United Breaks Guitars 0 comments

From CTV.ca - A Halifax-based songwriter has used a country-rock protest song to air his grievances with United Airlines -- the company he accuses of breaking his custom-made guitar -- and to draw continent-wide attention to its customer service practices.

Dave Carroll's song, "United Breaks Guitars" tells the story of how his $3,500 Taylor guitar was allegedly broken by baggage handlers who threw it off a plane last year.

In the song, Carroll tells the story of his fight with the airline following the incident at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and he sings about the limited circumstances that would see him fly with United again.

The video is awesome!

A sad week in Hollywood 0 comments

Not unexpectedly, but sad was the death of Farrah Fawcett yesterday. Farrah fought a three year battle with cancer. Farrah was the epitome of beauty and glamor in the 1970's and she worked hard to overturn the public's impression of her innocence and ditziness by succeeding in serious dramatic roles. She will always be remembered as one of Charlie's beautiful Angels and she died with dignity, her long-time love Ryan O'Neal at her side.

Later yesterday, we were all shocked by the sudden death of Michael Jackson. Love him or hate him (and I'm sure like me, there were many people who did both), Michael was one of the most talented composer/singer/dancers we have seen in a long time.

I am saddened that after Michael was burned filming a Pepsi commercial, he seemed to start on a downward spiral that he could not get out of. (I have always hated Pepsi.) Back in the 1970's, I was fascinated by Michael and Donny Osmond, who were the same age as me. How could kids my age do what they did? Michael went on to do great things with Billie Jean, the Moonwalk and Thriller. I feel sad for how he became in latter years - he seemed so alone and crying for help.

When people we grew up watching on film and TV die, we suddenly feel our own mortality rushing ever closer, as well as the realization that life is very short and we are only here for a short time. At least these three lived a good life, albeit cut short, and their work and impact made a difference to people. That is what we all need to strive for - making a difference and influencing others in a positive way. Our theme here at Globespotter is: 'Together we can make our world a better place.' These three did that.

An open letter to Fritz Henderson 1 comments

To Fritz Henderson, President, General Motors:

OK, Mr Henderson, listen up, because this plan is short, sweet and may be the only way to save what's left of GM.

You are on the right track recognizing that one of GM's big mistakes was keeping multiple divisions that make similar cars. You just need to take more drastic action to save what is left.

First - Dump Cadillac, Buick and GMC as well as Pontiac, Saturn, Saab & Hummer. Yes - Do it. Cadillac is past it's prime and represents gas guzzling excess. Attempts to change that in the eyes of Americans will fail. Sell the Cadillac division or close it down now.

Buick - Shut it down. Old people who can't buy Buicks will buy a decent alternative. Those sales can be transferred - trust me and read on...

GMC & the GM name/brand. Kill it. More than anything, the GM brand contains negative marketing to consumers due the the recent problems. GM started as a merging of many good auto companies - the best of which is the one that needs to be saved: Chevrolet.

Here is the plan. Kill GM. Dump Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Turn GM back into Chevrolet. Chevy has the best positive appeal to consumers. Use that to your advantage for Marketing. Go back to the old "Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet" appeal to Americans who will be patriotic to the Chevy brand.

Chevy has the best potential:

Green / Environmental: Chevy Volt
Sports: Corvette / Camaro
Economy: Cobalt
Mid Size: Malibu
Full Size: Impala
Trucks: Chevy Trucks can replace GM trucks. Most were the same anyway.

Fix the problems with existing models like the Cobalt IMMEDIATELY. That means upgrade components like brakes and front-end components. Don't cheap out. Hey - if the kids can put cross-drilled rotors and upgrade and race Cobalts, what the heck is wrong with you spending a few more bucks to make a great little car?

Make a new model for the old geezers to buy since Buick is gone. Hell, call it a Chevrolet Buick Roadmaster Classic and put portholes on the side if you have to.

Announce the death of GM and the re-birth of Chevrolet. Do it right and in a few years you will reap great rewards.

Pretend it was your idea. I don't need the credit or the fame. I'd just like to see a great American car company survive, and know it's going to take balls to do it.

GM & Chrysler - What now? 0 comments

In 2008 GM & Chrysler combined account for less than 31% of U.S. vehicle sales, down from approx 39% in 2006.
- Source: Autodata 2008

Total Auto jobs are split - approx 1 Million in Automaking & Parts and 1 million at new car dealerships, but this is for ALL U.S. car makers - not just the big three.

Ref: http://tinyurl.com/6zaqgj

The majority of the jobs are in Parts and New Car Dealerships - over 775,000 in parts and 1,105,000 at New Car Dealerships.

Pro bailout propaganda always paints a picture of the total loss of the Big Three, including Ford and it most often includes auto industry jobs that they say will be lost that include parts and dealership jobs as well as jobs like glass and metal manufacturing and car washing.

Basic economic theory of supply and demand says that there will be a certain demand for a product. So for cars, there will be a demand from the population to buy a certain number. Although that number fluctuates due to economic good and hard times, overall it will be a certain demand. It does not say 100% GM, or even 50% domestically manufactured.

Artificially propping up an auto company to manufacture products ignores this supply / demand concept. If the demand for autos drops off, then the industry needs to account for it.

If an Auto Manufacturer goes out of business, it does not change the demand - either the demand is not there, or some other manufacturer will move in to fill the demand. The trickle down that the pro-bailout supporters say will decimate jobs in parts and dealerships is the same. Is demand there? If so, then the closure of 10 GM dealerships will mean expansion at Ford or Toyota dealerships in the U.S. which means more jobs. More sales of Toyota or Ford means more parts needed. It may not be a one-for-one relationship, but it is not fair to use statistics of total jobs lost, when in reality, the number includes more than GM & Chrysler and also quotes total existing 'trickle down' jobs that will not all disappear.

I think the biggest problem is not the employment numbers, manufacturing numbers or 'trickle down' jobs, but the huge number of pensioners and spouses that GM & Chrysler committed to support using existing sales.

The big question is - what kind of short-sighted management who only needs basic calculator skills would allow for a pension set up that is doomed to failure like some crazy pyramid scheme?

Why not use employee deductions and company matching to invest as employees work and make sure those funds are paid into the plan and vested to the employee? Promising pension income to retirees without paying into a plan that way makes no sense at all and I don't think the government and taxpayer should have to shoulder the cost. Who is paying for the millions of retired Americans who have little or no income in retirement and because they do not all work for the same company, they are not even considered? Did they not work as hard or harder than auto workers?

What do you think? Post your comment here or join the debate at: http://tinyurl.com/lrpsjq

Thoughts... 0 comments

It has been two months since my last post! I have always been called a 'Jack of all trades and master of none' ever since I was young, and it is so true. The scary part is that now I have a 20 year old daughter who is just like me! We both get excited about a new idea or project and jump into it at 150%, only to either tire of it or find something else more exciting around the next corner. I am proud to say that there are at least two things I have stuck to for 25 years - my marriage and my job! That's quite a feat for anyone that knows how I jump to the next 'hoodlum scheme' as my brother so aptly described my 'projects'. Right now, I feel like a juggler who has 100 balls in the air, and the funny part is that I'm not even sure I have seen some of those balls in a while. Let me explain to the uninitiated. Firstly, I'm not even sure who I am! My family knows me as Douglas Brown, but there is a whole group of online friends that know me as Vincent Madison. I started the Vincent Madison pseudonym when I started my LOST 'project'. Back in 2005, I came up with the idea (well to be truthful, the idea kind of grew out of control like some mold) to create an online world of entertainment that was based on the hit ABC TV show LOST. I needed a name, so used the character name of the dog on the show - Vincent, along with the dog's real name - Madison. The rest is history. So real has Vincent become, that he (um me really) is writing a novel this summer that will allow online users to be part of the process. (See how crazy I am?)

I think a lot of it has to do with using the TV as a babysitter back in 1963 when I was only five and living in Edinburgh, Scotland. I grew up (and I think my brain developed) watching Doctor Who. I truly believe that watching Doctor Who, in combination with some crazy creative genetics, paved the way for my love of science fiction, fantasy and that just 'thinking out of the box' was not enough - I knew that there WAS NO BOX!

Our family moved from Scotland to Toronto, Canada in February 1967 when I was eight years old. That was exciting for me, and every time we moved somewhere, I thought that the change and new adventure was the best thing ever. I could never understand those kids that were upset and sad at the thought of moving, but then I was never Mr. Sociable, so for me that was not a big issue.

I remember arriving in Toronto on a BOAC (Now British Airways) Boeing 707. Back in 1967 there were no such things as jetways, so we had to walk down the steps of the plane onto the runway in -20 degree weather - me of course wearing my British School Uniform with shorts!

The other thing I remember on that day - Feb 4th 1967, was traveling by car across Toronto on the 401 and how futuristic it looked as we went under the interchange at Yorkdale Mall.

Since that day, we moved from one house in Toronto to another, then to Montreal in 1971, then back to the Toronto area, then I moved out to Edmonton, Alberta after college, then back to the Toronto area where I am today.

For someone who keeps saying he wants to live alone in a cabin in the woods (Jacob?) I embraced the internet at its birth. I was an early Compuserve user in the late 1970's and had my first PC in 1979.

I now have more websites than I even know, along with multiple YouTube, MySpace and Blogger pages. My LOST online world expanded from a single website in November 2005 to an integrated online world that I sometimes think is real.

It's no wonder I don't feel like I have time to relax, with a Film Production Company, TV Broadcast Studio, Passenger Airline, Historical Society, Photographer Site, Environmental Site, Web Design, and novel writing on my plate. There is more, but I would need to actually research what else I have forgotten, and I'm to lazy to do that.

It makes my otherwise boring life exciting and fun, and I know that my online friends appreciate it, but mostly I do it because I crave new ideas and love coming up with them. Implementation is usually fun too, but ongoing detail and support is when things get boring for me. I need to team up with someone like my younger daughter who thank goodness although she got the family creative genes from my side of the family, seems to have got the organization, and attention to detail and follow through from my wife's side!

I'm not even sure why I'm writing this post. I initially thought it might help me to regroup and consolidate things to keep all my crazy ideas under control, but it seems more like I just needed to get my swirling thoughts on paper with the hope that some of them might get out of my head.

I think I do need to try this summer to both downsize, reorganize and focus on a few projects and do them well, as well as finding time to relax with friends and family.

Natasha Richardson 0 comments

We were all shocked to hear of the sudden death this week of actress Natasha Richardson after a skiing accident at Mt.Tremblant north of Montreal.

Of course I would like to express my condolences to her husband Liam Neeson and her family at this sad time.

It does amaze me how people and the media (fueled by the people's desire to know) pounce on stories like this, and then in our internet based life, how comments on the news stories and blogs pop up which makes it seem like everyone is an expert on what happened and how to prevent it.

Here is the way I see it. It WAS a tragic accident. It MIGHT have been prevented had she worn a helmet or might not. There have been more than one skiing / snowboarding accidents in the past month here in Ontario where people have died and they WERE wearing helmets, so the helmet issue is not a guarantee.

I'm not saying helmets don't save lives, they do, but not always and there are no guarantees.

If you hide in the Chalet because you don't want to risk injuring yourself on the slopes, you might fall down the stairs. (Should you wear a helmet?) I'm being facetious.

There is risk in all we do. I skied and cycled for years like every other kid of the 1970's and we NEVER wore helmets. Yes - some kids got injured and some probably died, but you should not do the 'What if?' thing.

None of us are really in a position from afar to say for sure if anything might have prevented this tragic loss. We can speculate and comment and sound like experts, but in the end, it really does not matter.

From what I have read, Mt.Tremblant Resort did everything they could and there is no question that Montreal hospitals are well equipped to handle patients like this, but again, I was not their, and neither am I an expert, so I wish people would stop speculating on things they really know little about. It would be nice to see people commenting on positive things about Natasha and expressing their condolences rather than pouncing on the negative and 'what if's'.

Only when people stop being an audience for the kind of paparazzi media stories will the media stop reporting them that way.

Just imagine... 0 comments

Remember that Lotto 649 TV ad that shows the Dad giving two cottages to his kids when he wins the lottery? Lotto 649 ads that use the tag line 'Just Imagine' and show images of cars, houses and quitting your job to live the dream life?

Well this morning on the radio, the Ontario Lottery Group (OLG) had an ad where a guy says to his wife - 'Let's invest your paycheck in the lottery' and the ad goes on to say that the odds of winning big are low and discourages the irresponsible buying of lottery tickets.

Wow. Why? Either one or the other message is the right one, in my mind the latter.

Why do the lottery, alcohol and tobacco industry spend money with the left hand to encourage use and the right to discourage it?

Does it really make sense?

Wordle.net 0 comments

Sara told me about a very cool website at http://www.wordle.net.
It creates a neat looking word cloud from words you enter or grabs them from your blog like this one created from Globespotter.com. One of the interesting things about it is that the more you use a word in a blog, the larger it is in the cloud. So I guess I use the word 'Really' a lot. On the positive side - I see in large letters - REALLY LIKE & PEOPLE :)

What do we value? 1 comments

This past week, my friend Surya posted a very funny yet true clip on his blog that gets you thinking about what we have today and how little we really seem to appreciate it.

You seriously need to watch this:



So it got me thinking about how much things have changed since I was in school. I don't even have to go back too far - say to when I graduated from College in 1980. (Yup - I'm THAT old :) )

So back then, we had no cell phones, no Blackberries, no CD's, VCR's were new, most people still had phones that were screwed to the wall, and the internet was barely there.

So here we are in 2009 - "Everything is so amazing, and nobody is happy."
Flashback to 1980 - "Things were not too amazing, and people were happier."
Flashback even further to say 1973 - "Things were not really amazing, and people were much happier."

In the interest of not boring you, I think I'll end up breaking my 'flashback' blog into several episodes. (Think LOST).

So flashback to 1973 (Cue the LOST Whoosh sound...) - I was living on the West Island of Montreal and starting High School. We had a very long 1969 Chrysler New Yorker with lots of new electric options - Power Windows, Door Locks, Antenna, a foot button that changed the radio station etc. That was our 'Blackberry' of 1973.

I started making short films then. I recently converted one of my first films and uploaded it to the internet. We forget what life was like back then, until we watch a film and see that black dial desk phone and typewriter. In the Police office - the Captain's desk has NO computer, but lots of files. Look at your desk today. Shut off your computer and Blackberry. Can you work? Don't know what to do?

How soon we forget how business used to run with no PC's or Laptops, or Blackberry's or Cell Phones.

Our house had one phone. Wall mounted. Standard Issue. Dial. Probably white, later to be Harvest Gold or some 70's Green. Long cord so Mom could talk while she cooked. No call waiting. No answering machine. Nobody home or on the phone? Call back later or get off your butt, cross the street and ring the doorbell.

One TV. Black and White. (Finally got color in 1975.) Get up to turn it on. Get up to change the channel. Get up to turn the volume up or down. Get up to slap it when the Vertical hold started going wonky. No Cable or Satellite. Only Rabbit Ears. (Click if you are confused.) Channel 12 (CFCF - CTV), Channel 6 - (CBMT - CBC), and the American channels out of NY, Maine or Vermont or somewhere just close enough that on a good day you got a pretty clear picture, with periodic snow flurries. Channel 3 - WCAX (CBS) Vermont, Channel 5 - WPTZ (NBC) - Plattsburgh NY, North Pole, NY, Burlington, VT and Channel 8 - WMTW (ABC) - Poland Spring ME, but actually transmitting from Mount Washington, NH. Missed the show? Too bad. (No VCR or PVR or TiVO)

Not a lot of amazing stuff (other than the 1969 Chrysler New Yorker). Certainly no computer in the house and no internet or text messaging.

(All the teens reading this say in unison - "So what did you do????")

Well when I think back, we were never really bored and we were much happier. How is that possible? Well, we rode our bikes EVERYWHERE. We went to the park in the summer to play games and discover things. We built snow forts in the winter and went toboganning. We made smoke bombs with a chemistry set and burned magnesium. We strung two cans and a string together and ran it across the road between my house and my friend Bruce's house.

We built go-carts and raced them down the street. We read books and comics - Superman, Superboy were my faves. We listened to the radio. We hiked in the natural areas that were not built up and found rocks and toads and all kinds of cool stuff. I found a rock I thought was a meteorite and still have it. (Maybe it is.)

We watched freight trains and counted the cars and dreamed of hopping one to California. We always found something to do that usually cost nothing and was a lot of fun. Time moved pretty slowly in the summer, but we were rarely bored.

We forget what it was like, and that is too bad. Our kids don't even know what it was like back then, and that is even sadder.

Maybe things were not so 'amazing' back then, but we sure were happier and appreciated what we DID have.

Stay tuned for more 'flashbacks.' I'm starting to like this.....

Thanks Surya.

Gregory Knox on the GM Bailout 0 comments

You might have heard of this email from Gregory Knox of Knox Machinery, as it has been circulating on many blogs already, but if not, I wanted to share. I have verified that the email is authentic and is from Greg Knox. I'm sure that there are GM employees who do work hard and try to do their best, but I cannot deny that the letter does make good points.

Abridged letter from Troy Clarke, President of General Motors–followed by a response from Gregory Knox, President of Knox Machinery, a manufacturer of precision machine tools which, supplies the auto industry.

Dear Employee,

Next week, Congress and the current Administration will determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation’s history.

Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis… As an employee, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices.

I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard. Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke President General Motors North America

---

RESPONSE: From Gregory Knox:

In response to your request to call legislators and ask for a bailout for the United States automakers please consider the following, and please also pass this onto Troy Clark, the president of General Motors North America for me.

You are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has bred like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping the nation, awaiting our new "messiah" to wave his magical wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream"?

The dream is over!

The dream that we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for these atrocities and that still the masses will line up to buy our products

Don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM ,Chrysler, TRW, Delphi ,Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's and Tier ones for 3 decades now throughout the Midwest and what I've seen over the years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.

Mr Clark, the president of General Motors, states:

There is widespread sentiment in this country, our government and especially in the media that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management. It is not.

You're right. It's not JUST management. How about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass, so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour week ?

How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics for putting out too many parts on a shift, and for being too productive (mustn't expose the lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?!? Do you really not know about this stuff?!?

How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea:

Over the last few years, we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors.

What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!?

Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them?

The K car vs. the Accord?

The Pinto vs. the Civic?!?

Do I need to go on?

We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades.

Time to pay for your sins, Detroit .

I attended an economic summit last week where a brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money". Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems, but despite what people like George Bush and Troy Clark would have us believe, the sun would, in fact, rise the next day And something else would happen where there had been greedy and sloppy banks new efficient ones would pop up. That is how a free market system works- it does work if we would let it work.

But for some reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't work - that we need the government to step in and "save us". Save us, hell ! We're nationalizing; and unfortunately *too many of this once fine nations citizens don't even have a clue that this is what's really happening. But they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams - yeah ? THAT'S important? * Does it occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades now in this country?...

How can that be???

Let's see?

Fuel efficient ?

Listening to customers?

Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul?

Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr W Edwards Deming 4 decades ago

Ever increased productivity through quality, lean and six sigma plans?

Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy"?

Efficient front and back offices?

Non union 'DejaVu Sans Mono'"?

Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know in their hearts.

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into. My children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did at their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way). I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work them through.

Radical concept, huh?

Am I there for them in the wings? Of course. But only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults.

I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and
government.

Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins.

Bad news people. !!! It's coming whether we like it or not.

The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away". I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the vote count was tallied. "We might not do it in a year." Where was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for office?

Stop trying to put off the inevitable.

That house in Florida really isn't worth $750,000.

People who jump across a border really don't deserve free health care benefits.

That job driving that forklift for the big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year.

That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home.

Let the market correct itself people. it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it is a nation that appreciates what is has, and doesn't live beyond its means and gets back to basics and redevelops the work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world - and probably turns back to God.

Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad news".


Gregory J Knox
President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin , Ohio 45005