Tanker-TRUCK, not oil-TANKER

IMAGE from : National Guild of Hypnotherapists (Denmark)

There's been some confusion today about what actually happened Sunday to damage the section of Interstate 580 near the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge.

The cause for this confusion is clearly a predilection to presume that anything called a TANKER is necessarily an ocean-going vessel. But there is a vast difference between a FUEL-TANKER (usually called a tanker-TRUCK in THIS neck-of-the-woods) and an OIL-TANKER.

Here's how it's being reported in the UK>>> Bay Area Commuters Face Nightmare

To set the record straight, what REALLY happened is that yesterday, a truck hauling refined fuel (otherwise known as Gasoline) crashed on one of the elevated sections of highway 580 that connects the East-Bay freeways with the Bay Bridge. The best I can determine is that the fuel being transported spilled-out, caught fire, and melted the STRUCTURAL steel (that reinforces the concrete pilings holding up the span)--my personal opinion.

The section that was damaged is nowhere near any commercial ships.

San Francisco Bay itself IS a place where oceangoing vessels frequent (hence the bridge-system), but NO SHIPS were involved in this crazy accident.

I point this out because the price of gasoline is already outrageous here...so the last thing we need is a spike in gas prices as a result of misperceived facts.

But only time will tell.

Thieves Among Us

Having sentimental property stolen is probably one of the most unnerving experiences a person can endure.

The real offense is that the idiot-thief thinks that because a piece of property has little value in the "black" market, that the property won't be missed.

But as a friend of mine once noticed: "criminals are stupid".

No...I didn't have something stolen over the weekend (to my knowledge). But I had some odd experiences happen that I've learned to associate with criminal "casing".

One of those experiences was the famous midnight-visit-from-a-neighbor-with-a-common-cause. The "common-cause" was another neighbor creating excessive noise. What made the visit unusual was that the visitor handed me a handwritten note with fairly specific directions about: who to call and how many calls would result in the EVICTION of the offending party.

Combine that with a type of dream I have in which I recall names and numbers from two decades past (with perfect clarity), and the result is that EVERYONE is suddenly a suspect of some as yet undetermined crime.

Obviously, the idea that one experience connects with the other is irrational...but the effect on the mind is difficult to shake.

But, the real damage started years ago, when in a flurry of confusion, a VERY sentimental photo of my Great-Grandparents was destroyed by a thief whose only interest was in the Fender Precision Bass next to it.

Although the 60s Fender was valuable, it wasn't nearly so valuable as that nearly 80-year-old photo, which can NEVER be replaced.

The lesson here is that stealing gold is forgivable, but soiling memories makes permanent enemies out of otherwise friendly neighbors.

Respecting the Dead

Hmm...did I mention Government-by-Superstition? I don't like to get in the middle of people's private little wars, but removing a military memorial to exhume the graves of soldiers who fought in WWII is NEVER going to meet with parades and accolades...as was recently shown in Estonia.

News24 Story
ABC News Story

One of the things westerners often forget is that people from MANY nations were united against Nazi oppression in the 1930s and -40s. The fact that some of those men went on to build the Soviet infrastructure that swallowed so many countries devastated by Adolf Hitler's war-machine is even now a matter with which the world has not yet come to terms.

Who is right and who is deluded? I don't know.

All I know is that burial is one of the most sacred matters of human consciousness...and people who think otherwise have obviously never done field-archeology.

The dead can NEVER be treated with perceived disrespect without serious social consequences ensuing--it's just a historical fact.

But disavowing this truth is more a form of insanity than an exposition of higher reasoning, IMHO.

I don't share all of the beliefs my ancestors held. But I know I had to be properly blessed before digging up human remains.

Maybe there are people who think they mitigate the deepest areas of human consciousness with permits?

Author's Addendum: I genuinely struggled with the wording of the last paragraph...because mitigate is not really the term I intended to use...I just can't think of a better phrase (or at least one that hasn't been thoroughly abused by one faction or another with whom I have little interest associating myself.)

Popular Research

This morning I realized that some of my audience are a lot younger than I previously supposed. Not that this presents a problem (my commentary is for mature people of ALL AGES), but many people are not familiar with the reasons I write with such certainty about some subjects for which some of my thinking is seemingly unique, or in some cases, unnervingly typical.

And in short...I learned very early-on that there is an ever-present struggle between quick-reading "exciting" information and plodding, hard-to-understand research.

Personally, I wish people had the patience to do good "fact-checking" all the time. But the reality is that people are so hard-pressed for immediate answers all the time, that they only have time to get the highlights (I have blundered into the very same faux-pas again and again over the years).

When I realized this, I immediately saw that there was a need for people willing to spend time doing otherwise boring research--people who could understand the material they studied well enough to draw both intriguing and useful conclusions that would quickly appeal to an audience that was moving along at such a brisk pace, that it couldn't help but overlook things that were otherwise important.

The problem is that good researchers are often poor writers for a mass audience. And the demand for good research is surprisingly weak. So it's invariably a low-income craft.

And the job requirements are hard to attain. One must be a good student, a good teacher AND a good writer...simultaneously.

It's a rewarding job, but not everyone can do it.

Transcdental Pig

In the line of life
Those who pig the stuff wisely
Will get quality

The Truth Shall Make You Free

There is nothing quite like the feeling you get when someone lies to you, and makes you look like a fool because you accepted the lie as the truth.

Nothing except maybe an attempt to COVER UP such a lie with an even bigger lie.

Actually, cascading lies like this are usually indicative of greater truths to observant minds. But the effect is still destructive.

And in my book, a person who would lie to a person with brain-damage has some serious personal issues.

People who make a profit from their lies are just tempting their own destruction.

Me, I believe Jesus' memorable promise: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

May God bless all those who remain honest, despite the pressures of life.

Quitters Never Win

It's difficult to see through the eyes of a former-KGB-agent- turned-leader-of-the- old-Soviet-States, but I'm willing to bet that pulling out of a conventional-arms treaty for the sake of "protesting" a perceived Western influence over a multinational consortium isn't going to bode well with ANYBODY (except certain pro-Soviet hardliners who lost power shortly after Gorbachev came to power, way back in the late-1980s).

But then again, Government-by-superstition seems to be all the rage these days, so maybe Vladimir Putin is onto something.

Author's Addendum:
I understand that this is ultimately a delayed response to the United States having pulled out of the ABM treaty over a decade ago. But the net result will be to send unintentional signals to nations that are under direct threat from Russian tactical weapons (including China, India, Korea, Iran, and much of Europe). But like the real Star Wars saga, the architects of this Star Wars saga just seem to adapt the back-story to fit the current market.

Author's Addendum #2:
In the 1980's the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction was a powerful deterrent against aggression among the Superpowers. But the dismantling of the Soviet Union (as presumably beneficial as it was supposed) actually served to destabilize the whole world. It is arguable that the immediate benefits of Glasnost and Perestroika will one day be undone by even more dangerous and volatile micro-states boasting equally powerful weapons.

Author's Addendum #3:
My memory is failing a bit. The United States quit the ABM Treaty in 1999 (not a decade ago, as I previously stated). It's an understandable mistake if you know my current condition.

Persistent Annoyance

I have a friend in the hospital who is in a coma resulting from hydrocephalus (itself resulting from meningitis) so I'm not in the best mood.

But sure enough, there's always some joker out there who thinks stirring up "a little" trouble won't hurt anyone...so they put their ignorance on display like a regal crown, and then use every cheap-shot possible to humiliate.

I know I'm supposed to take the higher-ground when this sort of thing happens, but to be honest, if this particular joker accidentally fell down an open elevator shaft, I would be hard-pressed to feel sad about it.

So there you have it: I'm human after all.

What/When is Black History Month? February

Photo: Joseph Jenkins Roberts (courtesy Library of Congress)

BLACK HISTORY LINKS:
Black History Canada
City of Toronto's Black History
Black History UK
Literary Traveler (Antigua)
U.S. Library of Congress

I don't have a lot of widely-recognized credentials, but I do understand how HUMAN BEINGS look for facts in Cyberspace. And my personal experience suggests that people are often too self-enamored with their own awareness, that they forget that the reason people ask a question is that they don't know the answer! (for certain).

As my dad often says: "You ask for the time, and someone tells you how to make a watch."

I entered the following question into a search engine because I wasn't certain that Black History Month is celebrated in the same month throughout the world (at least in USA, Canada and the UK). Oddly, I had to do a fair amount of searching to find the answer, even with this simple question:

"When is Black History Month in Canada?" Obviously, Blacks in Canada know the answer. But white-bread Americans like me are left out in the cold.

I'm not complaining...I know that formatting information in a way that expects a question, is not a natural human ability. But I run into this problem in MANY situations where the level of technical literacy and the understanding of language construction are not commensurate...and I feel as if the average person (and even the intelligent person) is being treated as stupid.

Hence, I identify with the black experience in more ways than one (I am already treated as a second-class citizen because I have Multiple Sclerosis and can't get around very well.) But I felt compelled to make available an easy-to-navigate summary for people who just want BASIC information about Black History in the English-Speaking world.

In Good Faith--mattergy

Fly So High, Fall So Far

I was deeply saddened about the news of the Blue Angels' naval aviator that died in a crash during an air exhibition over Beaufort, South Carolina today.

When I was younger, I was on a career path to be a pilot, myself, so I've always had a lot of respect for guys who excel at piloting aircraft like the F/A-18 Hornet.

But the Blue Angels are a breed apart from even "very good" pilots. Only the best of the best qualify as Blue Angels.

And in terms of being exemplars of the American spirit of excellence in aviation, they show themselves to be true role models for young people all over the world.

I offer my greatest hope for comfort to the family of the specific aviator who perished and to the whole Blue Angels family as well.

Rest in Peace--mattergy

Author's Addendum: I learned early Monday morning that the name of the naval aviator is Lt. Commander Kevin Davis. Out of respect for his family, I thought it important that he not remain nameless here.

Bad Memory, Not Spontaneous Parody

John McCain didn't invent the "Bomb Iran" tune that bombed at a press conference yesterday. I remember hearing a Parody of the Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann" around the time that Iranian terrorists held Americans hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran for OVER A YEAR.

The timing of McCain's remark may have been inappropriate, but it's not a joke he just invented out of thin-air. I heard the song ON THE RADIO when I was a kid. So before people start lambasting Senator McCain, they might want to recall a time when the public sentiment in the USA was NOT so relaxed.

Had it not been for the strange defect that caused US military rescue-mission helicopters (ordered to Tehran by then President Jimmy Carter) to crash, the jingle might have been far more poignant than a bad attempt at humor. Lest We Forget ...

Author's Addendum:
I think Sen. McCain's biggest blunder was attributing the lyrics to the "Beach Boys", rather than the artists who wrote those altered lyrics. But even MY professional research staff (AKA, Me) had trouble finding information on the 20-some-year-old parody, so I'm certain McCain's PAID Researchers will locate it (now that McCain, presumably a Presidential Candidate, is under close media scrutiny).

Author's Addendum #2:
Some people like to treat every omission or generalization as evidence of the author's lack of attention to detail. In my case, omissions are often intentional. Operation Eagle Claw, the failed hostage rescue mission was fraught with problems, both technical and logistical, and is also frequent fodder for conspiracy-laden conjecture--a phenomenon I like to steer away from whenever possible. For the sake of completeness, the following link will forward you to the Wikipedia article on the matter, which I find to be an accurate and concise description of the events of that day.

The Cartoon Reality Test

It's unlikely that anyone unfamiliar with Trey Parker and Matt Stone's "South Park" could have an inkling of the depth of Cho Seung-hui's delusional mindset.

And unfortunately, misguided parents will try to lean on all the wrong people in their quest to find answers as to why this clearly disturbed individual went on a shooting rampage at Virginia-Tech University this week.

I suspect that Cho Seung-hui has strong feelings about Nuclear Weapons, the sparring of Korean traditional values with western religion, as well as some fairly backward ideas about how to woo members of the opposite sex.

I bring up Stone and Parker because they appeared in the Micheal Moore documentaries Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 911 with a clear idea of how fanaticism takes root in Nuclear-Weapon-Conscious communities.

Obviously I'm piecing together disparate facts...but I have NO interest in exploring the deep underlying psychoses that drive someone to gun down 30-some-odd fellow students.

But I'm almost certain that Trey Parker and Matt Stone (with input from Marylin Manson) are onto something, because it is apparent to me that the fear-response to saber-rattling with Nuclear weaponry (and fissile materials capable of fueling atomic bombs) happening in Iran and North Korea is reaching a fever pitch here in the USA.

Some people (OK, most people) just can't handle the idea of imminent nuclear war. Some of them freak-out and shoot people. Again, I'm not analyzing the deep causes...I'm just observing that in some unbalanced minds, killing the evil (or rather the perceived evil, in their own personal experience) has become synonymous with killing the Devil.

But just to set the record straight, I don't look at this tragedy as a mere subject of commentary...I really wish for healing here...I'm just attempting to drive the peripheral discussion into thoughtful directions, so as to help discourage this sort of tragedy again in the future.

ICU2: The Heretic

How do we know our place in the universe?

Parallax.

Try this: Take a camera outside on the night of October 14. Locate the Big Dipper (if you live in the Northern Hemisphere) or the Southern Cross (if you live south of the equator).

Find the same constellation with your camera on the night of July 14 (when the Earth is on the exact opposite side of the sun from where it was on Oct. 14.)

Try to align your camera to the STARS exactly as you did before. Snap a photo.

Print negatives of both images onto transparent slides (negatives can be created in any decent editing program [like Photoshop]).

Now, if you place the slides side-by-side (left and right) and cross your eyes (so that the stars on the left are EXACTLY merged with the stars on the right), you will see an amazing effect...some of the stars will seem to levitate above the slides, while others will seem to recede into the distance. (If you have trouble seeing this effect, try the Magic Eye practice page to help you).

While this is a crude way of explaining how scientists know the various distances to the stars...it is essentially the same process scientists use to judge the distance to various stars.

BTW, I once purchased a set of 3-D glasses (the kind for watching 3-D movies) to help see this effect more clearly.

As a precaution, you should never use this cross-eyed method of staring at a pair of images for too long, or immediately before driving a motor vehicle. It can alter your regular depth-perception in potentially disastrous ways.

I personally have a lot of trouble seeing the effect anymore because I experience Nystagmus from Multiple Sclerosis. Most of the time the world looks to me like I stared cross-eyed at a Magic Eye picture for too long.

Author's Addendum: I was mistaken about the dates for doing this correctly, mainly because I was trying to do the math in my malfunctioning brain. The best pair of dates would be April 14 and October 14. Clearly, I'm trying to select dates when the weather will be most agreeable, AND THE EARTH IS AT THE MAXIMUM DISTANCE FROM THE PREVIOUS LOCATION to offer genuine perspective on nearby stars. But select dates 6 months apart that work best for you, keeping in mind the weather.

Eye See You

Science has vastly clarified our conception of the heavens, yet if we aren't careful to pay attention to details, science can also alter our perception of what we're actually seeing.

The picture here is actually a composite of VISIBLE and INFRARED images superimposed on each other. This image of the Helix Nebula (captured by the Spitzer telescope in earth orbit) shows the actual MATTER present, but does so in a slightly confusing way.

If you were to look at this region of space with a powerful EARTH-BASED telescope, you would see the bluish-green outer portion, but the red center would be as black as the rest of the sky.

The reason the "pupil" of this cosmic "eye" appears red is because it is a region of very hot particles. That portion of the image is rich in infrared radiation. Yes, there's a star there, but it barely produces enough visible light to be seen...even with ultra-powerful telescopes. You can see the bluish-green part with a powerful telescope, but even that has been enhanced by the "cooler" infrared radiation present (remember, this picture is a COMPOSITE of both the VISIBLE and INFRARED features of the Helix Nebula).

Now I am not criticizing the scientists that produced this beautiful image--I'm just pointing out that people need to be careful in our age of advanced technology to understand that the pretty pictures they see are sometimes more complex than they appear.

The one thing about this eerie photo that you can be sure of is that it could have appeared this way ONLY from OUR SOLAR SYSTEM in recent times

This is because 1) all of the elements in this photo (all hundreds of light-years distant) are moving apart from each other, and are NOT in perfect alignment with any planetary system but ours, and 2) the technology to produce infrared imagery from an orbital telescope has only existed since the early 1960s.

Now I'm not a believer in any special significance for this very EYE-like feature in deep space, I just think it's cool.

Author's Addendum: occasionally I DO make mistakes. The Spitzer image here is NOT technically a COMPOSITE IMAGE. The Spitzer's camera is a complex multiband device that captures radiation from a wide segment of the spectrum from INFRARED to the edge of the VISIBLE. The incidental fact that the infrared false-color closely resembles colors of other images (including purely visible-light images) of the Helix Nebula is purely coincidental.

Living Flowers

A lot of people are unaware that Holland is a great place to get flowers.

Sinking Zone

I was dismayed to hear about the cruise-ship that sank (partially) off the Greek island of Santorini. As sorry as I am for the passengers aboard, I am actually pleased that the incident happened in this particular location.

Santorini is not the world's most popular tourist stop, but it is one of the last remaining repositories of artifacts from the ancient Minoan culture...perhaps the most advanced Bronze-Age civilization known to humankind.

My thinking is that the accident will help preserve what remains of the Minoan artifacts on Santorini, because it is likely to reduce the tourist traffic that is historically the greatest threat to the archaeological value of Santorini in the understanding of the ORIGINS OF HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS.

This is no small matter, in my eyes.

At present the whole of humanity seems divided on the value of HUMAN LIFE ITSELF.

Before you react, allow me to explain.

Regardless of one's religious beliefs and/or scientific background...it is widely understood that humankind is a unique feature in this corner of the universe. The artifacts on Santorini represent some of the oldest clues remaining about how CONSCIOUS THOUGHT progressed from the purely INSTINCTIVE to the beginnings of ADVANCED COGNITION (i.e., the sort of thinking that led to the technological advances that have allowed mankind to dominate Planet Earth.)

While I respect the need for commerce for the island's contemporary inhabitants, I also recognize the stress that unresolved understanding of the extreme rarity of conscious thought in this part of the universe places upon the whole of humanity.

Just as the average person would not easily succumb to building a highway over Grandma's grave, so I can see that the continued exploitation of Santorini for the sake of tourism is likely to agitate the deepest of human sensitivities about the beginnings of our own consciousness.

So, whereas I am dismayed at any individual loss this incident may have incurred, I think the potential benefit to the greater good for HUMANKIND is incalculable.

--mattergy

Author's Addendum: I was also opposed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq because I feared what would become of the Akkadian, Sumerian and Persian artifacts (many of which are still undiscovered) that have been in the Tigris-Euphrates valley for thousands of years. But the devastation of Ancient artifacts is just a fact of human arrogance, so it is unlikely that humanity will EVER be able to responsibly manage its own history (without divine guidance).

Author's Addendum#2: I realize that there are Egyptian, Assyrian, African, Chinese, Indian, Inuit, and Polynesian Bronze-Age sites of equivalent historical value that demand protective attention, but in terms of cultural "fragility", the late-neolithic Akkadian, Sumerian and Persian artifacts are probably the most vulnerable to wholesale destruction at the present time.

Author's Addendum#3: Lest my concern for "lifeless artifacts" be misconstrued as elevating their value above the PEOPLE living in these regions, let it be understood that I'm fairly certain that history need not be destroyed in the process of protecting human life...but since both commodities are chronically undervalued, I suspect that the destruction both of history AND human life are considered as equally inconsequential by an overwhelmingly destructive minority of over-zealous minds.

Wisdom Beyond Politics

Without specifying ALL names involved (The chain of command in Iran is not apparent to ME, and I suspect that some unseen diplomacy was at work behind the scenes) , I think it was wise for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran to "pardon" the 15 sailors detained last week for allegedly crossing into Iranian waters.

This was a politically complex matter for the Iranian government, (AND the British Government, I am certain) so my point here is that while this was a potentially deadly situation, it seems as if the players have acted in a way that will be acceptable to all sides.

While armchair-critics will continue to be riled, I think that the outcome is better than the myriad outcomes that COULD have occurred.

Again, I don't know all of the players involved, but I suspect that disastrous results were (at least temporarily) averted through wise statesmanship.

I'm impressed--Mattergy

Rationalization vs Rationality

I realize that my posts of late have been hard to interpret. I'd like to think that the underlying theme makes itself apparent without explicit tutoring, but it would be nearly impossible for the average person to empathize with my experience.

In a nutshell, I'm simultaneously overstimulated by international news, local chaos, Multiple Sclerosis, and a vague awareness of this endless warfare in Iraq.

And I think I'm consuming far too much caffeine.

But I had a flash of insight that I felt compelled to share with my readers. A lot of folks are puzzled about President Bush's almost manic drive to keep a vast American presence in Iraq, even over the objections of the majority of the American public.

And the problem is that people are focussed on the stated rationale.

The truth is, despite all the talk, there are some deep underlying reasons for maintaining a large force there. But it's NOT rational. At least not in the Baseball/Hot Dogs/Apple Pie sense.

I'm not even sure I can explain it.

But as Karl Malden says in Patton: "I can read a map!" (BTW, Baku is not highlighted for any particular reason, other than it is at the geographic center of the region I see becoming a hot-spot in the upcoming weeks and months.)

I can't explain what I see (because it will only convince some readers that I've read too much Apocalyptic tripe), but I do have these keywords/sections tracked in my Google News: Headlines, U.S., World, Iran, Syria, Caspian, oil, Sci/Tech, and Multiple Sclerosis.

Google does the collating...I do the thinkin'

Feelings

I find no pleasure in being able to anticipate disaster...so to the people in the Solomon Islands (and surrounding regions) affected by the recent tsunami I extend my sincerest wishes for hope in your time of trouble.

While I am beset by my own weakness, I am not so arrogant as to turn a blind-eye to genuine trouble. May God bring light into your lives.

--Mattergy

What Would Cyrus Do?

The threatening language being hurled back and forth over the 15 British sailors being detained by the Iranian government is rising to an idiotic pitch.

I don't blame the Iranian people (although it's hard to imagine living in a society where the government fans the flames of confusion rather than aiding its people in understanding) because I perceive the Iranians are not living in a free society where public discourse--rather than ever more isolated fanaticism--is encouraged.

Yes, even in the free-world, men-of-power use insidious means to push populations to the breaking-point.

But the difference here is that there is freedom to THINK, rather than an incessant need to lash-out at every enemy (real or perceived) who hurls provocative words into the air.

But there are LIMITS to understanding, even in a free society. And frankly, I think there comes a time to realize that it's best "to let sleeping dogs lie", because some dogs have a habit of waking up and tearing your face off.