Three thoughts for today:

- Hershey’s hits a home run coming out of the 2006 All Candy Expo: a writer for Progressive Grocer drops by the company’s booth at the show and plants a big sloppy kiss on the company and its community health and education initiatives. The only way that piece could have come off better for the Hershey’s folk is if it came “with release.”

- Picked up my ticket for the Billy Bragg show in town September 23. Determined not to pay the Ticketmaster “convenience fee,” I bought it from a little independent music shop, End Hits. They’re likely suffering from the same pressures (and lack of attention) as other music shops, but the fact that their web presence emphasizes community events, local bands and new releases shows they’ve got their head on right. (As an aside - several different ways a kid could spend $20 on music)

- A book that seems promising (although it has not been reviewed by anyone) is Econospinning: How to Read Between the Lines When the Media Manipulate the Numbers, by Gene Epstein, the economics editor for Barron’s. From his publisher’s blurb on Amazon:

“… He then exposes shoddy reporting by a laundry list of economic journalists, providing the dos and don’ts to guide readers to the best options: who to believe, who to respect, who to argue with, and who to run away from screaming. From Paul Krugman (The New York Times) to John Cassidy (The New Yorker), as well as others including, but in no way limited to, Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed), Louis Uchitelle (Goldman Sachs’ Economics Research Group), and Patrick Barta (Wall Street Journal), Epstein does a point-by-point discussion on how readers can get their feet on the ground floor of economics information, and provides readers with a list of his trusted recommendations.”

(hat tip to marginal revolution)