Frisbee Trick Shots

Memorial Day

Bet You Didn't Know This

I believe nuclear energy has a place in our future. Plants have, and will continue to be safer because of incidents such as Three Mile Island and the recent incidents in Japan. If you remember, microwaves and color TV's also were more hazardous than they are today - and you can't find a house today without one or both. These two videos, slightly slanted against nuclear energy, report an interesting story.

VJ Day in 1945

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 from Richard Sullivan on Vimeo.

Elapsed Time @ Airport - Glad Someone is Awake!

50 Years Ago Today

We are much better than the 24 hour cable news shows would have you believe. But we do lack a clear vision for progress into the future. Below is a video of one of the best examples of what we once were:

Click here to go to the video site.

Northern Lights

In The Land Of The Northern Lights from Ole Christian Salomonsen on Vimeo.

Tax Paying Myths

A Blue Rose - A Story

Having four visiting family members, my wife was very busy, so I offered to go to the store for her to get some needed items, which included light bulbs,paper towels, trash bags, detergent and Clorox. So off I went.

I scurried around the store, gathered up my goodies and headed for the checkout counter, only to be blocked in the narrow aisle by a young man who appeared to be about sixteen-years-old. I wasn't in a hurry, so I patiently waited for the boy to realize that I was there. This was when he waved his hands excitedly in the air and declared in a loud voice, "Mommy, I'm over here."

It was obvious now, he was mentally challenged and also startled as he turned and saw me standing so close to him, waiting to squeeze by. His eyes widened and surprise exploded on his face as I said, "Hey Buddy, what's your name?"

"My name is Denny and I'm shopping with my mother," he responded proudly.

"Wow," I said, "that's a cool name; I wish my name was Denny, but my name is Steve."

"Steve, like Stevarino?" he asked.  "Yes," I answered. "How old are you Denny?"

"How old am I now, Mommy?" he asked his mother as she slowly came over from the next aisle.

"You're fifteen-years-old Denny; now be a good boy and let the man pass by."

I acknowledged her and continued to talk to Denny for several more minutes about summer, bicycles and school. I watched his brown eyes dance with excitement, because he was the center of someone's attention. He then abruptly turned and headed toward the toy section.

Denny's mom had a puzzled look on her face and thanked me for taking the time to talk with her son. She told me that most people wouldn't even look at him, much less talk to him.

I told her that it was my pleasure and then I said something I have no idea where it came from, other than by the prompting of the Holy Spirit. I told her that there are plenty of red, yellow, and pink roses in God's Garden; however, "Blue Roses" are very rare and should be appreciated for their beauty and distinctiveness. You see, Denny is a Blue Rose and if someone doesn't stop and smell that rose with their heart and touch that rose with their kindness, then they've missed a blessing from God.

She was silent for a second, then with a tear in her eye she asked, "Who are you?"

Without thinking I said, "Oh, I'm probably just a dandelion, but I sure love living in God's garden."

She reached out, squeezed my hand and said, "God bless you!" and then I had tears in my eyes.

May I suggest, the next time you see a BLUE ROSE, don't turn your head and walk off. Take the time to smile and say Hello. Why? Because, by the grace of GOD, this mother or father could be you. This could be your child, grandchild, niece or nephew. What a difference a moment can mean to that person or their family.

From an old dandelion!  Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

"People will forget what you said, People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel!"        ANON.

Get It Right!

Around The World

An Explanation of Baseball

By Bud Abbott and Lou Costello:

A Simple Explanation of Baseball

This is a game played by two teams, one out, the other in.

The one that's in sends players out one at a time to see if they can get in before they get out. 

If they get out before they get in, they come in, but it doesn't count. 

If they get in before they get out, it does count.

When the ones out get three outs from the ones in before they get in without being out, the team that's out comes in and the team in goes out to get those going in out before they get in without being out.

When both teams have been in and out nine times, the game is over. 

The team with the most in without being out before coming in wins unless the ones in are equal, in which case,
the last ones in go out to get the ones in out before they get in without being out.

The game will end when each team has the same number of ins out, but one team has more in without being out before coming in.

Just wanted to get this cleared up.

World To End on May 21st - Here's Some Advice

Gas Price Information

Remembering The Doolittle Raid

You Have To Change With The Times

Uncle Tom

I have never read Uncle Tom's Cabin. I guess it was not on any approved reading lists when I was growing up. The phrase has been in the sports news recently, that is, one group calling another group "Uncle Tom's". Here is an interesting post from Potluck blog about what it means to be an Uncle Tom.

The Real Uncle Tom

Conservatives who happen to be people of color hear the words “Uncle Tom” on a regular basis. I have heard that term ever since I can remember. The term has always been to me, a put down. During an interview of Alveda King, the niece of Martin, she said she viewed it as a compliment and viewed Uncle Tom as a hero.

I have no memory of reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I was sure that I read it in school and just didn’t remember it, that is until I started doing some research on the book.  The NAACP has made a very strong effort to remove this book from school reading lists.  A few months back I picked up the book and started reading it on a very irregular basis. I went into reading this not believing that I would view Uncle Tom in this way. I was mostly wrong. 

I found the book to be sad. Harriet Beecher Stowe wasn’t above racism herself. The narrative that she gave in the book makes that very clear. Although one must remember the time that this was written in. Racism was the acceptable view-point. It was never questioned, not even by the northerners. While they felt that slavery should end, they certainly didn’t want to embrace the black community. Many whites wanted to round them up and send them all back to Africa. If you read deeply into the history books it seems that this was the view-point that President Lincoln held as well. He was killed so shortly after the civil war ended that we will never know if this was his plan, but there is historical evidence to back up that view.

Black conservatives are called Uncle Tom’s all the time. They are also called Oreo’s, race traitors and many more derogatory names. Allen West recently said this during his tax day tea party speech. Many believe that he is turning his back on his race by embracing conservative views. I have never quite understood why it is that some believe that all blacks must walk in lockstep to a certain political ideology. How exactly is that equality if everyone must think alike?

But upon reading the book I can see why some would want to remove the book from reading lists. I was totally blown away by the book, and realized I read the second half of the book much more quickly than I did the first half. I finished the book with a much greater understanding of what Ms. King was trying to say. The way that Tom lived his life is admirable.  If you take away the actual book, you ruin the narrative that has been built up around it. 

Tom was a man who lived by his convictions. Tom was before anything else a Christian. He viewed his life through this prism. He loved his family and he lived his life in an honorable and decent way. At the beginning of the book Tom is sold to cover some debts of his original owner. His wife encourages him to run away with Eliza, another slave that was about to have her son sold away from her. Eliza couldn’t bear the thought of living without her son, so she grabbed her boy and ran. Tom told his wife that he couldn’t do that. His original master, Shelby, treated him fairly, as far as Tom was concerned. He felt that Shelby wouldn’t be doing this if it were not necessary. Tom read his bible and said his goodbye’s to his family. He left with the belief that he would be back to his family when the money was there. 

Tom was sold to yet another “master” who treated him as well as one could expect during the time of slavery. Time went by and many things happen over the course of  Tom living in Louisiana under his new circumstances, including the death of  St. Clare’s young daughter who loved Tom like an uncle. Tom was set to be freed by St. Clare but he died suddenly and that didn’t happen. Tom was eventually sold to one more Master. This one was a brutal and mean-spirited man. Legree asks Tom to beat an older woman who is in poor health; he is beaten when he refuses. Legree ends up killing Uncle Tom when he refuses to rat out his fellow slaves who have runaway to escape the brutality. Sadly it was just before the Shelby family raised enough money to bring him back to his family, where he would have been a free man with his family.

The point being that Tom never walked away from his own convictions. His belief system sustained him throughout his life. A life that was never easy and almost always sad. Tom was a man who used passive resistance to his existence. He certainly wasn’t one to be called a “sell out” or “race traitor”. There is nothing in the book that should make one jump to that conclusion.  Matter of fact Tom died because he wouldn’t sell out other slaves. 

When St Clare asks him if he would not be better off a slave than a free man, Tom responds with a straight: “No.” “Why Tom, you couldn’t possibly have earned, by your work, such clothes and such living as I have given you,” says St Clare. “Know’s all that Mas’r,” says Tom. “But I’d rather have poor clothes, poor house, poor everything and have ‘em mine, than have the best, and have ‘em any man else’s.”

Legree looked stupefied and confounded; but at last burst forth, “What! ye blasted black beast! tell me ye don’t think it right to do what I tell ye! What have any of you cussed cattle to do with thinking what’s right? I’ll put a stop to it! Why, what do ye think ye are? May be ye think yer a gentleman master, Tom, to be a telling your master what’s right, and what ain’t! So you pretend it’s wrong to flog the gal!”

“I think so, Mas’r,” said Tom; “‘the poor crittur’s sick and feeble; ‘t would be downright cruel, and it’s what I never will do, nor begin to. Mas’r, if you mean to kill me, kill me; but, as to my raising my hand agin any one here, I never shall, I’ll die first!”

Tom spoke in a mild voice, but with a decision that could not be mistaken. Legree shook with anger …

“Well, here’s a pious dog, at last, let down among us sinners! — a saint, a gentleman, and no less, to talk to us sinners about our sins! Powerful holy critter, he must be! Here, you rascal, you make believe to be so pious, — didn’t you never hear, out of yer Bible, ‘Servants, obey yer masters’? An’t I yer master? Didn’t I pay down twelve hundred dollars, cash, for all there is inside yer old cussed black shell? An’t yer mine, now, body and soul?” he said, giving Tom a violent kick with his heavy boot; “tell me!”

In the very depth of physical suffering, bowed by brutal oppression, this question shot a gleam of joy and triumph through Tom’s soul. He suddenly stretched himself up, and, looking earnestly to heaven, while the tears and blood that flowed down his face mingled, he exclaimed: “No! no! no! my soul an’t yours, Mas’r! You haven’t bought it, ye can’t buy it! It’s been bought and paid for, by one that is able to keep it; no matter, no matter, you can’t harm me!”

“I can’t!” said Legree, with a sneer; “we’ll see, we’ll see!”

The narrative of the sell out actually began several decades after the books release. It started around the turn of the century. While slavery had ended decades earlier the institutionalized racism certainly had not ended. The traveling minstrel shows were very popular during the times of the First World War, and “Uncle Tom” type shows were the rage. This is where much of the narrative started.

While I may not necessarily call Uncle Tom a hero in the same way that Ms. King has referred to him as, what I will say if a politician is being called an Uncle Tom; they may just be someone worth voting for. Uncle Tom was man who lived by his convictions, loved his God, loved his family, and never wavered from what he believed in and what was important in his life. He did what was right, instead of what was easy. Wouldn’t it be nice if more of our politicians were like that?

Multi-Tasking

Now That's Tuff!

A former Sergeant, having served his time with the Marine Corps, took a new job as a school teacher, but just before the school year started he injured his back. He was required to wear a plaster cast around the upper part of his body.

Fortunately, the cast fit under his shirt and wasn't noticeable. On the first day of class, he found himself assigned to  the toughest students in the school. The smart Aleck punks, having already heard the new teacher was a former Marine, were leery of him and  decided to see how tough he really was, before trying any pranks. Walking  confidently into the rowdy classroom, the new teacher opened the window  wide and sat down at his desk. 

When a strong breeze made his tie flap, he picked up a stapler and promptly stapled the tie to his chest.

 ......Dead silence. He had no trouble with discipline that year.

SEMPER FI!! ---------------

How Taxes Are Spent

Super Cooled Water

Questions For Business

From the Working Knowledge Blog Site:

Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution

Published:	November 22, 2010
Author:	Robert Simons

Business leaders can't develop and execute effective strategy without first gathering the right information, says Harvard Business School professor Robert Simons. In his new book, Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution, Simons explains how managers can identify holes in their planning processes and make smart choices. Here's an excerpt outlining the seven questions every manager should ask.

1. Who Is Your Primary Customer?

The first imperative—and the heart of every successful strategy implementation—is allocating resources to customers. Continuously competing demands for resources—from business units, support functions and external partners—require a method for judging whether the allocation choices you have made are optimal.
Therefore, the most critical strategic decision for any business is determining who it is you are trying to serve. Clearly identifying your primary customer will allow you to devote all possible resources to meeting their needs and minimize resources devoted to everything else. This is the path to competitive success.
It's easy to try to duck the tough choice implied by the adjective primary by responding that you have more than one type of customer. This answer is a guaranteed recipe for underperformance: the competitor that has clarity about its primary customer and devotes maximum resources to meet their specific needs will beat you every time.

2. How Do Your Core Values Prioritize Shareholders, Employees, and Customers?

Along with identifying a primary customer, you must also define your core values in a way that ranks the priority of shareholders, employees, and customers. Value statements that are lists of aspirational behaviors aren't good enough. Real core values indicate whose interest comes first when faced with difficult trade-offs.
Prioritizing core values should be the second pillar of your business strategy. For some companies, shareholders come first. For others, it may be employees. In other companies, it may be customers. There is no right or wrong, but choosing is necessary. To illustrate this point, I'll contrast Merck's $20 billion decision to pull Vioxx from the market with Pfizer's decision to continue marketing Celebrex.

3. What Critical Performance Variables Are You Tracking?

Once you're confident that the foundation of your implementation is sound—you've allocated resources correctly and provided guidance for tough decisions—it's time to get everyone who works for you focused on the job at hand.
Tracking performance goals—the third implementation imperative—requires you to set the right goals, assign accountability, and monitor performance. It's easy to fail this imperative by focusing on the wrong performance indicators or monitoring scorecards that have an overload of irrelevant measures. Underperformance is the result.
It's your job to ensure that your managers are tracking the right things by singling out those variables that spell the difference between strategic success and failure. Like the preceding two questions, the focus in this question is again on an adjective, this time the word critical. I will show you a simple but counterintuitive technique that you can use to be sure you're tracking the right things, and I will describe how companies such as Nordstrom and Apple illustrate some unorthodox performance measurement choices that provide the pathway to superior results.

4. What Strategic Boundaries Have You Set?

Every strategy brings with it the risk that an individual's actions will pull the business off course. Here again, it's easy to fail to inoculate the business against this risk. As we will see, the trick is in setting clear boundaries.
Controlling strategic risk is the fourth implementation imperative. Strategic boundaries—which are always stated in the negative—ensure that the entrepreneurial initiative of your employees aligns with the desired direction of the business. Strategic boundaries can also protect you from the types of errant actions that destroyed Enron and brought financial service firms such as Fannie Mae and Lehman Brothers to their knees.

5. How Are You Generating Creative Tension?

Once you're satisfied that you are tracking the right performance goals and controlling strategic risk, it's time to turn to the fifth implementation imperative: spurring innovation. This imperative is woven into the fabric of every healthy organization, and we all know that companies that fail to innovate will eventually die. No company is immune.
But sustaining ongoing innovation in organizations is notoriously difficult. People fall into comfortable habits, sticking with what they know and rejecting things that cause them to change their ways.
To overcome such inertia, you must push people out of their comfort zones and spur them to innovate. I will provide a menu of techniques you can use to generate creative tension to ensure that everyone is thinking and acting like a winning competitor.

6. How Committed Are Your Employees to Helping Each Other?

For most companies, it's critically important to build norms so that people will help each other succeed—especially when you're asking people to innovate. But there are exceptions. Some organizations can, and should, be built on self-interest, with every man or woman working for him- or herself.
I suspect that the choice between commitment to help others and self-interest is deeply ingrained in your organization, yet has never been discussed. But if you haven't addressed this choice explicitly—and worked to make it happen—you have increased the potential that your strategy implementation will fail.
Building commitment is the sixth implementation imperative. I will offer a menu of techniques to foster commitment to achieving shared goals. Or, if rewarding self-interest is more appropriate for your business, I will explore alternative approaches you should employ.

7. What Strategic Uncertainties Keep You Awake at Night?

No matter how good your current strategy is, it won't work forever. There will be booms and busts, customer preferences will change, competitors will introduce new products, and disruptive new technologies will emerge in unexpected places.
This brings us to the final implementation imperative: adapting to change. Adapting is critical to survival, but it's extremely difficult to do. With change constantly surrounding us, employees often do not know where to look or how to respond.
I will consider the techniques that companies such as Johnson & Johnson use to search for new information and ideas as markets inevitably change. Your personal attention is the critical catalyst to focus your entire organization on the strategic uncertainties that keep you awake at night. After all, everyone watches what the boss watches. I will discuss how you can use this principle to guide the emergence of new strategies for the future. 

Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Excerpt from Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution. Copyright 2010 Robert Simons. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2011 President and Fellows of Harvard College

2010 Census Data On Race

Life Expectancy and Retirement

Happy Mothers Day!

To all Mothers of Boys - Happy Mothers Day!

When Did Moms Hit The Labor Force?

Dear 16 Year Old

How The Stock Market Works

Use The Right Tool

The Future of - Glass

Kissing Test

Can't Make These Headlines Up - From Fitsnews