First Blog

Are you relevant? JC Pennys, as a long time retailer has dropped precipitously on the New York Stock Exchange. They may go bankrupt.  As observer put it, "I don't see a need for Pennys," at this point.   I shopped at Penny's often over the years.  Another dinosaur is Sears.  Ditto for Sears.  (Ask me about parking at Sears in the 50's.) Both have adopted the model of cash stations, where you take your item to a station to pay.  There is no longer any expertise associated with or available for what you want to buy.  So, why would I go there?  No reason I can think of - except to see the goods and then buy elsewhere. Keep this in mind.  "You have value as long as you have actual monetary value."  We see this with: a. Uber - why need those taxis? b. Teachers - why not learn online? c. Elevator operators - you have probably never seen one (once ubiquitous) d. Banking - no need for money transactions anymore, now only loans. e. Cars and g

We hear so often about innovation at whatever you do.  It seems to be the current brass ring to the next and greatest APP ever.  Websites are devoted to it. Papers are issued on what it is.  Lectures are given on how to do it.    There are even degree programs on achieving this illusive ability. One of the keys to invention is the so-called “thinking outside the box.” However, for innovation from outside the box, the first need is understand what’s inside the box. Namely, is your idea actually outside the box? In this connection, it is important to know your great new idea is not simply one that fails.  The alternative is to expend resources to determinine it doesn’t.  Wasted time! All new innovations I’ve ever heard of come from experts on the “inside, looking outside.”  You need some examples. a.     Pasteur and the application of germ theory to serious disease such as anthrax or rabies. b.     Object oriented programming as a method of accessing and using inform

Electric cars.  I like the idea, want to have one, and eventually will have one.  Yet, there are questions any reasonable person will need answered. What will happen when millions of electric cars are on the road?  We will enjoy what is called the statistics of testing at scale .   A few examples: a.      Exploding and failing batteries – at minimum causing traffic problems ·        At homes ·        On the freeway. ·        In public garages. ·        Fire issues b.      Demands on the electrical grid and charging availability – charging these machines will enhance demand on possibly fragile electrical delivery systems.  If you’re out of juice, you can’t just walk a few blocks to get a refill.  As well extant gas station will need to install expensive high amperage wiring together with charging stations.  Note the simplistic examples with the Samsung cell phone.  c.      Demand for engine and system repair.  Trained technicians will be needed en mass .  This is esp

It’s all about feeling good. In years past, folks would go to church and sit patiently for one hour, contribute a few dollars, and come away feeling good.  This was their total commitment.  Today, in our nano-world, many of the wealthy football players have the same need – to feel good.  Their obligation is to kneel patiently in their preferred church, the playing field, for three minutes of the national anthem.  They feel good, and maybe the boo’s make them feel  a sacrifice has been made.  Our nano-world of sound bites, quick jabs, and instant commitment pervades within the Hollywood elite, students, many news wonks, and now sports. They commit a few minutes, perhaps an hour, coming away feeling good they have done something of value.  This nano-goodness is enough for them. In contrast… The first responders in recent hurricanes, the physicians traveling to disaster areas, and those few missionaries that commit days, weeks, and even lifetimes to helping others actually

Curiously, the lowest wage earners and the largest corporations have the same slogan:   "Fight for 15." But for the one its  dollars ; for the other its  tax rate .  They could share posters.  They could march together, the one group starting at McDonald's, the other at Cipriani's.  Three Bills (Clinton, Gates, and Deblasio) could march together arm-in-arm.  :)

Republicans vs. Democrats Losing. When a team plays only defense, its members can have differentiated principles, can have internal squabbles, and can ignore on-the-field achievement.  This team feels good, righteous, and smart.  When a team plays only defense, it will lose the game.  But when the team manager picks fights with its star players, the outcome will be even worse - an embarrassing loss. Are we discussing Team Republican?  Probably yes. Team Democrat enjoys the game with smaller numbers on the field, quaffing a beer or two, watching their opponents squander their advantage, and winning the game. -------------------------------- What do neo-nazies, communists, white supremacists, BLM, and ANTIFA have in common?  They all don’t use their own brains, but march to the drums of others, and given careful instructions on what to do, where to march, and how to think. People who sign on to fringe groups seldom have independent minds, have few achievements,

---------------- The only benefit of disaster. It brings people together, in work and in sympathy. We surely saw it in Hurricane Harvey – to the max.  Let us hope Florida, with Hurricane Irma experiences the same human congeniality, compassion and collective effort.  Deference to government for all help is at best a poor selection. ----------------   There is a great line from the movie  Tremors  that applies to Congress.  We see the hero (Kevin Bacon) tell the group, "We always have a plan.  That way we don't have to do anything right now." In particular, Mitch McConnell loves more than anything else to make a carefully worded speech.  The plan.   Loves it.  This means, he doesn't have to do anything now.  And he doesn't! Leadership is more than merely signing off on documents coming to your desk. ------------- Most people facing a law suit wear a cloth suit. Moral: don’t wear a suit, or even have soot in your chimney. ---------------------

President Trump is trying to push through tax cuts or reforms to help build the economy. Building the economy is good.  We need this.  The matter is of methods.  His preferred method to berate or deprecate his own party to action.  He needs to exercise leadership with the entire Congress.  Leadership is an ephemeral quality only a very few understand and even fewer know.  The Congress is rather leaderless, and has been for many years. Both parties share this guilt. Congress can obstruct, and it is masterful at delay and inaction.  Briefly, doing stuff is not their forte.  Leadership!! The President can command and he can direct, but can he work with? This is needed right now.   When was the last time we had such a leader, able to build bridges, to communicate, and to achieve? ------------------- Independent people don’t like masked riders, or masked demonstrators, or masked anarchists.  These make them nervous.  They don’t like freedom of speech denied; they don’t like alter

From the data department, I made a few quick calculations. 1. For the area I live in, as of 5am this morning, more than 23,000,000,000 gallons of rain have fallen. 2. For the city of Houston (627 sq. miles), as of 5am, more than 272,000,000,000 gallons of rain have fallen. 3. How much water is that?  Enough to fill more than 42,000,000 backyard pools measuring 24 ft x 12 ft with a depth grade from 2 ft at one end to 4 ft at the other.  That implies a total volume greater than the sum total of every backyard pool in the USA. A lot of rain!!!

Powerball Lottery. The Powerball lottery was just won with a $700,000,000+ jackpot.  It occurred to me this lotto gives many millions of people something unavailable centuries ago. Given is a measure of hope for wealth and position far beyond any expectation but more important, any possibility. Of course, the measure is faux, false, incorrect, wrong, mistaken, misleading, faulty, inaccurate, invalid, improper, unfounded, erroneous, and downright effectively impossible.  Yet, for these same millions, it gives a few minutes of hope, the small flicker of light within a dark life without much chance of escape. Is the Lotto wrong?  Or is it a tool used by those in power to quiet the distant drum of revolution? Possibly not.  Maybe it’s a tool merely for those in power to make money and also to quiet the resonance of grumble? Possibly so. BTW, I bought a ticket for the last drawing.  Though I have enough for comfort, still I did see that flicker of light, feel that brief hope, and

“NAZI” is the key word in modern defamation.  Doesn’t matter whose political far-side you’re on, left or right, the term “Nazi” is your preferred diatribe toward your opposite.  Calling someone a Nazi has replaced calling them a SOB or even worse.  It’s sort of an anti-intellectual upgrade of profanity, but profanity it is.  “A rose by any other name…” I blame it substantially on Hollywood.  They have kept the Nazi mythos alive for going on eighty years.  At least a couple of Nazi or Nazi-type movies are released annually.  Nazis are ever on our mind. They have become the ultimate nonsecular evil. They are the color to paint your opponent.  It works! Nowadays the Nazi concept represents strength attractive to rather uneducated and weak individuals.  “Think like a Nazi and you’re powerful like a Nazi,” is the limit of their philosophy. “Bomb a church, or beat up some innocents,” are their operations. Thus, the neo-Nazi:  cruel, stupid, and profane. It’s easy to beat up on t

Murder-rates, that is, intentional murder, are in the news at least every couple of weeks. So, where are all these murders occurring?  We look at world murder-rates data, all of which is online.  Where is the USA, and where are the largest murder rates?  Are murder rates connected with gun ownership, or with corruption?  Questions like these seem to have obvious answers, both yes. The results tell a different story.  First here is a table of countries with the highest murder rates. The rates given below are per 100,000 people per year.  Rank Country Rate Count ZONE 1  El Salvador 108.64 6,656 Americas Central America 2  Honduras 63.75 5,148 Americas Central America 3  Venezuela 57.15 17,778 Americas South America 4  United States Virgin Islands 52.64 56 Americas Caribbean 5  Jamaica 43.21 1,207