Who’s in charge around here?
I’m a former daily newspaper journalist who worked in the Pacific Northwest and New England. Now a book reviewer, writer, editor, iMac user. I founded Rich Litho Media, which provides writing/editing and publishing services for authors and small businesses.
Read more in the About section.
Email me at kimberly@typelikethewind.com
Be the first on your street to see new posts
Click to buy at Powell’s – Type Like the Wind gets a small percentage!
Category Archives: Business
77 Words: “Twilight at the World of Tomorrow” by James Mauro
Twilight at the World of Tomorrow: Genius, Madness, Murder, and the 1939 World’s Fair on the Brink of War by James Mauro. (Random House, 2010) Expecting dry and serviceable, I got lively, amusing, informing. Mauro’s magazine-writing roots serve him well: strong researching with an eye for the absurd. He captures a particular sort of visionary—that [...]
Also posted in 77 Words, Authors, Books Leave a comment
Uh oh, the rich are bailing on mortgages too.
Proof that this foreclosure tsunami is real: “The housing bust that began among the working class in remote subdivisions and quickly progressed to the suburban middle class is striking the upper class in privileged enclaves…” writes David Streitfeld in The New York Times. (The other quotes are from the same piece.) A hint that that [...]
Also posted in Economy, Ethics, Human nature Leave a comment
All the news that fits. And solves.
I’ve only read some of the stories and ads in three sections in Sunday’s New York Times (Book Review, Business and Week in Review) and here’s what I’ve already learned: Most new fiction is deeply flawed. A five-line letter from Ronald Reagan to his old actress friend Kitty Carlisle Hart is worth $6,100. Whales and [...]
Also posted in Advertising, Animals, Authors, Economy, Ethics, Gender Mysteries, Government, Health, Human nature, Politics, Publishing, Research, Science, The Press Leave a comment
True.
How BP would handle a coffee spill.
Also posted in Ethics, Government, Health, Science Leave a comment
Delta’s new Visa card sure makes me want to fly their airline. You?
Obviously Delta Airlines honchos read my blog and are ready for the sort of bold changes I endorse. I saw a commercial this morning pushing their new Visa card that carries a terrific premium….one whole piece of luggage travels for free if you use the card to book a flight! (I know what you’re thinking, [...]
Also posted in Economy, Shopping & Necessities Leave a comment
IKEA washcloths have little loops so you can hang them up. Brilliant.
I’ve written about the IKEA experience before, but I continue to be amazed at the scale and cheerfulness of the place. It is still like crossing a big country covered in forests of brightly colored plastic storage bins and coffee tables made of blond wood. Every item sold in the place has a name, presumably [...]
Also posted in Shopping & Necessities Leave a comment
Don’t order a big box of checks.
The cellphone is going to replace cash, debit cards and checks. Check out this piece in The New York Times that describes the technology already in use. When you can pay your share of a dinner tab by bumping your cellphone against your buddy’s cellphone, you know it’s time to leave your big ol’ money-sucking [...]
Also posted in Tech Leave a comment
Let them eat baggage fees.
Everyone hates air travel. Tree hugger, teaparty dope, rich guy, poor chick. It’s the great equalizer. And, this business of making customers who already hate you fork over more money for baggage is the ultimate Let Them Eat Cake move of our time. Now, almost as many people are mad at big banks. You can [...]
Posted in Business Leave a comment
The Old Rugged (tasty) Cross
A few years into freelancing, I have to say I don’t miss meetings. But I’d have paid real money to sit in on the one where some marketing person made a pitch for an item I saw in the grocery store yesterday: Just in time for Easter: chocolate crosses. As the late George Carlin might [...]
Consumer: Get thee to a credit union.
Today I read that Bank of America is touting its decision to quit dunning customers with those overdraft fees. You know, the ones that multiply at warp-rabbit speed. More good news: Soon your ATM will tell you when you’re about to step in a big, expensive pile of bank fee. Bragging about this service is [...]
Also posted in Ethics Leave a comment
Vote YES for BookTithe
I can’t be the only lover contemplating sneaking out on my beloved. Some of you other book-lovers share my guilty fantasizing about getting a Kindle. Right? Like you, I’m sold on the technology, which I could get either as the Kindle proper or as an iPhone ap. What could be cooler than deciding I want [...]
Also posted in Books, Publishing, Shopping & Necessities 2 Comments
Bobsleds over the cliff
Cities want to host Olympic events for the same reasons they crave pro sports teams: (1) People come and spend money; and (2) It’s cool. But the spenders never seem to cover all the costs, and now those practical Canadians are wondering if the cool factor is worth it. Folks, here’s your answer: No, it’s [...]
Also posted in Sports Leave a comment
More less-than-best business practices
I’ve got a new trick to add to the piece I wrote a short time ago, “Businesses behaving badly,” about employers using tough times to take advantage of employees. The new practice: Instead of typical 30, 60 or even 90-day probationary periods, some employers are trying on six-month probation. This makes it easier to let [...]
Also posted in Ethics Leave a comment
Businesses behaving badly (updated, again)
There’s a bad behavior pattern cropping up in business dealings these days: management or owners taking cover behind tough economic times when they cut workers off at the knees. Three examples are rolling around in my head, one big and well reported, the other two are smaller. A New York Times story by Nick Bunkley [...]
Also posted in Ethics, Shopping & Necessities Comments closed
The Macy’s bomb
First, let me assure you that you are not alone if you are just now figuring out that your credit cards are touchy little bombs, ticking away in your wallet and ready to blow no matter how careful you are. In the past the only way to know how these cards worked was to read [...]
Also posted in Ethics, Shopping & Necessities Leave a comment
Blazing new insurance trails
When my bathrobe belt got caught in the silverware drawer this morning, nearly giving me whiplash, it started me thinking. Why isn’t the health-insurance industry bombarding us with new products? It’s clear that whatever way the wind ultimately blows, the days of “pre-existing condition” translating as “license to print money” are coming to a close. [...]
Also posted in Government, Politics Leave a comment
Old airwaves
Whenever I read big news in the TV industry, I think back to the wild predictions made by my father in the 1960s. He’d gone from radio (“The Night Owl Show”) to local TV (“From the Esso Desk…”) to management of local TV (a station wagon emblazoned with the NBC peacock) and finally to the [...]
Also posted in History, TV & Radio Leave a comment
You still working on that?
New York restaurateur Bruce Buschel is this week’s hero. His blog in The New York Times, in which he’s chronicling the planning and opening of his new eatery, does every diner in America a personal favor. Buschel posted a two-part list titled “100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do.” True, by the time he gets [...]
Also posted in Food Leave a comment
Inherit the (Type Like The) Wind.