PHILADELPHIA — The annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists begins Friday at 8 a.m. Well, Thursday evening is the informal mixer that has become more organized over the years. Most conferees have arrived, as have some speakers, including Dave Barry.<\/p>\n
Little thus can be reported yet. The two-flight journey from Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport began two hours late and stayed that way. This is how travel works these days, and we had it better than others.<\/p>\n
Notes that would interest anyone are minimal. I have two possibilities.<\/p>\n
The bottle of Aquafina purchased at Dallas-Fort Worth International shows changes in the bottled water industry. First, the “manufacturers” (God makes water and He is not at issue here) think customers have lost brain cells since they succeeded in persuading us that what flows from airport water fountains is of lesser quality.<\/p>\n
This bottle of Pepsico product “purified drinking water” no longer lists the spring from which it was drawn, just that it has nothing besides itself, such as minerals, DDT or fish detritus. Bottled water’s identity once was all about being from this or that spring.<\/p>\n
Last is a reassuring educational message on the Aquafina bottle:<\/p>\n
Aquafina is a smart choice because it hydrates and is sodium-free plus every serving of water is naturally calorie-free.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Let’s help Pepsico help the consumer:<\/p>\n
“Aquafina is a smart choice because it hydrates (hydrates defines what water does)<\/em> and is sodium-free (drinking water is not salt water)<\/em> plus every serving of water is naturally calorie-free (your school chem textbook’s glossary explains water is the baseline of zero for calorie)<\/em> .”<\/p>\n
The other travel note: Signs at the Philadelphia airport invited travels to “celebrate freedom” on the Fourth of July in this city so central to America’s founding. Question: How does one celebrate freedom? Those signs indicate picnics and fireworks. Wouldn’t it make more sense to celebrate freedom by exercising a bit of it? Participate in a peaceful assembly. Worship outside the main religions. Write something obnoxious. If you can pack all that in a wicker basket and take it to the park, all the better. -30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PHILADELPHIA — The annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists begins Friday at 8 a.m. Well, Thursday evening is the informal mixer that has become more organized over the years. Most conferees have arrived, as have some speakers, including Dave Barry. Little thus can be reported yet. The two-flight journey from Northwest Arkansas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philadelphia-2007"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":331,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/06\/word-pictures-picture-words\/","url_meta":{"origin":326,"position":0},"title":"Word Pictures. Picture Words","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Museum of Art had a special exhibit of the calligraphy of the 17th-century Japanese artist Ike Taiga, as well as his wife, Mamie. As is customary, he illustrated the words with scenes of woods, mountains and a few people here and there. Often Taiga and Tokuyama\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philadelphia Phreedom"","block_context":{"text":"Philadelphia Phreedom","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/philadelphia-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":330,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/06\/uncle-cousin\/","url_meta":{"origin":326,"position":1},"title":"Uncle Cousin","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"PHILADELPHIA -- A fellow columnist, Ernesto Portillo Jr., on hearing my description of my mom's favorite cousin, who's lived in a suburb in New Jersey for 19 years, said last week, \"Mexicans would call him your uncle, never mind the precise lineage.\" I'll continue to call him by his name,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philadelphia Phreedom"","block_context":{"text":"Philadelphia Phreedom","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/philadelphia-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":328,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/06\/down-to-the-wire\/","url_meta":{"origin":326,"position":2},"title":"Down to the Wire","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"PHILADELPHIA -- The final sessions of the 2007 conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists were the most traditional. In panel discussion format, largely avoided until this morning, perennial subjects were again addressed: techniques, ethics, books and technology. This will be brief, a note or two on each. After\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philadelphia Phreedom"","block_context":{"text":"Philadelphia Phreedom","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/philadelphia-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":329,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/06\/pennies-tossed\/","url_meta":{"origin":326,"position":3},"title":"Pennies Tossed","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"PHILADELPHIA -- While columnist conferees last Friday toured both the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, I had a 40-year closure issue with Benjamin Franklin so My Beloved and I skipped the latter. When I was age 10 3\/4, late summer 1968, Dad had business in Camden, N.J. Time for a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philadelphia Phreedom"","block_context":{"text":"Philadelphia Phreedom","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/philadelphia-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":332,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/06\/thus-the-diner\/","url_meta":{"origin":326,"position":4},"title":"Thus, the Diner","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"PHILADELPHIA -- Often, we try to locate a decent diner early in any multiday stay. On our own, we stay at Hampton or Comfort inns that include a regrettably starchy breakfast. You still need a diner. For conferences, like the one of last weekend, you reside on-site. The Sofitel here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philadelphia Phreedom"","block_context":{"text":"Philadelphia Phreedom","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/philadelphia-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":327,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/06\/dave-barry-but-seriously\/","url_meta":{"origin":326,"position":5},"title":"Dave Barry, But Seriously","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 22, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"PHILADELPHIA -- Amazing speakers addressed the opening morning of the 31st annual conference of the National Conference of Christians and Columnists, er, National Conference for Columnists and Justice, er, National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Time, and the potential for flagging interest (mine or readers?), prevents a full transcription of today's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philadelphia Phreedom"","block_context":{"text":"Philadelphia Phreedom","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/nsnc\/philadelphia-2007\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"With endless good humor, Dave poses with everyone.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/daveben.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1522,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions\/1522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}