Gore-linked Video Fakes Climate Science

CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW FOR VIDEO THAT INCLUDES FAKED CO2 GLOBAL WARMING EXPERIMENT

CLIMATE 101 from The Climate Reality Project on Vimeo.

The above video includes a supposed "high school physics" experiment that has been shown to be an edited video fake by Watts Up With That? (WUWT)

Last week, while I was in Brugge, Belgium, near the end of my bike and barge trip from Brussels, I received an email from Anthony Watts (owner of WUWT) with a link to a review version of the above exposure of the Gore-linked fake, asking for my comments. As I sat in the Brugge Markt, using a a free WiFi link, I was amazed and pleased to see that Anthony had used one of my graphics in his posting to explain the "Greenhouse effect". (To see it, click on Watts Up With That? (WUWT) and then scroll way down to just beyond the image of the INFRARED HEAT LAMP and you will see the animated graphic credited to me.)

As I read Anthony's posting, which reveals that the supposed "high school physics" experiment in the video was obviously faked, I thought immediately of how Dan Rather got into trouble when he broadcast images of a letter about George Bush's military record that included a superscript "th" that proved conclusively the letter had not been typed in the year it was supposedly prepared, and was therefore a fake. Rather lost his job and reputation. I hope the same happens to Al Gore for being asociated with this type of easily proven fakery.

Ira Glickstein

Federal Regulation vs American Businesses

[from billlifka] There’s much debate over federal regulation becoming ever more intrusive, more unreasonable and more damaging to the economy. I agree with those who believe the federal bureaucrats have far exceeded their missions and have violated the constitution by usurping powers of Congress. Liberals (progressives) have been attacking the private sector for over a century. Their goal is a socialistic America. Consider my personal experience twenty six years ago. It’s only one of many similar happenings.

At the time, I was engaged in restoring a troubled company. Despite its negative cash flow, this company had a number of commendable characteristics. Having a few less than 500 employees, it was considered to be a “small business”. Small businesses are the real source of employment growth and for other reasons, also, the federal government was trying, in 1985, to encourage small businesses. Another federal goal was to reduce an imbalance of trade caused by much greater imports than exports. This company exported 35% of its products; well above average.

Both federal and state governments encouraged employment of minorities (translate this to be African-Americans) and especially those in pockets of poverty, like inner cities. The company was adjacent to Bridgeport, CT, with its large population of poor blacks. The company employed many of them in electronic assembly. This was not at minimum wage but competitive and union-negotiated hourly rates. Another federal concern, back then, was “Japan Inc. eating our lunch”, especially in the electronic industries. The company was leading all Japanese producers of its product, combined, in market share. (It shared the lead with the subsidiary of a huge American corporation.) The bottom line is that this small company deserved federal support, not its grief.

The company had two export licenses: one for trade and one for samples. The first was for items sold and the other for demonstration product which, eventually, would be returned or destroyed. In the company’s regular review of paperwork, it discovered that a small shipment (about three thousand dollars) had been filed under the sample license, mistakenly. The company reported this to the local Commerce Department office, within a few weeks of the mistake. Nothing was heard from Commerce for over six months. This wasn’t surprising. It was like not feeding a parking meter and showing up at city hall a few weeks later, voluntarily, to pay the dollar owed.

Without warning or discussion, Commerce cancelled the company’s export licenses, fined it $5 million (Like killing flies with a howitzer.) and spread the news to the company’s customers and distributors in federal publications. The company couldn’t raise $5 million or survive losing one third of its business. It appealed the ruling. The accuser was a young, black, female lawyer at Commerce who would not back down a penny. As far as she was concerned, the company was a typically rotten corporation better dead than alive. Her supervisor was empathetic, but powerless for fear of his underling’s political position. Eventually, the company had its U.S. Senator exert his clout; the licenses were restored and the fine reduced to $50K, less than cost of legal fees to continue the fight. That’s one example of regulatory action that is killing American businesses. Cost of filing compliance reports is worse. Over-regulation is a major factor in unemployment.

Billlifka

Score One for the Internet

The other day I was at the clinic to have blood drawn for some tests. I told the young lady poking me with a needle that the blood culture had to be done for 21 days rather than the usual 3 days in order to detect brucellosis. She said that she saw brucella on the order but nothing about 30 days. I insisted that it was necessary, because brucella is hard to detect. I had read that on the internet. She had never heard of brucella, but she went to ask the the microbiologist. When she returned, she said, "Score one for the internet. We would have thrown out the culture after 3 days."

There are only 200 cases of brucellosis in the US. The point is that health care can be improved if the public is educated about how to do internet research properly. My own doctor has never seen a case, although he learned about the disease in medical school. Doctors find patient research on the internet to be annoying, but when done right, patients can contribute to their own diagnosis.

What would you say are the key features of useful amateur internet research?

Global Warming Debate

I participated in a Joint Presentation on Global Warming at the Science-Technology Club, The Villages, FL, on 08 September 2011. My friend Bob Miller was on the AFFIRMATIVE side, which maintains that Global Warming due to unprecedented use of fossil fuels DOES constitute a substantial, near-term danger to human civilization on Earth. I took the NEGATIVE side that it DOES NOT.




Our combined PowerPoint chart set is available for anyone to download at https://sites.google.com/site/bigira/climate-related-ppt/SciTechGWDebateUpload.pptx?attredirects=0&d=1. Please use SLIDE SHOW mode to view the presentation because some of the charts are animated.

As indicated in the second graphic above, the debate follows the traditional 1858 Lincoln and Douglas debate format. (The photos show Bob in his younger days and me before I grew my beard :^).

The main difference in the format is that an Audience Participation Question and Comment period has been added between the initial presentations by each side and the rebuttal presentations.

To keep this debate on track, and prevent it from degenerating into a pointless argument about whether the so-called "Greenhouse effect" is real (it is), whether the Earth has been warming over the past century (it has) and, whether humans have any role in that warming (we do), both participants have agreed to the stipulations listed in the third graphic.

In short, we both agree that the "Greenhouse Effect" is real and rising CO2 levels do contribute to that effect, that it has indeed warmed, and that humans actions have some responsibility for the warming.

That leaves the much more important questions for debate:

• How much has the Earth actually warmed over the past century?

• How much of that is due to human activities, primarily rising CO2 levels?

• Does the temperature rise pose any substantial, near-term danger to human civilization?

• What, if any, drastic action is required to ameliorate human-caused Global Warming?

Ira Glickstein

GUILTY - Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

This posting is based on a presentation given to the Philosophy Club, The Villages, FL, on 26 August 2011.

The PowerPoint slides may be downloaded here.

WHAT IS THE STANDARD OF JUSTICE?

In CIVIL cases, where one person or organization is suing another, the standard is Preponderance of the Evidence, meaning that the winning side must tip the scale of justice by at least a little bit.

In CRIMINAL cases, where The State charges an individual, the standard is much higher. It is Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, meaning The State has a very high burden of proof, reflecting the seriousness of the charge and the potential punishment.

In the past, the phrase "and to a moral certainty" has been used, but it is no longer used in NY and NJ and some other states because it is "outdated and potentially confusing". Indeed, some people interpret the standard to essentially require that the judge and jury find the defendant guilty beyond all doubt, which is an impossible task in many crimes.

According to the Federal Judicial Center:

• Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is proof that leaves you firmly convinced of the defendant's guilt.

• There are very few things in this world that we know with absolute certainty, and in criminal cases the law does not require proof that overcomes every possible doubt.

• If, based on your consideration of the evidence, you are firmly convinced that the defendant is guilty of the crime charged, you must find him guilty.

• If on the other hand, you think there is a real possibility that he is not guilty, you must give him the benefit of the doubt and find him not guilty.

JURY ERROR

In the well publicized OJ Simpson and Casey Anthony cases, many of us think the jury acted in error in finding the defendants not guilty.

OJ was rich enough to hire an excellent defense team. His celebrity and race appears to have led to what is called "jury nullification" where evidence is ignored in favor of some higher considerations. In this case, it was an ill-considered effort to correct past and ongoing discrimination by the US justice system against poor people in general an African-Americans in particular by releasing a rich man who, despite his race, has done very well in our country.

Casey Anthony, on the other hand, was neither rich nor black, but she was young and (to some) good-looking, and the unusual nature of the crime she was charged with and her bizarre actions after the death of her daughter attracted media attention. The State (IMHO) over-charged her by going for first-degree murder. No one (but Casey) may ever know exactly what happened, but I believe she was not guilty of pre-meditated murder but only of horribly negligent actions that led to her daughter's demise. I think she over-medicated the child with chloroform, to quiet her so she would be free to go out on the town.

THE "CSI" PROOF PROBLEM

Part of the problem is the unreasonably high level of expectation of proof juries have come to expect based on their experience watching crime programs such as Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) on TV. In many of those programs, the evidence is solidly physical and overwhelming. Juries therefore have a tough time with circumstantial evidence.

ARGUMENTS FOR "LAW AND ORDER" JUSTICE

• If a guilty person is mistakenly acquitted, he or she will likely recidivate and commit further crimes, condemning innocent civilians to becoming victims of crimes.

•Many wrongly convicted defendants have bad past records. They are most likely guilty of something.

• Not-guilty verdicts reduce respect for and fear of the police force, and thus are detrimental to public safety.

ARGUMENTS FOR MORE CAUTIOUS AND LENIENT JUSTICE

• If an innocent is wrongly convicted,then the cops stop looking for the actual criminal. He or she is still free, posing a danger of further crime.

• A guilty person mistakenly acquitted is likely to be re-arrested for further crimes and eventually will be jailed, and justice done.

» A guilty verdict in a highly charged case (e.g., O.J. Simpson) may cause riots. Better to let one killer go free than to have more innocents die.

• Many defendants are poor and have been abused by their families and society. Their crimes are a cry for help. Forgive them!

• A guilty person may escape justice on Earth, but will be severely punished in the afterlife. God’s justice will be done.

CRIMINAL RECIDIVISM STATISTICS

Within six years of release, after serving their term in prison, over 70% of convicted criminals will be arrested for a crime, and an astounding 50% will be convicted of another crime. Recidivism rates are higher for those released at younger ages. Thus, given that convicts have high recidivism rates, it stands to reason that criminals who get away with their crimes (either by not being arrested or, if arrested, being found not guilty by the jury), will have even higher recidivism rates since they are generally younger.

The graphic at the head of this posting shows the consequences.

1) Given ten murderers in a community, there are likely to be about twenty victims (since many murders involve more than one victim).

2) Violent crimes tend to be cleared by arrest at a rate of about 60% for murder. (Other violent crimes have clearance rates that are much lower, such as about 25% for rape. Non-violent crimes have even lower clearance rates, below 20% for theft and burglary.)

3) Thus, only about six of our ten murderers will be arrested and charged. Conviction rates are about 80%, so only about five of those six charged will be convicted and jailed.

4) This failure of justice leaves five murders out on the street, and they are likely to commit an additional ten murders.

5) Furthermore, when the jailed murders are released after serving their sentences, come of them will likely recidivate, leading to even more dead people.

Please consider the above if you even have the opportunity to serve on a jury!

Ira Glickstein

Heinz Jaffee and His Historical Bracelet

An amazing chapter has been added to the eventful life of my friend Heinz Jaffee who I originally wrote about four years ago.

Through the kindness of a stranger in Germany, a bracelet he lost during WWII was returned to him, some 60 years after he lost it while fighting the Nazis. Our local newspaper The Villages Daily Sun published the bracelet story today:

It’s been more than 60 years since Heinz Jaffe was injured while fighting against the Nazis in World War II.

Now 88 and living in The Villages, Jaffe’s reminder of that time lies in the Purple Heart and two Bronze Star medals he keeps in their case and, of course, the memories that over time have refused to fade.

“Those memories are ingrained in me,” the Village of Mallory Square resident said. “I remember my war years. It was an experience that you just don’t forget.”

Recently, Jaffe was given back a tangible piece of that history: an ID bracelet he wore, and lost, while fighting in the war.

The gift came from a stranger some 6,000 miles away who spent years trying to return the simple bracelet to its owner.

“It’s an unbelievable story,” Jaffe said.

... a recent phone call from his sister-in-law in New Jersey brought back a wartime memory that Jaffe had long since dismissed.

One day out of the blue, Jaffe’s sister-in-law received a call from a Birgit Heuser in Germany, who was looking for the owner of an ID bracelet with the engraving “Heinz A. Jaffe 32915458.”

The stranger was then connected by phone with a shocked Jaffe, who gave her his address and anxiously waited to receive the bracelet which he believed he lost when he was injured crossing that river so many years ago.

“I definitely remember the bracelet,” he said. “I don’t remember having lost it but I do remember that bracelet.”

According to Heuser’s letter, from 1944 until the end of the war, her grandparents and their children were evacuated from their home in a village about six miles from where Jaffe fought and was eventually injured.

When Heuser’s family were able to return home, a 12-year-old boy who would grow up to be her father found several items from the war, according to the letter, including some clothes of American soldiers and two ID bracelets.

In the letter, Heuser writes that her parents tried several times to get more information about the owners of the items but to no avail. However, they never parted with their discoveries, choosing to keep them in a small basket.

Decades later, Heuser came across the historic items and decided to further investigate the names on the bracelet.

A couple of clicks of the mouse and she was able to locate Jaffe and mail him back his long-lost bracelet.

Although Jaffe cannot remember exactly where or from whom he received the bracelet, there was no denying his name and Army serial number etched in the bracelet which, other than a broken clasp, has remained perfectly intact.

All these years later, Jaffe said it’s hard to express what seeing the bracelet again means to him.

“It’s hard to explain, but it’s something from my past.” he said.

Jaffe said he is thankful to Heuser and her family for not only holding on to the bracelet for so long but for also taking the time to track him down and give him back a piece of his history.

My 2007 blog posting included an account written by Heinz for the D-Day Museum in New Orleans in 2001. The photo to the left was taken during his time in the US Army.

Heinz was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1923 and Bar Mitzvah there in 1936, during the terrible rise of the Nazis. As a young teen, he was sent to the US where, several years later, Heinz earned his US citizenship as a soldier. He fought in WWII and survived a combat war injury. You can read the whole account here. Highlights follow:

... I was assigned to Company B, 12th Engineers Combat Battalion, 8th Infantry Division. After a short training period with my new outfit, we embarked on a Liberty ship for the beaches of Normandy. The trip took about a week and the weather was beautiful. We spent most of our time sunbathing on deck. We arrived at the beach on either July 4th or 5th. We climbed down the side of the ship on nets into landing crafts that took us close to shore and we had to wade the rest of the way. This was similar to the situation on D-day, except no one was shooting at us! We relieved the 82nd Airborne which had dropped behind the German lines the night of D-day. They had taken tremendous casualties and were pretty shell-shocked. I watched them deliberately run over bodies of Germans with their Jeeps. War will do this to people.

While relieving the 82nd, I experienced my first artillery fire. I dove into the nearest hole and can still hear the laughter of the veterans as they told us it was outgoing mail, not incoming. One of our batteries had opened fire from right behind us! It didn't take us long to learn the difference!

Below are listed some of the war stories that I experienced and will never forget.

1. Gas Attack.

One night I was on guard duty about a half mile from where we were camped out for the night. In the middle of the night my partner and I heard people yelling off in the distance. The yelling got louder and nearer and we finally heard the word GAS! We had gas masks, but they were safely stored in our trucks in the camp area. We briefly discussed what to do and then decided to abandon our post and run for our masks. The run was all uphill and I ran out of breath about halfway there and decided gas or no gas, I couldn't run any further. It turned out the Germans had fired some phosgene shells which set off a gas alarm throughout the beachhead. No one ever said anything to us about leaving our post, which of course is a court martial offense.

2. Roadblock.

The Allied Armies broke out of the beachhead and most headed east toward Paris and Germany. The 8th Division however, headed west towards the Brittany Peninsula and the city of Brest. A major U- Boat base was located there and had to be neutralized to protect our ships in the Atlantic. One day at the outskirts of Brest we were called upon to remove a roadblock that was holding up the attack. It so happened that some of our troops had just liberated a wine warehouse. There was lots of wine around and we had our share of it. As we approached the roadblock, the Germans opened up with sniper and machine gun fire to keep us from removing it. Feeling pretty heroic, a few of us at a time ran to the roadblock and removed portions of it until the fire got too heavy. None of us were hit and we eventually removed the roadblock. We were rewarded with a Bronze Star for our heroism. In retrospect, I have no doubt our heroism came out of a bottle!

3. Luxembourg.

In late November of 1944 we had long since left the Brest area and driven across France to the main front. On the way we drove through Paris shortly after it was liberated and our platoon leader deliberately got us lost so we could see more of the city. The inhabitants of Paris welcomed us with flowers and wine, but we were forbidden to leave our trucks and so had no close encounters with the people.

One day we were in a village in Luxembourg when the Germans unleashed an artillery barrage on us. One of our sergeants yelled at me to jump into a jeep and move it to the back of a building for better protection. When I told him I could not drive, he could not believe that an American soldier could not drive a car! However, I had grown up in a city and my family didn't own a car and I had not learned to drive one.

4. Minefield.

Shortly after the Battle of the Bulge our platoon was called upon one evening to go to the front and try to get wounded soldiers out of a minefield they had entered during that day's attack. We got there after darkness had set in and could do nothing until daylight arrived. It was not possible to clear anti-personnel mines in the dark. All through the night we heard the soldiers calling for help and it was apparent that some didn't make it through the night. Listening to their cries for help all night and unable to do anything was a terrible experience. The next morning we went in and cleared paths to all the soldiers that survived and helped to get them out

5. The Enemy.

One night we were up front with the infantry and it was bitterly cold. I spent the night in a foxhole with nothing but my uniform and my topcoat. Waking up after a restless night, I had great difficulty straightening my legs because they seemed to be frozen. Fortunately, I managed to get the circulation going and they were all right.

Shortly after daylight we saw two German soldiers leave their fox hole and run toward their line several hundred yards away. Some of our guys opened fire upon them, but didn't hit them and they disappeared over a hill. These were the only German soldiers other then those wounded, dead, or captured that I saw during nine months of combat! I also never fired my gun during all that time.

6. Roadblock #2.

This next incident happened in January 1945 somewhere in Germany west of the Rhine River. We were called up to the front lines and asked to remove a roadblock. It consisted of one of our tanks that had been hit and was blocking a road needed for the next day's tank attack. Our plan was to use some dynamite and blast it off the road. We were told that the road was clear and there were no Germans around. The road was bordered by open fields except that a wooded area started on one side right about where the disabled tank was. We started down the road in broad daylight toward the tank. Just as we approached it a German machine gun opened up on us from the corner of the woods. Fortunately it missed all of us and we dove into the ditches on each side of the road. My first thought was I hoped the ditches weren't mined. My next concern was whether the machine gun could traverse along the ditch. We were lucky and safely made it back to our starting place. We were then told to try again after it got dark. We were also told that the machine gun nest would be eliminated. Based on what had happened earlier, I am not sure that was very reassuring to us!

After dark we started down the road again. I remember carrying a case of dynamite on my shoulder, but no rifle. I felt kind of naked! We got to the tank and my assignment together with another soldier was to go about fifty yards beyond the tank to remove some barbed wire that the Germans had stretched across the road. We carefully checked the wire for booby traps and started removing the wire when a loud explosion went off behind us. I first thought it was a mortar shell, but quickly realized I had not heard any shell coming in. We worked our way back to the tank and found that the guys placing the dynamite had set off a booby trap. Several members of our squad were wounded, including our platoon commander, Lt. Cohen. We managed to get all our wounded back to our lines and then went back down and blasted the tank off the road and removed the barbed wire. The Germans never bothered us that night, but it was a horrific experience nevertheless.

The next morning the tank attack started and almost immediately bogged down. I remember walking back to our trucks along the road lined with tanks with the rest of my squad and cursing at the men on the tanks for not going forward. I guess the experience of the night before left us less than understanding of their problems.

I, together with several others of my squad, received a Bronze Star for our efforts. This one I can say I deserved!

I never learned if our wounded comrades survived or not. In war, information is hard to come by.

7. My Last Battle.

In mid-February I found myself in the small town appropriately named Krauthausen. The town was divided by a river with all bridges across it destroyed. We were on the west bank of the river and the Germans on the east bank. The town was about 60 miles west of Aachen. The weather was cold and wet, but no snow.

An attack was planned and a night patrol was ordered to cross the river at night to learn something about the German positions. The river crossing was to be made by a small assault boat manned by three engineers and carrying a squad of infantry. This was the standard method for this type of operation.

I was not selected for this operation. The river current was very strong and the boat was swept downstream and never made it across. Fortunately, all occupants made it safely back to our side. The next night the operation was attempted again with the same result. The following night it was my turn to go.

I went with two of my buddies to the assembly area and met with a squad of infantry commanded by a 2nd Lieutenant. This time someone decided a small assault boat wouldn't do and they brought up an amphibious vehicle known as a Duck. It was operated by two African-American soldiers who had no idea that they were at the front and what they were being asked to do. One must remember the Army was not integrated in those days.

We were briefed and started toward the river in the Duck. It was pitch black and raining. As we left the main road the Duck got stuck in the mud! I remember thinking, great, we don't have to go. However, someone had the foresight to bring an assault boat along and we were going to attempt the river crossing in a way it had failed two nights in a row.

The standard way to approach the river was for the squad leader to lead the way followed by one of the Engineers carrying some of the paddles. The infantry men would carry the boat and the other two Engineers would bring up the rear with the rest of the paddles. The Lieutenant started toward the river and I followed at about twenty yards as the lead Engineer. I could not see the Lieutenant ahead of me in the dark, but caught up with him near the river. He had encountered some barbed wire and was attempting to remove it. I asked him to let me do it because I was trained to do this, specifically to watch for booby traps. However, he told me he would do it and I turned around to stop the rest of the patrol from getting too close. Just as I turned away he set off a mine!

I was hit and fell to the ground. I did not feel any great pain, but had difficulty breathing. I heard the rest of the patrol drop the boat and hit the ground. I realized that the Lieutenant must have been hit also. Everything was quiet for a while, but I knew my buddies would come looking for me. I remember taking off my helmet and tried to make myself as comfortable as possible, but I still had difficulty breathing. Eventually my buddies reached the Lieutenant and me and started carrying us back to the road. They got hold of a jeep and we went off to the nearest aid station. I remember the Lieutenant lying next to me on the jeep, but I never knew how badly he was hurt or if he survived. I never even knew his name!

Upon arriving at the field hospital, I was operated upon immediately. I had never lost consciousness. I later learned the extend of my injuries. My right lung was punctured and collapsed. Several ribs were broken. My intestines and other organs were perforated, I had a deep flesh wound in my thigh, and the fingers on my right hand were injured. I am sure if I hadn't carried the paddles on my right shoulder and turned away just before the explosion, I might have had serious head injuries.

Luck was with me that night. The surgeon on duty, I believe his name was Major Satan, was a chest specialist from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. I remember as they cut my clothes off that the nurses were kidding me because my feet were so dirty. The fact that I hadn't taken off my shoes and socks for days and slept in a coal cellar for protection from shelling probably had something to do with that!

I am pretty sure that the mine the Lieutenant set off was one of ours. First of all we were on our side of the river and the barbed wire was probably placed by us. Also, I saw an X-ray of my chest taken before any of the shrapnel had been removed and a piece in my lung looked like the corner of an American personnel mine.

8. The Road Back.

I spent about a week in the field hospital. During that time a Red Cross worker wrote a letter for me to my parents as my hand was bandaged and I was unable to write. I had never told my parents that I was in combat and always wrote as if I was still in England! The only one who knew the truth was my brother, who was serving in the Pacific Theater. That letter arrived home before the official notification from the War Department arrived! I am sure it saved my parents from the shock of receiving a telegram from the War Department. When it did arrive they already knew its content.

I was transferred by ambulance from the field hospital to a hospital in Liege, Belgium. Two weeks after that I again was transferred by ambulance to Paris. Unfortunately, I was in no condition to enjoy that great city! After one week I was flown to England to a military hospital that specialized in treating chest injuries. That was my first airplane flight! It was a C-46, the military version of the DC-3. It was outfitted to carry stretchers and had nurses aboard. I still remember that the landing was as smooth as any I experienced since. The pilot must have been specially trained to land a plane full of wounded soldiers!

I went through several more operations at the hospital and by May was an ambulatory patient. I became friends with two soldiers from the 101ST Airborne and the Rangers. For some reason we started to march through the wards and hallways of the hospital singing A duck must be somebody's friend to the tune of The Stars and Stripes Forever at the top of our voices! I think it was to wake everyone up in the morning. I also had the distinction of being the only one in the ward who did not have a drain tube in his chest.

There was great enjoyment at the hospital when the war in Europe ended in May of 1945. Shortly thereafter I left for home on the hospital ship "George Washington", arriving in Hoboken, NJ in mid-June. Walking off the ship I was handed a container of milk by the USO. I hadn't tasted fresh milk since I left the USA and it tasted terrific.

We went from the dock to a hospital in Staten Island before being sent to convalescent centers throughout the U.S. Since I lived in Newark, NJ, I was allowed to go home the next day for a reunion with my parents. I remember going to a restaurant with them that night and being the only one being served a steak because I was a wounded veteran.

The next day I was moved to Camp Upton on Long Island where I continued to recuperate until I was discharged in November 1945. While there, an announcement was made one Sunday morning that a bus was going to the Polo Grounds in NY for those of us who wanted to watch the NY Giants play football. We had special seats set up right behind the Giant's bench. This started my interest in professional football and I am still a Giants fan.

The Post War Years

The return to civilian life was not difficult. I went back to school under the G.I. Bill of Rights and graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1949. I married my wife Betty in 1954 and we have two children, Linda and Peter. They have blessed us with four grandchildren that we love to visit. We pile up a lot of air miles as they live in Connecticut and Seattle!...

Thanks to Birgit Heuser in Germany and congratulations to Heinz for providing yet another chapter in his life story!

Ira Glickstein

micro Air Vehicles

Thanks to my neighbor Warren for the link to this great conceptual video about micro Air Vehicles. Almost makes me wish I was back at work conceptualizing automated avionics systems.

Ira Glickstein