Quote of the Day

A committee is the organized result of a group of the incompetent who have been anointed by the uninformed to accomplish the unnecessary.

- Winston Churchill

Sluggish Behavior

I'm sorry for the lateness in posting material and comments today. I was in what is affectionately known as Baja Arizona as well as Nogales, Mexico.

Since they let me back in the country things will stabilize soon.

The Imus Stages

The decision by radio host Don Imus to go on the Reverend Al Sharpton's radio program to issue an apology for racist remarks could have been made by Machiavelli.

The choice of forum immediately raises questions about Sharpton's standing to judge anyone - he is a noted race hustler - makes the loutish Imus look relatively better by comparison, and creates sympathy - in my judgment undeserved - because of Sharpton's attacks.

In the meantime, John McWhorter analyzes the reaction.

These episodes have become all too familiar. The stages seem to be:

Offense - Indignation - Exploitation.

Global Warming Dissent

There is no compelling evidence that the warming trend we've seen will amount to anything close to catastrophe. What most commentators—and many scientists—seem to miss is that the only thing we can say with certainly about climate is that it changes. The earth is always warming or cooling by as much as a few tenths of a degree a year; periods of constant average temperatures are rare. Looking back on the earth's climate history, it's apparent that there's no such thing as an optimal temperature—a climate at which everything is just right. The current alarm rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world, temperaturewise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are somehow more reliable than the weatherman's forecast for next week.

Richard S. Lindzen is the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Read the rest of his article here.

[HT: Dennis Prager ]

Quote of the Day

Don't be so humble. You're not that great.

- Golda Meir

Office Decor: Scrabble Sofas

Geekologie has the details on Scrabble Sofas.

I know of a few Scrabble fanatics who will regard this as necessary decor.

Floating Down the River of Decision Making

A strange story from Arizona history illustrates the danger that lurks in the details.

During World War II, a prisoner of war camp was set up in what is now the Papago Park area of Phoenix. German prisoners of war, many of them hard-core Nazis, were kept at the camp. Italian prisoners of war were also held in the Phoenix area.

Toward the end of the war, some of the German prisoners planned an escape. Their plan was to dig a tunnel in a "blind spot" created by hanging laundry and crawl under the fences. By studying a map, they concocted a plan to make their way to a nearby river and float down to Mexico. They could then return to Germany and continue the fight.

There was only one problem with the scheme and they learned this after the escape. Although the map clearly indicated a river, rivers in Arizona - unlike those in Germany - are often missing an important item: water. There was nothing to float on. The POWs were soon caught.

The assumptions that we bring to decision making can be jarring. Like the German POWs, we often see rivers where none exist. The team will pull together and do marketing. The product's advantages are self-evident. The associates will speak up if they see a problem. The options that we are debating are in fact available. The list goes on.

That's why listing the assumptions is so important. In the end, the things that we disagree on may be far less harmful than the ones we all assume.

Y - O - U Big Time

Christopher Hitchens notes that the Me Decade has evolved into the You Decade.

[HT: National Review ]

Quote of the Day

It's a secret in the Oxford sense. You may tell it to only one person at a time.

- Oliver Franks

Acts of Grace

Since there's plenty of news about rats in the workplace, it occasionally helps to consider people from the other side of the spectrum.

I recall a couple of bosses from a summer job I had while going to college. They so graciously handled my fumbling of a written report that I still marvel at their kindness.

My list continues with several superior officers and NCOs in the Army. Each one was far from the Hollywood stereotype of the order-barking martinet. They were thoughtful, bright, patient, and thoroughly professional. I saw many occasions when they went out of their way to help enlisted personnel and their families. They certainly went out of their way to help me.

When I worked in municipal government the stereotype again didn't fit. I frequently encountered executives, managers, and supervisors who were easily the equal of their private sector counterparts and who focused on helping others. Were there exceptions? Absolutely, but they were exceptions. Most of my colleagues took people and the public trust very seriously.

The pattern has continued over the years in my work with private sector firms. For every rat, I can cite twenty people whose natural inclination is to do the right thing.

But I have to grant the rats one thing: they get far more ink.