Charlie Self wrote:

And the mistakes get more expensive all the time, in lives and money.
The Tonkin Gulf and the Domino Theory all over again.

I'm reminded of the first chief engineer that I worked for and his
attempts to rein me in, so to speak.

Here I am, smart ass young engineer, just out of engineering school,
sitting in his office one day, when out of the blue, he asks me a question.

"Lew, what is the difference between an oriental and an occidental?"

I sat very quietly, trying to avoid an answer since I new my chief
engineer was on a fishing mission and I was bait.

Finally, I could stall no longer and sort of shrugged my shoulders.

He looked at me and said, "Lew, it's simple, the occidental learns from
his mistakes, the oriental learns from the mistakes of others, it's
cheaper."

It was a lesson well learned that day.

I even began to start liking rice G.

Lew