How do companies handle the Facebook time-wasting problem?
Organizations and companies all across the world are coming to grips with Facebook's two-sided challenge.
Now officially the U.S.'s most popular Web site, Facebook is a helpful tool for workers trying to stay in touch and communicate with customers and constituents.
But what does it do to the workplace and to productivity?
Got any instances where Facebook really helped accomplish a major success in the workplace?
Or do you know of cases where workplace social networking has led to company backlash, in the form of restrictions and site blocking?
I'd like some examples of each, if you have any...
Looks as if the weekend’s big movie was “Couples Retreat,” which should come as no surprise considering it stars “Swingers” writer-directors Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau. More surprising is the performance of the little horror film “Paranormal Activity,” which is getting so much word of mouth even though it’s playing in only 160 theaters across the country.
“Couples Retreat” earned a 14 percent Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Here’s what Chris Vognar of the Dallas Morning News thought of it: “You know those comedies that hit a little dry spell and have a hard time recovering? ‘Couples Retreat’ has one that lasts about, oh, 90 minutes.”
By contrast, “Paranormal Activity” boasts an 85 percent Tomatometer rating (93 percent among “top critics”). Here is what Colin Covert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune said: “Without financing, stars or more than a couple of special effects, first-time writer/director Oren Peli has made a diabolically effective essay in irrational horror.”
No word on when Peli’s film will come to Spokane, if ever. But let’s hope it arrives before people start dumping on it, as they inevitably will do.
...to join the rest of The Spokesman-Review's blogs over on the revamped Web site, spokesman.com.
Spin Control (we're dropping the 2.0 because hardly anybody got it, anyway) will still feature fun videos, news updates, information on candidates, campaigns and elected officials. We'll have links to other select blogs (feel free to suggest some) and handy places for citizens to check up on their elected officials.
Trust us, it will be just as good in its new home. In fact, as soon as the author learns how to use the new software, it will be even better.
Because this novel is a blend of fact and fiction, some readers may like to know which events depicted within its pages really happened and which didn’t. Some of you also may be interested to know which characters are based on real people and which are fictitious.
State Rep. Steve Hailey, R-Mesa, died Sunday after a year-long struggle with colon cancer.
Hailey, who would have turned 64 next month, was elected in 2006 to a seat representing the 9th district, a sprawling area covering much of southeastern Washington. On his second campaign for the seat, Hailey narrowly beat fellow Republican Joe Schmick in the 2006 primary. (Schmick joined him at the statehouse as an appointee after longtime lawmaker Don Cox subsequently retired.)
Hailey was a soft-spoken Franklin County rancher and farmer who tried to keep working on legislative matters from home during the 2008 session, in between chemotherapy treatments.
"This is one of the toughest challenges of my life," he said when diagnosed, "but I feel strongly that I have an obligation to be candid about what I'm dealing with and what's ahead." At the time, the former Army helicopter pilot said that he'd been in rough spots before, and was confident he could beat the disease.
Hailey announced recently that he planned to resign, efffective Jan. 11, 2009.
"When Steve announced his resignation earlier this month, we knew it was time for him to focus on his family and his battle against cancer," House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt said.
Services are slated for Saturday, Jan. 3 at the Connell Community Center. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking anyone who wishes to make donations in Hailey's name to the Tri-Cities Cancer Foundation, the American Cancer Society and the Washington Cattlemen's Association Endowment Trust Fund.
For those still looking for blogs on this website, those days are gone. You need to go to spokesman.com, click on "topics" and find sportslink to comment. The new look requires registering your e-mail address, but you can still maintain your nom de plume.
Just a reminder - we'll be throwing the switch on the new website pretty soon (I don't have an exact timeframe yet, but it's coming up).
In order to continue posting to the new blog, you'll need to have a profile set up. The posting privileges work a little different on the new site. Instead of a common username/password that everyone uses, you'll need to log in to the site with your own profile to write posts or add comments.
If you've already got a username/password for the old site, you should be able to log in with that.
The new site will take a bit of getting used to, but it'll be worth it.
It was very humbling for me to visit the Christmas Fund last week. I so easily get wrapped up in my life, my problems, and forget what hundreds of people deal with everyday right next door. Knowing that needy families have this opportunity to make Christmas a little more special than they could on their own is very satisfying. It's not just about the books and the toys and the food stamps; it's about spreading happiness and knowing that many people truly do care.
David Cook's First Album Rocks As Much As He Does--Must I Say More?
American Idol winner David Cook just released his first album, and--believe me--it rocks!
Cook's sincere lyrics, raw voice, and great musical ability burst from the speakers with a flair all their own.
Most of the song lyrics were dreamt up by Cook himself. David's voice exemplifies the emotions behind each and every word, though, regardless of whether or not he claims the words.
This album marks David Cook's initial "Declaration" of his potential, his talent, and his future in the music industry.
David Cook is soon to become one of the "Heroes" of the music industry, and he's having the time of his life one song at a time.
Idaho's top elected officials have agreed to freeze the rents they charge cabin owners on state lands for the next year. The narrow, 3-2 vote brought sighs of relief from cabin owners who crowded into the old courtroom where the state Land Board meets, some of whom had traveled from Spokane. The vote averts a 15 percent rent hike that the board had tentatively approved in June for 2009.
The Land Board also voted to set a June 15 deadline to come up with a new system for setting rents for state-owned cottage sites at Priest Lake and Payette Lake, with members agreeing with leaseholders that the current system isn't working. "It is a disaster in North Idaho - the real estate market has crumbled," Chuck Lempesis, attorney for the Priest Lake State Lessee Association. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.
We are about to or are already switching over to the new Blog format. Things will be a bit messy while Ryan and his staff make the conversion for us, so please bear with us while we change.
It’s always fascinating to get a look at other people’s – i.e., richer people’s – idea of frugality.
The New York Times reports that for many people accustomed to dining out several times a week, this year has marked a return to the kitchen.
Tracey Gist, an accountant in Sewickley, Pa., near Pittsburgh, used to eat out five nights a week with her daughters, 9 and 11. She started eating in when gas prices went sky high — she drives 40 miles each way to work — and has kept it up. “It starts with the gas prices, and then the price of food and then the heating bill,” she said “and the fact everyone is on the verge of unemployment makes you not want to spend because of the uncertainty of the economy.”
Her children haven’t been happy about it. “ ‘We want to eat out,’ ” she said, mimicking them. “ ‘We don’t like your cooking.’ It doesn’t matter what it is if it doesn’t come on a menu.”
Q. Can someone explain the thought behind today's (11/5/08) headline? Is there some clever wording or profound innuendo that I've missed? Obama Rolls??? I take it to mean the votes rolled in for him, across the country. If that's correct, then what a disappointing, tepid, weak headline for one of the most significant and momentous events of our country's history.
This is not only a front page, but a keepsake; the layperson's own, little piece of history to hold on to and show their grandchildren. Did you not have enough time in the past 18 months to come up with something better to embody the spirit of this election? There are no re-dos on this one and unfortunately this headline fell flat.
Amy W.
A. I'm sorry you were disappointed by our headline. We considered a variety of options last evening and felt we had selected a very good one. Your reading of it was correct -- the votes rolled in for Obama, starting in the East and spreading widely out to the West. As the underline stated, "Democrat dominates coast to coast in historic election."
At least one other paper, the Denver Post, used the same headline on the front page in its Wednesday edition.
The circulation department reports that our sales at retail outlets and the newspaper racks were quite brisk, so I think the headline and dramatic photo captured the attention of a lot of readers.
(1) Have gripes about pedestrian issues in your area of Spokane? Take an online survey to tell the city about them, and officials might incorporate the ideas into the new Spokane Regional Pedestrian Plan.
(2) Longstanding boards on the 809 W. Main building (the former J.C. Penney structure) at Lincoln and Main downtown have come down, revealing large windows into a retail space. The building is owned by CPC Development, a subsidiary of the Cowles Co. (which owns The Spokesman-Review). Owners do not have a tenant lined up for the roughly 10,000-square-foot space, located adjacent to men's clothing retailer JoS A. Bank, said Bob Smith, of Centennial Properties, another company owned by Cowles.
“We had so much going on building up condominiums, the residential, that we didn’t get a chance to finish up with the few show windows down on that end,” he said.
(3) Readers have pointed out for-lease signs on the Music City, CenterStage, New Madison and former Otis Hotel buildings on First Avenue. Kiemle & Hagood Co. has the contract to lease out ground floor spaces for retail, said Chad Carper, sales associate. It is unclear what will happen with some of the buildings following a dispute between the owner and a local contractor.
One more note before I clean off my Mac. We received a long update email about those manager layoffs, from editor Gary Graham. His announcements include the following points:
» Three managers have been laid off and one other manager will become a non-manager. Former assistant managing editor Carla Savalli's position will not be filled.
» The high school journalism initiative The Vox will continue to the end of this academic year because student participants are earning academic credit or AmeriCorps scholarships or are using the experience for their senior projects. Funding will come from leaving the managing editor position vacant until next summer.
» S-R Radio will continue (according to contract with Mapleton Communications). Funding and staffing decisions for Radio will shift to the marketing department under Shaun O'L. Higgins. That's all we know right now.
» A decision is still in the works about whether S-R will keep Associated Press content.
In case you didn't catch her comment below earlier today, let's let Shelly Monahan have the final word here:
To all of the jurors, Please know that the entire community knows how difficult your decision was in this case. For all of the victims and their families, thank you. Thank you also for wanting to spend time with me and others after the trial concluded. You will never know how much it meant. I was overwhelmed by each and every one of you. From the time this rape happened to me, I promised God I would help other sexual assault survivors in any way I could. It was my way of making it out of the rape alive, to give back to other victims, to let them know they would be okay. My husband and I have prayed about this for a long time. Our God tells us to be forgiving and compassionate. I will pray for Kevin Coe each day. I hope that he seeks treatment and in doing so will some day no longer be a lost soul. I would also like to thank all of you who have been so very supportive through this process; a process that I never imagined I nor the other victims would go through. To my family, friends, the management at KHQ, my co-workers, Rick and Karen at the Spokesman, and all of you who have prayed with me and sent your love and support, your kind emails, cards, letters, and phone calls ... thank you. It is time to move on .... time to finally be able to heal and close this chapter. Most sincerely, Shelly Monahan
One of the many benefits of our 10-day trip across Turkey has been the wide range of individuals we've had access to, from the prime minister to villagers living in dusty poverty.
One day this week we spent the morning and lunch time with 15 to 20 students of Sabanci University, a 10-year-old private university about 25 miles outside the city core. In the evening, we split into groups of threes and fours to have dinner in the private home of ordinary Turks.
The students were eager to discuss their country's future and the role they themselves will play. The family I visited with two of my colleagues was more subdued. The students are paying $20,000 to $25,000 a year in tuition. The family of Abidin Karabulut, on the other hand, has to survive on far less than those tuition payments.
Abidin's cousin, 48-year-old Suleiman, used to be a well-paid hotel manager. However, Suleiman does not speak English and as the hotel saw its English-speaking clientele increase, it replaced Suleiman.
Suleiman now works in a publisher's warehouse, bringing home only about $400 a month. Rent on the family's four-room apartment in the Gazi Mah neighborhood is $320, so his two teenage children, each making about $480 a month, are playing key roles in the family's survival. By comparison, Abidin's father runs a teahouse but is also a musician who can make more than $300 for performing for two hours at a wedding.
Abidin and his family are Alevis, considered an unorthodox, liberal branch of Islam. According to the BBC, it is estimated that as many as one in five Turks worships this way. Abidin says Alevis don't go to mosques because that's where Alevi was slain centuries ago. Alevis believe in both Alevi, God and Mohammed.
Abidin described three fundamentals of the Alevi faith:
-- Never lie. -- Don't cheat on your husband or your wife -- Don't steal from others.
Alevis don't fast during Ramadan, although they fast at other times of the year.
As for the students at the prestigious Sabanci University, members of our group heard a variety of opinions from the students, many of whom are studying management, economics and engineering. Asked “what do you fear most?” the students gave answers we would find in the U.S.:
-- Finding a job
-- The transformation around the world, especially regarding economic and social issues.
-- An economic crash
-- The polarization in Turkish politics.
One student, perhaps reflecting universal cynicism of political life, said “It's hard to be a politician in Turkey if you are honest.” Another student said simply, “Most of my generation is not interested in politics.” A third student said young people are not encouraged to enter politics and argued that such events as a military coup in 1980 discouraged students from getting involved. Still, this particular group of young Turks seemed very interested in politics and world affairs. And the vast majority said they liked Barack Obama over John McCain.
No matter the age group, when the discussion turns to how women are treated in Turkish society, the issue of wearing headscarves comes up. This mostly Muslim country is secular by constitution and practice, but the ruling AK Party has Islamist leanings. The AK-controlled government recently moved to eliminate the ban on wearing scarves in public universities. The government move was overruled by a court, but the issue still comes up frequently in many conversations with visiting journalists.
Sabanci has what it calls a middle of the road policy toward scarves. Students are allowed to wear the scarves while on campus but not in the classrooms.
One female student said “Living as a girl or a woman is very hard in Turkey.” The underlying issue on scarves, she said, “is a gender issue. The head scarf is just a symbol.”
The university president said women often hold top positions in academia, but that is less likely in other employment sectors.
“In some ways, women prefer getting older faster because it's easier for them to live as an older woman,” said another female student. Still another said “for me, in Istanbul and Sabanci, being a woman is no big deal.”
Most of the students seemed eager to see Turkey expand its role in the world. One key to attaining an increased status would be approval of Turkey's application for membership in the European Union. “We want to catch up with the world,” said one student. “We want Turkey to have more global say. Turkey at least will become a regional power in the next 10 years.”
Our tour of Turkey, sponsored by the International Reporting Project at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, officially ended on Wednesday. As I write this on Thursday, we're on a three-hour and 20 minute flight from Istanbul to London, where we will connect with a British Airways flight to Washington, D.C. I've been unable to post any of the more than 200 photos I took on this trip because I forgot to bring along my USB cord, but I hope to put up some of the images along with more narrative when I return to the U.S.
I've been meaning to post for a long time to let the few straggling readers know that this incarnation of the Fresh Sheet blog soon will be shuttered.
When the Spokesman-Review makes its switch to a redesigned Web site in the next few weeks, the Fresh Sheet won't be moving with it. Since I heard that news I haven't been posting.
We've a host of ideas for a new blog someday soon that would focus on food at home and beyond in Spokane. So stay tuned to The Spokesman-Review for that information.
If I had been blogging, I would have been sure to post about the fabulous peaches we picked... and picked... and picked at Green Bluff this summer. It seemed as if the season might go on forever.
Or, I might had told you about the two lonely hot peppers we grew in our garden this summer and our plans for them.
Or, perhaps I would have gushed about the way we wrapped up summer with the most delicious blackberry cobbler. We picked the fruit at the wonderful Eleven Acres (as well as Japanese eggplant and green beans.
Or, how I considered driving 20 miles out of my way each week after I heard that Fresh Start Produce in Otis Orchards was struggling.
In the meantime, if have any ideas for stories, you're searching for a recipe or you just want to let me know that it's Main Avenue and not Main Street in Spokane give me a holler. I can be reached at lorieh@spokesman.com
Hey there readers and fellow bloggers. As we are making tough decisions about where to spend our money that doesn't stretch as far these days, so too are businesses. I got word last night that freelance budgets are tightening at The S-R and this blog is one of the features that has to go.
It's been a good run, over a year's worth of interaction with all those who hang out in the blogosphere. Our conversations can certainly continue in other Spokesman-Review blogs, or perhaps I will spend some time exploring options and start a blog of my own.
Happily, the Out on the Town column is not in jeopardy. Features editor Ken Paulman reiterated his commitment to it last night. Feel free to use my email address, outonthetown7@yahoo.com, to log opinions, ask questions or give feedback on my weekly installments in 7.
I'll look forward to seeing you all around, whether in email or while out enjoying our beautiful community.
Kootenai County Sheriff's Detective Brad Maskell was celebrating his birthday with his wife when he was summonsed to the Wolf Lodge Bay home May 16, 2005, the day Slade Groene, Brenda Groene and Mark McKenzie were found bludgeoned to death.
Today, more than three years later, Maskell witnessed a jury of nine men and three women sentence Joseph Edward Duncan III to death for his kidnapping, sexual abuse and murder of 9-year-old Dylan Groene in the Lolo National Forest, where he held the boy and his sister for weeks.
"I just had to be here," he said after the verdict. "I was the guy standing out in the rain that very first night."
Duncan's crime spree deeply affected some authorities charged with investigating it, as heard in court testimony.
In the first day of testimony, former Kootenai County Sheriff's Deputy Dale Moyer, who patrolled the Wolf Lodge Bay are and knew the family well, told the jury the case "pushed me to the end."
"I went into the civilian world for four months to kind of get my head back in the game," said Moyer, now a Spokane County Sheriff's deputy.
In July 2005, Coeur d'Alene Police Chief Wayne Longo, then a sergeant with the Idaho State Police, told The Spokesman-Review: "A lot of us have shed a lot of tears over the eight weeks we've been working this. It's been a roller coaster of emotions. You feel so vulnerable."
Like many of you following the Joseph Duncan trial, I feel appalled by what we've heard in testimony and from Duncan himself.
Three years ago when Shasta and Dylan first went missing, I interviewed the children's grandmother. She was a very soft spoken woman, who was in shock over what happened. And quite honestly, during the interview, I didn't know what to ask her...or how to ask it. What do you say in a situation like that?
We spent most of our time talking about the differences between the two children, who liked school, and who didn't. What they wanted to do when they were older...and if the family was holding up under all this pressure.
Of course, I was caught up in the whole media storm over the story...covering it for radio in Spokane, appearing on CNN, "Nancy Grace," and filing radio reports. I didn't really have time to think about how or what I felt. I was too busy trying to cover the story...and everyone from all over the country seemed to be fascinated and disgusted by what had happened in this tiny area of North Idaho.
Fast forward to August of 2008, and after reading SR reporter Betsy Russell's account of what those two children went through...I feel like I've been kicked in the stomach. Everything I didn't feel three years ago...I'm feeling now. And I know I'm not alone.
Now that the first phase of the trial is over, I'm starting to really get the chance to look at how we covered this story in recent weeks...on radio, in print and on line.
I honestly don't think we sensationalized the coverage (and believe me, if I thought we had, I would tell you right here)...after listening to what's come out of the courtroom, that just isn't possible. Many people think when a story like this breaks it's a way for newspapers to gain readers. Editor Steve Smith says it's just the opposite... we'll probably lose subscribers.
Since my background isn't print, I've been able to compare and contrast the two reporting styles. It's been horrific reading about what jurors heard or saw on any given day in the courtroom. But to me, it's been more difficult having to turn the written word into the spoken word...and report what's happened on the radio. I'm actually hearing it, in my own voice. And that, to me, makes it even more real.
When reporter Betsy Russell talks with us on the radio, I hear the story in a different way than I do when I read her articles. In fact, on several occasions, I've told her not to worry about coming on...covering something like this day after day gets to you...I don't care who you are, or how long you've been in the business.
There's been a lot of talk about how the media...and the Spokesman Review, has covered this story. Some feel we might have gone too far. Others say the insight from our reporters was needed. To tell you the truth....I don't know. I'm an employee of this paper, so I know my (our) job is to report the story, and I think Betsy Russell and Meghann Cuniff have done a damn fine job.
But I'm also a subscriber (yes, I buy the paper just like you),and I'm looking forward to the day when Duncan doesn't have to be front page news anymore. And judging from the jury's decision last week, that day may be in the not too distant future.
Penmanship, letter writing – talk about old school. Does anybody still practice these ancient art forms?
Besides those folks in the county jail or the convalescent center, I have only been able to come up with one small sliver of society that persists in this archaic form of communication: kids at summer camp.
"Blog" is an all-purpose term that describes a format for publishing on the web. A blog generally consists of short entries displayed in reverse chronological order, which often include links to other sites. If you have any questions about our blogs or blogging in general, email us.
Looking for bloggers from the Inland Northwest? We're keeping a list, as well as some featured bios. If you live in the Inland Northwest and are a regular blogger, email us and tell us about yourself.
Organizations and companies all across the world are coming to grips with Facebook's two-sided challenge. 
