Category Archives: History

History, Poetry, Security

Where your bare foot walks

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by Rumi (translation by Coleman Barks)

I want to be where
your bare foot walks,

because maybe before you step,
you’ll look at the ground. I want that blessing.

A blessing perhaps if all you want is consideration, but not such a blessing if you still get squished like a bug by someone’s bare foot (someone who has factored the costs, or is oblivious to them). An African proverb has a slightly different take on the same theme:

When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.

Do the elephants look at the ground? Would they, if the “bare foot” theory of Rumi were true?

Energy, History, Sailing

Phone cameras are quite handy

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My pocket is now full of images…

Ghost-like clouds travelling along the shore:
huntington water

Two WWII-era B-24H bombers lay below these waters. Always gives me the creeps to sail here and know that they still haven’t been exumed and laid to rest properly:
huntington lake

(Bio)diesel technology at work…I averaged 25 mpg overall (over 40mpg on the downhill sections), compared with under 15 mpg for most other tow vehicles (including large pickups):
a-cat in tow

A Ford F-150 V6, for example, has 260 lb/ft of torque @ 3750 RPM, while a VW Passat little four cylinder has 247 lb/ft @ 1900 RPM.

My engine was practically idling up the mountains at 65 mph with the AC on (it was 110F in the valley) and I was still getting reasonable mpg. A friend who drives a giant american “dually” pickup said he almost over-heated and was barely getting 12 mpg.

On big trips I get a strong sense of security and independence knowing that my vehicle can travel over 600 miles per tank. The numbers speak for themselves, but you really haven’t towed (less than 2K lbs) in comfort until you’ve tried a modern (bio)diesel passenger car

History, Security

British Navy Fire Drill

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After my last entry about the Chinese Firewalls I started to get curious about the origins of the phrase “Chinese Fire Drill”. The Phrase Finder has an odd story that someone posted:

It is my understanding that this phrase originated in the early 1900s. It came from an naval incident where a ship officered by the British and crewed by the Chinese set up a fire drill for fire in the engine room. In the event of a fire the crew was to draw water from the starboard side, take to the engine room and throw it on the fire. Another crew in the engine room was to take the thrown water and throw it over the port side.

When the drill was called the first moments went according to plan then it got confused. The crew began drawing the water from the staroard side and runing over to the port side and throwing the water over, by-passing the the engine room completely.

Thus the expression “Chinese Fire Drill” entered our lexicon as meaning a large confused action by individuals accomplishing nothing.

Perhaps “British Navy Fire Drill” did not have the same ring to it, but it seems to be a more accurate description of the event. After all, wasn’t the reason for the Chinese being employed on the ships their experience and talent for seafaring that Europeans had always envied and emulated, combined with their willingness to work in high-risk endeavors? In other words would you blame the workers or management for a failed disaster plan? And would you really come up with a phrase for a single event like this, or were there other more likely reasons (prejudice against the Chinese)?

I guess the phrase is an unfortunate or even unfair turnabout. Reminds me of the “Chinaman’s minute” or “Chinaman’s chance” which were apparently coined by those who employed the Chinese for building railroads but did not mind leaving them exposed to high risk and physical harm from dynamite. Workers were lowered by rope and boatswain chair down steep inclines in order to set dynamite. When they weren’t pulled back up in time…I remember reading once that the delay could even have been intentional, due to rivalries and ethnic strife among the workers and managers.

History, Poetry

Bierce could be fierce

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His report on the assassination of a governor-elect:

The bullet that pierced Goebel’s breast
Can not be found in all the West;
Good reason, it is speeding here
To stretch McKinley on his bier.

The Wikipedia has a nice summary of the events that led to this poem:

On January 30, 1900, before the committee had formally published its findings, [Democratic candidate] Goebel was shot by a sniper as he was walking up the steps of the State Capitol building. Incumbent Republican governor William S. Taylor declared a state emergency, called out the militia, and called the General Assembly into special session. In the immediate aftermath of the events, the legislature certified the election in Goebel’s favor, although the Republicans in the General Assembly refused to accept the commission’s finding.

And speaking of death, here is how Bierce put things in his last correspondence:

Good-by — if you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags please know that I think that a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico — ah, that is euthanasia.

Sometimes I wonder if people living in the United States ever think about what life was like 100 years ago, or how things could end up if they don’t think about it…