Thor’s Hall

There was a big event in DC over the weekend, in case you missed it.  I am still kind of digesting the event, and the contrasts that I have seen.  Perhaps I will get a more thoughtful post up later in the week.  In the interim, consider these two items.

The first is off of Hot Air.  The money quote:

We have listened too long to the poisonous whispers of those who say we’re too old and feeble to stand up and deal with our own problems.  The doom they have written for us can be swept aside like so many cobwebs.  Honorable people do not fear risk and challenge.

The second item is from Michelle Makin’s site, written by Doug Powers.  There are a lot of interesting points within the article.  What I found most interesting is the crowd estimates.

Lowball crowd size estimate of the day: CBS News reports about 87,000 attended (apparently they got the rally figure mixed up with the total of how many Democrats are in CBS, NBC and ABC’s newsrooms). NBC reported 300,000, and if you don’t hear event organizers saying there were more than that, it’s because 300,000 was the limit of their permit.

The quirky observation from this week involves conditioning. We spent one of the days this week in a very large auditorium in the conference center. Big jumbo monitors to either side of the stage, a large 50″ monitor on the floor infant of the stage, Lav mics, a very dedicated presentation setting.

From this experience in death by PowerPoint I had two quirky observations.

1. When presented with a big tv screen an inexperienced presenter will watch the monitor, not the audience.

2. When given a remote control device of any kind presenters will:
A. Point it at the tv monitor, and
B. Flick their wrists as they press the button.

It has been a long week on the road. Should be home in another 8 hours or so. Even if it is only for a quick 47 hrs it will be nice to be home, with the screaming children.

Early in my consulting career I engaged in a fairly significant, dynamic discussion with a client regarding a software customization that they felt was mandatory.  It was there feeling that it was mandatory that we build an interface to all of their scale systems, so that the shipping personnel could take the correct weights of the material that they were shipping directly from the scale.  No data entry, just a one button accept the weight and load up the truck.

We spent a good 30 minutes of me trying to talk them out of this customization.  What it ultimately came down to was the client project manager explaining to me that most of the people that worked the shipping dock signed “X” when they picked up their checks.  That was a concept so foreign to me, all I could say was “Oh”, and walk away from the discussion with my tail between my legs.  It was also, a huge personal and professional lesson for me.

Over at the Danger Room there is a report, that literacy is also an obstacle that is being faced in our efforts in Afghanistan.

The American-led strategy in Afghanistan relies on training enough local forces to let the Afghans take over their own security. Right now, only 18 percent of those 243,000 cops and grunts have more than a Kindergarten-level ability to read. Which means they’ve got major trouble doing everything from keeping track of their gear to following a battle plan to getting paid, the general in charge of the NATO training effort says. In other words: If these local troops can’t learn their ABCs, this war is stuck.

Go read the whole article.  These are the facts that people in this country forget when they are frustrated by how long the efforts in Afghanistan are taking.  Unfortunately, I think they are also facts that our political leadership have no clue about.

This week finds me on the road again, what else is new.  So, I get the chance to miss the first day of school for my 9 year old this year, and all the excitement that goes along with that.  I also miss the first day of Kindergarten for her sister.  First trip on the school bus, all the things that she has been stoked about doing…and following in her sister’s footsteps.

Tuesday night, I was walking out of the office here in Redwood Shores and one of my colleagues was going on about how hot it was outside that day.  Admittedly, it was unusually warm for this part of the country but all I could do was shake my head remembering the days that walking on the flight line left boot prints from the melting rubber.  Remembering days that you had to keep a bucket of water nearby to toss your tools in while working on the radar because they were too hot to pick up other wise.

One of my favorite characters in the blogosphere has another of his thought provoking  reminders up for you to read.  Go take a look.

Lex had an opportunity to pull together a post on the recent stabbing of a NYC cab driver.  The whole thing is here, and as usual is a very well constructed.  I expect nothing less from a Boat School grad.  If I had been able to win the nomination to the school back when I tried, Lex is another one of those folks that would have been a peer.  But, I digress.

Lex has a well written piece in play that calls it the way that it is.  Here is one of the money quotes that should really get your attention:

…there are approximately 5 million Jews in the US and around 7 million Muslims, the number of hate crimes against the former outpaced the latter about seven-to-one in the five most recent years…

Go read it, and puzzle about the way our culture is so frenetic in it’s reaction to events without considering the bigger picture.

MHV, the next Monster Hunter novel is due out in September / October.  The author (Larry Corriea) will be offering autographed copies for sale but, is looking to get an approximate count on how many he needs to stock.  That said, go over to Larry’s website and tell him you want one.

This one is all too funny and can be applied to your choice of industries.

FORCE REDUCTION PLAN

REF/A/MSG/CMC WASHINGTON DC/112215ZFEB2010//

REF/B/MSG/USMC WASHINGTON DC/082055ZAPR2010

REF/C/DOC/DFAS-HQ/01AUG2010//

SUBJECT: USMC FORCE REDUCTION PLAN

NARR/REF A IS MARADMIN 032/10. REF B IS MARADMIN GUIDANCE. REF C IS DJMS PROCEDURES TRAINING GUIDE (PTG). REF D IS OPNAVINST 1160.6A.REF E IS MILPERSMAN (NAVPERS 15560C).

1. AS A RESULT OF SENATE PROPOSED FORCE REDUCTIONS AND BUDGET CUTS THE HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS HAS DEVELOPED A PROGRAM TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF ACTIVE DUTY PERSONNEL. THIS PROGRAM IS UNDER TEST PHASE AND WILL BE EFFECTIVE 1 JANUARY 2012. UNDER THIS NEW PROGRAM, OLDER MARINES WILL BE ASKED TO GO ON EARLY RETIREMENT, THUS PERMITTING THE RETENTION OF THE YOUNGER MARINES WHO REPRESENT THE FUTURE. THEREFORE, THIS PROGRAM WILL PHASE OUT OLDER MARINES BY THE END OF THE FY 2012.

2. THIS INITIAL PHASE OF THE PROGRAM WILL BE KNOWN AS SERVICEMAN’S LATE-AGED PROGRAM (SLAP). MARINES WHO ARE SLAPPED WILL BE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO LOOK FOR JOBS OUTSIDE THE MARINE CORPS.

3. SLAPPED MARINES CAN REQUEST A REVIEW OF THEIR PERSONNEL RECORDS BEFORE ACTUAL RETIREMENT TAKES PLACE. THIS PHASE OF THE PROGRAM IS CALLED SURVEY OF CAPABILITIES OF RETIRED EARLY WORKERS (SCREW). ALL MARINES WHO HAVE BEEN SLAPPED OR SCREWED MAY FILE AN APPEAL WITH THEIR CHAIN OF COMMAND WITH FINAL AUTHORITY AT HQMC MMEA. THIS IS CALLED STUDY BY HIGHER AUTHORITY FOLLOWING TERMINATION (SHAFT).

4. UNDER THE TERMS OF THE NEW POLICY, A MARINE MAY BE SLAPPED ONCE, SCREWED TWICE, BUT MAY BE SHAFTED AS MANY TIMES AS HQMC DEEMS APPROPRIATE. IF A MARINE FOLLOWS THE ABOVE PROCEDURES, HE/SHE WILL BE ENTITLED TO GET HALF EARNINGS FOR RETIRED PERSONNEL’S EARLY SEVERANCE (HERPES) OR COMBINED LUMP-SUM ASSISTANCE PAYMENT (CLAP), UNLESS HE/SHE ALREADY HAS ADDITIONAL INCOME FROM DEPENDENTS OR SPOUSE (AIDS).

5. AS HERPES AND CLAP ARE CONSIDERED BENEFIT PLANS, ANY MARINE WHO HAS RECEIVED HERPES OR CLAP WILL NO LONGER BE SLAPPED OR SCREWED BY THE MARINE CORPS.

6. THE MARINE CORPS WISHES TO ASSURE THE YOUNGER MARINES WHO REMAIN ON BOARD, THAT THE MARINE CORPS WILL CONTINUE IT’S POLICY OF TRAINING MARINES THROUGH OUR SPECIAL HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING (SHIT). THE MARINE CORPS TAKES PRIDE IN THE AMOUNT OF SHIT OUR MARINES CAN RECEIVE. OUR MARINES TAKE MORE SHIT THAN ANY OTHER SERVICE. IF ANY MARINE FEELS THEY DO NOT RECEIVE ENOUGH SHIT AT THEIR CURRENT BASE, SEE YOUR IMMEDIATE SUPERVISOR.

Damn fine joke.

The Semper Fi Moment

President Obama got off the helicopter in front of the White House, carrying a baby piglet under each arm.

The squared away Marine guard snaps to attention, salutes and says:”Nice pigs, sir.”

The President replies: “These are not pigs… these are authentic Arkansas Razorback Hogs. I got one for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and I got one for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.”

The squared away Marine again snaps to attention, salutes and says, “Excellent trade, sir.”

It still amazes me how very easy it is to look at the writings of history, and apply them to current events.  Somewhere along the line, we have forgotten this message of forty or fifty years ago.