How many nails does it take to shut the T&G coffin?
Amazing numbers coming from the NYT today with advertising revenue slipping another 16.2 percent. But as seems to be the case with every financial release from the Times, it’s the New England media group, which includes the Telegram, that’s sucking hardest.
The company’s flagship The New York Times paper had 15.3 percent lower ad revenue. At its New England media group, which includes The Boston Globe, July ad revenue dropped 24.5 percent.
Worcester Magazine Sold
The Holden Landmark Corp., publisher of the Landmark, the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, the Leominster Champion and four other publications has bought alternative weekly Worcester Magazine from Worcester Publishing Ltd.
According to Gareth Charter, Holden Landmark Corp. publisher, Landmark initiated acquisition talks. Charter and Worcester Publishing, which is owned and published by Allen W. Fletcher, “have been actively working on this for much of this year,” Charter said. “We initiated this, and we pushed it in the final stages,” he said.
William Breault: Stupidest man in Worcester, Part 4
Worcesters favorite mustachioed super hero has taken his side show on the road. First stop The Berkshires! Ellen G. Lahr, reporter for the Berkshire Eagle, was kind enough to sit in as Breaults away team straight man for this interview and did she shine. But, as we must do in a day and age when newspapers lack funding for fact checkers, let’s pull out the red pen together and clean up Bills mistakes for the Eagle staff.
He said the decriminalization effort is at sharp odds with evidence that marijuana use, particularly among teens, carries more health risks than it did years ago, when the drug had less concentrations of THC, the main psychoactive component of pot.
What Billy means to say is, according to US Government research THC toxicity in humans would require consumption of 1500 pounds in under 15 minutes. In other words, the artificial sweetener you used in your coffee this morning still poses much greater health risks than Marijuana.
Breault said that in his Worcester neighborhood, he’s seen people robbed, injured and killed over marijuana, and with decriminalization, those problems could escalate.
What Billy means here is, he’s full of shit. He’s trying the best he can to make sense of a world that is simply far too confusing for him. What Billy sees in his neighborhood is people robbed, injured, and killed over money. Marijuana is a mostly worthless plant. It can be grown pretty much anywhere on earth with even the poorest of soil conditions. You could throw seeds into just about any urban alleyway and see successful germination. It’s really quite amazing and should make marijuana no more valuable than heirloom tomatoes. Because prohibition has led to increased risk in trafficking, marijuana has increased in value artificially as a commodity. Its value is determined by availability. We’re not just talking about price here. Prices of marijuana are actually relatively low. Its overall risk (imprisonment, loss of employment and asset forfeiture) that raises value as a commodity when prohibition is figured in. If criminal penalties for marijuana are removed for simple possession of under an once, Billy looses one of his best lies to throw around; that drugs and violence are forever married, when history has shown us it is prohibition and violence which can’t be separated.
Marijuana use cited in emergency room admissions is on the rise nationally, Breault said.
This is where Bills ignorance shines. If you go to an ER with an overdose, you’re asked what drugs you use and are using. Since marijuana use is so prevalent, of course more people report using it. But it’s not the reason they’re in the ER. This is one of those lines of reasoning you have to be a total douchbag to fall into. There are no marijuana overdoses, or even medical emergencies, period.
And contrary to what the Boston group states, he claimed that few, if any, inmates in the state’s jails are sent there for minor marijuana possession alone; in local courts, it’s not uncommon for first-time possession offenders to receive an eventual dismissal of the charges, with no criminal record resulting.
This red herring is either evidence that Bill may not be a complete moron, or he’s such a moron he can’t follow his own bull shit anymore. If we do in-fact have a system where simple possession results in dismissal, why wouldn’t that be cause enough for decriminalization? Do we simply enjoy wasting money on arrests and court proceedings?
The National Institute on Drug Abuse states that THC increases the heart rate.
I just finished my second cup of coffee and can actually see my heart beating against my chest wall. Can’t remember a single time where smoking weed has resulted in a rapid heart rate, your millage may vary. If this is a sign of the desperation the prohibition crowd is feeling, the Committee for a Sensible Marijuana Policy should be proud.
A recent Yale University study also showed that THC administered to 150 health volunteers led to psychotic symptoms in 50 percent of them.
Sort of. First of all, this study is over a year old. Maybe news just travels slowly to the Berkshires. The important factor of this research is the involvement of schizophrenics. The Yale folks were trying to judge the effects of marijuana on schizophrenics whose symptoms were controlled. The “psychotic symptoms” reported were hallucinations and paranoia. This is where medicine and the real world start the diverge briefly. For a sober person to experience hallucinations and unprovoked paranoia you have “psychotic symptoms”. If a marijuana smoker experiences hallucinations and paranoia, you simply have a person who should be smoking indicas as opposed to sativas or at the very least an indica dominate hybrid. So parents, don’t worry about your kids going psychotic, they already know this.
Capeless said his overriding concern is that the ballot measure “sends the wrong message to kids,” who in general have been reporting less marijuana use in recent years.
Berkshire County District Attorney David Capeless is a dick. You know what really sends the wrong message to kids, Dave? Asset forfeiture and using them as tools to snitch on their parents. Fuck you.
Big thank you to a certain Taxi Guy for bringing this Eagle story to our attention.
A stupid week of stupid
Wow. This was a hell of a week for those of us who enjoy a good laugh at the expense of local elected officials and other public figures. At last count Worcester took exactly 32 baby steps backward this week, leaving us approximately in 1957. Good work Worcester!
Here’s the highlight reel:
Billy and Babs Up in Smoke
The Wheeler & Woolsey of the Worcester Temperance Movement, Billy Breault and Barbara Haller saw by far the most action this week. Not ones to settle with forcing a private business to pay police to patrol public ways the pair found the time to draft a letter to a whole bunch of local officials regarding the use of Narcan to keep people alive. The letter is ultimately an exercise in patience. If you could imagine an early alchemist attempting to debate a modern day theoretical physicist in the basic principals of the universe; thats essentially what this letter is. Two people so completely ignorant of the world they live in you almost have to begin questioning their sanity. Heres the letter for those interested parties.
Street meat forced to beat feet
The city council is working on some cockamamie plan to ban/limit food venders around the city. This may go down as both the silliest and eventually most anti-buisness decision to roll out of council chambers this year. The city is fortunate to have Councilors Rosen and Rushton challenging this matter, but the reality is they’re alone in their fight. The plan is nothing more than a way to get rid of a few problem entities without engaging in creative thought; something the administration seems to be finding difficult these days. The most interesting part of this plan is the way its being justified as protectionist, favoring established brick and mortar business. That really speaks volumes to the way our local leaders view our local restaurants. If Councilor Palmieri believes someone could be about to walk into the Chop House on Shrewsbury St only to divert to a water-dog cart and end up canceling their reservations… Well maybe local restauranteurs might want to ask Phil to stop doing them any favors, it doesn’t say much for your fillet. Mayor Lukes is even more illogical saying if we don’t do something we’ll end up with empty store fronts. Maybe Konnie is hanging out in different parts of town than me… BUT THE STOREFRONTS HAVE BEEN EMPTY FOR 20 FUCKING YEARS! And she thinks a fucking Super Pretzel is going to send everyone packing? Way to stay in touch with the city.
New recycling vendor will save the city money! Sweet!
No word on whether I’ll still be buying the most expensive trash bags on the planet based on the cost of the old vendor! Booo!
When is a band actually a band?
Although it was reported nowhere, I have it on good authority that the License Commission decided this past week that at least in the case of the Emerald Isle, an acoustic act that is run through an amplifier is no longer acoustic. No really, they said that.
The most expensive Mercedes in town
We’ll let poet laureate Billy Breault sum this debacle up.
“I hope you close him. I hope you keep him to two officers. I hope he goes out of business.”
Thanks Billy, keep it classy.
Stop having sex on my lawn
The Q. Never heard of it? Well, it’s a really neat little coffee shop where young people hang out. For us old kids in the room, think the Coffee Kingdom in the early ’90’s. Well the neighbors on chandler street don’t think it’s fun at all. We’re guessing they’re AARP members. If the license commission wanted to take a logical approach they would ask the police in attendance why there have been no arrests for public sex at the Q instead of just taking a neighbors word that it happened. The police claim “more than 50″ complaints. Well thats great, but how many arrests? These are old people, all they do is complain.
Papers please
Running a livery in Worcester just became an exercise in civil liberties. According to Worcester Magazine liveries now have a dress code: no swimwear, bathing suits, jogging shorts, or torn or ripped shorts. They can’t have external markings that would distinguish them from private vehicle (which is simply silly and to prove it I’m going hang a livery magnet on the door of my private vehicle and just not pick anyone up). They can only take payment by check, credit card or U.S. mail billing. Which is a direct attack at the poor in the city and before you call me on that name for me the bank anywhere in the Main South or Beacon Brightly districts issuing these credit cards and checks? I have three banks within a 5min walk of my house in tatnuck, there are no financial institutions in the areas serviced by these liveries. And the kicker…
All taxis and livery vehicles are subject to random spot checks at any time or location and taxi and livery drivers must all keep a daily log of all pickups; livery drivers only are required to note the name and number of all passengers. All logs must be kept for two years, and must be made available to any police officer upon request.
Thats the best excuse I’ve seen in years to get a professional set of fake papers. I think I’m going to go out this week and get me a nice Brazilian passport just for kicks.
Well. There’s a week in Worcester for you. A a semi related note. CVS has a sale this week on 4 packs of D-cell alkaline Batteries. Nothing tells a local official how you really feel, like throwing D-cell’s through the windows of City Hall while council is in session. Now I would never suggest that is the right thing to do… but we certainly are running out of things we CAN do, so don’t write it off just yet.
The Telegrams midlife career change
It’s kind of depressing when the newspaper business has come to the point where self-deprecation is perfectly acceptable, it’s no joke. Yesterdays Dianne Williamson column in the T&G tried to make light of the troubles the newspaper business is seeing.
Since the analysts predict that newspapers may soon be obsolete, it’s time to consider a new career. The only problem is, I have no skills that would qualify me for a real job.
It always strikes me as a little sad when I try to imagine what it must feel like to be stuck on a sinking ship. But the reality in this case is the ship didn’t get torpedoed the way many like to spin things, its sinking because the captain is asleep at the wheel.
What may be my biggest frustration where local business is concerned, is watching good business go bad and suffer simply because the owners didn’t want to learn new tricks. I’ve talked about this here before, in the form of the Tatnuck Bookseller. But a newspaper is something different, can anyone actually imagine a city the size of Worcester without a daily? Of course not and therein lies the rub. The T&G isn’t going anywhere, it’s just going to continue to get smaller both in scope and impact until it can be bought out by someone who cares less about local news than the Times, which is nearly impossible.
The unfortunate thing is it doesn’t have to be this way. Talk to anyone who’s over 35 in the newspaper business and you’ll get the same tired line about the internet being at fault for declining readerships, it’s code for ‘we’re old and the internet scares us’. All one has to do is take a quick glance at the T&G website and it becomes pretty clear they are willfully pissing potential revenue away. There’s no search engine optimization in play, the advertising is all local which means cheap and their headlines and ledes are written to hit with old ladies in Spencer instead of the news readers discovering and seeding stories via social bookmarking sites like digg, reddit and stumbleupon. And let us not forget the T&G employees who still publicly proclaim the internet to be some sort of fad. These problems can all be fixed, easily.
Last month the WSJ recorded 15 million unique page views, up 175 percent from the same period a year prior. This was probably both the biggest as well as worst reported story in this sector of the quarter, which shouldn’t be surprising, why would publishers want a reminder on how things should be done. Where’s the humor in that? It’s easier to just pretend that nobody reads the news anymore and spin it into a joke, right? If that’s the case then the jokes on us.
