Issue 27, Fall 2004

William A. McEachern, Editor

Odds and Ends

In the last issue, I wrote about UConn's hothead coaches, Geno Auriemma and Jim Calhoun, two months before they won the women's and men's NCAA basketball championships, the first such double win in NCAA history. Just before the tournament, CBS's Morley Safer on 60 Minutes asked Auriemma: "You're very tough on the players. To what extent is it an act?" Auriemma responded: "It's not an act. Because if it was an act, I think they'd read through it. So it's real. It's absolutely, positively real. Players and people break down mentally before they break down physically, I believe. So you're not just training them to run and jump—you're training them hopefully to think under pressure. And to do that, you must practice a certain kind of psychology... First you win it in your head. Then you win it on the court with your body. First, you see it, then you do it. So Yogi was right. Ninety percent of the game is half mental." So Auriemma claims his anger is real even though it appears calculated to prepare his players for game pressure. But why add to that pressure during the game? He has won four of the last five national titles, so what do I know.

Groups that administer standardized tests, such as the Educational Testing Service, try to stay on top of the latest technology to prevent cheating. In a number of cases, a video camera roughly the size of a quarter was hidden in the test taker's tie or watch or jacket and used to send information to an outside ringer, who quickly compiled answers and called them back into a silent pager. Using palm-size devices and cell phones with text messaging, students can also send answers to each or even access files on their PCs.

Each year, American Heritage magazine picks the most overrated and underrated in a variety of categories, with the categories changing from year to year. In their most recent listings, the Wizard of Menlo Park, Thomas Edison, was deemed the most overrated inventor. Although he came up with the first functional incandescent light bulb, he clung to the last to his technically inferior direct-current electricity. He ended up losing his company in the battle with alternating current. The most underrated inventors were the two men and six women who, in the 1940s, developed and programmed the first electronic computer—the 30 ton, 18,000 vacuum tubed, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), nicknamed "the Beast."

Periodicals are still trying to figure out how to price their products on the Internet. The New York Times is mostly free except for a few items such as crossword puzzles, which cost $35 annually, and articles more than seven days old, which cost $2.95 each. The Wall Street Journal charges $79 annually for online only and $39 online for those who also pay $198 for the print edition (articles more than 30 days old cost $2.95 each). And the Chronicle of Higher Education charges $82.50 for the hard copy, which includes online access, but online access by itself also costs $82.50. The marginal cost of another online subscriber must be close to zero, whereas the marginal cost of paper, printing, and postage for the 49 issues of the Chronicle published each year must be far north of zero. But advertising revenue from the online edition is probably much lower than from the print edition.

Eastman Kodak stopped making slide projectors last June, the victim of digital imaging. Kodak, once the mighty Dow component, has been laid low by the digital revolution, with a share price only a third its 1998 level.

"Being a free trader in an election year is like being a turkey a month before Thanksgiving." —Arnold Kling

"It's like Lenin said: You look for the person who'll benefit." —Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski in The Big Lebowski

Top