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014 – The Power of Kaizen With Bob Emiliani
Leave a Comment	/ September 5, 2020 November 11, 2020
Professor Bob Emiliani
Bob Emiliani is an engineer, researcher, author, historian of progressive management, educational reformer, and executive coach. He is a long-time TPS/Lean practitioner and was the first to focus on Lean leadership as an area of scholarly study.
Bob is also the author and co-author of 22 books, including KAIZEN FOREVER - Teachings of Chihiro Nakao, the subject of this podcast.
In the podcast:
From Engineering To Manufacturing 1:06
Kaizen Forever - Teachings of Chihiro Nakao 8:54
Learn By Doing 11.43
What is Shingijutsu Kaizen? 14:50
Shingijutsu Teachings 16:21
Thinking by using hands and looking by using feet 18:28
Shumilation & Trystorming 23:50
The Seven Teachings 29:55
Teachings On People 30:25
Teachings on the Process 33:34
Teachings on Equipment 38:32
Teachings on Space 42:38
Teachings on Money 45:40
Teachings on Time - Fisheyes 48:15
Teachings on Information 49:33
People-focused Kaizen 54:13
How can we apply kaizen during abnormal situations? 57:22
Never Give Up 1:00:00
Nick: This is Nick Kemp here with the Ikigai Tribe podcast. And my guest today is Professor Bob Emiliani. Bob, you are an engineer, researcher, author, and historian of progressive management, educational reformer and executive coach. And you are also a longtime TPS that's Toyota production system and Lean practitioner. And you were the first to focus on Lean Leadership as an area of scholarly study. You're also an author and co-author of 22 books, including Kaizen forever, teachings of Chihiro Nakao, which is the subject of this podcast. Thank you for coming on to the podcast, Bob.
Bob: It's my pleasure. I'm happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me.
Nick: I'm really excited to have you hit talking and you have this amazing background and work history. But I would like to ask When was it that you stumbled upon Kaizen.
From Engineering To Manufacturing
Bob: The initial stumbling was, I read a book called Kaizen by Masaaki Imai, it was 1993. And I was in the engineering organisation of the company I was working at at the time, Creft Witney. And about a year later, I didn't fully understand the book, but I read it because I was interested.
Anyway, I headed into manufacturing. So I got out of engineering and went into manufacturing to become a business unit manager. And I'm there for a few weeks as the business unit manager and our company is undergoing reorganisation. A couple of years earlier, they hired Kaizen consultants from Shingijutsu, because they had lost some orders in the commercial airline business, the Berlin Wall fell down. So there was cost delivery, quality, the lead time you name it, we had all kinds of problems, sales drop, etc. And so I came into manufacturing. We had a new General Manager in our facility, and we were engaged in Kaizen and I participated in my first Kaizen in July 1994.
And it was a huge, huge eye-opening experience. Because we had all these highly educated people in manufacturing, we had all these people who maybe didn't have degrees, but had a tonne of work experience, and they were great people, great operators, and so on. And yet, with all this intelligence in the business, we managed to make things the hardest way possible. So to make the manufacturers do whatever we did, it was actually the hardest way possible.
And so there are just two guys and consultants who taught us how to simplify the work and make it easier for people to get a flow of material and information in the process. And that resulted in better quality, shorter lead time, less stress, less strain, etc. And it was just absolutely mind-boggling what I learned in that first Kaizen, I just couldn't believe.
One thing that struck me was for all the education that I've had, and all the teachers that tell you their main goal is to teach critical thinking, It's like I learned more in that one week Kaizen with Shingijutsu about critical thinking that I had learned everything through my PhD. Bob Emiliani.
The educational system teaches us some elements or aspects of critical thinking, but it just blew me away with what Shingijutsu was teaching us how they were guiding us into a different realisation of things and so on.
Nick: And that experience, was that done on the factory floor, as what they call the gemba?
Bob: Yep. Yep. It was done on the factory floor. And we were we had chronic cost delivery quality problems with certain products we were making, there were multiple Kaizen weeks, but then the first one it's just amazing how this process got so straightened out and improved in such a short period of time by Sensei just giving us some challenges providing us with some guidance, giving us some support: that, "You can do this, you have the capability just you need to use your brain you need to think.", and so on.
And it was just a phenomenal experience. And it's changed my life forever because as you can see, I left the engineering world, my background in materials engineering, metallurgy. And I went into management, and wrote a bunch of books about TPS and its derivative called Lean management and so on. And I've been doing that since 1994. I'd left the industry, by the way, 1999, and went into academia. And that's really where you get the opportunity to write a bunch of books.
But what I want to say about those Kaizens was while on the shop floor, you learn all these various technical aspects to improve the work that the even bigger learning in my view was, in the evening, the team leader of the Kaizen and the general manager of the facility and some other managers like us, would go to dinner with the Sensei, and with the interpreter, and that's really where you learn what Kaizen is all about from a philosophical perspective, and just making the connection between Kaizen and humanity and your responsibilities as an employee and what you should be doing, and how to humanise the workplace and how to tap into the ideas and and patient and create the eye of the employees, and what you should be doing as a manager to not just support that, but engage in that, lead that and so what they really bring to you on those conversations at dinner is the heart of Kaizen and it imbued me with so much interest in Kaizen and motivation for Kaizen. And it just entered my body.
Nick: You still seem enthusiastic now, just by looking at you. Was that when you first met Nakao Sensei.
Bob: Actually I didn't meet him until a bit later than some other Kaizen. So the initial Kaizen was with other Senseis. And yeah, and that and then reconnected with him much later, around 2004. The Shingijutsu folks wanted to have some books, a couple of books written about Kaizen and so forth, and they recruited me. There's something called lean Lean management, which is a derivative of Toyota and in Lean Management. Kaizen is not that prominent and lean has become very popular.
Bob: But Kaizen kind of fell by the wayside. And so I had questions like, does anybody really care about Kaizen, but I cared about Kaizen. And I was in a way reluctant, but I kind of knew I was going to do this book and another one because it explained things in ways that other people have not explained Kaizen. And to me, this was the sort of the heart and soul of Kaizen, that needed to be explained that was never understood, and people somehow could, not put it into words or they didn't have the experience or the understanding to be able to do that.
And I had studied, by the way, Eastern philosophy from about 1990 to 1995 or six, I spent more time with that than I did on my PhD. And so, somehow what I was learning from the, from our Shingijutsu consultants and how they were explaining Kaizen and the connection to humanity and in life and living and things like that, and not just working, but be having a productive life, and having a life that doing things that connect with ikigai, doing things that makes life worthwhile, having some purpose cultivating your inner potential serving others.
So what they were explaining to me, those aspects I readily understood. It wasn't like they were talking to a Westerner who had no clue of this kind of thing. So I at that time studied it, tried to embody the characteristics of what I was learning in Eastern philosophy, and practising it in my daily life, at work and at home. And so, it resonated with me very easily.
Kaizen Forever - Teachings of Chihiro Nakao
Nick: We should touch on your book, I'd like to say a few things. So the title is Kaizen Forever - Teachings of Chihiro Nakao. Now, it's a small book, it's only 80 pages and it has quite a large font, but it is packed with Kaizen teachings, amazing insight, this wisdom you've just been referring to. And the book almost feels like it's an example of Kaizen itself. In the chapters, what you think would normally be long paragraphs to explain something there are just one or two short sentences. So was the book itself an intentional example of Kaizen?
Bob: It is in different ways. The large font is because the intent was to get leaders to read this book and people who might be over 50 years old. Of course, it's for younger people as well. But I mean, one of the things we need is leaders who understand Kaizen, leaders who participate in Kaizen, leaders who participate, to learn it, and practice as well as to further their learning and develop their understanding and wisdom for this.
But the other thing too is a lot of the reading that I had done in Eastern philosophy is in the form of aphorisms, short sentences to contemplate. And I thought that would be a very effective vehicle here to just have short sentences to contemplate that these are Mr Nakao's teachings and you'll notice that the teachings they're not in quotes because as you know, going from Japanese to English is an interpretation. It's not a translation.
Bob: Things don't translate exactly. So I didn't use quotes for any of these short sentences because it's an interpretation. And I thought that was an important thing to get across. Well, I don't know that I really say that in this book, but that's the idea behind it. But the interpreter is somebody who has 15 years of experience with Mr. Nakao. She's not a rookie and she's obviously deeply bilingual and understands this type of Gemba, Kaizen language that Mr Nakao talks about.
Nick: Yeah, I mean, it was unusual, but I think it was very effective. And I know that some concepts, they are very hard to translate, so where the language is a little bit unusual, usually indicates to me that it's actually a good representation of what's trying to be expressed.
Nick: So moving on, you wrote the book, and these are basically your words. You wrote the book for anyone who wants to learn how to think or think better, through the process of "learn by doing" and your dream is to reach younger generations to inspire them to learn and practice Kaizen and achieve flow. And you mentioned three principles that you ask the reader to take note of. And I'm only going to mention the third and our listeners will have to buy the book if they want to find out the other two, but you write, there are no limitations to where Kaizen can be applied. Any type of business or organisation in any industry can benefit from Kaizen. Now, I think this might take some of our listeners by surprise as Kaizen is usually associated with manufacturing.
Bob: It is, but in any kind of work, whether you're doing it at work or at home, you have a plan in mind, I want to do this today, I want to get this done. And then through the course of the day, you get sidetracked or whatever, and whatever you had planned, didn't get done, or it didn't get done correctly, or there's something missing or whatever.
So there's a gap between the plan and the actual, and a lot of people go to work and say, "Well, I didn't get done what I wanted to get done today. I'll try again tomorrow." And they don't really recognise the gap between plan and actual as a problem. And so that gap between plan and actual should be something that triggers a recognition that there's a problem. If there's a problem, that should put somebody in some kind of loop like the Deming cycle, which is essentially a form of Kaizen, which says the plan, do study and adjust. And so the plan would be, okay, I had a problem. "What's my idea to correct it?" Come up with some ideas. Let me try those ideas out and see what happens, and see what to do and see what happens and make an adjustment based upon that.
And the kind of Kaizen that happens industrially is a bit more formalised by understanding workers motion and the time it takes to do work, etc. But fundamentally The key is to recognise that there's a problem, not just say, "Oh, there's a problem. Who cares!", but recognise there's a problem and come up with ideas.
And humans are very good at coming up with ideas. But most people will say, Oh, I'm not creative, and so forth, and they attach creativity to the visual arts or music or something like that. But just the notion of coming up with ideas is creative in and of itself, for whatever you're doing, whether it's cooking or gardening, or fixing your car or whatever the case may be. So, yeah Kaizen has obviously broad applicability in any industry because there's always a gap between plan and actual, whether you're in financial services, law, healthcare, whatever you're doing whatever kind of work, as well as just in your personal life doing work around the house.
What Is Shingijutsu Kaizen?
Nick: I do like that creativity, intelligence, I guess that aspect of Kaizen and there's a word that I'll introduce later, but I think we need to define a word you've mentioned several times and that is a Shingijutsu to Kaizen. So, what what is Shingijutsu
Bob: Shingijutsu is the name of a company that was formed at the behest of Taichi Ohno. He was an executive in charge of operations at different levels during his career at Toyota. And he was one of the people leading the creation of Toyota's production system. And the main process by which TPS was created was Kaizen. And so, Shingijutsu means a new technology, and a sense of new technology, new management, technology, new technology, a way to manage an organisation.
So in the beginning, they saw what they had created, well not in the beginning, but later on, they recognised what they had created was basically a new manufacturing paradigm, a new manufacturing management paradigm, basically new technology, a way of managing an organisation, leading people, a new technology way of understanding work and how to improve it and how to engage people in efforts to improve the work.
Shigijutsu Teachings
Bob: Again, these just were remarkable experiences, very memorable and in doing this book, one of the things I was doing was shadowing Mr Nakao and Kaizen because to take notes and to capture his words through his interpreter that formulated the essence of this book, and so I had shadowed him over the course of two or three week-long Kaizens, and you have voluminous notes and the challenge became how do you organise this book and you can see it from the Table of Contents, the way in which it's organised, it's five areas, different types of teachings; teachings on the process, teachings on equipment, teachings on space, teachings on money, teachings on time, teachings on the information.
And so when you're engaging in Kaizen with Mr Nakao, he's saying all these things, but you don't necessarily comprehend them as teachings in these different categories as I've laid them out. He doesn't just talk about teachings on people when he's talking to you. It's an integration of all of these things. And one of the challenges, when you're participating in Kaizen led by people like Chihiro Nakao, is comprehending what he's saying while you have the technical task of figuring out how to improve the process. And I think for a lot of people, what he's saying kind of gets lost and we focus in on what he's saying in terms of providing guidance, to do the technical improvement of the process. And all this other good stuff just sort of gets lost. And that's why, again, the reason why I'm doing this book is that so many of these wonderful things just kind of gets lost. And people are very busy during this Kaizen and they've got a lot on their mind. And so they're not taking notes about all the things he's saying just picking out a few things relative to the task of improving the work
Thinking by using hands and looking by using feet.
Nick: I imagine it would be hard to take notes. If it's such an eye-opening experience, you want to be present and focused. One thing that jumped out to me was this expression of "Thinking by using hands and looking by using feet.", and that applies to the Gemba, the factory floor, do you want to elaborate what that really means?
Bob: You can read a book on how to cook a souffle but you don't know how to make a souffle until you have made it with your hands. And so the learning that comes from working with your hands and the craftsmanship that comes from working with your hands is much greater than just the intellectual understanding that comes from listening to somebody or reading a book or watching a video. And so it's basically getting your hands dirty and doing it.
And so in Kaizen, what the sensei challenges do, for example, is think of seven ways you know, you have a process, you have one way of doing it, he'll say, think of seven ways to do that, and try out all seven ways. So there's an intellectual challenge of Okay, we do it. And method number one, but we need to think of method two through to eight new methods, and then we need to try them out. So intellectual plus hands, you learn more, and then the learning with your feet means to get out of the conference room, get off, get out of your desk. Go to the actual place where the work is performed and go see it and go touch it and feel it and smell it with your own body, the physicality of your human self. Go see with your own eyes.
Nick: So it really is the practical application of knowledge.
Bob: Yeah, absolutely.
Nick: And knowledge really isn't real until I guess you actually use it, do something with it. And that, yeah, that's a recurring theme about, if you want to learn something, or know something, even if you're an executive, or you're the president, you've got to go to the factory, you've got to go there and check yourself. It would go against the way the West does business and how things are structured and how people are treated.
Bob: Yeah, I mean, what you normally have in a business is people have to produce reports for the head office or for the boss. And then in Toyota world, you have some of that, but more likely what you have is visuals on a board at the place of work that describes the work that's being done, and some key process indicators to say if you're on target or off-target, and you just go there and see at a glance. Look at it at a glance, you can tell the current state of the situation immediately. You don't need to read a big thick record about what's going on and so forth.
There is so much emphasis placed on actual doing, give you an example that I've always liked the bass guitar, the sound. And so in music, I would frequently key in on the bass guitar, and then at the age of 45, believe it or not, I picked up the bass guitar and wanted to learn how to play the bass guitar. Yeah, this actually was a long time ago. But It was a very interesting challenge because I would try to replicate songs that I liked, that I knew that have a good bassline. And you thought you knew the bassline from hearing it, but you didn't hear it actually you thought you heard a bassline, but when you try to play it, get your hands dirty, try to play it yourself. You realise there are notes there that I never realised were there and so on.
So actually doing it is so different than listening to it or watching it on a video or reading about it. And that's what they emphasise that the learning is so much richer and when you play the bass guitar what you learn from doing that is that you have a much richer learning experience and learning when you hear other songs now that you know how to play to some degree and so it's really getting your hands dirty getting in there and doing it.
Now, it also mentioned that people, if you look in Wikipedia about hobbies, most of the hobbies that are listed are people baking things. It involves making things, humans like to make things, whether it's cooking or gardening, even a scrapbook or watching movies, they're making memories. They're making emotional connections. They're making some kind of satisfaction to an artistic thing or whatever.
But in the workplace, it's kind of just like we're by rote doing things. So what Kaizen does is it brings craftsmanship back into the workplace, because your job otherwise is more or less routinized to some degree. And then if you can teach people, the craftsmanship associated with Kaizen, bring craftsmanship into the work that you do to improve what you do, then it becomes a lot more interesting type of work.
Shumilation & Trystorming
Bob: And one of the things you mentioned to me was Shumilation. Shumi means hobby in Japanese. And then this anglicised 'lation' like simulation added to it. So basically, getting people energised and motivated about making a hobby of doing simulations and trials and trying things. And to the point "trystorming". Sensei is like, "No brainstorming, don't do that. Don't do brainstorming", because all people do is they go into a conference room, they kick around a bunch of ideas, they spend most times arguing that this won't work or that won't work. And then at the end of it, they'll come up with one idea that may or may not work
And what Sensei says, No brainstorming you do try-storming think of ideas and try and you come up with 10 ideas try all 10. Don't sit there and say we think this one will work better than the rest. Now. Try all 10 ideas and in doing that, whatever one idea you end up implementing will be resolving the learning of trying all 10 ideas, not just the one idea that people guessed intellectually might be the best.
Nick: That was a real highlight for me where you had this example of, if there's a problem, just try several ways to fix it and try to do it before lunch, you've got to get this done before lunch. Whereas in maybe in the West, you'd think, Oh, we've got a problem. We've got to have a meeting, Oh we can't have it this week. Okay, well, we'll have the next week. And you can imagine it's going to take weeks before they decide on how to approach the problem, where you've got sensei saying, Well try 10 methods to fix this problem, and do it before lunch on the same day. And I was like that's such a radically different approach.
Bob: Yeah and then in the so-called Western company the idea is okay, there's a problem. The boss will say, I need you to fix it and that the employer will say well, when or something like that and the boss would say in a week from now. This is why companies get into trouble because most companies are in a competitive environment and the timescale for improvement is basically out of the educational system the teacher gives you an assignment, it's due in a week or two. And, that's what we do in business, when is it due in a week or two or a month or two?
And then sensei's, like, No, do it now think of, 10 ways to do this by two o'clock and we're saying this at nine in the morning and try it out. And so that's how you go from in Toyotas case from basically a nobody in the 1950s recovering after World War 2 to be on the global stage by the early 70s. How do you go from almost not quite zero, but not in good shape to the global stage in 20 to 25 well, that's because you don't take two weeks or two months to get something done.
Nick: That is amazing how in 20 years they're a powerhouse in so many industries.
So one of the themes that I really liked was, there was this strong theme of not investing in new machinery, but encouraging staff to, as we've mentioned, be creative and find solutions using tools and equipment and machines they already had access to. And yeah, this idea of challenging workers to solve problems in hours instead of what would take other companies weeks or months. And there's this central theme that Kaizen doesn't sacrifice workers. It's never at the sacrifice of workers and in fact, Kaizen's never Kaizen if one aspect or one area of the business suffers from it, the whole business across the board has to improve.
Bob: That's correct. It's not if you improve in one area, but make life difficult for somebody upstream or downstream then that's no improvement. You haven't achieved Kaizen, it's got to be good for the particular work area. And it's got to be either neutral or positive to whoever's upstream or downstream from you. And so, yes, this idea of Kaizen is not for cutting jobs. It's not for making people work harder, it's to make it easier for people to do work. The human aspect is hugely important. People are central to Kaizen, and they're obviously not going to participate in it if they're harmed in some way by Kaizen.
But the human aspect I want to relate to you and you may have read this as sensei says when people are in a type of work in the company where they process documents, and there may be a stack of documents to process. He says, think of your stack of papers as people, the bottom person will be stressed out and will have difficulty breathing. A stack of two means to turn on the 'Andon' light.
So he's anthropomorphizing a stack of paper to be like a stack of people and the discomfort that the people would feel if they're stacked like that. And even if you have a stack of two, it's difficult for somebody to breathe. So you shouldn't have stacks of paper lying around to process. You have to figure out a way to process these papers one at a time, process the information one at a time, so you don't create these buildups. So a lot of this relates to eliminating inventories in terms of buildups of work at different steps in the process, smoothing out the flow of work, trying to process one item at a time. So it gets your full attention from a processing standpoint, quality standpoint, etc. doing multiple things.
The Seven Teachings
Nick: I remember reading that and there are gold nuggets throughout this book and I like to go through those teachings you mentioned and I've pulled a sort of a gold nugget out of each. And so there are seven teaching chapters, teaching some people on processes, equipment, space, money, time and information. Can we go through one example of each teaching?
Bob: Absolutely.
Teachings On People
Nick: Alright, so for teachings on people, you wrote, and I guess this is what sensei teaches,
"You have to go back to zero, put yourself under dire circumstances to think differently."
That was really powerful. For me.
Bob: Yeah, it is and I think people underestimate that power. When we have a problem, we're always quick to say we need more money, we need more people, we need new software, we need new equipment we need more space and so forth. And so if you take away all of that from people and say no, you have to use your ingenuity. And you have to abandon your preconceptions of how you've done things in the past, or how you're doing things currently now. And then you just have to wipe your mind clean and say, What are different ways we could do this? compared to how we're doing it today? And that's hard to do, because these preconceptions, they're rooted deeply in us.
If we're doing work the way we did it in my business unit at Pratt and Whitney, in 1994. I mean, the message is, if we're doing it a certain way, it's basically the management's approved way of doing it. A manufacturing engineer says this the way to do it, the operator does it that way and says it's okay. The business unit manager says, Well, it looks okay, the Vice President, President, everybody says this is okay. So, all of the preconceptions associated with doing It that way, are accepted. And we have a hard time just breaking free of those things. That's a big thing about what Kaizen is about is to break free of preconceptions. In fact, Mr Ono said we're doomed to failure if we do not initiate daily destruction of our various preconceptions, and that's how you make progress, you have to initiate that daily destruction of your preconceptions and that's really really hard to do.
Nick: Yeah, it reminds me of another Japanese concept Shoshin, beginner mind. Where you approach things with this beginner mindset and all your assumptions, all your knowledge, your ego, you let all that go. And you are just open to learning from zero again.
Bob: Yeah, sensei says you have to think like a 9 or 10 or 11-year-old something like that. And the reason why he picks that age is that we're interested in things. And a few years later, we'll start to become interested in people and love and sex and things like that. We'll get distracted and other things like we'll take an interest in Hot Rods and other kinds of things. So we won't have that beginner's mind of being a two year old, a five year old and a nine year old, things will change.
Teachings on the Process
Nick: Teachings on the process, I found a really good one here. I think, You just have to brush your teeth, do you have to take your clothes off to do that?
Bob: Yeah, what he's talking about is people just have simple things to do, but they just make it very much more elaborate than it needs to be and more complex than it needs to be and you have a simple task here so why do you make it so complex? Understand what the function is and just perform that and do that particular function in the workflow without all this other extraneous stuff.
So he's trying to get people to understand again a simple concept but to notice the connection to humanity, brushing your teeth, there's a lot of those kinds of connections to daily life, that how you would do things in your personal life. So for example, in a manufacturing environment, sometimes the tools that you need are located separately from where the work is performed. And so the example that he would give is your plates and silverware, you don't put in the garage when you use them in the kitchen. So put your tools where they are used. But you'd be amazed in companies how it used to be called a tool crib that an operator would have to walk a distance to go get the tools they need to do the job because management felt like they would have control over the tools that way and they wouldn't be misplaced or stolen or whatever. But then it's very inefficient management, then all complaints about how come productivity is low and the outputs low and etc. So lots of humanistic types of examples, things that we would do at home, but we'd never do that at work.
Nick: It's unusual how we've made work so hard for ourselves. And the people who make the most important decisions aren't even doing the work they're making decisions on.
Bob: And you can see that the way he speaks and this is decades of practice, decades of thought and decades, I mean six decades. I mean, a Sensei Nakao is like 78 now and he started working when he was 18, and so now he's probably the world's greatest industrial engineer for sure.
Nick: But there is once you realise it, there is this just common sense to every teaching. Why don't people know this? Or why didn't I know that? Why have we complicated the world so much that in order to do something we either out of fear or because we need to be perfect or because we're just simply told you to have to do it this way. We make it so hard for ourselves.
Bob: Yes, we just tend to make things very complicated. And that's rooted in our preconceptions. If I'm the boss and you're in my business unit, and I say, Okay, I need to report on this, that and the other thing, you're going to infer some number of pages. You're gonna think I'm probably gonna for a good looking and Quality Report so It's gotta be 10 pages. And so you're going to spend a week doing 10 pages. And then how many of us have had the experience where you turn in the 10 pages? And the boss says, Oh, no, that's not what I wanted. They wanted much less and so forth.
It took me a while to do this when I was in the industry, I started supplying reports that were one page or half a page and I operated under the notion that if they want more, they'll ask and then when I got out into higher ed, you have to do those reports too and all it was was one page or half a page. And they never came, I never had anybody who came back and said, I need more information than that. My University always wants reports and so for one particular report, I did the report but then I distilled it into a one-pager. And I said here's an example of how this multi-page report can be reduced to one page containing all the requisite information and then my recommendation is you use the format that I provided for subsequent reports and distribute the format to everybody in this one page, less than an hour to complete. And you know what happened?
Nick: I'm hoping they did it, but I bet they didn't get it.
Bob: They just ignored there's an improvement. And again, there's this preconception in higher education that a report has to be a lot of pages to be meaningful and so forth. and it's ridiculous.
Teachings on Equipment
Nick: All right, let's move on to teachings on equipment. This is interesting because I've got a follow-up question. Anyway, the teaching is computers kill your ability to think, which I think is true, but now with AI are people, experts and people who've studied Kaizen, are you talking about AI and Kaizen and where that relationship will go or if there will be a relationship
Bob: I think it does have a relationship to that. But the specific meaning is that when something is needed people go to the computer to do it. I'll write it up in Microsoft Word, I'll create a presentation in PowerPoint. I will use some other software to sketch out a design or to draw the design of a part and so what sensei teaches you is pen to paper. Sketch out, take notes.
There's this thing that happens when your handwriting versus when you are typing. There's a different level of learning that comes from taking notes and this is very well documented by academicians who study computerised note-taking in class versus handwritten note-taking and learning the results from each one of those and the learning is significantly better with handwritten notes than it is with a student typing on a computer to take notes.
So part of it is note-taking, but also the other part of it is sketching out in terms of drawing, sketching of whatever, but sketch it out by hand pen to paper. Don't go to the computer software to make it. When somebody says "I'll go to the computer to draw a sketch up of whatever it is, they're gone for hours and they come back with a nice, pretty picture and all you needed was something sketched out here in one or two minutes on a pad of paper. That'll suffice.
Nick: Yeah, they're examples of sensei's handiwork or handwritten work
Bob: Yeah his calligraphy absolutely, but also, again, a connection to humanity here. What AI is going to do is it's going to do that thinking for us, and that whoever programmed the AI is going to programme in a bunch of preconceptions of how things are and how things should be. So the output of AI in some cases, not all, but it's going to be preconception laden. The best thing that can happen is that people say, "well, how do I know what this AI thing is telling me is true or not?".
We need to say that about when we interact with people, too because too often we hear somebody high up in authority, say, what gets measured, gets managed and people just because the big boss said that they go, Yeah, it's true. But I can show you a formal proof that I did 20 years ago, using mathematical logic that's a false statement. Anybody who's been in the industry knows that some of the things that are measured on they're ignored or they're ignoring because there's too many metrics that they're held accountable to and they can't effectively deal with them all so there are lots of measures that don't get managed.
So it's just on its face it's false, but then you can formally prove it to be false. And so you have to question people in power, which doesn't go well trust me. But you're gonna have to question the AI output, as well as say "How do I know this to be true? It tells me but how do I know?" So that's another thing about Kaizen is just people will tell you the best way to make something is batch and queue. Well, how do you know and how do you know there isn't a better way? So you have to question all these things that people say.
Teachings on Space
Bob: What you just mentioned about preconceived ideas is actually what I picked out for teachings on space, which is eliminate preconceived notions.
Yeah, so one of the things in terms of using spaces is people will buy very large equipment to do very small tasks on a part. And so one of the things you want to do is right-size the equipment where possible, get equipment that's a human dimension, shoulder height, body with or smaller. So you can create a flow of work that is done in a small space because space costs money, there's lighting, air conditioning, taxes, etc. Space costs money and if you buy equipment that's larger than is necessary to do the job you take up space, you increase your expenses, you have service contracts on that equipment, you have obviously a capital outlay, you have maintenance that you have to do on that equipment, and so on. So you just balloon your costs and then you wonder why you're not making any money.
And it's not all about making money but, if you're in business, you're going to need that as one of your outcomes if you plan to survive. So there are ways to do work, that is resource-intensive, that take up a lot of space and then there are ways of doing work that is less resource-intensive, that take much less space. So that in that smaller footprint, you can populate more productive work areas and be able to satisfy your customer better.
Nick: That goes back to that idea of working with constraints. If you do have limited space, well, you've got no choice. So to become good at working with constraints, these challenges, they don't destroy people or companies, they get over them and move on to the other issues or problems.
Bob: Yeah but, people don't recognise these constraints. So for example, if you have a building of a certain size, and your business is growing people will say well knock out a wall and let's add some space. They don't sit there and say, "Well do we really need all this big equipment?" We've over-engineered our process, because a lot of times capital equipment people buy it, and it's a pain in the neck, especially in a big corporation to buy capital equipment, you need reports and justifications.
So they will buy more than they need in terms of capability and size and so forth because it's a pain in the neck to go through that process. So you might need a machine to do a simple function like drill a hole, which could be a $50 drill head from an industrial supply catalogue, but you'll get a $500,000 piece of equipment. And you don't need to bang out that wall you just need to sell that piece of equipment off and get the five $500 drill.
Teachings On Money
Nick: Well, this leads to the next teaching actually so teachings of money. Sensei said it feels good to spend money. Stop it.
Bob: Well, that's right. It happens at work just like it happens at home. You're looking at the curtains and saying I need new curtains, do you really need curtains? No, but you just feel like spending some money, probably as much as you would want a different look, if not more just the feeling of spending money. That happens in the industry all the time.
I know this when leaders plan the financials for the year, there's a budget that exists for spending money on things like capital equipment and so on. So Mr Nakao is saying, you have to break that habit of spending money, and instead be very judicious about when you truly do need to spend money.
There has to be a real need and some companies are very good at sorting out, "do we really need this?" and if the need points to a $200,000 piece of equipment, let's rethink that. Could we do it for $20,000? Okay, because right now, we've determined there is a need to spend money. There's an actual need, the price tag is $200,000. Okay, we'll spend the money but let's see if we can do it for 20 grand and stuff, and maybe have another iteration about $2,000.
You'd be surprised people figure out a way to avoid that $200,000 expenditure and do it for $2,000 and in the meantime, your competition spending $200,000.
Nick: It's advice we could all follow.
Bob: Why he's saying this is because it's very hard for a business to generate profit. It costs a lot to produce things. Plant property equipment, people, etc then you have competition and the market. In a competitive environment in a buyers market, the market sets the price, you can't just add profit to whatever your costs are. So it's very hard to make a profit so you shouldn't do things that make it harder to make a profit.
Nick: Yeah. That makes sense.
Bob: That's what people do, they do all kinds of things to make it harder to make a profit. I go back to that Kaizen in July 1994. We did everything we could to make it hard to make a profit on making that particular part that we would produce.
Teachings on Time - Fisheyes
Nick: Well, it sounds like you weren't eating enough fisheyes and this leads to the next one. So teachings on time. This is really unusual, and you'll have to explain it. Not enough people ate fish eyes. That is why there are so many concrete heads.
Bob: Yeah, concrete heads are people who don't get it, they're thick-headed. They don't see the light. So fish eyes have a protein or amino acid or there's something in there that's good for brain health. A vitamin, not a mineral but some biologic compound a protein or molecule or something that is good for brain power for thinking and so on. Mr Nakao and Kaizen at least three times a week would have the company that was hosting this they would work with a local Japanese restaurant and they'd bring in fish and sure enough, he beat those fisheyes up. Oh, absolutely. You better believe it.
Teachings on Information
Nick: Going from one extreme to the other, with teaching some information. I probably like this one the most because it's so true. People are too smart. They think with their heads always. This causes stress and worry. This causes you to drink.
Bob: It's right.
Nick: It's just so true.
Bob: Yep, Essentially we have amygdala in our head which is the Centre for fight or flight. Obviously the amygdala is meant to give us this shot of adrenaline when we see a snake near our feet and we jump away and that's this millisecond response to a threat. Humans infer the existence of threats in environments that are not natural to us, like the workplace. We have a boss that yells at us, we're afraid of losing our job because a company is going to move the work overseas or something like this.
So we end up a pen fading and thinking and being stressed out about a lot of things, and therefore we lose focus. I think one of the good things about Kaizen is that Kaizen makes you feel good that you've utilised you're into left your ingenuity to make something better, and you feel good about that. So actually coming to work, and making improvements is a fun thing, It's a good thing you feel good about yourself. When you have those kinds of feelings, you don't stress out.
Personally, I have a personal vision for Kaizen that to create workplaces that improve human physical and mental health, so that people leave work every day and better health than when they arrived and I truly believe that it is possible for people to leave work and better health than when they arrived through the type of Kaizen practice that Mr Nakao teaches. Now, there's lots of different type of Kaizen practice if people teach that I don't think has that same effect, because they're not as good as integrating the heart, the mind, of Kaizen and its interaction with other people and business and customers and money, the different categories we talked about here.
Nick: That's, that's an ambitious challenge and a worthwhile one. We all should leave work, feeling some sense of satisfaction and some sense of purpose and we've contributed. And, unfortunately, I guess most people don't, they leave stressed or frustrated or angry.
Bob: Right, that's because there's a preconception that among leaders of businesses that that work is hard and you should be stressed out and it's not easy and things are complicated. These are all preconceptions that Kaizen breaks through. Leaders of just about almost every business have a view of business that is very unhealthy and is bad for human health, and Kaizen can help improve human health, but most leaders are not interested in Kaizen because they are bound by a host of preconceptions.
In my most recent work I've been looking carefully at that as answering the question Why do leaders resist and reject Lean management? and with that, you can say why did they resist and reject Kaizen is because there are economic, social, political, historical, philosophical, business, legal and spiritual preconceptions, all of which these eight categories of preconceptions interact with one another.
In any one of those categories, there's 10, to 15 to 20 preconceptions, so you have 150 preconceptions, all interconnected with one another, that you have to unravel If you want to try to get leaders to accept this idea that Kaizen can actually be something that improves human health and that people leave work healthier than when they arrived, that blood pressure was high when they arrived because they're fighting the traffic to get to work and they just had their coffee and accelerated their heart rate and so forth, then they come to work they leave work and they're in better health.
People-focused Kaizen
Nick: Well, this leads to probably the paragraph that just connected with me the most and it's the opening paragraph of chapter 10 and I'd like to read it.
"Shingijutsu Kaizen is people-focused Kaizen based on learning by doing it is a humanistic approach to Kaizen that helps people realise their full potential Shingijutsu Kaizen helps people develop confidence in themselves, their wisdom and their capacity to improve. It pushes people to think differently and to not be afraid of making changes." - Bob Emiliani
Now, if your workplace was like that, how happy, productive would everyone be? And this to me obviously relates to the ikigai concept that it's about reaching out the full potential and being able to be our true selves in a sense, even in the confines of work and work really should be something we enjoy and pursue have a sense of purpose, not something where going to in fear of the boss's reaction or the stress of asking for help or just ridiculous crap we have to deal with that shouldn't exist.
Bob: Right, and so one of the purposes of Kaizen is a simplification to make work easier. When work is simplified and easier, there are fewer opportunities for mistakes, then there's less opportunity to blame people and so on. And then ultimately, you quickly understand through Kaizen that if you blame people for problems and mistakes, you don't get their creativity, their ideas, their ingenuity to make things simpler. They just accept things the way they are.
So Kaizen teaches the opposite of the way that basically the way the world runs. The difficulty is getting leaders on board to that vision that I expressed as you leave work healthier than when you arrived. Leaders will lecture you all day long about costs are too high and so forth. Well, you have a method of simplification, reducing costs, humanising the work, it's better for people, it's better for the environment, it's better for society, It's better for investors, it's better for customers, it's better for suppliers and it's better for competitors even because you're raising the bar that brings other people up as well. So, it's better for everything, but yet, 99.99% of our leaders are like that.
This Kaizen is junk we don't need it. We're doing great. But you see things in society like obesity and the medications that people are on to control stress and anxiety and so forth and certainly not all of it comes from the workplace, but my bet is that a lot more of it comes from the workplace than I realise.
How can we apply kaizen during abnormal situations?
Nick: I agree. So going back to the last sentence, it pushes people to think differently and not to be afraid of making changes. Now, this really applies to the situation all of us are experiencing now. With the pandemic, all businesses have had to make changes and many people are working from home. So, how can we apply Kaizen if we're not working in our usual work environment and is this an opportunity for us to deal with it using Kaizen?
Bob: Yeah, well, it is indeed an abnormal situation and people are making changes as a result of it but, one of the things we talk a lot about in the lean world is the burning platform and people won't change. Unless the platform is on fire, you're going to drown or whatever and you have to change but, I've shown how that's basically discredited line of thinking because we have this burning platform of COVID-19 and very few companies have said, we're going to do Kaizen we're going to do Lean management because we're on this burning platform.
In the US, there's like 4 million businesses that are under threat of closure and I don't know one of them that was the CEO said, we're gonna do Kaizen, we're going to do lean stuff. So that's not necessarily the driver. The other thing too is people say there's gonna be a vaccine so there'll be a drive to return to normal. Post vaccines. More or less, right? Economists say things will rebound in 2022. So when you, you're planting these preconceptions in people that things will get better, and so we can return back to normal. So that'll prevent that last sentence from occurring in chapter 10 which was what?
Nick: It pushes people to think differently, and not to be afraid of making changes.
Bob: Yeah. The context there is in normal times, not in a COVID time. Because that's when you need that to happen is in normal times. It's going to happen by itself in abnormal times like what we have now, but you need this to happen normal times and Sensei teaches us, be brave, try it out. This is the encouragement that he's giving. I didn't have the right word earlier when we started this, but he gives you encouragement and he believes in you because he's seen this for decades that people can do amazing things with their Intelligence and with their heart.
Nick: Well, I'd like to end one of Sensei's quotes, and that is
"You must do lots of trial and error, don't consider error as a failure, never give up." - Chihiro Nakao
Bob: He says also when Kaizen stops everything stops. So it's a similar way of expressing what that is, so never give up. Keep going keep trying.
Nick: Thank you so much, Bob for first for writing the book and for your time this morning and I look forward to reading another book of yours and maybe having you back on another podcast.
Bob: Been My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Nick: My pleasure


It's a tough time of year to live outside the South – crawfish season.
If you're a Southerner far from home, chances are you've spent the last few months drooling over your friends' Facebook photos of more than a few crawfish boils.
Louisiana Crawfish Co. is a farm after my own heart: They strive to bring the South to those of us who loved it and left it. Founded in 1985, Louisiana Crawfish Co. specializes in shipping Louisiana products – especially live crawfish – just about anywhere.
Retail and wholesale customers can enjoy live crawfish delivered right to their doorstep.
In addition to crawfish-only orders, Louisiana Crawfish Co. also offers party packs that include live crawfish, seafood boil, their own special Creole seasoning, crawfish bibs, a t-shirt, a koozie and even Mardi Gras beads. With prices starting at about $75, you and 3-6 of your pals will have almost everything you need to have a traditional crawfish boil in your own backyard, wherever that may be. Louisiana Crawfish Co. also accommodates larger shipments, in case you want to invite the whole neighborhood.
This family-owned and operated business leads the industry with tried and true shipping methods and competitive pricing. They stand behind all of their products, offering a money-back guarantee and they will price match if you are able to find a lower delivered cost. With a "why pay more" attitude, the Louisiana Crawfish Co. website offers price comparisons with other retailers.
A standard of stellar quality and service is evident in an abundance of happy customer testimonials.
Louisiana Crawfish Co. doesn't stop at distributing only mudbugs. Alligator, turtle, various seafood, King Cakes, spices, Lasyone's meat pies, turduckens, a wealth of other party supplies and Southern goods are available on LaCrawfish.com.
More than 25 years in the business and over one million pounds of shipped lived crawfish proves this trusted company is here to stay and ready to help you with your next crawfish boil.


Microsoft has announced that its pre-order page is ready to start taking orders on the Surface 2 (4G) for delivery in the UK on 8 May.
The latest version of the Surface 2 comes with a bay for a micro SIM which is capable of supporting up to 4G LTE networks. The contract will be down to the user to sort out.
The Microsoft Surface 2 (4G) ships with Windows RT 8.1 and is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 4 processor. The 10.6-inch screen pumps out a 1920 x 1080 resolution and should last for 10-hours of use. Connectivity is plentiful from Bluetooth 4.0 to a full-sized USB 3.0 port.
4G LTE means this mobile tablet can always be connected. So sharing 1080p videos shot on it or documents made in Office, which comes pre-installed, is possible anywhere. OneDrive users are able to take advantage of 200GB of storage that comes with the purchase and lasts for two years. Skype users can enjoy free unlimited minutes and Wi-Fi hotspots for a year.
The Microsoft Surface 2 (4G) will come in a 64GB version only and is available from 8 May in the UK. Users can pre-order now from Microsoft for £540.


Crack a local brew and soak up the sun (or at least dream about it).
With the weather we've been having, it's a little hard to tell that we're technically a little over a month into this mysterious season we call spring. In New York, we've only had about a week of sun so far. It's so frustrating, it's driven us to drink. But at least in that sense, we can find a little springtime.
Spring seasonal beers span a wide range of styles. As Jimmy Carbone of Jimmy's No. 43 and Beer Sessions Radio points out, spring beers include a number of traditional styles, including maibock and biere de mars. But he also concedes that local breweries have started developing more modern styles to fit the season.
After discussing what makes a spring beer great, Jimmy and I came up with a list of standout seasonal options that'll at least give you the impression of spring—even if New York City's weather isn't cooperating.
From: Bronx, NY Style: Belgian-style pale ale Website: thebronxbrewery.com The Bronx Brewery changes up its classic and popular pale ale with three types of Belgian yeast. The addition infuses a refreshing combination of citrus and bread-like flavors into the beer, with a hint of clove and a softly bitter hop finish. The beer was only recently introduced to select bars around all five boroughs and will be available year-round, but it's definitely a good choice for what we'd call a "spring seasonal."
From: Cooperstown, NY Style: Blonde Ale Website: ommegang.com While this beer is tied to HBO's hit show Game of Thrones, it's no accident that Ommegang chose to release a blonde ale in spring. The light-bodied brew is mildly hopped and spiced with lemon peel and grains of paradise (a citrusy and peppery ginger), delivering lemony zest. Three types of malts and red wheat create a bread backbone that balances out the zest. The result is a spiced and malty ale that's best enjoyed before winter comes again.
From: Red Hook, Brooklyn Style: Belgian Farmhouse Ale Website: sixpoint.com Crafted in a traditional fashion, this draft-only option combines sweet and bready malt flavors, floral notes, and crisp citrus fruit, especially lemon and orange peel. The saison, or farmhouse-ale style, fits perfectly with the season. Plus, the added spices and vaguely piney hops allow the Sixpoint spring submission to stand out on its own among all the other seasonal beers.
From: Patchogue, NY Style: American Pale Ale Website: bluepointbrewing.com It pours a coppery color and starts with a medium-bodied malty flavor, then evolves into something more crisp—like a changing of the seasons. Serving as the brewery's way of celebrating the end of winter, Spring Fling features an array of refreshing flavors: sweet malt meets floral hops, resulting in a caramel-flavored brew with breezy hop bitterness on the finish. This beer seems to be more fitting for the chillier spring weather, so it's a great option for right now.
From: Astoria, Queens Style: Double IPA Website: singlecutbeer.com In May, the SingleCut Taproom in Astoria will start serving its Billy Full-Stack on tap. While this high-alcohol double IPA doesn't fall into the typical spring styles, the citrus IPA is surprisingly refreshing. Coming at the tail-end of the season, this beer brings with it a hoppy citrus flavor along with other piney and floral hop notes. While it might be 8.6% ABV, you'd never detect that alcohol through the zesty flavors. It's best to sip this beer.
From: Elmsford, NY Style: German-style Kolsch Website: captainlawrencebrewing.com As we mentioned before, the Kolsch is a German-style ale marked by a light to medium body and crisp, sometimes mildly bitter flavors. Until recently, this was a style that was mainly found in parts of Germany, but American breweries like Captain Lawrence have adopted it as their own. The Kolsch from Captain Lawrence includes a bit more hoppy citrus emphasis than the traditional style, but it still complements a warm day very well.
From: Peekskill, NY Style: Sour or Wild Ale Website: peekskillbrewery.wordpress.com Sour ales are the product of wild yeasts used in the brewing process. To create this traditional Belgian style, brewers allow the yeasts to enter beers naturally and run their course, often resulting in medium to extreme tart flavors. The process is almost a celebration of spring and the natural beauty blooming in the wild. That's why this is a great style for the season. Peekskill's sour is on the mild side with a dry finish—a great introduction to sours for those who may not be familiar.


Excitement overload...the Real Housewives franchise is coming back to the DC area, but with more shades of brown...and shades of...well...SHADE on January 17th. And don't we love it! And while the cast looks juicy and shady, I'm personally excited to see Ms. Gizelle Bryant. Honey...anyone who knows this fabulous woman knows that she set the bar back in the day of true fabulousness. And for those of you that will get to know her through this show, you are in for a treat.
Her looks will stop your breath and her intelligence will cut you up one side and down another if you are not ready. Class, style and sophistication are just a few words to describe Gizelle. I can't wait...because the hate is gonna be real, but I know she can hold her own, because I know this woman. We grew up in the same neighborhood, and attended the same university...and she has always been fabulous...ALWAYS. so buckle up Real Housewives lovers, because while class separates...so does hate...and I know they are gonna be hating on her cause they wish they could be her. I'm certain she will be giving us fabulous, juicy, entertaining TV and is sure to attract more than a few male viewers, now that she is single and dating again!
The full cast includes Gizelle Bryant, Karen Huger, Katie Rost, Robyn Dixon, Ashley Darby, and Charrisse Jackson-Jordan. Visit Bravo to learn more about the cast members...and set your reminders so you remember exactly when to pop the popcorn and silence your phones.


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Living Authentically And Simply with David Wann
David Wann
Default - $ 1.99 USD
Continuing to consume excessively as a way of life is neither desirable nor possible, if we care about future generations. It seems clear that we need to alter our patterns of consumption in order to preserve and sustain our precious natural resources. David Wann suggests that if we change a few key priorities, many of our material wants will cease to be obsessions. "It's not just that we won't need the next generation of gadgets or clothes, we truly won't even want them," says Wann. Find out how you can live the "good life" by investing in what really matters - the wealth of time, health, meaningful work, and social connections. (hosted by Michael Toms)
David Wann is president of the nonprofit Sustainable Futures Society, consulting on energy efficiency, development of compact communities, and other aspects of sustainable development. He's a board member of the Cohousing Association of the U.S., which represents 100 American communities that are "neighborhoods on purpose," and a fellow of the Simplicity Forum, a national association of writers and thinkers on the topic of sensible sustainable lifestyles. In nine books, 25 TV programs and videos, and more than a hundred presentations and speeches, David Wann has helped define the meaning of sustainable lifestyles, designs, technologies, and policies.
Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle (St. Martin's Griffin 2007)
Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic (co-author) (Berrett-Koehler, 2001, 2005)
To learn more about the work of David Wann go to davewann.com.
How we can increase our contentment as we reduce our consumption
What is real wealth
Why storytelling will save us and the planet
Ways we can reduce our ecological footprint
How earth can be made into a sacred garden
Host: Michael Toms Interview Date: 2/12/2008 Program Number: 3239
Psychedelics: Medicine or Drug? with Richard Miller, Ph.D.
Body Mind Healing with Andrew Weil, M.D.
Wisdom For Our Hungry Hearts: Julian of Norwich with Fr. Matthew Fox, Ph.D.
Julian of Norwich: A Mystic with a Vaccine for Our Time with Fr. Matthew Fox, Ph.D.
est: The Essence of "It" with Werner Erhard, Sam Keen, Allan Cohen, Lloyd Moglen, M.D.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Saturday 10th We just travelled and travelled today and I thought the journey would never end. Rhian Travelled in our car with us and Mollie was very good.
The new dining room at Auntie S's house looks nice and so does Rhian's now blue and whitish room. Bye!
Sunday 11th We went to Reiss beach today. Rhian got soaked in the sea and so did the rest of us. Mollie just made friends! Boyfriends! Bye!
Monday 12th I woke up quite late this morning and Abby had gone shopping with Mum so Rhian and I went for a cycle to the park and then around the cliff.
Then Rhian, Abby and I went shopping in the town centre. I bought nail varnish, body spray (Cool Cascade) and lip balm and various sweets.
This evening we were going to Reiss beach again but the car wouldn't start so we had to get the jump leads and Alex's dad from across the road. Bye!
Tuesday 13th We went to this really nice beach today. It's not far from the town. It was rocky and sandy, both in patches. It was surrounded by cliffs and only one other family was there.
In the water there were baby jellyfish, ugly bright red sea anenomies anenemies anemonies [still wrong but warmer] and I found a live shark egg (mermaid's purse) in a rock pool.
Also this evening, Rhian, Abby and I went for a bike ride and we were hanging round at Rhian's friend Clementine's house. Tom's friend Joey lives next door but one so Auntie S and Minnie visited his mum.
There were 3 boys playing soccer and wanted to know if we wanted a game! They were Rhian's age but then boys my age started hanging round too. One was Alex and they kept waving to me! Bye!


Ganymede Solutions are looking for a Skilled Track Operative to join our core gang from the Porstmouth Area. Working for the Derby Projects team you will report to this team but will have the function of a local office for timesheets, PPE, training etc. The gang has an ongoing regular work bank and on average do 5/6 shifts per week. You will be joining a gang that has a van and a fuel card. We are initially looking for a Skilled Track Operative so you must hold PTS DCCR, ICI, TIC (Track Induction) as a minimum. Small tools and other tickets would be preferred but are not essential as training can be provided. Start date will be immediately after registering and a D&A test will be provided if needed for the right candidate.


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Jamie Lee Curtis Got Called Out for Using Guns In 'Halloween,' Now She's Pushing Back at Critics
Posted at 11:30 am on October 11, 2018 by Micah Rate
(Ryan Green/Universal Pictures via AP)
The Hollywood elite embodies the phrase, "Do as I say, not as I do." Some may say Hollywood is consistently inconsistent. While the nation's favorite actors and actresses embrace their various causes, where they give speeches encouraging the American people to support gun control legislation, reduce carbon emissions to save the world from climate change, and believe any woman who comes forward claiming to be a survivor of sexual assault, hypocrisy runs rampant. The issue of firearms and the Second Amendment is one such issue where actors and actresses who claim to support gun control measures often take on movie roles where their characters use firearms.
Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is one of those stars whose track record of calling for gun control legislation following mass shootings appears to be contradicted by her movie roles.
As Fox News reported on Wednesday, Curtis is starring in the latest "Halloween" reboot, where she is forced to defend herself with a gun from the well-known villain Michael Myers. View the trailer below.
Evil is real. #HalloweenMovie pic.twitter.com/l5wDrWxJgL
— #HalloweenMovie (@halloweenmovie) September 5, 2018
Fox News also noted that, after the mass school shooting in Santa Fe, Tex., Curtis took to Twitter to advocate for gun control. In 2013, Curtis specifically called for an assault weapons ban, repeatedly.
All previous light hearted tweets get dismissed immediately as the heavy heart reality of another school shooting takes us back to the need for stronger gun legislation.
— Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis) May 18, 2018
Assault weapons ban now! Assault weapons ban now! Assault weapons ban now! Assault weapons ban now! Assault weapons ban now!
— Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis) September 17, 2013
However, Curtis may not be completely anti-gun. As Fox News points out, Curtis also tweeted a photo where she's at a gun range shooting a .357 as a promotion for the upcoming horror film.
First shot. 357. ❤ Feels good to have Laurie back on set for @halloweenmovie #HalloweenMovie pic.twitter.com/4PBGAl1anI
— Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis) January 25, 2018
After seeing Fox News address her inconsistency on the issue, Curtis hit back with a rebuttal and accused the outlet of not asking her what she really thinks on the issue.
"What I think might surprise them," she told USA Today.
She then went on to say that she fully supports the Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment, but that she supports what many gun control proponents refer to as "common sense" gun reform.
More from USA Today:
I fully support the Bill of Rights. And fully support the Second Amendment. And have absolutely no problem with people owning firearms if they have been trained, licensed, a background check has been conducted, a pause button has been pushed to give time for that process to take place. And they have to renew their license just like we do with automobiles – which are weapons also.
They knew that Laurie was going to be someone who used firearms. And I think there were myriad types of firearms that could have been used in the movie. I was very clear with the filmmakers that she used the weapons intended for self-defense for her and her family.
I'm an actress who's in slasher movies. I have to be responsible for my own personal choices in my own personal life. But I am an actor for hire. And honestly, if I had made my career as a pacifist actor, I would never have worked, ever.
But I have always been proud to represent women who fight back and fight back with intelligence, cunning and creativity, and who fight for their lives and their families' lives.
The latest "Halloween" slasher film hits theaters October 19.
Tags: anti-gun hypocrisyGun ControlGunsHalloweenHollywoodJamie Lee CurtisSecond Amendment
Author's Bio: Micah Rate
Micah Rate is a graduate of the University of South Florida, an alumnus of the National Journalism Center, and a Digital Content Producer for Townhall. You can follow him on Twitter @Micah_Rate. https://bearingarms.com/author/micah-r/


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Vinice Mabansag, född 15 november 2022 i Manilla, Filippinerna har av FN utsetts att vara den person som symboliskt anses vara nummer  på jorden. Föräldrarna heter Alvin Mabansag och Margarette Mabansag.

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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The promotion of the health benefits of tennis and 'tennis as a sport for all' are an important focus of the Tennis Play and Stay campaign.
Some nations have developed tennis fitness based programmes to position tennis more firmly in the minds of their players that it is a beneficial sport for improving fitness and daily lifestyles.
Perhaps one of the most notable tennis programme developed that is marketed towards health is Cardio Tennis which was introduced by the Tennis Industry Association in 2005.
With the use of the slower balls and smaller courts, as well as adapting scoring formats and competition, tennis can appeal to a wide audience. ITF Beach Tennis is an evident example of how a Stage 2 ball with the appropriate racket, has developed into a professional and attractive form of the sport.
Another example of a variation of the sport using the Stage 3 slower ball and within the Stage 3 court dimensions, is touchtennis.
Although there have been many research studies that have concluded that physical activity is beneficial to a healthy lifestyle, specific studies linking tennis and their relevant benefits have been limited.
Click here to access some existing research that have specific relevance to tennis and have been used by the ITF to position tennis through the Tennis Play and Stay campaign and easy, fun and health.


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I am a Physics and Math double major with a 3.7 GPA (3.9 in Physics courses). I currently TA for PH 106/126, and I have tutored 101 in the past. Also participated in summer program to teach PreCal to high school students. I find teach super satisfying and fun! However, I also love research. I have conducted Condensed Matter Physics research since Freshman year with the Hauser lab group and other professors on campus. Private tutor for a year. TA in PH 106/126 this semester. Participated in the College First program as a mentor teaching Pre Cal for one of my summers. Experienced in computational and experimental materials science. I am also an RA in the Blount Living Learning Community. I love talking about politics, philosophy, and scientific stuff! My guilty pleasure is watching British panel shows.
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GOLDEN BOOTS
The unstoppable rise of the English Premier League
Anfield, home of Liverpool FC
Image: Reuters/Phil Noble
John McDuling
The English Premier League has struck a new £5.14 billion ($7.84 billion), three-year deal for broadcast rights in the UK. That's a 71% increase on what the last rights deal in the UK achieved in 2011. Ahead of the announcement, media reports suggested a figure closer to £4.4 billion was more likely. So it's a pretty stunning result.
The increase reflects a) an insatiable appetite among British consumers for live soccer (or football as its known in most of the world) and b) competitive tension between Rupert Murdoch's Sky, the dominant pay-TV operator in the country, and BT Sport, a newer competitor from the main telecom/internet service provider, BT Group (Sky secured five of the seven packages being auctioned, BT the other two).
The Premier League is already the most valuable soccer competition on the planet, according to analysis by Credit Suisse last year. It might not be long before it moves further up this table, ahead of the big three American professional sports. Global rights deals, including in the US, are expected to be decided in the next few months (paywall).
There are a number of reasons behind the league's success. One is the perception that it is more competitive than others in Europe, such as Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A and Germany's Bundesliga, which are typically dominated by one or two teams.
Broadcast rights are distributed evenly in the Premiership, unlike in La Liga where the giants Real Madrid and Barcelona negotiate their own rights separately. The EPL also has greater international appeal than its rivals on the continent, particularly in fast growing Asian markets, where support is fanatical, and increasingly, the US, where NBC has been airing matches most weekends on broadcast TV.
That doesn't explain why the Premier League's domestic TV rights easily outstrip those in bigger and equally soccer crazy economies like Germany, though. But there are signs of the beginnings of a backlash. Pressure is building among fan groups for the windfall to be used to cut exorbitant ticket prices for games. Analysis by the Guardian last year found that average ticket prices in the EPL are much higher than other leagues in Europe.
Perhaps more likely is that the funds will be used to fuel further inflation in transfer fees and player salaries, as the arms race for talent continues.


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Sahlabad (, also Romanized as Sahlābād) is a village in Ahmadabad Rural District, in the Central District of Firuzabad County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 98, in 27 families.

References

Populated places in Firuzabad County


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Home » leadership
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"The story of Oprah Winfrey inspires me. Sexually abused as a young girl but that didn't stop her from being the powerful woman she is today."
Get inspired by stories of change, take action by donating to World YWCA Isabelle grew up in a part of Cameroon where people did not discriminate between boys and girls. But at the age of 16, her family relocated to northern Cameroon, where she experienced a cultural shock. Here, girls […]
"My mother, Vasanthy, is the most inspiring woman I know. She was my first safe space, where I flourished into who I am today."
Get inspired by stories of change, take action by donating to World YWCA Kosalina was born to Sri Lankan parents in Lebanon where Eastern and Western cultures co-existed. She was living under a more western influence though. When she was 9, her family relocated to Sri Lanka where communities were […]
"I would tell my 15-year-old self that you are doing great for your age."
Get inspired by stories of change, take action by donating to World YWCA. Lidya had completed her education and was working as a physician at a public health centre before she joined the YWCA in Ethiopia. She always wanted to give back to her community in a meaningful way and […]
"To the young women of my country, I'd like to say that they have the right to know what is happening with their bodies."
Get inspired by stories of change, take action by donating to World YWCA Roni was an inquisitive young girl, and had questions about menstruation and the female body. But when she asked her mother about them, like most Nepali kids, she was shut down and told to wait until she […]
Spotlight on Nirmala Gurung
Nirmala is a young woman who currently lives in Nepal. She has an academic background in medical microbiology, is currently specialising in rural development, and works as a Young Women's coordinator for the YWCA in Nepal. Nirmala became active in the movement in 2013, when she participated in the Rise-Up […]


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What is the University?
USFQ Chancellor Santiago Gangotena explains what the university is in the following article taken from the newspaper El Comercio.
+ See more...
The Philosophy of Liberty
The philosophy of freedom is based on self-ownership. This simple but forceful animation will explain it.
The USFQ Community
Founded in 1988 under the philosophy of the Liberal Arts, the USFQ is the most active academic community in Ecuador.
Class and Race Are Never an Excuse to Gloat Over State Atrocities
What is it that would possess anyone to express such sentiments based on class and race alone?...
How Nationalism and Socialism Arose from the French Revolution
Liberalism unlocked humanity's...
Fighting Famine Is About...
In the ancient world, a bad harvest threatened lives. The agricultural output of the world has dramatically increased in the last couple...
The fight against famine
In the ancient world, a bad harvest threatened lives. The world's agricultural production has increased dramatically in...
Socialism Does Not Work
Meet Theodore Dalrymple of Oxford Union who presents this fabulous exhibition called Socialism Does Not Work.
Capitalism and the Family
Listen to this great talk about the interaction between capitalism and the family of Dr. Steve Horwitz from St. Lawrence University.
Carta Magna - 800 Years
June 15th, 2015, is the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, which defended private property; Now, Ecuador must continue with...
We Are Charlie Hebdo
Manuel Hinds, former Minister of Finance of El Salvador, writes an article about the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo headquarters.
Larken Rose narrates "Statism is the Most Dangerous Religion", a work that reveals the lies that we...
Gloria Álvarez's speech
The young Guatemalan Gloria Álvarez offers an interesting speech in Zaragoza, Spain on...
Populism vs Republic
Gloria Álvarez offers a new discourse on populism in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The Walled Sadness
Carlos Freile talks to us about the consequences of totalitarian states.
Terror and Propaganda
Colonel Alberto Molina explains to us how Hitler subdued the masses in his article...
Why be free?
Alberto Benegas Lynch, associate academic at the Cato Institute, talks to us about the value of freedom.
Bad times for ideas
Roberto Aguilar presents us with an article in his blog Estado de propaganda titled "Bad times for ideas".
US Economic Liberty
This annual publication is an excellent and comprehensive summary of which countries have policies that allow people economic freedom.
Socialism in 100 seconds
Communism must be considered as the deadliest ideology that man has developed, with nearly 100 million people.
Wicked Regimes: Communism
When people describe evil individuals or regimes, the word "Nazi" or "fascism" generally comes to mind, but almost never communism, why?
Taking away unwarranted fears
How much would food prices in the basic basket increase if the diesel subsidy were eliminated?… And the rental of a tractor?
Axel Kaiser: The Tyranny of Equality
Axel Kaiser explains what a system of liberties consists of and refutes the arguments of the book "The Other Model".
Domingo Cavallo: Dollarization
Domingo Cavallo talks about the dollarization process in Ecuador, Argentina convertibility, and the causes and consequences of these processes.


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Is Cognizant Technology "Boiling The Ocean"?
By Mike Koehler on March 3, 2017 in Cognizant Technology Solutions, FCPA Investigative Costs, Investigative Fees
This prior post highlighted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act scrutiny of Cognizant Technology Solutions first disclosed in late September 2016. This post discussed how the company's FCPA scrutiny presented an interesting, albeit early, FCPA case study as to the FCPA's many "ripples." (See here for the article "FCPA Ripples").
The case study has become all the more interesting given that Cognizant recently disclosed: "in 2016, we incurred $27 million in costs related to the FCPA investigation and related lawsuits. We expect to continue to incur expenses related to these matters in 2017 and future periods."
The question ought to be asked: is Cognizant "boiling the ocean"?
The phrase "boiling the ocean" was used by then Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell in April 2015. As highlighted in this post, against the backdrop of ever-escalating FCPA investigative fees (an issue that has been highlighted on FCPA Professor for years), Caldwell stated:
"All too often, criticism is leveled against the Justice Department for purportedly causing companies to spend years, and many millions of dollars, investigating potential violations. This is particularly true in the FCPA context where the need for international evidence can add to the expense and burden of an investigation. Critics wrongly question the wisdom of disclosing misconduct and cooperating with the government in light of what they perceive to be the department's requirement that companies then must conduct unnecessarily costly, time consuming and widespread investigations.
There is no question that some cooperating companies spend large sums of money investigating potential misconduct and correcting internal controls issues that allowed the misconduct to occur. The decision to incur those costs, however, is one made by those companies, not a requirement of the department. When a company chooses to cooperate with the government, the manner in which the company approaches its cooperation, and its own investigation of the conduct, can significantly affect the length of the investigation and the costs incurred by the company.
Although we expect internal investigations to be thorough, we do not expect companies to aimlessly boil the ocean. Indeed, there have been some instances in which companies have, in our view, conducted overly broad and needlessly costly investigations, in some cases delaying our ability to resolve matters in a timely fashion."
Assistant Attorney General Caldwell returned to this issue in a November 2016 FCPA speech (see here for the prior post and video clips) when she stated:
"I've seen over the years, alot of companies that did way too broad of investigation and in my experience that was not the result of what DOJ told them to do."
During my nearly decade-long FCPA private practice career, I conducted several FCPA internal investigations around the world. Such investigations are not a cost-free exercise.
However, Cognizant's disclosure that it "incurred $27 million in costs related to the FCPA investigation and related lawsuits" strikes me as unusual for an internal investigation that appears to have begun in the second half of 2016 and appears to be based on a single country (India).
In short, if I were a Cognizant board member (not to mention a Cognizant shareholder), I would have some serious concerns.
In any event, set forth below is additional information for Cognizant's recent disclosure.
"As previously disclosed, the Company is conducting an internal investigation focused on whether certain payments relating to Company-owned facilities in India were made improperly and in possible violation of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, and other applicable laws. In September 2016, we voluntarily notified the Department of Justice, or DOJ, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and are cooperating fully with both agencies. The investigation is being conducted under the oversight of the Audit Committee, with the assistance of outside counsel. To date, the investigation has identified a total of approximately $6 million in payments made between 2010 and 2015 that may have been recorded improperly. In 2016, we recorded an out-of-period correction related to $4 million of such payments that were previously capitalized that should have been expensed. The recorded correction resulted in an increase of selling, general and administrative expenses of $4 million, a reduction in depreciation and amortization expense of $1 million, and a reduction in property and equipment, net of $3 million. These out-of-period corrections and the other $2 million in potentially improper payments were not material to any previously issued annual or interim financial statements and are not material to the financial results for the year ending December 31, 2016. Based on the results of the investigation to date, the members of senior management who may have participated in or been aware of the making of the identified potentially improper payments and failed to take action to prevent the making of the identified potentially improper payments are no longer with the Company or in a senior management position."
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