08.13.11
Posted in Book Reviews, Historical Trivia, family stuff at 2:10 am by Administrator
Brian, Matthew, and Aaron have arrived home safely yesterday. So now, Mom, Andrew, and I are left here in the Philippines. Still have a few more loose ends to tie before we head back home in a couple more weeks. But now that it’s gotten a little quieter here, I’ve had a chance to read one of the books I purchased here last February. Actually it’s a book I found in the “juvenile” section in a book store I visited here in the Philippines. Now that I’m reading it, it’s turning out to be quite interesting and right up my alley of study. It’s called, Living with the Enemy, A Diary of the Japanese Occupation. The book is basically the diary of Pacita Pestano-Jacinto. It’s compared to the Diary of Anne Frank, only this woman was older (in her 20’s) and newly married and pregnant. I’m finding her insights quite interesting, and it’s also bringing up more topics or points of interest that I want to research more. Such as the allied prison camps in Capas and San Fernando. Last week we took a trip up to the rice terraces. On the way there we passed Cabanatuan City (where the famous allied prison camp was located in The Great Raid or the prison featured in Hampton Sides’ Ghost Soldiers). I wasn’t aware of the prisons in Capas and San Fernando, although we did pass through both places on our way back down to Manila. During our trip through Banaue and Sagada, I was surprised to learn that fighting had reached all the way up to the rice terraces. . . So, now I must add General Yamashita to my list of things to research. Supposedly he was famous for fighting in that region. We’ll see. . .
So in the meantime, I thought I might add one of the day entries of the book I’m reading. I would add August 13 (since that’s today), but there is not an Aug 13 entry, only Aug 12 and then Aug 23. So, here’s her entry for August 12, 1942.
“August 12
Oscar’s best friend, Hans Menzi, has been picked up and thrown into Fort Santiago. He is Swiss but has Filipino citizenship. his mother says that the charge is guerrilla activities. It does not seem possible but Oscar is afraid there might be some truth to it. He grew up here and has often said that he loves the Philippines even better than he does Switzerland.
The night of my baby’s christening party, he was so full of laughter. He stood godfather to my child. A shiver runs up my spine when I think of what he may be going through. I keep on thinking of how doubly cruel the Japanese can be to a white man.”
Fort Santiago is a prison fort that was used by the Spanish, then by the Japanese during WWII. It is located in Intramuros here in Manila. It is now open for tourists. I’ve blogged about it before on my past visits here. To see some pictures I took there just click here and scroll down to about the 4th picture and following.
Toodles until next time!
Marlakins
Permalink
07.11.11
Posted in Book Reviews, Historical Trivia, History, quotes at 10:18 am by Administrator
A friend of mine told me recently (after learning I was reading a book on the bombing of Nagasaki), that I should read about current events. Actually, I do read about current events, but I find that learning about past events helps me to understand current events better.
Another brief conversation I had with a friend was about “historical revisionists,” and how they try to “change” history. Granted, I do realize that there are those who try to re-write inaccuracies into history, but the fact is that because of so many “classified documents” and other eyewitness accounts that were not previously considered when writing “history,” there is a legitimate place and role for bonafide revisionists. Also, as time passes, more information is revealed from different angles. That information helps give a more complete picture of the situation at the time and helps to determine why certain decisions were made or to question whether certain decisions were wrong or not. To ignore other sources would be like trying to judge a court case using only one side of the argument.
I know of people who only read certain publications because they don’t trust other publications. But if one only limits themselves to certain publications, then they increase their chances that they don’t get the whole picture and thus form their opinions based on faulty or less informed information. My approach to that would be to read or watch those publications “knowing” that their information is questionable, but at least hearing them out so that I would at least understand the opposing viewpoint. As Admiral Rickover once said, “Open discussions and disagreements must be encouraged, so that all sides of an issue are fully explored.” So long as we go into a discussion humbly and not take differences personally, we can all learn something when we try to listen to the other side of an argument. If it doesn’t change one’s mind, then it can strengthen one’s already preconceived ideas. I think the Bible encourages knowledge and wisdom while discouraging baseless arguments. There is a big difference between discussions to learn the truth, and heated arguments to be divisive. Like the Bereans in the New Testament, I think we should search to learn if things are so. That was considered a good thing. Why live a life based on lies and false information?
Well, now I think I’ve meandered enough! Originally, I was going to write about the book I’m currently reading, First Into Nagasaki. I’m almost at the end. I’m reading the last portion of the book written by Weller’s son wherein he describes the backdrop to his father’s writings. One of the main highlights is how censored our news is and how skewing facts and history has been a common practice throughout history. As I remember hearing in high school, “history is written by the victors of wars” so we usually only read one side of the story. From my readings it seems that people are pretty much the same all over the world. We just view others as lower or enemies because of our ignorance of each other. And with our ignorance we are less compassionate.
But to get back to my thoughts while reading First Into Nagasaki is how controlled our media is today. We have three or four wars we currently know about today, but I’m sure there’s so much that we aren’t being told or are not even allowed to know. George Weller wrote,
“A censorship is supposed to keep political criticism under control.”
Weller’s son wrote that “every war correspondent has been censored.”
For what reason? I’m sure there are several reasons, but one reason can be understood through a letter sent to George Weller from one of General MacArthur’s censors,
“We believe that a correspondent has a certain duty towards the Commander of the Forces whom he represents, and it is the Commander-in-Chief’s desire that nothing of a political nature be released as coming from his staff of correspondents, and nothing that may be in any way criticizing the efforts of any Commander of any of the Allied nations.”
Weller went on the write, “What the United States badly needs is a long cold bath of reality.”
If “control of public opinion” is what the game is all about, we will never get that dose of reality. And our history books will be more political propaganda books, than real history books. The sooner we understand that, the more we can understand.
Marlakins
Permalink
08.31.10
Posted in Historical Trivia, family stuff at 3:24 pm by Administrator
I just arrived at my mom’s to hang out with the relatives and found no one home! Apparently, they’re out painting the town, so while I wait, I decided to share some pics. Since Val mentioned that Stout had been her old stomping ground, and then Laura mentioned visiting her brother at Stout many times, well, this will be my first pic, 
, Dad at Stout State College, April 9, 1956. Oye, was he young! I’m guessing he was about 25 years old here.
Here’s another one.
Here’s one in front of Stout’s library.
And here’s one at the Mueller’s House. Apparently, the Mueller’s took my dad in for a while during his study abroad. My dad is sitting on the couch, and the guy my dad is sitting next to is the Mueller’s son (Mr. and Mrs. Mueller are on the far end of each side of the couch), and my dad and their son became good friends. They continued to write to each other when my dad went back to the Philippines.
In the meantime, my mom and dad wrote to each other while he was in the U.S, and she in the Philippines. This is a picture of my mom’s letters to my dad. He wrote on the bottom, “My Treasures.” Oye, what a romantic he was, huh? Sweet. . .
Okay, I think that’s all I have that I know for sure are from Stout. There are others that might be being that he’s in the snow, but it could also be Chicago as he has some pictures labeled Chicago also in 1956.
Well, the gang is back! So will quit here for now.
Marlakins
Permalink
07.03.10
Posted in Historical Trivia, Hmmm Moments at 10:41 am by Administrator
About a month or two ago, there was discussion about using a nuclear bomb to close off the Gulf oil leak. I had read that the Russians had done it in the past successfully 4 out of 5 times. Supposedly they had already been doing super deep oil drilling 40 years ago and had run into these blowout problems before, however, their wells were drilled on land, not in the ocean. I had wanted to know more information about this, but hadn’t gotten around to looking it up properly. This morning I ran across this video that gave a little more information. One question I had which others had asked was how long could this leak run before it ran out? I was surprised to learn that the leak that happened in Russian in 1963 burned for “three” years, before they nuked it and got it sealed off. This seems to support the idea that these oil wells that tap super deep strata contain abiotic oil, which could last indefinitely. Check out this news report.
I don’t support nuclear power or bombs. And while it’s been shown by the Russians that it has sealed some of their out of control wells, I wonder if it could make our oil leak worse being that it’s so deep under water. So if it doesn’t work, it might make things even more difficult to control. I am curious to know what other suggestions other countries have to stem off this problem. I’m hearing that other countries have offered help, but who knows how our government is receiving those requests. I hope the relief wells work and this gulf leak doesn’t go on for three years or more! I wonder if other countries would stand that since it could eventually spread into their oceans, too, if allowed to flow too long. . . If we can’t get this in control soon, I wonder if other countries will “insist” on lending a hand for their own safety and benefit.
Marlakins
Permalink
05.22.10
Posted in Historical Trivia, Uncategorized, museums at 1:08 pm by Administrator
A couple weeks ago I tagged along with my oldest son, Andrew, to visit the Wende Museum. His Post War Germany class was taking a field trip to the museum. As a special bonus, the teacher said that their guide was going to open up the vault for additional viewing. Oye! When I heard that, I asked Andrew if I could tag along, heheheh. Fortunately, his teacher didn’t mind, and the icing on the cake was that the curator allowed pictures so long as I didn’t use flash. So. . . here are a few shots I took in their gallery.
Well, I suppose I jumped the gun a bit. I should probably explain what the Wende Museum is. According to their webpage, “The Los Angeles-based Wende Museum is a non-profit organization dedicated to acquiring, preserving, and enabling access to materials of Cold War-era Eastern Europe. The collection encompasses artifacts and archives from all former Warsaw Pact states and emphasizes life in the Soviet Union and East Germany. So while the curator was very informative, my lack of German vocabulary made it such that I had a hard time following along with who was who and what things were called. For instance this is a picture of a type of horn that was played in East Germany. She said that if you popped in the name of this instrument on YouTube there will be some examples of how this instrument sounds. But do I remember the name of this instrument? Sadly, no. . .
Pretty wild looking, huh? But then again, some trumpets and horns do tend to look pretty intricate, anyway.
Then there were statues and busts of people, again, the names of who I didn’t catch. . . (I’m starting to feel like an idiot here, and see that I really need to brush up on my East German history, which was pretty much nil from my school days). As the wall came down and society was being restructured, many icons, statues, and other symbols that represented their government were taken down, such as this statuette.
Okay, so I actually know who this statuette represents. . . Sergi Kirov, a prominent Bolshevik from the Soviet Union. Kirov opposed some of Stalin’s more extreme policies and was eventually shot and killed by a gunman.
The museum was quite small, but was stuffed with lots of items which included paintings, propaganda posters, sports memorabilia, etc. Here’s a picture of a sports locker complete with uniforms, medals and awards, news clippings, etc. Sports events were important in history because they help to place times and dates of events as they tend to be recorded in newspapers and share global connections through competitions.
And speaking of propaganda, there were several posters on display that were used as propaganda tools for their masses such as pictures of their “happy workers”. One particular one that was “ironic” was this one, which claimed that the West spent more money on their military than on education.
Heheheh, in light of our current military budget, I’d say that “propaganda” was more fact than otherwise. I know that billions and even trillions of U.S. dollars have been spent on our military. I read an article recently that just for the Iraq war alone the U.S. has spent about 550 billion dollars. That doesn’t include all the other military expenses we have that are likely extremely costly such as research and development, etc. I’m sure there are varying figures, but here’s one example from About.com: US Government Info
Summary of Iraq War Cost Estimates
CBO estimated the following costs for an Iraq war:
- Initial deployment of troops: $9 billion to $13 billion
- Conducting the war: $6 billion to $9 billion per month
- Returning forces to US: $5 billion to $7 billion
- Temporary occupation of Iraq: $1 billion to $4 billion per
month
The US budget for education is about $70 billion for a year. Basically, “one” war, *not* including all the other U.S. military expenses for bases all over the world and research and development, etc., currently costs more than what the U.S. spends on education. The rest of the U.S. military expenses dwarfs what we spend on education. Apparently Soviet propaganda regarding our military vs education expenditures wasn’t too far from the truth. I find that a sad commentary.
Anyway, moving right along we passed the Wende Museum’s library. There were a couple researchers in there, so we didn’t go in and bother them, heh. Instead we headed down to their vault or archive department. I had no idea what to expect, and found that it was quite large and stuffed with more Eastern Bloc artifacts.
There were all sorts of items boxed and organized such as paintings, sculptures, flags, tapestries, books, record albums, uniforms, etc. Here are some of the busts.
Documentation regarding face recognition and passport information.
Files of border forms.
And passport stamps.
Various gift items from different countries. The pearl inlaid, rectangular box in the center of the table was a gift from Gaddafi, if I recall correctly. Or was it Sadat? Oye. . .
There was so much in there, and too many pictures to add here that won’t fit. They also had pieces of the Berlin Wall on their shelves, which I did take pictures of, but since there’s a more complete section of the wall displayed near my house, I thought I’d add that picture here instead.
Okay, so I think that’s all the pics that will fit on this one post. I got a few shots of Brian on the other side of this wall trying to climb over, ha! The side I’m standing on obviously is the side that faced the West. The Eastern facing side didn’t have all the artwork on it. This portion of the wall is currently being displayed right across the street from the LACMA.
For anyone interested in Eastern Bloc history, I recommend checking out the Wende Museum in Culver City.
Marlakins
Permalink
05.20.10
Posted in Book Reviews, Historical Trivia at 12:18 pm by Administrator
I haven’t finished reading The Ayatollah Begs to Differ, yet, but I am about half way through the book. It’s going much faster than Dark Sun, the Making of the Hydrogen Bomb probably because it’s a smaller book and the style of writing is much easier and casual. Nevertheless, I’ve already learned a lot of stuff in this little book that I had not known just a couple weeks ago that has helped some things I’ve seen and heard make more sense.
Anyone following my blog may know that I have been following the Iran nuclear controversy and have had an interest in Ahmadinejad. I’m a bit late on the scene as I am learning about Ahmadinejad and some middle east history more recently. I’m finding it very interesting, and as a result have been trying to understand the U.S or West relationships with Iran and, in general, the middle east by going back into history to see who’s who and try to connect the dots to why things are happening now. Or even how significant certain claims are now.
So what got me interested in Iran and Ahmadinejad? I think it started from the news claims that Ahmadinejad stated that, “Israel should be wiped of the map.” I wanted to see what it was that he exactly said because I know that the media has a tendency to misrepresent things and that foreign languages can often be mistranslated, not to mention “intentions” can also be mistranslated. During my searches I ran into other speeches and interviews given by Ahmadinejad such as the speech he gave at Columbia University that riled everyone up because he seemed to claim that the Holocaust never happened. Oye! Then I also saw an interview with him and Brian Jennings and by then I had to admit that despite other people claiming that Ahmadinejad is a nut, he is still a captivating speaker “because” he is obviously a thoughtful, articulate, and intelligent man who has a very interesting perspective. Did I agree or disagree with him? To decide that I felt that I should do more research myself and find the facts to help me make a better decision. I know what I had been taught in school and from TV documentaries, but have I done any independent research before other than visit the Tolerance Museum? No, not really. So, from what I have read about wars and other world dealings I have tried to piece some of these things together. And that is what I continue to do to today by reading what I can get my hands on and why I’m currently reading The Ayatollah Begs to Differ to help me get a better or more balanced perspective (if possible).
Okay, so to cut to the chase, the part that gave me pause in the book was a couple paragraphs dealing with “why” Ahmadinejad bothered to bring up the Holocaust. It gave me pause because it was an angle that I had not even considered, and showed again that Ahmadinejad might be more clever than I gave him credit. Well who knows, this could just be totally off the wall, but I find it an interesting angle. I’ll quote the paragraphs below:
“What I wanted to know most from the president’s top media was who among the top echelon of government official had thought, other than Ahmadinejad himself, that organizing a conference on the Holocaust in Tehran (held in the winter of 2006 to wide ridicule mainly outside, but also to some extent inside, Iran) had been a good idea. At least in terms of how the media would see it. Iranians, particularly those who haven’t traveled much outside the country and no matter what their level of education, have very little knowledge, if any, of the Holocaust. Contemporary European and American history is not taught much is schools, films and documentaries on the Holocaust rarely make it to Iran, and books on the Holocaust are rarely translated. It was and is still generally accepted by most Iranians that something very bad happened to European Jews under the Third Reich, but because it didn’t affect or have anything to do with Iran, not even Iranian Jews, who were mostly unaffected by World War II, the Holocaust was rarely thought about by Iranians until their president decided to make it an issue of great import.
“Javanfeker was frozen by the question. He started at me for a very long time, not angrily, but more with a bewildered look in his eyes. . .
“I thought of Fuad, my Jewish-Iranian friend from Los Angeles who had explained to me his perspective on Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial with no small measure of admiration for what he saw as the finest example of Persian ta’arouf one-upmanship. Ahmadinejad, Fuad reasoned, had in effect said to the Europeans (and, in a letter, to Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany) that he couldn’t believe that Europeans had been or could be such monsters (and this at a time when Iran was being portrayed as monstrous). ‘You’re not monsters,’ Ahmadinejad was saying. ‘Surely not? Surely you’re a great civilization,’ a sentiment that could only compel the Europeans, and particularly the Germans, to respond in effect, ‘No, no, no we were. We really were monsters. The very worst kind.’ And by further asking why Israel had had to be created by them, he was essentially getting the Europeans to admit that they were entirely capable of genocide again. It didn’t matter, Fuad suggested, that Europeans by and large didn’t squirm, for Iranians and Arabs got the message, if only subconsciously. The Westernized and West-worshipping Middle Easterners whom Ahmadinejad loathes with the same passion as Khomeini did could hear the civilization they so admired shout, loud and clear, ‘Yes, yes, we committed the very worst genocide in history. Only a few years ago, and who knows, we could do it again.’ And Ahmadinejad must have, Fuad said, derived enormous satisfaction in hearing Europeans indignantly insist that their fathers were mass murderers. But Javanfekr was unwilling or unable to explain the thought process behind a Holocaust conference in Tehran, and maybe Fuad had been too generous in his reading of Ahmadinejad’s intentions.”
Hmmm. Of course I wonder how much relevancy that really has to what Ahmadinejad really intended, but it does seem to parallel the current arguments Ahmadinejad has with the U.S. of how we are the only country who has actually “used” nuclear weapons on another country who didn’t have nuclear weapons of their own. Personally, I think that the development of nuclear power may have come directly from Satan. To use it even for nuclear energy, in my opinion, is a Faustian bargain. As much as I think Iran, in principal, probably should be allowed to have their own nuclear program, I wish they wouldn’t for all of our safety (think Chernobyl). And that leaves us between a rock and a hard place.
Marlakins
Permalink
05.12.10
Posted in Book Reviews, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Historical Trivia at 9:24 am by Administrator
Like many others, I’ve been keeping an eye on the Gulf oil leak. It’s really heartbreaking to know and think about all the damage being caused and that it’s still not over. The leak is still not contained and who knows how long it will take to contain it. From previous oil spills and leaks, the damages caused have not been fully reversed even after 20 or more years. Specifically, the Exxon Valdez spill 20 years ago; and the off shore oil rig blowout by Santa Barbara, California back in the 60s. It’s my impression that the oil rig blowout that happened in California back in the 60s is what spurred the green-type of movement or the environmentally conscious people here.
We environmentally conscious people tend to get a bad wrap at times as tree-huggers or hippie types, but really, it amazes me more that people aren’t more concerned about their environment. Well, on second thought, people hardly give a second thought as to what foods they’ll pop into their mouths, so why should they give a rats-a about the environment, right? Hmmm.
Anyway, yesterday I came across an interesting article that listed some “Bizarre Man Made Disasters“.
This pit is in Turkmenistan, and the caption in the article reads:
“In the desert in Turkmenistan is a hole 328 ft. wide that has been on fire, continuously, for 38 years. In 1971, a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. Poisonous fumes began leaking from the hole. To head off a potential deadly catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole aflame.”
There’s actually a list of about 11 places, the last one included being the Zone of Alienation in Chernobyl. I actually blogged about that on another post not to long ago. Actually, that’s the second disaster site cited on the article related to nuclear contamination, the other being in the Marshall Islands as a result of nuclear testing back in the 70s and still radioactive today. Which brings me to the article I read today that Russia and Turkey are schedule for some talks, part of which deals with building Turkey’s first nuclear plant. . . grrrr. The full article is titled “Russia weighs Turkey energy deal“.
Okay, okay, I understand that it’s for energy purposes, but I can’t believe that all the bright minds in the world can’t think of a better, safer option? I understand that Iran claims to want their nuclear program for energy as well, and on the grounds of principal, I can agree. But I just don’t like nuclear energy. The disaster in Chernobyl should be warning enough, not to mention all the nuclear waste sites that are growing and rendering our lands uninhabitable.
Anyway, I continue to just read and try to keep myself informed. What else can I do? I’m still going through Dark Sun, the Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. It’s taking me forever! And then I just recently picked up The Ayatolla Begs to Differ, by Hooman Majd. Not only is this book supposedly helpful in understanding some of Iran’s culture, but also helps to explain their tenacity of their nuclear power program. Maybe I’ll eventually blog about what I find there.
Marlakins
Permalink
05.01.10
Posted in Historical Trivia, Hmmm Moments, humor at 12:42 am by Administrator
Just got a chuckle out of this from the Boston Globe. . .
There are just some facts of life that we conveniently forget.
Along these lines I also found an interesting article on Greg Palast’s blog titled Behind the Arizona Immigration Law: GOP Game to Swipe the November Election. He has an interesting twist to the new Arizona immigration law wherein he claims that,
“. . . The way the media plays the story, it was a wave of racist, anti-immigrant hysteria that moved Arizona Republicans to pass a sick little law, signed last week, requiring every person in the state to carry papers proving they are US citizens.
“I don’t buy it. Anti-Hispanic hysteria has always been as much a part of Arizona as the Saguaro cactus and excessive air-conditioning.
“What’s new here is not the politicians’ fear of a xenophobic “Teabag” uprising.
“What moved GOP Governor Jan Brewer to sign the Soviet-style show-me-your-papers law is the exploding number of legal Hispanics, US citizens all, who are daring to vote — and daring to vote Democratic by more than two-to-one. Unless this demographic locomotive is halted, Arizona Republicans know their party will soon be electoral toast. Or, if you like, tortillas.”
Well, I certainly don’t know how true that all is, but the rest of the article explains Palast’s reasoning for that. It certainly makes one go, “hmmmm.”(For now I can say that I’m glad that I don’t live in Arizona since not only am I considered a minority, but I have often been mistaken for other nationalities like American Indian, which some look a lot like Mexicans. I feel much safer here in Los Angeles in the melting pot, which btw there’s supposed to be a large rally tomorrow protesting the Arizona immigration law. Wonder if it’s really going to be as big as they expect). But in reality, this type of thing (differences of opinions) has been going on since after the civil war, no? Way back then there were both those who believed in slavery and those who did not. Does that mean one was more patriotic than the other? Even back during the founding of our government the Federalist and the Republicans exchanged heated debates similar to today–Jefferson was in favor of limited government, and Adams was in favor of expanding government. Same ‘ole same ‘ole argument, but both are considered our founding forefathers. The difference I see today is now if someone wants government assistance, the GOP cry “socialism” or the “constitution is being shredded”, or “unpatriotic”. It gets to be annoying at times. Can’t we focus on the “issues” or “specifics” or even “facts” rather than name calling or raising suspicions as to who the “real” Americans are? Can’t we have differences of opinions without being labeled “unpatriotic?” I can understand being cautious, but somehow I think there’s a fine line to paranoia, too.
Marlakins
Permalink
04.07.10
Posted in Book Reviews, Historical Trivia, History at 6:31 pm by Administrator
The Day We Lost the H-Bomb by Barbara Moran turned out to be a very captivating read for me. Her writing style was very clear and easy to follow and included many interesting details that helped bring her story to life. While I did enjoy reading her book and learned a lot of interesting facts about how the military operates in some situations, some technical information regarding nuclear fusion, the history of the downed B-52 in 1966 carrying four nuclear warheads as well as other things, I do have to comment that in the beginning of the book I found some errors that made me cautious about the accuracy of the book. I’m a stickler for details and accuracy, so when just on page 12 and 13 I found some inaccuracies, I continued reading with caution keeping in mind that while the story is based on true events, the “exact” details may be off. I mean how can a lay person like myself know the difference without checking everything out myself?
So what inaccuracy did I find? On page 12 Moran wrote,
“. . . On August 7, 1945, U.S.forces dropped an atomic bomb named ‘Little Boy’ on the city of Hiroshima. “
From many other sources, it’s been recorded that it was August 6, 1945 when the U.S. dropped Little Boy on Hiroshima. But she goes on stating,
“Nine days later, they dropped a second, ‘Fat Man,’ on Nagasaki. That evening the Japanese surrendered. The war was over.”
No, many other sources claim that it was “three” days later, August 9, 1945, that Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki. And again, no, the Japanese didn’t surrender that evening. It was “six days later” that Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945 and signed the surrender on September 2, 1945. That’s three big mistakes made in four short lines in Moran’s book. Three details that are easily verifiable through many other sources. Hmmm. Definitely something that makes one reading her book think “maybe” she’s not such a stickler for details. Proceed with caution. One might argue that those are small discrepancies, but I would beg to differ considering many people justify that the second bomb (Fat Man) had to be dropped because the Japanese refused to surrender. Well in light of the fact that they dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki only three days (not 9 days) after Hiroshima would show that Japan didn’t have much time to react, much less time to “refuse” to surrender. Consider that communications was wiped out. How could they even communicate and determine the damages in Hiroshima in three short days and then refuse to surrender? In three short days they probably didn’t even know what hit them being that it was the first nuclear bomb ever dropped on a city. Even after the second bomb was dropped it took Japan “six” days more to surrender. Why didn’t the U.S. just drop another bomb then? My guess is because they didn’t have another atomic bomb to drop otherwise they very well might have dropped another one even tho there were only about three cities left in Japan the hadn’t already been bombed. It’s been written that the U.S. had used all their nuclear fuel on hand at the time with those two bombs. Also Curtis LeMay’s forces had already been firebombing other cities in Japan for months with napalm beforehand killing more civilians than both Little Boy and Fat man. The civilian casualties didn’t seem to be an issue. I’m guessing the key focus was on an “unconditional” surrender, since there are accounts that Japan was trying to negotiate a surrender months prior to the dropping of both Little Boy and Fat Man.
The rest of the book ran very well considering I didn’t know of any other facts that were obvious errors. In short, Moran describes the events back in January of 1966 when a mid-air collision between a B-52 and a refueling plane sent the two planes crashing down on Palomares, a small town in Spain. While the crash itself was a story worthy for headlines, the more troubling detail was that the B-52 was carrying four nuclear warheads that needed to be recovered. The good news was the three were recovered shortly after the crash and had not detonated, although two had spread radioactive material on the tomato fields of some farmers. The fourth nuclear warhead was nowhere to be found, thus troops and a whole operation of divers and scientists were employed to scour the land and the ocean for that fourth missing nuclear warhead. It took about four months to finally find and retrieve the fourth nuclear warhead, which ended up about 2,800 feet on the ocean floor. In the end, the Navy billed the Air Force $6.5 million to search and recover the bomb, including soil transport of the contaminated radioactive soil. 4,800 barrels of contaminated soil were shipped to the Savannah River nuclear processing center in South Carolina. Moran writes that, “the Navy calculated that its total cost was actually higher: $10,230,744 or $126,305 per day. It was the most expensive salvage operation in history.” Amongst the villagers there were more than 500 claimants and were paid $555,456.45 in damages. Every year, about 150 residents of Palomares travel to Madrid–all expenses paid–for complete physical examinations, including urine testing for plutonium. So far, at least 1,029 people have received more than 4,000 medical and dosimetric examination. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, these tests show that about 5 % of the people studied carry plutonium in their bodies. A study done in 2007 surprised scientists as they found the plutonium contamination in Palomares was higher and more widespread than they had suspected, and several areas they had considered clean were contaminated with americium, a product of plutonium disintegration. In 2008 was another surprise discovery of two trenches containing radioactive debris left by the Americans. Construction was restricted as a result and the contamination area was widened. No remediation plan has been established as of yet.
Anyway, there was so much more to the story of this book. For anyone interested in nuclear history or even just a good “suspense” story, I recommend Barbara Moran’s The Day We Lost the H-Bomb. There’s information about nuclear fusion, some history regarding the Strategic Air Command, some discussion about the political tensions between Spain and the U.S., etc. Interesting, interesting book. There are people who use this story to support both sides of the nuclear disarmament controversy. We need to educate ourselves so that we can better understand the issues and concepts that we support. We should not be ignorant of such important issues since nuclear energy has the potential to impact everyone in the world. If we don’t take the effort to voice our opinions, other people less informed or even less careful or more radical will make decisions for us.
Marlakins
Permalink
03.28.10
Posted in Historical Trivia, Playing the Tourist at 11:30 pm by Administrator
Just as the stop at the woodcarving factory was a surprise, we made “two” other surprise stops–one at a jewelry factory and another one at a leather factory. Well actually the tour we took the previous day did the same thing in that we stopped off at a jewelry factory and a Thai silk shop without knowing that we were going there. That jewelry factory specialized in sapphires and rubies set in gold. They did not allow any pictures inside, so I didn’t comment on it. However, the next tour we took brought us to another jewelry factory which specialized in Thai silver as well as gold and other stones. We were allowed to take some pictures here, but not in their showroom. Here’s a pic of the front of the factory.
So here are a few pictures of their jewelers at work. This guy appears to be faceting a stone.
These are a closer look at the mounted stones just before grinding.
Well, I suppose I should show some of the stones at the beginning of the process.
And some emeralds.
A guy working on a ring. I believe he was adding the stone mounting here.
Another guy working on a necklace.
Another person working on a bracelet.
A gal sorting through sapphires.
There were quite a few other workers there, but I think this is a decent sampling of the working going on during our visit. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the showroom, which was a shame because that’s where the finished work is displayed and can be appreciated. Suffice it to say that that jewelry was lovely.
The next stop was at a leather factory. They didn’t allow any pictures at all inside their building. But I did want to share something I purchase there because I thought it was unusual. These little wallets are made from leather with a weave of horse hair and silk. They came in a few colors, but I liked the plain black.
I had never seen anything made from woven horse hair and silk, so I thought they were a little novel and bought a couple for my sisters. When we came back home, Andrew had to go to a museum for one of his history classes. I tagged along. The museum he chose was the Pacific Asian Museum where, to my surprise, they had on display some traditional Korean folk hats made from woven horse hair! I never knew! Fortunately, the Pacific Asian Museum allowed as many photos as we wished so long as we didn’t use flash. Here’s a pic of one of their horse hair hats.
And another. . .
And here I had never heard of woven horse hair and silk to make wallets, while the Koreans were wearing horse hair hats hundreds of years ago. . . Learning seems never-ending. I’m supposed to be teaching Aaron, but I keep learning things right along side him. Actually, the Pacific Asian Museum had a lot of interesting things on display. I took a lot of pics, so may share those later when I have more time.
Well, it’s late, so toodles for now!
Marlakins
Permalink
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »
