Middle Out

George H. W. Bush (known as George W. Bush, at the time) lost his bid for re-election in part because another candidate had convinced the electorate “the devil is in the details”.  H. Ross Perot had convinced the voters that the Devil is in the details and he had the charts and graphs to prove it.

When the Republicans moved in to the DC area as a result of the 1980 election, the Rush Room was established at Blackie’s House of Beef.  I have heard that WRC (TV 4 in the area) also tried to a comparable liberal’s room hosted by then comedian, Al Franken.  The Rush Room was a tremendous success.  The room for liberals failed (but that was in the 1981-89 time period).

Dr. John Park told me that you need to have an understanding two levels up and two levels down to be able to write well at a given level.  Dr. Park had been a professor at the University of Minnesota and had written a major part of the then Defense Communications Agency’s Satellite Handbook.

In the DC Area, the usual conflict in System Design or issues in general is usually between “Top Down” and “(Bottom or Bottoms) Up”.  If you are a System Engineer, you realize that all these conflicts are about where you hold the requirements fixed.

Charles Krauthammer died recently.  After he died, I read his book.  All TV Commentators should go through his process.

When you try to sell something as a consultant, you a confronted with the task of trying to tell a person with funds, what you can do for them.

I used three of Robert E. Machol’s columns the journal Operations Research (at the time, a Professor at Northwestern University) to prepare humorous talk for a competition.  The three:

1. Miles Law
2. Billings Phenomenon
3. Sutton Effect

The Billings Phenomenon gets its name from an American humorist Josh Billings.  Josh was a contemporary of Mark Twain.  He told a story about a farmer that wanted to know why his white horses ate more hay than his black horses. (I think the story goes that the farmer satisfied his curiosity by counting feet and dividing by 4).

Consultants face the real problem that if their results are well communicated the customer is likely to say why did it cost so much?

Things

On 7/10/18, I counted 88 entries in Things That Matter.  The book’s subtitle is “Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics.”  The population should be of the order of 3x10x50 = 1500.  88/1500 = 0.058666667.  The first decade might be sparse.  88/1000 = .08800.  So Krauthammer’s Things That Matter consisted of 5 to 9 percent of his Things.

Appropriate for a particle physicist, I’ve captured the first level of Things That Matter today in Things.  They are 88 things.

Characterizing and Communicating Uncertainty

A relevant NSF publication is available in PDF is available from The National Academies Press at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18870

Charles Krauthammer died very recently.  He had time to listen.  He listened and polished a narrative to get from where you were to where you ought to be.

I heard of him in 1981 when he was a liberal.  My first major professor Myron L. Good said that if you weren't a liberal when you were young you didn't have a heart and if you weren't a conservative when you matured you didn't have a head.

The NSF report includes a quote at the beginning it is:

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Willing is not enough; we must do.”
—Goethe