KNOWLEDGE PICKER'S ARCHIVE

Pick 24 - Political Parties

Today I am wondering if there is any hidden value in our current two-party political system. Most of my friends contend that neither party represents their interests anymore. Even worse, the differences between the platforms of the two parties is determined by the special interests of the large corporations who fund political campaigns. They say: follow the money trail--if you can find it--and it is easy to understand why Party A supports a national health insurance plan while Party B totally opposes it. Or understand why Party B opposes any environmental regulations on gas, oil, and coal extraction under the guise of cheap energy and more jobs.

But this blog is not a forum for political discussion. I want to point out the value of limiting our selection to two major camps even tough third-party candidates are free to enter the race and get on the ballot if they qualify. One hidden value of TWO is that it is natural. Think of all the expressions that support this:

"It takes two to Tango."
"Two is company--three is a crowd."
"Three strikes and you're out! (never two strikes )"
Even the US Treasury prints $2 bills but not $3 bills.
Every SW developer knows there are only two expressions that count "0" and "1"
Then there is the old "one, two, punch" If you got to "three" it was the other guy's punch knocking you out.
In the British Parliamentary system, elected Representatives sit on one side of the chamber if their party has the majority and on the other side if not. While relegated to the minority side, one is expected to oppose everything the ruling side does or wants to do. I think the objective is to proclaim "I told you so!" every time the majority makes a blunder that could have been averted if they had listened to "the loyal opposition" After enough "I told you so's" the opposition can call for a vote of "no confidence" in the ruling party. If enough voters agree, then a general election is held. If the string of blunders was so bad, the voters might elevate the loyal opposition into the ruling majority and they would switch sides with the losers. It is all fun to watch and costs the public little or nothing because it is part of the established political process and is telecast without charge to the political candidates. This does not preclude special interest groups or influence peddlers from large corporations. Unlike America, the British had the foresight to give these high-rollers a place of their own in Government. Its is no secret that the House of Lords represents big money, large corporations, and even the will of the Monarchy. That is what the Lords have been appointed to do. And that leaves the elected Representatives free to exercise their primary responsibility to the Crown: looking after the needs of the common people. After all, if there are no common people, then there is no need for a Monarch.
So the hidden value of our two-party system might be it's throwback to our British roots. Perhaps if the Democratic Party was to declare openly that it represents only those people who depend on a paycheck for their livelihood. And if the Republican Party declared openly that it represents only corporate, big money constituents--like those named in the Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court--then the hidden value of our two-party system could be reasserted and we the people could fill the Senate with Republicans and the House with Democrats. It would not be long before a "loyal opposition" evolved in both chambers and that would make C-span the most watched cable network. Moreover, the politicians would not need to raise millions of dollars for re-election campaigns. They would just have to accumulate enough "I told you so's" to win control of their chamber.

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Pick 23 - Coincidences

Today is Sunday. I state this in advance because the hidden value I personally encountered today may sound like a testimonial and I want to assure you that I am not trying to impart spiritual wisdom in this blog. The fact that I chose to write on this today is purely coincidental. And it is the hidden value in the coincidences of our life that I want to address.

My whole life has been a series of coincidences. For most of my youth I gave them no thought. They just occurred. I shrugged and moved on. In middle age, I may have paid closer attention because coincidental events began to hold more meaning. For example, I made a major career change at the age of 35. Today such changes are all too common. But in that era few sane people did that--especially when they were well-established in their career paths and had a growing family to support. Looking back on it now I realize that what I thought was a coincidence may have been the conscious work of some Higher Power.

I did not have any intention of changing careers at that time. Oh yes...like most restless 30-somethings I dreamed of bigger and better things. However, I never projected those dreams into any action. One day out of the blue I found myself taking my brother-in-law around to different business sites in our area. He had been unemployed for nearly two years thanks to a consolidation of his employer with another company. Although he was a specialist in the work he did, he did not have the seniority required to hold onto his job and his counterpart in the other company replaced him. There were no equivalent jobs where he lived which is why he was unable to find work with an income capable of supporting his family. So we spent a Tuesday in March driving from company to company inquiring about potential openings in his specialty. Rather than just sit in the car and wait for him, I decided to engage in my own fantasy about changing careers. At one Blue Chip company, the HR people took the time to interview both of us and explain in detail how our skills matched their current needs. It was like a personal job fair.
In my case they picked up on my background in teaching and my love of writing. That was the first time I heard the term "technical writer" along with the encouragement that a new military contract had just been awarded that would create job openings for many technical writers. My brother-in-law was also encouraged. They expected immediate openings in his field.

So you may be wondering where the coincidence is here because most people get jobs this way. Except in our case, the next business office we visited happened to be the new headquarters for the start-up project. They had just moved in the furniture that day. Since they planned to start hiring immediately the HR person there asked us if "they had sent us over from the main building" Not realizing that this was the very military program or even the same company we had just heard about, we nodded an affirmative. My brother-in-law was hired on the spot and I was given a tentative invite because technical writers would not be required for a few months. I interviewed with the head of the new Technical Support department in late May and started my 28 year career there in July. For me it was like a fantasy come true. There were days when I could not wait to get to work.

Similar coincidences occurred in my 50's and 60's but by then I was ready to admit to myself that there are no coincidences in life. There is only hidden value that can be ignored or explored. If I chose to explore them, I realize that they are not the result of random chaos but are more like signposts showing the way. I don't have to go that way. But if I do, I am now sure that the place they guide me to will be the right place for me.

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Pick 22 - Friends

Everyone has friends and acquaintances. That is an essential part of human nature. Social media works because of this. Otherwise, why would so many of us spend so much time on-line following the Facebook and Twitter posts from friends and even celebrities who are total strangers to us. No hidden value there. But a closer look at the people I have friended over the years--some before the Internet age--reveals a hidden value in some of them. My best friend from childhood is like that. From grade 7 to high school graduation we did everything together. This included good pursuits like prepping each other for final exams and some mischief I won't disclose here. (My kids may be reading this.) When we each went away to different colleges then different career tracks, years went by with no contact except for a few letter exchanges. But when we both decided to attend our 10th high school reunion, we connected immediately. It was like the playbook of our lives had been Paused for a few seconds and then the Play button was hit. Neither of us had changed our political views. He was always Liberal and I was Conservative both in life and at the voting booth. We were in high school when JFK became President and we spent hours arguing about social vs. responsibility. We picked up the same discussion at our recent get-together. "Same tree--different monkeys" is the way he summed up the current political battles. I had to agree. Not with the assessment but with him. Even though he is actually a year younger, his Irish-German heritage makes it extremely difficult for him to concede any argument with me. That may very well be the hidden value in our friendship. The special connection we had in childhood is still there and ready to reactivate at the press of a button.

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Pick 21 - Search Engines

As a professional writer, I must spend a few hours each day doing on-line research. Although I sometimes find this tedious, I take comfort in knowing that the depth and scope of research I can do in minutes using tools like Google would have taken me weeks back in the days when the printed page was the only way to get information. But the hidden value I want to share today lies in the reach we gain by having a simple Internet connection and a Browser. Prior to the Internet, I had only one reliable source of information: the nearest library. It may have been the school library, a public library, or a professional library maintained by my employer. On rare occasions when the need for special information justified the expense, I could subscribe to a research service that would locate information in a distant or foreign library, photocopy the pages and mail them to me. This was an expensive process and still could take a few days. The FAX machine made this process faster but no less expensive. Today, as I am writing this blog, I can enter a keyword or phrase in my Google search tool and within the blink of an eye, have a plethora of leads to the information I want. Of course, it takes some skill to find the right stuff but, for me, that is more fun than having to read hundreds of pages in books to get to the pay dirt. And that is the hidden value for me.

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Pick 20 -A Smile

Today I found hidden value in a simple smile. No it was not the smile as in "smile you were just caught on camera going through a red light" It was not even a human smile. I was walking in the local park when I was approached by a furry dog sans human owner. This dog approached me very carefully as if she knew she was not supposed to be there alone. She had a collar but no tag or other ID. Perhaps she was an illegal dog who had wondered across some imaginary border without detection. At any rate she smiled as she approached me. If you are a dog owner you know what I mean. If not, you will have to take my word for it. She smiled in that universal way we all manage to express "hello!" when we don't speak the language. Babies do it. Apes do it. And I am telling you here that dogs do it too. This is the hidden value I share today. In some universal way a smile conveys kind thoughts, brings good karma, and probably promotes a healthy outlook on life. So please smile when you read this. Oh! and just to reassure you, I did not turn in the smiling stray dog. We just exchanged smiles and each of us continued along our way.

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Pick 19 - Cataracts

Next week I have an appointment with my Ophthalmologist. Many people my age see their Ophthalmologist because they have developed cataracts but that is not my situation. I was fortunate enough to develop cataracts in both eyes when I was 50 something. I say fortunate because my father was 60 something when he had his cataract surgery. Unlike many of his older contemporaries, he was able to take advantage of a new surgery process developed in 1960 by Svyatoslav Fyodorov who performed the first intraocular lens replacement operation. The key word in this operation is replacement. Before Fyodorov, the lens was just cut out forcing the patient to wear thick lenses or be declared legally blind. Even with the special glasses, driving a car was out of the question and reading the daily newspaper was a struggle. Lens replacement was not just an aid for cataract victims. It was a cure. My father claimed that with his lens implants he could actually see better than he had most of his life. Even though the operation was considered risky and not fully covered by Health Insurance in those days, my father said he would not hesitate to have the operation again if needed. He encouraged all of his friends to consider it too although at that time most Ophthalmologists were still performing the older surgery because they had not been trained in the new procedure. Like him, they would have to travel a good distance from home to get it done. Those who listened to him were never disappointed with the results. Neither was I.

For me there was also hidden value that I discovered almost by accident thanks to my Optometrist. I had worn glasses for near-sightedness since 7th grade. At the time I developed a cataract in my left eye I was a regular patient of an Optometrist attached to a Discount Eye Care store at the local mall. He would give me the basic test for Glaucoma then determine if I needed any change to my prescription using the time-honored method of changing movable lenses while asking me if each change made my vision better or worse. If a change were in order, he wrote a prescription and I went over the the Eye Care Store and got new glasses. Simple as that. But this one time none of the lenses he tried improved my vision. That triggered a closer look into my eye with a special instrument. The result was a referral to an Ophthalmologist. The first time in my life that happened. It was a cataract. Within a few weeks I was prepped for surgery and left with the latest, much improved replacement lens. A few years later I had my right eye done. Now my Optometrist informed me that I had 20/20 vision but that, unlike my natural lenses, these were fixed at one setting like an old fashioned Box Camera. He could have continued giving me prescriptions for reading glasses but soft contact lens were coming on the scene and he had become an expert helping his patients learn to use them. It was then he suggested something that, in my mind, was both crazy yet laden with hidden value. He called it monovision. Since I had 20/20 vision in both eyes, if he corrected one eye for close vision using a contact lens, I would be able to read and drive without glasses. It worked! For the past 20 years I had what amounted to near perfect vision. No glasses to fog up. No reading glasses to lose. Initially I had to soak my lens every night. Now with extended wear lenses I simply put in a new lens every couple of weeks.

This hidden value was driven home to me a few weeks ago when I learned that a film was growing over my implanted lens. Before the advent of lazier surgery, my Ophthalmologist would have had to replace the old lens. Now all he has to do is zap the film with the lazier--a five minute procedure--and I will be able to lose my reading glasses again. I can't wait.

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Pick 18 - Medicare Card

I got this little card a few years ago and it has been in my wallet ever since. I really did not want to get this card. I had no choice. It was mandated and that brought back memories of another mandated card I got when I was much younger. I had just turned 18 and was told to report to the local Selective Service office in my town to "register for the draft" The elder gentleman I met there was very reassuring and the procedure was painless. He asked a few questions, gave me some documents to sign and in short order I was "registered" It did not mean much to me until a few years later when America drifted into the Viet Nam War. Then it became a constant reminder of how my country viewed young men like me. That card had no hidden value. The only value it later attained came when our leaders realized that having a large pool of young men ready to be pressed into military service was not an open invitation to send us into action just because we were available and generally ready to serve our country. But that is another story and is not suited to this blog. I want to focus on the other mandated card...my Medicare Card.

In 1965, Congress created Medicare under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide health insurance to people age 65 and older, regardless of income or medical history. Before Medicare's creation, only half of older adults had health insurance, with coverage either unavailable or unaffordable to the other half. Older adults had half as much income as younger people and paid nearly three times as much for health insurance. Medicare also spurred the integration of thousands of waiting rooms, hospital floors, and physician practices by making payments to health care providers conditional on desegregation.

In 1972, Congress expanded Medicare eligibility to younger people who have permanent disabilities and receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments and those who have end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

Congress further expanded Medicare in 2001 to cover younger people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease).
Initially Medicare consisted exclusively of Part A, which covers hospital and other inpatient services, and Part B, which covers outpatient care, physician visits, and other “medically necessary services.” Congress then added Medicare Part C (originally called Medicare+Choice, then later changed to Medicare Advantage), which allows enrollees to receive their Medicare benefits through a private plan, under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, while Medicare Part D was created under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003.

My Medicare card has abundant hidden value. I am not talking about the health care benefits. With my Medicare Card in hand I can purchase train tickets and bus tokens at a substantial discount in most cities that have a public transportation system. This card can also be used to obtain those Senior Discounts at movie theaters. restaurants, theme parks, and just about any business that caters to seniors.So although I hate to admit these days that I am "well qualified" to have this mandated card, I must admit that age has its privileges.

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Pick 17 - Hall of Fame

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is packed with hidden value. I spent a half day yesterday taking in the various displays and got back home too late to file this report. So today I am going to double up by relating the two most important hidden values I uncovered while I was there:

First, I found it surprising how many visitors this modest museum attracts during these financially challenged times. Adult admission is $19.50 unless you are an AAA Member [$17.50]; 65+ or Member of a Veterans Organization [$12]; or Active and Retired Military [Free]. The $19.50 may seem expensive to lukewarm fans of the game, but avid followers will pay that and more for a standing room only ticket to a high profile MLB game.

I am from the former group but now that I understand the hidden value lurking within the walls of this museum, I not only would pay the full price to return again this Summer, but I would drive the 460 mile round trip from my house to do so. Why? Because I discovered that unlike other major league sports, baseball both reflects and projects the hidden value within the spirit of America. While American politics often turn sarcastic and, at times, even fatalistic; Baseball is like politics without sarcasm and fatalism. Players contend against other players; teams contend against other teams; and like our two political parties, the American League contends against the National League. But unlike the contention between our two political parties where money talks and nobody walks...it takes the right mix of talent, skill, and luck to win the game. And instead of turning to a Supreme group that has no skin in the game to decide close calls, an Umpire's call is respected based on his track record of generally good calls. Both he and his organization have skin in the game. And that is only one hidden value I uncovered at the Baseball Hall of Fame. I plan to uncover more hidden values of baseball as we get closer to the General Election err...I mean the World Series.

The secondary value I found lie hidden in the village of Cooperstown, where the museum is located. For the baseball fans who visit the Hall of Fame there is likely little interest in the origins of this quaint little town beyond the many fine eateries located near the museum. However, I found the town to be just as interesting as the museum for pickers of hidden value.

Here's just a little wiki insight: During the early 1780s town founder William Cooper became a storekeeper in Burlington, New Jersey, and by the end of the decade he was a successful land speculator and wealthy frontier developer in what is now Otsego County, New York. Soon after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, he acquired a tract of land several thousand acres in extent within the borders of New York state and lying along the head waters of the Susquehanna River. He founded the Village of Otsego at the foot of Otsego Lake in 1786, and moved his family there, arriving on 10 November 1790. After Cooper's death, the village was renamed Cooperstown in his honor. William Cooper was the father of writer James Fenimore Cooper, who apparently used his father as the pattern for the Judge Marmaduke Temple character in his book The Pioneers. The story begins with an argument between the Judge and Leatherstocking over who killed a buck, and as Cooper reviews many of the changes to New York's Lake Otsego, questions of environmental stewardship, conservation, and use prevail. So readers are left to ponder how many 18th Century values are still dormant in politics of the 21st Century.

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Pick 16 - The Icebox

My refrigerator makes its own ice cubes. No it does not spit them out into your glass like the beverage dispensers at most fast food restaurants. I still have to open the freezer door and transfer the cubes of frozen water from the collection container into my glass. But that is the extent of effort required. No trays to fill with tap water. No waiting for the water to freeze solid. Just open the door and scoop out the ready-made ice cubes.

To anyone under the age of 45, even this manual effort may seem a bit old fashioned and the thought of handling ice might even send a chill down their spine. However, I am old enough to recall my parents receiving large blocks of ice delivered weekly to their icebox by a person they called the Iceman. In those days some people had the new GE refrigerators that not only transformed trays of water into ice cubes, but they also kept meat and milk cold enough to last for days--even in the Summer.

However, the average GE unit cost more than a month's wages in those days and even those who could afford to buy one worried about paying the monthly electric bill that came with ownership. So most people bought meats, milk and produce every few days from a local Butcher shop, Grocery store, or from Dairy farms that delivered milk and eggs to your doorstep. These items would have to be consumed within a day unless they were stored in the icebox. It had to have enough ice to maintain 32-degrees Fahrenheit. And I recall my parents warning me not to open the icebox unless I had permission and when I did open it: "Get in. Get what you want and close the door as fast as possible so the warm air won't melt the ice" I guess even modern refrigerators that dispense ice have the same problem when the power goes off.

And that is the hidden value of that pile of pre-made ice cubes in my refrigerator. If the power goes out like it has in many areas this past week, I know that food stored in my refrigerator could last a littler longer if I do not open the door unless I am starving. That is the way it was back in the day. And that is still the way it is today.

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Pick 15 - Heat Pump

The promotional flyer arrived in the mail a year after my new heat pump was installed. It boldly proclaimed:

E-power Peak Saver is a new voluntary program for 2011 that works to reduce peak electricity use during the high demand summer months by cycling residential and commercial central air conditioners/heat pumps throughout the PPL Electric Utilities territory. As a participant, you help maintain
electricity reliability throughout our area and keep electricity prices lower over time.

I was not looking for hidden value at the time. I just wanted to get out from under the heating oil situation I encountered that winter. It had two parts. First, because I had not signed a pre-set price agreement with my oil delivery company for that season, I was charged the highest price of the season for my Spring fill up. This, despite the fact that the spot price for heating oil had gone below the pre-set price they wanted. Second, during the annual servicing of my oil furnace, I was informed that the 30-year old oil tank in my basement was showing signs of degradation and could start leaking in the near future. I foolishly had built the tank into an enclosure when I constructed the family room in my basement. Removal and replacement of the tank would be a major and costly project. But the process for cleaning up a heating oil spill is regulated by the EPA and even more difficult and costly. I also learned that my Homeowners Policy had no coverage for leaking oil tanks unless it was caused by an earthquake, tornado, or hurricane. So in a spirit of American exceptionalism, and against the tide of family opinion, I decided to replace my 7-year old oil furnace and central air system with a quiet and energy efficient heat pump. It not only qualified for a state and federal tax rebate but promised to pay for itself in 7 years based on projected heating oil and electricity costs over that period. Since the installation was to be done by the same company that delivered my heating oil they agreed to remove the oil tank at no cost. Business was slow for them so the sale and installation of anything was a good thing. It hit the tipping point in my mind and I signed on the dotted line. The value was self-evident.

To my amazement, everything went better than expected. The tank removal was done on schedule as promised and mid-winter my heating source was transformed from oil to electricity. I held my breath when the next electric bill arrived in the mail. The period covered had been record cold and qualified as a worst case scenario for the Pump. When I opened the bill I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Competitive electric rates along with a frugal temp setting of 65-degrees had netted netted us a cost savings compared to our oil heating system.

But back to the hidden value of the E-power Peak Saver program. I learned today that cycling the compressor in economy mode while continuously circulating the air in my house can maintain the temperature I set at a lower cost than allowing the compressor and fan to operate in tandem. This seems counter intuitive because the fan runs the entire time. Only the compressor is cycled. But it works! I I would not have known that if I had not signed on for this unique program. God bless American ingenuity.

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Pick 14 - Facts

In keeping with the celebration of this Independence Day 2012, my Congressional Representative sent me this e-mail:

On July 4th 1776, right here in Philadelphia, our nation's forefathers put ink quill to parchment and signed the Declaration of Independence.

For 236 years this document has served as a living testament to the rights, the beliefs, and the values of our nation. It has guided us through times of war and of times of prosperity, and now today it is more important than ever.

As a Member of Congress, and as an American, I am often humbled by the wisdom our forefathers displayed in leaving us such an important legacy.

In honor of America, please join with me to take a moment to read the Declaration of Independence.

Just the nuance of this message assured me there was hidden value to be found in a careful reading of this profound document. And sure enough there it was. Not in the eloquent Introduction. Not in the oft quoted assertion "...that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The hidden value in this 236 year old document lies in this lead into the grievances which impelled them toward separation "... let Facts be submitted to a candid world." It tells me that even 236 years ago, facts--not feelings, were the basis of decisions affecting the common good. And among those statements of Fact that contributed to the dissatisfaction with the tyranny of King George III, these two have value even today:
--He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
--He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

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Pick 13 - Dollar Tree

On this the Eve of Independence Day, I am looking for hidden value in the American Flag. Since I had to retire my old tattered flag, I purchased a new one today. I now live on a fixed income so it is nothing fancy or expensive, nor does it have any history like having been flown over the Capital Building for an hour. It is just a standard, store bought, 12 inch by 18 inch "United States Flag" It is not made of cotton but apparently nylon and some other fibers. The attached tag does not tell me. But that is not the hidden value I am seeking.

As I inspected the tag I found that this flag is "Made in China" and "Imported by Greenbrier International Inc. of 500 Volvo Parkway, Chesapeake, VA 13320". That message also appears in French and my guess is that these same flags are also sold to our Canadian friends. I decided to check out the heritage of Greenbriar International and discovered that it is an entity of Dollar Tree Inc 500 Volvo Parkway, Chesapeake, VA.

While I balked at purchasing an American Flag that was made in China, I learned from the Dollar Tree website that its origins go back to 1953 when K.R Perry opened the first Ben Franklin variety store in Norfolk, VA. When he expanded, he changed the name to K&K 5&10 cents store. Back in those days, you could actually buy useful products Made in USA for pocket change. Today, the Dollar Tree corporation is global, traded on NASDAQ as "DLTR" and recently declared a 2 for 1 stock split. It employees a lot of Americans at a time when the flex hours and modest benefits it offers employees make the difference needed to sustain themselves in these dire times. Ben Franklin would definitely approve of their business model and in the context of the new normal might conclude: "A dollar saved is a dollar earned."

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Pick 12 - Behind His Eyes

You have to look directly into his eyes to get his attention. This is almost a ritual. It is like having to check in with the receptionist at the Doctor's Office. The Doctor may be in but not for you...at least not at this moment. So I have learned to greet my grandson by first looking him directly in the eye. It is not that he does not want to greet me. He is preoccupied, thinking of things I may never see. Envisioning worlds I may never explore with him. But always the response I get from those eyes is loving and filled with joy. Then I verbalize my greeting with a clear and direct "Hi Gabe" When he is able to pull his concentration away from whatever had attracted his attention, he will respond to my cue with a monotone "Hi Pop-Pop" Without further prompting, that is as far as we get in our conversation. But I can accept that with serenity because I know there is a mountain of hidden value behind his deep blue eyes. One day we will climb that mountain together.

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Pick 11 - Thermometer

It is an old fashioned analog thermometer that I bought at the Dollar Store recently. It stands about a foot tall. Like any other thermometer mine has two important elements: the temperature sensor tied to some physical change that occurs with temperature, plus some means of converting this physical change into a numerical value. Mine has a sealed glass tube containing red alcohol. It has an analog scale incremented in Fahrenheit degree degradations embossed in the metal track holding the glass tube. I mounted it in my back yard near the kitchen window so I could see the temperature without going outside.

At the time I am writing this my thermometer shows 98 degrees Fahrenheit. I do not have to venture outside to know this is code red hot by any human standard. So in my search for hidden value in this instrument I thought I struck out. Its value was quite obvious and immediate. But then I began to wonder how this simple Dollar Store device could so accurately predict how my body would react to the temperature. It knows that anything in the upper 60's and 70's is comfortable but extremes above or below that range are uncomfortable to most humans. I also recall having to replace my old refrigerator when the Appliance Service Representative told me it could not maintain a temperature of 32 degrees or less. Seems bacteria and other nasty stuff cannot tolerate temperature ranges below 32 degrees. I can empathize with them.

But none of this knowledge got me to the value I suspected was hidden in this simple device. I did know that German instrument maker Gabriel Fahrenheit made the first reliable alcohol thermometers in 1714. That is why this temperature scale he created is named after him. So I surfed the Web further and learned that the human reaction to hot and cold ranges on the Fahrenheit scale is not coincidental.

The Danish astronomer Rømer (1644–1710) is assumed to be the first to build reproducible thermometers. In 1702 he proposed using two fixed points. The lower fixed point, corresponding to the temperature of an artificial mixture of salt, water, and ice, was assigned the value 0 °, while the steam point was the upper fixed point and marked as 60 °. The resulting scale was divided into equal increments of volume, numbered from 8 to 59. The Rømer scale placed the melting point of ice at 7.5 °(changed later to 8 °). Because Rømer seldom used the upper part of the scale for his meteorological observations, he changed its upper reference temperature to that of blood heat, labeling it 22.5 ° Rømer’s scale is important because it became the basis of the one proposed by Fahrenheit.

Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit was born in Danzig but lived most of his life in Holland. In 1708 he visited Rømer and borrowed from him the idea of calibrating thermometers using the melting point of ice and the heat of blood [body temperature] as fixed points. The original thermometers of Fahrenheit used alcohol as the thermometric fluid, but later he switched to mercury. At the beginning Fahrenheit used the scale of Rømer, except that he added four more divisions to each degree. Later on, he decided that the values of the fixed points in the Rømer scale were inconvenient and awkward, and he multiplied them by four to give 30 ° for the normal ice point and 90 ° for body temperature. Later, he decided that 96 ° would be a more suitable body temperature because it would be divisible by 12 (and by 32). Soon afterwards, Fahrenheit developed a thermometer to measure boiling points at atmospheric pressure and found the boiling point of water to be 212 °. He, therefore, modified his scale to include the boiling point of water as the upper fixed point at 212 °. In order to give a more rational 180 ° interval between the two fixed points, he made the ice point 32 ° at 1 atm pressure. Body temperature is around 98.4 ° on this final version of the Fahrenheit scale. In 1724 he constructed thermometers in which he had fixed 32 °F as the freezing point of water and 96 °F as normal body temperature. In this way he used a much finer scale than Rømer’s original. It is interesting to note that, although the boiling point of water is 212 °F, it was not originally taken as a fundamental reference point, but it was widely adopted as such by about 1740.

In the world of the 18th century, the focus of science and industry was not concerned with human comfort but with industrial processes. For many of these evolving processes, the ability to measure temperature accurately and consistently was crucial. Although the alcohol thermometers developed by Fahrenheit could determine when water was about to freeze, they exploded when he tried to determine when water would boil. And the value of knowing exactly when water boils or alcohol evaporates was not lost on the steam engine developers and brew masters of that day. Nor is the reason my blood seems to boil when the temp touches the 100 °F So anymore when my back yard thermometer tells me its code red outside I can toast Herr Fahrenheit with a cold glass of beer. And when the thermometer says it is code blue outside, I can toast him with a steaming hot cup of joe... ez does it!

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Pick 10 - Surveys

I was just about to give up my daily search for hidden value when a Survey request popped into my e-mail inbox. Normally, I would tag such an e-mail as "spam" and flush it away but this happened to be my monthly invitation to participate in a Harris Poll Survey. I must be in some special class of grumpy old men that some merchant wants to "friend" because on two previous survey requests they backed away soon as I reported my gender and age. Today's Survey not only continued well past that point but got into such areas as my race, annual family income, married, single or divorced...well you get the picture.

This Survey asked about purchases of commodity items I may have made in April, May, and June of this year. It covered everything from household appliances to auto accessories. Even included items for gardening and do-it-yourself projects. I went through at lest four of these categorical lists, Each had at least 20 specific items. With much embarrassment, I had to check "Did not purchase any of these" before I hit pay dirt on the last list. It covered gardening and outdoor items. I was just about to check the "Did not purchase..." box when I spotted something that counted: "preenial/annual plants". I remembered that I had purchased two tomatoe plants from the nearby big box store. Don't these qualify as "preenial plants" I asked myself and happily checked that box.

It worked!. That response coaxed out a host of new questions: Was this a perennial or annual plant? Was this perennial plant a flower or a vegetable? And so it went til they popped the final question of the series: How much did you pay? Where did you purchase them? It was like hitting the jackpot on the slots! Each answer triggered two or more new questions. Finally, they closed the Survey part and asked me if I cared to answer a few questions about my "experience" with taking the survey. They posed these questions in a manner that reminded me of a neophyte nurse preparing you for an injection...afraid that you will scream out in pain and that will finish her career. So I responded to: How satisfied are you that our questions were easy to understand and to complete? Were the questions interesting? And so on.

By now you are ready to ask me: "Where was the hidden value?" That is what I am still trying to figure out.
The very last question in this part of the Survey was "Did you find this survey valuable?"
I kid you not!

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Pick 9 - Touchpad

I was clearing out some old office equipment today and came across my old [circa 1980] Desk Top 2500 "Touch Tone" telephone. It reminded me that the keypad layout, that is still used today on the iPhone, was standardized when the dual-tone multi-frequency system in the new push-button telephone was introduced in the 1960s. The keypad gradually replaced the rotary dial. To anyone like myself who worked in a business office between the mid-60's to the mid-90's, this phone was as commonplace as TI Calculators. And that is what got me thinking about the hidden value of the knowledge embedded in that keypad. I happen to have a desk size electronic calculator sitting right next to my headset telephone in my modern home office. They have been there for the past 5 years yet I never noticed that the keypad layout on the telephone is upside down compared to the calculator keypad.
That piqued my curiosity so I consulted Wikipedia. Here is what I discovered...

The Desk Top 2500 like most other phones of that era was designed by Donald Genaro from Henry Dreyfuss Associates. Much like Steve Jobs, Genaro felt having user acceptance of his design counted more than mere functionality. This placed him at odds with the engineers on how the keypad should be set up. Calculators had preceded the telephone in the use of a "bottoms up" layout. It had a buy-in from accountants and engineers who used calculators. However, only a small percentage of telephone users had calculators at that time. For this reason, he felt, they were likely to read keypad numbers like reading a book: left to right; top to bottom. Genaro faced a lot of resistance to "top down" layout but insisted it was better suited for the dialing than the calculator layout. To prove his point a great deal of user testing was conducted before the decision to have the number "1" placed in the upper left corner of the touchpad was approved. That is a hidden value we take for granted today because PCs have long since replaced hand held calculators. And who would have thought that having the letters on the touchpad follow the the same top down pattern as the numbers would enable texting while driving. But that is a hidden value for another day...

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