I don’t even want to talk about these articles, except that the first two kind of answer the third:

London Heathrow Airport Security Plans Found on Roadside (politinfo.com)

Man Steals Atlanta Airport Baggage Trailer (Yahoo!)

3 years after 9/ll: How safe is flying? (International Herald Tribune)

Alan Meckler of Jupitermedia recently blogged about business-to-business trade magazines, and how he believes they–especially those in the tech fields–are being (and will continue to be) replaced by online magazines.

Since I have a foot on each shore, working both on our print magazines and the Web, I’m not sure I agree. Sure, it’s easier and cheaper to launch a Web site than a magazine, but is that really what people want? Personally, I love my magazines–there’s something almost sensuous about the layout and design, the ability to rip and file the good stuff.

Then again, I can’t help but notice that some of the news in the magazines I get seems pretty stale. Maybe it’s because I’m constantly searching every conceivable Web site for blog-worthy news, but by the time I read something in print, it all too often turns out to be something I read about online weeks, even months, before. Unless the print article can give me more depth, I kinda feel like I’ve been there, done that, moved on. Then I feel a horrible pang of disloyalty.

I’d really love your feedback on this question: When it comes to the trade publications you read, do you think online magazines will–or should–replace print in the foreseeable future? If you don’t want to post an anonymous comment by clicking the comment button below, please e-mail me your thoughts.

One time I had a phone number that was just one digit off from that of a local restaurant, and would constantly get calls asking what that night’s specials were. But nowadays, it’s worse, especially for meeting planners who promote their event on the Web and get misdirected by similar-sounding Web sites.

Like this story I heard recently on the MIMlist listserv. The 62nd World Science Fiction Convention, to be held in Boston this summer, years ago registered the boston2004.com domain name. Then Boston wins the bid for the Democratic National Convention–organized by Boston 2004. After getting tons of hits and e-mail from people expecting to be seeing the DNC site, Noreascon4 set up a web page on how they’re not the DNC.

This is hilarious—just a couple of the reasons on the site:
-We’re not $10 million over budget. We don’t even have a $10 million budget.
-Our promises for the future are supposed to be fiction.
-Thoats and banthas are more interesting animals than donkeys and elephants.

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I was e-mailing with a friend recently about how it was possible to have airfares on the same route and the same time vary by hundreds of dollars, depending on the airline. I remember researching this back in 2002, after the airlines eliminated the travel agent commissions, and found this article, which at least scratches the surface of the science behind the madness.

But I still think it has a lot to do with tea leaves, a Ouija board, and some darts…

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While e-education is getting hotter all the time for some types of adult learners, docs still don’t like to get their continuing medical education online, according to the second annual Pri-Med CME Insight Survey. Even with a 25 percent growth in e-CME this year among primary care physicians, “eCME is the preferred learning channel for only one physician in ten.” But Pri-Med thinks this will continue to be a growth area. From a press release:

“By a wide margin, medical meetings remain the preferred source for continuing medical education among physicians,” said Anne Goodrich, research director of the Pri-Med Institute. “While eCME today accounts for only 10% of all CME credits earned by primary care physicians, it is clearly an educational channel that is beginning to reach a broader audience,” she said.

The 2004 Pri-Med CME Insight survey of primary care physicians throughout the US found that live educational forums remain the preferred source of CME by a margin of four-to-one, followed by enduring materials, professional journals and eCME respectively. Currently, the least popular learning method is hospital grand rounds.

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Really, who wouldn’t want to meet in the Caribbean? Hot venues, cool breezes, and–drum roll please–tax breaks. According to a press release:

In reports issued by the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Trade Representative, the following countries are considered to be part of the North American area for purposes of claiming deductions for expenses incurred in connection with a convention beginning on or after the date on which the Tax Information Exchange Agreement was signed (indicated below):

· Aruba (Nov. 21, 2003)
· Antigua & Barbuda (Feb. 9, 2003)
· Bahamas (Dec. 31, 2003)
· Barbados (Nov. 2, 1984)
· Bermuda (Dec. 1, 1988)
· British Virgin Islands (April 3, 2002)
· Cayman Islands (Nov. 27, 2001)
· Dominica (May 7, 1988)
· Dominican Republic (Oct. 11, 1989)
· Grenada (July 12, 1987)
· Guyana (Aug. 26, 1992)
· Jamaica (Dec. 17, 1986)
· St. Lucia (Apr. 21, 1991)
· Trinidad & Tobago (Feb. 8, 1990)

As United States territories, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands also fall into the category of tax-deductible meetings destinations.

So, if you’re with a United States-based company, your meeting expenses in these countries and territories are tax-deductible in the U.S. Hey, if you’re heading to Tobago, send me an invite!

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