Cox, James

Contents: Information regarding local author

James, Cox.

Location: Vertical Files at B.S. Ricks Memorial

Library of the Yazoo Library Association | 310N. Main Street, Yazoo City, Mississippi 39194

(i/hf lliiEiTn DaiUi

•Yazoo City, Mississippi, WednesdayOur 108th Year. No. 151 • ASSOCIATED PRESS

m

Yazoo's Jim Cox

Numbers are bis gameBy KARLA COOKof the Herald staff

" "Hereitis: How many miles in the world?""How many miles in the world?""That's right.""Ttie whole thing?""AH of it"

"Oh Lord, I'll Just have to guess...One miilion!""One miUiont Mrs Wren, I'm afraid you just • t -missed. The correct answer should have been on^*-:million and three. I'm very sorry, and don'tthink I ain't." "(copyright 1971 by Willie Morris)

Mrs. Wren may not have been able toguess the number of miles in the world,but give Yazoo's Jim Cox a calculatorand a pencil and paper, and he'll giveyou a number—rounded off to thenearest trillion. He's alreadycalculated the number of trees in theUnited States, how many miles acrossthe known universe, and how farautomobiles have gone in the UnitedStates since they were invented.Jim Cox is into big numbers in a big

way. He's even planning to publish abook on them in the near future. "Fewpeople seem to know or care aboutthese numbers," Cox said, "but onceyou start, the subject is fascinating."The WJNS disc jockey said he ex

panded the existing number systemwhen he was eighteen years old. Thelargest number Cox has calculated sofar is a billiotilliotiolliotilliotillion,which is ten to the ten, to the ten, to theten, to the ten cubed times ten to thenine.

calculator he checks his computationsa few times just to make sure. "As amatter (rf fact, I check them about eightor ten times," he laughed. The 38-yearold resident of Yazoo said he oftenconfers with scientists and researchers,

different fields as an addedin

Cox handles the mind-bogglingfigures with the help of a scientificcalculator. "But I have to go to penciland paper if the numbers becomelarger than ten to the -99 or ten to the99," he chuckled. Even when he is doingthe figuring on paper, he uses exponential, or scientific notation so hedo^n't have to contend with zerosstretching out over the width of thepage.Cox says that although he trusts his

assurance that his figures are correct."So far, most of my figures have beenpretty close." 'Rie main thing toremember, he commented, is that amistake of perhaps a few trillion ismaybe one millionth of a percent of thewhole number. "If I'm only onemillionth of a percent off, I'm prettyclose," said the numbers man.Cox explained that he starts with

figures from government or industrystudies, "For example," he said, "Isent a letter to the Forestry serviceasking for information and they sentme this book with facts about theforests."

The self-proclaimed foremostauthority on large numbers then takesthe basic facts and figures and performs what is usually simplemultiplication and division on them toderive the gargantuan numbers."First of all, you have to have a

definition for your subject," theaspiring writer said. "The forest service defines a tree as a sapling with adiameter of three inches, plus othercharacteristics. Then foresters in everystate go out and count trees," he said.What Cox does is take the individual

state results and add them together.

Based on the 1977 tree census. Coxsays there are 233886957200 trees withdiameters of three inches or more in

the United States.

The planned book, "The LargestNumbers in the World (and out)" was

originally to be an entirely scientificbook, Cox said. "But it has to sell, soI'm going to include a lot of ridiculousthings in it too."

Some matter-of-fact figures Coxplans to include in his book are: andestimate of the the total number ofphonograph records produced (twentybillion, give or take a few), the totalamount of electricity produced in theUnited States up to 1979 ( 43 trillionkilowatt hours), the toUl amount ofmoney the IRS has taken since it cameinto existence in 1866 (four trillion, 748billion, 121 million, 739 thousand, 787dollars), how much the United Statesin worth (five trillion, 587 billion, 600million dollars), how much the world isworth (about twelve trillion dollars).

Li?

He said his book will follow thegeneral format of the Guinness Book ofWorld Records, or The Book of Lists"As a matter of fact, I'm going to go tothe publisher of the Guinness Book ofWorld Records to see if they willpublish my book."As far as he knows, there is no one

else who shares his unusual hobby."This has never been done, and it'sfascinating. I'm turning new ground."

y^azoo^s Cox auYt get enough of MississipfnBy AULEN BASWELLStaff Writer

When James Cox compiled his first"Mississippi Almanac" in May 1995, hedid it out of a love of his adopted state.^ "I love Mississippi, even though Ijhaven't lived here ̂ 1 of my life. It is my.idopted state, and I thought it would be'^ood to put together a book of informa-don and facts tiiat no one else has done,"fCox said recently.' After receiving much acclaim andpraise for his first efibrt. Cox decided toupdate and expand the almanac. Thenew, S'A-inch-by-ll-inch volume, whichweighs some three poimds and contains596 pages chock full of statistics aboutpeople, places and things that give theMagnolia State its special flavor andheritage, hit bookstores tbis summer.There were other reasons Cox wanted

to compile an almanac besides his lovefor Mississippi.

"I had seen a similar almanac inLouisiana, and I thought a void had beenleft because there wasn't one for Mississippi, so I decided to fiU the void and produce one," Cox said.When Cox decided to put together the

first almanac, it took him two years togather the information and get it intopublication form."There was so much information to put

together. For some of the people featuredin the 'Famous and Notable Mississippi-ans' section, it was extremely difficult,"Cox said."Famous and Notable Mississippians"

contains brief profiles of more than 500Mississippians who have excelled insports, hterature, theater, fihn, television, medicine, etc.Included in the list from the first edi

tion are WiUiam Faulkner, Eudora Welty,WilliP! Morris, Tennessee Williams, BetiiHenley, "Gentle Ben" Williams, WilheBrown, Archie Manning, Elvis Presley,

Haley Barbour, Jerry Glower and JohnGrisham.The updated edition includes country

music sensation LeAnn Rimes, University of Tennessee quarterback PeytonManning, and Glen BaUard, a songwriter who helped write many of thesongs on rock singer Alanis Morrisette'salbum "Jagged Little Pill," including the1996 Grammy-wirming time "You Ough-ta Know."

"We added more to this one, including100 more names to the famous andnotable list, to give us a total of 650. Weupdated the information on the otherslisted. We have a section about outdoorsportsmen, a listing of physicians clinicsand pharmacies, which is somethingother books don't have," Cox said.One item that was inishided in the first

edition but is not in the latest one is alisting of unions in Mississippi.

Continued on back page

; Mississippi, ftlinanac,

1997-1995 I■ • BimanaA i

.lie

\

JAMES COX has updated his 'MississippiAlmanac/

I ̂zz>c? /fcA. aJ-cl ^ f VERTICAL FILE

"Mississippi is not known forits union activities, so I decidedto take that out to make roomfor other things," Cox said.Just hke the first edition, the

newest edition is receiving positive reactions fi-om many people."I was in Oxford recently and

talked to a writer fi-om NewYork who is writing about thetobacco lawsuit. He is interestedin a copy. I gave three copies ofit to Gov. Fordice's office," Coxsaid.

: The book sells for $27.50. InYazoo City, it is available at Gilbert's Gourmet and Gift, Esscoand Books and Computers Plus."I've decided to sell and mar

ket the book myself. I have hadgood response out of state too. Abookstore in San Franciscowanted a copy, and I've sold several in New Orleans," Cox said.A native of Richlands, Va.,

Continued from front page

Cox attended Southwest Virginia Community CoUege andthe University of Virginia withplans to become an astrophysicist.

Those plans were latershelved when Uncle Sam called,and he spent time in the Army.During a tour of Korea, hebecame interested in radiobroadcasting and spent threedecades in that field, including12 years in Yazoo City.He retired from radio in 1992

and now works in the computerconsulting business.Though it. was hard work

putting together both editionsof the almanac. Cox has noregrete."It didn't take as long putting

together the second edition as itdid the first one. It was a lot ofhard work, but it was a labor oflove. I hope to do another one intwo years."

VF-^ &>y:, Q/kivc^)

About the Author

James (Jim) L. Cox was bom in the southwestem part of Virginiain the small town of Richlands. He spent his childhood years back andforth between the beautiful mountain hollows of Appalachia and the busycity streets of Baltimore, Maryland.

He was somewhat of a teenage prodigy in math and science,especially astronomy, lecturing to college students and others on subjectssuch as Einstein's Theory of Relativity while he was still in high school.At the advent of the space age, he spoke to civic groups such as LionsClubs and Kiwanis Clubs about space travel and other scientific subjects.In 1957, at age 16, he accurately predicted that man would land on themoon in 1969, twelve years before the fact! During that same timeperiod, young Cox devised a system for naming large numbers which heclaims he has used to name the largest numbers ever conceived.

He attended Southwest Virginia Community College and theUniversity of Virginia. His plans to become an astrophysicist, however,were shelved by a stint in the U.S. Army. During a tour of duty in Korea,he became interested in radio broadcasting and actively pursued a careerin this field upon his discharge from active duty.

His radio career spanned over three decades during which time heworked at several stations in four different states as a disk jockey (DJ),news reporter, news writer, copywriter, commercial production manager,program director, and Vice-President and General Manager of atwo-station operation in Virginia for over eleven years. During this time,he was also part-owner of a 16-track professional recording studio. Helater sold his share of that operation and eventually found his way toYazoo City, Mississippi in 1979, where he continued his career inbroadcasting and worked for over 12 years at both radio stations in thatcity. He retired from radio in 1992.

While still in broadcasting, he was an audio/video consultant onthe side, installing and configuring some of the earliest and mostadvanced home-theater systems with surround sound, including his own.He is now in the computer consulting business and doing some writing.This book is his first effort in publishing.

TODAY in Mississippi/August 1996 5

James Cox, of Yazoo City, was looking forprojects to do on his new computer when hecame up with the Idea for the MississippiAlmanac, which he published last year. Thesedays Cox (left) Is at the computer again,adding Information to the almanac for anupdated version to be published later thisyear.

See if you know...Test your knowledge of Mississippi facts and

trivia with this quiz, based on information in theMississippi Almanac: The Ultimate Reference on theState of Mississippi by james L. Cox. The answersfollow below. No peeking!

1. Which fast-food chain has the most locations in

Mississippi?2. Name the state's most unusual weather occur-

ance.

3. This native Mississippian is a nationally syndicated, Pulitzer prize-winning Washington Post columnist.

4. In 1993 she became the first woman to rank No.

1 on Forbes Magazine's list of the 40 highest paidentertainers.

5. Which is Mississippi's largest county? Smallestcounty?6. Which county's name is an Indian word meaning"Little People"?7. This Mississippi city was the first in the nation toreceive electricity from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).8. The first astronaut to head NASA was this Missis

sippian.

9. The birthplace of the PTA (Parents-Teachers Association) is this Mississippi town.10. Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift starred inthis 1957 drama, which featured the Ruins of Windsor near Port Gibson.

11. Based on a survey of Mississippi phone listings,this is the most common surname in the state.

12. This Mississippi university, the nation's first predominantly black land-grant college, began as Oakland College in 1830.

Answers:

1. Pizza Hut, with 101 stores; McDonald's is secondwith 90 stores.

2. In 1894 a gopher turtle, entirely encased in ice,fell in a hailstorm that pounded Bovina in WarrenCounty.3. William Raspberry, born 1935 in Okolona.4. Oprah Winfrey, with 1992-93 estimated totalgross earnings of $98 million.5. Yazoo County is largest, with 920 square miles.Alcorn County is the smallest, 400 square miles.6. Tunica County.7. Tupelo, in 1933.8. Richard Truly, from Fayette, was named to NASA'stop position in 1989.9. Crystal Springs, in 1909.10. "Raintree County."11. Smith, with at least 11,421 listings.12. Alcorn State University, Lorman.

4 TODRYIRTIXresissippi/OdfBber T9g6

Mississippi'sBrag BookAuthor James Cox creates the

'Ultimate Reference' on the Magnolia State

by Debbie StringerDid you know:

• Mississippi has more Congressional Medalof Honor winners than any other state;• The Ole Miss football team made historyin 1937 when it became the first collegeteam in the country to fly on an airplane;• 4-H evolved from corn clubs started in

Holmes County in 1907.These tidbits of information may not

change your life, but they make fun andinteresting reading. And who knows whomyou will impress with the knowledge youglean from the pages of the MississippiAlmanac: The Ultimate Reference on the StateofMississippi.

The book is the work of James L. Cox, of"^azcscrcttyrr setf^escrtoe(l^'^noptlve"-Mls-

sissippian, having moved here from Virginia

In 1979.

The self-published almanac was the resultof his love for his adopted state and a fascination with the personal computer, whichCox discovered after retiring from a 32-yearcareer in radio.

"1 wanted to do something constructivewith the computer," he says. Discovering aninformation almanac for Louisiana, Coxbegan checking around for such a book onMississippi. Finding none, he set out to create one himself.

"When I started out 1 thought it would bea four- or five-month project," Cox sayswith a laugh, "and 1 soon found out different. It got more involved all the time."

Cox spent more than two years chasingdown facts and figures, names and dates. Hevisited libraries and archives, searched databases and made phone calls, read newspapers and scanned magazines.The result was a 542-page softcover book

published in March of 1995 containing'anything and everything 1 could find outibout the state," Cox says.

A sampling of some chapter headingsJives an idea of the Mississippi Almanac'sdiversity and esoteric nature:I Chronology of Mississippi History• Most Common Surnames in Mississippi• Titleholders to "Miss Mississippi"• Movies Mississippians Helped Make, Funeral Homes and Mortuaries in Missis

sippi• Crime in Mississippi• How Mississippi Ranks Among All Southern States.

The book includes extensive information

on agricultural production, public libraries,casino revenues, business and trade organizations, past governors and legislative sessions, the economy, history and much,much more.

It shows the good, the bad and the just-plain-weird about Mississippi. "1 don't tryto gloss over these facts, but I try to pointout the positive aspects of the state," Coxexplains.

One of the most popular sections of thebook is Mississippi Superlatives and Trivia.Tfiat IS wHweyou'ineanT thai tne world'slargest shrimp, about the size of a lobster, is

displayed at the Old Spanish Fort Museumin Pascagoula. And that Mississippi was thefirst state to erect a Confederate monument(at Liberty in Amite County).

"It's like a mini Gmra Book of WorldRecords—but for Mississippi," Cox says.

Also fun to read is the chapter onFamous and Notable Mississippians. Hereyou'll peek into the public and private livesof everyone from Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf(NBA star from Gulfport) to Zig Ziglar(author and motivational speaker who grewup in Yazoo City). Included are MorganFreeman and Shelby Foote, James EarlJones and Conway Twitty.

The book includes more than 600 mini

biographies on such notable Mississippians.All were either born in Mississippi or spenta good deal of their lives here.

Getting the goods on famous people canbe tough—especially when previously published items may contain conflicting information. "Here's one: Pete Fountain," Coxsays, clicking on the name with his computer mouse. "All of his bios say he wasborn in New Orleans. The information I

got says he was bom in Bay St, Louis."Cox often called county courthouses for

help. But in some cases he called thecelebrities—or their parents—himself. "Icalled {country singer/songwriter] FredKnobloch's mother when I was trying tofind information about him. [Actress] Cyn-

Hi

thia Geary's, too."Of the 2000 copies Cox had printed, only

a hundred or so books remain. Pointing outits $25 price tag, friends kid him about thebig bucks he must have made from sales ofthe book. "But when you consider the twoyears of work, I may have made 90 cents anhour!" he says.

Updated edition in the worksCox is at it again, spending countless

hours at the computer to update old figuresand gather new information. He plans topublish this new material in an updated version of the Mississippi Almanac, set for publication in a couple of months.

His Famous and Notable Mississippianssection is growing to include new information on such emerging stars as singer LeAnnRimes, the 14-year-old Pearl native whosealbum "Blue" debuted in July at No. 4 onthe "Billboard" pop chart.New features will include a mileage chart

for Mississippi cities and towns, a comprehensive sportsmen's section with staterecords and statistics, and a list of doctors.An expanded section on the state's economy will include statistics on food, gasolineand motel chains in the state.

Informative sidebars will help put the statistics in easy-to-understand context for thereader.

Cox hopes to wind up his work soon andhave the book ready for stores late this year.

But it's a job that's hard to finish; Cox isforever finding new, fascinating information about Mississippi and Mississippians toadd to his book. □

Mississippi Almanac: The Ultimate Reference on the State of Mississippi is available inbookshops and other stores across the state.For more information, contact James Cox atComputer Search and Research, (601) 746-1919.