8pm. The alarms just went off. High pitched; after dark here. This is our first tsunami warning since we arrived here in Hawai'i. I checked quickly online and there was a 7.7 magnitude quake off the coast of British Columbia and buoys indicated a tsunami for Hawai'i (link).
We are on high ground so there is no immediate threat for us.
Then our internet connection quickly slowed to a standstill and we couldn't connect to other news pages (it took me several tries to save this blog post; I kept getting connection problems and ended up saving most of it as a local text file to finish posting later.) I turned on a radio and picked up some communication on the ham radio 2 meter band (146.885 MHz) stating a 7.7 quake centered on Queen Charlotte Island (8:05pm), with a wave expected at 10:28 pm. Some people are reporting in that the alarm has not gone off in parts of the island. An emergency network is supposed to take over the frequency in 15-20 minutes.
8:11 pm the alarm went off again.
At 8:30 people checked in for the emergency tsunami ham radio network. There was some communication about evacuating an area in Kailua; telling people to go to a district park or to a church that are both designated tsunami refuges. The alarm went off a few more times.
I like having a ham radio as a backup. I used it when the power went out to see what people in the area were talking about regarding the power outage. I have it charged from our off-the-grid solar panel/car battery system so we could be completely without power for weeks and it would still work fine.
Update: The wave arrived on time but was smaller than expected. This report puts it at a 2 1/2 foot swell.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
A Sea Hare!
In the pictures above and below you can see the latest addition to our aquarium. M spotted this guy crawling around through our fake plant decorations. He must have come in as a larvae in the fresh sea water we added to the tank. I suspect this is a sea hare (Stylocheilus striatus) although it doesn't seem to exactly fit some of the descriptions I've found online. The have big round "bodies" and two "ears" (tentacles) sticking up in front to resemble a hare sitting. They do have a larval stage when they float around as microscopic plankton; I am just amazed that he grew so quickly and that we didn't notice him until recently. I apologize for the picture quality; I am having a hard time focusing the lens through the side of the tank.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Linear Filter and the Stock Market
A few blog posts ago I talked about a linear filter to separate a complex signal into individual components. Really all this is doing is estimating weights (prices) by multiplying the individual components (number of items) by their weights and evaluating if this predicts the actual total signal (total price). These weights are adjusted up or down to improve the accuracy. The actual procedure is given by this equation:
In addition to estimating the individual weights/prices what is happening is the filter is getting better and better at estimating the total signal/cost. Here is a plot over the 200 days of learning.
The guess price (total cents) quickly zeros in close to the actual price with the absolute error dropping and then fine tuning the remaining small errors.
I was curious how this might work with an actual example. So I downloaded historical closing prices, over the last year, of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Below is a plot of the prices (dollars per share) on a log scale over the last year.
I set up the filter to use the closing prices the previous day of all 30 companies to predict the closing price the next day of 3M, as an example company. In the plot below you can see that it quickly zeroed in to track/predict 3M share prices.
And, below is a plot of the learned weights for each company.
There are a few things I would like to point out about this. First of all, once the prediction zeros in, the weights don't change much at all for the rest of the learning period. The highest positive weight in predicting 3M the next day is not 3M; it is BAC, Bank of America. IBM actually has a small negative weight, suggesting that the previous closing price of IBM should be subtracted, in a small amount, to generate the predicted price of 3M the next day.
All in all this generates a nice correlation, after the first 20 days of initial learning, between predicted (y-axis) and actual (x-axis) closing prices of 3M on the following day.
However, as usual there is more to this story, which I will follow up on in a later blog post.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Planet next door
Monday, October 15, 2012
Spotted Periwinkle, Littoraria pintado
On the rocks just above the water at the beach are lots of spotted periwinkles (Littoraria pintado). A lot of these have snails in them but they are also favorite shells for hermit crabs. We grabbed a few from next to a tide pool and dropped them in our aquarium. The first thing they do is crawl up out of the water and wait, without moving, for days. After a while, occasionally, they will appear in a different position a few days later. At this point I'm guessing they crawl around under the water at night. Their cousins, the common periwinkle (Littorina littorea) of Europe, are edible.
Coconut Experiment
Over a year ago I told the kids that I had a seed for each one of them to plant when they arrived in Hawai'i. I surprised them with coconuts--giant seeds. F's probably weighed as much as she did. We tried planting them halfway buried in soil. (In the picture above they have dried out in the last month and the soil has pulled away.) I read that it can take six months for a sprout to appear, so we watered them for a year. However, they did not germinate so I am calling this one quits. It might be for the best. I am not sure what we would do with them if they did sprout. Our landlord has told us not to plant them on the property we are renting.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Persons Family: Dr. John Reed Persons
The next child of Rev. Elbert E. Persons is Dr. John Reed Persons. He was born April 15, 1876 in Norwalk, Huron Co., Ohio and died August 23, 1924 in Seattle, Washington.
Dr. J. R. Persons went to Northwestern University Medical School and to Chicago Medical College. He practiced medicine in Oak Harbor, Kirkland, and Seattle, Washington.
In 1900 J. R. Persons was living in Chicago, Illinois.
June 30, 1909 John R. Persons married Imo A. Monroe (born 1877 Ames, Iowa; died 1960 Los Angeles, California).
On September 12, 1918 he filled out a WWI draft registration card which gave his build as short and slender with gray eyes and gray hair.
And that's all, I have not found any record of a child of J. R. Persons or any records beyond this.
Dr. J. R. Persons went to Northwestern University Medical School and to Chicago Medical College. He practiced medicine in Oak Harbor, Kirkland, and Seattle, Washington.
In 1900 J. R. Persons was living in Chicago, Illinois.
June 30, 1909 John R. Persons married Imo A. Monroe (born 1877 Ames, Iowa; died 1960 Los Angeles, California).
On September 12, 1918 he filled out a WWI draft registration card which gave his build as short and slender with gray eyes and gray hair.
And that's all, I have not found any record of a child of J. R. Persons or any records beyond this.
Linear Filter
I've been reading about linear filters that separate complex signals into contributions from individual components. They work in a very simple manner and it seems a bit odd that they are effective at all, but they do work.
Here is an example. Suppose you observe meals being sold at a cafeteria. At the end of each day you have how many of each food item were sold (pizza slices, bottled water, salads, and fortune cookies) and the total amount in cash collected at the cash register. However, when you return from your data collection you realize you forgot to write down how much each item costs. So here is a plot of the data.
So, for example, on day 25 a total of $85.76 was made and 9 slices of pizza, 5 bottles of water, 5 salads and 6 cookies were sold. So how much did each cost? (The individual signals between 1 and 10 in the plot are contributing in different proportions to the combined signal.) By using a simple procedure of first guessing prices of 100 cents for each item, then updating that guess by raising or lowering the price if the total is too high or too low, for each day, we can work out the individual prices. The key is to change the price of items that are common on a particular day by (relative to its current price estimate) a bit more than items that are rarer--because they contributed more to the price. Doing this over a 200 day period gives the following plot.
The y-axis here is in pennies. You can see that the price estimates approach and stabilize around certain values over time. In fact, the prices I used in this test example are $5.74 for pizza, $4.63 for salad, $1.89 for water and $0.25 for cookies, which are almost exactly the prices arrived at (within a few pennies) by the linear filtering procedure.
In other words the relative contributions of the individual components (individual prices), to the overall signal (total price) have been estimated with reasonable accuracy--pizza has a larger effect on the total signal than cookies do, etc.
In a simple case like this we could work out the individual prices by hand and sifting through the data (e.g. by finding examples where only one component changed). However, this can be computer automated and works for more complex datasets and even in cases where items are correlated (if you tended to sell more botteled water with salads or cookies with pizza).
Here is an example. Suppose you observe meals being sold at a cafeteria. At the end of each day you have how many of each food item were sold (pizza slices, bottled water, salads, and fortune cookies) and the total amount in cash collected at the cash register. However, when you return from your data collection you realize you forgot to write down how much each item costs. So here is a plot of the data.
The y-axis here is in pennies. You can see that the price estimates approach and stabilize around certain values over time. In fact, the prices I used in this test example are $5.74 for pizza, $4.63 for salad, $1.89 for water and $0.25 for cookies, which are almost exactly the prices arrived at (within a few pennies) by the linear filtering procedure.
In other words the relative contributions of the individual components (individual prices), to the overall signal (total price) have been estimated with reasonable accuracy--pizza has a larger effect on the total signal than cookies do, etc.
In a simple case like this we could work out the individual prices by hand and sifting through the data (e.g. by finding examples where only one component changed). However, this can be computer automated and works for more complex datasets and even in cases where items are correlated (if you tended to sell more botteled water with salads or cookies with pizza).
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Kung-Fu: Yellow Sash!
T tested today at his Kung-Fu school and passed up to the next level. The picture above from earlier is the last time you will see him in his white sash. Now he will wear a yellow sash.
His Sifu took him aside today and told him that he hoped he would continue with Kung-Fu because not many non-Chinese kids are interested in Kung-Fu (in fact it used to only be taught to people with Chinese ancestry until recently, beginning here in Hawai'i) and that T had improved a lot since he started in March and he wanted to see him continue.
Persons Family: Frank and Alfred
Frank Persons (June 9, 1871 - October 12, 1871) and Alfred Cookman Persons (January 16, 1873 - August 23, 1881) are the next two children of Rev. Elbert Elvero Persons in Ohio. However, according to my notes, they both died young so I can not find living relatives by following them further. I am just including them here for completeness.
Noisy Attraction in Two Dimensions
And this is the opposite of the last post. The points attract each other locally. However, to make it more interesting the noise (wiggle) increases with the number of local points, so if clumps accumulate too large they can fly back apart.
And here is a version where the history of the points position is painted.
And here is a version where the history of the points position is painted.
Repulsion in two dimensions
Here is another small basic program I made. The points repeal each other and move from random starting points to a regular "crystal" structure.
Below is a version that paints the background.
Below is a version that paints the background.
Persons Family: Mary Persons
The daughter of Dr. Elbert Lapsley Persons and Helen Coles Persons was Mary Persons, born ca. 1937 in North Carolina.
At this point I have very little that I have been able to track down for Mary Persons other than appearing with her parents in the 1940 census.
This is purely circumstantial, but it is possible that she is the same person as Mary Chauncey Persons that attended Duke University in the 1950's. Mary lived in Durham and her father was a professor at Duke and she would be about the right age. Below is a picture of M. C. Persons from the 1958 university yearbook.
At this point I have very little that I have been able to track down for Mary Persons other than appearing with her parents in the 1940 census.
This is purely circumstantial, but it is possible that she is the same person as Mary Chauncey Persons that attended Duke University in the 1950's. Mary lived in Durham and her father was a professor at Duke and she would be about the right age. Below is a picture of M. C. Persons from the 1958 university yearbook.
Persons Family: Dr. Elbert L. Persons
Moving down another generation in my search for what happened to this part of the family, the son of Dr. Elbert E. Persons is Dr. Elbert Lapsley Persons; my father's second cousin. He was born September 23, 1904 in Fort Flagler, Washington.
He lived with his parents in New York and Ohio in 1910 and 1920. In 1930 he is living in Boston, Massachusetts and from 1940 onward his residence is Durham, NC, where he died Nov. 24, 1970.
In Durham he was a professor at Duke University Medical School. He was also president of the American Society of Internal Medicine and the American Therapeutic Society.
Here is a transcript of his obituary:
"Duke Medical Professor Dies
DURHAM (AP) - Dr. Elbert Lapsely Persons, 66, former president of the American Society of Internal Medicine and of the American Therapeutic Society, died Tuesday after a sudden illness.
He was a professor at the Duke University Medical School, with which he was connected for 40 years, and maintained a private practice.
During World War II, Persons was a director of as Duke-affiliated medical unit which served at Ft. Bragg, N.C., and in England.
From 1950 to 1959 he was governor of the Carolina chapter of the American College of Physicians.
A memorial service will be held Friday at the Duke University Chapel. "
(The Danville Bee, Nov. 25, 1970, P. 32, (7C))
From this we can see that Dr. Persons was involved in WWII with a medical unit.
Dr. Persons married Helen Coles (born ca. 1905 New Jersey); a sister of the blind painter Mary Drake Coles (link); before she lost her vision M. D. Coles worked in Haiti for a while. They had a daughter, Mary Persons, born about 1937 in North Carolina.
He lived with his parents in New York and Ohio in 1910 and 1920. In 1930 he is living in Boston, Massachusetts and from 1940 onward his residence is Durham, NC, where he died Nov. 24, 1970.
In Durham he was a professor at Duke University Medical School. He was also president of the American Society of Internal Medicine and the American Therapeutic Society.
Here is a transcript of his obituary:
"Duke Medical Professor Dies
DURHAM (AP) - Dr. Elbert Lapsely Persons, 66, former president of the American Society of Internal Medicine and of the American Therapeutic Society, died Tuesday after a sudden illness.
He was a professor at the Duke University Medical School, with which he was connected for 40 years, and maintained a private practice.
During World War II, Persons was a director of as Duke-affiliated medical unit which served at Ft. Bragg, N.C., and in England.
From 1950 to 1959 he was governor of the Carolina chapter of the American College of Physicians.
A memorial service will be held Friday at the Duke University Chapel. "
(The Danville Bee, Nov. 25, 1970, P. 32, (7C))
From this we can see that Dr. Persons was involved in WWII with a medical unit.
Dr. Persons married Helen Coles (born ca. 1905 New Jersey); a sister of the blind painter Mary Drake Coles (link); before she lost her vision M. D. Coles worked in Haiti for a while. They had a daughter, Mary Persons, born about 1937 in North Carolina.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Cleaning the Old Vacuum Pump § 2
Next came cleaning up the pump itself. I drained the old oil out, which was black. The took it apart.
I got the rotor housing out. The case around it was full of brown sludge from dust and rust mixed in the old oil. So I cleaned that out and scrubbed everything.
Above you can see one of the actual rotors (it is a two-stage pump).
I put it all back together and need to get some more oil to add, then fire it up and see if it works.
DNA Extraction
In another project, we tried extracting DNA from strawberries using household materials. We had to work quickly because the strawberries were fast disappearing!
First we blended the strawberries in a blender.
Then we added some dishwashing soap to disrupt the cell membranes.
Then some meat tenderizer to break down the proteins. In the picture below I was describing the cell membranes, the proteins that chop up DNA, and proteins that are attached to the DNA, on the whiteboard to explain to T and M why we were doing this.
Then we poured the slurry through a strainer.
Then we mixed rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol in the solution and white clumps of DNA appeared as it came out of solution between the alcohol and the water layer.
We tried spooling the DNA out but it was a gross mess.
In retrospect I think I shouldn't have used the blender on the strawberries. It probably sheared the DNA molecules too much so they wouldn't string together well--we should have been gentler. A single DNA molecule can be over an inch long! The average spacing between "letters" in a strand of DNA is 3.4 ångstrom, which is 10^(-10) meter. There are 6.6 billion of these ATCG basepair letters in the human genome, which works out to a combined length of 2.2 meters of DNA per cell (how does it all fit?). Dividing this by 46 chromosomes gives an average of 1.9 inches (4.8 cm) per single DNA molecule.
An even more amazing number comes from considering how much DNA is packed into your body. Humans are made up of 10 trillion cells. Which works out to a total of 22 billion kilometers of DNA per person if it was stretched out end to end. This is more than twice the diameter of the orbit of Neptune around the sun!
To carry this a step further, there are 7 billion humans on the planet right now. The combined existing human DNA is a length of 1.54 x 10^(20) kilometers, or 154 quintillion kilometers, or 100 million light years (if my math is not off--a light year is about a trillion kilometers). This is about twice the distance to the Virgo Galaxy Cluster!
First we blended the strawberries in a blender.
Then we added some dishwashing soap to disrupt the cell membranes.
Then some meat tenderizer to break down the proteins. In the picture below I was describing the cell membranes, the proteins that chop up DNA, and proteins that are attached to the DNA, on the whiteboard to explain to T and M why we were doing this.
Then we poured the slurry through a strainer.
Then we mixed rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol in the solution and white clumps of DNA appeared as it came out of solution between the alcohol and the water layer.
We tried spooling the DNA out but it was a gross mess.
In retrospect I think I shouldn't have used the blender on the strawberries. It probably sheared the DNA molecules too much so they wouldn't string together well--we should have been gentler. A single DNA molecule can be over an inch long! The average spacing between "letters" in a strand of DNA is 3.4 ångstrom, which is 10^(-10) meter. There are 6.6 billion of these ATCG basepair letters in the human genome, which works out to a combined length of 2.2 meters of DNA per cell (how does it all fit?). Dividing this by 46 chromosomes gives an average of 1.9 inches (4.8 cm) per single DNA molecule.
An even more amazing number comes from considering how much DNA is packed into your body. Humans are made up of 10 trillion cells. Which works out to a total of 22 billion kilometers of DNA per person if it was stretched out end to end. This is more than twice the diameter of the orbit of Neptune around the sun!
To carry this a step further, there are 7 billion humans on the planet right now. The combined existing human DNA is a length of 1.54 x 10^(20) kilometers, or 154 quintillion kilometers, or 100 million light years (if my math is not off--a light year is about a trillion kilometers). This is about twice the distance to the Virgo Galaxy Cluster!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi)
The mullets M and I netted and put in our aquarium are growing surprisingly quickly. Recently we caught some black spot sergeant's (I will describe them in a later post) and added them to the tank but it is becoming overcrowded. The sharp nosed mullets are supposed to ultimately grow to a foot and a half long. In the last few days when I reach in the tank to adjust something they are nipping at my hand. We are worried about them biting at the smaller fish. So we decided to return some to the ocean. We caught 2 (of 3) this morning out of the tank and M and I took them to the shore, near where we caught them, to release. We also used this as an opportunity to collect some fresh sea water for the tank.
We went to a small cut in the shore to get down to the sandy area between the rocks and poured them in. They instantly joined up with a small school of mullets just out past the wave break in the water. As I turned around to head back up I saw a large brown object with a head looking at us about 10 feet away. It shocked me because we had walked right by it (it's brown fur made it blend in with the rock next to it). Next to the waves I try to keep an eye toward the ocean so a large wave doesn't catch us off guard--and the seal was out of my attention zone. I am not used to seeing seals so my mind took a split second to register what this was with a dog-like face looking at us. As it registered in my brain that this was a seal I also realized we were between it and the water and it was the size of M. It was bobbing its head up and down looking at us and flopped forward a bit--toward us.
I told M to freeze and get behind me (yes, in retrospect this is a contradiction). Then we edged to the side against the opposite rock wall and as soon as we could we climbed up the rock wall away from the seal. I was also realizing that this was an endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi); there are only about a thousand of them left in the wild and it is illegal to harass or directly interact with them in any way. As we climbed up on top of the rock and looked down we could see a number bleached into the fur on its back (N20) and orange tags on its back flippers.
It lay there for a few more minutes then started lumbering awkwardly and slowly toward the water. Once it hit the water however it transformed into greased lightning and zoomed away, then reappeared and did some barrel rolls, floated lazily for moment, and then shot off again out of sight. I was wishing I had my camera with me but I didn't. We noted the time when we got back to the van.
When we got back home I reported it to the NOAA Hawaiian Monk Seal hotline (link).
"I saw a monk seal resting on the beach (on the sand next to the rocks) on the North shore of Ka'ena park near the parking area at the road's end of Farrington Highway. The lat/long from google earth are 21°34'47.20"N 158°14'11.91"W . The time was 9:15 am, Oct. 7, 2012. The back flippers were tagged and it had a "N20" bleach mark on its back."
Monk Seals are very rare, not only are Hawaiian Monk Seals down to 1,100 individuals, the Caribbean monk seals are now extinct and the only other monk seals, Mediterranean monk seals, are also critically endangered (link).
I searched online and found this same seal (N20) mentioned on another blog (MonkSealMania). In the picture below it looks younger and smaller than the seal we saw.
The NOAA hotline got back to me with some additional info. It turns out she is a female pup, also known as RL42, and was born nearby on July 24th. Her mother is from Nihoa in the northwest Hawaiian island chain.
"Thank you for your email. We appreciate all sighting reports as they give us valuable information on the whereabouts, behaviors and favored locations of seals here in the main Hawaiian Islands. The seal you saw is a female weaned pup from this year. She was born on the western side of the beach just down from Camp Erdman on July 24th. Her mother is a seal that swam down from Nihoa last year and has been hauling out around Kaena Point. Little RL42 has been hanging out around her natal beach since she was weaned and has slowly started exploring to the west in the last few weeks."
Also, here is a video from National Geographic about Hawaiian Monk Seals.
We went to a small cut in the shore to get down to the sandy area between the rocks and poured them in. They instantly joined up with a small school of mullets just out past the wave break in the water. As I turned around to head back up I saw a large brown object with a head looking at us about 10 feet away. It shocked me because we had walked right by it (it's brown fur made it blend in with the rock next to it). Next to the waves I try to keep an eye toward the ocean so a large wave doesn't catch us off guard--and the seal was out of my attention zone. I am not used to seeing seals so my mind took a split second to register what this was with a dog-like face looking at us. As it registered in my brain that this was a seal I also realized we were between it and the water and it was the size of M. It was bobbing its head up and down looking at us and flopped forward a bit--toward us.
I told M to freeze and get behind me (yes, in retrospect this is a contradiction). Then we edged to the side against the opposite rock wall and as soon as we could we climbed up the rock wall away from the seal. I was also realizing that this was an endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi); there are only about a thousand of them left in the wild and it is illegal to harass or directly interact with them in any way. As we climbed up on top of the rock and looked down we could see a number bleached into the fur on its back (N20) and orange tags on its back flippers.
It lay there for a few more minutes then started lumbering awkwardly and slowly toward the water. Once it hit the water however it transformed into greased lightning and zoomed away, then reappeared and did some barrel rolls, floated lazily for moment, and then shot off again out of sight. I was wishing I had my camera with me but I didn't. We noted the time when we got back to the van.
When we got back home I reported it to the NOAA Hawaiian Monk Seal hotline (link).
"I saw a monk seal resting on the beach (on the sand next to the rocks) on the North shore of Ka'ena park near the parking area at the road's end of Farrington Highway. The lat/long from google earth are 21°34'47.20"N 158°14'11.91"W . The time was 9:15 am, Oct. 7, 2012. The back flippers were tagged and it had a "N20" bleach mark on its back."
Monk Seals are very rare, not only are Hawaiian Monk Seals down to 1,100 individuals, the Caribbean monk seals are now extinct and the only other monk seals, Mediterranean monk seals, are also critically endangered (link).
I searched online and found this same seal (N20) mentioned on another blog (MonkSealMania). In the picture below it looks younger and smaller than the seal we saw.
-Z.jpg) |
| Credit for image http://monksealmania.blogspot.com |
The NOAA hotline got back to me with some additional info. It turns out she is a female pup, also known as RL42, and was born nearby on July 24th. Her mother is from Nihoa in the northwest Hawaiian island chain.
"Thank you for your email. We appreciate all sighting reports as they give us valuable information on the whereabouts, behaviors and favored locations of seals here in the main Hawaiian Islands. The seal you saw is a female weaned pup from this year. She was born on the western side of the beach just down from Camp Erdman on July 24th. Her mother is a seal that swam down from Nihoa last year and has been hauling out around Kaena Point. Little RL42 has been hanging out around her natal beach since she was weaned and has slowly started exploring to the west in the last few weeks."
Also, here is a video from National Geographic about Hawaiian Monk Seals.
Medal of Honor Convention
Friday night there was a party in Honolulu for military medal-of-honor recipients as a part of the 2012 Medal of Honor Convention. It featured lion dances and T was invited to go along with his Kung-Fu lion dance group. Above, he is in (part of) his uniform just before dropping him off. He was completely exhausted when V picked him up that night. Up until this time he has mainly been doing the cymbals for the lion dance. However, we found out he (for the first time) got to be part of the lion costume (inside it) out on the floor for the convention!
Saturday, October 6, 2012
You ready go bye now?
I like hearing different languages and regional dialects of languages. In Germany I enjoyed hearing, learning and using Plattdeutsche. Here in Hawai'i you can hear Japanese, Filipino, Korean, etc. in shops and on the streets. There are even radio stations dedicated to different Asian languages. Some Hawaiian words like keiki, mauka, makai, kama'aina, etc. are freely used in the middle of English sentences. The sign above is an example with mahalo (thanks) at the end.
There is also a Hawaiian Pidgin/Creole that originated here between coworkers that spoke different languages. It pops up every now and then like when an older guy address me as "bruddah" up on the north shore. One time, V and I had not eaten breakfast in the morning rush. After taking care of everything we had some time free up in town and stopped at a diner and got a quick bite. When the waitress brought the check she asked if we were ready to go, "you ready go bye now?"
Even when not speaking pidgin or using some Hawaiian words there is sometimes a unique Hawaiian way to say things in English. Hawaiians often drop "to" and articles (the/a/an) and may leave out simple verbs and so are likely to say "you going store?" instead of "are you going to the store?" This is in addition to the Hawaiian style of pronouncing words, which I am having a hard time putting my finger on. Sentences often rise in tone and it's is almost like each syllable is overly pronounced and the syllables seem to get longer toward the end of the word/sentence; but as I say, I am still trying to grasp how to describe it.
I have also picked up on some British dialect influence. Early on there were British here in Hawai'i and at one time (1843) there was even an attempt to annex Hawai'i to the UK with a corresponding five month military occupation (link). The British influence is also apparent in the flag of Hawai'i (above), which contains the Union Jack, originally commissioned by King Kamehameha I. The British dialect influence also appears in the sign above. "Rubbish" is used instead of "trash" or "garbage," which would be used in standard American English.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Registered to Vote
The deadline for registering is fast approaching, so I filled out a Hawai'i voter reregistration form (link), filled it out, and dropped it off this morning. The guy took it away and then looked back at me, non-verbally asking what else I was waiting for. I asked if he needed to see any ID or utility bills with my address (which I had brought with me) and he said "no, that's it." I haven't registered to vote in many years but this made me suspicious. I'm worried on election day that there will be a problem. I'm planning to take ID and utility bills (with my address on them) with me when I go to vote so I can show the people at the polling place if there are any problems.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Balsam Apple, Momordica balsamina
Like the Scarlet Ivy Gourd I blogged about earlier, Balsam Apple (Momordica balsamina) vines are popping up all over the place. They are also in the Cucurbit family, but the fruits are poisonous. I suspect these are also spread by birds. They are originally from Africa but are now invasive in warm climates all around the world. Thomas Jefferson even planted them at Monticello (link).
Monday, October 1, 2012
Persons Family, Dr. Elbert E. Persons
Moving down a generation, the oldest son of Rev. Elvero G. Persons is Dr. Elbert E. Persons; my grandfather's first cousin. He was born July 1, 1869 in Sandusky, Erie Co., Ohio.
Dr. E. E. Persons attended Ohio Wesleyan and Northwestern Universities and joined the Medical Corps of the US Army.
In the 1900 census he shows up in the Pasay Cavalry Barracks in Manila, Philippines.
Oct 22, 1903 he marries Helen Lapsley.
In traveling at various times he shows up in Cristobal, Canal Zone (Panama); New Orleans, Louisiana; Cuba; and Antwerp, Belgium.
In the 1910 census he is living in Ward 1 Manhattan, New York.
In 1917 he left for France to command a hospital unit in WWI. The newspaper clipping is below.
Here is a transcript.
In 1918 he was with the Italian Army in Italy.
In 1920 he is living in Columbus, Ohio.
He died July 8, 1924 at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery (Plot: Sec: S E, Site: 3093).
A copy of his obit from page 2 of the Washington Post is below.
Here is the transcript.
He was also awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his work in France and Italy in World War I.
"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel (Medical Corps) Elbert E. Persons, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. Colonel Persons organized the United States Army Ambulance Service Training School at Camp Crane, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and as its Commanding Officer from June 1917 to May 1918, by his great energy, marked executive ability, and wide professional knowledge, succeeded in rapidly training, equipping, and dispatching overseas ambulance units where they rendered excellent service with the French armies and later with our own forces. From June to December 1918, he commanded the American Ambulance Service, serving on the Italian front, where he again rendered conspicuous service in a position of great responsibility." (link)
In the Washington Post article above it gives his son as Elbert E. Persons, Jr; However, his son's name was actually Elbert Lapsley Persons. I will pick up where I left off with him in a later post.
Dr. E. E. Persons attended Ohio Wesleyan and Northwestern Universities and joined the Medical Corps of the US Army.
In the 1900 census he shows up in the Pasay Cavalry Barracks in Manila, Philippines.
Oct 22, 1903 he marries Helen Lapsley.
In traveling at various times he shows up in Cristobal, Canal Zone (Panama); New Orleans, Louisiana; Cuba; and Antwerp, Belgium.
In the 1910 census he is living in Ward 1 Manhattan, New York.
In 1917 he left for France to command a hospital unit in WWI. The newspaper clipping is below.
 |
| The Boston Globe, May 15, 1917, Boston, Massachusetts, p. 5 |
Here is a transcript.
PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL
UNIT SAILS FOR FRANCE
NEW YORK. May 15-The members of
the Presbyterian base hospital unit No.
2 of the American Red Cross sailed yesterday
for France from an American
port. The unit is commanded by Maj
Elbert E. Persons of the Medical Corps
of the United States Army, who has
Capt Edward W. Wales Jr as his adjutant.
Dr George E. Brewer, one of the most
prominent surgeons of this city, is director
of the unit, which Includes 23 doctors
and 10 nurses. The hospital will be
equipped to cure for 100 cases at a time.
Among the nurses from out of New
York are Marion M. Shanks, Filchburg,
Mass; Dora M. Anderson. North
Conway, N H; Ethel R. Arthur Lakeville,
Conn: Ruby Hobey, Hartford
Conn, and Ethel L. Moon, Waterbury,
-----------------------------------
and New York have now sailed for
France. Before the end of the week
other units from Philadelphia, Chicago
and Detroit are expected to follow
(The Boston Globe, May 15, 1917, Boston, Massachusetts, p. 5)
In 1918 he was with the Italian Army in Italy.
In 1920 he is living in Columbus, Ohio.
He died July 8, 1924 at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery (Plot: Sec: S E, Site: 3093).
A copy of his obit from page 2 of the Washington Post is below.
 |
| Washington Post, July 11, 1924, Page 2 |
LIEUT. COL. PERSONS BURIED IN ARLINGTON
Army Medical Corps Officer's Death Attributed to War Services.
Military honors were accorded the body of Lieut. Col. Elbert E. Persons army medical corps at funeral services yesterday afternoon in Arlington national cemetery. Col Persons died in Walter Reed hospital Tuesday after a long illness due to arduous services in Europe in the world war. He is survived by his wife and a son Elbert E. Persons Jr., a student in Harvard university.
Col Persons was 56 years old, a native of Ohio, and a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan and Northwestern universities. He was appointed a first lieutenant in the medical corps from Illinois, October 8, 1900, and reached the grade of lieutenant colonel May 15, 1919. He served In the Philippines, in Cuba and in the Army War college here. During the world war he held the emergency rank of colonel and assisted in the reorganization of the United States ambulance service at Camp Crane, Allentown, Pa.
In the spring of 1918, Col. Persons went to Europe and served in Italy with the Italian army commanding 20 units of the ambulance service. Following his return he was at Columbus, Ohio as a medical instructor of the national guard of the Fifth corps area.
(Washington Post, July 11, 1924, Page 2)
He was also awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his work in France and Italy in World War I.
"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel (Medical Corps) Elbert E. Persons, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. Colonel Persons organized the United States Army Ambulance Service Training School at Camp Crane, Allentown, Pennsylvania, and as its Commanding Officer from June 1917 to May 1918, by his great energy, marked executive ability, and wide professional knowledge, succeeded in rapidly training, equipping, and dispatching overseas ambulance units where they rendered excellent service with the French armies and later with our own forces. From June to December 1918, he commanded the American Ambulance Service, serving on the Italian front, where he again rendered conspicuous service in a position of great responsibility." (link)
In the Washington Post article above it gives his son as Elbert E. Persons, Jr; However, his son's name was actually Elbert Lapsley Persons. I will pick up where I left off with him in a later post.
Lost in the System
This story is something V was involved in, years ago, back when we lived in New York. It illustrates some of the issues that can arise, and assumptions that get made, when people live in different cultures. Another reason I'm writing about it here is because I am very proud of what V was able to do in this situation, by just caring a bit and going a little beyond her job requirement. I have changed names to obscure the identity of the person involved but the rest is all true.
V used to work as a supportive employment specialist for a company in New York. She had a case load of people with a range of mental and sometimes also physical disabilities and worked finding them jobs in the community. Then she would followup with them for job coaching and development. (By the way, sometimes I would help her set up at a job site, or be waiting around for her to get off work, which led to people assuming I was one of her clients, which in turn led to some funny situations.)
One of the clients that was moved over to her case load when she started was "Andrei" who had been living in the US for several years and was originally from the Soviet Union. He was mentally disabled, only communicated minimally, and was very hard to understand, but he was a reliable worker. However, he was clearly unhappy, he would often sit and give a big sigh and stare at whatever he was working on. V wasn't even sure what his complete history was or how he ended up with them. There was a person in the past that learned some Russian and tried talking with him but it was hard to talk to him even in Russian and some of his phrases were "off" and "awkward" according to the Russian speaker which contributed to his diagnoses of a mental disability. V took notice and tried getting through to him on her own initiative. For instance, she bought a Russian phrasebook at the bookstore and used some simple phrases with him to try to speak a little with him in his own language.
Like before, this didn't really progress anywhere. He had been referred to ESL courses before but it didn't work. So, V referred him to a different local adult literacy organization that was more one-on-one and used "Rosetta Stone" software to teach English. Rosetta Stone only uses the language you are learning so, in this case, all of the work is in English; it doesn't make any assumptions about what language(s) you already know.
In the new program Andrei's English communication started progressing very rapidly. He was able to talk more and more until one day he came in and asked V why they all kept calling him "Andrei." Andrei was not his name at all; it was actually Viktor. Later on after talking some more he asked why they always used to try to talk to him in Russian. It turns out he is not even from Russia. He was from a different republic in the USSR, spoke a different language, and only knew some minimal Russian. He did however take German in school and could communicate in German just fine, but in New York there wasn't anyone around, that he ran into at work, that seemed to understand German.
Not much longer after this there came the full realization that he did not have any mental disability at all. He was of perfectly normal intelligence and was trained in a series of technical skills like electronics and machine shop work. However, since coming to the US he was only given unchallenging jobs that bored him tremendously. When V last saw him, before we left NY, he was very happy and was promoted to a supervisor position.
-----
While we lived in Germany we saw first hand how mistakes, based on assumptions, can creep into a system, especially when you are an outsider. This ranged from retirement plans to school placements, but even basic, "inarguable" facts were affected. For example, we had our names, birthdates, even citizenship (V was Venezuelian!) mistakes entered into our records in Germany and once they are in the system it is difficult to impossible to correct these mistakes. I was told not to worry about it by some other Germans but, when it comes time to collect my German retirement, for example, they use my name and birth-date to identify me in the system.
V used to work as a supportive employment specialist for a company in New York. She had a case load of people with a range of mental and sometimes also physical disabilities and worked finding them jobs in the community. Then she would followup with them for job coaching and development. (By the way, sometimes I would help her set up at a job site, or be waiting around for her to get off work, which led to people assuming I was one of her clients, which in turn led to some funny situations.)
One of the clients that was moved over to her case load when she started was "Andrei" who had been living in the US for several years and was originally from the Soviet Union. He was mentally disabled, only communicated minimally, and was very hard to understand, but he was a reliable worker. However, he was clearly unhappy, he would often sit and give a big sigh and stare at whatever he was working on. V wasn't even sure what his complete history was or how he ended up with them. There was a person in the past that learned some Russian and tried talking with him but it was hard to talk to him even in Russian and some of his phrases were "off" and "awkward" according to the Russian speaker which contributed to his diagnoses of a mental disability. V took notice and tried getting through to him on her own initiative. For instance, she bought a Russian phrasebook at the bookstore and used some simple phrases with him to try to speak a little with him in his own language.
Like before, this didn't really progress anywhere. He had been referred to ESL courses before but it didn't work. So, V referred him to a different local adult literacy organization that was more one-on-one and used "Rosetta Stone" software to teach English. Rosetta Stone only uses the language you are learning so, in this case, all of the work is in English; it doesn't make any assumptions about what language(s) you already know.
In the new program Andrei's English communication started progressing very rapidly. He was able to talk more and more until one day he came in and asked V why they all kept calling him "Andrei." Andrei was not his name at all; it was actually Viktor. Later on after talking some more he asked why they always used to try to talk to him in Russian. It turns out he is not even from Russia. He was from a different republic in the USSR, spoke a different language, and only knew some minimal Russian. He did however take German in school and could communicate in German just fine, but in New York there wasn't anyone around, that he ran into at work, that seemed to understand German.
Not much longer after this there came the full realization that he did not have any mental disability at all. He was of perfectly normal intelligence and was trained in a series of technical skills like electronics and machine shop work. However, since coming to the US he was only given unchallenging jobs that bored him tremendously. When V last saw him, before we left NY, he was very happy and was promoted to a supervisor position.
-----
While we lived in Germany we saw first hand how mistakes, based on assumptions, can creep into a system, especially when you are an outsider. This ranged from retirement plans to school placements, but even basic, "inarguable" facts were affected. For example, we had our names, birthdates, even citizenship (V was Venezuelian!) mistakes entered into our records in Germany and once they are in the system it is difficult to impossible to correct these mistakes. I was told not to worry about it by some other Germans but, when it comes time to collect my German retirement, for example, they use my name and birth-date to identify me in the system.
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