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If you are willing to listen, you will learn; If you give heed, you will be wise. Sirach 6:33
In these times of noise and information coming at us, it is often hard to listen and hard to know what to listen to. But when the right message comes, we should heed and be wise. Which brings up my second Bible quote of the post:
Then the LORD said: Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will pass by. There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD —but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake —but the LORD was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire —but the LORD was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound.
When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, Why are you here, Elijah? 1 Kings 19: 11-13
“They say I’m lazy but it takes all my time.” — Joe Walsh, Life’s Been Good to Me So Far
“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” — Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
Heinlein’s quote had an early effect on me. In the story of the lazy man from Time Enough for Love, I came to appreciate the idea that if one did less work and accomplished more, that was a good thing. Productivity, or “finding easier ways to do something” is a huge driver of improving life for the whole human race. At my company at least, it is being supplemented by the question, “do we even need to do that?” We will see how that goes.
And I would say that a good boss is a lazy boss. As a servant leader, the measure of success is getting the job done, period. And it should be the team that does it. There is activity required of the leader, but as a lazy leader, one helps the team solve the problem but does not solve it for them. See Jon Gabriel’s post from 2017.
As far as Joe Walsh’s line goes, it is one of my favorite lines from a favorite song.
Inspired by the 75th anniversary of D-Day celebrated last week, I found the story of my step-father’s experience being shot down over Italy in 1943. I want to share this as first-person history of the war. He wrote this around 50 years after it happened.
December 2 dawned clear and crisp, excellent visibility and a good day for flying. We struggled out of our warm sleeping bags and hurriedly dressed into our regular uniforms, Army ODs under flying coveralls, leather flying jackets, and GI boots. It was chilly enough that our breakfast turned cold before we had halfway finished, but the sun was already promising a warmer day.
At briefing we learned that only two squadrons, half the group, would be flying today. I was to fly copilot position for Lt. Williams. Williams had already completed his tour of 50 missions but had volunteered for an additional five, a choice that would facilitate his promotion to captain when he returned to the States. I had met his crew, which we were flying with today, only at the morning briefing. My own Crew was not reunited yet because of the need to replace my bombardier, Lt. Muirhead who had, with another crew, crashed in Turkey after having been hit on his first raid over Greece.
Our target was a long, low bridge over the River Sangre, just north of the spur in the boot of Italy, and only a short run from our base at Foggia. Since the target was considered lightly defended, we would go in without the usual fighter escort, drop our bombs, head out over the Adriatic and return to base at low level over the water, a tactic used to protect our vulnerable undersides from fighter attack. The British 8th Army was attacking along the Sangre River at this time and our effort was to interrupt German reinforcements and supplies from reaching the battle area by taking out the bridge. Briefing over, we loaded into the waiting jeeps and scurried out aircraft which the ground crews had ready and waiting, and the air was soon filled with the noise of 48 sputtering Wright Cyclone engines starting up the cold air. The bombers lumbered out to the steel mat runways, and take-off was underway Assembly took longer than usual since we didnt have the wide dirt field that we had at our last base so had to take off singly rather than three at a time. Nevertheless, after circling the field and climbing 15 or 20 minutes, the two squadrons were at altitude in defensive formations of two boxes of 12 planes each and heading for the target. Williams and I were in the unenviable position of end Charlie, the lowest position in the second box, the furthest back in the formation. It was a vulnerable, spot during fighter attack and difficult to fly during radical maneuvering, like at the end of a crack the whip. However, we were buoyed by the prospects of a short and easy flight, another mission to accumulate towards the magic 50 missions and home.
So far the flight was uneventful, no enemy fighter sightings and no sign of flak. The bomber formation droned northwards, confidently ignoring any need to fly evasive action. Lt. Williams and myself, although we kept on our steel (bucket) hats, had our parachute shoulder straps draped over the back of our seats, as was usual until we were approaching the target or were under attack. Williams, the aircraft commander, had turned the controls over to me, expecting, most likely, to take them back when the formation started maneuvering for the bombing run. It a beautiful day. The air was smooth in the cloudless sky and flying straight on course was easy, even at the end of the box.
Suddenly, Williams grabbed the controls when, without any warning, the ship was rocked by 88mm flak which was now bursting all around us. Relieved of the wheel, I slipped on my shoulder straps and watched to see how the rest of the formation was making out. We were apparently directly over the battle line and taking fire from ground field pieces (88mm) which had been adjusted for anti—aircraft fire. The accuracy was devastating. A second close hit and we could hear the flak fragments slicing through the ship. Finally, a tremendous blast as we took a direct hit (crews from other ships in the flight reported on return to base that we took a direct hit just aft of the bomb bay). The formation rapidly pulled ahead, while the ship went into a steep dive in spite of Williams efforts to pull out. It was obvious to both of us that we were no longer flying but were going down out of control. Picking up tremendous speed, the ship dove for the ground, which now filled the windshield in front of us. The bomber then, in some obscure (to me) maneuver, was over on her back, Williams and I hanging by our seat belts. Only seconds had passed since we took the direct hit. Up to now, with the ship falling out of control, there was no opportunity for anyone in the front of the aircraft to think of getting out. However, with the bomber upside down, the overhead water-ditching hatch offered possible escape. This hatch was intended for water—ditching only because using it for bail out in normal flight risked striking the gun turret, aerials, or twin tails of the B-25. It was what we had. Our only conversation came at this point -when Williams said “Let’s get the hell out of here.” Pulling the emergency handle, we had only to release our seat belts and fall, Williams going first, with me right behind him. Slowing down enough, I reached for my ripcord which had apparently blown out of its pocket and was dangling in front of me, but in easy reach. Pulling the cord, I could see the chute tracking out between my legs, then a gentle tug and I was floating below that glorious canopy. Somehow I was spared. Two of us were out. I could see no other chutes in the air but my area of vision was very limited. In sorting out events, I tried to recall if Williams had remembered to attach his shoulder straps, which would have been difficult while we were hanging on our seat belts. And since it seemed the hit was in the back part of the ship, I thought it unlikely that the crew there could have survived the blast, though access to their escape hatches would have been practically impossible under the circumstances, even if this were not true.
When the chute had quieted down, I could see below me a huge fire, and several military vehicles closing in on a small winding road. I had never parachuted before but, following training instructions, I pulled hard on one of the risers to guide the chute away from the fire and the road. Too hard. The chute swung me up one side, then the other, in a pendulum like movement, dumping out air with a large flap on each swing. By this time the ground came up fast, and the chute dumped me in the scrub about a hundred yards from the fire, which turned out to be the burning remains of my aircraft. The fuel had exploded but the six 500-pound bombs aboard, which were still on safety, obviously had not.
Coming in sideways, and tumbling head over heels, I scrambled to only to see five German soldiers with automatic weapons breaking through the scrub, even before I had time to unbuckle the parachute. As they carefully hurried up to me, one of them, apparently the leader, said “For you der vor ist over,” and started to pat me down for weapons.
He went on to spend over two years in Stalag Luft 1 in Barth, Germany, an officer’s POW camp run by the Luftwaffe. Donald Pleasence was one of his camp mates. He was liberated by the Soviets.
God bless him and all those who fought to defeat fascism.
I went to high school in Marquette, Michigan, a town of 22,000 in the Upper Peninsula. It is the largest city in the UP and is supported by a decent tourism industry in addition to mining and timber. The high school had about 1,200 students when I was there in the 1970s. Late in my sophomore year, a friend started working for the McDonald’s in town. I decided to apply and was given a minimum wage job.
I started work in the grill area, dressing burgers. The training was good, and I liked getting some money. I kind of just slid along, getting four-eight hours a week in two shifts on the weekend. Then an interesting thing happened. The general manager, not a particularly nice guy, asked me to clean the bathrooms. I went through the motions – mop, ice in the urinal, wipe things down, and came back to my post in the grill.
The GM came to me and asked me if I was done with the bathrooms. I said “yes,” and he replied “No, you’re not. Come with me.” We went to the men’s room and he showed me ketchup on the walls. And a spill behind the toilet. He made it clear that cleaning the bathrooms meant, you know cleaning them.
A light went off in my brain. It struck me what a job was. It was to understand the goal of an assignment and do it to the best of my ability. My whole attitude changed and so did my work habits. Soon I was getting full shifts on the weekends and some weeknight hours. I got a raise. One Saturday, I ran buns single-handedly on a $500 hour (that was a big hour in 1976). After a year, I was promoted to crew chief and got a cool yellow band around the base of my hat. The GM had given me a wonderful gift that has stayed with me my entire life.
The GM gave me another gift after I graduated. He called me into his office and asked me if I wanted to be an assistant manager. Fairly decent pay for a high school graduate. I told him that I had been admitted to UCLA and was planning to go to college. He said, “Absolutely, go to college, offer withdrawn.” He wasn’t such a bad guy after all.
I work in Information Technology at a large company. We, like many companies around the world, are aggressively adopting Agile techniques to build and support software applications within the company. The basic principles of Agile are outlined in The Manifesto for Agile Software Development, developed in 2001 by a group of software developers who had been practicing the techniques for many years. Agile and Agile Transformation is one of the hottest management transformation fads right now (think back to Business Process Re-engineering or Strategic Sourcing which were the big ones in the 1990s).
This being a fad, the term “Agile” gets used to mean many things. There are many methodologies with their owners and proponents. These include Scrum, Extreme Programming, Kanban, SAFE, LeSS, etc. I will try to explain what I understand Agile to be in principle and stay away from the specifics of the various methodologies.
Agile is based on the principle that you get better results and value from small dedicated teams working on small increments of work that are quickly deployed to production for use by the customer. The team works with customers and defines a backlog of features for the application or product. The key stakeholder in the product, often called the Product Owner, sets the priority of each item in the backlog. The team then decides what features will be taken from the backlog for the next iteration of product development. The team manages itself and has all the skills and tools to deliver working code in production. Ideally, line management is spread thin and focused on eliminating blockers outside the team and obtaining the resources the team needs.
In one version of larger-scale Agile, LeSS or Large-Scale Scrum, they advocate no budgets, no projects, no programs, no project or program managers, even no managers. The team and the product owner maintain a longer-term roadmap, but that is continually revised at each iteration as feedback from new features being introduced changes priorities – new things are learned so the roadmap changes. Change and adaptation are constants.
Doesn’t sound very orderly, does it?
So why do most software companies and now many IT groups use Agile for development? Let’s talk about what it replaces. Software projects typically followed a waterfall method. You’d start off with high-level requirements which would be the basis for a huge Microsoft Project plan and a detailed budget. Then the team would assemble, with analysts working with customers defining detailed requirements. Once the requirements were complete and signed off, the analysts would write specifications. Programmers would code from the specifications and then testers would test. Finally, after months or years, the end result would be delivered.
This end result was almost always over budget and schedule and did not meet customer expectations. To quote the consulting firm McKinsey from 2012 “On average, large IT projects run 45 percent over budget and 7 percent over time, while delivering 56 percent less value than predicted.” Because these projects are large and complicated, we created the illusion of control through layers of management and a big project plan that was pretty much a work of fiction.
It may seem orderly, but it certainly didn’t produce results in an orderly manner.
The seemingly less-orderly Agile approaches, when properly implemented, deliver far better results. By continuously incorporating feedback, the right things get built. By empowering individuals and teams, things get built right. Much more orderly in the end.
Changing the way an organization works is not easy nor should it be taken lightly. Perhaps the biggest underlying change is one from Theory X management to Theory Y management (from The Human Side of Enterprise, Douglas McGregor 1960). Theory X says people hate work and will try to avoid it and so need to be coerced, controlled, and directed so they will work. People will not take responsibility and want to be directed. Many management practices – performance reviews, individual targets, bonus systems – are based on these Theory X assumptions.
On the contrary, Theory Y assumes that people will work as naturally as they play or rest. They will be self-directed for goals to which they are committed. In the right environment, people seek responsibility and will creatively apply themselves. Agile practices are built on Theory Y assumptions.
Changes the practices and attitudes of people across the organization is difficult. Managers need to give up some control. Executives need to accept a little more uncertainty. People doing the day-to-day work need to believe in and adopt the core Agile practices.
I was a skeptic several years back. Now I am a convert and deeply involved in our transformation. It is a journey, not an event. We are not perfect but are progressing. We are pursuing it in an orderly manner, inspecting and adapting as we go.
A week or so back I signed up for this month’s Ricochet Member Group Writing project for August 14. I was sure that I’d have time the weekend before to come up with something. All it would do is take a little willpower. But, as things often will, circumstances got in the way of my writing. So I will tell you about what happened.
Will this be about this month’s Group Writing topic of “will?” We will see.
Saturday started off with a scramble golf tournament at 8am at Debell Golf Club in Burbank. It’s a nice course and my team wondered, “will we win?” I managed to get a closest to the pin on the 12th hole. I will have to say that it is entirely luck and not skill that managed to get this fine shot on the par three that led to a birdie.
From there, I needed to go out to our house in the high desert to tend to the property. It had a week and a half without power because the Cranston Fire near Idylwild burned the power supply lines. While I was willing to believe that the plants survived with limited water (irrigation runs on a well, no power, no water) I had to check it out. The drive was over 3.5 hours to go 120 miles as I had to bypass the Holy Fire near Lake Elsinore. Yes, California will have fires.
Upon arriving, I saw that a lack of water will be hard on some trees. While the grass, the small shrubs, all the evergreens, and three of the cottonwoods did fine, four cottonwoods are likely totally lost. They had been weakened by bark beetles and the several days without water some something they didn’t have the will to tolerate. I will be giving some business to a tree service as I don’t have the will to do all the chainsaw work myself.
Here are some of the sad, essentially dead trees.
Sunday was occupied by checking all the irrigation lines and timers. Then a faster 2.5-hour drive back to Los Angeles. Upon arrival, I didn’t have the will to write anything. Will I renege on my commitment to Group Writing? Never! Will anyone be satisfied with this poor missive of woe masquerading as a post? We will find out.
“Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” — Mark Twain
I’ve seen many a conversation and certainly many Twitter trails go off the rails when people respond to refute idiocy. Often the best policy is to just let it go. Or to add another quote: “Interesting game. The only way to win is not to play.”
Since February is pretty much the middle of winter, this month’s Group Writing theme is “We Need a Little Summer.” Much of the country is in the midst of cold, wintry weather and would probably like a little bit of summer.
I’m afraid I must take a contrary view. Here in Southern California, We Need a Little Winter!
Let’s take the high-desert community of Anza/Aguanga, tucked in between Temecula and Palm Desert. Roughly 3,500 feet above sea level, from mid-January through mid-February, the average high temperature was 65°F with almost two weeks with highs in the 70s. At 3,500 feet! This is 10 degrees warmer than last winter (we are talking weather here, not climate).
Then there’s the lack of rain. In this same area from mid-January to mid-February, there was 0.18 inches of rain. Last year there was five inches in the same period. I’ll admit last year was a wet year (weather again, not climate) but the statistics from downtown Los Angeles tell a story of very little rain, with us being 79 percent off of a normal year’s rain.
So, while we are having what many people would consider enviable weather, I’d like a little bit more winter. There are some storms in the forecast, so I hope they come through and give us something like this, taken several years ago in the high desert.
“I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired … I’m certainly not!
“And I’m sick and tired of being told that I am.” — Graham Chapman Michael Palin (edited per commentary below)
And I think that all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are crazy and deluded because of their political beliefs. I’m certainly not! And I’m sick and tired of being told that I am.
You may fill a spot in the food chain, but your destructive habits are over the top. Week in, week out, I find your mounds in the yard or by one of our carefully selected, planted, and nurtured shrubs. As I walk across the property, my feet sink into your abandoned holes. Have you no decency?
I have tried many things to drive you off. Filling your holes with water is only temporary. The smoke bombs do not appear to be effective. Traps are hard to set. Poison is dangerous to other animals. But you must be gone. The predators will not miss you as there are plenty of rabbits and ground squirrels.
Many will say I am overreacting, but I cannot take the destruction of yard and shrub any longer.
This is part of the Group Writing series for January.
I just read the story of the just-finished-basic-training private who saved four people from a fire before going back for more and becoming overwhelmed by the smoke and dying. Very brave, but it was his decision. I have no idea if he knew the risks. But he saved several lives at the cost of his own.
What struck me was this description from PJMedia:
His father, beside himself with grief and full of pride, said his son had wanted to be a soldier since he and the family moved to America from Ghana six years ago:
The “calm and lovely” young patriot had set his heart on becoming a soldier when the family moved to the US from their native Ghana five or six years ago, Kwabena said.
“When he came here he just said, ‘Dad, I want to join the Army,’ ” he recalled.
“At first I didn’t agree with him, but I decided that’s his choice.”
There are good people who come to America to make new lives who we would want to be part of our country. I think this young man was one of them. In out debates about immigration, we cannot forget the people who come here legally and come to join and integrate into our society.
Yes, we must stop illegal immigration and the disregard for law in engenders. But we must encourage the best, the hard working, those willing to join us in our journey to our country. It makes us richer. Anyone who is willing to leave is home country is self-selecting as a risk taker.
So, no open borders. No mass amnesty. But logical and rational processes to help let others throughout the world become part of the American journey.
“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.” — Red Wind, Raymond Chandler, 1938
As we start our third week of Santa Ana winds in Southern California, I hope and pray that the weather shifts and we get some rain.
I’ve been taking photos for years, starting in middle school and continuing to today. I spent years working on black-and-white photos in the darkroom and really loved the control one has over your photos’ look. The birth of digital photography has brought that joy back. With great tools like Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, I can crop, adjust contrast, and tweak however I’d like. I can even “cheat” by removing unwanted items from a photo (although I do that sparingly: One must protect the integrity of the image unless one just calls it “art”).
At this point, I have about 9,500 pictures in my Lightroom catalog, going back about three years. I find there are some I really like. So I thought, which one of these would I want to publish as postcards or in a calendar? That is the subject of this post: To share some of my photographs that I particularly like. Selecting the photos was difficult. Even with excluding people pictures (mostly family and friends, so not internet-eligible), my original culling left me with over 30 photos. The standard I learned in the 1980s was that a National Geographic photographer would take 20,000 photos to print 15, so quantity enables quality. So, I had to get below 30.
As it is, I am still imposing 10 of my photos on you. So I hope you like them. And forgive my vanity in posting them.
The first is a real favorite. Just a bird on a rock, but all the subtle grays and sky really are nice. Taken at McCarty’s Cove in Marquette, Michigan.
McCarty’s Cove, Marquette. Michigan
We had a road trip earlier this year and I took a ton of photos at the Grand Canyon. We were lucky to have storms to liven up the view.
Grand Canyon and storms from Pima Point
This ore dock in downtown Marquette, Michigan has been out of use since the mid 1970s. It used to deliver chunk ore as opposed to the processed pellets used today. There was a railroad bridge that extended over downtown to the dock in the front of the picture, so now this really looks like a relic.
The downtown Marquette iron ore dock, once used to load iron ore on ships
Living in Southern California, we “visit” the snow. What a change from when I lived with it. I like the subtle tones and shapes in this image.
Fog and snow near Idylwild, California
High clouds, dusk, a bare tree, what else does one need?
Tree and rock in Lake Riverside
This is a temple in Telakadu, India. I like how the interior is indirectly illuminated by the bright sunlight.
The interior is quite pretty
Matheran, India is a hill station — a mountain top resort — near Mumbai. We saw an amazing sunset there.
The sunset from Sunset Point, Matheran, India
This is a special woods trail for me. In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, this picture is a classic early summer image of the woods.
The trail through the woods between Conway Lake and Lake Superior
Along the road from downtown Anacortes, Washington to the Washington State Ferry Terminal, there is a very active shipyard. Walking through it, it is clear that it has been active for a long time. This oil truck has no doubt been parked for an extended period.
A colorful old oil delivery truck.
Finally, a late afternoon picture from Hermit’s Rest at the Grand Canyon. I’ll admit I took 500 shots on the sunset tour alone. I was bracketing the exposures to get all the subtle tones and differences in brightness.
Sunset and storm over the Grand Canyon from Hermit’s Rest
What’s the best thing about cars? Road trips. The long hours with the countryside sliding by. Feeling the immensity of the United States. Appreciating just how much agriculture there is. Being awed by huge tracts of empty land. Finding local diners. Seeing things up close. Travel as much as possible on the US and state highways, keeping off the interstate. That’s going in style.
For the first time in many years, we took a long family road trip this summer. While there was a lot of driving (2,300 miles of it), it was a great time. Our overall trip took us from Anacortes, across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, through the corner of Wyoming, down through Utah to Arizona before heading home to California. We saw the Columbia River, Craters of the Moon in Idaho, Fossil Butte in Wyoming, Dinosaur and Arches in Utah, and Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. And everything along the way. The details and some pictures from the trip are below. Where are you going to go on your road trip?
Day 1 Anacortes to Ontario, 536 miles
Leaving early on a Monday, we headed south from Anacortes, taking US 2 to avoid the interstate and visit scenic Leavenworth. Leavenworth is like Solvang but it’s German instead of Danish Swedish. (correction) We had nice sausages for lunch. Onward down to and along the Columbia river. Amazing basalt along the river. As we headed toward Pasco, there were range fires north of us. We finished the long driving day with a nice dinner in Ontario, Oregon. More or less the Oregon trail. No pictures as I just drove.
Day 2 Ontario to Kemmerer, 496 miles
Headed out toward Boise which thankfully doesn’t have a rush hour. Idaho’s 80 miles per hour speed limit took us to US 20, driving through magnificent empty and agricultural lands. We had our first national monument of the trip, Craters of the Moon. Created by a huge volcanic eruption about 2,000 years ago, you get to see what you would see in Hawaii but in Idaho. Here is a picture of some trails in the park.
Lava and paths at Craters of the Moon National Monument
We finished the day in Kemmerer, Wyoming, the home of JC Penney.
Day 3 Kemmerer to Moab, 406 miles
First stop today, Fossil Butte National Monument. I didn’t even now it existed until Mrs. C noted it on the map. Pretty area, few visitors, and a great visitors center. As you drive to the visitors’ center, they lay out history in distance, so you start from the formation of the Earth a mile out and end up at the visitors’ center at today. Along the way they lay out the geographic and biological history of the Earth. Excellent content. We plan to return here someday. This is Fossil Butte:
A panorama of Fossil Butte
On south, across an empty plain until we crossed I-90, then south through great agricultural land. Mostly grass and grazing. We drove past Flaming Gorge Reservoir, south through Vernal, to Dinosaur National Monument. This fossil site has been under development since the early 20th century, there is a great wall of fossils you can see after a short ride from the main visitors’ center. People are working on the fossils to this day.
Hard at work at the Dinosaur Quarry
Heading south from Jensen, Utah, through Dinosaur, we headed south over the beautiful but challenging pass on Colorado Highway 139 that got us down to I-70. After dodging a range fire, we made the best decision of the trip. As we were running late, I started looking for a restaurant in Moab, our destination. Google served up a place along the back road to Moab, Utah 128 instead of US 191. That sent us through Castle Valley. If you ever go to Moab, you must drive through Castle Valley.
Butte and Moon in Castle Valley
Day 4 Moab to Williams, 390 miles
If you are in Moab, you must visit Arches National Park. Go early, the lines at the entrance get long by mid-morning. We’d like to return here too, as it is an amazing place. Throughout the prior day and through the end of the trip, there were many thunderstorms so the sky was fantastic.
Pothole Arch at Arches National Monument
We had a nice drive through the sparsely populated southeastern portion of Utah. Going through Mexican Hat, we headed toward John Ford’s favorite filming location, Monument Valley.
Monument Valley
Our time at Arches put us behind schedule. We had planned to visit Meteor Crater, but there was no time. Instead, we pressed forward to Williams. We passed through a major downpour on our way into Flagstaff. I-70 was in terrible shape in Flagstaff, but under repair to the west. I hope the repair is moving east. We finished the day at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel in Williams.
Day 5 Williams to Grand Canyon, 0 miles
If you ever plan on going to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, I highly recommend taking the Grand Canyon Railroad. It’s a nice two and a half hour train ride. There is food available on the train. And they provide entertainment. On the way up, it was a singing cowboy. Who was French. I kid you not.
The singing French cowboy
The greatest benefit of the train is that once you get to Grand Canyon Village, you don’t have a car. There is ample local transportation with the shuttles and a great part of the park is available within an hour walk. We took a sunset tour going west to Hermit’s Rest but returning to Pima Point where I took this picture. The rain falling as we watched the Sun set was great.
Sunset from Pima Point at the Grand Canyon
Day 6 Grand Canyon, Williams to Kingman, 114 miles
Having stayed overnight at the Grand Canyon, we spent the day touring. Yes, it is a tourist destination, but it is the Grand Canyon, so no matter how many people there are with their awful selfie sticks it is still a beautiful place. The train took us back and we headed west toward home. We found dinner at a wonderful place in Seligman called Westside Lilo’s Café. At the server’s suggestion, I had sausages and sauerkraut. The sauerkraut was freshly made and the whole dish was great. The place was packed so those on the road and those local know where you find great food.
Westside Lilo’s Cafe in Seligman, Arizona
Day 7 Kingman to Los Angeles, 361 miles
Early out and across the desert, we went south to avoid the Las Vegas traffic, but nonetheless had traffic jams. All that time out on the open road makes me want to get out of Los Angeles.
I think we will do this kind of trip more often.
This post is part of the Group Writing Series. Sign up, it’s fun!
As part of their annual alumni gathering the UCLA Anderson School of Management posted a boast on Instagram about how the class of 2002 raised $1.2 million for the school. I certainly support charity, but this boast really struck me – is this the best place for these talented people to be putting this amount of money? Are colleges and universities, as they currently operate, good places for charitable dollars?
Let’s put some perspective on the economics of attending the Anderson School (I am only picking on them because I am an alumnus). The current cost of the full-time program at UCLA is $96,966 for residents and $109,540 for non-residents. The executive program costs close to $150,000 (note the link shows the cost of one year of the two-year program). I am a 1986 graduate of the UCLA management school full time MBA program. My total tuition costs were $3,000. Tuition increased 3,133%, a 12% compound growth rate. Inflation adjusted tuition would be $6,674, a 122% increase with a 3% compound growth rate. In 1986, UCLA was ranked #8 by US News. Now it is ranked #15.
On the cost side, I could not find much information on the Anderson School, but spending at the University of California has grown massively (health care and hospitals are part of that) like it has at most universities. And the spending is not on education. The number of faculty has stayed relatively constant while the number of administrators has grown steadily. From 2000 to 2015, enrollment increased 38%, faculty numbers stayed flat, and administrators more than doubled. From the LA Times: “The number of those making at least $500,000 annually grew by 14% in the last year, to 445, and the system’s administrative ranks have swelled by 60% over the last decade — far outpacing tenure-track faculty.” Again, health care plays a role in that unbalanced growth but this article in the American Spectator details how politically correct “research” pays extremely well. Does a donation go to something that delivers social value?
I won’t go into the corrosive politically correct, anti-free speech environment that has taken over many if not most universities. Others have written about that. But is that something we should support with charitable dollars?
Mrs. Clavius and I stopped out donations to UCLA when the Faculty Senate voted in kangaroo session to condemn the second Iraq War. This action was never disavowed or criticized by the administration and not reversed by a more proper convening of the Academic Senate. Since then, they have eliminated the requirement to read Shakespeare to get an English degree. Yet another reason not to support this institution.
Our older daughter is just finishing up a degree at Gonzaga University in Spokane Washington. She has had a wonderful experience at this Jesuit institution. We had been generous supporters of the university until they hired Melissa Click, the infamous “get some muscle” woman from protests at the University of Missouri. The hiring was done after a “nationwide search” revealed her to be “most qualified” candidate for the position. That cost us our faith in the administration and cost Gonzaga further donations.
I firmly believe one must donate to worthy causes as much as one is able. I am afraid that higher education no longer qualifies as “worthy” for me.
I came across a very interesting article at Watts Up With That (a great site with lots of information, facts, and perspective on global warming from a skeptical point of view). Anthony Watts, proprietor at WUWT posted an article originally from AmericanThinker.com but now lost to a server error.
The article is a description written by Dr. Danusha V. Goska in 2014 of why she left behind a lifetime of being a hard core leftist. She lists 10 reasons she is no longer a leftist. I urge you to read the whole thing, but here is a brief synopsis of her points.
10) Huffiness.
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In the left, I found a desire to be in pain constantly, so as always to have something to protest, from one’s history of incest to the inability of handicapped people to mount flights of stairs.
9) Selective Outrage
I was a graduate student. Female genital mutilation came up in class. I stated, without ornamentation, that it is wrong.
A fellow graduate student, one who was fully funded and is now a comfortably tenured professor, sneered at me. “You are so intolerant. Clitoredectomy is just another culture’s rite of passage. You Catholics have confirmation.”
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8.) It’s the thought that counts
My favorite bumper sticker in ultra-liberal Berkeley, California: “Think Globally; Screw up Locally.” In other words, “Love Humanity but Hate People.”
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7) Leftists hate my people.
I’m a working-class Bohunk. A hundred years ago, leftists loved us. We worked lousy jobs, company thugs shot us when we went on strike, and leftists saw our discontent as fuel for their fire.
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Polish-Americans participated significantly in a great victory, Flint, Michigan’s 1937 sit-down strike. Italian-Americans produced Sacco and Vanzetti. Gus Hall was a son of Finnish immigrants.
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“Property is theft” is a communist motto, but no one is more house-proud than a first generation Pole who has escaped landless peasantry and secured his suburban nest.
Leftists felt that we jilted them at the altar. Leftists turned on us. This isn’t just ancient history. In 2004, What’s the Matter with Kansas? spent eighteen weeks on the bestseller lists. The premise of the book: working people are too stupid to know what’s good for them, and so they vote conservative when they should be voting left. In England, the book was titled, What’s the Matter with America?
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6) I believe in God.
Read Marx and discover a mythology that is irreconcilable with any other narrative, including the Bible. Hang out in leftist internet environments, and you will discover a toxic bath of irrational hatred for the Judeo-Christian tradition.
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5 & 4) Straw men and “In order to make an omelet you have to break a few eggs.”
It astounds me now to reflect on it, but never, in all my years of leftist activism, did I ever hear anyone articulate accurately the position of anyone to our right. In fact, I did not even know those positions when I was a leftist.
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2 & 3) It doesn’t work. Other approaches work better.
I went to hear David Horowitz speak in 2004. My intention was to heckle him. Horowitz said something that interrupted my flow of thought. He pointed out that Camden, Paterson, and Newark had decades of Democratic leadership.
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In Dominque La Pierre’s 1985 novel City of Joy, a young American doctor, Max Loeb, confesses that serving the poor in a slum has changed his mind forever about what might actually improve their lot. “In a slum an exploiter is better than a Santa Claus… An exploiter forces you to react, whereas a Santa Claus demobilizes you.”
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1) Hate.
If hate were the only reason, I’d stop being a leftist for this reason alone.
Almost twenty years ago, when I could not conceive of ever being anything but a leftist, I joined a left-wing online discussion forum.
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In this online forum, suddenly my only contact with others was the words those others typed onto a screen. That limited and focused means of contact revealed something.
If you took all the words typed into the forum every day and arranged them according to what part of speech they were, you’d quickly notice that nouns expressing the emotions of anger, aggression, and disgust, and verbs speaking of destruction, punishing, and wreaking vengeance, outnumbered any other class of words.
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I’ve tried to capture the spirit of what she wrote in the excerpts I have selected. This essay clearly lays out some of the reasons many of us, myself included, left leftism behind.
Jill Stein has managed to raise $4.5 million to fund recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. How someone who received ~1.5% of the vote has standing to do this I don’t know. But this means only one thing. The Clinton machine is working on stealing the election.
Any recount effort is a clear path to fraud. I imagine Democratic operatives generating thousands of ballots that will be “found” as part of the recount in each state. We will be back into the craziness of the 2000 election with uncertainty and chaos reigning. Call me paranoid, but I can see nothing good in the clear attempt to sow uncertainty and open the door to massive fraud.
Facebook is mostly a way for me to stay in touch with people with whom I wouldn’t make the effort, otherwise. I don’t filter by political or social criteria. (How would I sort my high school friends?) So I just see whatever they’re eager to show everyone. Today, I saw a post that revealed the twisted inner workings of the progressive mind–and it sure put this high school acquaintance in a new mental category:
It’s just amazing to mention Fox News and the Koch Brothers in this context. I won’t respond unless I can think of a really witty way to do so. But I had to tell people about it, and so I share it with you.
As part of their annual alumni gathering the UCLA Anderson School of Management posted a boast on Instagram about how the class of 2002 raised $1.2 million for the school. I certainly support charity, but this boast really struck me – is this the best place for these talented people to be putting this amount of money? Are colleges and universities, as they currently operate, good places for charitable dollars?