Poppies in Flanders Fields and in the Tower of London (and in our yard)

I am writing “Why read WWI?”, but I will post this first as I never finished writing about our London/Paris trip.  Before the trip Tuner alerted us the poppies we’ll see in the Tower of London.

2014 was the 100^th anniversary of the First World War.  There were 888,246 (British dead) ceramic poppies in a powerful display of “Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red” in the Tower of London.

“Remembrance poppies” came from a poem written by a Canadian surgeon, John McCrae in May 1915, during the second Battle of Ypres. Flanders Field is in the border between Belgium and France.

There were many versions of stories as to under what circumstance he wrote this poem.  According to Martin Gilbert’s The First World War, McGrae was a 42-year-old Canadian doctor, “an author of a book on pathology, he had volunteered as a gunner on the outbreak of war [August 1914], but then transferred to the Royal Canadian Medical Corps.  After two days surrounded by the human wreckage of the German attack, he wrote one of the most frequently quoted English-language poems of the war.”

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Reading this poem, I always listen to my favorite song of “Green Green Grass of Home” again.  Please go to a post in my blog (posted 6/1/2010) in which you can listen to this song sung by Joan Baez and Tom Jones.  The following link is “Listening to green green grass of home on Memorial Day”.

http://doctorjytsai.blogspot.com/2010/09/listening-to-green-green-grass-of-home.html

Anglophile and Francophile

After coming back from London and Paris trip last September I have been listening to BBC radio every day. And all my non-medical readings focus on WWI and French Revolution.  I am reading John Keegan’s and Martin Gilbert’s The First World War concurrently.  Thomas Carlyle’s The French Revolution is the iBook on my iPad.

They are all British or Scottish authors; no wonder my daughters call me Anglophile.  Janice even asked why I came to America, instead of England forty some years ago.  I said it was the same reason why Europeans went to Paris during Louis XIV’s reign.

The following is from Will Durant’s The Story of Civilization.

“Foreigners came to Paris as to a finishing school for all graces of body and mind.  Thousands of Italians, Germans, even Englishmen, preferred Paris to their native lands.”

By the way Churchill is a Francophile who saw that country “as being synonymous with civilization.”

Divine intervention: It ain’t over until it’s over

The NFC Championship game between Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers yesterday was the most bizarre and most interesting game I saw this season.

Seahawks was trailing 16 to 0 half time; still 19:14 behind with 2:09 left in the 4^th quarter.  I have never seen so important a two-point conversion until yesterday; Russell Wilson (Seahawks quarterback) threw a desperate pass that was caught by his guy.  He was running backward to avoid being sacked and I doubted he was aiming anyone.  He said “the will and drive of these men is unbelievable; we always find a way to finish”.  It was “unbelievable” as it was a divine intervention.

This 2-point conversion put Seahawks on top 22-19 for the first time with 1:25 remaining.  It ain’t over until it’s over.  Aaron Rogers (Packers quarterback) found a way to lead to the fifth field goals of the day to tie the game and force overtime.

It ain’t over until it’s over.  Seahawks beat Packers 28 to 22 overtime.

Come to think about it.  It may not be a divine intervention.  Packers failed to take advantage of Wilson’s four interception throws and settled with five field goals and one touch down only.  In war when your enemy was down, you have to put it out.

Reading General Meade’s congratulatory order to the Army of Potomac after Gettysburg Battle, when it came to “driving the invaders from our soil”, Lincoln exclaimed “Drive the invaders from our soil. My God! Is that all?” Based on the long struggles after Gettysburg Battle many historians would agree that Lincoln was right.

A game involves divine intervention is one that cannot be scripted.  A mortal cannot pack so much high drama in mere two minutes.

Russell Wilson was very emotional and was still crying during the postgame interview.  It was a miraculous come back; a divine intervention!

The game was played in the CenturyLink Field at Seattle.  Can you imagine most of the more than 68,000 fans were in the depressive mood all the time until the last few minutes of the game when the Seahawks suddenly came alive.  People would still say it is well worth it.

It is quite relevant to use “It ain’t over until it’s over” as the title of this sport post, as the quote is from Yogi Berra, the baseball Yankees great (1946-1965).  When Ike visited Bayfield (at Omaha Beach) where Yogi landed, he never saw the general, but Ike saw him play in some World Series and they met (when Eisenhower was the President) they never talked about D-Day.

We visited the happiest place and the saddest place on earth

I came across a headline of the news of measles outbreak in Disneyland; it says “Measles hits ‘the Happiest Place on Earth’”.

We also visited “the saddest place on Earth” when we’re in the Tower of London last September.  Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Bishop Fisher, Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey and Catherine Howard (another Henry VIII’s wife) were buried, after their executions, at St. Peter Ad Vincula, next to the Waterloo Barracks, which houses the Royal Jewels, after their executions.  No wonder the 19^th century historian, Thomas Macaulay said that this chapel was the saddest place on Earth.

So within three months we visited the saddest place and the happiest place on Earth.

Feeling sad at the saddest place on Earth.

Our hearts are with Parisians

Sadly the bell tolled from Notre Dame sounded sadder than what we heard in late September and one cannot see the Eiffel Tower in her night gown tonight as the light was turned out.

Without Janice we couldn’t have made the most of it on our Disney trip

Like our London/Paris trip, we couldn’t have made the most of it on the Disney trip without Janice, who researched and did all the strategic planning before the trip.  She knew the kids couldn’t have the endurance to take the advantage of the extended hours of opening until 1 AM or even 2AM in the Magic Kingdom, so we headed to the theme park as soon as it opened and headed to the attraction deeper inside where the crowd was relatively thin.

Securing the Fastpass for the must-do or the most popular attractions, Janice saved us many hours on the line a day, enabling us to enjoy all the 3-D shows twice.  It is not exaggerating to say this is a strategic planning for each Fastpass allows a small window of time only and we needed to hop from one attraction to another.  Geez, I thought we only talk about "space and time" in physics only.

How did we enjoy the Disney before the smart phone era? Janice constantly tapping her smart phone to see whether she could add another Fastpass or avoid going to the attraction with a 70 minutes wait, thus saving some walking.

Janice wrote our names on each “ticket” (a plastic smart card with a chip).  But while entering the park the first day I gave each a card at random except separating the adult and kid cards, and then I collected all the cards, lest someone may lose it.  Little did I know with the biometric fingerprint system, the card is uniquely associated with one individual, and the one only.

Next day it took a nice gate attendant a while to figure out which card belongs to whom, as we forgot which finger of which hand we used the day before.  The gentleman was very patient and helpful; he appeared to be enjoying his job in solving our problems.  We had pictures taken with him when the mission accomplished.  Janice went to the Guest (in Disney you are the guest, not visitor) relations site to drop an appreciative comment on the gate attendant.

In Disney World one cannot swing the arm without hitting an employee, who is eager to help.  Their job is to make the guests happy; isn’t that Jeff Bezos’ motto at Amazon.com?

I can do it with the arms up, too

Janice tried to talk to me to take some of the roller-coaster rides saying if Gabby can do it I can do it.  One photo shows Sean’s arms are up on the “Expedition Everest” ride; the other photo shows my arms are also up; if Sean can do it, I can do it, too.

Roller-Coaster is not for the faint-hearted of which Gabby is not one

Before the Disney trip I was concerned that Ben and Gabby may be afraid of taking many of the exciting roller-coaster rides as these are not for the faint-hearted like me.  It turned out Gabby couldn’t have enough of them.

The photo shows everyone (except the faint-hearted) on the Expedition Everest ride at Animal Kingdom.  Passing the bamboo forests, waterfalls and glacier fields to reach the peak of Mt. Everest.  Suddenly the train runs away going through a dark cavern; it turned backward before plunging a horrifying 80 feet.  Besides the ferocious Yeti monster (the Abominable Snowman) guards the route to Mt. Everest.

The intrepid Gabby asked to go right back for another ride.  Ben and Katy stayed with me outside for their second ride.  Ben said he felt his heart coming up to his throat.

In the other post I was talking about Gabby blamed us taking her to the Haunted Mansion, saying “I am not old enough for that”.   On each roller-coaster ride I always teased her saying “you’re not old enough for this”; she would stand to the “height check” line to prove she is tall enough.  She barely touches the line of the minimal height requirement.

The photo proves Gabby was indeed the most “composed” one sitting there enjoying herself amidst the screeching screaming of the rest of the gang.

Saving the universe in the Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

In the “Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin” (at Hollywood Studios) we joined Buzz Lightyear (the hero in the Toy’s Story) in the fight against the evil Emperor Zurg.  We’re seated in a fast-moving two-passenger vehicle called Star Cruiser, equipped with an infrared laser gun.  We had to shoot the targets throughout the space ride to help Buzz to defeat the emperor to save the universe.

The photos are taken to prove who was the invincible, the courageous, the timid or the inept.  Ben scored 68,000 points and I scored 800; it turned out I was shooting with my camera, and not the laser gun.  Janice literally got a zero score; it got to be a malfunctioned laser gun or she didn’t know how to aim.  During a lunch break, Janice missed the hot dog bun while squeezing the catchup.  This tells me the laser gun must be working alright.  This is Disney; Disney does thing right!  Janice went back for the second ride and the score improved but was still no match for Ben’s.

Judging on the photos one will agree the universe was saved by Ben and Sean.  Even Gabby was burying her head in front of the laser gun, busy shooting the Emperor Zurg that was marked with a Z.

What is Olivia Newton-John got to do with quantum mechanics?

What is Olivia Newton-John got to do with quantum mechanics? Nothing, except it was her maternal grandfather, Max Born, who coined the term of “quantum mechanics”.  I want to talk about Max Born, put his granddaughter on the title of this post may lure some to read it, at least the first paragraph.

 

Max Born

Students of quantum mechanics would know that Max Born was one of the many giants that brought forth the revolution of quantum mechanics (interchangeable with quantum physics).  Born’s most famous contribution is his interpretation of Schrodinger’s wave function; he proposed that the square of the wave function is the probability of finding the particle, such as electron, at any given point in space at any particular time, for which he was awarded a Nobel Prize in physics in 1954.

 

            Ψ (x, t)² = probability of finding particle at position x at the time t.

 

Probability is a fundamental component of a physical theory.  Ψ (the Greek letter Psi) 

 

Being Jewish, Max Born fled the Nazi Germany to St. John College of Cambridge University in 1933; Olivia was actually born in Cambridge, England.

 

Under Born, Gottingen University became one of the world’s foremost centers for physics.  Max Delbruck, Robert Oppenheimer and Maria Goeppert-Mayer (the second woman to receive Nobel Prize in Physics, after Marie Curie) all received PhD under Born.  Born’s assistants included Enrico Fermi, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner.

Einstein's famous saying, “quantum mechanics is very impressive, but I am very convinced that God does not play dice.”  He wrote this in his letter to Max Born.  Particle-wave duality and statistical analysis are big things in quantum physics.  Einstein was not very convinced, that is why he said God does not play dice.

 

Max Born died in 1970 before his granddaughter, Olivia Newton-John, became a celebrity singer/actress, otherwise she could have told her grandpa that she was more famous than he was.  The Grease came out in 1978.

 

Since you read about Max Born you’ll be rewarded by seeing his granddaughter—a YouTube segment of the Grease.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oKPYe53h78

 

“I am not old enough for that!”

英毅 said (in another Disney post), “由 Ben and Gabby 純真滿足的微笑中，此行一定讓他們留下永不磨滅的美好回憶。”

But, there was an exception.  Gabby cried after coming out of the “Haunted Mansion” ride.  She said we shouldn’t take her there because “I am not old enough for that”.  I think if she said that; she is old enough.

The Haunted Mansion is indeed spooky with a special effect of howling.  A voice echoes from the walls saying “Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your ghost host”.  Gabby was right.

Why is any other firework or 3-D movies needed?

Emily Dickinson read Shakespeare and thought “Why is any other book needed?” it is of interest to learn that Virginia Woolf also said “How could they go on with poetic plays after Shakespeare?” Like minds think alike.

In Virginia Woolf’s diary of 8/20/1930, we read, “I am writing while my potatoes boil. . . .  I am reading Dante, & I say, yes, this makes all writing unnecessary. . .”

After seeing the firework above the Castle in the Magic Kingdom and all the 3-D animated films (Mickey’s PhilharMagic in Magic Kingdom, Star Tours & Muppet Vision in Hollywood Studios, and It is tough to be a bug in Animal Kingdom), I felt, like Virginia Woolf and Emily Dickinson did, “Why is any other fire work or 3-D movies needed? . . . This makes all others unnecessary.”

We saw all the 3-D movies (Star Tours is more than just a 3-D movie) twice; it is worth to be on the lines; nobody complained.

Spending Christmas holidays at Disney World with Ben and Gabby

There cannot be a better place to spend the Christmas holidays at the Disney World with the grandchildren of 8 and 6 years of age.

And we still didn’t forget the true meaning of Christmas while having a good time and magic moment.  Jo asked Ben how he was going to describe his experience of the visit.  He said he was surprised to find out that Disney World is not just one place.  It has Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot; just like Bible has many Gospels such as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

And each theme park has many attractions just like each Gospel has many chapters.  There are God’s words in the Bible and the Disney World evokes wonder and awe just like God’s work.

The heavenly and out-of-this-world experience might have elicited the religious sentiment out of Ben.  On the “Star Tours—the Adventures Continue” 3-D (to just say it 3-D is an understatement) ride in Hollywood Studios, I was literary blown away when we’re heading for the galaxy in the setting of Star War universe.  I could see Gabby, sitting next to me on our space flight, was amazingly taken aback when we safely returned to the Earth.  Without buckling up we might have been thrown away into the dark outer space.

This attraction came to Hollywood Studios of Disney World and Disneyland in 2011 and Tokyo Disneyland in 2013.  The Europeans will have to wait until 2017 when it will go to Disneyland Paris.

 

A good beginning is half success: Brigham and Women’s Hospital was baptized by Dr. William Osler

Today (December 23) in 1954 the first successful human kidney transplant took place at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women’s Hospital) in Boston  The surgeon, Dr. Joseph Murray and Dr. E. Donnall Thomas (of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington) shared the Nobel Prizes in Medicine in 1990.  Both died about one month apart in October and November of 2012.

During the five-day course of “Intensive Review of Neurology” at Boston in October, Dr. Martin Samuels (Chair of Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital) showed us a photo of the opening of the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in 1913.

The photo shows Dr. William Osler and many of the “founding fathers” of the hospital, the likes of Dr. Walter Cannon, Dr. David Linn Edsall, Dr. Charles Minot, Dr. Harvey Cushing, Dr. William Councilman, Dr. Henry Christian.  Apart from Dr. Cushing, they may not be the household names; nevertheless, they are all great physicians.  A good beginning is half success.

Dr. William Osler (one of the four “founding fathers” for Johns Hopkins Hospital) went to Oxford University in 1905.  He was back in Boston visiting Harvard campus in 1913.  Dr. Harvey Cushing wrote, “It happened that Sir William Osler was in this country on a visit and though we were in no condition to have a formal opening his presence forced the occasion, for we wished his baptism even though the hospital ... was still in the stage of scaffolding and plaster.  His influence, indeed, even without this early blessing of our venture, was strong among us.”

Of the many books I have of or about Dr. Osler, this one (Osler’s “A Way of Life”) is a gift from my daughters many years ago.  I must have talked about him all the time in those days.  I should have talked about him more often.  Not only is he the father of internal medicine, but also he is my “model”  of what an internist physician should be.

I mention a few of his sayings to make a point.

“While medicine is to be your vocation, or calling, see to it that you have also an avocation – some intellectual pastime which may serve to keep you in touch with the world of art, of science, or of letters.”

“The young doctor should look about early for an avocation, a pastime, that will take him away from patients, pills, and potions…”

“The very first step towards success in any occupation is to become interested in it.”

“Make me a willow cabin at your gate” and the trip we didn’t make

More than three years ago when a two box sets of DVD of Jean Arthur was released, WSJ had an article of “The legend of Jean Arthur” who was less well known than the stars she starred opposite, the likes of Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Cary Grant.

She died at age of 90 in 1991.  Her last film was “Shane” in 1953.  I found it interesting in a short letter-to-the-editor to WSJ (see photo below).  “Exquisite” is the only way to describe when one hears a good actor/actress reciting the famous lines of Shakespeare plays.

Many years ago I was blown away hearing a soliloquy of King Claudius (Disney’s Lion King was modeled after him) played by, I recall, Kenneth Branagh.  Such a beautiful and powerful thing! I was then determined to read the Bard.

Bernard Shaw said of Laurence Olivier’s playing Shakespeare’s, “He picked words off the playscript page, flung them passionately into the dark and secured them in the minds of theatergoers.”

After attending Richard III in theater, Lincoln wrote to the actor discussing how the opening line should be uttered, “Now is the winter of our discontent.”

When we decided to take a side trip to Paris for 2 ½ days on our trip to London, we scrapped from the list many sites we initially intended to visit: Blenheim Palace, Windsor Castle, Oxford University and Stratford Upon Avon.

I even planned to sit inside the “Willow Cabin” locates in the gate for the Visitors of Stratford Upon Avon reciting “Make me a willow cabin at your gate”.  Of course, I won’t be lucky enough to have a duet with Jean Arthur.

Willow Cabin” in the gate for the Visitors of Stratford Upon Avon

The Majestic Closer—Mariano Rivera

While reading a book yesterday I “swiped” the page and the page didn’t turn; too much digital reading! I finished reading the iBook of DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover last week and more than half way through The Closer—autobiography of the Closer, who else? Mariano Rivera.

No discussion of Lady C’s Lover as I try not to talk about anything controversial, although I believe in DH Lawrence when he wrote Lady Ottoline Morrell , “About Lady C.—you must not think I advocate perpetual sex.  Far from it.  Nothing nauseates me more than promiscuous sex in and out of season.  But, I want, with Lady C. to make an adjustment in consciousness to the basic physical realties. . . .”

It is much less fun to watch Yankees without the majestic Mariano Rivera to close the game and Derek Jeter, the Captain.

If one watches baseball often enough, one cannot help but admire the strength and skill of the arm and hand of a pitcher.  I often time wonder how they can perform under the enormous pressure when the stake was so high.

Rivera apparently drew the strength from the Lord Almighty.  Standing alone on the mound he felt the overpowering presence of the Holy Spirit and that “He is the one who is all-powerful, not me”.  He writes as if he were a preacher.

Yankees picked the guitar riffs of “Enter Sandman” whenever Rivera was called to enter the field, he would recite his prayer,

“Lord, please keep me safe. Keep my teammates safe, and everybody safe. I pray that You will protect me and give me the strength I need. Amen!”

He said if he had his choice he would pick “Onward Christian Soldiers”.

FDR and Churchill singing  “Onward Christian Soldiers”.on the Prince of Wales 8/10/1941

When FDR and Churchill first met on August 10, 1941 they sang “Onward Christian Soldiers” during the service on boarding The Prince of Wales; it was reported that Churchill wept taking a handkerchief from his pocket.

Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter played together in Yankees minor league teams; Jeter was promoted to the Major League (MLB) a few months after Rivera did and they were sent back to the minor league the same day.  A star was not born overnight.  Rivera spent 5 years in the Minor League.

I am surprised to learn how he obtained his famous ‘cutter” (a cut fastball).  From a small boy in a small fishing village in Panama to the Yankees stardom.  What a career, what a life!

The Kindle book of The Closer is a gift from my daughters, who know the father best.