Two updates and three requests

Update 1 — John Stumpf is no longer the CEO of Wells Fargo.  He voluntarily submitted to a preemptive clawback, forgoing $41 million in unvested stock options, in an effort to save his job in the wake of the fake-accounts scandal.  It wasn’t enough.  This week, he retired.  His going-away present was in excess of $130 million.  After assuming responsibility for the scandal, he was ultimately, perhaps belatedly, held accountable.

Update 2 — During the debate last Sunday evening, Donald Trump referred to “the late great Abraham Lincoln.”  This usage of “late” to refer to a recently deceased person occurred over 151 years after Lincoln died.  The Napoleonic 85-year gap that I explained last week remains the largest published gap.

Request 1 — This week, Donn Fendler died.  One of our readers requested a blog post about him, but all I have is this snippet.  Fendler became a celebrity for a short time in 1939 when his 12-year old self vanished while hiking in Maine.  The manhunt to find him was front page news across the nation.  He survived alone for nine days and essentially rescued himself by walking into a hunting camp.  A relieved nation, in the person of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, presented him with a medal as the outstanding youth hero of 1939.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donn_Fendler

He wrote a book about the experience titled “Lost On A Mountain in Maine.”  According to my mother, he was a quiet unassuming man, who enjoyed visiting schools to describe his tale of perseverance to children.

Request 2 —  One of my faithful readers asked whether two Joey Bosas could kill an adult black bear in hand to hand combat.  Very far-fetched, of course, now that the Roman Coliseum has fallen into disuse.  In my opinion, the Bosas would have no chance unless they had a weapon, even a good hunting knife would likely be enough.

Bears are strong, fast, have fantastic weaponry (teeth and claws), and are protected by thick fur.  Usain Bolt, a good proxy for the fastest human, has been recorded at 27.8 mph.  Black bears, even big ones, reportedly sprint 25-30 mph.   Black bears routinely flip over rock looking for food and have turned over 300 pound rocks with one foreleg.

Still, a small adult female black bear might weigh as little as 90 pounds.  The Bosas might have a chance against her, but I doubt it.  She could kill or incapacitate them with a single blow or bite, they don’t have that capability.   One way to think about this issue is to consider all the stories you have heard about unarmed humans killing a bear.  As far as I know it has never happened.  To think two Bosas would have a chance against a large black bear, say a 500-pounder, is shear lunacy.  They probably couldn’t even kill a small adult.

Request 3 —  This request is from me.  As we approach the end of President Obama’s eight years in office, I plan to put together a spreadsheet of numerical indicators to compare the last three consecutive eight-year presidencies.

Question:  have there been other times in our history when three consecutive presidents served eight years?

Answer:  yes.

Question:  when?

An example of the type of indicator I plan to compile is gross domestic product.  I’d like to get 10-15 broad indicators of life in the U.S., not just indicators that measure the economy.

So – my request is to ask you for suggestions of statistics that I can compile that will give a good indication of how some significant aspect of life in the U.S. has during the past three presidencies.  You don’t have to do the research, I will.  But I would like help coming up with a list of noteworthy items.

Thrice we have had three consecutive presidents serve eight years.  The first time was early:  Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.  The second time was relatively modern:  Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower.  Truman did not serve two full terms, but I’m giving it to him because he succeeded Roosevelt so early in FDR’s fourth term.  (7.75 years rounds to 8.)  And the third time is now:  Clinton, Bush, Obama.