- "So Far from God" by General John Eisenhower (President Eisenhower's son). DYK ... we actually occupied Mexico City and had Mexico through the Catholic Church pay for our occupation (and military debauchery) until they agreed to give us Texas, and most of New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California? The POTUS at the time (Polk) and several key Senators believed it was God's promise (Manifest Destiny) for us that we should have the land.
- "Blood of Brothers" by Steven Kinzer (New York Times bureau chief living in and covering Central and South America for over a decade). Kinzer knew personally most every leader in Central & South America and chronicles 150 years of US abusing our hegemony over our much less powerful neighbors. His emphasis was on the fiasco of the 1980s where we supported dictator assassination squads in South America and where the US waged an illegal CIA proxy war in Nicaragua funded first by trading missles for hostages and cash from Iran and then funded by crack cocaine sales to our major cities ... supported by our CIA
Saturday, January 05, 2019
Tuesday, March 01, 2016
Memories of the GE Attempted Takeover of Honeywell - courtesy of an anonymous Honeywell employee
The Wreck of the Mike Bonsignore
Sung to the tune ofThe wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
By Gordon Lightfoot
The legend lives on from the management on down
Of the failed merger with GE.
The deal it was dead and many have said
It was killed by a man they called Monti.
With an annual gross of twenty-eight billion or more
Honeywell was lively and kicking.
But many quiet men with greed cold in their veins
Saw a business ripe for the picking.
In Honeywell’s mind it was e-business time
And the market was ours to be taken.
We assembled a crew from the old and the new
And no one caught on we were faking.
The analysts bought in and the stock price looked good
The money she flowed like a hydrant.
It was part of the plan of many a sly man
To grab a big piece of the Internet.
So millions went out and very little came in,
”But this seems to be how you do it”.
”Look at the money you spent while we paid the rent”,
Was the cry from the business units.
With a split in the ranks and morale in the tank,
The company was not stable.
But from the outside, Honeywell seemed a good buy
And GE stepped up to the table.
When the deal went to shit and it looked desperate,
They said “Boys, let’s try Six Sigma.
Jack likes it best, therefore so do the rest,
You’ll do it if you know what’s good for ya.”
So we pissed around and we wrote some stuff down
’Till we all knew the Black Belt story.
While it may have been fun, by the time it was done
Came the wreck of the Mike Bonsignore.
Does any one know where the love of God goes
When the big shots look at their options?
The pundits all say he’d have made it okay,
If he just would’ve cut forty thousand.
When the coup came, it was bloody and fast,
It was led by someone we knew,
When the strings had been pulled, and the souls had been sold,
There wasn’t much left to look up to.
So Bossidy came and Bosignore sailed off,
Waving sadly and wiping his eyes dry.
”Don’t worry ‘bout me, I have more than plenty,”
Then he laughed and he kissed us goodbye.
”You can’t get too pissed ‘cause it’s just business”,
But God knows it’s tough not to blame him.
’Cause he wasted a year and a load of false cheer,
Telling the boys that Jack Welch would save ‘em.
In a big boardroom in Morristown they sat,
And read the Wall Street Journal.
The unemployment line, it grew thousands of times
By each man and woman t’was let go.
The legend lives on from the management on down,
Of the failed merger with GE.
The deal it was dead and many have said
It was killed by a man they called Monti.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Pluralistic Ignorance - SA March 2013
Interesting material and we can see how it plays out in the Lance Armstrong doping scandal, some religious institutions, and in ideological plays from the wing nuts of the political spectrum.
Other topics discussed in SA this month:
- Getting to the bottom - we did not always have toilet paper
- DNA - threat to civil liberty or making our country safer?
- Poxviruses - smallpox is gone but viral cousins are staging a comeback
- Orange Juice devastation - invasive insect, the Asian citrus psyllid carrying HLB (Huanglongbing) is devastating orange groves across the world
- The Origins of human creativity - exhibited 3.4 million years ago but dramatically accelerated 40,000 years ago
- Expensive organs - as our brains got bigger (20% of energy consumption) our guts got smaller and we became less prolific
- A democracy depends on an electorate of critical thinkers
Monday, May 28, 2012
May 28 2012 11 Mile Hike to Tom Thumb
For a five hour hike in the desert it takes a little preparation for things like ... water. We started out with seven quarts of water and by the time we returned we had less than one left! Fortunately, it was only 85-90 degrees otherwise if was more normal temperature like 100 degrees we would have needed to bring another quart or two and probably would not have been able to make the full hike.
This is a picture of Tom from about 1/4 mile away. The rock stands about 80 feet tall. I think you need to think rocks are pretty to appreciate the photo :-) Up close it is really quite cool. There are all kinds of volcanic rocks at the top of the ridge and they make all kinds of weird shapes.
Sunday, April 08, 2012
April 8, 2012: Hope within History by Walter Brueggemann
- Israel knows that they live in a contrived world
- The contrivance is intentional to serve special interests at the expense of others
- Because this world is a contrivance it can be deconstructed if one has the courage and the wits to do so
- The deconstructor is Yahweh. The Israelite shaped by the narrative is not a helpless victim but has an ally so powerful the dismantling of the empire is assured
- The liturgical life of Israel is deconstruction
- Critique the dominant ideology
- Public embrace of pain
- Release of social imagination
- More faithfully theonomous
- More intentionally addressed to the community
- More trustingly open to the future
- social ideology
- Self-deception of propaganda
- Narcotic effect of religion
- Management of moral persuasion in the interest of social monopoly
- A profound sense of anguish, ...
- Confidence in the moral coherence of the world
- Assertion of the raw sovereignty of God
- Capacity for discerning social analysis and criticism
- Bold conviction about an alternative possibility that goes under the name of hope
- There is no living present with a dead past
- There is no living present without the imagination of a better world
- managers of the status quo
- intellectuals supporting the managers
- oppressed ... those without voice
- The function of hope is to keep the present open and provisional
- The natural setting of hope is among those who grieve and process it in community
- The enemies of hope include muteness, fulfillment and technique
- The action of terrorists
- The posture of conformity among those who refuse to question but are ready to embrace established official truth, both political and religious
- The temptation to absolutize in which critical capacity is routinely impossible in public life
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Maui: Warren & Annabelle Magic Show - Thursday Jan 12, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Maui: Haleakala Crater and Mama' Fishhouse Jan 13 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Maui: Old Lahaina Luau Monday Jan 9 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Maui: The West End Circuit Jan 8 2012
Maui: Whale Watching Jan 11 2012
Maui: The Road to Hana - Jan 10 2012
Our first major stop (other than for photos and a snack) was at the far end of our travel route at Haleakala National Park, the last stop before we would have swing south on route 360 into the southern arid lands of eastern Maui. There we entered a beautiful little world of waterfalls and reshwater pools called Ohe'o Gulch or better known in the marketing materials as the "7 Sacred Pools". That's me swimming in one of the lower pools.
After finishing the wildly curvy road through the rain forest and before heading back to the Westin we stopped in the little windsurfing town of Pa'ia. It is a throw back to the 1960's ... plenty of quirky stores and people ... many of the people look like they still lived in the 1960's and their children also had a little of that look. OK ... maybe I exaggerate a little ... but not much :-) Even the health food store we stopped in was a throw back in time ... absolutely non-descript store front but inside was an amazing mixture of organic foods, vegetarian dishes, bathing suits, fresh fruit, dry bulk food, and candles. And it all worked held together by some pretty dedicated people focused on providing great service and awesome foods in an eclectic way.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Beginner's Guide to Twitter
Everyone seems to be atwitter about Twitter. The free online service lets users send and receive very short messages -- no longer than 140 characters apiece. A typical Twitter message, known as a "tweet," might provide a quick update on what you’re doing or request help with a problem. Users post tweets to a personal Web page from their cell phones, PDAs or computers. How Twitter can be useful and how to sign up...
TWITTER FOR FUN AND FAMILY
To use Twitter in your personal life...
Keep friends and family updated on your life when you don’t have the time or inclination to call or e-mail. You might tweet, "We arrived home safely from our trip"... or, "The car’s running again. It was just a fuse."
Real-life tweet: A passenger on a plane that skidded off a Denver runway last winter used his cell phone to tweet about the event moments after it occurred. His friends never had to worry about his safety, because they got his tweet and learned that he was unharmed before the incident was reported in the media.
Arrange social activities, even at the last minute. Rather than place dozens of calls to find someone who is free, send out a single tweet. This tweet might read, "I’m going fishing. Anyone want to join me?"
Real-life tweet: Basketball star Shaquille O’Neal used Twitter to inform his friends and fans that he was sitting down to dinner alone in Phoenix. A pair of local basketball fans drove to the diner and hung out with him.
Solicit opinions, advice or assistance on short notice. You could tweet, "Can anyone suggest a good place for dinner in Albany?"... or, "My car broke down in Portland. Can anyone recommend a good mechanic?"
TWITTER FOR BUSINESS
To use Twitter in your professional life...
Keep colleagues and clients up-to-date about schedules and plans. You could tweet, "Any customer expecting a service call today will receive one by 5:00 pm despite the snow" or, "My flight was delayed. Can someone stand in for me at this afternoon’s meeting?"
Search for tweets about your company, industry or products written by other Twitter users, then provide fast feedback. A plumber might offer responses to plumbing-related questions to build goodwill with customers. A manufacturer might respond to a complaint about a product with troubleshooting tips, turning negative buzz about the product into positive buzz about the company’s customer service.
For example, cable company Comcast has a customer service employee monitor Twitter for mentions of Comcast and respond quickly.
The Web site TweetBeep (http://tweetbeep.com) and Twitter’s own search page (http://search.twitter.com) can help you find relevant tweets.
Show clients and potential clients the person behind the business.Customers are more likely to trust you if they believe that they know you and like you as a person. To build this human connection, tweet about your hobbies... your charitable work... or your company’s softball game, in addition to your business and products.
HOW TO SIGN UP
Twitter is easy to use. Visit www.twitter.com, click "New to Twitter? Join today" and follow the simple directions.
E-mail a link to your Twitter Web page to keep friends, family, colleagues and clients posted on your life or business. You can find people to follow by clicking on "Find People" from your Twitter home page.
Warning: Click "Settings," then check the box by "Protect my updates" on your Twitter account page if you want to maintain control over who reads your tweets. Leave this unchecked only if you do not expect to share sensitive information and would like to reach strangers as well as friends. Always be careful. If you are going to be out of town for a few weeks, you may not want to tweet about that if everyone can read your posts.
You also can choose to receive tweets from individuals on your cell phone. Though Twitter is free, your service provider may charge you when you send or receive messages from your phone depending on your plan.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Our Three Week House Refresh: April 19th - May 6th, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
March 10 2011: Interesting Comments by Conference Speaker
- Americans want lower taxes. In general since WWII our federal tax receipts have ranged between 16-21% of GDP.
- Americans want higher benefits. In general expenditures since WWII have been 18-25% of GDP.
- Entitlements grew from 5.8% of GDP in 1962 to 15% in 2011
- U.S. deficit in 2011 is projected at 11% of GDP and total debt is projected to be about $21T by 2016
- The U.S. debt portfolio carries an average interest rate of 3% with an average term of 57 months. The average rate from 1970 to 2009 was 6.2%. If we move back to the average of 6% that means the U.S. will need to come up with an additional $400-500B just to pay the incremental interest. This will have to come from either entitlement cuts or new taxes as interest on the debt gets paid first.
- DoD expenditures including Afghanistan and Iraq total about $700B. In CY $ there have been three major up and down DoD expenditure cycles since 1952. Each cycle (17, 17, and 25) has had a high of $550B and a low of $350B so the current $700B has broken out of the norms we have experienced during the last 60 years. This makes the current budget and in particular the expenditures for new weapons platforms extremely vulnerable to cuts. In addition the public support for two war efforts will likely not be there when faced with higher taxes or cuts to entitlements. Ken's projection is DoD will get cut back to $550B on the high side and low side of $400B. Those suppliers seeking to move from DoD to HLS contracts are in for a surprise ... the total HLS budget is only $40B ... implying there is going to be significant consolidation and drives for efficiency across the DoD supplier base. During the last major DoD downturn (1990 - 1995) top line DoD budget shrank 23% but procurement shrank 52%. Implications were a decade of corporate consolidations, no hiring and reduced maintenance.
- DoD procurement is cash basis and subject to available budget. Entitlements are the only portion of the budget not subject to annual voting ... the bills come in and they get paid.
- Ken's prediction. Continuing resolutions will be passed for the remainder of this fiscal year (six months) but more concerning is the budget process is so hosed up and with 8 senators retiring the electioneering will be crazy with no great incentive to pass a budget resulting in continuing resolutions through the 2012 fiscal year. CRs result in government agencies being constrained to what they spent in the prior FY with very little flexibility unless authorized by congress.
- During Ken's entire time in office even though he was accountable for performance versus schedule and budget and he regularly got grilled on this where he got the most heat from congress was with respect to jobs in "my district"
- Ash Carter is the current Under Secretary for Acquisition and his mantra is "Do More without More" ... he will be seeking restructuring of primes and driving out redundant operations from prior mergers. He will also be seeking more FFP versus CP or T&M contracts on major programs. CP and T&M puts the risk on the government ... we need to move to a better balance of risk sharing. Also, being "big" may not be an advantage going forward ... the DoD will be seeking lean, smart, agile companies that deliver breakthrough products at breakthrough prices.
- Question? Has the all volunteer force been a factor in extending the DoD up down budget cycle from 17 years out to the current 25 years? A. During draft times more citizenry had a stake in where our soldiers were sent, they were not paid much and when we did not need them we sent them home. The all volunteer force is highly professional, well educated and well trained and excellent candidates for leadership roles in industry after their service. This does appear to have created a slight disconnect between our broad citizenry having a direct stake in military outcomes. Another factor may be that most volunteers come from red states.
- Question? Will DoD programs be getting more scrutiny in these tight budget times? A. Yes. Expect much more emphasis on audits and compliance. Unfortunately, this only assures that people are doing what they agreed to do ... not necessarily what is the right thing. Opportunities for improving results after a contract award are typically not highly rewarded. IG & DCAA are box checkers they are not partners in performance for doing more with less.
- Question? When will entitlements be addressed in this budget cycle? A. No. entitlements will be fixed only when we as a country face a budget crisis. Americans tend to respond to crisis ... only issue is the market determines the interest rates so we have less control than we think. For 50 years Americans have been told they are great and can have as much cake as they want ... it has elevated our lifestyle but it is a borrowed lifestyle. Someone ... actually several senior political leaders ... are needed to lead and be blunt with our population ... we are getting older, we are not healthy, and the baby boomer generation is spending the younger generation's money before they die and then leaving them the remaining bills. Unfortunately, without a financial crisis and a cause to focus on the common good, no elected politicians will have the courage to say raise taxes or cut back on what people think of as things they are entitled to.