Ciao Time
VERONA, Italy – With the worldwide economy still in a funk – with varying degrees of slumber, depending on the country – could the stone industry’s biggest event provide some action?
Category: Blogs
Becker’s Blog #2: The Job Defined
The History
Minnesota is often called a “fly-over” state, but the Minneapolis/St. Paul area comprises the country’s 16th largest urban area, even though the two cities are separate and completely different. I suppose the fly-over thing also comes from the stigma that it’s a nice place to visit, with many friendly people of German and Norwegian decent, but too cold to live there (and the Vikings can never win the big game).
Hasta Las Vegas, Baby
As I’m working through phone calls and emails these days, I’m getting one question a couple of times a day: See you at StonExpo in Las Vegas?
The answer is yes, and thanks for asking. And you?
There’s a Story, Part II
Last month, I noted how initial data on a study of possible radiation exposure when dry-cutting granite generated an information distribution of a summary, two analyses disputing the initial study and a war of wordage … but something just short of a story. At least, that’s how I felt.
Becker’s Blog #1: The Beginning
The word “blogging” still has a foreign meaning to me. I really don’t read peoples blogs, as I don’t spend a lot of time behind a computer screen – and blogging to me is reading updated facts on a subject peppered with a lot of opinions.
You Got That WHERE?
Consider the origins of stone-care products at your local industry supplier – or the nearest Big Box home-furnishing stone – and you’ll get a quick tour of the worldwide stone industry. Mixed in with U.S. manufacturers are destinations as close as Canada and Mexico to more-exotic locations such as Turkey and China.
And, if there’s an incredibly enterprising importer out there, you can add one more country to the list: the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) … or, as you’re going to likely know it, North Korea.
A Good Man to Know
Early in Citzen Kane, Wall Street baron Walter Thatcher rolls his eyes when his financial ward, Charles Foster Kane, instructs him not to sell the New York Examiner, a struggling back-marker of a daily – because, in Kane’s work, “I think it would be fun to run a newspaper.”
Mr. Kane, meet the world of 2009. It ain’t fun anymore.
There’s a Story in Here Somewhere (updated Sept. 4)
Editor’s note: A Sept. 1 update to this blog includes new links to various reports, and a Aug. 4 response to CRCPD members by Dave Bernhardt.
One of the banes of the news business is coming across a bogey, where you turn over a bunch of stones … and end up with a bunch of upside-down rocks. Or – even worse – you end up with plenty of facts and documents, but nothing fits into a straight, cohesive article.
Orphans of the Stone
Think there’s anything worse than having a car without a company, such as a Pontiac or Plymouth, in your garage? Try dealing with a bridge saw or CNC or any other machine for fabricating stone when the manufacturer disappears.
Transparent Sustainability
When it comes to the green market, stone often gets to take the hard route to a project, either in trying to meet arbitrary material specs or competing with products bearing some kind of Sustainability Seal of Approval. The obstacles are often well-meaning in nature, although it’s also reminiscent of road paved with good intentions and its ultimate destination.
The toughest one, though, may be competing with a product that doesn’t exist, and may never see the side of a building anywhere in the world. It sounds absurd, but it’s true.