Feb 16, 2009
Since I have moved most of my gaming hobbies to the Xbox360, I thought I would drop in my gamer tag here.
Dec 9, 2008
A Modern Parable.
A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motors) decided to
have a canoe race on the Missouri River Both teams practiced long and hard
to reach their peak performance before the race.
On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.
The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the
reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior
management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.
Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering,
while the American team had 7 people steering and 2 people rowing.
Feeling a deeper study was in order; American management hired a consulting
company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.
They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while
not enough people were rowing.
Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another
loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally
reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1
assistant superintendent steering manager.
They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people
rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing
Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the
rowers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other
equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The pension
program was trimmed to 'equal the competition' and some of the resultant
savings were channeled into morale boosting programs and teamwork posters.
The next year the Japanese won by two miles.
Humiliated, the American management laid-off one rower, halted development
of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all capital investments
for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives
as bonuses.
The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even
finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for unacceptable
performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year's racing team
was out-sourced to India .
Sadly, the End.
Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years
moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they can't make money
paying American wages.
TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants
inside the US .
The last quarter's results:
TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.
Ford folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses... and
now wants the Government to 'bail them out'.
IF THIS WEREN'T SO TRUE IT MIGHT BE FUNNY
Oct 29, 2008
Just something I got in an email....
Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed. Once in the restaurant my server had on a "Obama 08" tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.
At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.
And another email I got :)
Our Tax System Explained: Bar Stool Economics
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten
comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go
something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all
such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily
beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the
first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?'
They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that
from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end
up being paid to drink his beer.
So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill
by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each
should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to
drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare
their savings.
'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to
the tenth man,' but he got $10!'
'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too.
It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got' 'That's true!!'
shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two?
The wealthy get all the breaks!'
'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get
anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks so the nine sat down
and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they
discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of
them for even half of the bill!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how
our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most
benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being
wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start
drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.
Oct 6, 2008
What have I been doing? This should give you some idea...
Oct 30, 2006
Here is the entire collection for this year:
Oct 11, 2006
After a trip to Walt Disney World this past September, I decided to do a Disney theme for my pumpkins this year :) I started with a Mickey Mouse and will do other characters but I wanted to do a castle...and I did! So here is my main pumpkin for this year, a Cinderella Castle!
Sept 18, 2006
We had a wonderfull trip to Disney World (Sep 10-16 2006) with the girls. Photos are available in the photo section here. It started with a horrid flight on Air-Tran Airways and I vowed to never fly with them again (it took LESS time to actually fly from MKE to ORD than it did to get from the gate in MKE to the end of the runway in MKE, 2hrs sitting "charging a battery"..PLEASE!). We had good weather and visited lots of characters while hitting all four parks. Sabrina had her 8th birthday while we were in WDW and we celebrated it well with a dinner with princesses in Epcot and a fantastic evening of Trick-or-Treating at "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party" at The Magic Kingdom.
Apr 26, 2006
We had to take Pretty Star on her last trip to the vet yesterday. Her fight with cancer was a lost battle for a while and we couldn't let the pain continue. As she lay there, she took a big sigh and looked up at me as she passed...almost as though she was saying thankyou. For the last couple of weeks she was miserable and she, in her own way, was telling us it was time. Its been a sad house of late. Her joy had been replaced with pain yet she still loved. She still cuddled. She is now at peace. The two older grandaughters (7,5) insisted on going along. They both were very close to her and it bothered them to see her pain as well.
