Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

One Question Poll on the economy

Your Chance To Vote On Obama's Performance on the Economy - AT&T/Yahoo Poll

VOTE HERE

Update 8/4/09:

(877,000 994,223 1,456,932 votes have been recorded.)

The percentages are not changing significantly are beginning to change.

H/T Theo Spark

Horizon Realty's self-made PR nightmare

When a customer complains about a moldy apartment to her 20 friends on Twitter, a rational response is to contact the customer and work out a solution.

Amanda Bonnen posted this on Twitter May 12:

"Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay."

The apartment had suffered a leak and in these situations mold can occur. This is a common situation and it normally handled by fixing the problem before it escalates into a dispute.

Instead of resolving the problem, Horizon Group Management LLC filed a libel lawsuit against Amanda because of her Twitter post. Horizon seems to be stuck in the 20th century mindset where grumbling customers could be squashed like a bug by legal action.

After filing the $50,000 lawsuit for libel, a company spokesperson worsened the situation by saying, "We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of organization."

This was an inept PR handing of the situation and in Internet parlance this is called an "Epic Fail". If you Google "Horizon Realty Epic Fail" you will get this result:

   Results 1 - 10 of about 5,600 for Horizon Realty epic fail. (0.23 seconds)

Instead of 20 people commenting on Horizon's lack of customer service, there are now thousands of people who will warn others about Horizon. Ouch!

Horizon Realty has had their head handed to them and seems to have damaged their company reputation severely. They are also the butt of Internet humor, "Hello, I'd like to rent a moldy apartment."

Horizon's failure to recognize the validity of a customer complaint has made them very visible to potential renters as a litigious and unresponsive landlord. Will their attractive website serve to overcome this PR gaffe? Hard to tell.

What can be learned from this?

If you hear anyone complain about your product or service, it is an opportunity to improve what you are doing and to reestablish trust on the part of the customer.

Any action other than solving the problem is completely wrong. Attempting to shoot or sue the messenger alerts all and sundry that you have something to hide.

H/T Ace of Spades

Think you could donate one of your old digital cameras to a local charity?

The wonderfully dedicated couple who run Portable Produce out of their Wildfire Pottery Shop need a working camera to replace the one that just died. If you have a digital camera that you are no longer using, consider giving it to Portable Produce.

In addition to helping a lot of other people in Floyd, you may claim a charitable deduction if you wish. Call Karen Day at 540-357-5657 for the best way to get the camera to them.

Karen Day and McCabe Coolidge are two of the most giving people I know. We in Floyd, Virginia, were fortunate when they joined our community a few years ago.

They been dedicating their lives to service in far flung countries, in the inner cities and everywhere they have lived. Their actions have brightened the lives of many others even in the few short years I have known them. In that time they have personally created Portable Produce, Wonder Gardens, Healthy Snacks, and Empty Bowls, all which help the less fortunate.

They set a splendid example of how artists/entrepreneurs can find time to help others while struggling to make a living themselves. These two are the real thing and they attract support from like-minded individuals all over Floyd who donate produce, food and time to share with those in the county who are not so fortunate.

For details on the many programs they create and support visit http://plentylocal.org/home.html

If you don't have a camera to donate, you might want to donate time or food or other forms of support. Call Karen and see what they need.

Micro-Gardening is great for your morale

It has been 37 days since my last micro-garden update and things seem to be going well. In our part of Floyd, VA, the weather has been mostly cool and rainy with a few days of bright sunshine in the past few weeks.

One end of the deck has been devoted to the micro garden and it is a green oasis of peace and quiet where we can putter around with our morning cup of coffee and the cats find it to be a cool refuge in the heat of the day.

Most of our vegetables are thriving and none were damaged by the heavy rains of the past few weeks. The potting soil recipe I borrowed from the Square Foot Gardening people has worked beautifully and we have had few weeds and almost no insect damage.

The plants have grown so much that it has been necessary to separate the containers by a foot or more to avoid crowding. As you can see, the sunflower and the sugar peas are taller than I am. We now have some home-grown vegetables on the table every day.

We have enjoyed lettuce and onion greens (in salad) for several weeks. One of our tomato plants produces a few sweet yellow grape tomatoes which are so good they never make it into the kitchen. The big tomatoes are finally ripening and we should be eating them later this week.

We have been eating the sugar peas, but they will be even better in a few days.

We planted several different kinds of beans and the first crop is almost ready for the cooking pot.

We have weeks to go before the carrots are ready and I have no idea how long it will take for the parsnips and the squash to mature, but we are enjoying the bounty of our garden and it takes very little work.
The results are not in yet for our upside-down tomatoes although Gretchen says they are beginning to put on a growth spurt and may produce tomatoes this season.

The squash are still small, but they look healthy and I have great hopes for them. We will just have to wait and see.

I plan on doubling the number of containers next year and planting some early Spring vegetables as well.
 

I don't think we are saving any money this year, but we are taking control of some of our food production, learning a lot of new skills, and are enjoying it immensely.

Our small garden gives us a greater appreciation of the problems that our neighboring farmers have to deal with.

If the economy continues on its downward trend, we'll need to sharpen our gardening skills further and be ready to grow as much food as possible.

That will entail getting a roto-tiller and stringing more electric fencing. Next years project...

Cargo Cult Science produces "Global Crises" on demand

Certain politicians and tin pot dictators have long employed the tried and true method of using crises to keep constituents from "looking behind the curtain".

The most effective method of diverting attention away from how badly things are being run is to find a target menace and make it so terrifying that good sense flies out the window. Uninformed citizens (elites &  masses alike) who get their news from TV instead of real sources blindly follow the government piper over the hill.

A competing nation can be made into a boogeyman to frighten the rubes and get their tax money, but for real control of the citizens, you need a global crisis. This is where the cargo cult scientists like James Hansen come in. They will whip up computer models that will prove whatever a politician needs.

You want a global disaster of apocalyptic proportions? Hansen and his cohorts have a hockey stick generator that will make your hair stand up. Temps are rising! Seas are rising! We're all gonna die in five years!

Unfortunately he will not reveal his source data so other scientists can duplicate his findings. Real science requires that experiments are repeatable.

The UN knows a good thing when they see it so they sponsor the IPCC, their Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to push an agenda that will increase UN influence. After all, the Oil for Food scam is dead, so they need a new reason to exist.

Many scientists in the IPCC disagreed with the slanted reports put out by the UN and they set up the International Conference on Climate Change which counters the junk science coming out of the IPCC. This series of conferences is sponsored by a number of organizations. If you have any curiosity about what is actually happening in terms of climate change, you might start by reading the most recent proceedings.

Richard Feynman's 1974 Commencement address at CalTech provides the definitive definition of Cargo Cult Science. In it he points out the dishonesty of falsely promoting one's research to secure funding.

Only a few years ago, James Hansen was promoting Global Cooling. Now he has switched to a more remunerative prediction. Computer models can "prove" almost anything.

I wonder what the next "global crisis" is in the works?

Maybe they will try to prove water vapor and CO2 are pollutants... Oh, right.

Any more stimulus and we will be using these...

This is the low-emission vehicle that will replace the Harleys and other vehicles we used to enjoy.

The much-vaunted Stimulus Bill has managed to give money to every crackpot alternative energy scheme, while ignoring tested alternative energy like nuclear and hydro power. One might almost think that Obama and friends were more interested in "control" than in creating a robust economy.

The Stimulus and Cap and Tax bills were crafted by lobbyists and they did an excellent job of assuring that Obama's friends were paid off first. At the same time, enough crumbs were sprinkled onto worthy projects that many people felt that the stimulus was a good move.

Unfortunately our national debt has ballooned beyond all expectations and we will not get any concrete information until August.

The administration's annual midsummer budget update, usually scheduled for mid-July, has been put off until the middle of next month. It is expected to show higher deficits and unemployment and slower growth than projected in Obama's February budget and May update.

Our elected predators are busy taking us down the road to Socialism. Taxpayer money is being used to entice individuals, organizations and even states to get on the gravy train and support a government that is nationalizing businesses like any third world dictatorship.

The weak-minded are seduced by the prospects of easy money and it causes them to change from "What can I do to improve my situation in life" to "What do I have to do to continue getting government money".

Since productive businesses and individuals are being forced to support unproductive businesses and individuals through discriminatory taxes, it is only a matter of time before the bigger and more prosperous companies and individuals will vote with their feet and leave the country.

The rest of us will learn to live with our down-sized third world economy unless we insist on our Constitutional rights and elect representatives who actually represent us.

We still have a choice. We had better learn to communicate our needs to our elected officials more effectively.

H/T to Rico at  Theo Spark for the timely image.

Global Warming and Jackalopes

I am totally willing to believe that Global Warming is harmful to Jackalopes, but I believe this will not alter history in the slightest degree.

Jackalopes are amusing and imaginary creations.

Global Warming is also imaginary, but it is not amusing.

By next year, the AGW people will be claiming that the drop in global temperatures is due to their efforts.

They will have conveniently forgotten that temperatures have been falling for 8 years.

Activists take advantage of sincere environmentalists

It certainly appears that concerned environmentalists are being misled by activists using cargo cult science.

We have personally been supporting conservation efforts for many years and most of our friends support efforts to preserve wetlands and stop pollution of our waterways. Lately, however, there are too many attempts to hijack sincere environmental efforts and divert money and energy to support political scams.

If a political action group tried to raise taxes for a government program "Save the Jackalopes", most environmentalists would spot the scam immediately.

On the other hand, if politicians create a monstrous program to reduce Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere by calling it a "pollutant", some environmentalists are taken in. This is a scam that is as devious as any Nigerian email.

The "Carbon Dioxide as Pollutant" scam by the Global Warming Climate Change folks is being rebranded as Project 350 which is a stellar example of reliance on cargo cult science.

Publicity-seeking figures criss-cross the country spreading the word that the planet has reached a "tipping point" and a massive joining of hands is needed. Expert PR firms have crafted a campaign that will ease the adoption of legislation that will steer your tax money into eager government hands and private pockets.

If you go to the Project 350 site, you will see this and other falsehoods:

So, what is global warming and what's the problem anyway?

The science is clear: global warming is happening faster than ever and humans are responsible. Global warming is caused by releasing what are called greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The first inconvenient truth is that global temperatures have been falling for 8 years.

The second inconvenient truth is that Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere is driven by temperature and CO2 peaks occur years AFTER global temperature rises.

As a carbon-based lifeform, I resent efforts by politicians to characterize Carbon Dioxide as a pollutant. It is essential to life and my plants love it. If CO2 increases, plant growth increases to take advantage of it.

Richard Feynman defined Cargo Cult Science where the "scientist" puts on a white coat but omits to do real experiments, theory testing & general scientific method.

We are seeing a lot of that these days...

Beauty is where you find it

I am getting in some early morning blogging 300 ft above the surf at Myrtle Beach, SC.

The sound of the surf and the twittering of birds can still be heard over the roar of the air conditioners on the buildings below. The sun has yet to peep above the horizon, but a few hardy souls are having an early swim.

I am in a good vantage point to observe the interface of mankind and nature on this July morning. Looking east along the shoreline, I see the green of semi-rural South Carolina safely separated from the ocean by a massive wall of condominiums and hotels.

It is like seeing a beautiful country girl after she has been worked over by a Hollywood makeup expert. The results are certainly showy, but they are no longer natural. On the other hand when one is playing to a major audience as we see here, one needs to appear larger than life and perform accordingly.

Scott Perry is teaching at the Jacksonville Center

Scott Perry's Pickin' Porch has moved to Studio 125 at the Jacksonville Center for the Arts in Floyd VA. He has made the transformation from a music store that gave music lessons to a music studio that sells instruments.

He started teaching Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo, and Ukulele lessons two years ago with about 25 students.  He now teaches almost 50 students a week. When I visited him yesterday, he was teaching Alexandra Cox to play Clair de Lune.

Scott's lessons enliven the Center, staff members provide sales support when Scott is out of the studio, and Scott's students are exposed to the many wonders and services available at the Center. It looks like a win-win situation to me.

A few weeks ago his students were performing Blues and Country music on the streets of Floyd. After they played a couple of tunes, other musicians on the street began to join in. They were one of many groups jamming on the street in front of the Friday Night Jamboree.

Scott has a web site where he writes about acoustic blues and roots music and musicians. Take time to visit http://ohpapamusings.blogspot.com. Here is one of his articles where he shares his feelings about teaching music:

Scott performs traditional and original acoustic blues and roots music, and conducts educational workshops on blues music. He also has his own promotion company and record label Oh Papa Music.

He and his wife Lisa live on a 40 acre farm in Floyd County, VA, with their two sons.