We speak the same language, don’t we? In my 1/17/06 posting American vs. British English I noted numerous differences between the two countries’ use of the language. Here is another example.

In 1985 I went to Papua New Guinea as a consultant for the World Bank, out of Washington, to investigate and report on the financial status of that country’s government development bank. Many developing countries have such entities to contribute to the funding of local industries which provide goods and services and employ local people. The World Bank contributes capital and managerial assistance to those national development banks.

The executive director of the Papuan development bank was a native of that country; I only saw him once at a dinner to which I was invited. The executives who actually ran the operation were all expatriates from Britain or the British Commonwealth.

The chief financial officer was Scotch. During a conversation with him, he referred several times to a local company which I understood to be "Table Beds." Although the name, as I understood it, was rather awkward, I assumed it be a furniture manufacturing company. However, when I saw its name in writing, I learned that it was "Table Birds," a company that raised and processed poultry for the consumer retail market.

Aye, those Scotch, they do have a wee bit of an accent.

Didn’t I tell you? In my 1/20/06 posting Why fear surveillance cameras on streets and other public places? I questioned how anyone could justifiably oppose them as an invasion of privacy, pointing out that, among other things, they could record crimes in process of being committed and also provide evidence for use at trial of the criminals involved.

The following news item appeared in the 2/25/06 edition of the Baltimore Sun:

A 16-year-old who prosecutors said was recorded by a city police surveillance camera as he fled the scene of a fatal shooting last year pleaded guilty yesterday to second-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime...If (the shooter) had gone to trial on a first-degree murder charge, prosecutors said they planned to use the camera’s images against him.

Assistant State’s Attorney Julius Silvestri said a pole camera at Curley and Monument streets showed (the shooter) with one hand in his pocket running shortly after the shooting.

Should we be concerned that this murderer’s privacy was invaded?

Surfing American history through Great Grandpa. My ancestors were packrats–they saved every letter, bill, and anything that came on paper. (That was long before the paperless revolution.) I admit that,
much to my wife’s and my chagrin, I have inherited that habit.

My paternal great grandfather was a surgeon; I know nothing about where he received his medical training–I only know that he was born in eastern North Carolina in 1819. But I have some interesting letters from him that bear on American history (actually, war history).

The Mexican War

This letter is my favorite. It was written to his fiancée, later my great grandmother (you expected that, didn’t you?). It is headed “October 1st 1846 U.S. Frigate Potomac Off Pensacola Navy Yard” His handwriting was in immaculate Spencerian style, with all the flourishes. These are my favorite passages:

This moment I have heard that you have been watching with anxious solicitude over the bed of a sick mother...What is more dear than a kind and devoted mother. It is she who has anxiously, tenderly, affectionately guarded and watched over us during our helpless moments. I venerate the name of mother.

And there is much more in this vein. I can’t imagine a 27-year-old man writing such schmalz today. But the interesting part is his commentary on the Mexican War.

We shall be leaving on the tenth of this month for Vera Cruz...The last rumor from the department is that the war is to be prosecuted with renewed vigor by sea and by land, that the overture of peace byour government has been indignantly rejected. From all I can learn I can see but little prospects of peace for some time to come.

A man by the name of Samuel Jackson, seaman on board of the St. Mary’s has been sentenced to death by a Court Martial recently held upon the charges preferred against him for mutiny. The Commodore has approved the sentence, and the day has been appointed for carrying it into effect. An example of the kind becomes sometimes an act of humanity. If he be let off a dozen ultimately may have to suffer his sentence carried into effect. It is possible the Commodore may reprieve him. If he does it will be a death blow to the discipline of the Squadron.

The frigates Potomac, St. Mary’s, and a third one, the name of which I don’t have at hand, were a squadron of three which went together. The St. Mary’s, according to some information I came across some time ago, was involved in the battle against the Barbary pirates off the coast of Tripoli.

The charge of mutiny is interesting because Herman Wouk, in his preface to The Caine Mutiny Trial said that no one had been convicted (or executed, I don’t recall which) for mutiny in the U.S. Navy. Maybe this Jackson was spared execution, or maybe he was executed under some other charge.

There are some more personal bits of interest:

Our sick list has greatly diminished. We are getting rid of the scurvy very fast. A few weeks more will free us entirely of it...In addition to an extraordinary heavy sick list on board ship, we have 40 odd cases of (yellow) fever to attend to in the Navy Yard.

A very amusing little circumstance occurred some time ago in Pensacola among two of my friends and myself and the postmaster. We walked up to the office to deposit our letters. I waited until they had got through, and then handed my letters to the P.Master, one of which I desired him to pay the postage of (handing it to him separately with the money). He took up his pen to mark it, and commenced repeating the name, asking if that was the one. I immediately stopped him (but of course coloured (sic) up) by telling him it was addressed to a lady. The P.M. in a moment perceived his error and desisted from the balance of the name...my friends enjoyed it as a capital joke.

A "capital joke" to be sending a letter to a lady, about which he coloured up. Indeed! Two points of interest: One, the postmaster wrote on the envelope the postage paid, which was because that was in the days before postage stamps were in widespread use. We have a number of letters, dating back to 1836, with the postage handwritten on the letter folded over and sealed. The second, the British spelling “coloured,” which leads to the question of when Americans dropped the “u”.

We shall probably be absent from this place for about 4 months...I hope to obtain leave from the Department to return home to my examination...This examination is to ascertain whether the assistant surgeon is qualified for promotion to surgeon...After passing, the salary is raised from $1028 to $1273 a year.

The Civil War

When North Carolina seceded, Great Grandpa joined the Confederate army as a surgeon. (I don’t know whether he stayed in the U.S. Navy up until then, or whether he went back to civilian life at some time during that interval). By then he had become a widower with three young children (two sons and a daughter) who were cared for by relatives during his military service. We have several letters written to his daughter (my paternal grandmother) from the field of battle. The following is headed “Richmond June 6th 1864" (His handwriting is nothing like the fancy one of 1846–it is very ordinary.)

I have been worked down and there is no end of it–I have never seen so many wounded men together as I have seen in the Yankee Hospital–800 or more all desperately wounded. My hands have been in dreadful condition from wounds received in operating on them.

I don’t know how he became involved with the “Yankee Hospital.” But a later letter, headed “Chaffins Bluff August 17th, 1864" he describes his current situation:

The Yanks are very near here, have been fighting for two days–shot and shell flying all in sight of my hospital. It is possible I shall have to move out of the building tomorrow.

I eventually found out where Chaffins Bluff was. Oddly enough, I found it on a map sent to me by a British business colleague (now deceased) who, for some reason, was a buff of the American Civil War. It is maybe 20 miles southeast of Richmond on a bluff overlooking the James River. I went there one summer and found it remote and mosquito-ridden.

What an admirable man Great Grandpa must have been: not only had he lost his wife (to whom he had so endearingly written in his 1846 letter quoted from above) and had three young children to care for, but even, while he was caring for the war casualties, with “shot and shell flying all in sight of my hospital,” he managed to be interested in things back home. In other letters to his daughter he inquired about family friends.

Especially interesting is his counsel to his daughter about joining the Episcopal church. He refers in a letter to her from Chaffins Bluff, dated December 16, 1864, to one that he had recently received from her in which she had expressed an interest in joining that church (she was 13 at the time).

Are you satisfied that you have been changed in heart? That through the blood (illegible) of Jesus Christ your sins have been pardoned and you made his heir?...I cannot find it in my nature to forbid it. I do hope, my dear child, that you will endeavor to be certain as to the nature of the case.

And there is a lot more in the letter on the subject. Remarkably, here he is, in a war-torn place where he has had to operate on severely wounded men, many of whom died, and has himself lived in miserable conditions, but yet can give this much of himself to the matter of his thirteen-year-old daughter joining a church.

I don’t have any later information on him, except that he died in 1892 at age 73 (a considerable age to achieve at that time, especially by one who was in two wars). He is buried in a family graveyard near the small town of South Mills in eastern North Carolina.

...and through Great Grandma. My paternal great grandmother, who was the recipient of Great Grandpa’s 1846 letter quoted from above and, later, his wife, also contributed in her letters to our historic past. In 1840, at age 16, she was a student at Miss English’s school for girls in Georgetown D.C (evidently the city of Washington had not yet annexed Georgetown). On November 10, 1840 she wrote a letter to her sister back home in eastern North Carolina. As in the case of Great Grandpa’s 1846 letter to her, there was no postage stamp on it–rather, it been sealed with sealing wax and someone at the post office had handwritten the postage (“18 3/4") on it and placed a large postmark (“GEORGETOWN DC NOV 10") on it.

Here are some of Great Grandma’s comments:

We are great politicians here. We search all the papers to ascertain the result of the elections. Yesterday we heard that the Whigs had New York and Pennsylvania, and today that Old Tip was elected. One of the girls when they heard of it said she was badly defeated and the cause of her distress was her father told her if Van was elected he would give her a party and a fine dress.

The poor girl who didn’t get her party or the “fine dress” had yet another misfortune:

...and she also got two censures for her politicks. Miss Wright gives them to us and deprives us of our recesses. She says we are too much excited, and will be glad when it is all over.

Miss Wright would probably have apoplexy if she were at a girls’ school today. Could those girls of 1840, who were “too excited,” have even imagined what it would be like–about 80 years later–to be able to vote themselves?

While Harrison and Tyler won New York by a substantial margin: 225,945 to 212,743, 51.2% of the vote, they took Pennsylvania by a whisker: 144,023 to 143,784, an even 50.0%. (Source: History of American Presidential Elections–1789-2001 vol II. p. 690 Edited by Arthur M Schlesinger, Jr. and
Fred L. Israel, Chelsea House Publishers, Philadelphia, 2002)

Harrison served the shortest period of time of any elected president to date. He was inaugurated on March 4, 1841 and died precisely one month later on April 4th. The historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote (in his The Oxford History of the American People) that Harrison gave a one-hour-forty-minute inaugural address in bitter cold weather, without a hat or overcoat, as a result of which he caught a bad cold that developed into pneumonia and brought about his quick demise.

I sense a strange feeling reading over the words of my ancestors as they were living and being involved in these historic events. The letters referred to above are just a few of our old family letters; we have many more from other ancestors dating back as far as 1836.

Islam: a "peaceful" religion or a dangerous one? For almost two years during the early 1950's I lived and worked in Dakar, Senegal for Texaco, the international oil company, now part of Chevron. (Senegal was then a French colony on the west coast of Africa; it gained its independence in 1960.) Most of that time I lived in a fourth-floor walk-up apartment directly across a narrow street from a mosque. On mornings around 5 AM I would hear the iman calling the faithful to prayer from the minaret, which was at the level of my apartment; at first I was bothered to be awakened at such an hour, but after a while I became used to it.

Each working day during the two-hour midday break, I returned to my apartment, which was just a short walk from the Texaco office, to have lunch (prepared by my houseboy) and take a siesta. But on Friday I had to be particularly careful to take off to my apartment no later than a few minutes before 12 noon. The reason: the street in front of my apartment filled up with worshipers–these men (yes, they were all men–I suppose that any women worshipers went some place else) were so jammed to each other, both on each side and behind and in front and back, that no one could possibly get through this massive sea of bodies. I enjoyed going out on the balcony of my apartment, which was directly over the worshipers, and watching the prayer service.

Prior to my experience in Dakar, I had known very little and not thought very much about Islam. But during my stay there–where 90+ percent of the native population (the black Africans, indigènes in French) were Moslems--I formed an opinion that it was a powerful force for the good. Why? I never saw a drunk indigène nor heard of anyone being on drugs, I never heard of a mugging or any kind of a personal attack, I had no fear of walking anywhere at any time of day or night. The only criminal activity that I ever heard of was petty theft (the only exception being that one of our company cars was stolen, but later recovered). I realize that my thinking was condescending inasmuch as it was based on an assumption that, without the strong influence of Islam, its faithful would have been uncivil and a dangerous population.

But some time ago I did a 180-degree turn from this opinion. I might not admire some particular religion but, at the same time, I would respect the sentiments of those who practice it–for example, I could never adhere to an authoritarian religion such as Roman Catholicism or Orthodox Judaism, but I certainly respect those who do. But now I can’t even respect Islam–at least the way it is practiced in most parts of the Islamic world. How can one respect a religion that
--placed a bounty on the head of Salman Rushdie because his novel The Satanic Verses was mildly disrespectful of Islam,
--let a number of young women die in a night-time fire in a school dormitory in Saudi Arabia because male firemen were not allowed to go in and rescue them nor could the women evacuate the building in nightgowns,
–put a college professor in Iran be on trial for her life because of making comments that were disrespectful of Islam,
–put a woman on trial for her life in Nigeria for alleged adultery,
–incites its more rabid adherents to kill "infidels" by attacking them from the air as during 9/11 or in public conveyances, as in Madrid and London, and to rampage against the recent blasphemous cartoons in Danish and other newspapers,
--forces a dreadful system of laws, the "Sharia", on countries whose populations are mostly Moslem; here there is no separation of religion and state–everyone living in those countries is subject to those laws whatever their religious beliefs.

The Sharia is extremely repressive: women must cover most of their bodies with unattractive clothing when in public, can’t drive automobiles, and are restricted in many other ways; anyone disrespectful of Islam, even in a very minor way, is subject to harsh punishment. It has religious police in public places to force compliance with those laws. I am aware that there are countries with populations largely Islamic which are relatively not so repressive, such as Turkey, Indonesia, Pakistan, and (I suppose) Senegal. I do respect the people there for their practice of Islam and I also respect those Moslems in the USA who are decent people. But that doesn’t leave me forgiving the brutality of the Sharia in others where it is strongly enforced.

Regarding Salman Rushdie and his The Satanic Verses, I look back on a day in 1989 when I was in London on a business trip and purchased a copy of the book. I had difficulty finding a bookstore that had it in stock but finally did find one. As I was walking with it in public–on a Saturday, when mobs of tourists come in into London on tours from the European continent and other places–I realized that the bag that I was carrying it in was translucent so that anyone could see the title and, thus, posed a danger to me. Therefore, I held it with the front cover against my body and the back cover (which had a picture of Rushdie on it) in my arm in a way that mostly obscured the picture.

As to the recent cartoons in the Danish and other newspapers, I think that the wisdom to print them, knowing the furor that would likely follow, may be debatable, but in no way can the rampaging against them be justified. During the rampages, George Will commented on the ABC Sunday morning talk show that no one can expect to go through life without at some time being offended in some way by somebody. The prime minister of Denmark stated that a few hundred thousand Moslem immigrants living in Denmark had no right to force their views on a country of about 5 million people. I fully agree with these ideas–freedom of expression within reasonable limits certainly exceeds in importance any right to not be offended by satirical treatment of one’s religion. (I would be hypocritical if I were to have any sympathy for the rampaging mobs given my satirical treatment of Christianity, and more specifically Roman Catholicism, in an earlier posting on this blog ("Encounter of Pope John Paul with Saint Peter...")).

I believe that almost nothing or nobody should be exempt from satire, especially religions. The only exception I can think of is satire of human tragedy: I believe that such treatment of victims of the Holocaust, those of the Tsunami, or of any human suffering never would be justified.

The big question is: can the freedoms of a secular and free society and the repressive concepts of fundamental Islam coexist? Samuel Huntington in his The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order doubts that it can. While there may be some reconciliation of the two concepts in the distant future, I fear for a long time there will be intense conflict between them, with the danger of a higher level of armed conflict and terrorist acts.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. How many more might there be? The following test may give you an idea. It was included in the October 1996 edition of the French magazine Paris Match, in an article entitled Calculez Votre Esperance de Vie ("Calculate Your Life Expectancy"), the subtitle of which was Vin, Amour et Fantaisie, c'est le cocktail "longue vie" ("Wine, Love and Caprice, it's the 'long life' cocktail"). Who else but the French would come up with such a subtitle?

The source of the test, according to the article, was a book The Age Heresy, the work of two British life insurance actuaries, Tony Buzan and Raymond Keene.

(The following descriptions and direct quotes from the text are my translations from the original French of the article.)

The test begins with two columns of numbers side-by-side:

Your Present Age........... Your Life Expectancy
20-32............................................. 74.1-74.9
33-44............................................. 75.0-75.9
45-50............................................. 76.0-76.8
51-55..............................................77.0-77.9
56-58.............................................78.1-78.5
59-61..............................................79.0-79.3
62-63.............................................80.0-80.3
64-67.............................................81.1-81.9
68-69............................................82.3-82.7
70 and above.... ...........................83.2

The above table applies to women; men should subtract three years for their life expectancy. Then make the additions/subtractions of years that apply to your situation as called for in each of the 24 questions below.

1. Your grandparents: if they lived 80 or more years, add one year for each; if they reached 70, add six months for each.

2. Your parents: if your mother reached 80 years, add 4 years, 2 years if your father reached 80.

3. Cardiac disease: if one of your close kin (brother, sister, parent or grandparent) died of a heart attack or other cardiovascular disease, deduct 4 years. For each brother or sister who died between 50 and 60 deduct 2 years.

4. Diabetes and stomach ulcer: for the same close kin who died before age 60 from these diseases deduct 3 years. Stomach cancer: if diagnosed of a close relative younger than 60, deduct 2 years. Other diseases: for any non-accidental death of a close family member before age 60, deduct I year.

5. The advantages of being a first child: if you were lucky enough to be the first child, add 1 year.

6. Effect of smoking on life expectancy: if you smoke more than 40 cigarettes a day, deduct 12 years (yes, 12); between 20 and 40 deduct 7 years; if less than 20, that will still cost 2 years.

7. If you make love once or twice a week, add 2 years.

8. If you live as a couple in a stable relation, add 1 year. If you are a man living alone after a separation, deduct 9 years. A widower living alone, deduct 7 years; one living with members of his family, only deduct 3 1/2 years. A widow living alone, deduct 3 1/2 years; if she lives in a home where care is provided, deduct 2 years. A divorced or separated woman, deduct 4 years.

9. Women without children, deduct 6 months. A woman with seven or more children, deduct 1 year.

10. If you are overweight or have been, deduct 2 years.

11. If you have annual check-ups, add 2 years.

12. If you are frequently sick, deduct 5 years.

13. If you have lived over half of your life in a city, deduct 1 year, if over half in the country, add 1 year.

14. If you sleep more than 10 hours or less than 5, deduct 2 years.

15. Effect of drinking on health: if you drink a moderate amount of alcohol, add 3 years. If you only drink occasionally, only add 1 1/2 years. If always sober, you don't add or subtract any points. However, heavy drinkers, especially alcoholics, deduct 8 years.

16. Sports activity: jogging, bicycling, swimming, walking or dancing three times a week, add 3 years.

17. A simple diet: vegetables, fruits, meats, and you leave the table before being full, add 1 year.

18. If you are fortunate to have one or two close friends with whom you can talk in confidence, add 1 year.

19. If you have a positive attitude toward life, if a realist, add 4 years.

20. Above-average intelligence: if your IQ is over 100, add 2 years.

21. If you enjoy chess, cross word puzzles, or bridge, add 2 years.

22. Level of education: if you graduated from college or have done advanced study, add 1 year.

23. If you work, add 1 1/2 years. If you are a technician, executive or have a management position or are a farmer, add another year. If you don't qualify for any of the above, deduct 6 months. If an agricultural worker, deduct 4 years. (My observation: If you own the farm, you add one year; but if a hired hand, you deduct 4 years. Seems strange.)

24. If you work with physical activity (other than farm work), add 2 years. Sedentary work costs 2 years.

The results obtained provide an indication of your longevity. It's up to you now. You can improve your score by modifying your life style.

I have taken the test four times--in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2006. My longevity from them ranged from 95.7 to 97.7 years (the most recent, in February 2006, had me reaching 95.7 years). Events that affected these scores were, one, that I entirely quit smoking in 1999 (previously, I had been smoking 3-4 cigarettes a day for many years) and two, following my retirement from full-time work in January 1992, I did a considerable amount of consulting work in the field of financial analysis of insurance companies (including writing a book on the subject which was published in 1993) through the end of 2003, since which I have been fully retired.

I wish you long life.