Food for Thought: A News Cafe has just completed its third quarter. (You can catch up with the previous reports if you missed the first and second ones.)

FFT’s growth reminds me of what it must feel like for an astronaut to experience the G-force as the rocket lifts off and picks up speed.

Nine months ago Doni sat down to pen her first blog after being unceremoniously canned from the newspaper.

Fast-forward nine months. This modest blog, now affectionately know as Food for Thought: A News Café, is an important community resource for news, commentary, entertainment and humor. It provides a forum for 44 writers and 16 bloggers to share their talents and insights. The number of contributors is growing daily.

Food for Thought has become a cherished online gathering place for those who live in - or are interested in - the north state.

Those of you who are regular readers know that August was an important month for Food for Thought. Doni partnered with friend Kelly Brewer to create Food for Thought: A News Cafe.

They were joined online by such high-profile newspaper talent as Jim Dyar, arts and entertainment editor and writer; Phil Fountain, artist and cartoonist; and Thom Gabrukiewicz, outdoors editor and writer. Other former newspaper professionals also became part of the FFT family: Linda Woodcook, advertising sales representative; Shannon Calder, book reviewer, and Lauren Brooks, former cops reporter/now Chico ER arts editor.

As important as these wonderful additions were to the expansion and growth of Food for Thought: A News Cafe, that’s only part of the story. As Kelly says, “Food for Thought is greater than the sum of its parts.”

What we are seeing here is nothing less than the future of how members of a community will connect in a larger forum. It’s a loosely moderated place to exchange ideas and news about our community. It’s a place to come for stories, photos, press releases, death notices and government meeting agendas. It’s a place to check road conditions, weather, national, international and business news. It has a forum for readers to bring up topics that they believe are important. It has an interactive community calendar to keep us up on what’s going on around town. It has local advertisers because business people understand that Food for Thought attracts the kind of community that they want to be associated with. In short, Food for Thought, in nine months, has become the destination of choice for those who want an open, honest, civil representation of this complex place we call home.

The last three months have shown a fundamental change in the look and feel of Food for Thought: A News Cafe. It is a much deeper, richer website with more voices, more categories and more use of technology. We will continue to expand. Our goal is to continue to bring you more local talent. Some will be professional journalists, some will be talent from other fields, and some will not have a background in writing but will have compelling stories to share.

This quarter’s statistics show some impressive increases in readership, manifested in the numbers presented in the graphs above.

“Unique Visitors” are the number of computers that have logged on to view the site. That number increased from 10,635 to 12,871, an increase within this quarter of 21 percent.

“Number of visitors” is the total number of times donigreenberg.com was logged onto for each month. That number expanded from 28,585 to 43,273; an increase within this quarter of 51 percent.

Then there are “Page Views” - that represents the number of web pages that were viewed in a given month. In August, that number grew from 225,169 to 657,651, a mind-boggling 192 percent increase within this latest quarter.

Of the 12,871 unique visitors who came to Food for Thought: A News Cafe in August, more than 81 percent came directly to our site. They weren’t baited to come here with key words. They didn’t stumble upon us using a search engine. They either typed in donigreenberg.com or they came here because they had Food for Thought: A News Cafe saved as a favorite. This was further verified by the fact that, on average, readers viewed more than 15 pages per visit.

So there you go. Food for Thought: A News Cafe’ is growing at a very healthy clip. It’s a locally made “wesite” that’s a tribute to everyone who comes here.

Our third-quarter numbers bear testimony to this site’s popularity and untapped potential.

Thank you for helping Food for Thought reach this exciting stage of its development. We hope you’ll continue being part of this ride as we reach even greater heights.

Have you ever noticed that, generally speaking, the world is divided into those who do words and those who do numbers?

When I present Doni with numbers, statistics, charts or any math in general, after a fleeting glance of what appears to be a bewildered look, Doni usually asks me to turn up the air conditioner, the room is getting warm.

But I digress.

There are so many ways to look at and interpret numbers. There are so many numbers related to Food for Thought, and I could go on and on about them.

The important thing to know is that all Food for Thought numbers point in the same direction: straight up.

Here is a snapshot of Food for Thought’s progress during its first eight months.

These numbers provide a backdrop to where the real action is: being a good neighbor and resource to help us all build a better community.

Doni’s recipes were featured in Edible Shasta-Butte magazine’s 2008 spring and summer issues.

Enjoy California Living magazine’s July edition includes a very generous story about how we built our house.

Food for Thought is proud to co-sponsor the upcoming 2nd Saturday Art Hop event, which will kick off July 12 in downtown Redding (see the sidebar ad for more information).

Also on that day, Doni will participate in Dancing with the Stars — Shasta County Style, a benefit event for Shasta County Women’s Refuge and Shasta Family YMCA’s youth programs.

These last eight months represent the start of a new chapter. For 10 years, Doni was a newspaper journalist. In that capacity she spent a significant amount of time as a community volunteer for worthwhile events. Now that the child Food for Thought is walking and talking, the opportunities to do good work are greater than ever.

Thanks for believing in us. Thanks for joining us.

Today is a big day for E.W. Scripps, the company that owns the Record Searchlight. 

It split into two companies: E.W. Scripps and Scripps Interactive.

The new E.W. Scripps is responsible for the broadcasting, newspaper and licensing and syndication businesses,

Scripps Interactive controls companies like HGTV, DIY, the Food Network, basically the popular, gifted, high-achieving Scripps kids.

Kind of begs the question: What will come of Scripps’ newspaper business, especially in an era when all newspapers are in trouble?

Consider this: E.W. Scripps stock price peaked on May 27 at $48.54. On June 30 it fell to $41.54, a drop of 14.67 percent.

Leading into the breakup of Scripps, this is not exactly a vote of confidence by investors.

Consider this June 6 AP story, “E.W. Scripps Co., the broadcast and publishing company which plans to split into two companies July 1, expects newspaper revenue to drop between 8 percent and 10 percent in the second half of the year.” Stories like this are more and more common.

A sharp decline in May advertising revenue for the country’s largest newspaper publishers shows the economic slowdown is adding to the sector’s woes, Goldman Sachs said in a note to investors Thursday.

With that in mind, Ken Lowe, the former president and CEO of E.W. Scripps, must be thrilled to no longer being connected to the company’s problematic newspapers, now that he’s in charge of Scripps’ trendy, profitable, cool interactive companies. 

See what you think of him on this video of Ken Lowe.

If I were a betting man (which I’ve been known to be on occasion) I would give the new Scripps Interactive stock a second look. Barely a few days old and trading in the low $3 range with a projected 30 cents per share dividend, it looks very attractive.

Combined, the Scripps interactive properties have annual revenues of a reported $1.4 billion

There are probably still some out there who think newspapers will turn around.

Give me a call, I’ve got some buggy whips to sell you.

When Doni and I are planning a cedar plank salmon dinner it’s my job to provide the planks.

Though cedar boards can be purchased at any number of kitchen supply stores, I’ve even seen them at Carmonas Appliance Center, hardware stores, grocery stores and gift shops. 

I’ve found it most efficient and least costly to go to a lumber yard and buy cedar boards to make my own planks.

If you buy packaged cedar-planks, expect to pay about $12 for about 4 18-inch boards.

But if you cut your own, you will pay about $2 for the same four boards. For efficiency, I buy about six fence boards at a time and have enough for the summer grilling season.

It’s easy for me to make boards since I happen to have a wood shop on site, but for those of you who don’t, here’s a trick to save a few dollars and impress your dinner guests with your McGyver skills.

Go somewhere like Home Depot and buy some untreated, 6-foot cedar fencing. It will cost you about $2 a board.  (The reason cedar is not usually treated is it’s naturally rot-resistant.)

An employee will take the wood to the back of the store and cut it to any length you choose. You can cut lengths for different size salmon and even cut some for individual servings.

On your way out of the store pick up a couple of sheets of 80-grit sandpaper.  When you get home lightly sand the boards. 

Though I like having fiber in my diet, I prefer not to get it in the form of splinters.

Tip: After the boards are cut and sanded, leave them in the sun for a few days to really dry out. It helps bring out the natural cedar scent when they get hot.

Bon appetit!

It’s hard for me to believe, but donigreenberg.com/Food for Thought has just passed its six-month anniversary. During this time, Doni and a cadre of helpers created a rich community resource; part newspaper, part magazine, part blog, part e-village.

With each month, more writers joined Food for Thought to contribute their talents and expertise to broaden the depth of this Web site’s content. All of us, as readers, have had the good fortune to enjoy this abundance of quality work.

Here at donigreenberg.com/Food for Thought Doni takes care of the editorial side and I handle the business side.

With that in mind, last quarter I presented our first status report.

I’ll start today’s update with some numbers: Thus far, 38 writers and 11 bloggers have contributed their work to donigreenberg.com/Food for Thought. Together we’ve published 247 local stories and opinion pieces, 29 recipes and received 1,971 reader comments.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for participating. Thank you for telling others. Food for Thought would be nothing without you.

The other night, as we wrapped up our work on the Web site for the next day (a process we affectionately refer to as “putting baby Webster to bed”), I asked Doni if she still enjoyed working on the Web site. She just laughed and said she’s having a ball. As her husband, I have to tell you, this project agrees with Doni. I’ve never seen her happier.

OK. Here are some more numbers.

You might recall that by Jan. 31 (the end of the last quarter) Food for Thought had:

• 4,262 unique visitors
• 34,724 visits
• 293,738 page views for the quarter
• 986,987 hits

Compare those numbers to our most current, April 30 (the end of this quarter), when Food for Thought had:

• 5,976 unique visitors (up 40 percent)
• 53,016 visits (up 53 percent)
• 379,272 page views (up 29 percent)
• 1,929,450 hits ( up 96 percent)

Another term I’ve learned this year is “stickiness” - which basically refers to how long a visitor stays at a Web site once he or she arrives. On average, Food for Thought readers view more than seven pages per visit. Since Food for Thought does not use gimmicks to artifically drive traffic to the Web site, readers who come to Food for Thought are people who want to be here. They stay awhile and look around. Speaking of readers who want to be here, 86% of the visitors to Food for Thought come directly to this site. They either type in the url or have it bookmarked.

If you’ve followed Food for Thought since its inception in November, you’ve watched the site steadily expand. Most recently, some of the new features include two top stories (instead of one); a Blogger’s Voices section, an Events section with a Community Calendar that allows you to enter your public events, a Movies section where you can see movie trailers, and improved access to archived stories.

Many new ideas remain under construction and will appear soon. Even so, we encourage you to drop us a note if you have an idea, or there is something you’d like to see on Food for Thought. Some of our best ideas, such as printable recipes, are reader-inspired.

On a personal note, I admit that in the past, I was skeptical of the Internet. Certainly, I recognized the good things about online, such as its value as an indespensible research tool.

But I am a people person. In a conversation I’ve always preferred as many senses engaged as possible. I like to look in people’s eyes, take note of their body language and hear the voice inflections. I’m always on the lookout for sarcasm or a sense of humor, to see how it all stacks up with what they’re saying.

I tell you this because I came to this blog/Web site idea with plenty of reservations. Six months into this business I am a total convert. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy a one-on-one conversation, but wow, it’s amazing to realize there are now almost 6,000 people engaged in a conversation here on donigreenberg/Food for Thought.

It’s developed into a think tank where we share ideas about our local and global community. It’s a place where we take turns passing the mic around. We discuss local news, things that we’ve learned and information others may find interesting. We talk about friends in our community; perhaps they’re doing interesting things and receive acclaim, or maybe they’re having a rough time and need a hand.

Food for Thought is a classroom of sorts where it’s safe to share ideas. We won’t always agree with each other, of course. But we can agree to disagree and learn from each other’s perspectives. Most of all, Food for Thought is a work in progress where we all benefit from the finished product.

We regularly hear from people outside the area who tell us how impressed they are that we are using the Internet so effectively as a community-building tool.

I tell them we’re just getting started.

Here’s what I saw in Igo as I looked off my back deck. Click here to see the slideshow.

Photos by Bruce Greenberg

Slideshow by Joe Domke

I recognized them as Patriot Riders. This was the first motorcycle procession to leave Joshua Munns’ funeral in Anderson and head for the Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo for his internment.

Joshua Munns was a Shasta County Marine. He’d already served two tours of duty in Iraq when he returned to Iraq as a civilian contract worker. He was kidnapped in late 2006, held hostage and eventually murdered more than a year later.

He was 25.

Saturday his family, friends and community came to say goodbye.

Doni couldn‘t attend the service, so I grabbed my camera and notebook and left for my first solo assignment.

When I reached the cemetery I saw the motorcyclists who had recently passed my house. Their bikes were parked. They gathered at the cemetery’s entrance. They held flags attached to poles. We were among the first there.

The atmosphere was relaxed. The Patriot Riders swapped stories about their military service and the latest work on their bikes. While they chatted, a steady stream of people entered the cemetery. Cars and trucks lined both sides of Gas Point Road.

I spotted a helicopter in the sky north of the cemetery. It flew toward us, a sign that Joshua Munn’s funeral procession was approaching. The Patriot Riders suddenly stood at attention. They held their flags high. Conversation stopped.

The hearse appeared at the cemetery gates and entered. The crowd grew somber. The hearse slowed to a stop near a covered area. One car that had followed the hearse also stopped. Some people - later introduced as Joshua Munns’ family - got out and walked toward the hearse.

Marines in dress blues approached the hearse with an intense formality. Hundreds of faces across the cemetery grounds shared a single expression: Solemn. Some people cried. Others held each other.

Someone removed a box from the hearse that held Joshua Munns’ remains and handed it to a Marine.

For a moment if seemed as if everyone held their breath. Flags flapped loudly against the breeze.

The Marines moved in formation with Joshua Munns’ remains and a folded American flag to a covered area where a man spoke for a few minutes. The man introduced the Munns family and said a prayer.

The quiet was broken by shots fired in a 21-gun salute. Then the amplified strains of a bugle played Taps.

The crowd disbursed quietly. There was not much left to say.

After a very, very long journey, Joshua Munns was home.

Click twice on center arrow below picture  to view slide show.

(Be sure speakers are on.)

Doni Greenberg contributed to this story.
Slide show by Jim Gore.

Bruce here.

 I took this photo Monday from our back deck. This photo was not color-corrected. The sunset really was this beautiful.  We are so excited. We purchased a  Cannon G9 camera (from Crown Camera) and we love it.

 As a matter of fact, we are having so much fun that we’d like to invite you to join us. If you have taken a photo here in the north state that you think is worth sharing with the rest of the class, send it to us at attndoni@gmail.com in a jpeg format and if it makes the cut were talking 15 minutes of fame. We’ll run a photo each weekend.

We look forward to seeing your photos and sharing them with our readers.

 Note from Doni: Below you’ll find a message from Bruce Greenberg, my husband. Although by trade he’s a studio furniture-maker, since November, Bruce has acted as Food for Thought’s business manager.

This allows me to concentrate on journalism, and lets me worry about gathering content for this site. It lets him focus on handling everything else, especially drumming up money to feed Food for Thought and keep it alive.

So far, so good. Well, I’ll let Bruce explain all that. Here he is:

Consider this a quarterly report of sorts.

It’s been just three months since we launched donigreenberg.com.

Whew! What a whirlwind. I’ll spare you the birthing details, except to say the baby is healthy, growing fast and named Food for Thought.

In January, Food for Thought averaged 4,400 page views per day.

I’m not surprised. In the decades Doni has lived and worked in our community, she has met many interesting and talented people, and made many friends along the way.

Although it was a dark time for us when Doni lost her job, from the day we began the Web site it was obvious from readers‘ reactions that they appreciated a rich community resource; a place that welcomed their voices.

Who knew that when the lights were turned on so many competent, thoughtful and articulate people would be standing there saying yes, we will take time out of our busy schedules to participate. It’s been like an online barn-raising, where the neighbors have pitched in and a proud new building is rising toward the sky.

More people continue to step forward daily. They contribute, encourage, support, read, comment and tell their friends. And their friends tell their friends. That’s how it’s gone all along.

Although we haven’t yet advertised or marketed Food for Thought, in the past three months readers have posted more than 1,000 comments. Here are more statistics from this time period:

Unique visitors: November 2007 had 2,145 — December 2007 had 3,064 — January 2008 had 4,262

Site visits: November  7,217 — December 11,588 — January 15,918

Page views: November 46,664 — December 110,654 — January 136,420

Hits: November 105,521 –December 326,113 — January 555,353

Without reading too much into the numbers, the obvious conclusion is that Food for Thought is growing at a very healthy rate.

While many Web sites play a bunch of games to “drive eyeballs” to their site, we’ve done none of that. We’re letting it grow naturally.

The average viewer to our site views eight pages of material or stories.

You may have noticed ads in the right-hand column. These are from local businesses who believe this site has value. You will see many more advertisers. The list is growing.

One final word. I’m struck by what a huge responsibility it is to be the caretaker of a place that hosts honest, interesting and civil dialogue. And I’m humbled as I stand shoulder to shoulder with this site’s readers and commenters  - all members of a community I’m proud to call home.

As Doni likes to say, “I think it’s gonna be good.”