Monthly Archives: December 2010

2011 Countdown

Posted on December 31, 2010 | Leave a comment

“The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Year‘s Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person you’re married to.”

          ~P.J. O’Rourke

The countdown to midnight has started.   Like a space launch from the 1960’s the early stages of the countdown are not as exciting but impact the success (or failure) of the overall mission.  The appropriate type and number of serving bowls, plates and glasses have been identified and staged.  The white wines and champagne are in the fridge (no comments from the champagne snobs, please) and the house is in order, or as much order as any house with two kids.

Today’s quotes are a bit different.  The introductory quotation isn’t that good, but I love PJ O’Rourke who comes from the same town I do.  A friend of mine who was a classmate of his (did you follow that?) claims he was voted “most likely to become a derelict.”  I suspect that was an exaggeration, but if so, PJ’s success must have been sweet revenge. 

On the other hand, I suspect that I’ve never been close to the demographics of an Oprah Winfrey fan and didn’t expect to quote her, but I do like the quote.

So to all who read this – may the New Year be filled with wisdom, smiles and blessings.  It’s a crazy world out there, so we’ll have plenty to poke fun at and laugh about next year.

“Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.”

~Oprah Winfrey

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Future, Holidays

Wealth

Posted on December 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

“Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”

          ~ Benjamin Franklin

Why are some people wealthy and others not?  There are many answers to this with each acting as an apologia for the person or group espousing a particular answer.

Outputs: The easiest is to say that people are rewarded according to the contribution they make to society.  Bill Gates would be an example.  He developed something people didn’t have but would need, and even before they realized they needed it.  We ended up with personal computers and he ended up being very wealthy.

Inputs: Some take a slight variation on this, though and say it is not so much due to the person’s outputs as it is due to the inputs required to place that person in their position (bear with me – I  know that sounds convoluted.)  An example of this might be a highly specialized surgeon such as a pediatric neurosurgeon.  This individual completed college, medical school and multiple years of residency before reaching the credentials that identified him as such.  There is a justifiable perception that making it through all those hurdles weeded out everybody except the best of the best.  If it is my child with a brain tumor, I need to know what he is capable of, and not wait to see if he succeeded with my child.

Inheritance: Of course we do have those who become wealthy the really old fashioned way – they inherit it.  There’s an old saying that it takes 3 generations to distribute the wealth earned by an individual, and there’s reasonable truth to that.  Let’s look at one million dollars through several generations. We’ll assume that each generation is able to live but at the end the composite passed to the following generation is able to remain at one million.  Each person has 3 offspring who share the inheritance equally.

First generation: One person with $1,000,000

Second generation: Three people each with $333,333.33 (1 billion divided by 3)

Third generation: Nine people with $111,111.11

Fourth generation: Twenty-seven people each with $37,037.04

Of course, have one generation hit bad economic times, a bad business person or a lavish lifestyle and the number drops precipitously.

Luck: The Lucky Lotto winner.  I’ve never met one.  The only ones I hear of are the cousin of a guy who roomed with the brother of a friend of someone’s cousin.  I did hear that the aliens who have Elvis won, as did Bigfoot.

And finally, probably the most common –

The Wealth Seeker:  There are some who seek wealth above all else.  It may be a desire for power, or perhaps it is the score card that their particular industry uses.  Many at the top of the financial world have no other meaningful measure of success, but there are the top litigators, athletes, entertainers and others who acquire wealth as a measure of their overall worth.  Some both gain and lose a fortune in a single generation; some do so several times.  For these folks the thrill of the hunt truly is in the chase, not the kill.  Many wealth seekers are not only known for their ability to generate revenue, but also to protect their earning power from competitors and are very slow to let loose of their wealth.

Personally, I’m among those who will never be wealthy.  I’ve yet to come up with the marvelous new idea, and if I did I’d probably be more prone to share it than to aggressively protect it.  I’m plumb out of luck with regard to a wealthy family and I know the odds when playing the lottery.  Finally, although I like to make a good living, there are other measures that drive how I work.  Besides, if I had a sudden inflow of income, I’d rather use it to spend time with my wife and kids someplace interesting.  In my case, the experience and the memories would be the treasure.

The good news is that if there is a finite number of monetarily rich people in the world, I am not taking up one of the slots, so it’s all yours.

“Someday I want to be rich. Some people get so rich they lose all respect for humanity. That’s how rich I want to be.”

          ~ Rita Rudner

 

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in People, Philosophy, Wealthy

To Old Friends

Posted on December 29, 2010 | 3 Comments

“The antidote for fifty enemies is one friend.”

            ~Aristotle

Humans are emotional creatures.  There are times when this is a major disadvantage and some of us  (read “guys”) believe that we can control and suppress emotions.  I was in high school when the first Star Trek program hit television.  I thought Spock was the absolute coolest character I ever saw with his complete control over emotions.  Unfortunately, there are no Vulcans like Spock and humans who try to suppress their emotions manage to create all kinds of problems for themselves.  We need to realize that emotions are one of the things that separate us from the other forms of life, whether we like it or not.

But I’m not writing about the emotions of humans, today; I will at some point but not today.  Today I want to write on how I sometimes deal with emotional stress.  I know some people rely on comfort food, and I do my share of that (sushi in my case) but it’s certain old friends that buoy me up when I’m stressed.  Not just any old friends, though, but old friends I know through stories.

I’m not proud. I’ll watch a favorite old video just as I’ll reread a favorite book.  It depends upon – well I really don’t know what it depends upon.  I just know that on a given day I’ll either immediately know what will work, or cast about until I find it.

For books it may be spending time with Ender or Harry Potter book; maybe some Atreides from the Dune or the Perry’s of Old Man’s War. Every couple of years I figure it’s time to revisit Frodo and company or Sherlock Holmes.  If I don’t feel like reading, I may put in one of my favorite videos, such as Twister or That Thing You Do.  To many this may seem like a complete waste of time – after all I know how the story ends.  I mean I know exactly how the story ends, as well as how it begins and almost everything in between.

But like spending time with an old human friend, sometimes predictability is just what I need.  Also, I can let my brain drop into a lower gear and enjoy the flow as opposed to maintaining a high degree of focus.  Think about this as if we were discussing actual people friends.  If a favorite neighbor stopped over, you could just chat and not worry about being on your game.  However if someone important – let’s say the President stopped by, you would feel an intense desire to focus, weigh everything you would say and remember everything he said.  Fortunately, Mr. Obama isn’t likely to stop by my house unannounced when I’m trying to relax.

So, to the authors who wrote the stories that allow me to relax and to the actors who appear in the stories and especially to the characters (both the good guys and the bad guys) – Thanks.

And if you’ll excuse me, my daughter and I are headed to turn on the DVD and spend time with an old friend.

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”

As You Like It Act 2, scene 7, 139–143

 

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Actor, Arts, Philosophy, Writing

2010 – A Hyphen Year

Posted on December 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

“I don’t remember inventing time travel…”

          ~ Doc Brown in Back to the Future

The year 2010 is passing, like all years faster than we’d like, although the recent enforced stay at home due to the weather has slowed it a bit.  As far as quality goes, it has pretty much followed the normal distribution we were taught back in statistics; a few great and wonderful events, a few hugely disappointing ones and most in the pretty much okay to pretty not too bad range.

History looks back on time and chooses a few events and the time associated with them to save and teach us.  However, it pretty much ignores much of the rest.  It’s amazing to me that history books, regardless of when they were written all tend to come out about the same length.  If you are ever at a flea market or used book store, look for a history book printed in the 19th century and compare it to a current one aimed at the same audience; since they’re about the same size there are events once deemed noteworthy that no longer make the cut.  It’s a good thing that those who got consigned to the cutting floor of history are dead; I don’t know if their egos could have handled the indignation.  However, there are many students who missed a particular question on a History final who are now justified in their protest that the event really wasn’t that important.

How will history handle 2010?  I think perhaps it will be a hyphen.  The history books will record “Operation Iraqi Freedom 2003 – 2011” or “Barack Obama’s First Term as President 2009 – 2012”.  However if 2010 is recorded as a hyphen that means nothing particularly horrible happened.  There was no hurricane like Katrina, no Challenger or Columbia losses and no other major tragedies.  Sometimes like getting a barely passing grade in a course, we have to realize that it is good enough.

On a personal level we view much of life as a hyphen.  Look at a tombstone and you’ll see the person’s date of birth and the date of death.  All the good stuff happens during the hyphen.  The hyphen covers happy days, marriages, successes, friends, personal events and whatever else we treasure in life.  We common folk know that the hyphen has its own type of attractiveness.  It means we’re living and loving and enjoying life.  While the high profile famous people have the media and their enemies waiting for any faux pas, unusual event or gesture, we just get to focus on living.

In my case, the hyphen of 2010 was pretty darn good.  My kids blossomed and my wife and I enjoyed watching them.  My older son got engaged.  My younger son added a third musical instrument and was selected for two special musical groups.  My 10 year old daughter had her first poetry reading; she and I started writing children stories together.   Good grades were commonplace.  And the most non-monumental event of all; I started this blog. 

All in all a pretty good hyphen year in my book.

“History is something that happens to other people.”
          ~ Anonymous

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Family, Writing

The Chaos After the Storm

Posted on December 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

 There’s no disaster that can’t become a blessing, and no blessing that can’t become a disaster”

          ~ Richard Bach

As often happens in anything out of the ordinary, the initial excitement of any event fades quickly and then the need to respond comes into play.  In other words, the real work happens after the initial event.  In my case, the snow that paralyzed the South has stopped.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that there is a relatively small number of people in Virginia who know how to drive in snow – all of whom  have lived somewhere else where snow is common.  Not only do these people know how to drive in snow, but they also know that the biggest threat in winter weather driving comes from the people who DON’T know what they’re doing.  As such, these people stay home.  As someone who grew up in the Snow Belt, I stayed home today, thank you.

When the snow stops, some people believe that everything is fine, and up North it might be.  Up North streets would be plowed and treated with either salt or sand and therefore navigable.  In the South they can plow and treat some roads and naturally take care of the major routes first.  Unfortunately most people seek to live on the quiet streets rather than the busy ones, so when they get in their car and head toward the major roads they get in trouble.  The snow gets compressed and as the temperature hovers around freezing the compressed snow turns to slush ends up as ice.

People down here reason that if the car isn’t moving, just give it more gas.  Normally this is a valid course of action, but on ice the spinning wheels merely polish the ice into a fine glaze that just waits for the unsuspecting subsequent travelers.   Now the formerly snowy road becomes mainly ice and places where people stop, such as intersections, become extremely slippery.  Hence, we can now add a seemingly endless succession of fender benders and abandoned cars to the mix.

Day two, therefore is often far worse than the day of the storm.  However, while during the storm everyone is advised to stay home, on the second day people are given a 2 or 3 hour delay to report to work.  This is fine if the temperature rises and begins to melt the snow, and in fairness this is often the case.  Today this did not happen; it got slightly above freezing but that was it.  The delay merely shifted the time everyone was on the icy roads by two hours.  Tomorrow promises to be the same.

Although the snowstorm caused several governors to declare a state of emergency, it is not the type of emergency that knocks the wind out of your sails.  It is what I call a “polite disaster.”  Everyone knows it is coming and can make sure that they stock up on the essentials before it hits.  (Yes, beer is important, but don’t forget the toilet paper!)  You can hunker down with a good book, watch the movies you got for Christmas or allow yourself to be transfixed by the new video game.  All in all, not too bad.

But in almost all emergencies, the aftermath is far worse and more poorly handled than the actual event.  I don’t know if this is an American thing with our focus on instant gratification or if it is universal.  Let me give an example.

A storm – let’s make it a tornado – strikes.  The local hospital activates its mass casualty or external emergency plan and staff are brought in to deal with those injured.  Those on duty plan on staying.  The receiving point is set up to triage patients; Patients who can be saved with immediate treatment, patients who cannot be saved, and those whose treatment can wait.  Every gurney and wheelchair is staged near this area.  You can almost smell the adrenalin.

Then everyone waits. And waits.  And waits.

Out in the area hit by the storm, first responders must make their way into the affected area which may involve clearing trees that block the roads.  Usually power is out, and with it, traffic signals.  People fail to treat the intersection with the nonfunctioning traffic signal as a four-way stop.  The resulting accident further impacts travel into the area, diverts first responders and adds victims.

Eventually it is possible to get into the affected area and determine who needs medical assistance.  Ambulances must dodge obstructions and avoid debris that can damage their tires, so progress is steady albeit slower than usual.  By the time victims reach the hospital the staff has been burning adrenaline for several, if not many hours.  This is not when people are at their best. 

So next time you tune into the local news channel and see the weatherman standing in the bad weather and advising others not to, (Why do they do that?) remember – this is probably the easy part.  The more difficult situation is yet to come.  Plan and pace yourself accordingly.

And it might be good to ration the beer and toilet paper to match the extended duration as well.

“Every disasters screams for humor”

          ~ Silvia Millecam

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Government, Healthcare

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Snowstorm

Posted on December 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

“Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal underneath, for the instinct to be half asleep all winter is so strong in me.”

          ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I live in southern Virginia about 11 miles from the North Carolina border.  One of the appeals of being south of the Mason Dixon line is the climate particularly since I do not like cold.  I grew up in northwest Ohio and my first job was at the downtown public library.  I still recall the cold wind that tore through me while waiting for the bus after leaving work in the winter months.  Living along Lake Erie meant that we were routinely treated to “lake effect snow.”  Until Lake Erie froze, the bitterly cold winds from the north would pass over the warmer waters of the lake; draw the moisture up and upon reaching the colder land, dump large quantities on the people who lived there.  Being young and arrogant, I thought it was a double insult to not only have to live in Toledo but also to have deal with that kind of weather.

We used to joke about strapping a snow blower to the top of a car and driving south until someone pointed to it and asked what it was.  We figured that would be an indication of relative safety from snow.

I like to think that I have some expertise when it comes to dealing with weather.  After spending so much time in northern Ohio, I also spent just over a month in Antarctica.  Antarctica is not known for snow – mainly cold since it is actually a frozen desert with less precipitation than the Sahara; it is so cold that snow that fell many years ago is still there.  Here’s an example – you could get a cup of coffee directly from the coffee pot and pour it on the ground.  When it hit the ground it would immediately freeze.  When I reviewed my list of things to do in this lifetime, I believed that the desire to be very cold and see a lot of snow had been adequately met.

I have lived in other places that did winter with a vengeance.  Wyoming would routinely get 5 inches of snow on Halloween so that the kids couldn’t go door to door.  The Cheyenne high schools would set up booths with games and such for the kids to trick or treat indoors.  It was also a routine to get an overnight snowstorm in June.  Of course as soon as the sun came up it would slide off the roof in one dramatic avalanche and melt.

Why am I fixated with snow today?  On the evening of Christmas it began to snow here in Virginia.  Did I mention we’re in SOUTHERN Virginia?  As in to the warm south practically in North Carolina?  As of now we have nearly a foot of snow and it’s still coming down.

So having adequately complained about the weather, I am now going to do what any experienced cold weather survivor would do:
1. Stay inside

2. Putter around the house on a few of the more “fun” projects

3. Read a bit of Tom Clancy’s Dead or Alive (a Christmas gift from my wife)

4. Take a nap

“Weather forecast for tonight:  dark.“

         ~George Carlin

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Technology, Uncategorized

Christmas & the Theory of Relativity

Posted on December 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

“The best Christmas of all is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up with one another.”

          ~ Unknown

It’s Christmas Eve.  Doesn’t it amaze you how slowly the time leading to Christmas passed when you were a child and how quickly it passes for adults?  Einstein should have specifically addressed the Christmas phenomenon in his theory.

When I was a child, the time until Christmas seemed like an eternity.  Each day the paper tracked how many shopping days were left and I was sure I couldn’t last that long.  Now that I’m an adult, it seems like I blink my eyes and it’s Christmas again.  Some people explain this by pointing out that children have only seen a few Christmases so it is a much more significant event.  Others point out that with children their anticipation is less encumbered by preparations whereas with adults planning, buying, wrapping and hiding presents along with baking, shopping and cooking keep us so busy that it is only natural that the time flies.  I’m not sure of the cause, but the effect is obvious.

I do know that in my own personal case I’ve come to have a different philosophical view of Christmas.  On a corporeal level it is a time to focus differently on the stewardship I have in this world.  This includes being a little more sensitive to opportunities to share with those less fortunate than I whether it be the Salvation Army kettle, food bank or whatever.  It also makes me aware that the greatest blessing I’ve enjoyed is my family.  All of us have had times in our lives when we were lonely.  Today my days are bursting at the seams with things to do for the family.  Too often I see these as duties and forget that this is exactly what I dreamed of.  Christmas recalibrates me because it is my time to focus on the fun of my family through gifts, meals and all the experiences that go with them. 

On the spiritual side I think of a rather miraculous parallel.  God, the ultimate spiritual being became man in the person of His Son.  There is virtually nothing – the good, the bad and the ugly that He did not experience.  When my kids were babies and made any one of a thousand messes I realized that He did too.  We don’t know about Jesus’ teenage years, but I believe He experienced it all – the awkwardness, the mood swings and everything else.  When I’m doing work with my hands, I remember that He was a carpenter complete with slivers and the occasional bruised thumb.  We who know how the story ends see Him as a great teacher followed at times by thousands.  By the same token in a heartbeat they disappeared.  Where were the multitudes he fed with the loaves and fishes when He was facing the kangaroo court and could have used some support?  He experienced abandonment, betrayal, pain and death.   Like I said, He experienced it all.

Those who debate how many angels can dance on the head of a pin also debate whether we’re humans on a spiritual journey or the other way around.  I choose to believe that we are in fact spiritual beings on a human journey.  We parallel Christ’s life in that we are in the world but not of it.  We are passing through this world and as is almost always true, it is the journey that is important, not just the destination. 

The angels proclaimed, “Peace on earth to men of good will.”  Are we people of good will?  Have we demonstrated our beliefs by how we treat others?  In the seventy-ish years we have here, do we leave a mark that makes the world a better place? 

Maybe the reason Christmas seems to come around so fast is that we forget these things so quickly and need to be reminded.  The trick is to remind ourselves without having to wait for the next Christmas to come around.

“Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people.”

         ~ John 2:10

 

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Family, Philosophy

The Fixer Fixation

Posted on December 23, 2010 | 2 Comments

“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair”

          ~ Douglas Adams

 

“Hi, my name is Steve, and I’m a fixer.”

“Hi, Steve!”

“This is my first meeting and I’m a little nervous.”

“Don’t be.  I’ll get things started.  When did you first start fixing things?”

“Actually it wasn’t fixing, it was taking things apart.  When I was about ten I saw an alarm clock sticking out of a neighbor’s trash can and it was almost as if it called to me.  I’m not talking about a modern solid-state LED clock; No, I’m talking a mechanical clock with moving hands that actually made a ticking sound.  I saw that it was not glued together – it was held together with screws.  I knew immediately that I had to find out what was inside.”

“So you went straight for hard stuff.”

“I didn’t mean to, it just sort of happened.  I mean, I took it home, found a screwdriver, and, well, you know.  I opened it up.  There were gears – lots of gears, all different sizes with different spacing of the teeth.  I realized someone had actually calculated how big each gear needed to be, how many teeth it would have and how it would mesh with the other gears.  Someone drew up a plan and then someone else had to make each gear.  It was probably different people at each step of putting it together.  There was a huge spring wound into a tight coil.  I was amazed at how long it was when I unwound it.”

“Did you put the clock back together?”

“Actually, I didn’t even try.  When I unwound the spring I knew I’d never get it back into the clock.  I figured that for the next clock I’d be better prepared.”

“And…”

 “With the next clock I had a handful of parts left over, but it didn’t matter.  Shortly after that I got a soldering gun and it was on to electronics.  As people traded up to the latest color models, there were old televisions available for the asking.  Back then old TVs were a treasure trove of parts, so I built up my inventory and used the parts from 2 or 3 TVs to get another one working.”

“As I recall, there would only have been 2 or 3 TV channels in an area and no cable.  What did you do with the extra televisions?”

“They were like currency.  Every kid wanted their own TV and would trade all kinds of things – stacks of comic books, old radios, you know.  I got my first shortwave radio that way.  It was broken, of course so I…”

“We know – you fixed it.  So let’s skip to the present.  Tell me about your fixing fixation these days.”

“Well like most geeks I didn’t date a lot, and when I did it was often a disaster.  I didn’t realize that when girls tell a guy about a problem they want to share the experience.  I kept trying to tell them how to fix it.”  A murmur of understanding echoed around the room.

“Eventually, though, I figured it out, settled down and got married.  It was only then that I realized that I had a problem.”

“What was it that made you realize the problem?”

“My wife, of course.  She kept asking me why I was so fascinated with garage sales and thrift shops.  I mean those places are better than Blackbeard’s map for finding treasure!  She began to try to steer me away from those places.  She got the kids involved in a soccer league that played on Saturday mornings strictly so I’d miss the garage sales. 

“But I found other ways to feed my habit.  If she bought a new toaster or such, I’d take the broken one out.  I’d tell her it was going to the garbage, but I’d go outside through the garage hide it under the workbench until I could figure out what it needed.  I could almost always fix them.”

“Just out of curiosity, how many electric can openers do you have right now?”

“Well my wife thinks we have one.”

“And how many do you think you have?”

“Ummm. Twenty-seven ——– but only 14 of them are working.”

“Does that describe the worst stage of your problem?”

“No – it was computers.  We’d have an extra when we upgraded or else I’d find one at a garage sale.  I knew I could get it working.  That was the easy part, the hard part was finding an operating system that runs on a vintage computer.”

“Well, you’re among friends, now.  We’ve all fought these demons and are recovering.  If you feel the need to fix something that has gone past its prime, you can give me a call, day or night.  Hmm, there seems to be something wrong with my pen.”

“Give it here, it’ll only take me a minute to fix it.”

“If everybody contemplates the infinite instead of fixing the drains, many of us will die of cholera.”

          ~ John Rich

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Technology

How to Run an American Business

Posted on December 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

 “A client is to me a mere unit, a factor in a problem.”
          ~ Arthur Conan

 I watch American business the way other people watch sports.  The past few years I’ve felt great empathy for the fans of the Washington Nationals or Cincinnati Bengals.  We both have been tragically disappointed.  

Some cultures emphasize long range plans that extend for hundreds of years and their efforts are in support of those.  Their businesses follow suit.  On the other hand, we Americans like television where all problems are neatly resolved in 30 minutes less time for commercials.  Therefore, American companies have, at best, a five year strategic plan.  This short term focus doesn’t really matter because it does not in any way impact what the company decides or what it does; the only thing that counts is the performance in the current quarter.  However, these long term plans looks good on paper and give the illusion of stability.

Another great business tool is the mission statement.  I love mission statements – they explain the very reason that a particular organization exists.  Most read something like, “We will provide the best quality product (or service) to our customers and stakeholders.”  Huh?  That’s a lot of words that says absolutely nothing.  Kind of a corporate mumble.  Interestingly I have found that when mission statements are shredded and scattered around my tomatoes the plants grow much taller, although the tomatoes do have a markedly more acidic flavor.  What do companies mean when they say “best quality?”

I come from the healthcare industry, and several hospitals with which I’ve worked have had mission statements calling for best quality.  In healthcare, what is “quality?”  Will all of our patients live?  No, that’s impossible.  Will they live as long as possible, regardless of being in pain or being comatose?  Will the doctors do every possible procedure and treatment even when no good can come from it?  Will we let patients stay in the hospital longer?  Maybe we should get them back home as soon as possible.  Maybe “quality” is like art; we don’t know art, but we know what I like.  Or maybe it’s like obscenity – we can’t define it, but we know it when we see it. So how do we know when we’ve achieved “quality?”

I’ve seen some businesses that include such language as “to maximize value to the stockholder” or even more directly “to generate a profit.”  I guess this mean that some of the questionable tactics we’ve seen in the past 10 years are okay, because the company made a profit.  

So American businesses don’t clearly understand why they exist They believe they are to work toward achieving a poorly defined strategic goal.  In spite of that they measure success or failure only according to the current quarter. 

But don’t worry; we have two things to ensure success.  The first is the belief that technology can solve any problem.  Add more computers or robots and we’ll do fine.

The second is even more fun to watch – the corporate version of “Self Help” books.  Businesses grab onto the management fad du jour.  We’ve been through “Pursuit of Excellence,” “Total Quality Management,” “Zero Defect,” “Six-Sigma” and “Quantum Refractive Participative Management.” (Actually, I made the last one up, but it sure sounds cool, doesn’t it?)

One CEO was overheard telling the Senior Vice President in Charge of Toadying (not his real title) that “This will keep the employees distracted while we manage as we see fit.” (True story about a company implementing quality improvement.  The company has since been carved up and purchased by its competitors.)

Is it any wonder that we have lost our position as a manufacturing nation and exported so many jobs? Should we be surprised that we have had to switch to the service industries?   Unlike the sports spectators, I can’t just wait for next year for things to get better.  Sigh.

“Yeah, I’m a college graduate.  You want fries with that?”

          ~ Unknown

 

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Business, Philosophy

Getting Close to Christmas

Posted on December 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.”
~ Andy Rooney

 

The Christmas season seems to bring out the best in people and the worst in people.  Oddly enough, in my corner of the world, even with a lousy economy, unemployment woes and such, people seem to be more polite than usual.  I like that.  Regardless of your faith and or which holidays you celebrate, it is always nice to acknowledge others’ special days and how it affects them.  Christmas is a time of celebration, but it’s also a challenging time for some.

When I was younger working the usual series of low end jobs, I spent a year in retail.  Store clerks work their tails off between sometime before Thanksgiving and sometime in January (after the store completes its inventory.)  The pay is marginal at best and the hours can make a social life virtually impossible.  I try to remember these facts each time I finally make it to the front of the line at a store.  For me it may be a one-time event for a given day; for the clerks it is a seemingly endless series of repeats.  I try to make sure that I fire the opening volley of “nice” and hope the clerk has enough stamina left to play along.  In any case I always wish the clerk a “Merry Christmas.”  I know that the politically correct police may take me to task for this, but it is, after all, Christmas. 

 

Oddly, it seems that when people try to be politically correct, instead of making things more civil, the acrimony just gets stirred up.  When I lived in a city up north that will remain nameless (think Drew Carey & burning rivers…) there was a very nice suburban area that was predominately Jewish.  In that suburb there was a mall and each year there would be an interchange between the opposing forces.  Some felt, “This is our mall and we don’t recognize Christmas, so the mall shouldn’t focus on Christmas.”  Others, including many of the merchants took the Godfather perspectives, “It’s nothing personal – strictly business.”  In any case the morning radio DJs had material for their December broadcasts.

 

At a hospital where I worked, one of the most popular cardiologists was Jewish.  Being even more naïve then than I am now, I asked if he was going to attend the Cardiology Department’s Christmas party.  “Of course,” he answered. “If one of our boys is having a big birthday party for his birthday, I’m going to be there!”  I like that perspective.  It recognizes that we have different beliefs, viewpoints and values, but don’t need to get all riled up about things.

 

A number of years ago the trend was to remove the word “Christ” and replace it with “X” as in Xmas.  Some folks took offense (someone will ALWAYS take offense) and saw this as trying to remove the religious significance from Christmas.  If it was an effort to remove Christ from the holiday the last laugh was on the perpetrators because “X” is also “Chi” the first letter in the Greek word for “Christ.”  The Greek is actually “ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ”.  Many Christians are familiar with the first two letters superimposed as the “Chi Rho” and yes the second letter IS rho.  Early Christians traced a fish, the Chi Rho or other Christian symbols into the dust of the road with their walking sticks as a secret way of identifying one another.

 

Hanukkah was early December this year and Eid al Fitr, the holiday at the end of Ramadan is moving farther away from December and will be a summer event for the next few years so we can’t pretend that we’re hitting them all with a “Happy Holidays.”  But there is Kwanzaa and the Winter Solstice, both of which are celebrated by some of our friends and neighbors.

 

So regardless of which holiday(s) you celebrate, or choose not to celebrate –

Use December as an excuse to be a little nicer.

Enjoy the other people being nice.

Wish others a happy celebration of their holidays.

Be grateful that we have the freedom to choose what and how to celebrate.

 

“Remember, if Christmas isn’t found in your heart, you won’t find it under a tree.”
~ Charlotte Carpenter

 

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Business, Government

Ten Things I’ve Done that You Probably Have Not

Posted on December 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

John Scalzi on this blog “Whatever” http://whatever.scalzi.com started this list by saying “Not saying you never did any of these things, just that I suspect you probably haven’t.  I think the odds are in my favor overall.  And if you have done all ten, stop stalking me.”

He invited others to post their lists and link to his blog. So I did. So there.

  1. Supervised the resupply of the American scientific bases in Antarctica.
  2. Communicated by radio with a man who was quadriplegic and sent Morse Code by blowing through a straw.
  3. Coordinated storm chasers during a hurricane.
  4. Got a form letter asking me to write a book (and I did.)
  5. Pinned a medal on a hero.
  6. Had dinner with an Afghan Provincial Governor and 9 Afghan generals.
  7. Performed in a Beatles tribute band in Kuwait.
  8. Built a 256 byte (yes, byte) computer from a bag of parts in the 1970s.
  9. Had a poem published.
  10. Flown in a blimp

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Blog, Writing

The Immigration Mess

Posted on December 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,”

          ~ Emma Lazarus (and on a plaque in the Statue of Liberty)

Do we still believe this?  Did we ever?  The immigration issue – what a mess, no matter what your point of view. Like all complex problems, there is no easy solution regardless what the sound bites say. 

Let’s face it, every one of us is a descendant of immigrants who came here seeking opportunity.  Even Native Americans’ ancestors came across the Bering Strait and headed south looking for better hunting conditions.  Today’s immigrants are in the same boat.  The problem is that some people who want to come to this country find out the rules and wait their turn while others are so intent on getting here that they just find a way regardless of bureaucratic requirements.

It seems like the neighbors are the most likely to just head to America without dotting the “I’s” and crossing the “T’s” but isn’t that typical of neighbors.  Isn’t a neighbor more likely to ask (and expect) to borrow a tool, a cup of sugar or whatever?  Aren’t we all more comfortable barging in on a neighbor than on a stranger?  I guess it’s the same on a national level, although at that level it hits the news more readily because it looks like an invasion rather than a neighbor stopping by.

The argument is frequently made that many of those who come here illegally do so to take the jobs that Americans don’t want.  To me this sounds like a half-truth; I suspect that someone here illegally would be willing to work for a lower wage and under less appealing conditions than an American.  If hiring undocumented workers at a pittance were not an option, these jobs would have to be improved to a level to attract American workers both in terms of pay and conditions.  There is not sufficient incentive to cause businesses to do so.

There’s a seductive allure to America that we who have grown up here might not understand.   There are many who come here to work or be educated with every intention of returning home, wherever “home” is.  I’ve heard stories of families who have come here and sent money back to Mexico or Central America to build their new home.  However, as the children grew up in America, they identified themselves with the other kids with whom they spent their time and had no desire to return.  Allegedly in Mexico there are the equivalents of whole towns of new homes that may never be lived in.  Dad may want to go back to where he started, but the kids don’t wish to give up the Gap, McDonalds and Wi-Fi at Starbucks.

Another group that often comes with every intention of leaving is foreign medical graduates who perform a residency here.  It used to be an interesting metamorphosis.  The first six months the resident would live austerely and dutifully send money back home.  At about the six-month point he or she would begin to start dressing in nicer clothes.  About the time the new car appeared I’d ask, “So, are you still planning on going home?”  The answer was often something like, “If I go home I will be paid in chickens and melons.  If I stay here, I will be paid in dollars.  I prefer dollars to chickens and melons!”  Kind of hard to argue with that.

Of course, these doctors are able to get permission to stay because there is a critical shortage of doctors.  On the other hand we see American students who can’t get into medical school because there are not enough slots.  Wouldn’t it make sense to add seats to the existing medical schools or open a few more?  We had no trouble expanding law schools when the demand for lawyers increased.

Of course, the toughest cases are the kids.  They had no vote in the decision to move to America, and many grow up not even realizing that they are NOT American.  They go to get a driver’s license or apply to college and it comes out they’re not a citizen.  Talk about having a bad day.

Imagine, if you will, that today you receive a certified letter informing you that contrary to everything you believed, you are not, in fact, an American citizen.  It doesn’t matter what you believe, if you believe you were born here, if you’ve served in the military, hold an important job or whatever.  What would you do?  Few of us would shrug philosophically and decide that the right thing to do is to go live in a small village in the middle of nowhere complete with livestock roaming dirt roads.  After all, apparently that’s where we “belong.”

Some gain citizenship by taking advantage of the infrequent amnesty programs that have occurred; others serve in the military and gain their citizenship while serving.  Others are expected to leave the country and possibly return at some non-specific future date.  Still others are expected to leave and never return.

I don’t know what the answer is, but it has got to be better than what we’re doing.  America is known for its “Yankee Ingenuity.”  We can invent technological wonders, but this is the best we can do on this issue?  I suspect that it is not due to our inability to reach a better solution, but instead our desire to ignore the problem and hope it goes away.  Trust me, it won’t.

Any ideas?  Send a comment.

“Remember, remember always that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists”

          ~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Family, Government, Immigration, People

Liberal or Conservative?

Posted on December 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

“If you’re not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you’re not a conservative at forty you have no brain.”

          ~ Winston Churchill

With all the brouhaha accompanying the end of the 111th (or as hobbits would say, eleventy-first) Congress and the countdown to the 112th Congress, I suddenly found myself in an identity crisis.  In my younger years I had, I confess, very liberal leanings, but as time went by I found that conservative viewpoints fit me better.  Was it age, my career or something else?    I don’t know.

Now, however, my views are not quite as easily labeled.  Perhaps there’s a reason that Churchill didn’t comment on how people feel after they pass the age of 40.  In any case, I decided to assess myself.

First, I decided I needed to set criteria for each.  I used Dictionary.com as a source, and came up with the following:

lib·er·al

   /–adjective

1. favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs.

2. (often initial capital letter ) noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform.

3. of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism.

4. favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible, esp. as guaranteed by law and secured by governmental protection of civil liberties.

5. favoring or permitting freedom of action, esp. with respect to matters of personal belief or expression: a liberal policy toward dissident artists and writers.

6. of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.

7. free from prejudice or bigotry; tolerant: a liberal attitude toward foreigners.

8. open-minded or tolerant, esp. free of or not bound by traditional or conventional ideas, values, etc.

9. characterized by generosity and willingness to give in large amounts: a liberal donor.

10. given freely or abundantly; generous: a liberal donation.

11. not strict or rigorous; free; not literal: a liberal interpretation of a rule.

12. of, pertaining to, or based on the liberal arts.

13. of, pertaining to, or befitting a freeman.

–noun

14. a person of liberal principles or views, esp. in politics or religion.

15. (often initial capital letter ) a member of a liberal party in politics, esp. of the Liberal party in Great Britain.

con·serv·a·tive

–adjective

1. disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

2. cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.

3. traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.

4. (often initial capital letter ) of or pertaining to the Conservative party.

5. (initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Conservative Jews or Conservative Judaism.

6. having the power or tendency to conserve; preservative.

7. Mathematics . (of a vector or vector function) having curl equal to zero; irrotational; lamellar.

–noun

8. a person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc.

9. a supporter of conservative political policies.

10. (initial capital letter ) a member of a conservative political party, esp. the Conservative party in Great Britain.

11. a preservative.

This exercise proved relatively unhelpful, which probably explains a lot, although I do like the 11th definition of conservative – sounds like something good on toast.  Since the lexicographers were no help, let’s explore a few of my personal viewpoints.

  • Power derives from the people and is granted to the government as a matter of efficiency for the common good.
  • Government has a role in those things that cannot be appropriately handled at a lower level.
  • Primary responsibility for solving problems belongs to
    • Individuals
    • Organizations
    • IF these efforts are not successful, IF the problem is solvable and would benefit society overall, THEN the government should assist, preferably in a finite manner for a finite period of time
  • Business creates more jobs than the government
    • Creating jobs may be in conflict with profit. 
    • The choice business makes should dictate what role if any the government will play

Naturally I have a few amplifying remarks. 

First with regard to the government role when others cannot address the issue – naturally this would include such issues as defense; a superpower is impossible without a centralized military.  Even the postal service is appropriate for government.  FedEx and UPS can provide specialized delivery services, but guaranteeing inexpensive mail delivery to each and every address in America at the same price is not an attractive business model.

Individuals and organizations should be the resolution of first resort; however, individuals often don’t have sufficient power, except through organizations they influence.  If this is the case, it then falls to organizations, especially business to address the issues facing society.  In recent years businesses have abdicated their responsibility in this area in their relentless pursuit of profit.  Far too many businesses are content to enjoy, and in fact expect the privileges of our society without discharging the commensurate responsibilities.  When this happens, only government has the sheer power to take effective action.

When the government gets involved this means that individuals and organizations have failed; this can mean they either tried and failed or as is the case too often saw no obligation to get involved.  Whenever there’s a failure and another party must correct the failure, it is going to be a less effective resolution.

So back to the original question.  Having been a liberal then a conservative, what am I now?  As this article developed I realized that I was too concerned about the labels.  My views have not radically changed over the years but what was new and liberal in the days of Bobby Kennedy was viewed as more conservative during the time of Ronald Reagan.

It appears that our political brands have taken on a life of their own; like pickles or automobiles, the brand is the identity.  Conservatives are now far more conservative and the liberals far more liberal than in the past leaving many of us behind.  It certainly explains why politicians prefer to take a rhetorical position at any cost, including failure to resolve those issues that government should.  How sad.

So I guess I have to label myself these days as a realist; In my youth as a liberal I believed we could solve the world’s problems.  Later I hoped that by not changing everything things would be better.  As simplistic as it sounds, some things need to be changed, some don’t.  The only way to determine which is which is to work together with an open mind and try to make things better not just for me but for us as a society and as a nation.

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.

          ~John F. Kennedy, Presidential Inauguration Speech

“Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”

          ~Robert F. Kennedy

 

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

 

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Posted in Business, Government, Philosophy

Black Holes – Theory & Practice

Posted on December 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

“Due to the lack of experienced trumpeters, the end of the world has been postponed for three weeks”

~ Unknown

Recently there have been great debates about the research cyclotron in Europe called the Large Hadron Collider and the potential it would have to create a black hole resulting in the destruction of the entire Earth.  I say, don’t worry.  Black holes exist throughout the planet Earth in relative (key word) co-existence with the rest of creation.

Take my house, for example.  It is a very nice 4 bedroom home with a living room, a dining room, a family room and a large room over the garage.  These rooms are variably called “bonus rooms,” “frogs (for “Finished Room Over the Garage”) or sometimes “THE” room as in “Where should I put these [fill in the blank]?”  – “Just put them in THE room until I figure out what to do with them.”

In the Tidewater area we don’t have basements because the water table is about 6 inches below the surface until it starts raining, but even so the house provides a respectable amount of space.  The use of the kitchen is obvious – for the parents to prepare food and for the scattering of dirty dishes.  The kids’ bedrooms have three purposes; 1) living proof of the concept of entropy, 2) to be a place to go when they wish to avoid parents or chores and, 3) a place to allow the direct transfer of clean clothes from the laundry basket to the dirty clothes hamper so as to avoid the complex task of putting them in a closet.  The dining room is for the dropping of backpacks, books, musical instruments, stray bits of clothing and those things that defy identification.  The same can be said of the living room, hallways & family room.  Of course the family room has the television, so it has other purposes as well.  And the family room, like the kitchen, also serves as a primary location for scattering soiled dishes.

Given that we have a reasonable facsimile of a twenty-first century home and there are a number of computers, all networked together and all able to send letters, jokes and the occasional homework assignment to a printer.  This, in theory would make all of the computers compatible with the support of higher education.  One or two of the laptops periodically migrate to the kids’ bedrooms, so it would seem that they not only work but the kids are able to operate them successfully.

With all this room, all these capabilities, and the fact that the kids have, in their own humble way, marked these areas as their territory (think puppy) those spaces are somehow not quite adequate.  The smallest room in the house, placed on the ground floor across from the living room is my office.  I think this room was configured as one of those inside jokes that only builders understand.  It has no door because the return for the furnace/air conditioner is located in this room, so a folding screen is used to provide some small degree of privacy (or in my wife’s words, “To hide the mess,” referring to my horizontal filing system (aka the floor)). 

This is the black hole.

Anytime the kids are home there’s a good chance that at least one of them will be in my chair.  I know for a fact that it is not due to its overwhelming comfort.  It’s a standard high back office chair – functional rather than attractive.  When homework is actually done, this has a better than even chance to be the preferred location.  When someone wants to read a book, this will figure prominently.  If the office chair is taken, folding chairs can accommodate additional kids.  Share a YouTube video with a classmate, this is the place.

It didn’t take long to realize that some of the characteristics of a black hole were evident.  Matter rushed in; socks, candy wrappers, plates, leftover homework all are inexplicably drawn into this singularity.  I believe they belong to my kids, but given the sheer mass involved here, they may in fact originate somewhere across the universe, transported through a wormhole and materialize here.

Now, I must admit that over time I did pack a fair amount of matter into this small space, probably initiating the formation of the irresistible gravitational force.  But since then it has accelerated to a point that trying to gain access to the room for myself is often futile.  I keep removing matter from the center, focusing primarily on the soiled socks and dirty dishes, but so far I have only been able to stabilize its pull but not diminish it.

So the Swiss and the French can spend their precious Euros on a huge hole in the ground.  I’ve already produced a black hole and expect to continue to maintain it at least until the kids are in college.

“Physics, it’s not just a good idea, it’s the law!”

          ~SF Nowak

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Family, Philosophy, Uncategorized

IT’S SNOWING IN THE SOUTH!

Posted on December 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

  “Snow and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if you ignore them long enough.”

          ~Earl Wilson

It’s inside all of us, and there’s no sense denying it.  Even inside the most timid Casper Milquetoast, there beats the heart of a secret Rambo, dying for, well dying for something.  Maybe we’re not quite up to being dumped behind enemy lines with only our wits to protect us, but we still have this need to get our adrenaline rush.

Right now there has been a little snow in the Tidewater area of Virginia. For those of you who live in Minnesota, Wisconsin or the Great Lake effect area of Ohio this might be difficult to understand.  For those of you in Erie, Pennsylvania and especially Buffalo – I’m not lying, please believe me.

Once you get south of the Mason-Dixon Line there is a huge difference in how a city and its people respond to snow.  Up north, of course, anywhere short of two feet in one snowfall is considered to be a “yawner”.  Snow blowers, snow tires and or chains are routine and if you can find a cheap four-wheel drive vehicle that still runs, you augment your income by slapping a snowblade on the front and offer to clear parking.

In the South, however, this is our opportunity to get out adrenaline fix.  People pace in front of the television set. Weather forecasters begin scanning the sky with grave concern at the first hint of winter precipitation.  They  warn people to stock up on food, adult beverages, and once you’re outside the metropolitan areas, ammunition  (after all, you never can tell…)  Once three snowflakes fall in the same area schools close,  businesses shut down and military bases restrict access to essential personnel (I told you guys in Buffalo you wouldn’t believe me!)  Some places are gutsy and announce a three hour delay in starting the day; apparently if it is snowing, three extra hours make it better.

Much of the time the snow either doesn’t actually develop or else passes to the north (imagine!)  When the snow actually falls there can be accumulations as much as 1 or in extreme cases two inches and it can last seemingly forever, in extreme cases 10 or 12 hours.

So, bottom line – our plans to Christmas shop today were cancelled due to the kids being home.  Alex, the Parrot has been either spoiled or abused; I’m not sure with all the extra people in the house.  Cabin fever is setting in, since it is now raining and expected to freeze so the kids may be home tomorrow then through the weekend and practically until Christmas – sorry “Winter” break begins.

I’ll try to keep writing as the weather continues, but I need to go and check the local weather. 

“A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.”

          ~ Carl Reiner

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Family, People

Alex is a Parrot?

Posted on December 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

“She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.”

          ~ Mark Twain

Apparently I must believe that writing is too easy, my home too empty or things just too quiet.  After living without one for over twenty years, I brought a parrot home last night.  As I attempt to write this, he climbs up and down my right arm making typing on the computer interesting at best, chaotic at worst.  He is naturally fascinated by the mouse.

What is it with some people (yours truly included) and animals?  After working so hard to leave the farm, we then turn around and bring portions of the barnyard back into our homes.  Instead of these animals providing a source of food or a labor force, they become a major investment.  It’s often been said that there’s no such thing as a free puppy or kitten.  Start with the B & B (bed and bowl), add the veterinarian fee for rabies and other shots, spaying, neutering and then the license.  Food alone can be impressive.  I see inexpensive pet food at the supermarket and it is not coated in dust, so I know somewhere there’s an animal that actually eats it.  No one I know can get away with that and instead has to feed Fido or Fluffy some veterinarian sponsored special diet.  Just try the cheap stuff once and the animal immediately regurgitates on either the most expensive or lightest colored floor covering.

There are cat people – (“I like an animal that acts like I’m an insignificant bug except for when it’s time to feed it.”) and there are dog people (“I like an animal that makes lots of noise, tears through the house like a herd of buffalo and then rolls through the worst smelling mess it can find.”)  The others (tropical fish, marine aquatic life, birds, lizards, etc.) may just have a deep seated need to be different; this may be to clearly separate themselves from the bourgeoisie who own dogs and cats.  Or maybe it’s just another symptom of geekhood.

Some seem to confuse animals with higher life forms, treating small dogs and cats as if they were their offspring.  It’s understandable because often the physical resemblance is uncanny.  I cringe when I hear someone with animal(s) in lieu of children tell me that their dog is as smart as a second grade child.  It takes massive willpower to not say, “So your yorkie leaves the house and takes a bus on its own each day?”  Actually I’d be impressed if the dear little doggie was smart enough to use indoor plumbing; I suspect my wife wouldn’t even care it left the seat up.

However, none of this adequately explains our affection for our four legged and winged friends.  Anthropologists tell us that when man domesticated the wolf into a dog, his ability to hunt increased and changed the course of our development.  I guess we figured that if one species around the home is good, more is better.

So being as clueless now as I was when I began writing I think I’ll take my parrot and my kids and go practice some music.

“The animals, the animals, let’s talk dirty to the animals…”

          ~ Gilda Radner

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Family

Curse of the Marketplace

Posted on December 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

“The propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another is common to all men, and to be found in no other race of animals.”

~Adam Smith

It is common in much of the world to haggle over most purchases.  Haggling’s roots are ancient; when we moved from bartering (I’ll give you 10 sheep for that winepress) to the use of money, the value of an item was not set and had to be determined   Haggling is a way for the parties in a transaction to attempt to protect or improve their position in relation to the sale.

From buying food in the marketplace to arranging a marriage, buyer and seller work through the details.  It can be a colorful interaction that extends to terms and conditions far beyond those of product and price.  The haggling will encompass everything from how this transaction will have an impact on one’s children, the future of the business or anything else with even a casual relationship to the particular sale.  (You want 20 coins for that winepress?  You insult me!  You wish to destroy me and turn my family into paupers!)

Americans, on the other hand, tend not to believe in haggling over consumables; A dozen eggs or a gallon of milk does not seem worth the effort.  If you think checking out at a Wal-Mart is an ordeal now, imagine being fourth in line at the register as each customer negotiates each price. Instead we tend to save our personal negotiations for large-scale purchases such as homes and automobiles. 

Professional buyers haggle, of course; when buying a million dollars’ worth of parts or drugs that is to be expected.  For the most part in personal transactions we pay the price on the shelf below the item or else go elsewhere to make our purchase. 

But maybe we do haggle, just in a more passive-aggressive manner.  Most of our haggling over price is one-sided rather than bilateral.  Some buyers do some haggling.  Bargain hunters may make a protracted journey through several stores to cherry pick the best prices for various products at each.  This is less confrontational but does allow the buyer to have a greater determination of the price without the seller being involved as a negotiator.

The real experts on negotiating though are the sellers, particularly in certain industries.  The airlines, for example have a certain cost associated with transporting a person from the departure airport to the arrival airport.  The variation in body weight of one passenger to another is inconsequential, so let’s make the assumption that every passenger represents the same costs in fuel, salaries, depreciation and such on a given flight.  The ticket prices throughout the aircraft vary greatly depending upon when the ticket was purchased, how it was purchased, etc.  For arguments sake, let’s not consider those who willingly pay extra for the amenities of first class.  The prices regular passengers’ pay for similar tickets vary considerably based on how, when or from whom the person purchased the ticket.  Why?  Because since one passenger does not know what price the person sitting next to them paid they do not know if they got a good price or not.  (When I travel I live in fear that I paid top dollar for an airline ticket only to be seated between the screaming baby and the sumo wrestler who drools when he sleeps.)

Of course the airlines have taken it a step further with the additional charges they tack on to a captive audience.  A report yesterday indicated that the airline industry collected $2.5 billion (yes, with a “B”) to carry luggage along with the passenger so far this year.  This is up 22.5% from last year.  It’s not like people traveled without luggage in the past, so this is merely a new charge, not a new service.

Another great one-sided negotiation occurs with cellular telephone service.  It is virtually impossible to compare one service provider to another for a variety of reasons.  First, most plans in America include the actual cellular telephone device at reduced or no cost.  Second, a contract for several years is required with a hefty penalty for early termination.  In the past if you terminated the service at any point before the contract’s end you paid the maximum penalty.  Many of the actual telephones are only available with a certain provider, so you usually can’t compare an iPhone with service from Sprint to an identical iPhone from Verizon.  Third, the amount of service you are entitled to varies from provider to provider.  Sprint may offer a plan with 1500 minutes shared among all users on the account and free messaging.  Verizon may offer 2000 minutes, but a fee for each text message while AT&T offers fewer minutes but does not zero out your available minutes at the end of each month. 

To top it off, the industry has a habit of adding fees that look like they’re government fees but actually are additional funds to the company.  (What is the administrative charge and regulatory charge that I pay each month anyway?)  Typically the phone company fees and governmental fees comprise about 10% of the total bill.

The practice of keeping the buyer in the dark continues to spread because it is effective.  It is now seen among cable television providers (Ninety-nine dollars a month * [*for the first six months]), credit card companies (You’re payment was 1 day late – that will be $35) and banks in general (That’s $25 for using a teller or $3.00 for using an ATM; we noticed you used the restroom, that’s another $10.)  Since it is so lucrative it can be expected to spread until consumers determine a way to protect or improve their position.

There are traditional ways consumers can protect themselves.  The first is through government intervention, but government acts slowly while businesses are more nimble.  By the time the government has fixed a problem, the business has had time to develop a more diabolical way of taking your money.  Look at the recent credit card reforms.

The other way has contributed to turning us into a litigious society.  If the seller seems to hold all the cards, when the tables get turned it is only natural that the buyer goes all in.  (I’ve been a loyal customer of yours for years and you treat me poorly.  Your coffee burned me, so I’m going to even things up.)  Unfortunately, businesses have the resources to tie a case up for longer than a buyer can wait.  Even if the buyer wins, most cases get adjusted on appeal.

So maybe we should haggle.  I’m ready.  “I’ve got this beautiful antique winepress I’ll trade for two years of cellular service.”

“Certainly there are things in life that money can’t buy, but it’s very funny – Did you ever try buying them without money?”

~Ogden Nash

 

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Business, People, Philosophy

Decisions, Decisions…

Posted on December 13, 2010 | Leave a comment

“Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader.”

     ~ General George S. Patton

In science fiction, which I love, sooner or later the author has to turn to the concept of a parallel universe.  In “Back to the Future” Marty McFly’s loser family becomes successful after Marty visits the past and encourages his future father.  It’s an interesting plot device based on the theory that each decision has multiple choices, each with its own outcome, and a parallel universe exists for every outcome of every decision.  In other words, if you didn’t ask Sally to the prom, there is a parallel universe that differs from the one in which you did.  There are also parallel universes (Philosophically is it possible for ”universe” to have a plural?) for her accepting, her declining and her derisively declining, etc..  In order to cover every possible decision, the number of parallel universes would be infinite.

 Infinity makes my head hurt. 

 I prefer to live in only a single universe even if the others exist and I merely ignore them.  As I thought about this it dawned on me that whether or not we are aware of the science fiction writers’ concepts, we unconsciously choose to live our lives in one of those two styles.   The first is to make the decision, not look back and make the most of the decision that was made.  The other is to make the decision, and then think about what could have been .  When I began writing this, I felt that without a doubt my style was the former.  Once I make a decision I know that I can’t change the decision, so my present and future attention and efforts need to be based on that particular decision.

 However, as I was writing I realized that there is an important discriminator.  If I make a decision and there is a high likelihood that I will be faced with a similar situation in the future and be called upon to make a decision again, then I do evaluate the decision in terms of the alternate possibilities.  By the letter of the law that isn’t second guessing, but rather an attempt to learn from my experience.

However, is bringing up this subject like being told, “Don’t think of purple elephants,” only to find that purple elephants dominate your thoughts?  Will I spend the rest of the day wracked by doubts as to whether I should have posted this blog?  Maybe, I’ll believe that my decision was made, no sense thinking about it and I need to move on to tomorrow’s article.   

“Great Scott!”

     ~Dr. Emmett Brown (Back to the Future)

 

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Philosophy, Uncategorized

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Geeks of the World, Unite!

Posted on December 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

“I think science has enjoyed an extraordinary success because it has such a limited and narrow realm in which to focus its efforts.  Namely, the physical universe.”

~Ken Jenkins

I’m a sucker for innovation, probably the defining attribute of a geek.  One of the most interesting things that I’ve run across was distributive computing initially in support of SETI, the “Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence.” 

Exploration of space from earth is not limited to optical telescopes looking at points of light.  There are systems that evaluate emissions throughout the electromagnetic energy spectrum, including radio signals.  Radio signals behave in a fairly random manner, unless something is causing a pattern.  Huge antenna arrays are located in different places such as Arecibo, Puerto Rico, constantly picking up signals.  Examining those signals to find non-random patterns is a monumental task requiring the use of a supercomputer.  Unfortunately, funding for a supercomputer to look for “little green men” is not a priority, so an alternative was required.  Time sharing a supercomputer was also not a realistic possibility, so the folks out at the University of California, Berkeley came up with an innovative alternative – to ask home computer users to let their personal computers run data.  This could either be done when the computer was not in other use, or in the background for very fast computers.  This was called distributed computing.

Actually, SETI @ Home was the second distributed computer project; the first was apparently an effort to crack an encoding algorithm back in 1997.  However, while this attracted the geekiest of the geeks, it was in 1999 that us part-time geeks became aware of distributed computing through Seti @ Home.

What an elegant solution!  Everybody chip in a little of something they have but are not using and together great things can be accomplished.  When I step away from my computer to get some coffee and hit the bathroom, my computer can be productive for someone else (potentially more productive that I was before I left!)  The researchers who got the idea ended up with a “quasi-supercomputing” platform.  Wikipedia reports about 527,880 active computers participate resulting in a system that is it faster than the fastest reported supercomputer.

Naturally there were bumps, and I’ll mention a few.  Not all computers work properly, resulting in bad data.  As the project moved forward competition arose among participants to see who supported the project the most.  Teams were formed and scores kept.  Naturally someone had to try to game the system (cheat) and fudge the scoreboard, so safeguards were initiated.  Each packet of data would be analyzed by more than one computer and the data accepted if it matched.  This helped resolve both the bad computer and bad participant issues.

Over time, the distributed computer process expanded and a number of projects are now run under the Berkeley Open Infrastructure Network Computing (BOINC) system.  BOINC allows users to contribute time not only to SETI but a variety of other scientific efforts.  My computers cycle through three different projects:

  • SETI – Hey, I’m loyal
  • Climate Prediction – With all the argument about global warming, I decided that by contributing to data analysis the issue could be handled by the scientists as opposed to the pundits – regardless of what the conclusion is
  • World Community Grid – Allows various projects to be run on a rotational basis.  I’ve seen the search for a new strain of rice to feed the hungry as well as research on childhood cancer and muscular dystrophy

 

If you’re interested, the program is free at http://boinc.berkeley.edu/.

“A biophysicist talks physics to the biologists and biology to the physicists, but then he meets another biophysicist, they just discuss women.”

  ~Author Unknown

 

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Uncategorized

This Weekend

Posted on December 11, 2010 | Leave a comment 
Even Bloggers are not productive every day...

Calvin: “I’ve been thinking, Hobbes”

Hobbes: “On a weekend?”

Calvin: “Well it wasn’t on purpose…”

~ Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes)

I’ve been working on a very intellectual piece (or so I tell myself.)  After spending hours on it I still don’t have the right words.  As such, it is better for all of us if it does not get finished today and mess up our weekend.  In all honesty it may be best if it NEVER is completed.

 Generally speaking, when one isn’t sure how to express oneself, it is wisest to sit down and be quiet. 

Enjoy the weekend.

“The ratio of 5 & 2 is good, but they got it backward. It should be 5 days of weekend and 2 days of work.”

~  SF Nowak

 

Copyright 2010 SF Nowak – All Rights Reserved

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Posted in Uncategorized, Writing