Facing Out: The Week’s Most Interesting News

February 10, 2024

The 2024 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, a community-wide celebration in the heart of the Adirondacks, continues through Sunday. Nancie Battaglia

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

We’ll confess, we’re not quite sure what to make of this.

The Wall Street Journal this week tells the fascinating story of a British company called Sent Into Space. And yes, the company literally sends stuff into space.

Technically, near space, but still, the list of objects the company has put into a rocket and launched 20 miles up is eclectic to say the least: A baby stroller, a wedding dress, a portrait of Shakespeare, a Slurpee, a chicken nugget (sadly, separate trips).

The company, The Journal reports, says its cameras capture “the blackness of space, the thin blue line of the atmosphere and the curvature of the Earth.”

The company does up to three launches a week, costing from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece, often as part of a marketing campaign.

Space as a playground. What would Goddard think of that?

HOUSING ASSISTANCE: Like millions of other Americans, veterans with mortgages backed by the VA paused their payments during the pandemic, accessing forbearance programs approved by Congress to help those who lost income. The skipped payments were supposed to be added to the back end of the loans, but the VA ended the program despite warnings that thousands of veterans would be left with no affordable way to pay back their loans. The VA paused foreclosures after NPR first reported on the problem, and now a bill from U.S. Senators Jon Tester and Sherrod Brown would make clear that the VA has the authority to restart the program that it shut down back in 2022. 

CARNIVAL SEASON: The temps are warmer than usual and the snow cover is thin, but they’re still celebrating winter in upstate New York with carnivals this month in Lake George and Saranac Lake featuring fireworks, food, music and family fun. Saranac Lake’s carnival has been a tradition since 1897, Lake George’s since 1961. You’ll find parades, barbecues, ice sculptures, chili cook-offs, and hot chocolate; horse-drawn carriage rides, inner tube races, and even a talent contest for dogs.

THE NEW FRONTIER: In the good old days, robbers roamed the joint, there were shoot-outs on the Main Street, and weddings in a proper chapel on Saturdays. And the stars came, even Johnny Cash. That was the Frontier Town of the 1960s and ’70s, the theme park re-creation of an old western town from the matinees. Kids loved Frontier Town and families vacationing in the Adirondacks made a point to stop in North Hudson in Essex County.  Frontier Town descended into a ghost town over the last 25 years, but now there’s a revival afoot. Supporters hope the new Frontier Town will have an arena and grandstand for horse shows, barrel racing, country music concerts and other Western-themed events, trails for horseback riding and an equestrian campground.  Even the old rustic chapel is being brought back to life.

MEDICAL MYSTICISM: Access to people willing to believe just about anything has always been lucrative for grifters and con-men of various stripes, and the emergence of online conspiracy theories around medicine has predictably proved to be a bonanza for hucksters pedaling miracle cures. “Blending the high-tech jargon of Western science with the spiritual terminology of traditional and Eastern medicine,” The Associated Press reports, “these modern salesmen claim their treatments can reverse aging, restore mental acuity or fight COVID-19 better than a vaccine. They promise better health, but what they’re really selling is the idea of insider information, the promise of a secret known only to the wealthy and the powerful.” One example: a company sells 24-packs of 16.9-ounce bottles of Tennessee spring water for $150, “claiming the water has been imbued with ‘life force energy’ that can increase energy and libido, improve breathing, digestion and sleep, reduce pain and lead to ‘vivid dreams to indicate enhanced brain activity.’” Seems enhanced brain activity would threaten the business model.

The meltwater pools on the ice of the Tomhannock Reservoir in Pittstown, N.Y., amplify the splendor of the setting sun. John Bulmer

TRASHY HOMES: As any kid who’s taken a beach vacation can tell you, hermit crabs are famous for taking up residence inside marine snail shells, but lately, more and more are finding manmade homes — in the garbage we discard. Photos of hermit crabs making homes in human litter have circulated online for years; researchers in Poland studied the images and catalogued 386 total instances of the crustaceans wearing artificial shells, Smithsonian Magazine reported, adding that 10 of the world’s 16 terrestrial hermit crab species have been spotted wearing our trash. 

CHAMPIONSHIP ATHLETE: Renee and Tom Salsbury had a consistent message for the youngest of their four children: “You’re not going to be defined as the little girl in the wheelchair. You’re Chloe, first.” And there she is, in high school, wheeling her chair to the edge of a swimming pool, plopping in and taking off, churning through the water, the cheers swelling as the crowd chants her name. “Because they know what they’re seeing,” the Indianapolis Star’s Gregg Doyel writes. “The toughest swimmer in the pool. And the fastest 100-yard breaststroke they’ll ever see by a girl with spina bifida.”

LOVE HURTS: Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News reported that more than two dozen local residents or their loved ones had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in cyber romance scams in recent years, and that such scams drained a record $1.3 billion from victims nationwide in 2022. It often takes the adult child of an elderly victim to figure out what’s going on. The true scale of the losses is uncertain, officials told the newspaper, because many victims do not come forward. “I think victims are embarrassed that they have been taken advantage of,” an Ohio prosecutor said. “And even more so that it happened at the hands of someone they felt loved and cared for them.”

ANCIENT ROOTS: Scientists are calling an ancient forest discovered beneath an abandoned highway department quarry in upstate New York in 2009 the “world’s oldest forest” — 387 million years, two million years older than a fossil forest nearby in the Catskills. Discovered by a curator at the New York State Museum, the fossil forest in Cairo, N.Y., is open only to scientific research for the time being, but the town is looking at the possibility of an educational center and working lab on site, which would open accessibility to the public, according to Syracuse.com.

STEPPING UP, SLOWLY: The broad, soaring staircase that rises to the east façade of the state Capitol in Albany, N.Y., has, for years, been blocked by barricades, a result and symbol of chronic neglect. The state’s finally decided to do something about it, though repairs are expected to stretch into 2028, the Albany Times Union reported.    

THE PROSECUTION RESTS: Sam Waterston, who played Jack McCoy in more than 400 episodes of the NBC drama “Law & Order,” announced this week that he is retiring from the role. Waterston, who’s 83, has appeared in more episodes than any other actor. “I feel very blessed,” he said in a statement. His finale is scheduled to air February 22, after which he’ll be done-done.

IMPERFECT MATCH: Frenchman Richard Plaud spent eight years assembling 706,900 matchsticks into a 23.6-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower. It’s an astonishing sight and a testament to painstaking patience and skill. But though it’s more than 10 times taller than the matchstick tower recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records, Plaud may be disqualified because the matches he used aren’t commercially available (he arranged with a manufacturer to buy boxes of headless matches). Either way, a matchless undertaking.

BEAUTY OF NATURE: A British amateur photographer shooting off Norway's Svalbard archipelago captured a stunning image of a young polar bear napping while adrift on an iceberg, a photo that surely says much more than 1,000 words. It won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People's Choice Award, sponsored by the Natural History Museum of London.

HOUSE HUNTING: If you’re in the market for a new home, have your eye on Florida’s Gulf Coast and can’t live without a private yacht basin, the Donahue compound in Naples may be for you. We should mention the asking price is $295 million, a record for a residential property.   

THE SUPER BOWL

The consensus of the Behan team is the Kansas City Chiefs will defeat the 49ers, 26-25 (though one person’s prediction of 27-10 Chiefs tipped the balance). In case you’re wondering, two NFL games in history have ended 26-25, including one this season. Regardless, the overall winner: The marriage of Taylor Swift Inc. and the NFL. And if betting is your thing, USA Today has a handy graphic guide to the many ways you can play.

TOBY KEITH worked as roughneck in the oil fields of Oklahoma and tried his hand at semi-pro football before finding popularity playing music with his band on the Oklahoma and Texas roadhouse circuit. He became a star with “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” the most-played song of the 1990s on country music radio and among his 20 No. 1 Billboard hits. Others included “How Do You Like Me Now?!,” “As Good As I Once Was,” “My List” and “Beer for My Horses,” a duet with Willie Nelson. He was proudly patriotic, and his post-9/11 song “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” spoke to the anger many Americans felt in the aftermath of that terrible day. A popular and charismatic performer who was working as recently as December, Keith died of stomach cancer at 62.

SEBASTIÁN PIÑERA served two terms as president of Chile, leading the country in times of enormous crises — the aftermath of an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami and the COVID-19 pandemic, the latter of which came on the heels of domestic upheaval and violent police repression. Chilean President Gabriel Boric honored Piñera in a speech Tuesday afternoon as a leader “seeking the best for his country,” The Associated Press reported, highlighting his management of the pandemic and other emergencies. One of Chile’s wealthiest men, he died in a helicopter crash at 74.

ROBERT M. CONWAY JR. was the heart and soul of the Engineers of RPI, for 50 years an administrator, student adviser and advocate; the radio voice of RPI football for 20 years, a member of the RPI Athletics Hall of Fame, and the first person honored as a “Pillar of RPI.” He was credited with helping RPI maintain one of the highest student-athlete graduation rates in the nation. He also served as Mayor of Troy, N.Y., for two terms and was a member of the City Council and the Rensselaer County Legislature.

BOB BECKWITH was 69 years old and seven years into retirement from three decades of service with the New York City Fire Department when terrorists hit the World Trade Center on 9/11. Three days later, he was at Ground Zero to help with search and recovery efforts, donning his FDNY helmet and windbreaker. He was standing on a mangled fire engine amid the rubble when President Bush climbed up and draped an arm around Beckwith’s shoulder, resulting in one of the iconic photos of that era. The men stayed in touch over the years, and Bush called his widow with condolences upon learning that he had died, at 91, of cancer related to his service at Ground Zero.

“This goes a long way towards explaining why Janet Protasiewicz's campaign was so dishonest, undignified and lacking in respect for the office of Supreme Court justice. This is just sick. Wisconsinites ought to be appalled by this kind of vulgarity and vileness.”
—    Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly, after Protasiewicz's campaign manager acknowledged that he placed images of horses in negative campaign ads to suggest Kelly might be someone who fornicates with horses.

MENACING MONKEYS: A city in central Thailand has been overrun by thousands of macaques, forcing stores and business to shutter and relocate and causing residents who haven’t fled to stay inside as much as possible. “We live in a cage but the monkeys live outside,” one resident told AFP.

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Principal Author: Bill Callen

Sincere thanks to our contributors: Ryan Moore, John Brodt, Troy Burns, Kristy Miller, Leigh Hornbeck, Tara Hutchins, Claire P. Tuttle, Nancie Battaglia, and John Bulmer. 

FACING OUT is what we do. We help companies, organizations and individuals work effectively with their most important external audiences – their customers, their shareholders, their communities, the government and the news media.  www.behancommunications.com

Facing Out features news and other nuggets that caught our eye, and that we thought might be of value to you, our friends and business associates. Some items are good news about our clients and friends, others are stories that we hope will leave you a bit more informed or entertained than you were five minutes ago. As always, we welcome your ideas and feedback. 

Let’s make it a conversation: mark.behan@behancom.com