One good thing that has come from this week off is a new idea for the newsletter, but I'll talk about that in a moment. I do want to tell you that the most notable thing that happened to me this week was being in a pretty serious car accident. I say “serious” just because it was pretty dramatic, but no one was hurt even a little bit. A friend was driving me home in his car at about 3:00 in the morning, and we were driving on West Lindo Ave., which is a narrow street with a dry river on one side. On a turn the back tire went onto the side of the road a little, and since it was loose dirt it provided no traction, and when my friend tried to compensate with the front we lost control and drove over the side of the road, into a 10 foot drop, landing on a large bush and a fallen log. The log actually stopped us from rolling about twice as far down, but it also turned the car over so the car was completely on its side. We had to carefully climb out the top through the passenger side door, and then climbed out of the ditch. It's pretty amazing that neither of us were hurt. We sat on the side of the road looking down at the car for a while, in various levels of shock, and then walked to my house. I'd never experienced something like that, and I doubt I'll ever forget it. But if you must have an accident, this was probably the best way to do it! No injuries, no damage beyond the car itself, no one else involved, etc. Could have been much worse very easily!
Something like that always makes you think, though. And that's part of my new idea for the newsletter. I've also had some great conversations with people this week, with some great ideas, and I'd like to share those. So, I'm introducing two new categories for the newsletter: “On A Personal Note,” and “Question of the Week.” The first one will be one item a week, and it will be just something that I was thinking about or experiencing that week. The second will be a question for all of you, sometimes a silly question and sometimes serious, to get your opinion on certain things. Since this newsletter is going out to 8 different countries around the world, I think it could be very interesting to learn how different or similar we really are. When I have time then I'll write about the answers you send in the next week's newsletter. I think these will keep the newsletter interesting and not just about facts. So usually I'll have one “Personal Note” and one “Question” and five “Discover Something New” items, but this week I'm going to use only the new categories, just to give you some ideas and because I had a lot of ideas this week. Let me know what you think, and enjoy!
-C
Discover Something New Every Day
Sunday: We usually think that “The Best” is most threatened by “The Bad.” But that's not true. The most deadly thing for “The Best” is “The Good.” No one says that TV, Computer Game, Sports, Shopping, Money, Fame, Success, Knowledge, or Pleasure of any kind is “Bad,” but when “The Good” keeps us away from “The Best,” then they are deadly.
Monday: Even if you drive off a 10 foot ledge and crash into bushes and logs, it doesn't mean that the airbags will come out. In my experience the best way to protect yourself is to close your eyes as tight as possible, scream as loud as you can, and focus on not wetting your pants.
Tuesday: At some point in life everyone must decide what is more important: what is done THROUGH their life, or what is done IN themselves. What is more important to you, what you DO, or who you ARE? Of course they are very similar, and often it is the same thing, but not always. Being able to control your projection of self does not change who you are, and being able to change who you are doesn't mean you will seem any different on the outside. Sooner or later, the DO and BE parts of you will clash, and then you must decide which one is more valuable to you.
Wednesday: One of the few things that has not changed in human existence since the beginning, and I think never will change, is the unpredictability of death. Despite all our hospitals, medicine, technology, health-food, and safe habitats, despite the fact that we can live a hundred years and often be completely free of pain, is death less sudden than in the stone age? Death can arrive with just as much suddenness and shock as ever before. In many ways our efforts to control death has provided more opportunities for shock. Our cars, buildings, airplanes, needles, operations, medical schools, police, restaurants, domestic animals, bug-spray, genetic engineering, microscopes, all the things we have created to make ourselves more comfortable and make life more secure, these things do not make death less surprising, only more shocking and unexpected when it comes, because we really thought we were safe. Death is just as present, just as shocking, and just as in control as ever, and the only thing that has changed is that we've convinced ourselves that it isn't true.
Thursday: There's a funny thing about time: there's always more than enough time, or way too little, but never just enough. Think of how many times you hear people say “Hurry, There's no time!” or “Don't worry, there's plenty of time!” compared to how many times you've heard “There's just the right amount of time”! It seems that time, or at least the way we handle time, is not very balanced at all.
Friday: Question: Isn't it true that everyone in the world likes cookies? Have you ever known any human being who did not like eating warm, fresh, home-made cookies? If so, please tell me!
Saturday: Question: I'm trying to understand if materialism is so strong in the West because we want thing more than other people, or just because we have more opportunity to get things. Do all people want “stuff”? Have you ever met a person who did not have some desire for material possessions? Please tell me about them!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Discover Something New #7- Crazy English Speakers!
Sunday: In 1970 there was a law suggested that would eliminate the estate tax. The estate tax heavily taxed people who inherited more than $7 million dollars. A survey was taken of factory workers which found that the vast majority of them opposed the law to abolish the tax, even though they barely made enough to save anything for their children, must less $7 million. Why were they opposed? They said that they might be rich some day, and that they wanted to pass their money on to their children without taxes. I think that shows the strength of the American Dream better than anything!
Monday: Interesting Person Review: During political unrest in Nicaragua in late 1800s, one political group recruited a few dozen adventurers lead by the American William Walker, who were supposed to be missionaries of "Progress". But the plan backfired when Walker got bored of teaching "civilized" life to the country, and thought it would be more interesting to declare himself President of Nicaragua. He wanted to "Americanize" the country, so he declared freedom of worship, made English the national language, gave large land grants to Americans, and made slavery legal (though it had been abolished in Nicaragua years before). But soon the military got fed up with Walker, and they caught and executed him, thus ending America's short direct reign in Latin America.
Tuesday: Science: (correct me if I'm wrong science guys!) The human eye can actually see a part of the "electromagnet spectrum." The best example is in a rainbow we see the different wave-lengths of the light. Red has the longest wave-length, purple the shortest. On the electromagnet spectrum these visible colors are 0.7 to 0.4. So imagine all the colors and light that you CAN see, and then think about the fact that the human eye can see less than 1/1,000,000 of the electromagnet spectrum. (here's a pretty good simple article: http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/visible.html).
Wednesday: Say What? When the British occupation of India came in 1947, there was a severe problem of Hindi and Muslim conflicts. So it was decided that India would break into two countries, Hindi India and Muslim Pakistan. The British created the geographic borders, and very creative borders they were. The plans didn't consider any pesky geographic details, it simply made areas with a Muslim majority Pakistan, and the rest India. That meant that "Pakistan" was actually two separate areas, almost 1000 miles (1700 K +/-) of Indian territory. Check out this map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Partition_of_India.PNG. The two areas were called West Pakistan and East Pakistan, and even though they were 1000 miles apart, with very different cultures, identities, and appearances, they were expected to act as one country. They actually did (sort of) until 1971, when East Pakistan rebelled and demanded independence. There was an interesting conflict involving USA, USSR, China, India, and ships with nuclear missiles. But that's another story. In the end, East Pakistan gained its independence and became Bangladesh.
Thursday: There are currently only 11 countries with a population over 100 million people. Some of the countries are exactly what you'd expect: China, India, USA, Russia, and Japan, are expected members of the "100 club," but I was surprised that Indonesia has almost 235 million people, that Brazil, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have over 150 million, and Nigeria and Mexico are also in the club. The next probable member? The Philippines currently has a population of 90 million, and Vietnam of 85. Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population, and especially this amazing population clock for India: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/population/country.php?FILE=IN&NAME=India
Friday: Actually: In 1941 Japan was desperate for oil to fuel its empire ambitions, and the closest source was Indonesia, which was help by the Dutch. But Japan knew that America would never allow them to invade the Dutch colony, since the two countries had been on the verge of war for several years, so they planned to take America out of the equation by attacking the fleet at Pearl Harbor. People usually think that Japan wanted to start a war with America and so made the first strike, but actually there was not one Japanese general who thought that Japan could survive a long-term war with the US. The plan was to hit the US navy hard enough to put them out of activity in the Pacific for 4-5 years and then negotiate a peace deal with them after they had cooled off.
In fact, the attack didn't have the affect the Japanese wanted. In the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 about 300 US planes were destroyed. By 1943 the US could build 300 planes every two days. Also, every large ship except one that was sunk in Pearl Harbor was raised and repaired. Many of these ships played vital roles in future battles against Japan.
Saturday: The US actually leases the property of Guantanamo Bay from Cuba, even though the current Cuban government isn't officially recognized by America. Every month the US writes a check for Cuba to pay for the lease. The cost is in accordance with the 1934 lease agreement which dictated $2000 in gold a year, which equals $4,085 a year today. But in 48 years of getting checks, Fidel Castro hasn't cashed a single one.
Correction: Last week I told the story of the Czech soldiers who traveled to Siberia in WWII. Actually it was WWI. (Thanks Dr. Wilson for the correction!)
Monday: Interesting Person Review: During political unrest in Nicaragua in late 1800s, one political group recruited a few dozen adventurers lead by the American William Walker, who were supposed to be missionaries of "Progress". But the plan backfired when Walker got bored of teaching "civilized" life to the country, and thought it would be more interesting to declare himself President of Nicaragua. He wanted to "Americanize" the country, so he declared freedom of worship, made English the national language, gave large land grants to Americans, and made slavery legal (though it had been abolished in Nicaragua years before). But soon the military got fed up with Walker, and they caught and executed him, thus ending America's short direct reign in Latin America.
Tuesday: Science: (correct me if I'm wrong science guys!) The human eye can actually see a part of the "electromagnet spectrum." The best example is in a rainbow we see the different wave-lengths of the light. Red has the longest wave-length, purple the shortest. On the electromagnet spectrum these visible colors are 0.7 to 0.4. So imagine all the colors and light that you CAN see, and then think about the fact that the human eye can see less than 1/1,000,000 of the electromagnet spectrum. (here's a pretty good simple article: http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/visible.html).
Wednesday: Say What? When the British occupation of India came in 1947, there was a severe problem of Hindi and Muslim conflicts. So it was decided that India would break into two countries, Hindi India and Muslim Pakistan. The British created the geographic borders, and very creative borders they were. The plans didn't consider any pesky geographic details, it simply made areas with a Muslim majority Pakistan, and the rest India. That meant that "Pakistan" was actually two separate areas, almost 1000 miles (1700 K +/-) of Indian territory. Check out this map: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Partition_of_India.PNG. The two areas were called West Pakistan and East Pakistan, and even though they were 1000 miles apart, with very different cultures, identities, and appearances, they were expected to act as one country. They actually did (sort of) until 1971, when East Pakistan rebelled and demanded independence. There was an interesting conflict involving USA, USSR, China, India, and ships with nuclear missiles. But that's another story. In the end, East Pakistan gained its independence and became Bangladesh.
Thursday: There are currently only 11 countries with a population over 100 million people. Some of the countries are exactly what you'd expect: China, India, USA, Russia, and Japan, are expected members of the "100 club," but I was surprised that Indonesia has almost 235 million people, that Brazil, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have over 150 million, and Nigeria and Mexico are also in the club. The next probable member? The Philippines currently has a population of 90 million, and Vietnam of 85. Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population, and especially this amazing population clock for India: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/population/country.php?FILE=IN&NAME=India
Friday: Actually: In 1941 Japan was desperate for oil to fuel its empire ambitions, and the closest source was Indonesia, which was help by the Dutch. But Japan knew that America would never allow them to invade the Dutch colony, since the two countries had been on the verge of war for several years, so they planned to take America out of the equation by attacking the fleet at Pearl Harbor. People usually think that Japan wanted to start a war with America and so made the first strike, but actually there was not one Japanese general who thought that Japan could survive a long-term war with the US. The plan was to hit the US navy hard enough to put them out of activity in the Pacific for 4-5 years and then negotiate a peace deal with them after they had cooled off.
In fact, the attack didn't have the affect the Japanese wanted. In the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 about 300 US planes were destroyed. By 1943 the US could build 300 planes every two days. Also, every large ship except one that was sunk in Pearl Harbor was raised and repaired. Many of these ships played vital roles in future battles against Japan.
Saturday: The US actually leases the property of Guantanamo Bay from Cuba, even though the current Cuban government isn't officially recognized by America. Every month the US writes a check for Cuba to pay for the lease. The cost is in accordance with the 1934 lease agreement which dictated $2000 in gold a year, which equals $4,085 a year today. But in 48 years of getting checks, Fidel Castro hasn't cashed a single one.
Correction: Last week I told the story of the Czech soldiers who traveled to Siberia in WWII. Actually it was WWI. (Thanks Dr. Wilson for the correction!)
Upper Upper Bidwell, part IV
Upper Upper Bidwell, part IV
So I found myself continuing up the road. Now things were getting strange, because I really had no idea why I was walking forward, and I was increasingly worried about my energy levels, foot endurance, not to mention mental health. Being goal-oriented, I decided that I was looking for some place to sleep, and then stay there until the morning. Easier said than done. The complicating factors? 1. getting too close to the thick bushes made me worried about wildlife. I knew that probably no predator would attack a human if he is upright and not running away like prey, but laying down and within easy claw reach? I was not about to sleep anywhere near the brush. 2. The wind was bone-chilling and gusting. As long as I kept walking and generating body heat it was no problem, but I knew that in 10-15 minutes of inaction that body heat would be gone, and that kind of exposure would probably be more dangerous than any animal in the forest. 3. I couldn't get the picture out of my mind of the hypothetical person who had been sleeping on that blanket in the abandoned building. He sees a light coming and ducks into the forest, then he watches as some kid walks around and pokes through "his house." The kid then shows signs of nervousness, and continues to walk down the road. The man decides to follow, and see what this invader is up to, and why the kid is in "his forest." And if the kid finally goes to sleep...
There you have it. I couldn't sleep out in the open, I'd freeze. And I couldn't be too close to cover, I'd be eaten. And I couldn't be near the road, I'd be found. But I couldn't go off-road, I'd get lost, and then frozen, and then eaten. You know, I'm naturally an optimist, really.
So I kept walking, I guess hoping to magically find some place where I could sleep that met all these criteria. I think you can see that my logic was starting to break down a little. After another hour and a half, and after thinking I'd found the end of the road three different times, only to realize that it continued, I finally found a place to rest. It was a large slopping clearing, filled with layers of large flat rocks. Well, the clearing itself provided a buffer against the forest, I felt far away enough from the house and any inhabitants, and the final ingredient was finding a small "wall" of rock about two feet high that I could lay behind. After walking for about 11 hours, I was ready to rest.
I huddled down against the rock and tried to relax. I admired the stars for a while, which were beautiful. I was slowly getting more drowsy, but figured I should eat something first. It took about 20 minutes to convince myself to make the effort to open up my bag. You know, at the end of the day, I'm a pretty lazy person. If it weren't for my suicidal sense of adventure I doubt I'd ever bother to get out of bed. Well, when I finally did decide to eat instead of just sitting there falling asleep, I realized that I am also pretty stupid. I'd forgotten that I had brought a nice big beef stick along with me... It wasn't hard to imagine myself sound asleep, the sweet smell of meat drifting through the forest and into the nostrils of lions, bears, and coyotes from miles around... I nearly smacked myself for almost falling asleep like that.
So I decided that I would either start walking back immediately, or if it seemed like I could sleep then at least I would put my bag somewhere on the other side of the clearing. Well, then I tried to decide by seeing if it would be possible to sleep. I could feel the icy wind coming over the rock behind me and blowing over my head, but I felt pretty sheltered. I even started to feel comfortable and drowsy again, but suddenly the wind changed directions. It was gusting, sometimes blowing from behind, sometimes directly at me, sometimes just brushing past me. It's really hard to understand the frustration and torture of this if you're never spent a night out in the open. The wind finds any opening in your clothing, any exposed skin, and hits it with everything it's got. So you turn around to protect that area, and the wind finds another place. You know those nights when you just can't get comfortable? Now imagine that 99% of the comfortable positions you DO find are also impossible to sleep in. Having had a few experiences with this kind of environment, I'm absolutely in awe of the homeless people around the world. I understand why they look the way they do, since I don't think I would even survive many weeks of that kind of life.
When I felt my feet going cold, I knew I had a problem. No amount of positioning would help that problem, and I knew my feet would only get colder and colder until after I had been walking for at least 15 minutes. Before long they would start getting painful, and if I still ignored them the pain would go away, but that wouldn't be a good thing. There was really no question of sleeping at this point.
But still I didn't get up. It wasn't that I was lazy, or too tired to get up. It wasn't that I was thinking about the long trip back, or the perceived dangers along the way. I certainly wasn't enjoying myself lying there on the rocks. So why didn't I want to get up?
The answer came to me suddenly, and it was the most important moment of this whole trip. I've already said that I started trip this because I needed to clear my mind, and this was certainly a moment of clarity. I simply didn't want to go back. I was nearly miserable here, and home sounded so comfortable, but I still didn't want to leave this place.
I had spent the last month of winter vacation doing basically whatever I felt like doing, which pretty much meant sleeping, TV, a few family trips, and that's about it. I half convinced myself that I deserved a break between semesters, and that I "shouldn't push myself too much". The more I lived like that, the more disgusted with myself I became. I knew that every day was one I would never see again, and I started to hate going to bed each night, thinking of how much nothing I'd done that day, knowing that I'd be too lazy to wake up until the afternoon, and then it would start again. I was so focused on making life pleasant and comfortable that I was shutting out anything challenging or real. I just wanted to be happy with life, but I was sacrificing everything that made me happy with myself.
And now here I was, in the middle the the night, miles into the wilderness, in the freezing wind, on a rock bed, and I still didn't want to leave and return to that artificial life of distractions from that which is real. At least here I was alive, and knew it. Here I was not letting a speck of energy go unused. Here I was not unreasonably and uncontrollably frustrated when the Internet connection is too slow, or when my favorite TV program isn't on. I was living in the moment, and living it to the fullest extent of my abilities. There was even enough danger to make me think about survival, and nothing strips all superficiality from your mind like the whisper of death. In one moment I realized that a large part of me would rather stay and freeze in the dark than return to that useless world I'd created for my own pleasure. I almost laughed out loud at the irony.
Well, this was a realization worth the trip. I felt a new motivation to discipline and focus myself. I knew that if I couldn't monitor and balance the vast luxuries our society offers, then soon I'd be out on a freezing rock somewhere again, and I really didn't want that. Okay, I was ready to try again.
So I stood up, and prepared to start the long walk back. At this point it was about 9:30. I figured I'd been walking over 11 hours, so by starting back now I should get home around 6 am. A little early for me, but I'd had enough of the cold, and I was ready to go home.
The way back was pretty stressful, but for many hours nothing interesting actually happened. I was worried about my flashlight battery dying. I was worried about lions. Every time I heard a noise in the bushes I flashed my light at it to discourage any attack. Several times I disturbed birds sleeping in the bushes as I pushed past them, and they would burst into flight with loud screeches. That always made me nearly wet my pants.
Besides that there was always the interesting experience of seeing the lights of Chico whenever the trail curved towards the ridge and out of the trees. It was strange, seeing so many lights of so many people, so close and still it all looked very far away when I thought about walking there. Hey Matt and Daniel, you remember our trip to Ishi Wilderness? It was kind of like that. It was a different kind of lost, because I knew the direction, I could even see where I was going, but I really had no idea where I was.
I kept walking, sometimes making plans about how to avoid letting my life get so distracted in the future, sometimes just putting one foot in front of the other. At one point my dad called on the cell phone. He said that there were weather alerts on the news about the cold, and they advised everyone to stay inside. The police were driving around to make sure no one was staying outside too long. Needless to say my parents were worried about me, and wanted me to call them as soon as I was near the Upper Bidwell road so they could come and pick me up. They sounded like they were more convinced that I was crazy, which I'd already discovered was pretty much true, so I didn't argue.
Thus it went for about five hours, and then it started getting interesting again. See, up in the higher hills the thick brush made it very clear where the road was, but as I came down into the lower hills the terrain was more flat and open, which made me more comfortable, but also made the road much more difficult to follow. Usually it was nothing more than an area where the ground was a little clearer than other areas, and in the dark that's a distinction easy to miss. I constantly caught myself walking off the trail in the wrong direction before I realized my mistake. I wasn't too worried about loosing the direction (the lights of Chico were impossible to miss), but I was worried about getting caught in the bushes, and also about finding the gate to take me from the reserve into Upper Bidwell. Every half hour or so I would notice a landmark that reassured me that I was on the right road, but then the landmarks stopped. I was still on the road, but I was more and more certain that I hadn't come this way. It seemed like I should have reached the gate already. I was also aware that I didn't have a lot of time to waste, because I was starting to feel the effects of asking my feet to go from relative inactivity to walking all day and night. Blisters were growing, and it was slowly making it more difficult to walk on the rocky ground. But I had little choice, and the road was in the right direction, so I kept going with growing unease, wondering how far away the gate was.
It's amazing how something like this can captivate your whole mind for hours, even if it's useless to think about it. For two hours I kept thinking that the gate would be just around the next bend, that maybe I'd gotten turned around, maybe I'd just forgotten how long it was, etc. Then finally I saw a gate ahead of me. The rush of relief in my heart lasted a moment until I got closer and realized that this was not the gate I'd crossed 15 hours ago. And I could see a clear dirt road on the other side, traveling down a gently slopping grassy hill. That certainly wasn't the rough and rocky land of Upper Bidwell! I had no idea where I was, but I decided to just keep the right direction and continue on. I climbed over the fence and tried to take stock of my surroundings. I didn't recognize anything, and I had absolutely no idea where I was in relation to the park. But one thing I did know, I was out of the reserve. Also the terrain was much more pleasant, and judging from the tall barbed-wire fence I'd just left, there wouldn't be much wildlife in here. That was a wonderful relief by itself!
As the road headed down the hill I felt strangely relaxed and calm. I could see clearly all around me, there was no close brush, only widely spaced trees and low grass. I felt like I'd left the dark part of the adventure and was moving slowly towards the sun. The valley floor was laid out below me, twinkling with lights. I could even see cars moving on the road, looking like little pinpricks of light. Even though the road was very rocky at times, and that was becoming more and more of a factor to my blistered feet and weakening ankles, this was finally starting to feel like a night hike should; quiet, peaceful, and picturesque. I even started enjoying myself.
After about an hour of thinking through what I knew about my position, I got a pretty good idea of where I was. Those of you who are familiar with Upper Bidwell know that as you drive up the road into the park on the left is a wide area of property used as a cow ranch. I was now pretty sure that I had stumbled onto that land. Apparently it reaches as far back into the hills as Upper Bidwell itself, but is much gentler and grassy. Knowing this (or being pretty sure that I knew it), I became a little more conscious about my light shinning out over half the valley from the hillside, and a little more concerned with bumping into anyone. But by this time it was after 3:00 am, and I wasn't too worried about anyone being up and about.
That all changed very quickly when I came around a bend and heard sounds in the grass in the shadows on my far left. I froze, crouched down, and waited, my eyes wide. The distinct sound of something large slowly moving through the grass continued for a moment, getting closer, and then stopped. I stayed as still as I could, and then decided that it couldn't be a man, and if it was an animal I would just have to face it . After all, if a mountain lion had somehow gotten down this far and was watching me, then sitting still on the ground radiating nervousness was probably the worst thing I could do. So gathering up my courage, I jumped up and waved my hands around wildly. About 10 feet to my left, a very large something leaped back, making loud animal sounds. At that moment large figures all around me jumped off the ground and started running fast in all directions. I almost yelling in fright before I realized that they were cows. You probably figured that out already, but somehow it hadn't entered my mind. And I've never seen cows move or sound like this! I guess they only do that when you sneak into the middle of their group when they're sleeping in the middle of the night and suddenly jump out at them like a madman. By the way, if any of you know the rancher who owns these cows, and he mentions that all his cows suddenly stopped giving any milk, please forget that you read this story, okay? Thanks.
Anyway, I stood there breathing hard and giggling to myself for a few minutes before continuing on. It was about this time that the moon finally came out. It wasn't much of a moon, but it was enough to walk without my flashlight, and that made me feel a lot better. Walking by moon light is a great feeling, especially on land like this. I even thought about laying down under one of the trees and calling it a night, especially since I was now limping along and really concerned about twisting my ankle in the dark. But I was more worried about the rancher being up and about by the time the sun rose, and now the darkness was my friend if I hoped to get out of here without being noticed. So I kept going.
I walked for about two hours over the hills, crossed several small creeks, found ways around little valleys, and eventually found myself on the flat grasslands level with the still distant lights of the city. Then came my last little adventure on this journey. I looked ahead and saw a gate. It was a big gate, taller than me, and on the opposite right side was a large fenced farm-yard. It looked like the area where the cattle were loaded into trucks for transport. Everything was as quiet as a graveyard, and I wanted it to stay that way. There was always a small chance that the rancher lived here in one of those buildings.
I approached the gate and considered the best way to get over it. It wouldn't be difficult to climb, the challenge would be in keeping silent. The middle of the gate was locked with a padlock and a lot of chain, and the hinges looked very rusty and squeaky. I started up one side, and was moving pretty stealthily until I reached the top and swung one leg over. And then, well, you know that thing that sometimes happens when you're climbing over a fence and you stop at the top and the fence starts shaking, and you shake with it to try to keep it balanced, but really only make it worse, and the movement keeps getting greater, until you end up making a noise like a small marching band for several minutes? Okay, maybe some of you haven't experienced that personally, but it happens, and that's what happened to me at this moment.
So there I was, tottering back and forth at the top of a 6 foot gate, making a noise to wake the gods of thunder, and then over in the farmyard I heard dogs barking. Bad news, that. So I forgot about getting stabilized before climbing down, and instead half fell half scrambled like a frightened squirrel down the other side of the gate, and I started walking, fast! If it had been an option I would have been running, but it hurt enough just walking fast, so running was completely out of the question. I think that even if a crazed farmer with a shotgun had charged out of the farmhouse with both barrels blazing I still could not have managed to move faster than a one-legged kangaroo. I'm not sure where that image came from, but work with me on that one.
So I tripped along, very aware that my footsteps sounded very loud on the loose gravel. The dogs kept barking, but the sound slowly faded into the distance as I walked to safety. I still didn't feel completely safe, and I kept looking over my shoulders looking for headlights that would be the sign of a wild-eyed rancher coming after me, and I was ready to through myself into the ditch on the side of the road at any moment. It's unflattering to think how much time I spent on this trip looking over my shoulder. But anyway no lights came, and the countryside grew quiet again.
From there it was a matter of finding my way out. I eventually recognized the Upper Bidwell road on the other side of the fence, and after about half an hour I found a place to climb over the barbed wire. By the way, that particular fence is one of the best I've encountered of the barbed-wire variety. The bottom wire leaves no room or flexibility to climb under, it's too high to think about jumping over, and the posts are just wobbly enough to make climbing over very very precarious. If you're considering getting into that land, I suggest you go about 10 minutes past where I stumbled over the barbed-wire and go over the nice iron gate at the end of the road.
Anyway, it felt strange to be back on public land after about 18 hours of worry about getting caught trespassing. It was like the feeling after you get into bed and put your feet between the freezing sheets, and then you feel them slowly warm up to a cozy, comfortably temperature. Still I was in pretty bad shape, and quite glad that my father had "ordered" me to call for a pick-up, instead of having to try to walk across town to get home. I don't know what would have happened if I'd tried to walk another few miles.
After a few minutes I arrived at the playground at the beginning of the upper park. I checked my watch and saw that it was 5:50. Right on time. I sat on one of the playground platforms and caught my breath, drank the rest of my water, and then called my dad. When his sleepy voice came on I told him where I was, and asked if he was sure he wanted to come and get me, because I could still walk home if he'd rather stay in bed. He said he'd come and get me. Even though I kind of wanted the satisfaction of making it all the way back to my front door, I was relieved that my walking was over for the day.
At home I peeled my socks off (found that I had actually burst two blisters by walking on them, which I didn't think was possible), took a long shower (no ticks, amazingly!), tended to my poor feet (which was difficult because my feet refused to speak to me and tell me where it hurt. Only now are they beginning to trust me again), and headed to bed. I had been out for almost exactly 20 hours, and at least 18 of that was walking. I figure I walked at least 25 miles round-trip, although all my efforts to figure out exactly where I went have failed. That's no Marine's hike, but I was pleased with myself. In the 24 hour period after that trip I probably slept about 15, but I didn't feel guilty at all! It wasn't very difficult to justify that!
All in all, I felt it was a successful trip, whatever that means. I'm sure each of you reading has a slightly different evaluation of the experience, but I'll leave that for you to decide. I also had the adventure-urge beaten out of me for another several months at least, so for now I have to make my peace with the "real world," or whatever it is that we've decided to call real, and try to find a balance without staging a prison break and running into the hills. But knowing me, I'm sure that sooner or later I'll find myself out on a freezing rock bed, wondering how I could be crazy enough to be out there, and what it will take for me to be "normal." For the record, if anyone out there is wondering, I don't plan on ever being normal. Besides, if I was then I'd have nothing to write about!
-The End
I have few last thoughts from this little story. Although it was only one day, it was a significant day for me. I realized how quickly and how radically the wrong life philosophy can turn my heart sour. And although I didn't meet anyone but myself in the whole journey, it does involve a number of other people. It may not seem like it, but I put a lot of time into writing this story over the last month. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't have finished it without knowing that many people were reading it and encouraging me to "get on with it!" :-) Thanks to everyone who kept asking me what would happen next. I'm sorry I dragged it on so long, this last chapter especially, but I hope you enjoyed it and got something to think about from it. Also, this story is only one small example of how much my parents have learned by having three sons. :-) I am grateful for their understanding and support in all the craziness behind and ahead of me. Last of all, I thank my God for making it clear that He will always be my "Real World" whenever I'm willing to step away from the counterfeits I've built up around me. Take care everyone, and live well, this is not a rehearsal!
So I found myself continuing up the road. Now things were getting strange, because I really had no idea why I was walking forward, and I was increasingly worried about my energy levels, foot endurance, not to mention mental health. Being goal-oriented, I decided that I was looking for some place to sleep, and then stay there until the morning. Easier said than done. The complicating factors? 1. getting too close to the thick bushes made me worried about wildlife. I knew that probably no predator would attack a human if he is upright and not running away like prey, but laying down and within easy claw reach? I was not about to sleep anywhere near the brush. 2. The wind was bone-chilling and gusting. As long as I kept walking and generating body heat it was no problem, but I knew that in 10-15 minutes of inaction that body heat would be gone, and that kind of exposure would probably be more dangerous than any animal in the forest. 3. I couldn't get the picture out of my mind of the hypothetical person who had been sleeping on that blanket in the abandoned building. He sees a light coming and ducks into the forest, then he watches as some kid walks around and pokes through "his house." The kid then shows signs of nervousness, and continues to walk down the road. The man decides to follow, and see what this invader is up to, and why the kid is in "his forest." And if the kid finally goes to sleep...
There you have it. I couldn't sleep out in the open, I'd freeze. And I couldn't be too close to cover, I'd be eaten. And I couldn't be near the road, I'd be found. But I couldn't go off-road, I'd get lost, and then frozen, and then eaten. You know, I'm naturally an optimist, really.
So I kept walking, I guess hoping to magically find some place where I could sleep that met all these criteria. I think you can see that my logic was starting to break down a little. After another hour and a half, and after thinking I'd found the end of the road three different times, only to realize that it continued, I finally found a place to rest. It was a large slopping clearing, filled with layers of large flat rocks. Well, the clearing itself provided a buffer against the forest, I felt far away enough from the house and any inhabitants, and the final ingredient was finding a small "wall" of rock about two feet high that I could lay behind. After walking for about 11 hours, I was ready to rest.
I huddled down against the rock and tried to relax. I admired the stars for a while, which were beautiful. I was slowly getting more drowsy, but figured I should eat something first. It took about 20 minutes to convince myself to make the effort to open up my bag. You know, at the end of the day, I'm a pretty lazy person. If it weren't for my suicidal sense of adventure I doubt I'd ever bother to get out of bed. Well, when I finally did decide to eat instead of just sitting there falling asleep, I realized that I am also pretty stupid. I'd forgotten that I had brought a nice big beef stick along with me... It wasn't hard to imagine myself sound asleep, the sweet smell of meat drifting through the forest and into the nostrils of lions, bears, and coyotes from miles around... I nearly smacked myself for almost falling asleep like that.
So I decided that I would either start walking back immediately, or if it seemed like I could sleep then at least I would put my bag somewhere on the other side of the clearing. Well, then I tried to decide by seeing if it would be possible to sleep. I could feel the icy wind coming over the rock behind me and blowing over my head, but I felt pretty sheltered. I even started to feel comfortable and drowsy again, but suddenly the wind changed directions. It was gusting, sometimes blowing from behind, sometimes directly at me, sometimes just brushing past me. It's really hard to understand the frustration and torture of this if you're never spent a night out in the open. The wind finds any opening in your clothing, any exposed skin, and hits it with everything it's got. So you turn around to protect that area, and the wind finds another place. You know those nights when you just can't get comfortable? Now imagine that 99% of the comfortable positions you DO find are also impossible to sleep in. Having had a few experiences with this kind of environment, I'm absolutely in awe of the homeless people around the world. I understand why they look the way they do, since I don't think I would even survive many weeks of that kind of life.
When I felt my feet going cold, I knew I had a problem. No amount of positioning would help that problem, and I knew my feet would only get colder and colder until after I had been walking for at least 15 minutes. Before long they would start getting painful, and if I still ignored them the pain would go away, but that wouldn't be a good thing. There was really no question of sleeping at this point.
But still I didn't get up. It wasn't that I was lazy, or too tired to get up. It wasn't that I was thinking about the long trip back, or the perceived dangers along the way. I certainly wasn't enjoying myself lying there on the rocks. So why didn't I want to get up?
The answer came to me suddenly, and it was the most important moment of this whole trip. I've already said that I started trip this because I needed to clear my mind, and this was certainly a moment of clarity. I simply didn't want to go back. I was nearly miserable here, and home sounded so comfortable, but I still didn't want to leave this place.
I had spent the last month of winter vacation doing basically whatever I felt like doing, which pretty much meant sleeping, TV, a few family trips, and that's about it. I half convinced myself that I deserved a break between semesters, and that I "shouldn't push myself too much". The more I lived like that, the more disgusted with myself I became. I knew that every day was one I would never see again, and I started to hate going to bed each night, thinking of how much nothing I'd done that day, knowing that I'd be too lazy to wake up until the afternoon, and then it would start again. I was so focused on making life pleasant and comfortable that I was shutting out anything challenging or real. I just wanted to be happy with life, but I was sacrificing everything that made me happy with myself.
And now here I was, in the middle the the night, miles into the wilderness, in the freezing wind, on a rock bed, and I still didn't want to leave and return to that artificial life of distractions from that which is real. At least here I was alive, and knew it. Here I was not letting a speck of energy go unused. Here I was not unreasonably and uncontrollably frustrated when the Internet connection is too slow, or when my favorite TV program isn't on. I was living in the moment, and living it to the fullest extent of my abilities. There was even enough danger to make me think about survival, and nothing strips all superficiality from your mind like the whisper of death. In one moment I realized that a large part of me would rather stay and freeze in the dark than return to that useless world I'd created for my own pleasure. I almost laughed out loud at the irony.
Well, this was a realization worth the trip. I felt a new motivation to discipline and focus myself. I knew that if I couldn't monitor and balance the vast luxuries our society offers, then soon I'd be out on a freezing rock somewhere again, and I really didn't want that. Okay, I was ready to try again.
So I stood up, and prepared to start the long walk back. At this point it was about 9:30. I figured I'd been walking over 11 hours, so by starting back now I should get home around 6 am. A little early for me, but I'd had enough of the cold, and I was ready to go home.
The way back was pretty stressful, but for many hours nothing interesting actually happened. I was worried about my flashlight battery dying. I was worried about lions. Every time I heard a noise in the bushes I flashed my light at it to discourage any attack. Several times I disturbed birds sleeping in the bushes as I pushed past them, and they would burst into flight with loud screeches. That always made me nearly wet my pants.
Besides that there was always the interesting experience of seeing the lights of Chico whenever the trail curved towards the ridge and out of the trees. It was strange, seeing so many lights of so many people, so close and still it all looked very far away when I thought about walking there. Hey Matt and Daniel, you remember our trip to Ishi Wilderness? It was kind of like that. It was a different kind of lost, because I knew the direction, I could even see where I was going, but I really had no idea where I was.
I kept walking, sometimes making plans about how to avoid letting my life get so distracted in the future, sometimes just putting one foot in front of the other. At one point my dad called on the cell phone. He said that there were weather alerts on the news about the cold, and they advised everyone to stay inside. The police were driving around to make sure no one was staying outside too long. Needless to say my parents were worried about me, and wanted me to call them as soon as I was near the Upper Bidwell road so they could come and pick me up. They sounded like they were more convinced that I was crazy, which I'd already discovered was pretty much true, so I didn't argue.
Thus it went for about five hours, and then it started getting interesting again. See, up in the higher hills the thick brush made it very clear where the road was, but as I came down into the lower hills the terrain was more flat and open, which made me more comfortable, but also made the road much more difficult to follow. Usually it was nothing more than an area where the ground was a little clearer than other areas, and in the dark that's a distinction easy to miss. I constantly caught myself walking off the trail in the wrong direction before I realized my mistake. I wasn't too worried about loosing the direction (the lights of Chico were impossible to miss), but I was worried about getting caught in the bushes, and also about finding the gate to take me from the reserve into Upper Bidwell. Every half hour or so I would notice a landmark that reassured me that I was on the right road, but then the landmarks stopped. I was still on the road, but I was more and more certain that I hadn't come this way. It seemed like I should have reached the gate already. I was also aware that I didn't have a lot of time to waste, because I was starting to feel the effects of asking my feet to go from relative inactivity to walking all day and night. Blisters were growing, and it was slowly making it more difficult to walk on the rocky ground. But I had little choice, and the road was in the right direction, so I kept going with growing unease, wondering how far away the gate was.
It's amazing how something like this can captivate your whole mind for hours, even if it's useless to think about it. For two hours I kept thinking that the gate would be just around the next bend, that maybe I'd gotten turned around, maybe I'd just forgotten how long it was, etc. Then finally I saw a gate ahead of me. The rush of relief in my heart lasted a moment until I got closer and realized that this was not the gate I'd crossed 15 hours ago. And I could see a clear dirt road on the other side, traveling down a gently slopping grassy hill. That certainly wasn't the rough and rocky land of Upper Bidwell! I had no idea where I was, but I decided to just keep the right direction and continue on. I climbed over the fence and tried to take stock of my surroundings. I didn't recognize anything, and I had absolutely no idea where I was in relation to the park. But one thing I did know, I was out of the reserve. Also the terrain was much more pleasant, and judging from the tall barbed-wire fence I'd just left, there wouldn't be much wildlife in here. That was a wonderful relief by itself!
As the road headed down the hill I felt strangely relaxed and calm. I could see clearly all around me, there was no close brush, only widely spaced trees and low grass. I felt like I'd left the dark part of the adventure and was moving slowly towards the sun. The valley floor was laid out below me, twinkling with lights. I could even see cars moving on the road, looking like little pinpricks of light. Even though the road was very rocky at times, and that was becoming more and more of a factor to my blistered feet and weakening ankles, this was finally starting to feel like a night hike should; quiet, peaceful, and picturesque. I even started enjoying myself.
After about an hour of thinking through what I knew about my position, I got a pretty good idea of where I was. Those of you who are familiar with Upper Bidwell know that as you drive up the road into the park on the left is a wide area of property used as a cow ranch. I was now pretty sure that I had stumbled onto that land. Apparently it reaches as far back into the hills as Upper Bidwell itself, but is much gentler and grassy. Knowing this (or being pretty sure that I knew it), I became a little more conscious about my light shinning out over half the valley from the hillside, and a little more concerned with bumping into anyone. But by this time it was after 3:00 am, and I wasn't too worried about anyone being up and about.
That all changed very quickly when I came around a bend and heard sounds in the grass in the shadows on my far left. I froze, crouched down, and waited, my eyes wide. The distinct sound of something large slowly moving through the grass continued for a moment, getting closer, and then stopped. I stayed as still as I could, and then decided that it couldn't be a man, and if it was an animal I would just have to face it . After all, if a mountain lion had somehow gotten down this far and was watching me, then sitting still on the ground radiating nervousness was probably the worst thing I could do. So gathering up my courage, I jumped up and waved my hands around wildly. About 10 feet to my left, a very large something leaped back, making loud animal sounds. At that moment large figures all around me jumped off the ground and started running fast in all directions. I almost yelling in fright before I realized that they were cows. You probably figured that out already, but somehow it hadn't entered my mind. And I've never seen cows move or sound like this! I guess they only do that when you sneak into the middle of their group when they're sleeping in the middle of the night and suddenly jump out at them like a madman. By the way, if any of you know the rancher who owns these cows, and he mentions that all his cows suddenly stopped giving any milk, please forget that you read this story, okay? Thanks.
Anyway, I stood there breathing hard and giggling to myself for a few minutes before continuing on. It was about this time that the moon finally came out. It wasn't much of a moon, but it was enough to walk without my flashlight, and that made me feel a lot better. Walking by moon light is a great feeling, especially on land like this. I even thought about laying down under one of the trees and calling it a night, especially since I was now limping along and really concerned about twisting my ankle in the dark. But I was more worried about the rancher being up and about by the time the sun rose, and now the darkness was my friend if I hoped to get out of here without being noticed. So I kept going.
I walked for about two hours over the hills, crossed several small creeks, found ways around little valleys, and eventually found myself on the flat grasslands level with the still distant lights of the city. Then came my last little adventure on this journey. I looked ahead and saw a gate. It was a big gate, taller than me, and on the opposite right side was a large fenced farm-yard. It looked like the area where the cattle were loaded into trucks for transport. Everything was as quiet as a graveyard, and I wanted it to stay that way. There was always a small chance that the rancher lived here in one of those buildings.
I approached the gate and considered the best way to get over it. It wouldn't be difficult to climb, the challenge would be in keeping silent. The middle of the gate was locked with a padlock and a lot of chain, and the hinges looked very rusty and squeaky. I started up one side, and was moving pretty stealthily until I reached the top and swung one leg over. And then, well, you know that thing that sometimes happens when you're climbing over a fence and you stop at the top and the fence starts shaking, and you shake with it to try to keep it balanced, but really only make it worse, and the movement keeps getting greater, until you end up making a noise like a small marching band for several minutes? Okay, maybe some of you haven't experienced that personally, but it happens, and that's what happened to me at this moment.
So there I was, tottering back and forth at the top of a 6 foot gate, making a noise to wake the gods of thunder, and then over in the farmyard I heard dogs barking. Bad news, that. So I forgot about getting stabilized before climbing down, and instead half fell half scrambled like a frightened squirrel down the other side of the gate, and I started walking, fast! If it had been an option I would have been running, but it hurt enough just walking fast, so running was completely out of the question. I think that even if a crazed farmer with a shotgun had charged out of the farmhouse with both barrels blazing I still could not have managed to move faster than a one-legged kangaroo. I'm not sure where that image came from, but work with me on that one.
So I tripped along, very aware that my footsteps sounded very loud on the loose gravel. The dogs kept barking, but the sound slowly faded into the distance as I walked to safety. I still didn't feel completely safe, and I kept looking over my shoulders looking for headlights that would be the sign of a wild-eyed rancher coming after me, and I was ready to through myself into the ditch on the side of the road at any moment. It's unflattering to think how much time I spent on this trip looking over my shoulder. But anyway no lights came, and the countryside grew quiet again.
From there it was a matter of finding my way out. I eventually recognized the Upper Bidwell road on the other side of the fence, and after about half an hour I found a place to climb over the barbed wire. By the way, that particular fence is one of the best I've encountered of the barbed-wire variety. The bottom wire leaves no room or flexibility to climb under, it's too high to think about jumping over, and the posts are just wobbly enough to make climbing over very very precarious. If you're considering getting into that land, I suggest you go about 10 minutes past where I stumbled over the barbed-wire and go over the nice iron gate at the end of the road.
Anyway, it felt strange to be back on public land after about 18 hours of worry about getting caught trespassing. It was like the feeling after you get into bed and put your feet between the freezing sheets, and then you feel them slowly warm up to a cozy, comfortably temperature. Still I was in pretty bad shape, and quite glad that my father had "ordered" me to call for a pick-up, instead of having to try to walk across town to get home. I don't know what would have happened if I'd tried to walk another few miles.
After a few minutes I arrived at the playground at the beginning of the upper park. I checked my watch and saw that it was 5:50. Right on time. I sat on one of the playground platforms and caught my breath, drank the rest of my water, and then called my dad. When his sleepy voice came on I told him where I was, and asked if he was sure he wanted to come and get me, because I could still walk home if he'd rather stay in bed. He said he'd come and get me. Even though I kind of wanted the satisfaction of making it all the way back to my front door, I was relieved that my walking was over for the day.
At home I peeled my socks off (found that I had actually burst two blisters by walking on them, which I didn't think was possible), took a long shower (no ticks, amazingly!), tended to my poor feet (which was difficult because my feet refused to speak to me and tell me where it hurt. Only now are they beginning to trust me again), and headed to bed. I had been out for almost exactly 20 hours, and at least 18 of that was walking. I figure I walked at least 25 miles round-trip, although all my efforts to figure out exactly where I went have failed. That's no Marine's hike, but I was pleased with myself. In the 24 hour period after that trip I probably slept about 15, but I didn't feel guilty at all! It wasn't very difficult to justify that!
All in all, I felt it was a successful trip, whatever that means. I'm sure each of you reading has a slightly different evaluation of the experience, but I'll leave that for you to decide. I also had the adventure-urge beaten out of me for another several months at least, so for now I have to make my peace with the "real world," or whatever it is that we've decided to call real, and try to find a balance without staging a prison break and running into the hills. But knowing me, I'm sure that sooner or later I'll find myself out on a freezing rock bed, wondering how I could be crazy enough to be out there, and what it will take for me to be "normal." For the record, if anyone out there is wondering, I don't plan on ever being normal. Besides, if I was then I'd have nothing to write about!
-The End
I have few last thoughts from this little story. Although it was only one day, it was a significant day for me. I realized how quickly and how radically the wrong life philosophy can turn my heart sour. And although I didn't meet anyone but myself in the whole journey, it does involve a number of other people. It may not seem like it, but I put a lot of time into writing this story over the last month. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't have finished it without knowing that many people were reading it and encouraging me to "get on with it!" :-) Thanks to everyone who kept asking me what would happen next. I'm sorry I dragged it on so long, this last chapter especially, but I hope you enjoyed it and got something to think about from it. Also, this story is only one small example of how much my parents have learned by having three sons. :-) I am grateful for their understanding and support in all the craziness behind and ahead of me. Last of all, I thank my God for making it clear that He will always be my "Real World" whenever I'm willing to step away from the counterfeits I've built up around me. Take care everyone, and live well, this is not a rehearsal!
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Discover Something New #6
War War War... And a Volcano
Sunday:-Wow: Imagine walking 11 miles (17.7 K) in a straight line. Then you turn right and walk another 11 miles, making two sides of a giant square. Then you walk straight down 11 miles, making a giant cube. Now imagine that that is how much rock was thrown into the air when the volcano Mt. Mazama erupted 1000s of years ago. Mt. Mazama was in southern Oregon. The ash in the air covered eight US states and three Canadian Provinces, traveling nearly 1000 miles (1600 K) in all directions. (For you Europeans, if the volcano was in London, Prague would be covered with ash).
Monday:- Impossible? I've been wanting to cover this one for a while, and now that there's a movie coming about about this story I want to write about it before Hollywood claims another story for themselves. It was August 11th, 480 B.C. And Persia was attacking Greece. At the battle of Thermopylae the Greek army was vastly outnumbered. The numbers vary a lot, but the Greeks numbered about 5,000, and estimates about the Persian forces range from 400,000 to 5 million. Amazingly, the Greeks were holding their position on higher ground. Then the Persians found a way to travel behind the Greek lines through a narrow mountain path. Most of the Greek army retreated towards the city, but King Leonidas of Sparta and 300 Spartan soldiers stayed behind to defend the path. The legend says that the 300 Spartans held back over a million Persians and caused so many casualties that it crippled the Persian army and gave Greece an eventual victory. Every one of the 300 died.
The truth is probably a little different. There were also 700 Thespian soldiers with the Spartans, and the number of attacking Persians is not clear. It may have been much more or less than a million. Also, not all of the Thespians were killed. Still, the legend could be pretty accurate, and I like that version. 300 vs. a million (that's one Spartan against 3,333 Persians). Impossible? Maybe, if you want to live. A general of the Persian army is reported to have said to the Persian King, “what kind of men are these against whom you have brought us to fight? Men who do not compete for money, but for honor.” For all the details on this story I recommend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae
Tuesday:So That's Why- No third-world country has sent military aid beyond its immediate neighborhood, except Cuba. Strangely, most Cuban troops sent abroad went to Africa. Indeed, the Cold War was not cold in Africa, where dozens of rising countries were being pulled between Russia and America. Cuba wanted to help its communist brothers, and in 1975 sent 36,000 soldiers to Angola, in 1977 16,000 soldiers to Ethiopia, engaged in small-scale missions in Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Benin, and in 1988 Cuba sent an army of 52,000 to Angola. There were also 10,000s of Cubans sent to Africa as experts in health care, education, construction, etc. Considering that this poor island country was putting the US to shame in the battle for Africa, it's little wonder why the US/Cuban relationship is still tense.
Wednesday:-Say What? During WWII the socialist revolution started in Russia. In June 1918 Allied forces were sent into Siberia to meet an army of 70,000 Czech soldiers. What were the Czechs doing in Siberia? Well, at the time of WWII Czech land was part of the Austian-Hungarian Empire, and the Czechs were enlisted by Austria to fight against the Allies. But the Czech people wanted independence, so they devised a way to fight against Austria. When the chaos of the Revolution began, they planned to march across Russia and Siberia, sail from the port of Vladivostock to San Francisco, join the American army, then sail across the Atlantic Ocean and fight against Germany on the French western front. The Americans who met them in Siberia saw nothing wrong with this plan, but they suggested that the Czech fight against the Russian revolutionaries instead. In the end, the Czechs spent so much time fighting the Reds that the war with Germany ended before the Czechs could do any fighting against their real enemy.
Thursday:-Actually: The word “Aryan” usually conjures up images of Nazi Germany and Hitler's twisted vision of a perfect, pure, white, “Aryan” race. Actually the word Aryan comes originally from the holy books of Indian Hinduism, where the word is used to describe the people of the India area. It really has nothing to do with any kind of “pure” race.
Friday:-World problems: It is estimated that by 2100, 90% of the world's 6000 languages will be replaced by a dominant world language. The process is already well under way. In Africa only 10% of languages are used in school. And while around 350 million people claim English as their native language, about 1.4 billion people live in a country where English is the official language.
Saturday:-Amazing person review: In 1921 the US Secretary of State Evans Hughes called a meeting of the representatives of England, Japan, France, and five others. The topic, the naval arms race. All these countries were in competition to have the strongest navy, and it was getting out of control. Hughes wanted to put a stop to it. So in the first speech of the conference, when the others were expecting just a nice welcome speech, Hughes presented his plan to abandon, destroy, or stop construction on 845,740 tons of ships for the USA, 538,375 tons for Great Britain, and 448,928 tons for Japan, making the total over 1.8 million tons of military ships to be voluntarily destroyed. Amazingly, everyone agreed to this plan. Some say that in 30 minutes Hughes destroyed more military ships than all the wars in all of history.
Sunday:-Wow: Imagine walking 11 miles (17.7 K) in a straight line. Then you turn right and walk another 11 miles, making two sides of a giant square. Then you walk straight down 11 miles, making a giant cube. Now imagine that that is how much rock was thrown into the air when the volcano Mt. Mazama erupted 1000s of years ago. Mt. Mazama was in southern Oregon. The ash in the air covered eight US states and three Canadian Provinces, traveling nearly 1000 miles (1600 K) in all directions. (For you Europeans, if the volcano was in London, Prague would be covered with ash).
Monday:- Impossible? I've been wanting to cover this one for a while, and now that there's a movie coming about about this story I want to write about it before Hollywood claims another story for themselves. It was August 11th, 480 B.C. And Persia was attacking Greece. At the battle of Thermopylae the Greek army was vastly outnumbered. The numbers vary a lot, but the Greeks numbered about 5,000, and estimates about the Persian forces range from 400,000 to 5 million. Amazingly, the Greeks were holding their position on higher ground. Then the Persians found a way to travel behind the Greek lines through a narrow mountain path. Most of the Greek army retreated towards the city, but King Leonidas of Sparta and 300 Spartan soldiers stayed behind to defend the path. The legend says that the 300 Spartans held back over a million Persians and caused so many casualties that it crippled the Persian army and gave Greece an eventual victory. Every one of the 300 died.
The truth is probably a little different. There were also 700 Thespian soldiers with the Spartans, and the number of attacking Persians is not clear. It may have been much more or less than a million. Also, not all of the Thespians were killed. Still, the legend could be pretty accurate, and I like that version. 300 vs. a million (that's one Spartan against 3,333 Persians). Impossible? Maybe, if you want to live. A general of the Persian army is reported to have said to the Persian King, “what kind of men are these against whom you have brought us to fight? Men who do not compete for money, but for honor.” For all the details on this story I recommend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae
Tuesday:So That's Why- No third-world country has sent military aid beyond its immediate neighborhood, except Cuba. Strangely, most Cuban troops sent abroad went to Africa. Indeed, the Cold War was not cold in Africa, where dozens of rising countries were being pulled between Russia and America. Cuba wanted to help its communist brothers, and in 1975 sent 36,000 soldiers to Angola, in 1977 16,000 soldiers to Ethiopia, engaged in small-scale missions in Congo, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Benin, and in 1988 Cuba sent an army of 52,000 to Angola. There were also 10,000s of Cubans sent to Africa as experts in health care, education, construction, etc. Considering that this poor island country was putting the US to shame in the battle for Africa, it's little wonder why the US/Cuban relationship is still tense.
Wednesday:-Say What? During WWII the socialist revolution started in Russia. In June 1918 Allied forces were sent into Siberia to meet an army of 70,000 Czech soldiers. What were the Czechs doing in Siberia? Well, at the time of WWII Czech land was part of the Austian-Hungarian Empire, and the Czechs were enlisted by Austria to fight against the Allies. But the Czech people wanted independence, so they devised a way to fight against Austria. When the chaos of the Revolution began, they planned to march across Russia and Siberia, sail from the port of Vladivostock to San Francisco, join the American army, then sail across the Atlantic Ocean and fight against Germany on the French western front. The Americans who met them in Siberia saw nothing wrong with this plan, but they suggested that the Czech fight against the Russian revolutionaries instead. In the end, the Czechs spent so much time fighting the Reds that the war with Germany ended before the Czechs could do any fighting against their real enemy.
Thursday:-Actually: The word “Aryan” usually conjures up images of Nazi Germany and Hitler's twisted vision of a perfect, pure, white, “Aryan” race. Actually the word Aryan comes originally from the holy books of Indian Hinduism, where the word is used to describe the people of the India area. It really has nothing to do with any kind of “pure” race.
Friday:-World problems: It is estimated that by 2100, 90% of the world's 6000 languages will be replaced by a dominant world language. The process is already well under way. In Africa only 10% of languages are used in school. And while around 350 million people claim English as their native language, about 1.4 billion people live in a country where English is the official language.
Saturday:-Amazing person review: In 1921 the US Secretary of State Evans Hughes called a meeting of the representatives of England, Japan, France, and five others. The topic, the naval arms race. All these countries were in competition to have the strongest navy, and it was getting out of control. Hughes wanted to put a stop to it. So in the first speech of the conference, when the others were expecting just a nice welcome speech, Hughes presented his plan to abandon, destroy, or stop construction on 845,740 tons of ships for the USA, 538,375 tons for Great Britain, and 448,928 tons for Japan, making the total over 1.8 million tons of military ships to be voluntarily destroyed. Amazingly, everyone agreed to this plan. Some say that in 30 minutes Hughes destroyed more military ships than all the wars in all of history.
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