Issue 4 2010: April
WHEN BATTING .700 IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Alan Greenspan would have had a great batting average if the game was baseball. But when the former Federal Reserve chairman defensively told Congress recently that in his two decades overseeing the economy, he was "right 70 percent of the time," no one in the room - or the larger public was impressed. Greenspan failed to foresee the housing bubble's explosive pop, and being right seven out of 10 times is not good enough for a guru once called the Oracle. The public expects Fed Chairmen, presidents, CEOs, popes and other sages anointed to make Big Decisions to be exempt from human fallibility. When it turns out they're not we are outraged. Perhaps it might be more useful to draw a more universal lesson from their failures: No one - including you and me - can escape being wrong at least 30% of the time. And that's in a good week. The truly wise concede their fallibility up front, and keep learning from their mistakes. ..... William Falk in The Week
SHE BEAT THE SYSTEM
A Florida woman beat a ticket for running a red light when her husband, using a stopwatch, found that the yellow light at the intersection lasted an average of only 3.8 seconds - not the required 4.5 seconds. ..... The Week
ANOTHER REASON TO QUIT
Citing health risks of secondhand smoke, the U.S. Navy will no longer permit smoking below deck aboard its 71 submarines effective December 31. About 40 percent of the 13,000 submarine sailors are smokers. ..... CNN.com
SICK PROPLE ARE GOOD FOR YOU
Looking for a way to boost your immunity to colds and infections? Try simply looking at someone who is already sick. A team of researchers at the University of British Columbia showed volunteers a 10 minute series of photos of people who were under the weather - coughing, sneezing, blowing their noses, or with signs of chicken pox - and drew blood samples before and after. They then exposed the samples to a bacterial infection, and measured the immune response by monitoring the increase in interleukin-6, or IL-6, a substance secreted by white blood cells. The researchers found that subjects who'd viewed the photos of sick people had a 23 percent boost in the production of IL-6. The underlying mechanism isn't yet clear, but the response "makes enormous evolutionary sense," psychologist and study author Mark Schaller tells Psychology Today. Your immune system wants to conserve its resources until they're truly needed; seeing sick people around you "is a pretty good indicator'" Schaller says, that your defenses should "kick it into a higher gear." ..... The Week
THE WORLD'S BEST UMBRELLA?
Tested at MIT's wind tunnel, the Davek Traveler Umbrella's "strong steel design" can endure winds of up to 60 mph. Price $79. Contact Davekny.com. ..... Chicago Tribune
ONE LESS REASON TO WORK AT A BREWERY
"One of the last best perks" of the Danish beer industry is in mortal danger. Danish brewer Carlsberg says it plans to curtail brewery workers rights to drink on the job, limiting them to three pints at lunchtime. The cutback comes amid rising concern about workplace accidents and impaired driving by brewery workers. ..... John Miller and David Kesmodel, The Wall Street Journal
BUT, THE BREWERY WORKERS STRIKE BACK
Carslsberg employees are not taking this lying down. Nearly 800 workers briefly went on strike over the change. Union leaders say they're defending the principle that management can't unilaterally rescind negotiated benefits. But rank - and - file workers have a simpler explanation. "We need to keep our beer," says Juseif Izaivi, 32. "I need a beer when I take a cigarette break." ..... The London Daily Mail
GOING RATES FOR THE TOOTH FAIRY
When your child's first loose tooth is hanging by a thread, it's time to grapple with the tooth fairy's pay schedule. The going rate for a tooth seems to vary by region and circumstances. In New York City and surrounding communities, for instance, a tooth goes for about $5 a pop. In most other parts of the country, however, $1 seems to be the norm. "It's okay to offer a bonus if there's lots of blood, an injury or a trip to the dentist is required." The same is true for a first tooth or if the tooth fairy is late. "She has been known to give a couple of dollars for the nights she missed her route." ..... Sarah Lorge Butler in CBSMoneyWatch.com.
JIM'S STETHASCOOP
"Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other." ... Labor organizer Oscar Ameringer, quoted in the London Independent
MILT'S MORSEL OF THE MONTH
"The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half - inch eraser-- in case you thought optimism was dead." ...... Robert Brault
