Category Archives: General

Such sensitivity

I’ve been hearing lots of people… mothers mostly.. complaining that “When I was little there weren’t so many kids taking medication for …” fill in the blank. While I’m sure at least that we didn’t KNOW who was taking medication for what, I suspect more kids are taking medication for a wider variety of problems.

Then I noticed this piece in the Chicago Tribune today.

Girl dies after boy’s peanut kiss

Associated Press
Published November 29, 2005

SAGUENAY, Quebec — A 15-year-old girl with a peanut allergy died after kissing her boyfriend, who had just eaten a peanut butter snack, hospital officials said Monday.

Here’s something I’m curious about..

I don’t remember having many people in my classes in elementary school or even high school who were allergic to stuff — I mean regularly available daily stuff — like white flour or peanuts. I mean I knew that there were people who were deathly allergic. My grandfather was deathly allergic to mustard, my father to bee stings. But peanuts? I didn’t know any one. This does not imply there weren’t any only that I DIDN’T KNOW any.

And now there are all sorts of rules about what kinds of snacks are allowed in class rooms. I read several weeks ago that some people could get sick just being in the same room with peanuts. Is that possible? Is it true?

What has happened to make people so much more sensitive?

Just wondering.

My Birdbath in Winter

Not sure why this bird thing has me so hooked. I just love watching them play in the bird bath. But it’s getting near winter and I’m wondering how to keep my bird bath inviting for the winter. I have to find something to keep the water in the hammered copper bath from freezing.

It appears that I’m not the only one concerned about birds in the winter..
I’ve learned that just because I have a feeder and sometimes forget to fill it, the birds will not starve. LOTS of people are feeding the birds. And there is stuff around that nature has provided.

I do love watching them. Wonder if my hawk will come back.

Communication between Cooperating Companies..Got an equation?

There are two teams working on a single project.
Each team has a distinct and separate part in the project,
both are required for completion.

The Ralph Shaw Law of Cooperating Companies (which I just made up and named for the guy from whom I learned to live it) says that in order to have the least opportunity for miscommunication, misdirection, or misunderstanding, one and only one person from team A represents official conversation to one and only one person from team B.

I propose that for each added person to either team the opportunity for mistake or misunderstanding expands by a pretty big number. But I don’t know how to figure out what that number is. If you can, I’d love to see it.

Here’s the back story:
Ralph Shaw owns Shaw & Sons Amusements. I was the volunteer chair of the Baltimore City Fair, a giant three day celebration of life in the city of Baltimore. Ralph’s organization was responsible for the rides and midway set up to compliment the neighborhood and other exhibits that were the showcase of the event.

The Fair needed the Midway to entertain the huge number of people for longer than the time to walk thru the exhibits. The Midway need the Fair as a reason to block streets and set up in downtown Baltimore.

Each organziaiton had its own team of workers who knew their own jobs. But as you can imagine, it’s important that not just anyone from the Fair’s team could go to any one on Ralph’s team, for example, on the day before the event and say.. “OH, gee, we don’t like where you set the merry go round. Could you move it over there?”

So there exists one person from the Fair — the chair — who talks to one person at Shaw & Sons — Ralph — about any major decisions affecting the the event.

This is not to imply that other people in the organizations can’t talk together or work together. I think the referenced conversations are sort of contract level discusssions. We will do this; we won’t do that.

My hypothesis:
In any conversation where instructions are given there are three options for out come.. Do it, dont do it, or do something else.

So if there are two people in the matrix, then there are six options (each person could choose any of the answers) ? Or is it only three?.. because it’s only one instruction?
And if you add a person to one side, how does that number increase?
And what if there are two people on each side? Then what?
What about more?

Do you get the math? Could you send me an equation? I’d really like to know.

PS.. Don’t tell my old math professor, Marv Brubaker, that I can’t do this on my own.

What’s that hawk doing in my Baltimore city bird bath?

My office is in the sun porch of our 1920s home. Itâ€™s a wonderful room and probably one of the biggest reasons we bought the place 30 years ago. This spring I put a copper bird bath in the shrubbery outside my window. Iâ€™ve had great fun watching the birds playing in that water.

I was sitting at my desk yesterday and noticed a lot of flapping wings out side. What a surprise! A hawk had found my bird bath. Iâ€™m not sure what kind of hawk. I looked at some pictures to see if I could tell. But no luck. I checked out some on line conversations about hawks in my area. But still I’m not sure what kind he(?) was.

I have a feeling it was not very old, seeming particularly ungraceful at take off. But perhaps thatâ€™s what happens when youâ€™re in a too small space for your normal flight path. He lighted for a short time on a low hanging branch of a tree. A squirrel started up the tree right for the bird! Man, I thought, this is gonna be bloody. But then the bird flew away.

I brought my camera downstairs so in case he comes back I can snap a picture.

I was thinking about flying when there isnâ€™t really enough room, about being intimidated by someone much less powerful than you. And you know, that bird just flew away. He stumbled a little in his flight plan, and he flew away from a squirrel. But I am guessing it didnâ€™t keep him from finding his next meal or enjoying the sights when he got high enough to see them.

One foot in front of the other. What must be done now?

Links to New Orleans Times-Picayune Aug 31 thru Sept 3

Here are direct links to the pages I found posted by the New Orleans Times Picayune for the days since Hurricane Katrina.

The links which follow go directly to each page of the paper. The photographs are amazing. The editorials — usually found in the last couple of pages — send a very clear message to the rest of the country.

Wednesday, August 31

Thursday, September 1

Friday, September 2

Saturday, Septmeber 3

Sunday, September 4