May 7, 2026
A Found Letter from Charles Schulz of ‘Peanuts’ Fame
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May 7, 2026 - Featured
What’s This Nonsense?
Good question. This website is a dumping ground for all kinds of stuff, from memories from my 30-year career as public relations consultant to cruise lines and travel companies to miscellaneous writings, found things, photography, Banks family stuff and ephemera of all types. Hope you enjoy it.
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May 7, 2026
From ‘Beauty’ to ‘Booty’: A Satire
During the course of writing scores of press releases for new cruise ship introductions every year, one can get a little bored. While each new cruise ship brings some innovations and new twists, the process of informing the media about it is drearily repetitive. For instance, in 2002, Carnival Cruise Line introduced four new ships — its busiest year ever.
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May 6, 2026
The Tale of the (First) Great Pandemic Panic of 2020
“Grampy, please tell me the virus story again.”
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March 3, 2026
Giant Filly Goes to Philly
Following on the heels of setting a new Guinness World Record for the largest beach balls, in Dallas, Texas, Carnival Cruise Line took to the mean streets of Philadelphia for an even bigger feat — the unveiling of the world’s largest piñata in the shape of a 60-plus-foot-tall multicolored donkey.
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February 14, 2026
Carnival Cruise Line Has the World’s Biggest Balls
Carnival Cruise Line, which was NewmanPR’s second-biggest client after the Florida Keys Tourism Board (I was the lead on the Carnival account for 25 years), has long carefully crafted its corporate and product image as irrevocably tied to fun. After all, the fleet is called the “Fun Ships” and the line’s first national TV advertising campaign featured Kathie Lee Gifford singing “Ain’t We Got Fun.”
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February 13, 2026
The Sandwich That Went to Sea
In my storied 30-year career in cruise line public relations, there were only a few times when I made an actual creative contribution of an idea for what turned out to be a highly effective PR stunt. That wasn’t for lack of trying — we spitballed events and ideas all the time — but this time all the elements lined up perfectly for an event aboard Carnival Paradise at Port of Tampa.
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January 13, 2026
‘Cruise Ship Virus’ Sidelines Cruise Ship
There has been a fair amount of recent media coverage of norovirus (or winter vomiting disease, AKA the “cruise ship virus”) outbreaks on cruise ships, and I was reminded of the first instance of a ship being removed from service due to norovirus. It was August 2002, and the ship was Holland America Line’s MS Ryndam.
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August 19, 2025
Where I Live Now
I live in a beautiful place just outside of Tampa, Florida, called Temple Terrace. It was named, not after a place of religious worship, but after the half-million temple orange trees that covered the place in terraces in the 1920s.
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