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As Iron Sharpens Iron (Two Minutes to Read)

5/19/2016

The above phrase is found in Proverbs 27:17: “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” There’s so much meaning to this proverb but I’ll cover a few points that I think are most significant. I’ll discuss the spiritual aspect of this great Bible verse in a moment but its application is very broad.

To be a great athlete it takes a coach who knows what he or she is talking about but it also takes other players to push and compete against one another to bring out the best. There’s no doubt in my mind that when new football players or basketball players join a team that it worries some of the people who are already there. They know they’ll have to compete for the various positions. If an individual doesn’t have to compete for their position more than likely they’ll never be as good as they could; it’s human nature.

This proverb is applicable to work as well. I’ve had to compete against fellow employees many times for a promotion. I like to think I’m very self-motivated but I have to admit I tried harder and I worked longer in order to get noticed. The bottom line is my co-workers made me a better employee; they sharpened me.

Based on what you’ve read so far you can see this awesome proverb truly does have broad applications but now I’m going to focus on the spiritual and most important reason the proverb was written.

There’s mutual benefit in the rubbing of two iron blades together as the edges become sharper making them more efficient in their tasks and comparably speaking the Word of God is a “double-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12), and it is with this that we are to sharpen one another. This is why it is so important to have people in our lives who will sharpen us, those who will make us more effective at what we do in life personally, professionally, and spiritually. If we aren’t challenged how can we maximize our abilities?

We have a tendency to hang around like-minded people. This is good in a lot of ways because it makes life more comfortable but if we don’t have people around us who can stretch our minds a bit then we’ll remain stagnant…we’ll remain a dull blade and what use is a dull blade? Maybe the best way to look at it is we need challenging mentors/people in our lives who are more knowledgeable about the word of God if we want to be a more effective tool for God. Shouldn’t our desire to be the best we can be for our Father?

I’ll wrap up with this and that is we need to be challenged because most people just aren’t good at pushing themselves to the level of significant growth on a personal or professional level. Like I said, it’s human nature. This means we can’t be comfortable. If you feel at peace with where you are in your life that’s great but in most cases it just means you’re in the wrong place. We need to be pushed. What I find amazing is that this proverb was written over 2,000 years ago and it is still completely applicable today.

Wells Fargo (Two Minutes to Read)

5/2/2016

Wells Fargo is an amazingly large financial institution (4th largest in U.S. –J.P. Morgan Chase is the largest), but my focus will be on its’ beginnings.

Vermont native Henry Wells and New Yorker William G. Fargo watched the California economy boom (gold rush), with keen interest in 1849 and wanted to be part of it. California lacked a lot of infrastructure including a severe lack of solid financial institutions to deal with the influx of money. By the way, the only regulation regarding being able to open a bank at that time was to have a secure safe and reasonable security…my how things have changed.

Before opening Wells Fargo, their company decided to merge with a major competitor, American Express, whose owner was John Butterfield. Both men kept trying to talk Butterfield and the company’s board of directors to invest in California while the iron was hot but they refused so Wells and Fargo decided to go out on their own in 1852 creating the Wells Fargo Company in San Francisco, California. Because they missed the ‘49er rush, they were jumping in when several large competitors already had a foothold so their start was slow but as we know they ended up outlasting their competitors creating a company that is still at the top of its game over 160 years later. I find this amazing.

So how and why did Wells Fargo get into the shipping business back in 1853? It only made sense as they were constantly running stage coaches from California to New York and back carrying mail, money, packages, and people from the bank. Since they were already going anyway, they decided to check with other businesses (even the Pony Express), to see if they too would like use of their stage coaches and a large number did so Wells Fargo transportation services was born. Increased competition, the Union Pacific Railroad, and the telegraph made this venture of Wells and Fargo last less than two years but they continued to use the wagons for deliveries between their own banks through the early 1900’s.

The greatest problem they faced was robberies as their stage coaches were constantly getting hit. This is where another amazing company comes in, that has also been around since the 1850’s and that’s the Pinkerton National Detective Agency now the Pinkerton Company (still privately held). They were hired as in route security and to investigate stage coach robberies. One of their most famous pursuits was when they were going after the Jesse James’ gang. Hiring Pinkerton ended up helping Wells Fargo immensely as Pinkerton was putting the scare into would-be robbers of stage coaches and trains.

Wells Fargo is a great example of being at the right place at the right time but they also wouldn’t have lasted this long if it weren’t for the fact they have been extremely well managed. It wasn’t always an easy ride (different U.S. financial troubles), as they were about to close their doors on several occasions but their perseverance led to one amazing organization whose success is still studied today in college campuses across America.

Blacks vs. Whites (Two Minutes to Read)

5/1/2016

The second paragraph might upset you so I apologize in advance it’s just that I need it for impact to get my point across.

As usual black leaders, especially Al Sharpton, are fanning the flames of hatred creating racial divide among certain groups. They do everything they can to take attention away from the real problems and instead blame whites for the woes of African Americans. This is what generates cash for them. They get to fly first class (sometimes private jets), and ride in limousines. If I were black this alone would make me wonder about these “civil rights” leaders’ motives.

Most of the major crimes committed are in poorer black and white neighborhoods and whites are often referred to as white trash and crackers while some blacks are called thugs and niggers (the “N” word).
Please forgive me if this word offends you; I don’t like it because it seems vulgar but I need it to get a very important point across. Blacks don’t want us to use it even though its usage is prevalent in the black community. I think if a word is off limits it’s off limits. What if we told African Americans they can’t use the words “white trash” but we could and if they did say it they could lose their jobs or at the very least be ostracized for being racist? The double standard is easy to see and it certainly doesn’t help race relations.

There are both black and white police officers patrolling African American neighborhoods and both responding to calls and shooting their weapons at times. These assaults, burglaries, murders, rapes, etc. are mostly black on black crimes and the officers are there to begin the process of justice for the African American families hurt; they’re there to help. Even though they’re doing this to the best of their abilities, they’re vilified as a group by people like Al Sharpton, Eric Holder, Jesse Jackson, Mayor de Blasio, etc. This is divisive and very dangerous rhetoric on their part and has led to the largest racial divide we’ve had since the 60’s.

Can the white community do anything to offset their spin? I don’t think so but the black community can make a positive difference; I think it will be a huge challenge though as the problem is socioeconomic. We’ve tried economically for decades spending over a trillion dollars on social programs to help these communities but things have gotten worse because nature is overwhelming nurture. When the norm is single parent households and high school dropouts, there’s very little we could do to change that.

We’ve seen time and time again where riots turn into looting. Why would they steal from their own communities? They certainly aren’t doing it because they are protesting something they’re doing it because they lack certain morals. We can’t do anything about this; it is the culture they’re growing up in.

Hardly anything in their neighborhoods is what we’d consider normal (i.e. gangs, limited people working even when jobs are available, unwed mothers, a high index of crimes etc.). There’s a lack of respect for practically everything (anti-establishment), in some of these black neighborhoods so almost everything a police officer does (black and white officers), is looked at negatively.

No amount of new training (they already have sensitivity training for African American communities), in how white officers should deal with black communities will make much of a difference. It’s less what these officers can do than what the black communities can do to prevent young boys and men from committing crimes in the first place.

Think about how different it is when you have a co-worker or friend who’s African American but is middle to upper class. They’re not the ones committing crimes. They respect authority. They typically come from two parent families with good morals, they have good educations, and they’re taught to respect others.

These are their common denominators for overcoming bad environments. These are the factors that would turn around black communities but how realistic is it when their negative foundation has been around for hundreds of years? This is why I say it won’t be done…the best we can do is not fan the flames of racism which is exactly what black leaders are doing. Creating division among African Americans and whites is a business to people like Al Sharpton it’s just that many of those struggling don’t get how they’re being taken advantage of by these so-called black leaders.

I don’t know if you feel the same way I do and I realize my outlook is negative even though I’m generally an optimist. I believe the best we can do is to treat everyone with respect regardless of demographics and let the rest play itself out. There’s nothing we can do to fix African American communities and as long as their pointing their fingers at others for their problems they’ll never get where they need to be; a sad but true statement.

The Moon

5/1/2016

My fellow knowledge seekers, I figured since we see it all the time and probably think we know everything about it, that I’d throw out some things about the moon I find interesting:

Formed 4.5 billion years ago (35 billion years after the Big Bang if you believe in it), around the same time as Earth.
The moon is about a quarter the size of Earth and is the 5th largest in our solar system.
It hasn’t been visited since 1972 as it provides no value at this point.
The tallest mountain is about half the size of Mt. Everest which is 29,000 feet.
The moon is 238,855 miles from Earth and it would take a little over two days to get there.
That spot on the moon which looks like a navel is a huge crater that is 181 miles across.
If there was no moon we’d have no tides.
There’s no noise on the moon; if you tried to talk, people would just see your lips moving. It would be kind of funny if you could speak on the moon though as the air contains a lot of helium.
There’s no atmosphere so there’s no weather (i.e. wind, precipitation, etc.).
The moon increases its distance from Earth each year by .07 centimeters.
Water cannot exist on the moon’s surface because of the solar radiation in its atmosphere so any water would immediately evaporate…needless to say colonization would be practically impossible.
Most of the Moon’s surface is made from silicon. In many parts of the world silicon is the major constituent of sand. Basically visualize the moon’s surface as a bunch of grainy sand and dust (remember the astronauts’ footprints?), plus regular and lava rocks. You probably noticed the rocks brought back from the moon all looked ugly (kind of jagged), this is because there’s no water or wind to smooth them down.
On the side of the moon that the sun is shining on, the temperature reaches 260°Fahrenheit! That is hotter than boiling. On the dark side of the moon, it gets very cold, -280° Fahrenheit.

United States Postal Service (Two Minutes to Read)

5/1/2016

I could write a book about the Postal Service but I’ll keep this as short as I can and provide the highlights that I think are most interesting.

Although semi-organized mail services have been in place since 1775, the U.S. Postal Service wasn’t formed until 1971. Over the years the postal service was truly piece-mailed (even using Wells Fargo at times), with the beginning services coming from each colony like the Maine Postal Service. Things weren’t coordinated well but mail was moving…at what pace, varied greatly.

The U.S.P.S. is an independent government agency and one of the few that were authorized through the U.S. Constitution such as the War Department (now known as the Department of Defense), and the Department of Treasury. It was one of those key areas that our forefathers knew would be instrumental in having a successful economy. By the way, Benjamin Franklin was our first Postmaster General. His primary job was to find an effective way to coordinate mail flow through the colonies.

Per WIKI, the USPS as of February 2015, had 617,254 active employees and operated 211,264 vehicles in 2014. The USPS is the operator of the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world.

A lot of people don’t know this but the U.S.P.S. hasn’t received federal income tax revenues since 1982 and instead has had to operate on its own; operating more like a regular business. Now they have had to borrow money from the government to stay afloat most of the time as they aren’t/weren’t making money. The USPS lost $5.5 billion in fiscal 2014, and its revenue was $67.8 billion.

The federal government brought in a popular businessman to turn the operation around about seven years ago but he left out of frustration because Congress wouldn’t agree with his recommendations which included closing some post offices down, reducing employee counts at some centers, and reducing the pension plan offered (not changing the pensions that were already going out though). He was truly treating the postal service like a business but politics got in his way (democrats and the Postal Union), so he bailed out and taxpayers were once again stuck with the bill.

Do you remember the Show Mayberry R.F.D. with Andy Griffith? Have you ever wondered what R.F.D. stood for? The advent of Rural Free Delivery (RFD) in the U.S. in 1896 greatly increased the volume of mail shipped. Many rural customers took advantage of inexpensive Parcel Post rates to order goods from businesses like J.C. Penny, Sears, and Woolworth’s.

Many college students from the 1910s to the 1960s used parcel post to mail home dirty laundry as doing so was less expensive than washing the clothes themselves. This was bound to have happened, after four-year-old Charlotte May Pierstorff was mailed from her parents to her grandparents in Idaho in 1914, mailing of people was prohibited. I don’t care who you are, that’s funny!

But of course all good things must end and the Federal Government no longer wanted to subsidize mail delivery through the R.F.D. which of course caused mail volume to decrease dramatically which in turn negatively affected businesses like Sears Roebuck who was doing a tremendous amount of volume through the mail.

Like I said (or wrote), I could write a book on the postal service but I hope you found this little tidbit interesting. I for one greatly respect this particular government agency. It blows my mind to think that I can put a $.49 stamp on an envelope and it can make its way to California in just a few days; seems like a good deal to me.

Submarines (Two Minutes to Read)

5/1/2016

As many of you know I was a navigator on nuclear submarines from 1981- 1985. Through the years people have asked me a variety of questions so I thought I’d write some of them down to see if it’s of interests:

How large is a submarine? The one I was on was a football field and a third (425 feet), in length and it was three stories/levels tall. The submarines now are almost two football fields in length. I realize they don’t seem that big but you only see a very small part of the sub when it’s on the surface. My submarine had 16 large nuclear missiles on board capable of wreaking extreme havoc. This did create a problem for us sailors as there weren’t any exotic ports that would allow nuclear weapons to be on their islands.
How fast can a submarine go? We generally cruised at around 12 knots (comparable to around 14 mph in a car). I’d say our top end was around 22 knots. There were Soviet submarines at the time that could do 38 knots (we can do this now), this put us at a disadvantage in some ways but the fact is it was a lot easier to hear them coming because their engines and propellers made a lot of noise so it wasn’t difficult for us to hide from them.
How many sailors were on the sub and were there any women? We had around 128 men on board; women weren’t allowed to serve at the time. They can serve now although it’s not a popular assignment for women to pursue because it’s a difficult life with very close quarters.
How long would we stay at sea? Usually we’d go out for about three months and then return; we would then turn the submarine over to another crew (we were the Gold crew the other was the Blue crew), who would take it out for three months and we’d just keep rotating.
How long would we stay submerged? The longest I spent underneath the water without surfacing was 77 days. There were some scary things going on with Russia at the time so we were told to remain hidden at all times not only from them but also from our own fleets.
What did we do when we weren’t at sea for three months? It was non-stop training. We had classes and we participated in all kinds of simulators that trained us on how to navigate up and down rivers, how to effectively shoot and run from torpedoes, and how to launch nuclear missiles. Of course the best part about being in port is that we were able to go out on the town and meet women. This is where I met my wife (Maggie), of 31 years.
How did we get rid of garbage? All garbage was put into an industrial garbage disposer which contained aluminum tubes that were around four feet tall. We’d then shoot these tubes out of the submarine. I know that sounds bad littering wise but it was the best we could do to remain hidden at sea.
How did we have enough water to drink? We made our own water through bringing ocean water through a distiller. It was a slow process and we were often rationing water which meant limited showers at times which wasn’t a pleasant experience.
Where did our air come from? We had advanced technology that would constantly recycle the air getting rid of carbon dioxide; it was known as a CO2 scrubber. The air was so clean it smelled better to me than when we surfaced the submarine and smelled “real” air. Loss of power was dangerous as the scrubber could go off line creating the need to get to the surface quickly.
Could you communicate with friends and family when you were at sea? No. When we said goodbye to everyone we couldn’t talk to them for three months. The worst part is that when we returned from sea we didn’t have anything to say to anyone because our trips were always top secret. They couldn’t know where we went or what we did…as you can imagine we weren’t the best conversationalists.
How deep did our submarine go? In most cases we operated up to 700 feet below the surface; they go much deeper now. What blew my mind is that we were underneath the water one time around 400 feet and we felt the impact of a hurricane that was above us. Basically, the submarine was rolling.
Since we were underneath the water, how could we tell when a ship was nearby? Our sonar was amazing and we could easily hear a ship or another submarine up to 20 miles away. Isn’t that amazing? We also had the ability to figure out sometimes whose submarines/ships they were. Basically every vessel has its own sound (called a signature), and if we had that particular sound in our database the sonar would match it and give us the vessel’s characteristics such as its name plus how fast and deep it could go.
If a submarine sank could we survive? When I served it was highly doubtful but not impossible. In most cases if we sank in greater than 200 feet of water (which would be the norm), we wouldn’t be able to exit the submarine and live going up to the surface; basically, our lungs would explode because of the water pressure. We did have an escape vehicle on board but it would only carry a few people so by the time it could get everyone out, the ones on board would probably die from fire, flooding, or lack of oxygen (whatever tragedy caused the sub to sink in the first place). There are some deep sea rescue vehicles but they’re not always close enough to reach a submarine in time. I do remember that tragic event where the Russian submarine went down and a deep sea rescue vehicle from another country was on site but the Soviets refused their help because they didn’t want anyone to see how their submarine was built. The men survived for several days and left notes to their loved ones before running out of oxygen and passing away. How sad.

As Iron Sharpens Iron (Two Minutes to Read)

Wells Fargo (Two Minutes to Read)

Blacks vs. Whites (Two Minutes to Read)

The Moon

United States Postal Service (Two Minutes to Read)

Submarines (Two Minutes to Read)

Author: John Mann

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