bicycles, scooters and other children's toys. Nothing prevents children from gaining access to the sprayers. This patent rectifies the problem by providing a specially designed child-resistant locking ring on the hand-held sprayer. Vacuum Packaging Machine - U.S. Patent No. 7,302,784 - Invented by Rodney Dale Patch, Fort Wayne, and Steven Daniel Harges, Warsaw - Assigned to DePuy Products Inc., Warsaw Vacuum packaging, albeit common now, was an important medical advancement because it allowed medical devices, surgical instruments and implants to be sterilized and easily preserved until needed.
BRR: Braving the cold on a bike
A biker can easily spend a grand to stay warm for a short commute, a training ride or an outfit for Saturday's BRR trip from Perry to Rippey.
"For a thousand bucks," said Donny Quixote of Rasmussen Bike Shop in West Des Moines, "you're on the road."
Scott Sumpter, creator of bikeiowa.com, bought a pair of biking boots that clip into his pedals for $270. So-called lobster mittens with two finger sleeves ($50 or more) have also helped. Extremities tend to get colder on a bike than running in the cold, he said. .
Sports Columnists
A couple of weeks earlier, he told Miami he wasn't interested. Then he goes to Arthur Blank, and Parcells gets [ESPN] to leak the story that he was about to take the job in Atlanta, and then all of a sudden, he's getting more money to take the Miami job he didn't want two weeks earlier. Yeah, something is going on with the [running] of the Falcons." The question is, can that "something" get fixed before the Falcons drop off the face of the earth? Yes, said an accomplished NFL executive from the past and another from the present. The past guy was Gil Brandt, the personnel director who contributed to transforming the Dallas Cowboys into America's team from the 1960s through much of the 1980s. Unlike Blank, Clint Murchison, the owner of those Cowboys, was invisible, while Brandt joined Tex Schramm and Tom Landry in the spotlight.
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(Jan. 12) – Phillip Zeigler, judge of the 52nd District Court in Gatesville, will complete his 26th year of public service in January and hang up his robe. Zeigler, the senior Democrat in Coryell County, began his career as district attorney and ascended to the bench behind the late Bob Cummings. He has held the bench for 18 years. Zeigler told News 10 in a prepared statement that he has decided not to seek another term when his current one expires in December. He stated he has discussed the decision with his family and already has informed his staff and attorneys who practice in his court of his retirement. A U.S. Navy veteran, Zeigler is a Gatesville native. He graduated from Gatesville High School in 1963 and completed law school at the University of Texas in 1972.
Big Idea: Vermont inventor uses brain to save knees
Vehicles stream past the white clapboard building on the Mountain Road en route to Stowe Ski Resort. Inside, in a room dominated by a sophisticated contraption that nevertheless looks like a giant erector set, Rick Howell refines his design for a ski binding he predicts will reduce today's most common ski injury -- strained and ruptured knee ligaments.
He's working around the clock these days to produce sales samples, connect with potential buyers and lock in orders for production during the summer. By next winter the 54-year-old inventor expects skiers will be able to swoop or bump their way down slopes with a ski binding by KneeBinding Inc. that will release before they "blow out a knee."
Ski bindings release now, of course. Heels pop up and out of their clamps under certain conditions, and toe pieces allow boots to slide out sideways to prevent injuries.
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