It's bad luck, too:
"Boston-based animation studio Soup2Nuts is shutting down" by Dennis Keohane, Boston Globe 03/12/2015
A local animation studio known as an innovator in the industry announced on Wednesday that it is shutting down after more than 20 years in operation.
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Soup2Nuts Animation Studio, which will officially shut down at the end of the month, is best known for its pioneering work on “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist” and the use of its patented “Squigglevision” computer animation process.
Although the company was relatively small, Soup2Nuts had a large impact on many individuals and companies that make up the Boston creative community.
Started in 1993 as Tom Snyder Productions, the company was renamed Soup2Nuts in 2001. In addition to its work on “Dr. Katz,” the company produced the show “Home Movies” for Adult Swim, and most recently for the PBS Kids’ show “WordGirl” and the show “Astroblast” for Sprout/NBC Kids.
The company had just completed work on seasons 7 and 8 for “WordGirl” and the first season of “Astroblast” for Sprout.
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In 2001, Soup2Nuts was acquired by Scholastic Inc. Since then, the Boston-based animation studio has served as an in-house production studio under its Scholastic Media children entertainment group.
According to multiple sources with knowledge of the company, Soup2Nuts had more than 60 employees as recently as six months ago; that number had dwindled down to nine, according to Kyle Good, the senior vice president of corporate communications for Scholastic.
Strange in an economy that is allegedly roaring here, but whatever.
It seems that having an in-house animation shop such as Soup2Nuts was not cost effective for Scholastic, which can contract animation work from cheaper and smaller independent studios.
Oooooooh!
“We are realigning some of the operations from Scholastic Media,” Good said. “We are restructuring that part of the business closer to our core businesses which are children’s publishing and education. Good added that the decision was made to shut down Soup2Nuts as part of that restructuring.
“We have other options to continue television programming,” Good said. She added that Scholastic is not sure, as of yet, what the status of the “WordGirl” and “Astroblast” projects will be going forward.
How does that $oup ta$te?
More than anything, Soup2Nuts is best known locally as a training ground for animators. Dave Schlafman, the creative director for digital creative agency CloudKid, said that the closing of Soup2Nuts is a huge loss for the Boston creative community.
“A lot of amazing animation talent came through Soup2Nuts,” Schlafman said. “For years, it was an amazing place where animators get their first break.” Among the Boston-area studios that have connections to Soup2Nuts are CloudKid, Hero4Hire Creative, Clambake Animation, and Planet Nutshell.
“It’s a real shame for the Boston community,” Schlafman added.
Yeah, there are no crackers with this soup!
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Okay, here's your morning cup brought to you by the Bo$ton Globe:
"Antifraud effort on food stamps hurts poor, advocates say" by Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff March 27, 2015
The state’s efforts to modernize the food stamps program and root out fraud have instead cut off thousands of deserving residents from their benefits, leaving many unable to buy food, pay bills, or both, according to advocates for the poor.
Okay, the unemployment site was sh**, Obummercare ruined the connector, and now this (I'm sure there are other debacles from the Deval regime; I just can't think of them of the top of my head right now). Apparently, the only good software is that which keeps track of bank transactions. Everything else is either crap or easily hacked.
The problems were created by a new data-mining program that matches food stamp records with those at other state agencies, such as the Department of Revenue, to uncover unreported income.
So they can then hand out that dough to the wealthy 1% of Boston or spend it on themselves, the $cum political cla$$ of this state. Bankers debt interest payments must have shot up or something. Hollywood needs a new tax credit or something. Profitable pharmaceutical called biotech needs some tax bucks. Who knows!?
The flip side to it is the DATA-MINING PROGRAM at ALL LEVELS of GOVERNMENT. All commercial and electronic traffic is already being supplied on the federal level (hello, guys and gals) and the Utah warehouse of data collected has become legendary. It's been going on for decades anyway, way back to the late 1980s and the Five Eyes Echelon program, and even before that. The technology is pushed in the paper because it allows faster accumulation and analysis (double-edged sword, of course, because you and I are here).
As a result, people who might have earned small amounts of money — for example, poll workers on election days — have received threatening letters from the state Department of Transitional Assistance demanding they provide proof of eligibility for food stamps or lose those benefits.
(Blog editor is apoplectic that this is not occurring in the bastion of Democratic liberali$m that is the state of Ma$$achu$etts!)
And many have lost them because they were unable to get through the agency’s jammed phone lines to resolve issues in time.
Sigh.
“It’s an absolute mess,” said Patricia Baker, a senior policy analyst at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, an antipoverty group in Boston. The state has “set up this impenetrable fortress and people have to claw their way back onto benefits they deserve.”
Maybe that is the whole point; many people will say why bother, and the ca$h-$trapped state(???) will save some money to fill the $2 BILLION -- yeah, that's with a B -- Deval dug before he left it for Baker to fix.
State officials said they have no estimate of how many people have been affected by problems with the program, known as SNAP, for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But the number of people receiving food stamps plunged by about 70,000 in Massachusetts, a nearly 9 percent drop, between December 2013 and 2014 — far steeper than the 1 percent decline nationally as the economy improved.
Thomas G. Massimo, acting director of the Department of Transitional Assistance, acknowledged that concerns were serious enough to suspend the automatic mailing of the computer-generated letters last week. The letters are now reviewed by staff before going out.
Massimo said the new data system saved about $12 million in food stamp overpayments to 100,000 households, but it is unclear how many of those households were entitled to the benefits.
Remember, this is the most compassionate and best state in the Union. I've been told that my entire life from all the outlets around me. Parents, schools, media, all of 'em. Don't blame me, I'm from Massachusetts, remember that? It's that kind of Yankee mentality I have been beaten with all my life (I notice no complaints going out when the Southern boys are returned from the wars in boxes, though.)
“I don’t know that any of them are in error,” Massimo said. “We are concerned with making sure we’re not putting artificial barriers in the way of clients, but we do have a program integrity obligation as well.”
Is he saying there are no problems?
John “Jack” Coakley, 65, of Boston had to prove twice that he qualified for $124 a month in food stamps, but still was cut off from benefits for three months in the process.
I'm looking at that and thinking to myself that $31 dollars a week is below subsistence levels and is, in fact, slow starvation rations (maybe that's the idea when it comes to the $tate from what I've $een all these years in their mouthpiece here). Then I think of the millions floating around in the bu$ine$$ section of the Globe for agenda-pushing venture capital concerns (looks real healthy) and the like. The $ports dough sloshing around, etc, etc.
Coakley, who has used a wheelchair most of his life, worked in the polls for two days during election season, earning $155 from the city.
Those earnings, reported to the Department of Revenue and flagged by the data-mining system, generated a letter demanding that he prove his earnings or have his benefits terminated.
Too bad he's not an illegal immigrant; then they are looking to give you the $tuff.
Coakley, whose only other income is Social Security, said he tried to call the state Department of Transitional Assistance to tell them he had worked minimally, but he could not get through. He then went to Boston City Hall, where workers faxed his information to the Department of Transitional Assistance.
Maybe they should check with Social Security to make sure he is actually alive?
The agency said it never received it and closed Coakley’s file, forcing him to return to City Hall and repeat the process. His benefits were reinstated this month; in between, Coakley scraped by eating soup he bought on sale.
Any nuts with it?
“It was very tough getting by and very frustrating when you try to contact someone and never get an answer,” he said. “It leaves you aggravated.”
Your taxpayer-funded government simply serving you. No state better!
The data mining is part of a $34 million overhaul of the food stamp information-technology system designed to “strengthen client service” by streamlining case management, agency officials said. The overhaul was largely done in-house, Massimo said.
Oh, no, how many more millions will that cost us?
But as problems mounted, Governor Charlie Baker’s office received a spate of letters from doctors, food bank workers, and nonprofit agencies citing the concerns.
That is going to be the end of my concern because....
Diane Sullivan, a single mother of five in Medford, said her decision to participate in a research study for a stipend — an extra $150 a month — resulted in a Department of Revenue match and an “accusatory” letter from the Department of Transitional Assistance. She said she called the state hot line to prove that she still qualified for most of her benefits, waiting on hold until she was disconnected....
Almost lunch anyway.
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NDUs:
"Potatoes that won’t bruise and apples that won’t brown are a step closer to grocery store aisles. The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the genetically engineered foods as safe, saying they are as nutritious as their conventional counterparts. The approval covers six varieties of potatoes by Boise, Idaho-based J. R. Simplot Co. and two varieties of apples from the Canadian company Okanagan Specialty Fruits Inc. The agency’s review process is voluntary, and both companies asked for a review to ensure their products met safety standards."
Do you really know what you are eating, American, or what it is doing inside you?
You are what you eat!
