ChatGPT: A Game Changing Tool

 

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Jim Clyde Monge

It is barely a secret that I am going for 100 posts this year.  I am currently at 94, which by the way is already a record for this blog.  With this post I will be at 95, I have three topics in mind not counting this one, and, with a week left in 2022, this should be quite doable.

By wonderful chance, there was a Facebook ad on the very topic I am addressing in this blog.  It was for AI Create.  Their ad said “See how AI can write a blog post in minutes.”  Cleary, I could produce a blog post of 500 or so words in a fraction of the time it now takes. 

On Friday, December 16, I was driving into North Park for the last day of the semester.  Per usual, I was listening to NPR’s Morning Edition as usual.  They had a segment on ChatGPT which is a Microsoft funded venture that, like AI Create, is a writing and research assistant.  Here is a link for the NPR segment:  Has AI reached the point where a software program can do better work than you?  Apparently, it has an application that students are already using to write essays.  This semester I have detected a disproportionate number of students writing above what I thought their capabilities were.  I wondered why, and settled on the glass half-full conclusion, that they were all trying harder.  After hearing the NPR segment, I backed off that conclusion a bit thinking that maybe some of our students are already using this innovative application.

So, when I got to my desk, I went to the ChatGPT website signed up, and began playing with it.  The first thing I did was ask it to “prepare an essay on the Toyota Production System.”  This was a topic one of my classes was preparing an essay on.  In 30 seconds, ChatGPT gave the following (329 words): 

 

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is a manufacturing approach developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation to increase efficiency and eliminate waste within the production process. The TPS is also known as "lean manufacturing" or "just-in-time (JIT) production," and has been widely adopted by companies around the globe due to its ability to improve quality, reduce costs, and increase responsiveness to customer demand.

At the heart of the TPS is the concept of continuous improvement, or "kaizen," which encourages all employees to identify and eliminate waste in their work processes. Waste, or "muda," can take many forms, including unnecessary steps, defects, overproduction, excess inventory, and unnecessary motion. By eliminating waste, the TPS aims to create a more efficient and streamlined production process.

One key aspect of the TPS is the use of small batch sizes and frequent deliveries, known as JIT production. This approach helps to reduce inventory costs and increase flexibility, as it allows for production to be adjusted quickly in response to changes in customer demand.

Another important aspect of the TPS is the use of standardized work processes and visual management techniques. Standardized work processes help to ensure that all tasks are completed consistently and efficiently, while visual management techniques, such as the use of visual cues and signals, make it easier for workers to identify problems and opportunities for improvement.

In addition, the TPS emphasizes the importance of teamwork and communication in the production process. This includes the use of "huddles," or brief daily meetings, to discuss progress and identify problems, as well as the use of "gemba," or "actual place," in which employees go to observe and understand the work being done.

Overall, the Toyota Production System has proven to be an effective approach to manufacturing, with many companies around the world adopting its principles in order to improve efficiency and reduce waste. Its focus on continuous improvement, JIT production, standardized work processes, visual management, and teamwork has made it a model for manufacturing excellence.

This was not bad at all.  I like my students to give me essays in the 500-700 word range.  So, I asked next asked ChatGPT to “prepare a 637 word essay on the Toyota Production System.” This time it  came back with the following (439 words).

 

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is a manufacturing approach developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation that has been widely adopted by companies around the world. It is based on the principles of continuous improvement, or "kaizen," and the elimination of waste, or "muda." The TPS aims to create a more efficient and streamlined production process by identifying and eliminating waste in all forms, including unnecessary steps, defects, overproduction, excess inventory, and unnecessary motion.

One key aspect of the TPS is the use of small batch sizes and frequent deliveries, known as just-in-time (JIT) production. This approach helps to reduce inventory costs and increase flexibility, as it allows for production to be adjusted quickly in response to changes in customer demand. JIT production also helps to reduce the risk of defects and excess inventory, as it ensures that only the necessary materials and components are produced and delivered at the right time.

Another important aspect of the TPS is the use of standardized work processes and visual management techniques. Standardized work processes help to ensure that all tasks are completed consistently and efficiently, while visual management techniques, such as the use of visual cues and signals, make it easier for workers to identify problems and opportunities for improvement. By standardizing work processes and using visual management techniques, the TPS helps to minimize variability and improve quality in the production process.

In addition to these core principles, the TPS also emphasizes the importance of teamwork and communication in the production process. This includes the use of "huddles," or brief daily meetings, to discuss progress and identify problems, as well as the use of "gemba," or "actual place," in which employees go to observe and understand the work being done. By promoting teamwork and effective communication, the TPS helps to create a more collaborative and responsive production environment.

The TPS has been successful in helping Toyota and other companies to increase efficiency, reduce costs, and improve quality. It has also been credited with helping to create a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within Toyota and other companies that have adopted its principles. However, it is important to note that the TPS is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and it requires careful implementation and ongoing management to be effective.

In summary, the Toyota Production System is a comprehensive approach to manufacturing that aims to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and improve quality through the principles of continuous improvement, JIT production, standardized work processes, visual management, and teamwork. Its success has made it a model for manufacturing excellence, and it has been widely adopted by companies around the world seeking to improve their production processes.

This was equally as good.  As it was AI driven, it was different from the first and thus making it tough for a plagiarism detection software like Turnitin to detect anything.  I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t give me the word count I asked for.  Then, I thought if I outlined the paper into four or five bullet points and asked ChatGPT to provide an essay on each subtopic, I could easily cobble together a 700-2,000 word essay.

As it is a college paper, I would naturally have to include references.  I asked ChatGPT to “provide 6 references for the Toyota Production System in APA format.”  Voila, it gave me the following classic references on the topic:

 

1.     Liker, J. K., & Meier, D. (2006). The Toyota Way: 14 management principles from the world's greatest manufacturer. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

2.     Ohno, T. (1988). Toyota production system: Beyond large-scale production. Cambridge, MA: Productivity Press.

3.     Womack, J. P., Jones, D. T., & Roos, D. (1990). The machine that changed the world: The story of lean production. New York, NY: Harper Perennial.

4.     Rother, M., & Shook, J. (2003). Learning to see: Value stream mapping to create value and eliminate muda. Cambridge, MA: Lean Enterprise Institute.

5.     Imai, M. (1997). Gemba kaizen: A commonsense, low-cost approach to management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

6.     Shingo, S. (1987). A study of the Toyota production system: From an industrial engineering viewpoint. Cambridge, MA: Productivity Press.

 

I then asked it to give to “provide 7 URL references for the Toyota Production System in APA format”

1.     Toyota Global. (n.d.). Toyota Production System. Retrieved from https://www.toyota-global.com/company/toyota_traditions/quality/toyota_production_system/

2.     Lean Enterprise Institute. (n.d.). Toyota Production System. Retrieved from https://www.lean.org/lp/toyota-production-system/

3.     Toyota Motor Corporation. (n.d.). Toyota Production System. Retrieved from https://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/environmental_technology/toyota_production_system/

4.     Lean Manufacturing Tools. (n.d.). Toyota Production System (TPS). Retrieved from https://www.leanmanufacturingtools.org/toyota-production-system/

5.     Management Study Guide. (2021). Toyota Production System (TPS). Retrieved from https://www.managementstudyguide.com/toyota-production-system.htm

6.     Wikipedia. (2022). Toyota Production System. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Production_System

7.     ASQ. (2018). Toyota Production System (TPS). Retrieved from https://asq.org/quality-resources/toyota-production-system

 

I could get quotes from a few of these references and add them to the longer essay and easily get to my 637-word objective. 

This is most cool and a bit scary.  This could be a negative game changer or a positive one, depending on how we react to it in our course design.  It is not unlike the dawn of cheap scientific calculators and impact they had on science and math classes.  “Do we allow calculators to be used in math exams?” was a huge question academia grappled with until we realized they were a tool which math courses needed to incorporate.  The same could be sad about Excel and other software applications.  It is just coming to the writing side of academics now.

I really liked the ability for ChatGPT to assemble a reference list on the Toyota Production System.  I will definitely use it more for this.

Lastly, I found an article, ChatGPT and the rise of AI writers: how should higher education respond?  I asked ChatGPT to summarize the article as this was something that was touted as a feature.  It impressively responded:

 

It is not possible for me to summarize a specific article without having access to it. However, I can provide some general information about how higher education institutions may respond to the development of AI writing tools such as GPT and RISE.

 

One potential response could be to incorporate the use of these tools into the curriculum, perhaps as a way to teach students about the capabilities and limitations of AI and how it can be used in writing and other areas. Higher education institutions may also consider the ethical implications of using AI writing tools and how they may impact the role of human writers.

 

Another response could be to study the effectiveness of these tools and how they compare to traditional writing methods. This could involve conducting research on the quality and accuracy of writing produced by AI tools, as well as the impact on student learning and engagement.

 

Higher education institutions may also consider the potential for these tools to democratize access to education, particularly for students who may face barriers to traditional writing instruction. However, it will be important to carefully consider the potential consequences and ensure that the use of AI writing tools does not lead to the displacement of human writers or educators.

 

Overall, higher education institutions will need to approach the development of AI writing tools with caution and carefully consider their potential impact on students, educators, and the broader field of writing and education.

 

Well, I will have to figure out how to use this tool in a positive way in my courses.  I will also need to figure out I should or should not use it to make me a more prolific blogger.  The future, in these regards, might be kind of awesome.

Note:  This word count of this piece is 1,968 of which I actually wrote 759 of them.

For Love of the Music: Καναρίνι μου γλυκό

 

From the 1930s: 
Lambros, Eskenazi, and Tomboulis

Growing up, we called the music we love, that I love, Armenian music.  Mostly it was.  But we also played a fair amount of Turkish, Greek, and Arab music.  Occasionally, an Israeli, Persian, or Balkan song might enter our repertoire.  We were open to other cultures and embraced the music… especially tunes that fit in with the core Armenian music we played, moved us, and made people dance. 

I know a lot of songs.  I love the old songs I grew up with more than the newer songs I have learned over the years.  I love the old songs more than I like classical music (Turkish classical music) which I really like.  Of the old songs, I really like those that lie in that intersection of the Greek and Turkish, with dashes of Armenian.  I am talking about the taverna music, the music of the old 78s, the music of places I have never been like the 8^th Avenue night clubs, Club Zara, and Sammy G’s.  The music that we die-hard kefjis live for.  A lot of that music is from Smyrna where Greeks, Turks, and Armenians lived before… well you know. 

Like many of my peers, we learned from the likes of John Berberian, Harry Minasian, Kelly Kuchukian, Richard Hagopian, John Bilezikjian, Hachig Kazarian, Souren Baronian, Carnig Mikitirian, and so many more.  We would learn from their records and live recordings.  Sometimes, we learned a song that wasn’t recorded.  We would hear it a few times and learn it old school… by memory and the age-old aural tradition.  Sometimes I learned songs on a gig when the clarinet player played it in a medley.

One such song is one I heard growing up in Detroit and listening to the inimitable Hachig Kazarian and the Hye-Tones.  I heard Hachig play one of these Greek-Turkish songs a few times, perhaps even with Richard Hagopian.  The melody was familiar and quite natural.  I played the song a few times with my old band in Detroit, the Johnites.  The first time we played it, John Tosoian, our clarinet player, just went into it.  I perked up and delightfully followed him.  It was very nice.  I don’t think I have played this song with any other group since I left Detroit in 1990.  I have continued to play the tune when I practice without ever knowing the name of it.  I always assumed it was a Greek song or a Greek version of a Turkish song.]

Fast forward to 2022, listening to Roza Eskenazi, the famed singer of Rembetiko, and boom, I heard the song and learned the name:  Καναρίνι μου γλυκό or My Sweet Canary.  What a great song.  She was born in Istanbul in the 1890s to a poor Jewish family.  Her birth name was Sarah Skinazi.  The family relocated to Thessaloniki.  Roza found work in a tavern owned by a Turk.  The owner heard her singing while doing chores and put her on stage.  She quickly grew into a singer and dancer, eventually to be known for her voice, the voice of the Rembetiko or Rebetiko – The Greek Blues – The Music of Life style of Greek music.  Per Roza Eskenazi: canary of the Aegean,

Eskenazi was the queen of rembetika, the Greek blues, a genre that sprang up in the Aegean’s port towns in the 1920s. She was a prodigious and prolific talent, revered for her soul and her charisma, as well as for giving a voice to the underclass: the displaced, the poor and the desperate.

Another excellent website, Rebetiko – The Greek Blues – The Music of Life, defines Rebetiko as:

Rebetiko, a subculture, appeared around The Mediterranean, usually in coastal towns, around the early 1900s, it’s a genre of music generally associated with poverty, the lower class, crime, drink, prostitution and drug addiction.

 The oud player that often played with Roza is Agapios Tomboulis.  He is on My Sweet Canary and has the taxim at the beginning of the recording.  When I first knew of him several years ago, someone told me he was Armenian.  Others have told me he was Greek.  Wikipedia, not always the most accurate reference, said with a reference that he was born Hagop Stamboulian “in 1891 in the Pera district of İstanbul to an Armenian father and a Greek mother.”  He passed away in 1965.  Half Armenian and half Greek?  I’ll take that.

Really, as student of the music, I should have known all about this song years ago.  While I have some knowledge of this music, I am not an ethnomusicologist by any means.  There are very astute PhDs and some very good, dedicated amateurs that are obsessed with the history and lore of this music, classical and folk.  Maybe I should have asked and inquired.  Then again, my ad hoc method of discovery and learning aided by the wonderland of YouTube works for me.

There was another song that I always loved.  It was another Turkish song from the era of 78s.  I believe I heard it on a record sung by Marko Melkon.  But, that recording is nowhere to be found in my repertoire or on YouTube.  I will occasionally play this song in my practice sessions and would hear what I thought was Marko singing it in my head.  Again, John Tosoian surprised me by randomly going into it few times.  I missed playing the song with a full band.  I recorded myself playing it this past August and sent it off to fellow musicians I thought would know song.  They did not.  In October, while playing at the Keghi Night in Detroit.  Hachig Kazarian was part of the large group of volunteer musicians.  I asked him about the song.  He knew the song immediately and commented that it was our mutual friend Chris’s favorite song.  He did not know the name.  During the gig, he glanced over at me, winked, and went into it.  It was a very good moment.

In the process of my stumbling onto My Sweet Canary, YouTube offered up a mix of Roza Eskenazi songs.  I just put it on while doing some grading.  In the middle of this mix, the song I played with Hachig popped up.  It is called Mes' To Vathí Skotádhi (In the Deep Darkness).  Pure Rembetiko.  Another loop closed.

Here are YouTube links to both songs.

 

 

Καναρίνι μου γλυκό (My Sweet Canary)

Mes' To Vathí Skotádhi (In the Deep Darkness)

Chidem Inch: This Winter Blockade

 

     It is a precarious time for Artsakh and Armenia. The Azeris have blocked the Lachin Corridor cutting off supplies of food, fuel and medical supplies. With winter setting in and no other power stepping in to assist us, it appears the Azeris hold the upper hand. To say it is disheartening for all Armenians to have to watch this happening barely explains how horrible and helpless we are feeling. It is difficult to read or write about it.
      I am not an expert, nor am I privy to any great insights, but there seems to be no military option for us. The Azeris have superior weaponry and numbers as was shown in the costly and devastating 2020 war. Unlike Ukraine, no one is coming to our aid with training and weapons. There was news a few months ago of an arms deal with India. I am guessing it is nowhere near the kind of support the US is providing to Ukraine.
     Nancy Pelosi did visit Armenia in mid-September. She was the highest-ranking US official to visit the Republic of Armenia. It came at a time when Azerbaijan was making incursions into Armenia, and it looked like another war was about to start. Her visit seemed to calm the tensions until just over a week ago when Azerbaijan began this blockade. France’s Macron has recently spoken on our behalf as well.
     Azerbaijan does not seem fazed by Pelosi’s visit or Macron’s words. Aliyev seems to believe that no one will come to Armenia’s aid. I shudder that he may be correct. It seems to be in no one’s interest to help us. We are small in numbers. We are not laden with natural resources, and there is nothing strategic about our location. Our immediate neighbors? Turkey and Azerbaijan are enemies. Georgia is not Armenian friendly by any means. Iran has their own issues internally and quite a large Azeri minority living there. We are in Russia’s sphere of influence, but there seems to be little hope of Russia stepping in. Putin has the war he started with Ukraine to deal with anyways. I really am not sure we can stop them, and it looks like no one is going to help us. What can we do? What can we really do? A friend of mine in Chicago posted this:

Artsakh needs you. What you can do.

• Amplify voices from Artsakh and raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis.
• Contact your representatives and demand sanctions against Azerbaijan.
• Protest, in person and online, against Azerbaijan’s attempt to ethnically cleanse Armenians from Artsakh.

     Church leaders, diasporan political parties and our lobbying groups have basically encouraged us to do the same. Another friend just started a nonprofit to raise money to purchase border monitoring equipment. Their fundraising effort is to raise like $10,000. Of course, we need to do these things. Of course, I will do these things. I just worry about how useful and effective they are. It just doesn’t feel like enough. I was feeling quite grim. Then, I read Simon Maghakyan’s article in Time, History Suggests This Winter Could Be Dangerous for Armenians. His historical perspective helped turn my bleakness to a grim resolution that we can never give up. Defending our lands and people from these enemies has to be our sole focus.
     Hopefully, in the short run, negotiations will work. In the longer run, we need to focus on defensive military strength. We don’t need any more congressional or parliamentary resolutions or recognitions of what happened in 1915. We need them to treat us a lot more like the West is currently treating Ukraine. We need money, modern weaponry and training to be able to defend ourselves from enemies that want to eliminate our presence in what remains of our ancestral homeland. If no one helps us in this regard, we must figure out how to do it ourselves. Our only salvation is in our collective strength… and an iron ladle.

First Published in The Armenian Weekly

Bomb Cyclone

 

NY Post

For four days now, the weather reports have been warning of a huge winter storm heading our way.  It is supposed to start tomorrow, Thursday December 22 and end on Friday.  It is predicted to dump anywhere from 8 to 24 inches of snow.  As the storm is coming from the northwest, it is dragging artic air frigid air along with it.

Today, the day before the storm is to hit, the high is going to be 30 degrees with a low of 9.  On Friday, when the storm has passed the high will be 0 and the low -8.  That is cold by December standards.  It sounds certain we will have a White Christmas.

Yesterday, I heard the storm referred to as a “Bomb Cyclone” on a local news weather report.  Bomb Cyclone?  I had never heard that term before.  What the heck is a Bomb Cyclone?  Cyclone makes it sound so Asian and Pacific Oceany.  A quick internet search had CNN telling me that:

Bomb cyclone is a term given to a rapidly strengthening storm that fulfills one important criterion. Generally, pressure must drop 24 millibars (a unit of pressure) within 24 hours.

 

However, that benchmark is also based on the latitude of the storm. So, the millibar requirement can change depending on where the storm forms.

Well that totally clears it up.

The term was created in 1980 by two MIT meteorologists working with a Swedish researcher.  Basically, the pressure drop intensifies the storm quickly.  The farther north the storm develops the smaller the pressure drops required.  The included the word “bomb” because these storms are quite fierce.  So basically, we are expecting a big-ass storm.  Didn’t we used to just classify all these kinds of winter storms as blizzards?

While weather forecasting has improved, there seems to be a recent history of predicting cataclysmic, cyclonic, epic, bomb-like, winter storms days in advance that turned out to be duds, big nothings.  There have been predictions of several feet of snow that resulted in a dusting or maybe a lame inch or two.  Has global warming made the forecasting less predictable?  Certainly, there is probability involved in the forecasts.  The is also the possibility that local news might just exaggerate a bit, days in advance, to draw viewership?  I know I have watched more local news in the past two days than I have all year.

I feel cheated when a winter blast that was predicted doesn’t happen.  I look forward to such storms.  There is something Zhivagoesque about the hunkering down while the snow falls silently or in a blowing rage.  There is something special about going out after the storm and surveying the pristine white blanket before cars, footprints, and grit make it lesser. 

So, I hope, come tomorrow, it is a good storm for all those reasons.  I also hope it doesn’t disrupt holiday travel too much.  We are expecting family from Boston to fly in on Christmas Eve.  We shall see.

I am writing this on the Winter Solstice which adds a bit of serendipity to this all.

Archbishop Paul (1953 – 2022)

 

Yesterday, I learned that an elementary school friend of mine, Archbishop Paul Gassios, passed away on April 24, Easter Sunday, of this year.

I believe we first met in Mrs. Allen’s kindergarten class at Robert Burns Elementary School in Detorit.  As his last name is Gassios and mine is Gavoor, whenever we lined up alphabetically, which was quite often in those days, Paul was right in front of me. 

Naturally, we got to know each other.  We were in classes together.  I admired Paul’s quiet intelligence.  He was a nice fellow.  We were on the safety patrol and were partners at the Hubbell and Lyndon intersection for one.  In our last year at Burns, 7^th Grade, I opted for a special duty on Safety Patrol: to raise and lower the flag each day.  It was a two-man detail.  So, I asked Paul if he wanted to do it.  He agreed.  It was a fun job and it was a great pleasure doing it with him.

There was a home economics teacher at Burns, for the life of me I cannot recall her name, who ran the Future Teachers Club.  She was a wee bit ahead of her time and sensed the changing tides of the various liberation movements that took root in the 1960s.  In that same year, 1965 when we were in 7^th grade, she decided to invite a few boys to join the Future Teachers Club which until then had been all girls.  She recruited the two of us, the flag detail boys, and young fellows that were likely to become teachers.  The meetings took place in the home economics classroom which we had never been in before.  While I do not remember many details of the meeting, I remember it was a good experience.  I believe that experience had some influence Paul’s calling to the ministry and mine to higher education.

I think Paul and I were also part of the glee club that year, the only year I participated.  We worked long and hard to put on a concert of songs from The Sound of Music. 

The next year we went to Cadillac Junior High which was for 8^th and 9^th grade.  It was a transitionary time there from a few perspectives.  The white flight really accelerated with the 1967 Detroit Riots.  Paul and I, were no longer in the same classes for whatever reason and we drifted apart.  I went to Cass Tech for High School and Paul went to Cooley.  We moved to Livonia in the middle of my sophomore year, and I just completely lost touch with him.

Over the passing years I would think of him now and again and wonder what became of him.  I had no way of easily finding out until… I joined Facebook.  I reconnected with many classmates from Burns and Cadillac.  Many of them went to Cooley together and never really lost touch.  In 2016, i asked if anyone of my Burns friends had any information about Paul and was directed to his Facebook page.  

I was most impressed to see he was a Bishop of the Orthodox Church in America Diocese of the Midwest.  He was based in Chicago.  We met for dinner at Greek Isles downtown on August 17, 2017.  I had arranged the dinner with our parish Priest, Father Ghevont, and my brother in-law, Jack, who was the Chairman of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic church in the US.  We had a wonderful evening.  Bishop Paul and reminisced about our days at Burns.  Father Ghevont, Jack, and Bishop Paul compared the way the Orthodox Church in America and the Armenian Apostolic Church were organized and governed.  It was a great evening and a great pleasure for me to see my old friend.

We communicated a bit after that, but never saw each other again.  We were both busy and I would say his schedule was much more hectic than mine.  I would check his Facebook page now and then, basically to see pictures of my old friend in his vestments.  I learned he was elevated to Archbishop in 2020 in the midst of the Covid pandemic. 

I saw a posting yesterday.  It was a Facebook story of another Bishop of the Othrodox Church in America in Chicago.  I naively assumed Bishop Paul had been transferred to another Diocese, so I searched his name on the site and was, sadly, led to his obituary.  I read it few times.  I learned we were both graduate students at Wayne State University at the same time.  He was working on a Masters in Social Work and I was in Engineering.  I was in Manhattan at Colgate and he was in Yonkers at St. Vladamir’s Seminary in the early 1990s.  We might have crossed paths in either of those times.  Coincidently, he was ordained on my birthday, June 25, 1994.  I read the heartfelt and touching sentiments his faithful flock left had posted and felt a surge of pride for my childhood friend.

I am sorry we were not able to spend more time together the past few years, but I am glad I did have the chance to reconnect in 2017 and see the path that he and God had chosen for him.  I will remember, Archbishop Paul Gassios of Blessed Memory, fondly.

Annals of Customer Service: The Tale of Two Plumbers

 

We have a few bathrooms in our house.  We mostly use the shower in our master bathroom the most.  A few years after we moved in, say sometime around 2012, the shower was not working properly.  The symptom was that water pressure was not strong.  We cleaned or decalcified the showerhead to no avail.  We called the plumber we normally used, let’s call them XYZ Plumbing, and they came out and diagnosed the problem as the thermo-element cartridge inside the shower faucet.  They replaced it and the problem was solved.

Fast forward ten years and we had the same problem.  We cleaned the shower head again.  It worked a little better but reverted to the same symptom shortly.  I called XYZ again.  When they came out, I explained the problem and what the solution was the last time.  They ordered the part.  It took forever because of all the supply chain issues due to Covid.  We were barely able to use the shower and moved on to another bathroom in the few weeks it took to get the part.  The same fellow from XYZ return and replaced the cartridge and we were back in business… for a week.

Then the low pressure, low water flow, symptom returned.  We called XYZ and the same technician returned and spent a couple of frustrating hours trying to diagnose the problem and cleaning some kind of goop out of the cartridge and shower head.  Again, it was good for a week and the issue returned.  I called XYZ and talked to the owner.  This fellow was the son of the founder who was running the show back when we first used XYZ.   He wanted to send out another plumber, a master plumber, with more experience, if it was OK with me.  I agreed but expressed my displeasure with the paying for any more hours of diagnosis.  He agreed to waive the visits of the second charge.

I was beginning to regret calling XYZ for this job.  I liked them for small jobs, like faucets and toilet innards and such.  My experience with them bigger jobs was not as good and this was beginning to feel like a bigger job.  Case in point, they installed new water heaters in 2009 when the old man was in charge.  It seems water heaters these days only last about ten years.  They installed the new ones in series, telling me that whoever installed them in parallel “didn’t know what the hell they were doing.”  What did I know?  After their “expert” installation, it took a lot longer to deliver hot water then the almost instantaneous hot water we were used to.  In 2019, they water heaters needed replacing again.  Given a friend’s recommendation, I tried another plumber, let’s call them MBP.  They were astonished that XYZ put our two water heaters in series and reconfigured the piping for a parallel installation.  They also put drip pans under the water heaters.  We were back to instant hot water.  I liked MBP and used them for both big and small jobs.  They were good but did not carry all the small job parts in their trucks like XYZ did.  They kept charging me their hourly rate when they went out to procure said parts.  Consequently, they charged more.  So, my policy became MBP for big jobs and XYZ for the smaller jobs.

XYZ sent their master plumber.  He was good but I found him a bit… um… well I will just say it, arrogant.  He diagnosed the problem as the anodes in the water heaters we most recently installed.  Based on the water chemistry, there are three kinds of anodes inside modern water heaters:  zinc, aluminum, and magnesium.  I believe all three are alloys of some kind.

Anodes?  What do they do?

The anode rod is made from a metal with a more active voltage and higher electrochemical potential than the metal of the tank, which is typically made from steel. This means the anode rod’s metal will give up electrons and corrode before the tougher steel metal of the tank will. As this lesser metal corrodes, electrons are distributed into the tank, creating a more favorable chemical environment that prevents the corrosion of the steel tank itself. ~ Empire State Plumbing

If you had the wrong kind of anode for the local water chemistry, the life of the water heater might be compromised.  Or as in our case, the water heater begins to generate aluminum hydroxide, the blue goop that was causing the shower low flow.  As the master plumber fellow was explaining this, I was googling the issue and found a Technical Bulletin that explained it all.  He gave me the phone number of the tech rep for the manufacturer of our water heater.  He suggested that I all the tech rep and provide the serial numbers of the water heaters.  The rep could then tell me what I kind of anodes I had and what I needed to replace them with.  I suggested that XYZ should call the tech rep, but the master plumber told me they would charge me their hourly for that and it would be cheaper if I called.  I was a bit more perturbed by XYZ’s wanted to charge for what they didn’t know.  But, as it was my money, I made the call.

As it turns out, we had zinc/aluminum anodes.  The rep said if that was generating aluminum hydroxide, we ought to replace them the magnesium ones.  OK.

Now you might think this is MBP’s fault as they installed the water heaters with the wrong kinds of anodes.  It was not.  My friend who recommended them for the installation is a general contractor.  To save me some money, he ordered the water heaters, and I paid his cost.  It was very nice, but in the end, he was as surprised as I was when I explained the whole aluminum hydroxide thing to him.

So, as I was already using XYZ plumbing, I called them back.  In the meantime, they sent me a hefty bill and, mind you, the problem was not yet resolved.  I was only dealing with the owner at this point.  I emailed him the Technical Bulletin with my notes on it.  I asked if could do this.  His response was, “Of course, we will take care of you.  I will order the parts and get back to you.”  OK then.  I paid the bill and waited.  I waited longer and then called the owner back.  He apologized for not getting back to with an explanation that involved personnel shortages etc.  He promised to get back to me.  He called a week or two later to say he had not forgotten about me.  We were into month three of this problem.  I have yet to hear back from him.

I decided to forget about him and XYZ plumbing forever.  I did however resolve to write this bloggy bit exposing their lack of customer service even though I am being nice and not using their name.

I called MBP and they got the anode and replaced them within two more weeks.  They cleaned out all our faucets though only one, the one closest to the problem shower, had a slightly diminished water flow.  Then, they had to order another new thermo-element cartridge as the one installed by XYZ was all full of aluminum hydroxide and almost impossible to clean.  That, believe it or not, took another month.  They came out again, replaced the cartridge, and we have had no problems since.

From start to finish, it took five months, three plumbers, from two different companies, and an outrageous amount of money to solve the problem. 

It has been five or six months since I last talked to the owner of XYZ.  This has to be one of my worst and most expensive customer service experience ever.  If they treat too many of their customers this way, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that they went out of business.  MBP picked up the ball and finished the job expertly.

Cry the Beloved Country

 

IMDb

It was easily forty-five to fifty years ago, that someone suggested that I read a book or two by Alan Paton.  I don’t recall the person who made the suggestion.  I am guessing it was a professor at Michigan, most likely in the  English or Philosophy Departments.  I am guessing it was my freshman writing professor, actually, a teaching assistant.  This fellow was may five years older than I was.  I was too young to fully appreciate this professor, the writing guidance he provided, and the reading suggestions he made.  I moved on to the next semester and never really had the wherewithal to remember his name.  As I said, I was too young.

Alan Paton (1903 – 1988) was a South African writer.  He was also an anti-apartheid activist.  He was a prolific writer mostly.  He wrote a lot of political and historical essays and books.  He only wrote three novels.  His most famous novels were his first and third:  Cry the Beloved Country (1948) and Too Late the Phalarope (1953).  These are the two that English professor suggested I read.  I think I chose Too Late the Phalarope for two simple reasons.  First, it was written in the year I was born.  Second, I liked the title more, because I was forced to look up the word Phalarope which is a shore bird similar to the Sandpiper. At that time, the novel was eye-opening and a tough read about a South African police officer who has a relationship with a black woman.  It was well done and eye-opening to my then nineteen year old self.  While I recall the contribution of the book to my growth and understanding of segregation and discrimination, I don’t honestly recall the details of the book.

I thought about reading Cry the Beloved Country next but chose not to.  I had other books and other topics to explore and put Cry the Beloved Country on the read it someday list.  That someday has yet to happen. 

This morning the 1995 version of Cry the Beloved Country was airing on one of the movie channels and I decided to watch it.  It starred James Earl Jones as a South African pastor in Natal and Richard Harris as a wealthy landowner.  They barely knew each other until a tragedy involving their sons brought them to a place where they could understand and appreciate each other.  I was impressed and touched by this film.  It made me wonder if I should read this book.

Alan Paton began life as a teacher after his education at the University of Natal.  In 1935, he left teaching to become the head of the Diepkloof Reformatory for African boys.  It was located near Johannesburg.  This position, which he wove into the plot of Cry the Beloved Country, shaped Paton’s career.  Because of it he became a writer and a politician/activist.

He was one of the founders of the Liberal Party of South Africa.  This party worked to eliminate apartheid.  Because of his writing and involvement in the Liberal Party, South Africa revoked his passport from 1960 – 1970.  As he passed away in 1988, he did not see the end to apartheid in 1994.

At the end of the very well-done movie, there was a scene where the camera panned the beautiful landscape of the mountains of Natal with this quote from Cry the Beloved Country:

For it is the dawn that has come, as it has come for a thousand centuries, never failing.

But when that dawn will come, of our emancipation, from the fear of bondage and the bondage of fear, why, that is a secret.  

Alan Paton - onthisday.com

 

Shooting of Electrical Substations

 

The events the past week in Moore County, North Carolina are quite troubling.

On Saturday December 3^rd at 7 pm, gunmen opened fire on two electrical substations causing enough damage to disable the substations and leaving 45,000 Duke Energy customers without power.  It took until today, December 7^th, for the equipment to be repaired or replaced.  Power to customers is being restored via a rollout process of testing and restoring service.

These were not random shooters or the uncoordinated acts of amateurs.  Per law enforcement, the attackers knew what they were doing.  They knew what to hit to knock the two substations out of commission for four days.  45,000 people were left without power causing, yet untallied, losses to businesses and households.  This includes the costs of repairs, business interruption, spoiled food, lost wages, and such.  People had no heat and folks in rural areas dependent on wells were without water.  This was way beyond just a nuisance.

This was sabotage and that is what is troubling.

Was this a test attack?  Can we expect more?  This is the reason law enforcement led by the FBI are investigating this with great vigor.  As of today, there is no news of progress in their investigations.  I am guessing there was no video surveillance.  I only say that because no footage has been shared.  Was it domestic terrorists?  Or a foreign group? I am not sure what would be more upsetting.  My guess is that it is domestic, and I think that bothers me more.  I do fear we shall see more of these kinds of attacks.

There was a day, not so long ago, in this country where people did not lock the doors to their houses.  We left our keys in our cars.  Those innocent and trusting times were not all that long ago.  It was when I was in elementary school.  With the rise of urban sprawl and poverty came a rise in crime.  In the blink of an eye, or so it seemed, everyone was locking their houses when they went out and even when they were home.  We were locking our cars.  In another blink of an eye, people in “rough” neighborhoods were putting bars on their windows and doors.

In that same innocent time, we used to walk into airports and go directly to the gates to board planes or greet friends and families as the got off their planes.  There was no security.  It was quite pleasant, very convenient, and very innocent.  The hijacking of planes ended all of that in another blink of an eye evolving to the security screening run by the TSA that we have today. 

We have electrical substations all over the place.  While they may fences and barbed wire around them, they are sitting out unprotected like the unlocked houses and cars with the keys in them from my youth.  We just saw how a concerted attack could disrupt electric service for four days to 45,000 people.  What if the attack was more widespread?  What if it was widespread enough it required more spare parts than we have in inventory?  What if such an attack was a prelude to something more nefarious?

I hope they get to the bottom of this quickly.

Where did November Go?

 

After Thanksgiving, I return to the University on Monday, November 28^th.  On the early morning drive in, I realized that November was ending in two days.  I wondered, almost out loud, “Where the heck did November go?”  I did not have a good answer.

I had a fleeting thought to blog about that wondering thought and dismissed it.  Later on same very next day, a colleague posted the graphic shown here in his Facebook Story:  “We went from November 1st to November 27th in just 5 minutes, now watch it be Christmas next week.”  Well, that was all the sign I needed to address the topic in a bloggy bit.  Clearly, I was not alone in this thought.

I have written before about the acceleration of time as one ages.  There is kind of a mathematical explanation for it. Basically, if you are n-years old, the next year 1/(n+1) of your total experience.  If you are 1 year old, the next year is ½ or 50% of your entire experience. If you are 49 years old, the next year is the 1/50 or just 2% of your entire experience.  So, I suppose psychologically, the days seem pass faster with each ensuing year even though the seconds, minute, hours, days, etc. tick off at the same rate. 

I am kind of used to this, but that is not what happened in November.  There was something else at play this November.  Seemingly, it passed faster that any other month in recent memory.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we had fully emerged from the Covid pandemic and life resumed it’s intense, at times insane, whir and hum.  Commuting, face-to-face meetings, shopping, socializing, all kind of, sort of, returned to pre-Covid levels.  Maybe November was the month where we took the biggest leap of resuming our old frenzy of activities?

Maybe it was all astrological?  Perhaps it was a certain alignment of the planets.  This one rising or that one in was in retrograde.  It could have been a comet whose orbit had somehow changed. 

It might me that the aliens so many of us believe are buzzing about our planet, used their vastly superior technology to make November zoom by faster than other months.  I cannot think of the reason they might do such a thing.  I mean how might fathom the reasoning and motives of vastly superior beings.

If I were a Republican, I might easily blame Biden and the lame press for screwing up the flow of November to make it pass before the vote counts could be questioned.  If I were a Democrat, I would be convinced that Trump and his minions were somehow manipulating things enhance his chances, somehow, of being re-elected.  I think I like the alien theory the best.

The most mundane answer might just be that only the singer and songwriter Alex Duncan IV (ADIV) and I were the only two that thought November slipped by faster than normal. We may never know.

Let’s see how December flows.