Archive for November, 2012

Roadside Assistance Not Assistive, From Outsourcedville, U.S.A.

Posted in The Global Scene Through Berkeleyan Eyes on November 24th, 2012 by admin – Be the first to comment

by Steed Dropout
November 22, 2012

Special On-the -Road-Coverage for Berkeley Reporter

Tualatin, Or.

This is close to a national scandal.

A tire blowout is no big deal these days, right? All you have to do is get on the cell, and summon help. If you don’t have road repair insurance, you can call 911, and pay out of pocket.

Only two things are necessary, a working phone, and a pocket.

I was insured for roadside assistance, and my phone worked well at first. As it’s battery began to decline, it wasn’t of much use.

But the phone put me through to roadside assistance, who were in Arizona, and then Texas, and finally Florida. The 20-year-old Arizonan and I discussed high school English and became great friends. He said that I had done a good job of “locating” myself, and staying cool. Many fail this test, according to the kid.

Second vehicle is a small truck, used for animal control, Oregon State Police. Note I-5 upper right. I had pulled off and didn't know it. I gave my location as I-5, but anyone local would have known, that is, if they even showed up. Photo by Ted Friedman.

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Branded to Death on the Way to Extinction

Posted in The Berkeley Scene, The Global Scene Through Berkeleyan Eyes on November 13th, 2012 by admin – Be the first to comment

by Steed Dropout
Nov. 10. 2012

Berkeley, Ca

BRAND THIS!

I’m not Coca-Cola or Levis, or anything like that, but ever since I began my recent career in on-line journalism several years ago, I was advised to land high on Google search results pages. AND to brand.

Yeah, I took a marketing course in 1958, where I learned branding. But I never thought journalists would be urged to brand. (A branding workshop for journalists, et.al. was held recently in Manhattan).

But why brand journalists, since we’re supposed to be objective in a world where journalism ranks sixth among psychopathic occupations, and no one believes a word we write. The answer: because on-line free-lance journalism, the dumping ground for laid-off reporters, is more competitive than even before, when it was also highly competitive.

'Patches' selling patches on Berkeley's Telegraph avenue a few weeks ago, along with weed. 'It wasn't marijuana,' he said 'but cookies.' This was a heavily-voiced (branded) Ted Friedman story for the Berkeley Daily Planet, where this picture was recently published. Photo by Ted Friedman.

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