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Opinion
University Daily Kansan, February 15 1983
Just sad about Eubie
JAMES HUBERT BLAKE, Feb. 7.
1883 - Feb. 12, 1983.
After composing more than 1,000 songs, living more than 100 years and appealing to what surely must be millions of admirers, composer and musician Eubie Blake has died.
Blake, the last of ragtime's great artists, died Saturday at his Brooklyn home of what, not surprisingly, has been termed "old age."
His death marked much more than the passing of an old musician who was the son of former slaves. It does not matter that Blake's most famous song, "I'm Just Wild About Harry," would never stand a chance today of making Billboards' Top 1,000. Nor does it matter that
Blake spoke the truth when he said: "I can't play that good."
What does matter is that the unique Blake, because of age, fame, talent or whatever, was the epitome of ragtime. His death marks the end of an era, an era he almost singlehandedly kept alive.
Dance Dance
"This music will live forever. It is his legacy. His music crosses all lines, speaks all languages."
"Eubie's career is beauty, excitement, whimsy, poignancy," said the great jazz singer-Joe Williams on Feb. 6, after he and other jazz artists honored Blake at Kennedy Center with "Fabie Blake: A Century of Music."
The music will live. But the man is gone.
Good-bye, Eubie Blake.
A 'show of good faith'
the government of El Salvador is busy dope some image-refurbishing
After years of human rights violations and civil war that has left thousands missing and dead, including Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero, the government is reviewing the cases of about 700 political prisoners for possible release as a show of humanitarian good faith during Pope John Paul II's visit to that March 6.
been the target of government harassment, says that some people have been held for more than two years without seeing a judge.
Meanwhile, of course, the killing continues.
The people were jailed under a 1981 martial law decree that allows the government to arrest citizens and hold them without a charge for up to 180 days. But the Salvadoran Human Rights Commission, which has itself
The move to release some prisoners is certainly a step forward, but it is a tiny step. And it is difficult to be encouraged about the plight of political prisoners in El Salvador when many people never even make it to prison alive.
If the government is sincere, there could be no more meaningful gesture than to bring an end to the fighting and to let the Salvadoran people live in peace.
House Republicans receding as Democrats flaunt power
By DON PHILLIPS
United Press International
WASHINGTON — After two years in the political sun, the House Republican party is trudging back into its old life as a true minority. In fact, Democracy, who firmly control the House this year, are using the more philosophy of politics to help Republicans back into an even more impotent minority than 83.8 percent share of the House would indicate.
The first two years of the Reagan administration were golden ones for Republicans. Riding the crest of the Reagan wave, it didn't seem to matter that they had only 192 of the 433 House members when the 97th Congress convened in 1981.
With the help of a popular president, a Senate in GOP hands and enough conservative "Boll Weevil" Democrats to give them a majority on key issues, Republicans began acting like a
Democrats, after being swept aside on numerous votes, stepped back into the role of a minority, offering ideas that they knew would be useful in his purpose of getting their wires on the record.
But with the dawning of the 96th Congress this year, times have changed for House Republ-
Republicans romped while Democrats covered.
The downhill slide actually began in mid-1982 when they began losing key votes.
High unemployment and a deteriorating economy sliced into Reagan's popularity and appeared to turn public attention away from budget-cutting and toward fear for the economy.
Reagan's veto of a supplemental appropriations bill was overwhelmingly overridden by both the House and the Senate. Historians may disagree that the override as the turning point in GOP fortunes.
But it was the 1982 elections that hammered the GOP back into minority status, both by electing 26 new Democrats to the House and by placing new fears in the hearts of those who were still voting for a party count in the House now is 267 Democrats, 153 Republicans and three vacancies.
when Congress convened this year, Democrats took three steps to be certain that Republicans did not regain even a hint of their former power.
First, the Democrats cracked the whip on their own party's discipline. They removed the most active of the Boll Weevils, Rep. Phil Gramm of Texas, from the House Budget Committee. After several months, the Republicans Remaining Boll Weevils said they got the message and would toe the line more closely.
Finally, Democrats packed key House committees with liberals of their own party and held down the ratio of Republicans on the Ways and Means and the Rules committees. The Energy and Commerce Committee, which will handle important environmental, health and other social legislation this year, went one step further by packing its subcommittees with Democrats.
Next, Democrats adopted new House rules that would tighten many traditional minority rights. The most important change involved restrictions on riders to appropriations bills.
As Michel said, "Up to this point, I haven't had much to be happy about."
The Democrats were successful. House Republicans now are truly a minority.
DEFIANCE.
Fight with computers terminal
I am a marked man. A computer terminal, an automatic bank teller and an entire computer system are out for my head.
system are I was minding my own business one afternoon when I got a notice from the library. It said that I owed $5 for a book titled "The Computer Age: Love It or Leave It, Buddy," which, according to the note, was due five weeks ago.
This cryptic message bothered me a great deal, especially since I hadn't checked out the book. I don't even like computers. I avoid them. I don't like the computer end and of a computer is no friend of mine -- buddy.
a computer is in his hands.
"Some stupid computer probably wants to harass me because I haven't signed on with the computer craze." I chuckled to myself.
I intended to get to the bottom of this electronic tool, up but I first had to get some work done at
At the newsroom, I plopped down in front of a video display terminal and started to type. I was humming along at a ferocious pace when I made an error.
"Ronald Reagan is an insensitive, aristocratic, racist S.O.B.," the terminal displayed to me.
"That's not right," I thought. "I left out a few adjectives."
adjectives.
I magically transferred into the insert character mode, which is one of my favorite modes — right up there with pie a la. From the vantage point of this mode I proceeded to correct my mistake.
my mistake:
But something went wrong. My new words
dutifully inserted themselves, but some of the
old ones soneezed together.
To my horror I read, "Ronald Reagan is an e g o r i n a m i a t a l i n a w h i t e v i c u l a r p o s i t i c a l."
I had to do something. Quickly, I switched modes. Comfortably in the delete character mode, I began deleting characters with abandon. Then I changed my mind. I decided to move some new words from another sentence into the quote.
By this time my fingers were flying from key to key and from command to command. But I knew they would not work.
"No, no, no!" I yelled "Give me my words back, dammit!"
Although I knew it was too late, I got up to find the computer fix-it man. But before I took a step, I heard someone snickering behind me. I turned around, but only the VDT was there. When I started to leave again, I heard more snickering. The VDT was the only thing in sight.
In a fit of rage, I grabbed the VDT by its knobs.
"Look, jerk, unless you want a broken tappy
I decided it would be best for the VDT and me
DAN PARELMAN
if I left the newsroom. Anyway, I had to find out about the library fine.
I had to get some money just in case they made me pay the fine, so I hopped into the car that I had borrowed and drove off to the automatic bank teller at my bank.
I was boppin' along, listening to a John Cougar tune, when a song from Neil Young's new, computerized Trum album broke in. The music seemed to warn me of some impending doom,
I arrived at my bank and was surprised to find that the automatic teller was open. It's usually closed because of — you guessed it — computer failure.
I punched in my code and waited for my next order. But instead of asking what kind of transaction I wanted to make, the computer told me to give it the corn chips I was munching.
"Forget it," I yelled. "Eat your own corn chips."
The computer lost its compose and began talking to me rather than cooly flipping my blue eyes.
messages:
"If you want me to output you money,
feedback me the chips," it tried to communicate
in its best automated English.
"I've had enough of you and your idiotic friends," I said. "You guys can't even talk right. Now will you give me my money?"
"Blasphemer!" it screamed.
With that, the automatic teller sucked my bag of corn chips into its envelope slot.
I ran from the bank, a sickly look of terror posted on my face.
When I got home I fled to the sanctuary of my room. I locked the door behind me and turned around. But I wasn't safe. The automatic teller, the VDT and the entire University of Kansas Honeywell computer system were staring at me menacingly.
"Oh, look guys, I didn't mean all those things I said. Really. How 'bout some corch chips, hub? Maybe a software? I think this sweatshirt would fit you."
The computers were not amused. They shilther toward me, making a precise, steel clanking. Their memory banks were linked and their data bases were set to do evil.
Then they began to chant:
"Garbage in, garbage out."
"You're a technological incompetent, there is no doubt.
Give me a bit, please.
"Spare me!" I screamed. "I'll repent. I'll learn to love the computer. I'll even take CS 2001."
The clanking stopped. The computers mounted their basing modes and flee out my window.
But they left this printout: "You cannot escape us. The little code things on your package of frozen peas will not go away. Love your computer and it will love you."
I'm trying. Believe me, I'm trying
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Unemployment figure becoming numbers game
It's good to know that as long as unemployment continues to be a problem, statistic
An, these dedicated number jockeys who slave at almily lit desk with their calculators, slide rules, broken pencils and worn-down erasers, are all equipped with so many can enjoy a meaningful statistic.
Thanks to their diligent work and unselfish perseverance, we now know that the nation's official unemployment rate for January was 10.2 percent.
O. Shubard that of Government. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has changed its definition of the labor force. January 1983 was the first time the 1.7 million people in the military services were included in the determination of the unemployment rate.
Or should that be 10.4 percent?
The Bureau decided that because military personnel are no longer drafted, those who work for the military can now be considered part of the labor force.
The result is that the 10.4 percent figure for civilian unemployment in January is the one that should be compared with December's 10.8 percent rate and all other previous statistics.
Anyone who can do arithmetic or punch a calculator can figure that with a civilian labor force of 110.5 million and an unemployment rate of 10.4 percent, there must have been 11.5 million
By the way, the draft was abolished in 1973.
American workers unemployed in January, right?
Everything -- except possibly, southern California -- goes through seasons. The economy is no different. Statisticians are not the type who want to overlook anything in their calculations.
They know that certain times of the year are
These aren't the actual figures. They are "seasonally adjusted."
JON BARNES
Wrong.
better than others for jobseekers. During the Christmas rush, employers usually hire more workers. Employment usually decreases during the winter months of January and February.
The Bureau wants to eliminate these seasonal variations from its final statistics. The unemployment rate should show the trend of the economy, not the difference of the seasons.
To accomplish this goal, the Bureau uses something called the "X-11 ARIMA Seasonal Adjustment Method." Seasonal factors are recalculated every six months based on the
trends of the past five years and used to modify the actual figures.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate during the latter part of the year is always higher than the actual rate. The post-Christmas seasonally adjusted rate is always lower than the actual rate.
In December, the unadjusted civilian unemployment rate was 10.5 percent. The unadjusted rate for January rose to 12.1 percent. However, showed a drop of 0.4 percent in January.
So 12.4 million people were actually unemployed in January. Of these, 11.5 million were seasonally adjusted. Pity the poor 0.9 million. Another reason for unemployment was, were unable to adjust to the season.
Seasonal adjustment is a noble idea. Perhaps we could use some method of seasonal adjustment.
Many aspects of sports could be seasonally adjusted. Teams like the Kansas Jayhawks or Kansas City Chiefs that are constantly rebuilding could have their records adapted to
College students grades could be seasonally adjusted. Students probably do better at the beginning of the semester when classes are new and students' performance tends to improve if instructed smartly.
To allow a more consistent reflection of a
student's progress throughout the semester, the instructor could give out tougher grades at the beginning of the semester and easier grades later on.
Soon, statisticians will become as necessary a part of everyday life as the garbage collector.
As it is now, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at the beginning of each month and the media faithfully parrot the figures. That the figures published are estimates which could be almost a full percentage point different from the actual figures, have a significantly higher chance of error and are based on previous as well as current data goes unnoticed by the public.
Basing current estimates on what has happened in the past seems to conflict with the reason for keeping statistics in the first place, which is to determine how current figures differ from previous data.
That way, the public would know more of what's going on.
Not that we unappreciative of statisticians' toil and honorable motives. Obviously, their estimation methods are useful and valuable. But wouldn't it be better if both the actual and the estimated figures were reported with equal weight?
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