Picture his despair when Joe Chang, a die-hard New York Mets fan - who did NOT want to see the New York Yankees win the World Series - got to his desk the morning following their triumph to find it covered in Yankees logos.
His mournful cry of "Noooo!!!" chilled the bones of all who were working in the Park Avenue South NYC offices of ICIS Chemical Business.
The whole EPCA Berlin experience is captured for posterity in this video clip, shot in the lobby of the Berlin Intercontinental and the ICIS suite, and starring familiar faces from the world of petrochemicals as they rush about their business over three days in October 2009. Thanks to Stephen Burns of ICIS Houston for encapsulating the drama and passion of the event in this 2.19 minute video, with a jolly German oompah band backing track.
Glycols are back in the news and not in a good way. I read at the weekend about cats being poisoned when they drink up glycol-based antifreeze in the streets. Keen chemical reporters who set up Google alerts on glycols find that they are regularly sent news items about accidental deaths and even murders. Last year the Blog was shown news of two murder cases involving ethylene glycol (MEG).
On the same theme, a colleague who was following the nylon market, found that she was constantly being alerted to news about people hanging themselves with nylon cord. And another reporter in the ICIS London office has had to stop receiving alerts after coming across some very unpleasant news articles on the use of Butanediol (BDO) as a date rape drug.
Photographer Vincent Bousserez has made a series of exquisite pictures of tiny plastic folk in giant landscapes. The collection has achieved a mass following, and his photographs sell for up to £1,800, according to an article in today's Metro.
Anyone with Asian connections will know all about the cult of pre-wedding photos in exotic and luxurious locations, but one couple has chosen to make theirs unique by having them taken at AirAsia's low-cost terminal in
The Blog is full of admiration at this scoop by fellow blogger Barbara Cockburn on Flight, since we both started our blogging careers at the Reed Charity Blogathon two years ago.
The photos remind me that when ICIS and Flight shared a
(photo: Dennis Yap/Flight)
The Financial Times has thoughtfully emailed the Blog an introduction to the new website for its "How to Spend It" weekend supplement. Full of gorgeous things, it comes just in time for those chemicals executives who spent the weekend sitting around with furrowed brows, wondering just how they were going to spend the worryingly large sums accumulating in their bank accounts.
Fortunately, howtospendit.com "is updated daily with sumptuous images and insightful writing from the magazine, as well as exclusive content and bespoke videos."
Andy Brice from ICB has a few words to say on his newest campaign and blog ...
ICIS Chemical Business is almost a month in to its year-long Education and Recruitment Campaign, and it's already garnered widespread support from many leading trade associations and chemical producers.
It's no secret that the industry is facing a severe labour crisis and there's an urgent need to attract new recruits.
There's a wealth of opportunities for those wishing to pursue a career in chemicals but are students and graduates aware of them? What is your company doing to swell your ranks and how are you reaching out to bright, young talent?
If you fancy sharing news, views or concerns, why not join our online web forum, ICIS connect. http://www.icis.com/icisconnect/groups/recruitment-campaign/default.aspx. There you can take part in discussions, upload videos and documents, and help to address this key issue.
ICIS Chemical Business will be running a series of articles over the coming months - (all ideas and contributions are welcome - email andy.brice@icis.com) and a blog has been launched to highlight the industry's efforts. http://www.icis.com/blogs/recruitment-campaign/
The labour shortage isn't going to go away, so take a moment to share your views. The chemical industry needs YOU!
It's good to see that Lanxess is so delighted at winning the ICIS Company of the Year Award. Most of the Lanxess home page is set aside to celebrate the award, and the press release was translated into several languages. Apparently the employees are thrilled and their customers are impressed too.
"So much effort goes into the Top 100 - which has been a roaring success this year - and the Company of the Year Award and it's hugely encouraging to see the winning company taking the award so seriously. Great brand building for both of us. Lanxess is a worthy winner," says Nigel Davis, editor of Chemical Insight in his praise of Lara Mcnamee and the ICB team who put the list together.
Writing about writing - we are endlessly fascinated by ourselves. For some high quality journalistic navel-gazing, plus some sharp photos, see a new blog from my former boss, Andy Soloman: Global Journalism and New Media.
There is a rather cerebral advert for Total in the papers today, connecting a half-built pipeline in the desert to a lone oil tanker sailing across a moody seascape. The picture is only really intelligible if you turn the page upside down, playing on the idea of exploration Down Under (
Unfortunately, the advert isn't mentioned on the Total website as one of its 2009 ad campaigns, so here is an earlier one to make up for the disappointment.
More Top Chemical Adverts:
