"White House" Report on Katrina

http://www.whitehouse.gov/reports/katrina-lessons-learned.pdf

Books, books, and more Books

Anita and I Seldom turn on the TV any more. Considering that we used to watch approx. 5 movies a week from Netflex it is pretty amazing. We never really were into regular TV except for news.

So what do we do now? We listen to books on tape. Tucson Library has an extensive collection of books on tape & CD. We usually sit of an evening and Anita does sewing or artwork and I work on my computer or write. We start up the current book and spend 2-3 hours listening while we do other things. It is great. It frees your mind and fingers. It lets you share stories in a way that you can't when reading alone. We mostly listen to fiction. We have discovered authors we never knew existed. We started with Nevada Barr who writes murder mysteries that take place in the National Parks. I could go on and on about our discoveries:Berniee the bugler, Goldie Locks Catering, The cat who....., etc. Some amazing and fun things to share. I think TV changes our attention span. 30 - 60 minutes with breaks for commercials is the longest we stay with anything. Maybe after a hard day on the job that is what we need I don't know, and maybe that is what many of us need for the kind of jobs we do.

What I really wanted to write about was my favorite books of 2005. It is always hard to pick just one. After I picked last year's "The Life of Pi". My sister, Mary, noted she liked the book but liked Kidd's "The Secret Life of Bees" more. I have since read this book and it is very good. I actually have her latest book "The Mermaid Chair" sitting in my stack of books to read.

One of the things I have done over the last few years is to begin to read more none fiction books. Most of these are books about science, math, and the history of science and math. You should know I was a math major and spent 2 years in engineering and had a lot of science classes. When I was in school they taught very little history of these subjects which I think is a big mistake. History gives one a context on which to hang ideas.

I pulled the quote below from a web based Astronomy text - From Astronomy 161 The Solar System . http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/index.html

"The Earth-centered Universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy held sway on Western thinking for almost 2000 years. Then, in the 16th century a new idea was proposed by the Polish astronomer Nicolai Copernicus (1473-1543)."

The above is a lead in to my pick for 2005. It is rather obscure. The title is "The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus" by Owen Gingerich. This book reads like a mystery story. Gingerich is a science historian who becomes interested in a book published by Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus was a Polish Monk who was the first one to explain the movement of the planets by realizing that if the planets revolved around the Sun and not the Earth then the movement of the planets would become much simpler to explain. He published a book with his observations. There still exist 40-50 copies of this book and over the years Gingerich became an expert on these and by studying the margin notes, inscriptions, etc. he was able to tell to who the various books belonged. Can you image people actually wrote in these priceless old books. Thus he could see how Copernicus influenced Kepler, Galileo, and others who followed in his footsteps. This book was lost in my library but if you can find it it makes a great read and is not just for those who are scientifically inclined.

Today in the NYT I noticed a book review which deals with a new book on Copernicus' book. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/books/review/26sobel.html?_r=1&8bu&emc=bu&oref=slogin

E-mail from my friend Irv

Dear Richard and Anita,

In January, 2004 George W. Bush took the oath of office of the President of the United States for the second time, as follows:

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

The IV Amendment of the Constitution embodied in the Bill of Rights is a pillar of our democracy and is part of what George Bush swore to “preserve, protect and defend”.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This particular amendment emanated from the experience of a founding father in the revolutionary war where British troops invaded home of the colonists, destroyed property and lives. It was the determination of the founding fathers that no government of this country would have an unbridled right to invade the home or person with out probable cause and a warrant.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) was first enacted in 1978 (Public Law 95-511) and later amended by the Patriot Act. It is at the center of the controversy concerning domestic spying by the NSA. It was passed after revelations of massive domestic spying abuses by the FBI, CIA and NSA were documented in reports issued by the Church Committee in the 1970s. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court had reviewed some of those abuses and declared that warrantless wiretaps of domestic groups for national security reasons were a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The FISA provided special procedures for conducting electronic surveillance of telephones, etc for foreign intelligence purposes including setting up a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to authorize such surveillance.

Powers under the existing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) have been broadened under the Patriot Act to allow for increased surveillance opportunities. However, the need to address the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was given no exception. Yet, on at least forty different occasions, wiretaps were conducted by the NSA without a warrant, clearly a violation of the law including the fourth amendment.

The Congressional Research Service, a nonpartisan Congressional research arm issued a report on January 7, 2006 concluded that ”…..warrentless eavesdropping authorized by President Bush conflicts with existing law…..”

On a number of occasions, primarily in reference to the conflict in Iraq, George Bush has stated that the rule of law is the pillar of our democracy and has to be the pillar of democracy in Iraq.

I strongly agree with Mr. Bush and believe that it is the sworn duty of the President to insure that the law is upheld. Mr. Bush’s hypocritical and arrogant dismissal and ignoring of the law in conducting warrantless wiretaps is not in keeping with his own reverence of the law nor with the oath he has taken to “protect, preserve and defend the Constitution”.

On this basis and this basis only, I implore you to write your congressional delegation, as am I and ask them to initiate proceedings for the impeachment of President George W. Bush. And please contact friends and family and ask them to do the same.

Sincerely,

Irv

Keep your eye on the barrel

Free oil something we all could use a little of. I have a few squeaks around the home that need oiling.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/business/14oil.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Tabletop Fusion

Check this out

http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/ny_team_confirms_ucla_tabletop_fusion_10017.html

Right after Darwin's birthday. Its the difference between Laws and Theories.

Ladder Day Saint

I was up on a ladder the other day putting up an antenna on my house and started thinking about my Father. I will call him my ladder day Saint. I know the Mormons might not like my play on words but that is how I think of him whenever I get near a ladder. That is because of the caution I now use around ladders. I can't say that was always true but it is now.

I am not catholic but a Saint in my understanding is someone who is in heaven and has been proven to be able to get prayer answered by interceding with God. Saints have a proven closeness to God. For me my Father has saved me from several injuries, not by interceding with God but rather by providing examples of what not to do.

When I was about twelve (12) my brother and I got interested in short wave radio and we needed an antenna. In one corner of our large lot was a very large Cottonwood tree. We could put one end of an antenna high up into that tree. We had managed to nail board steps up the trunk of the tree sometime in the past. There were very few trees around that we hadn't climbed at one time or another. This was one of the tallest trees around. The only hard part of the climb was the first 10 feet. The problem then was where to put the other end of our antenna wire. On one side of the house a good hundred feet away was our basketball goal. This goal was home made with a plywood backboard mounted on a 12 foot 4x4.

I am not sure what his plan was but my dad had a 4x4 and he was going to extend the goal up higher with this new 4x4. We had, as I remember, an eight-foot wooden stepladder. Dad was climbing up the ladder with this 4x4. My brother and I were holding the ladder. In those days there were no signs that said, "This is not a step" on the top of wooden ladders. Dad got up pretty high holding the 4x4 when he suddenly lost his balance and fell from the ladder. He was lying on the ground in pain. Spittle was bubbling from his lips. It was very scary. My memory is blank after that. We must have gotten my Mom and she must have taken him to a doctor. As I recall he had a broken collar bone.

Later we got a long 4x4 and dug a hole and put up a pole separate from the basketball goal. We soon had our antenna up and working.

Saints are not born as Saints; they are humans who evolve into their Sainthood by working through various karma events in their lifetime. The story now switches to when I am an adult; I have a family and have just purchased a home on a hill in Walnut Creek, California. The house was at the top of the hill with a lower floor cut into the hill. Whenever it rained the down stairs rooms would get a flow of water. I worked to solve this problem. I built a French drain around the house to flow the ground water around the house to the back and down the hill. This didn't seem to help. The water continued to flow into the down stairs.

Then I noticed that one of the gutters in the front of the house was dumping most of its water off the roof right in front of the house. I had to put up new gutters to solve the problem. I checked around. I decided I could put up the vinyl snap together gutters all by myself. In the front of the house the gutters were about 9 feet off the ground. I worked my way across the front making sure the water would flow toward the side to be routed down to the back and down the hill.

By the time I got to the left side the ground started falling away. It was almost 11 feet to the gutters. I was using a light 4-foot aluminum stepladder. A stepladder is a ladder with four legs that is self-supporting and does not need to be leaned against a wall. I positioned my ladder firmly on all 4 legs and climbed up to work on the gutter supports. If I stood on the top of the ladder with my six-foot height and my arms over my head (4+6+2) it was very easy to work on the gutter supports. So there I was four feet up into the air with my arms up over my head, and suddenly something happened and the ladder went out from under me. It fell down hill and I felt my legs following the ladder and my body leveling out and I hit the ground flat out in a reclining position. "Bang", the breath was knocked out of me.

I lay there getting my breath and feeling very foolish. I scanned my body as I got up. There was no pain and no broken bones. I looked at my hands. There was a cut and a bad burn on one hand. I looked up. The telephone wire had been ripped from the side of the house. This was where the phone line attached to the house. In my attempt to keep from falling I had unconsciously grabbed the wire on the side of the house as I fell and ripped it right out of the fasteners. I had failed the first lesson from my father, "Don't stand high up on a step ladder especially with your hands over your head." I had survived the ladder incident with minimal harm and would live to climb another ladder on another day.

The next ladder event happened when I was not there so I can only tell the little I was told after it happened. My Dad was always a big help if one had a job that needed to be done. If you were moving he and Mom would show up and work long hours to help you get through the task. My brother had a home in Newark, California and was doing some work on the roof. Mom and Dad went to his house to help. Some how when he was up a ladder that was propped up against the house the bottom of the ladder slipped out and he was thrown to the ground. Gravity had done its trick again. I received a phone call that my Dad was in a hospital in Fremont, California with a broken pelvis. All I remember is being worried and my father saying, "They are giving me snake venom to thin my blood and keep me from having blood clots."

The lesson I learned, I thought, was, "Stay away from ladders." My Dad recovered slowly and I seldom went near a ladder. When I did need to climb a ladder, I made sure it was a good ladder that was well placed and I didn't climb too high. If I had to go up onto the roof, I would get someone to hold the ladder. I was never comfortable high up without someone to hold the ladder.

Over the years I got lax. I moved several times, changed wives, started new businesses, and worked long hours. Then I settled into a large Victorian house that had three units; one stacked one upon the other. It was a mess. The contractors worked on it, but to save money we did the inside painting. Ceilings were 11-12 feet high. I bought an 8-Fiberglasglass stepladder. It was an electrician's ladder. I also had a couple of old redwood ladders that had come with the house. One was a 7-foot leaning ladder whose top had been screwed to a four foot 2x4. I used to lean it on a wall and easily climb up and cut in the paint on the walls before I would roll the rest on using aextensionention to the roller. I would hang my bucket on a screw on the 2x4. For several months after my regular job I spent nights and weekends painting interiors.

I lived in this Victorian house for about 9 years. That's long enough for the outside paint job done by the contractor to begin to bubble and crack in places. So I began to scrape, sand, prime, and paint in the bad places. Remember this was a 3-story building each story about 12 feet above the other. In the back the area I was working on was the second story. Again, It was one of those houses built upon and into a hill so working on the back was working on the second story, but I was standing on the ground.

Finally my patching of the paint led me above the reach of the old 7-foot lean-to ladder. There was an area up around the roofline 12 feet up that needed work. The other inherited ladder that came with the house was half of an old redwood extension ladder. It was about 10 feet long with round rungs. It had set against the back fence for several years. I pulled that old extension ladder over and leaned it up against the back of the house and placed the two legs solidly on a concrete walk. The walk had a raised curb. The ladder wasn't going anyplace. I grabbed my scraper and sander and climbed up about 6 feet. That was just enough to reach the bad area. I began to work. I was busy scraping away when the rung I was standing on broke. I fell about a foot and my feet hit the rung below. Then that rung broke from 200 pounds falling on it from a foot above. I was going. Then my feet hit the third rung and for a second it held me. Then it just held me and I hadn't lost my balance. I was standing there four feet above the walk instead of 6 feet. I slowly let myself down. I set down my tools and went into the house. I came out with a handsaw and I proceeded to saw that ladder into burnable lengths. I had been saved again. I keep learning even if it is only a little bit at a time. My Saint is watching over me.