Grumpy Editor

SCARCE TOILET PAPER HAPPENING AGAIN?

 

Toilet paper becoming scarce again on grocery shelves? asks Grumpy Editor.

 

Looks that way.

 

With increased demand showing up, Procter & Gamble, a major producer and maker of Charmin toilet paper, is increasing production and running factories around the clock, seven days a week.

 

As The Wall Street Journal points out:  The recent jump in demand comes after many months in which paper-product sales plummeted to below pre-pandemic levels as stocked-up Americans stopped buying.”

 

“PG&G,” it adds, “says government stimulus, preparation for back to school and rising Covid-19 cases have Americans buying more household staples.”

 

It mentions, “the U.S. supply chain is plagued by shortages of raw materials and labor.”

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

ALL CIVILIANS SET FOR SPACEX.   SpaceX’s launch Sept. 15 will mark the world’s first all-civilian space flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  It will orbit Earth for three days.

CHINA ADDING BEIJING STOCK EXCHANGE.  China is setting up a stock exchange in Beijing in efforts to give that nation's capital and political center more influence in the business and finance world.

BEER SHORTAGE HITS BRITISH PUBS.  For thirsty Brits, there are reports of a national beer shortage.  Some pubs say they are running low on pints of Carling and Coors --- latest victims of the United Kingdom’s supply chain crisis, sparked by Brexit and exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.

 

N.Y. APARTMENT DWELLING COUGAR MOVES.  Owner of an 80-pound, 11-month old female cougar, keeping it in a New York City apartment, surrendered the cat to the Humane Society of the United States where it will go to more suitable accommodations.

HATE CRIMES IN U.S. JUMP.  The FBI says hate crimes in the U.S. jump to the highest level in 12 years.  More than 10,000 people reported to law enforcement last year that they were victims of such crimes because of their race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion or disability.

NEWLYWEDS SEND INVOICES TO NO-SHOWS.  A newlywed Chicago couple send $240 invoices to invited wedding guests who RSVP’d but did not show for the ceremony.  Bills were to cover costs.

 

NO MORE ZIPPING AROUND THE EIFFEL TOWER.  In efforts to make Paris, France, more pedestrian friendly and reduce accidents, the city changes the speed limit to 30 kph --- that’s less than 19 m.p.h.

AP NAMES JULIE PACE TO TOP POST.  Longtime Washington. D.C. journalist Julie Pace is named executive editor and senior vice president of The Associated Press.  She has been AP's Washington bureau chief since 2017 and succeeds Sally Buzbee who became executive editor of The Washington Post in June.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY LEADS TO SLUGGISH DAY TODAY

Work productivity takes a big slide today following the Super Bowl and one study estimates companies will lose $484 million as a result, notes Grumpy Editor.

"Some white-collar workers --- particularly men, Millennials and senior managers --- will be a little sluggish the day after the big game between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams," according to Captivate’s Office Pulse, which offers marketers timely analysis and insights from a proprietary panel of upscale professionals. 

 

One so-called positive result, says Office Pulse, is "more than one in five senior managers are going to be hungover or tired, so they’ll probably leave you alone.”

 

The survey also indicates "more than one in 10 business professionals (12 percent) confessed that they’ll show up to work hungover and/or extra tired the day after the Super Bowl.”  

 

Other predictions:

 

• 9 percent of men will take the day after the Super Bowl off from work, another 5 percent will show up late. That’s compared to 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively, for female professionals.
• 7 percent of Millennials will take Monday off. That’s more than Gen Xers (5 percent) and Boomers (3 percent).
• 13 percent of senior managers will take the day after off from work;  7 percent will show up late.

Even if they’re not taking the day off, a considerable amount of professionals (30 percent) feel that the Monday after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday.

 

Office Pulse points out "the real winner will be the commercials” — the most popular topic of discussion today.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

 

 

JOBS BLOOM IN JANUARY.  Job growth last month shattered expectations, with nonfarm payrolls surging by 304,000 despite a partial government shutdown that was the longest in history.  Noting the "sunny results" for January from the Labor Department, a Saturday Wall Street Journal editorial under the headline, "Sorry for the Good News," takes a poke at some media that overlooked the economic news with "Friday was a bad day in certain media and political precincts as the labor market turned in another gangbuster performance in January.  The recession may not be imminent after all, and more people are working and making more money."

 

MOST ECONOMISTS SEE NO RECESSION THIS YEAR. Two thirds of business economists see no recession this year but predict a slowdown of growth, finds a survey by the National Association for Business Economics, the largest international association of applied economists, strategists, academics and policy-makers.

 

TYPHUS HITS L.A., RATS IN CITY HALL.  There are rats living in Los Angeles City Hall, says Deputy City Attorney Liz Greenwood who believes she contracted typhus from fleas in her office there.  Fleas often live on rats, which congregate in the many heaps of trash that are visible across L.A. and are a breeding ground for typhus.

 

NEWSPAPER CHAIN OFFERS BUYOUTS.  McClatchy Co. says about 10 percent of the newspaper chain's employees would be offered voluntary buyouts.

 

POSTAGE STAMPS TO HONOR MILITARY DOGS.  Look for postage stamps this year that will recognize military working dogs. Spotlighted:  German shepherd, Labrador retriever, Belgian Malinois and Dutch shepherd breeds.

 

PIONEER FEMALE NAVAL AVIATOR DIES. Rosemary Mariner, one of the first group of female Navy aviators who broke barriers, died at 65.  In 1973, she was one of the first eight women chosen to fly Navy aircraft and was the Navy’s first female jet pilot to fly the A-4C and the A-7E Corsair II. In 1990, she became the first woman in the military to command an operational air squadron. During her 24 years of service, Mariner logged more than 3,500 flight hours in 15 types of aircraft.

 

BEN & JERRY'S GOES FOR WOODEN SPOONS.  Ben & Jerry's is joining a growing list of companies phasing out single-use plastic. The ice cream vendor says by April it plans to phase out plastic straws and spoons in 600 stores worldwide, shifting to wooden spoons.

 

SURE IT'S HOT DOWN UNDER.  With a record cold period in the U.S. over the past few days, media, in discussing climate change, point to record heat in Australia --- failing to mention that it's summer there and January is like July in the U.S.

 

With Super Bowl looming, Cox pulls plug on KLAS in Vegas

Looks like a booming business from Southern Nevada this week in signups for DIRECTV or DISH, stemming from a fee battle between Cox Communications’ cable service and Nexstar Broadcasting Group, owner of KLAS, Channel 8 in Las Vegas, which is scheduled to telecast the Super Bowl next Sunday in one of the biggest betting days of the year in the gambling mecca, notes Grumpy Editor.

Cox already has blanked out KLAS cable transmissions in a steamy corporate battle.

That leads to unexpected new business for satellite service providers DIRECTV and DISH.

At issue is the monthly fee per household that Cox pays Nexstar for Channel 8's content.

In pulling the signal from subscribers to the cable service, Cox accuses KLAS, the CBS affiliate in Las Vegas, of  "demanding a significant fee increase." 

KLAS management has advised Cox customers to cut the cable cord and sign up for satellite service, or use a high-definition TV antenna to get the station's signal over the air.

The station’s owners point out “Cox has had disputes with five other broadcast companies in the last two years” and “from the outset of negotiations five months ago, Nexstar offered rates to Cox that are comparable to those Nexstar receives from other cable companies.”

Meanwhile, Cox is running ads on other cable stations blaming KLAS for the impasse.

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Overlooked in the Cox-Nexstar battle, Grumpy Editor finds Cox --- in a rate increase mode --- is springing higher charges on its Las Vegas area customers for its cable TV service (along with its high-speed Internet) starting Wednesday.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

Anyone notice that while Washington, Congress and other federal workers were snarled --- and off work --- by a snowstorm last week, the capital’s print and broadcast folks made it to work on time?...Also with that D.C. storm, two photos by Reuters photographer Joshua Roberts of people shoveling snow in front of the Supreme Court building made it into two sections of Tuesday's The Wall Street Journal… A jump in military helicopter crash deaths last year is raising questions on whether budget cuts are endangering troops by less maintenance and training, reports Stars and Stripes, pointing out 12 helicopter crashes in 2015 killed 30 service members, triple the deaths a year prior. Twelve more died when two U.S. Marine CH-53 Super Stallions collided off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii during a night training flight Jan. 14…Sprint, fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier with a workforce of 33,000, is cutting about 2,500 jobs at six customer care centers plus its Kansas headquarters, part of a plan to slice $2.5 billion in costs…Blushing Sin City news folks? A detailed story on the resignation of Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air’s chief operating officer likely resulted from safety issues, runs in the Las Vegas Sun --- but is picked up from the far-off Tampa Bay Times…In a PR move, in the mail last week: envelopes stating they are from the “Office of the governor of Alaska.” In a message, Bill Walker declares, “Alaska is different from every other destination in the world” and invites recipients to use a postage-paid card “and your FREE Alaska travel guide is on its way!”

After not carrying bylines in its 80-year-history, Consumer Reports adds writer’s names, starting with the May issue.