I know I've been wondering about this for several years. Scientists who claim it's not true have been shouted down, insulted and in general embarrassed and made to feel like idiots for bringing it up. As Michael Crichton tells it, we are being subjected to the same kind of pressure politics about global warming as were generated by the eugenics movement in the early 1900's. See:
http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay8text.html
There is a vast amount of information about this hoax that eventually led to the Nazis belief in the theory enough to sterilize and gas millions of people.
I just recently finished the book by Michael Crichton, "State of Fear", ©2004. In his usual gripping style, he tells a very graphic tale of just why there ain't no such thing as "global warming". This is the second time that I have read this book. I keep really good books and go back to them after sufficient time has elapsed that I don't really remember the characters or much of the plot. To me it's like meeting an old friend and catching up with old times. Plus the fact that you gain so much more knowledge about the book and what the author is writing about than you did the first time.
This time, I was again intrigued enough by the plausibility of the tale he told to go back and start checking the footnotes. Author's license extends to creating phony footnotes to enhance the story but in this case I have come across extensive information that the footnotes are true and verified in many prestigious scientific journals.
Following is a brief list of the ones I have made from his book and they are doozies! If you have any doubts whatsoever, reading his book with the facts in mind make an overwhelming case, in my opinion, that the general public is being bamboozled to death by totally false information. Just to state a few of the facts, here are some quotes from the footnotes in the book:
=============================================
9/21/2010
Abstract
The Greenland coastal temperatures have followed the early 20th century global warming trend. Since 1940 however, coastal stations data have undergone predominantly a cooling trend. At the summit of the Greenland ice sheet the summer average temperature has decreased at the rate of 2.2 ºC per decade since the beginning of the measurements since 1987.
From Global Warming and the Greenland Ice Sheet by P. Chylek
=============================================
9/21/2010
"Natural and anthropogenic changes in atmospheric CO2 over the last 1,000 years from air in Antartica ice and firn" by D. M. Etheridge ("firn" is an archaic term for "old snow")
=============================================
9/21/2010
"Antarctic climate change and terrestrial ecosystem response" by P. T. Doran and eleven other scientists. Published in "Nature".
From 1986 to 2000 central Antarctic valleys cooled .7ºC per decade with serious ecosystem damage from cold. ¹
Both satellite data and ground stations show slight cooling over the last 20 years
Side- looking radar measurements show West Antarctic ice is increasing by 26.8 gigatons/yr. Reversing the melting trend of the last 6,000 years. ²
Antarctic peninsula has warmed several degrees while interior has cooled somewhat. Ice shelves have retreated but sea ice has increased.
During the last four interglacials, going back 420,000 years, the Earth was warmer than it is today. ³
Less Antarctic ice has melted today than occurred during the last interglacial.
Antarctic sea ice has increased since 1979.
Trend towards more sea ice may be accelerating.
The greater part of Antarctica experiences a longer sea-ice season, lasting 21 days longer than it did in 1979.
=============================================
9/21/2010
IPCC Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001, p 774:
"In climate research and modelling [sic], we should recognize that we are dealing with a coupled non-linear chaotic system, and therefore that the long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible".
=============================================
Notes:
1. 0.7ºC = approx. 1.26º Fahrenheit 2.2ºC = approx. 3.96º Fahrenheit
2. A "gigaton" is one BILLION tons
3. Interglacial
— adj
1. Occurring or formed between periods of glacial action
2. A period of comparatively warm climate between two glaciations, esp of the Pleistocene epoch
=============================================
All of this material and hundreds of other scientific papers from some of the best minds in the world are being castigated, made fun of and generally put down to serve the money making agenda of "global warming". It's very hard to find evidence unless you really hunt it up with searches on the Internet. Even then you have to cross check to make sure some dodo brain isn't making it up to make a name for himself or herself.
I welcome any comments and other knowledge about the problem.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
LOW BODY TEMPERATURE
Around the beginning of 2010, I took notice of the fact that I was cold a great deal. My hands and feet were like ice much of the time and I seemed to have trouble getting warm in the winter. It really was unusual because my body temperature has been 98.6 degrees for years. When I start having trouble with my allergy to dust, I usually run a mild temperature of about 99.0 degrees, just four tenths of a degree. So when I had an allergic breakout and started feeling bum, I would take my temperature. To my surprise, my body temperature was in the 97-degree range. The next time I went to my doctor for a monthly check-up, I asked her about it and she said it wasn't normal. I chalked it up to the allergies and let it go for a few days.
In March of 2010 I started a search on the Internet for "Effects of Low Body Temperature". Right away a website came up entitled "Wilson's Temperature Syndrome". (From this point on I will refer to it as WTS.) I decided to read the Patient's Manual online and found a whole explanation of how this particular syndrome affects the thyroid SYSTEM. I capitalize this because there is no known medical test for finding out the condition of the thyroid system, just the thyroid gland. And there was a list of over 50 symptoms of WTS. At this point in time I started keeping track of my daily temperature. It became obvious in the first ten days that there was something abnormal going on as most of the temperature readings ranged from 96.6 degrees to 97.9 degrees. I also noticed that temperatures in the 98-degree range were usually associated with a sinus infection.
I then went through the list of symptoms and found that I had twenty (20) of them. This really rang a bell because since the 2005 heart attack followed eight weeks later by Hurricane Katrina, I've had a lot of weird health symptoms that come and go without too much of an explanation. I'm not one to complain so I didn't think too much about it but this WTS really intrigued me.
In cases like this, the patient mentions it to his or her doctor and the doctor says, "Sounds like a thyroid problem to me, let's run a thyroid test." Almost invariably the test comes back negative and the doctor makes noises about it being psychosomatic, not enough rest, too much stress, etc., etc., etc. In other words, it's all in your mind. The WTS patient's manual cleared all that up.
I ordered the Doctor's Manual. After it arrived, on the next visit to my primary physician, Dr. Rebekah Robinson, I discussed it with her. She agreed to read the manual because she knows that the thyroid is one of the most difficult glands in the body to understand. A couple of days later I went to her office and dropped off the manual. By the next visit in May she told me that she would be finished with the manual around the 18th of May and that she would then be ready to prescribe for me.
The prescription you have to have is a special, compounded prescription that is not covered by insurance. As a consequence, I have been paying full price for every one. They run somewhere between $40 and $50. I've had four prescribed for me so far. The protocol is simple but very demanding. You start taking two capsules a day twelve hours apart. They must be taken TO THE MINUTE! Sounds weird but you have to follow the instructions to get good results. The capsules start out at 7.5 micrograms (mcg) and increase every day by another 7.5 mcg. Since I get up early and have an alarm with two different settings, I set the alarms for 5:45 A.M. and 5:45 P.M. so that I could take one capsule at 6:00 A.M. and another at 6:00 P.M. You have to take your temperature three times a day so I did it at 9:00, 12:00 and 3:00 and graphed the average.
Now keep in mind that since March, my temperature had been running steadily in the 97.0 to 97.9 degree range for most of the time. As soon as I started this regimen on May 24, 2010 I kept track of the temperature every day. It was 97.5 on May 24, 98.1 on May 25, 98.2 on May 26, and 98.3 on May 27. I was amazed! It really was working! Then on the evening of May 27, I missed the 6:00 p.m. medication by NINE minutes. The next day the temperature average was back down to 97.3, very discouraging. But Dr. Rebekah encouraged me to continue saying it would probably come back up. She was right. By the tenth of June when I reached 75 mcg twice a day, the temperature was up to 98.6
Now the weaning process starts. You take the amount that you had reached when the temperature reached 98.6 and you continue that level for three weeks. At the end of three weeks you start reversing the procedure by lowering the dosage 7.5 mcg every three days until there are no more capsules. At that time you take a break for a couple of days and then start round two. This time I got to 98.6 on July 31 when I reached 60 mcg. Now I'm just finishing up the weaning process. The most astounding thing about this protocol is that the routine seems to reset the thyroid system and even when you stop the medication you temperature stays at 98.6! I'm three days away from finishing up round two and I don't think that I'll need another. Since August 2nd I've only had one temperature reading below 98.0 - most of them have been 98.6, a far cry from six months ago.
To me the most important thing about your temperature is the fact that enzymes do not digest properly and cannot be absorbed by the body correctly unless the body temperature is 98.6! I was amazed by that fact since it explains a lot of minor health issues I've had for several years. Considering what Dr. Wilson says in the manual about WTS being triggered off by severe trauma I think I qualify with a heart attack followed by a storm that wiped out 99% of our belongings in our home in New Orleans and forced us to move away. In addition, since there is no medical test for WTS the only way you can be sure you have it is if your temperature starts to go up when you start to take the medication. I would definitely say that under the present circumstances I have Wilson's Temperature Syndrome.
I urge anyone reading this who suspects that they might have a thyroid problem, go to http://www.wilsonstemperaturesyndrome.com and read the online patient's manual. It is well written and very easy to understand. Taking the self-administered test for symptoms associated with WTS is very easy. Then all you have to do is find a doctor that will cooperate with you. Dr. Rebekah is my hero! The icing on the cake? She communicates with me by e-mail when I need some info. That's First Class! I try very hard not to abuse the privilege, as she is such a great doctor she is extremely busy.
Note: If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me or call.
In March of 2010 I started a search on the Internet for "Effects of Low Body Temperature". Right away a website came up entitled "Wilson's Temperature Syndrome". (From this point on I will refer to it as WTS.) I decided to read the Patient's Manual online and found a whole explanation of how this particular syndrome affects the thyroid SYSTEM. I capitalize this because there is no known medical test for finding out the condition of the thyroid system, just the thyroid gland. And there was a list of over 50 symptoms of WTS. At this point in time I started keeping track of my daily temperature. It became obvious in the first ten days that there was something abnormal going on as most of the temperature readings ranged from 96.6 degrees to 97.9 degrees. I also noticed that temperatures in the 98-degree range were usually associated with a sinus infection.
I then went through the list of symptoms and found that I had twenty (20) of them. This really rang a bell because since the 2005 heart attack followed eight weeks later by Hurricane Katrina, I've had a lot of weird health symptoms that come and go without too much of an explanation. I'm not one to complain so I didn't think too much about it but this WTS really intrigued me.
In cases like this, the patient mentions it to his or her doctor and the doctor says, "Sounds like a thyroid problem to me, let's run a thyroid test." Almost invariably the test comes back negative and the doctor makes noises about it being psychosomatic, not enough rest, too much stress, etc., etc., etc. In other words, it's all in your mind. The WTS patient's manual cleared all that up.
I ordered the Doctor's Manual. After it arrived, on the next visit to my primary physician, Dr. Rebekah Robinson, I discussed it with her. She agreed to read the manual because she knows that the thyroid is one of the most difficult glands in the body to understand. A couple of days later I went to her office and dropped off the manual. By the next visit in May she told me that she would be finished with the manual around the 18th of May and that she would then be ready to prescribe for me.
The prescription you have to have is a special, compounded prescription that is not covered by insurance. As a consequence, I have been paying full price for every one. They run somewhere between $40 and $50. I've had four prescribed for me so far. The protocol is simple but very demanding. You start taking two capsules a day twelve hours apart. They must be taken TO THE MINUTE! Sounds weird but you have to follow the instructions to get good results. The capsules start out at 7.5 micrograms (mcg) and increase every day by another 7.5 mcg. Since I get up early and have an alarm with two different settings, I set the alarms for 5:45 A.M. and 5:45 P.M. so that I could take one capsule at 6:00 A.M. and another at 6:00 P.M. You have to take your temperature three times a day so I did it at 9:00, 12:00 and 3:00 and graphed the average.
Now keep in mind that since March, my temperature had been running steadily in the 97.0 to 97.9 degree range for most of the time. As soon as I started this regimen on May 24, 2010 I kept track of the temperature every day. It was 97.5 on May 24, 98.1 on May 25, 98.2 on May 26, and 98.3 on May 27. I was amazed! It really was working! Then on the evening of May 27, I missed the 6:00 p.m. medication by NINE minutes. The next day the temperature average was back down to 97.3, very discouraging. But Dr. Rebekah encouraged me to continue saying it would probably come back up. She was right. By the tenth of June when I reached 75 mcg twice a day, the temperature was up to 98.6
Now the weaning process starts. You take the amount that you had reached when the temperature reached 98.6 and you continue that level for three weeks. At the end of three weeks you start reversing the procedure by lowering the dosage 7.5 mcg every three days until there are no more capsules. At that time you take a break for a couple of days and then start round two. This time I got to 98.6 on July 31 when I reached 60 mcg. Now I'm just finishing up the weaning process. The most astounding thing about this protocol is that the routine seems to reset the thyroid system and even when you stop the medication you temperature stays at 98.6! I'm three days away from finishing up round two and I don't think that I'll need another. Since August 2nd I've only had one temperature reading below 98.0 - most of them have been 98.6, a far cry from six months ago.
To me the most important thing about your temperature is the fact that enzymes do not digest properly and cannot be absorbed by the body correctly unless the body temperature is 98.6! I was amazed by that fact since it explains a lot of minor health issues I've had for several years. Considering what Dr. Wilson says in the manual about WTS being triggered off by severe trauma I think I qualify with a heart attack followed by a storm that wiped out 99% of our belongings in our home in New Orleans and forced us to move away. In addition, since there is no medical test for WTS the only way you can be sure you have it is if your temperature starts to go up when you start to take the medication. I would definitely say that under the present circumstances I have Wilson's Temperature Syndrome.
I urge anyone reading this who suspects that they might have a thyroid problem, go to http://www.wilsonstemperaturesyndrome.com and read the online patient's manual. It is well written and very easy to understand. Taking the self-administered test for symptoms associated with WTS is very easy. Then all you have to do is find a doctor that will cooperate with you. Dr. Rebekah is my hero! The icing on the cake? She communicates with me by e-mail when I need some info. That's First Class! I try very hard not to abuse the privilege, as she is such a great doctor she is extremely busy.
Note: If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me or call.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
How Shipbuilding Got Started
One morning Ogg, the caveman, came out of his cave, stretched and felt his knee.
"Good!" said Ogg. "No rain tomorrow!" (See http://pianofritz2.blogspot.com - How Religion got started - November 6, 2008)
He looked around then wandered down to the stream close by to sit on his favorite big rock and soak up the sun. As he was sitting there looking down at the stream, a large leaf that was curled up on all sides went floating by. In the middle was an ant getting a free ride down the stream to the river. This set off a light bulb in Ogg' s very creative brain. He thought that if an ant can ride a leaf then perhaps a man could ride a large stick or tree across the river.
He remembered the last time he struggled to get across the river and a large dead tree came by. He had grabbed hold of one of the branches on the tree and by dragging his feet one way or the other finally managed to maneuver the tree to the opposite side. He didn't like getting wet when it was cold so it had been a while since he had tried that.
Now he thought he could figure out a way to ride the river without getting wet. His people were starting to use carts with stone wheels so he decided that he would build a water cart. It was a very ambitious project but old Ogg had a way about him of convincing people that he knew what he was doing. After all, wasn't he now the village shaman who predicted the rain (most of the time)? So Ogg managed to get several hefty men interested in helping him simply by reminding them of the difficulties of getting to the other side of the river where the game was far more plentiful.
He started by cutting down four trees that were pretty good size, about six feet long and about a foot in diameter. He had his helpers drag them all down to a spot by the stream and laid them out beside each other. He then started to think about how he would keep them together. He remembered that his previous experience in floating down the river was very difficult because the tree kept rotating. How was he going to keep that from happening?
It occurred to Ogg that they had vines leading from one cave to another above or below it. The vines lasted a pretty long time and they would support a man's weight until they broke. If you were lucky, you spotted the vine rotting before it broke. If not, well, quite a few were crippled or dead because of it. He decided to go gather some strong vines and see if he could hold the logs together. Once they had a bunch of the vines they dragged them back to the cut up logs and Ogg tried to figure out how to attach them. He went back to the caves with vines in them to get down to the next level and found that someone had figured out how to tie a knot. He went back to the logs and started experimenting with tying them together.
By now his helpers are pretty tired out so he decided to come back the next morning and work it out. That night in his cave, Ogg picked up a stick that was burned and tried to draw a picture of what he was trying to do but he just couldn't get it right. One of his sons got wide eyed at what he was doing and after a while begged for a chance to do some drawing. Ogg was tired of fooling with it so he let the boy use the burnt stick while he went to get something to eat. The little kid immediately started drawing pictures of all of the animals that they saw regularly on hunting trips and he had a real talent for it.
When Ogg came back he was astounded to see the pictures his son had drawn on the walls of their cave. There was a bear, an elephant, a lion and of course the saber tooth tiger and they were all very recognizable. He told the boy that the pictures were really good and that maybe Ogg would take him to the river in the morning and Junior could help him out. The youngster was ecstatic. His father actually thought he was old enough to help out! Little did the boy know that his father was looking for someone to make pictures of the project out so that they could talk about it at night.
Early the next morning Ogg rolled out of his sleeping mat to find Junior up and ready to go. He thought to himself that it was a shame that all of that energy was wasted on a little kid. The boy was really excited. They grabbed some dinosaur meat for breakfast and started down towards the river. Along the way Ogg told his boy about seeing the ant floating down the stream in the middle of a leaf and asked him if he could draw a picture of something like that. Junior said he could do it. When they arrived at the stream, Ogg picked up a pointed stick and told Junior to draw a picture in the sand on the bank. The boy worked at it for a little while and Ogg saw that it really was a good representation of what he had told the kid. So he proceeded to tell Junior about his idea of tying logs together with vines and maybe he would be able to float across the river to the other side where the game was much more plentiful.
Junior started sketching in the sand and soon had the whole plan laid out exactly like Ogg had described. Just as the boy was finishing up the sketches, the men in the village that had agreed to help Ogg arrived and he showed them the pictures that Junior had drawn. A couple of them were petrified by the drawings and ran away but the others stuck around and began discussing the project. Soon a fairly reasonable raft was resting in a little inlet off the stream and Ogg decided to try it out. When he stepped on the raft it immediately sank under the water and Ogg was furious. He was about to rip it apart when his son asked if he could try it. Ogg relented and when the boy got on the raft it sank a little bit but kept most of Junior out of the water. The light dawned on Ogg that the if the raft was too small for him it certainly was too small for a party of hunters and any game they might kill on the other side of the river, much less bring it back. He would have to build one much bigger just to carry one person.
And that, my friends, is probably how the shipbuilding business got started.
"Good!" said Ogg. "No rain tomorrow!" (See http://pianofritz2.blogspot.com - How Religion got started - November 6, 2008)
He looked around then wandered down to the stream close by to sit on his favorite big rock and soak up the sun. As he was sitting there looking down at the stream, a large leaf that was curled up on all sides went floating by. In the middle was an ant getting a free ride down the stream to the river. This set off a light bulb in Ogg' s very creative brain. He thought that if an ant can ride a leaf then perhaps a man could ride a large stick or tree across the river.
He remembered the last time he struggled to get across the river and a large dead tree came by. He had grabbed hold of one of the branches on the tree and by dragging his feet one way or the other finally managed to maneuver the tree to the opposite side. He didn't like getting wet when it was cold so it had been a while since he had tried that.
Now he thought he could figure out a way to ride the river without getting wet. His people were starting to use carts with stone wheels so he decided that he would build a water cart. It was a very ambitious project but old Ogg had a way about him of convincing people that he knew what he was doing. After all, wasn't he now the village shaman who predicted the rain (most of the time)? So Ogg managed to get several hefty men interested in helping him simply by reminding them of the difficulties of getting to the other side of the river where the game was far more plentiful.
He started by cutting down four trees that were pretty good size, about six feet long and about a foot in diameter. He had his helpers drag them all down to a spot by the stream and laid them out beside each other. He then started to think about how he would keep them together. He remembered that his previous experience in floating down the river was very difficult because the tree kept rotating. How was he going to keep that from happening?
It occurred to Ogg that they had vines leading from one cave to another above or below it. The vines lasted a pretty long time and they would support a man's weight until they broke. If you were lucky, you spotted the vine rotting before it broke. If not, well, quite a few were crippled or dead because of it. He decided to go gather some strong vines and see if he could hold the logs together. Once they had a bunch of the vines they dragged them back to the cut up logs and Ogg tried to figure out how to attach them. He went back to the caves with vines in them to get down to the next level and found that someone had figured out how to tie a knot. He went back to the logs and started experimenting with tying them together.
By now his helpers are pretty tired out so he decided to come back the next morning and work it out. That night in his cave, Ogg picked up a stick that was burned and tried to draw a picture of what he was trying to do but he just couldn't get it right. One of his sons got wide eyed at what he was doing and after a while begged for a chance to do some drawing. Ogg was tired of fooling with it so he let the boy use the burnt stick while he went to get something to eat. The little kid immediately started drawing pictures of all of the animals that they saw regularly on hunting trips and he had a real talent for it.
When Ogg came back he was astounded to see the pictures his son had drawn on the walls of their cave. There was a bear, an elephant, a lion and of course the saber tooth tiger and they were all very recognizable. He told the boy that the pictures were really good and that maybe Ogg would take him to the river in the morning and Junior could help him out. The youngster was ecstatic. His father actually thought he was old enough to help out! Little did the boy know that his father was looking for someone to make pictures of the project out so that they could talk about it at night.
Early the next morning Ogg rolled out of his sleeping mat to find Junior up and ready to go. He thought to himself that it was a shame that all of that energy was wasted on a little kid. The boy was really excited. They grabbed some dinosaur meat for breakfast and started down towards the river. Along the way Ogg told his boy about seeing the ant floating down the stream in the middle of a leaf and asked him if he could draw a picture of something like that. Junior said he could do it. When they arrived at the stream, Ogg picked up a pointed stick and told Junior to draw a picture in the sand on the bank. The boy worked at it for a little while and Ogg saw that it really was a good representation of what he had told the kid. So he proceeded to tell Junior about his idea of tying logs together with vines and maybe he would be able to float across the river to the other side where the game was much more plentiful.
Junior started sketching in the sand and soon had the whole plan laid out exactly like Ogg had described. Just as the boy was finishing up the sketches, the men in the village that had agreed to help Ogg arrived and he showed them the pictures that Junior had drawn. A couple of them were petrified by the drawings and ran away but the others stuck around and began discussing the project. Soon a fairly reasonable raft was resting in a little inlet off the stream and Ogg decided to try it out. When he stepped on the raft it immediately sank under the water and Ogg was furious. He was about to rip it apart when his son asked if he could try it. Ogg relented and when the boy got on the raft it sank a little bit but kept most of Junior out of the water. The light dawned on Ogg that the if the raft was too small for him it certainly was too small for a party of hunters and any game they might kill on the other side of the river, much less bring it back. He would have to build one much bigger just to carry one person.
And that, my friends, is probably how the shipbuilding business got started.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
SIGHT WITHOUT GLASSES
It was early summer of 1949 in Hawaii and I was sleeping like a hibernating bear when my Dad woke me up about 6:30 in the morning.
"Please come help me son," he said. "I've got several phone numbers I need to look up and you know I can't see them even with my glasses on."
He had just been examined, tested and fitted for bifocals and he was extremely annoyed with the whole thing. If there was ever anyone that really despised glasses it was Frank Owens, my father. Since we lived on Oahu and there were no factories to manufacture the glasses, there was about a ten-week wait ahead of him since the prescription had to be sent to the mainland to be filled. In the meantime he made do with the inadequate reading glasses and a large magnifying glass. Even those two items weren't sufficient because the print in the telephone book was so small.
So I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed and went into his little office in the back of the house. I read all the numbers to him and he wrote them down, got dressed and left for the studios downtown. I threw my shorts and a shirt on, grabbed my bike and headed on down to the Outrigger Canoe Club where I stored my surfboard. It was only four long blocks away so I got there in a very short time. I guess I spent a couple of hours surfing out in front of the Moana Hotel and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel where my uncle, Harry Owens, performed for so many years with his orchestra, "The Royal Hawaiians".
That night my Dad and Mom went out to play bridge with Bill and Peg Meyers in Kailua, on the other side of the island. The next day my Dad was so excited that even though he was only 49 I thought he was going to have a stroke. This is where the story gets really good.
Bill and Peg Meyers had four big six-foot sons who were the picture of health with one exception. David, the youngest, had one eye that was completely crossed. Other than that he was in fine shape being a champion swimmer. In those days since they had no operation or treatment that would reverse a crossed eye it was considered a permanent affliction.
During the course of the bridge game my Dad mentioned what a really annoying thing it was that he was going to have to use bifocals. After he got through with his mild tirade - he never did raise his voice very much - Bill told him that they had found an eye doctor in Chicago who had cured David's crossed eye. When my Dad really perked up and wanted to know the details Bill proceeded to tell him about their attempts to find an eye doctor for David that might be able to help him. Bill was a very successful stockbroker so had the money for them to travel around the country visiting different eye doctors. They went to the mainland every summer and had been doing so for several years.
In 1948 they had heard about a doctor in Chicago by the name of Harold M. Peppard, no relation to the movie star. So they had made an appointment and flew to Chicago to see him. That was no small task in the late 1940's as the Pan American amphibious Boeing Clipper took 17 hours to get from Honolulu to San Francisco Bay.
From there it was another day to get to Chicago. When Dr. Peppard examined David, the doctor said that there was nothing organically wrong with David's eye, it just had a very weak muscle. He then proceeded to tell them about the eye exercises he had developed and documented in his book "Sight Without Glasses". David was about 16 in 1948 so the doctor showed him how to do the exercises and told him that it would be about three months before he saw the final results. However, the eye should start straightening out within a couple of weeks.
By now my Dad was extremely suspicious because he and Bill were constantly pulling practical jokes on each other. My Dad said that was so far out there was no way Bill was telling the truth. "C'mon Bill, " said my Dad. "You're just pulling my leg!"
Bill didn't say anything, he just turned around and hollered "David, come here!" In the back of the house they heard David's voice saying he was coming. When David got into the living room Bill told him to go over to my Dad and show him the eye. My Dad was astounded and said "Good Heavens! It's not crossed any more!" and David smiled and said "Dr. Peppard's exercises really work. I still have to keep up with the exercises for another couple of months but then ordinary eye shift should keep it in shape".
My Dad turned to Bill Meyers and said "Bill, where can I get a copy of that book?" Bill went over to the bookshelf and looked for a minute or so and brought the book out and handed it to my Dad.
"Here Frank, you can have it. I don't think David needs it anymore".
The next day my Dad, knowing the value of daily exercise (practice) started doing the eye exercises. His eyes improved to the point that he never again had to wear glasses. The bifocals that he had ordered and paid for showed up at the house and he put them into the top drawer of his chest of drawers in their bedroom. They stayed there for the next 31 years and he never used them at all until the day he died.
In 1969 my Dad was 70 years old. When they came to visit us in New Orleans they stayed at the Monteleone Hotel. I happened to be in the room when my mother said to my Dad, "Pancho (his nickname), please look up the telephone numbers of the places we're going today." My dad picked up the phone book and looked up about a half dozen numbers that he rattled off to my mother who wrote them down. It was then twenty years since he had started doing the eye exercises. It was astounding to me to see my father actually read the telephone book when twenty years before I used to do it for him. My mother was wearing glasses and I was amazed. I asked her why she didn't do the exercises and she said she just couldn't be bothered.
My Dad trained me a little in the use of the exercises but the main thing he taught me was the fact that eyestrain comes mainly from lack of blinking and squinting. Squinting is the worst thing you can do to your eyes as it changes the shape of the eyeball and the muscles get weak making them worse. Relaxing the eyes and letting them get into focus really works - since it takes longer when you get older people don't realize that they are harming their eyes. If you just relax and blink a few times at what you want to see, you'll be surprised at the way the eye actually focuses.
I don't have anything against glasses. I use them for reading and can see pretty well at a distance as long as I don't force it. I still have a copy of Dr. Peppard's book. The original was destroyed by Katrina but fortunately one of my students wanted a copy and made three photocopies of the book. He took one and I kept the other two which just happened to be above the five foot flood line.
Of course, 75 is catching up and it takes longer for the eyes to focus but what else is new? I have a special pair of glasses for the computer - you can buy them cheap by holding a book at arms length and trying on glasses at the drug store or asking your eye doctor to give you some glasses with a focal length of about 20" - 22". Check it out. That's about where your computer monitor sits. Guess I'm like my mother - I just can't be bothered to do the exercises.
"Please come help me son," he said. "I've got several phone numbers I need to look up and you know I can't see them even with my glasses on."
He had just been examined, tested and fitted for bifocals and he was extremely annoyed with the whole thing. If there was ever anyone that really despised glasses it was Frank Owens, my father. Since we lived on Oahu and there were no factories to manufacture the glasses, there was about a ten-week wait ahead of him since the prescription had to be sent to the mainland to be filled. In the meantime he made do with the inadequate reading glasses and a large magnifying glass. Even those two items weren't sufficient because the print in the telephone book was so small.
So I reluctantly pulled myself out of bed and went into his little office in the back of the house. I read all the numbers to him and he wrote them down, got dressed and left for the studios downtown. I threw my shorts and a shirt on, grabbed my bike and headed on down to the Outrigger Canoe Club where I stored my surfboard. It was only four long blocks away so I got there in a very short time. I guess I spent a couple of hours surfing out in front of the Moana Hotel and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel where my uncle, Harry Owens, performed for so many years with his orchestra, "The Royal Hawaiians".
That night my Dad and Mom went out to play bridge with Bill and Peg Meyers in Kailua, on the other side of the island. The next day my Dad was so excited that even though he was only 49 I thought he was going to have a stroke. This is where the story gets really good.
Bill and Peg Meyers had four big six-foot sons who were the picture of health with one exception. David, the youngest, had one eye that was completely crossed. Other than that he was in fine shape being a champion swimmer. In those days since they had no operation or treatment that would reverse a crossed eye it was considered a permanent affliction.
During the course of the bridge game my Dad mentioned what a really annoying thing it was that he was going to have to use bifocals. After he got through with his mild tirade - he never did raise his voice very much - Bill told him that they had found an eye doctor in Chicago who had cured David's crossed eye. When my Dad really perked up and wanted to know the details Bill proceeded to tell him about their attempts to find an eye doctor for David that might be able to help him. Bill was a very successful stockbroker so had the money for them to travel around the country visiting different eye doctors. They went to the mainland every summer and had been doing so for several years.
In 1948 they had heard about a doctor in Chicago by the name of Harold M. Peppard, no relation to the movie star. So they had made an appointment and flew to Chicago to see him. That was no small task in the late 1940's as the Pan American amphibious Boeing Clipper took 17 hours to get from Honolulu to San Francisco Bay.
From there it was another day to get to Chicago. When Dr. Peppard examined David, the doctor said that there was nothing organically wrong with David's eye, it just had a very weak muscle. He then proceeded to tell them about the eye exercises he had developed and documented in his book "Sight Without Glasses". David was about 16 in 1948 so the doctor showed him how to do the exercises and told him that it would be about three months before he saw the final results. However, the eye should start straightening out within a couple of weeks.
By now my Dad was extremely suspicious because he and Bill were constantly pulling practical jokes on each other. My Dad said that was so far out there was no way Bill was telling the truth. "C'mon Bill, " said my Dad. "You're just pulling my leg!"
Bill didn't say anything, he just turned around and hollered "David, come here!" In the back of the house they heard David's voice saying he was coming. When David got into the living room Bill told him to go over to my Dad and show him the eye. My Dad was astounded and said "Good Heavens! It's not crossed any more!" and David smiled and said "Dr. Peppard's exercises really work. I still have to keep up with the exercises for another couple of months but then ordinary eye shift should keep it in shape".
My Dad turned to Bill Meyers and said "Bill, where can I get a copy of that book?" Bill went over to the bookshelf and looked for a minute or so and brought the book out and handed it to my Dad.
"Here Frank, you can have it. I don't think David needs it anymore".
The next day my Dad, knowing the value of daily exercise (practice) started doing the eye exercises. His eyes improved to the point that he never again had to wear glasses. The bifocals that he had ordered and paid for showed up at the house and he put them into the top drawer of his chest of drawers in their bedroom. They stayed there for the next 31 years and he never used them at all until the day he died.
In 1969 my Dad was 70 years old. When they came to visit us in New Orleans they stayed at the Monteleone Hotel. I happened to be in the room when my mother said to my Dad, "Pancho (his nickname), please look up the telephone numbers of the places we're going today." My dad picked up the phone book and looked up about a half dozen numbers that he rattled off to my mother who wrote them down. It was then twenty years since he had started doing the eye exercises. It was astounding to me to see my father actually read the telephone book when twenty years before I used to do it for him. My mother was wearing glasses and I was amazed. I asked her why she didn't do the exercises and she said she just couldn't be bothered.
My Dad trained me a little in the use of the exercises but the main thing he taught me was the fact that eyestrain comes mainly from lack of blinking and squinting. Squinting is the worst thing you can do to your eyes as it changes the shape of the eyeball and the muscles get weak making them worse. Relaxing the eyes and letting them get into focus really works - since it takes longer when you get older people don't realize that they are harming their eyes. If you just relax and blink a few times at what you want to see, you'll be surprised at the way the eye actually focuses.
I don't have anything against glasses. I use them for reading and can see pretty well at a distance as long as I don't force it. I still have a copy of Dr. Peppard's book. The original was destroyed by Katrina but fortunately one of my students wanted a copy and made three photocopies of the book. He took one and I kept the other two which just happened to be above the five foot flood line.
Of course, 75 is catching up and it takes longer for the eyes to focus but what else is new? I have a special pair of glasses for the computer - you can buy them cheap by holding a book at arms length and trying on glasses at the drug store or asking your eye doctor to give you some glasses with a focal length of about 20" - 22". Check it out. That's about where your computer monitor sits. Guess I'm like my mother - I just can't be bothered to do the exercises.
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