Starting Five

1. The Edge of Wetness*

The judges will also accept “Skid, Whoa!”

Well, that’s one way to get to Riker’s Island. Delta Flight 1086 from Atlanta nearly skidded off the runway at LaGuardia Airport (the shortest runway of any major commercial airport, which is one reason it’s my least favorite airport on Earth) (correction: my aeronautically attuned friend Eric points out that both Midway and John Wayne have shorter runways; John Wayne, in Orange Co., supposedly has the shortest at 5,700 feet, but it still feels so much less stressful than LaGuardia, whose runways are just a foot or two longer than 7,000 feet) and into the drink that is the confluence of the East River/Long Island Sound.

Anyway, lots of folks will want to compare it to that U.S. Airways flight that touched down ever so gently in the Hudson six winters ago (“Sully!”) but really it’s much more akin to a pair of crashes, both involving U.S. Air flights and La Guardia, around 25 years ago.

In March of 1992 U.S. Air Flight 405 crashed into Flushing Bay just after taking off from LaGuardia in snowy conditions and 19 people died. Half the passengers were able to swim to shore.

Three years earlier another failed takeoff at LaGuardia, this time in rainy conditions in September (US Air 5050), also ended with the plane in the water and two dead.

No one died yesterday. That little hill saved quite a few lives, most likely.

If you want a truly thrilling/terriflying (!) runway approach, try Telluride Airport in Telluride, Colo.

* Hey-O!!!!!!!

2. Plane Ironic

So, yes, Harrison Ford has piloted a few aeronautical objects in his cinematic past.

You may recall this one from Star Wars….

…or this one from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom….

…or this one from that movie (Six Days, Seven Nights) where Anne Heche shows off her fabulous yoga bod…

Elle Heche….

o

…or this one where he’s the president of the United States..

….or, well, I think the only Harrison Ford movies in which he was not in a cockpit are Witness and Regarding Henry. MH interns will fact-check that for me, I hope.

3. One Word…

“Sealfie.”

That’s all I got for this.

4. Beardman

There is such a thing called “lumbersexual,” as chronicled in the Billings Gazette. Read the piece. It swarthy of your time.

5. Wisdom

So the topic the other day was why some cultures quote-unquote “advance” while other cultures, which have been around for millennia longer, do not. And my friend’s father, who worked as an agriculture and food resources specialist in Africa for years, opted to tackle the question for me. He is in his eighties now. I really liked what he had to say, so I am sharing parts of it here with you:

Chad:  1975 

I was on USAID project to determine impact of US food assistance to Sahel (edge of Sahara desert) which suffered several years of severe drought.  In northern Chad, I met an old man and asked through an interpreter, “What happened during the drought?”

 He said “A few more babies died, and a few more old people died, but that was good.  It got our population back in balance with the food supply.”

This was wisdom of the ages, living with one’s environment and resources.  The Judeo/Christian tradition says all life if precious and must be saved at all costs. Other cultures say death is part of life, and accept it as the natural course of events.  This theme or concept is largely repeated by American Indians, Eskimos, and many Asian, Mayan, and Inca societies.

And here are two examples of how well-meaning Westerners drop into a culture or society and by attempting to bring it up to speed, instead cause irreparable damage. The Law of Unintended Consequences is greatly underappreciated:

The missionaries in Nigeria that we frequently visited said they got their start in Africa to rescue twin babies which were killed at birth because of the belief that twins are a bad omen because they increased the population faster than available resources.  Once they got started, missionaries started schools & orphanages in accessible locations – along major rivers.  Thus some Tribal and ethnic groups got education while the inland nomadic groups did not.  The colonials favored the educated ones for govt. positions in police, education, clerical jobs, etc.  On independence, the literature groups took control even though they were often minorities.  This has been the largest source of conflict in Africa as the Arabic/Islamic groups grew up largely uneducated and deeply resented being ruled by minority Christians. 

And…

The Fulani tribes of Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, are traditional nomadic herdsmen of cattle.  They constantly moved, following grass & water availability for their animals.  The United Nations thought by drilling wells and creating water holes, the lives of the Fulani could be improved.  After the wells were dug, The Fulani stayed near them and their herds grazed nearby.  The end result was the grass could not recover from constant grazing, and the areas around the wells became barren deserts.  Now there are fewer opportunities for the Fulanis to graze and greater dependence on international aid for survival.  Many have gone to the cities to become laborers and beggars. Their culture is greatly diminished. 

Finally, while our cultures and rituals and daily practices may be greatly different, there are some universal aspects of humanity that cross oceans and languages and colors. This man also recognized this:

A flashback to a time in Chad, traveling down a dusty road in a truck with my German partner. I had just finished driving a hard muddy trail and he took over.  As we passed by a hedge row with grass huts close to the road, an old woman came out of a hut and looked at me in a strange way.  I felt that she was telling me that she was about to die soon.  I could not understand why she was telling me this until much later.  

Several weeks after that, I was bringing Mother home from the hospital in Kansas City.  She was being treated for cancer. Mother was in the back seat.  When I looked in the mirror, Mother had the same expression on her face as that old woman in Chad.  Mother died a few days later.  I do not know how or why gestures and expressions across cultures and oceans are so uniting and compelling, but I am grateful for the experience.

 Remote Patrol

College Hoops Two-fer

ESPN 6 p.m.

Beginning with College GameDay, we get four ACC schools all ranked in the Top 20. First, it’s No. 2 Virginia at No. 16 Louisville, followed by, at 9 p.m., No. 3 Duke at No. 20 North Carolina.