Vertical Pulse

Staying in the Flow

I recently read most of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly. This was an interesting, although highly pedantic, book about maximizing performance and satisfaction by getting and staying in the groove. Flow is defined to be the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it. Research for Flow was conducted, inter alia, by monitoring people who wore an electronic paging device and by having these people record their feelings and thoughts whenever the pager signaled.

Among the interesting points of discussion in Flow were:

• The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.

• Attention is like energy in that without it no work can be done, and in doing work it is dissipated. We create ourselves by how we invest this energy.

• The eight major components of enjoyment are: a) The experience usually occurs when we confront tasks we have a chance of completing. b) We must be able to concentrate on what we are doing. c and d) The concentration is usually possible because the task undertaken has clear goals and provides immediate feedback. e) One acts with a deep but effortless involvement that removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life. f) Enjoyable experiences allow people to exercise a sense of control over their actions. g) Concern for the self disappears, yet paradoxically the sense of self emerges stronger after the flow experience is over. h) The sense of the duration of time is altered; hours pass by in minutes, and minutes can stretch out to seem like hours.

• Those who seemingly take huge risks derive their enjoyment not from the danger itself, but from their ability to minimize it.

Jewish Soldiers in the Wehrmacht

I had the pleasure of listening to a very informative lecture by Bryan Mark Riggs, author of Hitler's Jewish Soldiers. Professor Riggs conducted tremendous original research into men of Jewish lineage who served in Hitler's Army. This research is truly ground-breaking as the issue of Jews in the Wehrmacht was neglected by the entire academic community before Professor Riggs delved into this subject. Moreover, Professor Riggs is a highly skilled orator. Among the points that I learned from Professor Riggs' lecture are the following:

• There were about 1,800 Jewish officers in Hitler's army. There were about 90,000 soldiers of one-half Jewish blood and about 60,000 soldiers of one-quarter Jewish blood. Of extreme importance to note, almost none of these soldiers - Professor Riggs' research only revealed about 18 to 20 men of Jewish blood - took part in the Holocaust.
• Hitler believed that if a mischling (a person of a combination of Aryan and Jewish blood) looked Aryan (e.g. had blond hair and blue eyes), such person would be deemed to have dominant German blood and recessive Jewish characteristics.
• Also, some German women who had Jewish husbands saved their children by claiming that they had affairs with German men and that their children were the product of such relationships.
• Persons of 100% Jewish blood were barred from serving in the Wehrmacht. However, persons of one-quarter or one-half Jewish blood were required to serve in the army. These mischling could not be officers without Hitler's direct permission.
• In April 1940, men of one-half Jewish blood were discharged from the Wehrmacht, except those needed in various campaigns. Some 70,000 Jews were dismissed. This purging of (one-half) Jews occurred before Germany went to war with the Soviet Union, where 85% of German fatalities occurred.
• Hitler did allow clemency for men of one-half Jewish blood to remain in the Wehrmacht. Some were allowed to remain, some where given permission to remain and be promoted, and some were deemed to be of pure German blood. Those who remained in the army did so to save their families and, in fact, such service did, at least, delay deportations.

Advergaming

We have conducted significant research into the issue of advergaming in connection with our Video Games and Word of Mouth Marketing Conferences.

We believe that almost all video games, particularly online games, will have an advergaming component to them. The following are among the benefits of advergaming:

1)   Tremendous Markets: It is estimated that by 2008, half of the population will participate in video games.

2)   Compelling Demographics: Women between the ages of 30-49 spend the most time at online gaming sites. Nineteen percent of males play more video games than they watch television. Teens spend 7.4 hours per week playing online video games.

3)   Extensive Exposure: Video game players are exposed to advergaming for extended periods of time, ranging between five and 35 minutes per play.

4)   Commerce is being connected to advergaming. For instance, with some software, gamers can have a pizza delivered to them simply by clicking on an advergaming banner. The gamer doesn't even have to stop playing the video game as the local pizza parlor is electronically connected to a record of the players preferences, his credit card authorization and address.

In summary, advergaming is expected to produce roughly $4 billion in revenue by the end of 2008.

Learn more about Advergaming at our Video Gaming Conference in New York City on February 16 or at our Word of Mouth Marketing Conference in San Francisco on February 27. Please contact Naomi Barazani at 212-952-7400 ext. 126 or naomi@twst.com for more details. Mention Vertical Pulse and receive a $100 discount off of the registration.

The Pacific Theater in World War II

I recently watched two DVD's about the Pacific Theater during World War II. These DVD's were The Price for Peace which is a Stephen Spielberg and Stephen Ambrose production and Enola Gay from The History Channel. Among the insights from these DVDs are:

• Over 8,000 ethnic Japanese committed suicide on the island of Okinawa as a result of Japanese propaganda about the atrocities that American forces would commit if they gained control of the island. This was a complete loss of life because the victorious American forces moved the civilians out of harm's way and provided food, water and medical treatment to Okinawa's civilians.
• The Japanese adopted suicide tactics because they were vastly overextended and outmanned as they fought Americans, Britons, Chinese, Dutch and the Soviet Union. (The Japanese were even threatening to invade India.) Japanese soldiers blew themselves up under enemy tanks and their kamikaze pilots were never taught how to land.
• The Japanese were completely prepared to defend mainland Japan to the last man. They began digging foxholes all over Japan and brought back their best soldiers from all over their empire. In one raid on Tokyo using conventional bombs, 100,000 people were killed. This did not dampen Japanese willingness to fight. Even after the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the Japanese continued to fight. Their newspapers said that the loss of 140,000 citizens was not a major military setback as few soldiers were killed or military facilities were destroyed. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan before the atomic attack on Nagasaki, but the Japanese still refused to surrender.
• Development of the atomic bomb in the U.S. began in 1939 after Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt about the importance of atomic research. Before the Manhattan Project, the U.S. only spent $2,000 on atomic research.
• Robert Oppenheimer, a lead scientist for the Manhattan Project, had many Communist sympathies and ties. However, he was not the Soviet spy in Los Almos, Klaus Fuchs was.
• When the atomic bomb was tested in New Mexico, the explosion was seen as far away as Amarillo, Texas, 420 miles away.
• The total cost to develop the atomic bomb was $2 billion.
• The atomic explosion in Hiroshima was equivalent to 13,500 tons of high explosives. The center of impact momentarily registered heat of 100 million degrees. The temperature on the ground at Hiroshima reached 5400 degrees Fahrenheit. Some 70,000 people died instantly. Nine out of 10 doctors and nurses in Hiroshima were killed or injured. The water mains were shattered in 70,000 places and two-thirds of the buildings were totally destroyed.
• The atomic attack on Nagasaki had a number of setbacks. Weather forced the mission up a few days. Unlike in the attack on Hiroshima, the bombs were fully armed at take-off. The plane flew into a bad storm and came under attack from Japanese planes. The pilots had to drop the atomic bomb to make it home because their fuel was at very low levels. The plane nearly missed running into the mushroom cloud that arose from the explosion. The bomb on Nagasaki detonated three miles away from its target. As a result, the bomb detonated in a hilly terrain and in an area which had more industrial facilities than residences. This was why 70,000 people were killed in Nagasaki versus some 140,000 fatalities when Hiroshima was bombed.

The American Revolution

I recently reviewed a very informative DVD on the American Revolution that was produced by PBS. Among the interesting points about the American Revolution discussed in the DVD were:

• Leading American revolutionaries were wealthy which was unprecedented in the history of revolutions as the wealthy are usually adverse to change. Most colonists did not want a revolution as they felt deeply attached to England. There was a heavy influence of British books and newspapers and the wealthy often sent their children to be educated in England. Most colonists wanted to remain British.
• When the British government imposed the Stamp Tax on the American colonists, the colonists were outraged. (The British thought that it was only reasonable that the Americans pay for more of their own defense. The average British taxpayer was paying 26 shillings, while the average Massachusetts colonist was paying 1 shilling per year. The British thought the Americans were ungrateful for the British clearing the French out of North America.) The Stamp Tax levied taxes on many items including all legal documents (wills and contracts) which enraged lawyers (those capable of launching the most articulate tirades against the tax) and on dice and cards (which enraged those most likely to cause a stir). The colonists were furious that the Stamp Tax was to be merely imposed without the colonists having been consulted on it. The colonists were afraid that the Stamp Tax would set a bad precedent and were very concerned that there was no limit on how high the tax could rise and that there were no checks on the tax. Also, wealthy colonists were upset about being placed in the category of those being taxed without giving consent: In Britain only the poor, women and children were taxed without their consent.
• Following, the Stamp Act, the British government passed the Declaratory Act which declared that Britain had complete control to set law in the American colonies.
• Following the Declaratory Act, colonists organized boycotts of British goods. The fact that the participation of the common people was necessary for these boycotts to be effective was a positive development for democratization in America. Even before the United States came into being, there was a great deal of democracy in America: Town meetings, which were governed by popular vote, were common and some courts were run by committees.
• Some Boston colonists dumped tea in Boston Harbor after the British imposed the Tea Tax (which was only 3 cents per pound of very inexpensive tea). As a result of such gesture politics, British ships encircled Boston Harbor and placed Massachusetts under military rule. The port of Boston was also closed.
• Interestingly, during this time, Harvard students were ranked by their family status, not by their grades.
• George Washington was an amazing man. He took control of American forces when he was one of America's wealthiest men and at the advanced age of 43. He fought bravely to the end without even visiting Mount Vernon once for at least six years. For example, when American forces escaped Brooklyn Heights in the middle of the night to make their way to Manhattan, George Washington was the last man on the last boat to evacuate. At the conclusion of the war, George Washington could have been King but he renounce such power.
• Battles at Trenton and Princeton (NJ) were major turning points for the Americans during the Revolutionary War. American enlistment was about to expire and Washington came very close to becoming a General without an army. Before this happened, Washington led attacks on the British whose success began to turn the tide of the American war effort.
• Despite a very long war (about 7 years), George Washington only fought nine battles and won just three battles in the Revolutionary War.
• At the end of the Revolutionary War, the states were not united. The French were ready to send 13 ambassadors to the 13 colonies. Each state printed its own currency - some were English pounds and some were Spanish pesos. Some states even had border disputes.
• The Revolutionary War eliminated servitude by 1800 which was very common during the 1700s. One-half of the population of Philadelphia - at one time in their lives - were indentured servants.