Where did all these pigeons come from?

For a long time I’ve said that America’s vision is myopic, and its business vision is damn near blind. Now we get to see what happens when faulty business visions finally come to the fruition, and the pigeons descend from the sky looking for a place to roost. The best examples are GM’s pending chapter 11 filing, Time Warner selling AOL, and Visteon filing for bankruptcy. Many words will be spoken about AOL and GM, but not so much about Visteon. Why is Visteon important? They own Ford!

Well, they own Ford’s electronics. Most of the electronics that comes with Ford vehicles, the stuff that makes the vehicles run, are manufactured by Visteon, who owns the designs. As of close of business today, you could buy every share of stock in Visteon for less than 10 million dollars. Think about if, for $10,000,000 dollars, you could control the future of Ford, market cap of about $16 BILLION. How did this happen?

Back in the MBA boom a decade or so ago, a bunch of bright children sat down to figure out what business Ford was in. They looked at all the various divisions of Ford, and discovered their captive electronics group wasn’t making money. Well, Ford makes cars, not electronics, so they spun off the group into Visteon. Of course, there were sweetheart deals, so Visteon wouldn’t try to make a killing; in fact, Visteon was never even allowed to make a profit. Think GM spinning Delco into Delphi, oops, that’s an old story, isn’t it?

Do you realize that today, for less than $110 million dollars you can control more than 50% of the electronics component of America’s automotive industry? Someday, some bright soul will see the past the debt (the purpose of bankruptcy is to “deal with” the debt, wink, wink) and see the potential value of essentially controlling the manufacture of nearly every car and truck made in the US (oh, and a few Kia’s and Hyundai’s. There is much more to be said, but I've got a years worth of nonsense to rant about, this is just the first of a lot. Gee, I think I’m hearing the call from mission control in Detroit “abort to orbit”.

Finally, I Can Speak

For most of the past year I have been working at the Truck Development and Technology Center (TDTC) of Navistar, manufacturer of Internation trucks. It was my first exposure to the automotive industry, and I have come to one major conclusion: I am overjoyed I drive a Scion XB by Toyota, and not some American made camel.

Yes, CAMEL! By the time a design makes it to production, it has been touched by EVERYONE, with each touch resulting in a compromise. I will have more to say soon, but had to post something now. Trust me, 12 months of watching purchasing decisions made based on friendships, ego battles and pure bribary, watching engineering decisions made to insure we never take a next step, just a slow crawl forward. And don't get me started about mis-management, or having to answer questions like "how long will it take to complete this 5 hour task" when it should take 5 weeks!

OK, enough for now, I need to breathe a bit.

Finally! A good weekend day on Oregon

It's kind of funny that I would complain about the weather out here. Corvallis is in a valley, so there is little snow or ice. Of course when there is ice, it's a disaster as they don't pre-treat the roads. Back home, there has been snow, ice flooding rains...here it is just rain, and mostly on the weekends. The office area I work in has one whole wall that is just windows, and it can drive one nuts to see bright sunny days during the week, only to end up with wet, cold weekends. Today was different. Today was perfect. 70 degrees, bright sunshine, low humidity, light breeze. Today was one of those days that causes all kinds of cases of spring fever. It's also one of those days one appreciates living in a coed college town.

It's been 6 weeks since I came out here (technically 7 I guess) and I'm settling in. Today I bought a microwave and a desk chair. I was tired of sitting in that chair that resembles a folding chair that doesn't fold. Now I can rock a bit, stretch a bit, feels nice. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all this stuff when it comes time to move back home, but I suspect someone is going to end up with a nicely accessorized apartment. Well, it's a room more than an apartment. I have a small vanity sink, bureau, bed end table, and I share 11/2 baths and a kitchen with 3 other people. For less than $400 a month including utilities I think it's a good deal.

No rant tonight. It's been a good day, a good week, a good 7 weeks. I think back to the drive out, and with the exception a I-80 being closed in Wyoming, forcing a hundred odd mile detour, it was wonderful, especially once you get past the Mississippi River. Without a doubt, I think it should be mandatory for everyone to drive or ride I-84 from Utah to Portland Oregon, at least when it's not snowing. You will see all that is great about America, and Americans. Not to take anything away from the other states I visited, but the scenery, the people, just the air alone (though I found Colorado air quite nice) is glorious. Definitely worth the price of admission.

All in all, this has been one of my better career adventures. I'm learning, teaching, challenged, and fulfilled. I hope to have more later...for right now, I want to enjoy the sunset and that glorious breeze.

A Slight Change in Location

Dateline Oregon.

I have temporarily relocated to Oregon for a few months, got a contract job that is just to good to pass up. I drove out the last week in February, and once I get settled down a bit more, I'll have much to say about the drive.

I do have one quick rant about Oregon. You are not allowed to pump your own gas here. It must be something about coastal states, they are just too paternalistic for my taste. The only other state that may be worse is Wyoming, which apparently shuts down I-80 (and all its bypasses) at the drop of a hat. I know the weather gets nasty up there, but the webcam images and the traffic reports showed a typical snow swept highway in winter, the kind we in New England see all the time. Why can't I be trusted to pump gas and know how drive in the snow?

Enough rant for now, I need to get ready for work.

Thoughts on the Great Flood

I'm working through some embedded stuff to control an ADF7021 transceiver, and I have the TV on in the background. They are talking about the Great Flood. Well, I'm stuck on a problem, I glanced at it. Worse still, I actually thought about it. The more I thought about it, the more I realized what a preposterous concept the Flood is. A God who created the universe by speaking needs rain to destroy a small piece of it? A God who created the entire universe, down to Man, Woman and the rocks under feet in seven days needs 40 days of rain? Did he suddenly get weak? Did the strain of creating the Universe so drain him he needed help to destroy life on a small fraction of his creation?

This is why I'm an atheist. When you get down to any logical thought process, all religion falls into a maze of irrationality. Think about it, an omnipotent God decides the right way to destroy one of his creations is to flood it out of existence. We've all done this, right? You get a jar, put a bug in it, a little grass, and holes in the cover. Then the neighborhood JERK drops by, grabs the jar and slowly fills it with water till he drowns the bug. THAT is the God of the Bible. He is either not as omnipotent as we all think, or he is a thug that has his creation in a jar, with a water faucet, gas burner and sledge hammer not too far away. Worship such a sadistic weakling if you want, as for me and my house, we live without fear of the capricious actions of a bully.

Oops, there goes another one

Ron Paul, say it ain't so!

Say you didn't run away from questions about you old newsletters, hiding behind the "I was busy and didn't know" argument!

I guess it's time to find another candidate.

And sorry, Fred is just not good without a script. Can you picture him being wheeled into an ER with a gunshot wound? Would he be more likely to say "I hope you're all Republicans" or "Rewrite, get me Rewrite!"

Maybe it's time to look at Ralph Nader again!

Put a Bus Driver in Office

Hear the candidates......I am Change. Change!. I will bring Change! We need Change! I can make Change happen!

So can a bus driver, or a toll booth attendant, or a grocery clerk. Even a fast food cashier! All can make change.

I don't want change, I want courage of conviction (bye bye Romney and Hillary)

I want competence (I'm here, Huckleberry, er, Huckabee, so you can go)

I do want someone not tainted by Washington (farewell, McCain)

I want fiscal conservatism, but social liberalism (nice knowing you Obama)

I guess that leaves Ron Paul....or emigration.