A Modern Parable

A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River . Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India .

Sadly, The End.

Here's something else to think about: Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US , claiming they can't make money paying American wages.

TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the US. The last quarter's results:

TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.

Ford folks are still scratching their heads.

Quote of the Day

"Don't believe the man who tells you there are two sides to every question. There is only one side to the truth."

- William Peter Hamilton
(Original editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal)

Hope I Die Before I Get Old...

Below is a video of The Zimmers doing "My Generation," originally done by The Who. Read more about it here.

Libby Sentenced to 2.5 Years

Scooter Libby will be going to prison for up to 2.5 years for lying and obstruction of justice in the investigation of the 2003 leak of CIA secret operative, Valerie Plame's identity. Before the sentancing, Libby said "It is respectfully my hope that the court will consider, along with the jury verdict, my whole life."

Read more about this story, here and here.

Plus, will Bush pardon him?

perfunctory \pur-FUNGK-tuh-ree\, adjective:

1. Done merely to carry out a duty; performed mechanically or routinely.
2. Lacking interest, care, or enthusiasm; indifferent.

The city's moderate hotels, however, tend to offer minimal comforts, perfunctory service and dreary decor.
-- Paula Butturini, "What's Doing in Naples", New York Times, April 14, 1996

Utterly Ridiculous

This occured about five minutes from where I live. Read about it here.

Microsoft Surface

Several days ago Microsoft unveiled its newest product - the Microsoft Surface. If goes as planned, this new product will revolutionize the way that humans interact with computers. For a brief explanation of the Surface, one article writes:

The Microsoft Surface - a 30-inch display embedded in a gloss-covered table - will eventually replace the mouse and keyboard, and opens the prospect of a computer in every surface of the home, the company claims.

Consumers will have to wait a few years before getting their hands on the technology themselves, but the first versions of the computer have already been sold to corporate clients including mobile phone companies and restaurants.

When customers at a restaurant put down their glasses, a computer in their table will be able to tailor food recommendations to the choice of drinks, and display pictures linking wines or beers with the vineyards and breweries that produced them.

Here is a nice demostration on YouTube:

bon vivant \bon-vee-VONT\, noun:

A person with refined and sociable tastes, especially one who enjoys fine food and drink.

For the unregenerate "peasant" (the term that he often used about his mother, whom he despised) had gone there with the successful glass distributor, shrewd investor, versatile talker, and . . . bon vivant whose motto was "The best is good enough for me."
-- Ted Solotaroff, Truth Comes in Blows

Bon vivant comes from French bon, "good" (from Latin bonus) + vivant, present participle of vivre, "to live," from Latin vivere.

100 Movies,100 Quotes, 100 Numbers

Top 10 List of Twins Names in 2006

Names of twins born in 2006

Rank	Names	Number
1	Jacob, Joshua	67
2	Matthew, Michael	54
3	Daniel, David	52
4	Ella, Emma	38
5	Isaac, Isaiah	38
6	Madison, Morgan	36
7	Landon, Logan	35
8	Taylor, Tyler	35
9	Brandon, Bryan	34
10	Christian, Christopher	33

Thanks Social Security Online for the info.

A reminder to all that at the bottom of The Mint Julep, you will find a cartoon from Newsbusters, which is updated daily. Unfortunately the bottom of this page is the most convenient, albeit highly inconspicuous, place to put a daily cartoon. This being the case, I have created this post to put today's cartoon in a bit more of a prominent place.

acrimony \AK-ruh-moh-nee\, noun:

Bitter, harsh, or biting sharpness, as of language, disposition, or manners.

In years to come, liturgical infighting ranked alongside disputed patents, contested fortunes, and savage political feuds as a source of McCormick family acrimony.
-- Richard Norton Smith, The Colonel

Dallas Trip

I just got back from a trip to Dallas. Normally while on the road, I end up staying in a place like the Marriot or a Hampton Inn, but our client hooked us up with a corporate rate at the swanky Hotel Zaza in uptown Dallas. Apparently it is frequented by celebrities - and that makes very good sense, for it catered to the customer's every whim. The rooms were double the size of your standard Hampton Inn, accentuated by full length sofas, 42" flat screen TVs, and bottles of oxygen for your personal use.



After checking in, my colleague and I headed over to Stephan Pyles for dinner. This was one of the better meals I have had a in very long time. The restaurant has a very nouveux, southwestern feel to it. We started off with a ceviche - Halibut with Avocados and Tomatillos, and a sampling of four unique types of gazpacho. I then ordered the Hoja Santa Salmon Packet on Golden Crabmeat Paella (see picture). By the way, this picture looks exactly like the dish I ate. It is hard to make out, but steamed salmon is actually wrapped in this lettuce-type wrap, and placed on a bed of rice and crab. It came out piping hot and was fantastic.



The whole dining experience was unbelievable, and the service exceptional. All in all, both the ZaZa and Stephen Pyle's were As. If ever in Dallas, I highly recommend both.

The Annual Quintessential Mint Julep Post

With the 133rd running of the Kentucky Derby tomorrow, I feel that it is my absolute duty as author of The Mint Julep, to write a post concerning that lovely libation that is the essence of Kentucky in May. Of course, I am talking about the Mint Julep.

Eric Felton from the Wall Street Journal paid the Mint Julep a tribute in his weekly "How's Your Drink?" column, citing Southern author Walker Percy's observations about the Julep.

But now on to the most important part of this post. Just as I did on this day, one year ago, and just as I did on this day two years ago, so too today will I include a letter, written from a Lieutenant in World War II, to a fellow comrade. The description of how to create this fine beverage is nothing less than awe-inspiring, and worth reading in whole. Please enjoy.

March 30, 1937

My dear General Connor,

Your letter requesting my formula for mixing mint juleps leaves me in the same position in which Captain Barber found himself when asked how he was able to carve the image of an elephant from a block of wood. He replied that it was a simple process consisting merely of whittling off the part that didn't look like an elephant.

The preparation of the quintessence of gentlemanly beverages can be described only in like terms. A mint julep is not the product of a FORMULA. It is a CEREMONY and must be performed by a gentleman possessing a true sense of the artistic, a deep reverence for the ingredients and a proper appreciation of the occasion. It is a rite that must not be entrusted to a novice, a statistician, nor a Yankee. It is a heritage of the old South, an emblem of hospitality and a vehicle in which noble minds can travel together upon the flower-strewn paths of happy and congenial thought.

So far as the mere mechanics of the operation are concerned, the procedure, stripped of its ceremonial embellishments, can be described as follows:

Go to a spring where cool, crystal-clear water bubbles from under a bank of dew-washed ferns. In a consecrated vessel, dip up a little water at the source. Follow the stream through its banks of green moss and wildflowers until it broadens and trickles through beds of mint growing in aromatic profusion and waving softly in the summer breezes. Gather the sweetest and most tender shoots and gently carry them home. Go to the sideboard and select a decanter of Kentucky Bourbon, distilled by a master hand, mellowed with age yet still vigorous and inspiring. An ancestral sugar bowl, a row of silver goblets, some spoons and some ice and you are ready to start.

In a canvas bag, pound twice as much ice as you think you will need. Make it fine as snow, keep it dry and do not allow it to degenerate into slush.

In each goblet, put a slightly heaping teaspoonful of granulated sugar, barely cover this with spring water and slightly bruise one mint leaf into this, leaving the spoon in the goblet. Then pour elixir from the decanter until the goblets are about one-fourth full. Fill the goblets with snowy ice, sprinkling in a small amount of sugar as you fill. Wipe the outsides of the goblets dry and embellish copiously with mint.

Then comes the important and delicate operation of frosting. By proper manipulation of the spoon, the ingredients are circulated and blended until Nature, wishing to take a further hand and add another of its beautiful phenomena, encrusts the whole in a glittering coat of white frost. Thus harmoniously blended by the deft touches of a skilled hand, you have a beverage eminently appropriate for honorable men and beautiful women.

When all is ready, assemble your guests on the porch or in the garden, where the aroma of the juleps will rise Heavenward and make the birds sing. Propose a worthy toast, raise the goblet to your lips, bury your nose in the mint, inhale a deep breath of its fragrance and sip the nectar of the gods.

Being overcome by thirst, I can write no further.

Sincerely,
S.B. Buckner, Jr.

Legally Blonde

Last Sunday the show Legally Blonde opened on Broadway. Legally Blonde stars Laura Bundy, a talented actress from Lexington, KY. In fact, Laura and I went to the same school - she is three grades ahead of me. In any case, I happened to be up in New York last Sunday, and was on Broadway when Legally Blond let out. The picture heading this post is the one I took as everyone was leaving. It is supposed to be a good show. Here is a nice article from the Lexington Herald Leader about the show, and here is an AP review.

Happy 90th, I.M. Pei

I want to give a Friday morning acknowledgement to I. M. Pei, who, I would call, the last great architect. He likes to work primarily with stone, concrete, and glass. You have no doubt seen many of his achievements, ranging from the Louvre Pyramid to the East Building at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. (both pictured below) Pei turned 90 yesterday, yet he is still able to produce new projects at an astonishing rate. His latest is the NASCAR Hall of Fame, set to open in 2009.

At three minutes and four seconds after 2:00 a.m. on the 6th of May this year, the time and date will be 02:03:04 05/06/07. This will never happen again.

Update

I have now taken my large test and should have a bit more free time to post items on here. However, in the immediate future I will be somewhat busy with travel - Sewanee tomorrow, St Louis next Monday and Tuesday, and New York, NY the Monday and Tuesday after that.

Now, for something interesting, below is an excerpt about Rudyard Kipling, found on Wikipedia.




Kipling was one of the most popular writers in English, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The author Henry James famously said of him: "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known." In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, making him the first English language writer to receive the prize, and he remains today its youngest-ever recipient. Among other honours, he was sounded out for the British Poet Laureateship and on several occasions for a knighthood, all of which he rejected.

For more, see here.

-EDIT - General Electric may have set a record last year by filing a return that, had it been printed on paper, would have totaled more than 24,000 pages.

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

My apologies for the dearth of posts recently. I have a large exam coming up on Wednesday and have been preoccupied with studying. I'll be back to providing interesting articles, videos, and word of the days, soon.

One thought before I go. I agree that Imus's comments were over the line, but it seems to me like the public outcry is a little over the top. The lead story on NBC news the past couple of nights has been about this guy. He was wrong, but why is it the leading story on all major media outlets this entire week? I don't get it. Why don't they go report some real news, like all the children that are being murdered in Darfur.