What caught our eye - 8/31/19

August 31, 2019

Peaceful, gorgeous Glen Lake in Queensbury beckons as a late-summer day dawns. (Michelle Stone)

Happy Labor Day Weekend, Everybody!

START OF SOMETHING BIG? More young people are still leaving the State of New York than arriving, but the bright spot is Saratoga County where the young adult population (18-34) grew by 4.4 percent between 2014 and 2018 — on par with Boston’s growth rate — and the best performance of any county in New York State. http://bit.ly/SaratogasYoungGrowth

GAME CHANGERS: Cool jobs draw young people. When Guha and Karthik Bala founded Vicarious Visions in Menands nearly 30 years ago, they struggled to find employees who could help them build next-generation video games. They found them in Russia and China. The Bala brothers’ success gave the Capital Region video game cred, and it is now an emerging hot spot, with 450 developers at 20 local studios. With the right incentives the local gaming industry could grow to rival Austin’s, Quebec’s or Southern California’s industry. http://bit.ly/AlbanyVideoGamers

REACHING GAMERS: Do you Twitch? If you’re a gamer probably. Twitch is the largest 24/7 streaming platform for gamers, connecting millions around the world. Those with large followings can support themselves selling sponsorships and advertising. Now, a local startup is bringing advertisers and gamers together in big numbers and giving advertisers real-time data on how their campaigns perform. http://bit.ly/LinkingGamersandBrands

IF YOU MAKE IT HERE: Thirteen Capital Region businesses make INC’s list of the 5,000 most successful companies in America, with revenues ranging from $3.6 million to $44 million – and you’re probably not familiar them. http://bit.ly/CapRegionsMostSuccessfulFirms

THE TUPPER WARES: Tupper Lake has a new minor-league baseball team, but the community is having trouble with the name: River Pigs. Jacksonville roots for its Jumbo Shrimp, Richmond for its Flying Squirrels, Hartford for its Yard Goats. But Pigs won’t fly in Tupper. Weird names work. http://bit.ly/MinorLeaguesWeirdTeams

WHERE IT HAPPENED: Remember Daniel Day-Lewis as Hawkeye, the hero woodsman, hunter and scout in “Last of the Mohicans?”  When the daughters of a British colonel are kidnapped by a traitorous scout, Hawkeye and Uncas, the youngest and last member of the Mohicans, must rescue them in the middle of the gruesome French and Indian War. Tonight, you can watch the film where it happened as the action comes to life around you at Fort William Henry in Lake George. http://bit.ly/FtWmHenryMovieNight

NIXON PLANTED THEM: This is hardly the kind of news that’s fit to print. The Gray Lady’s got bugs. http://bit.ly/NYTimesBedbugBattle

STRAIGHT A’S FOR WHITEFACE LODGE: Olympian Joe Barile wanted his Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid to evoke the splendor of the Adirondack Great Camps. Forbes says he succeeded: The lodge scores on all counts. http://bit.ly/WhitefaceLodgeStraightAs

TICKING UP: Five years ago, ticks and tick-borne illnesses were a downstate and Long Island problem. Now, ticks are widespread in the Adirondacks and people are getting sick. But research funding has been cut. http://bit.ly/ShrinkingResearchFundsOnTicks

CANOE KEEP SUMMERING? The Farmer’s Almanac is calling for a colder-than-normal January and February with lots of snow. But there’s still more summer to celebrate. Hey, let’s do 90 miles in a canoe. http://bit.ly/90MilesInACanoe

THROWING SHADE: Elon Musk is polarizing. Planet-saving visionary or charlatan? Now, Vanity Fair is out with a piece on Solar City, Musk’s attempt in Buffalo to dominate the American solar energy market. The writer is Bethany McClean, the journalist who first raised questions about Enron’s accounting and co-wrote “The Smartest Guys in the Room.”   http://bit.ly/QuestionsAboutElonMusk

BETTER THAN FAIR: What’s up at the New York State Fair? Attendance. Nearly 850,000 people have come through the turnstiles so far, and not just for the fare.  

WHY THEY CALL IT FAST: The McDonald’s in Little Falls may be your kinda place, but they’ll give you a whopper of a hard time if you stay too long. http://bit.ly/LittleFallsMcDLittleTime

COURSE ON DISCOURSE: Why is our discourse so coarse? Why are differences more important than commonalities? This fall, SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury and Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls are teaming up to explore how Americans approach political and cultural differences. http://bit.ly/SUNYCourseOnDiscourse

MORE MORGAN: Morgan Zeggers graduated from American University in 2018 and returned to her Saratoga County hometown to run the business Freedom Flags and to run for the New York State Assembly. Her campaign fell short, but now she’s onto a much bigger national effort. http://bit.ly/MorganFightsSocialism

KEEN SENSE OF THE TIMES: The legendary Keen’s Steak House in New York opened in 1885 and is revered not only for its five-star food and single-malt scotch but for its collection, the world’s largest, of pipes. The tradition of keeping a pipe at a favorite inn originated in 17th century England. The Keen’s Pipe Club counts more than 90,000 members, including Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Will Rogers, Billy Rose, Grace Moore, Albert Einstein, George M. Cohan, J.P. Morgan, Stanford White, John Barrymore, Adlai Stevenson, General Douglas MacArthur and “Buffalo Bill” Cody. The pipes are staying, but Keens is getting rid of some other some other antiques. http://bit.ly/KeensSteakhouseCleaningHouse

REVERE THE LOCAL MEDIA: When the “shot heard ’round the world” was fired on April 19, 1775, on the town common in Lexington, Mass., it took a mere 10 weeks to establish the Continental Army. In the age before television, Twitter and major newspapers, how is that possible?  Local newspapers and a sophisticated network of communications made it happen. http://bit.ly/MediasRoleInReveresRide

HISTORY NEVER SLEEPS: This fall, why not rest your head in a place where time stands still: the oldest hotels in America, including Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck, Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz and the Otesaga in Cooperstown; the Publick House in Sturbridge, Mass., the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Mass., and the Woodstock Inn and Resort in Vermont? http://bit.ly/AmericasOldestHotels

TRACTION FOR FLX: Slide over, California. Cork it, Washington. The Finger Lakes, nominated by experts, has been confirmed by popular vote America’s best wine region — for the second time. http://bit.ly/FingerLakesWinesTheBest

DOG BEAT

A DOG’S LIFE: Last week we featured a movie theater in Texas where dogs are welcome. Now, comes word that service dogs are being trained to accompany their handlers to zoos, in subways, at crowded fairs – and, of course, to the movies. http://bit.ly/DogsInTheTheater

NEVER DOGGIN IT: Dogs sniff out drugs, explosives, cadavers and disaster survivors. They even sniff for the scat of endangered species and detect trafficked ivory. Now, they are saving lakes and forests, sniffing out invasive plants and insects. http://bit.ly/WeedSniffingDogs

GRAVY TRAIN: Why people dumped the dogs on his land to starve or die he does not know. But Eugene Bostick took them in. And now they are all riding in style. http://bit.ly/DogsGravyTrain

GONE FISHIN’: Upstate New York native Jamie Hartman and his fishing pole have earned a half-million dollars. http://bit.ly/TopTierFisherman

TO PONDER

WHY TRUST MATTERS: The Business Roundtable kicked off debate recently when it declared that the role of a corporation is to deliver value for all of its stakeholders rather focusing mainly or exclusively on shareholder returns. Right or wrong, the Roundtable was right to address a crisis of trust that affects not just corporations but organizations large and small. Crises of trust erode organizations’ political and actual capital, and greater trust may actually drive measurable performance improvements. http://bit.ly/BusinessTrustMatters

SIGNOFF:

MOMMA SAID THERE’D BE DAYS LIKE THIS: Have you ever had a day like Lucy Falconer’s Monday? http://bit.ly/ToughFirstDayofSchool

NEARLY FINAL WORDS:

For teachers and students:

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

- Marcel Proust

For all who labor:

“Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck. Your profession is what you’re put on this Earth to do, with such passion and such intensity it becomes spiritual in calling.”

- Vincent van Gogh

PLEASE SHARE: Feel free to pass this along to your friends and colleagues.

THANK YOU to our contributors: John Brodt, Bill Richmond, Bill Callen, Lisa Fenwick, Colleen Potter, Tina Suhocki and Michelle Stone.

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