Today (Aug 28) is the 101st anniversary of UPS. My wife and I learned this last night watching the Colbert Report. I wasn't sure if he was kidding or not, so I went online to check. Sure enough, he was correct. Turns out UPS was started 101 years ago by two kids, one was 18 and one was 19. Amazing how things progress.

The Wikipedia link is below. There is an interesting note about how UPS reprogrammed all their routes to minimize left turns and maximize right turns, in order to save time, gas, and money.

That part in their ads about running the tightest ship in the shipping world is correct. The drivers tell me that they are closely watched. I know in their mechanic department, UPS has a complete list of all mechanical repairs. For each repair, there is an exact number of minutes for how long the repair should take. If you don't come in at plan, there is hell to pay.

Wikipedia link:
UPS

A friend of mine sent me the following link to a collection of statues from around the world. Just absolutely amazing. If you want some examples of artists contributing to a better world, this is it. Some really, really creative and beautiful work.

Sculptures

A few disappointments popped up Saturday.

First was the news that Obama picked Biden for his running mate. So much for the idea of change. I guess Biden’s foreign policy experience was the key. I see another Washington insider, in the pocket of the credit card companies, who has lied and plagarized in the past. Maybe McCain will be bad enough to lose, or the war and economy will kick it to the Democrats, but Obama’s move seems likely to disappoint Obama’s female supporters as well as the young.

This sort of ties in to the cell phone announcement they failed to deliver on. Leaking to the mainstream press before emailing your subscribers is another example of not following your word. It’s a little thing, but doesn’t bode well for the future. If he is elected, we’ll see if Obama has the guts and morals to do the right thing, or if he’ll end up being another pretty politician who makes nice speeches.

On the local front, one of my neighbors caught the newspaper deliveryperson attempting to steal his garden hose at 4:30 in the morning. He happened to be up at the time, heard the newspaper land near the front door, then looked out the window and saw the guy backing up his driveway and getting out to grab the hose. When the neighbor went out, the delivery guy said “Sorry”, and threw the hose back and drove off. Really strange. Why try to steal a used hose that is not that expensive to buy? I’m still scratching my head on this one.

Reading the news today, a mish mash of things pop up. It was disappointing to see another article on farmworker deaths in California. I had mentioned one in my blog a month or so ago. So far this year there have been six deaths. Inspectors found over 490 companies violating laws last year, yet the state frequently fails to collect or reduces the fines dramatically. Companies were fined an average of $9,945 for farmworkers who died from 2005 to 2008. I don’t know what you think your life is worth, but I doubt any of us would say $10K is what we’re worth. However, that’s what the state thinks Mexican farmworkers are worth. One farm was fined $13,500 after a death, but successfully appealed and got the fine reduced to $250.

My guess is that many of the farmworkers are unable to sue if they are here illegally. I wonder what the death rate would do if our do-nothing legislators passed a law making the farm labor companies legally liable for work related deaths, with a fine of $100,000 and a required 6 month jail sentence for the field foreman AND the president of the labor company. I’m sure the death rate would take a “surprising” dip.

Next up on the List of Disappointments is our very own US Representative Nancy Pelosi. I had somewhat high hopes when she rose to power, but she has been an utter failure. Mouthing platitudes and spewing sound bites against Bush and the Iraq war, she has subsequently rolled over and played dead, approving money right and left for the war. A few months ago she climbed on the massive Pork Train Farm Bill. Her latest endeavor is forcing the removal of a wall poster outside the office of Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.) He had put a poster with the names and pictures of service members who had died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether you agree or disagree with the war (and I obviously disagree), it shows an utter lack of class to stomp over someone’s efforts to pay a small tribute to those that have died. Congress voted to support Bush and send the troops, funded the operations, did little to ensure their equipment was good, and did not do a great job supporting them when they came back. A little reminder on the wall is the least that Congress should have.

Barking up the wrong tree were activists petitioning the University of San Diego ( a private Catholic college) to restore a teaching position to a pro-abortion lecturer. I can see if this was a public institution, but when it’s private AND Catholic, I think they should be able to hire those whom they see fit to hire.

On the positive side, there were a few reminders that we still have some people who will help us come out all right. The California Supreme Court ruled that a convicted murderer who poses no threat to the public and is eligible for parole cannot be kept behind bars solely because of the nature of the original crime. The case at hand was about a 60 year old woman who was paroled after serving 24 years. She was a model prisoner and the parole board recommend she be released. Governor Arnold vetoed her release, continuing a tradition of cowardly governors who veto paroles strictly for political purposes, so they can appear to be “tough on crime”. There is often a case for keeping a truly dangerous inmate locked up, but too often we keep those locked up who don’t pose any threat and do appear rehabilitated and/or remorseful. Then we end up with overcrowded prisons and powerful prison guards unions, both of whom do us further harm.

And over in San Francisco, some tour bus companies have added a stop in San Francisco’s Castro District, so tourists can see real live homosexuals and homosexual neighborhoods. Some of the neighbors and shopkeepers have complained. One shopkeeper complained that the tourists come in to his store but never buy anything. A few days later, his brother (who also works at the store) was interviewed, and said, “Tourists are good for everybody. If they don’t buy, so what? My brother is crazy.”

I had to smile when I read that.

The NY Times had an interesting article a week or so ago about Sudan. Given the images from Darfur, my picture of Sudan was a hot and dusty, barren landscape with very little green. Refugees and dirt are what I think of most. Well, turns out that in other parts of Sudan that is in no way true.

Sudan currently grows wheat for Saudi Arabia, sorghum for the United Arab Emirates, and tomatoes for Jordan. In 2007, it turns out that the US shipped in 283,000 tons of sorghum from as far away as Houston. This happened to be the exact amount of sorghum that Sudan exported, ironically enough. What appears to be happening in many cases is that the government is exporting food rather than deliver it to the refugees.

Overall, an interesting article. The link is below:

Sudan NY Times