Monday, August 29, 2005

Different strokes for different folks

I've gotten different reactions to this blog or to the fact that I started a blog. One person warned me not to reveal too much about my kids. Another person said "...I checked out Yahoo's 360 page, that has a blog to it, but I didn't really care for the site ..... Maybe I'll have to try out blogger.com like you here..... I want to think that I'll do it, but I doubt that I will keep up with it......" Still another said "I will look at your blog. It will be my first experience with one." My daughter said that the photo of me from 1974 was "embarassing."

I wonder how well I'll keep up with this blog. This is my first experience with one. My daughter is easily embarassed these days.

Saturday, August 27, 2005


My hair used to be longer and less gray, as this photo from around 1974 shows. That's Derrick on the right - he was my best man when I married Anni in 1987.

King Crimson, ethical companies, and Lyndon Johnson

Surfing the web, following an arc of hyperlinks about King Crimson and Robert Fripp, I find this on http://www.disciplineglobalmobile.com/cat/index.htm (under "Business Aims").

"May we trust the inexpressible benevolence of the creative impulse.

DGM is a business structure & vehicle for the projects of Robert Fripp, David Singleton & The Vicar, trading under precepts of the ethical company. These projects include King Crimson, the ProjeKcts, Soundscapes, Ton Prob & The Vicar Chronicles.

The Ethical Company

Recognisable features of the ethical company, in the literature and discussion of business ethics, involve these attributes:
transparency, straightforwardness, accountability, owning-up, honesty, fairness, common decency, distributive justice.
Recognisable features of a company whose base is ethically challenged are these:
dissembling, use of threats, unkindness to employees, a widespread use of gagging orders, an inequitable distribution of company income.
"

An ethical company! Imagine!

Is there some size after which a company cannot help but strain to remain ethical? When the decision makers are far removed from those affected by the decisions, do ethics lapse? Is there some size after which it's impossible to consider input from all who contribute to the revenue of the company? Is it more likely that companies in the 21st century will be directed by someone like Robert Fripp or someone like Ken Lay, or even worse, someone like Dennis Kozlowski?

Will the answer to that question depend on the level of government oversight of business?

I recently finished a fascinating book entitled Judgment Days : Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws That Changed America by Nick Kotz. Johnson spent his political capital pushing landmark civil rights legislation, collaborating with King to marshal support for it. A bipartisan coalition of liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans formed to get the 1964 Civil Rights bill, 1965 Voting Rights bill, and 1968 Open Housing bill through both houses of Congress. Imagine! A president spending political capital to help his least powerful, poorest constituents! Forcing businesses to behave ethically - opening their doors to blacks!

Sigh. Will we ever see such a president, such a congress, again in our lifetimes? Of course, I wax admiringly with the benefit of hindsight and the buzz you get from a good book. At the time Johnson was president, I could only see that he was getting us ensnared into an unjustified quagmire in Vietnam. That he refused to level with the country about the futility of that war.

Not too many folks read history these days.

I don't like humidity

I'm training for the Richmond Marathon in November 2005.

There used to be a Raleigh Marathon, but for the three years that they held it, something managed to go wrong. The first year, they had to postpone the race one week because a snowstorm was forecast so the police pulled their support, but the storm didn't happen. Imagine a group of runners who were primed to run a marathon on Sunday. They were told Friday "no, there's going to be too much snow." They wake up that Sunday and see nothing on the ground. No one laughed.

The second year, helpful officers of the law directed the front runners off course, causing them to run less than the requisite 26.2 miles. Those who were trying to qualify for Boston were, well, let's say they were disappointed. Luckily, the race director smoothed things out with the BAA and those who would have qualifed did.

The third year, utiltity crews were cleaning up branches and downed power lines after one of the worst ice storms on record. I had to tiptoe over black ice. The Raleigh Marathon seemed to be a jinxed race.

Anyway, I ran 15.1 miles this morning in Umstead Park. I started around 8, and as the morning progressed it got hot and humid. This means I'm sucking in more water vapor than oxygen. I run slower than usual. Afterwards, I literally had a pain in the butt - I guess I overtaxed my glutes going up the last hill. But overall my pace was pretty steady. I am looking forward to 50 degree mornings.

First entry

I've been writing since I've been able to hold a pencil. I've written short stories, news stories, poetry, games, essays, technical manuals, presentations, abstracts, journal articles, and now a blog. So let's see what happens with it.