Word: ideas
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...prepare for our meeting, it strikes me that "Boxing at Harvard" is itself a curious idea, and I'm eager to learn where the two American institutions meet up. So I show up at the MAC's third-floor Rec. Room early for my Friday afternoon appointment, just as the club's introductory meeting is letting out and a practice is starting up. Rawson, a squat, bald man is standing in a corner, instructing one of his boxers. Wearing a collared shirt and ancient plaid pants, he seems to have forgotten how men his age are supposed...
...anchor for this success is a truism as relaxed as Case's laconic charm: easy is better. In a world of overfeatured, tech-heavy computers and Internet gadgets, Case built a business on the simple idea that the electronic world should be easy to use. "The geeks don't like us," Case said last week as he kicked back in his Dulles, Va., office, sporting a new green CompuServe shirt. "They want as much technology as possible, while AOL's entire objective is to simplify." It was Case, for instance, who introduced the first graphical interface to the online world...
...also took careful notes. At P&G, for instance, he had a front-row seat for corporate marketing. He still chuckles about the P&G executives so dazzled by the success of Bounce--a tissue impregnated with fabric softener--that they jumped to the odd conclusion that the idea might work for hair care. The result was a conditioner-impregnated tissue. Case helped invent a catchy slogan--"Towelette? You bet!"--and then watched the product implode. "Consumers," Case says, "are smart. Good marketing can only get you a trial. If the product's bad, sales will go over a cliff...
...convergence of Case's entrepreneurial spirit and his hobby came in 1983, when his brother Dan helped him land a job at Control Video, a Virginia-based company with the premature idea of shipping Atari video games to home computers over telephone lines. Two weeks after Case arrived, the firm's capital dried up. Out of the ashes, Case crafted Quantum Computer Services. His idea was to create an online bulletin board for owners of Commodore 64 computers. It wasn't a sexy niche, but he thought it might have potential...
...this happen to a seemingly popular idea? From the start, powerful conservative organizations like the Christian Coalition and the Eagle Forum derided the very notion of national examinations, claiming they violate a cherished American ideal of local-school control. Worse, they warned, the national tests would lead to homogenized classroom curriculums and ultimately to federal educrats wresting control of American classrooms from parents, teachers and students. Says Jennifer Marshall, an analyst with the Family Research Council: "We don't think there is such a thing as a good federal test...