Steve Kass

If a sentence is short enough to be a headline, it isn’t true.

In today’s online edition, BBC News published “Faulty 20p coins ‘worth £50 each'”. A Coin Factfile sidebar to the article notes originally noted that

British coins do not carry the name of the country of issue – neither do those of the USA

Coins of the USA, of course, do carry the name of the country of issue. Instead of sending the BBC feedback (which I did), maybe I should have offered to sell them my collection of “faulty” US coins on which the words United States of America appear. I’d have taken a mere £20 a piece.

At least BBC News attributed their “factfile” facts. They came from the London Mint Office. Despite its august name, the London Mint Office isn’t the Royal Mint. It’s more like a British Franklin Mint, I think. According to their web page, the London Mint Office is

a wholly-owned subsidiary of one of Europe’s most successful direct marketing organisations’, the Samlerhuset Group.

How the London Mint Office qualified for a .org domain beats me. Not to mention how any of this qualifies as news.

I’m singing Mahler’s Eighth with the New York Philharmonic this week. It’s a phenomenal experience, not to mention a spectacular piece of music, performed by one of the world’s best orchestras and some amazing soloists. All backed up by 170 adult and 40 children choristers, of which I’m one (of the adults).

On August 25, 2009, the New York Philharmonic will release a recording of our performance through iTunes, Amazon and other retailers. If you don’t have tickets and don’t want to wait until August, you can listen to tomorrow night’s performance live on WQXR 96.3FM in the New York area or on WQXR.com, and possibly on the NY Phil’s web site for a couple of weeks after that.

Shameless subplug: You can also hear me in this Dutoit/Montreal recording of Fauré’s Requiem and Pavane (the version with silly words – of the Pavane, that is), and in this Dessoff recording of choral works (good stuff you probably haven’t heard) by Corigliano, Rorem, Moravec, and Convery.

The Mathematics Genealogy Project now traces my mathematical genealogy back to Galileo, passing through Benkart, Jacobson, Chrystal, Maxwell, Hopkins, Sedgwick, Jones, Cranke, Postlethwaite, Whisson, Taylor (Walter, not Brook), Smith, Cotes, Newton, Barrow, de Roberval, and Viviani along the way. Cool.

The Director of Public Relations for Affinia Hotels responded personally to my email and previous blog post today. She completely understood the issue and handled it thoughtfully, professionally, and fairly. I couldn’t be happier, and I’m looking forward to my upcoming stay more than ever. Here’s what she had to say:

I recently read your blog and the experience that you had with our recent offer of $50 credit to create a My Affinia profile.  Because of your comments on 1/23, we took a closer look at the offer and restrictions and have since made some adjustments to the offer.  Our goal was to encourage trial of our new My Affinia customization program and to encourage people to use that program during the first quarter, and not to create an offer that is not clear or up-front.  Based on your comments, we will be honoring the Internet Only rate with the $50 credit which can be applied to your additional amenities during your stay (not applicable to room rate).  Please just bring the $50 credit certificate that you received and the property will honor that with your current “internet only rate” that you booked.

We thank you for bringing this to our attention and I apologize for any inconvenience.  If you have any questions or further comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly.  My direct line is XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Thanks, Affinia!

[Update: Affinia responded and came through brilliantly. See my next blog entry for details. Thanks, Affinia!]

Hi there,

I stayed at the Affinia 50 for the first time last summer, and earlier today I reserved the same hotel for an upcoming stay. I called 1-866-AFFINIA with a question about the reservation, and the gentleman who took my call advised me to email you.

Let me skip to the chase: Your “My Affinia” program is a grand deception, or at least it appears to be. Affinia has an amazing Public Relations director. When there’s a problem, Affinia takes care of it. [Updated February 3, 2009]

Whether or not you are in fact being deceptive, I’m sure you don’t want it to appear that way. I enjoyed your hotel last year, and I hope I’ve misunderstood something, that you’ll appreciate my feedback, and that you’ll explain.

Here’s why the “My Affinia” program seems deceptive to me:

The “My Affinia” program lures customers into using the promo code FIFTY to get a $50 coupon. Using the code hides the special internet rate, which costs hundreds of dollars less than any rate available with the code FIFTY.

Here’s why I believe this. I did things in this order today:

1. Saw the “Get a $50 activity credit” offer in your Valentine’s Day email.
2. Completed the My Affinia profile so I could get the $50 activity credit.
3. Made a reservation at affinia.com for the Affinia 50 (without using the promo code FIFTY, which I didn’t know about yet). I booked my room at the lowest no-cancellation-penalty rate, which you call the “special internet rate.”
4. Received the email “My Affinia Activity Credit Enclosed.” I found out from this email that the $50 credit is only available for reservations made with the promo code FIFTY.
5. Returned to your web site to add the promo code FIFTY to my reservation.
6. Discovered that when the promo code FIFTY is entered, the “special internet rate” is not available, and only the higher (!) “best available rate” is available.

Bottom line: You’ll give me a $50 coupon if I enter FIFTY when I reserve. In exchange, you’ll hide the lowest refundable rate from me, increasing the cost of my 4-night stay by over $400.

Needless to say, this is horrible and insulting. Unfortunately, it seems true. In fact, the activity credit I printed indicates that the credit is only valid if I reserve at the “best available rate.” That rate is not the best available rate; instead, it’s apparently the best available rate?. For my four-night reservation, it’s $400 more than the “special internet rate,” which is unavailable when the FIFTY code is entered. (The FIFTY code also hides the even lower non-refundable rate, but I wasn’t interested in that rate.)

As you can see from my reservation, I didn’t book the cheapest room: I’m willing to pay more to get more. However, I’m not someone who takes kindly to being cheated into paying hundreds of dollars more for nothing!

Can you please explain?

Thanks for your time,

Steve Kass

Words that identify forward-looking statements, from various web sites:

• “may,” “could,” “should,” “would,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “seek,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan” and similar expressions.
• “strategy,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “will,” “continues,” “estimates,” “intends,” “projects,” “goals,” “targets” and other words of similar meaning.
• “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “strategy,” “intend,” “plan,” “target” and “believe” or the negative of those terms or other variations or comparable terminology.
• “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “should,” “will,” and “would” or similar words.
• “expects,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “guides,” “provides guidance” and other similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “should,” “would” and “could”.
• “designed to,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “will likely result,” “intended to” or similar expressions.
• “aims,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “hopes,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “seeks,” “should” and variations of these words and similar expressions.
• “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “forecast,” “initiative,” “objective,” “plan,” “goal,” “project,” “outlook,” “priorities,” “target,” “intend,” “when,” “evaluate,” “pursue,” “seek,” “may,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “believe,” “potential,” “continue,” “designed,” “impact” or the negative of any of those words or similar expressions.
• “expect,” “fully expect,” “expected,” “appears,” “believe,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “would,” “goal,” “potential,” “potentially,” “range,” “pursuit,” “run rate,” “stronger,” “preliminarily,” etc.
• “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “future,” “moving toward” and similar expressions.
• “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “project,” “will” and similar expressions.
• “may,” “assume,” “forecast,” “position,” “predict,” “strategy,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “project,” “budget,” “potential,” or “continue,” and similar expressions.
• “anticipates,” “believes,” “expects,” “intends” and similar expressions.
• “estimate,” “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “plan,” “predict,” “may,” “should,” “will,” the negative of these words or such other variations thereon or comparable terminology.
• “may,” “will,” “should,” “plan,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “intend,” “project,” “goal” or “target” or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology.
• “expects,” “estimates,” “believes,” “plans,” “anticipates” or similar language.
• “may,” “will,” “can” “anticipate,” “assume,” “should,” “indicate,” “would,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “expect,” “seek,” “estimate,” “continue,” “plan,” “point to,” “project,” “predict,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “potential,” and other similar words and expressions of the future.
• “believe,” “demonstrate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “should” and “likely” and similar expressions.
• “project,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “will,” “may” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes.
• “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or “continue,” the negative of such terms, or other comparable terminology.
• “will,” “expect,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “plan,” “estimate,” “expect,” and “intend” and statements that an event or result “may,” “will,” “can,” “should,” “could,” or “might” occur or be achieved and other similar expressions.

Today President-Elect Obama talked about dialogue and disagreement. That should remind me that as President, he’ll stay committed to bridging differences through understanding and respect.

His inauguration party ought to include people whose viewpoints differ from Obama’s on issues that divide Americans, issues like abortion and the scope of civil rights. It reflects the sincerity of his commitment. Obama should invite people who have the same sincere commitment.

Unfortunately, Obama extended an invitation to Rick Warren, who, in televised and recorded remarks as recently as this week, has roundly and repeatedly dismissed and marginalized gay Americans. In addition, he probably offended millions of Americans committed to extending the civil right of marriage to gay Americans.

Mr. Warren had every right to support Proposition 8. He also had the right to support it just as he did: disrespectfully and dismissively, and without any gesture towards bridging differences or attempting to understand.

The way he supported it (not simply that he did) should have disqualified him from the inauguration ceremony.

Mr. Warren’s offense was neither acceptable nor trivial, but Obama’s invitation means he considered it one or the other, if not both. Mr. Warren dismissed gay relationships as shallow at best, having more in common with incest and pedophilia than with marriage. He swiftly dismissed tens of thousands of gay Americans who have married without fanfare (not to mention millions of civil rights supporters) by saying gay Americans really seek public approval, not marriage rights. And he ignorantly and cruelly characterized the struggle as one between a 5000 year old tradition identical in every religion and culture (even if it weren’t a wild fiction, it wouldn’t be a coherent argument) and the need to "appease" a tiny minority of Americans (where do I begin?)
Dear Mr. Obama,

Please listen to those who’ve taken issue with your choice. Respect us, understand us better, and replace Mr. Warren with someone else, perhaps someone who shares Warren’s viewpoints, but whose behavior has earned him or her the honor and prestige your invitation accords.

Sincerely yours,

Steve Kass
Madison, NJ

At www.wordcount.org, you can browse and search a list of the 86,800 most frequently used English words (ordered by how frequently they appear in the British National Corpus). Brilliantly, the creators of WordCount kept track of the words people search WordCount for, and they added “QueryCount”, where you can browse and search a list of the 71,632 most frequently searched-for-at-WordCount English words (ordered by how frequently their frequency ranking was sought). I’m sure they’re keeping track of searches at QueryCount and have thought of creating QueryQueryCount, a list of English words in order of how frequently the frequency ranking of their frequency-ranking’s-being-sought ranking was sought, and make that list searchable, and so on. How would the limit of (Query^n)Count behave?