Saturday, January 18, 2003
LIBRARY BASICS
As a Christmas gift this past year, I received a gift of three-thousand books!
Fortunately, they are all contained on one CD disc. Otherwise, I would never have found room for them since I have long been a book addict and have a plentiful stock on shelves, in cabinets and in random piles here and there as it is. Three thousand more bound volumes would have more than done it for this house. The fact is, since we are getting older, we are faced with the sensible need to get re-located in smaller living quarters. The main, if unstated openly, question for me has been, and is,"what will we do with all our books?"
The Library of Congress, which celebrated it's 200th Birthday just last year, was started with only 6,487 books. We know the date and the number of volumes because Thomas Jefferson's personal collection was moved from his home "Monticello" in Albermarle County, Virginia to D.C as the basis for the new national library - the old collection having be burned by the British during the War of l812.
In glancing down the list of the titles of the three thousand books I have just acquired,I could not help but reflect upon the fact that, since they are all public domain publications, many of them are the identical works included in the Jefferson collection of l814. His library included Greek, Roman, Latin, French, and Greek works... one in Russian. I have heard. It includes general works such as those of Shakespeare, Pope, and others. The works of major poets are included as well as numerous technical and scientific. Or course, the CD brings us hundreds of novels and many types of writing unknown in Jefferson's time but it is founded on the same basic works Jefferson considered so vital in forming what has been called "America's oldest cultural institution."
President Thomas Jefferson appointed the first two librarians of the Library of Congress when it was set up in 1802. It was located in the Capital building itself. Some accounts speak of Jefferson as having "donated" his books to the new library, others mention a modest payment eventually made to him, but it was an act of great importance in our history. It has grown to be one of the world's finest collections of books, publications of all kinds,plus historical papers, the massive Matthew Brady collection of Civil War Photographs as well as musical compositions by Bach,Beethoven, Brahms and moderns, of course, such as Leonard Burnstein and others.It has three perfect copies of the famed Gutenberg Bible and a priceless collection of Stradivarius violins.
My lonely, little CD pales as we talk about the great library the fundamental collection of books Thomas Jefferson's for the national national library. It started with just over 6,000 book - twice the number I now hold in one hand on the CD - and I stand in wonder at the miracle of it all!
A.L.M. January 16, 2003 [c501wds]
Friday, January 17, 2003
ICE MAN! COMETH!
Off again - on again!
As long as I can remember we have been talking, planning and dreaming about going to the planet Mars.
One of the big factors holding us back was said to have been the apparent lack of water. If water were present, the red planet had enticing potential as a sort of second Earth. Now, as the year 2003 is racheting along, the mystery has been more or less "solved."
The water is there but it now known to be found only in the form of ice and largely underground. So, there is work still to be done before any expeditions can be shipped out with setlement can ship out for Mars with settlement ideas in mind.
There was a time, some years ago, when our community depended to the specilal abiltiies of a man, a specialist, who loomed large in our lives - the ice man. In those days before refrigeration systems we depended on that man to keep us supplied with large chunks of cyrstal-clear frozen water. The iceman had his sole product available in various sizes ranging from ten or fifteen pounds up to one-hunded pound block. We used smaller churcks every other day, but he had some customer with larger ice-boxes and he lugged in hundred pound chucks at those places. It took some doing, too. He used large, black-iron callipers called ice tongs and usually he put a leather sheet across his shoulder before he hoisted the ice to that perch for transport into the house.The ice was placed in a insulated section of the cabinet known as our "Ice Box:. There was a pencil-sized hole in the bpttom of the the box which allowed the water from the melting ice to flow through a tube to a pan undeneath the icebox. That pan, by the way, had to be emptied at regular intervals, too.
The iceman was an important person in that era. We depended on him to keep our food supplies safe.
Specialists in ice managemnt are again in demand.
The latest spectrascope studies indicate that the ice on Mars will need to be "worked" or processed. It is frozen in layers with sediment. Water is evident as far as 60 degrees latitude. As anticipated, it is most prevalent at the planet's poles. The South Pole of Mars, like our own, appears to be a tremendous continent covered with ice. Our present equipment does not allow us to "see" beneath more than a yard or so beneath the surface, so it is not know how deep such layers might be.
It is up to the ingeniuity and skill of a new generation of ice men and women to determine what all of this can mean to humans here on Earth. Systems need to be developed which will bore into the icy crust of Mars, melt the treaures hidden there and distribute them in some manner yet to be devised to change a dead planet into a living one.
The novelty of the venture makes it a compelling one. We're well started on the journey and, no doubt , we will make mistakes and misjudgments along the way. We used to laugh at the ice man of yesteryear and say that his horse knew their daily work route better than he did including which houses needed ice and how much. They were said to be able to read the printed cards cards we used to display in windows showing what size block of oce we needed.
The new challenge is evident. Get your tongs tuned, Ice-men and Ice-women, and let's work toward making this dream a worthy reality.
A.L.M. January 14, 2003 [c580wds]
Thursday, January 16, 2003
APLET
On rare occasions you may have a need for aplets.
They are small, insignificant things.. .tiny,is the word,I suppose, and a part of a much greater whole. They usually come in pairs but are used one at a time. Made of metal, plastic or alloys the most commonly used type of aplet is found in every home and used,at one time or another, by all of us. If you spell it with double "p" you get into "Java" jive.
But, enough of this quiz routine.
The aplet is that small piece of either plastic or metal which you find crimped to each end of your shoelace. It is designed to enable you to hit the shoelace holes in your shoes more accurately and easier when you lace them. The word is seldom used and unknown to most people unless they are given to working crossword puzzles. You can get along without it, both the thing itself, and the word for it, but, as every parent soon learns, you may need it when your child needs his or her shoe laces tied. It remains one of the mysteries of tot-footwear conditions how a youngster can unlace a shoe so consistently in such a short span of time. In an emergency, if the aplet is missing a little spit on the end of the fabric portion of the lace, suitably shaped by finger pressures, makes a suitable - if unsanitary - substitute.
We use the idea in other ways, too. A homemaker or decorator who has made a set of fine curtains needs to fit them on a curtain rod. The end of the rod is often less than smooth and the curtain material will snag when the rod is inserted into the loop intended for it. A four-inch square of paper - a newspaper will do - fitted over the end of the metal rod, serves as a ready aplet allowing the fabric to ride smoothly over the metal edges of the rod... taking the paper right along with it. No snags and an the job is finished in record-setting time you can brag about.
We need other types of "aplets" from time-to-time,as well.
Getting a good education is an aplet in a very real sense. It enables you to avoid much of the frustration, confusion, and costs of getting started to earn a living.
You can quickly see how much these tiny self-starters are useful throughout life. All of us need all the help we can get, so check out some which seem to fit your life style.
A.L.M. January 14,2003 [c435wds]
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
LEECHES
We kept hearing about wonderul advances in medical knowldge, then back comes the leech!
The initial thought was often:"Good! The.the old methods had some values after all!.Good! The old ways had some values we should not just toss out!"
But then, when I saw what the medical leech can looked like, I started backing off and started seeking ways to make some reservations.
Most of us expect to see a tiny critter not too far from the little weevil-like things which used to get in loose flour and corn meal when we were kids, or the maggots you see on a ham where the cure did not "take". But two leeches of today, my friend, literally make a hand full and they have been grown to a size eighteen-inches long.
So, put a hold on those scheduled leech connection visits for a time. I am not quite ready to believe ,for instance, that the bite of the leech is "painless" as it is said to be. It's going to take me a while, I think, to get acquainted with these suckers! Getting used do having them crawling aound is not an easy thing to do!
I'll get over the squeemishness, I think, but for now, if they have to attach a leech or two, they had best do it first and tell me about have done it later - much later.
The so-called medical leech is raised at professional leech labs all aound the world and one such farm in Swansea,Wales turns out about 15-thousand of the sippers per year. It call the "Biofarm", which seems logical enough because to raise herds of those blood-sucking worms with the built-in "yuk" factor is best done under laboratory conditons.
I'd say such operations might be hidden from sight by scholing ourselves to look the other way. I've never actually met a survivor of leech treatments, nor do I see it becoming a favorite home remedy any time soon, either.
Our modern medics started using the old-fashioned leech back in 1937, mainly to treat stroke patients. Then, the technique faded away again only to be revived suddenly in l960. And, this time the lowly leech seems to be gaining steadily and doing well. The bite of the leech,I am told, is not painful because the secretions in the saliva of the leech – five such substances with thereptic value - includes one that deadens any pain involved when the executed by the "bite-or" when nipping the "bite-ee"
After that, you're on your own. Include me out for the time being.
A.L.M.. January 14, 2003 .[c437wds]
"
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
JANUS
Am I correct in saying that “Janus” was a Roman god who could look both ways at the same time?
I remember seeing drawings of that noble, double-faced head years ago my blue and faded Latin grammar textbook The illustrations were deadly. They were all black-and-white drawings used to seperate the numerous charts and tables, nothing at all like the colorful Latin studies books seen today in some schools. That one drawing of the double-look deity, in particular, has served me well as I envision what goes on the mixed and muddled head of many of today’s two-faced politicians.
Some of the worst offenders among them are considered to be almost godly by their supporters both those in front and those in front-front. There is no back of a Janus head, so two groups can be satisfied totally with whatever the lips of the front they are viewing might tell them.
I can imagine what a time old Janus must have had with all the others in his class down at the Pantheon. He dropped at intervals just to pester them a bit and keep them zealous and jealouse if his accomplishments throught being able to see, uniquely, both ways at the same time. He could always see who was ahead of him as well as thoise at his back.
Of course, Janus had his own temple, mind you. He didn't get by the main offices there any more than he had to in order to keep them guessing and not enough to get any of them teed off with him for any of his unusual antics. Now, this Temple of Janus had one extremely unusual feature about it. Unlike the other temples, it was not open from sun-up to sun-down, nine-o-five, or week-days only. The Temple of Janus was open only during wartime. When the empire was a war the Temple of Janus had its doors open. When the “Pax Romano” legions were out there blessing the earth both far and wide, it would seem the priests of Janus felt might find it possible to open, maybe just the side door, for a few hours daily to get a bit of charity work done....orphans, widows - that sort of thing; peppery pizzas for the poor people, perhaps. The cadre Janus could have, I dare say, opened their Temple doors at any time they chose to do so and be legal about doing so, because they were also the authority which determined if and when, how and where, but seldom why the Empire was at war.
Prime examples of two-way talk are not too difficult to find today.
More political people have waffled on pro-choice, pro-life, pro or antiu-this that and theother until the terms themsleves have become intermingled anmd meaningless to manyof us. And, you, no doubt, remember how, during the Guf War - The Desert Storm phase - the enemy was lobbing "Scuds" into Isarel regularly and along came our "Puritan" anti-missle missles and knocked the "Scuds" out of commish in the air. We felt much better and it was only after it was all over that we were told the retaliatory weapon was anything but what it was made to seem to have been. The "Puritan" was, we now hear, at best, very inaccurate and "missed" the target most of the time. Someone lied and rather convincingly, too - with pictures - as well as two-faced talk.
With both faces are talking, what is said need not be true. One does not have to agree with the other. It is obvious that one may be true and the other false. The Janus jaws are busy these days, too. Much depends upon which coutenance is facing us at any set time. One must be aware that, in the word of a devotee of "The Great Spirit" that either mouth of a two-faced leader, or both, could be fitted with a forked tongue.
A.L.M. January 12, 2003 [c636wds]
Monday, January 13, 2003
MORE LAKE BAIKAL
Yesterday, at about this same time and place, we were discussing Lake Baikal's relative merits as to being the largest lake on Earth. There can be little doubt about it being the biggest in many ways.
I hesitated near the end of yesterday's piece, realizing that if I got started on another interesting feature of Lake Baikal, I might run on-on-on for pages! I decided to turn the Baikal faucet off for a time, and to save that talk for today with a little more space to point out some interesting facts and fancy.
The world's largest lake, located in central Asia in that part of Russia we have long called Siberia, just below the Mongolian border, is estimated to have come into being some 25-million years ago. For some year now, it has been getting ready for a change, and being an unusual feature in itself what is planned would, of necessity, be “big.”
Lake Baikal's tremendous fund of water - all the 6.200 feet depth of it covering an area four hundred by eight miles, is said to be on top of a fissure line in the earth's crust. Imagine what a bang it would make, if and when, the present hot springs at the bottom of the lake allow enough molten lava to ooze through to bring about an imbalance of present overlapping strata. The new weight may well cause cause existing plates to slide apart. If, and when, such at thing, occurs it is not difficult to think of the continent we call Asia being split apart and a new ocean formed between and East and West Asia. Some curious things are occurring a mile or so down on the bottom of Lake Baikal today with molten lava seeping through to form new lake floor and to cause uneven pressures to worsen.
Whatever Baikal does is big, so such a cataclysmic upheaval would most certainly have a series of costly changes affecting all climes and locations around the Earth. Such a major disturbance would , most likely, upset existing values. What may take place in Lake Baikal could have a marked affect on the rest of the world.. Unprecedented movement of sea water in waves high enough to inundate existing center of culture; are possible; high velocity winds, ash deposits, temperature changes and humidity and gaseous conditions unfavorable to human existence.
There is no way to “get ready” for such an event. The best we can do is to be aware of the possibility and to eschew worry.. It can be seen as a profound lesson telling us that we are, as we always have been, and continue to be subject to a higher power, a supreme Wisdom, Logos, Reason, or God.
Wherever might happen, we will all have front-row seats
.
A.L.M. January 11, 2003 [c478wds]
Sunday, January 12, 2003
TWO HIDDEN TREASURES
What one waterfall towers higher than any other?
If you choose Niagara, you are far from the mark. Niagara is a mere bump on the landscape when compared to Gledbach Falls in Switzerland, Coquenan, in Venezuela and Angel Falls, also in Venezuela, puts them all to shame. Angel Falls is actually fifteen times higher than Niagara.
Name any other of a score of high waterfalls on Earth and they are all a splash in a puddle when compared to the greatest one.
The Denmark Strait Cataract stands four times higher than than Angel Falls' at 3,212 feet. Water pours over the precipice at Denmark Strait Cataract at a rate of 1.3 billion gallons of water per second. It,then, falls 2.2 miles. Very few ,if any, select the site for a Honeymoon Trip as they do Niagara. In fact, few have even hear of it. It lies beneath the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean between Denmark and Greenland.
I remained hidden until researchers began to find their current measuring devices ripped apart and torn from their lines. They found that cold water flowing from the polar regions flowed southward and literally “fell” over the edge of a giant underwater cliff. Cold water sinks in warm water and when it hit the bottom after 2.2 miles it spread out violently over a vast area. It does much to regulate currents for our oceans.
Other such undersea waterfalls are found at the point where the Mediterranian Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean; off Antarctica off the southern tip of South America and in the Iceland area. Together they play an important role in deciding temperature and current velocities.
Another water question: What is the world's largest lake?
It is not any one of our “Great Lakes”.
It is Lake Baikal which you will find looking deceptively small, in that vast Asiatic chunk of land just below the Mongolian border which is the part of Russia we used to think of as Siberia. I worked with a man years ago who was born at Lake Baikal and he spoke with evident pride concerning the area and its wonders. It is thought to be about 25 milion years old. It is over four hundred miles long and about eighty miles wide on the average It is 6,200 feet deep and contains one-fifth of the total water supply of Earth. It would take all of the rivers of the planet Earth flowing for a full year to fill it up. That's more water than is held by all our Great Lakes combined.
A.L.M. January 11, 2003 [c437wds]
|
