Playing CEO -- Chris Kelly of the Entrepreneurs' Forum of the Great Northwest wants you. In "Silicon Valley 101," he wants you to jump into a new startup business. Best of all, it won't cost you -- of course, that's mostly because it's all pretend. Following last year's gathering, which improvised an idea about natural gas outlets in every home, Kelly hopes for another 150 folks this year. They'll divide up into teams to handle market research, logo and corporate ID, product design, strategy, sales, promotions and publications and so on. The idea is for the event to be both fun and educational -- and perhaps even lead to some real-world results. It's on April 30 from 5:30-8 pm at the Schade Towers, 528 E. Trent Ave. Call: 483-2320.
The Faker the Better -- Much has been made of the fact that FOX News, with its bombing set to music and promos by soldiers, is winning the cable news sweepstakes, outreaching CNN and MSNBC. But did you know that the fake news beats FOX? That's right, during the height of the war, Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart attracted 4 million viewers per night while FOX drew 3.3 million.
"The Future is Small" -- So conclude Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia, business futurists who co-author the Herman Trend Alerts (www.hermangroup.com). In their latest, they argue that small businesses -- perhaps the kind we discuss in this week's cover story -- will pull the nation out of the economic doldrums.
"Future economic growth will come from microbusinesses operated by one person with a couple of employees or subcontractors," write Herman and Gioia. "Wise communities will purge their ordinances and regulations of anything that blocks or inhibits small or microbusiness."
Still Looking -- In his State of the Union address in January, President Bush said "we know" Iraq possesses "25,000 liters" of anthrax, "38,000 liters" of botulinum toxin, "500 tons" of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent, and "29,984" munitions capable of delivering chemical agents -- oh, and a hidden nuclear weapons industry, too. Along with Saddam Hussein and almost all of his cabinet, those items are still unaccounted for.
Hypocrisy or Hyperbole? -- In defending his anti-war position to a roomful of newspaper editors recently, human lightning rod Tim Robbins wondered why Hollywood's biggest critics are the war's biggest supporters.
"Today, prominent politicians who have decried violence in movies, (the 'blame Hollywooders' if you will), recently voted to give our current president the power to unleash real violence in our current war. They want us to stop the fictional violence but are okay with the real kind."
Publication date: 04/24/03
