November 10, 2015
VOL. XVII NO. 6
AUSTRALIA, THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, INDIA, AND THE PENUMBRA
Consolidated comments on this issue

YUKS
Amaze Your Friends
By Flashing This Steve Jobs Secret

Ready for a little insider wacko gossip? The most recent orbit of Phil Proctor's monthly Planet Proctor blog reveals that in the heyday of the Firesign Theater, the spacey four-man comedy group that Phil helped create, none other than Steve Jobs, a self-declared Firehead, programmed the iPhone's Siri to respond to a phrase few would know — "THIS IS WORKER SPEAKING HELLO," with "HELLO, AH-CLEM. WHAT SERVICE CAN I PERFORM FOR YOU?" (Try it!) Phil portrayed Clem in the Grammy-nominated 1971 album "I Think We're All Bozos on this Bus," which predicted the computer revolution and apparently tickled Jobs. For more, go to www.firesigntheatre.com.

Comment here

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FAR AWAY PLACES
The Sweep of Australia

Norman Jackson, retired from his project management firm in Paris, now is shooting extraordinary photographs in his new home, Australia. Look below.



For more, and Norm on Aussie "blackbirding" of pregnant girls and his own switch from Parisian to sandgroper, click here.

Scroll down for
      The Columbia River
      Gourmet India
      Biiiigg, sold out shadows on 2017
      Three personal reunions
      Presidential picks

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TRAVEL
Destination Dreams

You Might Not Sample the World the Way the Hummels Do,
But You Could Try One or Two of Their Spots.

Cindy Hummel

If you ever muse about seeing more of those "faraway places/with strange-sounding names," you can draw inspiration from Dave Hummel and his wife, Cindy, who have visited 143 of the world's 195 sovereign states. Though their budgets are larger than most (they take escorted tours), many of their destinations are widely accessible, and Cindy regularly shares her excellent picture-postcard photos. Recently they stayed in the U.S. to explore the Columbia River and its tributaries on a smallish National Geographic cruise ship, encountering Lewis and Clark history and world-class fall colors. For glimpses and Cindy's descriptions, click here. You can find some of their earlier trips in our archives via "site search." As you read this, they are on a cruise along the west coast of Africa, lengthening their list of countries by three.


Scroll down for
      Gourmet India
      Biiiigg, sold out shadows on 2017
      Three personal reunions
      Presidential picks

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FOOD
Currying India

A Pitch for High-end Taste

By Kent Ravenscroft

I'm writing out of the blue to a few of you, my Yale classmates, who might be interested in travel ideas. Many of us are in the position to explore the world a bit, and discerning enough to enjoy special opportunities.

Like... a cultural/culinary tour of India.


Click here for more, including the Taj, a studio apartment in Paris enroute, and a class discount.

Scroll down for
      Biiiigg, sold out shadows on 2017
      Three personal reunions
      Presidential picks

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PLANNING AHEAD
Darkness Before Noon

"Madras, Oregon, a town of 6,000 expecting over 15,000 visitors, reports all hotels have been sold out for two years."

Seldom eclipsed, Roman exults in the prospect of shielding multitudes from retinal burn... and enroute, generating knowledge of how societies guide gaggles of gawkers.

Two years from now in August, most of us will be paying at least mild attention to a rare solar eclipse (while avoiding direct gazes that could damage what remains of our sight). Roman Weil is paying close attention now, especially to the likelihood that thousands of eclipse hobbyists will overwhelm the prime viewing spots. He's urged his local officials to plan, and has persuaded a website to sell parking space reservations at key places. He claims "I had, and still have, no interest in astronomy -- I've been to a planetarium a couple of times." Rather, as a professor of business, he says "I want to learn and teach about the economics and logistics of a Total Solar Eclipse." Has Roman become an eclipsomaniac? Read on.

By Roman Weil

Monday, Aug 21, 2017, in late morning, the first Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) to visit the US in 38 years will occur. With simple eye-protective techniques you can see it partially from anywhere the skies are clear. However, thousands of avid hobbyists will be paying as much as $5,000 to view the eclipse in its "totality" during the two minutes and thirty seconds it will last, observing it from somewhere in a 70-mile-wide swath of locations (see map below) where in daytime you will be able literally to see stars. The show starts on the Pacific coast of Oregon and sweeps across the country, exiting just north of Charleston, South Carolina. Some refer to the hobbyists as umbraphiles and others call them eclipsomaniacs.

Map by Xavier M. Jubier Box seats. The full eclipse will be visible in the 70-mile-wide belt shown here. If you are tempted to find a good viewing site near you, go to www.fpsci.com, press "enter," then "blogs," and you'll see this map on the left of your screen in an interactive form. If you click on it, you can zoom in and out, and if you hover over any location anywhere in US, you will see a table that tells you the timing and amount of totality there.

I first learned about all this from a sister who has been to 11 TSEs. She called in late June, asking about accommodations in Jackson, Wyoming, a primes spot for viewing, because I've lived there for over two years.

What's so great about the totality? As an excellent website run by an editor of Astronomy magazine puts it, "likening a partial eclipse to a total eclipse is like comparing almost dying to dying...."

Click here for, well, deathless (and fascinating) details and links, including one that Roman helped set up for getting parking reservations at great viewing spots.

Scroll down for
      Three personal reunions
      Presidential picks

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PERSONAL REUNIONS I
La Vida San Miguel

Saints abroad. Fred with St. Paul's School campanieros.

Fred Appell writes: "Though it has nothing to do with Yale, St Paul's School has 10 graduates living at least part of the year in San Miguel de Allende [Mexico]. Below is a cocktail party/reunion at my house. I'm the one at the left."

Fred added, "A trick for aging that works for me: I have started being conscious of the parts of my life which are getting better: my tennis serve, my patience, my ability to 'let go,' my sketches. There is plenty going south, but not everything, and I am grateful for the areas which are showing improvement."

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PERSONAL REUNIONS II
Penguins and Robins

They came to Yale by freighter.

By Nick van der Merwe

Nick wrote this after we got wind of an unusual reunion in South Africa:

In January 2015 I organized a reunion of what has become known as the Yale Robins, i.e., South African male students who studied at Yale College as scholarship holders of the Robin Shipping Line. The program started in 1956, with James Wessel Walker '60 and lasted for 11 years, with Ian Glenday '70 being the last Yale Robin. In 1958 I was the Robin scholar, but Yale also awarded a scholarship to Burgert Roberts, which brought the tally up to twelve.

Not robins.

Established to bring one male student per year from South Africa to Yale College, the scholarships were left to Yale in the will of the founder and owner of the shipping line, which moved cargo between the northeast US and Europe and South and East Africa. The scholarship paid for tuition and living expenses and provided for a return voyage every year between South Africa and the US on a cargo vessel. A cargo ship could transport a maximum of twelve passengers without being required to have a doctor on board, so click here for more, including penguins.

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PERSONAL REUNIONS III
Time and Change Shall Naught Avail
To Break the Friendships
Formed BEFORE Yale


Clark Winslow (left) and David Crosby (center) have known each other since they were four, and they have known Tim Adams since they were 12 at the Blake School in Minneapolis. They've been golfing together for over sixty years. This shot, taken at Clark's California house in Belvedere, north of San Francisco, preceded their now-annual outing at the Mayacama course near the wine country. Clark, an oenophile, says they remembered "our other Yale buddies/roommates, Don Pillsbury and Charlie McKee, with a 1995 Ch Haut Brion and a 1989 Ch Palmer. Good fun!! They would approve!"

Lake Lazing ... Finally

Ford Maurer and his wife Christine showed what lakeside summer spots are really for when they convened a post-fourth of July gathering in their "basic, 3-bedroom 1950s vintage cottage with a deck and Koi pond" in the woods under 120-foot oak and tulip trees and just a few blocks from Lake Michigan in South Haven, Michigan. Neal Ormond and his wife Mary arrived after a drive from Aurora, Illinois; Pete Lewis and his wife Wendy via a 14-hour drive from their home in Southwestern Virginia. Ford writes: "Pete is a volunteer fireman in Virginia, so he enjoyed the tour of Spencer Manufacturing in South Haven, where they build fire trucks. Neal, who is President of the School Board in Aurora, gave his views on American Education. We talked a neighbor into taking us on a boat ride along the lake shore, which included a view of the Cook nuclear power plant. Wendy showed Christine how to make 'shrimp scampi.'" One outcome, Ford says, is a piece of implicit advice for the rest of us procrastinators -- "We had talked about it quite a bit before, but finally got it accomplished."

Scroll down for
      Presidential picks

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DINNER INVITATION
Are You Fearless Enough to
Make an Old Blue Prediction
For the Presidential Candidates?

Here are the predictions of Paul Wortman for the 2016 Presidential election nominees, printed along with those of others in the November 8 New York Times. The paper asked readers to offer "predictions, not necessarily preferences." HOW ABOUT YOUR PREDICTIONS? IF YOU'RE FEARLESS -- AND WHICH OF US IS NOT? GO AHEAD AND FORECAST. CLICK HERE. We'll serve laurels and crow after the conventions. Paul wrote:

On the Republican ticket, I predict Marco Rubio, president; John Kasich, vice president. This is the ticket the Republicans need to have a chance of winning: popular politicians from the two key electoral swing states of Florida and Ohio and a Hispanic heading the ticket.

For the Democrats, Hillary Rodham Clinton, president; Elizabeth Warren, vice president. If you're going to break the glass ceiling, why not smash it? Ms. Warren will bring the progressive, Bernie Sanders voice and energy to the campaign that Mrs. Clinton needs to mobilize the Obama coalition of young voters and minorities.

PAUL WORTMAN East Setauket, N.Y.

Agree? Reason differently? Click here to enter your own picks and, optionally, why.

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REMEMBRANCE
Necrology

We regret to announce the death, since our last edition of this publication, of Geoffrey Anders Williams. A full obituary will appear in due course. If you have recollections or information about him, please contact Bob Oliver.

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NOTIFYING CLASSMATES OF SERVICES

If you would like classmates to be notified about your funeral or memorial activities, if we get the information in time the Class of 1962 will send information to the names on our class email list. Please ask those who will be in charge to send the details to Bob Oliver at oliver@moglaw.com, 203-624-5111, and for backup to John Stewart, Co-Corresponding Secretary, at johnhargerstewart@gmail.com, 845-789-1407. We will not send out information unless someone makes this request.

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