Essay 25
CHINA AS SEEN IN OCTOBER-NOVEMBER, 1995
On our trip to China in 1995, I was absolutely astounded to see the changes in Shanghai since we were there in l986. As usual, there appeared to be a beehive of activity, but this time the city had been transformed, and was being transformed by a veritable frenzy of construction.
I had been invited to visit Fudan University in Shanghai, where I gave a couple of lectures at the Center for American Studies. I was able to ask questions of people who maybe knew the answers, and could thus learn more than if we had been normal tourists. I was told that at present there were more than 10,000 construction projects! Perhaps even more amazingly, a good fraction of those were magnificent buildings of some considerable height, say 20 to 45 stories. These were frequently being built in clusters of five or more, and were scattered over a huge area. Shanghai covers a larger area than Los Angeles, so it is not possible to see a very large portion of the city from any one spot. Even so, no matter where you were, the horizon seemed to be filled with skyscrapers, partially built.
These constructions were not in the fashion of the tenement buildings one sees in New York or Chicago. They were elegant buildings, many gleaming in white tile, and appeared to be worthy of any city in the world, indeed, better than most. Everywhere, construction, day and night!
The mixture of the old and the new China was also fascinating. Every technology was seemingly being used in the most efficient manner. For example, where broken rock was needed, rock was being broken by men wielding huge sledge hammers. Where the most modern machines, trucks, communication facilities were needed, there they were. The object seemed to be the most efficient use of anybody and everything. Because workers are so plentiful, they are used in lieu of machines where that makes sense. But there seemed to be no shortages of equipment, i.e., sophisticated machines were everywhere rampant.
What could this mean? It was very difficult for me to comprehend what I was seeing. How was all of this being managed, and planned for, and paid for, and sustained? And how did this activity originate, when I had so little clue as to the future only nine years earlier?
So I asked that question. Who is responsible for all of this? The immediate answer was Deng Xaio Peng, but as he was reported to be in wheel chairs, and to either nod yes or no, or nod not at all when a paper was placed before him, it seemed unlikely to me that this was the entire answer. The next answer was that it was Zemin, a deputy, who was a native of the Shanghai region, and it was he who drew a ring around the Shanghai area, and five others, and proclaimed that, effectively, people living within those areas could be capitalists. He caused the government to subsidize the peasant farmers; food production immediately increased tremendously, and subsequently those peasants became enormously wealthy, with many millionaires being created. Some of this was underway in l986, for then we saw in action what is called the free market, where farmers brought their products into the city early every morning, sold them for cash, and got to keep everything they made more than a relative small amount of what I'd call tax. It may be that taxes were mostly avoided, considering the cleverness of peasants!
It will be tremendously interesting to see how all this plays out! I can’t really believe that it is possible for a country to allow some people to be capitalists, and at the same time to keep huge numbers of people in a state that can only be considered slavery. Also, the peasants now have access (not all, of course) to some TV. While everything is controlled, still there are Chinese who are learning for the first time that there exists a world outside of China--and a world that is filled with things beyond their imaginings. Incidentally, weather forecasts are prohibited! I concede, however, that the communist doctrine that power comes from the barrel of a gun is powerfully successful in keeping dissidents quiet.
Meanwhile, few in the US ever have any really factual information about what is going on in China. I consider myself reasonably well read, but I was totally unprepared for what I saw in Shanghai. China’s interior was mostly the “Old China”, but there were signs of an encroachment of western ideas and technologies almost everywhere.
We’re in for a good many surprises vis-a-vis China, and there won’t be many that we will like, at least from a political point of view. But I remain confident that communist systems will ultimately fall of their own weight. The time scale for this is problematic, and I am keenly aware that 100 years is a very short time, and that 2 years can be very long.
I would like to live long enough to see China become a successful republic.
That doesn’t seem very likely, but we can always have hope.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Essay 40 The Drummer Boy
Essay 40
THE DRUMMER BOY
In 1962 I attended a small astronomical meeting at Herstmonceux Castle, in Sussex, England. At that time I was deep in the business of modeling the sun, and was beginning to understand some things about stellar evolution--as were those at the meeting. It was an exciting time, with about a dozen astronomers present from various parts of the world.
The castle at Herstmonceux is the seat of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, once they moved from Greenwich. It is a l5th century castle, much restored, and eventually became somebody's manor house. When it became "home" to Britain's astronomers (government) the Astronomer Royal lived in it, but there was room for many visiting firemen to be accommodated in the back part of the castle. The castle had a library (formerly the chapel), a moat, ballroom, places to pour boiling oil, etc. Just super.
High up along the back, third floor, above the ballroom, was a series of small rooms, one of which was mine. The window faced to the north, looking out upon the formal garden. Hills nearly surrounded the castle, but mostly to the east through the north to the west.
Early one morning, maybe 4AM, the sun was just up, there was not a breath of air, and you could hear the bells on the sheep as they grazed in the distance. I was awake, lying perfectly still, listening to the birds and bells, and reflecting upon the beauty of an English summer morning. The morning was glorious, and I was glad to be alive.
On the table at the west side of the room, I had laid my pants out as I had gone to bed, with the pant legs over the table's edge, to help protect the crease. Lying there, I happened to be looking directly at the pants when to my amazement they were suddenly "jerked" to the floor. Now normally when something like that falls, there is a gradual creeping toward the edge, an acceleration of motion, then the slipping becomes more and more rapid. But this was not really what I seemed to see. First of all, the pants had been there for hours. Secondly, while the window was open, as it had been all night, I had detected no breeze. Thirdly, I saw no gradual motion, but a sudden jerk. I was quite impressed for the event did not fit into what I felt should have happened.
Later that day I happened to mention, casually, to the maintenance superintendent about my observation. "That would be the Drummer Boy", he responded with hesitation. "He's always playing tricks like that” The Drummer Boy inhabited the back of the castle, while the Gray Lady ghosted the front part, where the Astronomer Royal lived. People kept seeing her, for example when they suddenly turned into a hallway or a corridor. This being my first encounter with famed British ghosts, I was of course fascinated, and returned home with the story.
Some weeks after my return, various family members started hearing, while they were in the upstairs rooms, someone walk up the stairs and down the hall. The noise was not squeaks, but footfalls. Of course, when you got up to see who was there, as Chipper, Tiki the dog and I all did one time, there was no one there. Wenda and Nancy have had this experience too, being appropriately terrified, and so has Wayne. One time my sister Donice, while visiting us and after warning her daughter not to go upstairs, heard somebody coming, leaped out to scold the culprit, and was amazed to find no one. She had never heard that we had such things happen and didn't mention it until later, when she heard us talking about the Drummer Boy. In more recent years I have twice encountered the Drummer Boy in the upstairs hallway. Once he walked down to the bathroom when I was standing at the sink. I waited, expectantly, for Addie Leah to appear, but she had stopped just out of sight, and just stood there. Of course when I could stand it no longer, and looked out--nobody! But a checked on Addie Leah, and a couple of minutes later I found her in bed sound asleep. Another time, late at night, I met Addie Leah in the hall, suddenly realized she had never seen me and that we were going to collide, so I jerked to one side to avoid being hit--and there was no one there. Once again, it turned out that Addie Leah was asleep for I checked immediately! I was under the impression that we were home by ourselves, but apparently not. After hearing our stories, Addie Leah's sister, Wanda, also reported that she had encountered the ghost every time she had stayed with us!
I have never believed in ghosts, and still don’t!! But on the other hand what about these events that I experienced? Who knows about these things? The family had concluded that the Drummer Boy must have come home with me from Herstmonceux, so that’s what we called him and that seems as good a conclusion to make as any. Addie Leah is the only family member who had not met him, and she always said that if she did, there was a new house in it for her! But I note that the Drummer Boy stayed clear of the Lady in the front of the castle, so I'm sure that’s why Addie Leah was always left alone.
As the years have passed, for our house in Loveland there has not been a Drummer Boy. I wanted to tell the people who bought our house in Los Alamos about him, but Addie Leah said NO. Is it possible that they still have him? Should we inquire?
THE DRUMMER BOY
In 1962 I attended a small astronomical meeting at Herstmonceux Castle, in Sussex, England. At that time I was deep in the business of modeling the sun, and was beginning to understand some things about stellar evolution--as were those at the meeting. It was an exciting time, with about a dozen astronomers present from various parts of the world.
The castle at Herstmonceux is the seat of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, once they moved from Greenwich. It is a l5th century castle, much restored, and eventually became somebody's manor house. When it became "home" to Britain's astronomers (government) the Astronomer Royal lived in it, but there was room for many visiting firemen to be accommodated in the back part of the castle. The castle had a library (formerly the chapel), a moat, ballroom, places to pour boiling oil, etc. Just super.
High up along the back, third floor, above the ballroom, was a series of small rooms, one of which was mine. The window faced to the north, looking out upon the formal garden. Hills nearly surrounded the castle, but mostly to the east through the north to the west.
Early one morning, maybe 4AM, the sun was just up, there was not a breath of air, and you could hear the bells on the sheep as they grazed in the distance. I was awake, lying perfectly still, listening to the birds and bells, and reflecting upon the beauty of an English summer morning. The morning was glorious, and I was glad to be alive.
On the table at the west side of the room, I had laid my pants out as I had gone to bed, with the pant legs over the table's edge, to help protect the crease. Lying there, I happened to be looking directly at the pants when to my amazement they were suddenly "jerked" to the floor. Now normally when something like that falls, there is a gradual creeping toward the edge, an acceleration of motion, then the slipping becomes more and more rapid. But this was not really what I seemed to see. First of all, the pants had been there for hours. Secondly, while the window was open, as it had been all night, I had detected no breeze. Thirdly, I saw no gradual motion, but a sudden jerk. I was quite impressed for the event did not fit into what I felt should have happened.
Later that day I happened to mention, casually, to the maintenance superintendent about my observation. "That would be the Drummer Boy", he responded with hesitation. "He's always playing tricks like that” The Drummer Boy inhabited the back of the castle, while the Gray Lady ghosted the front part, where the Astronomer Royal lived. People kept seeing her, for example when they suddenly turned into a hallway or a corridor. This being my first encounter with famed British ghosts, I was of course fascinated, and returned home with the story.
Some weeks after my return, various family members started hearing, while they were in the upstairs rooms, someone walk up the stairs and down the hall. The noise was not squeaks, but footfalls. Of course, when you got up to see who was there, as Chipper, Tiki the dog and I all did one time, there was no one there. Wenda and Nancy have had this experience too, being appropriately terrified, and so has Wayne. One time my sister Donice, while visiting us and after warning her daughter not to go upstairs, heard somebody coming, leaped out to scold the culprit, and was amazed to find no one. She had never heard that we had such things happen and didn't mention it until later, when she heard us talking about the Drummer Boy. In more recent years I have twice encountered the Drummer Boy in the upstairs hallway. Once he walked down to the bathroom when I was standing at the sink. I waited, expectantly, for Addie Leah to appear, but she had stopped just out of sight, and just stood there. Of course when I could stand it no longer, and looked out--nobody! But a checked on Addie Leah, and a couple of minutes later I found her in bed sound asleep. Another time, late at night, I met Addie Leah in the hall, suddenly realized she had never seen me and that we were going to collide, so I jerked to one side to avoid being hit--and there was no one there. Once again, it turned out that Addie Leah was asleep for I checked immediately! I was under the impression that we were home by ourselves, but apparently not. After hearing our stories, Addie Leah's sister, Wanda, also reported that she had encountered the ghost every time she had stayed with us!
I have never believed in ghosts, and still don’t!! But on the other hand what about these events that I experienced? Who knows about these things? The family had concluded that the Drummer Boy must have come home with me from Herstmonceux, so that’s what we called him and that seems as good a conclusion to make as any. Addie Leah is the only family member who had not met him, and she always said that if she did, there was a new house in it for her! But I note that the Drummer Boy stayed clear of the Lady in the front of the castle, so I'm sure that’s why Addie Leah was always left alone.
As the years have passed, for our house in Loveland there has not been a Drummer Boy. I wanted to tell the people who bought our house in Los Alamos about him, but Addie Leah said NO. Is it possible that they still have him? Should we inquire?
Essay 51
CATEGORIES OF QUESTIONS FOR NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS
In 1987 I gave a presentation of the “present and future” to some members of the laboratory. There were three segments that are maybe worth recalling.
One was an answer to the question, “Can we categorize nuclear questions?”
It was my contention that we could.
Category:
1. ? ≡ Matters in this category need work.
2. ?1/2 ≡ That’s your opinion.
3. ?2 ≡ Don’t believe it (question mark squared)
4. ?10 ≡ Imagine that! (question mark to the 10th power)
5. Lim ?→ 0, [?1/? ] ≡ ?! ≡ You’ll never be lucky enough to see it.
6. Lim ?→ ∞, [?1/? ] ≡ Stand Back!
I had also come to some conclusions about our test program.
AS THE TEST PROGRAM HAS AGED, WE HAVE SUBSTITUTED
1. Satisfaction for Excitement
2. Memories for Visions
3. Objectives for Necessities
4. Management for Leadership
5. Rules for Reason.
WE NOW PREFER
1. Politics to Science
2. Abstractions to Understanding
3. Institutional Survival to National Needs
4. Planning to Doing
5. Budget meetings to any other activity
6. Giving “Moral” support rather than Actual Help
CATEGORIES OF QUESTIONS FOR NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS
In 1987 I gave a presentation of the “present and future” to some members of the laboratory. There were three segments that are maybe worth recalling.
One was an answer to the question, “Can we categorize nuclear questions?”
It was my contention that we could.
Category:
1. ? ≡ Matters in this category need work.
2. ?1/2 ≡ That’s your opinion.
3. ?2 ≡ Don’t believe it (question mark squared)
4. ?10 ≡ Imagine that! (question mark to the 10th power)
5. Lim ?→ 0, [?1/? ] ≡ ?! ≡ You’ll never be lucky enough to see it.
6. Lim ?→ ∞, [?1/? ] ≡ Stand Back!
I had also come to some conclusions about our test program.
AS THE TEST PROGRAM HAS AGED, WE HAVE SUBSTITUTED
1. Satisfaction for Excitement
2. Memories for Visions
3. Objectives for Necessities
4. Management for Leadership
5. Rules for Reason.
WE NOW PREFER
1. Politics to Science
2. Abstractions to Understanding
3. Institutional Survival to National Needs
4. Planning to Doing
5. Budget meetings to any other activity
6. Giving “Moral” support rather than Actual Help
Essay 49 Watching the British Behave
Essay 49
WATCHING THE BRITISH BEHAVE
Before Americans have a ceremony of any kind, the Brit’s knowledge of how to do it should be studied with real care. And, it is clear to me that there is more involved that just practice.
On several occasions we have been in England for various kinds of events. Three times we have been in London on Remembrance Day, the celebration of the end of WWI, celebrated on the Sunday before November 11.
There is a very formal service at Westminster Abbey, all of London is silent at 11Am, and immediately after that there is a march of veterans past the Cenotaph at Whitehall. Members of the Royal Family are in attendance. We have actually seen WWI veterans participate, though there were only a few, and each one was in a wheel chair.
It is the ceremony in Westminster Abbey that attracts my attention. The Abbey is reserved for representatives of each major military element and other national dignitaries. Ushers wear uniforms and rows of medals, and formality reigns.
With every detail planned weeks in advance, the question arises, what if there is a surprise of some kind, and an important person arrives unexpectedly? No problem at all, for maybe twenty chairs or so are reserved just for this possibility. Those chairs are located immediately beside Sir Isaac Newton’s tomb and are almost the best seats in the abbey. But is it likely that a surprise important visitor will appear? No! What then should be done with chairs that are empty? Why seat someone there—at the very last moment.
Suppose an American tourist arrives at the door of the Abbey, and seeks admittance. He will be turned away, of course. But suppose he arrives about two and a half or three minutes before the service is to start. Well it just so happens that a seat is available, and he will be ushered to it, quickly.
How I found out about this I am not sure, but on three occasions I arrived, twice with other family members, at just the right moment, and we participated in this exceedingly remarkable Westminster Abbey Service. We saw almost everybody who was anybody. Afterward the Abbey participants exit to the area reserved for them immediately adjacent and they can watch the long parade of hundreds, even thousands, of veterans and members of military units.
On more than one occasion we have also been present when the Queen opened Parliament. Twice we stood near the monument in front of Buckingham Palace to see the coaches pass by with the Scepter, the Crown, and the Queen, each in its own coach. Another time we were at the Houses of Parliament to see the Queen arrive there. We were also present at Parliament once when President Eisenhower was visiting there. These were splendid moments, and no difficulty was over noticed. Each participant did everything quite correctly at precisely the correct moment.
Then there is the Lord Mayor’s Parade, and we have watched that twice from the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Everybody is much more informal for that affair, but compared with the way we do things, formality still reigns.
There is a truly big scene at Prince Albert Hall on Saturday night proceeding Remembrance Day. The King of Norway always attends for example, as do various members of the Royal Family. One year as we watched the carriages arrive at the entrance, everything seemed to be in order; the Royals arrived in the proper sequence, and last two being the Queen Mother and her Lady in Waiting, and then the Queen herself. Once that happened, the police quickly removed the barricades and observers dispersed. Except for us. We had struck up a wonderful conversation with a delightful Scottish lady who came to London for this event each year. She had lots of great stories.
Quite suddenly there was a flurry of activity, a couple of barricades were rushed into place, when a splendid royal automobile suddenly arrived, and Princess Diana stepped out and quickly entered the building.
The next day the story was in all the newspapers, as this was the first time in about four centuries that anyone had arrived after the Monarch! It seems that Princess Di had had a quarrel with Prince Charles, announced she was not going, and after he departed she changed her mind.
Another time we were in York when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrived for an important ceremony and we learned that you don’t have to be Royal to get proper attention.
We were also present once when the Queen Mother arrived at Westminster Abbey, and it was impressive indeed to see the huge double row of banners laid on the ground, two by two, as she entered. She was treated not just with respect, but seemingly with reverence.
In every one of these events we could see that things are done in a certain way, and always have been! Apparently there need not be any information disseminated. The participants and the observers all know just what to expect.
One of our great moments happened the day after we read in the London Times that the Queen of the Netherlands was making her first state visit to England, and would arrive at the pier on the Thames near Parliament the next morning. Addie Leah and I decided to go, and we arrived quite early and sat on a bench very close to the river and royal pier—the one with the red carpet. We were quite certain that we would be moved when the time came, but it was a good spot, and we settled in. Not too long afterward the police arrived and began placing the proper barricades. They gave us the eye, but left us alone, and the barricades were behind us. Eventually there was a pretty good crowd of onlookers, but none were near us at all.
The Queen of the Netherlands finally arrived with Prince Charles as her host: he had met her at Greenwich where she arrived from Holland with her Dutch Admirals. Shortly before her arrival, the Royal Carriages came in a long row behind us. There was the Queen and Prince Phillip, and a whole string of carriages, each one just magnificent.
When Queen Beatrice was just stepping on the gang plank to make it ashore where Queen Elizabeth was waiting, there was a British Admiral standing to her right, and a Dutch Admiral was standing to his right. I don’t recall just who was on Queen Beatrice’s left. At the most dangerous moment, Queen Beatrice tripped and pitched to her right. She was headed for the Thames! The British Admiral moved not a muscle. The Dutch Admiral reached across in front of him, and grabbed the Queen just in time. There was laughter, and pleasantries.
Addie Leah asked however, “Why didn’t the British Admiral grab her?” I thought the answer must be rooted in the Royal Navy’s “do’s and don’ts” book, and I am now quite sure that there is a sentence somewhere that says “Thou shalt not lay hands on a foreign Queen!”
We watched the two Queens depart in the first carriage, the two royal gentlemen being in the second carriage, and space was made in each of the other carriages for others in the Dutch Queen’s entourage.
All that time we were left quite alone, having the best seats in the park!
There is an enormous value in being able to appear harmless.
Lest the reader has not noticed, the point to these particular paragraphs is to pay tribute to the Brit’s ability to put on a “show”. Each event is truly spectacular, but one gets the impression that the being spectacular is not the purpose; rather it is an opportunity to demonstrate deep and even sacred respect for the person and/or historical moment at hand. It is quite impossible for Americans to compete.
WATCHING THE BRITISH BEHAVE
Before Americans have a ceremony of any kind, the Brit’s knowledge of how to do it should be studied with real care. And, it is clear to me that there is more involved that just practice.
On several occasions we have been in England for various kinds of events. Three times we have been in London on Remembrance Day, the celebration of the end of WWI, celebrated on the Sunday before November 11.
There is a very formal service at Westminster Abbey, all of London is silent at 11Am, and immediately after that there is a march of veterans past the Cenotaph at Whitehall. Members of the Royal Family are in attendance. We have actually seen WWI veterans participate, though there were only a few, and each one was in a wheel chair.
It is the ceremony in Westminster Abbey that attracts my attention. The Abbey is reserved for representatives of each major military element and other national dignitaries. Ushers wear uniforms and rows of medals, and formality reigns.
With every detail planned weeks in advance, the question arises, what if there is a surprise of some kind, and an important person arrives unexpectedly? No problem at all, for maybe twenty chairs or so are reserved just for this possibility. Those chairs are located immediately beside Sir Isaac Newton’s tomb and are almost the best seats in the abbey. But is it likely that a surprise important visitor will appear? No! What then should be done with chairs that are empty? Why seat someone there—at the very last moment.
Suppose an American tourist arrives at the door of the Abbey, and seeks admittance. He will be turned away, of course. But suppose he arrives about two and a half or three minutes before the service is to start. Well it just so happens that a seat is available, and he will be ushered to it, quickly.
How I found out about this I am not sure, but on three occasions I arrived, twice with other family members, at just the right moment, and we participated in this exceedingly remarkable Westminster Abbey Service. We saw almost everybody who was anybody. Afterward the Abbey participants exit to the area reserved for them immediately adjacent and they can watch the long parade of hundreds, even thousands, of veterans and members of military units.
On more than one occasion we have also been present when the Queen opened Parliament. Twice we stood near the monument in front of Buckingham Palace to see the coaches pass by with the Scepter, the Crown, and the Queen, each in its own coach. Another time we were at the Houses of Parliament to see the Queen arrive there. We were also present at Parliament once when President Eisenhower was visiting there. These were splendid moments, and no difficulty was over noticed. Each participant did everything quite correctly at precisely the correct moment.
Then there is the Lord Mayor’s Parade, and we have watched that twice from the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Everybody is much more informal for that affair, but compared with the way we do things, formality still reigns.
There is a truly big scene at Prince Albert Hall on Saturday night proceeding Remembrance Day. The King of Norway always attends for example, as do various members of the Royal Family. One year as we watched the carriages arrive at the entrance, everything seemed to be in order; the Royals arrived in the proper sequence, and last two being the Queen Mother and her Lady in Waiting, and then the Queen herself. Once that happened, the police quickly removed the barricades and observers dispersed. Except for us. We had struck up a wonderful conversation with a delightful Scottish lady who came to London for this event each year. She had lots of great stories.
Quite suddenly there was a flurry of activity, a couple of barricades were rushed into place, when a splendid royal automobile suddenly arrived, and Princess Diana stepped out and quickly entered the building.
The next day the story was in all the newspapers, as this was the first time in about four centuries that anyone had arrived after the Monarch! It seems that Princess Di had had a quarrel with Prince Charles, announced she was not going, and after he departed she changed her mind.
Another time we were in York when Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrived for an important ceremony and we learned that you don’t have to be Royal to get proper attention.
We were also present once when the Queen Mother arrived at Westminster Abbey, and it was impressive indeed to see the huge double row of banners laid on the ground, two by two, as she entered. She was treated not just with respect, but seemingly with reverence.
In every one of these events we could see that things are done in a certain way, and always have been! Apparently there need not be any information disseminated. The participants and the observers all know just what to expect.
One of our great moments happened the day after we read in the London Times that the Queen of the Netherlands was making her first state visit to England, and would arrive at the pier on the Thames near Parliament the next morning. Addie Leah and I decided to go, and we arrived quite early and sat on a bench very close to the river and royal pier—the one with the red carpet. We were quite certain that we would be moved when the time came, but it was a good spot, and we settled in. Not too long afterward the police arrived and began placing the proper barricades. They gave us the eye, but left us alone, and the barricades were behind us. Eventually there was a pretty good crowd of onlookers, but none were near us at all.
The Queen of the Netherlands finally arrived with Prince Charles as her host: he had met her at Greenwich where she arrived from Holland with her Dutch Admirals. Shortly before her arrival, the Royal Carriages came in a long row behind us. There was the Queen and Prince Phillip, and a whole string of carriages, each one just magnificent.
When Queen Beatrice was just stepping on the gang plank to make it ashore where Queen Elizabeth was waiting, there was a British Admiral standing to her right, and a Dutch Admiral was standing to his right. I don’t recall just who was on Queen Beatrice’s left. At the most dangerous moment, Queen Beatrice tripped and pitched to her right. She was headed for the Thames! The British Admiral moved not a muscle. The Dutch Admiral reached across in front of him, and grabbed the Queen just in time. There was laughter, and pleasantries.
Addie Leah asked however, “Why didn’t the British Admiral grab her?” I thought the answer must be rooted in the Royal Navy’s “do’s and don’ts” book, and I am now quite sure that there is a sentence somewhere that says “Thou shalt not lay hands on a foreign Queen!”
We watched the two Queens depart in the first carriage, the two royal gentlemen being in the second carriage, and space was made in each of the other carriages for others in the Dutch Queen’s entourage.
All that time we were left quite alone, having the best seats in the park!
There is an enormous value in being able to appear harmless.
Lest the reader has not noticed, the point to these particular paragraphs is to pay tribute to the Brit’s ability to put on a “show”. Each event is truly spectacular, but one gets the impression that the being spectacular is not the purpose; rather it is an opportunity to demonstrate deep and even sacred respect for the person and/or historical moment at hand. It is quite impossible for Americans to compete.
Essay 48 Nine-Eleven
Essay 48
Nine-Eleven
On September 11, 2001, Addie Leah and I were on the island of Borneo. I had had a life-long desire to go to Borneo, principally because I grew up dazzled by the stories of the headhunters, and every travelling circus group had a “wild man from Borneo”.
It happened that Borneo is in a time zone 12 hours different from New York. We had been out for a day of sightseeing and camera clicking, and returned to our hotel in the city of Kuching, turned on the TV, and there was a burning building. There was no sound. “What is that building? Where is that building? Is that in Kuala Lumpur?” As I watched I grew ever more fascinated, and actually remembered the time during WWII when a B-25 flew into the Empire State building. After a few minutes, I saw an airplane fly into the second building, and instantly I knew those towers were in New York City. We were being attacked!
In retrospect I think they were showing videos of what had happened a bit earlier, but as there was no voice or captions, I had no way of knowing what was going on. After about 5 minutes a voice confirmed that this was in New York City, and the attack had occurred only a short time previously.
True to my upbringing in Los Alamos, I now began to pace the floor. This was probably just one phase of an attack. Where else would a nation try to hit us, and how? The answer was clear to me. There must be a plan to hit Chicago, for that is the principal communication and transportation center of the U.S. What is worse, I happened to believe, and still do, that a couple of nuclear devises have been missing ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union. What if the next hit is there, and with a nuclear device at a moderate height above the city?! Now I was distraught! And frightened! After about half an hour, I concluded No, it is not an attack by another nation. It is somebody else. But who? And I began to relax. Surely this will put all Americans on the same page. And that will be very good, indeed. I expected there would be many more deaths than was the fact, but I had full confidence that it was an attack we could absorb. It was not nuclear, nor poison gas!
It was not for a number of hours that we began to hear details on an international news channel, and I came to realize that the attack was indeed planned to be bigger than it turned out. I was now breathing relatively easy.
There were some immediate problems, even for us. As all international flights to the US were cancelled, what about our getting back home? Wow, what a mess everything must be! It’ll really be something to see how this all shakes out!
The following morning our tour guide, as arranged through SmarTours, Inc. announced that we were not to worry, as all our expenses in Malaysia would be covered until we were finally able to return to the U.S. Now this was unusual indeed! I have never heard of any travel organization that would do such a thing. In a few days we learned the truth—the Malaysian government had told tour operators that Malaysia would reimburse them for all their costs. So that mystery was solved.
The end of our trip arrived, and we were on the first plane of Malaysia Air Lines allowed to return to the States from Kuala Lumpur. We landed on Taiwan to refuel, and there everything was removed from the plane, and everybody had to get off to go through a new kind of security check. But the people doing the searching evidently had no experience, and few instructions, and were awash with confusion and inefficiencies. Things were a real mess, and any added security was doubtful.
We had a truly curious feeling in Los Angeles, for upon arrival I could not find our baggage for about an hour. After it was located, we emerged through customs in the Los Angeles international terminal to find it completely empty except for a few employees. Image that huge terminal room, empty of travelers! Even our fellow travelers were not in view. It is a sight I never expect to see again.
I have included these few remarks to illustrate that those who are knowledgeable about nuclear explosions are quick to think of them if there is any kind of emergency. Most people worry about fire, or theft, or something that can be viewed as fairly trivial compared to what we have seen.
We saw a good many of those famous shrunken heads in Borneo, just as we had hoped to do. They contrasted beautifully with the swollen heads that are occasionally seen in the District of Columbia!
These skulls were hanging from the rafters in one of a village visits.
Nine-Eleven
On September 11, 2001, Addie Leah and I were on the island of Borneo. I had had a life-long desire to go to Borneo, principally because I grew up dazzled by the stories of the headhunters, and every travelling circus group had a “wild man from Borneo”.
It happened that Borneo is in a time zone 12 hours different from New York. We had been out for a day of sightseeing and camera clicking, and returned to our hotel in the city of Kuching, turned on the TV, and there was a burning building. There was no sound. “What is that building? Where is that building? Is that in Kuala Lumpur?” As I watched I grew ever more fascinated, and actually remembered the time during WWII when a B-25 flew into the Empire State building. After a few minutes, I saw an airplane fly into the second building, and instantly I knew those towers were in New York City. We were being attacked!
In retrospect I think they were showing videos of what had happened a bit earlier, but as there was no voice or captions, I had no way of knowing what was going on. After about 5 minutes a voice confirmed that this was in New York City, and the attack had occurred only a short time previously.
True to my upbringing in Los Alamos, I now began to pace the floor. This was probably just one phase of an attack. Where else would a nation try to hit us, and how? The answer was clear to me. There must be a plan to hit Chicago, for that is the principal communication and transportation center of the U.S. What is worse, I happened to believe, and still do, that a couple of nuclear devises have been missing ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union. What if the next hit is there, and with a nuclear device at a moderate height above the city?! Now I was distraught! And frightened! After about half an hour, I concluded No, it is not an attack by another nation. It is somebody else. But who? And I began to relax. Surely this will put all Americans on the same page. And that will be very good, indeed. I expected there would be many more deaths than was the fact, but I had full confidence that it was an attack we could absorb. It was not nuclear, nor poison gas!
It was not for a number of hours that we began to hear details on an international news channel, and I came to realize that the attack was indeed planned to be bigger than it turned out. I was now breathing relatively easy.
There were some immediate problems, even for us. As all international flights to the US were cancelled, what about our getting back home? Wow, what a mess everything must be! It’ll really be something to see how this all shakes out!
The following morning our tour guide, as arranged through SmarTours, Inc. announced that we were not to worry, as all our expenses in Malaysia would be covered until we were finally able to return to the U.S. Now this was unusual indeed! I have never heard of any travel organization that would do such a thing. In a few days we learned the truth—the Malaysian government had told tour operators that Malaysia would reimburse them for all their costs. So that mystery was solved.
The end of our trip arrived, and we were on the first plane of Malaysia Air Lines allowed to return to the States from Kuala Lumpur. We landed on Taiwan to refuel, and there everything was removed from the plane, and everybody had to get off to go through a new kind of security check. But the people doing the searching evidently had no experience, and few instructions, and were awash with confusion and inefficiencies. Things were a real mess, and any added security was doubtful.
We had a truly curious feeling in Los Angeles, for upon arrival I could not find our baggage for about an hour. After it was located, we emerged through customs in the Los Angeles international terminal to find it completely empty except for a few employees. Image that huge terminal room, empty of travelers! Even our fellow travelers were not in view. It is a sight I never expect to see again.
I have included these few remarks to illustrate that those who are knowledgeable about nuclear explosions are quick to think of them if there is any kind of emergency. Most people worry about fire, or theft, or something that can be viewed as fairly trivial compared to what we have seen.
We saw a good many of those famous shrunken heads in Borneo, just as we had hoped to do. They contrasted beautifully with the swollen heads that are occasionally seen in the District of Columbia!
These skulls were hanging from the rafters in one of a village visits.
Essay 44 Visiting Czechoslavakia
Essay 44
VISITING CZECHOSLAVAKIA
In 1967 there was a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague, Czechoslovakia. I attended as a member, and my guest for the meeting was Jim Ogle, son of Bill.
Although the Soviet Union had not yet actually invaded the country militarily, it dominated everything. I was enormously impressed to see what was happening in Prague. I saw churches fenced off from the public and most of them had their stained glass windows broken out. Many people wished to talk with us when we walked along the street, but they were obviously afraid to be seen to be doing so. For instance they approached at dusk, or at times when I was quite alone. They wanted to know about automobiles, and how much they cost us in the US. In truth they wanted to know anything at all about the “outside” world, so it was only then that I began to realize what political oppression could really be like.
The IAU meeting was affected in a variety of ways. First of all, restaurants were short of food, menus were really non-existent, and good meals were hard to come by. We tried many different ones, and only one Chinese restaurant seemed to be satisfactory. At the “banquet” meal for the IAU the Russians stood at the counter in front of the kitchen and handed the food out to their companions as it was available. By the time they had finished this carefully planned distribution system, there was very little food left for everyone else. The American astronomers I noted seemed to be more upset by all of this than the Europeans. It was a wonderful for a few of us to see the behavior of the political left among us when they encountered a world shaped by communists and socialists.
Our hotel had been opened just for the IAU meeting. Obviously it had been closed a long time before our arrival, but was adequate if a bit primitive. One night before we were returning to the hotel the entire city suffered a power black-out. Because of deep clouds the black-out was truly black. Upon arriving at the hotel, we found there were two candles being used at the front desk, and they were needed there. Could we find ourselves to the room without help? We thought so.
As I remember, we were on the fourth floor, and counting floors worked just fine. But how exactly were the rooms numbered? We made our way along the walls by spreading both arms along them. When we came to a door, we tried our room key. That worked just fine, and upon entering our room we were able to stare out over a completely dark city. It was a memorable moment.
The fun moment occurred a few moments later. There was a small radio in the room that we had listened to from time to time. I turned it on, and it worked!
For the next few days we talked into the radio quite frequently, and specialized in long dissertations on the merits of living in a free country. I hope we were helpful.
VISITING CZECHOSLAVAKIA
In 1967 there was a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague, Czechoslovakia. I attended as a member, and my guest for the meeting was Jim Ogle, son of Bill.
Although the Soviet Union had not yet actually invaded the country militarily, it dominated everything. I was enormously impressed to see what was happening in Prague. I saw churches fenced off from the public and most of them had their stained glass windows broken out. Many people wished to talk with us when we walked along the street, but they were obviously afraid to be seen to be doing so. For instance they approached at dusk, or at times when I was quite alone. They wanted to know about automobiles, and how much they cost us in the US. In truth they wanted to know anything at all about the “outside” world, so it was only then that I began to realize what political oppression could really be like.
The IAU meeting was affected in a variety of ways. First of all, restaurants were short of food, menus were really non-existent, and good meals were hard to come by. We tried many different ones, and only one Chinese restaurant seemed to be satisfactory. At the “banquet” meal for the IAU the Russians stood at the counter in front of the kitchen and handed the food out to their companions as it was available. By the time they had finished this carefully planned distribution system, there was very little food left for everyone else. The American astronomers I noted seemed to be more upset by all of this than the Europeans. It was a wonderful for a few of us to see the behavior of the political left among us when they encountered a world shaped by communists and socialists.
Our hotel had been opened just for the IAU meeting. Obviously it had been closed a long time before our arrival, but was adequate if a bit primitive. One night before we were returning to the hotel the entire city suffered a power black-out. Because of deep clouds the black-out was truly black. Upon arriving at the hotel, we found there were two candles being used at the front desk, and they were needed there. Could we find ourselves to the room without help? We thought so.
As I remember, we were on the fourth floor, and counting floors worked just fine. But how exactly were the rooms numbered? We made our way along the walls by spreading both arms along them. When we came to a door, we tried our room key. That worked just fine, and upon entering our room we were able to stare out over a completely dark city. It was a memorable moment.
The fun moment occurred a few moments later. There was a small radio in the room that we had listened to from time to time. I turned it on, and it worked!
For the next few days we talked into the radio quite frequently, and specialized in long dissertations on the merits of living in a free country. I hope we were helpful.
Essay 41 Please Stand if You Are Able To Do So.
Essay 41
“ *PLEASE STAND IF YOU ARE ABLE TO DO SO”
The above footnote appears regularly in our Sunday Church Bulletin, demanding the action when we have hymns and psalms. The heavy burden it places on the elderly I note each week, not just from a physical point of view, but also from the stress arising from contemplation.
Suppose I decide to sit this hymn out. Am I not telegraphing to others that I am unable to stand? What then is their conclusion when the service is over, and I arise and walk away? Obviously I was able to stand, and sat just to demonstrate that I have no intention to accede to the footnote’s demand. Or perhaps my physical condition is incredibly marginal, and my ability to stand comes and goes. If so, should this fact not also be communicated? I could rise for verses one, three and five, and sit for the others. That might make a bit more sense.
But of course that would not do at all. Energy spent rising and sitting needs to be conserved.
Standing part-way up also seems not to be any solution.
It is quite a conundrum, and time spent contemplating it almost certainly detracts from the service.
If one is convinced that the printed program originator means well, are there not other footnotes that are even more useful? How about
“*Please sing if you are able to do so”? Or
“*Please pray now if you are able to do so”?
Perhaps this next thought is a good one. “*Please spend some time this week contemplating the sermon, and we are sure that you are able to do so”.
Ultimately, I believe the footnote is most valuable if I use it every day at home by substituting almost any command for “stand”. I like the verbs “work”, or “laugh” or “have mercy” or “love” or “think” or “give”—verb after verb comes to mind. And if you have bad knees and a bad back, any one of them is better than the verb “stand”.
Let’s see now. Where are we in today’s service? I have almost forgotten to sit down!
“ *PLEASE STAND IF YOU ARE ABLE TO DO SO”
The above footnote appears regularly in our Sunday Church Bulletin, demanding the action when we have hymns and psalms. The heavy burden it places on the elderly I note each week, not just from a physical point of view, but also from the stress arising from contemplation.
Suppose I decide to sit this hymn out. Am I not telegraphing to others that I am unable to stand? What then is their conclusion when the service is over, and I arise and walk away? Obviously I was able to stand, and sat just to demonstrate that I have no intention to accede to the footnote’s demand. Or perhaps my physical condition is incredibly marginal, and my ability to stand comes and goes. If so, should this fact not also be communicated? I could rise for verses one, three and five, and sit for the others. That might make a bit more sense.
But of course that would not do at all. Energy spent rising and sitting needs to be conserved.
Standing part-way up also seems not to be any solution.
It is quite a conundrum, and time spent contemplating it almost certainly detracts from the service.
If one is convinced that the printed program originator means well, are there not other footnotes that are even more useful? How about
“*Please sing if you are able to do so”? Or
“*Please pray now if you are able to do so”?
Perhaps this next thought is a good one. “*Please spend some time this week contemplating the sermon, and we are sure that you are able to do so”.
Ultimately, I believe the footnote is most valuable if I use it every day at home by substituting almost any command for “stand”. I like the verbs “work”, or “laugh” or “have mercy” or “love” or “think” or “give”—verb after verb comes to mind. And if you have bad knees and a bad back, any one of them is better than the verb “stand”.
Let’s see now. Where are we in today’s service? I have almost forgotten to sit down!
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