George Epstein

Some news just knocks you for a loop. It can be good news. The idea that Madison’s Katie Gwyther is one of the 20 best college runners in America means this young women is the most accomplished Valley athlete in many years — perhaps ever. I personally credit her sixth grade basketball coach for all of her subsequent success, but regardless of the reason, her amazing record should put a smile on the face of every Kennett graduate.

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Some news is scary. Google has begun scanning millions of books from the libraries of Harvard, the University of Michigan, New York City and more. The capacity to actually put all of the knowledge of every publication in existence on-line exists. Google has proven that all of this information can be searched in the blink of an eye. Copyright issues will limit direct access to the full text of all these books, but that will follow at some point. Wow! Every computer, every PDA, and soon every cell phone with access to every published idea, every published fact — what will this mean? I don’t know, but it will change everything civilization has come to believe about education, knowledge, even intelligence over the past 7,000 years.

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And some news is just plain bad. Moktada al-Sadr is sort of a combined religious leader and warlord and arguably the most powerful Shiite in Iraq. We tried to arrest him for running an outlaw militia, but after extensive fighting we gave up and tried to cozy up to him. The Bush administration is now crowing that he is actively involved in this week’s elections with his own slate of candidates. This supposedly means insurgents are joining the democratic process. Huh? This creep continues to maintain a militia of thousands, continues to confront American and British troops, and publishes a magazine with articles like, “Bush Family: Your Nights will be Finished”. Americans are dying to bring democracy to Iraq. We are spending hundreds of billions to bring democracy to Iraq. But we shouldn’t forget that democracy in Iraq doesn’t mean that Iraqi’s will appreciate our sacrifices. It doesn’t even mean that Iraq won’t be one more fierce American enemy in the region.

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Then there is news that mystifies. Let’s say you own a retail chain. Some guy building a mall comes to you and says that he needs to pre-lease the place to make sure he’s got the money to build it. You sign a long-term lease that spells out what you’ll be getting for your money. The builder finds that the place is gonna cost more to build than he figured. He comes back to you and says please pay more. Do you pay? I don’t think so.

The Conway School Board is developing a new school. The sending districts signed a 20 year lease for that school and agreed to pay their share of the construction costs. At the end, Conway will own it and be able to order the sending districts out. Given the rate of construction inflation, Conway cannot afford to build what it agreed to build. Do the sending towns start writing checks? I don’t think so.

The claim is that “we’re all in it together.” Well, we would be if this were a cooperative school district and we all owned what we are all paying for. It would be terrific to see the Conway School Board initiate the process for a cooperative. The stars are aligned for it!

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There is news that irritates. Members of Congress really want to spend a lot on roads and bridges this year. Really cool ideas need to be funded like the $250 million Ketchikan, Alaska bridge to — well perhaps not nowhere, but pretty close to it. Now highway funds don’t grow in synch with inflation because the federal gas tax is fixed at 18.4 cents per gallon. It even goes down when gas goes way up and people curtail their driving. Our Congress needs to find additional funds and have come up with a novel idea. Some of our leaders are proposing a special tax on hybrid cars. It seems the cheapskates who own them aren’t buying enough gasoline, thereby not spending as much on gas taxes as real SUV-driving Americans. Let’s make the tree-huggers pay their fair share of highway taxes!

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And finally, there are some surprising news stories that just make you laugh out loud. About 200 million people around the world play on-line role-playing games. For $10-15 bucks a month, you travel around a virtual world as a warrior or elf or magician and live an alternative “life”. As you live that life, you earn money, protective armor, castles, etc. There is now a real-world market for the stuff you earn on-line. You might pay 20 real dollars for a thousand virtual gold pieces or $250 for a magic sword capable of killing giants. This market has grown to somewhere between $50 and $200 million! There are now people who stay at home playing these games and making a living winning lots of on-line stuff and selling it for real money. There are even rumors of eastern European sweat shops where low paid labor sits for long days playing to win flying carpets and magic potions. This truly is a Brave New Economy.

George Epstein is Chairman of the Echo Group, a software manufacturing company based in Conway. His column appears in both the Laconia Daily Sun and the Conway Daily Sun.