Grumpy Editor

2010 hurricane season ends --- without a U.S. hurricane

Today marks the end of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season and despite early dire warnings not one hurricane hit the U.S., reminds Grumpy Editor.

Back on May 28, most newspapers devoted much space to 2010 predictions.

Some ran photos of past hurricane devastation scenes to alarm readers on what lies ahead.

Television newscasts (digging up footage of swaying palms trees and flooded streets) weren’t far behind.

Those reports were enough to send some anxious readers/viewers promptly to Home Depot, Lowe’s and other home improvement stores for fresh plywood and batteries.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted a 70 percent chance of 14 to 23 named storms during the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, with eight to 14 of them reaching hurricane force.

Those predictions were fairly accurate.  Yet, hurricane-force winds stayed away from the U.S. coast with most of the activity in the Caribbean and Mexico.

Three to seven hurricanes were predicted six months ago to become category 3 or higher.  That meant winds would reach at least 111 m.p.h.

A storm is elevated to hurricane level when winds attain 74 miles an hour.

Nearing the end of the season, Hurricane Earl, while getting up to 145 m.p.h. at its peak in the Atlantic, weakened to a tropical storm in early September by the time it reached North Carolina’s Outer Banks, then passed Cape Cod, Mass. 

Hurricane Tomas, which hit the Caribbean late last month, was the 19th named storm and 12th hurricane.

Look for a prediction of 2011 hurricanes, with file art, to appear in newspapers in late May.

North Korea acts up, pushing editors to boost coverage

Most editors initially didn’t recognize the significance of North Korea’s action with a one-hour shower of artillery shells onto South Korea’s populated Yeonpyeong island last week causing wrecked houses, four deaths, 18 injuries and almost all residents to evacuate, notes Grumpy Editor.

An early wire story out of South Korea received minimum space on inside pages of newspapers on Tuesday.

The attack was a clear violation of a truce signed in 1953 at the end of the three-year Korean War in which the U.S. suffered 33,686 battle deaths.

Despite the breaking news, President Barack Obama decided to leave the White House that day, flying to Kokomo, Ind., to tour a Chrysler transmission plant, visit an elementary school then stop at a bakery to order pumpkin rolls, apple fritters, cinnamon rolls and doughnuts.

On following days, the North Korea-South Korea tinderbox development moved up to front-page treatment.

While North Korea periodically over the years has acted up with various forms of saber rattling, last week’s bombardment marked the first land assault on South Korea since the Korean War ended.

With the unexpected North Korea action, it dawned on some that the United States was obligated by a treaty to defend South Korea where 28,000 American troops are stationed.

Meanwhile, Washington was hopeful that China --- one of the countries in six-nation talks over the years focusing on wayward North Korea --- could be called on to ease the tensions.

Those tensions included concern over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

However, China remains North Korea’s top ally, providing 90 percent of its oil and 45 percent of food, among other supplies.

And for those not old enough to remember, China was deeply involved as a major participant, teaming with the North Koreans in the Korean War.

Before last week’s out-of-the-blue powder keg on the Korean Peninsula, Obama was scheduled to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao in mid-January in Washington to discuss trade and financial matters, topped with a formal state dinner.

Will North Korea be added to the discussion menu?

Turkey-minded Grumpy Editor is taking time off

Marking Thanksgiving, Grumpy Editor is getting away from his cluttered desk today to feast on turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Turkey sandwiches will follow tomorrow.

Then, perhaps more dishes with leftover turkey over the weekend.

He will return, a few pounds heavier, on Monday.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Cozy relationships cited as airport scan machines grow

Not widely reported in  print/broadcast media, despite sources readily available, is revealing background information of interest to readers/viewers in connection with the mounting squabble over use of airport pat-downs and the growing number of full-body scanning machines, notes Grumpy Editor.

John J. Duncan, Jr. (R., Tenn.), former chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, blasted the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) during a speech on the floor of the House. 

He cited invasive pat-downs in pre-boarding procedures at airports and the role lucrative government contracts played in the scanning equipment.

Meanwhile, OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIS), which manufactures airport scanners, made no secret that Deepak Chopra, its chairman and CEO, “was selected to accompany U.S. President Barack Obama to Mumbai.”

Eyebrows were raised earlier this month over the extra-large presidential entourage that headed for India, first stop on Obama’s 10-day, four-nation Asia tour.

Congressman Duncan, in his House speech last Wednesday, mentioned fliers were being subjected to “frequent doses of radiation” from scanners and “we are going to spend up to $300 million to install 1,000 scanners.”

Bringing another cozy relationship to light, Duncan revealed “former Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, represents Rapiscan, the company which is selling these scanners to his former department.”

(Rapiscan Systems is a division of OSI Systems.)

“The American people should not have to choose between having full-body radiation or a very embarrassing, intrusive pat-down every time they fly, as if they were criminals,” pointed out Duncan.  “We need a little more balance and common sense on this.”

The information on Hawthorne, Calif.-based OSI Systems’ chairman and CEO accompanying Obama came from the company’s own news release fed to Business Wire on Nov. 12.

Airport body-scans, pat-downs give TV news new angle

Boarding for air travel should be very different this year on Thanksgiving Eve when television news directors traditionally send crews to local airports to go “live” in capturing activity at terminals, figures Grumpy Editor.

Over the past few years airport action has been relatively quiet.

But this month brings a major focus on boarding passengers’ full-body scans and intrusive pat-downs.

So look for the emphasis on that aspect with on-scene coverage tomorrow night as an estimated 24 million people are expected to fly during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Biggest threat to holiday travel this year is not the weather but rather new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) procedures, including full-body scans and aggressive pat-downs.

Body scanners, now at 68 U.S. airports, are raising privacy and radiation-exposure concerns.

Pat-downs, which have screeners feeling inside waistbands and touching all the way up legs and on breasts, are drawing concern from lawmakers, civil-rights advocates, travel groups and flight crews.

This year’s TSA procedures will slow the boarding aircraft routine and likely will see some tempers erupting in the extended lines at terminals --- to the delight of the TV crews.

Adding to the slowdowns will be disruptions from those protesting full-body scans and pat-downs.

"With people getting partially molested at checkpoints, all that is going to be a real shock for them," Greg Wells, senior vice president of operations at Southwest Airlines, tells The Wall Street Journal. "TSA will create an issue for us. It's going to slow things down."

An organization called “We Won’t Fly” is telling fliers to “jam TSA checkpoints by opting out until they remove the porno-scanners.”

Organizer James Babb, in recommending pat-downs, says that routine would create more disruption and send a stronger message.

The TSA folks “won't have the manpower to reach into everyone's crotch," he declares.

Obama’s $250 lure for seniors fades in Washington fog

In the follow-up department:  With knowledge of the following day’s official announcement on no annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) next year for Social Security recipients and in efforts to soothe elders, President Barack Obama on Oct. 13 dangled the idea of a $250 relief payment to stem economic pain despite word that there is no inflation, reminds Grumpy Editor.

Word of no COLA for 2011 marked the first time Social Security benefits have not been increased year over year since the annual adjustment went into effect in 1975.

"Even as we seek to bring about recovery, we must act on behalf of those hardest hit by this recession," Obama declared last month.

"That is why I am announcing my support for an additional $250 in emergency recovery assistance to seniors, veterans and people with disabilities to help them make it through these difficult times,” he trumpeted.

That plan was echoed on the same day by Michael J. Astrue, Social Security commissioner, who announced in a written statement, “This year, in light of the human need, we need to support President Obama's call for us to make another $250 recovery payment for 57 million Americans.”

In the busy pre-Thanksgiving period, the House and the Senate are tangling with a variety of other measures.

So that pre-Election Day call for assistance to Social Security recipients hasn’t made the legislative agenda.

And key Washington and national print/broadcast media seem to have forgotten to follow up on what was uttered last month --- just before the election.

 

Send questions by e-mail, Trenton mayor tells Trentonian

Ever know of a mayor who didn’t relish meeting the press with “a few choice words” --- that wind up filling a newspaper column or two, asks Grumpy Editor.

In Trenton, N.J., though, the few choice words (probably unprintable) are bouncing around The Trentonian newsroom and relate to Mayor Tony Mack’s treatment of the newspaper.

Seems any questions that the daily has for the mayor, who took office July 1, now have to be sent by e-mail.

That throws up a barrier on the City Hall beat.

What’s more, the mayor is banning The Trentonian in the offices of key City Hall personnel, relates Paul Mickle, city editor.

“The truth is, reporters don’t want to be frozen out by the mayor of the government they are covering,” says Mickle.  “But Mack is an exception because the word he puts out is often misleading anyway.”

Mickle growls:  “Mack wants questions from us in writing because that will give him and his cronies more time to think up one of the mayor’s typically cockamamie or deliberately confusing answers. What reporter or reader needs that?”

The city editor adds:  “So Mack is freezing out The Trentonian. But so what?

"It certainly won’t stop us from asking pertinent questions like why he’s hiring ex-cons and incompetents and reporting on public information he doesn’t want the public to know.”

Inflation labeled ‘tame’ but growls behind the scenes

How can inflation be “tame” as prices --- from newsprint to candy bars --- are constantly in an upward move, asks Grumpy Editor.

“Tame,” referring to inflation, was all over the place yesterday and today.  And, in one case, a headline over an Associated Press story provided a hearty laugh for Grumpy Editor. 

It read, “Consumer prices rise moderately but inflation tame.”

That’s like a weather forecast indicating rain but plenty of sunshine.

The Labor Department, which compiled the consumer price index (CPI), yesterday claimed there was little sign of inflation as the cost of autos, hotels and clothing dropped.

Keep an eye on that last category --- clothing.  Just two weeks earlier, a Wall Street Journal story noted “skyrocketing cotton prices.”  That doesn’t come under the “tame” label for apparel.

Allied with this, even the price of burlap has jumped.  The Commodity Research Bureau’s raw industrials spot index --- that includes print cloth, rosin and wool tops --- reached a record high last week.

Another Wall Street Journal story this month mentioned:  “An inflationary tide is beginning to ripple through America’s supermarkets and restaurants, threatening to end the tamest year of food pricing in nearly two decades.”

A Wall Street Journal story yesterday led off mentioning “wholesale prices were mostly tame in October,” then dropped this line in the eighth paragraph: “The producer-price index is up 4.3 percent from a year ago.”  That’s about as tame as a wild tiger.

Word out today showed prices for grains, including corn and soybeans, climbed to two-year highs in the futures market last week, while sugar prices reached a 30-year high. 

Earlier this month, Editor & Publisher reported North American newsprint cost is up 22 percent this year.  That’s certainly not tame for newspaper publishers.  As a result, some have hiked subscription prices.

So what’s going on overseas with prices?  Is inflation tame there?

Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, on Tuesday reported consumer prices in the 16 countries that use the euro rose at the fastest rate since November, 2008.

Translation:  The annual rate of inflation in euro territory is the highest in two years.

That sound in the background is a growling (not very tame) tiger --- ready to pounce on your wallet.

China grabs fastest supercomputer crown from U.S

With a heavy news week, the few newspapers running a piece on a Chinese supercomputer --- named the world’s fastest --- may have missed an important element in the story, notes Grumpy Editor.

Namely, the Chinese supercomputer, named Tianhe-1A and installed at China’s National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, uses mostly chips designed by U.S. companies.

As reported by AFP, the supercomputer achieved a computing speed of 2,570 trillion calculations per second. 

That put it in the number one spot in the Top 500 Supercomputer Sites survey of the mammoth machines composed of room-size collections of processing units.

It took over the top spot held by a supercomputer at a U.S. government facility in Tennessee.  That system ranked second with a speed of 1,750 trillion calculations per second.

The Chinese also have the world’s third fastest supercomputer, the survey found.

While the U.S. still dominated with more than half of the entries in the Top 500 list, China --- with 42 systems in the rankings --- moved ahead of Japan, France, Germany and Great Britain.

Supercomputers on the Top 500 list, which is produced twice a year, were rated based on speed of performance in a benchmark test by experts from the U.S. and Germany.

Grumpy Editor lists FOMC's meeting dates in 2011

Heading into 2011 and seeking clues on the direction of interest rates, investors, market observers, economists and business writers will be paying close attention to the Federal Open Market Committee, reminds Grumpy Editor, who today lists upcoming FOMC meeting dates.

Wording in statements following each meeting in 2011 will be put under the microscope, as clues will be sought from FOMC’s 12 members headed by Chairman Ben S. Bernanke.

Changes in the federal funds rate trigger a chain of events that affect short-term interest rates, long-term interest rates, foreign exchange rates, the amount of money and credit, and, ultimately, a range of economic variables.

That includes employment, output, prices of goods and services plus, of course, the stock market.

While business and financial stories in coming months will mention upcoming Fed action, many writers are fuzzy in pinpointing actual dates of FOMC meetings in advance.  Sometimes they come close with “next week” or “next month.”

So, as a guide, Grumpy Editor lists --- along with the upcoming final 2010 meeting on Dec. 14 --- the 2011 scheduled meetings, including four two-day sessions:

January	25-26
March	15
April	26-27
June	21-22
August	9
September	20
November	1-2
December	13

Following the meetings (or at the end of two-day gatherings), statements are released to media around 2:15 p.m., Eastern time.