Total Quality Management in TN

When I was a Total Quality Managment Consultant and taught team oriented problem solving classes to teams from industry, I would also make ZUCCHINI BREAD and take it on the last day for all the students as a thank you for their great participation.  Typically, not everyone at the beginning of the class would be sold on the class but by the end of the class, 12 weeks later, they could not thank me enough for all I had taught them.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 cups zucchini grated/shredded
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla

Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  This makes enough to fill 2-8x4 baking pans.  Be sure to put flour on the bottom of each pan so it will not stick.

I usually had about 20-24 students, so I would make two batches or fill 4 baking pans.  Each pan would be cut into 8 pieces, so I would have a total of 32 slices in case someone wanted two pieces.

As a Total Quality Management consultant, I would teach the following classes:

• Statistical Process Control
• Process Re-engineering
• Team Oriented Problem Solving
• Train the Trainer
• The Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Awards Auditing
• ISO9000 National Quality Standards
• QS9000 Quality Standard for the Auto Industry
• Quality Gap Analysis
• Strategic Planning

In addition to being a Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Awards Auditor and an ISO9000 National Quality Standards Certification Auditor, I would teach companies how to audit themselves in order to become CERTIFIED or win the National Award.

The Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award was patterned after the DEMING PRIZE in Japan.  

Back in the 1990s before Dr. Edwards Deming died, I was fortunate enough to sit in a couple of his seminars given to the employees of Tennessee Eastman located in Kingsport, TN.

Today, Statistical Process Control is referred to as Six Sigma Training, and if you teach the class you must become certified as a BLACK BELT IN SIX SIGMA.

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I was one of only two people who taught this in TN.  I left NC for this opportunity because there were dozens of people like me, already trained and in the marketplace.

It was the best decision of my life.

Mugshot

My Adventure Into the ARTS

 Reflections: White Scorpion: My Art (reflectionsinthoughts.blogspot.com)

The above link, will take you to a page on my poetry blog where I have posted some of my artwork.  Most of my art is done with acrylics and not oils and I cannot remember why I made that choice.  

I am self-taught except for a class I had in charcoal drawing of still life.  Charcoal is messy but there is a lot you can do with charcoal that you cannot do with acrylics, oils, or watercolors.

I was going to pursue art more, but life got in the way of those plans.  But, in addition to oils, acrylics, and watercolors, I wanted to explore sculpture, throwing clay, printmaking, and photography.

For 8 years, I was Executive Director of an Arts Council that promoted every aspect of the arts that you can imagine.  Adult theater, children's theater, outdoor drama group, arts and crafts guilds like included weaving and jewelry making, a community band, street festivals, art auctions, artist is schools, traveling art exhibits, and a gallery that had a different artist featured each month.

I don't consider myself an artist nor do I consider myself a novelist, but I have almost finished 10 novels each of which is over 100,000 words.

I like the works of traditional artists most of the time because of their realism...  but, modern art has an attraction for me as well.  I don't like the modern artist that cuts holes in buckets, then fills them with paint and swings them back and for over a canvas.  However, Picasso's work is also considered modern and much of his work is fantastic.

If you have not have a chance to view the work of BOB ROSS...  then you should do a google search and find him.  He is dead now, but he mastered the wet on wet technique and his paintings are quite skillfully done.

Lastly, I have gotten into doodling with a pen, not a pencil and have hundreds of them in files.  Below, you will find a few of my doodles that I sent to a friend of mine in Canada.

Living in the Tennessee Valley

We own our home and made $30,000 profit selling our former home and after buying this one.  Our CDs generated $45,000 after 18 months that we used on this new house, to get it to the point where we wanted it, although we did not have to do anything.

My wife is 70 and I am 75 and we both have back issues and I think her's are worse than mine.  Now we are living on one floor with only two steps and we are inside.  Our yard is small and takes less than an hour to mow and trim.

My wife and I have been retired since 2015 and plan on living another 20+ years if we are lucky.  My wife's parents lived into their 80s.  My father died at 88 and my mother died just shy of her 96 birthday.  She was relatively mobile up until the end which I thought was amazing.

Once we retired, we have gone on numerous cruises:  Caribbean, Mediterranean, Alaskan, Hawaiian Island and have flow to Europe several times as well as to various places in the USA.  We are toying on making ONE FINAL BIG JOURNEY but we don't know where nor do we know when, although its gotta be in the next couple of years.

We both eat healthy and used to exercise regularly by walking but our back problems have curtailed that activity.  We do yard work but that is about all and I trust that we will convince ourselves to start walking again.

We have saved enough money to pay our bills until both reach 95 years of age, which also includes one of us dying early and the other one needing a caretaker of sorts or a home for the elderly.  Many people our age do not have that kind of financial security.  We are not wealthy and never wanted to be.  Too many negative issues associated with being wealthy.

My wife likes to watch K-dramas and I like to write and maintain two blogs daily.  I sometimes watch a movie or a series but there is not much worth watching these days.  We used to have cable but now we have a fiber optics connection to the internet and have a ROKU with a subscription to HULU, Netlflix, and Prime.

We usually go out to eat once a week which is typically an early dinner to avoid waiting in crowds of to a weekend brunch at a local restaurant called Perkins or IHOP.  Our dinners are usually at Panera Bread, Cheddars, O'Charleys, Olive Garden, or Texas Roadhouse...  although, we have visited others but don't return very often.

In two weeks, we will drive to Myrtle Beach, SC for a week, staying in a condo with a kitchen; however, our dinners will always be in restaurants, with breakfast and lunch at the condo.  We rent two chairs and an umbrella.  My wife is out under the umbrella from 9am until 5pm but I might spend a couple hours in the morning and a couple in the afternoon and the rest inside the condo out of the sun.

Our entire trip include condo fee, groceries, meals out, and gasoline is usually between $1,500 and $2,000 but never over $2,000.  Most of the time we are $150 on either side of $1,500.  After being under the umbrella until 4pm, we get cleaned up for dinner and window shopping. Every once in a while we will buy something.  We are usually back in the condo between 9-10pm.

Our new neighbors are friendly when we see them but we don't see them that often.  The community is basically composed of retired couple with a few couples not even close to retirement.  A few houses down from us is a Eddie who claims to be retired from organized crime and spent some time in jail.  Just tales, no real proof but they are interesting stories to listen to.  He has the New York accent.

Inside our home there is a fan in every damn room so there is air blowing around all the time.  The AC is on now but we don't have to keep it that low.  There is plenty of room inside but there is no wasted space because we have too much.

The Tennessee Valley has been good to me much better than the Piedmont of North Carolina would have been.

Somewhat Political

 

Preplanned Destruction

 Former President Donald Trump has been indicted 4 times and faces 91 felony charges...  all of which has been designed by the Democratic Party to keep him from becoming President again in 2024.

The USA Department of Justice and FBI have been weaponized by the Democratic Party to SILENCE their conservative opposition.  Additionally, the mainstream media is covering up this issue by ignoring it when reporting the news.

Without spending much time analyzing this situation, my first impression and thought is that this is exactly what happens in 3rd world countries or communist countries or dictatorships.

This is not something that has ever happened in the USA until now...

WHY?

Hard the say...  but, the Democratic Party is SCARED of DONALD TRUMP...  and, the Democratic Party does not perceive ANYONE in the Republican Party about which to be concerned from the standpoint of needing to silence.

However...  both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are IMPOTENT from the standpoint of wanting to do anything positive for the American people.  Giving them more and more services, is not helping the people, it is making them more dependent upon the Federal Government.

At some point in time, our Federal Government will be put into a situation where they will be forced to stopped many of those services because of short falls in tax revenues.   AND...  it is painfully clear that most millionaires and billionaires HIDE their money in tax free accounts to AVOID PAYING USA TAXES...

For some reason, unknown to me, these billionaires know exactly what they are doing and why...  they just will not tell anyone.  But, this is exactly what they want to have happen in the USA.

My thoughts are that they want to DESTROY THE MIDDLE CLASS...  however, I have no clue(s) as to why.

Once the average American sees what is happening it will be too late to STOP IT...

Rolling

 

The Reasons Why the Bidens Got Away with It

Joe Biden and his family have been influence peddling for more than a decade. But when he became Vice President under Barack Obama, the family syndicate kicked it into overdrive to score tens of millions of dollars from the very countries over which the Veep was put in charge of foreign policy. Let’s call it the "Great Selling Out of America." It deserves a monument in Washington for outstanding achievement in graft and bribery.

The Bidens have always gotten away with it. 

Why? 

Three reasons.

First, they were good at corruption. When Hunter demanded $10 million from a Beijing partner controlled by the Chinese Community Party, he boasted in a message, "The Biden’s (sic) are the best I know at doing exactly what the Chairman wants." Days later, millions began flowing to the Biden-controlled accounts. Access to Joe and promises of future influence were bought and paid for.

The second reason why "Joe incorporated" managed to evade criminal charges is because his collaborators were skilled at covering up the cash. Hunter (aka "the bagman") set up a complex web of shell companies to funnel millions of dollars. The payola was then cleansed by hard-to-trace wire transfers that shuffled it through one account after another before landing in the greedy hands of Joe’s immediate relatives who did nothing to earn a penny of it.

The third reason is that the government willfully chose to look the other way. Documents show that many top members of Obama’s administration knew and were alarmed. But they scarcely lifted a finger to stop it. Meanwhile, the FBI and the Department of Justice worked sedulously to suppress and bury the incriminating evidence. They exerted brazen political interference to make the probe disappear into a black hole of ignored crimes that mobsters can only dream about.  READ MORE...

Tsunami

 

Thinking About a Newer Vehicle

 My wife and I each have a vehicle.  Mine is a 2015 Toyota Venza; she has a 2015 Lexus.  Each of these vehicles were purchased after being leased for a year at a substantial savings.

At some point in time, we want to only have one vehicle but we are not there yet.  I suspect the downsizing of vehicles will happen in the next 2-3 years.

Currently, we are thinking about trading in the Venza for a new car but not a brand new car...  another leased vehicle perhaps.  We are looking around at a variety of cars but all within the Toyota family or Lexus.  They are the Lexus RX350, Toyota Venza, or Toyota RAV4.

The dimensions for all three vehicles are about the same give or take an inch or two.  So, that realization neutralizes the size issue.  Our other issues are:

• Cost
• Quality
• Repairs
• Ride

If we can get relatively the same level of quality of ride from a cheaper vehicle, then the cost issue is eliminated and we have saved $20,000 from the getgo.

The cheaper vehicles have cheaper repair costs so that issue is basically resolved.

One of the things that we could do on the cheaper vehicles is swap out tires and put the widest tire that is acceptable.  The bigger the tire the smoother the ride.

We know from the getgo that the Lexus RX350 is going to be a great FINAL VEHICLE for us as we have owned an RX350 (used) once before.  However, the taste of saving money is a huge tease for one of the other two vehicles.

One of the issues that we both are facing is back issues, so getting in and out and how it sits, are going to be worth a higher price in the long run.

Of course, these are all paper notations and the only way to be sure with any of this is to go out into the field and actually sit in the car.

We were thinking about doing this when we go to Myrtle Beach in a couple of weeks, so we could tell the salesperson that we are on vacation and just looking for something to do.

It ain't nothing personal...  it's just business.

Remembering

One of the things that human beings do well is remember.  We help ourselves remember by saving letters and cards and taking lots of photographs and videos.

I remember doing all of that at some point in time during my life, but I never remember going back and looking at them, unless a photo was sent to me via email.

How far back do you remember?

• when you were first born
• when you were 3 years old
• when you were 8 years old or ten

Sometimes when I have nothing better to do, I will try and remember all my girlfriends...  or all my lovers... or the friends I had in elementary school or high school.

I remember a few from high school and that's because we stayed in touch with each other.

I remember 2 people from when I was in the military but only 1 from college and 1 from graduate school.

I remember only 2-3 co-workers after a 45 year career and only 1 of my bosses.

Is there something wrong with my mind, I have asked myself over and over?  But, I have no answers.

I was married 23 years before getting a divorce and remember her name and can visualize her parents, brother and sister, but cannot remember anything that we did together.  Yet, I know we did numerous things together.

I have been married to my second wife for 25 years and cannot remember some of the vacations that she said we had when sharing those stories with friends.

Is there something wrong with my mind?

I am 75 years old and sometimes do not remember what I did yesterday or what I had to eat or if I cooked that meal or just put something in the microwave.

I don't remember directions even though I am the one who is driving the vehicle but I vaguely recall some of the scenery that we pass when making that trip again.

On the other side of the coin, I remember my social security number and the address of our home when I was in elementary school and the name of the community.  But, if I was up there and in that area, I could not tell you how to drive there.

I vividly remember the last time that I saw my daughter but not what she was wearing.  I can see her face, her hair, and her smile...  but, I don't know if any of that is right or just a MEMORY.

 

San Andreas Fault

 

Zinc-air Batteries Powering Electric Vehicles

Graphical abstract. Credit: EcoMat (2023). DOI: 10.1002/eom2.12394

Zinc-air batteries have emerged as a better alternative to lithium in a recent Edith Cowan University (ECU) study into the advancement of sustainable battery systems.

ECU's Dr. Muhammad Rizwan Azhar led the project which discovered lithium-ion batteries, although a popular choice for electric vehicles around the world, face limitations related to cost, finite resources, and safety concerns. The work is published in the journal EcoMat.

"Rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs) are becoming more appealing because of their low cost, environmental friendliness, high theoretical energy density, and inherent safety," Dr. Muhammad Rizwan Azhar said.

"With the emergence of next-generation long-range vehicles and electric aircraft in the market, there is an increasing need for safer, more cost-effective, and high-performance battery systems that can surpass the capabilities of lithium-ion batteries."

Zinc-air: An explainer
A zinc–air battery consists of a zinc negative electrode and an air positive electrode.

The major disadvantage of these has been the limited power output, due to poor performance of air electrodes and short lifespan—until now.

ECU's breakthrough has enabled engineers to use a combination of new materials, such as carbon, cheaper iron and cobalt based minerals to redesign zinc-air batteries.  READ MORE...

Somewhat Political

 

Thank Goodness It's Friday

We all cannot wait until Friday because the next two days we have off from work.  However, for most of us we are either working a second job...  or, we spend those two days working around the house getting numerous chores and tasks accomplished.  We simply trade one job for another job.

If you are wealthy or an entrepreneur, then you work 24/7 whether you like it or not.  However, if you are one of those two, then there is no way that you don't like what you are doing.  You work regardless of the needs of your spouse and/or family.  This is not a male issue as it applies to both genders, and I suppose TRANS who are in either one of those two categories as well.

When I was working, I usually worked 10+ hour days and always brought my work home on the weekends and with me on vacations.  It wasn't that I was getting wealthier by doing this, it was because I wanted to do a thorough job.  My employers never appreciated my loyalty or my willingness to treat my work like this...  at least they never stated anything to my face about it or put their appreciation down on paper in the form of a memo or letter.

In 2015, I retired after working 45 years.  I could have kept working and generating money that I did not need and save that extra money, but I was just so tired of all the bullshit associated with work and all the asshole bosses that I just needed to get away from it all.

It's been 14 years almost (13 years 7 months) since that happened and I have yet to regret a day, although I miss teaching as I really enjoyed doing that...  more so that being an educational administrator which I was most of my career.

I taught college students who mainly saw themselves as special because they were there.  They had no desire to learn or retain...  all they wanted to do was memorize for the test and make an "A".  That was the only thing that bothered me about the students but in my classes I created scenarios that forced them to learn by doing.  At the end of the class, they were grateful.

Today, my days are spent doing only that yard or housework that I absolutely have to do.  The rest of my day is spent maintaining blogs, writing, and listening to the news.

My wife and I retired at the same time and for the first five years, we went on weeklong vacations every other month.  It took 5 years to get that out of our systems.  Now, we just got to Myrtle Beach, SC once a twice in the summer and that is it.  The rest of the time, we are home or going to doctor appointment or receiving treatments.

Retirement is not bad but if you are retired then more often than not you are either 62 or 67 and you have health issues or will soon be getting health issues.  Wealth cannot prevent the body getting old.

It is my belief that if you do not have something to do in retirement like traveling or a hobby that being retired will be miserable.  You don't need to have a lot of friends although having friends gives you something to do.  Keep this in mind, if you have been thinking about retirement.

You will get bored if all you do is sit around and watch something on cable...  unless it is something where you are learning something.

What I intended to write from the getgo and forgot was that weekends no longer matter to me...  so, TGIF is meaningless...

Helping

 

The Nuclear Fusion Era Has Arrived

In December of 2022, the National Ignition Facility reached an unprecedented milestone in nuclear fusion research: passing the vaunted "breakeven" point.

Now, for the second time and with even better efficiency, more energy was liberated from a fusion reaction than was used to create the fusion reaction: a repeat, verification, and improvement of the original breakthrough.

The old saying of "fusion is 50 years away, and always will be" is no longer the case. But will we invest enough resources in the right places to bring it to fruition?

Last year, on December 5, 2022, an incredible milestone was achieved: for the first time, a nuclear fusion reaction experienced what’s known as a net energy gain. 

This means, remarkably, that the energy liberated from a nuclear fusion reaction exceeded the (useful) energy that was inputted into the reaction. 

This wasn’t achieved by a magnetic confinement fusion reactor, which is where most of the worldwide fusion funding is centered, nor by any among the hundreds of private laboratories dedicated to bringing commercial fusion to the public, but rather by a largely forgotten source: the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

This year, on July 30, 2023, the National Ignition Facility did it again, and in an even superior fashion: repeating their results and achieving an even higher energy yield than in the December prior.

 All of this was achieved despite a paltry amount of funding being directed toward nuclear fusion research by the U.S. government: an average of just half-a-billion dollars per year across all endeavors, combined. 

With this recent confirmation, the path toward developing widespread nuclear fusion as the anchor to a clean, carbon-neutral energy economy is now clearer than ever. 

But in order to truly achieve it, we not only need to be brave and bold, but also focused, as the distractions and pitfalls could truly divert us from the ultimate goal.  READ MORE...

Carl Sagan

 

A Day in the Life

Today, was not a normal day because I slept in until 9am when I am normally up around 7:30 am.  We got in late last night from Nashville and I had to prepare the Journal Blog for today, so that kept me up substantially longer.

This morning I had Physical Therapy on my right shoulder which marks session number 5.  I will have therapy tomorrow as they want me to have PT 3 times a week.  It will probably last another week but not much longer than that and I may be told tomorrow I am done.

From 9am until 11am, I watched FOX News and heard about the less than dynamic GOP Debate that took place last night.  After hearing that report, I am glad I was not home to watch it.

While I was waiting in the car (with the AC running) I listened to talk radio...  the Dan Bongino show.  His comments about the debate were similar to those of FOX News but he did mention that the word is out on the street to KILL TRUMP before he has a chance to go to trial and then to jail.

If I were Trump, I would take my Billions and go somewhere where there is no extradition treaty with the USA and live out my life and say SCREW THE USA...  but, obviously, I am not Trump...   He seems to like fights and controversy and I must admit it is a lot of good free publicity.

After therapy and after the early afternoon THUNDER SHOWER, I decided to cook something on the stove.  It is not really spaghetti nor is is Goulash but I suppose it is similar to both.  Instead of ground beef, I am using ground turkey.  Right now, it is simmering on the stove to boil out the juices.

The rest of the day will be spent doing pretty much nothing, except take out the garbage for pick-up tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I have IVIG infusion in the morning (about 2 hour and some change) and therapy in the afternoon.  Other than that, it will be a quiet afternoon with perhaps some writing but no cooking.

 

Political Entertainment

Most people, whether liberal or conservative will tell you that the main issues when it comes to voting for a President is:

1. taxes
2. a healthy economy
3. social programs
4. abortion
5. green energy
6. maybe inflation
7. maybe education
8. maybe foreign policy
9. maybe defense
10. maybe national debt

But... in reality...  they want a President that is ENTERTAINING...

Ronald Reagan was entertaining

Bill Clinton was entertaining

Barrack Obama was entertaining

Donald Trump was entertaining

Citizens that answer questions on polls answer those questions based on two factors:

• How the question is worded
• What they perceive their response should be

If you were to go places to listen to people let's say at,

the gym,

the grocery store,

the shopping mall,

on the street,

on a college campus, politics would be the last issue on their minds.

If they are single they are only interested in finding a date.

If they are working, they are only interested in what they need to do to keep from getting fired.

Boys want to talk about girls and girls want to talk about boys...  age level does not matter.

Couples want to talk about house projects, baby sitters, where the best sales are located, and where to find a quality handyman...  or person, because I am sure there are some handywomen around.

Our current president Biden is not very entertaining and as a result, the media has very little to say about him other than they perceive that he is doing a good job AT LEAST FOR HALF THE COUNTRY...

If you watched last night's GOP debate, there was no one on the stage who was entertaining...  no one caught the attention of the viewer.  There were some boring verbal battles that amounted to nothing, but nothing was said or done to make you stand up and get insulted or remember.

None of these GOP candidates had a PLAN...  although some said they would do this or that but no well thought through plan of action to do anything.   It was just SOS from politicians.

When I talk to my next door neighbors they want to know what I put on my grass to make it so green or did you hear the latest about this other neighbor.  Or, did you know the neighbor on the other side of your neighbor went to jail.  Or, would you like to have a beer and sit in the shade.

NO ONE TALKS POLITICS.  They may say that gas prices went up or down a few cents but no finger pointing as to why.  I share my negative tale about Lowes and how they screwed us on our flooring and would not admit their mistake.  I would share my call to Lowe's corporate but nothing else.

All we want to do is live out our last few years in relative comfort...   politics, unless it is entertaining, is not on the discussion agenda.