Turning Silver into Gold - Mary Furlong

Turning Silver Into Gold - How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace, by Mary Furlong

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You can read abut the book and boomers on Amazon. I want to talk about Mary Furlong. Authors are always more interesting than their books. Dr. Mary S. Furlong has advised Preisdent Clinton ( Politics had to come in somewhere. besides, that's what piqued my interest. ), Congress, the AARP, and corporate clients including IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Merrill Lynch, Procter & Gamble, and Microsoft.

And what exactly did this 'advise' involve? I dug into the good doctor a little more. Basically what she ( and her firm ) does is to provide data regarding boomer trends and polling data. Quote "Mary Furlong’s book has a social heart as well as a business sense. She is trying to assist people who are in business, but not simply for the sake of exploiting a market. Adding value to life is as important to her as it is to us at AARP"

She's also featured here. Seems to me like a lot of hype and packaging in return for, uh...whatever it is boomers are looking for. Still, there's no debating that she's highly successful at what she's doing - Or boomers are more gullible than others. Maybe Mary Furlong has some polling data on that....

YourSpace ? Not any more

The flap over the Obama campaign taking over control of a Myspace Obama fan page from Joe Anthony started with this column, for the record. I don't have anything to add, since this little bit of news is already being jumped on by every self-respecting pundit.

So, why the post? It's because I have a little bit of soothsayering to do. Please take note of the time and date of this post. And if I'm wrong, unload on me. Here's what's going to happen. Joe Anthony is going to vote for Obama, and declare his support, publicly, and on stage. And it's going to become one of the biggest photo-ops this season. And, the Obama Myspace page is going to break 200,000 'friends', as a result. Why do I say this? Do a search for Obama on this blog, and you'll probably realize that I'm some kinda fruitcake. Allow me to add to my reputation. Sometime back, Obama had just announced his run, and after the initial flurry of attention and media coverage, there was an Obama vacuum in the press. What happened? Biden opened his mouth. My point? Edwards hires bloggers, and the ash is still smoldering over that little episode. But Obama has a tiff with the internet community, and believe me, what's going to happen is a flurry of coverage, ending with Obama climbing even higher in the polls.

Finally, time for one more fruitcake prediction - Watch out for illness and personal problems on this campaign. Going to be some very strong candidates dropping out, citing personal problems.

Editors vs. Writers

I was completing a writing job for a client, and I had to write a small paragraph about writers not having to worry about shoddy work, so long as there was an editor to clean it up. At that time, the thought struck me that that was all editors were good for.

What I mean is, how many editors are accomplished writers? If they were accomplished, they wouldn't be paper-pushers drinking stinking mugs of coffee and poring over stinking work from stinking writers, now, would they? The reason I'm crowing about this is that I was reminded that knowing the science of writing and where to put in and take out a comma doesn't make you a writer. It's whether or not you have the art of writing inside you that makes you a writer.

So, do you think writing is an art or a science? Answer will be a very good indication of whether you'll end up with your mugshot in a best-seller list or drinking coffee at 3 a.m., trying to decide whether the writer mistakenly emailed the piece to you instead of the fiction editor.

The Truth vs. Objectivity

Again, apologies for dredging up this comatose blog. Problem is, I could not think of a better place to write this. Hate Associated content, and I'm pretty sure it would have been rejected outright ( if not posted in the daily funnies section ) by any and all recieving editors. For what it's worth - The question is, to a journalist, is truth more important or objectivity?

I know where I stand on this question - The truth provides the backbone for everything I write and most of what I do. Not to say that I don't lie, but when confronted with oppposing viewpoints pulling me in different directions, I defer to the truth - And let the chips fall where they may. The reason I'm harping on this is because I feel that objective journalism ( a front for trying to appear non-partisan ) is driving the coverage. Reporters, analysts and talk-show hosts are careful to quote the viewpoints of both sides, without appearing to hold an opinion themselves. Fine, you're not an opinion columnist. Reporting waht people said is fine. But if you know a clear and plainly apparent falsehood brewed into the statements, do you still quote, without questening the falsehoods or refuting them? If it makes yu partisan, so be it. The truth must speak.