Aussie rules: Discovering Brad Wing was like going to a garage sale and finding a Picasso, LSU Special Teams Coordinator Thomas McGaughey tells The Wall Street Journal in a recent feature on LSU’s Australian-born punting sensation. “I’ve been in the NFL, and I’ve seen some really good punters,” McGaughey says in the article. “But I’ve never seen a guy who can control the ball like he can.” Wing discusses his kicking technique in a video on the Wall Street Journal site here, and you can read the full story here.
Picking winners: Of the 110 candidates Gov. Bobby Jindal endorsed for BESE, statewide offices, the House of Representatives and the State Senate, 96—or 87.3%—won their respective elections. Among BESE races, five of the six candidates endorsed by Jindal won election—including two candidates who defeated incumbents. Jindal’s office says the governor spent more than $1.4 million from his Victory Fund on promoting endorsed candidates, sent out more than 1.6 million pieces of promotional mail on their behalf, and made more than 2.5 million phone calls. On top of that, $420,000 was spent from Jindal’s campaign fund to support legislative and BESE candidates.
Awaiting cheaper chips: Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, which started shipping last week, costs $201.70 to make, a research firm says. That’s $2.70 more than Amazon charges for it. The analysis by IHS indicates that Amazon is, at least initially, selling the tablet at a loss that it hopes to cover through sales of books and movies for the device. The manufacturing cost of a new gadget usually comes down over time as chips become cheaper. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told The Associated Press in September that the company’s goal was to make a small profit from the hardware; but as a retail company, Amazon was willing to live with a smaller margin than most electronics companies would. IHS’s estimate includes the cost of components and assembly, but not the costs of development, marketing or packaging. The most expensive part of the Kindle Fire is the seven-inch color touch screen, which costs $87.
