The Moorgate Tube Crash Deconstructed

In the same spirit as my column on the Dyatlov Pass Accident I thought I’d cover another historical disaster mystery, the 1975 London Moorgate tube crash. This was a subway train cash where 43 people died immediately, a few more subsequently dies of their injuries. It is the second worst subway disaster in English history. In some ways there’s no mystery at all, in other ways it’s completely baffling. How the accident happened is very simple, a subway reached the end of the line and, instead of stopping, the driver drove  through the station into a dead end tunnel. There was no attempt made to stop the train, the train’s throttle was of the “dead man switch” type and the driver kept it at full speed until he hit the wall, he didn’t even throw his hands in front of his face before the impact.

What the hell? Mechanical problems were ruled out. The driver was healthy, with no history of drug use or alcoholism, and none was found in his body. Could he have just spaced out and driven through the station into the wall? It has happened before, but in this case the train hit quite a bump going through the station at normal speed, some passengers were thrown from their chairs, some standing passengers fell down. It’s hard to imagine a jolt like that not snapping him out of a revery. One exotic possibility is that he suffered a type of seizure known as “transient global amnesia” or “dissociative fugue”, a subject I have touched on in another post. In this case he might have been “frozen” in position and been unable to move or even unaware of where he was. However these types of events are very very rare and he had no history of such.

Suicide was also ruled out, the driver was a reliable worker with no history of suicide. He was happily married with family. And he had £300 ($50,000 USA) in his pocket with which he was going to buy a used car for his daughter on the way home. He certainly had no reason to commit suicide and no indication that he was suicidal. And that basically was that, the cause of the crash remains officially undetermined to this day. At least some good came of it, after this accident all passenger trains and tube trains in Britain were equipped with a device that would apply the brakes if a train was approaching a dead end.

One railroad author and former tube driver, Piers Connor, thinks inattentiveness was the cause of the crash, it apparently caused a similar crash in 1971. In that case the train was empty, and the driver did apply the breaks at the last moment. Unfortunately not soon enough, and he died before reaching the hospital. I suppose it’s possible, maybe the jolt did snap the Moorgate driver out of his revery but he was still disoriented until too late. I dunno though, witnesses on the platform said the driver appeared to be remaining straight up and staring forward even after the bump. Which leads back to suicide, author Laurence Marks, whose father died in the crash and subsequently spent a year investigating it, thinks the crash was deliberate and preplanned since apparently the driver had overrun a platform on at least one other occasion. I dunno though, while people do plan their suicides, they don’t usually take a bunch of folks with them unless they have some terrible grudge.

Myself, I think it was suicide. I think it was a very impulsive things are, as many suicides are. I suspect he was a lot more depressed than people at the time realized, this was 1975 and depression was not as often recognized or diagnosed in those days. And he was an older man, 56, from an era where one simply did not admit mental problems and seek counselling. In fact I think that the daughter’s car money in his pocket is what really points to this, on some level that symbolized his child leaving the nest, this can be extremely stressful for some parents. And stressors can trigger a suicidal impulse, every year a few college students fling themselves off dorm roofs because of a failing grade, it happens.

All in all though, the cause of this crash is mysterious and may always remain so. I just find genuine mysteries interesting. I mean, it has to have a prosaic explanation, doesn’t it? There’s a few other big unexplained accidents and plane crashes and stuff I’ll write about by and by.

God rest the souls of those that died that died, let their families find peace.

(The above image of rescuers at the Moorgate crash site is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law, it is not being used for profit and is central to illustrating the image. There’s very few pictures of this crash on line, I guess this was just before “image journalism” or whatever it’s called began to explode.)

A Navy Seal Writes…

I decided to delete this post. I don’t think the author was a Navy Seal, and whether or not he was…the post relected on the Navy Seals in a poor light which was not my intent. The original comment (edited for profanity) has been restored to its original location here.

Is It Time to Invade Burma?

The Times magazine asks if it is time to invade Burma? My poor brain. On the one hand, what a wonderful bloggable topic. On the other hand, are they insane? I mean, this wasn’t an April Fools article, they seriously propose “giving war a chance.” This bugs me for so many reasons, I hardly know where to begin. Well, actually, I do, the problem is knowing where to stop usually. In any event, the government of Myanmar has gotten an incredible amount of criticism from the west regarding their reluctance to let foreign troops and supplies flood into the country to help them out after a disastrous cyclone killed tens of thousands of people.

The first thing that gets me is the almost mind numbing arrogance and know-it-allism demonstrated by most in the west. This is what I am talking about when I say “colonial mind set.” Westerners just know what is good for Myanmar and are smug and secure and superior in their assessment that they simply think of their position as being factual and logical. It was called the “White Man’s Burden” at one time, now we call it “spreading democracy.” The assumption is that we here in the west are civilized and know how to run a country, and these ignorant savages in the rest of the world who don’t adhere to our template for running a country need to be educated and brought up to speed for their own good.

Secondly, there is zero attempt to understand the position of the Myanmar government. Yes, they clearly are trying to use this disaster to strengthen their position, but isn’t that exactly what the rest of the world is doing when they used this tragedy to criticize the Myanmar government? Are there any politicians anywhere who don’t try to capitalize on disasters, even if its just to show up for the photo op? Did I mention how hypocritical the colonial mind set is, “do as we say, not as we do” is a core part of it. While I am not a fan of any dictatorial government, nonetheless Myanmar is a sovereign country run by a local Myanmar government. How they run their country is really their business now, isn’t it? More importantly, if they let western personnel into the country it also means western spies and western support for their dissidents. I doubt Americans would have wanted Iranian Revolutionary Guards flying into New Orleans to help out after Katrina, why do they not understand that other people might feel the same about our troops?

Another thing about this that is so annoying is the concern suddenly shown for the people suffering there. Um, people suffer and die in huge numbers worldwide every day for lack of a few dollars worth of food and medicine. Not to mention the systematic looting of the resources of third world countries that of anything has accelerated in the modern era. The gap between the rich and poor countries of the world is growing, not shrinking. Yet most westerners are unaware of that, they are unaware of the role their governments play in it, and they are blissfully unaware of how their affluent lifestyles are supported on the back of child and slave labour in many parts of the world. But gee, there’s a cyclone and all of a sudden we’ve got to help these people!

And not just Time, many people high and low have suggested invasion as a possibility. Um, do the people suggesting this not have any understanding of history and current events? Just a few short years ago we launched “humanitarian” invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In both cases the people of those countries were supposed to be so happy to be “liberated” from their tyrannical governments that they would greet us a liberators and democracy would flow outwards throughout the region. Here we are five years later and Iraq and Afghanistan are two of the world’s premier failed states, both arguably worse off than before we “freed” them. And both hotbeds of violence, extremism, and terrorism. Yet somehow people still think that we can just invade a country and magically fix it?

That the occasional hotheaded kid who doesn’t know anything about history, current affairs, or Myanmar would suggest invasion doesn’t surprise me…but a main stream media outlet? Maybe it was just meant to generate controversy, but it still scares me. Would they run an article about maybe it’s time to invade Israel of Russia or China? Of course not. But the old colonial idea of conquering “primitive” countries to help them is still alive and well. I just wish I could make people see how incredibly simplistic and patronizing it is to even consider the idea of a humanitarian” invention. I think fifty years of the “war on poverty,” “the war on drugs,” and now the “war on terror” has so clouded many people’s minds that they see war as the ultimate solution to any problem.

Oh well, tomorrow I have a wonderful comment left by a Navy Seal who disputes much if not all of my thinking regarding war and current events. I am flattered he took the time to write. The Navy is a very important branch of the military…they provide the transportation for the Marine Corps. That’s an old Marine joke, from an old Marine. Semper Fi.

(The above image of Japanese Invasion Money in Burma is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It is not being used for profit and the government that issued it no longer exists. Credit: Banknotes.com The Japanese invaded Burma in order to integrate them into the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. I’m sure many in Japan believed it was for Burma’s own good too.)

Through Thick and Thin

Another week. The Obama vs Clinton deathmatch goes into extra innings. Civil war is breaking out in Lebanon again. I managed to write three posts this week about men behaving badly, a topic for which there is infinite amounts of source material. Even my own mother called me up to inform me that Josef Fritzl is indeed a monster. Exactly, but by extension that means there’s a monster in all men. I knew that. I used to play a little game, when I met a man for the first time I would see how long it would take me to get him to say something really racist, misogynistic, or genocidal. I had to stop because it was too depressing, I don’t think I ever failed.

Moving right along. Well, yes, Hezbollah claims that the government of Lebanon has declared war on it. What a mess, is another Lebanese Civil War in the offing? Lebanon is the perfect example of how colonialism never ended and is still wreaking havoc in the world at large. The colonial mind set is more what I mean. At least the colonial powers of the 19th century were honest about what they were doing, we have inherited their mind set but forgotten what’s really going on. “The map is not the territory.” Oh well, I’ll try to explain this idea more next week.

There’s been a terrible cyclone to hit Myanmar (previously known as Burma.) A cyclone is the Asian word for hurricane. As many as a hundred thousand people may be dead. That’s, like, really bad. The government of Myanmar is not exacting cooperating with efforts to get aid to their stricken country. Though again, the classic colonial mind set is being illustrated here. IE the west knows what’s best Myanmar and if the government of Myanmar doesn’t like it, why, there must be something wrong with them. Can anyone spell patronizing and paternalistic? And the Myanmar government knows that letting in westerners means letting in spies and support for their dissidents, from their position keeping aid out is the lesser of two evils.

The price of oil hit a new record, $126 a barrel. People are actually starting to drive less, in fact it’s really helped the congestion in Berkeley. Less traffic, less pollution…I can live with that. Even on the way back cross country I noticed the used car lots were filled with big pickup trucks and SUVs. More proof of how short sighted and clueless many Americans are, gas is still a minor part of the cost of operating a vehicle and certainly not worth the money they would lose selling a vehicle and buying a new one. And of course two of the candidates for the White House (Obama being the sane exception) are pandering to these misunderstandings by saying they will repeal the gas tax to give American’s “relief.” Saving 18 cents a gallon will be a trivial amount of relief, but will further strip our nation’s highways of already critically underfunded repair funds. And when maintenance is deferred, it just costs more down the road. Yeah, that’d a good idea, pass more costs on to our grandchildren. In other words, repealing the gas tax is just more “borrow and spend.” It does seem to be the American way these days.

Speaking of gasoline, I heard that even if all of America’s farmland were switched to producing biofuel it still wouldn’t meet our fuel needs. Basically biofuel is another scam, it will make the rich richer, the poor poorer…all while claiming to be “green” energy. The other nightmare being resurrected as “green” energy is the nuclear industry. Power so mind numbingly expensive that investors refuse to fund the construction of nuclear power plants since they invariably lose money. So now we will be building them with government picking up the tab (IE you and me and our grandchildren) all the while claiming that this is good for the country and the environment. Sigh. Yes, I should write more about this some day.

There was a rumour that the leader of Al-Qaeda-in-Iraq was captured, sleeping on a mattress in an ally. Sounded pretty fishy to me, and turned out it was. Didn’t stop people from declaring what a wonderful victory this was. Of course if killing insurgent leaders actually did anything, insurgencies would be easy to stop. No, insurgencies have very distributed command and control structures, they have to be in order to survive. So killing their leaders basically does nothing except make them even more careful to keep their command and control structures distributed. And usually makes them and their movements more popular as well.

Lastly, I did a little research on the “End Times.” A lot of people are claiming that the end is nigh. Turns out that this has happened before. Hundreds of times going back to 3800 BC. And yet somehow the End Times never arrive and humanity is left to muddle through somehow. I particularly liked this one from 1694:

“Drawing from theology and astrology, German prophet Johann Jacob Zimmerman determined that the world would end in the fall of 1694. Zimmerman gathered a group of pilgrims and made plans to go to America to welcome Jesus back to Earth. However, he died in February of that year, on the very day of departure. Johannes Kelpius took over leadership of the cult, which was known as Woman in the Wilderness, and they completed their journey to the New World. Fall came and went and, needless to say, the cultists were profoundly disappointed at having travelled all the way across the Atlantic just to be stood up by Jesus.” (Cohen p.19-20)

Well, yes, that would be annoying. Read about the rest of these false prophecies here.

Have a great weekend everyone!

(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It is a low resolution copy of the original, it is not being used for profit, and its use here does not in any way hinder the copyright holder’s commercial use of the image, arguably the opposite. It’s a painting titled “Landscape with Grenade” by Cliff McReynolds. Credit & © Copyright Cliff McReynolds. I really like his art, and thought that painting in particular illustrated the times we are living in. End Times, no…interesting times, yes.)

Men Behaving Badly, Part III

I know, I know, three posts in a row on the same unpleasant subject. I’m going somewhere with this, trust me. Today’s topic is the one I originally was planning to write about, the recent unpleasantness on Pitcairn Island. Then Mr Fritzl and the FLDS case hit the news, and I had a surfeit of men behaving badly to blog about. Sigh. Men. The truth of the matter is that when they get alone or in small groups, sometimes their worst sides come out. This is the story of Pitcairn Island, and how the men there developed a culture that justified what can only be described as criminal sexual behaviour.

Pitcairn Island is one of the most remote inhabited spots on Earth. It was discovered and settled by Polynesians centuries ago, who mysteriously left or died out. Then in the late 18th century the mutineers of Bounty fame settled on the island. And settled down to a leisurely and peaceful island existence. Eventually at least, for the first few years the men murdered each other or committed suicide until there was one man left. Then they settled down to a peaceful existence. It was an inauspicious start though, and another example of men behaving badly when they get in small isolated groups.

Still, this isn’t a history post, though I may write about the Bounty Mutiny someday. This story starts in 1999 when a New Zealand policewoman stationed on Pitcairn Island was told of being raped when she was twelve by an inhabitant of the Island. Further enquiries followed and a full scale investigation was launched, eventually interviewing every woman who had lived on the island in the past 20 years. It turned out that the “age of consent” on the Island was generally considered to be twelve. The problem was that if a girl reached twelve, she was considered to be consenting. As a preacher living on the Island around 2000 said that “I think the girls were conditioned to accept that it was a man’s world and once they turned 12, they were eligible,” After the investigation was complete seven men, basically the island’s adult male population, was charged with 55 total counts of sexual crimes. Six of the seven were convicted and are serving their time on a prison constructed on the Island.

The islanders are none too happy about all of this of course, and some have left the island. Many of the women support the men and some even withdrew their statements after it all got ugly. The basic facts do seem to be correct though, there was a long time “tradition” of girls having sex starting at age twelve, and they were often pressured to coerced to actually raped. And this had been going on a long time. An official in the 1930s tried to get the British government to take action to no avail. Apparently 3 men were sentenced to jail in the 50s for having sex with underage girls. So was a visitor in 1999. For at least a century, under an outward veneer of devout Seventh Day Adventism, teenage boys routinely molested underage girls in the bushes.

Some tropical paradise. We can’t blame some sort of extreme religious beliefs. The men weren’t all Josef Fritzls, in fact they are mostly a pretty decent bunch by most standards. One thing in common is that all three cases took place in prisons. Josef and the FLDS built their own prisons, and Pitcairn Island, less than two miles square, is a prison by any standards. And of course it’s the men mistreating the women, while there are a few cases of women imprisoning their children, almost always they are at best accessories. It’s alos a fact that in both Pitcairn and in the FLDS, the older women played a role in the abuse, or at least covered it up and made excuses for it. What choice did they have?

I could find any number of similar examples. If there’s a point to all of this, it seems to me that males have an innate tendency to view women as sex objects and breeding stock, since when left to their own devices they tend to set up very male dominated societies. This pretty much ties in with my observation that for the most part people are little more than shaved chimps. I won’t go so far as to claim that people or men are inherently evil, and that’s not what I’m getting at here. I’m just saying our nature is more animal than not. And to me at least that implies that if we are to become a civilized species, we should try acknowledging that and working with it rather than pretend it isn’t so. We are capable of better, but honest self evaluation has to be the start of any transformation.

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:32

(The image above predates 1927 and is public domain under US copyright law. It is not being used for profit. Credit: The Pitcairn Island Photo Album. It shows a group of Islanders in 1910 or 1920, sources vary. And my, what a cheerful looking bunch they are. View the full size version here if you dare. As always my posts are intended as discussion, not judgement.)

Men Behaving Badly, Part II

Previously I wrote about the Josef Fritzl case in Austria. This was the case where a man built a dungeon and imprisoned his daughter, and fathered children with her which he also imprisoned. The case has a morbid fascination, as the extremes of human evil often does. However, his behaviour is not as beyond the pale as one might suppose. There is a case in Texas now where a group of men built a dungeon in plain sight, and imprisoned their women and children in it. I am talking about the FLDS case (Fundamentalist Later Day Saints) in Deseret County, Texas. Hundreds of women and children have been removed from the church’s ranch compound amid allegations of underage sex and forced marriages.

The media is making a big deal about this, but unfortunately they are treating these people with kid gloves. The woman and children in this compound were just as much prisoners as Mr Fritzl’s daughter and children. They were raised and held in isolation from the outside world, heck, even Mr Fritzl’s prisoners had a TV, the FLDS people didn’t even have books (aside from the Bible.) Let me be more specific, the media and the authorities are treating the men in this church with kid gloves. The media is playing this as some sort of weird but otherwise mainstream religious group, when in reality the women and children in this groups are slaves.

From the moment they are born every aspect of their lives is rigidly controlled by the men running the church. How they wear their hair, what clothes they wear, what colours they can use (red is not allowed,) every aspect of their lives is controlled. If they show the slightest resistence their living situations, their parents, their husbands, their children can and are taken from them until they are “sweet.” This is not social conditioning, this is brainwashing, coercion, and slavery. And the women at an early age are forced to marry much older men, in fact the leader of this group is in jail for raping his 13 year old “wife.” And the men not only lord it over their wives and kids, they also pay no attention to even the dictates of the state. There are no birth records kept, and few if any of the children get much education. The girls especially, since they are forced to marry and start having kids at an early age. There are also hints of torture and child abuse.

In other words, a group of men is using religion to justify their own private little slave society. Yet few if any of the men have been charged with anything. The media and the authorities don’t seem to take this situation with nearly the gravity it deserves. If this was a Muslim cult Americans would be screaming bloody murder about this and the right wing blogosphere would be boiling about charges about how these people want to take over the USA and force us all to live under their religious law. Why shouldn’t extremist Christians be held to the same standard?

I’m also troubled by the lack of comment by mainstream religions. Now maybe I’ve missed something, but I don’t recall seeing any headlines about the FLDS being condemned by Christian and Mormon leaders for their sick interpretations of our saviour’s teachings. I’m not a biblical scholar, but I don’t recall Jesus saying anything about forcing teenage girls to marry older men in polygamous incestuous relationships (inbreeding is a serious problem with this group, I kid you not.) And I’m pretty sure he never said anything about having a bed in the church so that marriages can be consummated right after the ceremony. And where did he say women must keep their hair long, wear ridiculous 19th century clothing or not use the colour red? And I know he didn’t say anything about men keeping their wives and children as slaves.

I don’t know what the solution to this problem is, I do know that it’s not OK to use “freedom of religion” to keep women and children as slaves. And I do know that Americans who are eager to criticize Islam for for its supposed failings might want to pay a little more attention to what’s going on in their own back yard.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Matthew 7:3

For more information on the FLDS try some background, escape from, or prophet. Tomorrow…a third post on men behaving badly…the Pitcairn Island sex abuse trials.

(The above image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, as clearly indicated here. And if one looks at the full resolution image, don’t those look like bars on the first floor of the church?

Since it’s a gated and walled community I can’t imagine they have a problem with people breaking into the church, so why are the windows barred? I rest my case.)

Men Behaving Badly

Well, men behaving badly seems to be in the news these days. The Josef Fritzl case in Austria being the foremost example. Here’s a guy who ruled his family with fear and intimidation and complete control, even going so far as to keep his own daughter locked in a dungeon for decades, raping her, and fathering seven children with her. This is a terrible crime by almost all standards, and it is a source of some speculation as to how this could both happen and go undetected so long. I’ve waited a week or more for details to emerge, and I’m sure casting for a made-for-TV movie is already underway, but enough information is now out to comment on this strange case.

First of all, the basics. Josef Fritzl is a classic control freak, he was absolute master of his wife and kids, no dissent was allowed. We’ve all heard about or even known families like that. Mr Fritzl went further though, he built a dungeon and unbeknown to everyone he drugged and imprisoned his 18 year old daughter Elisabeth, and used her as a sex slave for over two decades. She had seven kids by him (her father) and four of them never left the dungeon. One died, and the other three were raised upstairs. Mr Fritzl told people his daughter had joined a cult, and that she had left the babies on their doorstep. The situation was exposed when one of the kids in the cellar, Kerstin, got very sick. When she was bought to the hospital Elisabeth had left a note in her clothes pleading for help. The hospital staff asked questions…and called the police.

Well now. Obviously Mr Fritzl is a very bad man. That being said, the first point is that while this is certainly extreme, it’s just a pathological extreme of the normal range of human behaviour. IE lots of parents try to control their kid’s lives for their own purposes. Would that it were different, but Mr Fritzl is man, not a monster. He’s just a man who took being father and husband to monstrous extremes. I know on one hand that doesn’t seem important or even counter intuitive, but I do think that if we reject Mr Fritzl’s humanity that we lose the chance to understand what drives some to this extreme. For good or for ill the forces that created this situation are echoed to some degree in each of us and in society at large. Or for a warped analogy, if one finds a cancerous tumour in one’s body, it’s neither helpful nor accurate to say “That evil tumour isn’t part of me.” While obviously the tumour must be excised, it can’t hurt to try and figure out what caused it in the first place. Mr Fritzl isn’t a monster, he’s a tumour.

Another point that troubles people is how could the victims let this happen? Both the ones above ground and the ones below ground? Why didn’t his daughter somehow contrive to attack and overpower her captor? She had years to come up with something. And how could the people upstairs, including Mr Fritzl’s wife, not know what was going on? Well, again, it’s all pretty normal psychology. When one is held captive, there are powerful psychological forces that kick in. The Stockholm Syndrome, brainwashing, and cognitive dissonance are good things to read about if one wants to understand why a captive might not resist. And outside of movies, there are few cases of victims resisting their captors in situations like this. Though it’s not all hopeless, there are many cases of victims making a run for it when the opportunity presented itself, as happened here.

As for why didn’t the people upstairs or the neighbours notice? People see only see the outside, and what the Fritzl’s presented to the world appeared normal. Social workers even visited the upstairs kids, and a story about a mother abandoning her kids to be raised by the grandparents would be believable anywhere. People don’t normally suspect that a neighbour or relative has a secret slave chamber under their house, so it’s not something they keep an eye out for. There have been other cases like this. In a nightmarish case in Belgium, the Dutroux case, police even searched a home without finding the secret basement and its prisoners.

Speaking of other cases, there’s another case recently that has at least some parallels with the Fritzl case. Though the media is treating it differently than the Fritzl case, since this cases involve a group of men conspiring to behave badly while using Christianity as a justification for their actions. I am talking of the FLDS case is Texas. The prisons they built for their women and children were more elaborate than Mr Fritzl’s dungeon, but they were prisons all the same. I will expand on this in my next post, the evil that men do is something that concerns us all.

“Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don’t do such a disgraceful thing.”

But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.

Judges 19: 24-26

(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It is not being used for profit, it is central to illustrating he post, its use here in no way interferes with the copyright holder’s commercial use of the image…and it’s a damned interesting image. Credit and copyright: News of the World/The Sun. Imagine being born and raised in such a place? The mind reels. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.)

The American Civil War Claims Another Victim…

It’s been 143 years since Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, for all practical purposes ending the American Civil War…and one more victim has just been claimed. The longest lived veteran in history? No. Sam White, an amateur Civil War buff and artifact restorer, was restoring a 34 kilogram (about 75 lbs) naval cannonball in his driveway, as he did all the time. Sometimes with his wife and son watching. He was under the impression that the shell had been disarmed, and despite his experience, this time he was tragically wrong. Using a grinder to remove rust from the shell, the heat and sparks ignited the explosives inside. Shrapnel struck other houses as far as 400m (400 yards) away, but Sam was the only one killed. The news isn’t exactly saying the exact nature of his injuries, but it is a good bet that the doomed Mr White was dead before he even knew something had gone wrong. Grinding cannonballs in his driveway, as a hobby? Yikes.

About 15 million cannonballs, mortar shells, and artillery shells were fired during the American Civil War. By modern standards that’s relatively modest numbers, there were single battles in World War One where millions of artillery shells were used. Maybe one in five was a dud, so thousands of unexploded shells and cannonballs still litter Civil War battlegrounds. And at least some of them are still dangerous today. In this case the shell was a naval cannonball, likely fired out of a Parrott Rifle like the one pictured above. This meant it would have been waterproofed more seriously than a land artillery shell, thus contributing to its longevity.

I’ve written about the “iron harvest” before. People are still regularly killed and maimed in Europe by old munitions. In the USA though it’s usually munitions people brought home from 20th century wars and kept as souvenirs that do the killing. Not always though. In 2006 another civil war buff was badly injured by an exploding Parrott Rifle shell. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported it as the “latest casualty in the civil war.” Still smarting over the demise of the CSA are we?

Still, the bad luck of the late Mr White amazes me. A shell fired in a war that ended generations before his birth lay in the ground for over a century. During Mr Smith’s entire life, his fate was laying quietly buried, waiting to be dug it up and carried to his driveway. Did it cross the minds of the men that fired that shell that long ago day that it wouldn’t find its mark for 140 years? I suppose some sort of Sci-Fi time travel story could be wrung out of this, what if this artillery shell was deliberately aimed at Mr White from the past somehow?

Moving right along, most likely Mr White knew what he was doing and his death is a tragic accident. Some of the other incidents in the USA in recent years defy credulity. A few random stories: First, if someone brings an old shell to show-and-tell at school, don’t pass it around. 12 students were injured when the old bazooka shell they were passing was dropped and subsequently exploded. Second, if one finds an artillery shell laying in a yard while playing croquet, for God’s sake don’t hit it with a croquet mallet to see if it’s live. It was, eight children died. And lastly, if one finds a shell in the woods, don’t assume it’s safe and bring it home to use as a paperweight. And especially don’t to use said paperweight to squash a bug on your desk. Yes, the bug was thoroughly squashed. The man doing the squashing had his hand blown off though. People, people, people!

To review, if one finds old artillery shells or cannonballs laying around, don’t assume they are safe, don’t pick them up, don’t hit them with anything, and never use them to squash bugs. I know they don’t cover useful stuff like this in the standardized testing nightmare America’s school children now get in lieu of an education, so this information is provided as a public service.

(The above image of a Parrott Rifle on the deck of the USS Wabash is public domain under US copyright law. Click here to see a full size version.)

Through Thick and Thin

Well, I am back from my journey to Canada. Roots and all that, I will post more at some point. Nothing terribly exciting happened, but customs got a good laugh when they X-rayed my bag and saw a giant metal bug. It’s an ashtray. The news though. Oh my. Lots of it. Cults going wild all over the place. Bush achieves a record low for popularity for a president. Some Austrian guy kept his daughter in a dungeon. The wars go on. The presidential primary race between Clinton and Obama is this low painful drone in the background, by the time it’s over the public will be so sick of them that people will vote for McCain just to get the bad taste out of their brains. Or maybe I’m just getting old and cynical. The clerk at MacDonald’s insisted on giving me my Coke today at the senior price. Some people would have been upset, I’m like “Cool, I just saved 40 cents.” I don’t think I look that old, but maybe my worries are ageing me prematurely.

Moving right along, in space the Phoenix lander is about to land on Mars and look for signs of life. This will be the first powered landing on Mars in some time, bouncing to the surface on big balloons is the more common method lately. (More on balloons later.) This will also be the first landing in Mar’s polar area if it succeeds. That’s if it succeeds, there have been previous failures. It’s tricky sending robot probes into space, but a good value for the money spent. I will certainly write about this landing after it occurs.

There’s a claim that a naturally occurring superheavy element has been discovered. With atomic number 122, this will be an amazing if confirmed. In fact if true, this is a breakthrough discovery that will change our understanding of the universe. It also has many practical applications, some of them so sinister as to almost beggar belief. It will take a whole post to explain it though, so that will have to wait.

I am writing a post on crackpot thinking that will probably upset a lot of people, since I think everyone believes in at least one silly thing. I believe in ghosts for example, I’m just smart enough not to say so in public (oops) and wise enough to know that logically my belief can’t be defended. In a similar vein I am writing about ten great myths Americans believe in, again I will likely step on a few toes there.

Back on Earth, gas prices continue to rise and food shortages are reported in various places. This can’t be good. Attacks on coalition and American forces are on the rise in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s all Iran’s fault according to the Bush administration. In local news there’s even a water shortage. I can’t think of a way to blame that on Iran, but I’m sure I could come up with something if I tried.

Oh well. In news of the weird, no sign of the priest who tried to break the world’s record (19 hours) for flying using nothing but party balloons. He was doing this to raise money for a spiritual rest stop for truckers. And he drifted out to sea instead of over land as was planned. Though “planned” is probably a poor word to use for what was a really risky stunt. They did find some of his balloons though, so it’s a pretty good bet that the priest is now providing spiritual comfort to truckers as they arrive in heaven. Heck, maybe he drifted high enough that he just floated up to the Pearly Gates and God was so amused by his stunt that he was allowed to stay. There’s probably a joke in there somewhere, but I’m still too tired to try and think of it.

Have a great weekend everyone, I’m open to suggestions on what to write about for Monday’s post.

(The above image is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law. It’s not being used for profit and is central to illustrating the post. I think it’s a Reuters image but am open to correction on that score. Speaking of celebrities, I guess Claudia Schiffer is really smart. I explained my idea for world peace to someone and they told me I have Schiffer brains.)

Adventures on the Road

Well, I made it to British Columbia. More specifically, to Vancouver Islandoff the coast of British Columbia. It was an epic journey with many and sundry incidents. For example the first night on the train I woke up and there was an empty bottle rattling around at my feet. I’m thinking, “WTF, people are throwing trash at me while I sleep?” Moments later the conductor comes up and says “You’re going to throw that trash away, aren’t you?” I’m like “But, but, that’s not not my trash!” She immediately says “That’s what they all say!” She was joking, but it was an inauspicious start to the journey.

And a journey it was. I took a train from Buffalo, NY, to Seattle, Washington. Once there, the helpful people in the Amtrak and Greyhound Stations were able to direct me on my way, and I proceeded to Nanaimowith no problem. I wish. No, the people manning the “information” booths in both places couldn’t find Canada on a map, let alone direct me there. “Canada, that’s up north aways, isn’t it?” Yeesh. Now I know what Al Capone meant when he said “Canada? I don’t even know what street it’s on.”

It started at Amtrak. They didn’t have a clue, but directed me to the Greyhound station, telling me it was too far to walk. Fortunately I looked at the map they gave me before insulting a cab driver, the Greyhound Station was less than a mile away. Don’t people walk anywhere anymore? After three days on a train a twenty minute walk was refreshing. Of course the Greyhound guy was equally helpless. “Ferries? That’s a boat, right?” He lives in the goddamn Pacific Northwest but doesn’t have a clue that there are ferries running everywhere? At this point I was starting to suffer from lack of caffeine and greasy microwaved food. Then while in the bathroom at the bus station, a guy comes into the room screaming how he is going to murder some guy who threw a piece of pizza in his face. I just raised my feet and sat on the toilet quietly until he went away, but this didn’t help my disposition any.

So anyhow, the bus guy could sell me a ticket on an express bus to the city of Vancouver. I figured someone up there would know how to get to the ferry, the island of Vancouver being visible off the coast. And in fact while waiting in line for the bus, a nice Canadian gal not only knew how to get there, she said she would take me to the appropriate bus stop when we got to Vancouver, and told me what ferry to catch. This proved to be a double godsend, as will become clear later.

Speaking of godsends, a nice old Canadian we were chatting with in the line suddenly morphed into a Jehovah’s witness and started to lecture us on corruption, immorality, and false religion. Oh dear God, while I try to be tolerant of other people’s religious views, if this guy is typical of Jehovah’s witnesses…my opinion of same has dropped considerably. He was, to put it succinctly, a stupid bigot. He spent the bus trip lecturing another nice lady on how to run her multi-million dollar construction company and raise her brain-damaged daughter, that women deserves a Nobel prize for grace under fire. In fact he knew everything about everything, had travelled the world, and had shallow racist supercilious opinions about every country he visited and the ignorant Godless heathens he was trying to save. Now I know why so many missionaries have ended up in cooking pots, it’s a wonder this guy made it back to Canada in one piece.

So we get to the border, and it gets worse. My head is pounding, I’m groggy, dishevelled, and unshaven. Not the best of states to get past Customs. And I didn’t have a passport, and I hadn’t filled out the customs declaration that the helpful guy that sold me my bus ticket was supposed to have given me. So the Custom’s officer is pretty suspicious, and he’s not happy with my answers to his questions either. Telling Customs you are “self-employed’ doesn’t help when they already suspect you are a bum trying to sneak into their country. It was looking grim when he asked how I was going to get to visit my mom on the Island. Well, thanks to my Canadian gal friend, I knew the answer to that. With my best smile I said “Oh, I’m hoping to catch the 7:00 ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo.” Well, that did the trick, just as surely as “I’ll figure it out when I get to Vancouver” would have landed me in a holding cell, and off to Vancouver we went.

And true to her word, when we got there Cheri escorted me through the Byzantine public transit system in Vancouver, and practically pushed me onto the appropriate bus. At this point I was too groggy to even think clearly, let alone thank her properly. So Cheri, if you’re reading this (I did manage to mutter the name of my blog as she trotted off,) I can’t possibly thank you enough, you’re a credit to the human race and if you’re ever in the San Francisco Bay Area I will happily return the favour in spades.

(The above clickable image of the Queen of Coquitlam is claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law, it is not being used for profit and is central to illustrating the post. For fun ferry stories, see this link. And aside from the aforementioned navigational issues, I would like to add that every employee of Amtrak and Greyhound was professional, courteous, and helpful;  I recommend their services to anyone, the above stories were exaggerated for dramatic effect. Mostly.)