Recently in Ramblings Category

Tennessee is full of small cities, but only one was good enough to m ake Money magazine's 2008 version of the 100 Best Places to Live, Mon ey's list of America's best small cities. That city is Franklin.

The list was limited to cities with populations between 50,000 and 300,000 and is featured in the August edition. Here is a the snapshot of Franklin and how Knoxville compares to the Top 10 (that's a great tool).

For those interested, here's the methodology.

Franklin is a great choice, but there are numerous cities in Tennessee with a great quality of life.

(PHoto is from visitwilliamson.com)

I wonder what the Knoxville impact of this would be:

With a little more than one week of trading as a separate company under its belt, Scripps Networks Interactive  is once again the topic of merger speculation, with some analysts and observers predicting that NBC Universal could end up with the group of lifestyle cable networks.

-- MultiChannel News

Scripps Networks is headquartered in West Knoxville.

(Photo of Knoxville headquarters from company Web  site.)

Doing talk radio this afternoon  at 1 with Michael Silence and George Korda. Glenn Reynolds is the guest at noon. It's streamed from here.

Tennessee ranks No.1 in morphine and codeine use, No. 2 in hydrocodone, No. 3 in oxvcodone, No. 4 in meperidine, and No. 6 in fentanvl, according to this info-packed, but easy to understand map from the Rob Curley crew at the Las Vegas Sun.

I'm sure these stellar rankings are included in the state's economic development and tourism pitches. Don't you?

* Rankings are based on state per capita use in 2006.

(via Underoak)

University of Tennessee journalism professor Jim Stovall says in an email that an especially good show is coming together for the East Tennessee SPJ's Front Page Follies on July 19, a fast-approaching Saturday night.

Stovall says:

There has been plenty to spoof this year, and the show is hilarious. I know because I am in the cast. For instance, one of the songs we're doing this year is called Jailhouse Rocky Top, sung to the tune of Jailhouse Rock. Here's an excerpt from the script:

JAILHOUSE ROCKY TOP
(Tune:  Jailhouse Rock)

Ernie:
The Vols had a pep rally in the county jail, Half the team was there except those who made bail.

Clint:
The fans wore orange in a prison shade,
You shoulda heard the riot when the pep band played.

Chorus:
(Ernie, Clint, Megan, Kristina, David, Michael H., Alan) They rocked!  Everybody, they rocked!
Everybody in the whole cellblock
Was singin' "Jailhouse Rocky Top."

Ernie:
The Sheriff said to Fulmer, "I apologize "That circumstances led us to arrest your guys."

Clint:
Fulmer said, "Don't worry, Sheriff, that's all right.
"At least I know where they are tonight."

Repeat Chorus

The web page for the Front Page Follies show is http://etspj.org/front-page-follies/.

Now, here's something to get viral over.

Voicemail is dead. Please tell everyone so they'll stop using it.

-- Michael Arrington

I've long had a message on my work desk phone voicemail that said the best way to reach me is by email. Alas, it does little to deter the truly persistent voicemail depositors.

My problem with voicemail is that while it's easier for the messenger, it's just damn inefficient for the recipient.

I've experimented with Grand Central, but not enough people use my GC number (865-686-6033) for that service to be of great value. I just haven't adopted it as my one "universal number."

In the lesser of evils, I'd rather get an email than a voicemail

(via Howard Owens).


(via Howard Owens)

Consumer Products Safety Commission recalls fireworks product that "can produce a loud bang and unexpectedly scatter debris, posing an injury hazard to the user and bystanders."

I guess that's a problem?

Charlene Li, who announced today she's leaving Forrester Resarch, says:

I was once asked what was the best career advice I ever received -- and it was to plan for job obsolescence every 18 months, because research showed that people typically master a job in that time period and fall into a routine.

Based on that I'm like a way overdue library book hiding under the old magazines. But, yeah, I have a new title, a redefined role, a new place to sit, and I'm into FACTS.

Ask me in 18 months if I have it down to a routine.

 This is pretty cute. (Stay with it until after the end.)