Auren Hoffman's Summation Push for the week of November 20, 1999

This issue:

* Introducing Tom Campbell
* Let's Boycott Leap Year
* Response: Click and Mortar Banks
* Profile: kozmo.com
* Summation Push Pick Links
* Hoffman Reading List

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INTRODUCING TOM CAMPBELL

By Auren Hoffman

Tom Campbell is a different type of Congressperson. Thoughtful, cerebral, and well versed on thousands of subject matters, Campbell is one of the most respected members of Congress.

Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), a colleague on the International Relations Committee, described Campbell as "one of the smartest and most principled folks I know on earth."

The only Republican Congressperson from the Bay Area, Campbell is a social moderate but is a true fiscal conservative. Campbell ranked first on CATO's 1998 list of the most pro-free-trade Members of Congress and was once rated the single most fiscally responsible Member of Congress, by the National Taxpayers Union.

One recent news report stated:
"Despite the fact that he is an idealist in a body of pragmatists, Campbell is not a flame-thrower. Instead, he is soft-spoken and extremely courteous. Perhaps this is why he is not accused of having a holier-than-thou attitude, despite his miles-high-mindedness."

And Campbell is popular. He received over 60% of the vote in his last election as a Republican in a Democratic district.

Campbell was originally elected to Congress in 1988 but left in 1992 in an unsuccessful bid to gain the GOP nomination to run for the U.S. Senate. Afterwards, he served a few years in the California State Senate and then was re-elected to Congress in 1995.

Campbell is pondering another run for the U.S. Senate in 2000 where he would be the heavy favorite to win the GOP nomination. He'd run against Diane Feinstein, who has become increasingly unpopular in recent years because of her anti-technology votes and calls that she has been out-of-touch with California's electorate.

Regardless of Campbell's next steps, he is a true class act and great public servant.

(What do you think? Write auren@summation.net)

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Video rental recommendation: Thin Red Line. This is a long movie, but really good. One of the best war movies I have ever seen.

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LET'S BOYCOTT LEAP YEAR

By Auren Hoffman

Everyone is talking of boycotts nowadays. It seems like every organization over 20 people has a boycott list. I guess everyone needs something to boycott -- but I've been without one ever since New Kids on the Block faded away.

I've been thinking long and hard and I finally came up with my cause -- leap year. Leap year is an extreme annoyance. It is too confusing. Next February 29, 2000 should be March 1!

Leap year was authorized by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C., because it was assumed that the year had 365 1/4 days, with a 366-day leap year added every fourth year.

My thoughts -- who cares if we are 0.25 days out of alignment each year -- it will take generations to make any difference. And the weather in San Francisco is so screwy that it really won't matter.

To make matters more complicated, an Anglo-Saxon monk in A.D. 730, the Venerable Bede, calculated that the Julian year was 11 minutes and 14 seconds too long, an error of about one day every 128 years. You're probably saying -- who cares? My thoughts exactly -- and no one did care until the end of 16th Century. In 1582, the accumulated error was estimated at 10 days, and Pope Gregory XIII defied all logic and made a universal announcement that the day following Oct. 4 would be Oct. 15.

To make future adjustments for the error (about three days every 400 years), it was decided by the powers that be that years ending in "00" would be common years rather than leap years -- except those divisible by 400. Makes sense? So 1600 was a leap year and 2000 also will be, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not.

So I'm going to boycott the next leap year. I'm leading a delegation to the United Nations to force the world to treat 2/29 as 3/1 and I will send "Happy Normal Year" card to everyone I know.

Then we'll add a minute at the end of every day -- which will give us about 365 extra minutes a year -- or about 1/4 of the day. And then the world will rejoice =)

(What do you want to boycott? Write auren@summation.net)

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BUSINESS IDEA: CLICK AND MORTAR BANKS

Last Summation Push, I wrote about building a brick and mortar bank office to service all the online banks. Here are some responses:

Jason Palmer, CEO of Mascot.com, writes:

"Startup costs for this venture are a lot less with the right partner. I suggest using an existing bricks-and-mortar establishment that people visit regularly and trust already. For example, WalMart or a well-respected supermarket chain. The world is already moving this way, and the www.wingspanbank.com folks should scoop up the "exclusive ATM relationships" at WalMart or Kroger as soon as they can. This would give them bricks-and-mortar 'everywhere presence', with a capital cost of almost nothing (since they would presumably pay monthly rent)."

Andy Choy, Manager of eCommerce at Virco Manufacturing Corp, comments:

"Auren -- that's the 11th stupidest thing I've ever heard. That bank idea is perhaps the worst thing you've ever come up with. Think about what you are saying. It's so much easier for a bricks and mortar bank to offer on line services than it is to try to build a bricks and mortar arm for online banks. Now having a bricks and mortar outlet for ALL on-line merchants... That's a hot idea. It could be a place where you could return books you bought from amazon.com, CD's you bought from cdnow, toys from etoys, and so on. You would save on consolidating return postage as well as serving as small distribution hubs for the dot com companies that sign on for the service. Sorry for being so harsh, but damn, it's a dumb idea. By the way, don't forget I've reserved numbers 1 through 10."

Larry Hebb, Senior Vice President at Northern Trust Bank, replies:

"The old rule of thumb was a brick & mortar branch within 15 minutes of your client. Web enablement will reduce, but not eliminate that need. In our business model, we figure that to cover 80% of our target market (top 2% of households measured by investable liquid assets), we need no more than 200 physical locations to cover banking, investment management and fiduciary needs of our clients together with state of the art and constantly improving information delivery & connectivity. Pure e-commerce won't work for our client base. The ability to touch & meet a human face to face, perhaps within an hour or so of a client's location, whether we go to the client or the client comes to us, is of paramount importance."

(Got a good idea? Write auren@summation.net)

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Profile: kozmo.com

Kozmo.com (http://www.kozmo.com) is one of my five favorite Internet services.

Want to rent a video? You could go to the local Blockbuster that might have a small selection, big lines, and chances are that your movie is already rented. Or you can log into kozmo.com from home or work and order a movie. Kozmo charges $3.75 for new releases and $2.75 for older films.

In San Francisco, Kozmo will deliver the movie to you within an hour and you can pick an hour window during anytime of the day (until 1:00 am) to have the movie delivered.

Of course, you can buy food, snacks, magazines, video games, and more to be delivered with your movie. And you can return the movie to your local deli, bagel shop, cafe, or gym. kozmo.com will quickly take major cities by storm.

(Thoughts? Write auren@summation.net)

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THIS WEEK'S SUMMATION PUSH PICK LINKS:

* Kozmo.com (http://www.kozmo.com) - this is a great company that delivers rental videos and food directly to your home or office within an hour of ordering them. It is amazing -- check it out.
* Tom Campbell (http://www.house.gov/campbell) - one of the most distinguished members of Congress.
* Live 365 -- (http://www.live365.com) -- you can get great streaming MP3 Eighties music.
* Get a Free House now! -- (http://www.summation.net/freehouses/) -- Is free stuff getting ridiculous? Get a free house.
* What am I reading? The Hoffman Reading List (http://www.summation.net/reading.html)

NOTE: Auren Hoffman works for BridgePath.com but the opinions expressed herein are solely those of Mr. Hoffman.

NOTE: You may reprint in full or in part (for free) with permission from author.

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