The Swarm–A book review

The Swarm (2004), a novel by Frank Schatzing (ISBN-13: 978-0-06-081326-0)

This is an amazing story about the Earth's seas fighting back. Eco-terror, sci-fi, geography, romance, and techno-thriller, in 900 pages hardbound. (Don't attempt the paperback, unless you have perfect eyesight. I bought my hardback edition from Amazon used books.)

The main plots take place in three locations.

First is the Pacific coast off Vancouver, BC, in Canada. All of a sudden, the whales and dolphins attack small and median craft and eat the people. The hero is a marine biologist, with roots north of the Arctic Circle in Canada.

Second is the Norwegian Sea, off Trondheim. Masses of tube worms have been discovered amongst all the oil platforms. They are transporting bacteria that feed on the methane hydrates that line the ocean shelf. Things get really bad really fast! Our hero is a mature bachelor scientist, who loves good wine and classical music. Statoil, the Norwegian oil company has hired him to investigate the worms.

Third is an amphibious helicopter carrier ship stationed in the Greenland Sea. Manned by scientists, sailors, and CIA agents, they are attempting to figure out the calamities happening all around the world. With romances, spying, intrigue, secret labs, and bloodshed, this ending scene has all the makings of a Tom Clancy novel.

The story jumps from spot to spot, but is all coherent. As you proceed through the book, you can see the plot building. The ending is phenomenal.

Do the humans win? You will have to find out yourself.

This is the second-best novel I have ever read. (I think James Michener's The Source was slightly better.) I am sure The Swarm will eventually be on the big screen with star casting.

Raising the Voice of Quality

A few days ago, Paul Borawski, Executive Director of ASQ, posted his initial thoughts on View from the Q. In his blog, he announced the start of a new ASQ initiative to “raise the voice of quality.” Does this mean that ASQ staff and member leaders have come to the realization that we need to tap the power of society to promote and improve quality? As a professional organization, perhaps we cannot accomplish this alone. We need members and non-members to join the chorus.

I like what I am hearing, but I wonder if the initiative will last. It wasn’t many years ago that ASQ was The Quality Source. Then we wanted to Make Good Great. The emphasis was from ASQ out to the members and to the world.

Our current tag line is The Global Voice of Quality. This could be interpreted two ways: we speak for the world, or we speak to the world.

To truly raise the voice of quality, my ASQ has to practice more collaboration and trust. To say that you want to tap the power of the members is easy. To actually listen and act on what they are saying is a different matter. The Obama administration here in America found it very difficult to continue the transparency and dialog so prevalent a year ago.

This is tough! To raise the voice of quality, all participants need to raise the quality of communication: in-reach as well as out-reach. We struggle in this age of sound bites and SMS and Tweets, where attention span is a mere 15 seconds (if that). Are you still following me after 25 lines?

To raise the voice of quality, we need to treat each other as respected partners. Will you listen to me if I do not shout? Will I try to understand your approaches if they are different from my ways? Stephen Covey provided some great advice when he said, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

I will continue to do my part to promote quality worldwide and engage with my global colleagues. I believe we can raise the voice of quality. It will take effort. It will involve setbacks and joys. It’s gonna be fun!

“I’m part of the ASQ Influential Voices program. While I receive a variety of quality resources as honorarium from ASQ in exchange for my commitment, the thoughts and opinions expressed on my blog are my own.”

EOQ Congress in Izmir

Monday, October 26, 2010: Flight to Izmir, Turkey

Our flight to Izmir loaded and left on time. During the 45 minute trip, the cabin crew was able to serve drinks and a light lunch to everyone. After arriving at the gate, we exited the airplane, walked a short distance, went down the stairs, and out the front door. I looked and looked for my name on one of the driver signs. Nothing. After an hour, I figured they weren't coming, so I took the city bus into town and the the Swissotel (a major landmark, after the Hilton). I found out later that my drive went to the International Terminal. After getting off the bus, I went into the hotel and to the conference registration desk, where I was told it would be another two hours until they opened. By now, the conference chairman from the Turkish Standards Agency was with me. I needed to go to the Antikhan Otel, about 15 minutes away, to check in and change clothes for the evening reception. The chairman contacted my driver and told him to take me to my hotel. Do you know where it is? “Yes, yes!” Are you sure? “Yes, yes!” Well, after going four blocks, he was totally lost. He kept pulling up to the “Taksi” cabs and asking, “Antikhan Otel?” They would talk in Turkish and he would drive a few more blocks. 45 minutes, after two calls to the hotel itself, we arrived. I checked in and rested a bit. I left for the Swissotel in plenty of time to make the registration and 3:30 p.m. departure for the Epheses Ruins. I made a wrong turn at one of the major intersections and wound up about half a mile from the hotel. After walking and turning and asking and walking and asking, I made it 10 minutes after the buses had departed. Ugh. The bus for late-comers, which I knew they would have, left at 4:30. The bus ride out to the ruins was over an hour long.

Once there, we got off the bus and split into two groups: English and Turkish. Our guide had to give us the abbreviated tour of briskly walk to the first stop, tell a short story, take a picture, and walk briskly to the next The pathway stones were very smooth from all the tourists, but nobody fell. We took our brief tour just as the sun was going down and the sky was nicely colored. This is an amazing site of early Roman life, complete with temples, homes, toilets, amphitheaters, and market stalls. I was thoroughly impressed and took lots of pictures while there was still light.

After the tour, we got back on the buses and rode to the modern town of Epheses, now a major tourist destination. We saw two large cruise ships in the harbor as we came down the hill. The buses took us to a highly-developed tourist area in the middle of the commercial district. After we all got off the buses, the band started playing in period costume with swords and period instruments. We entered the reception hall through a line of band members on each side. Locals were there to take pictures. Inside the reception area we mixed and mingled with drinks and finger food and a singing trio on the stage. Two hours later, we got back on the buses and rode another hour back to the Swissotel. I walked the short distance to my hotel and crashed.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010: First Day of the Conference

Today was the first day of the European Organization for Quality (EOQ) conference. After the usual opening remarks at 9 a.m. from the dignitaries, three plenary presentations were given. They were OK. Nothing great, but we were now 30 minutes behind schedule, which wasn't made up until late afternoon. After the coffee break, I gave my first presentation on Integrated Management Systems. It was well-attended by about 75 people. We had a buffet lunch and my second presentation started at 2:30. The reception was great. I even had a couple of people approach me about speaking at their events next year. The final session after the coffee break was unremarkable.

The gala dinner was this evening. Continuing the tradition started last year in Croatia, I sat at the table of my friends from Portugal. We also had Denmark, Slovenia, and Turkey represented at the table. As we were gathering and munching on appetizers, a band of 6 singers and 4 musicians was performing popular songs, mostly from ABBA. They were very polished. My table mate from the National Theater of Slovenia was pointing out the various lighting and sound effects to achieve the various effects. The wine was also pouring freely. As the second course was served, the main event started. It was a dance presentation about a traditional Anatolian wedding event. The girls were spinning and the boys were jumping, all in traditional costume from the steppes. As we got to the dessert course, the pop singers came back and everyone started dancing. No partners necessary. About 11, I was getting tired and full of wine, so I took the next bus back to the Swissotel and walked to my Antikahn Otel.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010: Second Day of the Conference

I sat through speeches in the morning and gave my closing keynote in the afternoon. I rocked! After the conference closed, I walked back to the Antikahn Otel, changed into jeans, and went to the garden room for tea. I was tired! After doing e-mail and writing in my journal, I decided to pack my bags and call it a day. Before going down, I asked the front desk clerk for a 6:30 wake up call for my 7 a.m. pickup to the airport.

Thursday, October 28, 2010: Long Journey Home

It rained tonight. In buckets! There was thunder and lightning too. The phone rang and the front desk clerk said my car would be there in 10 minutes. Whoa! So I got up and started getting dressed. Another call, saying they had just left to pick me up. I said I would be ready in 15 minutes. As I started to leave my room with suitcases packed, he called a third time. “So sorry, Mr. Arter. The driver made a mistake and is picking someone else up. It is not my fault.” OK, so I closed the door and looked at my watch. It was 2 in the morning! I went back to bed and tried to sleep an additional four hours, but I did not have much success. I dressed again and went downstairs about 6:15. The rain was still coming down and the street was flooded. I paid my account and had some breakfast. The driver came about 7:10 and I had to step through four inches of water to get to the car. We transferred to a minibus at the Swissotel and headed off in the rain to the airport. Most of the traffic was coming into town, so the roads were not too backed up. I got to the Izmir airport in plenty of time.

Upon arrival at Istanbul, I walked over to the big international terminal, received my boarding passes, and checked my bag to Seattle. The plane to New York City left right on time. Because of the strong head winds, we had to divert way up north: Black Sea to Romania to Ukraine to Poland to Baltic Sea to Sweden to Norway to Iceland to Greenland to Canada and down to NYC. It was nice sightseeing until we got to Poland, with clouds the remainder of the way. We landed JFK about 20 minutes late, then processed through passport control. There was one agent to handle the USA residents. Still, I had plenty of time for my connection to Seattle. I landed in Seattle at 11:30, picked up my bag, and walked over to the Holiday Inn across the street. Requesting a late checkout, I slept until noon, showered and walked over to the terminal. My flight home was still another three hours, so I killed time in the Alaska Boardroom lounge until boarding. The flight home only took 45 minutes.

Two Days in Istanbul

Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010: First evening in Istanbul

The weather tonight was much like Seattle at this time of the year – breezy, cool, and cloudy. Since I didn't pack a jacket, I put on two shirts and went out for the Rick Steve's “Old Town Back Streets Walk.” Like many Middle Eastern places, evenings here are for walking, shopping, dining, and general socializing. The streets were very crowded with both locals and tourists. After the sun went down, I had several views of the mosques with their floodlights and the full moon in the background.

As I was walking through the Grand Bazaar, I noticed something peculiar. This area of town has covered shop stalls with rows and alleys of imported clothes, shoes, jewelry, and ceramics. Most of the stuff comes from China and is of dubious quality. The female mannequins for sweaters and shirts were purchased in bulk from the same supplier and had exaggerated breasts with pointy nipples. Well, this was just too much eroticism for some of the shopkeepers! So they ground the nipples off – and then some more – leaving a flat circle on each breast. It looked like they were wearing bottle cap bras.

By now, it was 8 p.m. and time for dinner. I went to the Mozaik Restaurant on the advice of the hotel and asked for an Efes beer, a local brew. The draft I had was nothing special. (I discovered the next day that the Efes dark is actually quite good.) For my meal I had the vegetable soup and a “shepard's pie” like dish, with chunks of beef and lamb baked in a vegetable stew, all wrapped in parchment paper. I was hoping for a dish with more spice.

Tomorrow, I do the tours.

Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010: Day 2 in Istanbul

Most hotels in Turkey include breakfast with the room rate. After coffee and a light helping of yogurt and cheese, I got on the Backpackers Agency shuttle bus waiting outside my hotel. Already on the bus was a couple from New Delhi. (I learned later that they had both worked for a while in the east San Francisco Bay area around Fremont, CA.) That was it for the tour – just the three of us! We drove over to the tour agency office to settle the charges. I chose a full-day package for 35 euros. We left the office with our guide, Ms. Dilek Gamurcu, and headed for the Blue Mosque.

Locals call this place the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, after the ruler who financed it in 1609-1616. Outside are six minarets, two more than normal. Inside is a huge dome, supported by four fat columns called “elephant feet.” Windows all around let lots of light into the blue tile interior. As in all mosques, we had to follow the protocols of removing the shoes before entering the inside, covered in carpet for the prayers. People no longer leave their shoes outside. They place them in provided plastic bags and carry their shoes until they step outside. I needed two bags – one for each boot.

After putting on our shoes and leaving the mosque grounds, we walked over to where the Hippodrome used to be. We also saw the Egyptian Obelisk, which was hauled up from the Temple of Karnak in the fourth century c.e. This granite column shows almost no wear! The rest of the morning was devoted to the Topkapi Palace. This is where the sultans and there harems lived and worked from the Renaissance period (1470) to the twentieth century, when Ataturk threw the rascals out and established the Turkish Republic. I was impressed by the collection of relics, many taken from Medina and Mecca when the Ottomans gained control over these holy places. There were swords of King David, pieces of Mohammad's beard, keys to the Kaaba, etc.

After lunch, we continued our walking tour at the Hagia Sophia museum (pronounced eye-ya sof-ya), with its famous dome. The place started as a Christian Church under Constantine, rebuilt in its current splendor by Justinian, remade into a Mosque when Constantinople fell, and finally transformed into a museum under Ataturk. Upon leaving Hagia Sophia, we went underground to the Basilica Cistern. This underground pool is where the city stored drinking water to last them through a long siege. It was very large, dark, and rather spooky. We finished the day with a visit to the Million Stone, where all road measurements started, and then an ancient Ottoman cemetery. Most of the tombs had dual 5-6 foot columns on top of the casket at the head and the foot. Women had flowers engraved in the stone and men had words.

The tour ended and we bid each other good bye. I went back to the Modern Sultan Hotel to rest and check e-mail. About 7 p.m. I decided it was time to eat dinner. (I discovered here in Istanbul that the peak dinner time is 7-9. Perhaps because of the older tourists.) While I had every intention of checking out some restaurants 2-3 blocks away, the guy around the corner remembered me checking out his menu yesterday. After describing to him the kind of meal I wanted – spicy lamb pieces – he showed the menu selection that fit my needs perfectly. As he walked me to the table, he asked if I wanted humus (of course!) and what kind of wine I had in mind (a local and hearty red). Order done, I then dined on a perfect meal. The humus, like last night, was better than what I have had in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. It was also served with cucumbers and tomatoes. The wine was a cab blend with local grapes I didn't recognize, but similar to malbec. The entree was a log of minced lamb with other stuff. Like sausage without the casing. I placed pieces in a flat bread, cut in quarters and folded. Then some mild chili pepper, some spicy red onions, some tomato, and topped with a couple sprigs of cilantro leaves. Fold the bread over like a taco and enjoy.

Halfway through dinner, some musicians started to play inside. (I was outside.) This was nice. Then the whirling dancers started up, with their flaring coats of white. They would twirl for about 20 minutes, take a 5 minute pause (but not break) and start up again. The one-hour show finished just as my wine was doing the same. What a bonus! I told the owner how pleased I was.

Monday, October 25, 2010: Final Morning in Istanbul

I had a good night's sleep and arose about 7:30. Dressed and packed, I went down the stairs to breakfast. Coffee was ready, along with cheese, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, bread, cereal, and yogurt. I settled my account and left for the tram stop. At 8:45 in the morning, trams were running about every five minutes and were very crowded. After the University station, it was not so crowded. I rode the tram to the end of the line, where I transferred to the Metro line. The airport station was the last stop. Total time from the hotel to the airport was about 50 minutes. The international terminal was very close, but the domestic terminal was a 15 minute walk. (I was warned it would take a while.) As we entered the domestic terminal, all luggage and people were scanned. This is where I discovered I still had my hotel room key in my back pocket. I will need to mail it back from my hotel room in Ismir. Then more walking and up the elevators to the departure level. Check in was very quick and friendly. Another security check of everything was required to get into the gate areas. The seating area around the gates is quite open and spacious. As at most airports, it is quite loud with conversations and public address announcements.