Grumpy Editor

Officials around the country are wondering why so many drivers are speeding these days.

 

Grumpy Editor has the answer:  TV commercials.

 

Just about every spot pitching cars shows the vehicles speeding on --- and off --- city and country roads.

 

The speeding is prompting cities and states to toughen enforcement.

 

As reported in The Wall Street Journal, Michael Hanson, director of Minnesota’s Office of Traffic Safety, declares:  “I am literally somewhat terrified by what could happen on the roads in Minnesota, and really across the country, if we don’t get a handle on some of this really dangerous driving.”

 

About 42,000 people died in car crashes last year, up eight percent from 2019, estimates the National Safety Council.

 

Law enforcement officials note an uptick in excessive speeding, with some vehicles going over 100 m.p.h. on highways.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

 

HOW STRANGE CAN HOLLYWOOD GET?  Last night’s Academy Awards, held at Los Angeles’ Union Station, the 82-year-old transit hub in downtown Los Angeles, saw few journalists and no bleachers where fans can cheer the nominees.  

 

HOME SALES SOAR.  New home sales jump 20.7 percent last month, the highest level since 2006, with the median sales price $330,800.

 

COYOTE SPOILS TV REPORTER'S LIVE SHOT.  A coyote came out of nowhere to spoil a Winston-Salem, N.C. TV reporter’s live shot for the 10 o’clock news --- on a story about coyote sightings.

FLUFFY CAT NABBED SMUGGLING NARCOTICS.  A drug-runner’s fluffy white cat is caught trying to smuggle narcotics into a prison in Panama.  The feline, carrying the contraband in a pouch tied around its neck, is stopped outside the Nueva Esperanza Prison in the province of Colon.

 TV AND MOVIES PRODUCT PLACEMENT GETS BOOST.  Product placements on TV and in movies get a boost as items now can be digitally added to scenes and closeups such as bottles or advertising signs.

FULL MOON AFFECTS MEN, SAY RESEARCHERS.  Researchers find a full moon leaves men stressed and sleepless.  They believe solar radiation reflected by a full moon could cause changes in brain activity and blood chemistry.

 

COFFEE DRINKERS MORE FOCUSED.  European scientists say three to five cups of coffee a day can make coffee drinkers more focused while also displaying greater memory and learning abilities.

TOILET PAPER SALES DROP FROM YEAR AGO

In contrast to last year when there was a run on toilet paper stemming from the spread of COVID-19, current sales are (pardon the expression) going down the toilet, notes Grumpy Editor.

In clearing grocers’ shelves, Americans spent more than $11 billion on toilet paper last year, up from a typical year’s $9 billion.  The gain is attributed to a combination of increased use, with many people working from homes, and stockpiling.

 

The Wall Street Journal notes current sales are sinking below pre-pandemic levels, with January sales off more than four percent from the prior January.

 

The newspaper points out “demand for toilet paper shot up in the outbreak’s initial weeks, doubling in the second week of March, and remained elevated throughout most of 2020.”

 

Sales of toilet paper drop 32.7 percent in the 12 weeks ended April 3 from the same period a year ago, according to market research firm NielsenIQ, which tracks point-of-sale data from retailers.

 

Papermaking mills, operating at 100 percent capacity most of last year, are now running around a more normal 90 to 95 percent capacity, says an analyst.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

NORTH KOREA BUILDS UP NUKES.  After decades of sanctions, threats and diplomacy, North Korea has more nukes than ever and missiles that can hit the U.S., according to latest information.

 

GIANT RABBIT STOLEN.  The British owner of Darius, a stolen giant rabbit, puts up a $2,748 reward. The gray-brown rabbit, measuring four feet, three inches, disappeared from his enclosure in the backyard in the village of Stoulton. The rabbit holds the Guinness World Records citation as the world’s longest rabbit.

 

SNAKE FOUND IN LETTUCE FROM GROCERY STORE.  A Sydney, Australia, lettuce buyer returning from a grocery store, notices a small venomous snake hanging out in a produce bag.  It is identified as a pale-headed snake, scientifically known as an hoplocephalus bitorquatus.

 

 PBS AIRS VINTAGE GREAT PERFORMANCE.   PBS on Friday went back in time (48 years, to be exact) in a Great Performance  with “Beethoven in Beijing” featuring a visit by the Philadelphia Orchestra.

 

WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS SHELVE ANNUAL DINNER.  The White House Correspondents’ Association says it is canceling its annual Washington, D.C. dinner --- usually held in April --- for the second year in a row over concerns about the ongoing pandemic.

 

STOLEN ROMAN STATUE RECOVERED.  A Roman statue dating back to the first century BC is recovered almost a decade after it was stolen from an archaeological site in Italy.  Two Italian officers came across the sculpture of a headless figure wearing a toga at an antique shop in Belgium.  The "Togatus" statue has been missing since 2011 and is believed to be worth around $120,000.

 

TERRIERS CHASE BEAR FROM HOUSE.  A bear that enters a house near Sacramento is chased off by two terriers.  Film footage shows the bear slowly walking around the kitchen, spending a lot of time near the fridge. At one point, the bear appears to react to something off-camera and then exits the house. The two dogs appear and charge at the bear towards the exit. The bear then stands in the backyard for a second, looking back in on the house. The terriers stand their ground and the bear decides to leave without a fight.

MAYAN URN RETURNS TO MEXICO.  A Mayan urn, made between 900 and 1600 AD, is returning to Mexico after spending more than 50 years at Albion College in Michigan.  The artifact will be placed alongside a twin urn that is on display at the Museo de los Altos in Chiapas.

CORONAVIRUS REQUIRES SEVERAL AP STYLEBOOK CHANGES DURING YEAR

 

Coronavirus has had an effect on the Associate Press stylebook, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

In the past year AP’s “coronavirus topical guide” has been updated several times, says Paula Froke, AP Stylebook editor.  The current version, published March 10, contains 74 entries, 43 of which are new to the stylebook.

 

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida, points out the guide "includes medical terms — hydroxychloroquine and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children — as well as phrases to describe the socially distant lifestyle many have adopted since the pandemic’s start. Pods, as in learning pods or social pods, get their own entry, and AP now recognizes that FaceTime, Skype and Zoom can be used as verbs.”

 

“The goal is to help writers and editors everywhere have a consistent approach to terminology —  consistent and accurate, above all, and clear so that in this often very quickly changing and big complicated news story, editors can have some guideposts for how to lay this out most clearly for the public to understand,” Froke adds.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

FIRST ORBITAL FLIGHT REMEMBERED TODAY.  Today marks the 40th anniversary of the first orbital flight --- space shuttle Columbia from Orlando, Florida. It revolutionized space exploration…with its accomplishments and tragedies.

 

POMPEO JOINS FOX NEWS AS CONTRIBUTOR.  Fox News hires former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a contributor.  A frequent guest on the network, Pompeo is familiar to the network's viewers.

 

FOR SALE SIGN ON LOUISVILLE NEWSPAPER BUILDING.  Nearly 75 years after it was built, The Courier Journal building in Louisville, Kentucky, is up for sale.  The building has been largely devoid of Courier Journal staff the past year, with the COVID-19 pandemic necessitating a work-from-home schedule. 

 

JILL BIDEN SAYS HONOR MILITARY FAMILIES.  First Lady Jill Biden revives a decades-old initiative challenging Americans to do things  — from mowing lawns to dropping off meals for families with loved ones in the armed forces.

 

TIGER WOODS CRASH INFO DRIBBLES OUT.  Tiger Woods auto crash on Feb. 23 continues to make headlines with new revelations.  During the week a story reveals authorities say he was driving more than 80 m.p.h.

 

FUN IN TH SUN.  About two dozen monkeys break out of a zoo in Loeffingen, Germany, near the Swiss border before being recaptured.

 

MAN STEALS VAN GOGH PAINTING.  Dutch police arrest a 58-year-old man suspected of stealing an 1884 painting by Vincent van Gogh last year.

 

U.S. POPULATION GROWTH SLOWS.  America's population grew only 0.48 percent in 2019, an amount unseen since the end of World War I in 1918.  Key elements in the population slowdown include fewer births, fewer immigrants and the overall graying of Americans. The birth rate and immigration have historically driven the nation's changing population dynamics.

 MILITARY MEETING DEMANDS REDUCED.  The Government Accountability Office finds the U.S. military's ability to meet demands has largely degraded over the past two decades, pointing out domain readiness did not meet readiness recovery goals identified by the military services."

POST-ELECTION SEES FEWER PRIME-TIME CABLE NEWS VIEWERS

Post-election cable news viewers have gone to other things, notes Grumpy Editor.

As The Wall Street Journal points out, cable-news viewership fell for all major networks in this year’s first quarter.

It cites Fox News losing 32 percent of prime-time viewers in the first three months of 2021 compared with last year’s fourth quarter, based on Nielsen data, with CNN and MSNBC showing smaller declines of 16 percent and 7.8 percent respectively,  “though each fell more substantially from highs they hit in January.”

The Journal points out “Fox News retained the No. 1 spot among prime time viewers for the full quarter, averaging 2.58 million, though its lead has narrowed.  MSNBC is second in that category with 2.29 million viewers and CNN, which was No. 1 in the weeks after November’s election, is now No. 3 with 1.99 million.”

Following the election, cable news networks have made significant programming changes.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 CHURCH MEMBERSHIP EBBS.  American church membership falls below the majority for the first time, Gallup finds.  It tracks church membership over the past 80 years, starting with 73 percent membership in 1937 and peaking just after World War II with 76 percent.  The past 20 years have seen a sharp dropoff, falling from 70 percent to 47 percent.  Church membership was strongest among those born before 1946, with 66 percent claiming membership, compared to 58 percent of baby boomers, 50 percent of Gen X and 36 percent of millennials.

EARLY BLOOM IN JAPAN.  Cherry blossoms in Japan reach their peak much earlier this year.  Usually in full bloom in April, this year’s peak appeared on March 26.

 

BIDENS DOGS CONTINUE TO GRAB HEADLINES.  President Joe Biden’s dogs continue to grab headlines.  Latest concerns which of his two dogs --- Major or Champ --- left a “deposit” in a White House red-carpeted hallway. That news follows a report last week of Major’s second biting incident in March.

 

WELLS FARGO SEES STAFFERS BACK IN OFFICES IN SEPTEMBER.  With the pandemic fading, Wells Fargo & Co. plans return of home-bound employees to offices on Sept. 6.  A bank officer mentions, “We believe most of us benefit by being physically together.”

 

AUCTION SET FOR LOCK OF WASHINGTON'S HAIR.  A lock of George Washington’s hair is set for auction with bids of nearly $2,000 for the historic relic that is contained within a brass and glass locket.

 

FAMOUS GIRAFFE EUTHANIZED.  April, the giraffe that became famous via coverage of her 2017 pregnancy, is euthanized because of advancing arthritis.  The 20-year-old giraffe started to show mobility problems last summer.

 

DATE TRIGGERS WEDDINGS.  The calendar on Saturday triggered more than 1,000 people to wed in Las Vegas.  Reason: the date 4.3.21.  That doesn't happen often.