No. 178 November 1997
BASEBALL SALARY HISTORY Did you know that the salary of the Chicago Black Sox team of the Black Sox Scandal of 1919 who were going to lose to the Cincinnati baseball team were only making about $3000 per year? Thus, the Black Sox players found they could make more money from gamblers by losing World Series games they should have won. In 1927, Babe Ruth was paid $70,000 but he was an exception. Lou Gherig making only $8,000 typified the usual baseball salary for 1927. Baseball salaries of 1996 average $1,119,981 while back in 1970 the average was $29,303. In 1980 the Yankees was the highest (Average Salary $242,937) paid team and Oakland was the lowest ($54,994). In 1996, the Yankees was the highest ($2,000, 271) and Montreal was the lowest ($411,142). Other than the eye opening salary figures, one will find here, the author gives a brief but thorough explanation and history of the economics of baseball salaries. He explains the "free agent" concept and how that has enabled many players to come from a salary of $3,000 in 1919 to Albert Belle's 1997 salary of $11,000,000. The six highest paid players in 1997 range between $7,291,667 and $11,000,000. If you read "Baseball's Changing Salary Structure" by Paul D. Staudohar in Compensation and Working Conditions V. 2, No. 3, Fall 1997 pages 2-9 (L2.44/4:2/3) you will find some very interesting reading.
SMALL FROG SMALL NEWS ITEM Picture a frog sitting in the middle of a (U.S.) nickel (coin). The one-centimeter orange-striped black frog is the newest and smallest North American frog found living under a leaf in the rain forest on Cuba's Monte Iberia. Cuban scientist Alberto Estrada discovered the frog while working with S. Blair Hedges, a biologist from Pennsylvania State University. The "At the lower size limit in tetrapods: A new diminutive frog from Cuba (Leptodactylidea: Eleutherodactylus)" in Copeia, (1996) No. 4, December, pages 852-859 announced his existence and new name, Eleutherodactylus Iberia. The words in his name are more than three times as long as the frog itself. The little article, of about 500 words, about this little frog, "Biotic Surveys Program Uncovers Smallest Frog" is on page 6 of Frontiers, Newsletter of the National Science Foundation, September 1997 (NS 1.57:997/9). Though our frog is the smallest North Hemisphere's frog, s/he ties for the world record with the Southern Hemisphere's smallest frog that was not identified in our tiny article. Maybe our Frontiers article doesn't give the name of the Southern Hemisphere's frog because the author didn't have enough space?** Try the Copeia article.
MATHEMATICANS CATCH WAVELETS It seems mathematicians have been catching wavelets for years applying wavelet analysis to musical recordings of Johannes Brahams as well as for data storage and analysis. To quote our author: Awavelets are like building blocks of different sizes that fit together because they embody compatible repeating structures. Researchers can put wavelets together like Legos to mimic the data and reveal inherent patterns. Wavelets can be used to clean up images of fingerprints, photographs, and images and compress them at a ratio of 12 to 1 and save storage space for digitized data. Wavelets can be used to store and then to reconstruct an image. Wavelets can make radar transmission more efficient as well as clean-up x-ray images, and analyze the effects of various drugs on the neuron system." Now lets go to: "Catching a Wavelet: Mathematical Tool Revolutionizes Data Analysis" on page 3 and 7 of Frontiers, Newsletter of the National Science Foundation, September 1997 (NS 1.57:997/9) and catch a wavelet. You might also read the Wavelet Digest and get copies at <http://www.wavelet.org/wavelet and meet Wim Sweldens. I wonder if it was Swelden's Ph D Dissertation on Wavelets that set this topic in motion? He can be found at this website.
ELECTRIFYING FISH STORY: GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF THINGS Researchers have long traveled the surface of the Amazon River discovering all the species on its banks and the surrounding rain forests. John G. Lundgberg says these researchers have missed the boat entirely since they never looked into the (river) water under their boat for below the familiar surface of the Amazon is a cornucopia of unknown fish (and I would say other creatures of the deep). It seems the Amazon has some very fast and deep currents in the 2,500 miles of river and tributaries traveled by ichthyologist John G. Lundberg and friends. They have found about 240 new species from among their 125,000 specimens retrieved. One of the most interesting species is electric fish, an electric fish can regenerate its tail if it's tail gets bitten off. In turn, (this is appropriate since) this fish may also eaten (only) the tail of other electric fish. There are also catfish, which are electroceptive, and have taste buds all over their bodies. These features allow them to function without the aid of sight. Do you think there would be light in the depths of the Amazon River where these fish live? Would I tell you just another fish story? You be the judge!! Read "Getting to the Bottom of the Amazon, Researchers and their Fish Stories" in Frontiers, Newsletter of the National Science Foundation, September 1997, pages 4-6 (NS 1.57:997/9). Would this electrifying fish story be more believable if you found electronic fish?? Cast your electronic line toward these Amazon fish in Lundberg's <http://marley.biosci. arizona.edu/fish/lundberg.html> and the NSF's <http://www.keil.ukans.edu/~neodat> electronic ponds. Electronic fishing for electronic fish results in quite a shocking catch!! **
THE BURGER KING'S THREATENED KINGDOM All the people who of the Burger King's kingdom who enjoyed what the King served were threatened by the possibility of tainted beef being served at the royal feast. The King had the problem of his subjects becoming sick by eating food carrying a pathogen, which can cause disease. Old McDonald, Lady Wendy, Colonel Sanders, Captain D, Red Lobster, and others represent other royalty whose kingdoms could be easily affected by the dietary evil forces present in the world. The food kings and queens have an ethical (and economic) duty to safeguard the health of their subjects. However, it is the subject's duty to also know about the evil dietary forces. To the rescue of all comes the American Disabilities Act of 1990, Section 103(d), which requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to publish a list of infectious and communicable diseases that are transmitted through handling the food supply. This list is to reviewed and updated annually. This list is announced and information is obtained on how to get a copy (of the list) as a notice in the Federal Register. Included in the latest Federal Register is a list of all the pathogens (1. Often and 2. Occasionally) transmitted by food. The pathogens that originate from human or non-human sources and can cause the royal subjects to become ill. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the office that presented the latest notice: "Diseases transmitted though the Food Supply, Notice" Federal Register, V. 62, No. 183, September 22, 1997 pages 49518-49519. This brief notice will lead one to identify and prevent the evil dietary forces most readily identified with food-borne diseases. Bon Appetit!
SOME OBSERVATIONS: RAW MILK, THE GOOD AND THE BAD Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized. The article by Marcia L Headrick, et al "Profile of Raw Milk Consumers in California" found in Public Health Reports, V. 112, No. 5, September/October 1997 pages 418-422 (HE 20.30:112/5) is not talking about human milk. The 'pure unadulterated mothers' milk that is recommend for infants is NOT pasteurized. However, there is a form of raw, that is, unpasturized goats milk which is legally produced and consumed only in California. California is the largest and only legal producer of raw milk in the United States. Eventhough, in 1987 there was a ban implemented on the interstate sale of raw milk and raw milk products; there are 28 states that permitted the intrastate shipment of raw milk. The consumers reported in a survey that the milk was consumed for its health benefits. The fallacy of health benefits lies in the fact that raw, unpasturized, milk has served as to carry several pathogens such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, and E. Coli O157:H7 which can tend to have a negative effect on the raw milk consumer. The problem of raw milk is limited to California in terms of availability and the acknowledged consumer; the health professional's goal is elimination of this practice. On the other hand, the availability of human milk and its consumer population is not limited to California and the goal is not elimination. This has been a very interesting topic that I think has been milked to its limit.
HUNGER It is a fact-of-life and it is easy to find data on the hungry and starving people of many foreign countries. Yet where do you find data for the United States? It seems about one-third of the American people are overweight, over 61 % of adult women and 48 % of adult men are trying to lose or maintain weight. But how do you document hunger in America? In America, the largest producer and donator of food to the world (other) starving nations of undernourished, there are thousands of hungry people! Some USDA surveys show about 2 to 4 percent of the households in the United States do not get enough to eat. Other studies show 11 to 13 percent for the same period of time. To put it simply: the term "hunger" as used up to now does not readily apply to the lifestyle(s) and social condition(s) of the American people. Also the hunger we are so aware of the United States is not easily measurable. "Food security" which is defined as: …access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life and includes at a minimum: (a) the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and (b) the assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways… Food insecurity exits whenever these conditions are limited or uncertain." According to the article by Donald Rose, et al, "Improving Federal Efforts to Assess Hunger and Food Insecurity" in Food Review, V. 18, Issue 1, January-April 1995, pages 18-23 (A 93.16/3:18/1) "food security" will be the concept which will be used to provide a statistical measurement and picture of those Americans who are not getting enough to eat. The President's Task forces on Food Assistance and Congress have clarified the concept. Hunger represents a level of food insecurity. As of 1995, the Census Bureau, under contract with the USDA's Food and Consumer Service, has included household questions on hunger and food insecurity as a supplement to its annual (CPS) Current Population Survey. The March 1995 and 1996 and September 1996 surveys include the first collections of household hunger and food insecurity data for the United States. "Improving Federal Efforts to Assess Hunger and Food Insecurity" in Family Economics and Nutrition Review, V. 9, No. 3, 1996, pages 56-57 (A 98.20:9/3) also provides some data on the levels of food insecurity and hunger in American households in 1977-78, 1987-88, and 1989-91.
NEW NAICS VOLUME As of November 25, 1997, there exists the Claitor's 2nd Edition of the NAICS/SIC Code United States Manual 1997. This volume consists of four tables: > Table 1.- 1997 NAICS Matched to 1987 SIC; >Table 2. 1987 SIC Matched to 1997 NAICS; >Table 3. 1997/1987 NAICS/SIC Alphabetical and Key Word/Phrase Index Including Both 1997 NAICS and 1987 SIC; and >Table 4. Alphabetical Arrangement of Old SIC Codes. Tables 1, 2, and 4 are GPO reprints and Claitor's editor Mike Frereichs compiled Table 3. For what its worth: Tables 1 and 2 are just reprinted pages of the Federal Register (v. 62, no. 68, April 9, 1997) but GPO's twenty page introduction gives a very good explanation of the history, the need, and the structure of the NAICS system. The introduction draws together all the previous Federal Register notices and texts about the NAICS implementation schedule and the changeover from the SIC System. There is relevant discussion of the Canadian and Mexican versions of NAICS. There are OMB and Census Bureau contact names and snail and e-mail addresses for NAICS users. These addresses allow electronic access to a copy of NAICS via ftp or via e-mail. The only problem was a GPO typographic error on page 9; line 7, the Census Bureau's URL should NOT have a "j" as the last letter. Table 3 is to be worth the $38.00 we paid for this volume and the 20-page introduction is equally valuable, both will help the user. <http://www.claitors.com>
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November 25, 1997
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