Behind the eight ball
Ed
Stephens of this page sometime ago brought out a list of 8 verbs. I wondered how he got to 8 rather than lucky 7,
9, or 11. He is not even Chinese though
he wrestles the Hanzi down whose word
for 8 is ba, a homonym for "happiness
and prosperity", explaining to the curious the preponderance of 8 in
choices of P. O. Box numbers and vehicular tags in Sinosphere and Saipan.
We
count by base-10, the decimal system. Base-2,
binary count using 0 and 1 is reliable but cumbersome; photo editing uses
base-16, hexidecimal, that has digits 0 to 9 followed by the letter A to F for
the first sixteen, then, 10 to 19 followed by 1A to 1F plus 20, for the next 16. We shy away from those exact languages and
stick to rugged human discourse, imprecise as that is.
Tardigrada or Waterbear, the creature in the
the Language Studios of Shenyang and Saipan I am associated with, is an eight-legged
microorganism. Spiders have the same
number of legs. Society also keeps 8-counts
and 8-shapes close to its chest. The lady
at the beach is a figure 8, horizontal 8 is "infinity", and a reclining
8 takes minds to jaded shadows!
Base-8
is a system of counting that uses an eight-digit system, 0 to 7. Numbers "8" and "9" do not
exist, digits are as follows: 0 to 7 are the first eight, the next is base
doubled (8.8=64), and the next is cubed (8.8.8=512), then, to the fourth
(8.8.8.8=4096), fifth, sixth, and however far one's calculating machine can
take it. This is a way of thinking that a
computer game programmer utilizes, though if you ask me how it works, we move swiftly
on to the next topic.
The
late William Buckley, the Rapier Wit of the Right, TV host, prodigious writer
who founded one of America's conservative rags, had 8 verboten phrases for political journalists. I lived within D.C.'s beltway before he died,
and though I was sympathetic to his way of thinking because he encouraged individuals
to work out their own thoughts and be accountable for their deeds, we differed
on the consequences of our resolves.
Buckley chose 8 for
the number of no-no words; he could have conveniently chosen 10. His conservatively held resolves were
culturally conditioned rather than a consequence of clear thinking, IMHO! His choice of 8 rather than the decimal 10,
however, revealed to me a mind whose leanings was towards poetry more than the
strictures of objective science, my kind of thinker.
His rants
against government stems from a distrust of group-think shown by the elitist
institutions in his neighborhood, Yale and Harvard, thus, abandoning any effort
to join it. Conversely, I relished being
in groupthink to influence and often subvert it, with wild logic and wayward deeds.
Even
Kalihi-bred former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hanneman of German-Samoan descent who
just began writing for ST's opinion page "as Marianas matters" notes in
his bio that he was Harvard-educated, though I was more impressed that he was a
Kiwi in NZ at Wellington University.
The
late Buckminster Fuller once said: You never change things by fighting
existing reality. To change something,
build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. We
welcome the Honolulu Mayor into the ST table!
We, too, think the Marianas matters.
We work on changing models.
"Eight"
is also the street word for 3.5 grams of forbidden crystals, costly at the
incarceration end more than on the overdose front. Buckley once suggested that if drugs were
priced at market rate, it would be 90 times cheaper than priced at the black
market. Not supportive of the use of drugs,
nonetheless, he favored unrestricted markets for its sale!
Eightball is a humorous comic book by
Daniel Clowes who draws against the mainstream, made into an Academy Award-nominated
film in the 90s. Eight is also one of
the magic numbers in nuclear physics but not science-literate, I shan't lead
you there.
Being
"behind the eight ball" is finding oneself in a difficult situation
not usually desired. "In a
difficult situation" is a plus to Muslim friends that calls them to return
to Allah's side. (BTW Mufi is not a
Mufti.) Ayatul Kursi reminds one that to "remember Allah is to know
that Allah will remember you". The
Arabic word for "a clear sign of Allah" is "ayat" from where the word "Ayatollah" (who loves Allah) comes from. Ayat
is also "love" in my Ilocano dialect!
The metaphor "behind the eight
ball" derives from billiards where the black solid splits the table into
1-7 and 9-15 numbered balls (solids and stripes), something I learned one
summer at the Y. Contestants pocket
assigned balls before aiming for the 8.
To be behind the eight ball before clearing the table of one's numbers
is “being in a difficult place”.
I am currently behind the eighth ball ("shame on you", a dear one quickly
says, "that is private information")
but given the open-book nature of my existence, it hardly matters. I am not enamored by "eight". It has not brought me closer to Allah, blessed be the name! But it has enabled this reflection on my
situation and that is always a plus in managing it. BTW, I am happy and wealthy. Kapeesh?
j'aime la vie
yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate!
-----Original Message-----
From: wangzhimu2031 <wangzhimu2031@aol.com>
To: oe <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Thu, Jun 4, 2015 9:25 pm
Subject: Yangtze boat disaster
I was in Chengdu, Sichuan two years ago, then moseyed over to Chongqing by the Chiangjiang (Yangtze) famous for its riverboats and cruises. I checked out the cost of sailing down the river from Chongqing to the mouth of the river near Shanghai. I could not afford a toe dip on the water!
The 400-some elders age 50-70 on the cruise boat that just capsized off Nanjing would have been the type of cruise I would have joined. There is something to be said about being poor, but there is nothing comforting about not being one of the casualties.
China retires its females at 50-55 and its males 55-60. Part of the reason I am no longer teaching at the University in Shenyang is that foreign teachers are also retired no later than 65. Those numbers are in the process of review as life expectancy has risen in recent years.
Meanwhile, I head back to China for a month and then return to Saipan to start an English Immersion program for Chinese tourists. I might have to teach at the local High School World geography and history to augment the income as the tyranny of the economic had reared its ugly head once more.
Those traveling this summer, stay safe.
j'aime la vie
yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate!