Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The Ghost of Christmas Past

Each year I want a certain type of Christmas. As the Rolling Stones said it ... you can't always get what you want! Don't get me wrong, this was a good Christmas. I finally got to McAdenville to see the beautiful little town all lit up for the holidays. Two of my sons were home for all or part of the holidays and I did see my family and my wife's as well, and I became a Grandpa. But there are some things I miss from my childhood that I just can't ever seem to work in over such a short period ... because of work, I missed again the local presentation of Handel's Messiah. I did not see a single old movie, which I really love: Christmas in Connecticut, The Bishop's Wife, A Christmas Carol (the old B&W version), Holiday Affair, White Christmas not even Ralfie in A Christmas Story. My dad and I really liked the old movies. I missed the neighborhood carolers. So, somehow there is just not enough time and soon I am back to work. Unlike Europe, we ditch Christmas on Jan 1. Over, done with, decorations down, stores ready to move on. Seems like we could hold it until Epiphany. Well, maybe next year I can hit some of the things I missed; it gives me something to keep on working toward. One day, I want to have a snowy Christmas in Vermont or someplace like that. At a B&B. That would be nice.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Talking Heads

I got a bit riled up today when some talking head came on and said that now that the auto companies have a loan, they might finally wake up and make cars that people want to buy ... hybrids, not gas guzzlers. These folks always have an agenda and do not deal with facts.

Fact: many people like large cars and SUV's
Fact: not everyone wants to own a hybrid
Fact: GM is still the largest auto maker in the world
Fact: Toyota sales are down 30%
Fact: This is a market recession, not an issue with GM (or Chrysler) quality or product portfolio (the first is getting better and the latter spans all types of vehicles)
Fact: GM (and Chrysler) are victims of too many models & too high of a cost structure

Please stop trying to shove your agenda down our throats. The thought that having hybrids would have avoided this mess is ludicrous. With a million or so folks out of work, with credit on hold for all but the best of borrowers, the auto industry is in the tank, plain and simple.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Kan u spell "kronyizm"?

Chicago machine politics ... why am I surprised that Obama has chosen the head of the Chicago public school system for his Education secretary. I had no idea that Chicago was the progressive capital of thinking regarding innovative approaches to education.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

English - a crazy language

Another observation of a phrase, similar to one I have had in a previous post ...

I heard an advertisement yesterday claiming that the product was "second to none". Wow. Seems to me that there is not much that could be worse than coming in second place to none. If there are no others and you come in second, that doesn't say much about you. It's kind of like losing an election to a dead guy.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Automotive afterthought

I heard today that, at the meetings in Washington, Ford noted that their sales were down 31%. GM is down 41%. Clearly they have a big issue. However, Toyota is down a third (33% last time I checked) and they are still moving forward. When you are not the low cost producer, you blow through cash more quickly than your competitors and will not last as long.

Maybe this auto problem is all wrong?

The big three auto makers saunter down to the Capitol today to beg for money from the American people via our elected "representatives"! Last time around, these CEO's caught a lot of flak for flying to Washington in private jets. The implication was that it was bad taste to beg after taking your private jet ... never mind that the jets belong to the companies. So, the talking heads and the politicians were pontificating on the use of these jets. Well, I don't normally come to the defense of the CEO's, but the trip was not about their use of jets, it was to get money from the people. The CEO's use the jets so that they can travel from smaller airports. This avoids delays, masks their trip routes to some extent (good when you want a deal to be kept from your competitors), and increase their personal safety (they are well paid and famous ...). All in all, this is a time, and, at their salaries, a cost savings especially since they have to pay for the jet even if it is not used (they could sell it, though). Anyway, so this time they are DRIVING from Detroit to Washington. That is a great use of their time.

So, the talking heads all say that the problem is that the car companies are mis-managed. They don't make the right products and their labor costs are too high, especially for retirees. I am looking at it a bit differently. They do make the right product mix. SUV's, that bad word, are not all gas guzzlers ... the hybrids were relatively fuel efficient, just not quite enough in production when we hit the skyrocketing gas prices over the past summer. They have small cars, but nobody normally wants them except as a starter car for a teenager. Only with the wierd market did we see a shift, and, again, the product mix was wrong. By the way, it was also wrong for the foreign cars (I don't call them imports since they are made in Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, etc). Toyota heavily advertises its huge truck, the Tundra, and nobody seems upset by that (maybe the Sierra Club). So, timing may be bad, but they do have the right cars ... small, luxury, SUV, minivan, truck, etc.

They do have too many models. For General Motors, we have Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, Saturn, etc. The Chevy is always the basic model, the Pontiac the sporty one, the Buick the luxury one ... all for the same basic car. Scale up a Chevy with options and you have a Buick with a slightly different paint scheme. Compare with Honda where you have Honda and Acura or with Toyota where you have Toyota and Lexus (I think) or BMW where all you get is a BMW. So, Detroit may have too many brands. Time to sink this concept.

Detroit also has a fast follower mentality. They want their cars to look like the Asian or European style, with a few notable exceptions (Mustang, Corvette). Without a unique style, they are just a "me too" offering, up against the still stinging reputation for having quality inferior to the Asian cars (whether true or not ... perception is truth to consumers).

Detroit has higher costs due to large distribution networks, labor costs, and retiree costs. If one generates a value curve for a business, if you have higher costs (that is you are not the low cost producer), you must bring more value to achieve preference. The value can be quality, safety, leading-edge technology, green philosophy, style, market leader for new concepts, etc. The big three are none of these and therein lies their demise.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

When a stimulus isn't

Well, seems Uncle Sam wants to give away a few billion more dollars to the "taxpayers" (at least a select few) to stimulate the economy. Short term thinking does not fix the problem. Government cannot generate wealth. Only people can do that. People starting businesses, producing goods or services. It is that simple. NOTHING government can do will generate wealth. Government can make the business climate more supportive of growth and new business development, but generate wealth, never. They can only take from one group and give to another, either now (tax redistribution) or in the future (government loans in the form of long-term debt). It is a quicksand mentality and needs to stop. No stimuli; no more "bailouts"; let it ride, because it will ride anyway and there is no need to make it worse.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Turnabout ... is not fair play

Well, he is not in office yet and the tearing down is already in progress. I have watched, especially during the Clinton and Bush years, the process that the video, audio, and print media carry out to try to impune the character of our President. While sometimes quite humorous (comedians handle this so well), the mean spirited practice of burying a politician with his or her gaffs has gotten really old. This process can destroy someone's career or at least make them the laughing stock of the nation, unable to be taken seriously.

For the last 8 years, Bush has been belittled for his lack of command of English, and it moves the discussion from a serious one about the facts to a useless one about his bumbling. The shoe is on the other foot, now. Our newly elected President, in his first press conference after the election, made a gaff ... he mentioned that he had spoken with all the living presidents, quickly realized his error (he obviously meant "former" Presidents), and then clumsily tried to handle it with a quirky remark about Nancy Reagan and seances. So, it was mishandled, but give the guy a break. I did not vote for him, I don't like his politics, but I hate the media, now the conservative media, piling on over a gaff. We have serious problems and these folks are saying it was poor judgement, shows how mean he is, etc.

The new President handled it just fine, in the end. He did not apologize in public as politicians so often do. He called Mrs. Regan and apologized personally. Everyone will make gaffs. Let's start treating them as such, cut these folks some slack, and get down to discussing real issues.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Misleading Politics

I really get frustrated with the way the various political factions distort the truth. My current angst is aimed at the commercials that say ... this candidate (insert name here) "voted to give tax cuts to companies that ship jobs overseas!" There are stupid folks who will take this at face value. The reality is that manufacturing jobs are much cheaper to have almost anywhere other than the US. We have a high standard of living. So, if you are in a situation where shipping costs are outweighed by labor costs related to manufacturing, and you are in a competitive market, you will try to lower manufacturing costs. It is unfortunate, but necessary in order to keep the low prices that the market demands. So, what do good politicians do? Well, they offer incentives, tax breaks, to companies in an effort to offset some of the manufacturing cost so that the jobs might stay here. I just hope that there is a tie-in that requires the tax benefits to go away if the jobs do. More likely, though, the tax cuts will stay so that the company will keep whatever other local jobs it has from moving away as well.

Bottom line is that the commercials try to say the politicians offer tax cuts to companies as a reward for shipping out jobs, whereas the reality is that they are trying to do just the opposite. The commercial must work, though, as there are at least as many versions of the commercial as there are candidates trying to protect their legislative careers.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Economics 101 - a walk on the wierd side

I happened to think about this on the way to work this morning. During the recent gas shortage in Charlotte and the rise of gas prices in general over the spring and summer, everyone was bemoaning the almost daily price increases. I heard lots of folks saying "How can the value of gas that 'they' bought and keep in the ground go up overnight? It is the same gas that 'they' (the station owners) have already paid for!" Funny, now that gas prices are falling on a daily basis, I don't hear anyone asking the question in reverse.

It amazes me that there are so many people that do not understand the simple concept of something gaining value while you hold on to it. There seems to be no issue regarding the value of land or gold or stamp collections, though. It seems to only apply to gasoline. Hmmm ...

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Ancient History

It has been a busy few weeks since my last post. This week was a particular whirlwind as I spent 3 days in Athens, Greece (still a bit jet lagged).

This was a fascinating city and I did get a chance to get around a bit. I, of course, had to visit the Acropolis first and was rewarded as I expected. An associate said everywhere in Athens there are just knocked down buildings and anywhere you plant a shovel you probably will start a new archaeological dig, but I found it a bit awe inspiring to look at 2000 year old architecture that I only half studied in high school. I found also that I want to learn more, now.

The top of the Acropolis is breathtaking ... figuratively and literally (I am out of shape!). Even with all of the scaffolding for the reconstruction and repair work, the various temples and buildings leave you speechless.

The Parthenon is actually the second site you migrate towards. The first was the "Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a well restored and currently used amphitheater. It is just a short climb from there to the gates of the Acropolis and the first glimpse of the Parthenon.



There are lots of stone pieces all over the ground and, upon close inspection, you can see that they are all numbered and ready to be some part of the reconstruction. The building also has some very, very small reflectors on it that must be used for laser sighting and is probably related to building stabilization or the like. I was particularly interested in the construction of the columns and, not surprisingly, found that they are stacked in much the same way as "legos".

My other favorite building was the "Erechtheum". I particularly liked the statues on one side that, though reproductions, really add to the beauty of the building (the originals were stolen, broken, or placed in protection in a museum in Athens).


From the top of the Acropolis, you can see the Roman Agora, something of a meeting place in old times. I made my way down there and walked for awhile among many, many old ruins. One building has been fully restored (it is now a museum), but looks really out of place with the ruins. The paths are nice with lots of trees and resting places. It is a pleasant walk up to the "Temple of Hephaestus".



I liked it because all of the walls are intact and it looks as if it could actually be used today.

I stayed near the "Temple of the Olympian Zeus" and it was a pleasant walk for lunch and dinner each day to the Plaka, an old neighborhood at the base of the Acropolis that is a good place for food and shopping (and lots of tourists ... thank goodness it is the off season). The meals were very good and reasonably priced. I really enjoyed the mixed grilled vegetables in olive oil. The local oil really has a nice flavor. Lamb meatballs and calamari ... and real Gyros. It was refreshing. The shopping was good too, especially if you like to haggle over price. Reminds me a bit of Tijuana, Mexico, the way they spot tourists.

There was a guy named George that stopped me and asked for the time. He struck up a conversation and, after "figuring out" that I was an American, told me about his job in Houston as a chemical engineer. He liked my name ... "Jimmy, a good Greek name" and wanted to sit for a beer and talk. I let him know my name is actually Hebrew. Turns out he was a front man for a consort bar, trying to lure "customers" to a legitimate bar only to be joined by ladies for companionship. I never made it the bar as I was suspicious and said that we should have a beer at the nearest taverna. He went on his way. I found out his real mission from my associate who also got the same line, but went to the bar before figuring anything out.

At night, after jet lag and an afternoon of sightseeing, it was back to my hotel room that had the really nice view below:


Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Strap on your seat belt ... we're in for a rough ride!

Have you ever wondered what it is like to lose 25% of your life savings in two weeks ... welcome to my world. I suppose if I hang around long enough, it will come back.

I just love stock market analysts, though. They behave as if the market were a living being. Typically they will say things like 'The market is waiting to respond to the latest news on the war.' or ' The market reacted to statements from Hugo Chavez about the United States' and so on. This is amazing. The activity on the market is the combined activity from millions of institutional and individual investors. There can be no single entity that reacts to individual happenings in the world. Besides, there are so many events each day, good and bad, to cherry pick those events that fit with market performance makes the analyst job way too easy.

There may be some fund managers that react to specific events (overthrow of a key government) or who follow certain trends (say, oil prices for one example). The average Joe, like myself, is far to busy to try to play craps on a daily or hourly basis with my stock portfolio. I re-balance a couple of times a year as do most of the folks I know. So, it would seem to me that there are two main drivers to stock market performance: (1) random fluctuation and (2) herd mentality. The latter seems to drive the big swings due to panic and euphoria.

At the end of the day, we need to look at the long-term performance which is up. This makes perfect sense because companies are investing and growing and as world demand for products and services grows, that fuels the long-term upward trend. One just has to hope that they are not in a position of needing their money during a period of panic ... like now.

It also pains me to hear people directly tie stock market performance to the economic performance. The two are loosely related. Clearly when housing is down, those businesses associated with housing will not perform as well. When money is tight, business associated with travel and vacations don't do as well. You get the picture. What we are talking about here, though, is segments of the economy. The overall economy can chug along at modest growth when there is a stock market slide and, conversely, the economy can be anemic during a bull market. In the end, most people need to eat, clothe themselves, get to work, and provide for families. This would seem to me to indicate that there is an underlying strength in the economy irrespective of what happens in the stock market.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Language in old age

Well, I am trying learn some Japanese. It seems like the right thing to do. I want my daughter-in-law to feel welcome. Herein is the rub, though ... I feel inept at this activity. I did try to learn some German for my job and I found it to be somewhat natural. I can speak at the survival level and get by on my trips to Germany. So why is Japanese so hard? First, let me say that I am cheap and will not pay for expensive classes. Also, I think I am an aural learner for languages. For German, I took it in high school (did not pay attention very well) and college (learned to read). I only felt better when I used the Pimsleur discs in my car. I really seemed to pick it up. Unfortunately, the depth of this training is pretty shallow, as the Pimsleur system does not go into intermediate language.

Well, I have searched for something similar for Japanese. I tried my son's tapes, but they were too fast and disjointed for my 53 year old brain (which is pretty good in most other things). Then, I bought something from Barnes and Noble that was for the car, but moved way too fast and did not integrate well. I have tried Japanese Podcast 101, and it is really good (even works through levels of politeness and is a progressive system) and I am making slow progress, but here is the key ... slow, really slow, progress. I feel inept and incapable. I can't seem to get the pronunciation right and I have a hard time remembering the phrases, because I am fighting the pronunciation.

I wish I knew the answer, but I will keep trying. I think it is fascinating, but I feel slow. I think it must be old age.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Anyone need a loan?

I guess, like many folks, I need to vent a bit about this "mortgage crisis". I have contacted my representatives and insisted that they oppose the current bill. Instead of giving money away and buying up bad debt (euphemistically termed "toxic paper"), how about the following? 1. Insure the mortgages. The default rate is really pretty low, so the payout from the taxpayers will be pennies on the dollar. 2. Infuse cash into the "system" for lending only and make it available only for lending (ie. it MUST be used for that purpose) to free up the credit markets a bit. Require repayment. So this would be a lending loan. 3. If the money is taken by an institution, then the standard employee severance applies to all personnel. 4. Require lending be no more than 90% of the market value of an asset. Everyone must put at least 10% down. This will take a lot of the risk out of future loans.

Most of the media coverage has it at least partly wrong. While there may be many who want revenge on big companies on Wall Street or their CEO's with the parachutes, that is not my concern nor that of many I have spoken with. My real concern is that we are throwing, probably, a trillion dollars at a problem to make life easier today. The main thing I heard at first was credit seizing up. Fair enough. That will slow the economy. However, one can still get loans. You must have better credit ratings (above 700) and a downpayment or face higher interest rates and more of a downpayment. Great. That is the way it should be. We should not get loans so easily as that is what caused this mess. It sounds cold, but not everyone should own a home. Some folks should rent and put money aside for downpayments. Not everyone should own an expensive car. You see my point. Let credit be a little tight. Let companies spend their equity to some extent to fuel growth. It will take a lot of risk out of the system. This trillion dollars will have to be borrowed by the government (us) and paid back over a long time. I think this borrowing will have an impact on the value of the dollar as well. With the current plan I see no upsides and tons of downsides.

Let's think this thing through.

Thank you.

Jim Robinson

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Germany ... Pubs, pork and efficiency

I am just finishing up a few days in Germany on business. We had a global meeting and they wanted to have it off-site from HQ, so we ended up in a little town called Dirmstein. It is a sleepy little town of, perhaps, 1000 people and it rolls up the sidewalks early. I mean this place was just dead. Only the American visitors walking around trying to find a bar that was open. I did manage to find a small pub that served some beer last night when I was on my own (other nights were group outings and somewhat planned). The folks spoke little to no English, so I managed to communicate with my somewhat feeble attempts at German. It all worked out, though, and I even managed to understand their directions to the ATM (de: Geldautomat) to get cash since the answer to my question about accepting master card (Nehmen Sie Matercard?) was a clear "Nein". They were clearly local folk and their conversation centered around farming. They were very accepting and did not seem to mind sitting at a common table (similar to a US picnic table) with an American deeply involved with reading a book. I am sure it looked comical, though.

A colleague and I were inquiring with our German boss what the national fascination in Germany is with pork. Certainly they have their share of "fisch", "ente" (duck), "huhn" (chicken) and "rindfleisch" (rump steak), but the menus are overhwelmed by pork entries in as many ways as one might think. This does not even include the unbelievable number of wurst (sausage) types that are available. Think of a menu with 50 items and 45 of them are pork, usually accompanied by heavy gravies. The only thing our boss could figure out is that the scarcity of land has pushed toward swine being raised instead of cattle.

I noticed as I walked around the larger towns (the ones with traffic) that there is something else that seems very "German". The people will not walk against a crossing light. It does not matter if there is not a car within a mile (1.6 km), they dutifully stand and wait for the little green man to light up before crossing a street, even one that is only 5 meters (16 feet) wide. Whether it is the law or just cultural, they are all obedient. Of course, the typical American (me) looks both ways and goes. I can feel them cringe. My boss even spoke outloud that it is dangerous to cross the street like that. I don't know. It has to be cultural. He said that my approach is typical of American cultural differences with Germans. He said Americans are doers, perhaps a little ADHD. He said "You see a problem and fix it. For example. You need light so you invent a light switch to turn it on. Then, you quickly move to the next problem. Germans", he said, "will spend time improving the switch and designing a number of different styles, types, designs and colors." I added to that thought that they would also write a 200 page manual on the proper use. It is true, I think. Americans as a group like to be busy tackling multiple problems and trying to move on to the next thing. We have a short attention span.

Well, it is back to home now and I hope dinner tonight won't be pork.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Edge of Rights

I was listening to an NPR program today where they were discussing individual vs social rights. At one point, the commentator, I believe it was former Carter administration fellow Brezhinski, was talking about social rights. In essence, we legislate rights on the use of arms for the social good. Hence, we cannot randomly shoot someone. OK. I can buy that. Then he talks about further social rights restrictions such as seat belt laws. The idea is that society needs us as functioning human beings, healthy, and all of that, so laws are passed to protect our well being; hence, seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet laws, child seat laws, etc. This is where it gets a bit fuzzy to me. How much further of a step is it to: smoking bans to protect the "social" health, bans on drinking (we already have drugs) for the same reason, bans on eating certain foods, bans on driving certain vehicles, bans on motorized devices for sport ... you see where I am going. This is a fine line and I think we must always remain vigilant to make sure we do not give away too much. I am already of the mind that we give away too much in the name of national security. That is why I refuse to give over to the government all of these personal documents that they want to, perhaps, take my name off the "no fly" list.

I would love to discuss this one with my sons ... it is always good to get the opinion of young peole on such issues. At the end of the day, I don't want to abandon quite so many of my rights.l

Friday, August 29, 2008

A Week in Brazil (Brasil)

So I am waiting at the airport after a week of work in Brazil (Brasil - Portug). It is always difficult to be away from home for a week, but sometimes the job demands it. The flight "down" to Sao Paulo was uneventful even if American Airlines managed to serve dry salmon (I don't know how you can do this with a fish with as much oil content as salmon!). It never ceaess to amaze me just how much traffic there is in Sao Paulo, even with the restriction on driving days that they have for the citizens. It is an interesting ride from the international airport over to our business offices and my hotel (just across the street). The sights are like nothing that you see in large American cities. This is especially true of the motorcycle riders who navigate the traffic quickly by passing between lanes of traffic and beeping their horns. These are a resourceful people who treat traffic "laws" more as general guidelines when it comes to motorcycles.

The hotel was a welcome site as I could shower and refresh myself from the long flight. The hotel is very nice, yet, with the currency exchange rate, it is very inexpensive for such a large, cosmopolitan city. The only issue I have is that my stupid company computer cannot hook up to the internet no matter if I use the Wifi, the aircard, or the direct lan connection in the hotel room.

My colleagues picked me up and we had lunch at a Churrascurria (Brazilian barbecue) restaurant called Fogo de Chiao. This is some of the most flavorful and tender meat that I have ever eaten. Interestingly, there are more of these restaurants (by the same owners) in the USA than in Brazil, although several more have opened in Brazil and other South American countries in the last 6 months.

The trip over to the office for my afternoon meetings was short and I was warmly greeted by my colleagues. The warm greetings are not typical of American companies. These folks don't know me all that well yet I feel like they are long-time friends and they make me feel very much at home. After a late day of meetings, we went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. There is a large population of Japanese in Sao Paulo and this restaurant served very, very good Sushi and Sashimi, as well as Tepenyaki and Tempura. It is not the same as the authentic Japanese food I had in Japan, but the dishes that they do serve are quite good and very reasonably priced. The restaurant has an interesting business model that provides a number of courses for a base price, which is not the case for Japanese restaurants in the USA.

My second day started with a trip to the countryside north of the city. We visited Eucalyptus farms. These trees are amazing in that their average growth is about 1 cm per day. Thery are very large in a short time and, due to the density of planting for paper companies, they are bare from the ground up to about 50 feet and then they have a pear-shaped canopy that moves genly with the wind.

There are not so many super highways outside of the city. It seems that everyone who is moving anywhere outside the city, many for business, use the few roads, resulting in slow traffic. Our trip was slowed by one hour, but it did not matter. The potential customers are very flexible, unlike some in the US, and accomodate our late arrival. The folks there are just as friendly as my office colleagues and patiently put up with my lack of ability to communicate in Portugese. The afternoon was a trip to another potential customer in a different business fairly far away. The roads for part of the trip were what we would call country roads and there were many speed bumps that slowed our progress. Again, though, even with us being late, the people were so friendly and eager to meet with us and spend time well past the time that most US companies would say it was time to go home.

We finished up after dark (it is winter here - although the temperature is warm by North Carolina standards) and started to drive over to our plant site, some four hours away. I tried to spot stars and constellations outside since we were in the countryside where it is quite dark. I did see many stars, but could not really recongnize constellations. It seemed that many were unfamiliar (even though the southern sky is in all my star guides) and for those nearer the zenith that I should be able to see from the northern hemisphere, they were upside down and unfamiliar.

We were not far from our hotel when there was a horrendous traffic accident that resulted in a 3 hour delay and a traffic jam of more than 75 kilometers. When we finally got moving, the site of the trucks that were still wrecked on the side of the road was devastating, with debris everywhere and evidence of fire and oil. We found out later that the truck drivers survived, but that a motorcycle rider, one of those who goes between the cars, was killed. We finally arrived at the hotel at 2 in the morning, after a 750 kilometer day.

The next two days were spent at our plant with my lab team. These are really talented folks who also displayed the same friendliness and acceptance of me that I found everywhere I went in this country. We spent time reviewing how we do work in our two regions (the US and Brazil) and what we can learn from each other. I always learn many new things every time I visit this lab and the customers in this region. No matter how much I think I know, I can always learn more. [I think this is one of the most important things I have learned in business: always be open to new things no matter how much you think you know and be accepting of the opinions and thoughts of others].

My host for the week took me back to the airport tonight. I had to laugh a bit more about driving in Brazil. All week, in the city where our plant is, every driver does the same thing. There are traffic circles and intersections throughout the city that are marked with signage and street painting that states "PARE" (stop). Well, the Brazilians look at this as more of a "yield" sign for us Americans and it makes for an interesting ride. It always seems to work, though.

This is my 9th or 10th trip to Brazil. Each time in Sao Paulo, sometimes in outer cities such as Rio, Salvador, or Blumenau (to mention only a few). The one constant is the attitude of the people I meet. They are exceptionally friendly and accepting of people and they have an attitude that could help us all grow old ... "it's ok, things will work out".

Even so, I am really looking forward to going home, because (see "The Wizard of Oz") ther is no place like home.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Uniforms and Youth

George Carlin said it best when he noted that uniforms in public schools reminded him of the Hitler Youth. This is flat out wrong. I had this opinion 5 years ago when they instituted uniforms in my son's middle school and my concern flared up again today when I heard on the radio that yet another North Carolina school has instituted uniforms. They use the same, tired arguements that it avoids distractions and minimizes differences in socioeconomic classes. I have never met a teenager who did not know who was richer or poorer than they were. Clothes are only a part of class status. One cannot cover up other traits that separate those who have from those who haven't.

This is just another case of government trampling on citizens rights. The citizens fund the public schools but are rarely given options to voice opinions about how these schools are run. Edicts show up and must be followed. What we are doing is demolishing the individualism that has made this a great country and society. It is but one step in that direction, but it is a big step and cannot easily be reversed.

English oddities

I have always been facinated by the word "nothing". I love the way it is used in advertizing ... "nothing works better than ..." or "nothing beats ..." If you read it in a certain way, it would seem that nothing is the best choice. If nothing beats a Toyota, then I guess I want "nothing". You see the point. Just one of those oddities of the English language.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Night of the Living Dead

Today I heard an odd commercial for one of the ambulance chasers you often hear on television about some class action activity. They were interested in a product called Digitek, which is some sort of variant of digoxin, a heart treatment drug. Their commercial says ...

If you or someone you know has been injured or died as a result of the use of Digitek, call ...

I wonder if the dead are watching or listening to television.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A Day in Pompeii

About a week ago I got to go to Discovery Place in nearby Charlotte to see the "Day in Pompeii" program. This is a facsinating presentation of information and artifacts related to Pompeii at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius two centuries ago. The artifacts are on loan from Italy and have made stops at only 4 cities in the US prior to leaving. They will be in Charlotte through early January of 2009.

The artifacts are fantastic. The stove, for instance, that has raised rings on the back for pots to sit on and is a stone tray that allows a fire to be built and moved under the rings to regulate heat. There were artifacts of jewelry, burial accoutrements, furniture (some parts ... the wooden ones ... were reconstructed), pots, statues, frescos. All of these were well documented with interesting descriptions. There was also a short video of the day of the eruption that described normal life and the impact of the eruption and how quickly it engulfed the city. The complexity of the displays grew as you moved deeper into the museum and the program reached a crescendo as you moved into a reddish black hallway that opened into a black room housing a number of casts of people and animals that were made from the original Pompeii site excavations. These casts capture people and animals in the throws of death, recreating in a visual sense, the last moments of their lives. It was very tastefully done and very moving.

I have posted some photos on this site so that you might share in some of this experience.


Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Govt INC

It seems that my local representative in the House in Washington wants to have Uncle Sam (Govt INC) take charge of yet something else. Her proposal is to have Washington regulate the public colleges and universities of North Carolina (everything from UNC to community colleges) in such a way as to prevent the education of illegal immigrants. I can't stand this. The federal government has NO BUSINESS regulating these institutions. They are state institutions and should be controlled by the state government and the people of North Carolina. We regulate enough from Washington.

For those who think that state regulation of their university system could lead to some failure of that system, remember, the civil rights laws apply to everyone. Thus the state cannot regulate the Universities in any way that interferes with applicable federal laws. As to quality of education, I hope Govt INC never tries "no scholar left behind". The current system of accreditation and the competition to take in more and better quality students will regulate academics much better than the government. It is up to the state and the people who fund the state to determine if illegal immigrants belong in these institutions.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

More English Abuse

Another observation related to interpretation of English -

Driving on the highways have you seen the sign that is diamond shaped, yellow, lettered with:

Slow
Men at Work
Since it does not have the comma that is implied, it would seem that this is all the more truthful. Slow men at work. Road projects do seem to take forever!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Restaurant with History

I just finished travelling for business in Guadalajara, Mexico and had lunch yesterday at a wonderful restaurant in the old city: La Fonda de San Miguel Arcangel. The restaurant is housed in an old convent, the Convent of Santa Teresa de Jesus. The orginial convent was built for sisters of an order devoted to poverty and chastity. Construction took place from 1690 to 1694. This is the oldest convent for nuns in Guadalajara and was funded through an endowment of 42,000 solid gold pesos. The site has a very volatile history. The sisters had to abandon the site in 1860 due to reform laws and the site was later a garrison for the military. The sisters regained the site in 1885 only to have it taken from them again in 1914. Undeterred, they got the site back in 1919. In 1925, the sisters lost the site again as a military garrison during the Cristeros War. Finally, in 1939 the sisters could return and there they stayed until the site was abandoned in 1977.

I am not sure when the site became a restaurant, but it is very nice. There is a long, dark corridor from the street to the courtyard of the convent where a number of brightly colored seats surround many tables.



There is a lot of lush greenery in the courtyard and a relaxing stone fountain in the middle. Bird cages are all over the edges with a number of Conures and two, large, green and teal maccaws. The birds have free reign of the site, but the clipped wings prevent flight. The telltale shrieks add some charm to the place.



The meals are excellent and traditional (read: not Mexican American). The main course I had was the local fajita. The only resemblance that this had to an American fajita was the tortillas. The chicken was grilled and then mixed in with onions, peppers, and radishes in a rich broth and baked in a small cauldron. It had the look of some kind of volcanic rock. The salsas that were brought to the table were rich and varied with several levels of hotness. Between the meal and the ambiance, this is a great place to spend a couple of hours in Guadalajara.




Monday, August 4, 2008

The New Math

I am continually amused by ignorant politicians. Our genius American presidential candidate, Barack Obama, today proposed the tired, liberal suggestion to tax "windfall profits" of oil companies to give Americans (the one's he considers worthy of getting something) 1000 dollars to stimulate the economy and help offset their rising energy costs.

This is supposed to be a regulated, but relatively free market. I thought that the whole reason to be in business was to increase profits. Further, companies that deal in commodity products such as oil often go through cycles of high profitability and moderate loss. The good times keep things floating during the bad times.

Why not have a windfall tax on other areas that are profitable? What else is benefiting from windfall profits? Corn farmers. Let's steal their profits. How about hybrid battery manufacturers? Let's steal their profits too. How about Honda? They were smart enough to see things coming and converted to smaller car production and are making a lot of money. They should be punished.

This hurts ordinary Americans as well. I would say that 50% or more of Americans have money in pension plans and 401 k's that include oil companies. Currently, these 401 k funds are getting hammered by the drop in stock prices and would be further hurt if the oil companies, that we all own part of and are doing well, were gouged.

The idea of a company is to generate wealth for share holders. If I happen to own something that goes up in value, why punish me? The land I own has gone up. The house. What about the gold jewelry we buy. It is all worth more by no direct action that we have done other than to possess it.

Ok, so the math transfers money to some tax payers to help with energy costs. Now, the oil companies have less money, which, by all rights, they would plow back into building the company and creating more jobs (this really is done ... no company will continue to exist if it does not grow) to invest in itself, alternate energy, the local community, etc.

I get tired of this type of thinking. The oil companies are currently making lots of money (not huge percentage profits, just lots of money ... but they are worth much more). When oil was 40$ a barrel I don't remember anyone going to bat to give them more money to make sure their profits were ok. Leave the companies alone. With the higher oil price and the profits, they can finally think about getting at shale oil.

Politicians should focus, instead, on removing barriers to exploration and acquisition of oil to stabilize pricing while we move to nuclear and hydrogen feedstocks.

Oh, but the environmental groups will not let us drill off the coast or in Alaska. It is ok, though, to pay high fuel prices based on removing oil from someone else's back yard. It is only our environment that we cannot tap in to.

This kind of thinking by our politicians just tires me out.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Revolutionary Period and Civil War Period Ruins in NC

Today I visited historic Brunswick Town and Fort Anderson along the Cape Fear river in Brunswick County, North Carolina. Brunswick Town was founded in 1726. After a tumultuous history, it was abandonded around the time of the Revolution after being burned down. Later, on the same site, Fort Anderson (first named Fort St. Phillips) was built using largely slave and American Indian labor.


All that is left of the town is the shell of the St. Phillips Church and the foundations of perhpas about 10 buidings, mostly single-family homes and a couple of common buildings. The town only had two roads that were named and a cross street. Originally, the plan called for 1/2-acre lots on the 300 acre property, but the town never grew above 75 buildings. The foundations of the homes are interesting, showing the size of the footprint and hinting as to the purpose of the individual rooms (kitchens, work areas, and so on). Interestingly, the foundations were made from ballast stones that were brought over by trading vessels to weigh down the ship coming to America. When the ships arrived, the stones were thrown out (many line the shore of the Cape Fear River) to make room for the naval stores that were the main export item from this port. People would just bring the stones to the building site and use them for the foundations onto which they built wooden dwellings. The Church is just a shell of brick, but it is clear where the footings were and there are still all of the window openings in the walls. It is quite large and has a number of grave markers in the yard in the old style of large, boxed crypts. The entire area is covered with many oak trees dripping with Spanish moss.

The remnants of the fort are less developed. What is visible are large earthworks that were the main features of the defensive parts of the fort. At the time of its construction, the fort represented the largest earth works in the world. Every bit of the earth works was constructed moving the earth one shovel at a time. The fort was used throughout the Civil War but fell in just three days in January of 1865. Shortly after its fall, Union troops moved up river to Wilmington and captured the last open port in the South.

The visitor center at this historic site is excellent. They have a very informative video presentation and an excellent small museum with a timeline and numerous artifacts from the site excavation which occured in the late 1950's. Numerous topics about the initial exploration of the Spanish, the early American Indian inhabitants, the early settlers, the residents of the town, and the Civil War history of the site are reviewed in great detail. There is also a gift shop that has several good books (in addition to the normal gift shop tripe). All in all, this was an excellent site to visit, especially given that there is no cost to do so. The site is midway between Wilmington and Southport, North Carolina.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

English Abuse

I find it interesting that I spent so much time in school being taught the proper use of English with all of the nuances only to have to live with the way that it is used in real life. It is really amusing. The other day, I was on a ferry ride to Fort Sumter, SC. The ranger was giving the passengers the normal safety talk and commented: "We have life preservers on board for adults and children under 90 pounds.". This brought two curious thougts to my mind: (1) What will happen to adults and children over 90 pounds? or (2) A 90 pound life jacket just might defeat the purpose of wearing one.