...Thus have we made the world

So begins a quote at the end of the movie, “The Mission” which takes place in South America, but explains the death and slavery of a native population due to geo-political conniving in Europe.  While there is few harms greater than murder and enslavement, the world is caught in a web complexities brought about by ease of trade and travel.  We all enjoy cheap products made in China, many want that Japanese car, and still others desire an exotic pet or plant.  Humans, for the most part, are social creatures, and travel and exploration are ways to satisfy our curiosity.  The world trade in food, lumber, and other organic resources also brings about the transfer of pests.  To think that such freedom in trade and travel has few negative consequences to native species and populations is to show a lack of understanding of history.

Rose with a Japanese beetle inside its petals

Over 40 years ago the street on which I grew up was canopied by a number of stately elm trees.  A tall magnificent street tree, which my children have not had the benefit to enjoy.  Most of those trees were removed forty years ago as they died due to Dutch elm disease.  I recall Mr. Loney, who seemed to be the tree remover of choice, roping up high to bring a tree and its dead branches back to earth, limb by limb until only a stump remained.  I also recall my Dad, working with my older brother’s, using my grandfather’s heavy old McCulloch chainsaw, a beast of a machine, to remove a dead elm near the corner of our property.  Dutch elm disease made its way to the US in 1928 from a ship carrying logs to be turned into veneer in the furniture factories of Ohio.  It did not take long for the elm bark beetle and the fungus it carried to wreak havoc on the streets of the nation.  A decade after its debut in the US, scientists were hard at work attempting to find disease resistant cultivar’s which are now in use.  Although, I suppose the jury is still out on their level of resistance.  The building in which I work had planted some disease resistant elms on its lawn a decade ago, and are still seemingly healthy, but the trees are still very young.

Closeup of invasive beetle in the above rose

Of course, disease affecting the human population is another issue.  A large Ebola virus outbreak in Africa claimed its first US citizen this week.  The man had been attending to his ill sister in Africa, who unknown to him apparently had the Ebola virus.  Prior to making his way back to Minnesota, he stopped at a conference in Lagos, Nigeria.  Had he not stopped at the conference, where he would collapse and be hospitalized, he could well have made it to the US, and collapsed at the Minneapolis airport.  The Peace Corps has pulled out of some African countries due to the Ebola epidemic.  As we know from high school history, native populations in the US were decimated many years ago by diseases brought over by Europeans for which the native populations had little or no resistance.  These European diseases still wreak havoc today on indigenous populations in New Guinea, and the jungles of South America.  Today, every flu virus begins in China, and teams of experts attempt to find the virus that will be next winters dread, and to create a vaccine that many of us will receive in the fall.  Most of the time, they get it right, but sometimes a different strain develops that is resistant to the created vaccine.

Raspberry leaves eaten by Japanese beetles.

Vaccines may help with some disease, but plants and animals are a different story. Sometimes an invasive plant, animal, or insect is introduced to assist with some issue.   Kudzu, while unknown in Wisconsin and the Midwest, is a rampant plant originally from Japan that was brought to the US for the in 1876 at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.  This fast growing vine is estimated to consume upwards of 150,000 acres annually in the southern states.  That is 234 square miles.  Its original purpose to control soil erosion has well gotten out of hand.  Crown vetch was used in WIDOT seed mixes, but is now an invasive.  African bees were introduced into Brazil in the 1950’s to breed with local bees and increase honey production, but this Frankenstein type experiment went horribly wrong and the killer bees have now made their way into the United States.  Some speculate they will make their way north and develop a resistance to the subzero temperatures we experience in the north.

Japanese beetle on a Raspberry leaf

 In other situations an invasive outbreak is brought on by meddling, or a desire for the exotic.  The most clear example is the Burmese python taken as pets in the US, but then grow well beyond the capability of the caregiver (owner) to provide they are released, and some into the Florida Everglades where they eat much of the native animals that are part of the overall ecosystem, and hence now starting to destroy the fragile ecosystem of the Everglades.  If the python is not enough for Everglade ecosystem to combat, trees in the Everglades are now being killed by a fungus brought over from Asia.  Asian worms are also destroying the detritus layer in our forests and woods.  This layer is important to the habitat of many small creatures that make up the circle of life.

No words needed

Personally, I see first-hand the devastation caused by the invasive Japanese beetle.  The beetle is thought to have first entered the US even before Dutch elm disease, arriving in 1912 in a container of bulbs, but not being discovered until 1916 in a nursery in New Jersey.  One only needs to look at my raspberry plants, and roses to see their negative effect.  In the first years they were noticed in my yard, they left my pole beans but a skeleton of leaves, with no discernable crop.  They did not eat, and so far have not eaten the bush beans I plant.  They now make green bean production to forever be horizontal and not vertical.  They even can host on elm, maple, arborvitae, and perhaps 70 other types of host plants.  While they host on tomatoes, peppers and many other garden plants, so far they best enjoy the raspberry plants.  If they want to host on a plant, why cannot it not be creeping Charlie?

Another view of the pest

One other example is the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).  Another import from the Far East, where it has natural predators, but where such predators are lacking the in US.  I have been treating my Purple Autumn Ash, a cultivar of the white ash developed at UW Madison, for two years as I now head into year three.  The EAB has gradually made its way into Wisconsin from Michigan.  It devastates whole forests of ash, and is not particular.  The problem is the chemical treatment, at least those non-injected, I recently found out, may be partially attributed to the decline of the bee population.  Although the decline of the bee population is more likely due to mono-culture and wide spread use of agricultural chemicals.  Foresters in Minneapolis have noted that the cold severe winter likely affected the EAB population, at least in their area, perhaps by as much as a reduction of over 50%, but this was dependent upon the micro-climate situation.  Mother Nature may have been giving us some moderation for the pesky EAB.  There is talk of importing a wasp from China which is a predator, but if that is done, hopefully it will not have the negative detriments that other well intended efforts created in regard to invasive species.

Several Japanese beetles have destroyed a rose

Travel and trade have given, and continue to give many benefits.  Yet there are negative effects.  We now see Asian Carp are flying out of the water in the Mississippi River basin, and probably making their way to the Great Lakes via our friendly Illinois brethren having changed the course and flow of the Chicago River, or the small broken shells of zebra mussels originally from Russia (by way of ship ballast) are now scattered over the beaches of Lake Michigan, and of course, the ill health caused by exotic and tropical diseases.  Our children will not have known the majestic elms, and perhaps their grandchildren will not know an ash tree (and what will baseball do).  The invasive problem is rampant and costs the economy billions each year.  I do not mean to say travel and trade should end, but more care needs to be utilized to avoid what could be costly invasion of the species.   In “The Mission” the second to last exchange is relevant to us today, albeit, in a different way:  

Senor Hontar:  “We must work in the world.

                                The world is thus.”

Papal envoy:  “No Senor Hontar

                              …thus have we made the world.

                              Thus have I made it.

 Photos by the author in his home garden on 30 July 2014

Age of Atlantis

On this day in 2011, just a few short years ago, the Space Shuttle program ended when the shuttle Atlantis touched down at the Kennedy Space Center along the east coast of Florida. It is interesting that the day ending the US known manned space flight program would occur 42 years and one day after its pinnacle achievement of Apollo 11. Apollo 11 saw President Kennedy’s goal being met--sending a man to the moon and returning him safely to earth within the decade of the 1960’s. This would be a rather nondescript end to a program that came to be seen as a filler program. It was to be a program that would provide the insight to reach Mars. It was a program that never lived up to its expectations of regular manned space flight, as its peak year produced nine flights. The first shuttle, Columbia, was launched in April 1981, seeing the results of the early 1970’s announcement by President Nixon of the move to a reusable space flight vehicle. This, and the four other orbiters would make runs into space for a variety of reasons, with much of it related to assemblage, manning and provisioning the International Space Station (ISS).

Apollo Astronaut space suit

Named for the mythical, or lost city, the shuttle Atlantis conjures images of a can-do-attitude. A place where human kind reached a level for now which one may only dream. Perhaps, for the American manned-space program, Atlantis is a fitting metaphor. Apollo brought the country together at a time when social change was tearing it apart. Space flight would not become routine as the founders of the shuttle program would intend.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

Saying the manned space flight is ordinary belies the risks inherent into such a project. Of the five shuttles, two were destroyed in accidents beyond the reach of earth. The first of course was the Challenger explosion of 1986 in which seven persons died, one being a teacher. The other being Columbia, in which also seven persons died, but this tragedy occurred during reentry. Atlantis will have its day in history as the last of the group of five to fly. Of the men and women lost in the space program, the shuttle, also the longest running program, counted for 14, and the other three persons lost were in what is now known as Apollo 1, a test simulation. It was not accorded a flight status until sometime after its test explosion in 1967. As Jim Lovell is quoted in the movie Apollo 13, space flight can never be seen as routine.

Astronaut Jim Lovell in 1990's

Costs certainly were anything but routine. NASA has estimated the Shuttle program to have cost about $209 billion. The program never obtained the efficiency level it had desired due to certain aspects of not being reusable. Also, the program was designed in the 1970’s when material and computerization efforts were still rather Paleolithic compared to what is known 30 years later. Of course (in terms of monetary costs), it was less expensive, but not as daring as Apollo. Apollo costs were estimated by NASA in 1973 to have been $25.4 billion, and again estimated by NASA in 2005 to have a 2005 cost of $170.6 billion, or probably about the cost of the shuttle program in today’s dollars. In its day each Apollo launch was $375 million (say 1970 dollars) whereas Shuttle costs in (say 2010 dollars) was pegged at $1.6 billion.

One of the launch pads used for Apollo and Shuttle missions

As for now, the US plays second fiddle for manned space flights to Russia, and is dependent upon the Russian program to ferry astronauts to the ISS. They have a monopoly on that route, and being the good capitalist they are, using it to their full advantage. Elon Musk is working on a private venture for which the US can subcontract space flight to the private sector. Musk’s SpaceX venture to save costs, is doing much of its own manufacturing. And, it subject to the whims and fancy of congress for many states to get a piece of the action. On the other hand, SpaceX would likely not be where it is today without the pioneering work of the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle programs. These programs made advances that have well brought benefits to overall society.

SpaceX module

NASA now has to be content to focus on unmanned space exploration, whether it be to a planet in our solar system or beyond. the search for water continues. The search for life outside of planet earth goes on. The children of today will need to focus on a different set of heroes than the men with the right stuff. Hopefully, such people will be in areas beyond football and basketball, but in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities where human progress can be realized and admired. The nation needs pioneers

Pioneering has always been present in the history of the nation. It was seen in the Lewis and Clark expedition, which departed 210 years ago to explore the northwest part of the Louisiana purchase and attempt to find a water route to the Pacific. The nation seems to be at its strongest when it is on a quest for discovery. The nation cannot simply live in its past only idealizing the relics of our past Atlantis, and give up reaching for a dream. The question is what will be the next national mission of discovery?

Constructive Paranoia

For the past couple weeks I have been reading an interesting book titled: The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? (2012) written by geographer Jared Diamond. The title of this post comes from a part of the book, where Diamond coined the phrase “constructive paranoia” after visits to a traditional society in New Guinea. What drew me to ponder his interesting phrase is the recent death of a nine year old farm boy in Grant County, WI in a grain bin on the family’s farm, and the death a few weeks ago of a young child in a hot car in the Atlanta, Georgia area. In the latter case the father is being charged with murder, while in the former the county sheriff said it was a tragic farm accident.

Jared Diamond, Geographer and Author

First, what does Diamond mean by constructive paranoia? In the book he relates three examples of constructive paranoia, including the one that truly made him think about risk. What made him ponder risk was a New Guinea research trip where he set a tent near a dead, but sturdy tree. To native New Guineans, who are part of a traditional society, they would not sleep near such a tree, in case it were to fall over on to them. They viewed it as an unacceptable risk. During subsequent visits Diamond realized that almost every night he had spent in a New Guinea forest he would hear a tree fall and from this realized the paranoia of the locals was actually constructive. Diamond views this hypervigilant attitude toward low risks as constructive paranoia. Traditional societies lack modern health care, EMS, and police or fire services. A broken bone may mean disfigurement or becoming handicapped. Even our family camping trips there have been times when summer storms dropped parts of, or whole live trees on a camp site. Luckily, as far as we know, no one was injured. Similarly, last year the community in which I work saw a tree fall being driven down a road, where the driver sustained some serious injuries. If a falling tree can hit a moving car, the local New Guinean concern seems more real, and appropriate.

Hunter Gatherer in a Traditional Society

The US has become less a farming nation, and so farm accident deaths have dropped. But, the death of the nine year old yesterday shows they still occur. I was in eighth grade when a friend of mine died in a farm accident. As we have become more suburban and urban the risks we take have changed. The death o fell into a grain bin but luckily was f the toddler in a hot car, only brings up the point that such deaths are in fact not uncommon, with most cases being termed an accident. People do not regularly crawl into grain bins, and the boy was helping his family fix an auger, but yet, they were not sufficiently vigilant. Several years ago a farmer of which I am acquainted fell into a grain bin, but luckily he was rescued by a full time Fitchburg Fire crew. About three times a year, to my wife’s chagrin, I climb up on the roof to clean gutters. She is most perturbed when I do it at times when no one is home. Perhaps this expression of her concern for my well-being is not simple paranoia, but rather an expression of Diamond’s term. Or course, if she is upset at my getting on the roof in dry conditions, you would not want to be around when I go on the roof in the winter, when it is covered with snow and ice, to remove snow or examine an ice damn. I now can term her concerns constructive paranoia. That is not a bad term.

University of IL drawing.  Obviously, contrary to the drawing, as shown by the case in Grant County
a person can still get sucked in the grain even when it is not being removed.

In a 2013 NY Times article Diamond provided a another take on this phrase, claiming that it is more likely for a modern day person to fall and get hurt in their bathtub, than to get robbed. Falls, particularly to the elderly, can be life altering and dramatically affect the persons standard of living. He notes that the everyday mundane activities of daily living pose more risk. Perhaps one reason is that they become a habit. Almost every day the typical American takes a shower, or a bath.  It often is a habit for a person to take their child to daycare, but of course if their mind wanders by thinking about the upcoming day, one can forget the most important duty, dropping the child off. As we have seen, too many times, it can have tragic consequences. It is not a habit to regularly enter a grain elevator and clean out an auger, so it was not a situation of constructive paranoia at play as much as one needing to be prepared and vigilant. I was cutting a broken branch that had fallen into a tree about one month ago and as I felled a piece of the tree it freed the branch of another tree which came up and hit me in the head. But, I was prepared having worn a helmet (with ear protection) to avoid a head injury.

 

A modern theory on risk management, perhaps using constructive paranoia is too simple for modern man

 Modern times have changed the daily risks we face. Diamond, in his NY Times article goes on to say that Americans exaggerate risks of perceived events particularly those beyond our control such as terrorists, active shooter, or a nuclear accident. On the hand, we underestimate those risks that are under our control. In our American society we have whole hosts of careers or fields of study dealing with risks and their potential occurrence. Beyond trial lawyers, think of insurance companies, actuaries, not to mention the whole field of risk management. Risk management seems like a paradox as most people do not go looking out for risk. Stuff happens, and when it does there is a consequence. Yet, there is a field of study devoted to managing it. Of course, what they really do is educate people on ways to avoid risk. Modern day living is but yesterday in the time of human experience on earth. In a traditional society risk avoidance it is a natural outgrowth of their living conditions--Diamond’s “constructive paranoia.” In modern day America we have a field of study devoted to lowering risk. Perhaps there is much we can learn from traditional societies, or in my case pay more attention to what my spouse has to say.

Yosemite

On this date in 1864, 150 years ago, President Lincoln signed a bill that would change the way the nation viewed the natural landscape.  The San Jose Mercury News, would go further, claiming that the signing of this one bill “changed America’s landscape forever.”  What event would have occurred that would cause a newspaper to make such a large claim?  It was signing of the Yosemite Grant Act.  Of course, when one thinks of our national parks, Yosemite is probably second on the list to the first national park, Yellowstone, which was created by act of Congress and signed by President Grant on 1 March 1872.

  

Congressional Record regarding Preservation of Yosemite

But, it was this event 150 years ago, while not setting forth a system of national parks, did preserve a large area of land for posterity.  While General Grant was involved in the apparently never ending siege of Petersburg on this date 150 years ago, President Lincoln would find time from his constant monitoring of the war, to sign this one act of preservation. Lincoln was inspired by early photographs and paintings of the granite cliffs and the waterfalls of the area so much that he took it upon himself to see it preserved.  This land grant, or piece of legislation, provided California with 39,000 acres of the Yosemite Valley and the nearby Mariposa Big Tree Grove "upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation."  Yosemite would be overrun with visitors and become a must see destination.  Famed Naturalist John Muir, who spent much of his youth near Portage, WI, first visited Yosemite in October 1869, would return in 1889 and declare it deteriorated, and in need of restoration and protection.  Within 24 years of its land grant, humans had such an effect on the area that it was in need of restoration.  It would be declared a national park in 1890. 

John Muir

Of interest is that it was a war that helped bring the beauty of Yosemite to the forefront.  A battle to suppress Indian uprisings took place in the 1850’s, near the height of the Gold rush brought the area to the attention of a physician.  Dr.Lafayette Bunnell, who was attached to the Mariposa battalion, who would give the name Yosemite to the area, and write a book titled:  The Discovery of the Yosemite.  The area, however, was first settled about 3000 years ago, although it is thought the first humans first saw the area 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. 

Sequoia Redwood

150 years after its first recognition, Yosemite is undergoing a restoration to remove cars and associated noise and clutter from Mariposa Grove.  Mariposa Grove was one of the reasons for its original designation, but as always American’s want things close and to prefer to not have to walk, so a parking lot was put next to the grove.  Human impact has extended beyond pavement, as hiking trails have compacted the ground so much that new seedlings cannot sprout. 

 

A Yosemite waterfall

As we look to celebrate July 4 at the end of this week, let us recall that the freedom provided by the nation needs to be coupled with responsibility.  A responsibility of conservation to wisely use the resources provided, a responsibility to recognize the rights of those who follow, and a responsibility to recognize a goal to leave a place better than in which it was found.  The desire for natural beauty and natural resources is not just desired by us today, but by future generations as well.  Abraham Lincoln recognized this, and so should we. While I have never been to Yosemite, I someday hope to. On 4 July, when you are having your beer and bratwurst, think of the act President Lincoln signed on this date preserving an aspect of our nation for posterity. 

Where have all the Millenials Gone

What is an economic engine and on what does it depend?  Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has been attempting, for nearly four years, to figure out the best answers to that question. He will well miss his promised target of having created 250,000 jobs in four years.  Although, one has to realize that promise is a good example of political hubris.  It had little basis in reality four years ago, and it would not be realistic today. Politifact, an arm of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, notes that over 21,000 jobs a month must be created over the next seven months for him to meet his target.   Politifact seems to think it interesting, but is really simple math, that the number since the end of May is almost twice that number in January.  When you have lukewarm job creation, and that is being generous, and the time for creating the jobs is cut almost in half, this is a result you would expect.  Politifact does say, that at least through May, private sector job creation in Wisconsin had reached 102,013 since the Governor took office. 

This would seemingly show that his “Open for business” slogan has not produced results even though the state continues to throw money after almost any business.  This includes an existing business where they only  have to say they were looking at an out of state site, and hard-earned tax payer money is thrown their way.  Corporate welfare at its best.  Interestingly, how those who claim the free market, and desire little government are their first in hand for the hand-out. A handout is not the free market at work.  But, back to the key point of this post.  Forbes Magazine (on-line) ranks Wisconsin as 41^st as a best state for business.  This, even though in their six subcategories, the state’s lowest ranking is 39 (labor supply), it highest 15 (quality of life), and the other four are in the thirties.  By contrast, neighboring Minnesota, who Marshall Erickson, a fictional character on a TV sitcom once said something to the affect that but for their manners, a Minnesotan would be no different than someone from Wisconsin.  Minnesota ranks 8^th for business on the Forbes list, just below the power house state of Texas.  Minnesota’s lowest rank in the subcategories is 34, its highest (quality of life) is 5.  Forbes notes that Minnesota growth is powered by the twin cities of St Paul and Minneapolis, which is really the metropolitan region, as neither city is highly populated.  62% of the population of Minnesota lives in the twin cities region. 

Does business attract talent, or does talent attract business?  Most recently it seems more the former than the latter.  For example, The University of Wisconsin is regarded as one of the nation’s premier universities in producing high quality graduates for high-technology fields, particularly in the bio-sciences.  Morris Davis, a Professor of Real Estate at the UW, and former advisor to Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, has produced some interesting figures on demographic and educational movement.  Using the American Community Survey data from 2008 to 2012 Davis produced figures which should give pause to Scott Walker.  For all age cohorts, the net migration of population (those moving in and those moving out of the state) for Wisconsin saw a net  loss of 10,932 persons.  Given our northern climate, one would think it to be the ever present and discussed snow-bird.  But it is not.  Two population cohorts making up ages 21—29 and having at least a college degree, saw a net migration out of Wisconsin of 8,720, or almost 80% of the total net loss.  When you add in the net loss in the next five year cohort (30-34), ages 21—34 make up near 87% of the total. 

So where do they go?  For ages 21—39 the top four states were Texas, Missouri, California, and Minnesota.  Texas, by far, grabs the most in that age group.  More interesting is the probability of a move as he identified in the following chart:

Source:  Morris Davis, UW, Feb 2014, accessed on-line from CARPC website

Can a state continue to lose almost 1/4 of its young well educated population, and remain healthy?  One dangerous way to look at data is does it fit anecdotal evidence or qualitatively.  In this case, anecdotal evidence is similar, if not worse, than projected.  As one anecdotal example, let us take a look at the 16 persons who make up my two children and their 14 cousins.  Of this 16, six live out of state, and a seventh will be moving out of state with her husband, so let us say seven.  Six of the seven have at least a Bachelor’s degree.  Four have full time occupations currently out of state, one is pursuing an advanced degree, one is a stay-at-home mother, and the other is moving with her husband.  Of the remaining nine who are in-state, six are in registered for the fall semester at UW or in  high school.  That leaves three who are employed, and of those three one has at least a bachelor’s degree.  Of the number out of state two will be in Texas, and one in Minnesota.  None in California, or Missouri.  The one with a college degree remaining in state is employed in one of the state's economic engines, at least according to Forbes magazine—health care.

This drain poses implications for the state in the long-term.  College graduates, it has been shown, earn higher salaries, which means more purchasing power, which in turn drives the economy of the state.  One would also expect them to pay more in taxes, raising state revenues.  The state needs a strategy to assist in finding sectors of the economy to keep the young millennial talent at home.  If the situation gets worse, it does not portend well for the economic health, nor well-being, of the Wisconsin.  St Croix County, next to Minnesota and only a half hour or so ride to the twin cities, is one of the fastest growing regions in the state, but unfortunately, much of its new growth is driven by jobs in Minnesota.  Demographics play a large role in what occurs in the developed world and politicians need to educate themselves so as to avoid making silly promises.  On the other hand, does any really believe a promise made by a politician?  

Fe-fi-fo-fum...

…I smell the blood of Englishman.  Most of us recall the words from the children’s tale, “Jack in the Beanstalk.”  In World Cup action today, perhaps that was the tune running through the minds of the Uruguay futball (soccer) players, and their fans.  If anything it seems that this World Cup is, so far, different from those in the recent past.  A few examples of this come to mind.  First, 60 goals have been scored in the first 20 games this year compared to 38 four years ago.  The next closest total in the past five tournaments was in 2002 when 51 were scored.  Perhaps futball is taking a page from American football and utilizing the soccer version of the spread offense. I do not want to take anything away from Uruguay, nor do I know much about soccer, but when you have that increase in offensive production and power house England losing to a team from South America, it may be near home-field advantage, or the strategy used, but to me it was a remarkable outcome.  Lou Holtz once said that the spread offense has the ability to make a team not near as talented compete with a more talented team—it levels the playing field.  Perhaps some similar soccer strategy works the same way.  I am sure the soccer aficionados that read this post may be able to enlighten me.  Second, through the first 20 games six teams who scored the first goal have gone on to lose.  Of the past five such tournaments, two was the next highest.  Finally, the Iberian Peninsula, often a powerhouse, is reeling with defending world champion Spain having been eliminated in the early going, and Portugal, with one of the greatest players in the world, licking their wounds after having lost to the Germans 4 – 0. Perhaps they will gain some redemption against the US on Sunday, but yet the fans on that European appendage cannot be feeling good about themselves—just like the fans of the island nation off the west coast of France.  Let us just hope there are no riots today in England.

 

While Uruguay smelled the blood of an Englishman, the tale in the United States is a rather different story, …fe-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of German mum.  The US not only has a German born coach who is married to an American, but he has recruited heavily from Germany finding five German-American’s, (are they known in Germany as American-Germans?)  who have strong ties to Germany to play for the US squad.  All have German mothers, and American fathers, with the father at one point worked in Germany, often in the military.  I believe “Sports Illustrated” has noted that in all but one case the father was essentially out of the picture and they were raised substantially in Germany by their mother.  If they were born in the US perhaps they would be playing football, or baseball, or basketball, but growing up in Germany they became a cog in the great German soccer machine.  One cannot think of Germany but in any other way than a machine.  When people talk of love, they may refer to Italy or France, but seldom Germany.  Three of the Germans, SI notes, made significant contributions to the US victory over Ghana. 

 

I am sure many gifted athletes in the US could play soccer, but at this point it is a second rung sport.  Demographics may change that as the US becomes more “brown” due to immigration and the higher birth rates of Latino Americans.  They too love the sport of soccer, although they do not seem to have a strong presence on the American squad, someday that may change.  The US does need to develop more local talent, but for now it has a heavy reliance on those with joint heritage.  And, yes because they have a father who is a citizen of the US they too are a US citizen.  Are they really Americans from a cultural sense is a different matter.  Although we know the US is like a stew—part melting pot, but part where cultures maintain aspects of their heritage (like potatoes and carrots in a stew).  It is one generally unique aspect of the United States, and one to be treasured not avoided.  Most all of us are products of immigration.

 

Perhaps the best thing about the World Cup, was expressed by a sibling, who with his family is enjoying some time in Brazil enjoying three World Cup games.  It is the ability to mix with, enjoy and feel the benefits of the people with different heritages who came to cheer on their team, and who bring a zest to doing so.  I am sure my brother, his wife and two daughters are being the good Americans that people from other cultures can enjoy as well.  I can attest to what he means as just over a year ago on a pilgrimage to Israel, Palestine and Jordan, also present there was a unique sense of pilgrims from a variety of cultures all their for the same purpose; yes it is similar to the World Cup—a group of people from different cultures there for a specific purpose.  The world is seeing much strife, but this seems to be common through world history, yet small events can draw the world together, this is hoping the World Cup accomplishes more than producing a winning team and that a greater world good leaves in the hearts of the participants.  Although if you are a fan of Spain, you will have to dig awfully deep.

Note:  All images from Google images

D-Day

While many will recall the D-Day invasion on its 70th anniversary, the focus of those thoughts will on the brave men who stormed the beaches and made headway into Nazi occupied France.  This was the most visible and most harrowing aspect of the invasion, but seldom recognized is  the logistical work and preparation that went in to retaining secrecy, while at the same time getting together arms, material, men, and ships to supply the largest modern-time invasion force.  How does one keep such a secret? Who worked behind the scenes to assure secrecy and the element of surprise?  It was a multi-pronged effort.  There was of course misleading, really false, material put out by the allies to create a diversion, the landing sites would not normally be considered as a location to mount a successful invasion, and of course the whole dummy division set up in another part of England with the auspices that it would be the invasion force, with General Patton as its commanding general, made up of inflatable rubber tanks, jeeps and the like, German intelligence fell for the ruse.  However, there are back stories that should not be forgotten.  The old saying goes that an army runs on its stomach, the men at the front are only one integral cog in a large wheel to a successful operation.  Others may not have been on the front line but their contributions were also important to the functioning of a well-kept secret operation.  I wish to recount two stories passed down through oral tradition.  Both involve Technical Sergeant Roy B. Hovel.

Roy Hovel, WWII photo

Entering the service as a private, and a recent law school graduate Hovel was drafted inducted in the Army in the summer of 1942.  Showing that the army has at least some level of intelligence, he would be sent for training in counter intelligence work, earning the rank of Corporal and later Technical Sergeant.  The dummy army division, and its rubber tanks were the result of army intelligence, but it was the little known Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) with the work of assuring no double agents, no spies, and no release of information dealing with the invasion. 

Yet, the first story begins well before the invasion.  Even though the decision to invade was made at the conference in Tehran, which would set forth the power of the Soviet Union and United States over the colonial interests and power of Britain, planning for such an event was long occurring. Before heading overseas, T Sgt Hovel was assigned for duty in the homeland, most often Detroit, and did investigation during the Detroit race riots in that World War II era.  But he also interviewed persons who had family, friends or had been in Europe or parts of Germany.  With an army marching on its stomach advance planners knew that good quality ports would be necessary following the invasion to supply the literally tons and tons of material that would be required to supply so huge an army.  This was not their grandfather’s army of the Spanish American war.  Instead of horses, which were not uncommon in the German Army, the US Army was heavily mechanized, perhaps too much so, and it depended upon machine, parts, and fuel to make its advance.  T Sgt Hovel would interview a man who had recent photographs of what would become one or two key ports on the French coast for the invasion.  This information would assist in preparation for securing and converting the ports to American and allied ships and their container systems.

Yet there is another story, perhaps more critical to the success of the invasion operation.  When sent overseas Hovel would be assigned to the camps and groupings related to the collection of soldiers and equipment for the invasion.  Specifically, however, was one day.  Loading over 150,000 men and supplies did not happen in one day, which may have been obvious even to the Germans.  After troops cleared quarters, part of the duty of the CIC field operations was to search through the quarters of every man who had to vacate the quarters for ships in the English Channel to discern what they may have left behind, that could be valuable if it fell in the wrong hands, or perhaps even clues as to whether information had been passed on.  Many an advantage has been obtained, or disadvantage felt, through the recovery (or loss) of a little known piece of information.  This seemingly thankless job would was not as unimportant as it may seem to us 70 years later.  T Sgt Hovel was going through the quarters of a general, who had just left to join the invasion force on a ship, when he came across a large binder or document titled Top Secret, Operation Overlord.  Today Operation Overlord is commonly known as the name for the D-Day invasion operation.  An operation to not only load ships with men and equipment, but the intended landing areas, and details of the plan of invasion, methods of driving out he occupiers.  Men would risk their lives, and it was on this invasion plan which Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force, General Dwight Eisenhower, had banked the D for Decision, and the allied success of the war, but back then the Technical Sergeant would not have recognized it being the title of the invasion.

Without looking through the large document he presented it to his superior officer.  With the ship on which the general had boarded having disembarked from the shore, the powers that be decided that his having left the whole document relating to the invasion plan in his quarters was egregious enough to warrant removal.  The general would be pulled off the ship and sent stateside.  So, for a brief point in time T Sgt Hovel held in his hands one of the most important documents of WWII. Some historians say that the D-Day invasion was the pivotal point of the twentieth century.  Yet, to Roy Hovel it was not as important as the ten children he would hold in those burly farm-hewn hands in his later years. Nonetheless, it is a small aspect of history.  As noted, something seemingly obscure or small often gives the advantage or disadvantage.  The world may be a different place today if that document had fallen into the hands of the Germans.  Efforts of those behind the scenes may not be filled with the adventure and loss of those on the front lines, but that does not mean they were not important to the effort.  Just ask the guy who had the job to make the coffee and peel the potatoes.