A Little Something about Nothing

The following is modified from commentary prompted after reading Penguin Prose. This is the weekly news letter of the pre-K class at Beauvoir National Cathedral Elementary School, attended by our grandson.

I noticed in the Penguin Prose of February 4, 2008 that the Penguins will “talk about the concept of 0 (zero)." Very interesting!

When we teach counting to kids we go: ‘one,’ ‘two,’ ‘three,’ etc. We never go: ‘zero,’ 1, 2, 3.

It’s amazing that the concept of zero wasn't even introduced into Western mathematics until the Renaissance by the Arabs who probably got it from the Indians where it showed up no earlier than about 600 AD. The Indians called it sunya meaning "empty or "blank", related to the Buddhist concept of sunyata meaning "emptiness" or "void."

It is certainly believable that zero was late to enter Western thought, since in early Europe they were still using Roman numerals. It is very difficult to do math with Roman numerals, which does not even have provision for zero. (Try multiplying X times V in Roman numerals.)

There are some who believe that zero is not a number at all but a symbol for a place holder. For example, in the sequence, ..7, 8, 9, 10..., the zero after the one in the number ten simply signifies the start of a new sequence of units. Obviously, however, zero is enormously important in modern mathematics and science; how else could we describe Avogadro's number: 6.023 x 10²³ ? The concept of zero was described by a historian*: "In the history of culture, the discovery of zero will always stand out as one of the greatest single achievements of the human race." Maybe an exaggeration, but as a scientist and one who regularly does household accounts, it is hard to imagine how we could live without the mighty zero.

It will be interesting to see how the little Penguins will be introduced to the concept of zero.


* Dantzig, Tobias, Numbers – The Language of Science, 1930, p. 35.

Whom Are We Fighting?

I was immediately drawn into this picture when I first saw it on the front page of the New York Times of July 1, 2008. It is a very dynamic scene, made interesting by the feeling of movement of armed men wadding against a flowing stream. It raised this question for me: Why are these turbaned men, identified as al Qaeda in the caption, many with beards or face masks, wading through this stream?. This doesn’t appear to be like any of the images I have seen before of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, which are almost always against a backdrop of barren, mountainous terrain. This is a scene of refreshing waters in a verdant grove. My question unanswered, at the end of the day, like all newspapers, this newspaper was dutifully tossed into the recycling bin.

Over the course of the next few days, this image repeatedly would flash into my head at odd moments, especially before falling asleep or upon awakening. There was something about this scene that didn’t make sense to me. I was driven to retrieve the Tuesday newspaper from the recycling bin and to gaze upon it at length in order to figure out what it was about this scene that didn’t make sense to me.

At long last I had it: Are these the al Qaeda that we are fighting in Afghanistan because the al Qaeda are the ones who planned and executed the plot to hijack four airplanes and to fly them into significant targets in the United States of America? This image and this fact didn’t compute! Cognitive dissonance!

The 9/11 plot was a bold one. The twin towers of the World Trade Center not only stood tall physically, but they were concrete symbols of the economic power of the US in the world. The Pentagon is the seat of US military might. The White House is the cherished home of America’s sense of nationhood. Who among these seven men in the photograph would be able to identify such targets, and would be able to articulate the potential value of these targets for showing the strength of al Qaeda? Who among the seven could speak passable English, travel to the US, sign up for flight school, and organize the details of selecting four flights with the correct scheduling, so that the plot would have maximum impact by its simultaneity? I suspect none of these men could do any of that.

So now my question is this: If these are the al Qaeda that we are fighting in Afghanistan, what is the relation of these men to those who did have the smarts to plan and execute 9/11?

The usual rationale is that the Taliban who ruled Afghanistan after the ouster of the Russians supported al Qaeda. No doubt the Taliban was a very oppressive regime, forcing the rule of sharia, requiring women to dress in burqas, cutting off the hands of those for what we would judge to be a minor infraction. But will overthrowing Taliban rule in Afghanistan really eliminate the organization that masterminded the 9/11 attack on the US? Specifically, by subduing al Qaeda, these bands of turbaned tribesmen, how will this get to the planners and perpetrators of 9/11? Will this lead to the capture of Osama bin Laden or his closest confidant Ayman al-Zawahiri?

Truth be told: In fact the New York Times reports that this photograph is not taken in Afghanistan but in Algeria as part of an article showing the strength of a branch of al Qaeda there. This was revealed in the article and not in the photograph caption. Nevertheless, the image of bearded men in tunics and turbans is not unlike the images often seen of Afghans, save for the scenery. And although the article did not focus on Afghanistan, the photograph raises the question of our Afghan strategy. The Obama administration is increasing the military presence in Afghanistan by 17,000 troops and it does recognize that the war can not be won by military force alone. It is not surprising that al Qaeda tribesmen would be fighting against a foreign invader no matter the stated motive. The question remains: Will this new strategy avenge the perpetrators of 9/11, or will this turn out to be another Iraq, where we have decided that our stated purpose for going into Iraq was wrong?

Ragman

Since the house lots in my Buffalo neighborhood were very narrow and not very deep, we kids were more likely to be playing in the street, bouncing a ball off a garage door that faced our street from the more elegant homes on the next block. Any activity on the street was greeted with a great deal of interest. One such happening was the occasional coming of a weathered man on a horse-drawn wagon, shouting “rags, rags,” It didn’t seem odd then, but looking back, a horse-drawn wagon looks like something you might see in a Wild West movie. The horse and wagon visit was only one of a couple of such conveyances that came along our street in the 1930s and early 1940s; the horse-drawn bakery wagon was another example. (See note about bakery wagon in the Credit blog.) Today we would call the ragman a recycler.

Clop, clopping along, we kids often would harass him by imitating his calls or hitching a ride on the back of his wagon. My mom would collect faded or out-of-style clothing, out-grown boy’s clothing, or frayed men’s shirts and await the ragman. Signaling the raggie, as he was called, he tethered his horse to a tree or telephone pole, or if none were convenient, he would tether his horse to a heavy weight he would bring down from his wagon. He used a hand-held scale to weigh the collection, and paid my mom a few coins for the load.

In those days, cotton and wool were the most common fibers, but silk and linen were also found in women’s and men’s clothing. The only man-made fiber then was rayon made out of regenerated cellulose. While nylon was invented in 1935, its first use in clothing was in women’s stockings in 1940 (“nylons”). Nylon didn’t reach wide spread use until after WW II. Other synthetic fibers such as polyester, polypropylene and Lycra didn’t become common until the 1960’s.

I asked my parents how they used the collected rags. I never received an answer that fully satisfied me as I did not know what rag paper was.

On the East Buffalo list serve, the ragman has been the subject of recollections by old-time residents, or others visiting their relatives in Buffalo. Here is a sampling of some of their writings:

Linda: I'm so glad someone brought up this topic of the Rag Man. I've long thought I'd been imagining it, because I never could find anyone else who remembers the man coming through shouting out 'Rags' - I can't recall the street; it was whenever I happened to be visiting at my grandparents' home that I heard/saw him, early '50s.

Susan: I remember a ragman coming down Kehr Street in the 1930s. His call sounded like Raaaaaa to me. I never heard the "g" at the end. I mention this in my book, *Fruit Belt Beginnings. *I believe he also took discarded clothing.

Kathy Johnson I remember a rag man coming down the street with a horse drawn wagon about1945-1949. That was on Shirley Ave. near Eggert. Actually, he must have been still around in at least 1953 or 1954, because I can remember him, and I was born in '50.

Sara Burkholder I remember a fella who came down High St. in the '40s calling Rags, Papers, Iron, Bones. He had a horse and wagon. I always wondered how he lived with what seemed to be a meager offering from the folks on the street.

Jack Volk I remember the "ragman" coming down Rich street (late 40s, early 50s)as well. I always thought he was saying "rix".

sgtnysp Must have been the same guy that came by horse and wagon down Loxley Rd. (Pine Hill section of Cheektowaga) because all us kids thought he was saying "RIX"

Kevin: The rag man would get off his wagon and had a brick shaped metal weight that he would clip a strap to from his horse’s halter, so the horse wouldn't walk away, and then he would go into the invited house and down into the basement and take your collected newspapers etc. He had a scale on the back of the wagon that he weighed the paper bundles on and paid the housewife accordingly. He also had a metal vendor's plate on the side of the wagon, showing he was licensed to do biz in the community.

Terrie & Gary Fox My old dog Spike got himself in the dog pound for chasing the ragman's horse.

There several other blogs and websites that have recollections of ragmen in other cities. They make interesting reading. Here are the links:

http://phillymemories.blogspot.com/2006/05/rag-man.html

http://www.oldnewark.com/memories/vailsburg/mcgrathragman.htm

http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1087287

http://cowhampshire.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/12/26/2414817.html

Photo courtesy of Rich Schwegler.

Grandfather Cobbler

Looking at this photo taken by Clare of little Bilalay “helping” PopPop has brought to mind a flood of memories of my own childhood “helping” my Dad on various projects.

One, which most of you will find the situation almost incredulous in this day of the throw-a-way society, has come to mind for unknown reason: The image I have is of me watching my Dad cobbling shoes. Yes, believe it or not, when I was young, Dad would repair the soles of all our worn out leather shoes or their heals. We had a mini-shoe-makers kit: a cast iron last that you would insert into the shoe being repaired to counter the incoming nail. Dad had an authentic cobbler’s tack hammer which was fun to play with. All this was stored in a special wooden box that also served as storage for shoe polish, sheep skin buffers, and an assortment of old rags for applying shoe wax and subsequent shining steps.

In what were called “five and dime” stores (I suppose “Dollar” stores are the current equivalent), there was a department devoted to home shoe repair supplies for those who couldn’t afford taking their shoes to a professional cobbler: an assortment of men’s and ladies’ rubber and leather heals, pre-shaped rubber and leather sole materials in various sizes, and a selection of roughly shaped leather pieces that would eventually become the soles of a good soling job.

Dad always started with these leather pieces; he would lay it carefully on the shoe to be repaired so as to make maximum use of the available material, trace the shape with a pencil, and with his trusty and always very sharp pocket knife which was always with him, would carefully trim the leather to the exact shape of the shoe being repaired. The tricky part was to bevel the rear of the sole so that it blended in near the heal. The exciting part would be the final tacking of the leather piece to the shoe. I always wondered how it was that we never felt the nails inside the shoe. I guess Dad knew exactly where to put the nails. I now suspect the cast iron last had something to do with it.

Shoe care was a big part of grooming when I was young. It seemed that I had to wax my shoes at least once a week, and while I was at it, do Dad’s and occasionally Mom’s too. When Arline was running her beauty salon, I would also be called upon to apply white cream polish to bring them up to professional status. One would never be seen going to church with shoes that had even the slightest scuff mark. Since I would be walking in front of Mom and Dad going to church, I was under close inspection along the whole route and would hear commentary along the way if I did not look right. Combed hair was part of the inspection, which I always had a problem with because I tended to have a “rooster tail” at the back of my head. Maybe that was caused by the way my hair was barbered. My barber was, of course, my Dad!

Notebook Credit

With all the current talk of a deep recession and the trouble with banks and the credit markets, I was thinking about life during the depression era and our early involvement with credit.

When I was a kid, my neighborhood in Buffalo did not have the big supermarkets that we have today. Grocery stores were mostly family owned, store-front shops. Usually, the family lived in the back of the store. Since all fruits and vegetables were seasonal, that is, not shipped in from afar like Chile, Mexico, or even California, grocery stores carried mostly canned goods, for example, green beans or corn which we now can buy fresh at anytime of the year.. Seasonal fresh produce was purchased at the farmers’ market. Groceries only carried white bread but fresh baked crusty bread could be purchased at the local bakery. Groceries might carry cold cuts, but meat was bought at the neighborhood butcher chop. (Side story: White bread and a variety of baked goods could be purchased from a horse-drawn bakery wagon that regularly made the neighborhood rounds. My mother rarely bought anything from this bakery wagon because she was a prolific baker of pies, cakes, and sometimes bread.)

The grocery store in my neighborhood was called the “red and white;” the outside was painted bright red with white sign lettering. I think that it was a franchise operation, but family run. The proprietor kept a small dog-eared notebook next to the cash register. When someone bought groceries, he would jot down the amount in the notebook on a page dedicated to the customer. All this was in pencil. On Friday, when most people got their pay, they would come to the store and make good on the week’s credit. Notice, I said pay, not paycheck, because most people received their wages in cash in an envelope. Certainly, through the 1930s and ‘40s this was a cash society except for the credit that was offered by individual shop owners like the grocery in my neighborhood. In our family, we never utilized this form of credit. The family motto was, if you can’t afford it (in cash) , you don’t buy it. An exception that proves the rule: my mother made use of “lay away plans” offered by the department stores for the purchase of expensive items such as a winter coat. She would make periodic cash payments until the item was paid in full and only then could it be taken home.

I recall many a time when I overheard the proprietor questioning the little kid (like myself) about when his or her mommy or daddy would be coming in to pay up the account. I never saw a case when the kid didn’t take home the item he or she was sent to buy.

(Another image: One of the fun things about going to the grocery store was to watch the proprietor use his “remote package gripper” to reach for cans or boxes on the highest shelves of the store. (The shelves went from floor to ceiling.) Even better, was to watch him, if he were in a playful or, perhaps, boastful mood to nudge the can forward to topple it off the shelf and catch it as it fell into his other hand. Even more fun was to use the gripper yourself when he was busy attending other customers.)

I think our first venture into credit cards was with gasoline company issued cards. I recall that we had a Gulf Oil card and a Texaco card; there might also have been others. It is to be noted, however, that these cards were used only for gasoline purchases; they could not be used more generally as we now use a VISA card. It was through Rohm and Haas, for which I did a fair amount of traveling in the ‘60s, that I was issued an American Express card that could also be used for personal expenses. However, we used it only during vacations for lodging, meals, and the like; the Amex card was never used for general merchandise purchases. In the late ‘60s and ‘70s, we also had a Sears Roebuck card and a card issued by one or two of the big department stores in Huntsville and then, later, in Jenkintown. But again, these were used only for in-store purchases.

I wonder if history will agree with my impression that the beginnings of the credit card society began with the oil industry.