Paper Cups and Eggs and Daughters

Growing up in the 1960s I learned many things, but Boiling Eggs and Paper Cups and Daughters might be more than one may believe, or, in the latter case, care to hear. However, I learned of these things as a member of the Boy Scouts of America (1965) which I was active in until my high school graduation. In addition to school and my chosen sports, Scouting was an integral part of my youth and development. There I functioned as a member of a troop, a Program Ranger at a Scout Camp for two years, earned my God and Country Award, the Order of the Arrow, the rank of Life Scout and evidently how to raise two little girls.
In 1970, I attended my first summer scout camp on the eastern slope of the Appalachian Mountains and spent my first, glorious week living in a tent. I went every summer thereafter until 1978, the last two being the entire summer as a Program Ranger. What, one may ask, could one learn about daughters, living in a tent on a lake, swimming, fishing, tying ropes and bounding around with boys, shooting bows and .22 rifles at the ranges? Respect. It was all somewhat structured, but one could choose what to participate in. There were young men from all over the region, different colors, religions, backgrounds; but only one dining hall, one lake, one chapel. The uncoordinated effort of a dozen or so adolescent and teenaged boys raising a thirty foot timber tower will definitely built the appreciation of your partners’ effort, regardless of his difference or similarities.
In 1990, I was blessed with our first child. I’ll call her the Princess, seven years later another, my Dumplin’. I have tried to raise both with the same exposure I had to the outdoors and with the same appreciation of their efforts, despite our differences. To date, I can report wonderful. Regardless of gender, I think the promotion of traditional scouting concepts is one of the best means of growing a child; respect for self, others and appreciation for adventure.
Okay, the egg and the paper cup. Build a small fire, fill a paper cup, not one of those plastic or foam ones, a paper cup, waxed is okay, with water; put in an egg and place the cup with the egg in the fire. When that egg boils in that paper cup, you will have your four year olds attention, keep it. While you are at it, teach that little girl to shoot a bow!




References
The Boy Scouts of America. (1965). Boy Scout Handbook. New Brunswick, USA: Author.

The Way I Slice Pie

How I Slice Pie is a tribute to my favorite song, recorded and released in 1971. American Pie (McLean) has become an iconic song considered to be definitive of the 1960s, and my youth. Considered by many, the singer and songwriter, Don McLean, has never attempted to define the meanings within the lyrics, preferring to “realize that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence (as cited by Adams, 1993).”
Inspired by the death of Buddy Holly in 1959, ‘American Pie’ is autobiographical and presents a story of Don McLean’s life from the mid 1950s until he wrote the song in the late 1960s (McLean, 2008). Many interpretations of the lyrics have been proposed, but none have been supported by McLean. Of these, Bob Dearborn’s (as cited by Rotemen, 2008), is the most acclaimed and contains many indirect stereotypes beyond those explicit ones named by McLean (2008) specifically in the lyrics. Included among these are Elvis, Connie Francis, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon and the Beatles. Other aspects lament the passing of the ‘girl next door’, slow dancing, the fun of 1950s rock and roll, the transition from alcohol to illegal drugs and the popular interest in communism by some. In contemporary retrospect, the social and cultural evolution to date supports Dearborn and leaves one to wonder if McLean’s silence is to nurture interpretation beyond his original intent.
Some of Dearborn’s stereotypes come to mind when I think of the lyrics, but beyond those, I do think the song transcends, and indeed exceed, McLean’s original intent. To me the song continues to speak to the loss of better things; music, times and personal interaction. I hate to offend; music today can be better, closer and more feeling. Who can be anything but touched by a song like ‘Unchained Melody’(1955), ‘I fall to Pieces’ (1961), ‘Operator’ (1972), ‘Ooh, Baby, Baby’ (1978). Apple pie and the girl next door are gone, replaced by the vixen in short spandex and a tank top offering ‘pie’ of questionable content. Nobody seems to ‘just hang out’ and dangle their feet in the creek any more. Emails, not letters, text instead of call, send a jpg. instead of a visit, seems to be the norm today, because ‘we just don’t have time’.
Thirty-seven years later, the lyrics of American Pie bring all of this to mind. A simple song continues to make us think and interpret things; well beyond what the writer, or the interpreters, could ever have intended. Some positive, making us remember, or reflect upon change. Some negative, reflecting upon the things lost. All of it good, remembering and placing in context, our past.
From a marketing and advertising standpoint, selling nostalgia is obvious. Selling computers, cell phones and service providers to meet the needs of present obligations is obvious. For myself, I work hard to provide the opportunity to see this world as I did, to my children, ‘Walkin’ on a County Road’, (Taylor, 1971). I want my kids to innocently be able to sing, ‘I’ve got a brand new pair of roller skates, you’ve got a brand new key’ (Melanie, 1971) as they ride their bikes down the road. That innocence seems to be lost by McLean; and is today!
I was a lonely, teenage, broncin’ buck, with a pink carnation and a pickup truck, where were you, the day the music died?

References
McLean, D. (1971). American pie [Record]. USA: United Artists Records.
Adams, C. (1993, May 15). The straight dope: The Chicago Reader. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_398b.html
McLean, D. (2008). Retrieved April 18, 2008 from http://www.don-mclean.com/americanpie.asp
Rotemen, J. (2008) Jeff Roteman’s radioville website. Retrieved April 18, 2008 from http://user.pa.net/~ejjeff/pie.html
Hatfield, B., Hatfield B. (1965) Unchained melody, Retrieved April 18, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unchained_Melody
Cline, P. (1961) I fall to pieces, Retrieved April 18, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline
Croce, J (1972) Operator, Retrieved April 18, 2008 from http://en,wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Croce
Ronstaht, L. (1978) Ooh, baby,baby, Retrieved April 18, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_In_The_USA
Taylor, T. (1971) Country road, Retrieved April 18, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Taylor
Melanie, A (1971) Brand new key, Retrieved April 20, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie

The Ugly Conservative

Hate filled, prejudiced, chauvinist, diversity hating, uncaring, homophobic, bible thumping, war mongering, greedy, capitalistic pig; all describe The Ugly Conservative. I really do not think of myself as those, although you might. I must confess: I am a conservative thinker and I am none of the above, except maybe ugly; that is in the eye of the beholder, and may be true, depending on your individual perspective.
I take particular offense to accusations of hate and prejudice. It matters not to me what skin color you have, your sex, ethnicity, or background. Show me who you are and what you are capable of. Bring me ideas, thoughts, beliefs; shaped by your different experience and openly share them. As I will with you. Our diversity, blended, will benefit us only when openly shared and understood by both. Do not saddle me with the sins of my forefathers any more than I would dare saddle you with their beliefs!
Caring is so often tied to entitlements. I see entitlements as slavery. Contemporary ‘entitlement’ programs equate to this: “I will give you this; in return, I expect fidelity.” My perspective is, “If you need water, I will bring you water, but while I’m bringing it, we will dig you a new well." Caring provides hope, entitlement creates hopelessness. We, you and I working together, can solve any problem; those answering a need without a solution, solve nothing, but gain indebtedness.
Homophobic Bible thumper, that’s a title to love. I could care less what you do privately. Sex, drugs, rock and roll, I do not care! When it is paraded on the street, I will take issue. I don’t parade my private matters in the face of your children nor should I be ask to accept yours be paraded in front of mine. Get a room! I make decisions based on what is right for me and I will not impose them on you, it is a matter of respect for others that you do likewise. If rights are desired, make the case with dignity, not on the street like an animal. My belief in God is mine. Your belief is yours. I will not impose mine on you, nor tolerate the imposition of yours on me. I will defend mine, or yours, to the death. This is primarily why this country came into existence.
I will freely lay down my life, for my God, my Country and my Family; in exchange for living here in the greatest of Republics. I will do the same for you. I willingly bequeath this obligation to myself, my family, and to you, my fellow citizen. I will be a warmonger against any tyrant, internal or external, that will force the sacrifice any Constitutional freedom to any patriot. Freedom is not free, and requires the due diligence of those that would enjoy it.
“When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men.” (Ayn Rand, 1957). I choose to deal with others as a fair and equitable trade. I bring something to you and you see some value in what I offer. I apply my talent, work ethic and sacrifice my time in this world, to provide you something of value, which is unavailable to you otherwise. In exchange, I receive something of value. The equality of the exchange can only be fair; otherwise, those involved would not make the exchange. A great example of this is building materials after a hurricane. Say for example, I sell lumber in Ohio and I have plywood at $10.00 a sheet. Hurricane KatAndrew blows in and Orleanested is devastated. My plywood can be sold there for $20.00 a sheet. As a business owner, no matter how much I may or may not feel for those suffering, I have a choice to make. Market demand drives my costs up from the supplier and to continue to make a living, I must raise my price to $15.00. Is this gouging? No, my customer ‘A’ bears this cost and continues to buy, customer ‘B’ decides the cost is too high at $15.00 and decides to not start any new builds. The sheets he would have bought are now available to the ‘hurricane’ market and help to stabilize the market there. Soon, everybody’s plywood is $10.00 again and the hurricane damage is fixed. Capitalism at work is not a bad thing; it makes commodities available when needed.
Stereotypes are sometimes a very bad banner to follow. Conservatives believe in the individual. We do not ask our God, our Country, our Family, for what we need. We ask our God for strength and guidance for our Country and Family; our Country for protection of our God and Family, our Family for the support of our God and Country; and ourselves, the support of each other. Freedom can only be granted by the individual.


References
Rand, A. (1957) . Atlas Shrugged. New York, NY: New American Library

Icon Analisis

The Icons that are important to me are God, Country and Family.

God, regardles of how defined, provides all we need in this world. It has been provided for us to enjoy and utilize to improve our life.

My Country provides the means and opportunity to follow my God and provide for my Family

My children and my family provide me the desire to share and teach the values I wish for them to know and love

Ones God provides the means for all of us, regardles of belief, to enjoy all offered to us. God provides, it is ours to use what has been given, for good or evil. The true purpose is to provide for ourselves, our country and our families. It is not provided for us to take from another, but for us to utilize, within our means, granted by our God.

Our Country provides us the opportunity to provide for ourselves and our families. Our Country protects us through our individual commitment to our mutual protection. As a nation, we protect our national beliefs. Our individual commitment to those beliefs protects us from those that would destroy those beliefs.

Family provides the drive to support the Country that provides protection and the God that provides means. Our families, our desire for them to be safe, provide for themselves and have the means to succeed and improve their situation, are the driving force for God and Country.

These things we hold to be self evident...

Climate Change as Popular Culture

Climate Change as Popular Culture is proving to be somewhat of a slippery slope. Not a new concept, it began as early as the 1900s, then an environmentalist concern in the 1970’s as the coming “Ice Age”. More recently as “Global Warming”, and now we know it as “Climate Change”.
“The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, amidst hysteria about the dangers of a new ice age. The media had been spreading warnings of a cooling period since the 1950s, but those alarms grew louder in the 1970s” (Anderson, 2006, p. 5). Despite this warning, in the early 1990s, global warming became the concern of the moment, according to the press.
More recently, “climatologists have become worried that the warming trend “may be irreversible, at least over most of the coming century,” according to Time magazine on Nov. 13, 2000”, Anderson (2006) reports. The obvious solution was policy changes and research grants totaling four billion dollars a year. According to scientist and environmentalist Stephen Schneider (as cited in Anderson, p. 15), “to do that, we need to get some broad-based support, to capture the public’s imagination”. He goes on to explain the tactics used, such as dramatizing and simplifying facts, while minimizing any doubts to the public. Former Vice President Al Gore has published two books, Earth in the Balance in 1992 and An Inconvenient Truth which has a companion film, extolling the need for global constraints and the dire consequences of global warming.
The records compiled by the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) indicate that the highest temperature variations recorded were in 1934 and 1998 (2008). Both years recorded 1.24º Celsius above the average with a five year mean of .42° and .52° Celsius respectively. Granted, the trend down in mean temperature has not been as great after 1998 as it was after 1934, it has however, been dropping (NASA, 2008). This brings us to ‘Climate Change’.
“The warm currents of the Gulf Stream, according to a 2005 study by the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, U.K., have decreased 30 percent. This has raised “fears that it might fail entirely and plunge the continent into a mini ice age,” as the Gulf Stream regulates temperatures in Europe and the eastern United States” Anderson (2006).
Apparently most every major weather event, climatic variation, or instability of temperature can portend some impending change in the world climate forecast. This obvious roller coaster of climate outlooks creates an atmosphere that challenges the credibility of the warming pundits. “We spend about $500 billion a year on a military budget, yet we don’t want to spend peanuts to protect against climate change,” Nicholas D. Kristof, of the New York Times said in a Sept. 27, 2005, piece. The reference to ‘change’, rather than ‘warming’, is a recurring theme in the current global climate debate and implies a never ending battle of ‘mans responsibility’ for climatic events. However, in The New York Times, less than a year later, reporter Andrew C. Revkin gave no credence that weather extremes are our fault. “There is more than enough natural variability in nature to mask a direct connection, many scientists say” (as cited in Anderson 2006, p. 16).
Concerns over the climate and potential cooling or warming are not new. Mr. Andersons article (2006) deals specifically with the debate since 1895. The point of the article is the teeter-totter between warming and cooling for more than 100 years and the fact that we just really do not know. Consensus does not a scientific fact make and common sense should dictate that we not bet our entire society on an uncertain hypothesis. None who were around can say our world is less clean than it was even 30 years ago. I would suggest we follow as we have, utilize our resources, technology and cool heads to leads us to still yet a better tomorrow: as it has during our continually improving stewardship throughout the industrial age.

References
Anderson, R. W. (2006) Fire and ice (Special Report, May 17) Alexandria, VA: Business & Media Institute. Retrieved April 24, 2008 from http://www.businessmedia.org/specialreports/2006/fireandice/Fireandice.pdfNational Aeronautics Space Administration. (2008) . Contiguous 48 U.S. Surface Air Temperature Anomaly (C). Retrieved April 24, 2008 from http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/Fig.D.txt

I wish to discuss in my initial post to my blog, the consideration of the relevance of popular culture to me. Popular Culture is the events surrounding us. Politics, entertainment, accepted actions; “deemed as what is popular within the social context — that of which is most strongly represented by what is perceived to be popularly accepted among society” (Wikipedia, 2008). In a business environment, understanding popular culture is understanding the largest customer base available. If Widget I is popular and Widget II is soon to hit the market, best to decrease the inventory of Widget I and be in a position to provide Widget II when it becomes available.
Wii, for example, has exploded onto the market. “By December 8, 2006, it had completed its launch in four key markets. The Finacial Times reported that as of September 12, 2007, the Wii is the sales leader of its generation, based on sales figures from Enterbrain, NPD Group, and GfK.” (Wikipedia, 2008). As of Christmas, 2007, most everyone was aware of the continuing shortages in most markets. The cultural impact of such performance of a single item is obvious and given the various similar competitor options, it is clear that the niche competition will only increase the capability of those competitors. Interactive gaming is here to stay, at least in the forseeable future.
The potential impact to society and culture is limitless, dependant only apon the imagination of developers. “The original 1981 arrangement between IBM and Microsoft was that Microsoft would provide the base product and that both firms would work on developing different parts of it into a more powerful and robust system, and then share the resultant code. MS-Dos and PC-DOS were to be marketed separately: IBM selling to itself for the IBM PC, and Microsoft selling to the open market. However, at no time did IBM acquire the ownership of the source code of the operating system for its own PCs” (Wikipedia, 2008). Developers will not make the same mistake again with interactive gaming media.
The limitless potential not only represents entertainment, but continued development points towards real time virtual displays for vehicals in poor or impossible visual conditions, control inputs directed minute physical input, or none at all, directed by instantaneous corrections via GPS correction. The only thing left for us to do is play a game and watch the machine drive.