Maryland's New Governor

Maryland got a new governor last week. One who promised to control spending, but to not touch social issues that are “decided law”. One who reached out to diverse constituencies, including supporters of the Port of Baltimore. What is interesting about Governor Larry Hogan, Jr. is his father, Larry Hogan, Sr. He represented the Maryland suburbs of Prince George’s (PG) County in a different era. In 1968, Maryland’s 5th Congress District elected Larry Hogan, Sr., and Richard Nixon, to office. His constituents were working-class whites who had participated in ‘white flight’ from Washington, DC. One could assume that his voters possessed an Archie Bunker mentality. Striking a chord with hard-hat residents, Nixon would win in 1972 with 58% of the vote. However, this did not carry into the Congressman’s politics. Just two years later, and with eloquent language, Larry Hogan, Sr. would become the only Republican congressman to vote for all three articles of impeachment against the disgraced President. In 1978, Larry Hogan ran for, and won, the job of PG County Executive. He would be the last Republican to hold the office in the rapidly diversifying county. Following his father’s footsteps in seeking office with a changing electorate, his son Larry Hogan, Jr. would run against Congressman Steny Hoyer (D) for his father’s old congressional seat in 1992. Perhaps some of the optimism came from the fallout of Willy Horton’s crimes against that PG County, Maryland couple. Though he fell short, he captured 45% of the vote, and won in 4 of the 5 counties represented by that seat. The exception was Prince George’s County. Maryland, like neighboring West Virginia, has strong Democratic registration advantage, by a margin of 2:1. These two places have the last vestiges of the conservative Democrat. Because of demographics, Maryland went from a Southern Democratic stronghold to a Northern, Liberal Democratic leadership without pausing for Republicans, who have not held control of either legislative chamber in a century. While Republicans are concentrated in rural and exurban parts of the State, dispersed conservative voters are a minority elsewhere. Because of this dispersion, Democrats hold 7 of 8 congressional seats today. Combined with enough moderate Democrats, dispersed conservatives can beat liberals in the Democratic primaries. When motivated to come out in statewide elections, these conservatives registered as Democrats often vote Republican, thus appearing as “crossover” votes. This was how Maryland remained a swing state in Presidential Elections from 1948 to 1988, and competitive in the next few Governor’s races. Fast forward through my childhood to 2010. After one-term Governor Robert Ehrlich failed to reclaim his seat in a Republican wave year, he pronounced that it was now practically impossible for a Republican to win a statewide race in Maryland. It seemed that the string of competitive gubernatorial races had ended. Enter Larry Hogan. After defeating office-holders in the Republican primary, he ran a campaign that avoided use of the “R” word in a state where Democrats held a 2:1 registration advantage. Looking to the challenges that former Republican governor Robert Ehrlich faced, he promised to “work with” Democrats to pass meaningful reform legislation that mattered to Marylanders. He would not be the veto machine that Ehrlich was. He campaigned on a simple slogan: “Change Maryland”. Each voter, Democrat, Republican, or Independent, knew what he or she wanted to be changed in Annapolis: Economic stagnation in suburban areas, Virginia eating Maryland’s lunch in terms of attracting businesses, slow progress on fracking rules, crony legislators, underrepresentation of minorities in the State Legislature, raiding of the highway trust fund, prohibition-era liquor laws. For enough voters, a vote for Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown was a vote for the same old problems. But was Hogan, Jr. the wrong kind of change? He rolled with the punches on the social issues, and spoke carefully when he had to. On the surface, Maryland is a solidly blue state where it is possible to run with a socially conservative record. For example, in 2012, the gay marriage referendum passed with 52% of the vote. In a Presidential election year. Democratic opponent Anthony Brown brought out Larry Hogan Jr.’s position on abortion from 1981. Hogan, Jr. gave red meat to working-class religious voters in a state that had just recently allowed abortion-on-demand. It should have been the perfect trap. If Hogan came out as pro-choice in 2014, some religious voters would stay home. But Leroy Carhart was practicing his ‘art’ in Gaithersburg, and the protests drew media attention to incumbent Democratic Governor O’Malley’s lack of action in enforcing Maryland’s long-standing 24-week abortion limit. The culprit in the issue was not women looking for reproductive choice, but one white-haired old man in Gaithersburg. Without having to promise new abortion restrictions, Hogan, Jr. attracted the pro-life vote. On gun rights, Hogan, Jr. had submitted a survey to the NRA, where he earned an “A-“ rating. Hogan did not disclose the positions he took on the survey, but when the news broke, Maryland’s rural sportsmen, and self-defense, knew that Hogan was for them. And he did not have to come out publicly, say, in favor of high-capacity magazines. On election night 2014, Larry Hogan, Sr. wept tears of joy for his son. In his old age, with ailing knees, and without the sharp jaw line seen on the video of his Congressional testimony, he saw his son achieve what he himself did not do some 30 years ago: win a statewide race. Prince George’s County has a special place for the Hogan family. They are part of the past, a bygone era in white working-class politics. Hogan, Jr. is part of the future. Prince George’s county faces issues from crime, to transportation, to mediocre public schools. Shortly after his election, Larry Hogan, Jr. met with County Executive Rushern Baker, an African-American Democrat, to form a working partnership that transcended political talking points. Mr. Baker’s PG County is much different today than when Larry Hogan, Sr. won elections here. In 2010, just 19% of residents of PG County were white, and represented a spectrum of viewpoints: the progressive academic living next door to the University of Maryland, the rural families in the outskirts of the County who have little connection to the rest of the County, the working-class whites who never left, and the apolitical newcomers inhabiting affordable waterfront property. President Obama carried PG County with 89.73% of the total vote, and just under half of the County’s white vote. This past November, Larry Hogan, Jr. won 15% of the vote here. After all, he was seen as the candidate of rural and white suburban Maryland. Time will tell if Larry Hogan, Jr. gives PG County the attention of a caring County Executive by tackling Prince George’s issues with new approaches. Link to Larry Hogan Sr’s. Testimony on Richard Nixon’s Impeachment: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=larry+hogan+senior&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=D1A979D5E6B76C84A59C4A65C8335F37A505FD90&selectedIndex=3

A Slide Rule is Built

If there is no power on the ship, your calculator batteries are dead, and you need to do a thermodynamic calculation to finish repairing the steam turbine, you ought to have a slide rule. Or, a spare calculator. For the last post of the year, I’m diving into the history of how we calculate. At the start of plebe year, midshipmen at KP purchase two calculators for classes- a low-powered, $15, scientific version known as the TI-30, and a TI-84 graphing calculator. Because the TI-84 knows too much, some math tests require that you use the ‘dummy’ scientific calculator. But the $15 handheld device was the thing that put the slide rule out of business. What history the TI-30 has. Launched in 1976 (with LED lamps, less functionalities, and a larger size), it cost $25 in then-dollars, or $103 today. The affordable device opened electronic computing power to a wide audience, and sent slide rules the way of the steam locomotive: at least for the Atari generation. Technology is for the young, and browsing forums, I discovered that, in the 1980’s, experienced slide-rule-toting architects and engineers feared younger professionals who never used the slide rule. (Today, there are still aficionados for hand drawings over digital blueprints, including KP faculty). I got a brief overview on the theory of slide rules from a neighbor in my dormitory. He actually prefers the slide rule, and it got him through high school and into KP. Of course, the slide rule is so quaint that the SAT and ACT don’t mention it on the list of approved calculators. As scientific calculators without power cords, they appear to be permitted. I bet that Mr. Miller brought an electronic calculator just in case the proctor wasn’t in the know. You have to be smart when using the slide rule. You have to count your zeroes, and project a reasonable answer. These are good skills that successful students use. My father has a Pickett Synchroscale model, with leather case, on the shelf at home. With some time on my hands during the winter break, I decided to make one of my own. I printed a template off the internet, and hit the arts-and-crafts store. The store was an intersection of fine arts majors and architects, and I got some interested looks as I built my gizmo. I cut some polystyrene sheets to make a bezel and a slide, and got some clear PVC to make the viewer. I pasted on the template strips, and voila, a slide rule. Perfectly suited for use as a hipster accessory, or as a calculating device. Give some respect to the slide rule: they built America. As for slide rules that still earn their keep, some variants of the slide rule exist for navigational purposes for airline pilots and ship’s mates. These are used to determine distances on scaled drawings. Print a slide rule: http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/pdf/Slide_rule.pdf How to use a slide rule: www.hpmuseum.org/srinst.htm List of slide rule makers: http://www.sliderules.info/trade/makers.htm Images of the original TI-30: http://coolstuff4819.blogspot.com/2014/10/1976-texas-instruments-ti-30-scientific.html

The birth of Federal Express

On the first night of service in 1973, one pilot euphemistically stated to Fedex founder Fred Smith that the plane would not need to make a second trip that night. FedEx handled 186 packages to 25 cities. Their choice of cities reflected travel time, demand for just-in-time deliveries, and ease of implementation: The small propeller aircraft had to travel to Memphis, TN, and back to its origin before the business day. The first cities to receive service were medium-sized blue-collar cities, rather than larger paperwork cities, like New York and Washington. The implementation of FedEx required mailroom staff to sort out packages by destination. At the time, expediting a package required working with an airfreight broker. The ability to send express packages in bulk, rather than as single items changing hands at multiple airfreight terminals, was a great cost savings. While suburbanization was in full swing, businesses were still concentrated in the city. With the rapid increase of rural factories, and exurban office and industrial parks at the end of the 20th century, FedEx would have required many more trucks just to cover the ground territory. Demand for Fedex's services would grow exponentially as more cities were added. For executives of blue-collar firms, reducing the amount of parts in inventory helped the bottom line. Fedex now represents a nimble operation, which synergistically incorporates related services such as ground shipping, Kinko’s copy and print shop services, and a state-of-the art customs brokerage operation. Because of its focus on industrial shipments- things that can’t be sent by wire, the fax machine and email were not able to put FedEx out of business. These diverse factors, present in 1973, helped to contribute to the nascent FedEx’s growth success. Source: http://about.van.fedex.com/fedex-opco-history

Thanksgiving Dinner #1: Turkey, Pool, and a Grand Jury

As a plebe, Thanksgiving dinner at the Academy meant getting to the dining hall an hour early to set up the tables and prepare drinks and appetizers for the table. It also means running to the galley on a schedule to pick up the next course, or to replenish a depleted delicacy. As an upperclassmen, Thanksgiving dinner begins when the meal starts, and ends with the departure of the VIPs. As a senior, Thanksgiving dinner begins after class, and continues to the end of the night. That is because dinner is fit in between two social hours: the first is a reception to receive the guests, and the “pub hour” afterwards is an aperitif for the invited guests- including faculty who happen to be alumni- who are still young at heart. After two winning rounds of pool (thanks to having a partner with more experience at the table), there was a mishap with whipped cream- witnessed by spectators including myself. No need to elaborates, but to make sweetness of the situation, I grabbed some eggnog to share- topped with the remainder of the whipped cream bottle. Then the TV was turned on to the news. A rare occurrence after breakfast (when the news remains high-paced and full of drama), and only done for important events. I am not an avid current-events fan, instead preferring big-picture topics like public morals and economic policy. So I was intrigued that a bunch of young men, and women, would want to watch a press conference. The last time was when the President announced action against the ISIS militant group. I was not a fan of former press secretary Jay Carney, so I tended to avoid watching direct coverage from the Press Room of the White House. But in watching this speech, I was more sympathetic to the President than I had been: In contrast to the legislative force which Mr. Obama had in his first two years of the presidential office, Mr. Obama appeared to be a more humble man. He no longer had the House of Representatives, and by this time was predicted to lose the Senate as well. He was a bit aged by a contentious relationship with the House. Tonight, at a press conference beginning at 8:15pm Missouri time, the decision came down from the jury, as read by a civil minister. It was a lengthy talk, detailing the pains with which the jury took to avoid misleading rumors and biases of the media. But about six minutes in, squished between two other sentences, it turned out that Police Officer Darren Wilson was not guilty of any of the five potential charges. I was one of the few to catch it before Fox News posted a banner with this highlight. This was the desired verdict for many in my crowd, as a number had a police officer as a parent, cousin, or a close family friend. Quite nefariously, one person confided to another that it was “A good day to be a white guy”. But that logic is wrong and divisive. Justice is supposed to be colorblind. I was relieved that justice was administered based on all evidence. The same class of person who says that this case was a verdict for the Caucasian race is the same type of person who fears visiting foreign ports. This turkey season, Darren Wilson has a lot to be thankful for. Our front-line police officers’ families appear to be thankful, too.

Daylight Savings Time Bewitched

It has nothing to do with farmers, but something to do with golfers. A Mad Men special feature illustrates the history of Daylight Savings Time in America. Its origin was wartime rationing, where inefficient home boilers consumed coal and oil for heating. After WWII, each state or major city set its schedule for switching to daylight savings time. Which meant confusion during the months of April and October. It was in the 1960’s that daylight savings time would be a state, not local issue, and the start and end dates would be the same nationwide. Residents of Arizona and Hawaii don’t need to bother with clocks. In the southernmost states, air conditioning costs outweigh the reduced lighting costs. Nevada and Florida retain daylight savings time to avoid a 2-hour time difference with neighbors California and Alabama, which both stretch further north. The Atlantic Magazine reported a disruption of sleep cycles, increased heart attacks, exacerbation of sleep disorders, and car accidents in the week after the spring time shift. And I don’t think it’s a big deal. On cargo vessels, clocks advance or are retarded an hour per night, or every other night. Rather than a single change at 2am, advances or delays are made in 20 minute increments at 8pm, 12am, and 4am. This is so that each officer on watch splits the difference. Because the ship’s clocks rely on an electrical frequency of 60 hertz to keep time, a time change is the right time to synchronize the ship’s clock to GPS time. On the fastest ocean liners, clocks advance 90 minutes per night as vessels took the “great circle” route form New York to England and Northern Europe, shortening the distance and time between time zones. Twice a year, the sailor’s, pilot’s and traveler’s daily clock-changing becomes a national affair. Local sunrise and sunset times are determined by longitude and latitude. Longitude determines the sunrise and sunset times, and latitude determines the number of hours of daylight. Last year in November, I was in Portland, Oregon. One gripe was that the evening commute ended in darkness. This is nothing unusual in New York. At the winter solstice (I took note of this last year), “flag retreat” took place 15 minutes after classes ended at 4pm. In the summer, “flag retreat” occurs after 8pm. And, for the record, the sun sets earlier in New York than it does in Washington, DC. In 2007, Daylight Savings Time was extended to almost 8 months of the year. As a result, “Change your clock, check your smoke detector” is no longer the golden rule. Morning commutes in October now take place under darkness. Most famously, Daylight Savings Time now covers Halloween. All my trick-or-treating was done after sundown. Not so for today’s tots, who can finish before pitch black.

Meet the Neighbors

On the US Merchant Marine Academy’s Campus, there are several houses which are not part of the Academy. Two of these, at the top of the hill at 8 and 8A Elmridge Road, are occupied by the Alumni Association. Another house, 305 Steamboat Road, was a recent acquisition. According to www.trulia.com, the house was bought in March 2006 for $1.5 million, and has been stricken off the Nassau County’s tax roster. It is now known as “Quarters P”, and is used for senior staff housing. What I found interesting was that the house was built in 1952, after the Academy was founded, but before the property east of Steamboat Road- including what is now the Merchant Marine Museum- became part of the Academy. (It is known as the McNulty Campus, for the name of the Superintendent who worked to acquire the property). These two roads, Steamboat and Eldridge, are still maintained by the Town of Kings Point. That also means an occasional police patrol by the local police department. Their intersection bears a distinctive road sign unique to Kings Point- a green, hanging plaque with an ornamental holder. The final house of note is at 307 Steamboat Road. What this homeowner has in common with the midshipmen of the Academy, well, is a taste for a waterfront view. Perhaps the property will become part of the Academy in the future, and end the idiosyncrasy. One thing going for Mr. Waterfront View is his home value- $5.85 million dollars that the Academy would rather spend on other capital improvements. But the waterfront view comes with a cost. Property tax? $78,221 per year, or $1.33 per $100 assessed: cash that Nassau County would loathe to lose. Back to the pros- in addition to the town cops, and Federal police patrols, there is a 24-hour, year-round security guard at the Academy’s front gate. Drawbacks? Guests need photo ID to visit without an escort. You also need to make sure that your domestic help, and any contractors, are authorized to work in the US. One idea that has come up occasionally is the creation of guest lodging on campus. Until the Maritime Administration closed the Academy’s Continuing Education program (GMATS) in 2012, one wing of the barracks was sectioned off for transient learners. Because of reduced midshipman enrollment, it became feasible in the 1990’s to take one of the seven barracks and turn it into a full-service hotel. This idea never came to pass. Today, with faculty members and adjuncts living hours from their homes- whether it be in New Jersey or Connecticut or West Virginia, the concept of a Bed and Breakfast (B&B) is being floated in casual conversation. With 6 bedrooms, isolation from NIMBY-ist neighbors, and an acre of land, 307 Steamboat is better situated than most other homes in town to become a B&B.

A Day to Remember at KP

"I expect to see maximum turnout at morning colors tomorrow at the War Memorial. While you hear this every morning, remember that tomorrow is not an ordinary day. 13 years ago, the Academy was deeply involved in the historic events of 9/11/2001. Midshipman and faculty watched the events unfold firsthand from the War Memorial. In the aftermath, the Academy’s vessels served an important role in shuttling personnel and materials between New Jersey and Lower Manhattan. Two alumni perished that day at the hands of Osama’s henchmen. I remember that day, with the flurry of government helicopters and marshaling of National Guard tanks in my neighborhood, backdropped by smoke from the damaged Pentagon. I am sure that some of you have similar memories as well. So indeed, I encourage you all to come to morning colors tomorrow".