Archive for February 8th, 2011

February 8th, 2011

Business names

by DickH

The history of technology is a subject that fascinates me. Although individuals have long invented things, much technological advancement comes from corporations. As part of that interest, I keep a list of company names and their meanings. This topic came to mind earlier today when I wrote a short post about the death of Ken Olsen, the founder of Digital Equipment Corporation which then became DEC until it went to just plain Digital. Digital was taken over by Compaq which was then merged into HP (Hewlett-Packard). Here are some other company names and their stories:

ABN AMRO – A home mortgage lender and bank. In 1991, the Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN) merged with Amsterdamsche Bank and Rotterdamsche Bank (AMRO)

Arby’s – The roast beef sandwich place. The company was created by Raffel Brothers whose initials, RB, are pronounced Arby.

BMW – The car company. Bayerische Motoren Werken (i.e., Bavarian Motor Works).

Esso – The oil company that became Exxon. Originally Standard Oil whose initials, SO, are pronounced Esso.

Starbucks - The coffee franchise. Named after Starbuck, a character in “Moby Dick”

Any additions?

CategoryHistory | Comment5 Comments »

February 8th, 2011

More on “The Fighter” – Cast and Characters

by Marie

Glamour shot “ad” promoting  Melissa Leo for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as Alice Ward in The Fighter

In today’s Boston Globe, Mark Shanahan & Meredith Goldstein write about Dicky Ekland’s attempt get more “spotlight” time though an interview and story in  a “huge spread”  in the new issue of  “Men’s Journal.”

Micky Ward’s half-brother Dicky Eklund is getting more than 15 minutes of fame. After jumping on stage with Christian Bale at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Eklund, the former boxer played by Bale in “The Fighter,’’ has a huge spread in the new issue of Men’s Journal, which comes out Friday. Writer Kevin Gray’s story — which has the Neil Young-inspired headline “The Fighter and the Damage Done’’ — features Dicky, who has long battled drug abuse, talking about the pain meds he takes for his herniated disc, how he’s making money off “The Fighter’’ by fighting Danny Bonaduce at a Philadelphia community center (a gig that will get him $1,500), how his mother, Alice Ward, died last month and then came back to life, how he sold his life rights to Paramount for under $200,000 and then blew the money, and about his first reactions to Bale’s portrayal of his life. “Micky looks like a million bucks and I look like a two-dollar bill,’’ he said, of how he first felt about “The Fighter.’’ Dicky has come around, of course, and will join Bale at the Oscars.

The A&E/Celebrity writing duo also takes note that actress Melissa Leo is taking out her own ads  in the trade papers to bolster her chances to take home a Best Supporting Actress  Oscar for her already award-winning performance as Alice Ward in The Fighter.

…The ads consist of glamour shots of the actress under the word “Consider.’’ Deadline.com‘s Pete Hammond asked Leo about her self-promotion. “I took matters into my own hands,’’ she said unapologetically. “I knew what I was doing and told my representation how earnest I was about this idea. I had never heard of any actor taking out an ad as themselves and I wanted to give it a shot.’’ We’ll see if it works.

Read the full item here at Boston.com.

 

CategoryCulture, Current Events, History, Lowell | CommentNo Comments »

February 8th, 2011

Ken Olsen, RIP

by DickH

Today’s Globe carries the obituary of Ken Olsen, the founder of Digital. I never met Olsen and never worked at DEC, but the story reminded me of the glory days of the computer industry in Massachusetts in the 1980s with Digital and Wang serving as the global leaders in that field. The history of the rise and fall of those two companies and all the local spin-offs they created, will be a fascinating story. My own view is that they bet everything on proprietary systems that sought to prevail at the expense of everyone else. In the end, open systems and interoperability prevailed.

CategoryGreater Lowell, History | Comment2 Comments »

February 8th, 2011

Tewksbury’s Ryan Sullivan Honored

by Tony

The article below is from the Tewksbury Patch. Ryan Sullivan is the son of the late Paul Sullivan of WBZ Radio and the Lowell Sun Newspaper. Sullivan, has been an Assistant District Attorney for Middlesex County for the past three years. He is a graduate of Boston College and Suffolk Law school and lives in Tewskbury.

In honor of his exemplary service to the office of the Middlesex District Attorney, Tewksbury resident Ryan Sullivan was presented with the John Droney District Court Award at a ceremony held in Woburn, Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone announced today.

The Droney Award is named in honor of former Middlesex District Attorney John Droney and is presented each year to a member of the district attorney’s staff who has demonstrated “exemplary service” in the district courts of Middlesex County.
Sullivan is the District Court Supervisor for the Marlborough District Court team.

“Ryan is a dedicated lawyer and truly valued colleague,” District Attorney Leone said. “Ryan has taken on any assignment which has come his way and performed with the utmost professionalism in every situation. He was a clear choice for the John Droney District Court Award, as nominated by his peers.”

The annual Middlesex District Attorney’s Awards Ceremony was held on December 9 at Woburn Memorial High School in Woburn. The office has a proud legacy of exemplary service to the people of Middlesex County, and the series of awards are named in honor of many of the former members of the office.

Middlesex alumni who were in attendance to present the awards named in their honor were Attorney General and former Middlesex D.A. Martha Coakley, former Middlesex D.A. and Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, and former Middlesex D.A. and Attorney General Scott Harshbarger.

CategoryGreater Lowell | CommentNo Comments »

February 8th, 2011

Anne Ruthmann on FB Shares Hopes for Smith Baker Center

by PaulM

Artist Anne Ruthmann on her Facebook page shares her vision for redevelopment of the Smith Baker Center, which is in harmony with preliminary plans laid out by the Lowell Plan, Inc., in its recent creative economy development plan for Lowell, and in the Smith Baker re-use report issued in 2008 by the Mayor’s (Bud Caulfield’s) Task Force on Smith Baker Center. The Cultural Organization of Lowell soon will organize a public forum to hear more about what the community would like to see in the building if and when it is renovated as a community arts center.

Preliminary ideas include a mid-sized performance space (500-700 seats) in the upstairs former church service area for music, film, theater, and lectures/literary readings and a cultural production center on the first floor with media studios, digital arts lab, and offices for small non-profit arts groups and creative economy ventures. As reported in the SUN several months ago, the building could also be home to a permanent exhibition about Jack Kerouac’s life and literature and carry a new name: The Kerouac Center for Creativity. John Sampas, literary executor of the Kerouac Estate in Lowell, has endorsed the concept and offered his full support.

Please watch for an announcement by COOL about the community meeting. The above ideas are preliminary, based on the two planning reports done in the past five years, but COOL is open to everyone’s vision on this ambitious project.

The photos below by Lowell photographer and filmmaker Jim Higgins are copied from Anne Ruthmann’s Facebook posting. Jim has also given COOL permission to use the images to help promote the idea of renovating the Smith Baker Center. Thanks, Anne and Jim.

To read about Anne’s vision for the building and see more photographs by Jim Higgins, please visit Anne Ruthmann’s Facebook page if you are a FB member.

CategoryCulture, Education, History, Lowell | Comment3 Comments »