Weekend Edition: The ‘Staying Connected On Vacation’ Edition

For our weekend business and political readers:

ARCHIE’S DEAD
You know the comic-book Archie. We’re not talking figuratively here, but literally, if you can take the murder of a fictional comic-book character as literal. Grown-up Archie is shot dead right on the pages of issue #36 released this past week. Was grown-up Archie so not a hit with readers that his creators decided to snuff him out?

“It’s not your traditional high-school aged Archie,” says Jonathan Goldwater, CEO of Archie Comics Publications. “It’s Archie aged-up just a little bit.”

And grown-up Archie is a hit. Goldwater estimates the comic book sells more than 75,000 copies an issue — a lot more than an issue of “Archie Comics.”

If such a big hit, then why was he killed-off, who did it, and what will his murder do to this comic-book brand? “Flip” to this link for the complete story from Marketplace.

3D PRINTER PRIMER
Do you know what a 3D printer is and how it works? Lots of folks probably aren’t sure, but you can bet it’s end result is over-the-moon more amazing than just putting your face down on the copy machine for a selfie.

Mashable has made the whole process easy to understand with a post called, “3D Printing: Everything You Need to Know in 2 Minutes.”

3D printing is changing the way we produce objects, from tools and toys, to clothing, and even body parts. Recently, giant 3D printers in China were able to produce ten houses in just one day, and at a cost of less than $5,000 per house, proving just how time and cost efficient 3D printing can be.

How is this possible?  Go to this link to find out.

MARKETING SMARTS FROM LADY GAGA
Lady Gaga as a marketer? Don’t kid yourself, she’s the bomb on stage and as well “has plenty of marketing smarts for marketers to learn from,” reports Forbes.

Lady Gaga presents her current “artRave: The Artpop Ball” tour concerts through elaborate sets, crazy dancers, and an array of antics and anthems. The concerts are sensory-overload spectacles, gaudy gigs — and breakthrough brand experiences. Businesspeople looking to make an indelible in-person impression through customer experience should follow her lead.

How so?  Click on this link to find out.

SHOULD YOU STAY ‘CONNECTED’ ON VACATION?
Your family is headed off to the beach. Should you unplug when on vacation?

Harvard Business Review says there is a right and wrong way to stay connected.

Vacations are for unplugging: we all need to escape the daily grind from time to time, after all. But that doesn’t have to mean unplugging from the entire internet. In fact, you may have a more enjoyable and meaningful vacation by staying connected–as long as you’re staying connected to fun, friends, and family, rather than to work.

But many of us simply aren’t in a position to take completely off-the-grid downtime, so you’ll need to figure out just how disconnected from work you can be so you can appropriately minimize the frequency and duration of your work-related check-ins and trigger each of those check-ins manually (so you won’t be tempted to respond to the ping of each incoming message). It will also be essential to draw a clear line between work and personal technology use.

So how do you master that?  Easy, with great tips at this link.

U.S. SUSPECTS MOSCOW TIES TO DOWNED AIRLINER
The tragedy of the shot-down Malaysian airliner carrying civilians in a turbulent region of Ukraine has dominated headlines this week.

The United States government has concluded that the passenger jet felled over Ukraine was shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile launched from rebel-held territory and most likely provided by Russia to pro-Moscow separatists, officials said on Friday.

While American officials are still investigating the chain of events leading to the destruction of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on Thursday, they pointed to a series of indicators of Russian involvement. Among other things, military and intelligence officials said there was mounting evidence that a Ukrainian military plane shot down three days earlier had been fired upon from inside Russian territory by the same sort of missile battery used to bring down the civilian jet.

The intelligence reports have President Obama laying responsibility at the doorstep of the Kremlin. Read more in this New York Times front page story.

NO END TO VA SCANDAL
The National Journal reports the VA scandal has now spread to disability claims, which includes offices in Little Rock.

The VA adopted a goal under Eric Shinseki —- who stepped down as VA secretary earlier this year -— to complete all disability compensation and pension claims within 125 days at 98 percent accuracy.

But those claims make up a minority of the Veterans Benefits Administration’s total pay and pension workload. While the number of pension and compensation claims has gone down, the mountain of other claims -— including appeals -— is growing.

“Somebody would have to be asleep at the wheel to not realize these things are going on,” said Ronald Robinson, who has worked at the VA in South Carolina for more than a decade.

For the latest, follow this link.

ARKANSAS CONNECTIONS TOP PRESIDENTIAL FAVORABILITY POLL
Who are the best-liked potential 2016 presidential candidates? According to a Gallup poll reported by Politico, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and former First Lady Hillary Clinton lead the list.

According to a Gallup poll released Thursday, 55 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of Clinton, compared to 36 percent who have an unfavorable opinion. That net 19 percentage point favorable rating is the highest among any potential presidential candidate Gallup tested.

Huckabee, the Fox News host and former Arkansas governor, has emerged as the best-liked member of the GOP field, with a net favorability rating of 12 percentage points.

Which candidates stack up behind these two and do any have a negative favorability rating? For complete analysis, go to this link.

FORMER PRESS SECRETARY SIGNS BIG DEAL
Politico says former Obama press secretary Jay Carney is “cashing-in.”

The former Obama administration flack signed on this month with the Washington Speakers Bureau, a gig that came with a signing bonus and is likely to yield payments as high as $100,000 per speech to share his personal presidential anecdotes and analysis of the next two election cycles.

As the most recent high-profile person out the West Wing door, Carney can expect to be in high demand with the universities, corporations and trade associations…

But Politico says that’s just the beginning for the 49-year-old former Time magazine Washington bureau chief. Click on this link for the full story of Carney’s lucrative future possibilities.

‘STOP AMNESTY’ BILL
Republican Senator Ted Cruz this past Thursday, “introduced legislation that would defund the Obama administration program that allows some illegal immigrants to remain in the country without fear of deportation.”

“The only way to stop the border crisis is to stop President Obama’s amnesty,” Cruz said in a statement. “If we do not put an end to its expansion — to the promise of amnesty that is the reason so many are coming — then more little boys and girls will be trafficked, abused, and even killed.”

How would the Texas Senator’s bill work and what is one of its key restrictions?

Click on this link from The Hill for complete analysis.

A STRETCH WITHOUT THE KIDS
When one time management expert ended up with a week alone without her three young children and husband, what did she learn?

As parents, we sometimes blame the kids for all manner of work slowdowns. And yes, having kids home sick from day care will cut into work time. But life happens to people without kids, too.

What happened? Go to this link to find out.

FLY A DRONE, GET ARRESTED
It’s happening all across the country reports Huffington Post.

As drones have gone from military weapons to recreational toys — even Martha Stewart is a fan — several hobbyists have found themselves in handcuffs, charged with recklessly flying unmanned vehicles near aircraft or crowds of people.

The arrests reflect both the growing popularity of recreational drones and the confusion over what rules, if any, their pilots must follow, said Michael Toscano, president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, a drone industry trade group.

So what are the rules and how many commercial drones does the FAA estimate will be dotting the skies by 2018? Learn more about why drones are becoming so popular as well as the dangers they pose at this link.