Fun with statistics

          Good evening, 919 Gang. I don’t think I’m a dummy. After all, I did graduate in the top 98 percent of my class. But there are things I don’t understand. For instance, this Tuesday’s U-T reported, “More than half of Asian-Americans and nearly half of Hispanic Americans with diabetes are undiagnosed.”

          There’s probably a reasonable answer, but if these people are undiagnosed, how do we know they have diabetes?

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          MICHELE GILCHRIST writes:

          Last November I purchased a set of hearing aids from Costco. I had originally purchased hearing aids, when I had insurance that covered them, from HearX. I went back to them as my left hearing aid was broken beyond repair. They wanted $3,000 for one hearing aid with a one-year guaranty. At Costco, I was able to buy two hearing aids for $2,800. These included a two-year guarantee as well as a lost or broken replacement FREE for one year. My new hearing aids also came with a charging station, saving me money on batteries. (I can use regular batteries, if necessary.) I purchased, for $80, a remote control device to regulate the volume. By the way, Costco does have the best price for hearing aid batteries that I have come across. You get 40 batteries for $9. So far, with the rechargeable batteries, I have not spent any money for batteries. Last Friday I lost my left hearing aid. In a panic, I called Costco. They did indeed live up to their warranty, and I should have my new replacement (free of charge) next week. One other nice thing about getting the hearing aids at Costco is that I am in the system. Should I need help with them wherever I am, here or visiting elsewhere, I can just go to a Costco and get the help I need. The employees are not on commission so there is no pressure on the consumer. The hearing aids are made by Siemens. So far, they have been great. I am really looking forward to having bilateral hearing again soon!

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          DAVID FARMER writes:

          Carl Larsen scored a clean beat on me by reporting on the Fiat car first. I was even going to make the same play on fiat--an official order by a person or group in authority. Here's my version:

          The Italian automobile Fiat is making a big comeback in the USA. Or, at least, in Los Angeles. The brand exited the American market back in 1983, leaving behind a reputation for poor quality and humdrum design. Its new entries have a nice look, and presumably are built better. No less a personage than the Pope gave Fiat some publicity by riding in one when he visited this country:

 

          I see quite a few Fiats on the road and parked in my neighborhood. I'd consider buying one, but I'm

trying to make my Prius last for the rest of my life. We'll see which of us wins. Anyroad, while walking my dog I saw an interesting sight:

          It's a rolling ad for the new 500X model. Note the beach theme on the right side of the car, snow sports on the left. I couldn't tell whether the vehicle was painted that way; or, more likely, it's some kind of wrap that can be peeled off.

          I recently saw an offer from a company that said it would pay you $600 per week for having your car wrapped in an advertisement. I'm waiting for the same offer on an aging Prius.

          Oops: I see on the Internet that the car-wrap idea is probably a scam, especially an offer at that high weekly rate.

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          KEN STONE writes:

          When Doonesbury didn't show up in its usual space in Sunday's comics, I had to know why. So I asked.

          Here's what I learned:

http://tinyurl.com/oz32lpc

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          REBER: Tonight’s Happy Birthday wishes go to Ann Jamusch for Sept. 30.

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          DAVID COHEN forwards:

          A cute piece for the 919 gang. I think this is a school in Britain. The kids get a concert for lunch.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JNgCM7zp30M

          REBER: The kids are the stars of that one. Great expressions.

Jack J. Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065

U.S.A.

2reberjack@gmail.com

U-T mementos

          Good evening, 919 Gang. Several months ago, someone (and I am pretty sure it was Cheryl Clark) invited people to talk about Union-Tribune souvenirs. I have a fair collection, as do many others, I am certain. But recently I received two items I had never seen before.

          Barry Fitzsimmons said he was doing some housecleaning when he ran across these two items. One is a tie, and the other is a ceramic plate, just right for a coffee cup. Barry said he couldn’t remember how they came to be in his possession. Thanks for sending them, Barry.

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          HAL FUSON writes:

          I was reminded of the recent talk about spikes when I saw in the New Yorker a reference to the pneumatic tubes that carried John McPhee's copy to his editors at Time in the 1950s. In recent months McPhee, now 84 (quite beyond the average 919 age, I’m sure), has written a series about his lives as a writer and teacher of writing.

          It seems that after his Time articles for the back-of-the-book section called Show Business ran the pneumatic gantlet through his editors, galleys would often come back to him from Makeup with notes "that said 'Green 5' or 'Green 8' or 'Green 15’ or some such, telling you to condense the text by that number of lines or the piece would not fit in the magazine.” This is in McPhee's current installment entitled “Omission: Choosing what to leave out” in the Sept. 14 New Yorker.

          The piece ends with a large helping of things McPhee just couldn’t bear to leave out, including an account of a visit he made to Dwight Eisenhower’s painting studio on Riverside Drive in 1950 when the general was president of Columbia. McPhee was there as the guest of his roommate’s father, Louis Marx, co-founder with his brother of the Louis Marx toy company. Marx took a bathroom break, leaving the 19-year-old McPhee and the general alone to make small talk about a still life of fruit that Ike was working on. The exchange, and the article, concludes:

          “I said, ‘Why have you left out the grapes?'

          “He said, ‘Because they’re too Goddamned hard to paint.’"

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          NANCY CLEELAND writes:

          It's good to see Joe Holly back in action. No one captures a San Diego skyline like he does!

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          DAVID FARMER writes:

          My wife and I got the chance to tour the Pantages Theater, a historic legitimate venue in the heart of Hollywood. We'd been there several times, but on this occasion we went backstage as well.

          The theater, built in 1930 by a showman named Pantages, is a treasure house of Art Deco designs. They start in the foyer:

  

       

          Also in the foyer is evidence that the theater was once owned by Howard Hughes and his RKO movie studio:

          In past years, the Pantages served as a movie theater as well as the location of the Oscars ceremony for 10 years. The lobby is lush:

           There's Art Deco bas relief on the lobby walls. Of interest to me as a USC alum is the image of a Trojan football player, just to the right of the main figure. He's wearing a Trojan War-style hat and clutching a football. UCLA is said to be similarly represented, but I could not find a Bruin.

           The decoration carries through into the auditorium. It may seem as if you're looking at the sky, but the blue is caused by special bulbs:

          Finally, the fly system -- a group of ropes used to "fly" sets from the stage to an overhead storage area:

          It's fun to sit where stars have warmed the seats, and watch modern musicals, like "Wicked" and "Dirty Dancing."

          REBER: Remarkable photos, David. Thank you.

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          CARL LARSEN writes:

          Ah, Ron Hutcherson, you used the "f" word, as in "fiat," in yesterday's Rebergram.

          Which opens the door for me to say a few words about the mileage gained by Pope Francis by his use of a dwarf-sized Fiat automobile on his recent U.S. tour.

          For Fiat, this wasn't so much a blessing in disguise as "manna from heaven."

          Just days after rival automaker Volkswagen was forced into the confessional over its lying about emission results on its "green" diesel models, along comes Italy's Fiat with a real "green machine," endorsed by the Pope himself.

          What a great prop this car was to coincide with the Pope's message about global warming. The contrast of the small car within an armada of gas-guzzling SUVs and limos drove home his point.

          Most of us have been trained not to gratuitously name commercial products in news stories, but that rule was thrown aside when the Pope chose to tool around town in the Fiat 500L, waving out from the back seat. Imagine Queen Elizabeth doing the same in a Mini Cooper or President Obama riding in a Ford Focus.

          The media piled on, naming the Pope's car at every opportunity. While it's too early to tell if Fiat will enjoy a "Pope bump" in sales, the BBC reported that dealers were getting calls about the model used by the pontiff. "I heard cha-ching" when I saw him," said one Fiat dealer in Philadelphia. Actually, there were six of the cars available for the Pope to use. His model cost about $27,000 -- well under half a Tesla.

          For Fiat, the Pope's endorsement was a golden opportunity. How can the automaker now resist such advertising slogans as these?

          Fiat: Others don't have a prayer.

          In a Fiat, all roads lead to Rome.

          Fiat -- for that ride on the Miracle Mile

          Fiat, the car with mass appeal.

          If, like his predecessor, Francis gets tired of the Vatican, there's a good job waiting for him on Madison Avenue.

          I can see him now, pulling up to a stop light in a 500L and rolling down the rear window, asking those in the Escalade in the next lane if they would like to break bread with him and contribute to a carbon offset. 

          But the next time he's here, he needs to change the license plate -- from the Vatican's SCV 1 to PRAY4ME. Well done, Pope Francis.

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          DAVID FARMER writes:

          Back when I worked for The Union, we had a city hall reporter who could turn out endless copy about the doings of municipal government. His long and usually boring stories always led the local section. He was a "safe" writer and there was never any controversy resulting from his reporting.

          Then the paper hired a general assignment reporter who was highly original. He could make a story about sewage fun to read. But one day I overheard one of the managing editors say that this reporter was "too clever by half." I took that to mean that he had to be watched closely to prevent him from embarrassing anyone. (The reporter left after a few months. I never heard why.)

          I thought at the time, and I still do, that it is better to have a writer who has to be reined in than one who needs to be spurred forward. My experience is that an ordinary writer can hardly ever break out of mediocrity, but a clever one can always be toned down.

          The original take more work, maybe even 1.5 times the amount spent on so-so writers. But you get a better result. If that's what you happen to be looking for.

          REBER: I agree about the value of a reporter who is highly original, but “too clever by half” sometimes has a different meaning. I remember when a Tribune sports writers wrote that a jockey who had been very successful in the past was now “a cook in a beanery in Omaha.” The angry jockey informed us he was retired in San Diego, and nothing about him in that story had been accurate. This wasn’t the only time that reporter was “too clever by half,” and you always had to worry about his copy.

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          JAY JOHNSON writes:

          Dear Welton Jones... Caning and chewing gum -- the first two things mentioned by Americans re Singapore. No, no one gets arrested for chewing gum. You can't buy gum here, so I bring back 20 or 30 packs when I travel to countries that do sell it. You can chew. Someone should ask me about NCIS in Singapore.

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          REBER: Happy Birthday, Sept.29, to lawyer/coin dealer Logan McKechnie.

Jack J. Reber

P.O. Box 2239

Ramona, CA 92065

U.S.A.

2reberjack@gmail.com