MISCmedia MAIL has to say goodbye to the original “alt weekly,” being turned from a newspaper into merely a “brand.” We also discuss why Breitbart still has (some) ads; the accidental release of a ton of “fish farm” fish into public waters; a beautiful makeover to a pivotal local park; and how a school can be segregated without looking like it.

The temperature cooled significantly. The outdoor light looked like a movie “day for night” shot. And people glimpsed the realms beyond our own world. Now it’s back to the dog daze o’ summer, when MISCmedia MAIL mentions a call for a “centrist” political movement (as if we don’t already have one); a national media article claiming some Seattleites like to live in their cars (?); prison time for a local Ponzi-schemer; and a big trans convention coming to town.

Another MISCMedia MAIL week starts with an exhibit of altered flags for an altered nation. It goes on to discuss two waterfront fires; questionable words of support for a tent city; men’s pro basketball coming back to Seattle (in a way); and another mistake in impersonally-designed “personal statement” products.

A new week of MISCmedia MAIL begins with a postmortem on Paul Allen’s big in-town music fest; a list of 13 important Washington books (and one Washington book publisher); more on America’s worst broadcaster; and Seattle’s second hockey championship in 101 years.

Our e-missive today leads off with the previous mayor wanting to become the next mayor. It also includes Amazon workers who don’t like the dot-com’s ads on Breitbart; climate change altering the course of mighty rivers; the Mariners’ continued comeback; and where some African American activists, who didn’t go to the big Black Lives Matter march, went instead.

Alas, handing cans of Pepsi to cops at protests probably won’t save the world. Shocking, I know. But there are more realistic topics to discuss today, including nice Canadians having border trouble; a plea to try and get more “affordable” units under the HALA plan; physicians saving refugees from being sent home to die; and Amazon vs. the Girl Scouts.

Ivan, the late discount-store caged gorilla, now stands proud and free as a statue. Among further Thursday topics: Attack ads come to local political races at last; Providence hospitals stop using religion as an excuse to stiff worker pensions; some Sonics Arena opponents still oppose it; and “socially responsible” video games.

So you stocked up on canned goods, canceled your weekend plans, and all for just a few minutes of torrential downpour followed by the usual autumn sogginess. (Turns out the real storm here was at Friday’s homeless-bill hearing.) We additionally talk about Hope Solo’s possible next career move; a gay-rights garden planned for Broadway; a sidewalk with solar panels; how to make the police force more diverse; and an old, old town with a new name.

As WSU prepares a Hanford museum, local activists propose a unilateral nuclear-weapons scrap. Additional topics this Thursday include a clever local response to a traditional-gender-roles “action fashion” shoot; hydro power’s eco side effects; a drive to “democratize” artificial intelligence; the ascendant Sounders; and a soap-opera master’s final fadeout.

We’re all still Mariners fans after this past weekend, right? Also under review: High-school students take charge of trans-bathroom activism; oil protesters arrested on train tracks; how the KPLU/KUOW deal really went down; a new site for the Punk Rock Flea Market (replacing the previous new site); and Amazon’s threat to every mall and clothing store.

As we await the first hot weather of the year, we also consider a bad place to put up an ad poster; why you can’t get some electric cars here; when “conversation” about thorny issues isn’t enough; and a big day for one of my all-time lit heroes.

As we slide inevitably into the (hopefully) Sweet ’16, MISCmedia MAIL discusses a Mercedes commercial shot where the Mercedes dealership used to be; a dead orca and minor earthquake in B.C.; an Aurora streetwalker’s life (exactly as rough as you’d expect); a message to “targeted” young black males from Seattle’s “Youth Poet Laureate;” and a gazillion New Year’s options.

Back from a three-day weekend and into what will probably be another slow news week, MISCmedia MAIL discusses a wisely-altered billboard; a strike back against upscaling the U District; a dead whale (soon to be a tourist attraction!); and as little about the Seahawks game as possible.

aboutfacts.net

The publication that first coined the phrase “Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman” (initially referring to women’s spending power, as a lure to advertisers) is calling it quits.

The Ladies’ Home Journal and Practical Housekeeper, as it was known back in 1886, was founded by Philadelphia newspaper publisher Cyrus Curtis, and originally edited by his wife Louisa Knapp Curtis. It was run for three decades by the Curtises’ son-in-law Edward Bok, one of the inventors of the modern magazine industry. (Some old timers might have heard of the Curtis/Bok family’s other big magazine, The Saturday Evening Post.)

The Journal was a pioneer in the business model of cheap subscriptions subsidized by advertising, and thrived on it for many years. At the end it still had more than 3.2 million buyers (down from 6.8 million in 1968); but ad revenue had collapsed, as it has for so many print ventures. The name will now appear on occasional “newsstand special” editions, essentially to keep the trademark alive.

(The above image links to a review of a 1900 article in which the Journal predicted American life in the far-off year 2000. The article was a lot closer to what really happened than you might think.)

mallhalloffame.blogspot.ca

In the six weeks or so since I posted any news briefs, the news has just kept on a-comin’.

Among the highlights: The hedge-fund guys who bought and sold Chrysler, then bought (and re-merged) the two previously spun-apart regional halves of Albertsons, are now going to buy Safeway.

Both chains have been bought and sold in leveraged buyout schemes previously; both have barely recovered from those debacles. Both chains have also acquired other regional chains over the decades, and lost and re-gained some of the stores operating under their original “store banners.” Even the “core” Safeway-branded operation was originally a merger of several chains, arranged by Merrill Lynch in the 1920s.

It happens that Safeway and Albertsons both have roots in Idaho (the original Albertsons is still open in Boise!). Both circuits grew and thrived in the inland and coastal West, areas A&P (the grocery biz’s former 300-lb. gorilla) mostly never got around to entering. These are also territories that Walmart only got around to entering in the last decade or two. That makes them relatively stable fiscally, compared to southern and eastern grocery circuits operating in Walmart’s core regions.

Both chains, of course, control lots of real estate, which may be the real reason they’re attractive to the hedge-fund folks. Safeway in particular has actively co-developed multi-story, “mixed use” projects on many of its store sites, including several projects in Seattle and Bellevue.

The soon-to-be-combined chains’ management claims no stores will close as a result of the merger. But many could be sold off, especially in metro areas where both chains are strong. And some warehouses and front-office jobs could also go away.

One thing I predict won’t go away: the persistent, and false, urban legend that either or both chains are really “owned by the Mormons.” They never were.

NY10014 at flickr