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Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Still Boneheaded After All These Years...
This story must be put in some geographic and historic perspective.
Due to a boneheaded decision from the city's politicians during the 19th Century,
St. Louis' city boundaries haven't changed since 1876. At the time, the boundary ran through mostly rural farmland adjacent to St. Louis County. The idea, shortsighted as it was, was to free the wealthier, urbane city folks from the tax burden of supporting the needs of their poorer, farming neighbors in the county.
As the years passed, St. Louis' urban area expanded into this county frontier, but the city's outer boundary did not. By the 1960s, most of the area's wealth and tax base resided in the county, which was a complete reversal of the situation when the boundary freeze was first enacted. Now, the 'city' of St. Louis...still separated from the county...contains mostly impoverished and blighted neighborhoods.
And the 134-year-old boundary that's still in place now runs through some of the most urbanized terrain one could possibly see in the U.S.
Had St. Louis been allowed to expand and develop as most major American cities did (e.g., Indianapolis), suburbs like Clayton, Kirkwood, Webster Groves and Florissant would be city neighborhoods. And, the statistics from this study, I believe, would paint St. Louis in a much more favorable light.
I wonder how Chicago or New York would have fared in this study if they retained their 1876 city limits.
Due to a boneheaded decision from the city's politicians during the 19th Century,
St. Louis' city boundaries haven't changed since 1876. At the time, the boundary ran through mostly rural farmland adjacent to St. Louis County. The idea, shortsighted as it was, was to free the wealthier, urbane city folks from the tax burden of supporting the needs of their poorer, farming neighbors in the county.As the years passed, St. Louis' urban area expanded into this county frontier, but the city's outer boundary did not. By the 1960s, most of the area's wealth and tax base resided in the county, which was a complete reversal of the situation when the boundary freeze was first enacted. Now, the 'city' of St. Louis...still separated from the county...contains mostly impoverished and blighted neighborhoods.
And the 134-year-old boundary that's still in place now runs through some of the most urbanized terrain one could possibly see in the U.S.Had St. Louis been allowed to expand and develop as most major American cities did (e.g., Indianapolis), suburbs like Clayton, Kirkwood, Webster Groves and Florissant would be city neighborhoods. And, the statistics from this study, I believe, would paint St. Louis in a much more favorable light.
I wonder how Chicago or New York would have fared in this study if they retained their 1876 city limits.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Leadership Doesn't Always Come in Pinstripes
An informal leader is someone within an organization who is seen as worthy of following despite not having an ‘official’ title.
I used to work as a forklift operator in a warehouse that was more or less guided by an informal leader. There was an older forklift operator there who could probably drive circles around everyone else. I think his name was Clarence, but everyone called him “PeeWee”.
PeeWee knew every nook and cranny of that warehouse,
and knew how to keep our whole fleet of fork trucks, tuggers and pallet jacks running consistently and safely. Formal management saw him as the “go to” guy when logistical problems arose. And he had the utmost respect of his peers.
Oddly, PeeWee always scoffed at formal leadership. I once asked him about becoming warehouse supervisor. He responded by first cussing under his breath and then said, “No way, man.” I think he thought, perhaps rightly so, that a formal title would bring more responsibility, culpability and stress.
I used to work as a forklift operator in a warehouse that was more or less guided by an informal leader. There was an older forklift operator there who could probably drive circles around everyone else. I think his name was Clarence, but everyone called him “PeeWee”.
PeeWee knew every nook and cranny of that warehouse,
and knew how to keep our whole fleet of fork trucks, tuggers and pallet jacks running consistently and safely. Formal management saw him as the “go to” guy when logistical problems arose. And he had the utmost respect of his peers. Oddly, PeeWee always scoffed at formal leadership. I once asked him about becoming warehouse supervisor. He responded by first cussing under his breath and then said, “No way, man.” I think he thought, perhaps rightly so, that a formal title would bring more responsibility, culpability and stress.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Define Quality...and Drop Down and Give Me Twenty!
Back in 1999, I was working on a manufacturing assembly line helping make semi-trailers 
for a company that was seeking to meet ISO 9002 requirements.
It was here where I first heard quality defined as “meeting or exceeding customer expectations”. With a pending shop floor review from ISO auditors, company supervisors instructed me and my co-workers to recite this phrase word for word when we were most assuredly going to be asked: What is quality?
At the time, I thought the whole thing was rather silly. But that’s probably because my company did a rather poor job of explaining the ISO process to its workers…and handled the quality definition recitation as if we were prisoners of war reciting just our name, rank and serial number.
I’ve come to learn that the ISO is an international quality accreditation organization that determines whether a company meets a standardized process which helps the company meet both its and the general public’s needs.
As for my company, it met the requirements. Within months after winning approval, we began producing trailers with ‘ISO 9002’ emblazoned across our company’s logo.
for a company that was seeking to meet ISO 9002 requirements.It was here where I first heard quality defined as “meeting or exceeding customer expectations”. With a pending shop floor review from ISO auditors, company supervisors instructed me and my co-workers to recite this phrase word for word when we were most assuredly going to be asked: What is quality?
At the time, I thought the whole thing was rather silly. But that’s probably because my company did a rather poor job of explaining the ISO process to its workers…and handled the quality definition recitation as if we were prisoners of war reciting just our name, rank and serial number.
I’ve come to learn that the ISO is an international quality accreditation organization that determines whether a company meets a standardized process which helps the company meet both its and the general public’s needs.
As for my company, it met the requirements. Within months after winning approval, we began producing trailers with ‘ISO 9002’ emblazoned across our company’s logo.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Inside Satisfaction
At work in my company’s packaging department, supervisors assign the task of making ready-to-use boxes out of cardboard flats
to one person at the start of every shift. All this person does for 12 hours is make certain that the five or six packaging lines, which don’t have automatic box-making machines, are properly supplied with boxes. This usually entails converting roughly 5 thousand flats into usable boxes.
By supplying these lines with boxes, the box-maker is serving the needs of his or her customers, which in this example are internal. And in order for my company to reach total quality, it must place equal importance on satisfying these internal customers as it does on its external customers, who are, of course, the consumers who purchase the final product in retail stores.
Poorly made boxes can cause the product to fall out and get scrapped. Failing to supply these boxes in a timely manner can cause unnecessary down time. Both cases in point cut into company profits. Customers…both external and internal…are the judges of quality.
to one person at the start of every shift. All this person does for 12 hours is make certain that the five or six packaging lines, which don’t have automatic box-making machines, are properly supplied with boxes. This usually entails converting roughly 5 thousand flats into usable boxes.By supplying these lines with boxes, the box-maker is serving the needs of his or her customers, which in this example are internal. And in order for my company to reach total quality, it must place equal importance on satisfying these internal customers as it does on its external customers, who are, of course, the consumers who purchase the final product in retail stores.
Poorly made boxes can cause the product to fall out and get scrapped. Failing to supply these boxes in a timely manner can cause unnecessary down time. Both cases in point cut into company profits. Customers…both external and internal…are the judges of quality.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Higher Prices means Better Qual...er uh..Advertising!
Do we get what we pay for?
If it were a perfect world, high prices would translate into high quality. But in reality, the two do not necessarily go hand in hand.
There are countless examples of higher-priced products not having more quality than their cheaper competitors. One area where consumers often find this contrary price/quality relationship is in the prescription drug market.
The drug commercials we see on TV would have us believe that their brand-name drug is superior, but the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) says this isn’t so.
The FDA requires generic drugs to meet the same safety standards as their name-brand counterparts. Generic drug makers can charge less because they haven’t had to spend as much in developing the product. But let's not forget some this higher cost can be attributed also to advertising and packaging.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
My Hell
The New York Yankees
Circle I Limbo
Libertarians
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind
Ben Bernanke
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow
General asshats
Circle IV Rolling Weights
Creationists
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled
River Styx
George Bush
Circle VI Buried for Eternity
River Phlegyas
Republicans
Circle VII Burning Sands
Bernie Madoff
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement
Osama bin Laden
Circle IX Frozen in Ice
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