I've seen this before

We all have certain hobbies or professions, skills, things that we 'know how to do'. Some have many, others only a couple. Imagine how much you don't know, for instance, about the intricacies of antique clock works, how a refrigerator really works, or even your car.

Some of your neighbors have spent a lifetime gathering knowledge about these things, building upon a body of knowledge simply by doing. Piling experience after experience on top of basic knowledge until they have practically 'seen it all.'

My peripatetic mind draws from quite a few minor skill sets, and an experience at the used appliance store showed me how easily 'things we know' can lead one astray.

Last year I replaced the wheezing washer/dryer set in my new condo with a used all-in-one unit, freeing up much needed storage space at the expense of washer capacity. The unit never really worked all that well, and got worse. The issue was that the dryer would not dry a load of laundry. Three long, noisy cycles and the clothes were still damp. Heaven forbid that the warm, wet load should be left sitting too long, or you had to re-wash the moldy smelling mess, and the vicious cycle began again.

The interim solution was a wooden folding drying rack in the bedroom, on which the damp clothes fresh from the initial drying cycle were draped until truly dry. This worked, but was almost as inconvenient as the monotonous hours-long dryer marathons.

So, what was the problem? I had installed the unit myself, so knew the new vent hose was OK. I had cleaned the bird's nest out of the vent cap, and used the vacuum cleaner to test for good air flow. The dryer was actually heating, and the drum turning of course. Hmmm...must be a problem with the thermostat?, no, even a full timed run resulted in a steaming lump of linens.

This unit was purchased from a local shop that turned out to be disreputable, so no help there. In fact, I was actually strongly considering going into hock for a shiny new unit when I happened across a capable looking appliance store near my new work.

I love exploring new neighborhoods, and found this store right next to the incredibly workmanlike luggage repair shop that is now fixing the strap on a beautiful piece of leather luggage, broken by a porter in Manila.

So, I wandered in and shared my tale of woe and intrigue with Dale, clearly a long-time veteran of all things 'domestic appliance.' As I feared, there was no simple "I've seen that before" from Dale. He agreed that if there is heat, tumbling, and a clear vent, then drying should be taking place. Something was missing here, and just before I walked out the door one final question cleared everything up.

You see, my last boat had a little diesel engine that was so small and basic that it didn't have some accessories that you'd expect, such as a seawater strainer, normally used to keep eel grass and other flotsam out of the engine cooling system. Every one of my previous engines had had this supposedly vital piece, and every boat maintenance course covers them as 'mission critical'.

That this bulletproof little unit didn't bother with a strainer was very odd to me at first, but I got used to the simplicity, and took that little nugget of knowledge with me. The trouble is that I brought it into this dryer conundrum. After all, "I've seen this before", right?

Just as I was leaving Dale I explained that this dryer was similarly so basic that it didn't even have a lint trap. His brow furrowed, his head cocked to the side, and after a harrumph said that that was impossible. He led me over to a similar unit and pointed out a trap of a design and in a location that I had never seen before.

Eureka!

I came home and pulled out two pounds of accumulated lint going back to the previous owner no doubt, enough to knit a blanket I swear. We finally have a dryer. Full load of towels dry in one short cycle. Amazing.

Lesson? When faced with an intractable problem question your most basic assumptions. Just because you've 'seen this before' in another discipline doesn't mean that it transfers over.

No seawater strainer on a Yanmar 1GM?, odd, but OK. No lint trap on a Whirlpool ThinTwin?
Impossible.

Happiness

Happiness cannot be found through great effort and willpower, but is already present, in open relaxation and letting go.

Don't strain yourself; there is nothing to do nor undo.
Whatever momentarily arises in the body mind has no real importance at all, has little reality whatsoever.Why identify with, and become attached to it, passing judgment upon it and ourselves.

Far better to simply let the entire game happen on its own, springing up and falling back like waves-without changing or manipulating anything-and notice how everything vanishes and reappears, magically, again and again, time without end.

Only our searching for happiness prevents us from seeing it.
It's like a vivid rainbow which you pursue without ever catching, or a dog chasing its own tail.

Although peace and happiness do not exist as an actual thing or place, it is always available and accompanies you every instant.

Don't believe in the reality of good and bad experiences; they are like today's ephemeral weather, like rainbows in the sky.Wanting to grasp the ungraspable, you exhaust yourself in vain.

As soon as you open and relax this tight fist of grasping, infinite space is there-open, inviting and comfortable.

Make use of this spaciousness, this freedom and natural ease.
Don't search any further.

Don't go into the tangled jungle looking for the great awakened elephant who is already resting quietly at home in front of your own hearth.

Nothing to do or undo,

Nothing to force,

Nothing to want,

And nothing missing-

Emaho! Marvelous!

Everything happens by itself.
 
--Ven. Lama Gendun Rinpoche
Karam Tarchine Lundroup Buddist Monastery
Biollet, France

Bloody hopeless

There then followed the most extraordinary evening in which, each time we hankered for food or additional refreshment or just the sound of an Australian voice, we had to go off and stand by the kitchen doors until we caught someone emerging. Some of the other few diners were doing likewise. During one foray I asked a man with an empty beer glass if he dined here often.

"Wife likes the view," he explained, and we looked across the room to a plump little woman who gave us a small but cheery wave.

"Service is a bit slow, don't you think?

Bloody hopeless," he agreed.

In the morning a new man was behind the front desk. "And how did you enjoy your stay, sir?" he asked smoothly. "It was singularly execrable," I replied. "Oh, excellent," he purred, taking my card.

"In fact, I would go so far as to say that the principal value of a stay in this establishment is that it is bound to make all subsequent service-related experiences seem, in comparison, refreshing."

He made a deeply appreciative expression as if to say, "Praise indeed," and presented my bill for signature. "Well, we hope you'll come again."

"I would sooner have bowel surgery in the woods with a stick."

His expression wavered, then held there for a long moment. "Excellent," he said again, but without a great show of conviction.

--Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country

On the dark brown banks of the Yangtze the future has already arrived

Down the Yangtze the awful prediction has been fulfilled.

You expect this river trip to be an experience of the past — and it is. But it is also a glimpse of the future. In a hundred years or so, under a cold uncolonized moon, what we call the civilized world will all look like China, muddy and senile and old-fangled: no trees, no birds, and shortages of fuel and metal and meat; but plenty of pushcarts, cobblestones, ditch-diggers, and wooden inventions.

Nine hundred million farmers splashing through puddles and the rest of the population growing weak and blind working the crashing looms in black factories. Forget rocket-ships, super-technology, moving sidewalks and all the rubbishy hope in science fiction.

No one will ever go to Mars and live. A religion has evolved from the belief that we have a future in outer space; but it is a half-baked religion — it is a little like Mormonism or the Cargo Cult.

Our future is this mildly poisoned earth and its smoky air. We are in for hunger and hard work, the highest stage of poverty — no starvation, but crudeness everywhere, clumsy art, simple language, bad books, brutal laws, plain vegetables, and clothes of one colour.

It will be damp and dull, like this. It will be monochrome and crowded — how could it be different? There will be no star wars or galactic empires and no more money to waste on the loony nationalism in space programmes.

Our grandchildren will probably live in a version of China. On the dark brown banks of the Yangtze the future has already arrived.

--Paul Theroux, "Sailing Through China", 1983

A favorite anecdote of yours explaining why you love or hate New York:

Outsiders think New York is an intimidating, always-make-sure-to-check-your-pockets type of a town.

Yet my forgetful husband has now left his cell phone in the back seat of a taxicab on five separate occasions and each time some thoughtful New Yorker has found it, taken the time to track my husband down, and returned his phone.

In fact, my husband left me for the fifth guy who found his phone and now lives down in Chelsea.

(That last sentence isn’t true, but it could be, and that’s why I love New York!)
--Gillian Zoe Segal

from "How to be Good"

At the beginning of my third week in Janet's flat, I come home to find Tom watching TV with a new friend. The new friend is a little fat child with a boil near his nose and a boy-band fringe that only serves to accentuate, or perhaps even poke fun at, his almost startling unattractiveness. "You know the kind of faces I'm usually found on?" the fringe seems to be saying. "Well, have a look at this one!" Tom's friends don't look like this. They look handsome and cool. Cool is very important to Tom; fat and boils (and fluffy brown-and-white sweaters) are usually of even less interest to him than they are to anyone else.

"Hello," I say brightly. "Who's this?"

The new friend looks at me, and then looks around the room, head wobbling, to try to locate the stranger in our midst.

Heartbreakingly, given his other disadvantages, he doesn't appear to be very bright; even after having ascertained that there is no one else with us, he declines to answer my question presumably on the assumption that he would get it wrong.

"Christopher," mumbles Tom.

"Hello, Christopher."

"Hello."

"Are you staying for tea?"

He stares at me again. Nope. He's not going to risk getting caught out on that one.

--Nick Hornby, How To Be Good

But it's perfect

"But it's perfect," my father said. "A real beauty, just like your mother here."

He came from behind and pinched her on the bottom. She laughed and swatted him with a towel and we witnessed what we would later come to recognize as the rejuvenating power of real estate.

It's what fortunate couples turn to when their sex life has faded and they're too pious for affairs. A second car might bring people together for a week or two, but a second home can revitalize a marriage for up to nine months after the closing.

--David Sedaris

The Social Lubricant

An article by Glenn Eichler, I believe first seen on the NYT's 'Proof' blog, now sadly on hiatus.

Alcohol is often called a “social lubricant,” which I always took to mean that it was friendlier than other lubricants — like that party-pooper, motor oil. But “social lubricant” apparently refers to the fact that alcohol eases conversation by removing your fear of saying something idiotic, or, if you have no such fear, by dulling the fight-or-flight reflex of acquaintances who otherwise would be nimble enough not to get stuck talking with you.

The quotations below bear that definition out. Every single one of them is something I actually heard said by someone holding a drink at a holiday party. Or maybe misheard because of all the drunken holiday babbling. Or, O.K., maybe they’re things I might have heard if I ever got invited to any holiday parties, which I don’t because of my habit of following people around with a notepad waiting for them to utter something stupid.

“I don’t believe we’ve met. Oh, really? Right next door? Ten years?”

“We’re not really budgeted for a vacation this year, what with the exchange rate and my gambling addiction.”

“I have to apologize for not reading your new book yet. It’s just that the last one was so awful.”

“That’s a great outfit! It really shows off your breasts.”

“I’m lucky in that my business is recession-proof. People will always need stool softeners.”

“So I told human resources flat out, it’s not sexual harassment if I can prove I’m impotent.”

“I haven’t seen you in forever! Whatever happened to that morals charge?”

“I could be further up the ladder, but I won’t play their corporate games. Men’s Room, Women’s Room — too many rules.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you have the air of a much more successful person?”

“Sometimes accidental electrocution can be a blessing in disguise, but try telling that to the other mothers in the playgroup.”

“Did anyone see a prescription bottle with a label reading ‘Do Not Take With Alcohol,’ and if so, were there any pills in it, and if not, do you know where the nearest emergency room is?”

“You know, in this light you don’t look cross-eyed at all.”

“Einstein didn’t talk until he was three either, but it sounds like your kid’s just stupid.”

“Did you have some work done? Because, you know, too little too late.”

“I don’t usually drink this much, but you’re insufferable.”

“I had pants on when I came in, right?”

--Glenn Eichler.

The Year the Chinese Discovered America

This is a an article by Mike Duggan...I repost it here for your enjoyment. Credits and links are at the bottom.

1421 - The Year the Chinese Discovered America

"On the issue of how could a European cartographer construct a map and a globe showing the Pacific Ocean years before the first known European saw it, there is a very interesting book that came out in 2002. The book is called 1421, subtitled The Year the Chinese Discovered America, by Gavin Menzies, a retired Royal Navy submarine captain. His thesis is that in 1421 the Ming Emperor Zhu Di sent out a large fleet commanded by eunuch admirals and charged with sailing and charting the entire globe.

The part of this story that is well known is that a fleet sailed to the East coast of Africa, returning with among other things a giraffe. But Menzies's claim is that off the coast of Africa the fleet divided into smaller, but still large fleets that separately explored and charted: 1) the southern Indian Ocean and southern and western Australia, 2) a fleet that entered the South Atlantic and sailed up the west coast of Africa before dividing again into groups that explored and charted, 3) the north coast of South America, the Caribbean (where it was hit by a hurricane off the Bahamas), Florida, the eastern seaboard, sailing all the way up to and circumnavigating Greenland, and finally sailing the seas north of Siberia, and down through the Bering Strait, and 4) the east coast of South America and Patagonia, then through the straits of Magellan to the west coast of South America, where the fleet divided again, one part going 5) north along the west coast of the Americas at least up to and into San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento delta, and 6) another group heading west across the south Pacific all the way to eastern Australia. Further, while the fleets suffered extensive losses through storms and shipwrecks, at least one ship from each fleet made it back to China, where things then got very strange.

"Just after the fleets had departed China Beijing was hit by a strong electrical storm, and the Temple of Heaven was struck by lightning. There were many casualties in the resulting fire, including the Emperor's favorite concubine. But more significantly, the Confucian Mandarins, who had opposed Zhu Di's efforts to expand China's tribute system so widely, used this event to overmaster the now aged and demoralized emperor by claiming that Heaven was showing its displeasure at his actions, so that, when the fleets eventually began returning to China they were decommissioned and their logs and all records of their journeys destroyed. All records kept in Beijing were also destroyed, as were the shipyards capable of constructing more fleets. China then turned inward and isolationist.

"However, one or more maps and accounts of the voyages made it to the Ottoman Empire, and into the hands of at least one European who had converted to Islam and met, and possibly sailed for a time with one of the fleets. Eventually some Italians and the Portuguese (first) and later Spanish courts became aware of this information. This prompted Henry the Navigator to launch his voyages of exploration, which put the Portuguese around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean, as well as into the Atlantic. It also prompted the Columbus brothers to seek and get the support of the Spanish crown to sail west, where they knew they would find land.

"Menzies provides a large amount of evidence to support his claim, some "circumstantial", some very tangible (e.g., wrecks of Chinese junks in Australia, Chinese artifacts found in a number of places, Aboriginal rock paintings in Australia of what can only be Chinese coming ashore, the same in Baja California, the presence of Asian domesticated foul in South America when the Europeans arrived, etc. Other odd historical facts that this theory addresses include the fact that Magellan told his crew, who didn't want to keep sailing south, that he KNEW there was a way through to another ocean because he HAD SEEN it on a map! This for the man who supposedly discovered the strait bearing his name. Also, when the Spanish first landed in the Caribbean they reported meeting people who were clearly not Indian, but more obviously Chinese and even Portuguese (probably survivors of wrecks blown off course in storms, or of voyages presumed lost).

Columbus could have used this to lend credence to his belief that he had actually got to some islands off the coast of Asia, which he maintained until his death, and for which he has always be castigated. Contrary to popular belief there were also records of horses in the Americas when Spanish arrived. Only the Chinese or earlier Portuguese visitors could have brought these. Some of the Indians the Spanish met apparently knew what horses were, and some of the paintings in Baja and elsewhere show men wearing Chinese style garments riding horses.

"Menzies claims he was greatly aided in his ability to track the fleets' courses due to the construction and handling characteristics of the ships themselves. The vessels were very seaworthy, much larger than anything that existed in Europe or the Middle East, and constructed of teak and mahogany, making them much more durable and resistant to worms and rot than ships constructed of oak or soft woods. However, the vessels could not sail well against the winds or currents. So the routes taken would have had to track with the major ocean currents and prevailing winds.

"If Menzies is correct, this is truly a case of truth being stranger than fiction. How different history would have been if China had not disowned and abandoned these discoveries for internal political and religious reasons. Its naval capabilities, wealth and general level of technological sophistication at the time far exceeded anything in Europe. The world was truly China's oyster had it wanted to take it."

Here are some URLs on this: www.1421.tv
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=2WQU6TDJPN&isbn=0060537639&itm=1

The first URL is a link to Menzies's Web site. The second URL is a link to the book itself at Barnes and Noble. -Mike Duggan