Thursday, May 2, 2002
The Fastest-Growing Counties of the Last Decade
There are some great stories here for you. The Bureau of the Census just released a slug of data about counties.
Southern counties dominated the list of the 10 fastest-growing counties between Census Day, April 1, 2000, and July 1, 2001.
Overall, 55 percent of all 3,141 U.S. counties grew since April 1,
2000. Nine of the 10 counties that have grown the fastest since Census 2000 were in the South: three in Texas, three in Georgia and one each in Virginia, Kentucky and Florida.
-See a Listing of the 100 Fastest Growing Counties in the US
-See a Listing of the 100 Counties with the Largest Pop Gains
-See a Listing of the 100 Largest Counties
Deadline Comes, Deadline Goes — No HDTV
By this morning, all TV stations were supposed to have “gone HD” — but three fourths of them didn’t make the deadline.
As Peter Panepento at goerie.com reports, given the projected high cost for each station to install high-definition transmitting equipment and the relatively low demand for the pricey sets needed to watch HDTV, many in the industry are not surprised.
To encourage the adoption of digital television, the FCC has set up deadlines for television stations to begin broadcasting at least some of their programs in HDTV.
More than 100 stations in large markets were required to begin transmitting at least some HDTV programs by May 1999. The remaining 1,121 stations were required to meet the same requirement by May 1, 2002. See schedule here. A GAO report last week said 113 of the 119 stations that were to have gone digital by May 1999 have done so. But only 185 of the 1,121 that were to have been digital by yesterday have done so. Of those, most told the feds that they have seen no customer benefit to speak of. It has been a huge expense with no payoff.
But nearly three quarters of those stations say they are not going to be able to meet that deadline, according to a report released Friday by the General Accounting Office.
HDTV resource links
Women and Guns
Cybercast News Service says, “National Rifle Association officials are crediting a relatively new NRA program for “phenomenal growth” in the number of women becoming involved in shooting sports.
NRA officials said Sunday the “Women on Target” program is drawing more women into firearms sports by providing instructional clinics around the country and offering ‘women-only’ hunting events.
NRA claims, “There are currently about two million American women who hunt and an additional four million who enjoy target shooting. These numbers are steadily increasing.
“Women on Target has found that if women are given invitations to go shooting or hunting with friends, or receive firearms instructions from NRA certified instructors, that most will jump at the chance,” said Stephanie Henson, director of the NRA’s Women’s Programs Department.
Wonder what the “U” or the “K” means on food packaging?
I learned something that some of you already know. The little U or K that is on many food labels means something. It means those foods are certified Kosher. According to Kosherquest.com, “…it has been estimated that approximately one third of all shelf products in our supermarkets are certified kosher. This makes the kosher industry in the U.S. a $30 billion dollar a year business. Although only a relatively small amount of this food is dedicated strictly toward the kosher consumer (about $2 billion), the interest in kosher food is rapidly growing. Some adhere to kosher laws from conviction, such as seventh day Adventists, Muslims, and vegetarians. However, most of the interest comes from people who feel that the kosher certification is their best guarantee that the products and its ingredients are being watched carefully and properly. Some large corporations have found it profitable to acquire kosher companies, such as a recent (1992) acquisition by Sara Lee of the $85 million a year Besin Corp., which produces Sinai and Best products. This trend appears to be on the rise. In the U.S. alone, there appear to be at least five million people who buy products based on their being kosher.”
Story idea: go along on a Kosher inspection. Here is a list of who conducts such inspections and grants certification
