A client recently remarked that there was always a Sheraton Hotel nearby a—now did he say a Hilton? I’ll look it up and this is a first-rate example of a hobby search made possible by the efficiency of the Internet. Both companies likely have location maps on their web page. I am curious because after reading “The Sovereign State of ITT”, I know it is the type of thing that ITT would do out of spite or for the free advertising. No rivalry is mentioned in the book so I am not convinced it is anything more than possibly zoning laws. In a related topic, I’ve been meaning to read “Up the Organization”, a book by a man who hated ITT.His name was Robert Townsend, he is the dude who turned Avis into a winner back in the sixties. Remember that “We try harder” ad series? He also foresaw the hogwash generated by the American middle-management concept, and he got rid of all their trappings. He banned the mission statements, the company newsletters and the named parking spaces. Middle managers were not allowed secretaries. After my own true heart, he canned all public relations departments as in threw them out on the streets. Where they belong.
Warren Buffet went on record today to say “the US government is doing the right thing to end the recession.” Then again, he would say that, wouldn’t he? How goes the recession? The landlady was around today to remind all the shop owners not to be late on the rent. Aha, I smell a rat. Like I said to Fred, “Is this not the same landlady who used the Common Area Maintenance clause to double our rent ?” (Yes.)
You see, everybody in this plaza knows there are now cheaper rents everywhere due to foreclosures. Some of them are right across the street. My guess, or two guesses, are first, the only thing stopping people from bailing is the cost of the move. I assured Fred he would have all the help he needed. Second, the landlady stuck her neck out somewhere along the line or she would not be so damn worried about the rent all of a sudden.
I say put the screws to her. Show her the same compassion she showed us last year. She fancied herself clever making like she had no choice, but then (it would seem) used the increased revenue to plunge deeper into debt. This could mean she is danger of losing everything, not just this building. Common Area Maintenance, my eye! I have one question for that brand of con artist, “Where are you headed, and what’s with the handbasket?” And don’t give us that two wrongs don’t make a right lecture—I grew up with people employing that cliche to get away with doing the first wrong. Let them “dance in the frost”.
It was library day, and I have some more trivia. Not the kind pulled off a trivia list, the kind that takes research. “Gone With The Wind”, the movie, not the book. Starring Vivien Leigh and somebody else. Vivien Leigh, parlay-vous-a-humma-humma! Did you know there was enough Civil War footage left over from the original filming to produce two other full length movies? Both of them flopped. No Vivien. Of course, after GWTW, she kind of flopped herself.
How about some useful trivia? The renewed awareness of piracy has spawned books on missing ships. Today there are supertankers and they do indeed disappear. I wanted to know how many have gone missing. Ten? Twenty? All told, it is just over a thousand. Like, wow. The major cause appears to be storms, not piracy. Why? Because the majority of the lost ships were carrying cargo described as “high density and able to shift quickly”. That means material like iron ore. But why does it shift? Let me speculate.
What is sinking a thousand ships? Monster waves. Now that I, for one, am convinced they are far more common than expected, that explains why ships vanish. It happens not in congested sea lanes, but out in the middle of the ocean. Dead men tell no tales. My theory is the ships lacked internal baffles to stop cargo from moving about. A monster wave, one that tips the ship up high enough to surpass the cargo’s sheer angle would cause the center of gravity to rush toward one end or side of the ship. Ker-plunk.
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