Anyway, we visited as many museums and monuments as we could. We were at the doors in the morning when they opened, and they had to kick us out at night. Most all the houses back there were very old brick houses, that go back to the 1800’s. I always felt uncomfortable around them. I asked many times, “What holds these houses together? They don’t have bolts or any kind of steel reinforcement.” I remember almost universally being laughed at. People seemed to know instantly that I was from California. They patiently explained that they had no need for reinforcement, because they “don’t have Earthquakes“. Many went on to state that they would never live in California because they were afraid of all the Earthquakes, and they felt that someday the whole west coast of California was going to shake-rattle-and-roll and slip into the Pacific Ocean. Then, it was my turn to laugh at them. I explained that most of our buildings stood-up real well in an earthquake, and most of the quakes that we have are nothing more than a fun ride.
I drew the line at the Washington Monument. My wife wanted to take the elevator to the top. I explained that it was too big of a risk to take an elevator ride to the top of a stack of rocks that was not designed to handle an earthquake. She chided me, and reminded me that one of my mottos is that “You only die once” and dirty-double-dog-dared me to take the elevator ride. So, foolishly, I agreed. A man just can’t allow his wife to think that he is a sissy, no matter what the risk!
When we arrived at the monument, there was some kind of a problem with the elevator and the rides were closed for the day. I was secretly overjoyed, the stack of rocks looks even more unstable standing on the ground looking up at it. As the clouds blow by, it looks just like it’s falling over. I was ready to grab my wife and run just looking at it.
Well, you know where I’m headed with this. Washington D.C. just had a 5.8 Earthquake, a crack opened up in the Washington Monument, and it is closed for safety reasons. Now, one of my other mottos is, “Ha, ha, ha, I told you so!!!”
Link to Wikipedia Washington Monument
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The Capstone, or lightning rod, was made out of 100% Aluminum. It weighs 100 ounces. It was the largest piece of cast aluminum in the world at the time that it was placed on top of the monument.
ReplyDeleteAluminun was worth more than silver in 1884. I bet that Charles Two Crows wishes that he had bought aluminum stock back then.
Ernie... In 1884 as now I would and do invest in salt and potash rather than aluminum. In 1884 Salt was worth more than gold. In 1884 in Ferndale Butter was traded straight across for gold! Today Aluminum cans are made from salt and spun Aluminum. 60% metal,40% salt. That's why beer tastes better from the bottle. And potash will continue to rise to $600 @ Ton. With increased sales by companies like FOX FARM!
ReplyDeleteBut I believe Tan Oak as a source BIO-FUEL will out do all of the above. Get your chain saw ready!
Ok Quake! New York city's water supply has two pipes a hundred yrs old. They have building a third pipe for ten years. There is three days reserve water in under ground tanks. If a Quake breaks just one pipe. 7.5 million people will be with out water in three days. You can check with Home Land Security. They don't have a contingency plan! I read a book by a NY water Engineer outlining the murder that would ensue!
ReplyDeleteI think I mentioned one time that Bullets and salt are worth as much as anything if we ever had a Armageddon.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest trouble is trying to save bullets and salt faster than I use it.
I buy salt in 25 pound bags but since I am a saltoholic it is tough. I like jerky, smoked salmon and a lot of salt on my food, looks my food plate is snowed on.
I always carry a large amount of salt when on the road cuz most folks don't have any salt on their dinner table.
Oregon
A person would think that a place like the Nations Capitol would have a better plan for dealing with emergencies, but nooooo... D.C. had no plan whatsoever for an earthquake.
ReplyDeleteIt only dramatically points out that you'd better be able to take care of yourself if anything goes wrong.
My Stepson lives in Virginia now.He said he took the Earthquake,with a grain of salt.........
ReplyDeleteThere's a crack in the National phallus symbol from the quake. Mother Nature is going to get put on a terrorist list for this.
ReplyDeleteIt was the capitol of the US and it was the east coast, not CA or Japan.
ReplyDeleteMaybe mother nature was in bed with somebody who was using, "weather weapons" capable of "potentially triggering floods, droughts, hurricanes and earthquakes"
My investigation asked the question of whether there is a secret formula in tree design and whether the purpose of the spiral pattern is to collect sunlight better. After doing research, I put together test tools, experiments and design models to investigate how trees collect sunlight. At the end of my research project, I put the pieces of this natural puzzle together, and I discovered the answer. But the best part was that I discovered a new way to increase the efficiency of solar panels at collecting started with trying to understand the spiral pattern. I found the answer with a medieval mathematician and an 18th-century naturalist. In 1209 in Pisa, Leonardo of Pisano, also known as "Fibonacci," used his skills to answer a math puzzle about how fast rabbits could reproduce in pairs over a period of time. While counting his newborn rabbits, Fibonacci came up with a numerical sequence. Fibonacci used patterns in ancient Sanskrit poetry from India to make a sequence of numbers starting with zero (0) and one (1). Fibonacci added the last two numbers in the series together, and the sum became the next number in the sequence. The number sequence started to look like this: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34... . The number pattern had the formula Fn = Fn-1 + Fn-2 and became the Fibonacci sequence. But it seemed to have mystical powers! When the numbers in the sequence were put in ratios, the value of the ratio was the same as another number, φ, or "phi," which has a value of 1.618. The number "phi" is nicknamed the "divine number" (Posamentier). Scientists and naturalists have discovered the Fibonacci sequence appearing in many forms in nature, such as the shape of nautilus shells, the seeds of sunflowers, falcon flight patterns and galaxies flying through space. What's more mysterious is that the "divine" number equals your height divided by the height of your torso, and even weirder, the ratio of female bees to male bees in a typical hive!
ReplyDeleteIn 1754, a naturalist named Charles Bonnet observed that plants sprout branches and leaves in a pattern, called phyllotaxis. Bonnet saw that tree branches and leaves had a mathematical spiral pattern that could be shown as a fraction. The amazing thing is that the mathematical fractions were the same numbers as the Fibonacci sequence! On the oak tree, the Fibonacci fraction is 2/5, which means that the spiral takes five branches to spiral two times around the trunk to complete one pattern. Other trees with the Fibonacci leaf arrangement are the elm tree (1/2); the beech (1/3); the willow (3/8) and the almond tree (5/13
a 13 year old thought this up for his science fair. the cool part is that it works best in the dead of winter. 50% better.
on the other hand you have a tall monument with a crack in it. why not put some huge propellers up there or solar cell it when they retro it and reduce our dependance on foreign oil.
Ernie... I've asked you this question before. Do you still have Civil Defense director for your town. Remember in high school when we were taught about civil defense with the two manuals they gave us when we were seniors. Home land security doesn't want us to be in charge of our own Civil Defense! Under the old plan a local Civil defense director would become Martial Law in the Event of War or local Devastation by wind fire or rain. E are you the director for Garberville?
ReplyDeleteOlmanriver, a well known local historian, and a wee bit of an Irishman, sent me the following history on the irish step dance. Please click on the link.
ReplyDeleteThe origin of the Irish Step Dance
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DC Zoo animals
ReplyDeleteGlad you made it out of DC and the Monument alive, Ernie. It’s really a tomb of sorts. Yours truly was nearly mistakenly shot outside the White House by one of the gate guards-- and then welcomed inside the next day by the Secret Service to smooth things over as the President was departing. But that’s another story.
ReplyDeleteInteresting posts by C2C. Potash and salt? Hmm… came across these subjects just the other day.
Ernie, you know our Mattole/Petrolia community is an independent bunch. Big time. And now they’ve organized like bees in a hive.
Mattole/Petrolia Community members have formed into special individual niches of self-sustaining business and economic practices: one person organizes the Farmer’s market, another raises the goats, pigs, chickens, and cattle for slaughter, many raise fruits and vegetables, another is the builder of Cobb houses (straw bales and clay), one is the semi-official salt maker. The list goes on. They’re seeking another person for the best installation and engineering of solar panels— more than 50% of the residences may be off the grid. And yes, we’re told they’re looking for a local source of potash, too.
One fellow remarked that in case of the pending economic collapse, “we can blow the three bridges leading into the Valley and do just fine for ourselves.”
Wow. That’s independent.
Curious enough, Ernie, they’re minting their own .999 pure silver coins-- from the US mint and with the value pegged to the silver spot price-- in weights from one ounce down to 1/10 of an ounce for several years now. Do they know something we don’t?
Verified and guaranteed by the Mint to purity, and willing to be bought back for cash at the spot silver rate, the coins are beautful and inscribed with their motto: "Ecology, Economy, and Culture-- Mattole Free State for a Sunstainable Society."
As was explained to skippy by an unofficial Mattole ‘banker’:
“With so much (marijuana?) money coming into the Valley, it makes better sense for growers to put their dollars into a solid, standard, and stable economy. Over $800,000 of these silver coins are now circulating throughout the Mattole region. Many more are being held. The Klamath Knot area has also done something similar. Those that invested into the silver coinage three years ago have doubled their purchasing power by the silver value alone-- and getting away from our fiat dollar. It makes more sense to have silver buried in coffee cans in the yard rather than dollar bills.”
Maybe it’s an ideal way to launder burgeoning marijuana money, too.
Perhaps Charlie Two Crows is right: salt, potash… and silver?
I’ve been trying to answer Charlie Two Crows question about Civil Defense. There is no Civil Defense anymore. The sheriff is the top official in charge of any emergency within the county. His deputies rank under him. Then come police and fire departments, road departments, etcetera. We operate under the “Incident Command System”. Or ICS. With state emergencies, the California Highway Patrol is the official state police, and they are in charge with anything to do with the highway system.
ReplyDeleteIn case of an emergency, the first man on the scene becomes the “incident commander”. Or IC. That person remains the IC until such a time that he is able to hand it smoothly to a more ranking official. That doesn’t happen automatically, but only on the approval of the IC. Only he knows what is happening, and he fills-in the new IC before handing the situation over to him.
When the Feds move in, they don’t use the incident command system but “chain of command”, and things usually turn into chaos rapidly.
From my standpoint, if I’m first on scene I am the incident commander until such a time that I feel comfortable that someone else is more qualified, and able to step into my shoes. Then I’m just another Indian. In the case of the fire department, I take orders from no one but my chief, or with the full understanding that the order came down from our chief. We don’t listen to every wingnut that comes along and wants you to do something else, which, unfortunately, is pretty common at a fire scene. If the wingnut is right, he has to be told to “clear with IC”. When the IC is happy that he is right, the new order can happen instantly.
Typical of most situations, things move very smoothly if no feds are around.
In the case of major incidents, or major disasters, you are pretty much on your own. Think of New Orleans, that pretty much is what happens anywhere in a major disaster. Plan ahead, and take care of yourself.
In the case of Charlie Two Crows, he will be in the middle of some desert gold mining, and he won’t even know that there is a disaster unless he checks his blackberry.
E... Your statement about the value of Aluminum back in the 1800s is right on. One of the treasures in the Crown Jewels of England is a lump of Aluminum...one of the first.
ReplyDeleteWhat's a blackberry? Someone once ask me if my parents didn't buy me a wii when I was a kid. She was referring to a photo of me and Ernie in a feed barrel. At the time I never heard of a TV.I didn't know what that was at that time either. I do have a cell phone, TV and a truck now but I still think of pie when I hear blackberry.
ReplyDeleteOregon
I don't own a TV. I do own a trk, Sat-Phone, and a Blackberry. Addicted people like our President call them Crack berry's
ReplyDeleteSkippy..In 1917 during the war. The city of Sac. Ca. Bought Equipment and a formula to convert the city's Incinerator to extract Potash from burned compost. To day you would have to install a scrubber on the stack. A small unit would work fine. Wonder if the state still has the formula?
Ernie...Thanks for explaining the protocol. I asked the question of who would be in charge,because I have a friend that is part of the Governor's 800 member official State Military. The same one that was formed when the civil war started and kill a lot of indians in the EEl valley. They say they work for the state Guard. But the CA. Attorney General is their true boss. Wonder how they fit into the local chain of command?
ReplyDeleteCharlie
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about the national guard? Or is there another state militia?
The CHP is the state police they guard the state capitol and the governor.
The National Guard also take over in a civil emergency. That's when it all turns to hell. They move into neighborhoods that have a well functioning emergency system, they use the own pecking order and the ICS system falls apart.
national Guard wikipedia link
ReplyDeleteCalifornia State Military Reserve
ReplyDelete(California Militia)
Formed 1846
800 members
Supports CaL-Guard
Rear Guard to protect the Governor.
Mission was to Eradicate indians in the 1860's
There are other militias in the state. This is the only offical State Militia!
I know there was a state guard during WWII. They guarded the bridges and their camp was call Camp Tan Oak just North of Laytonville.
ReplyDeleteOregon
VA QUAKE BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!! The USGS has determined that the epicenter of the earthquake was in a cemetery just outside of DC. The cause appears to be all of our founding fathers rolling over in their graves.
ReplyDeleteI hope some one in southern humboldt will create a local yogurt from sheep milk,like they do in France. The Swiss cheese makers have lost 30% of their business because of money problems Europe. The savior of SO-HUM will be Tan Oak! A chemist has created an enzyme that eats the cello of hog fuel and craps Alcohol. The tan oak that was tested yealed 110 gallons of Ethonal per one ton of tan oak hog fuel. A company in Miss. Was formed and the plant is being built. The cost is one third of corn based. American Airlines and FedEx have signed long term contracts for the fuel. Tan Oak is a renewable resource. I want a plant local to the oak. You people could call it Hum-E.LOL There are villages in countries that are totally self sustained. Mattole Valley is on the right track.
ReplyDeleteOregon also thinks of pie when he hears the word "lemon".
ReplyDeleteSorry to interrupt... carry on!