The Science is Settled?

Finally, all the major climate models are visible in one file.

Click Here – - The Science is Settled!

Upon reviewing this file, some questions come to mind.

• If the science is settled, why are there so many models?
• If the science is settled, which model is the one to which all scientists agree?
• If the science is settled, why is there such a large variation between the prominent models?
• What other agenda might Al Gore and other world politicians have lurking in the background that makes them so adamant that the science is settled?

I am just curious, I mean if the science is really settled . . .

Many thanks to Dr. Howard Hayden for compiling this data.   His website is The Energy Advocate http://www.energyadvocate.com

The Digital Difference: How to Communicate with the Most Difficult People

John Grinder and Judith DeLozier tell an interesting story in their book Turtles All The Way Down. They describe an anthropological study of a tribe of people who exclusively live in a dense forest.  So dense is the forest that they have no vocabulary for describing objects at a far distance.

They discovered this when they took someone, (a tribal elder, chief or shaman) out of the forest in their jeep.   Off in a distance, they pointed to a cow in a field and asked the elder what he saw.  He replied “a dog.”

So they slowly took the man closer and closer to the cow, all along the way asking him what he saw.  He always replied “a dog.”  This continued right up a point where he replied “a cow.”

Now, that the man knew it was actually a cow, they started retreating again and as they got a little farther away, he again described what he saw as “a dog.”

That is one of the best descriptions I have heard about people having a digital shift in thinking.  It is a Dog or it is a Cow, but it is not a Cow at a distance.

Digital refers to a system of discrete categorization.  For computers, it is a “1” or a “0.” Apparently for some tribes it is a cow or a dog.

To digital thinkers, everything is black or white

You may have met people like this.  That’s wrong!  It’s not right!  I’m right.  The more you try to counter example their pronouncement, the more they get locked into their position on the subject.  And, when faced with a counter example, they respond; “no that’s different, I’m talking about . . . ”

Digital thinkers categorize most everything.  She loves me she loves me not.  He’s a winner, he’s a loser.  Rather that having a sliding scale it is just either /or.

It’s a dog
It’s a dog
It’s a dog
It’s a dog
It’s a COW

It can be very frustrating, if you are an analog thinker to try to communicate with a digital thinker.

So what is analog thinking?

Analog thinkers live in the world of shades of gray.

Analogs reflect continuum and are more about scope.

“I can see what you are saying, I agree with some of what you are saying but not all of it.
“She loves me a little, but I’m growing on her.”
“He’s  had some hard times, but he’s not a bad guy”.

It rarely works to corner a digital thinker
Trying to get a digital thinker to change their position on something by backing them in a corner will get you nothing.  All it does is help them reenforce their position and strengthen their category.

If you want the digital thinker to come to your sense of reasoning, you need to do one of two things.

• Express yourself in a way that it creates a new category of experience for them and one they can agree with
• Frame your communication in such a way that your point fits nicely into a predefined category they already have

Good luck trying to pin down an analog thinker

For digital thinkers, it can be frustrating trying to pin down an analog thinker.  For example, analog thinkers are more likely to embrace situational ethics.  The digital thinker asks the analog thinker, “well what do you think of X, don’t you think that is wrong/right?”

The analog thinker responds, well it all depends.  What is the context? Who are the players? And so on.

To communicate with analog thinkers it is important to artificially narrow their scope.  In your communication you need to be very specific.

• In this situation
• under these circumstances
• given these players
• wouldn’t you agree that . . .

The good news is that we all have a little analog and digital in us

We all have both analog and digital tendencies.  About somethings, particularly subjects about which we think we know very little, it is likely we think in analogs.  We simply don’t know enough to have a right or wrong sense about the subject.

The more we consider ourselves an expert on a subject, the more we may be inclined towards digital thinking.

And of course there is an exception to this.  Often people will get very digital when they are insecure about their beliefs on a subject matter.  They are afraid of questions that might expose their lack of understanding or ignorance on a subject.

Insecure people may not know if something is a good idea so they just say no.  After all, any further discussion would simply prove their ignorance or discomfort with the subject.

Just listen, you will soon know which communication style to use

When you are having a discussion with someone, particularly if it gets a little emotional or heated, STOP.

Take a breath and listen.  Ask yourself:

• What language patterns am I hearing?
• Is this person in digital or analog mode?
• Am I in digital or analog mode?
• How do I have to shift my words to address them in their mode?

We are all tree people in many ways.  Our forest may not be made up of wood and leaves, but it is there anyway.  Our forest is what we believe and those things we think we know the best.

The subjects about which we have the least vision are typically those about which we think we know the most.

How to always win at monopoly and other secrets of the Federal Reserve

Imagine you belong to a large Monopoly club where you play for a big prize.

But you grow weary of the win some, lose some results you have been having lately.  So with a little persuasion, your fiercest competitors agree to pool resources with you so all are assured a piece of the grand prize.

After all, winning in this game is too important to leave to chance.

What would you need to rig this game?
To properly rig this game you need all of the following:

• A commitment by a few that a large piece of the whole pie is better than no pie at all.
• A printer to print monopoly money as needed.
• Agreement from the majority of game playing community that the game will end and everyone will lose big if they don’t let you feed more money into the game.
• A name for your scheme that makes people feel good about it.

So how do you set this all up?
Timing is everything.  If you start the game with this grand scheme, your motives will be transparent and no one will play with you.

No you wait until you are well into the game and the major monopolies have emerged and the rest of the players are hoping to figure out how to get out with their shirts on.

Next, start having conversations about how bad some people are going to get hurt because the monopolies have taken over and suggesting ways to level the playing field.

The problem you say is, “there is but a finite amount of money and it is consolidated into the hands of a few greedy players.”  You suggest putting more money into the game, making it available to the other players so they can keep their stake.  

There will be an interest charge of course, but that is just the cost of doing business.

You convince people that the loaned money will actually come out of a reserve based on the value of the assets in the play. The best way to do this is with a catchy name like The Monopoly Reserve.  

You convince the players that, you and your alliance will put up the wealth to start the Monopoly Reserve and since you are taking the risk, you get to earn the interest.

So with a stroke of a pen the Monopoly Reserve (MR) is created.  Once the MR is created, it can now loan money.  The first loan it makes is to you and your buddies.  You take the loaned money you just received and use that to fund the MR.  

Nothing comes out of your pocket, but by slight of hand, the MR is now fully funded.

Where does the MR get the money to make the loan?  
It gets it from a checkbook of course.  The MR chairman agrees to loan you money and writes a check.  It is as simple as that, the money is created out of thin air.  

Now you take your check for $1 Billion Monos (monopoly currency), walk over to your computer and have it print $1 Billion monos to loan to the players.

Joe Smidwich decides he needs money to buy hotels for Park Place.  Fine you say, how much do you need?

$10 Million monos.  No problem, that will be 7% interest and we need to hold the hotels and Park Place as collateral.   With a handshake the deal is done.

You are now earning 7% interest in real monos for the basically counterfeit monos you just injected into the system.

We’ve covered a lot, so lets recap before we go on.

• A check that is not attached to any account or assets is written giving your group $1 billion monos.
• You loan $10 million worthless monos to Joe Smidwidh for 7% interest and hold all the title to his property
• Without costing you a cent or putting any of your assets at risk,  you are earning $700,000 monos

Cool Huh?

Here is where you really score.   After you make enough of these basically risk free loans, someone is bound to default and you stand to lose the interest you would have earned.  

This is very bad, you threaten to shut down the money supply and in effect shut down the whole game if you can not be assured you will get your money back.

The players get worried.  They have too much invested at this point and they know they can win the game if they just have more time. They will do anything.

Well ok, but we will need a percent of all the income of the game to protect us from losses.  If you will pay this small income tax, we will keep the money supply open.

Are you keeping up so far?

• Money you create out of nothing earns interest.  
• The rules now obligate all citizens of the game to pay interest in the form of a TAX on the bogus money you inject into the system.

But wait there is more insane profit to be had.
Scarcity supports perceived value.  Abundance reduces perceived value.   You know by simply injecting money into the system, the value of the mono is going to fall.  

The players will think of it as inflation, but in reality, your little paper dollars are losing value.

But the loss of value is not immediate.  When you get the money, and the first time you put it into the game, it is perceived as having current value.  So you quickly spend it on property and hotels or whatever.

But now that all this money is in the system, other players see it as plentiful and spend more for the same assets than they did before the money was available.  When they spend more, that means someone earned more and you get more tax dollars.

Here is where you are now.

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• Money you create out of nothing earns interest.  
• The rules now obligate all citizens of the game to pay interest in the form of a TAX on the bogus money you inject into the system.
• When you inject the money into the system, only your group gets full value, everyone else is stuck with deflated dollars.
• But with more dollars in the system you get more tax revenues.

The game is now dependent on you.
That’s right by controlling the money, the players now know they must have you if they want to stay in the game.  And, not staying in the game means they lose everything.

Could this happen in real life?
It’s not your imagination.  This is how the Federal Reserve got started and operates today.

In November of 1910, seven men representing an estimated ¼ of the wealth of the entire world attended a clandestine meeting on Nelson W. Aldrich’s Jekyll Island off the coast of Georgia.  In attendance were:

• Nelson W. Aldrich, Republican Whip and business associate of J.P. Morgan
• Abraham Piatt Andrew, Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury
• Frank A. Vanderlip, President of the National City Bank of New York and representing William Rockefeller, and the international investment banking house of Kuhn, Loeb & Company.
• Henry P. Davidson, senior partner of J.P Morgan Company.
• Charles D. Norton, President of J.P. Morgans First National Bank of New York
• Benjamin Strong, Head of J.P. Morgan’s banker’s Trust Company
• Paul M. Warburg, partner in  Kuhn, Loeb & Company and head of the Warburg banking consortium in Germany and the Nederlands.

While it took several years to play out, the final outcome of this fateful meeting was the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

The first attempt to put the Jekyll Island plan into action was the Aldrich Bill but it was met with resistance and soon defeated.  With that name it seemed like a consolidation of even more monetary power into the hands of the super wealthy.  

A better name was needed to inspire the confidence of the masses.  Whether a flash of brilliance or a laborious endeavor, the name The Federal Reserve System emerged.  

What a great name.

 It sounds “governmental” and implies there are reserves.   In fact the Federal Reserve System is no more federal than Federal Express.  It is just a name for a collection of private banks.

And, there are no reserves, just a blank check book from which to issue checks for the creation of money out of thin air.

Finally, “System” made it sound like a solution to all the economic ups and downs the country had experienced since its inception.  

Marketing at its finest.  “The rest,” as they say, “is history.”

So just remember, if you really want to be a big player in the game of Monopoly, all you need to do is follow the lead of the Federal Reserve System.

• Build a cartel of mega players.
• Create money out of nothing.
• Infuse the game with the fiat money and collect interest and taxes.
• Benefit from the inflation.
• Insure the players are so dependent upon you they dare not kick you out of the game.

Are Computers Endangering Your Life?

It was a bitter cold December night in 1973. I was especially cold riding home from work on my 1964 Honda 305 Dream motorcycle.

Like it or not, that was my only mode of transportation.

I was cold, bored, tired and just wanted to get out of the freezing weather. So I rolled back on the throttle and was flying down a long straight stretch of road just north of Lowery Air force Base.

It was 2 AM who would possibly care?

As I approached the intersection with Dayton street, the light turned red and I let off the gas.

WHOA! The bike kept speeding up.   The moisture and freezing temperatures had frozen the throttle wide open!

At well over 70 miles per hour and accelerating rapidly, I knew this could be a life changing event.

Toyota has received a lot of press these days because of their sticking accelerators. Some say it is the computer. 

As I recall, computers are supposed to simplify our lives, not make them more complicated and definitely they shouldn’t put us in harm’s way.

Not all that long ago, I could put an LP or 45 on the record player and all I had to do was worry about the volume. Now, I have to know how to program an MP3 player.

Not all that long ago, I could tune up and diagnose almost any vehicle with a set of wrenches and a book of matches to use for feeler gauges. Now, I need a computer diagnostic device to tell me what’s wrong with my vehicle.

But that’s not the real problem is it?

Computers are endangering our lives because they have made us lazy. Thinking for ourselves is becoming a lost art. We let the computer think for us and lawyers tell us when to sue if the computer is wrong.

Recently I overheard a discussion about the person in California who had the terrifying experience of his Toyota running out of control. In the end, a state trooper had to pull in front of them and use the police car to stop the run away Toyota.

The computers have stolen our common sense!

Somewhere in that sad ridiculous saga did it not occur to the driver of the Toyota to turn off the key?

Computers get faster, people less self- reliant and lawyers get rich.

For me, I am here today because on a freezing December night, I was able to think for myself, turn off the key, slam on the brakes, lay the bike down and slide to safe stop.

Now if I could just figure out how to program the DVD player.

How This Dirty Political Secret Guarantees Your Loss of Freedom

The two-party system has intentionally divided this nation.  With an ever widening, what political process has the slightest chance to reconcile the differences. 

What a perfect opportunity for a liberty stealing crisis.  

Could any government hope for more?

Politics and pandering are as inseparable as oxygen and life.

The rhetorical differences between the two parties is extreme but at the core of their actions and decisions it all comes down to taking power away from the citizens and placing it into the corrupt hands of “the government.”

What elected politician hasn’t promised a chicken in every pot?   If they didn’t, they didn’t get elected.

People love honest politicians EXCEPT when they tell the truth about why the people won’t get their way.

Remember the huge divide on the Iraq war and the Patriot Act! When the Conservatives were in power, the Liberals would have nothing to do with it. Through numerous media outlets, the Liberals made it clear with no ambiguity that the Constitution had to be restored and an end put to the Iraq War and the Patriot ACT.

The Liberal voters lapped the rhetoric up like thirsty dogs on a hot afternoon.

But wait!  What did the Liberals do when they achieved control of the whole ball game. Nothing. We are still in Iraq, Gitmo is still open and the unconstitutional Patriot Act was actually extended for a year. Hmmmm, seems the Liberals love the ability to secretly spy on US citizens too.

Do people even pay attention to what is going on?

And what about the Conservatives that proclaim smaller government is the way to go? You know, the same conservatives the are currently all fired up by the unconstitutional actions of the current administration’s attempts to force mandatory health care on the citizenry.

These same fools, out of pure fear, thought nothing of selling out our liberties so they could have the Patriot Act. Very few of them, if any, actually read the Bill before they signed it.

This is all political theater and manufactured conflict to give people the illusion that there is actually a difference between the political aspirations of the parties.

I have no doubt the voters, and a handful of politicians actually feel strongly about their approach to governing. But as the saying goes “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The longer these people are in office, no matter their political leaning, they all get seduced by the siren song of government power.

The facts are out! The Patriot Act regarding enables agencies to write their own warrants, secretly search an individual’s home, computer, bank accounts, etc., with no more authority than a piece paper created by the investigating agency. No judge or neutral party is even involved in the warrant process.  
  
And as Judge Andrew Napolitano so succinctly pointed out, if you are served with one of these secret warrants, you are not even allowed to testify in a court of law to having received the warrant.

Do you have any doubt that any politician, liberal, conservative, socialist, reactionary, would be quickly drawn to that power like an addict to the needle?

Meanwhile, in the media, internet and town hall meetings huge battles are raging about how to govern this great country.   And those battles are the stuff of dreams for politicians. Politicians use media fueled differences to obfuscate the true nature of government. Completely lost in the argument is the undeniable fact that, when any one party has control, we the citizens, lose liberties.

We have a heated debate over the nature of our government.   Vocal opponents to the status quo are labeled dangerous extremists, a danger to the country, terrorists to be watched and shut down.

Every little bit of criminal violence becomes the megaphone to proclaim the need to restrict access to guns by law-abiding citizens. Citizens whom they fear one day may actually choose to defend the Constitution from the politicians who prefer to ignore it.

The opponents to the governing party, get offended and yell back with their own megaphone.  The supporters of the governing party cry foul play and pull deeper into their corner bracing for the inevitable fight.

Meanwhile politicians, like bankers financing both sides of a war, feed the angst with more rhetoric and cries for hope and change.   The divide is so wide they must make us secure by monitoring the dissenters.

Suddenly all mindless acts of violence become the work of extremists groups who are un-American anarchists trying to destroy the perfect government.

Politicians force more legislation to take more guns, silence dissenting voices and illegally spy on those that find oppressive government disagreeable.

While they are at it, they blame all of the ills of modern society on the dissenters, not their oppressive government.

Being the noble people they are,  they assume the role of modern-day Robin Hood’s and steal from the productive and give to their major donors with a little bit for the down trodden they created.

Tensions rise and boom a plane flies into an IRS building. A shooting takes place at the Pentagon. The natives are restless and the opportunity to strike is at hand.

Forget that 300 million people are basically just trying to get from one day to the other either as productive citizens or on the dole.

Now is the time for politicians to finally put the Constitution to rest and end this nonsense of freedom and liberty. After all it has been an illusion for decades, and the time is ripe to make it official that power actually flows from the government to the governed.

Politicians are about to stick a fork in the Constitution and call it done.

All they really need are a few more violent incidents, a little more fear and the masses will scream for the politicians to do something and quietly accept their forced vaccinations, go to their soup kitchens and be thankful to have it.

Reading this may seem like science fiction. It is good to have a healthy skepticism. Do not assume I am right about anything. Do your own research.

Research the internet and learn about:

1. the internment camps,
2. the suspension of Posse Comitatus Act (read about Homeland Security at the bottom of Wikipedia page)
3. the Patriot Act,
4. the forced vaccinations in Massachusetts,
5. the arrest of an 86-year-old librarian she showed another an illegal warrant.
6. Read the Cyber Security Act that gives the President the power to shut down the Internet if he feels it is a threat to national security . . . however he chooses to define a “threat.”

By all means, please do you your own research. Then when you get very, very upset and very very fearful of an omnipotent government.

Take Appropriate Action.

• Forget national elections, they are foregone conclusions anyway. Those with the biggest budget win.
• Vote to eliminate all incumbents that have held office for more than two terms. It is the only way to save them from themselves. Power is far more addicting than crack cocaine and they will succumb.
• Get involved in local and primary politics make a difference where you can.
• Look behind every political promise and ask not what can the politicians do for me, ask what are they doing for themselves.
• Get a copy of the Constitution and study it.
• Remove from office any politician that blocks a complete and open audit of the Federal Reserve.
• Insist on legislation that requires All existing and Future Legislation pass a Constitutional test.
• Only support candidates the will insist on Supreme Court Justices that are strict Constitutionalists.
• Remember, your fight is not with “the government” the fight is with the politicians that define the shape of the government.
• Pray, if you want, that this madness will stop, but realize it is up to ALL of us to make sure it does.
• Embrace the Bill of Rights

The divide between political parties is more marketing than substance.   It is an illusion to satiate the people’s need to feel they have some modicum of control.   The illusion is to keep tensions high and people in fear so they act irrationally and provide the impetus for more government control.

There can not be any reconciliation of differences as long as the politicians use the differences to divide and conquer the people and the Constitution.

Exposed: The Sinister Secret Behind Inflation.

My mother and father would hark back to the days when a loaf of bread was only 8 cents. “Mom”, I would say, “things just cost more.”

 

 Could I have been more wrong?

Things don’t cost more, it is a hidden tax!

How Inflation is Created

Contrary to common thought, inflation is not the normal order of things. It will all become very clear when you read this short analogy.

There are 10 people in a community. 

 

 

1. Abe makes tractors
2. Bill makes gas
3. Charlie builds houses
4. Darin is a developer
5. Edward makes tractor parts
6. Frank is a produce farmer
7. George raises cattle
8. Hank is a tractor mechanic
9. Ian owns and drives a delivery van
10. Jasper is a laborer

These hardworking folks soon learned a simple barter system would not work. When Charlie built a house for Hank, he wanted to be paid, but did not need tractor parts. They needed something else of value to trade. Everyone knew this was a problem for them too. So they all got together and created an advanced barter system called money.They created the “DayCredit” or as it became known the DC. A DayCredit was equal to exactly (1) 12 hour day of work. Since it takes Charlie 3600 hours to build a house, the house is worth 300 DC’s. That means Hank is going to have to labor as a mechanic for 300 days to pay for the house.With DC currency, it does not matter for whom he works, as long as they pay him in equivalent DC currency. Charlie knows that the money he receives can be used to buy goods or services from anyone else in their group.

So far; so good.

One day, the Fedrev family moves into town. The whole town is excited and welcome the Fedrev’s with open arms. They explain to them how their barter system works and the Fedrevs agree to accept and use the DC currency.

Up until this point, everyone printed their own currency based on integrity and full guarantee of their 12 hr work day per DC.

Fedrev was a printer and supplied printing services. Then one day they offered to be the sole printer of the DC currency. A reasonable idea but unfortunately Fedrev was lazy and dishonest.

Fedrev wanted to have the nicest house in the community but did not have enough DCs to purchase the house from Charlie. So they very quietly printed a little extra money and gave it to themselves as a 10% interest bonus. They then used that money to buy the most expensive house Charlie could build.

Everyone knew there were more DCs in the system than there were labor hours to back them up.  So when Frank went to buy a tractor, Edward would no longer accept 1 DC per 12 hr day.  Edward now wanted 1.1 DCs for each labor day he needed to build a tractor.

Jasper the laborer could no longer afford to buy produce because Frank had to raise his prices to cover the cost of the tractor. So he demanded a cost of living adjustment from George the Cattle farmer.

Upon learning that George’s beef prices went up by 10% Bill raised his gas prices to cover his family expenses.

And so on.

Sadly, due to dishonest money policy, 10% of the value of the money simply disappeared. A days work is still a days work, but for this community, a day’s work is only worth 91% of what it used to be.

For those that could raise their prices, it was a wash.

But for those who could not raise their prices, their money now buys less.   A
day of delivery for Ian is no longer worth a 12 hours of Bill’s gas production.

Rising prices are absolute proof that too much money is being pumped into
the system!

 I get inflation, but how is this a hidden tax?

Great Question.Who benefited in the community of 10? The Fedrev’s. They immediately got
10% more value out of their DCs than anyone else. The few that could raise their prices accordingly and immediately maintained
the value of their products and services but those that could not lost out.

Professional politicians, like the rest of us want to keep their jobs. But in
order to even get the job they have to make unrealistic promises like “a
chicken in every pot, a car in every garage” or better yet “Health Care
for Everyone!”

 However, there is a finite amount of money available for them to use to pay for this pandering.   If they campaign on the promise that “Universal Health Care will only cost you an additional 25% in taxes” no one will elect them.

Since politicians know the truth will not work, but will say anything to get or keep their jobs, they need to tax you with out you knowing it.

Politicians, like the Fedrevs know that if they ask the Federal Reserve to pump a bunch of money in the system their dollars buy a lot more than your dollars.  

 

The important part of this is knowing how the Federal Reserve creates the money they pump into the system.

Basically they have a book of blank checks. That’s it.The checks are NOT attached to any accounts, any reserve of gold or silver, it is just a check book.

The Federal Reserve writes a check to the US Government for billions of dollars and presto chango, money is created out of thin air by the stroke of a pen and the miracle of the printing press.

Politicians get billions of dollars to spend (In Obama’s case trillions).

The secret is, when politicians use the dollars they get current value.

Unfortunately, by time you get your dollar, it is now worth far less than it was when you earned it.

The really sick part is that the private bankers, affectionately known as the Federal Reserve, charge the citizens interest on the money they created out of thin air!

Through the Federal Reserve Act, the politicians guaranteed the private bankers that the interest would be paid by a direct tax on the income of the us citizens.

By devaluing Your dollar, but not the government’s, you get hit with a hidden tax. To keep the illusion alive, the government and media quickly shift all the blame to companies raising prices.

Can anything be done to stop this train wreck?

I wish I were more optimistic on this subject. To put an end to this would require a few actions that I just do not see happening. 

 Citizens must take time to fully understand the Federal Reserve. A good place to start is by reading The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve., watching these videos and watching The Money Masters Video.

1. Remove from office all politicians that embrace the Federal Reserve.
    
2. Demand and fight for a complete audit of the Federal Reserve.
    
3. Demand a list of names of the actual owners of the Federal Reserve.
    
4. Insist the politicians fire the Federal Reserve and retake the Constitutional right of our Government to print its own money. (Lincoln did and Kennedy wanted to.)
    
5. Cowboy up and realize there is no free ride. It is pay as you go,
   regardless of what politicians promise.
    
6. Demand the elimination of the Federal Reserve Note and insist that currency be backed by gold or some other commodity.  (definitely not something stupid like carbon credits)
    

 Ok let’s wrap this up

• Inflation is NOT caused by rising prices based or evil profits.
   
• Inflation is direct evidence politicians have intentionally mismanaged money for job security.
    
• The Federal Reserve prints money out of thin air at the behest of the politicians.
   
• The Federal Reserve is gauranteed your income will be taxed to pay them interest on the money they created out of thin air.
   
• The politicians get to spend uninflated dollars that have far more value than the dollars that trickle down to you.
• Inflation is just secret code for taxation without representation.

Ok, maybe we will not be able to return to the days (1935) when milk was 8 cents a gallon or the average cost of a new house was $3450.  

Focus on value, not dollars. In 1935, based on the average annual income of $1600,  an hour of labor would buy 7.6 gallons of gas.  

In 2009, based on an average annual income of $55,000, an hour of labor will buy 8.8 gallons of gas.  Remember, a good percentage of current gas prices are TAXES, so the price of gas, in terms of our direct labor to acquire it, is far less than in 1935.  

Things do not cost more in effort than they did in the past, in fact, they are often less expensive in terms bartering labor for goods.  

Politicians are happy to pump too much money into the monetary system to buy their votes becasue it is easy to hide the tax behind slipery words like inflation and pass the blame to the corporations that provide the lifestyle we enjoy.   

Increasing Your Value by Learning and Understanding Canned Cycles

 The salary difference between top paid and low paid CNC operators can be significant. Learn why understanding canned cycles can be an important step towards a bigger paycheck

 

What are Canned Cycles?

Canned cycles are special routines built into every CNC control. Whether it is a mill, router, 5 axis grinder, lathe or whatever, the control will have canned cycle capability.

These routines enable the operator or programmer to accomplish with one line of code what it could take 10 or more lines of code to accomplish without the canned cycle.

Canned cycles on a CNC mill will control things like drilling cycles, boring cycles, spot facing and so on. On a CNC lathe, the canned cycles will control roughing, finishing, grooving and threading routines.

Why should operators learn and use canned cycles?

Whether you have your own shop or you work for someone else, the bottom line is that, in order to get paid, parts need to ship. The longer it takes to get the parts out the door, the higher the cost incurred by the shop.

As you become familiar and proficient with the use of canned cycles, you become more efficient and ultimately reduce the time it takes to ship parts. The more you efficient you are the more valuable you are.

Another reason to learn canned cycles is because effective use of canned cycles can help reduce scrap and rework. If you not only make parts more efficiently and reduce scrap and rework along the way, the more valuable you are.

So how do canned cycles accomplish these valuable tasks?

Imagine you are making a part on CNC mill that has 15 holes that need to be drilled, counter bored and tapped.

Upon inspecting your first part, you find an error. All of the holes are drilled too deep.

Without canned cycles, you would have to make a minimum of 15 changes to the program; one for each hole. If the change in finished depth is significant, you may also have to change all the peck and retract programming for each hole. Now, you may be talking about 30, 60 or more changes.

The scrap reduction is a matter of odds. Every time you make an edit, you chances of an error increase. It is a lot easier to make one simple change that weeding through dozens or hundreds of lines of code to make 60 changes.

An operator that can make fast, scrap free edits is going to be more valuable than one who can’t.

Don’t wait to learn how to use canned cycles.

Study the programming manual that came with the machine. Or, for a more in depth discussion on the subject, check out 7 Easy Steps to CNC Programming . . . A Beginner’s Guide.

WARNING:

While canned cycles are a huge benefit to CNC operators and manual programmers, they are the bane to the existence of programmers that rely on CAM systems to create CNC code.

Programmers using CAM systems like Unigraphics, MasterCAM, GibbsCAM and so on rarely set the software to take advantage of canned cycles. There is a lot to be discussed regarding the differences between manual and CAM programming, but that will have to wait for a future article. Suffice it know if you work in one of these CAM driven shops, you may not see a lot of canned cycles.

However, not all programs come from the office. Often you may be called upon to quickly make a part with out involving the programming department. You will be a valuable asset if you can take on that challenge and quickly program the part using Manual Data Input (MDI) and canned cycles.

In Summary:

• Canned cycles can improve efficiency and reduce scrap.
   
• Your value as an employee will increase if you are more 
      efficient and help reduce scrap and rework. Canned cycles are
      valuable tool for you master.
• Larger shops and shops dependent upon CAM systems for CNC programs typically do not use nor encourage the use of canned cycles for most jobs. But when you come to the rescue and quickly and accurately program a simple job that can’t wait for office programming, you get to be the hero.

One of the simplest, most straight forward discussions on the topic can be found in my book 7 Easy Steps to CNC Programming . . . A Beginner’s Guide. This book is used by a number of vocational schools around the country as the primary text for an introduction to CNC programming.

7 Easy Steps to CNC Programming . . . A Beginner’s Guide is 100% guaranteed. If you don’t like it or feel that it is not right for you, simply return it and you will receive a prompt refund. . . No questions asked. However, if you include a brief note explaining why you did not like the book, your return shipping cost will be refunded as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Proven Tips, Tools and Tactics To Survive an Economic Slowdown

Having worked most of my career in production environments, I have observed first hand, the high cost and inefficiency associated with economic down turns.

When business experience a slow down, the employees slow down. Not necessarily on purpose, it just happens. For the employee as things get slow, the remaining work fills the vacuum. There is something very psychologically uncomfortable about seeing work come to an end and I think we all experience some time distortion. What once was easy to accomplish in an hour can easily fill 2, 3, 4 or more hours and we convince ourselves how busy we are.

In a production company, it is often said, there is cost, delivery and quality . . . Pick two. In other words, you can have it fast and cheap but quality will suffer. Or you can have quality and delivery, but it is going to cost.

Fulfillment and delivery is a cornerstone of a production environment. So when employees slow down for fear of running out of work, delivery suffers and customer satisfaction falls. This can be a death nail for any company that has competitors.

To Survive in a Slow Economy, You MUST Deliver Better than Expected Quality, On-time
With the additional pressure on delivery, how do you keep employees focused on getting the job done quickly? Here are some things that have seen work in the past.

1. Focus on Productivity not Hours
   In one shop where I was the CNC Programmer / Dept Supervisor, the owner held brief meetings every day to keep us informed. In essence he said, “regardless of when work runs out, you will be paid until the end of the week. If however you are not productive, you will be laid off.” Our job was to get quality product out the door as on or before schedule. If we ran out of work on Wednesday, we would still be paid through Friday. And Ed always found us something to do. Clean the machines, repaint the safety lines on the floor or whatever.Interestingly, somehow work always trickled in and I think it was due in large part to our ability to deliver on time.
2. It is NOT Busy Work if it is Important
   Too often, with good intentions, managers and supervisors assign busy work to employees with out making the work important. People need to feel that their work is important and contributing. When just handed a broom, they are often offended, see it as stupid, do the task with low quality, and go home frustrated.Find ways to communicate how important the busy work is. Cleaning, painting, etc make the work environment more enjoyable, and more safe. Ideally, if you see a slow down coming in the future, start people on the alternate activities while still busy, stress the importance of it. Then when the slow down hits, put more people on tasks all the while “thanking” the slow down as an opportunity to complete these important tasks.
3. Don’t Let Quality Suffer
   One bad side effect of a slow down is quality often suffers, when by all accounts it should improve. Here is an example from my own experience.I worked my way through my first few years of college working at pizza places. And, if you have ever worked in a restaurant, you know you have peak and slow periods almost every day. In my experience as an employee and as a customer, food and service quality typically suffer during the slow periods.Well one very slow night at the Western Drive In in Denver, someone came in and ordered an 18″ anchovy pizza. I hopped right on it and then got distracted talking to my coworkers who were standing around. I burned the Pizza and had to remake it. Then I made the same stupid mistake and burned the second pizza. Finally the 3rd pizza was successfully prepared, but it was so late we gave it to the customer for free and the delivery boy, my best friend, did not receive a tip.

   That was my first experience of the high cost of slow business.

4. Invest in Training for the People you Hope to Retain
   Don’t get me wrong. When things are slow, cash flow and profitability suffer. So sending star employees around the country to train may be out of reach. But the best employees are typically the ones with the greatest understanding of the entire operations. Here are some things you can do that give employees better overall understanding of your company, gives them some great training and gives them a real sense of value:
   • Bring them into the office an train them on the front office operations, filing, billing, accounting, etc.
   • Train them in the basic business that are important to your success. Teach them about Cash Flow, Break Even, Contribution Margins, Operating cost, etc.
   • Bring them into the office and involve them in a SWOT analysis. Find out how they perceive the company, you will learn a lot, if you are open minded.
   • Take employees on sales calls, show them how hard it is to get new business and help them realize the importance of cost, delivery, and quality.
   • Give them responsibility and accountability for their “busy work’ tasks. For example, If you bring customers through, introduce them to the employee and say “This is Joe he is responsible for” . . . shop cleanliness, painting or whatever.
5. Remember, it is an end result you are paying for, not hours.
   This is hard for a lot of business owners and managers, but you are not buying hours. You want X amount of quality widgets, a Y response to marketing efforts, audit proof bookkeeping or whatever. Why get hung up on the perceived hourly wage if you get the results you need at a fair price? If your people improve, get more efficient and get the tasks done faster and better, don’t punish them. Encourage them for their great work and help them find other interesting things to do in the company that utilize their talents.

Even Though Profits May Be Small or Non-Existent
Depending on the nature of your operations you must keep in mind contribution margin. If you have a large capital expense or fixed cost, you have to do everything you can to cover that cost. I have seen companies turn down jobs because they could not make a profit or the price does not cover their “burden rate”. That is understandable, but consider this.

Suppose you have fixed costs of $10,000 per month. Doesn’t it make sense to accept a job that covers variable cost plus some % of gross margin? Every dollar earned in excess of variable expense contributes towards paying fixed costs. That can mean keeping key employees productive and the doors open.

Economic slowdowns are painful enough with out losing control of motivation, production and quality. And slowdown happen, smart managers anticipate an plan for them and turn them into opportunities for business improvement. When business is slow for an industry, competition gets fierce, your survival will depend upon keeping customers happy with outstanding delivery, exceptional quality and competitive pricing . . .customers will demand all three, not just two.

What background should a CNC machinist have?

This has been the subject of many debates. There are a couple of schools of thought.
 
At one time, and maybe still today, machine tool salesmen sold CNC machines on the notion that they were so simple to operate a “trained orangutang” could operate them. Consequently, many shops and CNC departments are run is such a way that the machine operator is just a button pusher.
  
In other shops, management looks at CNC machines as some of the most expensive equipment in the shop and they want only the best machinists running them.
 
Both schools of thought have their advantages and disadvantages. And, each type of operation has a different set of requirements.
 
A CNC operator shop that depends exclusively on “operators” rather than machinists, requires more supervision, better programmers, and often specialized setup people. These shops also need to look for different qualifications in their employees. If your goal is to rely on lower cost operators then, don’t hire people that aspire to be programmers, managers, salesmen, etc., unless you plan on moving them up in the company fairly quickly. Instead, find people who are conscientious, want to do a good job, like structure, are more interested in their personal life than their career. These operators must carefully and reliably follow written and/or verbal instructions.
 
To be successful in this operation, management must also have a strong supporting staff that can provide fast, quality set ups and error-free programs.
 
Since the operator may not be a strong source of ideas regarding process improvement, you’ll need a very competent and attentive supervisor, programmer or manufacturing engineer to monitor the machines. No shop can survive by doing things the way they did them five years ago. New tools, grades of carbide and work holding methods serve to improve efficiency and reduce machining times.
  
Some advantages of the CNC operator shop include:

• Lower labor costs.
• It’s easier to find new employees.
• Operators tend to do what they are told and do less second guessing.
• When properly selected, operators tend to be more content doing long production runs.
• Lower training costs and shorter learning curves.

Some disadvantages of the CNC operator shop include:

• Operators typically require more support from indirect labor such as programmers, Manufacturing Engineers, supervision etc.
• Problem solving usually involves more people and time as the operator waits for the “experts” to solve the problem.
• Often operators have an “it all pays the same” attitude and have less motivation to improve processes.
• Often operators are less comfortable with change and don’t see the value in trying new methods. They may complain, “I don’t see why we have to keep changing the tool, the old one was working well enough.”
• As operators become familiar with particular machines and jobs, they tend to accumulate tools, notes and knowledge that do not get shared.
• The ability of your shop to meet production schedules may suffer if the operator gets sick, takes a vacation or leaves the company.
• Machine setups are dependent upon the availability of the setup personnel. Machines can sit idle while set up people are attending to other machines.
• The shop may have greater tooling expenses if it is required to provide all the necessary tools and inspection equipment for the operator.
• A CNC machinist shop that uses machinists that are expected to program as well as operate the machine need to look for different qualities in their employees.
• Like CNC operators, CNC machinists need to be conscientious, and have a strong desire to do a good job. Additionally, the best machinists love their work. They like the challenge of making intricate shapes out of raw stock. They have an attitude of “anything can be done, I just have to figure out how to do it.”

Some advantages of the CNC machinist shop include:

• Machinists typically require less support from indirect labor such as programmers, Manufacturing Engineers, supervision, etc.
• Qualified machinists can be a greater resource upon which to draw for figuring out how to run new jobs or improve processes.
• Machinists usually have their own tools and inspection equipment which can further reduce expenses.
• Machinists are often more flexible when asked to try new processes.
  Machinists are more likely to bring in ideas from outside reading or interests.

Some disadvantages of the CNC machinist shop include:

• Machinists earn higher wages.
• Machinists are harder to find and keep.
• Some machinists resist new ideas if those ideas don’t match their previous experience or skill level.
• Some people who present themselves as machinists, frankly, are just operators.
• Some machinists who claim to have “x” years of experience really only have one year of experience repeated “x” times. So, while they have put in the years, they have not had the variety of experience necessary to justify their salary expectations.

This article was taken from 7 Easy Steps to CNC Programming, Book II, Beyond the Beginning available from http://www.haydenpub.com

Sound Business Principles, Not Panic is the Key to Surviving this Economy

Boy, when the economy is good, everybody is a marketing genius. Seems it is impossible to fail.

We even begin to believe in our own business acumen. So we expand, take unusual risks, borrow money for expansion, relax our credit terms and so on. Whatever it takes to grow, we do because, after all it’s grow or die. . . right?

Then there is what I call the Hamlet effect. To quote Hamlet “When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions:” – William Shakespere, Hamlet Prince of Denmark (Claudius, King of Denmark at IV, V)

Well now careless optimism has come home to roost. What was once a stroke of marketing genius may be starting to look more like reckless gambling. And rest assured, the carpet baggers have shined their shoes, put on a new face and now stand outside the door offering their help.

Since the turn in the economy, has your phone been ringing off the wall or your email filled up with “free advice” to help you succeed? At every turn is there someone telling you that if only you did better SEO, made a video, had a website make over, bought this marketing plan, or whatever, you will will over your competition?

Stop. Take a breath, slow down and think for a minute. If you had the money, and time, to take advantage of everyone of these offers, would the added success even cover the cost of the services? Somethings obviously will improve your business more than others and some are probably just a waste of money.

No amount of marketing, SEO or website improvements are going to save a company that is not running on sound business principles. We had a joke at one company that seemed to engage in endless price wars. The joke was; “who cares if we sell at a loss, we will make it up on volume.”

Here are some solid strategies that you must implement if you are going to survive:

1. Get your Cash Flow In Order. Bill Douglas, CEO of EssentiaLink, has a saying “Cash Flow is Oxygen” and boy truer words were never spoken. Bill’s careful and incessant attention to cash flow has helped EssentiaLink survive and grow.
    
2. You have to understand and adhere to basic financial principles. For example, a $1000 expense is far more than a $1000 burden on your company. If your margins are 10%, you have to boost sales by $10,000 just to recover the $1000 spent and who wants to just break even. Not to mention an extra $10,000 in additional sales also puts an extra burden on cash flow. And when that happens, the cost of money comes into play. Things can get very expensive.
    
3. Not all customers are worth keeping. Some customers just don’t quite fit into the niche of what you are offering. Maybe you can never quite keep them happy, or maybe they never embrace all that you can do for them. These customers can bring down your business and image and they often consume far more of your resources than they are worth. Do some research, find a company that can serve them better and bring the two together. Your reputation will rise as a result.
    
4. Stop stepping over dollars to save dimes. In light of point 2 this might seem counter intuitive, but it’s not. If you are the main mover and shaker in your company and you are wasting time fiddling with IT, or spending 15 minutes to save a few bucks on a box of paper, the little you save can never make up for your lost time. The same is true if you are paying for a purchasing staff. If they are wasting time pricing pencils when they should be tracking down better prices on raw materials, you are losing money.
    
5. Technology is a tool to use, not the object of the game. If your technology is getting the job done and not incurring excessive maintenance cost, let it ride. remember, every dollar you spend on technology will cost you $1 / margin rate.
    
6. Focus on your core competencies. If you are an Engineering or Legal firm for example, your efforts should be to increase billable hours. So if billable people are working on IT problems, marketing, buying office supplies, consider outsourcing the non-core tasks and put people back to work on core projects. Having them do busy work while waiting for business to come in is draining your cash flow and hurting your business. Notably, sometimes this leads to a tough decision.
    
7. Get close to your customers. Before you spend a fortune on SEO or website overhauls, make sure you are speaking to your customer’s current needs. The reason they signed up a year ago, may not be the reason they are staying with you or would sign up with you today. Marketing is like fishing, if you use the wrong bait, you will get the wrong fish or nothing at all.
    
8. A million hits means nothing if you are not converting. Wouldn’t 500 highly motiveted buyers be better than 1,000,000 drive bys? Focus on revenue per hit, not hits per day.
    
9. Running a business is like writing good documentation. You want exactly enough to cover the topic, and not a word more.
    
10. Document, document, document. If you do not document your processes and business, you can suffer from the effects of vanishing technology. What do you do when your star worker leaves for another opportunity? You have a great sales proces that works, but does it stop working when you go on vacation? Document everything, so you can remain successful even when good people leave or you go on vacation. Try selling a business for what it is worth if it is not documented.

At the end of the day, good busienss practices go a long way towards securing your survival. And yes, you must market and sell. But if your house is not in order, throwing a lot of money an time at marketing will do little to help you survive in the long run.