The situation was such that the blinkered USA horses were happy to drink from a trough at one end of the field and
failed to notice that the Japanese ones were shown that it was better to drink from the stream at the other end. When the trough became empty the USA finally looked round and realised what had happened. Makes me wonder if they were horses at the trough or mules.

Professor Deming was involved in the improvements in production times for the Liberty ships constructed in the USA for WWll. Having proved the clear benefits of "continuous improvement" and principles of Statistical Process Control (SPC)his methods and advice were rejected by industrialists in his own country. The devastated condition of the Japanese infrastructure meant that Deming was welcomed as part of US aid to rebuild and reconstruct their industrial base. The American management "culture", therefore, not only threw away the opportunity that Deming offered but lost the benefits to what became a major competitor.
I received training in SPC here in the UK along with the rest of his methods which were so refreshing to hear and revealed obvious benefits. My tutor warned me that the main obstacle to implementation would be opposition from my management. Never a truer word was spoken! It started immediately with the very person who had actually sent me for training. I'd guess that management in the USA has developed in the same way as in Britain. Strong-minded, self confident and decisive individuals with ambition thrust themselves forward and demand recognition and advancement within an organisation to become "top dog". Having achieved control they then tend to promote those who they judge to fit their own image and must obviously be of the "right stuff". These people are gung-ho, "let's get this show on the road", "if you aren't with us get out of my way" people. They drive through whatever fits their agenda and "fly by the seat of my pants" based on "experience". What I found is that like gamblers they only talk about their successes and all mistakes are buried with others blamed. They hate the idea of making decisions based on measured evidence as it takes away the thrill they feel from being in complete control. In a Japanese factory an operator of a process maintains records of events and is trained to analyse causes of quality failures and can make decisions to take actions to eliminate them. I have worked in Factories where the operator is under contract to immediately inform a superior for them to make decisions. Deming's only failure was not to show how the old managers needed to be removed. The main problem is the inertia that existing organisations have which tend to be in the interests of those in control. Digital quartz watch mechanisms were developed in a Swiss university but were rejected by the Swiss watchmakers who were invested in mechanical watches (less accurate too). Japanese manufacturers attended an exhibition in Switzerland and immediately bought into the new technology. History can be a cycle of missed opportunities.

My family were on a shopping trip in the city when my son's girlfriend noticed my facial expression. "Aren't you enjoying this trip?" she asked in a surprised voice. She was even more surprised by my response, " I'd rather be driving a rusty 6 inch nail into my own eye with a toffee hammer!".

Better not to even attempt mixing milk with baby powder then!

Merlin1300. After failing to post on Facebook, and feeling aggrieved, you chose not to pursue your argument with them not in other major social media arenas but with an online photographic community? You further proceed to criticise responses from people who are probably more experienced in different fields of expertise than one in which you want to promote your own interest. I suggest that you make efforts to convince professional medical people on an appropriate website than trying to bring "a racehorse to a baseball game".

It is young people who are fondest of reminding you how old you have become as if it is a major failure on your part. A particularly unpleasant and angry young man spent a couple of minutes informing me of what he thought of me,my appearance, attitude and where I should go. He broke off to demand "What are you smiling at?". I explained that I was considering the odds of him failing to reach my age due to his own behaviour.

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years."--Mark Twain.

The problem with parenthood is tht there is no dress rehearsal - all your mistakes are out there for everyone to see.

Private medical billls are no better here in the UK. I received a bill during an uncompleted series of diagnostic tests with a company my employer subscribed to. I knew that it only covered me up to a limit and was concerned that I was going to be liable for an overspend of unknown proportions. I phoned the medical company's headquarters to check on what the received bill covered to be told that they were unable to answer my question. They had no clue as to whether the outstanding tests were included or not and if any further charges were likely to follow! Whatever my medical problem that they were supposed to be diagnosing I immediately knew that my mental stress was added by them. Another bill never materialised but for months I was putting money aside in case one did. I also noticed that consultants and surgeons employed by that company were doing tasks such as bandagingand stitching that would be done by nurses in the NHS. I suspect that they were claiming extra time payments from the system and padding out their salaries.

It seems to me that once you start adding up the monthly subscription charges for broadband, TV services, cellphones and then various software charges your old version of Quicken will prove that you can't afford that cup of coffee nor any food to go with it! If enough people started to cancel their subscription then the prices would be forced down. When I cancelled our UK Sky TV subscription by telephone they offered to reduce it and the longer I said no the more the price came down. In desparation the guy actually asked me if there was any price level I was willing to pay so I told him "No! I would never know whether others are paying less than me or even nothing". I actually don't think that he would have gone below base cost to Sky but the reductions offered to me indicated that there must have been a massive profit margin. We bought a new TV and satellite decoder/recorder unit and their combined cost took less than 2 years to recover from the savings from not paying Sky monthly charges. We still run Quicken 2000 version (the last version before they pulled out of the UK market) and it still runs in Windows 10 - this software has guided our financial decisions and provided the proof of our savings.

If you can find it on the internet the UK had a Channel 4 series "That'll Teach 'Em" (see Youtube) that explored the changes in the methods in education here since the 1950's. There are several instances that are similar to your experience that are not only interesting but also entertaining. Successive Governments and Education Ministers have claimed that standards have not been in decline but this series leads you to believe that they have.

My young son brought home his annual school report and gave it to his mother and I to read. My wife checked it first and out of the wreckage of below par scores and critical comments from his teachers she picked out the one bright point. "Look! His English teacher says that "He is a competant speller"!. As I looked over her shoulder I could only shake my head and say "How the Heck would she know? She can't spell "competent" correctly!".

The company I worked for took on a new Structural Engineer who had come from China to study then stayed on to gain professional experience. I discovered that he spoke "Chinglitch" but I needed to get his information accurately so I made a deal with him. At the end of the month my Manager wanted to speak to me about this new guy. Apparently everyone in our office had complained about him as they couldn't understand him speaking except for me - did I have any complaints? I replied that I didn't and that he was a great addition to the office in that he always replied very promptly to my requirements. The manager said that he was very surprised and wanted to know how I could understand what the new guy was saying to me. "Oh I can't follow a word of what he says," I answered,"I got him to agree that we would communicate by email only - he writes and reads English perfectly!".

Seized bolt rule: if there is only one that needs to be removed it will be "seized" otherwise it will always be the last one of the group that needs to be removed. I think it indicates that the inanimate object is capable of fighting back!

Manchester Screwdriver. A local name for a hammer. I think the nickname came about in the 19th Century when the vast and rapid expansion of that city required many thousands of cheap houses to be built by unskilled labour and many shortcut methods were used to throw up rows of slums.

Beyond that extensive list of poorly designed and performing tools is the vast range of actual products that force you to use the said terrible tools to either install, maintain or replace components. I am convinced that the vast majority are released onto the market without anyone checking whether it is possible beforehand (especially whoever produces the instructions/manual). I quote the car on which I once needed to replace the bottom hose to the radiator from the engine; access was too tight to get your arm down to undo the clip fastener. I concluded that the engine must have been installed in the factory with the radiator already attached. There are endless other instances that prove that the world is governed by an evil genius determined to drive us over the edge into insanity!