The following is an imaginary conversation .. that I think might have taken place in 2012.
A father and his 15 year-old son are looking at photographs.. some old; some new.
(A picture of American soldiers in camouflage clothing, holding weapons.. with some sort of "SS" symbol with the U.S. flag, in the background.)
Son: "Dad, why are some people upset about this picture?"
Dad: "The "SS" symbol was used by fierce Germans who committed horrible atrocities some 70 years ago. They were called Nazi Storm Troopers."
Son: "What kind of atrocities did the Nazis commit?"
Dad: "They attempted to destroy whole races of non-German people. What they did is called genocide."
Son: "Who were those races they tried to destroy?"
Dad: "Mainly, it was Jews. But they also tried to destroy Gypsies, Poles, Russians and other people they thought were inferior beings."
Son: "Why did they think these people were inferior beings?"
Dad: "Their leader had convinced the German people that they were the vanguard of a "Master Race" which he planned to create. To do so, he convinced them that they needed to eliminate persons who he felt did not belong in this new idealistic future. This meant that in addition to eliminating those in "inferior" races, people with chronic diseases, children with deformities, inmates of mental institutions, dwarfs, midgets, and those with "ugly" features also had to be eliminated from the gene pool. Today, we call this 'racial cleansing.'"
Son: "Who would then be left in this 'Master Race'?"
Dad: "Son, picture in your mind, tall, blond, blue-eyed movie stars. Also, handsome people with "clear eyes", "perfect" noses, and upright stature."
Son: "Wouldn't that be a boring world to live in?"
Dad: "Yes."
Son: "How did they try to accomplish this? It sounds like a crazy thing to do."
Dad: "They were well along their way to accomplish this insane program by the time that they were stopped and defeated in 1945. Take a look at this picture."
(Picture of a series of one-story buildings surounded by barbed wire. A large smokestack can be seen surmounting a brick building.)
Dad: "This is a picture of a 'Death Camp'."
Son: "What does that mean?"
Dad: "The Death Camp program was supposed to be a "Final Solution" to what the Germans called 'The Jewish Problem'. An earlier "solution" was to just march Jews to a location where mass graves had been dug, and shoot them. The Nazis felt that this was "inefficient" and decided on the "Death Camp solution" .. Let me give you an illustration of how a Death Camp was used:
German SS men would enter a village in Poland or Russia that housed mainly Jewish residents. They would make it known that the people were going to be relocated to a new place where they could resume normal lives. The villagers were not able to resist because the German troops were heavily armed. If anyone did try to resist, they were shot dead on the spot.
The people were herded onto trains.. usually boxcars.. and taken to one of these camps, where they were separated into groups of potential "workers" and "others." The "others" were women, children, the elderly, and the infirm. The "workers" would be taken somewhere else to work in the German war effort. The remainder were told to strip for a refreshing shower.. it was a "shower" of poison gas! Before being carried to the crematory in the building with a big smokestack, gold rings and teeth were removed from the bodies, and some interesting tatoos were cut off to make lampshades for camp officers."
(A picture of a pile of hundreds of baby shoes, left behind as the babies were carried into the building for their "shower.")
Son: "Dad... this is crazy. I can't believe all this. I'm studying German in school and we are learning about famous German geniuses like Goethe, Schiller, Bach, and Beethoven. What you are saying doesn't make sense to me. How can there have been savage Germans like you are talking about?"
Dad: "Son, of course, not all Germans were like this. Adolph Hitler was a crazy man who had taken complete control over Germany in 1933 and assembled groups of mentally deranged criminals, masochists, and serial killers to carry out his irrational wishes. He demanded absolute obedience from everyone and was feared by all. Hitler established a 'Third Reich,' a "Kingdom" that he predicted would rule the entire world for one thousand years."
Son: "What happened to Hitler's 'Third Reich?'"
(A picture of the city of Aachen in 1953.. 8 years after the end of the war.. still with burned-out skeletons of destroyed buildings.. with old men and women pushing wheelbarrows, picking up bricks.)
Dad: "Hitler tried to expand his "Kingdom" by invading nearby countries, starting in 1939. He started the Second World War, which resulted in the death of 50 million Europeans.. and the "elimination", in Hitler's words.. of 6 million Jews.. and other "undesirables".. again, in his words. Other countries, including the United States fought and defeated Hitler's forces, and in 1945, his "glorious Third Reich" lay in ruins."
Son: "Dad, I'm scared. Can that happen in the United States?"
Dad: "Yes.. unless we guard the liberties guaranteed to us by the founders of our country."
....................................................................................................
This was an imaginary conversation, but one that I feel may have taken place. The people who lived through World War II are dying out.. and there are young people today who have no idea who Hitler was and what he did. I lived through it as a child, and I served in Germany for almost 4 years during the 1950's. I was in the Air Force and I got to know some German civilians quite well.
In spite of that, I still could not figure out how Hitler got to power in a Country like Germany, the home of great composers, philosophers and religious figures. What happened?
To try to find out, I purchased one of the "Great Courses" audio courses: A History of Hitler's Empire, 2nd Edition, taught by Professor Thomas Childers of the University of Pennsylvania.
The Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I, the Weimar Republic, the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, the Night of the Long Knives, Mein Kampf, Krystal Nacht, Buchenwald, Auschwitz, ... these are all subjects covered in a series of 12 lectures. Some of these lectures astounded me... some made me cry... none made me laugh.
There is only one word to describe what happened to Germany, the Jews, the world.. because of this maniac named Adolph Hitler... unglaublich! unbelievable!... however, it did happen and our children should be taught about it in school, because, if mankind does not remember what happened, it could happen again!
..................................................................................................................................
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
So you think you know it all!
From time to time, I write about a certain author that I admire. I like him because he writes about "kind of off-beat" subjects; which are, of course, the subjects that most interest me. A. J. Jacobs is this author's name, and "widespread is his fame".. at least for those who enjoy having their minds bent a bit.
Mr. Jacobs is "editor at large" at Esquire magazine and is a frequent writer for the "New York type" of periodicals that us "would-be intellectuals" love to read. His interviews with famous women for Esquire are very entertaining reading. You may also have heard him on National Public Radio.
This Jacobs' masterpiece is called: The Know-It-All (One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World). Copyright @ 2004 by Mr. Jacobs ISBN-13:978-0-7432-4060-3.
Why did I want to read this book? It's about "words," and I believe that one becomes smart by knowing "words".. a lot of words. All my life I have been fascinated by words.. in encyclopedias and dictionaries.. in puzzles of all kinds.. in foreign languages.. So, while I have the floor, let me plug a couple of my publications that have "words" as a subject:
Pock-Mark to Zymurgy: http://heyjoevaughan.blogspot.com/2006/08/pock-mark-to-zymurgy.html
My Concordance of X: http://heyjoevaughan.blogspot.com/2009/08/tough-friday-crossword.html
COBOL Keyword Cross Reference: a software tool used by software developers at the Social Security Administration.. a gift to SSA by Niemand Associates. Search for the Keyword "Joe-Vaughan"
Enough about me.. let's get to Mr. Jacobs.
A.J. (if I may be so bold) did something that most of us have thought about doing at some time in our life: he read an encyclopedia from cover to cover (A to Z). And he picked a good one: The Encyclopedia Britannica.. 33,000 pages and 44 million words! I'll bet most people do not read that many words in their whole life. And he did all this in the same time frame that he and his wife were experiencing all of the excitement and joy of conception, pregnancy and parturation.
Did he become the Smartest Person in the World? Well.. not quite.. during the experience he took one of the Mensa qualification IQ tests and flunked. But, he did learn that he could use his very high SAT score to qualify. I'll have to check my list of members to see if he took advantage of that and did join. But don't feel that flunking an IQ test is a big deal, because as I have sometimes mentioned, if you think that the super intelligent people sit around all day using big words and discussing deep philosophical concepts, you should visit a Mensa meeting.
I think that A.J. concluded that having read the encyclopedia does not automatically make you smart.
However, reading his book, you will learn a lot. He gives us examples of information he has learned that has expanded his brain. I will list a few of his examples and I will paraphrase his straight definitions. To find his very humorous remarks on each of these, you will have to go to the book)
SPORTS: bobsledding: ... from the early - and probably mistaken - belief that if the sledders bobbed their heads back and forth, it would increase the speed.
BIOLOGY: couvade: ... a custom wherein the father goes to bed during the birth of his child and simulates the symptoms of childbirth...
FAIRY TALES: ... Elves in traditional folklore sat on people's chests while they slept to give them bad dreams...
POLITICS: William Henry Harrison: ... campaigned for the Presidency by passing out free cider to voters...
EDUCATION: Horace Mann: In his final speech, the educational reformer told students: "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."
SEX: Oysters can change sex according to the temperature of the water.
TIME: The hour has not always been sixty minutes. In ancient civilizations - Greek, Sumerian, Roman, and so forth - daylight was divided into twelve hours.
If you like this book, you will no doubt like others that he has written:
The Year of Living Biblically (a chronicle of A.J. living like a devout Jew for a whole year.) I should do a review of this book, I really enjoyed it.
My Life as an Experiment (blurb says: Living as a Woman, Becoming George Washington, Telling No Lies, and Other Radiical Tests.) I can't wait to read it!
Ain't life great!
.............................................................................................................
Mr. Jacobs is "editor at large" at Esquire magazine and is a frequent writer for the "New York type" of periodicals that us "would-be intellectuals" love to read. His interviews with famous women for Esquire are very entertaining reading. You may also have heard him on National Public Radio.
This Jacobs' masterpiece is called: The Know-It-All (One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World). Copyright @ 2004 by Mr. Jacobs ISBN-13:978-0-7432-4060-3.
Why did I want to read this book? It's about "words," and I believe that one becomes smart by knowing "words".. a lot of words. All my life I have been fascinated by words.. in encyclopedias and dictionaries.. in puzzles of all kinds.. in foreign languages.. So, while I have the floor, let me plug a couple of my publications that have "words" as a subject:
Pock-Mark to Zymurgy: http://heyjoevaughan.blogspot.com/2006/08/pock-mark-to-zymurgy.html
My Concordance of X: http://heyjoevaughan.blogspot.com/2009/08/tough-friday-crossword.html
COBOL Keyword Cross Reference: a software tool used by software developers at the Social Security Administration.. a gift to SSA by Niemand Associates. Search for the Keyword "Joe-Vaughan"
Enough about me.. let's get to Mr. Jacobs.
A.J. (if I may be so bold) did something that most of us have thought about doing at some time in our life: he read an encyclopedia from cover to cover (A to Z). And he picked a good one: The Encyclopedia Britannica.. 33,000 pages and 44 million words! I'll bet most people do not read that many words in their whole life. And he did all this in the same time frame that he and his wife were experiencing all of the excitement and joy of conception, pregnancy and parturation.
Did he become the Smartest Person in the World? Well.. not quite.. during the experience he took one of the Mensa qualification IQ tests and flunked. But, he did learn that he could use his very high SAT score to qualify. I'll have to check my list of members to see if he took advantage of that and did join. But don't feel that flunking an IQ test is a big deal, because as I have sometimes mentioned, if you think that the super intelligent people sit around all day using big words and discussing deep philosophical concepts, you should visit a Mensa meeting.
I think that A.J. concluded that having read the encyclopedia does not automatically make you smart.
However, reading his book, you will learn a lot. He gives us examples of information he has learned that has expanded his brain. I will list a few of his examples and I will paraphrase his straight definitions. To find his very humorous remarks on each of these, you will have to go to the book)
SPORTS: bobsledding: ... from the early - and probably mistaken - belief that if the sledders bobbed their heads back and forth, it would increase the speed.
BIOLOGY: couvade: ... a custom wherein the father goes to bed during the birth of his child and simulates the symptoms of childbirth...
FAIRY TALES: ... Elves in traditional folklore sat on people's chests while they slept to give them bad dreams...
POLITICS: William Henry Harrison: ... campaigned for the Presidency by passing out free cider to voters...
EDUCATION: Horace Mann: In his final speech, the educational reformer told students: "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."
SEX: Oysters can change sex according to the temperature of the water.
TIME: The hour has not always been sixty minutes. In ancient civilizations - Greek, Sumerian, Roman, and so forth - daylight was divided into twelve hours.
If you like this book, you will no doubt like others that he has written:
The Year of Living Biblically (a chronicle of A.J. living like a devout Jew for a whole year.) I should do a review of this book, I really enjoyed it.
My Life as an Experiment (blurb says: Living as a Woman, Becoming George Washington, Telling No Lies, and Other Radiical Tests.) I can't wait to read it!
Ain't life great!
.............................................................................................................
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief?
My Aunt Marjorie always wanted me to become a medical doctor, but the aspect did not interest me in the least. (However, I am told that at the age of seven, my Uncle Malcolm interupted an anatomy lesson I was conducting with the help of a neighborhood young lady.. but that is a story for the "sex" topic in my "Joe Reads the News" blog.)
I always had a great deal of respect medical doctors, and especially for Doctor Mindus, who cured me of many a bad cold or sore throat. The good doctor was a refugee from Hitler's Germany and had survived life, such as it was, in one of the concentration camps. We were an extremely poor family, recovering from the Great Depression.. I hope we had enough money to pay Doctor Mindus for all the "house calls" he made. My family loved his "bedside manner" regardless of his thick Germanic accent.
But, last week, I gained even more respect for the medical profession, thanks to Professor Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., Yale School of Medicine. Doctor Nuland is the narrator of the course: Doctors: The History of Scientific Medicine Revealed Through Biography.
This is one of the "Great Courses" published by The Teaching Company. It consists of 6 CD's containing 12 lessons of from 30 to 45 minutes each. I was able to listen to the whole course in my car while I drove to my weekly appointments. (None of which surprisingly were with Medical Doctors that week.) A few times, I just sat there in my parked car finishing a lesson.
When I finished the course, I had a renewed appreciation for the area I live in: Baltimore, Maryland. The reason will become clear as I work my way through an outline of the course.
Dr. Nuland is a fantastic story-teller. He picked twelve of the pioneers in medicine and told remarkable stories about each of them. These stories were so interesting to me that I hope to search the library for more details about their lives. Let me list each person and their accomplishments.
01. Hippocrates. Born 460 B.C.E. (Before the Current Era) on the island of Cos, in Greece. He and his followers were able to separate medicine from religion or superstition, stress observation of the whole body, and not restrict treatment to just one small part of it. Hippocrates was called the "father of medicine" and all doctors try to follow his rule: "Do no harm!"
02. Galen. Born 130 C.E. (Current Era) in Pergamon, Asia Minor. He insisted that doctors should know how the body works. However, to teach this, he did not operate on human cadavers, but instead on animals. But animals are not exactly just like humans on the inside, and some misconceptions were taught. He did make some useful observations, such as: arteries contain blood and the pulse is related to the heartbeat. Galen believed in predestination and felt that what he taught was all that the Demiurge required, or that could ever be discovered. His views were not often questioned, and lasted for about 15 centuries.
03. Andreas Vesalius, born 1514 in Belgium. Vesalius found errors in Galen's work and set about writing a famous book: De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Workings of the Human Body). He was only 28 years old at the time. The book told how one could do one's own dissections.. not on animals, but on cadavers.. a big breakthrough. His book was wonderfully illustrated by a young apprentice to Titian, Stephan van Calcar. This book clarified the understanding of anatomy in new and unthoughtof ways.
04. William Harvey was born in 1578 in Kent, England. He conducted experiments that showed that the heart is a pump and that blood circulates. In 1628, he published: De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus: Anatomical Studies on the Motion of the Heart and the Blood in Animals.
05. Giovanni Battista Morgagni, born 1682 in Italy. Morgagni as a young man, had the idea of keeping track of lots of patients' illnesses and then dissecting them after they died. Finally, after doing so, for 55 years (!) he published a book outlining 700 of these dissections and the diseases that the cadavers had succombed to. His book, De sedibus et Causis Morborum per Anatomen Indigatis: On the Seats and Causes of Disease as Indicated by Anatomy, published in 1761, is still read (with pleasure I'm told) by today's doctors.
Morgagni is also credited with rediscovering the appendix (Leonardo had identified it in 1505). (Doctor Mindus is credited with recognising that I had appencitis and got me to the hospital in time to save my life. Incidentally, I had one of the smallest incisions in the 1940's, and pictures were taken of it, which appeared in some medical book or other at the time.)
06. John Hunter, born in 1728 in Scotland. Hunter was interested in everything.. a veritable Mensa member before such people were identified. Once, he cut his Achilles tendon and then cut the tendons of every unfortunate animal he could get his hands on. He wanted to study the healing effect on them, as well as on himself.
He had himself infected with syphilis (with the assistance of a helpful sailor) and after daily observations of himself for a long while, he wrote his Treatise on Venereal Disease.
His other studies allowed him to write the first book about inflamation: Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation and Gunshot Wounds.
Here are some other things that Hunter accomplished:
He discovered that he could treat aneurysms by tying them off.
He performed the first recorded case of artificial insemination.. on his wife.
He transplanted rooster testicles into the abdominal cavities of other animals.
He transplanted a human tooth into a rooster's comb.
He invented the terms: bicuspid and incisor.
He obtained the corpse of Charles Byrne by bribery. Charles was an interesting 8 feet 2 inches tall.
In 1788, Hunter was acknowledged as the greatest surgeon in London, a city with a lot of surgeons.
Doctor Hunter was certainly a remarkable person. I plan to read the book about him by J. Dobson.. its unremarkable title is: John Hunter.
07. Rene Laennec, born in 1781 in Brittany. Embarrassed by placing his ear against the chest of buxom young women and hairy old men, he rolled a notebook up into a paper tube and thus invented the stethescope. Using this instrument and using percussion (tapping the chest), a new way to diagnose disease was developed.
08. William Morton, born in 1819 in the United States, probably Boston. Morton was a dentist who competed with two other persons for a $100,000 prize to be awarded for the first usage of anaesthesia. In 1846, Morton publically demonstrated ether as an anesthesia. Others had used it before, but it was not publicised. Lots of controversy here. I don't think that the prize was ever awarded. (I can still remember going under ether when I had my appendectomy. I will never forget the smell. I was scared to death that I would not wake up.)
09. Rudolf Virchow, born in 1821 in Pomerania. Virchow gets the credit for teaching that disease begins in a cell. He wrote Cellular Pathology. He also recognized a dangerous blood clotting, that he named a thrombus. He tried to get every doctor or student to use a microscope.
Like Hunter, he was a precocious Mensa member and dabbled in everything from archaeology to politics. He got into physical trouble when he jumped off of a moving streetcar. A shame - he still had lots of interests to feed.
10. Joseph Lister, born in 1827 London. Lister discovered antisepsis. He insisted on everything in the operating rooms being sprayed with carbolic acid, effectively killing germs. Late in his life, he observed something new being developed: asepsis. Now surgeons had to scrub their hands, have their surgical instruments boiled, and wear sterile gowns and caps. (In 1889, William Halstead .. next in this outline, invented rubber gloves so his girlfriend would not get red hands from disinfectant.)
11. William Halstead, born in 1852 in New York. Doctor Halstead is an extremely interesting man, whose career is bound up with Johns Hopkins University and Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Johns Hopkins story is a great one that I won't get into here. You should just know that the Johns Hopkins University was the first medical college in the United States to require students to have graduated from college, to have studied biology, to have a reading knowledge of French and German, and to have high academic averages. Women were to be admitted on the same basis as men.
Halstead was hired as the first professor of surgery, and he was a good one. He operated slowly and carefully, thereby doing a much better job than surgeons before him, who hurried through their work. Halstead's work was called the surgery of safety.
Halstead is known for many things, including:
Radical hernia repair.
Radical mastectomy.
Safe thyroid surgery.
Invention of rubber gloves.. mentioned above.
Creation of the modern residency program - the Halsteadian technique.
I believe that he became good friends with H.L. Mencken. They may have even played Bach together in their spare time.
Check out this amazing article about the four founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital, unquestionably the greatest hospital in the world.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/history/history5.html
12. Helen Taussig, born in 1898 in Boston. Taussig is a classic case of a woman fighting against the idea that a woman's place is always the home. She pushed herself to get the experience to find a correction for the hearts of "blue babies." She advised Johns Hopkins surgeon Alfred Blalog and his technical assistant, Vivien Thomas on how to set up surgery based on her suggestions. (Vivien Thomas' life is worthy of a book itself.. he was an African American who could not afford to go to medical school, but became an indispensible assistant and respected advisor for Blalog's surgical career.)
Elaine worked as a Johns Hopkins technician for several years and knew about Doctor Blalog's surgical work. She also passed Helen Taussig every day in the hall at work.
I'm afraid that I have rambled on too much on this subject, but, as you can tell, I am very excited about the course that I listened too. Now I kind of wish that my Aunt Marjorie had prevailed and pushed me to become a medical doctor.
...............................................................................................................................
I always had a great deal of respect medical doctors, and especially for Doctor Mindus, who cured me of many a bad cold or sore throat. The good doctor was a refugee from Hitler's Germany and had survived life, such as it was, in one of the concentration camps. We were an extremely poor family, recovering from the Great Depression.. I hope we had enough money to pay Doctor Mindus for all the "house calls" he made. My family loved his "bedside manner" regardless of his thick Germanic accent.
But, last week, I gained even more respect for the medical profession, thanks to Professor Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., Yale School of Medicine. Doctor Nuland is the narrator of the course: Doctors: The History of Scientific Medicine Revealed Through Biography.
This is one of the "Great Courses" published by The Teaching Company. It consists of 6 CD's containing 12 lessons of from 30 to 45 minutes each. I was able to listen to the whole course in my car while I drove to my weekly appointments. (None of which surprisingly were with Medical Doctors that week.) A few times, I just sat there in my parked car finishing a lesson.
When I finished the course, I had a renewed appreciation for the area I live in: Baltimore, Maryland. The reason will become clear as I work my way through an outline of the course.
Dr. Nuland is a fantastic story-teller. He picked twelve of the pioneers in medicine and told remarkable stories about each of them. These stories were so interesting to me that I hope to search the library for more details about their lives. Let me list each person and their accomplishments.
01. Hippocrates. Born 460 B.C.E. (Before the Current Era) on the island of Cos, in Greece. He and his followers were able to separate medicine from religion or superstition, stress observation of the whole body, and not restrict treatment to just one small part of it. Hippocrates was called the "father of medicine" and all doctors try to follow his rule: "Do no harm!"
02. Galen. Born 130 C.E. (Current Era) in Pergamon, Asia Minor. He insisted that doctors should know how the body works. However, to teach this, he did not operate on human cadavers, but instead on animals. But animals are not exactly just like humans on the inside, and some misconceptions were taught. He did make some useful observations, such as: arteries contain blood and the pulse is related to the heartbeat. Galen believed in predestination and felt that what he taught was all that the Demiurge required, or that could ever be discovered. His views were not often questioned, and lasted for about 15 centuries.
03. Andreas Vesalius, born 1514 in Belgium. Vesalius found errors in Galen's work and set about writing a famous book: De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Workings of the Human Body). He was only 28 years old at the time. The book told how one could do one's own dissections.. not on animals, but on cadavers.. a big breakthrough. His book was wonderfully illustrated by a young apprentice to Titian, Stephan van Calcar. This book clarified the understanding of anatomy in new and unthoughtof ways.
04. William Harvey was born in 1578 in Kent, England. He conducted experiments that showed that the heart is a pump and that blood circulates. In 1628, he published: De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus: Anatomical Studies on the Motion of the Heart and the Blood in Animals.
05. Giovanni Battista Morgagni, born 1682 in Italy. Morgagni as a young man, had the idea of keeping track of lots of patients' illnesses and then dissecting them after they died. Finally, after doing so, for 55 years (!) he published a book outlining 700 of these dissections and the diseases that the cadavers had succombed to. His book, De sedibus et Causis Morborum per Anatomen Indigatis: On the Seats and Causes of Disease as Indicated by Anatomy, published in 1761, is still read (with pleasure I'm told) by today's doctors.
Morgagni is also credited with rediscovering the appendix (Leonardo had identified it in 1505). (Doctor Mindus is credited with recognising that I had appencitis and got me to the hospital in time to save my life. Incidentally, I had one of the smallest incisions in the 1940's, and pictures were taken of it, which appeared in some medical book or other at the time.)
06. John Hunter, born in 1728 in Scotland. Hunter was interested in everything.. a veritable Mensa member before such people were identified. Once, he cut his Achilles tendon and then cut the tendons of every unfortunate animal he could get his hands on. He wanted to study the healing effect on them, as well as on himself.
He had himself infected with syphilis (with the assistance of a helpful sailor) and after daily observations of himself for a long while, he wrote his Treatise on Venereal Disease.
His other studies allowed him to write the first book about inflamation: Treatise on the Blood, Inflammation and Gunshot Wounds.
Here are some other things that Hunter accomplished:
He discovered that he could treat aneurysms by tying them off.
He performed the first recorded case of artificial insemination.. on his wife.
He transplanted rooster testicles into the abdominal cavities of other animals.
He transplanted a human tooth into a rooster's comb.
He invented the terms: bicuspid and incisor.
He obtained the corpse of Charles Byrne by bribery. Charles was an interesting 8 feet 2 inches tall.
In 1788, Hunter was acknowledged as the greatest surgeon in London, a city with a lot of surgeons.
Doctor Hunter was certainly a remarkable person. I plan to read the book about him by J. Dobson.. its unremarkable title is: John Hunter.
07. Rene Laennec, born in 1781 in Brittany. Embarrassed by placing his ear against the chest of buxom young women and hairy old men, he rolled a notebook up into a paper tube and thus invented the stethescope. Using this instrument and using percussion (tapping the chest), a new way to diagnose disease was developed.
08. William Morton, born in 1819 in the United States, probably Boston. Morton was a dentist who competed with two other persons for a $100,000 prize to be awarded for the first usage of anaesthesia. In 1846, Morton publically demonstrated ether as an anesthesia. Others had used it before, but it was not publicised. Lots of controversy here. I don't think that the prize was ever awarded. (I can still remember going under ether when I had my appendectomy. I will never forget the smell. I was scared to death that I would not wake up.)
09. Rudolf Virchow, born in 1821 in Pomerania. Virchow gets the credit for teaching that disease begins in a cell. He wrote Cellular Pathology. He also recognized a dangerous blood clotting, that he named a thrombus. He tried to get every doctor or student to use a microscope.
Like Hunter, he was a precocious Mensa member and dabbled in everything from archaeology to politics. He got into physical trouble when he jumped off of a moving streetcar. A shame - he still had lots of interests to feed.
10. Joseph Lister, born in 1827 London. Lister discovered antisepsis. He insisted on everything in the operating rooms being sprayed with carbolic acid, effectively killing germs. Late in his life, he observed something new being developed: asepsis. Now surgeons had to scrub their hands, have their surgical instruments boiled, and wear sterile gowns and caps. (In 1889, William Halstead .. next in this outline, invented rubber gloves so his girlfriend would not get red hands from disinfectant.)
11. William Halstead, born in 1852 in New York. Doctor Halstead is an extremely interesting man, whose career is bound up with Johns Hopkins University and Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Johns Hopkins story is a great one that I won't get into here. You should just know that the Johns Hopkins University was the first medical college in the United States to require students to have graduated from college, to have studied biology, to have a reading knowledge of French and German, and to have high academic averages. Women were to be admitted on the same basis as men.
Halstead was hired as the first professor of surgery, and he was a good one. He operated slowly and carefully, thereby doing a much better job than surgeons before him, who hurried through their work. Halstead's work was called the surgery of safety.
Halstead is known for many things, including:
Radical hernia repair.
Radical mastectomy.
Safe thyroid surgery.
Invention of rubber gloves.. mentioned above.
Creation of the modern residency program - the Halsteadian technique.
I believe that he became good friends with H.L. Mencken. They may have even played Bach together in their spare time.
Check out this amazing article about the four founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital, unquestionably the greatest hospital in the world.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/about/history/history5.html
12. Helen Taussig, born in 1898 in Boston. Taussig is a classic case of a woman fighting against the idea that a woman's place is always the home. She pushed herself to get the experience to find a correction for the hearts of "blue babies." She advised Johns Hopkins surgeon Alfred Blalog and his technical assistant, Vivien Thomas on how to set up surgery based on her suggestions. (Vivien Thomas' life is worthy of a book itself.. he was an African American who could not afford to go to medical school, but became an indispensible assistant and respected advisor for Blalog's surgical career.)
Elaine worked as a Johns Hopkins technician for several years and knew about Doctor Blalog's surgical work. She also passed Helen Taussig every day in the hall at work.
I'm afraid that I have rambled on too much on this subject, but, as you can tell, I am very excited about the course that I listened too. Now I kind of wish that my Aunt Marjorie had prevailed and pushed me to become a medical doctor.
...............................................................................................................................
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Hightower!
For years I have been a fan of Jim Hightower. Southern-voiced curmudgeon and straight-talker, who has been trying to get Americans to realize that they are being flam-boozled by Congress and the Presidency. He especially likes to pick on George W. Bush's record, and has lots of data that he uses to support his view that "W" as well as lots of unscrupulous Congressmen have raped this country.
Once again, on a trip to the local Dollar Store, I came upon a $1 bargain. A five-disk package exposing the "questionable" events of the first 4 years of the W. Bush presidency, along with a blasting of greedy Congressmen. Two of Hightower's books were included: Thieves in High Places (2003) and Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush (2004).
Jim is a "downhome" Texan, born in 1943. He has "spent three decades battling the Powers That Be, on behalf of The Powers That Ought To Be." His latest book is titled: Swim Against the Current; Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow.
In the Dollar Store package, Jim takes a lot of time talking about "sleezy" politicians, as well as a guy currently hoping to become President in 2013: Newt Gingrich. He mentions a lot of negative sounding things about Newt that are just now also being mentioned by his opponents in the race to win the early primaries in 2012.
But the main persons that Jim attacks are President George W. Bush and his close cronies. If even part of what he says about W., Cheney, and Rumsfeld is true, one wonders why none of them is currently serving time.
Yes, Jim certainly has a lot to complain about with the politicians in the Republican Party.. but he also attacks many in the Democratic Party, and in the media, which he compares to a "tasteless joke." He tries to rally us "common folk" to get rid of all of these "bullies" and regain the rights we have been steadily losing in the United States because of them.
Mr. Hightower is both a very serious and a very funny man. His seriousness is hidden under a sound curtain of hilarity. Pull back that curtain and listen to his serious message, and THINK. Feel the passion hiding under the humor.. the passion of an honorable man who wants to see our country come back to its former status as a nation "of the people, by the people, and for the people."
.............................................................................................................................
Once again, on a trip to the local Dollar Store, I came upon a $1 bargain. A five-disk package exposing the "questionable" events of the first 4 years of the W. Bush presidency, along with a blasting of greedy Congressmen. Two of Hightower's books were included: Thieves in High Places (2003) and Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush (2004).
Jim is a "downhome" Texan, born in 1943. He has "spent three decades battling the Powers That Be, on behalf of The Powers That Ought To Be." His latest book is titled: Swim Against the Current; Even a Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow.
In the Dollar Store package, Jim takes a lot of time talking about "sleezy" politicians, as well as a guy currently hoping to become President in 2013: Newt Gingrich. He mentions a lot of negative sounding things about Newt that are just now also being mentioned by his opponents in the race to win the early primaries in 2012.
But the main persons that Jim attacks are President George W. Bush and his close cronies. If even part of what he says about W., Cheney, and Rumsfeld is true, one wonders why none of them is currently serving time.
Yes, Jim certainly has a lot to complain about with the politicians in the Republican Party.. but he also attacks many in the Democratic Party, and in the media, which he compares to a "tasteless joke." He tries to rally us "common folk" to get rid of all of these "bullies" and regain the rights we have been steadily losing in the United States because of them.
Mr. Hightower is both a very serious and a very funny man. His seriousness is hidden under a sound curtain of hilarity. Pull back that curtain and listen to his serious message, and THINK. Feel the passion hiding under the humor.. the passion of an honorable man who wants to see our country come back to its former status as a nation "of the people, by the people, and for the people."
.............................................................................................................................
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
The Sage of Baltimore
For many years, the initials H.L.M were just as well known in America as G.B.S. in Great Britain. The initials were for Henry Louis Mencken, the so-called "Sage of Baltimore."
Mencken was born in Baltimore in 1880 and died there in 1956. He was a journalist, critic and noted philologist. He worked for the Baltimore Morning Herald and the Baltimore Sun. He co-edited The Smart Set with George Jean Nathan and founded and edited The American Mercury. His book: The American Language is a "must-read." He also wrote other books, including three that are autobiographical: Happy Days, Heathen Days, and Newspaper Days.
You may have heard of him in relation to the famous Scopes (Monkey) Trial.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/monkeytrial/peopleevents/p_mencken.html
Even before I moved to Baltimore, I had read The American Language volumes and enjoyed the many stories that he relates within. However, I had never read his autobiographical works, so I was pleased to discover a copy of The Vintage Mencken at a Smith College Book Sale. The book is a collection of pieces of the writings of Mencken, gathered by Alistair Cooke, with an informative introduction by Mr. Cooke, who dubbed Mencken, "the American Voltaire."
The book was published as a Vintage paperback.. probably in 1956, one year after Mencken's death.
HLM loved Baltimore. Even though he edited magazines in New York City, he almost always returned on the weekends by train to his hometown.. about a 5 hour ride. He liked to eat the famous Wiener Schnitzel at Hausner's Restaurant, and loved everything German. During the time when Germany was the enemy of the United States, he was not happy, because he considered German culture to be the best in the world. He liked to read Goethe and was a member of a classical quartet in Baltimore, playing Bach and Beethoven at least once a week.
Some people have said that he had anti-Semitic tendencies. I have never found any indication of that. But, I could be wrong. He definitely did not like the separate, but not quite equal facilities for Blacks that he saw in Baltimore, and wrote scathingly about them.
If this is the first time you have encountered Mr. Mencken, let me introduce you to a few "tidbits" from some of his writings. I'm sure you will agree that he had definite opinions about almost everything.
From: In Defense of Women, 1922
"What men mistake for beauty in themselves is usually nothing save a certain hollow gaudiness, a revolting flashiness, the superficial splendor of a prancing animal. The most lovely movie actor, considered in the light of genuine esthetic values, is no more than a study in vulgarity. His like is to be found, not in the Uffizi gallery or among the harmonies of Brahms, but among the plush sofas, rococo clocks and hand-painted oil-paintings of the third-rate auction-room. All women, save the least intelligent, penetrate this imposture with sharp eyes."
From: The Smart Set, April 1920
"In the face of another man's good fortune I am as inert as a curb broker before Johann Sebastian Bach. It gives me neither pleasure nor distress. The fact, for example that John D. Rockefeller had more money than I have is as uninteresting to me as the fact that he believed in total immersion and wore detachable cuffs. And the fact that some half-anonymous ass or other has been elected President of the United States, or appointed a professor at Harvard, or married to a rich wife, or even to a beautiful and amiable one: this fact is as meaningless to me as the the latest piece of bogus news from eastern Europe."
From: The Smart Set, May 1919
"The allurement that women hold out to men is precisely the allurement that Cape Hatteras holds out to sailors: They are enormously dangerous and hence enormously fascinating. To the average man, doomed to some banal drudgery all his life long, they offer the only grand hazard that he ever encounters. Take them away and his existence would be as flat and secure as that of a moo-cow."
From: The Smart Set, 1923
"Man, at his best, remains a sort of one-lunged animal, never completely rounded and perfect, as a cockroach, say, is perfect. If he shows one valuable quality, it is almost unheard of for him to show any other. Give him a head, and he lacks a heart. Give him a heart of a gallon capacity and his head holds scarcely a pint."
From: The Baltimore Evening Sun, December 1924
"...that (chiropractic) pathology is grounded upon the doctrine that all human ills are caused by the pressure of misplaced vertebrae upon the nerves which come out of the spinal cord .. in other words, that every disease is the result of a pinch. This, plainly enough, is buncombe. The chiropractic therapeutics rest upon the doctrine that the way to get rid of such pinches is to climb upon a table and submit to a heroic pummeling by a retired piano-mover. This obviously, is buncombe doubly damned."
From: Happy Days, 1940
"...they (literary tourists) all agreed, often with lubricious gloats and gurgles, (a) that its (Baltimore's) indigenous victualry was unsurpassed in the Republic, (b) that its native Caucasian females of all ages up to thirty-five were of incomparable pulchritude, and as amiable as they were lovely, and (c) that its home-life was spacious, charming, full of creature comforts, and hightly conducive to the facile and orderly propagation of the species."
(And they were right.. Baltimore is a nice comfy place to live.)
So, there you have it. HLM was a curmudgeon, a "Crankshaft" kind of guy, and a breath of fresh air, in my opinion. I wish that he had lived into the 1960's so I could have had a beer and 'schnitzel with him at Hausner's.
If you do nothing else in your life... go to the library and browse through his magnum opus: The American Language. In it you will learn how some people had their European names squeezed and stuffed into Yankee sounds. Also, you will learn that the interns at the famous Johns Hopkins Hospital used to name all the children born to poor unwed mothers. Some of the names that they chose were classic, such as "Positive Wasserman Johnson." (Medical persons will appreciate that.) And, you will learn that he was the person to first categorize:
Boobus Americanus: A subspecies of homo sapiens. Characterized as the ignorant, self-righteous, and over-credulous American middle class.
... and the category of humanoids that both the Republicans and Democrats will be trying to woo in the election year of 2012!
Good bye, from HLM!
...............................................................................................................................
Mencken was born in Baltimore in 1880 and died there in 1956. He was a journalist, critic and noted philologist. He worked for the Baltimore Morning Herald and the Baltimore Sun. He co-edited The Smart Set with George Jean Nathan and founded and edited The American Mercury. His book: The American Language is a "must-read." He also wrote other books, including three that are autobiographical: Happy Days, Heathen Days, and Newspaper Days.
You may have heard of him in relation to the famous Scopes (Monkey) Trial.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/monkeytrial/peopleevents/p_mencken.html
Even before I moved to Baltimore, I had read The American Language volumes and enjoyed the many stories that he relates within. However, I had never read his autobiographical works, so I was pleased to discover a copy of The Vintage Mencken at a Smith College Book Sale. The book is a collection of pieces of the writings of Mencken, gathered by Alistair Cooke, with an informative introduction by Mr. Cooke, who dubbed Mencken, "the American Voltaire."
The book was published as a Vintage paperback.. probably in 1956, one year after Mencken's death.
HLM loved Baltimore. Even though he edited magazines in New York City, he almost always returned on the weekends by train to his hometown.. about a 5 hour ride. He liked to eat the famous Wiener Schnitzel at Hausner's Restaurant, and loved everything German. During the time when Germany was the enemy of the United States, he was not happy, because he considered German culture to be the best in the world. He liked to read Goethe and was a member of a classical quartet in Baltimore, playing Bach and Beethoven at least once a week.
Some people have said that he had anti-Semitic tendencies. I have never found any indication of that. But, I could be wrong. He definitely did not like the separate, but not quite equal facilities for Blacks that he saw in Baltimore, and wrote scathingly about them.
If this is the first time you have encountered Mr. Mencken, let me introduce you to a few "tidbits" from some of his writings. I'm sure you will agree that he had definite opinions about almost everything.
From: In Defense of Women, 1922
"What men mistake for beauty in themselves is usually nothing save a certain hollow gaudiness, a revolting flashiness, the superficial splendor of a prancing animal. The most lovely movie actor, considered in the light of genuine esthetic values, is no more than a study in vulgarity. His like is to be found, not in the Uffizi gallery or among the harmonies of Brahms, but among the plush sofas, rococo clocks and hand-painted oil-paintings of the third-rate auction-room. All women, save the least intelligent, penetrate this imposture with sharp eyes."
From: The Smart Set, April 1920
"In the face of another man's good fortune I am as inert as a curb broker before Johann Sebastian Bach. It gives me neither pleasure nor distress. The fact, for example that John D. Rockefeller had more money than I have is as uninteresting to me as the fact that he believed in total immersion and wore detachable cuffs. And the fact that some half-anonymous ass or other has been elected President of the United States, or appointed a professor at Harvard, or married to a rich wife, or even to a beautiful and amiable one: this fact is as meaningless to me as the the latest piece of bogus news from eastern Europe."
From: The Smart Set, May 1919
"The allurement that women hold out to men is precisely the allurement that Cape Hatteras holds out to sailors: They are enormously dangerous and hence enormously fascinating. To the average man, doomed to some banal drudgery all his life long, they offer the only grand hazard that he ever encounters. Take them away and his existence would be as flat and secure as that of a moo-cow."
From: The Smart Set, 1923
"Man, at his best, remains a sort of one-lunged animal, never completely rounded and perfect, as a cockroach, say, is perfect. If he shows one valuable quality, it is almost unheard of for him to show any other. Give him a head, and he lacks a heart. Give him a heart of a gallon capacity and his head holds scarcely a pint."
From: The Baltimore Evening Sun, December 1924
"...that (chiropractic) pathology is grounded upon the doctrine that all human ills are caused by the pressure of misplaced vertebrae upon the nerves which come out of the spinal cord .. in other words, that every disease is the result of a pinch. This, plainly enough, is buncombe. The chiropractic therapeutics rest upon the doctrine that the way to get rid of such pinches is to climb upon a table and submit to a heroic pummeling by a retired piano-mover. This obviously, is buncombe doubly damned."
From: Happy Days, 1940
"...they (literary tourists) all agreed, often with lubricious gloats and gurgles, (a) that its (Baltimore's) indigenous victualry was unsurpassed in the Republic, (b) that its native Caucasian females of all ages up to thirty-five were of incomparable pulchritude, and as amiable as they were lovely, and (c) that its home-life was spacious, charming, full of creature comforts, and hightly conducive to the facile and orderly propagation of the species."
(And they were right.. Baltimore is a nice comfy place to live.)
So, there you have it. HLM was a curmudgeon, a "Crankshaft" kind of guy, and a breath of fresh air, in my opinion. I wish that he had lived into the 1960's so I could have had a beer and 'schnitzel with him at Hausner's.
If you do nothing else in your life... go to the library and browse through his magnum opus: The American Language. In it you will learn how some people had their European names squeezed and stuffed into Yankee sounds. Also, you will learn that the interns at the famous Johns Hopkins Hospital used to name all the children born to poor unwed mothers. Some of the names that they chose were classic, such as "Positive Wasserman Johnson." (Medical persons will appreciate that.) And, you will learn that he was the person to first categorize:
Boobus Americanus: A subspecies of homo sapiens. Characterized as the ignorant, self-righteous, and over-credulous American middle class.
... and the category of humanoids that both the Republicans and Democrats will be trying to woo in the election year of 2012!
Good bye, from HLM!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Common Ground?
I've mentioned before how I find great buys in books at the local Dollar Store. Books that don't sell many copies are taken up by these stores and mixed in with Bibles and coloring books and sold for that magical one dollar bill. Well, the other day in the store, I found a basket full of Books on Tape (actually on Disk).. and I bought them all. If you are still with me, you know that I am ready now to talk to you about one of them.
Common Ground (How to Stop the Partisan War that is Destroying America)
Written by Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel. Read mostly by Richard Rohan.
ISBN 978-0-06-136360-3 Containing 7 CD's for 8 1/2 hours.
I spent the 8 1/2 hours listening while I drove to and fro around Maryland.
Bob Beckel has been called a rabid Liberal and Cal Thomas has been called a rabid Conservative.
However, both have set partisanship aside and have become great friends. They wrote this book in 2007 when they thought that divisiveness in Congress had gone on as long as it could. (Unfortunately, they were wrong. I wonder if they have written a sequel.)
Bob Beckel: A leading Liberal DC political analyst and consultant. I'm sure I have seen him on TV many times, but I just don't remember him.
Cal Thomas: A leading Conservative commentator. I debated whether or not I should listen to this book because of Cal. I have not had a good opinion of him since one time, many years ago, I felt that he had twisted some of my words around to make it look like I was a racist. At the time, I thought that what he said was a "cheap shot" designed to expose me as a hypocritical Liberal. I was "touchy" then, and could have just misunderstood what he said. I can't remember if this was during an "in person" Baltimore event, a "call in", or from something written by me. My feelings were hurt because of what he said, so I have tried to forget all about it. (Of course, I was much younger then .. today, I am too old to let criticism, true or false, bother me.)
I liked this book. It was many things. Especially a history lesson. As George Santayana once said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Case in point: They remind us that Newt Gingrich promised a new and wonderful harmonious Congress when he became Speaker of the House. They also remind us that he was carrying on with a young Intern while loudly picking on President Clinton for the same activity. They also remind us that he was convicted of an ethics violation.
Since I am an Independent, I can give my opinion about Congressional and Presidential candidates from either party. So, I will continue mentioning Newt. On NPR today, a member of Congress reminded us that Newt published a memo for Republican Congressmen, listing negative adjectives to be used when talking about Democratic initiatives and positive adjectives to be used when talking about Republican initiatives.
Tune in to CSPAN and take a few minutes to listen to the floor debates even today.. the adjective throwing continues.. "Democratic job-killing initiatives".. "Republican job-increasing initiatives".. etc.
OK.. to be fair.. one of the reasons I became an Independent is because President Obama is not exerting the power he has to override such negativity and unite Congress.
Anyway.. this book is a call for politicians to look for and embrace the "common ground" that they have on most issues. Of course, there may not be "common ground" for some issues like abortion and same sex marriage.
Cal and Bob are asking politicians to "get beyond partisanship, restore civility, and move our country forward." They wish that politicians would learn to be "friends" not enemies, just as they have.
They also discuss so-called "polarizers" like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Moore, and feel that the voters are smart enough to see beyond polarization.
As I said, I liked this book, but I think that they could have said it all in two CD's instead of 7. One gets their point right away. The history lesson was enlightening, but also too long. It's fun to remember what has happened in Congress since Nixon, but some of the repetition is a bit much. Maybe that is why this is in the "remainder" category.
In my opinion, even though some of the elected Congressmen of 2008 promised bi-partisan civility and cooperation, the situation has gone way way downhill, and I think that the public is tired of it and will vote in 2012 to get rid of some of the divisive members and perhaps get Congress back to doing its job.. which is: serving the best interests of the citizens of the United States of America, rather than narrow partisan objectives.
...........................................................................................................................................
Common Ground (How to Stop the Partisan War that is Destroying America)
Written by Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel. Read mostly by Richard Rohan.
ISBN 978-0-06-136360-3 Containing 7 CD's for 8 1/2 hours.
I spent the 8 1/2 hours listening while I drove to and fro around Maryland.
Bob Beckel has been called a rabid Liberal and Cal Thomas has been called a rabid Conservative.
However, both have set partisanship aside and have become great friends. They wrote this book in 2007 when they thought that divisiveness in Congress had gone on as long as it could. (Unfortunately, they were wrong. I wonder if they have written a sequel.)
Bob Beckel: A leading Liberal DC political analyst and consultant. I'm sure I have seen him on TV many times, but I just don't remember him.
Cal Thomas: A leading Conservative commentator. I debated whether or not I should listen to this book because of Cal. I have not had a good opinion of him since one time, many years ago, I felt that he had twisted some of my words around to make it look like I was a racist. At the time, I thought that what he said was a "cheap shot" designed to expose me as a hypocritical Liberal. I was "touchy" then, and could have just misunderstood what he said. I can't remember if this was during an "in person" Baltimore event, a "call in", or from something written by me. My feelings were hurt because of what he said, so I have tried to forget all about it. (Of course, I was much younger then .. today, I am too old to let criticism, true or false, bother me.)
I liked this book. It was many things. Especially a history lesson. As George Santayana once said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Case in point: They remind us that Newt Gingrich promised a new and wonderful harmonious Congress when he became Speaker of the House. They also remind us that he was carrying on with a young Intern while loudly picking on President Clinton for the same activity. They also remind us that he was convicted of an ethics violation.
Since I am an Independent, I can give my opinion about Congressional and Presidential candidates from either party. So, I will continue mentioning Newt. On NPR today, a member of Congress reminded us that Newt published a memo for Republican Congressmen, listing negative adjectives to be used when talking about Democratic initiatives and positive adjectives to be used when talking about Republican initiatives.
Tune in to CSPAN and take a few minutes to listen to the floor debates even today.. the adjective throwing continues.. "Democratic job-killing initiatives".. "Republican job-increasing initiatives".. etc.
OK.. to be fair.. one of the reasons I became an Independent is because President Obama is not exerting the power he has to override such negativity and unite Congress.
Anyway.. this book is a call for politicians to look for and embrace the "common ground" that they have on most issues. Of course, there may not be "common ground" for some issues like abortion and same sex marriage.
Cal and Bob are asking politicians to "get beyond partisanship, restore civility, and move our country forward." They wish that politicians would learn to be "friends" not enemies, just as they have.
They also discuss so-called "polarizers" like Rush Limbaugh and Michael Moore, and feel that the voters are smart enough to see beyond polarization.
As I said, I liked this book, but I think that they could have said it all in two CD's instead of 7. One gets their point right away. The history lesson was enlightening, but also too long. It's fun to remember what has happened in Congress since Nixon, but some of the repetition is a bit much. Maybe that is why this is in the "remainder" category.
In my opinion, even though some of the elected Congressmen of 2008 promised bi-partisan civility and cooperation, the situation has gone way way downhill, and I think that the public is tired of it and will vote in 2012 to get rid of some of the divisive members and perhaps get Congress back to doing its job.. which is: serving the best interests of the citizens of the United States of America, rather than narrow partisan objectives.
...........................................................................................................................................
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The King of Schnorrers
For some time, driving down Route 32 in Columbia, Maryland, I would pass a sign that advertised Daedalus Books. The sign said that by taking the next two right turns, one would discover a fantastic book lovers paradise. Finally, after passing the sign for several years, I took the bait. I made the two right turns and drove into the parking lot of a massive factory-type building.
However, nowhere was there a sign saying that I was at Daedalus Books. I asked someone. "No. Never heard of it. Not here."
I backed out and drove hither and thither for a while, with no luck. I still do not believe there is such a building for Daedalus Books. However, I do know that there is a business with that name, because I get catalogs from them periodically.
Last month, I decided to try my luck at ordering some books from them. Their prices are quite low and that appeals to the biblophile that I am. I picked out ten books and sent off a check. A few days later, I received a notice that eight of my book picks were not available.. but they would send me two of them, both by Jewish gentlemen.
One was by a Dr. Levi, who survived a German concentration camp. The other was by a person named Israel Zangwill, a so-called Jewish-English author who wrote around the end of the 1800's.
The Zangwill book that I received is called The King of Schnorrers. It was published in 2003 by Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN: 0-486-42872-9 (pbk).
I was very curious about this book. I did not know what a Schnorrer was. I soon found out that a schnorrer is a beggar, a rather important person in the Jewish Ghetto of 1790 London. To quote the cover write-up: "Manasseh Bueno Barzillai Azevedo da Costa, (is) a proud, resourceful Sephardic schnorrer who lords it over his fellow mendicants in London of the late 1790's."
Think of Manasseh as a combination of Figaro, Jerry Falwell, Charles Ponzi, Sargeant Bilko, and Rod Blagojevich. He is a person not to be messed with. But don't be put off by this. This is a funny story that I will not even begin to reveal. You have to read it to appreciate it. Suffice it to say that it is about tolerance and the understanding of others.
Israel Zangwill is a master wordsmith. Just listen to this, the first paragraph of the book:
"In the days when Lord George Gordon became a Jew, and was suspected of insanity; when, out of respect for the prophecies, England denied her Jews every civic right except that of paying taxes; when the Gentleman's Magazine had ill words for the infidel alien; when Jewish marriages were invalid and bequests for Hebrew colleges void; when a prophet prophesying Primrose Day would have been set in the stocks, though Pitt inclined his private ear to Benjamin Goldsmid's views on the foreign loans .. in those days, when Tevele Schiff was Rabbi in Israel, and Dr. de Falk, the Master of the Tetragrammaton, saint and Cabalistic conjuror, flourished in Wellclose Square, and the composer of 'The Death of Nelson' was a choir-boy in the Great Synagogue; Joseph Grobstock, pillar of the same, emerged one afternoon into the spring sunshine at the fag-end of the departing stream of worshippers. In his hand was a large canvas bag, and in his eye a twinkle."
In one paragraph, Mr. Zangwill has given us an English history lesson and also led us through beautifully flowing language until we finally meet Mr. Grobstock and notice the twinkle in his eye.
This is a small book and can be devoured in a few pleasant hours. I highly recommend it.
Israel Zangwill is also well-known for some potent sayings, among which are:
"Everything changes but change."
"Selfishness is the only real atheism; unselfishness the only true religion."
"A man likes his wife to be just clever enough to appreciate his cleverness, and just stupid enough to admire it."
My life has been enriched by learning about Israel Zangwill. I plan to read more of his many books. His works are divided into two parts: English life stories; Jewish ghetto life stories. I hope to read both types.
................................................................................................................................
However, nowhere was there a sign saying that I was at Daedalus Books. I asked someone. "No. Never heard of it. Not here."
I backed out and drove hither and thither for a while, with no luck. I still do not believe there is such a building for Daedalus Books. However, I do know that there is a business with that name, because I get catalogs from them periodically.
Last month, I decided to try my luck at ordering some books from them. Their prices are quite low and that appeals to the biblophile that I am. I picked out ten books and sent off a check. A few days later, I received a notice that eight of my book picks were not available.. but they would send me two of them, both by Jewish gentlemen.
One was by a Dr. Levi, who survived a German concentration camp. The other was by a person named Israel Zangwill, a so-called Jewish-English author who wrote around the end of the 1800's.
The Zangwill book that I received is called The King of Schnorrers. It was published in 2003 by Dover Publications, Inc. ISBN: 0-486-42872-9 (pbk).
I was very curious about this book. I did not know what a Schnorrer was. I soon found out that a schnorrer is a beggar, a rather important person in the Jewish Ghetto of 1790 London. To quote the cover write-up: "Manasseh Bueno Barzillai Azevedo da Costa, (is) a proud, resourceful Sephardic schnorrer who lords it over his fellow mendicants in London of the late 1790's."
Think of Manasseh as a combination of Figaro, Jerry Falwell, Charles Ponzi, Sargeant Bilko, and Rod Blagojevich. He is a person not to be messed with. But don't be put off by this. This is a funny story that I will not even begin to reveal. You have to read it to appreciate it. Suffice it to say that it is about tolerance and the understanding of others.
Israel Zangwill is a master wordsmith. Just listen to this, the first paragraph of the book:
"In the days when Lord George Gordon became a Jew, and was suspected of insanity; when, out of respect for the prophecies, England denied her Jews every civic right except that of paying taxes; when the Gentleman's Magazine had ill words for the infidel alien; when Jewish marriages were invalid and bequests for Hebrew colleges void; when a prophet prophesying Primrose Day would have been set in the stocks, though Pitt inclined his private ear to Benjamin Goldsmid's views on the foreign loans .. in those days, when Tevele Schiff was Rabbi in Israel, and Dr. de Falk, the Master of the Tetragrammaton, saint and Cabalistic conjuror, flourished in Wellclose Square, and the composer of 'The Death of Nelson' was a choir-boy in the Great Synagogue; Joseph Grobstock, pillar of the same, emerged one afternoon into the spring sunshine at the fag-end of the departing stream of worshippers. In his hand was a large canvas bag, and in his eye a twinkle."
In one paragraph, Mr. Zangwill has given us an English history lesson and also led us through beautifully flowing language until we finally meet Mr. Grobstock and notice the twinkle in his eye.
This is a small book and can be devoured in a few pleasant hours. I highly recommend it.
Israel Zangwill is also well-known for some potent sayings, among which are:
"Everything changes but change."
"Selfishness is the only real atheism; unselfishness the only true religion."
"A man likes his wife to be just clever enough to appreciate his cleverness, and just stupid enough to admire it."
My life has been enriched by learning about Israel Zangwill. I plan to read more of his many books. His works are divided into two parts: English life stories; Jewish ghetto life stories. I hope to read both types.
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