The aftermath.

Bluntly, I was not a fan of being told what tto do by someone who refered to herself as 'task Master' and 'Overlord.' 

Not that I have a problem with the person doing the telling, it is more of a problem with delivery. I was not offended, or hurt, or any of these other PC types of things, I was more mortified that a class on leadership was being proctored by this type of leader. 

Before this gets too messy, and too many feelings are hurt, let me say this: I am confident that she was not using these titles as an actual play for authority, but more for the irony or humor that came from using these titles in such a setting. At first I was taken aback by the audacity she showed by inserting these titles into our routine, but as I came to know her I realized there was no malice or sense of entitlement drawn from these titles. They were simply her attempt at lightening the mood. 

So I buckled down and went with it, afterall it didn't make a whole lot of a difference to me what she called herself, as long as I was getting the knowledge and benefit from her experience she could have called herself Rascolnikov for all I cared. 

In the end I woner if it was a test. Whether she did it to see if someone would comment on it, possibly call her out on it. If that was her agenda I applaud her. It is a nifty thing to inject this type of social roughness into a place like RPI. People run around in their little bubbles, afraid to infringe on someone else's comfort zone. People have lost the ability to communicate in a traditional social setting. We rely so heavily on social media as our medium of communication that we are uncomfortable discussing our social environment face to face. 

So, no matter her motive for these titles, there was no harm done by the great and powerful Task Master. It may have been unnerving and slightly disquieting at the beginning, but after I got to know the person and understand her motives it all made sense and fit into the overall flow of the course.

There's a stranger out to find you....

There is a certain amount of honesty expected from the people who cultivate our food. We expect them to give us what they say they are giving. No one expects their pork chops to taste like lamb, or their pork rinds to have comparable nutrition to green beans. This same courtesy is presumably extended through to other members of the food production community.

There are a few exceptions to this, namely when Monsanto is called into play. This company seems hell bent on the destruction of all competition. They seem to want nothing more than complete control of the market. Unfortunately for them they seem to be blissfully unaware of the laws of economics. A monopoly will do them no good, they can never maximize profits and they will never be able top legally set one up.

All the legalities and poor economic practices aside, big GMO companies will need to recognize that there is a potential genetic catastrophe looming on the horizon. Even if this catastrophe is only perceived in the minds of the consumers, it will wreak havoc on their pocket books.

In recent years the demand for 'Organic' food stuffs has gone up, people are becoming more mindful of what they put in their bodies. It follows that eventually the demand for 'pure' foods will increase to the level that big businesses will find the added expenses of organic farming to be worth the opportunity cost.

Side bar: The trouble with the generic GMO label is that it doesn't discern how modified the food is. Should I be worried about the corn, beans, spinach, arugula, peas, hops, cucumbers, zucchini  tomatoes and squash that I planted from seeds this year (well, the hops are from a rhizome, but that is a different story)? Most of the seed sachets were labeled 'Organic', but to what degree? Will my tomatoes excrete pesticides, and will they leech these chemicals into my soil so that I need to worry about any future gardens? How exactly were my cherry tomatoes created? Were they truly hybridized, or were their genes spliced with mild mannered Dexter Douglas, nerd computer ace? These are things that should not worry me as I plan out my yearly harvest. I shouldn't have to worry something that is otherwise nutritious harming my family. If, on the other hand, the crops were modified to be more hardy, more compact, less draining on the soil (I'm looking at you corn...) then I believe the GMO debate would be less of an issue, ASSuming the modifications did not present a threat to my genome.

Monsanto's bullying of farmers and corporations who want to provide truly wholesome food to their customers is telling of the quality of the company. I will try my hardest to boycott them on that principle alone. Might does not make right, no matter who you are. If you are going to push around the little guy just so you can swim through your money bin then prepare to feel my disquietude.

Ass Hatery

This week has been an exceptional week for news programs across the board. Each time I logged onto a news site I saw reports of the Boston Marathon bombing. The information in the reports were generally the same with some varying accounts, but all in all rather solid reporting. The televised news however left much to be desired.

First off, let me preface this by saying it can't be easy to sit up there and discuss a story all day and night and ensure everyone is getting all the information. I understand the need to circle back every now and again to the pertinent facts and discuss points made earlier.

What I don't understand is why these news organizations feel the need to expound on conjecture. I heard one 'expert' state that it was this boy's Muslim faith that may have motivated this attack. Really dude? How are you to know that? And just because he is Muslim doesn't make him inherently dangerous.

The one saving grace in this whole ordeal came from the police and FBI who refused to comment on anything but the minor points of the investigation and manhunt. This, in my opinion, mitigated any loss of life and property that may have occurred had the authorities been transparent with the news media. Reporters notoriously care about the story, and if the suspect got away and went on to something more gruesome that would be another story to them. I am not saying they don't care about the loss of life or about people in general, but I am saying that their narrow minded focus on getting every detail out is a hindrance at best,at worst it is obstruction.

The same thing happened when That madman shot up the elementary school, and again when that other freak-show shot up the batman movie. The media plastered their faces all over the place, distant cousins neighbors dog-walkers cardiologists are interviewed, conjecture is thrown around... there is no end to the hype placed around these individuals. There are assuredly more than one reason these individuals inflict this type of evil on their fellow man, but I would wager that the news outlets putting them front and center does not help the next generation of potential ass hats. What this country needs is a national hero, someone who can eclipse all these perversions of humanity.

When did our news media become a circus? When did we start caring about shock and awe and sensationalism more than noteworthy news. I think it was when we stopped focusing on the good within humanity and started focusing on the bad. It is a cycle that must be broken. We see these nincompoops paraded in front of us on the news and we don't see the lighter, happier side of humanity.

Don't get me started on celebrity news and that whole soup sandwich.

Necessity Engineering

I am a big fan of taking something that may be past its prime and revitalizing it with a little elbow grease. There are times that i fix whatever it is and there are times when I change its purpose all together. The trouble  I see is that I am one of very few people who actually do this.

It is convenient in our society to throw something out rather than fix it, after all, stuff is relatively cheap so why bother putting the time in to fix a broken whatever-it-is? This attitude is fine and dandy for the affluent like myself, but what of the less fortunate? What about the people who barely scrape by? They don't have the luxury of wasting anything.

Growing up in a lower middle class home taught me many things the most pertinent is waste not, want not. I learned from an early age that with a little imagination, some work, some base knowledge and patience there is no limit to what can be re-purposed. These days the term most thrown around Pintrest is 'Up-Cycled,' but whatever you call it doesn't matter.

It was, however, refreshing to learn that RPI's chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World had done a little up-cycling of their own. While Mr. Warmann's discussion petered off into nonsense, he did have a few attention grabbing points. Well, really just one... RPI's ESW has up-cycled several shipping containers into buildings of sorts for communities in Haiti. I'm not sure who pointed it out or if I read it on line, but these shipping container structures  can be used as mobile orphanages, medical centers, houses, pizzerias, and anything else requiring a rigid frame to house some facility.

While this isn't necessarily turning old tires into crocodile lawn ornaments, it is infinitely better than letting these containers rust some where.

I couldn't help but think of the Terre Cafe as I walked to my car today. Mainly because there is a little pond behind Sage that would be perfect for some Koi, Talapia or even some hardy goldfish, and with a little imagination, some pipes, a pump or two, and some worms a nice little aquaponics system could be built to feed the green house. A small solar array could provide power to the pumps and a natural convection solar heater could increase the heat inside the green house. 

All it takes is imagination, some work and the Bear Necessities and nothing is impossible.

Half a league, half a league, half a league onward.

At times it may not seem as though we are as free as we can be, yet by comparison we are some of the most free people in the world. We have no fear of our government seizing control of our lives, we have no fear of a government spewing lies with no alternative source of information, we have no fear of our government at all. The Constitution has protected us for centuries, and has never failed us. We have suffered through knee jerk laws and asinine regulations designed to keep us safe, but through it all we fought to maintain our freedoms. Even a small faction of freedom lovers can overcome insurmountable forces, as is seen in the American Revolution. From this world changing revolution the seeds of freedom were planted in all areas of our lives.

Our freedom of expression goes deeper than just the press and news outlets. We are granted full rights to actively offend* people, if that is what we want to do. The protection of every point of view is what differentiates the United States from other countries with state run, and censored, news. In these countries it is hard for an outsider to discern truth from fabrication, and as such we are kept guessing at that country's motivations.

Take North Korea for example, it is difficult (not impossible) to wade through the bull to determine what is actually taking place. Even in our beautiful American freedom we still find in necessary to wade through fabrications and nonsense to get to the deeper issues in news.

During each and every Presidential election I have  witnessed there is some type of mud slinging that aims to discredit an opponent or to sway public opinion. There is little we can do to combat this deformation campaigning but with the advent of the websites like Snopes we are better able to determine fact from fancy. The most recent Presidential election found me alternating between fact checking and laughing at Smiling Joe Biden. It is situations where we are forced to look outside the passive, and often invasive, news organizations that we grow as a country.

By entering the discussion of facts and opinions we become more rounded, more informed, and more capable of making decisions based on the greater good. These opportunities to discuss life, politics, religion and all other hot topic issues are necessary to our growth as a culture. We, as a nation, cannot afford to bowl alone, we need to open more channels to express our opinions and ideals. This is something that is most efficiently done in a country like ours, where speech is not limited, speech is not censored, and there is a facet for every view point imaginable.


*I was going to put a link to the Westboro Baptist Church, but I didn't want them to get ANY traffic from my Blog. Just know that they actively preach hate, which is in direct opposition to the teachings of Jesus Christ. They are no more Christians than I am an Iguana. They give the rest of us Christians a bad name.

The Philosopher's Walk

A leader is only as good as his followers, or so the saying goes. In truth, a leader's strength is not derived from any external source but from a place deep within. 

A traditionally great leader is driven from within to become the leader we read about in history books, yet the same can be said of the villains we are taught to fear. An internal mechanism is triggered by an external event or situation. We are each capable of either great good or great evil, the differentiation lies in how we prepare ourselves to meet our destiny.

The main difference between the two types of great leaders lies in the motivation behind their leadership. If a leader's choice to lead stems from a desire for fame or wealth, there is a good chance that they will go down as a villain in our history texts, but if a leader chooses to lead because of a deep desire to see a change or to improve a condition, then that leader will be remembered as such. 

It is impossible to know the depths of any one person's soul from an outside perspective, but it is completely possible to know your own soul better than everyone other than God himself. The truth of the matter is that we all search ourselves continuously, we are introspective and we scour ourselves for an answer that lies within. Unfortunately this takes more work than most people are willing to undertake. I have heard it said that, between our modern lives and our hustle and bustle, there is little or no time to accomplish this introspection. The truth is that any and all spare moments can be utilized as an introspective opportunity  unfortunately these moments are rarely harnessed. 

Such a time can be, and I would wager has been, used by any leader to search himself or herself and discover their purpose. If they are driven by lust, greed, anger, hatred or entitlement they will find themselves personifying those traits and bringing those who are like minded under their banner. If they are motivated by a greater good, a desire to better the world they will bring all walks of life under their banner. Even the greedy want a better life for their children, even the angry want a world where their children can walk safely down the road, even the deceitful want to be told the truth. This is why a leader who's motivation is inherently good has far more power than a leader who seeks his own glory. 

Just like in fairy tales, good always wins over evil, but it takes a long time to notice the good in things because the evil is so much easier to see. A bad situation today may prepare you for an even worse obstacle in the future. When you look back at that first hurdle you will see it was not as bad as it seemed and it may have actually been for the best.

Vindication of the Bad Apple.

I was but a wee NUB (Non Useful Body) aboard the sweet Lady J. when I was exposed to some of the worst leadership available to man.

I was preparing for my first underway and I was frustrated with the long hours I was spending at work (from around 6 am to 6 pm, on a good day). I had a new baby, and a wife who was not yet accustomed to the submariner's lifestyle, so I believe I had some grounds to be frustrated. My direct superior, MMC (SS) JC ***** (I have omitted his last name to protect what little reputation he may have... I don't want to directly commit slander), approached me in one of my surlier moods and asked what the matter was. I, believing he was a sympathetic soul since he had a family of his own, spilled my guts and proceeded to divulge my fears and insecurities. His response will stick with me for the rest of my life, and I apologize for the crudeness but such is the way of the Submariner.

"Stop your fucking bitching. They didn't come in your God damned sea bag did they? You are a fucking Submariner, start acting like it and stop being such a pussy."

Never mind the rest of his inadequacies as a leader, this single point defined how I felt about the man.

Some time later, after I got my fish,  Chanse and I were sitting around in the Engine room shooting the breeze, occupying ourselves amidst the boredom of being underway, when up walks JC. He scolded us for being lazy and sent Chanse off to do some menial task. After we left JC vented to a senior mechanic, Luke, about how I was such a bad influence on the newer guys because I didn't align with his view of what the Navy should be and because I fostered a thirst for knowledge rather than verbatim compliance. He then uttered a phrase that would brand me for the rest of my time on the sweet Lady J.

He looked at Luke and said, "I don't want Runkel hanging around with our NUB's anymore. He is such a Bad Apple... he just doesn't get it." After he left Luke, a good friend of mine, regaled me of this exchange, and from that day on I was "the Bad Apple," a moniker I wore proudly.

Shortly after I was dubbed The Bad Apple my entire division left, and I was the most senior ELT on the boat. Over time new guys came in and I was responsible for training them and helping them acclimatize to submarine life. I had no idea how to do any of that, but I did know how not to do it...JC was a good role model in that respect.

A year or so later JC had left the boat and Jimmy Sitz was on his way out. We were slated to get a new boss, but there was going to be a gap of a few months where we would be leaderless. Jimmy Sitz recommended me to the position, despite protests from the Chiefs that I was too junior to lead. Eventually the Captain and Engineer saw that I was the only option, and concluded that I was better than nothing. My oral board consisted of three extremely knowledgeable men trying to find holes in my knowledge and technical expertise. An hour and a half later I was done and awaiting the verdict.

The Captain called me in to inform me that in his X number of years he had never sat on an oral board that went as perfectly as mine. Normally there would be some questions left unanswered that would need to be looked up, but I had made such an impression on him and the rest of the board members that I left nothing to be desired. He qualified me on the spot.

When we pulled in to port my first call was to JC. He had told me once that I would never qualify LELT because my attitude was so poor. He didn't answer, so I left a voicemail. I haven't heard back from him yet.

I went on to lead my guys for two months. In those two months I drove a hard line with my guys, I ensured the work was done to the standard Jimmy Sitz set for us, and I listened to them. My goal was to foster a working environment where they could come to me with any problem and I would help them deal with it.

My time in the Navy, and especially my time with JC, has reinforced and developed the mottos I live my life by. JC's biggest contribution was reaffirming that knowing how not to do something is as important as knowing how to do it. I have had a long time to think, out there under the deep blue wet thing, and in my ponderings I have come to the realization that, even though JC was the worst boss I have ever had, he still taught me many valuable lessons. Most of the lessons he taught me are centered around how not to be a leader, and how to alienate those above and below myself in the leadership totem pole.The great thing about my interaction with JC and then Jimmy Sitz is that I have seen both ends of the spectrum of leadership. I know what I want to be, and i know what I don't want to be, so in a way I owe JC a thank you card or something.