READ THE GOOD BOOKS FIRST

So, tell me, do you remember your teachers in high school or college?  At the university I attended the first two years were considered, by our professors, the “wash-out” years.  Students in engineering would change majors or leave the school altogether.  Junior and senior year, the professors started paying attention.  They became interested in those of us who were interested.  Those who worked, came to class, asked questions, turned in homework.  I always thought this somewhat cruel but that’s just the way it wan.

For some reason, I remember most names of my teachers from high school rather than my university years.  One very unforgettable teacher in my high school was Ms. Robinson.  (OK, not that Ms. Robinson.)  Ms. Robinson was a professor of literature and taught at Central High School in Chattanooga, Tennessee for over thirty (30) years.   She always told us: “read the good books first”.  Of course, I think she meant the classics.  The last non-classic book I have read this year was “Until the End of Time”, written by Dr. Brian Greene.  Dr. Greene has a PhD in physics in addition to being a well-respected mathematician.  The book was fascinating; really “deep” and certainly made you think about where we came from and where we are going as a species.   I decided after completing this book, I would go back to the classics as professor Robinson suggested.  With that being the case, I have just finished reading “The Human Comedy” by William Saroyan, “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck. “The Dove” by Robin Lee Graham and now finishing up on “The Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck.  Please note, these books are not lengthy books, the longest being two hundred and sixty pages.  A good one or two-day read for each.  

Let’s take a very brief look at the theme for each book.

THE HUMAN COMEDY:  This novel, set in a small American town during World War II, is a coming-of-age story anchored by the experiences of Homer Macauley, a teenage telegraph messenger who discovers truths about human experience in general and about himself in particular while delivering telegrams, many of which report on the deaths of loved ones. Episodic and poetic, with an emphasis on creating a portrait rather than developing a plot, The Human Comedy explores themes relating to the existential, essential loneliness of human existence and the different ways human beings strive and struggle to keep that loneliness at bay.  I thought the book was extraordinary in that it detailed a completely different era in time relative to today’s hectic and complicated pace.  The characters are not perfect by any means but they are real-to-life and exhibit personalities we many times see in friends and neighbors we know.

THE PEARL:  Kino is a young Mexican-Indian pearl diver married to Juana; they have a baby named Coyotito. Their lives seem rather peaceful, but their tranquility is threatened when a scorpion bites Coyotito. Juana tells Kino to go to town and get the doctor, but Kino and their neighbors tell Juana that the doctor will never come to where they live, so Juana decides to take matters into her own hands and sets off with Coyotito to the doctor. Kino accompanies Juana, and many members of the village follow them to see what will happen. At the doctor’s house, the doctor’s servant tells Kino and Juana that the doctor is not at home — in truth, the doctor is home but will not help Coyotito because Kino cannot pay the doctor as much as the doctor wants, but also because the doctor is prejudiced against Kino’s race.

Kino goes to work diving in the Gulf for oysters from his canoe; Juana tends to Coyotito in the canoe by applying brown seaweed to his shoulder, which is swollen from the scorpion’s bite. As Kino is collecting oysters on the ocean bottom, he spots a larger-than-usual oyster, collects it, and returns to the canoe. Kino does not want to open the oyster immediately, but Juana prompts him to open the oyster; when he does, he finds a pearl the size of a sea gull’s egg. Juana gazes at the immense pearl; she then goes to check on Coyotito and discovers that Coyotito’s shoulder is no longer swollen. Kino is immensely happy about both the pearl and Coyotito and yells loudly enough that he attracts the attention of the other oyster divers, who race toward his canoe.  This story is very sad indeed, at least from my standpoint.  Good read but with a terrible ending.

THE DOVE:  In 1965, sixteen (16)-year-old Robin Lee Graham began a solo around-the-world voyage from San Pedro, California, in a twenty-four (24)-foot sloop. Five years and thirty-three thousand (33,0000) miles later, he returned to home port with a wife and daughter and enough extraordinary experiences to fill a bestselling book called the Dove.  This is a true story and filled with unforgettable characters and places.  Mr. Graham’s parents must have been very compliant in allowing their son to sail around the world at the tender age of sixteen.  Great book.  Mr. Graham and his wife live in Montana today.

THE GOOD EARTH:  Wang Lung is a poor young farmer in rural, turn-of-the-century China. During the time in which the novel takes place, Chinese society is showing signs of modernization while remaining deeply connected to ancient traditions and customs. When Wang Lung reaches a marriageable age, his father approaches the powerful local Hwang family to ask if they have a spare slave who could marry his son. The Hwangs agree to sell Wang a twenty (20)-year-old slave named O-lan, who becomes his wife. O-lan and Wang Lung are pleased with each other, although they exchange few words.  Wang is initially disappointed that O-lan does not have bound feet.  (This I find to be really fascinating.  What one considers to be beautiful is always intreging.)

Together, Wang Lung and O-lan cultivate a bountiful and profitable harvest from their land. O-lan becomes pregnant, and Wang Lung is overjoyed when O-lan’s first child is a son. Meanwhile, the powerful Hwang family lives decadently—the husband is obsessed with women, and the wife is an opium addict. Because of their costly habits, the Hwangs fall on hard times, and Wang Lung is able to purchase a piece of their fertile rice land. He enjoys another profitable harvest, and O-lan gives birth to another son. Wang Lung’s new wealth catches the attention of his greedy, lazy uncle. Custom dictates that Wang Lung must show the utmost respect to members of the older generation, especially relatives, so he is forced to loan his uncle money despite knowing that the money will be wasted on drinking and gambling. The Hwang family’s finances continue to falter, and the Hwangs sell another tract of land to Wang Lung.  I will go no further but it’s a good read in my opinion does not have a beautiful ending.  Tough read this one.

CONCLUSION:  I think Ms. Robinson was correct when she said “read the good books first’.

HANG IN THERE

The inspiration for this post came from a magazine called “Laser Focus World”.  This great publication lists several strategies necessary for companies to succeed in the face of uncertainty.  Is there doubt in anyone’s mind that 2020 presented uncertainty and 2021 will continue to present a great deal of uncertainty?  If so, you might be living in a cave.  If you are in manufacturing you certainly will know what I mean.

Laser Focus World indicates and recommends five strategies for coping in 2021 and years beyond 2021.

• Digital Technologies—Harness, as much as you can, digital technologies to capture data, improve communication and simplify your approach to daily operational processes.
• Critical Skills—Develop and grow needed skills in the workforce from the boardroom to the factory floor. External and internal capabilities need to be balanced to create sustainable creative advantage.  Training your workforce is absolutely critical to success.  Get them ahead of the digital curve. 
• Supply-Chain Capabilities—Reassess supplier capabilities to create strong relationships and improve transparency.  Many companies are re-thinking their relationships with off-shore suppliers.  They are de-coupling for simplicity and to save valuable technology.
• Rethink “Best” Attributes—Balance cost concerns; i.e., low cost, with broader supplier value.  Many times, the lowest cost component or assembly is not the best solution to long-term gains. I retired from a company that demanded that thirty percent (30%) of all components must come from low-cost countries.  Low cost can represent low-quality.  Cost vs. quality is a constant battle but generally you do get what you pay for.
• Become the Company of Choice—Easier said than done but that given your company an extremely valuable position in the supply chain.  Strive to be that “go-to-company”.

Let’s now take a look at what most companies consider to be skills needed for today AND skills needed for the future.

SKILLS NEEDED TODAY:

• Basics of modern programming or software engineering.  I know this may sound far-fetched but having at least one individual with these very basic skills will allow most companies to actively update digital capabilities when necessary.
• Manufacturing skills. 
• Excellent communication skills.  This, I feel, is an absolute must.  If you can’t tell someone or some vendor what, you want how is he to know what to provide?
• Innovation skills. Successful companies think outside of the box.  (NOTE: I hate this phrase but it does apply in most cases to creative thinking.)
• Traditional IT skills.  Now, these skills may be in-house or available from contract sources.  Computers will not go away; neither will the information they provide.
• Data science.  The modern world lives on data accumulated, AND the factory of the future will run on data.
• System thinking.  You must consider the entire system and not just one portion or one department in the system.
• Analytical and problem-solving skills
• Hardware skills
• Influencing skills. This basically means negotiating skills.
• Business skills; i.e., running a company.  
• Digital experience skills, i.e., user experience.
• Ability to work within a multi-disciplinary team.
• Program management skills including the development of program schedules.
• AI and machine learning awareness.

SKILLS NEEDED FOR THE FUTURE:

• Deep understanding of modern programming or software engineering techniques.
• Digital dexterity, or the ability to leverage existing and emerging technologies for practical business outcomes.
• Data science.  This refers to the accumulation of significant amounts of data and how to “sift” that data for meaningful information.
• Connectivity. More and more companies are going wireless with the ability to control processes on a remote basis.
• Cybersecurity. Security is a huge issue.  With more and more information cloud-based, security becomes a critical skill
• Manufacturing skills
• Hardware skills, including development
• AI and machine learning
• Collaboration and communication skills. You must know how to talk to your vendors and provide needed information. 
• Integration of resources into your business
• Influencing and stakeholder management skills

CONCLUSIONS:

As you can see, the companies that survive in the future will have to become much more sophisticated relative to their approach in the daily process of conducting business. 

DOVE

Fifty years ago, Robin Lee Graham made international headlines when he became the youngest person ever to sail solo around the world. Today, he and his wife Patti live a quiet life on the shores of Flathead Lake.  OK, where is Flathead Lake?    Flathead Lake is located in the northwest region of Montana. The east shore is bordered by Montana Highway 35 and the west side of the lake is accessible from US Highway 93 between Polson and Kalispell.  They decided to live there years ago to raise their daughter as close to nature as they could.  In looking at the picture below you can see why they moved to this rather remote portion of the United States.

The whitecaps of Flathead Lake remind him of the five years he spent at sea as a young man. From 1965 until 1970.  When he was only sixteen (16), Robin made international headlines by becoming the youngest person ever to sail around the world solo — a title he held for seventeen (17) years. Robin’s story was told in countless newspaper and magazine stories, including three cover stories in National Geographic, a book and a 1974 movie, “The Dove,” named after the two boats he took around the world.

When Robin was ten years old (10), he convinced his father to buy him a small dinghy, which he later described in his book as “beat up but beautiful.” A few years later, Robin’s father decided to finally live out his own sailing dreams, purchased a boat and took the family on a months-long journey. Well, this adventure started wheels turning in Robin’s head and upon their return he considered a plan that would change his life forever.  Robin struggled at school and was more interested in the lessons he had learned abroad that boat than the ones taught in a classroom. Robin’s father decided the sea was a better place for his son, so he invited him to be his shipmate on a trip to the family’s new home in Hawaii. The trip was a brief return to the sea life Robin loved so dearly.

In Hawaii, Robin continued to struggle at school but made two friends who also loved to sail. The three boys put their meager savings together to purchase their own boat, a sixteen (16)-foot aluminum lifeboat.  The three hatched a plan to set sail to the island of Lanai. School was quickly put on the backburner.

On January 28, 1965, Robin and his friends set sail for Lanai. Before leaving he wrote a letter to his dad explaining why he didn’t tell him about the trip — “if I had done so you would have not let me go” — and that he loved him. But the trip quickly went off course when the three boys got trapped in a storm and spent a rough night at sea. The following morning, they turned on their transistor radio to learn that the U.S. Coast Guard was searching for them and that people back in Honolulu assumed they had died in the storm.    Amazingly, the boys made it to Lanai and there found several individuals enjoying a picnic on the beach.  These kind individuals drove them to the police station. The search was called off, and the following day they flew back to Honolulu. The boys were found guilty in a Coast Guard court of negligently operating a boat, a conviction that came with a one-hundred-dollar ($100) ticket, but the judge dropped the fine.

Because the new boat was in California, Robin had to sail it from there to Hawaii. But why stop there? In the spring of 1965, Robin began to think about sailing around the world by himself. Soon the thought hatched into a plan, and that summer he worked on the boat and stocked it for an unbelievable adventure. On July 27, he set sail. When I mean set sail, I mean for a trip around the world.  I’m not going to tell you the remainder of the story but he made it and his adventure was detailed in his own words in the book entitled DOVE.  It is a marvelous read and I definitely recommend it to you.  The book carries a copyright of 1972 so it’s not a recent publication but the story is one for the ages.  Can you believe this skinny sixteen-year-old young man sailed around the world?  He met his wife-to-be on that voyage. They are shown in the digital below.   

This is a picture of them now. 

You can see this was taken by the Flathead Lake in 2019.

READ THE BOOK. It’s a classic. 

RELAVENCE

The first two paragraphs are taken from: “WISDOM TO GO”.  By Dr. Elizabeth Taylor

Members of the northern Natal tribes of South African greet one another daily by saying “Sawa bona”, which literally means: “I see you.” The response is “Sikhona” which means: “I am here”. This exchange is important, for it denotes that ‘until you ‘see’ me, I do not exist; and when you ‘see’ me, you bring me into existence. Members of these tribes go about their day with this personal validation from everyone they encounter – seen for who they are.  This speaks to the powerful intrinsic human need for validation, which we all share.  Compared to greetings in American and most western cultures this kind of deep acknowledgement of the ‘other’ on a daily basis is far more humane and vital, and it supports the wellbeing and integrity of the human community.  Our western way of saying “Hello.  How are you?” lacks this presence – this depth.  Often we greet in an automatic and rather perfunctory way, not really paying attention to the other’s response.  Ready to rush on once the greeting leaves our lips.  But the response we get may very well be “Well I’m not doing so great”.  We expect and assume a standard and predictable retort from the ‘other’, such as “I’m fine, and you?”which keeps us comfortable and not requiring any further effort or engagement on our part. Too often our greetings are not meant to go any deeper than superficial pleasantries.  We hear what we want to hear because we don’t want to or have time to engage at deeper levels.  We generally are not comfortable with and avoid those kinds of openings and intrigues.

What we stand to learn from the South African tribes is the importance of being ‘present’ with every person we greet during each day.  Our presence with them validates their humanity – which in-turn validates our own humanity.  We must watch and manage our tendency to rush through greetings, our tendency to not really ‘see’ or listen to others as they share their points of view or frames of thought.  We must monitor our tendency to get busy formulating assumptions and rebuttals while watching the other person’s lips move; and our tendency to impose criticism or even advice when it is not invited. These are forms of abuse, which often leaves the ‘other’ feeling bereft, assailed or treated in some unseemly way and embodying a vague sense of ‘dis-ease’ from a simple personal exchange. Moreover, these unsound feelings interfere with one’s further interactions, because this leftover ‘hurt’ energy must be relieved and acted out in some way.

These are definitely words of wisdom.  My wife and were care-givers for a ninety-one (91) year old father (mine), a ninety-two (92) year mother, (mine), and a ninety-four (94) year old mother (my wife’s).  Even though they are senior citizens plus, each requires the daily validation a visit and/or a phone call brings.  This validation is not age-dependent.  Even infants need validation given them by loving and caring parents for the best shot at a normal life. Chicago police released the final crime number for 2020 in January of 2021 which showed that shootings and murders jumped up by more than fifty percent (50%).  In 2020, there were seven hundred and sixty-nine (769) murders, up considerably compared to the four hundred and ninety-five (495) murders tallied in 2019.  Gunfire, generally, results from gang members squaring off at each other.  Turf wars to be exact.  Grievances unresolved.    The philologists tell us gang members, usually young men, gather together for the validation not found at home within a strong family unit.  Their family is represented by the peer group they choose to associate with.  I think so much is lost when proper encouragement of a positive nature is not given no received; not just by the “gangs of Chicago”, but by individuals we meet on a daily basis.

I would challenge everyone to live, not just say “sawa bona” to those we see on a daily basis—friend, family or stranger.  We all deserve and need validation.

DOMESTIC TRANQUALITY

I am gong to deviate from my usual STEM post and do a little politics, the subject being “Domestic Tranquility”.  The need to achieve domestic tranquility goes back a long time.  Remember this?

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of the Unites States of America.”

These words are the preamble to our Constitution.  Basically, if I read this correctly, a more perfect union just might depend upon justice, insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defense and promoting the general welfare.   Most people will agree, we really are not there with no real signs of getting there too quickly relative to tranquility, domestic or otherwise.   Domestic tranquility generally means peace at home. It is meant with reference to family as well as states. Domestic Tranquility with regard to constitution is referred to peace among the states. Constitution gives power to federal government squash rebellion and to smooth tensions between states

 Recent polls have confirmed that Americans are feeling bitterly split. A Gallup poll conducted just after the 2016 presidential election found seventy-seven (77) percent of Americans see the country as “greatly divided when it comes to the most important values,” up from sixty-six (66) percent in 2012. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, conducted nine months into Trump’s presidency, found that seven in ten (10) Americans think the nation’s political divisions are as bad as during the Vietnam War.  Kwame Anthony Appiah, a professor of philosophy at Princeton University, said this kind of division has been rare in the U.S. While the country has faced many periods of intense disagreement and strife, he said, what’s unusual is the current tendency of some Americans to argue that others don’t belong in the country at all. This approach to politics has appeared only occasionally in U.S. history. For example, in the Jacksonian period, Andrew Jackson’s supporters sharply defined Americans as English-speaking Christians of European origin, while in the McCarthy years, people with particular political views or lifestyles could be declared un-American and denied basic constitutional protections.

One element in today’s world that divides us even more is social media.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Social media may be society’s gateway to a global connection that we have never seen before, but if we look closely, social media has played a significant role in dividing us more than it connects us.  Take any issue or topic developing domestically or internationally. Whatever this issue is, social media platforms, such as Facebook Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. play a prominent role in adding fuel to the fire. With the ability to express ourselves without face to face interaction, this opens the door for a much different form of debating. We are all a part of the term “keyboard warrior.” At one point, we have all fallen into this category. It feels as if this is the direction our country is moving in. Nothing is being resolved because we don’t look for resolutions anymore. We just look for the next opportunity to slander the opposite belief. I feel as if this won’t change but it will just get more and more relevant as we extend further and further into our newly found self-extension that has become our social media profiles.  This is demonstrated each night with late-night comics working towards greater ratings.  They use as their platform the political issues of the day.

Our social skills are falling while our social media skills are rising. This idea that our Facebook rants will change the world is far from true. The truth is if you want change, get off your high horse and go out and do something about it. Your Facebook essay on why something is wrong isn’t going to do anything but make you look like a fool. Stop sitting around and waiting for the change you seek and go out and become the change you so desperately want to see invoked in our world. We must take a hold of this issue before it consumes our youngest generation. These kids will one day be our executives. If they grow up in a solely social media-dominated world, it will have devastating effects on generations to come.

Let’s take a look at what course of action might help achieve domestic tranquility.

• ELIMINATE POLITICAL PARTIES:  When George Washington became President of the United States in 1789, there were no political parties. Political parties first emerged during Washington’s first term in office with the Alexander Hamilton’s Federalist Party in 1791 and in the following year, the formation of the Anti-Federalist Party or Democratic-Republicans under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson. The two political parties formulated their views of how government ought to operate in the new republic. At the end of Washington’s first term, as he was preparing to retire and go back to Mt. Vernon to just be a farmer again, the leaders of the opposing parties both wanted him to reconsider with Hamilton and Jefferson pleading with Washington to stay on for a second term. Washington was against political parties and felt they would detract from governing.
• EXTEND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TERM TO FOUR (4) YEARS. Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) is pushing to extend the terms of House members to four years to free them from the pressures of constant fundraising. In an interview with The Hill, Larson said extending the terms and staggering them so that half of the House is up for reelection every two years would let members prioritize learning the ropes in Congress over campaign cash. “I think the two-year cycle and all the demands that places on individuals tends to lend itself to one chasing their tail in terms of raising the money required to get reelected,” Larson said. Larson said new members arrive in Washington for freshman orientation only to be told to start dialing for dollars again.
  “The first orders that the Republican Conference and Democratic Caucus give is, ‘Get on the phone and start raising money again. You’ve got an election coming up.’ And I think that we ought to reverse that priority,” Larson said.
• MAKE THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OF OUR GOVERNMENT ABIDE BY THE RULES THEY PASS: Republican Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul, introduced a Constitutional Amendment in the recent past that would prohibit members of Congress from passing laws “applicable to a citizen of the United States that is not equally applicable to Congress.”

Section 1. Congress shall make no law applicable to a citizen of the United States that is not equally applicable to Congress.

Section 2. Congress shall make no law applicable to a citizen of the United States that is not equally applicable to the executive branch of Government, including the President, Vice President, ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and all other officers of the United States, including those provided for under this Constitution and by law, and inferior officers to the President established by law.

Section 3. Congress shall make no law applicable to a citizen of the United States that is not equally applicable to judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, including the Chief Justice, and judges of such inferior courts as Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.

Section 4. Nothing in this article shall preempt any specific provision of this Constitution.’

I hate to say it, but the law doesn’t have a chance at passing. If it did, Congress would understand the destress many Americans feel toward laws that restrict activity and commerce.

• REGULATE SOCIAL MEDIA:  Basically, no hate speech.  (This would never pass due to too much backlash from the “talking heads” on television and the politicians themselves.)

I certainly welcome your comments and I’m sure there are many many more action items that could contribute to tranquility.

THE GREATEST LIBRARIES—THEN AND NOW

Does anyone remember books?  We tend to take for granted the notion that people of the world can or should be taught to read.  In the early history of our country, books were somewhat a rarity.  Most children were first taught to read from the Bible because that was sometimes all they had to read.   If we go to the CIA Factbook for countries of the world, we see the ability to read is used as an indicator of poverty and development.  In 1998, the UN defined eighty percent (80%) of the world population as literate, defined as the ability to read and write a simple sentence in a language.

Reading was not always the universal goal for powerful rulers and kings, and in ancient times, literacy was the trade secret of professional scribes. A few centuries later, in Europe, literacy was defined as the ability to read and write in Latin. Later still, the bar was lowered, and people were considered literate if they could sign their names.   In 1841, thirty-three percent (33%) of all Englishmen and forty-four percent (44%) of Englishwomen signed marriage certificates with their mark.

We are now in the “information society” where access to the internet, books, magazines, newspapers, and other written documents seem to be readily available to just about everyone, at least in the United States.  Unfortunately, regardless of the literacy programs already initiated in many of our public schools by our government, illiteracy continues to grow at an alarming rate. According to a study conducted in late April 2015 by the US Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, thirty-two ( 32) million adults in the United States can’t read above a fifth grade level, and nineteen percent (19%) of high school graduates can’t read. NOTE:  THAT’S GRADUATES BY THE WAY!!!!!!

According to the Department of Justice, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is tied to reading failure.” Statistics back up this claim:  eighty-five percent (85%) of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate, and over seventy percent (70%) of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read beyond a fourth grade level. As you can see, literacy rates represent a real problem in our country. 

As a species, our thirst for knowledge is evident by recognizing the great libraries that existed in ancient times as well as those existing today.

Why don’t we all get in Mr. Peabody’s Way-back machine and take a look at the great libraries in history.  Then we will examine the great libraries of today.

ANCIENT TIMES:

• ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT— History tells us that the first ‘universal’ library was the Great Library & Mouseion in Alexandria, Egypt.  Hungry for conquest and knowledge, Alexander the Great spent the last eleven (11) years of his life (334 to 333 B.C.) exploring the world. To broaden the enterprise, he dispatched scholars to unexplored regions to gather knowledge and map their journeys. After the death of Alexander the Great, the pharaoh Ptolemy I commissioned the Great Library project, appointing his adviser, Demetrius of Phaleron, to build the library and become its first director. It is said that the Great Library of Alexandria even had an intricate system of registration and classification.
• THE CELSUS LIBRARY— Another early library was the Celsus Library in Ephesus, built in 110 A.D. by the Council Gaius Julius Aquila. The library became one of the largest collections of antiquity, storing an estimated 12,000 hand-written books. Books could not be taken out of the library, but were handed to readers by library officials and read in the reading room. The scrolls of the manuscripts were kept in cupboards in niches on the walls. There were double walls behind the bookcases to prevent them from the extremes of temperature and humidity. The capacity of the library was more than 12,000 scrolls. It was the third richest library in ancient times after the Alexandra and Pergamum. The facade of the library has two-stories, with Corinthian style columns on the ground floor and three entrances to the building. There are three windows openings in the upper story. They used an optical trick that the columns at the sides of the facade are shorter than those at the center, giving the illusion of the building being greater in size.
• THE UNIVERSITY OF SANKORE— The University of Sankore in Timbuktu employed an army of scribes, who earned their living copying the manuscripts. As a result, Timbuktu became a repository of an extensive collection of manuscripts. What were scribes paid? A papyrus of the second century AD gives rates “for 10,000 lines, twenty-eight (28) drachmae for 6,300 lines, thirteen (13) drachmae.” The Emperor Diocletian tried to standardize the pay scribes received throughout the Roman Empire: “to a scribe for the best writing, one hundred (100) lines, twenty-five (25) denarii; for second quality writing one hundred (100) lines twenty )(20) denarii; to a notary for writing a petition or legal document, one hundred (100)lines, ten (10) denarii.”
• THE BODLEIN LIBRARY—This library is the oldest surviving library and is located in Oxford, England.  The Bodleian collection consisted not only of books and manuscripts; it housed pictures, sculptures, coins and medals, and ‘curiosities’: objects of scientific, exotic or historical interest. There’s even a stuffed crocodile from Jamaica!  Today’s Bodleian claims to hold eleven (11) million volumes, and to offer fuller access to online publications and databases than any other academic institution in the UK.

• CHETHAM’S LIBRARY (Manchester, England) — Chetham’s library is said to be Britain’s oldest surviving public library. Karl Marx visited the library in 1846, at the invitation of his friend Frederick Engels. In the bay of the library’s reading room, they carried out the research for Das Kapital.  Over the years, water seeping into the masonry of the building has threatened the structure. Fortunately though, English Heritage has provided grants that will be used to restore this beautiful and significant national treasure.

• LIBRARY OF CONGRESS— The Library of Congress, founded in 1800, is said to be the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. However, like the libraries of Ephesus and Alexandria, it became a victim of fire. During the War for Independence in 1814, British troops burned the Capitol building and destroyed the Library’s core collection of 3,000 volumes. One year later, however, Congress approved the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of 6,487 books for $23,950 and the Library was restored. Today the Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world, with nearly 142 million items on approximately 650 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 32 million books and other print materials, 3 million recordings, 12.5 million photographs, 5.3 million maps, 5.6 million pieces of sheet music and 62 million manuscripts.

• THE BRITISH LIBRARY(LONDON, ENGLAND)– Compared to many other significant libraries, the British Library is relatively young having been brought into existence in 1972 by the British Library Act. The 1971 White Paper recognized that the constituent bodies of the proposed British Library (principally the British Museum Library) were seriously short of space and that re-housing the various collections was a top priority. The new library combines various components, the best known of which were the library departments of the British Museum, then one of the largest libraries in the world. Lenin had been impressed. It held, he said, a more comprehensive collection of Russian books than the libraries of Moscow and St Petersburg. Other famous visitors to the reading room included Marx, Charles Dickens, George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf. As is so often de rigueur with projects of such vast scale, the St Pancras building became mired in delays and spiraling costs, but was finally opened by the Queen in June 1998.

We have taken a very brief look at libraries of ancient times, so let’s look at contemporary libraries in modern times.

MODERN DAY LIBRARIES (THE TOP TEN IN THE WORLD):

• LIBRARY OF CONTRESS
• BODLEIAN LIBRARY
• READING ROOM AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM,LONDON, ENGLAND
• YALE UNIVERSITY BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
• VATICAN LIBRARY, VATICAN, ROME
• NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ST.MARK’S,VENICE,ITALY
• BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
• LIBRARY OF PARLIAMENT, OTTAWA, CANADA
• NEW YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY, NEW YORK, NEW YORK
• THOMAS FISHER RARE BOOK LIBRARY, TORONTO, CANADA

A most impressive fact about modern-day libraries is the architecture of the building the books are housed in. The top ten (10) in the world are architectural marvels, not mention the number of volumes, magazines, tapes. movies, newspapers, microfiche, etc. contained within the buildings.

To demonstrate this fact, let us now look at several digital photographs of the buildings of several modern-day libraries.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

BODLEIAN LIBRARY

VATICAN LIBRARY

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ST.MARK’S,VENICE,ITALY

CONCLUSIONS:  I certainly hope the internet does not cannibalize our desire to read books.  To me, picking up a written manuscript is far preferable to reading online.  It is just not the same.   I’m not in the “loop” for Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, etc etc.  I do have a LinkedIn account but other than WordPress and LinkedIn those are the only real “social” outlets I visit.  With the news I read, there is a bias relative to some of the social media outlets available on today’s web.  I had much rather stay away from those.  As a matter of fact, I’m more than a little nervous with the news outlets I read.  I sometimes think “Uncle Walter” (Walter Cronkite) just might be turning over in his grave if he knew what was being published today. 

As always, I welcome your comments.

3-D PRINTING OF FACE AND HANDS

HISTORY:

3-D printing or “additive manufacturing” was envisioned in the 1980s.  The earliest 3D printing technology was called Rapid Prototyping (RP) because it was first conceived as a faster and more cost-effective means of creating prototypes for product development within the manufacturing industry.

The first patent application for RP technology, and I think this must have been a provisional patent, was filed in 1980, by Dr. Hideo Kodama of the Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute in Japan. It described a rapid prototyping system using photopolymers. A computer program representing exact details of the component or product was developed first.  A solid, printed model was then built up in layers, with each layer corresponding to a cross-sectional slice of the model. itself Unfortunately for Dr. Kodama, he failed to follow up on his patent application and never commercialized his printing process.

Charles Hull made 3D printing history when he invented stereolithography, a process which allowed designers to create 3D models using digital data, which is then used to create a physical object. Once again, the key to stereolithography is an acrylic-based material called a photopolymer. A vat of liquid photopolymer is exposed to a UV laser beam with the light-exposed portion instantly turning into a solid piece of plastic, molded to the shape of the 3D model design.  This was big news for inventors, who could now prototype and test designs without needing to make a huge upfront investment in manufacturing processes.

Carl Deckard at the University of Texas, pioneered an alternative method of 3D printing called the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) RP process. It used a laser to turn loose powder into a solid. It was not until 2006 that SLS machines became commercially viable, which created new opportunities in manufacturing. Selective Laser Sintering was Mr. Deckard’s project that earned him a doctorate in mechanical engineering.

Several rapid prototyping processes are available for today’s product design teams while other prototyping processes utilize traditional manufacturing methods, such as 1.)  CNC Machining, 2.)  Laser Cutting, 3.)  Water Jet Cutting, 4.) EDN Machining, etc.   Rapid prototyping technologies emerged in the ‘80s and have improved considerably over a relatively short period of time.   There are several viable options available today that take advantage of rapid prototyping technologies.   All of the methods shown below are considered to be examples of rapid prototyping and manufacturing technologies. 

• (SLA) Stereolithography
• (SLS) Selective Laser Sintering
• (FDM) Fused Deposition Modeling
• (3DP) Three-Dimensional Printing
• (Pjet) Poly-Jet
• Laminated Object Manufacturing

I could go on from here but the purpose of this post is to indicate how far 3-D printing has come and how that technology relates to the medical profession.  The following information comes from the magazine “Design News Daily”, which is an exceptional publication.

STORY:

Almost six months after a rare face and hands transplant, twenty-two (22)-year-old New Jersey resident, Joe DiMeo, stepped out to show how the transplant now allows him to smile, blink, pinch, and squeeze. DiMeo had the operation last August, two years after being badly burned in a car crash that left him with severe injuries to his face and both arms. He suffered significant damage to his soft tissue, which severely limited his ability to lead a normal life.

During a preparation period of fourteen (14) months, Materialise clinical engineers formed a cohesive team alongside NYU Langone surgeons, rehearsing the transplant operation in a lab environment to develop and fine-tune the surgical plan.  The Materialise Company was founded in 1990, with the goal to enable new uses for the extraordinary potential that 3D printing offers. Since then, they have leveraged their experience to create a range of software solutions and 3D printing services, which together form a backbone for the 3D printing industry.  In this case, once a suitable donor was found, the team, led by Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, professor of reconstructive plastic surgery, the Helen Kimmel, chair of the Hansjörg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone, had only twenty-four (24) hours to begin the procedure that would improve the DiMeo’s function, appearance, and quality of life.

Materialise offered the team 3D planning and printing tools to enable the speed and accuracy required for this complex medical procedure. 3D printed personalized tools such as those used in the double hand and face transplant, are also increasingly common for use in routine surgery, providing surgeons with an additional level of confidence which results in improved patient outcomes.

During the procedure, Rodriguez and his surgical team of sixteen used Materialise’s 3D printed cutting and drilling guides. “We used several medical tools for this procedure. The cutting guides used for this operation allowed surgeons to cut the donor and recipient bones very precisely. We also used drilling guides that allow the donor bones to be attached to the recipient’s bones more easily and with great accuracy,” Kristof Sehmke, global communication manager at Materialise Medical, told Design News. “These cutting and drilling guides are prepared virtually based on CT scans and the surgeon’s indications, as part of the pre-surgical planning.”

An example of the 3-D printed fixture is shown as follows:

In creating the tools for the operation, Materialise worked with the medical team to match the tools with the patient’s physiology. “The patient-specific guides follow the personal anatomy of the donor and recipient. The guides are then 3D printed and shipped to the hospital,” said Sehmke. “While these guides are entirely patient-specific, this type of personalized surgical tools is not new and also increasingly used for more routine surgery, providing increased speed and accuracy.”

As well as providing cutting-edge technology to the surgical team, Materialise also brought the credibility of an FDA blessing. “The company has a legacy of adhering to the highest possible safety standards and has obtained CE Marking Certification for most of its personalized orthopedic and cranio maxillofacial solutions. This includes 3D-printed anatomical models and patient-matched surgical guides and implants,” said Sehmke. “Materialise was also the first company in the world to receive FDA clearance for software intended for 3D printing anatomical models for diagnostic use. This kind of certification helps raise the industry bar to ensure patient safety and transparency on personalized devices’ production.”

CONCLUSION:

3-D printing has found an incredible number of applications over its quite short lifetime with many more to come.  I’s a marvelous tool for those who can envision a unique application. This technology will only improve as time passes.  The size of parts created and the materials from which the parts need to be created is an on-going area of consideration.