In business the process of batching is used to trade off the cost of setting up a process, and the cost of processing time. That is to say if I am making bicycles I must first weld the frame, then attach the handle bars, gears and tires. If I need to produce 800 bicycles by the end of the week then I can choose to do all the welding then move on to handlebar assembly, then gear assembly, etc. If I was a factory of one person this would make sense, however by batching I’m actually increasing the time to complete each bicycle- 1 bicycle is completed when the entire batch is completed. If instead I reduced the batch size or created an assembly line system(one piece flow), the time to produce one bicycle is reduced proportionally. This is expressed in a simple equation referred to as Little’s Law: I=RT; Inventory= (Rate of Production)(Process Time).
To illustrate this means if I have an batch size of 400 (Inventory) that I can process at a rate of 160 per day this means it will take me 2.5 days to process this batch(Time). However if I reduce my batch size to 200 my time reduced proportionally to 1.25 days. I won’t produce any more total by the end of the week by reducing the batch. So if my customer wants 400 units, they would still have to wait 2.5 days. But if I have two customers who each want 200 units, one can have it in 1.25 days, and the other in 2.5 days. Changing the batch size gives me more flexibility to adjust my production process as needed to meet customer demand.

In general, I think making analogies between business/manufacturing and humans is only helpful when it’s done to explore potential problems. The spirit of an analogy is broken when folks assume it is an equivalent. That said: Batching seems to be the idea behind teaching. Stick 20-30 kids in a room, educate them to a certain level and send them on to the next stage of the process. A child is like a unit of goods sold in the sense that some are poor, average and good quality at the beginning of the process (meaning are the refined enough for a specific stage in the process). A child can also become a poor, average or good quality product based on the process. We measure the child at the end of each grade against a standard that’s been set (standardized tests). We measure the child’s personality based on how well adjusted they are. The problem with this is it’s based on the environment, some shouldn’t be adjusted to. A child is unlike a unit of goods sold in the sense that there is not such thing as industrial child waste (although to hear some parents tell diaper stories perhaps it’s not completely true). Still, one main goal of a manufacturing firm is to reduce waste because that means lost money. To reduce waste they send in Six Sigma black belts to improve the process and reduce the deviations from the quality parameters.

The education process does produce waste. The process was designed to work for most kids, and it does exactly that. If you’re too poor, your parents work nights, and can’t help with homework, you’re not as likely to succeed. If you learn differently than other students, you’re not likely to receive the individual attention you need to understand the material, which will prevent you from understanding the next level of study. If you’re too smart, you may get bored and hate school. If you’re too different, you may spend most of your brain power on how to avoid bullies.

Perhaps the analogy is useful in the sense that if we redesign the process for educating children perhaps we can reduce waste. It would be ideal to reduce the batch size of class rooms, more individualized attention, progression that matches the student’s aptitude.

This post isn’t really a lecture, although it started that way. I’d like it to be a starting point for a discussion.

How can we redesign the process of education on greater scale to reduce industrial child waste?

Would less focus on age/grade levels and peer standards decrease the ability to monitor child quality?

How can we integrate technology to decrease the processing time and replace outdated methods, rather than supplement them?

With the lack of political will to fund education in it’s current form, what improvements can be made so that the process still produces quality students?

The other night I as I was sitting in some business class, my mind wandered (gee I wonder why), and I began to think of what I perceive is an ironic perspective about the relationship of government and business. And I’d like to expand on this for the next few posts, which will hopefully be less sparse.

The jist of the problem as I see it is that business purports to be concerned with ROI- return on investment, lowering costs (everything that it takes to run the business including inventory, through-put(sales, demand supplied), and operating expenses). They (conservatives, simplified thinkers, etc) assume one: that the government somehow by nature can not be concerned with these same aspects, and two: that private businesses are by nature better at producing a higher ROI aka they are more efficient. This is the argument behind a reduction in government run programs, and avoiding a government run healthcare program.

I hope to create analogies from the business world to show that if we treat the government like a business and not like a parent or a piggy bank we could have everything we ever dreamed of.

So here’s my general outline for then next few posts (mostly so I don’t forget):
Incentives: A department to whole relationship
R&D: A cost center, but also a profit center
Under-performing Assets: What to cut loose

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and others oppose efforts to expand hate-crimes protections based not only on their inclusion of categories defined by sexual behavior or identity but also because of concerns about the potential impact on religious freedom.

This is outrageous! We must protect the religious freedom to condone the assault and murder of homosexuals in church teachings. Hell we had to limit our lynching blacks talk to KKK meetings, and that’s a 1st amendment tragedy.

Please write to your liberal congressmen and tell them you want to kill queers, be sure to give them your name, address, phone number, church name and a good physical description of yourself.

10 things I love about my wife, 7 of which are true:
She enjoys going to my flag football games even when she’s tired
She listens to me when I’m pontificating
She pretends to listen to me when I’m pontificating
Uh, Boobs
She’s smart enough to not be satisfied with mediocrity (enough thought that’s resulted in a 10 bachelor’s degree)
She’s proud of me, even when I do silly things
She’s an emotional anchor when I feel like a loser
She respects my awesome intellect
She laughs at my incredible wit
She puts up with my unmatched ego

Today all of my other activities seemed to be sandwiched by, well I’m not sure how to succinctly say but, more or less gender observations.
When I came to school this morning, I walked up the stairs with a metro/hipster looking guy. He had a hip-Asian haircut, a tight black shirt with a white splatter design, designer jeans, and a small messenger bag. The most attractive feature however was his pointed ostrich skin tooled Italian-style boots. By attractive, I mean my eye was attracted to the odd way he walked up the stairs, which then moved to his feet as the source of awkwardness. These boots were so elongated and pointed they were like the new extra-long-don’t-squish-your-toes high heeled shoes. It took a flight to realize that he looked odd because he was trying to plant his whole foot on the step, and his obscenely pointed shoe kept hitting the vertical part of the stair. Then another flight for me to realize that he continued to do it because he’d probably never learned to “Barbie-foot” (as Stan calls it). Called such because you only put the ball of your foot on the step and you keep your heel up. By sight this looks like a Barbie doll foot that is permanently formed for a high heel. Anyone who’s worn high heels knows it’s almost pointless to seek purchase on stairs with that teeny-tiny point below your heel. Surely though, he’s run up stairs?
I’d never considered that someone wouldn’t know how to walk up steps on the balls of his feet. The fact that he hadn’t figured it out by the top of the steps was more surprising. Is it a luxury to always be able to firmly plant your feet, or does it create an inability to move appropriately for a situation? I’m also pretty sure that guys know how to do this, I mean boxers, dancers, they have to know how to move. It struck me as odd, almost as if I was watching a man in drag walk up the steps.

Then at the end of my day, I was sought out for advice from a young lesbian about dating a tranny(FTM). I, however, did not say run for the hills and save yourself. Surprising considering my experience. Rather, it was just sage advice, good for any situation, be honest with yourself about what you want, and be honest with him, blah blah blah. The only thing remarkable about the conversation was when she brought up, as her main objection, not being comfortable on the receiving end of a strap-on. It’s times like this that something comes out of my mouth . . . not intending to be funny, simply trying to make a point. And I quote:

At some point in your lesbian career someone is going to put a dildo in your vagina, so if that’s all that’s holding you back get over it.

This is something I’m glad I get to say. I get frustrated that so many people, and young people still, don’t understand cultural influence on gender, and the difference between gender and sex. But despite having to almost constantly explain that women aren’t biologically ‘feminine’, I’m sincerely glad that I have a different lens to view the world through. It’s like a behind the scenes look at our culture. Or maybe more like watching a horror movie . . . yeah, that may be more realistic, ’cause sometimes I just want scream and throw popcorn at them.

Stan: Judas from Jesus Christ Superstar was in “The Color Purple”

Me: Your mom was in “The Color Purple”

I may need help . . .

Also I told Jesse he’s so gay it should be a sin. What is wrong with me?

See more here, like the Escher-like staircase sculpture. Its one of the few post that’s in English not German.

She’s displays the classic symptoms of this disorder (specifically overly concerned with body image, excessive exercising, making food for others and not eating it) which can cause brain damage as well as a host of other delightful impairments (liver failure, coma, arthritis, kidney disease and failure).

I say this because, first of all she doesn’t believe in evolution, but teaches children about dinosaurs. And a few minutes ago I after taking out the trash, I came inside to see her attempting to replace the trash bag with a recycling bag. Our city has a specific color assigned to recyclables that you buy from the city. By itself that might not be so weird, but I asked her why she was getting a new bag when there was an empty bag in a container labeled “recycle” next to the bag-less trash can. And she said oh, this isn’t for the trash? No. (which she knows already, this isn’t new information) she also happened to have a plastic bottle she was trying to recycle, which she then indicates and says this is recyclable though right? Uhhmm. Yeah.

Was this a misunderstanding? I’m confused. There was clearly a receptacle for recyclables and it was empty (as in the opposite of full) and she’s never seen any color but a black bag in the trash can. And she’s lived here a least half a year.

Therefore the only answer is permanent irreparable brain damage. And/Or I just hate her, and want her to pay me rent and live elsewhere.

Oh, and she doesn’t understand why the government won’t give her government scholarships for school when she’s defaulted on a government loan. Despite the fact that it clearly states this on every financial aid website, that those are just the rules. I wouldn’t give money for free to someone who refuses to pay the money they borrowed, and I am the government. “But I’m not asking for a loan . . .” . . .hate. . .

Dr. Docker: (I walked into the middle of the conversation): Blah, blah blah The G.I. Bill put me through undergrad, and they held off my deployment so I could finish my MBA, half of which I took my senior year. As soon as I graduated they sent me off to the Vietnam War. I was assigned in Hong Kong as the commander of an re-engineering mission and my ship never the dock. But I got my Commander-at-Sea pin. (seems to me to be joking, in fact he’s VERY proud of his pin).
Me: I guess they don’t have a Commander-At-Dock pin.
**BoMbS**
Dr. Docker: Ahem. (back to him) My son-in-laws both have their doctorates, but they don’t have their Commander-at-Sea Pin, and they won’t have their chance to get it now. Blah, blah, blah

Me: (sneaking away)

Wow. So luckily he’s an elective instructor, so I never have to take his classes, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a chance to reap revenge for my disrespect.

The next day he presented a mini-lecture to our class about team work and presentations. The first presentation team that went he ripped a new one (unfairly so). He said something to the effect of, “Your teammates look bored, if you can’t keep them interested how are you going to keep your audience interested.” Ummm, he designed the content of the presentation, and that was the least interesting part. Oh not to mention that half the class was asleep by the end of his lecture.
But his sweet revenge was collected the next day during a team tower building exercise. The point was to build the highest tower, with the builder blind folded using only their non-dominant hand and only one seeing person communicating with the builder. I was the builder, and we blew everyone else’s tower away. At the last few seconds I put the final blocks on, and was oh so slowly taking my hand away (so I wouldn’t knock over anything) , clearly outstretched to indicate I was not holding anything. He claimed to have said stop prior to the placement of the last few blocks, and subsequently removed them, making our tower shorter, and below our stated goal therefore disqualifying us.

I’m no sore loser, and I can do without a prize of candy or a coffee mug, and I was happy to congratulate the winners. But this guy clearly enjoys taking something from others, whether or not it is important to them. Maybe his sons don’t give a damn about the pin, but he sure as heck makes it an issue. I was a little worried that most of my professors would in some way like him.
There is no shortage of pompasity(?) but for the most part little meanspiritedness, just ‘I’m right and you’re wrong’.
I have noticed specifically at UTD, you are expected to teach yourself the material.
Generally that’s true for all my classes, but my instructors are open to question. However one class in particular irks me, I wouldn’t mind so much if the material are evaluated on was a least referred to in class, but as it is, it seems like we are a captive audience to an unhelpful powerpoint presentation (that was already posted online). We don’t discuss the material Socratically, if we ask a question we aren’t given a helpful answer, or even one that makes you think.
I understand that Professors are supposed to profess, but lets talk about the subject they are pedigreed for.