Great mileage, bad wrecks August 28, 2008
Posted by Norm , 4commentsSmall, fuel-efficient cars are in and big, thirsty vehicles are out. But as consumers try to save money on gas, their odds of getting hurt increase, the Insurance Research Council warned today.
The Pennsylvania organization, which researches the property and casualty business, says its analysis of 9,140 claims involving personal injury show that people in big vehicles fare better in crashes.
People hurt in the lightest 25 percent of vehicles were hospitalized more often and lost more time at work than people riding in the heaviest 25 percent of vehicles. Lighter vehicles cost more to fix, too.
What’s light? The smallest 25 percent weighed 2,771 pounds or less. The big vehicles weighed at least 3,726 pounds.
And the council didn’t include people who died or suffered permanent total disabilities because the affect of those few claims would have distorted the averages.
So, how do you feel about driving small vehicles? Are they worth the risk?
Habitat builds through tough times August 27, 2008
Posted by Norm , 1 comment so farThe down economy hasn’t exactly been a gift to not-for-profits, but at least one is actually doing better.
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Indianapolis plans to build 22 houses this year, a couple of units more than last year.
With dollar donations running 10 percent behind last year, how is Habitat doing it?
By pulling in a greater number of small corporate donations to compensate for a decline in giving by large companies. And by seeing more individuals send small donations.
Habitat also is coaxing businesses to help by bringing materials to parking lots where employees can spend an hour or so assembling wall panels and then go back to their jobs.
Habitat’s retail store, which sells donated cabinets, windows and other housing goods, is churning out revenue, too.
The upshot is, a little imagination and hard work is keeping the organization alive and putting more people in their own houses.
Anyone know of other not-for-profit success stories during these hard times?
SAT scores stuck below average August 26, 2008
Posted by Norm , 3commentsThis year’s SAT scores are out, and there isn’t much to cheer about. Indiana saw math scores improve slightly, but reading and writing scores dropped a few points. All three remain below national averages.
Educators say the tests are harder. And more students are taking them, suggesting lower-caliber students are dragging down the scores.
How do you see it? Do a higher number of test takers in Indiana excuse the below-average scores? Are SAT scores overrated as a measure of student progress?
Busted for copying software August 25, 2008
Posted by Norm , 2commentsAuthor Solutions, the Bloomington company that helps people publish their own books, has admitted to using copies of software from Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec.
The penalty? $50,000.
Author Solutions says the violations began under prior ownership and that it cooperated with the investigation.
China is often blamed as a hotbed of software piracy, but what about here? In your experience, how common is it?
Vaunted program hits turbulence August 20, 2008
Posted by Norm , add a commentBall State University’s entrepreneurship program has long been considered one of the state’s crown jewels in business academics.
Former funeral director Don Kuratko started the program before entrepreneurship was cool and pushed it to national prominence. Real-world business types like the program because, in order to graduate, students have to write a business plan that actually passes muster with a panel of hard-nosed business executives.
Kuratko left in 2005 for a similar post at Indiana University, and the program he left behind is showing signs of stress.
Its graduate program didn’t make U.S. News & World Report’s 2007 ranking after placing 16th in 2004, and the undergraduate program has lost several notches.
Meanwhile, IU’s entrepreneurship undergrad program has shot to second place from ninth in 2004, before Kuratko arrived, and the graduate program is sixth, up from 18th.
Another question hanging over the future of the Ball State program is the resignation this summer of Kuratko’s replacement, Larry Cox, to take a faculty position at Pepperdine University.
The interim dean of the Miller College of Business at Ball State dismisses the decline in the U.S. News rankings as a temporary fluctuation. “Rankings in themselves are an inexact science,” Rod Davis adds, noting that the U.S. News versions rely heavily on impressions of deans like himself who may or may not be familiar with the various programs around the country.
Davis also points out that Ball State’s program is the only one in the state to show up in the most recent rankings from U.S. News, as well as Entrepreneur/Princeton Review and Fortune Small Business.
And the interim leader of the entrepreneurship program, Mike Goldsby, is a rising star who has published nationally recognized research on innovation and creativity, Davis says.
How do you feel about prospects for Ball State’s hanging onto its national prominence?
Susan Bayh as a political liability August 19, 2008
Posted by Norm , 10commentsBarack Obama is expected to announce his vice presidential running mate any day now, and Evan Bayh’s name is still thought to be on the short list.
The Indiana senator is viewed as a moderate who would counter Obama’s liberal voting record and be a draw for Midwestern voters.
But one of the downsides to a Bayh candidacy is his wife, Susan, who sits on a number of corporate boards.
Locally, she is a director at Emmis Communications, which has seen a prominent shareholder call for her resignation over the company’s stock price, and WellPoint, which is a reviled health insurer.
Obama’s campaign is reportedly worried about McCain making hay out of her corporate connections. (Imagine the ads: “Evan Bayh’s wife helped deny insurance to people who couldn’t afford health care.”)
What do you think? Should her corporate ties be enough for Obama to overlook her husband?
Appraisers’ role in the meltdown August 18, 2008
Posted by Norm , 7commentsSome of the people most familiar with the mortgage foreclosure explosion in the Indianapolis area in recent years have privately pointed fingers at appraisers.
Appraisers too often were in cahoots with lenders to illegally inflate prices of houses, the insiders complained, usually off the record.
Most appraisers are honest, ethical people, of course. But now an Associated Press investigation says the system failed miserably.
What do you think? Have you seen evidence of appraisers’ inflating prices?
Is college for everyone? August 15, 2008
Posted by Norm , 8commentsParents and teachers for more than a generation have steered students toward college and white-collar work, and few states need the graduates more than Indiana, which has one of the lowest levels of college attainment in the country.
Lost in the attention, though, are jobs that don’t require a bachelor’s degree but still offer wages well above what many college grads earn.
Manufacturers often complain of being overlooked. So do electric utilities.
Increasingly, coal mining companies are joining the fray. They’re desperate for employees as baby boomers retire and the country increasingly turns to coal to meet its electricity needs.
Yet, the industry suffers from a stigma of black grime and pick axes, says Nat Nolan, president of the Indiana Coal Council, a trade group of mine companies.
The work still isn’t clean, and most of the new jobs are in underground mines. But the pick axes were traded for mechanized equipment and computers long ago, and safety is much improved from the explosion-ridden days of the past.
Mining companies are offering entry-level pay of $50,000 a year to workers who hold nothing more than high school diplomas. A couple of years of electrical training pushes the figure to about $70,000, and a few years of experience can result in a six-figure salary. That’s more than most beginning lawyers earn.
For people who simply don’t want to go to college, or know they aren’t college material, has the value of a college education been oversold?
Lucas Oil Stadium and Mail Pouch August 14, 2008
Posted by Norm , 19commentsLucas Oil Stadium has nabbed lots of favorable reviews for its retro look, sliding widows looking onto downtown and retractable roof.
Now a question.
What do you think about the Lucas Oil Stadium name painted in white on the black roof? Does it remind anyone else of Mail Pouch tobacco ads on barns?
And what’s your take on the larger issue of signage on the stadium? Do you like it?
Back to school in hard times August 12, 2008
Posted by Norm , 1 comment so farColleges and universities tend to see enrollment boom when the economy goes south, and this down cycle appears to be little different.
Indiana University, Ivy Tech Community College and the University of Indianapolis all have announced in recent weeks that enrollments are high or at record levels.
When good jobs become scarce, people figure they’d better improve their education.
What about you? Are you headed back to school?