From Cowherd, a monthly business magazine written to advise commercial dairy producer, on December 29, 2011, about new dioxin regulations proposed by the Obama administration

…“what we discovered was that the average consumer would exceed the reference dose” after just one meal or heavy snack, says Steve Kopperud, coordinator for the Food Industry Dioxin Working Group representing a number of agricultural groups, including the International Dairy Foods Association and the National Milk Producers Federation.

Needless to say, they will be opposing it.

Steve Jobs, WalterIsaacson (2011). A great business story and a book about the computer revolution that I have witnessed in my time. Helped me better understand the Apple philosophy and my new IPad (I have always been a PC person).

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy. (1877). An amazingly modern book about the Russian nobility in the late 1800s. Get some space, sink in and get ready for conversations on everything from the role of women to theories about modern agronomy and how Russia differs from the rest of Europe. Real characters who change over time and defy your expectations.

The Tiger’s Wife, Tea Obrecht (2011). A novel about Serbia. Stories within stories. Real and fantastical. Best fiction I have read in a long time.

A Song of Ice and Fire series, George R.R. Martin. O.K., this is five books to which I devoted my reading this past summer. Often very violent and sometimes kind of juvenile, nevertheless, he’s a master of the cliffhanger and I always wanted to know what was next. I admire the huge imaginative world, filled with people and landscapes, that he has created.

The Immortal Life of Hennrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot (2010). An amazing true story about race, the science of cancer and the journey a writer takes to tell the whole story. Works well at all three levels.

The Reporter partnership is one of four new NBC partnerships around the country. The others are with ProPublica, WHYY in WHYY in Philadelphis and KPCC in Los Angeles.

NBC is looking to expand its news gathering capabilities and provide better local news and information. That’s good news for Chicago

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle

Cook County jail currently holds 8,500 inmates, each costing taxpayers $144 per day,” said Toni Preckwinkle, yesterday at a breakfast meeting held by Interfaith Housing Development Corporation.

Preckwinkle, who is celebrating her first year anniversary as Cook County, went on to say”Most are there for drugs or the things people do to support an addiction such as shoplifting or prostitution.

They are not flight risks, but most have illicit substances in their system when they are arrested.

“We are trying to solve our society’s addiction problems by detaining people. We have a 52% recidivism rate. It’s not working.”

I spooned my persimmon out of its bitter, hard skin. The taste was ecstatic. So too, according to Chinese culture, as people age, they attain sweetness, compassion and add value to humankind. Or so they say. I’m 63, so I buy it.

Persimmons play a prominent role in an exhibit of Japanese kimonos currently at the Art Institute Chicago. The exhibit is small, but stunning, and shows kimonos from the 1920s and 1930s. I highly recommend it.

Younger people are much more likely to rent than older people and, as a new Pew Research Center study shows, make considerably less money now compared to 25 years ago.

The Pew study showed that households headed by an adult under age 35 had a 68 percent lower net worth than a same-aged household in 1984, after adjusting for inflation.

In other words, young people have been steadily losing ground and at an alarming rate.

That doesn’t bode well for the Chicago region, which has become a mecca for young people starting out in their careers.  People rent for all kinds of reasons: cost, flexibility, and just not ready yet to settle down.

While the region needs the infusion of talent, creativity and innovation that young people bring, it won’t be able to attract them if they can’t find an affordable rental.

CNC has a contract with the New York Times in which journalists will provide two pages of CNC branded news and commentary to The New York Times twice a week in its Chicago editions on Friday and Saturday. It will also produce a Web site called Chicago Scoop that will provide news, commentary and investigative reporting. Expected to go live in early 2010, reports will also appear on WTTW. It is in discussions with Chicago Public Radio about providing content as well.

CNC editor is James O’Shea, former editor of the Los Angeles Times and former managing editor of the Tribune. James Warren, former Tribune managing editor will write a regular column for CNC that will appear in the NY Times Chicago pages.

Check it out here.

Here are three tips for getting your network to pass your news on to friends and colleagues.

Three Steps To Going Viral

1) Send out a brief paragraph in advance of your event that describes what you will be doing and that motivates people to participate remotely

Example:

“[Organization] will release a report on local food production in Illinois and then visit with legislators in Springfield. Follow us throughout the day and stay up-to-date as we post new images, photos and stories on our landing page.”

2) Provide multiple ways in which interested audiences can follow along.
Be organized and prepare to report on your activities throughout the day in a wide variety of ways

-Website address
-Location where photos are being posted
-Location for video or interviews
-Twitter hashtag

3) Give your audience a way to help pass the information along
Suggest various ways for your audience to stay involved and make it easy to do by giving them tools for doing so.

Example:

“We’ll keep you posted as the day goes along. But, in the meantime, we could use your help spreading the word.”

Facebook Users: Ask people to post a status message and Give people a short paragraph to put up on their Facebook page. Include the url of your landing page.

Urge people to leave a comment on their own status update or to copy the message and post it as their own status

Twitter users: Provide copy and ask people to post it as an update. Urge people to retweet new info as it develops throughout the day.

Email to external listservs and coalition groups: Give your audiences the text for a message and encourage them to send it to all of their networks – listservs, groups, coalitions, etc.