Last week I got a voice mail from Donna at the Better Business Bureau.  She assured me nothing was wrong but asked that I return her call.  I had never gotten a call from the BBB before, so I was curious to see what she wanted. And just a tad bit suspicious.

Turns out my suspicions were correct.  This was a sales call.  From the BBB.

Given that no one has lodged a complaint against E. Starr Associates in the 11+ years I’ve been in business, and my less-than-10-employee business size, I qualify to join the BBB for only $47.95 per month.  That’s only about $1.60 per day!

Is there anyone out there who hasn’t heard a parent utter the golden rule?  Treat others the way that you would like to be treated.

Well, okay, my father once said the golden rule was “those who have the gold make the rules.”

While the former golden rule is the more prominent and accepted one, the latter seems to be the one that newspaper companies follow.

Except that newspaper companies’ gold is long gone.

Though the newspaper industry’s need to change its business model has been painfully obvious for years, the industry has clung to past practices.

One day last summer my husband and I were in the kitchen coordinating preparations for a huge party when we were stopped in our tracks by a deafening noise. 

Was it thunder?  No.  Police siren?  No.  Earthquake?  No.  Avalanche?  Atomic bomb?  The Red Sox beating the Yankees?  No, no, and no. 

It was my husband opening two bags of Sun Chips.