jumpingfish

1. Bun Run

A good day for a taco.  The sky was grey but not ominous.  The temperature was comfortable.  A slight breeze blew as I put a book under my arm and walked out the door to go to Torchy’s.

A mile into the walk, I came to the big street and waited for the light to turn.  On the other side, there were police cars with flashing lights and barricades blocking some of the traffic and police officers standing around. And there were people walking in one lane of the big street that was cordoned off.

I had forgotten about the Bun Run; these were the walkers at the end of the race.  I crossed the street quickly, hoping to beat the crowd for a migas taco.

2. Fluffy Dogs

I sat outside with my cup of coffee and a hot taco with more migas on it than would stay contained between the corn tortillas.  My eyes rolled back in my head with pleasure as I set down my book and used two hands to make sure the eggs and cheese and tomatoes and avacado and onion and peppers stayed put.

Some ladies sitting next to me tried to get their dogs to behave.  Five ladies and four dogs.  One of the dogs seemed to think the small, fluffy ones were breakfast.  He snarled and growled and lunged, but his owner had him on a short leash and pulled him back.

The fluffy ones were Pomeranians — a white one and a brown one.  Nothing but balls of fluff.  And they barked their non-bark bark trying to meet that nice dog on the other side of the table who was now on a very short leash facing in the other direction yawning from the stress of it all.

The ladies’ tacos arrived as I finished mine. The restaurant was now quite full of runners and walkers, and it didn’t seem right to fill up a table just to read, so I gulped down my coffee, tucked my book under my arm and got up to walk home.

3. Good Morning for a Hello

Back at the big street, I waited at the light again.  The race was done, all the straggling walkers evidently finished. The cordons on the street had already been removed. Across the street a man was waiting to cross. The light changed, and he and I waited for all the left turn traffic to turn.  The walk light came on, and we both stepped out into the street.

He was wearing a black sweather with grey hounds-toothing on the front.  It was windy but not cold, so that caught my attention.  I watched him as we approached each other.  And he watched me.

As we got closer to each other, I smiled and nodded. He scowled.  The sun was coming out; maybe it was in his eyes.

As we passed each other, I said, “Hello.”  It really was a perfect morning for a hello, I thought.  I smiled again, but his scowl turned sour.  He squinted his eyes and seemed to say something to me, and he returned my gaze and then spat at my feet.

Good morning for a hello, indeed.

In 2000, the US government issued said a backup system to turn off deepwater drilling systems was an essential safety component. In 2001, the industry complained that there were significant doubts about such systems. In 2003, the government decided that, what do you know, more study was required.  And the Minerals Management Service reported that the devices are not recommended because they tend to be costly.

The devices tend to be costly.

The device cost about a half-million dollars.  Well that’s costly, isn’t it?  Well…

Cost: The Deepwater Horizon replacement cost is approximately $550 million.  BP is spending more than $5 million per day on the clean up right now, and the costs could grow horrifically if the gusher keeps spewing oil unchecked for months. You tell me: Was that a costly device?

Benefits (risks): Risk is defined as the probability of a failure multiplied by the severity of the consequences should the failure occur. So what is your estimate on the severity of the consequences of filling the Gulf with oil?  Now, you tell me: Was that a costly device?

Poor Gordon Brown. He got caught calling Gillian Duffy a bigot when he forgot to take off a microphone as he drove down the road in his fancy limousine. It was televised live. And now it’s all over the web. You have to feel for the man.

Or not. Because it turns out he is incapable of admitting his own mistakes — incapable of apologizing.

“I apologize if I said anything like that,” he later said.

Excuse me? You didn’t say something like that; you said exactly that. You called her a bigoted woman.

“Of course I apologize if I said anything offensive.”

If indeed. If he said anything that might perchance to be offensive, I say.

“I would never put myself in a position where I would want to say something like that about a woman I’ve met.”

For god’s sake, man, you were caught on tape. You’ve heard it yourself. Just fess up and apologize!

But you see, he can’t. He’s a politician. They don’t know how. It’s not in their DNA.

1989

On the twentieth anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing, speaking at the National Air and Space Museum, President George H. W. Bush said:

Today we don’t have a crisis; we have an opportunity. … I’m proposing a long-range, continuing commitment. … Back to the Moon; back to the future … And then a journey into tomorrow … a manned mission to Mars.

2004

In 2004 while unveiling his new space policy, George W. Bush said:

With the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the next steps of space exploration — human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond.

2010

And last week in Florida as part of canceling the Constellation program Barak Obama professed commitment to manned spaceflight and exploration and said:

By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it.

The Thing of It

Obama might expect to be around to see it, but why am I skeptical? Why does this seem like just another kick of the can? Why do I find myself thinking strike three?

The thing of it is, even if this should come to pass, even if there is no more kicking the can down the road, even if we do get there in the mid-2030s, the problem is this: I won’t be involved; I will have been retired for years; I will have spent my whole life waiting. Waiting for something that never happened.

Now don’t get me wrong. Mars itself wasn’t important to me. Frankly it made me roll my eyes. What I’m saying is that there are only so many times you can reboot a machine before you really ought to give up.

Tell me, how many times is that?

“Hi Dad.”

“Ben!”

“Are you busy?”

“No. I’m at a conference, but we just took a break.”

“Should I call back later?”

“No, no. Now is fine. What’s up?”

“Well,” he said, “I have some calculus questions.”

I thought to myself, well it this really is a call I needed to take! He explained how they’re doing optimization problems, and he proceeded to explain some problems he was working on.

The first problem: find the size of a cylinder inscribed in a sphere that has maximum volume. We talked the problem definition thru and I had him draw a diagram illustrating the relevant quantities, and within a few minutes, he was telling me how to solve it.

Then he described his second problem: finding a maximal volume cone. We talked again about the problem definition and discussed another diagram, and again he was telling me how to solve it in a few minutes.

Finally he described his last problem. This one, I confess, I didn’t master. I needed a pencil and paper and a few minutes to look at the problem and think. In the meantime, we discussed the problem definition, and I had him draw a picture. And as I talked my way in circles, he began to solve it.

And that was it.

“Thanks Dad. Are you having a good time at your conference?”

“Yeah,” I said in a fairly noncommittal tone, omitting that I really wanted to see that paper that was going on then.

“That’s good.”

“What have you been doing?” I asked.

“Studying in the library.”

Music to my ears.

And so that was the end of our conversation. We said goodbyes and I-love-yous, and I went back into Salon-1. As I closed the door behind me, the speaker said said, “And in conclusion…” I chuckled to myself.

That’s ok. I would catch his paper when he gave it again the next day.