November 11 - Veterans’ Day by Henry W. Hessing
World War I was called, “the war to end all wars.” Joining the Allies whose soldiers suffered trench warfare, bombardment, starvation and poison gas, the United States entered the war in Europe in the autumn of 1918. Thereafter, Germany’s defeat was a matter of time. November 11, the date we remember the Armistice is called Veterans’ Day.
America witnessed the horror of war on our native soil three years ago when 3,000 innocents died. Death came at the hands of the primitive savagery of militant Islam. We have seen Osama bin Laden and his barbarians squatting in caves, invoking their “prophet” from the literal Dark Ages. As with all dictators and tyrants, their inculcation of hatred against America is a necessary tool of tribal rulers who need scapegoats to blame for the misery of their own subjects. They believe that this world is evil, that man must surrender his mind, and that true life begins after the grave. The enemies of man’s life renounce reason in favor of mysticism and death worship. They reject thought and demand blind obedience. Our enemies are anti-mind which means anti-life.
In a lecture given in October 2001, Dr. Harry Binswanger made, parenthesis mine, this analysis: “Compare that (primitive barbarism) to the moral meaning of the World Trade Center as a symbol of what capitalism is: individual freedom, the freedom to use one’s mind to produce prosperity, a rising standard of living and individual happiness. Freedom, wealth, happiness and life are our values and the reason America is under attack…. The enemy is also defined by an idea – the idea that man is depraved, that the mind is to be jettisoned, that life is a waste.” Has hatred of life reached so low a level to demand to return to living as a primitive in a cave?
In September of this year, Andrew C. McCarthy wrote in National Review about the mentality, parenthesis mine, that: “espouses and supports an interpretation of Islam that calls for violent jihad against the United States and our allies. It would supplant our Constitution, our rule of law, (with barbarism.) It is dedicated to our destruction and must be eliminated…we are at war with militant Islam because we stand for life against the apostates of death… The war on militant Islam is about eradicating a mortal, global threat to the United States. Our enemies have demonstrated that they will not be rehabilitated. We must permanently neutralize them because if we don’t, they will kill us. Those who help militant Islam function as a lethal force that abets killing Americans and our allies in the most brutal fashion imaginable.”
A free country has a great responsibility: the right to use force as an instrument of a free nation’s self-defense, which means: the defense of a man’s individual rights. It is individualism that lies at America’s freedom. Militant Islam would have us renounce individualism and bow to theocratic dictates.
Antiwar activists say it is okay to go to war if the UN sanctions war but not if we go to war to defend our sovereignty. They want the individual to subordinate his freedom to their collective will and the government of a free people to subordinate the liberty of its citizens to the collective known as the United Nations. Their rational is the same as militant Islam as they want the same type of capitulation.
To prevail, we must resolutely act on our moral right to defend ourselves, regardless of the wishes of any other nation. Our purpose in this war is to preserve American national security. We must be willing and able to go to those places where militant Islam derives support whether at home or abroad. But we are not obliged to stay in a war zone until nirvana has arrived. We need to stay until we eradicate the enemy and his ideas based on the premise of death. We must annihilate the anti-life, anti-mind forces responsible for barbarism, beheadings, and bombings.
The United States of America is the greatest, noblest and in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world. Our soldiers preserve qualities of character typical at the time of America’s birth - earnestness, dedication and a sense of honor made visible in action. They defend our country because they personally are unwilling to live as slaves. This is an enormous virtue. The choice is clear: freedom, justice, progress and man’s happiness or primordial morality, slavery, brute force, terror and death. Ours is the morality of life. Theirs is the morality of death.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Vandalism
Vandalism
Babylon Village is blessed with the natural scenery of Argyle Park, our canals and waterways, and the efforts of so many who make our places of public assembly and houses of worship visibly enticing to neighbors, friends and visitors. Homeowners take pride in reconstructing their residences. Holiday decorations enhance our village every year, all year long. Our merchants prepare bright and cheery displays highlighted with flowers and plantings in both storefronts and the alleyways to parking. The Village Beautification Society has made so many things happen, with the installation of lampposts, brick sidewalks, and plantings all around to enhance the appeal of the Village and create a wonderful atmosphere to raise our children. Our unsung heroes are the Village work crews who, every morning, tend the flowers hung on lampposts and keep Argyle Park a place where brides want to have pictures taken, and young families bring their children to play. All use creative minds to enhance the place where we live and work.
But here, as in many places around the country, are those whose goal is not to improve our Village but to disrupt and destroy. They are called vandals. They are a small gang who "express themselves" by forcibly imposing themselves on others.They’re actions of wanton destruction and/or desecration are not benevolent manifestations of the freedom to express ideas.
Freedom of speech is the right to communicate ideas, information and values. It includes, in the words of the First Amendment, the right to "petition the government for a redress of grievances" and to assemble "peaceably" for that purpose. Freedom of speech protects debate and dispute. It does not protect coercion, nor does one person's freedom of speech authorize him to force others to listen. No one has the right to violate rights.
Yet that is precisely what vandalism does. The vandal smashes car windows, destroys trees planted in schoolyards, tosses trashcans into Argyle Lake, and throws Christmas trees into waterways and canals. What is the cost of vandalism? Is it only physical damage, police overtime, lost wages and productivity for the besieged?
The goal of vandals is to impose their emotional tirades on a public that does not agree with them, and to do so by forcibly disrupting the lives of village residents, merchants and those who labor to make the Village a garden sanctuary. They spread their message not through persuasion, but by smashing property. Their goal is not peace and brotherhood.
The issue is not merely that vandals resort to violence and destruction. There is a fundamental difference between rational persuasion and destroying other people’s property. Their crime is that there is a crucial distinction between ideas and actions, between holding obnoxious views and forcibly imposing them on others. If the vandal has a rational mind, he should exert his effort in an expression of peaceful protest. His expression of dissatisfaction must not consist of a refusal to respect the rights of others. The vandal views freedom of speech not as a right to debate, but a right to violent disruption.
Robert Garmung wrote an essay in March 2003. Paraphrasing his thoughts: “For them, "democracy" becomes what it meant in its origins in Ancient Greece: the absolute right of the screaming masses to dispose of the individual's life, liberty and property.
The fundamental basis for freedom of speech is a respect for the rational mind, which requires the freedom to weigh the evidence, to dispute and debate, without fear of coercive interference. By their reliance on violence and brute force of mob gatherings, the vandal shows contempt for the mind. It is confession of intellectual and moral bankruptcy, a confession that, for them, rational argumentation does not matter: all that matters is that their opponents are cowed into submission.
The banner of free speech is reserved for those who respect the rights of others and offer arguments addressed to our minds. It does not protect the mindless rabble that clog the streets of our Village proclaiming by their unlawful acts, a fraudulent "right" to destroy the peace and harmony created by rational minds.”
Has respect for other people’s property and their rights been lost or is it simply not fostered? Is the attitude, “so what, whatever is damaged can be replaced (by the owner not the vandal,) based on a lack of guidance in the home? If these actions are tolerated, when does the vandal take responsibility for his actions? When does he learn to respect the rights of others and the peace and harmony created by rational minds?
Babylon Village is blessed with the natural scenery of Argyle Park, our canals and waterways, and the efforts of so many who make our places of public assembly and houses of worship visibly enticing to neighbors, friends and visitors. Homeowners take pride in reconstructing their residences. Holiday decorations enhance our village every year, all year long. Our merchants prepare bright and cheery displays highlighted with flowers and plantings in both storefronts and the alleyways to parking. The Village Beautification Society has made so many things happen, with the installation of lampposts, brick sidewalks, and plantings all around to enhance the appeal of the Village and create a wonderful atmosphere to raise our children. Our unsung heroes are the Village work crews who, every morning, tend the flowers hung on lampposts and keep Argyle Park a place where brides want to have pictures taken, and young families bring their children to play. All use creative minds to enhance the place where we live and work.
But here, as in many places around the country, are those whose goal is not to improve our Village but to disrupt and destroy. They are called vandals. They are a small gang who "express themselves" by forcibly imposing themselves on others.They’re actions of wanton destruction and/or desecration are not benevolent manifestations of the freedom to express ideas.
Freedom of speech is the right to communicate ideas, information and values. It includes, in the words of the First Amendment, the right to "petition the government for a redress of grievances" and to assemble "peaceably" for that purpose. Freedom of speech protects debate and dispute. It does not protect coercion, nor does one person's freedom of speech authorize him to force others to listen. No one has the right to violate rights.
Yet that is precisely what vandalism does. The vandal smashes car windows, destroys trees planted in schoolyards, tosses trashcans into Argyle Lake, and throws Christmas trees into waterways and canals. What is the cost of vandalism? Is it only physical damage, police overtime, lost wages and productivity for the besieged?
The goal of vandals is to impose their emotional tirades on a public that does not agree with them, and to do so by forcibly disrupting the lives of village residents, merchants and those who labor to make the Village a garden sanctuary. They spread their message not through persuasion, but by smashing property. Their goal is not peace and brotherhood.
The issue is not merely that vandals resort to violence and destruction. There is a fundamental difference between rational persuasion and destroying other people’s property. Their crime is that there is a crucial distinction between ideas and actions, between holding obnoxious views and forcibly imposing them on others. If the vandal has a rational mind, he should exert his effort in an expression of peaceful protest. His expression of dissatisfaction must not consist of a refusal to respect the rights of others. The vandal views freedom of speech not as a right to debate, but a right to violent disruption.
Robert Garmung wrote an essay in March 2003. Paraphrasing his thoughts: “For them, "democracy" becomes what it meant in its origins in Ancient Greece: the absolute right of the screaming masses to dispose of the individual's life, liberty and property.
The fundamental basis for freedom of speech is a respect for the rational mind, which requires the freedom to weigh the evidence, to dispute and debate, without fear of coercive interference. By their reliance on violence and brute force of mob gatherings, the vandal shows contempt for the mind. It is confession of intellectual and moral bankruptcy, a confession that, for them, rational argumentation does not matter: all that matters is that their opponents are cowed into submission.
The banner of free speech is reserved for those who respect the rights of others and offer arguments addressed to our minds. It does not protect the mindless rabble that clog the streets of our Village proclaiming by their unlawful acts, a fraudulent "right" to destroy the peace and harmony created by rational minds.”
Has respect for other people’s property and their rights been lost or is it simply not fostered? Is the attitude, “so what, whatever is damaged can be replaced (by the owner not the vandal,) based on a lack of guidance in the home? If these actions are tolerated, when does the vandal take responsibility for his actions? When does he learn to respect the rights of others and the peace and harmony created by rational minds?
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Initiative - Labor Day 2004
Initiative
On Labor Day we celebrate in Ayn Rand’s words, “Productive achievement as man’s noblest activity.” In August, 2000, the objectivist writer, Edwin A. Locke, wrote that, “each man gets what he earns and has no moral claim on the property of others…man at his best is a man who is free, independent, responsible for his own life, proud of his achievements and unwilling to be sacrificial fodder for those who would enslave him.”
Our friend is a single parent who has raised three children. Her youngest, a daughter, did well academically in high school. Upon graduation, she told her mother she doesn’t want to go to work or go to college. She arises at 3 PM and hangs around the house. She doesn’t go anywhere or do anything in particular. Has the parent made life so easy that the child knows she does not have to make it on her own? Will mom continue to struggle and work two or three jobs to support her daughter and the house in which they reside?
The dictionary definition of the word initiative, a noun, is 1) the power or ability to begin or to follow energetically with a plan or task: enterprise and determination. 2) A beginning or introductory step; an opening move; took the initiative in trying to solve the problem. Where is the daughter’s initiative?
In mythology, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals in their dark caves. The gift of divine fire unleashed a flood of inventiveness and productivity. The name Prometheus means “Forethought.” Where are the young girl’s fire, inventiveness and productivity?
Another Prometheus is the protagonist in Ayn Rand’s Anthem. Prometheus comprehends that to exist is to possess identity. He discards the collective “we” and uses the word “I.” He realizes he is responsible for his own education. Our friend’s daughter has not learned about Prometheus in either mythology or philosophy. She is oblivious to her mother’s struggle for their survival. A comparison can be drawn to Emma in Jane Austen’s Emma wherein the fictional character’s schemes and perceptions prove false.
Our friend faces a moral crisis. She has been conditioned by years of sacrifice for her children yet her daughter’s stated aim in life is to do nothing. Are parenting and initiative mutually exclusive or mutually dependent? If the parent solves all problems, provides for her daughters every need, does that reduce initiative in the offspring? Is it counterproductive to independence or does it foster a desire to retain the quality of life to which one has become accustomed?
The mother queries, “What happens if I am not here?” That is a false argument. The mother isn’t facing reality. She hasn’t taught her daughter a whit about productive achievement. The daughter demands that her mother produce while she, herself, produces nothing. The daughter exhibits a cardinal sin – greed. What criteria motivate the offspring for a better life? Why has the desire to achieve been diminished? Is this an isolated situation? Are there few achievers? Is it that producers are just a quirk?
One is reminded of John Galt’s speech in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Paraphrasing, “We are bombarded with dictates - that you are to serve the welfare state but not to serve your life or your pleasure. You have been taught that any moral code must be designed against you, not for you, not to further your life but to drain it. The unceasing creed of unearned rewards and unrewarded duties created this moral crisis. This moral duplicity is based on the claim that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of the incompetents. A code of values accepted by choice is a code of morality. Man’s life is the standard of morality, but your own life is its purpose. Your life belongs to you. The good is to live it.” The mother should have taught her daughter to hold her life as a value; she must learn to sustain it by initiative and choice. This Labor Day, know that if one believes that “productive achievement is man’s noblest activity” then one must live life for oneself, not others and not the welfare state.
On Labor Day we celebrate in Ayn Rand’s words, “Productive achievement as man’s noblest activity.” In August, 2000, the objectivist writer, Edwin A. Locke, wrote that, “each man gets what he earns and has no moral claim on the property of others…man at his best is a man who is free, independent, responsible for his own life, proud of his achievements and unwilling to be sacrificial fodder for those who would enslave him.”
Our friend is a single parent who has raised three children. Her youngest, a daughter, did well academically in high school. Upon graduation, she told her mother she doesn’t want to go to work or go to college. She arises at 3 PM and hangs around the house. She doesn’t go anywhere or do anything in particular. Has the parent made life so easy that the child knows she does not have to make it on her own? Will mom continue to struggle and work two or three jobs to support her daughter and the house in which they reside?
The dictionary definition of the word initiative, a noun, is 1) the power or ability to begin or to follow energetically with a plan or task: enterprise and determination. 2) A beginning or introductory step; an opening move; took the initiative in trying to solve the problem. Where is the daughter’s initiative?
In mythology, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals in their dark caves. The gift of divine fire unleashed a flood of inventiveness and productivity. The name Prometheus means “Forethought.” Where are the young girl’s fire, inventiveness and productivity?
Another Prometheus is the protagonist in Ayn Rand’s Anthem. Prometheus comprehends that to exist is to possess identity. He discards the collective “we” and uses the word “I.” He realizes he is responsible for his own education. Our friend’s daughter has not learned about Prometheus in either mythology or philosophy. She is oblivious to her mother’s struggle for their survival. A comparison can be drawn to Emma in Jane Austen’s Emma wherein the fictional character’s schemes and perceptions prove false.
Our friend faces a moral crisis. She has been conditioned by years of sacrifice for her children yet her daughter’s stated aim in life is to do nothing. Are parenting and initiative mutually exclusive or mutually dependent? If the parent solves all problems, provides for her daughters every need, does that reduce initiative in the offspring? Is it counterproductive to independence or does it foster a desire to retain the quality of life to which one has become accustomed?
The mother queries, “What happens if I am not here?” That is a false argument. The mother isn’t facing reality. She hasn’t taught her daughter a whit about productive achievement. The daughter demands that her mother produce while she, herself, produces nothing. The daughter exhibits a cardinal sin – greed. What criteria motivate the offspring for a better life? Why has the desire to achieve been diminished? Is this an isolated situation? Are there few achievers? Is it that producers are just a quirk?
One is reminded of John Galt’s speech in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. Paraphrasing, “We are bombarded with dictates - that you are to serve the welfare state but not to serve your life or your pleasure. You have been taught that any moral code must be designed against you, not for you, not to further your life but to drain it. The unceasing creed of unearned rewards and unrewarded duties created this moral crisis. This moral duplicity is based on the claim that the good is self-sacrifice for the sake of the incompetents. A code of values accepted by choice is a code of morality. Man’s life is the standard of morality, but your own life is its purpose. Your life belongs to you. The good is to live it.” The mother should have taught her daughter to hold her life as a value; she must learn to sustain it by initiative and choice. This Labor Day, know that if one believes that “productive achievement is man’s noblest activity” then one must live life for oneself, not others and not the welfare state.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
Men and Bridges
Men and Bridges
by Henry W. Hessing
We’re blessed with the most beautiful beaches in the world. Today, you can drive to them by taking Wantagh or Meadowbrook Parkway to Jones Beach, Loop Parkway to Point Lookout or Robert Moses Causeway to Captree, Oak and Fire Islands. There are fifteen bridges along these routes. The men who rehabilitate them are some of the finest you’ll ever encounter.
Men who work on bridges over water are very observant. As an example, there was one morning on a clear August day when the men working on top of the Captree Bridge observed a large moving ripple on the water surface. Terns and gulls were diving for baitfish. Blue fish were chasing the baitfish to the surface.
Other days you may get a good laugh from the obvious. One such occurrence was when a speedboat went through one of the Captree Bridge spans. Three young girls were topless and elicited hoots and howls again, first from the guys working up top, and then the rest on the barges and floats. The girls must have liked the attention as they passed by three times!
One of my all time favorite people is Scotty, a dock builder foreman. Scotty was from Scotland. He worked for a contractor responsible for doing concrete pile repair and steel jacket replacement on the Captree Bridge piers. A number of different trades and skills are required but most important is the man who is in responsible charge of doing the work. Scotty had a lifetime of experience.
Weather never seemed to faze Scotty. One brutally windy, rainy, cold, bone-chilling day saw white caps on the Great South Bay. Scotty described the weather conditions as, “just a summer day in Scotland, laddie!”
The repair work on the Captree Bridge required removing deteriorated concrete from each pile of several piers. In some cases reinforcement was exposed and had to be replaced or splices added before rectangular fiberglass stay-in-place forms were installed. The forms have to be set in place and stiffened, usually with timber struts, so they don’t move. This gives the repaired pile a neat and finished appearance as well as ensuring uniform and continuous concrete adherence between old and new concrete and to the reinforcement.
Construction materials such as concrete, aggregate, and rebar are stored on a huge flat rectangular barge, approximately forty feet wide by sixty feet long. The divers and tenders equipment are stored in a shanty on board as well. The barge is brought to the bridge by a tug. After a series of piers have been completed, the tug comes back to move the barge. Scotty decided to try something different. He figured the tides and currents around slack tide. He ordered the rope ties released from one end of the barge just before slack tide. The barge drifted a bit. As the tide ran, he ordered certain ropes tightened. The barge made a full 180-degree turn and came in place so the next few piers could be repaired. This was an elegant, inexpensive solution for moving a barge.
The sky was blue and the water an even darker blue on another bright sunny day when a compressor operator fell over board. Since there was no bluefish chasing bait fish or topless girls motoring by, there was no known distraction. Most thought the operator went for a swim with his clothes on just to cool off. None believed he was drowning. But Scotty thought differently and quickly removed his boots, took out his wallet, and dove into the water. Scotty pulled the operator back to the barge. One would think that everyone who works over water would know how to swim but this man didn’t. Later, the operator admitted he never learned how to swim. Scotty said he enjoyed the swim and everyone went back to work.
*****
Loop, Meadowbrook, Wantagh and Robert Moses Parkways all have one moveable, or “draw” bridge. The ones used on these routes are called bascule bridges. Some have two leaves and some have four depending on the number of lanes of traffic the bridge carries.
Men who do steel repairs are called ironworkers. Joe is an ironworker foreman who looks like he had been chiseled out of a chunk of granite. Sometimes Joe would fish off one of the bridges early in the morning well before daylight and the beginning of the workday. I don’t know that he ever caught any fish but I believe he liked the quiet just before dawn. It gave him time to think. Like most people in heavy construction, Joe was a man of very few words. He planned his day and the work got done. Nothing deterred him.
It is one thing to indicate on a set of design drawings, removal and replacement of structural steel and another thing is to do it on a bridge over water. One repair was taking a lot of time. It required replacing individual lacing bars (latticework) in one of the beams that is embedded in the concrete counter weight of the bascule leaf. Joe summoned John, the structural steel detailer, to the job site. Joe asked John to detail a complete replacement, and have it manufactured in the shop, brought out to the site so the whole assembly could be installed at one time. When it was all said and done, Joe’s thinking saved a lot of time.
Critical to the safety of the entire project is keeping the span balanced. The weight and location of all members removed and added to the bascule span are recorded in specific detail. This should be performed each day. In doing so, the span is kept in balance throughout the entire project to the extent that a range of 1,000 to 10,000 lbs. weights are kept at each corner at all times. Balancing a moveable bridge becomes a daily occurrence. If a leaf of a bascule span doesn’t come down, there is concern.
Joe worked on bridges long before balancing was done with gauges. Because he planned his work, he always anticipated what ever might happen well ahead of time. One of the ironworkers was a fellow who weighed about three hundred pounds. His name was Tiny. To balance one of the leaves of the bascule, Joe motioned to Tiny to walk out toward the end of the span. Tiny started plodding his way with hammer and spud wrench dangling. Seeing Tiny waddle is a wonder to behold. Joe called out to Tiny, “Go out a little further.” Tiny eventually made it to the end, and the leaf slowly descended. Once in place, the bridge tender (who operates the controls) threw the pins to lock the span in place. Joe told the men to remove one thousand pounds of lead weight from the counter balance. He didn’t need any strain gauges. All he needed was Tiny.
*****
In navigable waterways, timber fenders, wales and dolphins are used to protect bridge abutments and piers from misdirected boats, floating debris and/or ice. Over time, they need to be replaced. This work is usually coordinated with the tides so that there is access to do the repair or replacement. One man who does this work is a fellow named Tony. Most refer to him as “Captain Tony.”
Tony owns all the equipment, boats, barges, compressors and tools necessary to do any kind of marine work. He learned his craft from his father. Captain Tony didn’t rely on charts because he “knew” the water. He didn’t rely on equipment to do the work as much as he did on manpower. He had a crew that knew their jobs and worked smart. Tony had his own way of doing things based on his many years of experience and what he had learned from his dad. When he got to working on fenders or dolphins, he really did nice work. But every once in a while, Tony would get diverted.
Tony had an old, bare bones, heavily plated steel tugboat. The keel was large so it drew a lot of water. When the winter months came on, he decided to insulate the barge. But he didn’t just insulate it. He installed tongue-and-groove clear oak over the insulation and attached it to the steel walls. He took special care around the portals. His tug started to take on the look of a fine colonial styled house. The more he worked at it, the better it looked and the more he fell in love with installing, mitering, sanding, finishing and varnishing clear oak. He wire wooled and varnished it until he could see his face in the light’s reflection so he could shave.
All of this was a great and necessary diversion because sometimes, Captain Tony would loose track of the tides. Since you have to work with the tides in daylight hours, some days were short and others were long. On a given day when Tony decided that he had accomplished enough work, he’d head back to the marina with the tug, and his barge and whatever else he had taken out. Most of the men would head to any other piece of equipment or boat. They didn’t want to stay on the tug because every once in a while, Tony would run aground. That is why they called him “Captain Tony.” There is no way you can get this tug off a sand bar so you would have to wait for high tide. Tony didn’t care. He loved his boat and he loved installing oak, and if he had some time, he’d scarf timber and install new wales on your bridge.
There are sunny days when the sky is blue and the water an even darker blue. Those are the days you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but with some of the best people you’ll ever meet, the men who work on bridges over water.
by Henry W. Hessing
We’re blessed with the most beautiful beaches in the world. Today, you can drive to them by taking Wantagh or Meadowbrook Parkway to Jones Beach, Loop Parkway to Point Lookout or Robert Moses Causeway to Captree, Oak and Fire Islands. There are fifteen bridges along these routes. The men who rehabilitate them are some of the finest you’ll ever encounter.
Men who work on bridges over water are very observant. As an example, there was one morning on a clear August day when the men working on top of the Captree Bridge observed a large moving ripple on the water surface. Terns and gulls were diving for baitfish. Blue fish were chasing the baitfish to the surface.
Other days you may get a good laugh from the obvious. One such occurrence was when a speedboat went through one of the Captree Bridge spans. Three young girls were topless and elicited hoots and howls again, first from the guys working up top, and then the rest on the barges and floats. The girls must have liked the attention as they passed by three times!
One of my all time favorite people is Scotty, a dock builder foreman. Scotty was from Scotland. He worked for a contractor responsible for doing concrete pile repair and steel jacket replacement on the Captree Bridge piers. A number of different trades and skills are required but most important is the man who is in responsible charge of doing the work. Scotty had a lifetime of experience.
Weather never seemed to faze Scotty. One brutally windy, rainy, cold, bone-chilling day saw white caps on the Great South Bay. Scotty described the weather conditions as, “just a summer day in Scotland, laddie!”
The repair work on the Captree Bridge required removing deteriorated concrete from each pile of several piers. In some cases reinforcement was exposed and had to be replaced or splices added before rectangular fiberglass stay-in-place forms were installed. The forms have to be set in place and stiffened, usually with timber struts, so they don’t move. This gives the repaired pile a neat and finished appearance as well as ensuring uniform and continuous concrete adherence between old and new concrete and to the reinforcement.
Construction materials such as concrete, aggregate, and rebar are stored on a huge flat rectangular barge, approximately forty feet wide by sixty feet long. The divers and tenders equipment are stored in a shanty on board as well. The barge is brought to the bridge by a tug. After a series of piers have been completed, the tug comes back to move the barge. Scotty decided to try something different. He figured the tides and currents around slack tide. He ordered the rope ties released from one end of the barge just before slack tide. The barge drifted a bit. As the tide ran, he ordered certain ropes tightened. The barge made a full 180-degree turn and came in place so the next few piers could be repaired. This was an elegant, inexpensive solution for moving a barge.
The sky was blue and the water an even darker blue on another bright sunny day when a compressor operator fell over board. Since there was no bluefish chasing bait fish or topless girls motoring by, there was no known distraction. Most thought the operator went for a swim with his clothes on just to cool off. None believed he was drowning. But Scotty thought differently and quickly removed his boots, took out his wallet, and dove into the water. Scotty pulled the operator back to the barge. One would think that everyone who works over water would know how to swim but this man didn’t. Later, the operator admitted he never learned how to swim. Scotty said he enjoyed the swim and everyone went back to work.
*****
Loop, Meadowbrook, Wantagh and Robert Moses Parkways all have one moveable, or “draw” bridge. The ones used on these routes are called bascule bridges. Some have two leaves and some have four depending on the number of lanes of traffic the bridge carries.
Men who do steel repairs are called ironworkers. Joe is an ironworker foreman who looks like he had been chiseled out of a chunk of granite. Sometimes Joe would fish off one of the bridges early in the morning well before daylight and the beginning of the workday. I don’t know that he ever caught any fish but I believe he liked the quiet just before dawn. It gave him time to think. Like most people in heavy construction, Joe was a man of very few words. He planned his day and the work got done. Nothing deterred him.
It is one thing to indicate on a set of design drawings, removal and replacement of structural steel and another thing is to do it on a bridge over water. One repair was taking a lot of time. It required replacing individual lacing bars (latticework) in one of the beams that is embedded in the concrete counter weight of the bascule leaf. Joe summoned John, the structural steel detailer, to the job site. Joe asked John to detail a complete replacement, and have it manufactured in the shop, brought out to the site so the whole assembly could be installed at one time. When it was all said and done, Joe’s thinking saved a lot of time.
Critical to the safety of the entire project is keeping the span balanced. The weight and location of all members removed and added to the bascule span are recorded in specific detail. This should be performed each day. In doing so, the span is kept in balance throughout the entire project to the extent that a range of 1,000 to 10,000 lbs. weights are kept at each corner at all times. Balancing a moveable bridge becomes a daily occurrence. If a leaf of a bascule span doesn’t come down, there is concern.
Joe worked on bridges long before balancing was done with gauges. Because he planned his work, he always anticipated what ever might happen well ahead of time. One of the ironworkers was a fellow who weighed about three hundred pounds. His name was Tiny. To balance one of the leaves of the bascule, Joe motioned to Tiny to walk out toward the end of the span. Tiny started plodding his way with hammer and spud wrench dangling. Seeing Tiny waddle is a wonder to behold. Joe called out to Tiny, “Go out a little further.” Tiny eventually made it to the end, and the leaf slowly descended. Once in place, the bridge tender (who operates the controls) threw the pins to lock the span in place. Joe told the men to remove one thousand pounds of lead weight from the counter balance. He didn’t need any strain gauges. All he needed was Tiny.
*****
In navigable waterways, timber fenders, wales and dolphins are used to protect bridge abutments and piers from misdirected boats, floating debris and/or ice. Over time, they need to be replaced. This work is usually coordinated with the tides so that there is access to do the repair or replacement. One man who does this work is a fellow named Tony. Most refer to him as “Captain Tony.”
Tony owns all the equipment, boats, barges, compressors and tools necessary to do any kind of marine work. He learned his craft from his father. Captain Tony didn’t rely on charts because he “knew” the water. He didn’t rely on equipment to do the work as much as he did on manpower. He had a crew that knew their jobs and worked smart. Tony had his own way of doing things based on his many years of experience and what he had learned from his dad. When he got to working on fenders or dolphins, he really did nice work. But every once in a while, Tony would get diverted.
Tony had an old, bare bones, heavily plated steel tugboat. The keel was large so it drew a lot of water. When the winter months came on, he decided to insulate the barge. But he didn’t just insulate it. He installed tongue-and-groove clear oak over the insulation and attached it to the steel walls. He took special care around the portals. His tug started to take on the look of a fine colonial styled house. The more he worked at it, the better it looked and the more he fell in love with installing, mitering, sanding, finishing and varnishing clear oak. He wire wooled and varnished it until he could see his face in the light’s reflection so he could shave.
All of this was a great and necessary diversion because sometimes, Captain Tony would loose track of the tides. Since you have to work with the tides in daylight hours, some days were short and others were long. On a given day when Tony decided that he had accomplished enough work, he’d head back to the marina with the tug, and his barge and whatever else he had taken out. Most of the men would head to any other piece of equipment or boat. They didn’t want to stay on the tug because every once in a while, Tony would run aground. That is why they called him “Captain Tony.” There is no way you can get this tug off a sand bar so you would have to wait for high tide. Tony didn’t care. He loved his boat and he loved installing oak, and if he had some time, he’d scarf timber and install new wales on your bridge.
There are sunny days when the sky is blue and the water an even darker blue. Those are the days you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but with some of the best people you’ll ever meet, the men who work on bridges over water.
Sunday, July 04, 2004
Independence Day 2004
Independence Day 2004
by: Henry W. Hessing.
John Locke discovered the moral foundations and America’s Founding Fathers established the political institutions necessary to create a free society that recognizes each individual is capable of rational self-government. Their thinking created our Declaration of Independence, our written Constitution as our fundamental law and the Bill of Rights. Our Constitution stands above government as a “higher law.” It creates, defines and limits the power of government. It protects the rights of the individual. It curbs abuse of power through checks and balances. The Constitution forever guarantees our liberty.
On Flag Day, 2003, Edwin A. Locke wrote an article that discussed the core values of reason, rights and science. He noted that 18th century Enlightenment’s indispensable achievement was the concept of individual rights. “John Locke dramatized that individuals do not exist to serve government, but rather that governments exist to protect individuals. The individual, said Locke, has an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This was the founding philosophy of America.”
Later that same month, Michael Berliner wrote an article concerning the meaning of Independence Day. He described the American Revolution as unique in human history: “a revolution – and a nation - founded on a moral principle, the principle of individual rights. Jefferson at Philadelphia and Washington at Valley Forge pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.”
“Jefferson and Washington fought a war for the principle of independence, meaning the moral right of an individual to live as he sees fit. Independence was proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence as the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Mr. Berliner further explains: “Political independence rests on…the independence of the human mind. It is the ability of a human being to think for himself and guide his own life that makes political independence possible and necessary. The government as envisioned by the Founding Fathers existed to protect the freedom to think and to act on one’s thinking. It is this independence that defines the American Revolution and the American spirit.”
We need to rediscover our individual morality. Our youth and the youth of other lands must learn that thinking is an act of choice. A code of values accepted by choice is our code of morality. When we illustrate that man’s life is the standard of morality, that life is its purpose, and the purpose of morality is to teach us to enjoy our lives and ourselves, we will defeat the evil we faced on September 11, 2001 and we continue to face today. Ayn Rand once described the essence of evil in Atlas Shrugged, “…those anti-living objects who seek, by devouring the world, to fill the selfless zero of their soul. It is not your wealth that they are after. Theirs is a conspiracy against the mind, which means: against life and man.”
What matters then is a set of rules and values that we the people, our leaders of today and tomorrow, and our nation may live by so that we may set the example for other rulers and nations so they can learn and live by them as well. The rules and values we accept by choice, i.e., our moral code is founded in the philosophy of our Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. Its principles created the only moral country in the history of the world. America was liberated from tyranny, and established the first government ever based on individual rights. These rights are protected by our written Constitution. The moral preconditions of free society are our own two hundred year old documents!
For the purpose of our self-preservation, we need this moral code. We need to teach it in our schools and education systems, in all lands oppressed by dictatorships, communism, totalitarianism, and the radical Islamic fundamentalist states that harbor terrorism. American statesmen should proclaim that the principle of individual rights is our morality. It is the basis of our Declaration of Independence. We need to emphasize the importance of these documents at home and distribute them abroad. They are free for all to read and represent what liberty and individual freedom offer - achievement, value, grandeur, goodness and joy as the morality of life.
by: Henry W. Hessing.
John Locke discovered the moral foundations and America’s Founding Fathers established the political institutions necessary to create a free society that recognizes each individual is capable of rational self-government. Their thinking created our Declaration of Independence, our written Constitution as our fundamental law and the Bill of Rights. Our Constitution stands above government as a “higher law.” It creates, defines and limits the power of government. It protects the rights of the individual. It curbs abuse of power through checks and balances. The Constitution forever guarantees our liberty.
On Flag Day, 2003, Edwin A. Locke wrote an article that discussed the core values of reason, rights and science. He noted that 18th century Enlightenment’s indispensable achievement was the concept of individual rights. “John Locke dramatized that individuals do not exist to serve government, but rather that governments exist to protect individuals. The individual, said Locke, has an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This was the founding philosophy of America.”
Later that same month, Michael Berliner wrote an article concerning the meaning of Independence Day. He described the American Revolution as unique in human history: “a revolution – and a nation - founded on a moral principle, the principle of individual rights. Jefferson at Philadelphia and Washington at Valley Forge pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.”
“Jefferson and Washington fought a war for the principle of independence, meaning the moral right of an individual to live as he sees fit. Independence was proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence as the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Mr. Berliner further explains: “Political independence rests on…the independence of the human mind. It is the ability of a human being to think for himself and guide his own life that makes political independence possible and necessary. The government as envisioned by the Founding Fathers existed to protect the freedom to think and to act on one’s thinking. It is this independence that defines the American Revolution and the American spirit.”
We need to rediscover our individual morality. Our youth and the youth of other lands must learn that thinking is an act of choice. A code of values accepted by choice is our code of morality. When we illustrate that man’s life is the standard of morality, that life is its purpose, and the purpose of morality is to teach us to enjoy our lives and ourselves, we will defeat the evil we faced on September 11, 2001 and we continue to face today. Ayn Rand once described the essence of evil in Atlas Shrugged, “…those anti-living objects who seek, by devouring the world, to fill the selfless zero of their soul. It is not your wealth that they are after. Theirs is a conspiracy against the mind, which means: against life and man.”
What matters then is a set of rules and values that we the people, our leaders of today and tomorrow, and our nation may live by so that we may set the example for other rulers and nations so they can learn and live by them as well. The rules and values we accept by choice, i.e., our moral code is founded in the philosophy of our Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. Its principles created the only moral country in the history of the world. America was liberated from tyranny, and established the first government ever based on individual rights. These rights are protected by our written Constitution. The moral preconditions of free society are our own two hundred year old documents!
For the purpose of our self-preservation, we need this moral code. We need to teach it in our schools and education systems, in all lands oppressed by dictatorships, communism, totalitarianism, and the radical Islamic fundamentalist states that harbor terrorism. American statesmen should proclaim that the principle of individual rights is our morality. It is the basis of our Declaration of Independence. We need to emphasize the importance of these documents at home and distribute them abroad. They are free for all to read and represent what liberty and individual freedom offer - achievement, value, grandeur, goodness and joy as the morality of life.
Monday, May 31, 2004
Memorial Day 2004
Memorial Day 2004
Like 2,600,000 others, I served in Viet Nam. Our effort to save the Vietnamese people from what ultimately became their fate, an existence under totalitarianism, was belittled and described as a “police action,” an “interdiction in a civil war” or as a mere “conflict.” 58,000 Americans died for the right of the Vietnamese to individual liberty and freedom. We, the living, can attest that those, who died, knew the horror of war.
During my tour, I learned how much I loved freedom. I thought that when war was over, and there was peace, the United States could and would help the Vietnamese. We stood for the good in mankind. Our engineering and technology could help harness rivers and create hydroelectric power. We could triple their rice production. We could build schools and housing and help create a society that believed in individual freedom and the right to own land just as we do. This is only possible where freedom exists; where people have individual rights and only if they have the right to own property.
Since September 11, 2001 our safety, liberty and freedom have been ensured by the effort of our armed forces. Concurrently, fifty million people have been liberated and now experience freedom, many for the first time, in a very troubled area of our world. This is not the fate of the North or South Vietnamese. They do not have the same future. For our security and for those who cherish life, we must continue this initiative. We must protect America from the evil we experienced on 911. In my opinion, it is worse than what we fought in Viet Nam. It is anti-mind. It wants to kill and destroy. Death, not life is their goal. It has no other purpose. There is no reasoning with those whose purpose is anti-life and anti-mind.
During this time of peril, Americans and non-Americans must realize that man has individual rights that cannot be conquered or enslaved by any enemy, foreign or domestic. This peril does not originate in America. It comes from without, not from within. It must be met. It is for our freedom that we fight terrorism. I do not believe this can be stated often enough. It must be declared unequivocally so every living soul comprehends we fight for individual freedom and the joy life offers.
I believe most people understand the use of military force but I do not believe everyone understands that there is no “knight in shining armor” to lift this peril from us because he doesn’t exist. We choose to use force because force has been used against us. We did not initiate the use of force against radical Islamic fundamentalists. Their state funded attack is against civilized society and morality.
We are at a point wherein we need to define the end game, that is, a life of confidence not fear, individual liberty and not nihilism. General Douglas MacArthur is quoted as saying, “There is no substitute for victory.” There is no alternative in war if we cherish liberty, individual freedom and what they offer - achievement, value, grandeur, goodness and joy as the morality of life.
Like 2,600,000 others, I served in Viet Nam. Our effort to save the Vietnamese people from what ultimately became their fate, an existence under totalitarianism, was belittled and described as a “police action,” an “interdiction in a civil war” or as a mere “conflict.” 58,000 Americans died for the right of the Vietnamese to individual liberty and freedom. We, the living, can attest that those, who died, knew the horror of war.
During my tour, I learned how much I loved freedom. I thought that when war was over, and there was peace, the United States could and would help the Vietnamese. We stood for the good in mankind. Our engineering and technology could help harness rivers and create hydroelectric power. We could triple their rice production. We could build schools and housing and help create a society that believed in individual freedom and the right to own land just as we do. This is only possible where freedom exists; where people have individual rights and only if they have the right to own property.
Since September 11, 2001 our safety, liberty and freedom have been ensured by the effort of our armed forces. Concurrently, fifty million people have been liberated and now experience freedom, many for the first time, in a very troubled area of our world. This is not the fate of the North or South Vietnamese. They do not have the same future. For our security and for those who cherish life, we must continue this initiative. We must protect America from the evil we experienced on 911. In my opinion, it is worse than what we fought in Viet Nam. It is anti-mind. It wants to kill and destroy. Death, not life is their goal. It has no other purpose. There is no reasoning with those whose purpose is anti-life and anti-mind.
During this time of peril, Americans and non-Americans must realize that man has individual rights that cannot be conquered or enslaved by any enemy, foreign or domestic. This peril does not originate in America. It comes from without, not from within. It must be met. It is for our freedom that we fight terrorism. I do not believe this can be stated often enough. It must be declared unequivocally so every living soul comprehends we fight for individual freedom and the joy life offers.
I believe most people understand the use of military force but I do not believe everyone understands that there is no “knight in shining armor” to lift this peril from us because he doesn’t exist. We choose to use force because force has been used against us. We did not initiate the use of force against radical Islamic fundamentalists. Their state funded attack is against civilized society and morality.
We are at a point wherein we need to define the end game, that is, a life of confidence not fear, individual liberty and not nihilism. General Douglas MacArthur is quoted as saying, “There is no substitute for victory.” There is no alternative in war if we cherish liberty, individual freedom and what they offer - achievement, value, grandeur, goodness and joy as the morality of life.
Sunday, March 14, 2004
Einstein’s Birthday is March 14; Lets Celebrate!
Einstein’s Birthday is March 14; lets celebrate!
Man's mind is his tool of survival, from the harnessing of fire to the discovery of electricity. Albert Einstein’s birth date is March 14. Why is Albert Einstein considered a genius?
Last year at this time and as a matter of interest, I searched the web and found a very good reference document. Recently, I went back to find the author’s name in order to give him full credit, however I was not able to find the site. That web search found the following: He worked forty hours a week in a patent office and concurrently created the Special Theory of Relativity in 1905. The theory illustrates time and space vary as an object moves relative to anything else and that time and space are not absolute. In the same year he created the quantum theory of light - that energy and matter are discrete. Light consists of photons or particles. He invented a method of counting and determining the size of an atom and the phenomenon called Brownian motion. This was the proof that atoms exist. He then completed the special relativity theory describing light as a wave and a particle. Later in 1905, he proved that energy and matter are linked, that is the famous equation, E = mc2. Not a bad year for anyone but consider what else he did.
In 1907, Einstein had the insight that gravity and acceleration are equivalent. Every first year physics student learns this as a fact, never having to know who figured it out. He recognized the coexistence of particles and waves. This is significant if you want to know the difference between AM and FM radio transmission and reception. In physics, this is called dualism. Scattering of light by individual molecules in the atmosphere is called critical opalescence. Thus, his 1910 paper answers every child’s question, “Why is the sky blue?” In 1911, he recognized that dualism is fundamental in nature.
In 1915, he completed the General Theory of Relativity. Matter and energy actually mold the shape of space and flow of time. Space is no longer the box that the universe comes in; space and time, matter and energy are. This can be graphically shown in three dimensions. Imagine a large mesh net similar to what commercial fisherman use. Now toss a ball into and see how the mesh is moved. The net is molded or shaped around the ball by the force or energy of the toss.
Cosmology is the study of the behavior of the whole universe. In 1917, Einstein’s paper used general relativity to model the behavior of the entire universe. He took his theory and applied it to the entire universe! What is even more amazing is that he did it eight years prior to the invention of quantum mechanics, the theory of waves and particles. Prior to the Theories of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, the world could be described only in terms of Newtonian physics which was not adequate to define large objects moving at great speeds or subatomic particle movement needed for inventions like semiconductors.
Albert Einstein recognized that there might be a problem due to the dual nature of quanta as waves and particles to define causes and effects because sometimes particles act like waves and waves act like particles. (Quantum mechanics helps to clarify this blur.) This led to a new idea concerning the forms of matter - solid, liquid and gas. In 1919, the Bose-Einstein condensate was postulated. In the mid-1990s, the condensate was created at very low temperatures.
Einstein spent the rest of his career working on what is today called “String Theory.” He was not able to prove his theories of forces through multi-dimensional space. But the problems he could not solve are described as the cutting edge of physics today.
Albert Einstein transformed our understanding of nature from the smallest (atomic) scale to the extent of the cosmos. Culture thrives to the extent that it is governed by reason and science. The spark of genius in the scientist who first identifies a law of physics, in the inventor who uses that knowledge to create a new engine or telephonic device and in the businessmen who daily translate their ideas into tangible wealth must be acknowledged, recognized and celebrated. Happy Birthday Albert Einstein!
Man's mind is his tool of survival, from the harnessing of fire to the discovery of electricity. Albert Einstein’s birth date is March 14. Why is Albert Einstein considered a genius?
Last year at this time and as a matter of interest, I searched the web and found a very good reference document. Recently, I went back to find the author’s name in order to give him full credit, however I was not able to find the site. That web search found the following: He worked forty hours a week in a patent office and concurrently created the Special Theory of Relativity in 1905. The theory illustrates time and space vary as an object moves relative to anything else and that time and space are not absolute. In the same year he created the quantum theory of light - that energy and matter are discrete. Light consists of photons or particles. He invented a method of counting and determining the size of an atom and the phenomenon called Brownian motion. This was the proof that atoms exist. He then completed the special relativity theory describing light as a wave and a particle. Later in 1905, he proved that energy and matter are linked, that is the famous equation, E = mc2. Not a bad year for anyone but consider what else he did.
In 1907, Einstein had the insight that gravity and acceleration are equivalent. Every first year physics student learns this as a fact, never having to know who figured it out. He recognized the coexistence of particles and waves. This is significant if you want to know the difference between AM and FM radio transmission and reception. In physics, this is called dualism. Scattering of light by individual molecules in the atmosphere is called critical opalescence. Thus, his 1910 paper answers every child’s question, “Why is the sky blue?” In 1911, he recognized that dualism is fundamental in nature.
In 1915, he completed the General Theory of Relativity. Matter and energy actually mold the shape of space and flow of time. Space is no longer the box that the universe comes in; space and time, matter and energy are. This can be graphically shown in three dimensions. Imagine a large mesh net similar to what commercial fisherman use. Now toss a ball into and see how the mesh is moved. The net is molded or shaped around the ball by the force or energy of the toss.
Cosmology is the study of the behavior of the whole universe. In 1917, Einstein’s paper used general relativity to model the behavior of the entire universe. He took his theory and applied it to the entire universe! What is even more amazing is that he did it eight years prior to the invention of quantum mechanics, the theory of waves and particles. Prior to the Theories of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics, the world could be described only in terms of Newtonian physics which was not adequate to define large objects moving at great speeds or subatomic particle movement needed for inventions like semiconductors.
Albert Einstein recognized that there might be a problem due to the dual nature of quanta as waves and particles to define causes and effects because sometimes particles act like waves and waves act like particles. (Quantum mechanics helps to clarify this blur.) This led to a new idea concerning the forms of matter - solid, liquid and gas. In 1919, the Bose-Einstein condensate was postulated. In the mid-1990s, the condensate was created at very low temperatures.
Einstein spent the rest of his career working on what is today called “String Theory.” He was not able to prove his theories of forces through multi-dimensional space. But the problems he could not solve are described as the cutting edge of physics today.
Albert Einstein transformed our understanding of nature from the smallest (atomic) scale to the extent of the cosmos. Culture thrives to the extent that it is governed by reason and science. The spark of genius in the scientist who first identifies a law of physics, in the inventor who uses that knowledge to create a new engine or telephonic device and in the businessmen who daily translate their ideas into tangible wealth must be acknowledged, recognized and celebrated. Happy Birthday Albert Einstein!
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
National Engineers’ Week
National Engineers’ Week
In 1827, Thomas Tregold defined engineering as “the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man.” The Egyptian pyramids, the Grecian temples, the Roman roads, bridges and aqueducts, are the products of the engineering mind. “Civil Engineering,” the magazine of the American Society of Civil Engineers, November-December 2002 issue highlighted 40 civil engineering landmark and notable projects. Several of these are in the New York region.
Construction began on the Erie Canal in 1817, and was completed in October 1825. It exemplifies determination and skill required to construct a 363-mile long waterway connecting the Great Lakes to New York City.
In 1842, the 41-mile long Croton Aqueduct was completed supplying New York City with a gravity fed, safe potable water supply. It is highlighted by the fifteen masonry arches crossing called the Harlem River High Bridge.
The Brooklyn Bridge opened on May 24, 1883. It is a magnificent suspension bridge. The center span of 1596 feet was the world’s longest. The side spans are 930 feet and the total length is 5,989 feet. It may be the most photographed bridge because of its beauty.
Today’s New York City subway ridership is estimated at 1.3 billion rides per year. The Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) line opened in October 1904. Within a year, the 9.1-mile route was accommodating 600,000 riders. One of its greatest challenges was rerouting water, gas, sewer, electrical and other utility lines.
Construction of the Holland Tunnel began in 1920 and was completed in 1927. Parallel tubes 8,371 feet and 8,558 feet long were designed to include innovative mechanical ventilation buildings housing 84 fans, each 80 feet in diameter. The tunnel was the longest underwater automobile tunnel in the world.
The Empire State Building opened in May 1931 just 14 months after construction began. The art deco architecture consists of limestone, granite, aluminum, and chrome –nickel steel. At 102 stories or 1,250 feet, it stood as the world’s tallest building for 41 years until the construction of the World Trade center towers.
Construction of the George Washington Bridge began in 1927 and was completed in 1931. It is the first suspension bridge to carry fourteen lanes of traffic and today serves 50 million vehicles per year.
The John F Kennedy International Airport originally called the Municipal Airport at Idlewild, and then New York International Airport began in April 1942. Today its four runways serve over thirty million passengers annually as well as air cargo. A recent addition is the introduction of light rail service.
Another suspension bridge is the 7,200-foot long Verrazano Narrows. It opened in 1964 connecting the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. The 4,260 foot main span was the longest in the world. To resist dynamic wind action, the double deck structure acts as a single, rigid, rectangular tube due to two vertical stiffening trusses between the decks and two lateral trusses, one in each plane of the deck.
The World Trade Center twin towers were completed in 1973. At 110 stories and heights of 1,362 feet and 1,368 feet achieved global acclaim as engineering landmarks.
Paraphrasing Fredric Hamber, “Several centuries ago, providing the basic necessities for one’s survival was a matter of daily drudgery for most people. Today we enjoy conveniences undreamed of by medieval kings. The high standard of living we enjoy, our relative affluence is based on brainpower. Man’s mind is his tool of his survival. Americans should celebrate the spark of genius in the scientist who first identifies a law of physics, in the inventor who uses that knowledge to create a new engine or telephonic device, and in the businessmen who daily translate their ideas into tangible wealth.” Thomas Tregold would include the engineer who harnesses the power of nature for the benefit of mankind.
Ayn Rand stated, “Productive achievement is man’s noblest activity and reason is his absolute.” It is the engineer’s ability to use his mind, to reason, invent and create that has given us canals, aqueducts, subways, vehicle tunnels, airports, buildings that soar 100 or more stories, and majestic long-span bridges. Lets recognize these achievements and celebrate February 20 through the 26, 2005, National Engineers’ week!
Henry W. Hessing, PE
In 1827, Thomas Tregold defined engineering as “the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man.” The Egyptian pyramids, the Grecian temples, the Roman roads, bridges and aqueducts, are the products of the engineering mind. “Civil Engineering,” the magazine of the American Society of Civil Engineers, November-December 2002 issue highlighted 40 civil engineering landmark and notable projects. Several of these are in the New York region.
Construction began on the Erie Canal in 1817, and was completed in October 1825. It exemplifies determination and skill required to construct a 363-mile long waterway connecting the Great Lakes to New York City.
In 1842, the 41-mile long Croton Aqueduct was completed supplying New York City with a gravity fed, safe potable water supply. It is highlighted by the fifteen masonry arches crossing called the Harlem River High Bridge.
The Brooklyn Bridge opened on May 24, 1883. It is a magnificent suspension bridge. The center span of 1596 feet was the world’s longest. The side spans are 930 feet and the total length is 5,989 feet. It may be the most photographed bridge because of its beauty.
Today’s New York City subway ridership is estimated at 1.3 billion rides per year. The Interborough Rapid Transit (IRT) line opened in October 1904. Within a year, the 9.1-mile route was accommodating 600,000 riders. One of its greatest challenges was rerouting water, gas, sewer, electrical and other utility lines.
Construction of the Holland Tunnel began in 1920 and was completed in 1927. Parallel tubes 8,371 feet and 8,558 feet long were designed to include innovative mechanical ventilation buildings housing 84 fans, each 80 feet in diameter. The tunnel was the longest underwater automobile tunnel in the world.
The Empire State Building opened in May 1931 just 14 months after construction began. The art deco architecture consists of limestone, granite, aluminum, and chrome –nickel steel. At 102 stories or 1,250 feet, it stood as the world’s tallest building for 41 years until the construction of the World Trade center towers.
Construction of the George Washington Bridge began in 1927 and was completed in 1931. It is the first suspension bridge to carry fourteen lanes of traffic and today serves 50 million vehicles per year.
The John F Kennedy International Airport originally called the Municipal Airport at Idlewild, and then New York International Airport began in April 1942. Today its four runways serve over thirty million passengers annually as well as air cargo. A recent addition is the introduction of light rail service.
Another suspension bridge is the 7,200-foot long Verrazano Narrows. It opened in 1964 connecting the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn. The 4,260 foot main span was the longest in the world. To resist dynamic wind action, the double deck structure acts as a single, rigid, rectangular tube due to two vertical stiffening trusses between the decks and two lateral trusses, one in each plane of the deck.
The World Trade Center twin towers were completed in 1973. At 110 stories and heights of 1,362 feet and 1,368 feet achieved global acclaim as engineering landmarks.
Paraphrasing Fredric Hamber, “Several centuries ago, providing the basic necessities for one’s survival was a matter of daily drudgery for most people. Today we enjoy conveniences undreamed of by medieval kings. The high standard of living we enjoy, our relative affluence is based on brainpower. Man’s mind is his tool of his survival. Americans should celebrate the spark of genius in the scientist who first identifies a law of physics, in the inventor who uses that knowledge to create a new engine or telephonic device, and in the businessmen who daily translate their ideas into tangible wealth.” Thomas Tregold would include the engineer who harnesses the power of nature for the benefit of mankind.
Ayn Rand stated, “Productive achievement is man’s noblest activity and reason is his absolute.” It is the engineer’s ability to use his mind, to reason, invent and create that has given us canals, aqueducts, subways, vehicle tunnels, airports, buildings that soar 100 or more stories, and majestic long-span bridges. Lets recognize these achievements and celebrate February 20 through the 26, 2005, National Engineers’ week!
Henry W. Hessing, PE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)