Issue 12 2011: December
STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE 2011
Year-to-date through December 14
Dow Jones Industrial Average +4.86%
S&P 500 -1.69%
Nasdaq -4.28%
Russell 2000 -8.48%
AVERAGE SALARY - BASEBALL
As compiled by the Major League Baseball Players Association the minimum major league player salary in 1967 was $6,000, and the average salary $19,000. By 1989, the minimum was $68,000, and the average $497,254. The 2011 minimum salary was $414,000, and the average salary $3,095,183. ...... The Kansas City Star
WHEN EYEWITNESSES ARE MISTAKEN
Eyewitnesses are mistaken far more often than people think. Every year, more than 75,000 eyewitnesses identify criminal suspects in the U.S., and studies suggest that as many as a third of them are wrong. Mistaken eyewitnesses helped convict three quarters of the 273 people who have been freed from U.S. prisons on DNA evidence presented by the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal organization that challenges dubious prosecutions. After a comprehensive two-year study of eyewitnesses testimony, the New Jersey Supreme Court concluded that it often leads to false identifications, and recently ordered new rules on how such testimony is treated in the courtroom. Other states are moving in the same direction, and the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing a case that may result in the first federal clarification on the use of eyewitnesses in 34 years.
Human memory is fragile and malleable. More than 2,000 studies on eyewitnesses in recent decades have determined that recollections are prone to decay, distortion, and suggestion. Honest, well-meaning people often simply misremember or misreport what they have seen. In one 1974 experiment, for example, more than two thousand people were shown a 13-second video clip of a mugging, followed by a six-man lineup. Just 14 percent of viewers correctly identified the perpetrator - a success rate lower than that of random guessing. In a 1999 study, 150 college students watched videos of a shooting and then of a five-man lineup. Every one of them identified a suspect, even though the culprit was not pictured. Factors such as fear, poor lighting, the presence of a weapon during a crime, and the passage of time have all been shown to cause mistakes in identifications - even when the witness is the victim of the crime. Witnesses are particularly inaccurate, studies show, when asked to remember the facial features of someone of a different race. ..... The Week
OK, WHY ARE EYEWITNESSES SO OFTEN USED
They always have been from biblical times to the present. "There is almost nothing more convincing," U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. wrote in 1981, "than a live human being who takes the stand, points a finger at the defendent, and says, "That's the one!" The problem is our justice system hasn't adapted to what modern forensic science has established about memory's failings. Judges and juries tend to give too much credence to eyewitnesses, particularly those who appear confident of their memories and are seen as having little motive to lie. "The legal system is set up to kind of sort between liars and truth tellers," says Gary Wells, a psychology professor at Iowa State University. "But when someone is genuinely mistaken, the legal system doesn't really know how to deal with that." ..... The Week
GARBAGE
An estimated 20 million tons of debris are floating across the Pacific Ocean from Japan's March 11 tsunami. ..... Time
QUITTING TIME
More people are telling the boss "I quit" - and that's good news. With 14 million people unable to find work and job prospects seemingly bleak, why are more employees calling it quits? In September, about 2 million people gave notice, the highest number of monthly resignations since November 2008. Economic downturns typically decrease worker satisfaction as employers cut staff and pile on the work. Yet the proportion of the workforce that took a hike reached its lowest level in a decade in early 2010 as fear trumped unhappiness on the job. This year, resignations have risen steadily. And, as more people leave, employers may finally be forced to hand out raises. According to a recent survey by job-search site Snagajob, 44% of respondents who quit in the past year did so believing they would find a better opportunity elsewhere, up from 31% the year before. .....Stephen Gandel in Time
THE VERY WEALTHY
From 1979 to 2007, the after-tax income of the wealthiest 1% of people in the U.S. grew by 275%. ..... Time
WHY DO AIRLINES HAVE SO MUCH TROUBLE MAKING MONEY?
American Airlines recent petition for bankruptcy protection marked the 189th time a U.S. airline has done so since the government deregulated the industry in 1978. Why? Planes are expensive-a Boeing 737's list price is $80 million. Leasing one costs about $300,000 a month. Oil prices are volatile-fuel is the airline's largest expense. American paid $2.32 for a gallon of fuel last year, and it expects to pay $3.01 this year. American used 2.5 billion gallons last year. Pilots, mechanics and other employees have very specialized jobs demanding higher salaries-government regulations and union contracts limit the length of workers' shifts, often creating logistical challenges. Recessions-when businesses fold or vacationers lose jobs, airlines lose passengers. Snowstorms, volcanic ash clouds, earthquakes, outbreaks of diseases like SARS and terrorism can ground planes or scare away passengers. Competition-when one carrier cuts fares, everybody else usually matches- because they know fliers will go for the airline that's $10 cheaper. "It's just a crapshoot," said Bill Diffenderffer, CEO of Skybus Airlines, which stopped flying on April 5, 2008, after less than a year in business. It was the third airline that week to fail. ..... The Associated Press
HOPE AND CHANGE
Occupy Wall Street protestor Tracy Postert changed teams and was hired by a Wall Street firm. At the protest she held up a sign saying, "Ph.D. Biomedical Scientist seeking full-time employment," and was called in for an interview by a brokerage firm. She was hired as a junior analyst. ..... The Week
DANGEROUS CHEMICALS
The Environmental Protection Agency has tested just 200 of the 80,000 chemicals registered in the United States, The total number banned: five. ..... The Washington Post
CLIMATE CHANGE SUMMIT
Qatar is number one in the world in carbon emissions at 55 tons per capita. Qatar will host next year's U.N. climate-change summit. . ..... Time
MULTITASKING
Emma French, a British woman, passed her driving test while she was in labor, and then drove herself to the hospital. "The nurses were very confused because I was getting congratulations cards for both my baby and my driving test." said French. ..... The Week
CANADIAN PLASTIC
Canada has introduced a plastic $100 bill. The polymer-based currency is said to last 2.5 times as long as paper bills and will be far harder to counterfeit. Plastic $50 bills will go into circulation in March, followed by $20, $10 and $5 bills in 2013. ...... USA Today
INNOVATION WORLDWIDE
Of the top 100 most innovative companies in the world from 2005 to 2010, 40 are from the United States, 27 are from Japan and 11 are from France, according to a new report from Thomson Reuters on patent activity. The semiconductor industry is the most innovative, followed by chemicals and computer hardware. ..... The Economist
PASSWORDS
A software security firm has isolated the 25 worst passwords to use online. These include "123456," "qwerty," "letmein," and the worst, "password." ..... ABCNews.com
MILT'S MORSEL OF THE MONTH
"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true." ..... James Branch Cabell
JIM'S STETHASCOOP
