August 10, 2016--Stray Current

"Here's one for you," George said.

"Not another one like the one about the rhumb line?" He knew I was attempting to be amusing. I loved his rhumb line story. Even wrote about it.

A hint of a smile confirmed I was about to hear another of his shaggy parables.

"You know I was in the Coast Guard, right?" I did know that. "Well, do you know about stray currents?"

We were at his house where he and Fran were hosting a lively dinner party. George had waited until I had too much to drink before springing this one on me. "Not that much."

"I don't want to repeat what you already know so . . ."

"In fact, I never heard of stray currents. So I'm all yours." He liked that.

"Say you're below deck and there's a little standing water down there."

"Doesn't sound good to me."

"Well, it is and it isn't."

"I'm assuming this is about when it isn't. So get right to it. My ability to follow you is limited. I was fine until you started pouring lemoncello, which, by the way was delicious."

"Let's say that one of the electric lines down there is a bit frayed or corroded. It shouldn't be. We pride ourselves on exceptional maintenance. It's the Coast Guard." As if that was supposed to say it all. "And at one end of the line there's a tear or rupture."

"Doesn't sound good."

"So some current gets loose, is stray," he winked, "and starts moving around in the bilge water. It's seeking some place to get to, to ground itself. That may not be its only option. Before reaching ground, it could leap to the other side and complete a circuit. If that happens you don't want to be standing there with your shoes all wet."

"I can imagine," I said, not really fully able to. In fact I'm not even sure I'm remembering this correctly, I don't know my electricity, except that seeking and reaching ground is much the preferable.

"Why are you telling me this?" I was puzzled more than I usually am with his stories, which sometimes feel like non sequiturs. This one about stray currents for example.

"Well, this one's a political story. Related to all the political talk tonight." There had been quite a lot of that.

"Think now about Donald Trump's supporters. Earlier you proclaimed them shearing away. As the result of how he abused the Kahn family. Of their remarkable son. You mentioned that many of your conservative friends here, Trump supporters, are beginning to have second thoughts."

"I have been noticing that. I think it's over for him. For Trump. But what's the point of your stray current story?" It was getting to be past my bedtime. What with all the wine, the intense talk, the ribaldry, I was happily done in.

"The story might be thought to be about the ungrounded rogue current."

"That's it?" I said.

"That's it," he said.

"That's it?" I asked.

May 13, 2015--Mother of Invention

"You haven't taken your nose out of that book all day."

"It's not a great book," I said, "But as you know, I'm fascinated by the Wright Brothers, and the new David McCullough biography is still fascinating. I mean, to me."

"Fascinating in what way?" Rona asked.

"You remember how about ten years ago we visited Kitty Hawk and were so impressed by what had happened there between 1901 and 1903, when the brothers were the first flew? The book is quite good on the Wrights' time there so that part is fascinating. The rest, only so-so."

"I do remember that. And though I hate flying in small planes I agreed to go up in a two-seater with you so we could fly over the same landscape where they had lived and worked. From Kitty Hawk to Kill Devil Hills."

"And then a few years later how, when in their hometown, Dayton, Ohio, we visited their workshop--a bicycle factory--and found the field not far from there--Huffman Prairie--where over the next few years in hundreds of flights they perfected their flying machine and learned more and more about controlled flight."

"So what do you think?" Rona asked, "Is their invention of the airplane the most important, world-changing invention of the 20th century?"

"One of them. To that I'd add electricity, the light bulb, radio, wireless broadcasting . . ."

"What about TV and, to me the most important invention of all, the computer?"

"Probably the computer. Not just the computer itself but the incredible software and peripherals that make the Internet, which we access with computers, so powerful."

"And," Rona said, "make social media like Facebook and Twitter possible. More than a billion people use them."

"Then there are the invented ways to access the Internet and all that derives from that--from clunky computers to all those so-called mobile devices."

"As with many others--all of these are powerful for both good and ill."

"Planes qualify as well," I said, "Only 12 years after the first flight, during the First World War, combatants of all stripes used planes for reconnaissance."

"And aerial bombing."

"All true," I said. "But back to inventions. We could have fun making a list of the most important ones of the past hundred years."

"But that would exclude the airplane since it first flew 102 years ago." She smiled at remembering that.

"Good point. Or we could see what we come up with if we tried to make a list of the most important inventions of all time."

"You mean like the wheel?"

"Yes, that's on many people's list as the single most important invention."

"How about the invention of democracy?" Rona asked, "Would that quality?"

"Sure. But maybe let's confine ourselves to material things like the plane and Internet. That feels like more fun."

"Well, we've already made a good beginning with the radio, TV, the light bulb and of course electricity itself."

"Though I'm not sure electricity is an invention. Doesn't it just exist and then people like Alexander Graham Bell and Edison figured out how to use it?"

"I'll have to look that up," Rona said, "And speaking about electricity, some would include the electric chair."

I looked at her skeptically. "Some saw it as more humane than hanging or the firing squad."

"I'll give you that one. But how about atomic energy?"

"Also it's maybe not an invention. But coming up with various uses for it certainly qualifies. Again for good or ill."

"If we want to talk about weapons, there have been hundreds of major inventions, including some--like say, guided missiles--that were world-changing."

"How about the printing press?"

"If you add movable type I think you've identified a paradigm-shifting one. With the ability to print books, periodicals, and newspapers maybe in its time it was as significant as the Internet."

"Then there's a very different category of inventions--musical instruments."

"Excellent point. Life would not be the same without the piano and violin and hundreds of others."

"What about in the medical field?"

"Probably as many inventions as for weapons. From anesthesia to . . ."

"Huge."

"To penicillin and then antibiotics. Also, vaccinations, pain killers, and tranquilizers."

"And testing techniques like all those for analyzing blood and MRIs. All inventions."

"For surgery alone there are hundreds. And don't forget the Pill. That changed the way we live as much as anything."

"How about in astronomy? Telescopes, satellites, and such? They also allow for accurate weather forecasting, which in itself is another invention."

"Related to that, there are all the navigation tools like the compass, which I'm sure some would say also changed the world. And of a very different sorry, how about air conditioning? One of my favorites," I said.

"Maybe I'd agree to refrigeration being on the list of top 25 or so, but not the AC, though I know you say you can't live without it."

"True. And to me personally at about the same level of importance, I'd add ATM machines--I hate standing on line at the bank."

"That's silly."

"Admittedly, but I'd also add another of my personal favorites."

"What's that?"

"The E-ZPass. I also hate waiting on line at toll booths."

"Time for you to stick your nose back in the book," Rona said. "The Wright Brothers are beckoning."

"Wait, one more, how about you--you couldn't live without your blowdryer."