Hi Readers.  I write to you from my death bed (cough cough)...(sniff hack)...(snort)

OK, not so bad as all that.  A pesky cold and some back problems has really kept me low, but I am back to work tomorrow and back to writing tonight.

So while I was resting this weekend, the world, despite my polite request, kept turning, the news kept churning and the fires kept burning.

The big local story was Boeing losing another airplane bid to main rival Airbus.  The shock however was that the customer is The US Air Force for its next generation tanker fleet.  Now Boeing got severely slapped previously in a bod on the tanker, so this is insult to injury.

The thing is, if Boeing cannot make a competitive product, guess what?  They lose sales, and Airbus has proven itself a serious rival for years.

Now, Ken Schram blames Boeing for all its outsourcing.  I disagree with him because I think the problem is not in that small facet, but in the larger way that Boeing does business.  I worked there for three years and I say, in my opinion, the problems at Boeing are deeply rooted in its arrogance, its top heavy management, its catering to unions and its wasteful business practices.

For instance, requiring new applicants to pass an completely ridiculous diversity screening test is absurd.  The test is geared to make you answer that you love working with people of other cultures, and that you wouldn't dream of not working without them.  If however, you answer that you really don't care, that you work well with anyone, well, you are unsuitable.

While some areas are sleek and modern, others are antiquated, sluggish and inefficient.