Right under my nose: There Was Granny Squibbb's absolutely delicious iced tea

Besides being a “Trend Tracker,” I'm an artist of sorts. For years I've had fun drawing pictures of scenes that include a hapless Victorian character named Col. Chambers in various states of agony and ecstasy. A couple of years ago I compiled a book of these drawings titled “Who is Col. Chambers” and self published it on GreenRhinoPixelbooks.com . Col. Chambers pictures have even been snapped up by some astute collectors who appreciate the unusual. For years I have been giving these slice of life watercolor and ink, pseudo- etchings to my family members and to a few dear friends. The walls in our homes in Garden City NY and Saunderstown RI are encrusted with Col. Chambers pictures and I delight in showing visitors the fruits of a fertile imagination.

A friend who has received more than a few of these little pictures is my Saunderstown neighbor, Robin Squibb. Once, from the bath house at the threshold of her nearby pier, she saw me crash land on my head while I was navigating the slippery rocks to gain access to the inviting waters of Narragansett Bay. Seeing my condition and being a compassionate person, she not only gave me permission to use her pier to go swimming, she insisted upon it. This generosity of spirit couldn't go unrewarded and, to show my boundless appreciation I made her an involuntary member of the Col. Chambers Fan Club. Col. Chambers has since become a light hearted bonding influence in our relationship.

Robin's successful career in movie making required her to make scenes shot on different days and under different conditions fit together seamlessly (an art in itself), and it has required an awareness of the challenges of perfectionism. That's why I was delighted when she told me she was going to use her talents and energies to open up a new chapter in her life as the proprietor of Granny Squibb's Iced Tea.

Granny Squibb (Robin's Grandmother) sailed schooners, won tennis tournaments and made amazing iced tea. Not a summer day went by in that wonderful old house next door to us when she didn't have a glass of it ready for everyone - so it was only fitting that Robin perpetuate a family tradition and keep Granny's tea flowing. Naturally, to celebrate Robin's entry into the entrepreneurial class Col. Chambers had to show his approval with a glass of her delicious elixir and I gave her a cartoon depicting Granny herself doing the pouring.

The trend-tracker believes Granny's success is assured, and as you can see from the Col. Chambers cartoon, he heartily agrees. You'll have to try some. You can get a case of it at Rochs or for more information go to WWW.GRANNYSQUIBB.COM

FOCUSwhsn on Education

FOCUSwhsn: NEW WEBSITE UNDER DEVELOPMENT TO REVOLUTIONIZE HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION.

Bill Keegan is still at it. He threw away his plans to publish a free magazine to address the “no child left behind” initiative in favor of an Internet based “text books on line” approach.

The challenging conversion from an analog to a digital age has given rise to a solution to the outdated expensive textbook problem that has been deviling the education process for decades. Through FOCUSwhsn, Keegan will bring to a world wide age-specific audience of teens, educators, parents  and tutors a Website that is: accurate, contemporaneous, up-datable, interactive, entertaining, curiculum-based,  mind challenging, easy to use,  downloadable, and  archival. 

The troubled economy has forced school administrators  to rethink their positions on distance learning and Internet based instruction. California is going to use digitized  textbooks in place of print versions (FOCUSWHSN.com  will be in immediate demand). Florida is passing a law that will mandate at least one online course of instruction in its schools in the first semester of this school year ( FOCUSWHSN.com can fill the bill). The wisdom of making this transition into PDF format is so apparent we expect this ripple will quickly become a wave in the months ahead (FOCUSWHSN.com will guarantee a million unique visitors in its controlled audience  in major markets through contracts with participating schools). The audience is expected to grow exponentially with the groundswell of acceptance for Internet based information and educational services that appears to be forthcoming from communities all over the nation.

FOCUS' strength as a marketing tool will be in its stickiness, assured by lesson plan driven multiple  “user sessions.”  Audience projections could reasonably be based upon the acceptance of distance learning and online classrooms  which will open the portal for unique visitors who haven't been using the Website in conjunction with their courses of instruction yet would like to be doing so. With the world 's  teens and  their parents  and educators  as Keegan's target, his universe will be as large as the number of computers and portable phones with Internet access.  

W hen he planned to launch FOCUS in print,  research indicated that he could have a circulation of three million within the first year. Then Keegan realized that advertisers would be unlikely to direct sufficient ad dollars to a fledgling  print vehicle with such a large circulation.  Until the magazine had a proven impact in the marketplace it would be difficult to convince ad agencies to divert a large chunk of their client's budgets into a “new” medium. He chose a conservative course. 

FOCUS' new marketing plan will employ the same strategy: inviting every school in the markets we want to serve to have a PIN through which they could  effectively use FOCUS as their curricula support. Due to the plan's simplicity; the efficiency it brings to the educational process and the convenience it offers the schools the Website could easily  expect to have 5 million viewers in two years... and that's just in the U.S..  Multilingual and culturally sensitive FOCUS anticipates a world wide demand for its PINS and a significant number of unique visitors who will feed the Website.

Stay tuned. This one is developing fast. For more information or if you have some constructive ideas  contact me at john_rhein3@yahoo.com.

 

 FOCUSwhsn will be sensitive to the needs of todays educational cyberspace community

• ACCESS CONTROLLED BY REGISTRATION AND POLICED FOR TAMPERING, MISCHIEF ACTS

• THE MODALITY ASSUMES THAT TEACHERS AND STUDENTS WILL HAVE ACCESS TO AN INTERNET CONNECTED COMPUTER, A TV, PRINTER, AND PAPER

• CONTINUOUS UPDATING OF NEWS AND  DEVELOPMENTS THAT IMPACT ARCHIVED ARTICLES

• UBIQUITOUS PEDAGOGY (UNIVERSAL ACCESS)

• SURVEYS AND TESTS CAN BE IMMEDIATELY (ELECTRONICALLY) TABULATED AND SCORED

• LESSON PLANS WILL BE CURRICULUM BASED

• STUDENTS CAN LEARN AT THEIR OWN SPEED

• TEACHERS WILL HAVE MORE TIME TO SPEND INSTRUCTING

• CONTENT IS MONITORED BY AND EDUCATOR REVIEW BOARD FOR TASTE, BALANCE AND ACCURACY

• PODCASTS WILL BE USED FREQUENTLY

• MULTILINGUAL CONTENT

• ENTERTAINMENT SECTION WILL BE TASTEFUL AND EDUCATIONAL AND DESIGNED TO BE “STICKY”

ZapMyTV Ripple

New Age Medium: ZapMyTV Coming Soon

This month DBC (Digital Broadcast Corp.) is preparing to announce a revolutionary approach to the delivery of media through its wholly owned subsidiary ZapMyTV.    

ZapMyTV creates an online digital matrix portal through which consumers may watch and record television programs as well as simultaneously interact with other users through the use of chat rooms, video conferencing and blogging. ZapMyTV competes worldwide and any user with an Internet connection at speeds as low as 200 kilobytes per second can subscribe. 

People in the media business will be quick to see the boundless commercial possibilities this portal offers, and those who have been experiencing the painful implosion of the old media metric will see a resurrection via a new digital age communications paradigm. With ZapMyTV the world will be  truly flat - virtually interactive: culturally and economically.

Anyone interested in participating in the early stages (and I'm told lots of people are) could contact me by Email: john_rhein3@yahoo.com. Find out about the Paramount, Adobe, Limelight connections and get a business plan. (Oh yes- I've invested myself).

Not every ripple becomes a wave but this one could well be a tsunami.