Back to the Future in Publishing

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Dana Blankenhorn makes a good argument for publishers turning back the clock:

Back in the print era, journalism meant organizing and advocating a place, an industry or a lifestyle. It should mean that again.

Newspapers could prove to car dealers that of the X number of people driving past their stores each day, Y% took the newspaper. Magazines could show that of the X number of decision makers in the business Y% took the magazine – they would have names, titles, addresses. Filling out the “qual card” got you the publication for free, while others had to pay for it. And the more important readers got copies without even sending in the qualcard. Consumer publications could survey their readership and prove to people selling to that lifestyle that X percent of their market, with Y amount of buyign power, subscribed to the publication…

Journalism is not a trade, and it's not a profession. It is the creation of markets. It's putting buyers and sellers together, aggregating and organizing both sides so that you have well-informed buyers hitting the buy button, and getting satisfaction from their purchases.

Winston-Salem Doc’s Orgasmatron Can’t Get Lift Off

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Following is the true story of a Winston-Salem doctor who has discovered a way to give women an orgasm with the push of a button, but can't get his device to market because of a surprising lack of volunteers and funding:

The doctor who discovered in 2001 that a pain-relief implant could also trigger orgasms is still struggling to raise interest in studying it further.

Stuart Meloy, a surgeon at Piedmont Anesthesia and Pain Consultants in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, was investigating how the device could be used to treat woman who have difficulty achieving orgasm, but we reported in 2003 that volunteers for early tests were proving hard to find.

As of 2014, the massive media interest in the device has not translated into the $6 million that Meloy estimates would be needed to run a full trial…

Meloy stumbled on the idea while performing a routine pain-relief operation. "We implant electrodes into the spine and use electrical pulses to modify the pain signals passing along the nerves," he told New Scientist in 2001. The patient remains conscious during the operation to help the surgeon find the best position for the electrodes. Meloy's breakthrough came one day when he failed to hit the right spot. "I was placing the electrodes and suddenly the woman started exclaiming emphatically," he says. "I asked her what was up and she said, `You're going to have to teach my husband to do that'."

This is an obvious candidate for a Kickstarter campaign.

Sports vs eSports

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My kids never really got into watching sports like baseball, basketball, football, etc. When I was their age (teens to eary 20s) my life revolved around watching all manner of sports whether it was live or on TV, but my kids would probably rather have their toenails removed than to be forced to sit through a couple of hours of game watching.

Actually I need to revise that last sentence; at least one of my kids LOVES watching video of other people playing the newest "sport" – eSports aka video games. According to this article he's not alone:

In October, some 15 million people tuned in to watch Major League Baseball’s World Series in the United States. But that’s nothing compared to the other big sporting tournament that took place around the same time: In late September and early October, 32 million people watched the League of Legends Season 3 World Championship, according to a new report (pdf) from SuperData, a games research company.

Indeed, the finals of the competitive tournament for players of the online multiplayer game resembled a major physical-world sporting event, with the 18,000 tickets to watch it live at the Staples Center in Los Angeles selling out in one hour. On the day, the capacity crowd gathered to watch teams do battle against each other as they spawned minions and unlocked glyphs.

I really am so0000 last-century.

Recognizing Faith

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From Jeri Rowe's excellent piece about Canterbury School's Father Finnin:

“I hope they come to realize that faith isn’t something you have to create,’’ he says. “It’s something you recognize. Theology and God surrounds us already. So, it’s not a matter of creating it. It’s a matter of stopping and recognizing it and being aware of it. It’s not about introducing the divine in everyday life. It’s about recognizing it and letting everyone be aware of it."

Our Poop Problem

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Anyone else feel like we missed a huge opportunity when we didn't use the economic crisis as a reason to put people back to work by engaging them in massive public works projects? Seeing reports about our aging and crumbling infrastructure you can't help but think, "Why didn't we take some of those billions (trillions?) of dollars we spent bailing out various industries and dedicate them to upgrading our roads, bridges and sewers?" Wait…sewers? Yep. Apparently our concrete sewers aren't being eaten by the very stuff they transport:

“The veins of our cities are in serious trouble, and they’re in serious trouble because of corrosion, and this corrosion has been unanticipated and it’s accelerating,” said Mark Hernandez at a symposium on the microbiology of the built environment in Washington DC yesterday. Hernandez is a civil engineer, but he’s meeting with microbiologists because this problem is bacterial. Essentially, it’s an infection of the nation’s sewage system.

Here’s what’s going on. One set of microbes emits hydrogen sulfide, the gas that is also responsible for raw sewage’s unpleasant smell. This gas fills the empty space between the top of the pipe and the water flow. Another set of microbes living in this headspace turns hydrogen sulfide to sulfuric acid, which eats away at concrete, leaving behind gypsum, the powdery stuff you find in drywall.

“Essentially what we’re ending up with is wet drywall,” said Hernandez. This is one reason the American Society of Civil Engineers has gave our wastewater infrastructure a D grade.

Happy Birthday Smitty!

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Today Smitty turns 50 and SueMo does a much better job than I ever could in telling us why he's so important to those of us who call Winston-Salem home:

I can't tell you how many people I have met, befriended, and worked with on events as a result of that dinner, and several other "Smitty Dinners."

I read the e-mail newsletter faithfully every other week and have planned my schedule accordingly. His Best of Winston-Salem is always a highlight as I learn about my new favorite places and people in the community that make our city a special place to live, work, learn, and play. 

The effect that Smitty has had on my life is immeasurable. So many of my friends, experiences, and overall feeling about this community is attributed to Jeff Smith and I am sure that I am not alone. On this milestone birthday, I wish Jeff the happiest of birthdays and many more. 

Gender Pay Disparity

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The American Association of University Women just released a report showing that gender pay disparity is alive and well in the US:

  • There is a pay gap in all 50 states. In 2012, the disparity was smallest in Washington, DC, where women were paid 90 percent of what men were paid. It was largest in Wyoming, where women earned 64 percent of what men did.
  • The pay gap does not discriminate based on occupation or education level. Women working in female-dominated, male-dominated, and gender-balanced occupations earned less than men. And women’s median earnings were less than men’s at every level of academic achievement.
  • As women age, so does the pay gap. Women 25 and younger typically were paid around 90 percent what men were paid, while those 35 and older earned about 75 percent to 80 percent of men’s pay.

That last bullet point is very interesting because it begs the question about what's behind the change as women age. Is it because women pay a price for motherhood? Or, is it a relatively new phenomenon that reflects the trend of more women getting a higher education than men and thus holding more of the better paying jobs? It's hard to say without looking at the data to see if the study authors are doing an "apples to apples" comparison of people in similar jobs or are just looking at averages across all industries/jobs by age.

No matter the reason the smaller pay gap for younger women is still not fair and in a perfect world compensation would be purely merit based and not skewed by factors like gender or race. Of course the world isn't perfect and there's unfair pay even within genders and races, but at a minimum we should do everything we can to remove the blatant biases that still exist. 

With current demographic trends the gender bias might take care of itself. Fewer and fewer men are seeking a higher education and in an ever more complex economy like ours their lack of education might lead to the majority of men being the second income in their household and/or the primary caregiver for their children. Will women still be paid less than their peers with the same job? Maybe, but as the ranks of women in those positions grow it seems less likely.

Lifestyle and Urban Revitalization

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Recently Fred Wilson wrote a blog post about urban revitalizations and highlighted what he thinks are the critical elements necessary for it to work:

We’ve seen that things can be turned around. The economic and cultural juggernaut that is Brooklyn right now is a perfect example. The grandchildren of the people who fled Brooklyn in the fifties and sixties are now coming back in droves, attracted to its lifestyle, its coffee shops, bars, restaurants, art and culture, parks, and affordable real estate. And the tech companies are coming too. Attracted by all the talent that is there.

I’ve been asked by civic leaders from places like Newark, Cleveland, Buffalo, and a number of other upstate NY cities that have suffered a similar fate how they can do the same thing. They all talk about tax incentives, connecting with local research universities, and providing startup capital. And I tell them that they are focusing on the wrong thing.

You have to lead with lifestyle. If you can’t make your city a place where the young mobile talent leaving college or grad school wants to go to start their career, meet someone, and build a life, all that other stuff doesn’t matter.

This immediately brought Winston-Salem to mind. The city's downtown is definitely enjoying a renaissance, but it's easy to forget how long the road has been and where it all began. Ten years ago when my family first moved to the Camel City there were tax incentives for restuaranteurs who set up shop downtown. I remember thinking it kind of odd because there didn't seem to be a whole lot that downtown offered outside of those restaurants and I wondered who would venture down just to eat. Some restaurants did indeed fail, but it ended up being a small, important piece of the downtown puzzle. Combined with the evolution of the arts scene on Trade Street, the growth of UNCSA's downtown presence, and yes, the maligned-at-the-time BB&T Ballpark project, you have the critical lifestyle element that Wilson identified in his piece. It's no wonder that people now want to live there (see the Nissen Building, Winston Lofts, etc.) and that businesses are moving to the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter.

In short, if you're looking for evidence that supports the importance of culture all you need to do is look downtown, whether in Winson-Salem, Durham or Brooklyn.