Still Falling Down - Random Thoughts

Apropos of Nothing, my $0.02 on Detroit

webmaster@stillfallingdown.com (Writer) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:29:23 -0500

The "big 3" automakers are no longer the real US auto production base. Honda, Nissan, Toyota (and their "hidden" brands) make cars for the US market here, and their sales are a significant part of domestic auto production.

The big 3 probably make more US-sold cars in Mexico and Canada then the Japanese make in the US.

And yes, I know that "make" doesn't mean anything when parts and intermediate assemblies criss-cross the world several times before final assembly.

The UAW is terrified of the manufacturers seeking bankruptcy protection because it's the closest the mfrs will ever get to rewriting work rules, pay scales and no-show job requirements. And all of those factors have one underlying concept: dues collection (and that cash doesn't go to retiree health benefits, either).

If Ford, Chrysler, GM "go away", then their brands, intellectual property (think of the hundreds of thousands of patents they hold), usable production capacity, and employable, productive people (minus their union contracts) will be snapped up at auction by the hedge funds that still have cash (yup there are a few, and I bet you could raise 4 billion in about 20 minutes to go shopping at a Detroit fire sale) or other capital-flush enterprises. Christ, if someone can invest $37million in a blog (Huffington Post), there must be capital for an automaker.

Isn't a hedge fund or Japanese manufacturer-led bailout at $0.25 on the dollar better than a runaway train government bailout at $5 on the dollar (how much actually has to be collected from us for each dollar paid out in a bailout)? Which will result in more "real" production of US autos and a better workforce and supply chain?

Yes, hedge funds are corrupt and leaky, just like a Federal agency, but they are much more efficient at it, and they didn't point a gun at anyone's head to get the money.

Finally, cars made by Detroit suck. Bottom line, they fall apart, they burn gas like there's a royalty arrangement involved, they lack features, and they're just not as much fun to drive. If a non-Detroit car sucks, it's likely that the suck factors will be addressed in the near future, OR, it's OK, because you still got value for money.

Which products should the market encourage?
Bzzt. Sorry. Too late. The market spoke long ago.

Thanks for listening. When I try to talk to my cats about this, they just get up and walk away.

Come on! Let's hear how utterly, completely, and thoroughly wrong I am! Speak up!

Hiring and Applicants from Mars (or they might as well be)

webmaster@stillfallingdown.com (Writer) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:32:17 -0400

Well, it's time for me to start hiring again. And slowly, despite years of experience, I convince myself that it's OK to post jobs on craigslist and dice and to allow the job posting pages on our website to be indexed and scraped. And I hold my breath. Because I don't have a database backend for the application process yet (number 43 on the list of projects that were due yesterday). Because my Inbox is about to be flooded with applications. Some of them might actually be from people with a glancing, occasional relationship to the requirements in the posting. Some of them might even be within commuting distance of our offices, although most will be from a minimum of 4000 miles away.

Please, please don't start thinking that this is some anti-immigration rant. The only person I ever met whose family has been in this country for more than 150 years was Sue S., and I think they were the advance scouting party for the Mayflower. Her family had houses (there were a bunch of them after 350 years in the same town) with 5 foot high ceilings. Immigrants are the core, the backbone, the vitality of this country. If we want to end up like Europe, as a bunch of mouldering, inbred, half-wits waiting for Doomsday, then the current trend against immigrants is a brilliant move.

Sorry, I go off like that sometimes.

Anyway, it's not about where they're from, it's about where they are, and whether that location makes it even slightly possible that they could show up in the office for more than 2 hours a day a couple times per week. Oh, yes, I'm a dinosaur, a relic of ages past. I have heard that with this modern Internet thing, nobody needs to go to work anymore. We can all sit at home, jacked into a computer and it's like the whole world is one giant virtual office.

What a load of crap. Aside from the fact that I don't want to create a race of eyeball-radiated, anti-social, speechless robots who never have direct human contact, people work better when they are in somewhat close proximity. They talk, they enjoy each other's company, they gain a real sense of community, and are motivated to consider themselves part of the group.

Gee, there I go again.

The job posting says we want people with multiple years of commercial, hands-on PHP and MySQL experience to work full-time, on-site in our Manhattan office. So naturally, I get resumes from Romania, Dallas (not sure which is farther away), India, and Canada from people with no experience in programming, or extensive experience in VB and Access. Some of these are readable, thoughtful applications. I try to turn them down politely. Most however, are illiterate (aside from the language differences in, say, Texas), and don't come close to responding to the instructions in the posting, or have 'killallbosses@yahoo.com' as the From: address. They're just awful as attempts to get me interested in the human behind the email.

It's very frustrating. It shows how incredibly broken the whole hiring process is. This should be a time when you meet people who will be an asset to your organization, where you make the process of selling your company as a place to work a joy and an exciting experience for the applicant. Wait. You don't think that the hiring process is a selling process? You sit back in your web and wait for your victims to beg appropriately for the privilege of working for you? Wow. First day on the job must be a blast with all those beaten, humiliated new employees shuffling in to their drab workplace, dreading first contact with the Dark Lord of hiring.

The person/company/extra-terrestrial invading army who can fix this horrible, demeaning, counter-productive morass will change the world. Too bad I won't live to see it.

The Ambassador of Lindy Hop

webmaster@stillfallingdown.com (Writer) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 10:06:28 -0500

A new book is due out this May chronicling the life and career of Frankie Manning, the "inventor" of the air-step in the Lindy Hop.

Manning was a dancer at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem in the early 30's. He toured with a dance troupe and appeared in films. When the popularity of swing faded, the troupe disbanded and Manning went to work at the Postal Service.

A revival of swing in the 80's brought Manning back into the dance scene as a teacher and choreographer, where he won a Tony for Black and Blue.

The book is written by Manning with his collaborator, Cynthia Millman. Cynthia has a passion for researching Jazz dance and music. From archival records and interviews with the originators, she has amassed a wealth of knowledge, as well as a superb collection of photographs, film clips and memorabilia. Cynthia has written extensively about dance, including articles for Oxford University Press's International Encyclopedia of Dance, and has served as consultant for numerous documentaries including the PBS Swinging with Duke. Through her presentations and demonstrations, she has also shared her passion directly with audiences in both the U.S. and Europe. Cynthia also happens to be the extraordinary librarian at the Town School in Manhattan.

Buy it here:

Powell's
Barnes and Noble

Kids say the darndest things

webmaster@stillfallingdown.com (Writer) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 17:25:07 -0400

Came across this as I was going over some old email. My son was reading "The Pushcart War" by Jean Merrill (1964). My wife was talking to him one evening as they discussed the project he was going to do on this book. She had sent this out in an email to some friends and family.

Last night Phillip and I were talking about "The Pushcart War", the book he's doing his project on. It's a satire about war and human weakness.
Our conversation led to many directions, and we (he, mostly) talked bout the evil that happens in the world, religion, and his take on our president (!)
At some point he said, "A learned man is a worried man".
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"Well, a learned man knows what's happening in the world and he knows about people who don't have enough to eat, and about countries where there is war and places where they have bad governments. And he wants to help them. But he can't help them all because he is just one person, so he worries."
"If you have your eyes open wide you see everything in the world and that is too much for a person. If you have your eyes open medium wide, maybe you see your neighborhood, your countryâ.
âAnd if you have your eyes open just a little bit you see your family, your friends and your school, and that's something you can help make better."

He's 10. Maybe he should be writing this blog.

Trivial Falling Down

webmaster@stillfallingdown.com (Writer) — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 17:24:19 -0400

Falling Down seems to be a big reason people click through to my site. So to keep them happy, here is some trivia about falling:

philophobia: falling in love

Hypnophobia is a morbid fear of sleep and falling asleep.

Newborn giraffe calves begin their lives by falling 6 feet to the ground

Carl Clark of Vermont, USA has invented Emergency Underwear that contains Inflable Airbags for senior citizens afraid of Falling!

A falling cat will always right itself in a precise order. First the head will rotate, then the spine will twist and the rear legs will align, then the cat will arch its back to lessen the impact of the landing

The Home Safety Council reported that in 2002, 19,324 people died in the U.S. from injuries sustained in the home. Of those, 521 were in Wisconsin. More than half the deaths in Wisconsin were caused by falls.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Fatal falls increased by 17 percent to a new high, led by increases in the number of fatal falls from ladders and from roofs.

The things people type into search engines

webmaster@stillfallingdown.com (Writer) — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:00:01 -0400

Stringing together the search keywords that have brought people to this site, and the sites that came up when I searched on these phrases.

caddyshack quotes falling down

bush trivia police

business steps are high

I like Bush trivia police. It has a nice ring to it.

Oh, for a play on Broadway

webmaster@stillfallingdown.com (Writer) — Fri, 26 May 2006 17:50:21 -0400

I saw Tarzan on
Broadway the other night. Not the ape-man, but the
pallid Disney
pablum.
If anyone suggests going to see this particular entertainment, kill them. The 8 to 25 years in jail (assuming no one in the jury has seen it) will be infinitely preferable to the 2 hours of abject misery in the theatre.

The New Yorkers leaving the theatre all had looks of stunned disbelief on their faces. The out-of-towners, of course, loved it and gave it a standing ovation. Well, not
all
out-of-towners loved it.

Best line leaving the theatre: "I liked the movie better". They were referring, obviously, to the cartoon.

I think I remember seeing a play on Broadway once. It was an uplifting experience. No music. Just some very talented actors making the audience think and feel. Back
downtown to off-off-Broadway, I guess.

If you really wanna be the ball, Danny...

webmaster@stillfallingdown.com (Writer) — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:44:02 -0400

Once again we hear from Stone, this time they reprint the Caddyshack quotes page from IMDB. If they really wanted to bring that wonderful movie back to life, here are the links they should have used:

CarlSpackler.com: Your source for Caddyshack Trivia, Games, Videos, Sounds, and much more!

Warner Brothers: Caddyshack - Official site for the movie.

And for more quotes:

Wikiquote's Caddyshack page.

Commando Cody - Sky Marshall of Northwest Arkansas

webmaster@stillfallingdown.com (Writer) — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 12:03:12 -0400

Well, the folks at Stone thought this was an unusual auction over at Ebay, but I think Commando Cody's effort is much more deserving of attention.

I hope whoever won the auction has fun as one of the Bozos on this Bus.

Request: Will the first person who figures out if this is a staged setup or if Cody really just dropped in on his way to meeting the Mother Ship please post a comment with the evidence? Thanks!