AIEddie.com@yahoo.com). You would think it would have been a cake walk for this writer. He’s been in this arena for more than a decade and knows his way around his own backyard. He’s been a columnist for several newspapers and magazines, has written a few books, been a media trainer and he also has an impressive resumé in public relations. So what could be the reason behind the fact that this guy gets so much stuff so wrong? First he takes the time to explain who he is in relation to David Whelan’s business in Canada, Canadian Geographic Ltd., the company that he sold to the folks from the Toronto Star. “Mr. Whelan is the Canadian publisher and owner of Canadian Geographic. He does not, however, live in Canada.” The writer, though, appears to have never looked up who Mr. Whelan is. All I’m going to say is, “He’s a published author and he writes some interesting stuff, which is good enough for me.” I’m not that picky. My understanding is that Mr. Whelan was born in Canada and he still lives in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. If you don’t believe me, just look it up. A couple of months ago, Canadian Geographic put out a press release saying that it was shutting down its “The Great Outdoors” weekly newspaper and website because “as a niche publication, it has not been able to be sustained in its current form.” And here’s where the story ends. Well, not quite. It continues on page 27 of the same issue and begins with a quote from Mr. Whelan, who had this to say about the move: “Our decision to cease publishing the weekly ‘The Great Outdoors’ is one we have had to make after a thorough analysis of the market. It’s been a very profitable venture for us in the past, but as the economic climate has changed, the market has shifted.” It is true that the publication no longer has the same readership as it once did. It’s also true that The Great Outdoors came out of the same shop as National Geographic Magazine and Canadian Geographic. Then the story takes a strange twist, which is saying a lot for the Canadian Geographic Weekly. The writer, who claims he has a relationship with some Canadian Geographic folks, then puts out this tidbit about the demise of the Great Outdoors: “According to Mr. Whelan’s statements, the company will maintain the Great Outdoors trademark, which will be licensed to a new entity, a ‘hospitality trade magazine’ that has yet to be launched.” There’s also this: “As for the Great Outdoors web site, well that’s a little more complicated. It’s still up, but it’s essentially a ghost town. All the great content is long gone. The last time I checked, it was basically a picture of Niagara Falls that said ‘Hey, check out this new website for The Great Outdoors’.” The writer takes the time to tell us why Mr. Whelan is “not so good at keeping his word.” There’s something I don’t understand about The Canadian Geographic Weekly. Here they are running a great new weekly and they have the owner of the publication telling everyone in town that it’s going out of business and he’s selling them a “Great Outdoors” name to help them run another publication and it’s not out of the old office yet, but it’s a done deal. That’s a pretty bold move if you ask me, but then again, The Canadian Geographic Weekly has a lot of courage. It takes a lot of guts to put out a weekly with that name and then lie about it. I wonder if they have any conscience at all. I can’t help but believe that whoever was in charge of The Great Outdoors story wanted this outcome from the get-go. I’m betting there’s more to it than what appears on the surface and it’s going to be pretty ugly, but I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and we’ll have to wait and see. Speaking of courage, I’d like to think that the people running The Canadian Geographic Weekly got one thing right and that’s courage, but I can’t help but wonder if maybe I’m wrong about that. I just don’t know what to think about Mr. Whelan’s story. I really wish I could know more, but I guess we’ll never know what’s really going on. One thing is for sure, though. The Great Outdoors is gone and it’s a very sad day for Canadian readers of this great publication. You know how it is when you read a story in a national newspaper or a national magazine that talks about a local person that has made an impression on the rest of the country. Suddenly, everyone starts showing up at your door and you get all kinds of phone calls from folks who have heard about your good fortune. It happened to me several months ago. It seems that somewhere along the way, someone heard about the fact that I had an award for lifetime achievement for being involved in the travel industry. Who would have guessed? Anyway, folks started dropping in at my house and I soon realized I was going to have to start getting two slices of pizza for supper. Recently, I got a call that I had been mentioned in a national magazine because my store was one of 50 “best of Canada” shops. I had not been in business very long and when I came to my senses after they mentioned the name of my store, I wondered where they had heard of me. I did not even know I had a travel store. With the holidays coming up, I decided to go to the local mall and see if I could find out how to get the best gift for travel enthusiasts. I went in looking for something neat, but I didn’t expect what I found. It was great to see that my business was doing so well that others were taking notice, but to see this kind of reaction from the locals was just unbelievable. Now I know I have really made it when I have a friend from Florida stopping by and giving me a big hug. If you’re a business man or woman who is working hard to get your name out there, then you have to take notice. How many people out there are walking around with your name written all over them? I believe that’s a real sign of success. You know, I think every business person should go out on the town once a month and walk around and visit every single store, but just pretend you’re looking for that great gift that’s just out of your budget. You never know what will happen when you show interest in people. Soon, you’ll have a whole posse of people behind you because you’re going to have them eating out of your hands. This month, I think I’ll try another tactic. As the holidays come and I have the customers to feed, I think I’ll tell them that I’ve lost my appetite and am skipping one meal and will just have the customers eat for the day. I think this will go over big and I think we can charge a buck an hour for an extra slice of pizza. As of December 2010, The National Lampoon, once a fixture in American humor that had been around for 45 years and had even been sold by Time-Life, will no longer be producing its comedy magazine. I have read it for years. It used to be a very big seller and the staff was the cream of the crop. So what caused this magazine’s downfall? There were some financial issues that have to be dealt with by the company. The publisher claims the magazine has gone through its best days and at that time, there were 20 magazines operating out of the same office. No one knows what is going to happen to the publication. What’s that, you say? You mean you don’t know what’s going to happen to The National Lampoon? The magazine was one of a few that was known as the “alternative” news sources of media. It’s a sad fact that there is nothing to replace it, but let’s just hope that this does not signal the death knell for new media. This month, there will be a big announcement about The Canadian Geographic Weekly in the Travel Weekly when it comes out. So it seems only fitting to bring this back up as a follow up and maybe a warning for readers about how the editors of Canadian Geographic, owned by David Whelan, try to fool people. A few months ago, a writer from the Travel Weekly decided that the most powerful publication in Canada was not the National Enquirer, which was his first pick, but rather The Canadian Geographic. The magazine seemed to have a lot of influence when it comes to travel and travel related news. The writer, Jim Cox, started up a weekly column about the Travel Weekly and in it, he was talking about how much he liked his own experience with Canadian Geographic. Then something really weird happened. Mr. Cox told the folks from the Travel Weekly that he heard that David Whelan was selling them his magazine. Apparently this was during the height of the economy in the winter of 2009 and he had decided to sell this company to Whelan. This happened