Where are you from? asked the cashier at a gas station off 1-85 somewhere south of Richmond. That was a question I had not heard in years. l instantly knew that a week spent away from Northern Virginia on a construction site in Durham talking to folks who hail from Western North Carolina had corrected my manner of speaking back to that of my youth. In a sense, for the week, l was home and the comfort of the place and the people had peeled away the pretense of the adapted way of speaking that has become second nature to me after more than 30 years away from the Old North State. Surprisingly, my natural way of speaking was not the only thing from my past that I was reminded of this past week.

Trump won his job by promising to make America great again. His approach is not that hard to understand. Deep analysis is not required. At the core of his thinking is the idea that setting the right conditions in place will restore American manufacturing to the glory days of yore. He will cut taxes, drive down fossil fuel energy costs, and throw up protections at the border. All this will make producing things in America more attractive.

His approaches could incrementally increase investments in American manufacturing. On the downside, they may also make the things we buy cost more. Basic economics dictates that to be true. On balance, it is difficult to say if the net gains from more American production would offset the higher costs of goods and services. In general, not pursuing the most efficient forms of production means higher costs in the long run, which is not really good.

Putting that debate aside, here’s the real deal, if made, those incremental investments are not going to bring the jobs back. I spent over ten years in manufacturing in roles that were all about how do we grow our business by making and selling more stuff in North America. We gladly invested in businesses that could turn a profit. We gladly built plants, expanded production lines, and hired workers if the profit potential was good. We also invested a lot in automation. Continue reading →

As the rain picked up and my knees started to ache, I wondered what am I doing here? Am I changing anything? Is anyone paying attention? Why am I at the March for Science? The answer came back fast, although it was not a simple one.

Election night 2016 was a stunner. There were many good reasons not support to Donald Trump, but the one that troubled me the most was what his election meant for our efforts to address climate change. His election meant that our last line of defense against unfettered pandering to corporate wishes was gone. It frightened me and made me angry. The March for Science gave me a chance to speak up about something that matters; something that matters in a greater way than anything that I have ever cared about.

In reality, the story of why I marched begins long before November, 2016. It begins over 35 years ago in a classroom in a small high school in the mountains of North Carolina. A high school where the majority of my classmates thought they were headed to good lives working in mills, factories, and warehouses. I did not know it, but I was headed in a different direction.

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I picked up an iPhone 6 one week ago. I planned on upgrading at some point, but had to do it a bit early because my iPhone 5 died. For the couple of days between the death of my iPhone 5 and picking up my iPhone 6, I set up a flip phone. After nearly two years with a smartphone, it was hard to go back to a flip phone. It is amazing how quickly mobile technology has become integrated into our lives.

Since I was not really ready to upgrade, I started off life with my iPhone 6 in less than a positive frame of mind. Here are a few things I do not like about the 6 and a few that I do. Continue reading →