A cold Fog in Magnolia

Tonight it was 38 degrees outside when my little dog, Kuro, and I left for our walk. Earlier in the day there had been a breeze from the ENE but tonight it had died down to a gentle zephyr off the sound from the west. As we headed out, our street was clear but when we topped the hill to our west the cold fog began to roll in.

Fog reduces the colors that normally are shown by our LED street lights. 

The night air was tasty with plenty of moisture dripping off my mustache and occasionally I tasted a little salt from the the bay, not far below.

The warm glow of the tungsten filaments in the house lights was welcoming compared to the cold of the LED lights. 

Whoever owns this house and flagpole properly displays a flag lit from below, even in the fog. I see he's also a Seahawks fan.

Kuro was all in favor of a longer walk in the fog. He doesn't mind the cold when he's walking. I was warm enough until we came to the cross streets when the gentle wind wrapped the fog around my ears and stuck its cold damp fingers down the neck of my jacket.

Even though I wore my reflective vest I was a little worried about distracted drivers not being able to see us in the fog so we headed back home. 

It was a different kind of walk. Quieter with different lighting and the taste of salt water fog to sample now and then.

Click Here for an Apology and The Full Blog

I must apologize to my regular readers for throwing a curveball with yesterday's post. With the shorter email notifications you need to click HRodenberger's Blog at the top of the email, or just under that, the title of that day's post, e.g.: Click here for an Apology and The Full Blog to be directed to full post on the blog website.

This is the beginning of the third year I've had this blog and until now I've left it to find its way more or less by itself. Readers who wanted could sign up for email notifications of new posts. After signing up they would receive notifications of new posts in the form of the complete post in a rather plain form. If they clicked on the hyperlinks shown above, they would jump to the website where the post would be fully formatted and the photos would be displayed properly. I suspected many readers didn't know or just didn't bother to make the jump.

Lately I have been reading the administrative background and instructions from Blogspot. I found that there was a way to send out a short "leader" type introduction to the post with the notification email. If people were interested in reading the full post they could click on one of the links and go to the regular website.

Going to the full website would serve two purposes: One, they would see the post properly formatted and with pictures displayed the way I intended and, two, since Blogspot tracks visitors (anonymously) I could track the interest my readers had in the various topics about which I wrote. When they read the post in the email, that reader doesn't show up in the statistics for that day.

As I say, the statistics are collected anonymously so I never know if any particular person has read a post, or even visited the website but, overall, they are quite interesting. There are numbers for the total readers, pageviews by post, by country, by operating system and by browser. They also track referring URLs and referring sites.

So far this week, there have been 17 pageviews for the Phonak post, five for the VA post and one for the Tangerine Orchard post from November, 2015. So far there have been visitors from The USA, France, Germany and India. Some posts (for instance, the various posts from Vietnam and the one on climbing Mt Fuji) seem to get views at least once per week and some posts only get a few one time and are seldom viewed again.

If I know what interests people I can write more on those general subjects. Or not. I'm not trying to go commercial or make money on this blog, but I'd like to post on things that interest you.

Hopefully it hasn't been too much trouble to make the switch to the new notifications. I hope you are interested enough to stay with me. Let me know via the comments, or email, if you have a subject you'd like to read about.


 

Modern Phonak Hearing Aids

Last week I posted about my satisfaction with the VA Hospital Audiology Department and their service concerning my hearing aids. Today I'd like to detail how these hearing aids make life so much better for me.

Since I have complete hearing loss (as a result of a childhood fever) in my right ear, I'm fitted with a "bi-cross" aid. It picks up sound on the right side of my head and transmits it to the aid on my left side that combines that sound with the input from the microphones on the left and feeds the blended product into the ear canal of my good ear.

These are my new hearing aids. The one on the right goes to my right (deaf) ear. If you look closely, you see the part that connects the earpiece to that hearing aid is just a clear plastic tube. Again, if you look closely, you see that the earpiece is a piece of clear plastic covered with the rubber dome that holds it in place in my ear canal. The only job of that earpiece is to hold, via the molded plastic tube, the hearing aid in place behind my right ear. 

The purpose of the right side hearing aid is to pick up sounds on that side and transmit them to a receiver in the hearing aid for my left ear.

Now to the hearing aid for my good (left) ear. The aid on this side has two microphones just as does the one on the other side but in addition to amplifying the sound picked up from this side it also melds it with the sound transmitted from the other side so I hear one stream of sound.

 If you look at the plastic connecting tube on the left you see it contains a thin wire that carries the sound data to the small speaker that you can see in the earpiece. 

The rubber dome makes it more comfortable to wear that foreign object inserted into the ear. In addition, the small holes in the dome allow natural sound to get through to the eardrum. The little plastic tails going off to the bottom of the frame are designed to curl around the inside of the exterior ear and stabilize the business parts that are worn behind the ears. 

I have been pleasantly surprised to find that the first set of batteries for this newer aid lasted almost exactly seven days. The same batteries in the old hearing aids lasted only two to three days. When I complained about the short lifespan, the technician told me it was because my hearing loss is substantial thus requiring more amplification and the aids are the bi-cross model which takes more power. The batteries are the same so there must have been big improvements in power use.

Next came the fitting and tuning. This was the magical time when I sat it front of a monitor, the technician inserted a tiny microphone into my ear canal and tuned the aids to match my hearing loss. 

I'm not sure what it's called by the hearing specialists, but by tuning the hearing aids, I mean adjusting the amplification so that sounds in the upper frequencies, where my loss is greatest, are amplified the most. Sounds in the lower frequencies, where my hearing has not suffered as much loss, are amplified less. The desired result of this tuning is more or less equal sound perception no matter where on the frequency spectrum any particular sound might fall. 

When I first tried this type aid about seven years ago I was amazed at the sounds I had been missing. From the calls of the little birds in my backyard to the high pitched beeps emitted by many electronic devices people use everyday, I missed out on those sounds for many years.

 I've been missing high frequency sounds for many years because the primitive bi-cross aids I was given in 1979 and the ones I purchased in 1986 were basically nothing more than speakers with adjustable volume controls that amplified all sounds indiscriminately. I couldn't wear those aids for long because the loud low pitched sounds drove me crazy if I adjusted the volume loud enough to hear the high pitched sounds. I wasn't the only person with that complaint and it was common for people to buy hearing aids only to put them in the drawer until their hearing became so bad they had no choice but to wear them if they wanted to hear anything.

Of course, even though these are wonderful tools, because I have only one working ear I can't tell where a sound comes from. Your ears are designed so the small phase difference in the sound wave as it hits the ears on different sides of your head lets your brain tell the direction of the sound. This sound locating ability that works so well for most of the population doesn't do anything for a one-eared person like me. Even people who know the theory will answer, "Right over here." when I ask, "Where are you?" It would be much better if they would give a description, "In the kitchen, upstairs, next to the bandstand," etc., but old habits that work so well with most people are hard to modify.

Here's another part of the amazing package of electronics that allows me to get the most out of my limited hearing. 

This gizmo (ComPilot, to use its proper name) is worn on my chest dangling from the cord (also the antenna) that goes around my neck. This unit is synced to my cell phone and relays that signal to my hearing aid. It has its own microphone so I can carry on a hands-free conversation. The large square button on its face is the switch that answers or ends calls or redials the last call made. There are volume controls and syncing controls and an on-off switch. There are also ports for charging, connecting to external devices and one to connect to Roger/FM (Europlug)

I'm just getting to know this new ComPilot but find that in addition to what I've listed, it can forward calls, voice dial, dial a pre-programmed preferred number, hold calls and more. I've already ordered an external microphone which clips to my collar and allows me to wear the ComPilot under my shirt. 

A new and especially nice feature for people like me who only have one ear and thus are unable to hear in stereo, is the wire shown on the left, above. This wire plugs into the ComPilot and connects to any number of devices. It will plug into my cell phone, a TV, an MP3 player or the seat sound plug on airplanes among others, and combines the stereo output of the remote device to a monaural input to my hearing aid thus allowing me to hear both tracks of stereo music or conversation. I anticipate that this feature will be useful on flights where I can watch movies or such and actually hear both sides of the stereo sound track. I'm anxious to try it out.

So far I'm happy with the set up. What a boost to my hearing. 

Now if they could just figure out how to give me stereo hearing again.

VA Health Care

Wednesday I went to our local VA Hospital to be fitted with new hearing aids so I decided this post should be about my experience with the Veterans' Administration Health Care program.

Before I start, "Let me be perfectly clear," as some of our politicians have been known to say, before they give a perfectly unclear, and in some cases, perfectly untrue, version of the truth as they see it.

When I report on the state of the VA Health Care system, I can only report from my perspective and based on what I have experienced. Sort of like the blind men who each truthfully reported on the shape of the elephant based on that part that he had carefully examined, I freely admit that I haven't examined the entire animal.

Along similar lines, I try to remember that when I read about "The state of our education system," How to fix our Social Security program," "The trouble with Trump," or even, "How to fix our national government," those writers are writing from their personal perspective and based on what they perceive. In addition, their verbiage (whether or not they actually believe what they are writing is a question for another day) is shaped by their desire to eat. If they don't write what their readers want to read (or their editors want them to write) they don't eat. That's a simplistic conclusion but a pretty effective cudgel. In my case, I don't get paid for this blog so I'll try to report objectively on the subject.

Back to my experiences with the VA Health Program, hereinafter abbreviated as VA.

Like most veterans who seek help from the VA, I have a medical problem related to my service in our military. As with some of our other benefit programs (the Social Security disability program comes to mind), our Congress has relaxed, or should I say "broadened" the standards for receiving treatment. But, never mind, in my case I have clear cut and documented, "service-connected hearing loss," as the legaleze reads. Actually, that's no surprise since, in the fifties and sixties, we routinely fired rifles and worked around loud noises without benefit of hearing protection.

Incidentally, the pendulum may have swung a little far the other way, but I'm glad to see personal protection, of various kinds, mandated by the military and most of industry. Too bad many of our younger population don't listen to the advice of doctors and old farts like me who say, "WEAR HEARING PROTECTION!" and "turn down the volumn on those hearing-killer earbuds and earphones."

"But I wander," as a good friend is known to say. I had a hearing test at the VA Otolaryngology Department in early December which confirmed my degree of hearing loss. They ordered new hearing aids and scheduled me for fitting and tuning.

The librarian at our VFW Post had put aside some boxes of books to donate to to the VA so I picked those up and went to the hospital early to drop them off at the Volunteer Services Office. Their friendly staff quickly processed our donation so I arrived in the Hearing Section well before my appointed time.

The waiting area was a little Spartan but comfortable so I cooled my heels and made a few notes on the memo app on my phone for a future blog post.

Seems like I can't help but digress today. But that's a subject for another post--The many uses of that magic gizmo most of us carry around, that conveniences, connects and, occasionally, confounds us. Young people can't imagine such a state of affairs but "in the old days" people actually carried a paper notebook and pen to make notes. Hard to imagine, but it's true.

At 1515 (3:15 P.M., in American civilian time), right on time, the technician came to the waiting area, called my name, escorted me to the sound booth, introduced herself and proceeded with the fitting.

The service was excellent, the technician went to extra lengths to make sure my new hearing aids were tuned correctly to my hearing loss and she patiently answered all my questions. In another post I'll describe my new ears and how they work.

As did the blind men reporting on the elephant, I can only report on what I experienced in the VA, but my apprehension of the elephant is different from what I sometimes see in the popular media where we often are led to believe that the VA Health Care system is unsatisfactory and kills veterans. I'm sure their service, like that of any giant organization, will have its problems but that's normal and I think they are working to make corrections.

Over the years, when dealing with the Seattle VA Hospital, my experiences have been uniformly positive. Waiting times for appointments, waiting times when seeing a doctor or technician, quality of the goods provided and overall service have been very satisfactory.

In summary, based on my experiences, I highly recommend using the VA system if you are eligible.

Mini Schnauzers

I came late to the world of mini schnauzers. In the last, almost twenty years, we have had two and they are amazing little dogs. My sister, Sue, recommended I write about dogs and a friend wrote about his daughter who works with rescue schnauzers so I decided to post an entry about the little guys.

When I was young our family had a dog, probably a shepherd mix, but just a dog. In those days purebred dogs were rare, at least in our social circle. I don't remember what happened to that dog. I suppose the folks gave him away when we moved back to Orcas Island after the war.

The second dog I remember was a scotch terrier given to us by an uncle in early 1953. He was a friendly, feisty little dog and we enjoyed playing with him. We lived in Bellingham at the time and the dog had been raised in a rural area on Orcas Island so it wasn't long before he got in the way of a car and went to doggy heaven.

In 1975 we adopted a small mixed breed, mostly dachshund, puppy from out local shelter. Chibi (Japanese slang for "short" or "small") grew into a good little dog who was a great companion for our two boys as they grew up. She traveled to Panama with us in 1978. She had to stay in quarantine for thirty days and I'll never forget the look in her eyes during the last part of that ordeal. It was tough on her to live in a small cage for thirty days after running free in our house and yard during the first three years of her life. Chibi came back to Seattle with us in 1981 and, after living a good life, died at her appointed time of old age.

Our next dog was a chow chow named Hiro. He was a good guard dog who liked to sleep outside even though he could come and go in the basement through a dog door. He was restricted to the basement and the kitchen but seemed content since his main job was to protect our backyard. In the evening when he was invited into the kitchen he would flop on the floor between our dinner table and the door, always looking toward the door, on guard even while waiting for his own dinner.

Now we come to the schnauzers. In 1998 I was working long hours away from home and our boys had grown and moved out so my sister bought a mini schnauzer puppy to keep my wife company. He was a black model with a small white spot on his chest and a couple white paws so we called him Kuro ("Blackie" in Japanese), which is a popular Japanese name for a black dog.

Kuro went through the usual growth stages, learning toilet manners and also learning not to chew every available thing that would fit into his mouth. He grew into a good dog but was a little hyper and barked unnecessarily. He was smarter than the average bear, learning a surprising number of human words and, perhaps more importantly, learning visual and verbal cues to determine the moods and desires of his master.

Kuro number one was a good dog. As I said, he was a little hyper and liked to bark unnecessarily, but other than that he was smart and well behaved. He was a good companion for ten years but then he developed cancer that spread quickly. His walks were shortened to a mere block or two and his appetite diminished to almost nothing. Finally he couldn't get up to go outside anymore so I had to take him to the vet for the end-of-life shot.

I carried him out to the car on his bed, Ikuko told him goodbye and I drove to the vet's office. We were shown to a nice little room to wait but when the vet came in with his assistant carrying the needle on a cushion, I got emotional and had to say a quick goodbye and leave just as quickly. I couldn't bear to see my little friend go.

In retrospect, it was best for him and our family. More than once, I've said it would be a good thing, as humans, to have the same option. I know there are many ethical, religious and moral questions and obstacles but, if a person freely chose at an earlier and pain-free time to exit this life in dignity, I would be in favor.

But enough philosophy.

It took us a few years to get over that loss but he had been a good dog so in 2013 we visited a family who had advertised a litter of mini schnauzers. The woman said her female had gotten pregnant accidently while they were babysitting a friend's male schnauzer. It was kind of a fishy story but we decided to look at the pups. There were two males and two females. The females and one of the males were normal puppies but the second male was smaller and had a hernia on the forward part of his belly.

As this pup cuddled in our laps, displayed that floppy right ear and looked engagingly into our eyes, we decided to adopt the "runt of the litter" knowing that if we didn't buy him, he probably would end up being unwanted and eventually going to the pound for disposal with the other unwanted pets discarded by our society. Besides, during the years I've heard that the runt of the littler often becomes the best of adult dogs.

From the beginning, this Kuro was a wonderful dog. Even as a puppy, he was anxious to please and quick to learn. Maybe he was afraid we might send him back to that litter where he was picked on and neglected.

As he grew he picked up words and habits that helped him fit into our family. I use a fifteen-foot retractable leash and after just a couple trials he learned to wait for me at curbs. When I would tell him, "OK" he would run ahead until he found a good smell and then he could sniff a little longer as the leash retracted and then extended as I walked at a slower pace.

He has learned many people words, so when he hears me say, "Time for a nap," he heads for my recliner and waits patiently while I spread an old Army blanket over my lap and the leather arms of the chair before he hops up and nestles in to keep me company during my nap. "Time for a walk," sends him bouncing toward the door to wait while I get the leash ready and dress according to the weather and season. This time he doesn't wait quite as patiently but keeps watching closely until he's hooked up and we head out the door.

Kuro likes his walks. Here is a photo of him taken 9/20/15 around 7:00 p.m. as we paused on a walk.

The photo above is a cropped version of the photo below and was taken on 9/7/16 around two in the afternoon. Tsugumi, shown in the full photo below, wanted to go for a walk with Kuro so we set off on one of our usual routes. Tsugu-chan was visiting from Japan with her mother and mother's brother and sister. They are one of my wife's sister's children and grandchild. Kuro didn't mind her holding his leash. He can tell good people from bad.

This photo was taken 12/15/15 just before five in the afternoon. Kuro thinks my office at the VFW is haunted so he doesn't like to go in there. He stayed in the car while I took care of some business. When I went out to check on him he was shivering so I invited him to ignore the ghost(s) and come inside. I wrapped my feather vest and a windbreaker jacket around him but he wouldn't relax. Here he's looking over my left shoulder at something I couldn't see. A ghost? Hmmm, I'm not sure, but he was happy to head for home a little later. 

Kuro living the life of Reilly and keeping warm under his specially made blanket. 

This photo is one I posted to this blog on 9/20/16. Kuro wasn't interested in the
view so he watched out for bad guys as I watched Elliot Bay.

There is a light misty rain here in Seattle this afternoon. It's a nice break from the cold weather we've been having and Kuro wants to go out early, rain or not, for a walk around our neighborhood.

If you've never had a dog you probably don't understand, but if you've ever owned (or been owned by) a dog you can understand why they are such good friends and even medically beneficial for people.

OK, off we go for a walk. Come on Kuro. . .

Walking at Night

I was going to title this post "Walking in the Dark" but when we walk around Seattle, even at midnight, we have street lights, porch lights and reflected big city lights so we never walk in darkness.

It's nice to walk during the day. The scenery attracts attention and the colors are more vivid. There are more people about and many people feel safer in the daylight hours.

In my part of the city we have views of both the Olympic and Cascade Mountains. Rounding a corner or coming upon an open spot, sometimes one or the other pops into view. Sometimes by turning 180 degrees I can see both ranges from the same spot. The distant scenery is a great attraction of walking in daylight hours.

Walking at night, on the other hand, brings an enhanced sense of space. Distant views hidden in darkness, I concentrate more on the space in my small circle of awareness. The coming cross street, the house with many lighted windows across the street and the darker places under overhanging trees compete for my attention. I notice things I wouldn't have glaced at during the day. As an added bonus, when the clouds are scattered I can track the progress of the moon both across the sky and through its phases.

We were the last neighborhood in the city, but a couple years ago Seattle made the transition to LED street lights here in Magnolia. Replacing the older yellow-hued sodium vapor lights with LEDs was a big improvement in my opinion. The lights are brighter, the colors truer and, as a bonus, the city (taxpayers like us) saves money.

This photo shows a view down McGraw Street through Magnolia Village. The street is well lighted yet there is very little wasted light shining into peoples' yards or windows.  

This view of a residential street (26th West), although not as bright as the main street, shows good lighting. You may wonder why the crosswalk is in a darker area. I don't notice it much when I walk that way but did wonder at the picture. Turns out a telephone line splice junction blocks the light from the LED light almost directly above it.

Contrast is sharp from the LED lights. Here you can see my shadow as I snap the picture.

Color rendition is remarkably true with the LED lights

 

I took this photo in the middle of November before cold weather killed many of the flowers but notice how well the colors show up under the LED lights. It's almost like walking in the daylight.

More natural colors and high contrast even in a dimly lit part of a side street.

Some people worry about safety when walking at night but I have a brave little Schnauzer to watch out for me. I also wear a reflective safety vest in the winter darkness and stay alert to my surroundings.

Walking at night is a nice change. Kuro doesn't howl at the moon but I think he appreciates a walk at night too.

The Trees of Kuroda Field

On the upper floor of the Army Museum not far from this field is a display of Hawaiian winners of the Congressional medal of Honor. Staff Sergeant Kuroda was among them. This field is a park in the middle of Waikiki and has a wide variety of vegetation.

 I'm always surprised by how long and massive the branches of tropical trees are. They need to spread wide to gain the most exposure to the sun.

 Can you spot the breadfruits in this small breadfruit tree?

 In this close up they are easier to see. 

 Seeing this tree swallowing an old fence reminds me of Old Man Willow that held Merry and Pippin captive near the beginning of The Lord of the Rings.

 This Banyan tree is actually across the street from the park in the courtyard of the Hale Koa  Hotel.

These tropical trees are quite a change from our trees in the Northwest. I hope you enjoy looking at the evidence of warm weather and sunshine while experiencing a vicarious walk through the park.

Democracies, Republics and Universal Suffrage

POLITICAL WARNING AS REQUIRED BY -- OH, WAIT, THIS ISN'T A TV AD.

Today's post is a little different. No photos, no travelogue and a mix of optimism, pessimism and personal opinion. Now you've been forewarned so you can read or not depending. . .

By most measures we live in what is still a great country. Definitions of "great" change over the years but even today, with the growth of big government and increased restrictions on freedoms, I would say we live in a great country.

Like greatness, the right to rule or direct the government of a tribe, collection of tribes, state, country or collection of countries has changed over the years.

In primitive times it was usually brute strength that decided who was boss of the group, whether it was a family or a small group of people. Later, as groups grew larger, various methods of determining the leader and/or ruling class developed.

In primitive tribes and other smaller groups there often rose some kind of hereditary leadership passed from father to son (and sometimes from mother to daughter) which was supported by a shaman or medicine man in a sort of symbiotic relationship. The chief was supported by the man who had entree to the spirit world and in return the chief would protect the medicine man. The reigning shaman would pick a bright youth and train him in the art so the spirit world disproportionately maintained its influence. In some cases a council of elders or some other collection of advisors would help the chief rule in a more equitable manner.

In many groups castes or class lines developed and were rigidly observed and jealously enforced by the ruling class. Sometimes there would be a physical sign of belonging to the superior class such as the bound feet in China, caste marks in India or the flat heads of some of the Chinook Indians here in our own Northwest. Only members of the special ruling class could bind the feet or the heads of its members or wear the mark of a special class. I won't mention here the desire of some people in our "modern" society to obtain and/or flaunt signs of belonging to a superior class, but clothes, houses, cars and even purses and shoes come to mind.    

In many societies, the right to rule was derived from God, or the Gods. From Japan, where the ruler was actually called "God" (Tenno - "Heavenly Sovereign") to the western countries where the right of a king to direct the government of a country was God given and unquestionable by the common man, God(s) gave the right to rule.

There were exceptions to the rule by God-given right but even in ancient Greece where democracy as we know it got its start (and only lasted a couple hundred years), the right to vote was limited to a small percentage of the total population.

In order to preserve the right of directing the government of any society there had to be rules to prevent much dilution of those rights. Slavery was one of the common ways to have productive workers without allowing them to have a say in their governance. Even that early democracy in Greece had lots of slaves and slaves were, and still are, a common way to get work done without permitting such persons to vote. Even today there are estimates of 46 million people living in slavery around the world. Class distinctions and slavery have been very effective in maintaining a voting elite.

There are also political systems that allow, or encourage, or force, all their people to vote but allow only one choice for that vote. I guess these systems haven't developed much beyond the brute strength philosophy of the early families of humans but they are pretty effective in maintaining the existing political structure of a society. Until eventually the people revolt. . .

Only in the past couple hundred years have we had serious discussions about systems of government where the leaders are chosen by some sort of vote by a cross section of at least some of the people of the country.

It's interesting to consider the progression of "voting rights" as we know that idea today. We started (in our country) with only certain landed males being able to vote and have added other males, former slaves, females, younger citizens (reduced minimum age from 21 to 18), re-enfranchised felons who have completed their sentence (in some jurisdictions), Indians (Native Americans) and others until today virtually every citizen or permanent legal resident of the United States is eligible to cast a vote.

Disregarding for now whether that vote has any significance, we might ask: Should all of those people be entitled to vote? If a person doesn't know the difference between a governor, senator, president or dog catcher, should that person be able to cast a ballot? If a person doesn't know whether she lives in Seattle or London or Los Angeles? If he has Alzheimer's advanced enough that he doesn't remember his own name? If she doesn't care about voting and only registers for "ballot by mail" because some activist signed her up and ends up voting her ballot?

These are questions that are difficult to decide but impact the value of my vote, or your vote, or the vote of any person who is knowledgeable and motivated to act as a responsible citizen. In a democracy where every person is entitled to vote do we really want the apathetic, irresponsible or incapable person to vote? If they do "vote" do we want their vote to carry the same weight as the vote of other, more responsible citizens?

Disregarding these questions for a moment, consider the idea that your vote might be worthless anyway. In Washington we have 12 electoral votes. Because we are a "blue" state with the big chunk of voters in the Puget Sound Basin voting Democrat, if you vote Republican your vote will be disregarded outright, at least for the presidential election, because those 12 electoral votes all will be cast for the Democratic candidate and individual votes for other candidates are relegated to an interesting footnote.

On the other hand, if you vote for a Democratic elector, once the number of votes cast is enough to put the state's 12 electoral votes in the Democratic column, all the additional Democratic votes are wasted too. No matter how many more Democratic votes are cast there will never be more than 12 electoral votes tallied for the Democratic candidate.

If the whole process makes you scratch your head, join the crowd of questioning voters who are proposing different ways of electing the POTUS.

Voting for local candidates sometimes makes more sense and voting for Initiatives, referendums and other direct votes for new laws is a more direct (democratic?) way of tolling the opinion of the people. Not saying that those "direct" ways of voting are best because sometimes they bring about undesirable ends and impose uninformed "majority" rule on undeserving minorities.

It's been said that "Money buys votes" and whether that means trying to sway voters' opinions via advertising or paying workers to gather signatures on initiatives and other requests for change from the people, it seems to be true. Occasionally a candidate who spends less is elected but it's about as common as an incumbent politician being defeated. In both cases it is an uphill battle.

Since there are so many questions about our way of electing our political representatives a person would think there would be more interest in working for change to develop a better system. That doesn't seem to happen since most of our voters just shake their heads and say, "That's just the way it is."

Traditionally people fought (literally, in many cases) for religious reasons, when they were hungry or were insecure. In our country religion has become more and more a non-starter, none are really hungry (despite the government declared "poverty line") and very few are insecure in their personal lives. Despite the uptick in violent crime in some neighborhoods of some cities, most people live safe and secure lives.

I think our people don't care much about change as long as they have a relatively easy life. Americans, for the most part, don't know what danger, or hunger, or voter fraud, or incompetent government is all about. Only when our government runs out of money, voter fraud becomes common and widespread or we completely eliminate the possibility of a poor person becoming a successful entrepreneur (class migration) will we have a real grassroots call for change.

Overall, our "democracy," "republic," "democratic republic," "representative democracy," "constitutional democracy" or whatever name you want to call it has worked. I see a need for changes and others see need for other changes, but our system has allowed a certain governmental stability while permitting changes dictated by changing perceptions of right and wrong, desirable goals for government and yes, even the value of our people themselves.Will it survive long in the natural tide of the rise and fall of nations? Only you and other motivated voters can answer that question.

Election day is a little over a week away. In some quarters it generates less interest than the impending change back to standard time. So cast your vote, friends. The value of your vote is magnified by all those who don't vote and your vote might even have some influence on local or state-wide elections.

Hawaii Army Museum at Ft DeRussy

Today seemed like a good day to take a break from the usual tourist activities here in Waikiki so I walked over to the Army Museum to see what was new since I last toured the place ten years ago.

The museum is housed in the old Battery Randolf right on Ft DeRussy. The Hale Koa Special Services Hotel is close by. In fact you can see the corner of the one of the hotel buildings above the trees and below the tall blue building in the upper right side of this photo. Also nearby are the historic Royal Hawaiian and Moana Hotels.

The front of the building has a static display of some old guns and a couple small tanks. On the roof is a Bell AH-1 Cobra "Snake" with armament from the 1967 era in Vietnam.

Many of the concrete walls in this old building are twelve inches thick with the seaward walls designed to withstand a direct hit from a 2,000 pound artillery shell, the doors are the original steel doors and the roof is at least 14 inches thick with an additional 12 inch false ceiling in the ammo handling rooms.

 Constructed in 1911 to defend Honolulu Harbor it originally had two seven-inch guns on disappearing carriages. These were later changed to two 14-inch guns.

The building is interesting in its own right. The old walls, doors and cubbyholes for lanterns in case of power failure are just as they were when they were built. The shell handling trolleys and handling platforms give insight into the pre-WWII ways of handling big shells.

In November 1914 the Army warned the residents of Waikiki that there would be test firing of the original seven-inch guns. Despite the warnings people were shocked and as the historical notes on Shore Battery Randolf say "no one was fully prepared for the effects of the shock wave that rocked the neighborhood. Little actual damage was done, though dishes rattled and some windows cracked blocks away. To avoid damage in later years, as Waikiki continued to grow, the guns were seldom fired."

As Wikipedia says, the big shock came later: "The Fourteen inch guns of Shore Battery Randolph were fired once in a practice shortly after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, shattering many of the windows in the Royal Hawaiian and Moana, and were not fired again.^[2]"

After the war was over the guns were cut up for scrap and there were several attempts to demolish the battery building. Since they were surrounded by hotels and other buildings dynamite couldn't be used so in 1976 the building was designated as the home of the US Army Museum of Hawaii.

Now that you know a little about the building, let's take a look at some of the exhibits I found interesting.

The history of armed conflict in the old Hawaiian civilizations was interesting. When I see the old war clubs, wooden spears, rock hammers and shark tooth enhancements I wonder if our generals and other leaders would be so willing to go to war if they had to use such tools to kill each other.

There was a good exhibit that highlighted the 442 RCT and other Nisei outfits during World War II. 

There's an extensive exhibit about WWII starting with the attack on Pearl Harbor and going on through the war in the Pacific.

This might bring back memories for some of the veterans and their families who took R&R here at Ft DeRussy during the Vietnam war. This doorway leads into the exhibit on Vietnam.

The newest exhibit features local boy, Eric Shinseki, who rose from a humble birthplace on Kauai, through the ranks of the Army to become Army Chief of Staff.

The exhibit on Shinseki traces his growth from childhood through Army career and retirement. It is well designed and I'm sure it's a source of great pride to the people of Hawaii.