NewsScan Daily, 28 October 2004 ("Above The Fold")

NewsScan Daily, 28 October 2004 ("Above The Fold")
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"ABOVE THE FOLD"
        Internet Broadens Voters' Political Horizons
        Bush Web Site Blocks Foreign Visitors
        New Web Domains on the Way
        Video Games for the Very Young
        Sign of the Times: Gold MP3s

FEATURES
        Flash Card
        Honorary Subscriber: Betty Crocker (Marjorie Husted)

INTERNET BROADENS VOTERS' POLITICAL HORIZONS
      More than 40% of U.S. Internet users have gotten news and information 
about this year's presidential campaign online, and 31% of broadband users 
now cite the Net as their primary source of campaign news -- about the same 
number as those who rely on newspapers (35%). And while some pundits had 
expressed concern that wider use of the Internet would result in a 
decreased exposure to viewpoints that conflict with users', it turns out 
that Internet users have a greater overall exposure to political arguments, 
including those that challenge their preferences. "People are using the 
Internet to broaden their political horizons, not narrow them," says Kelly 
Garret, co-author of a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life 
Project. "Use of the Internet doesn't necessarily diminish partisanship, or 
even zealotry. But it does expose online Americans to more points of view, 
and, on balance, that is a good thing." One surprise coming out of the 
survey -- about 20% of Americans say they actually prefer news sources that 
challenge their point of view, and nearly 10% are *more* aware of arguments 
that oppose their candidate than arguments in favor. (Pew Internet & 
American Life Project 28 Oct 2004)
<http://www.pewinternet.org>

BUSH WEB SITE BLOCKS FOREIGN VISITORS
      The Bush-Cheney campaign has cut off access to its Web site by anyone 
outside the U.S. or Canada. Instead, those visitors will see the message: 
"Access denied. You don't have permission to access www.georgewbush.com on 
this server." The move comes a week after a crippling hacker attack that 
took down the Web site for six hours. Security experts say that while it's 
not usual for Web sites to block traffic from specific Internet addresses 
or from certain countries notorious for churning out spam, the Bush-Cheney 
campaign's move is probably unprecedented. "I've never heard of a site 
wholesale blocking access from the rest of the world," says Johannes 
Ulrich, CTO for the SANS Internet Storm Center. "I guess they decided it 
just wasn't worth the trouble to leave it open to foreign visitors." Jonah 
Sieger, a founding partner for Connections Media, which does consulting 
work with Democratic candidates, says it doesn't make sense for the 
Bush-Cheney folks to "consciously block access to anybody. Maybe the next 
thing they'll try is to block Democrats and people in blue states from 
coming to the site." (Washington Post 27 Oct 2004)
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2668-2004Oct27.html>

NEW WEB DOMAINS ON THE WAY
      Two new Internet domain names -- ".post" and ".travel" -- have 
received preliminary approval from ICANN, which says they could be in use 
as early as next year. Talks are now scheduled to hammer out the details on 
creating and running the domain names, a process that could take months. 
ICANN is also considering proposals for additional domains, including 
".asia," ".jobs," and ".xxx," but the oversight group said the .post and 
travel names were different from most existing names because they would be 
set aside for specific industries and interest groups. The Universal Postal 
Union in Switzerland wants .post for national postal services, local post 
offices, business partners and stamp collectors. Private delivery services 
such as FedEx and UPS would also be eligible. The UPU envisions 
establishing up to 650,000 virtual post offices to enable users to access 
their local postal functions anywhere in the world. The Travel Partnership 
Corp., a New York trade group, wants to make .travel available to travel 
agents, hotels, airlines, B&B operators, tourism bureaus and others in the 
travel industry. It hopes that having a specific domain will encourage more 
travel-related businesses to put their information on the Web. (AP 28 Oct 2004)
<http://apnews.excite.com/article/20041028/D860EHTG0.html>

VIDEO GAMES FOR THE VERY YOUNG
      Video game makers are turning their attention to the younger crowd -- 
in this case, children as young as 2 or 3 -- in an effort to meet demand 
and groom a new generation of players. A report issued last year by the 
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation indicated that half of all 4- to 
6-year-olds had played video games -- on handheld devices, computers or 
game consoles -- and a quarter reported playing several times a week. Of 
children 3 or younger, 14% had played video games. "Companies have found 
that there's an untapped market with the really young kid," says Kaiser VP 
Vicky Rideout. To meet this demand, Atari is marketing a line of PC games 
for children aged 3 to 6 that come in see-through boxes and include a small 
toy, like a doll or action figure. The new market comes as a boon for the 
multibillion-dollar video game industry as it looks to expand beyond its 
core constituency -- males aged 14 to 34. And by starting the kids early, 
it "helps to feed in new gamers all the time," says an executive at one 
video game company. Meanwhile, an analyst with research firm NPD Group says 
that partly as a result of this shift, conventional toy sales are flat. "If 
parents are spending $200, $400 and more on these things, they take away 
from other things kids can have. But kids seem very happy and content with 
a computer and a couple of games." (New York Times 28 Oct 2004)
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/28/technology/circuits/28kids.html>

SIGN OF THE TIMES: GOLD MP3s
      In a nod to the digital age, the Recording Industry Association of 
America has issued its first gold, platinum and multiplatinum 
certifications for digital downloads. RIAA chief executive Mitch Bainwol 
calls the awards "a reflection of both the commitment of the entire music 
community to consumer-friendly legitimate digital services and fan appetite 
for high-quality music." The RIAA based its certifications on sales from 
legitimate digital download services, including Apple iTunes, Musicmatch, 
Napster and RealNetworks. And the winner is: Outkast's "Hey Ya!" with more 
than 400,000 downloads (earning it the only multiplatinum designation). In 
addition, six songs qualified for platinum (200,000 downloads) and 45 for 
gold (100,000 downloads). (CNet News.com 27 Oct 2004)
<http://news.com.com/From+gold+records+to+gold+MP3s/2100-1027_3-5429377.html>

*****

FLASH CARD
      "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food." 
(Hippocrates)

HONORARY SUBSCRIBER: BETTY CROCKER (MARJORIE HUSTED)
      Today's Honorary Subscriber is the famous food industry icon Betty 
Crocker, who was the creation of home economist and businesswoman Marjorie 
Child Husted (1892-1986).
      In 1926, Husted headed a home service department for the flour and 
sales firm Washburn-Crosby whose staff answered letters from consumers on 
various topics in homemaking over the standardized signature "Betty 
Crocker," the last name being that of a popular, recently retired director, 
and the first name chosen for its simple friendliness. In 1928 
Washburn-Crosby was merged with several other firms to create General 
Mills, which continued the home service department, renamed as the Betty 
Crocker Homemaking Service, with Husted as director. She turned Betty 
Crocker into the personification of General Mills.
      Commercial artist Neysa McMein was commissioned to paint a portrait 
of "Betty Crocker," giving her the look of a friendly American homemaker. 
This image, which was updated periodically to keep up with changing fashion 
styles, became a signature label on General Mills products, making Betty 
Crocker as well known to the public as any real woman.
      Husted was the brains behind the Crocker image; she wrote the ad copy 
and supervised the experimental kitchens set up to test and demonstrate 
products and recipes. On radio interviews and advertisements hers was the 
original Betty Crocker voice. Later, when The Betty Crocker School of the 
Air grew in popularity, use was made of different actresses working from 
radio stations across the country.
      Husted was born Marjorie Child in Minneapolis, where she attended 
public schools and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1913.  She 
remained at the university to take a degree in education the next year. She 
first worked as secretary of the Minneapolis Infant Welfare Society, after 
which during World War I she joined the Red Cross. After the war she was 
associated with the Women's Cooperative Alliance until 1923, when she 
became advertising and merchandising supervisor for the Minneapolis 
Creamette Company. A year later she moved to the Washburn-Crosby Company, 
as field representative in home economics, and the next year she married K. 
Wallace Husted.
      Her years of successful work as Betty Crocker led to her promotion in 
1946 to the job of consultant to the officers and executives of General 
Mills, and in 1948 she was made consultant in advertising, public 
relations, and home service. She also served in 1948 as a consultant to the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture on food conservation. Honors accorded her 
for her achievements included the 1949 Advertising Woman of the Year Award 
from the Advertising Federation of America and the Outstanding Achievement 
Award of the Women's National Press Club, also in 1949.  In April 1950 she 
left General Mills to form her own consulting firm, Marjorie Child Husted 
and Associates. She died on December 23, 1986, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 
Although unlike Sara Lee, Betty Crocker was not a real person, a public 
opinion poll once rated her as the second most famous woman in America 
after Eleanor Roosevelt.

[To find a library copy of Marjorie Husted's "Brown Derby Cookbook," 
published in 1949, visit RLG's RedLightGreen.com: 
<http://www.redlightgreen.com/ucwprod/servlet/ucw.servlets.UCWController?ACTION=EDITION&WORKID=670460&> 
- or to purchase the latest version of the Betty Crocker cookbook you might 
want to visit: 
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764560794/newsscancom/ref=nosim/> 
Note: We donate all revenue from our book recommendations to adult literacy 
programs.]

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