Jim Medding’s Blog

The reason, it has been suggested, why India has become and remains the largest and only real democracy in the Third World is because of its citizens’ insatiable thirst for information.

John Keegan, Intelligence In War, 2002, page 17

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My experience with actually playing baseball is, well, limited. But I have been a lifelong fan of the game and have watched, and listened, to many games played by highly skilled professionals. So, I have just an inkling of how the game is played.

Back in September of 1999 when I still took a daily paper I opened the sports section of the Eastside Journal to find what I believe is the ultimate baseball photo ever taken. Not that it captures for all eternity anything like a major event. Quite the contrary, it captures a typical play-at-the-plate. While I find the anticipation of the play at the plate the best play in baseball, most people say “what?” when I mention my feelings about the significance of the play. In fact, the 6 paragraph game recap for game doesn’t mention play in the photo. Only this caption is provided:

Cleveland’s Roberto Alomar (12) slides home ahead of the throw to score a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning. Boston would win the game in the 13th inning.

What I feel is significant about this photo is how it captures the way that the game is played. The on-deck hitter intently staring at the scoring player and pointing for him to slide, the umpire also staring at the unfolding play while having his hand on the arm of the on deck hitter so as to move him out of the way if a better viewing position is needed, the catcher using two hands to catch the ball while attempting to block the plate with his leg, and, finally, the scoring player sliding past the leg of the catcher while reaching to touch the plate with his left hand.

This is a photo I’d love to have on my wall.

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On the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing it seems as though everybody is participating in the celebration. Well, since I have a web site, I figured I’d pitch in. But what to blog about, that is the question. Yes, I remember (duh, I was 14 at the time) being woken up in the dead of night to watch the momentous event. And since I was a substitute paper boy for the Washington Post, I remember carting the extra (as in extra-large and extra-heavy and extra-try-and-sell-some-more-of-these) editions up and down the many stairs of the apartment complex on my route on what had to be the hottest day of the year.

But, what was so special about that? Everybody my age has the same memories.

Well, sometime later, I did receive something special from the Apollo 11 Moon landing. One day my grandfather came over to visit and I was called out of my bedroom retreat because he wanted to present something to me - a check. Having not been handed too many checks in my life at that point, this was novel, but I was pretty sure there was something missing in the important spaces on the front of the check. And I was pretty sure that the only mark on the check, a signature on the back, was important. I was at a loss as to what I had been given. The front was blank and there was a signature on the back.

After puzzling this for a moment, I blurted out “What’s this? A blank check?”

This generated chuckles from the adults present. Then I was filled in. It was Buzz Aldrin’s signature.

“Who’s Buzz Aldrin?”

“The second man to set foot on the Moon.”

I had my answer; I had the signature of the guy who finished second. But it was obvious that this was impressive. I kept the check, and still have it today. But most important, I’ve been proud to know the answer to a trivia question for 40 years.

Thanks, Grandpa.

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In going through a rather large stack of my grandfather’s black and white negatives, I came across three negatives which stood out from the rest. They are all three informal family portraits which were taken on the family’s trip to Hawaii in the summer of 1931. What I like about the three photos is how the personality of the children, my father and his siblings, jumps out from the image.

The first photo was taken in Yellowstone National Park and has the added wow factor of having the family standing right in front of one of the mineral pools. Notice there’s no boardwalk in the photo.

That’s my dad, Dick, pointing a stick at the camera; Elinor, the youngest, is barely present; Walt is keeping his father close, but not holding his hand; and Mary, the oldest obviously volunteered for the responsibility of taking this important photo.

The second and third photos were taken soon after the family’s arrival in Hawaii. In the first of these two, the family is in a joyous mood. Dad and Elinor are involved in making a face that reminds me of a rat; Mary is bemused by something, probably Dick and Elinor; and Walt is not letting any of this detract from his new found stature as a world traveler. But even Grandma and Grandpa are happy to be in Hawaii.

The third photo was taken soon after the first and I would venture to guess there were probably some stern warnings from the photographer to the children. Elinor has retreated to the safety of her mother’s hand; Dad is making sure his smile can’t be interpreted as anything else; Walt has his head tipped down more so as to not draw too much attention; and even Mary is leaning in slightly.

Maybe I’m just easily amused, but I find these photos delightful.

-Updated 7/18/09 to correct spelling of Elinor

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I’m amazed at the number of times I’ve heard someone say “if we were to only invested in…” and named some renewable, or “green”, energy source like solar. Having worked, for a semiconductor company, I’m well aware that “we” have invested in renewable energy for many years. And, if you believe in the free market system you would come to the same realization. What company wouldn’t invest in the ability to generate cheap, clean energy?

What most people don’t realize is the massive scale of energy needed for modern society to function. Think for just a moment about what you know about the industrial revolution. It didn’t begin when we were able to domesticate livestock even though they were able to do a multiple of the amount of work done by a single human. It began when humans figured out how to harness significantly larger amounts of energy; enough energy to run a whole factory worth’s of equipment.

The average person, however, thinks on the scale of a sixty watt light bulb. A sixty watt light bulb provides sufficient light to light a room but it gets far too hot to touch. A fifteen watt compact florescent light bulb provides the same light and is a good bit cooler. You feel as though you’ve done well to replace your lights with compact florescent. But we don’t think about the energy consumed to broadcast our evening’s entertainment or to make the television we’re watching it on. Replacing an incandescent light bulb with a compact florescent is akin to a butterfly beating its wings; it doesn’t change much on the global scheme of things. Solar panels, and even wind turbines, just don’t compare on scale to the large power plants which supply the vast majority of our energy needs.

To understand this better, I like to refer to an illustration provided in the August 2005 issue of National Geographic. On page 28, as part of their exposé on alternate energy, they took a satellite photo of Manhattan Island and overlaid a one square mile grid. They then assigned a number of the squares to three alternate energy technologies based on how much land mass would be needed to supply power for the whole 128 square miles shown. Nuclear power would require 2 square miles, or about 1.6% of the land mass. Wind turbines would require about 10.6 squares or 8.3% of the land mass. Solar requires a whopping 74 squares which is 57.8% of the land.

Yes, nobody wants to live next to a nuclear plant. And people are beginning to realize that they don’t want to live next to a wind farm. But solar just won’t cut it; remember that 58% of the land is the total land mass and doesn’t account for the fact that some of the land can’t be utilized for solar energy collection.

If the land mass comparison doesn’t resonate with you, how about this one:

One solar panel (64”x32”) = 175 watts

One nuclear power reactor = 1,000,000,000 watts

Still can visualize? Most residential houses have a 200 amp service and even though few of us consume this maximum amperage, it would take more than 100 panels to supply just one half of this service. It’s not unusual for a modest office building to have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of watts of service provided.

There may come a day when we can use solar energy on a massive scale, but it won’t be until we find a way of achieving significantly higher conversion efficiencies that the 12 to 15% solar panels we have today.

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The truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is.

Sir Winston Churchill

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Browsing through some of my prior postings, I decided to see if I could find some more information about the photos my grandfather had taken at Panmunjom. This was partially prompted by the thought that, other than my grandfather’s short notation on the photo, I have no real proof as to what they are.

A quick search on the Internet and I found this National Archives photo that looks like it was taken from the exact same spot as one of my grandfather’s photo. Hmm, it was either the “only” spot to take the shot or an odd coincidence.

I also found this description of the National Archives photo from the 558th MP Company’s web site:

The 558th MP Co. provided security for the armistice negotiations. To accomplish this mission the company maintained detachments of military police at Munsan-ni and at Panmunjom. In this photo, MPs are guarding the tents of the United Nations delegation [commonly referred to as "tent city."] / Photo courtesy of The National Archives - Still Pictures Branch, Record Group 111-sc-383310

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