An Interesting Example of Leadership - From TED, submitted by JG

From Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy. Don't think any of these guys could work in a paper mill.

The Digesters … First Jobs - 1954 by JF

The table was made of a poor grade of plywood with a lot of water damage and purple stain. One leg was shorter than the others. I saw a buret and some liquid in it they called “purple poison.” It turned out that I was to run “K” number tests (using purple potassium permanganate) on a sample of pulp each hour during the shift, and help out in opening the digesters. As I read the crumpled, stained, barely readable typed procedure, I could smell the aroma of pine chips and sulfur mixed together. I had smelled the sulfur most of my life at my home about three miles downwind on the river. It smelled like money everyone said…and it did. At one time in the ‘50s there were about 1500 employees and most lived and loved in my hometown - and cashed their checks there on Thursday afternoons. There are only some 200+ employees now.

There were 10 batch digesters - which are really huge pressure cookers with very large nuts and bolts sealing the top. Pine chips, steam and chemicals (sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide) were added and the cooking lasted about an hour and a half each. Round 24-hour Foxboro charts recorded the goings on. Supervision looked at the charts each morning. A valve at the bottom of the digester was opened after each cook finished, while under pressure, and the contents were “blown” into a tank. I helped take the top off  the empty digesters with a huge wrench after the blow. This required some effort by me but the guys who regularly worked there did it effortlessly.

The “K” number test requires one gram of pulp. One gram is a mighty small amount to be used to represent many tons of pulp. Think of a needle in a haystack only much worse. The test is used to determine how much the cook is 'cooked'. There were limits, high and low, that were the targets of the test. I was instructed to tell the cook (what we called the operator) the result after each test. He would log it onto the daily report. Things went well until I got a test outside the limits. When I told the cook the result, he said, “Run it again.” When I finished the second test outside the limits, the cook said, “Run it again.” The third test was mercifully inside the limits and the cook dutifully wrote the last result on the log. Did the cook "cook" the books? You make the call.

Years later at another plant, an outside company wanted to automate part of our batch digester system but after examining our K- number data, they told us that we already had such excellent control that they could do nothing for us. The Foxboro charts that our plant also used, would sometimes disappear just like at my first job. The pulp and paper industry has amazing control when considering the tests are sampled between tons and tons of pulp, paper, liquids and even mud.

As an aside, one night in 1954, the digester room got bombed with an actual bomb. The bomb went through the roof but did minimal damage. It only weighed about twenty pounds but could have wiped out the whole crew. A Marine air station close to us used the plant to practice bombing - only they weren't supposed to actually drop anything on the mill. On this night, a "dummy bomb" was inadvertently released - I guess by a dummy pilot and others who were later called dummies. Too bad it couldn’t have destroyed the K-number table.

Rules of combat...

• If the enemy is in range, so are you.

• Incoming fire has the right of way.

• Don't look conspicuous: it draws fire.

• The easy way is always mined.

•  Try to look unimportant, they may be low on ammo.

• Professionals are predictable, it's the amateurs that are dangerous.

• The enemy invariably attacks on one of two occasions:         1. When you're ready for them.         2. When you're not ready for them.

• Teamwork is essential; it gives the enemy someone else to shoot  at.

• If you can't remember, the claymore is pointed at you.

• If your attack is going well, you have walked into an ambush.

• Don't draw fire, it irritates the people around you.

• The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.

• When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.

• If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid.

• When in doubt empty the magazine.

• Never share a fox hole with anyone braver than you.

• Anything you do can get you shot. Including doing nothing. 

• Make it too tough for the enemy to get in and you can't get out.

• Mines are equal opportunity weapons.

• A Purple Heart just proves that were you smart enough to think of  a plan, stupid enough to try it, and lucky enough to survive.

• Don't ever be the first, don't ever be the last and don't ever volunteer to do anything.

• The quartermaster has only two sizes: too large and too small.

• Five second fuses only last three seconds.

• It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.

A Donkey Tale

AN OLD MAN, A BOY AND A DONKEY WERE GOING TO TOWN.

THE BOY RODE ON THE DONKEY AND THE OLD MAN WALKED. 

AS THEY WENT ALONG THEY PASSED SOME PEOPLE WHO REMARKED IT WAS A SHAME THE OLD MAN WAS WALKING AND THE BOY WAS RIDING.

THE OLD MAN AND BOY THOUGHT MAYBE THE CRITICS WERE RIGHT, SO THEY CHANGED POSITIONS.

LATTER THEY PASSED SOME PEOPLE THAT REMARKED," WHAT A SHAME, HE MAKES THAT LITTLE BOY WALK."

THEY DECIDED THEY BOTH WOULD WALK!

SOON THEY PASSED SOME MORE PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT THEY WERE STUPID TO WALK WHEN THEY HAD A DECENT DONKEY TO RIDE. 

SO, THEY BOTH RODE THE DONKEY!

NOW THEY PASSED SOME PEOPLE THAT SHAMED THEM BY SAYING HOW AWFUL IT WAS TO PUT SUCH A LOAD ON A POOR DONKEY. 

THE BOY AND MAN SAID THEY  WERE PROBABLY RIGHT SO THEY DECIDED TO CARRY THE DONKEY. 

AS THEY CROSSED A BRIDGE, THEY LOST THEIR GRIP ON THE ANIMAL AND HE FELL INTO THE RIVER AND DROWNED.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY?

........IF YOU TRY TO PLEASE EVERYONE, YOU WILL EVENTUALLY LOSE YOUR ASS.

"I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left."

SAY IT OUT LOUD

Some things you can really get off your chest on the work front (...with a little imagination).

"I can see your point, but I still think you're full of shxx."

"I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to  pronounce."

"How about never? Is never good for you?"

"I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in  public."

"I'm really easy to get along with once you people learn to see it my way."

"I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter."

"I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message."

"I don't work here. I'm a consultant."

"It sounds like English, but I can't understand a damn word you're saying."

"Ahhh...I see the screw-up fairy has visited us again."

"I like you. You remind me of myself when I was young and stupid."

 "You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers."   

 "I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth."   

"I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you."   

"Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of  view."   

"The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist."   

"Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental."   

"I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant."   

"Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial."  

 "And your crybaby  opinion would be...?"   

"Do I look like a people person?"   

"This isn't an office. It's Hell with fluorescent lighting."  

 "I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left."   

"Sarcasm is just one more service we offer."  

 "If I throw a stick, will you leave?"   

"Errors have been made. Others will be blamed."   

"Whatever kind of look you were going for, you missed."  

 "A cubicle is just a padded cell without a door."   

"Can I trade this job for what's behind door #1?"  

 "Too many freaks, not enough circuses."   

"Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it?" 

 "Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done."  

 "How do I set a laser printer to stun?"  

 "I thought I wanted a career. Turns out I just wanted a salary."  

"Oh I get it... like humour... but different!"

Some Jobs Are Worse Than Paper Mill Jobs

These Guys Work In A Paper Mill

An interactive Youtube video game. At the end of each clip, click on a response and watch the results.

"Odor! It'll take the paint off your house!"

It takes a lot of behind the scene activities to pull off a new manufacturing site. Years ago, I talked with former Mayor "Icky" Albright about the efforts to get Bowater, a British paper manufacturer, to locate to York County. Several local developers and politicians were trying to put together a land deal without getting on any ones radar. They had found some land with good water and service by two railroads. To get the deal, they had to convince two churches (with graveyards) to agree to relocate. As you can imagine, folks were not ready to have their "loved ones" moved. They eventually pulled that off, and then had to get the state legislature to change the laws which prohibited a foreign company from owning more than 500 acres in the state. I'm not sure that could possibly happen in today's climate.

I mentioned that it took several politicians to help pull it off - well - one of those was John Hardin. John was a great story teller. His book, It's Been Grand! John mentions how trying to minimize a pulp mill odor campaign can sometimes backfire. Anyway (read John's comments in the previous link), even if you could pull together the land deal, I'm convinced, with the strong NIMBY (not in my back yard) attitude today, you'd never be able to build a plant with an odor that would take the paint off your house!


If you haven't read John's book, you should. Even if you don't know all the players, his wit and wisdom makes for a very entertaining read.

Whew! Smells Like........

If you work in a kraft pulp mill, you know a paper mill when you smell it. I  moved to a new town situated about 10 miles Northwest of a paper mill. All the neighbors swore they could smell the paper mill a lot. What I eventually learned, was almost anything that smelled bad was credited to the paper mill. In fact, during the 30 years I lived there, you could count on both hands, the number of times the mill could actually be smelled. Of course, that wasn't the case for everybody. The predominate wind direction was either from the Southwest (to Northeast) or from the Northeast (to Southwest). The folks in those directions could count on smelling the mill at least half the time.....and just so no one gets the wrong impression - paper mills do smell (at least the kraft paper mills do).

Well, one day we had a salesman visit. Turns out he had grown up just north of the mill in Charlotte, NC. Whenever his family was traveling and would smell something bad (while living in Charlotte) his Dad would say, Whew! Bowater. Turns out the paper mill south of Charlotte was called Bowater (now AbitibiBowater). Well, this "young" salesman thought that "Bowater" was a term you used to describe something that smelled bad. He didn't know it referenced a paper mill.

The salesman went to West Point and completed a career in the military before getting a sales job. He taught his children to say, Whew! Bowater anytime they would smell something bad. It wasn't until he made his first sales call, that he realized it was the mill his father had been referring to. I chuckle to think of all the places around the world that he and his family have given the Whew! Bowater reference.

Where Good Ideas Come From

Pictures From The Past - 1962 Press Release on Modern Design

From 1 Bowater

Back in the days before employee comfort was a consideration enough to install air conditioning - a company put out a press release touting this new wall design that allowed for natural light and ventilation.

These Are Stories of Papermakers Playing Golf

Off the seventh tee, Joe sliced his shot deep into a wooded ravine He took

his eight iron and clambered down the embankment in search of his lost ball.

After many long minutes of hacking at the underbrush, he spotted something

glistening in the leaves. As he drew nearer, he discovered that it was an

eight iron in the hands of a skeleton!

Joe immediately called out to his friend, "Jack, I've got trouble down here!"

"What's the matter?" Jack asked from the edge of the ravine.

"Bring me my wedge," Joe shouted. "You can't get out of here with

an eight iron.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The owner of a golf course was confused about

paying an invoice, so he decided to ask his

secretary for some mathematical help. He called

her into his office and said, 'You graduated from

the  University of  Tennessee and I need some help.

If I were to give you $20,000, minus 14%, how

much would you take off?'  She replied:  "Everything but my ear rings!"

  ----------------------------------------------------------------

My five-year-old nephew wanted to caddy for my brother's golf game.
"You have to count my strokes," my brother told him.
"How much is six plus nine plus eight?"
"Five," answered the nephew.
"Okay," my brother said, "let's go."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures From The Trash - 1962 Picture of Evaporators

From 1 Bowater

Pictures From The Trash - Almost Anything Goes!

From 1 Bowater

Companies used to place an emphasis on community involvement. Here is a picture of a company team participating in a community festival event. D. Harkness is pictured. The team, originally coached by J. Frank, went on to dominate year after year until the event was eliminated due to lack of competition. The event, "Almost Anything Goes"

Pictures From The Trash - 1962 Picture of Woodyard

From 1 Bowater

Pictures From The Trash - 1962 Turbine Room

From 1 Bowater

Pictures From The Trash - Team Building Activities

Back during the days of Participative Management, there were a lot of team building activities. Below is a picture of one such activity - Rock climbing and Rappelling. The group is resting on top of the mountain.

From 1 Bowater

B. Hagner, J. Vining, B. Edwards, B. Bernard, J. Nixon, M. Williams, D. Harkness, G. Hollingsworth, J. Locke.

A few good ones.

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, ALWAYS."

 Mahatma Gandhi

“When you’re wounded and left, On Afghanistan’s plains,  And the women come out, To cut up your remains, Just roll on your rifle, And blow out your brains, And go to your Gawd, Like a soldier”

 Rudyard Kipling, poem to a young British Soldier.

I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered.  But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue . . . .
"No good in a bed, but fine against a wall."
~Eleanor Roosevelt

Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister . . . and now wish to withdraw that statement.
~Mark Twain

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.
~George Burns

Santa Claus has the right idea ... Visit people only once a year.
~Victor Borge

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
~Mark Twain

What would men be without women?  Scarce, sir . mighty scarce.
~Mark Twain

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
~Socrates

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
~Groucho Marx

My wife has a slight impediment in her speech. Every now and then she stops to breathe.
~Jimmy Durante

The male is a domestic animal, which, if treated with firmness and kindness, can be trained to do most things.
~Jilly Cooper

I have never hated a man enough to give his diamonds back.
~Zsa Zsa Gabor

Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
~Alex Levine

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living.  The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
~Mark Twain

My luck is so bad that if I bought a cemetery, people would stop dying.
~Ed Furgol

Money can't buy you happiness, but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.
~Spike Milligan

What's the use of happiness?  It can't buy you money.
~Henny Youngman

I am opposed to millionaires........but it would be dangerous to offer me the position.
~Mark Twain

Until I was thirteen, I thought my name was 'shut up'.
~Joe Namath

Youth would be an ideal state if it came a little later in life.
~Herbert Henry Asquith

I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon.  Then it's time for my nap.
~Bob Hope

A woman drove me to drink .. and I hadn't even the courtesy to thank her.
~W.C. Fields

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.
~W.C. Fields

It takes only one drink to get me drunk.....the trouble is, I can't remember if it's the thirteenth  or the fourteenth.
~George Burns

We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.
~Will Rogers

Don't worry about avoiding temptation.. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
~Winston Churchill

Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty .....But everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out.
~Phyllis Diller

The cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good .. spit it out.
~Unknown

By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.
~Billy Crystal

Banker's Song

Saltcake - First Jobs in 1954, by JF

We were led to a very large building that was full of a white crystalline chemical-looking material. We found out later that it was saltcake (Na2S04)-sodium sulfate . It was/is the chemical of choice used for make-up in the Kraft process for making pulp. This I learned later…not then. Our job was to shovel saltcake onto a moving black rubber belt that went through the wall of the building on an upward incline and disappeared into the night. One other boy and I were to shovel as much saltcake as we could during the shift with 10-minute breaks per hour and a half hour break for eating, one at a time. What better way to add saltcake to the process in just the right amount? We were given a little paper mask which kept out some of the flying chemical. It tasted like table salt. Strangely, even lunch tasted like it!. The job wasn’t too bad but was getting old after 8 hours; breaks may have stretched to 13 minutes by the end of the shift.


Years later, I found out that most of the sodium airborne losses in the Kraft processes are actually saltcake and a much smaller amount is other sodium compounds. All sodium compounds are calculated as saltcake (as sodium oxide) and required to be reported to a pollution control authority. The EPA, in its infinite wisdom, decided that saltcake is a toxic chemical, deadly to man and beast. In fact, after a plant (mill) upset in the ‘60s, we got a whole lot on a man’s collards that lived nearby. Fortunately his daughter worked with us and the affair was quickly forgiven and forgotten. We hope.

Our report to the pollution control authority is public knowledge and we found out that we were one of the greatest polluters in the state for a couple of years running. In researching this problem, we called other plants to find out what they were doing and finally found that they were calculating their sodium losses and reporting in a different manner. When we did this, it cut our losses almost in half. After the next report was made public, we were listed as the plant that had most reduced our pollution in the state. This was reported in the media with plenty of accolades from them. It’s always nice to be appreciated for reducing pollution and helping save the planet. Go green!

From 1 Bowater

An example of a "paper mill" car back in 1954 (although this one is much later). A picture is worth a 1,000 words when discussing green technology.

JF

20 THINGS THAT IT TOOK ME 50 YEARS TO LEARN by Dave Barry

• Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
• If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved its full potential, that word would be "meetings."
• There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"
• People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
• And when God, who created the entire universe with all of its glories decides to deliver a message to humanity, He WILL NOT use, as His messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle.
• You should not confuse your career with your life.
• No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.
• When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.
• Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. If anybody cares how you dance, feel sorry for them. They need to get a life and learn how to have fun. And notice that people who dance and cut loose once in a while, usually live longer.
• Never lick a steak knife.
• Take out the fortune before you eat the cookie.
• The most powerful force in the universe is gossip.
• You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.
• You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
•  There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.
• The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.
• The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people who are not in them.
• A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)
•  Don't think that because a person is having fun, they are drinking to excess. Some people have fun naturally given the moment and you need to find out how they do it.
• Your friends love you anyway.

Farm Update from Wild Bill

Hello All,

Summer is winding down but there are still trees and vines producing fruit at Bellehaven.

This year is the first year we have a crop of pears from our two pear trees.  Pears are a really strange fruit.  You pick pears when they are still hard and green.  The odd thing about pears is they ripen from the core to the outside of the fruit.  If you leave pears on the tree to ripen, when you think they are ripe actually the core is over ripe and full of stone cells. 

We picked our pears and put them in two closets in the house to ripen. About two weeks later they were ripe.  Marilynn has canned "brandy pears", "cinnamon pears", and just plain canned pears. 

We have six muscadine grape vines which after three years of proper pruning  and care have produced a bumper crop.   Muscadine grapes are native to the South and grow well in very hot weather.  They all have seeds and very thick skins.  Muscadines are not bunch grapes so when picked the stem remains on the vine.  Stemless grapes do not ship well, therefore, those who do not live in God's Country have not tasted Muscadine grapes!  The vines live forever.  The oldest muscadine vine is located in New Bern, NC and was first cultivated in 1690.  The vine is alive and well today with excellent production and spans 250 feet. 

Muscadine grapes are the "nectar from God"!  Typically muscadine grapes are large purple grapes with one exception.  The white Muscadine grapes are known as "Scuppernong grapes".  The Scuppernong grapes are very sweet and good for just eating.  Muscadines also make good wine!  Next on my list!

Marilynn and I, plus many good neighbors in Waterloo are stepping in "tall cotton" with Wild Bill's muscadine grapes in 2010. 

Here in Waterloo, we are "Living way down South, where the weather is warm and the living is easy".  We have two pecan trees which will be next on the list for good nuts later in the Fall!

The Top 10 Paradox of Leadership

Doing the right thing won't always win you the prize -- life is full of compromise and even disappointment. True leaders know that the right thing is reward in itself, and eventually other rewards and recognition will follow.

• People are sometimes illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

• If you do good, people might accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

• If you are successful, you can win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

• The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.  Do good anyway.

•  Honesty and frankness can make you vulnerable.   Be honest anyway.

• The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest people with the smallest ideas. Think big anyway.

•  People favor underdogs but follow top dogs.  Fight for the underdogs anyway.

• What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.  Build anyway.

•  People who need help may attack you if you help them.  Help them anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you may get kicked in the teeth.  Give your best anyway.

Jackets Were Good Safety Awards in The Paper Industry

From 1 Bowater

Here, Paul Haire helps Butch Bernard with his safety award Jacket.

A Nice Story From Wild Bill

Last Sunday night was very special for everyone in Waterloo.  Marilynn and I are members of the Waterloo Methodist Church which was founded in 1832. Today the Methodist Church is very small and will seat about 100 people. I can not imagine how small the Church was in 1832. 

The official 2009 population of Waterloo is 203 people with a 50:50 split between White and African American residences.  Switching into local terms we have about 50% Black Folk and 50% White Folk. There are seven small churches in the local region.

Last Sunday was the "Fifth Sunday Sing-in" and our Waterloo Methodist was the host Church.  The little Church was filled to capacity and then some. Like the population of Waterloo there was a 50:50 split between Black Folk and White Folk.  Old Time Religion songs were sung by around 150 people for starters.  Next on the program was two special hymns sung by each Church. The Methodist did OK, the Baptist Minister has an excellent tenor voice and they were good.  Honestly, the Black Folk were World Class. I really think Black Folk express their religious feelings better than White Folk. 

After about 1.5 hours we all "broke bread" in the Methodist Social Hall. The Ladies of Waterloo brought their finniest dishes and there was food for 500 people.  I gained at least 5 pounds.  Everyone had a good time and it is special to see so many smiling faces. 

Today the World has many problems.  Life in a small town in the Deep South is special and I would not trade life in Waterloo for anything. The Fifth Sunday Sing-in rotates to each of the seven Churches.  Marilynn and I can not wait to go sing in the Black Folk's Churches.  

No I can not sing very well, but, I can hum loudly and clap my hands very well. 

Take Care,

Wild Bill    

Test Bias - NSFW (Language)

Hitler Learns About The Tar Heels - submitted by BH

Hitler is told about the UNC NCAA Investigation - watch more funny videos

Yankee Test

For those who want to know the truth, go to this web site to see if you qualify as a Southerner.

Here is One For Virginia Tech