Mediaboss Marketing

DALLAS, Tx. (ABC)-- Most of the country is under watch this morning for cases of the deadly West Nile virus. So far this year, 43 states have reported virus infections in people, birds, or mosquitoes in record numbers.

Almost half the cases are in Texas. Over 80-percent in just six states: Texas, California, Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

West Nile patient Katharyn DeVille descibes her pain, "It's this killer, killer headache. It just makes me feel like somebody has an axe in my head and it hurts really bad."

Two weeks ago, the 42 year old was in good health. But her Flu-like symptoms turned into something much worse.

"When I came in here Thursday for the spinal tap, I was like delirious and couldn't function," DeVille says.

West Nile usually affects the elderly and unhealthy. Most people never even know they have it.

Here are some facts:

Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control reports 693 cases so far this year. 26 of them have been fatal.

Controversial aerial spraying is set to begin in and around Dallas, Texas as early as Thursday night. It would be the first time they've done that since 1966.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said, "I'm in a tight window because we have people dying....we have to have a sense of urgency to get this done now. That's what's the most important thing."

Read this article:
U.S. Health officials are concerned about an outbreak of West Nile Virus

Hal Wolford, Evansville

Will slew of media start using 'bupkis'?

Not too long ago, the ink-stained wretches of this world became fascinated with the word "slew," meaning "a lot of." Now you see it constantly in the printed media. Even the electronic journalists, some of whom read the paper too, have incorporated it into their vocabularies. I suspect it is an effort to connect with the world of rednecks, who were the first to overuse the word as in, "We killed a slew of rabbits down in the sloughs today."

There it is: you don't have to be friends with rednecks, just use the word, "slew" as often as possible.

Now comes the Courier & Press Opinion page with the first prominent use of the word "bupkis" on Friday.

They could just as well use the great redneck word "squat," the other half of diddly squat, which means nothing, not a bit, zero. After all, bupkis has another meaning which is goat manure. Here's hoping bupkis doesn't become as overused as slew. Chances are it won't catch on with the rednecks.

Follow this link:
LETTER: Will slew of media start using bupkis?

With their usual lack of healthy reportorial skepticism about Walmart on the Lake, both Chicago dailies, assorted TV stations and other local media earlier this week regurgitated a press release from Lollapalooza promoters C3 Presents assuring residents that this years post-concert clean-up of Grant Park will not linger into the fall as last years did, and that it will cost a mere $150,000 versus the alleged $1 million tab for 2011.

Can we imagine journalists taking anything a politician says at face value, much lessheavens forbid!Drew Peterson? Sources say the repairs will take a lot longer and cost much more than has been reported. Still, Lollapalooza consistently gets a pass and the sunniest of statements are repeated without question.

Before the festival began, we took several preventative steps to protect sensitive areas of the park and limit the potential for damage, the Sun-Times quoted C3 majordomo Charlie Jones as saying in his prepared statement. Now, were determined to put the park in better shape than it was before Lollapalooza.

C3 Presents said much of the work to seed, resod and otherwise rebeautify the north end of the park from the effects of the three-day festival with about 300,000 attendees will take place over the next week to 10 days, added the Tribuneand this despite an Aug. 4 deluge [that] forced Grant Park to be briefly evacuated.

As per usual, the Chicago Park District and the toothless watchdog group the Grant Park Conservancy readily agreed that, yes, everything is just swell, and absolutely, they sure do love Lollapalooza!

One unasked question, however, is obvious just in those brief quotes above: Why are repairs to the park only beginning to take place over the next week to 10 days, a week and a half after the concert ended?

There might be a good answer, but Chicagoans never will know if no one asks the question. Nor will they know that Lollapaloozas deal with the Park Districtboth the old one and the new one that keeps the concert in the citys front yard in perpetuityis unique among all the agreements the city makes with festivals and other private events in the public parks for not imposing a deadline for clean-up or levying the usual steep fines that kick in if a park is not restored within 24 hours.

An even more significant fact that most Chicagoans will not realizeand I missed it in a recent story as well, until a reader reminded me that Id already reported it in the initial stories about the Emanuel administrations new version of the Lollapalooza dealis that C3 and the Park District now engage an independent third party to assess the post-concert damage and put a dollar figure on making the repairs, after which C3 pays the Park District to make the repairs itself.

Under the old deal, the Austin, Texas-based concert promoters both paid for and performed the restoration work.

Here is the language from the new contract: Within a reasonable time following the conclusion of each Festival, the independent third-party shall assess the condition of the Festival Area and establish a cost of repairing and restoring the Festival Area to its Pre-Festival Condition. Upon such determination by the independent third party, C3 shall immediately pay to the CPD [Chicago Park District] an amount equal to such repair and restoration costs. C3 shall be financially responsible for all reasonable costs related to repairing and restoring the Festival Area to its pre-Festival condition.

See original here:
Grant Park clean-up: Taking Lollapalooza at its word

NEW YORK - It's about freakin' time.

The term F-bomb first surfaced in newspapers more than 20 years ago but only landed in the mainstream Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary this week, along with sexting, flexitarian, obesogenic, energy drink, and life coach.

In all, the company picks about 100 additions for the 114-year-old dictionary's annual update, gathering evidence of usage over several years from sources ranging from media to the labels of beer bottles and frozen food.

So who's responsible for lobbing F-bomb far and wide? Kory Stamper, an associate editor for Merriam-Webster, said that she and her fellow word spies at the Massachusetts company traced the word back to 1988, in a Newsday story that had Mets catcher Gary Carter talking about how he had given them up, along with other profanities.

But the word didn't really take off until the late '90's, after basketball coach Bobby Knight went heavy on the F-bombs during a locker-room tirade.

"We saw another huge spike after Dick Cheney dropped an F-bomb in the Senate in 2004," and again in 2010 when Vice President Biden did the same thing in the same place, Stamper said.

"It's a word that is very visually evocative. It's not just the F-word. It's F-bomb. You know that it's going to cause a lot of consternation and possible damage," she said.

Many online dictionary and reference sites already list F-bomb and other entries Merriam-Webster is only now putting into print. A competitor, Oxford University Press, has F-bomb under consideration for a future update of its New Oxford American Dictionary, but beat Merriam-Webster to print on a couple of other newcomers: mash-up, added to the Oxford book in 2005, and cloud computing, included in 2010.

No worries, Stamper said. The dictionary biz isn't a race.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate gets a cover-to-cover overhaul every decade or so in addition to yearly upgrades. The Springfield, Mass.-based company also picks a defining word of each year closer to Thanksgiving. Among the company's other additions this year, including online at Merriam-Webster.com, and various apps:

Originally posted here:
As the word turns: 'F-bomb' makes Merriam-Webster's

Paris Hilton is living for the moment and refusing to let her critics bring her down.

Paris Hilton is living for the moment.

The 31-year-old socialite - who is currently vacationing in Europe - has decided to stop spending time worrying about consequences and is refusing to be upset be her critics.

She tweeted: '' Life becomes so much better when you decide not to care. Just live for the moment and don't let the anyone or anything bring you down.''

Paris has spent the last few days on the Spanish island of Ibiza with her sister Nicky and some of her friends and the group have found a balance between hard partying and relaxing nights in.

In a series of tweets, she wrote: ''In Ibiza, staying in tonight. Relaxing. Finallly got the wi-fi service to work.#YES! Will post some pics of my European summer vacation. 🙂

''What an incredible time last night at @UshuaiaIbiza! Love watching@DavidGuetta play, so many sick songs! So much fun at @UshuaiaIbiza with @NickyHilton & the Party Queen@CathyGuetta! She throws the best parties...

''Love having bikini fun in the sun! 😉 I love Ibiza! Such a fun & beautiful island (sic)''

However, Paris' Ibiza break isn't lasting long as today (16.08.12) she is planning to party in Cannes, France.

She tweeted earlier this week: ''Can't wait for my party this Thursday at GOTHA in Cannes! One of my favorite nightclubs

Here is the original post:
Paris Hilton - Paris Hilton Living In The Moment