Messages in FedEx ITD Retiree Breakfast Club group.

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Page 65 of 70.

Dave Hansen6/23/2016

C

Ben Moore6/23/2016

Dulles. That's the only place that Concordes could land since they couldn't fly supersonic over land.

Mark W Evans6/24/2016

Dulles but the Memphis airport was expanded to handled bigger planes

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/24/2016

Answer: Dulles was the correct answer. if memory is correct, the Concordes initially could land at Dulles and Dallas, but could not fly supersonic when flying over the continental US.

Liz Ciulla Carrozza6/24/2016

I believe we have had at least one Concorde land here. Been a long time though.

Ben Moore6/24/2016

Yes, a Concorde did land at MEM. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19781214&id=sN8hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LaEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6396%2C2498077&hl=en I think it landed her a second time as well. It was on a high-roller around the world trip that included a leg on the QE II. Obviously it couldn't fly supersonic over the continent though.

Liz Ciulla Carrozza6/24/2016

Since the page also mentions President Carter, so must have been 78 & 81.

John Wilkinson6/24/2016

12/14/1978 and I believe the other was sometime in 87/88

Ric Honey6/26/2016

Spring 1979 https://vimeo.com/51239537

Spring 1979
https://vimeo.com/51239537

Subject: FedEX trivia quiz?

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/23/2016

FedEX trivia quiz?If FedEx had closed the deal to fly Concordes how many 727's would it take to carry it's capacity freight?a. 1/2 b. 1 c. 2 d. 3

Dan Elliot6/23/2016

a

Shane Borden6/23/2016

A) Thankfully they didn't do this as they might have gone bankrupt!

Dave Hansen6/23/2016

D

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/24/2016

Answer: A) was the correct answer. The Concordes were very narrow and small compared to the 727

Dan Elliot6/24/2016

I got a walk through on one... they were so small, you had to duck your head!

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/24/2016

I believe that John Schwarzmann may have jumpseated on the Concorde.

Ben Moore6/25/2016

ExFedExer John McCann flew the Concorde back from London to Dulles. Had a speedometer on the bulkhead that registered Mach 2.0.

Bob Baxter6/27/2016

Sue and I flew (personal business) from Heathrow to Dulles 75% standby airline employee discount = $800 each. Mach 2, 1350 mph, 58500 feet altitude. Standby was no problem - only 30 passengers in 90 seats. Very memorable experience. Dan Elliot, even I had to duck!

Subject: FedEX trivia quiz?

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/23/2016

FedEX trivia quiz?In the early 80's FedEx started looking long term about where couriers, when they got older, could migrate into. Where were the initial jobs the company thought they would go to??a. Call Center b. Customer facing jobs c. Hub d. Data Entry

Dan Elliot6/23/2016

e. upper management!

Melissa Leech Ziemer6/23/2016

a & b. If you could've seen how most couriers typed in the 80's, you'd know data entry was NOT an option.

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/24/2016

Answer: the Call Center...but I think the Call center pay was less than that of the couriers.

Subject: FedEx History Trivia

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/27/2016

FedEx History TriviaAnswer any of the following?a. Who was the first manager of the DADS application development group in COS? (DADS was the DEC PDP-11 system which supported dispatcher screens and usually 100+ DADS terminals in the Vans)b. Who was the first manager of the SuperTracker development group in COS?c. Who was the first manager of the PSCAN development group in COS? (PSCAN was a PC which connected multiple hand held laser scanners and was used for mass scans, usually in stations or ramps)

Jim Bentley6/27/2016

A: Becky Steele

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/28/2016

Jim is correct! And whom was the 2nd manager????

Jim Bentley6/28/2016

Steve Streitmatter???

Dan Goss6/28/2016

Jimmy, for question "c" - What year?

Subject: FedEx Trivia

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/27/2016

FedEx TriviaIn 1981, how much did FedEx spend on Christmas Parties?a. $250K b. $500K c. $1M d. $1.5M

Ron Houston6/27/2016

d.

Debora Williams Waller6/27/2016

Those were the good ole days.

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/28/2016

Answer: I was told $1M

Terrie Hoerning6/29/2016

Those were some fun times!

Dan Elliot6/30/2016

the good ole days

Subject: FedEx History Trivia On which system was COSMOS originally prototyped on?

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/27/2016

FedEx History Trivia On which system was COSMOS originally prototyped on?a. IBM B. DEC C. Data General D. Burroughs

Dave Hansen6/27/2016

D

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/29/2016

Dave's answer was correct, "D"' a Burroughs 6700 mainframe

Ray Lipham6/30/2016

Dave Dalton used to tell a story about the Burroughs box. He said that if it was just running a few jobs concurrently it would do fine but if it was running about 20 jobs at the same time, it would not get anything done because all of the CPU time would be spent swapping jobs in and out. I always thought that was a good analogy to human multi-tasking but our threshold is way below 20.

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/30/2016

A good number of FedExr's came to the company via Data Communications Corp (DCC) in Memphis. DCC had a Burroughs 6700, Burroughs 7700 and a Honeywell Multics mainframe. DCC processed accounting, advertising, billings and scheduling for over 500 television and radio stations, so the machines were running many programs real time for these companies. Either Burroughs or someone at DCC wrote a systems level program actually called 'Swapper' to keep the OS from swapping before the transactions could be finished. It worked quite well. At least 20 or more from DCC ended up at Federal Express.

Dave Hansen6/30/2016

And at least as many from Cylix Communications Corp as well. Myself, Perk Perkins, Ancel Hankins, Sandy McCall to name a few.

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/30/2016

I also came from Cylix which was split off from DCC,but it was a very small group then (Jim Ziegler, Rick Simmons, Jimmy Burk, Ancel Hankins, Terry Cox, Sivamani Kamerswaren & Dave Goggans)

Akita Hank6/30/2016

Larry Stoltenberg led the team that developed the ACP OS like system that ran all Data Communication's programs. One of the significant improvements was to use fixed length I/O records allowing greater management of disk and memory read/writes over the normal random length I/Os. The same process could have worked well for FedEx, but when the Burroughs CEO would not kowtow to Charlie's demands he was hell-bent on going to IBM. At the time the airline and car rental systems ran on IBM 360s using Airline Control Program operating system to achieve the high transaction rates demanded of those industries. It was expected that FedEx transaction rates could reach those same levels. So the Wizard of Avis and his minions were hired and the facility at Colorado Springs was built for their use. Some where well into the development, Charlie Germano had the audacity to suggest that IMS could now handle the expected transaction rate for COSMOS. As you know, somewhere down the line COSMOS was converted to IMS. The Burroughs systems were unceremoniously kicked out, still containing the round chip I put in the square hole to fix the processor late one night.

Buddy Johnson6/30/2016

D

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/30/2016

History tidbit: About 7 years after the IBM/COSMOS system replaced the Burroughs mainframe, I was called to FWS office to listen to Charlie Brandon make a proposal to the company. It may have been that Charlie was under a consultant contract or maybe he was just paying a visit. His recommendation was about Zapmail and his recommendation was to build a 2nd network based totally on IBM to just handle the admin messages for Zapmail. He went over stability factors of IBM and why etc. It would have been financially prohibitive and admin messages weren't a problem. It was the only time I every met him. After the meeting, and Charlie had left, FWS gave me some new assignments to go research, none related to what Mr. Brandon was talking about and I went on my way. He did seem like a very nice person.

Akita Hank6/30/2016

Charlie was a visionary and did some good things for the company. But he was also rather egotistical and didn't take disagreements well.

Akita Hank6/30/2016

I actually came to FedEx from the Datacom company, a subsidiary of Data Communications Corporation and precursor of Cylix. Then I left FedEx for Cylix. Then I left Cylix to return to FedEx. Then I retired.

Subject: FedEx History Trivia Why did FedEx change from an Airline Control operating system (ACP or TPF) to a ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/27/2016

FedEx History Trivia Why did FedEx change from an Airline Control operating system (ACP or TPF) to a completely IBM operating system (IMS) written in COBOL?a. Jim Barksdale liked IBM better b. Better speed to market for applications c. It ran much faster d. to align development groups in Memphis and Colorado Springs

Buddy Johnson6/27/2016

D

Ben Moore6/29/2016

It was cheaper.

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/29/2016

Answer....as told to me by Mr. Barksdale was that the company couldn't grow and take the development time needed with assembly language programming. It was taking a year for small changes and a year for any major changes. Although all of the above were also correct answers also.

Akita Hank7/1/2016

b. As originally proposed by Charlie Germano.

Kathy Jones Crockett7/1/2016

B.... ACP was an operational disaster, if one needed to make quick changes!

Akita Hank7/1/2016

You would know better than anyone! Have a happy day.

Akita Hank7/1/2016

Kathy Jones Crockett, you should tell the story you having to look for an alternative customer service system When Charlie kicked out Burroughs then negotiating a deal for a stripped down version of the ACP system.

Kathy Jones Crockett7/1/2016

Are you speaking about the Sperry Univac disaster

Akita Hank7/1/2016

That, the reason you had to do that, the outcome, and how you worked out a deal with ACP development guys for a near-term solution.

Akita Hank7/1/2016

A big problem with the initial implementation of Cosmos on ACP was response time to the terminals. We ultimately had to purchase a Network monitoring system to indicate problems to the mainframe or to the network. Nearly all of the data indicated main frame problems. The main frame guys obtained the hardware monitors and were able to nail down their problems. There were always continuing tensions between mainframe and network folks primarily because of competition between mainframe and network directors, egged on by Jim Barksdale of course.

Subject: FedEx trivia

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/27/2016

FedEx triviaJim Barksdale was the CIO of IT; on his frist trip to Colorado Springs what was the department doing when he arrived?a. Departmental meeting b. Disaster recovery drill c. Playing football d. no one was at work when he arrived early

Buddy Johnson6/27/2016

C

Cheryl Bowen6/27/2016

C. The power was out and everyone was outside.

Bob Baxter6/27/2016

Thanks for defending our honor Cheryl Bowen! Not only was the power out, there were only a couple of windows in the buildings, none of which could be opened.

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/27/2016

Answer: Cheryl of course is correct...since she was there. See Bob Higgins interview (Clip #4) about the visit http://www.fedexlegends.info/allvideos.html#higgins

FedEx trivia

Buddy Johnson6/28/2016

I knew there was something odd going on but could not recall. Good video.

Subject: FedEx History Trivia

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/27/2016

FedEx History TriviaWhen FedEx formed the Collierville Services IT/Sales/Marketing facility, there were locked gates between the approximately 7 buildings. Why were there gates between the buildings?

Gary Phillips6/28/2016

Buildings were going to be used by different companies.

Tommy Johnson6/27/2016

I wondered that myself. that was quite a pain trying to get somewhere.

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/30/2016

Answer: To easily enable other buildings to be leased to companies other that FedEx. The projected hire rate in the late 90's was 500 IT professionals a year...which sounds high but that was the projection. In case the company's plans ever changed, they could rent the buildings. Because of the large number of new hires, IT Services also formed it's own recruitment department.

Subject: FedEx Insurance Trivia

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/27/2016

FedEx Insurance TriviaIt used to cost about $1K out of pocket when you had a new child born.What does it now cost the new parents????

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/29/2016

Answer: What I am hearing, it will cost between $3K and $4k out of pocket expense.

Subject: FedEx History Trivia

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/27/2016

FedEx History TriviaIn Federal Express' infancy, the company required an airbill on the package. Companie's that shipped hundreds of packages found this tedious and unneccesary. There was a deferred product where you just used your own label and slapped a sticker on the package.What was this service called and who offered it?

Ray Lipham6/27/2016

Express Manifest?

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/28/2016

Answer: UPS Blue Label

Ray Lipham6/28/2016

I guess Express Manifest was offered to compete with Blue Label. It did not require an airbill. You just stuck a sticker on the package and the sticker had the airbill number. Express Manifest predated customer automation. Quite frankly, it was pretty much of a mess for operations to try to handle.

Subject: Grandchildren riding in the jeep on a lazy Sunday afternoon...note the nice cap...

Jimmy Glenn Burk6/27/2016

Grandchildren riding in the jeep on a lazy Sunday afternoon...note the nice cap...

Janie Haynes7/27/2016

Couple of cuties and the cap's pretty cool too😊

Subject: Learned interesting tidbit re: Retiree Insurance Coverage. Mine is terminating July 1 (turning 65) b ...

Don Rush6/29/2016

Learned interesting tidbit re: Retiree Insurance Coverage. Mine is terminating July 1 (turning 65) but wife continues. However, delay getting tests done today (June 29) at hospital because Dr. office requested "pre-cert" based on me being primary on insurance. Nope. Even tho it doesn't change until July 1, they had to do the pre-cert with her as the primary. Just in case someone else has to get a certification just at Medicare changeover, thought I'd let y'all know what to expect.

Subject: What a Rush.... Still !!

Peter Carabetta6/30/2016

What a Rush.... Still !!

What a Rush.... Still !!

Subject: Can retirees and spouses use Southwest Airlines discount travel? Thanks!

Carl Wayne Hardeman6/30/2016

Can retirees and spouses use Southwest Airlines discount travel? Thanks!

Subject: FedEx History Trivia:

Jimmy Glenn Burk7/1/2016

FedEx History Trivia:Who is this person and what did he do at FedEx?

Jimmy Glenn Burk7/4/2016

Answer: this is Ken Willoughby; I believe he succeeded Karl Birkholz in the SuperHub Ops

Subject: FedEx History Trivia:

Jimmy Glenn Burk7/1/2016

FedEx History Trivia:Who is this person and what did he do at FedEx?

Danielle Harnisch7/1/2016

my hero!!!!

Don Rose7/1/2016

Ken May. Completed his career at head of FedEx Office.

J. David White7/1/2016

I first worked in support of Ken May when he was MD for Caribbean & Latin America region in early 90s.

Danielle Harnisch7/1/2016

It's too bad they pushed him out. He was the greatest ground ops VP ever . He tried to be Bernie Sanders but you can't change a corporate culture of greed overnight

Baba Khuraafati Junction7/2/2016

Smith

Ray Lipham7/2/2016

Yes, I always thought that he would be the one that could fill Fred's shoes once he retired. He would not be like Fred but he seemed to be capable pf leading the company. Unfortunately other members of senior management who were also angling to be Fred's successor probably thought the same thing.

Subject: FedEx History Trivia

Jimmy Glenn Burk7/1/2016

FedEx History TriviaWho is this person and what did he do at FedEx?

Don Rose7/1/2016

Bob May. Many things at FedEx, but most well known as head of Zapmail (ZAPCZAR).

Ann Hoff Crum7/1/2016

RIP Bob May. A wonderful man.

Kathy Jones Crockett7/1/2016

What a wonderful Man, I worked for him twice, in Zapmail and then help write the business plan for BLS, From there managed the call center in BLS !!!! Love Bob May !!

Jimmy Glenn Burk7/14/2016

Bob May was the correct answer, a fun person to work with!

Peggy Dawson Black7/14/2016

A very nice man for sure.

Subject: Those of you that knew Suzie Tidwell, it was her husband that died this week when the Bobcat over tu ...

Kathy Jones Crockett7/1/2016

Those of you that knew Suzie Tidwell, it was her husband that died this week when the Bobcat over turned into a lake. It was on the news Monday, but did not mention the name.

Jeannie Owens7/2/2016

So very sorry to hear this. Praying for the family.

Shirley Lovelace Williams7/2/2016

Sorry to hear this. Remember Suzie from FedEx. Prayers for the family.

Baba Khuraafati Junction7/2/2016

R.I.P

Subject: FedEx History Trivia True or False 1. All the svp's under FWS wanted to go to a centralized call cen ...

Jimmy Glenn Burk7/2/2016

FedEx History Trivia True or False 1. All the svp's under FWS wanted to go to a centralized call center concept instead of having customers call the local station for dispatch2. Pilots had a handbook provided by the company that said that any company purchased by Federal Express and who had pilots....those other pilots would go behind the Express pilots in seniority3. At one time Federal Express was looking at building a Fitness Club for employees to work out, it would be across the street from the Hub4. At one time Federal Express was going to build or buy a resort for employees and families to take their well deserved vacations5. One of the Federal Express Corporate pilots was also Elvis Presley's pilot6. One of FWS' secretaries became a pilot7. No one in FWS' family has ever worked at Federal Express8. Ancel Hankins was responsible for getting FedEx's communications and wiring out from under the IBM computer floor9. Jim Barksdale had the company's first MD11 fly low and right by Clark Tower for the employees to see10. Dr. Ron Ponder started the first project mgmt meetings of all departments to coordinate activities; it was called the Ron-doRama

Gary Phillips7/2/2016

5. True......Milo

Nancy Muffett Pirani7/3/2016

Milo High. He wore his TCB necklace every day he flew the corporate jet. I worked with him for years in Corporate Aviation and still miss him dearly.

Gary Phillips7/3/2016

Yep. Had a nice boat down on the river as well. Great guy...and funny.

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