It Was Twenty Years Ago Today - Remembering the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989

Santa Cruz was experiencing one of the hottest days of the year, much like today... hot and muggy. A few miles to the south, in Nisene Marks State park, Mother Nature was preparing to play one of her nastiest tricks on the Central Coast. At 5:04 PM, six miles below the surface of the forested hills of the picturesque park, the San Andreas Fault released a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that caused the mountain to heave, and as if a stone had been dropped into a pool of water, a ripple wave radiated out from the epicenter, snapping trees as it spread in every direction. Within moments, the powerful shockwave began to devastate the homes and buildings of California's Central Coast region.

Eileen was standing in the checkout line at Staff of Life grocery store when the wave hit. The shaking caused the hanging light above her head to break free, and nearly hit her as it came down, swinging just inches from her face.

Andrea was playing Frisbee on the big open athletic field at the university that overlooks Santa Cruz. She happened to look down towards Santa Cruz, and noticed little puffs of smoke moving across town. As she peered at the unusual scene, she saw the wave crossing the field, and heading toward her. She braced herself and rode out the wave as it passed beneath her. She reported that lamp posts pivoted back and forth as the wave crossed the field. When it reached the buildings, windows began to explode in it's wake.

I was living in Madison, Wisconsin at the time, and remember turning on the TV news soon after the event. From what was being reported by the hyperbolic mainstream media, it appeared as though California, especially San Francisco, had been destroyed. A good life-lesson to not put too much trust in the mainstream media.

The damage was extensive, but not nearly as bad as the evening news had made it out to be. Santa Cruz was hit hardest by the quake. All of the roads were closed and the folks in Surf City were left to fend for themselves. The road closures made it impossible to use trucks to bring in relief supplies into the area. Therefore the Watsonville Airport became one of the most important municipalities in the county, and was the only way in or out of the area for days.

There was no electricity, so only battery operated radios and televisions worked. Unfortunately, there was no television being broadcast, and a quick scan of the radio dial found an eerily quiet hiss of static from one end to the other, except for one bright spot at 1080 on the AM band. Fortunately for Santa Cruz, KSCO was equipped with a generator, and immediately returned to the air within minutes of the quake. The local news radio station quickly became the only source of information in Santa Cruz, and served as the primary staging area for all of the media and other operations who used KSCO's generator to recharge batteries.

Thanks to KSCO for their community service in the Loma Prieta quake and every other major event that has taken place and will take place on the Central Coast.

911

Eight years later...

Did you see the frightened ones
Did you hear the falling bodies
Did you ever wonder
Why we had to run for shelter
When the promise of a brave new world
Unfurled beneath a clear blue sky

Did you see the frightened ones
Did you hear the falling bodies
The flames are all long gone
But the pain lingers on
Goodbye blue sky
Goodbye blue sky
Goodbye
Goodbye
From Pink Floyd's, The Wall

Happy Nagasaki Day

Happy Nagasaki Day!

Happy Hiroshima Day

Happy Hiroshima Day!

The Eagle Has Landed 19.5+19.5 Years Ago

The Greatest Accomplishment of Mankind... So Far.

Thirty-nine years ago, for the first time in recorded history, ambassadors of humanity stepped foot on the dusty, crater-ridden surface of the Moon. That summer day in 1969, if only for a moment, all of humanity became united as we made that giant leap together.

I remember those profoundly historic times when men walked on the Moon. I recall neighbors standing together in the middle of the empty dark street, gazing up into the night sky with proud, dumbfounded awe. As the partially illuminated sphere hung magically in the sky, we stood in darkness, contemplating the gravity of the moment... there were astronauts there... perhaps looking back at us.

For another four years, men from Earth traveled to the moon, until it seemed commonplace. Eventually, the expensive Apollo Program lost it's public appeal... and congressional support. The splashdown of Apollo 17 on December 19, 1972 concluded the Apollo Program, and humankind is yet to return to our nearest natural satellite.

The Masonic flag taken to the Moon aboard Apollo 11 by Astronaut Buzz Aldrin is currently on display in the Masonic Museum of the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite Temple in Washington, DC.

How To Build an Atomic Bomb

On this day in 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for conspiracy to commit espionage for their part in helping the Soviet Union develop a plutonium implosion device like this one.

Fat Man Blueprints

Ironically, the pro-communist German scientist, Klaus Fuchs, did much more to assist the Soviets with their nuclear program than the Rosenbergs, but he was not executed. I wonder... if the Rosenbergs had been German, like the Red Fox, rather than Jewish, would they have been executed? I doubt it.

The Fiendish Side Of The Friendly Atom

The ghostly silent Big Wheel located in the evacuated town of Pripyat.
© Chernobyl Interinform

On this day in 1986, the masque of the friendly atom was ripped off to reveal the fiendish nature of nuclear energy. Every benefit humanity has ever received from atomic power was undone when reactor #4 at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station went critical after a series of explosions which destroyed the housing of the energy block, and resulted in an out-of-control meltdown. The ultimate cost of human life associated with this single event is incalculable.

Time was critical, and days went by before there was any official declaration by the Soviet Government that there was a problem* which would ultimately effect every person on this planet, making us all down-winders to the worst nuclear disaster in history... so far.

Meltdown

Gravity tugged at the heavy radioactive molten core... burning and boring deeper with every passing hour. It would burn its way through to the core of the earth unless it could be stopped. Hundreds of experienced miners were brought to the zone to perform a task never before undertaken. Teams worked non-stop to dig a diagonal shaft to a point directly beneath the highly radioactive molten core. The brave and indefatigable miners hollowed-out a large cavern, then pumped in millions of gallons of liquid nitrogen to create a subterranean reservoir. Nothing like this had ever been attempted, so everyone had their fingers crossed when the core melted through the ceiling of the chamber and dropped into the reservoir of liquid nitrogen. Fortunately it worked, and the meltdown was stopped. Unfortunately, Chernobyl is still an international problem that hasn't gone away and radiation continues to escape the damaged reactor site.

How much is that doggy in the window?

Ten million people were evacuated, many of them farmers, and pet owners, but no accommodations were made for the animals. All the pets and farm animals had to be left behind to fend for themselves. But after it was determined that contaminated creatures could wander out of the zone, extermination teams, called hunters, were sent in to find animals... and kill them. Horses, cows, dogs and cats... nothing was spared. The dead carcasses were dragged to the street, then loaded onto trucks and taken somewhere to be disposed of. Only one bullet per animal was allowed, therefore many were wounded and left to suffer and die.

The dogs barked excitedly. It had been a long time since anyone had been around, and they were happy to hear the voices of the men. With their tails wagging, the dogs came running to greet the armed men.
* "Problem? There's no problem... everything is great... fine... wonderful"

Got atomique?

Have a nice meltdown!

Xtra Files 3: How to Hide a Mountain

Don was happy that the war was over. He had been away from home for what seemed like a lifetime, and in his absence, the world, and the role of his country had changed forever. He gazed out across the barren panoramic landscape of southern Utah, and pondered his life experiences. He considered that although the world was a much different place than it had been before the war, out in the vastness of the desert, everything appeared to be pretty much the same as it had always been.

The arid-desert air dried his sinuses as he savored the aroma of Basin Big Sage mingled with Pinion and Juniper. Worlds away from the moist climate of Japan where he had spent the previous couple of years of his life serving in the United States Army assisting in the rebuilding** of Japan, after the war. He loved the Japanese people, and thought about the good friends he had made there. The memory of their faces was still fresh in his mind, when it occurred to him that he would probably never see any of them ever again.

Don had a date later that night with a gal named Puss,* and would need to head back to town before too long, but it was so good to be home, and the desire to explore couldn't be squelched, so he pressed on. He was already about twenty or so miles west of Cedar City, when he decided to head over to the magnetic mountain he remembered from his youth.

It's difficult to misplace a large 300- to 400- foot tall, cone-shaped mountain with a diameter of approximately 1/4 mile, that is composed entirely of high-grade magnetite (a naturally occurring magnetic iron ore), but as he approached the area where he knew it was located, it was nowhere to be seen. It seemed like a dream at first... after all, he had been there dozens of times, but now, the large mountain was entirely gone. Vanished from the landscape forever. Things had changed more than he originally suspected. Still, it was good to be home.

Where did the mountain go?

The probable answer is that as the war effort increased, so did the need for new sources of iron ore to build America's war machine - ships, tanks, jeeps, trucks, bomb casings, and etc. would all be needed to defeat the Axis Powers in Europe and the Pacific. The Manhattan Project alone required millions of tons of steel.

** A role the US would continues to practice throughout the world to this day.

* Names have not been changed.

"to remove a mountain and cast it to the sea" Isaiah

Little Boy and Fat Man

Other than a false air raid warning early in the day, August 6, 1945 was a day just like any other day in Hiroshima. Everyone was going about their daily business - mothers, workers, nuns, and children. Even though the war loomed, and caused economic difficulty, Hiroshima was yet untouched by enemy attack, and everything was pretty much as it had always been. That was all about to change forever.

Earlier that morning, three specially equipped B-29 bombers had taken off from Tinian Air Field. One carried an experimental uranium gun device nicknamed Little Boy, another aeroplane was rigged with special photographic equipment to document the event on film, and the third B-29 was designed to collect scientific data from the blast and its effects. The Little Boy waited in the womb of the B-29 named Enola Gay, after the mother of Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, who piloted her on this particular sortie. There were instructions not to drop the device unless visibility was good. After all, it was important to get good pictures. There were a few clouds, but they cleared in time to release the yet untested uranium weapon. 

Three days later, on August 9th, a different kind of atomic device was dropped on Nagasaki, this time a plutonium implosion device nicknamed Fat Man, (because of its fat and bulbous design), was loaded into a modified B-29 named Bock's Car, and took off from Tinian. Bock's Car was piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney, and again there were two other B29's sent to rendezvous and document the event. 

What happened to all the pictures?

The official story is that none of the film from the Hiroshima drop turned out, except for one hand-held movie camera on board the Enola Gay, and three days later at Nagasaki, the other two planes failed to show up at rendezvous, so again, only low quality photos taken from Bock's Car are extant. Sounds suspicious to me. In my opinion, it seems more likely that when the gruesome images were viewed by policy makers, a decision was made to not make them public. One thing the newly established nuclear weapons complex didn't want was bad press, and images of entire populated cities vaporizing certainly isn't good publicity no matter what side you're on.

Approximately 70,000 were killed at Hiroshima, and by the end of that year, 140,000 had died as a result of their injuries and radiation poisoning. Similarly in Nagasaki, even though the bomb missed its target by four miles, 40,000 were killed, and the death toll grew to 70,000 by the end of 1945. 

Legacy of Hiroshima documents many stories of children and mothers who witnessed, survived, and endured these terrible events. One boy had been playing with his younger brother, who he said was reaching out to touch a dragonfly on a fence, when suddenly his world was in dark chaos, and he never saw his brother again. It was reported that radioactive black rain fell on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Mothers spent days and weeks frantically searching for their loved ones, while coughing and choking on the radioactive DUST.*


* Poetique by Rhetro Zenberg
Musique by The Industrious Quartet of Fripp Levin Bruford and Belew

(alef)
Sun is rising
Cool breeze blows from the bay
Children rising
Dawn of a new day
Boys are playing
Sisters praying
Water-falling
Mothers calling to those they love... encouraging fair play
(mem)
War birds flying
Speedily on their way
Clouds are clearing
Making clear the way
Course is staying
Boys are praying
Fat Man falling
Mothers calling to those they love... its another air raid!
Are you listening? Can you hear me? Are you listening? Are you hiding?
(tav)
New sun rising
Shock wave on its way
Houses burning
There's no place left to pray
No one playing
Bodies laying
Black rain falling
Mothers calling to those they love...
Can you hear me? Are you listening? Are you hiding in the hot DUST?

Atomic Golem or Atom-God

Today marks the anniversary of the first* atomic detonation... the creation of the Atomic Golem. The story of the golem is an ancient Judaic legend about the creation of a man-like being who ultimately becomes a monster. In the legend, a kabbalist** forms the image of a man out of clay, in emulation of God forming Adam from the DUST of the Earth. Then, mystical rites are performed, and the word emet*** is carved into the forehead of the clay man, who then becomes animated. He grows every day, and functions as a servant at first, but soon becomes an overgrown giant who destroys everything in his path. The golem can only be stopped by rubbing out the letter alef on his forehead, leaving two remaining letters, mem and tav which spells mot - Hebrew for death. In the legend, the golem becomes too tall for the kabbalist to reach its forehead. Eventually, with the aid of a ladder, he rubs out the alef, and the golem returns to a heap of clay, topples over, falling on his creator, crushing him to death.

The Atomic Golem which was created on July 16, 1945 by technological high priests has grown.**** The nuclear disaster in Chernobyl is evidence that he is an out-of-control monster. Can this golem be stopped? Will stopping it crush us?


* At 5:29, in the morning, a Plutonium implosion device called Trinity***** was detonated atop a 20 meter tall tower at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. It produced a 20 kiloton explosion which turned the twilight into brilliant blinding bright light. One unsuspecting observer from ten miles away was permanently blinded by the sight... the last thing he saw was the first atomic detonation.

**A Jewish mystic - a holy man - a keeper of secret knowledge.

***alefmemtav = emet - Hebrew for truth
alef is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet
mem is the exact middle of the alphabet (including the final forms)
tav is the last letter of the alphabet, and symbolizes balanced judgment.

****"As of 1980 the United States DOD possessed in nuclear arms, the equivalent of six tons of TNT for every living (human) inhabitant on the face of the Earth." Robert Heilbroner - The Making of an Economic Society

***** Trinity is an interesting choice for a name, considering that it is an archaic Christian term for God. Atom-god.

"What a legacy we're leaving behind" The Rhino King

DUST

When I heard DUST for the first time, I had chills from head to toe. I listened to it a couple more times, and was impressed by a feeling of age old tradition meets something new and potentially dangerous. The tune played through my head for weeks, and I felt the same way about it every time. The music inspired me. I hadn't written a song or poem for many years, but couldn't suppress how the piece made me feel. Today I sat down with pen in hand, and a blank piece of white paper in front of me, folded it into thirds, and began to write.

The twentieth century was a time of unprecedented change throughout our world. The atomic age is probably the most pivotal and volatile time in human history, therefore, on this 21st anniversary of the worst nuclear accident* in history, I have chosen the dawn of the atomic age as my lyrical topic... the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
DUST
Poetique by Rhetro Zenberg
Musique by The Industrious Quartet of Fripp Levin Bruford and Belew
(alef)
Sun is rising
Cool breeze blows from the bay
Children rising
Dawn of a new day
Boys are playing
Sisters praying
Water-falling
Mothers calling to those they love... encouraging fair play
(mem)
War birds flying
Speedily on their way
Clouds are clearing
Making clear the way
Course is staying
Boys are praying
Fat Man falling
Mothers calling to those they love... its another air raid!
Are you listening? Can you hear me? Are you listening? Are you hiding?
(tav)
New sun rising
Shock wave on its way
Houses burning
There's no place left to pray
No one playing
Bodies laying
Black rain falling
Mothers calling to those they love... Can you hear me?
Are you listening? Are you hiding in the hot DUST?
*Even though it happened on this day way back in 1986, Chernobyl is a problem that hasn't gone away... the subject of a future post.

Uncle Julius' Top Secret Family Chai Recipe

This recipe was originally smuggled out of a secret government facility somewhere in New Mexico, and made its way to my uncle Julius Rowe Zenberg who translated it into English. It was typed up by his wife Ethyl on her little Smith Corona. Presented here without permission.

3 tbl spn clove clumps (dried)
.35 grams Nutmeg ground fine
.99 grams Cayenne finely ground
1/4 cup shredded fresh Ginger
20 pods of Cardamom
7 and 1/2 pinches of Cinnamon
999 Black Poppy seeds
1 Mandrake root (about the size of a little man)
1/2 oz Lodestone
1 brain of a bat (small... the brain can be big, but the bat must be small-big bats have bitter tasting brains)
2 and 3/7 cubes of Camel Hump (dried)
Essence of Saturn Ring
filler

Combine ingredients in blue glass bowl, and cover to prevent surprises (where's that darn clown nose?)
Bring 2.55 gallons of H2O to boil (D2O can be used if you prefer a heavier taste)
Add combined ingredients to boiling water, and stir.
Reduce heat, and allow to simmer for four hours and twenty minuets.
Place in centrifuge to isolate the pure tincture and discard dead head.
Add honey (still available in many lands) and Black Darjeeling Tea (not available in Utah)
Let it be.
Serve HOT with organic vanilla soy for a creamy smooth sweet spicy surprise. Especially good on Saturday.

Mandrake