CANDOER News

Communicators AND Others Enjoying Retirement

Welcome to the CANDOER News. Suggestions as to what you would like to see in the CANDOER are welcome. Letters to the editor, articles consisting of general information, feature articles, G-rated jokes, or poems, written/submitted by retirees or OC/IM employees, past or present, will be published, unedited. Material may be submitted on a 3.5" floppy disk (disk will be returned) using WordPerfect Version 6.1 or earlier (if it contains graphics), on a plain sheet of paper (if it has no graphics) or via e-mail. The deadline for submitting material is no later than the 25th of each month. Material received after that date will be published in the next issue of the CANDOER, space allowing. Please, restrict articles/submissions to two single spaced, typed pages. No hand written submissions, please.

The snail-mail address for submissions or letters to the editor is:

Robert J. Catlin, Sr.
Publisher/Editor CANDOER News
2670 Dakota Street
Bryans Road, MD 20616-3062

Here is an excerpt from: www.unicefusa.org/donation/change.html.

QUOTE

Ever wonder what to do with those foreign banknotes and coins you've accumulated/continue to accumulate? UNICEF has created a program to collect the estimated $72 million in foreign coins and bills travelers bring home each year. The "Change for Good" program collects all foreign currency --- even the smallest denominations --- and then donates the money to support UNICEF's efforts to provide clean water, health care, sanitation facilities, education and emergency relief to millions of children in more than 160 countries. Since 1991, the program has raised more than $20 million to support UNICEF's lifesaving work. Contributions can be made in-flight on 17 participating airlines. Or you can send your foreign money directly to the program at:

Change for Good
U.S. Committee for UNICEF
333 E. 38th St., 6th Floor
New York, NY 10016

UNQUOTE

I've often lent foreign banknotes and coins to church groups and schools. My school teacher daughter uses them in studies of foreign countries and cultures; etc., etc.

Does anyone out there have an Italian banknote (small denomination) with a picture of Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori method of teaching?

The following letter was received from Bob Campopiano in reference to a story submitted by Jim Prosser.

Bob,

The story of "Taps" that appeared in the July CANDOER News is a variation on what I had heard at times over the years. It's a nice tale and I almost wish it were true but the real story is equally as interesting and it has inspired a wonderful tradition that still exists today.

While traveling back from a recent trip to Williamsburg, my wife and I decided to visit one of the James River plantations called Berkeley and there learned the true story of "Taps". Incidentally, we had toured another plantation along the James on another trip and they make very interesting tours.

In any event, we visited Berkeley, the ancestral home of the Harrisons. This was the home of one President William Henry Harrison (as in Tippecanoe and Tyler, too) who was also the grandfather of another President, Benjamin Harrison III. While touring the grounds, we came upon a monument to "Taps". At the monument was a button which when pushed provided a narration about the origination of this famous music. A Union general (whose name I can't remember) was camped there and wanted a piece of music to have played as sort of a "lights out" for the troops. The General was assisted by his bugler who helped with the arrangement.

The most interesting part of the narration to me was that when the same bugler played "Taps", a Confederate bugler camped on the other side of the James replayed the tune thus beginning the great tradition of the "echo" that we always hear today.

As time went by, the music began to be played at military funerals and is now used by many other countries.

At the conclusion of the recorded narration, "Taps" was played, beautiful as always. Even had we not had the tour of Berkeley, the stop would have been well worth it to learn and hear about this piece of American history.

Regards,

Bob C.

Should You

Should you find it hard to get to sleep tonight; Just remember the homeless family who has no bed to lie in.

Should you find yourself stuck in traffic; don't despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; Think of the man who has been out of work for the last three months.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; Think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; Think of the womanin dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for $15.00 to feed her family.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; Think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.

Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; Think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering; what is life all about, what is my purpose? Be thankful, there are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be worse. You could be them!

There was another extremely light turn out for the August luncheon at Phineas in Rockville. In attendance were the following members: Me.

Effective immediately, all luncheons will be held at TGIF's in Alexandria. All luncheons at the Phineas location are hereby cancelled. If I want to have lunch by myself, I will not drive 53 miles, one way, to do it. I can do it here in Bryans Road at the Berger King, a mile away (one way).

On June 23, I received an e-mail message from John Kennedy informing me that he had just returned from working with Augie Bleske in Bonn and that Augie was interested in joining the CANDOERs. I sent Augie my normal canned e-mail message.

On June 24, I received a letter from Allan Friedbauer. Allen has moved from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to Scottsdale, Arizona. He is in the process of obtaining an ISP and will furnish an e-mail address when it is available. His new address may be found in the Pen and Ink section of this issue.

On June 25, I received a letter from Ed Wilson. Ed indicated he was moving to Florida and was terminating his e-mail account as of June 25th. He said he would furnish his new snail and e-mail addresses when he got settled.

On July 26, I received an e-mail message from Gerry Gendron furnishing information about a potential new member, Buzz McManus. Buzz is now the Branch Chief of IRM/OPS/SCS/SC (we knew it as VIP). I have sent Buzz a letter about the CANDOERs.

On July 7, after returning from two weeks vacation in hot, humid, Erie, I received an e-mail from Joe Pado. Joe has moved to Littleton, Colorado. His new, temporary address may be found in the Pen and Ink section.

Also, while on vacation, I received an e-mail message from Tim Lawson furnishing his new e-mail address. Jim's new e-mail address may be found in the Pen and Ink section and on the last page of this and future issues.

The following uses for Bounce were received from Barbara Gregory.

1. Repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.

2. Eliminates static electricity from your television screen. Since Bounce is designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from resettling.

3. Dissolves soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a used sheet of Bounce.

4. Freshens the air in your home. Place an individual sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang one in the closet.

5. Prevents thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through a sheet of Bounce to eliminate the static cling on the thread before sewing.

6. Eliminates static cling from pantyhose. Rub a damp, used sheet of Bounce over the hose.

7. Prevents musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.

8. Freshens the air in your car. Place a sheet of Bounce under the front seat.

9. Cleans baked-on food from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in the pan, fill with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The antistatic agents apparently weaken the bond between the food and the pan while the fabric softening agents soften the baked-on food.

10. Eliminates odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet of Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.

11. Collects cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.

12. Eliminates static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling.

13. Wipes up sawdust from drilling or sandpapering. A used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.

14. Eliminates odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.

15. Deodorizes shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or sneakers overnight so they'll smell great in the morning.

On February 25, 1999, the Honorable Congressman Houghton, from the 31st voting district of New York, introduced the following bill (summary only furnished).

Bill - H.R. 865

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, to provide a special rule for members of the Foreign Service in determining the exclusion of gain from the sale of a principal residence.

In general - The running of the 5-year period shall be suspended with respect to an individual during any time that such individual or such individual's spouse is serving on qualified official extended duty as a member of the Foreign Service.

The term ‘qualified official extended duty' means any period of extended duty as a member of the Foreign Service during which the member serves at a duty station which is at least 50 miles from such property or is under Government orders to reside in Government quarters.

The term ‘extended duty' means any period of active duty pursuant to a call or order to such duty for a period in excess of 90 days or for an indefinite period.

Effective date - The amendment made by this section shall apply to sales and exchanges that take part after May 6, 1997.

The bill was immediately referred to the Ways and Means Committee.

I talked to Representative Houghton's office on June 24. I was told that H.R. 865 is still in the House Ways and Means Committee and will probably die there. They suggest that people who are interested in this Bill coming out of this Committee, write to their Congressman and express their interest. Rep. Houghton's office is not optimistic on its chance of ever coming out of Committee, without some outside pressure.

In addition, you may want to write to AFSA and enlist their assistance in pushing for this important piece of legislature. I have sent letters to both AFSA and AFGE, as well as my Representative Steny Hoyer and both Senators from Maryland.

FYI: You can get the address and telephone number of your Senators and Congressman by signing onto the following Web pages: http:\\www.house.gov or http:\\www.senate.gov. If you want to track legislature, you can sign on to: http:\\thomas.loc.gov. In addition, contact your Senator or Representative's office. They all have offices throughout the their state that are usually a local phone call away. They will usually bend over backwards to help you obtain information. END FYI

We brought the headquarters communications center up to the state-of-the-art with the ATS and the ARCS. However, little was done to upgrade the field posts. The principal equipment in the field was the HW- 28 Teletype equipment, consisting of a printer, a paper tape punch, and a tape reader. The operator was required to key punch the telegram, while producing a precise ACP 127 format heading, which was required by automated relay switches.

Congress had authorized funds to replace this equipment as it wore out. In effect, we were replacing and old outdated Model A with a new outdated Model A. I met with the President of the Teletype Corporation. He advised me that they were no longer making the HW- 28 and they would have to be made off the line. This equipment was being replaced by Teletype Model 40 systems, which were computer controlled.

We had an open contract with Teletype, which we could obligate funds at the end of the year by telephone call, with a follow up confirmation by telegram. This was particular handy at the end of the fiscal year, when money was being transferred rapidly from one account to another. We agreed that, in the future, when we ordered equipment, we would be provided with Model 40s. We sent Jim Meador to Teletype to assist in programming the equipment to our specifications.

Instead of paper tape reader or tape punch the system consisted of a video screen, which displayed the telegram as it was typed and permitted the operator to make corrections. The system also inserted the appropriate JANAP routing indicators automatically, or the operators could insert one, if the appropriate routing indicator was not listed. The telegram was printed out on a small high speed printer and recorded on a magnetic tape cassette. Four cassette drives were used; one for outgoing messages, one for incoming messages, one for storage for later retrieval, and one for formatting. From there it could be retrieved for later action. Some of the processing was still manual. I believed we had competent operators and I did not go overboard with automation, which would push the price higher. Each system was fully redundant and cost $60,000.00.

The weakest part of the system, which we realized in the beginning, were the magnetic tape drives. We ordered extra tape drives and had a supply at each post so that if a drive filed it could be quickly replaced. The operators would then send a message to the headquarters supply depot requesting replacement and would then return the defective drive back by courier pouch. A replacement drive was sent immediately. We installed the first systems in Ottawa, Mexico City, and at USUN, because maintenance was readily available in Washington. Each post was provided with three systems; one system was used for incoming traffic, one for outgoing, and one as a stand by spare. The systems were interchangeable. Any single system could be used for both incoming and outgoing traffic, if necessary. We sent training officers to each post, not only to train the operators in using the system, but also to train the post personnel on changes in the telegram distribution.

We set up a network to exchange experiences. If a post experienced some difficulty they would send a service message to all other TERP posts inquiring if anyone had the same problem and if they were able to solve it, how they did it. As the TERP expanded into Europe and other areas, they became more stable and the operators more proficient. Later, floppy discs were provided and the tape reader problem disappeared. When I left the Department, 90 posts were equipped with the TERP. This reduced the number of personnel needed to man the communications centers and the regional bureaus transferred funds to OC as an investment.

When Stu Branch became DAS, he finally made the TERP a line item in the budget. New versions of the system were produced. The acronym TERP is still being used today, but I am sure the equipment configuration has changed, as well as the software capability.

Part two of three

Haiti's history as the second oldest republic in the hemisphere had often been violent and tragic with its Presidents often not finishing their term in office.

At the time I arrived, President Francois Duvalier had been in office since 1957, in a disputed election.

The Unites States was sending economic aid and military assistance training of the Haitian Army with a U.S. Naval Mission headed by Marine Colonel Robert Debs Heinl, Jr., and his staff.

Castro's Cuba, across the Windward Passage was a threat to the spread of Communism in Latin America.

The U.S. occupation of Haiti

The United States occupied Haiti when the Marines came ashore July 28, 1914, following a period of unrest and chaos caused by mob rule in the capital.

President Guillaume Sam, took asylum in the French Embassy. But the mob broke in and killed Sam. That afternoon, the Marines landed. Meanwhile, native cacos's (bandits) terrorized the island, which bordered the Dominican Republic.

Early on November 17, 1915, Marine Major Smedly Butler, led an attack on Fort Riviere. He was awarded his second Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions.

By 1916, the Marines had occupied the entire country. They restored order and formed the Guard d'Haiti , commanded by Marine officers and NCO's.

Prior to American entry into World War I, the combined occupation of Santo Domingo served to protect the Windward Passage - a vital sea lane between Haiti and Cuba approaching the Panama Canal.

The Marines departed in 1934, in the first administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was anxious to carry out his Good Neighbor Policy. FDR visited Cap Haitian and held a ceremony with President Vincent.

The legacy of the Marine occupation left good roads, sanitation, safe water supplies, restored port facilities, and security to the nation. There was even a telephone system, which worked; but soon fell into chaos once the Marines left.

Some Haitians never accepted the Marine occupation.

When the Marines left the nearby Dominican Republic, it came under dictator Trujillo. Problems developed with Haiti over the use of Haitian sugar cane cutters and thousands were reported killed in 1937.

Relations remained strained. In December 1941, President Lescot of Haiti declared war on the Axis powers, immediately after the U.S. Through financial and technical assistance, the Haitian economy survived the war.

Lescot's rule was replaced by a three-man junta, headed by Colonel Paul E. Magloire, head of the Palace Guard.

The Haitian Assembly elected Dumarsais Estime president. An economic boom took place with the return of postwar tourism, attracted by the charms of Haiti. New hotels were erected and cruise ships made frequent calls. A Bi-Centennial Exposition was staged. The water front slums were cleaned up. But problems continued between Haiti's educated elites and its poor, uneducated black population and their leaders.

General Paul Maglorie deposed Estime in a bloodless coup.

Authors Bernard Diederich and Al Burt, writing in Papa Doc-Haiti and its Dictator, said, "The Magloire years generally were good ones for Haiti." Magloire would receive the support of the elite, the church, the Army, and the United States.

In January 1955, President Eisenhower invited President Magloire and his wife to the White House for an official visit.

Magloire's term ended in May 1956. He was forced into exile.

An election followed in which Francois Duvalier was elected President in 1957. His opponent Louis Dejoie said, "The election was rigged." Duvalier assumed office and promised constitutional rights.

Career hand Gerald A. Drew became Ambassador.

In 1958, political unrest continued as Duvalier struck back at this enemies.

The Marines returned to Haiti on May 18, 1958, in the form of a training mission. Colonel Robert Debs Heinl, and a party of Marine officers and NCO's arrived to form a U.S. Naval Mission.

In Cuba, on January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro replaced Batista, the dictator, as troubles continue until this day.

By 1960, Duvalier had replaced some of his senior Army officers and formed his own militia who then guarded the Presidential Palace.

Duvalier would continue to apply pressure on the U.S., using the threat of Communism.

Duvalier next dissolved the Bicameral assembly, thus extending his term another six years.

Ambassador Robert Newbegin was now Ambassador.

On May 30, 1961, longtime dictator Rafael Trujillo was assassinated in the nearby Dominican Republic, ending his 31-year reign. The U.S. Navy ringed both Haiti and the Dominican Republic with a force of naval vessels.

Relations with the U.S. took a further term, when Colonel Heinl's son, Michael was taken by Duvalier's agents to the National Palace. Michael was alleged to have made a remark in Creole hear by a guard on a bus he happened to ride. Duvalier's son, Jean Claude, recognized Michael and told his father.

In early 1962, Raymond Thurston was assigned to replace Ambassador Newbegin. Thurston had been and expert on NATO. He was sent to represent President Kennedy's new interest in the Alliance for Progress.

The U.S. now reduced its AID programs in Haiti. However, Duvalier did support the U.S., in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The writer was gone from Haiti by the summer of 1962.

Ambassador Thurston wore out his stay and was replaced by Benson E.L. Timmons, III.

Colonel Heinl was ordered out of Haiti in 1963, with a few days notice.

It was March or April 1978, and the place was Israel. My wife and I had gone to Jerusalem with our six months old daughter, who is now an engineering student in university. We had driven "down the hill" from Jerusalem and had to skirt the northeastern edge of Tel Aviv in order to get to our home in the town of Herzlya-Petuach, which lies about ten kilometers north of Tel Aviv, right on the Mediterranean Coast and just a few blocks from the beach. Suzy had trained us to never forget that there were two events about which she had virtually no tolerance for our poor planning. One was food and the other was nap time. When she realized she was hungry she wanted food in seconds, not minutes, and when she was tired she wanted her crib, peace and quiet and wasn't about to wait around for that either.

Since her nap time was approaching, I drove as fast as I dared and was about five miles from joining the four-lane main coastal highway that extends north from Tel Aviv to and beyond the city of Haifa, which is perhaps a hundred miles north. Fortunately, I knew the territory quite well because when I saw cars drive every which way and mostly off the highway, I looked east half a mile and saw a huge black column of smoke rising into the sky. I cursed my misfortune, cast an eye to Suzy, who was in Mom's lap and still quiet (though I realized the clock was ticking), and did a rapid U-turn heading back half a mile to take a narrow road that led north into a village just a mile north. From there, I took another lane to the city of Herzlya and from there tore across a farm area beyond which we would get back to the main coastal highway. But there were army roadblocks which stopped us.

A soldier asked me where I was headed (she recognized the diplomatic style license plates on the car) and I told her we were trying to get across the main highway to get to our house just a quarter mile away. I pointed to Suzy and said she was ill. The Soldier allowed us to pass but sternly warned me to go into our house and remain there until we were personally told that it would be ok to leave our house. I asked what was going on. She just said one word: "Terrorists."

I might have set a new speed record driving into Herzlya-Petuach; I drove into the garage and then phoned friends to ask what the hell was going on. The answer was chilling.

Earlier that morning a rubber boat with a bunch of Arabs had landed on the beach just south of Haifa. A young American woman, an amateur archeologist, was near the beach digging for pot shards when the Arabs came ashore. The beach, sand dunes allowed the terrorists to approach to a point that they were practically on top of her before they saw her or she saw them. They immediately shot her. They then continued, on foot, several hundred yards to the main coastal highway where they pretended to be Israelis waiting for a southbound bus. They commandeered the bus and tied every passenger's hands to the seat in front of them. They ordered the driver to head for Tel Aviv. As they proceeded south, they fired machine guns through the windows at passing vehicles. Many were killed, including a little girl who sat on her grand father's lap as her dad drove their car. One report of that incident described it as the child's head exploding.

Many others were shot as the bus continued south but the Israelis got control of the situation about five kilometers north of Tel Aviv by placing roadblocks across the main highway. The bus driver was ordered to pull off the highway but the bus bogged down in the sand. At this point, all hell broke loose.

Many Israelis have military weapons in their vehicles, just for occasions like this. The problem is, they go absolutely nuts, and perhaps I would too, under similar conditions. Anyway, Israelis pulled off the highway when they realized what was going on (we saw that but didn't understand the situation) and got out their weapons - I mean heavy machine guns folks, and proceeded to blast away at the bus while the passengers were still tied to the seats! The bus was set afire and many people died, some from the fire and some from bullets. This was the situation, but for about one minute, we would have driven into.

Several terrorists fled the bus, heading for the beach which was nearly a mile west along this part of the main highway. The search for them was the reason everyone was confined to their homes.

Several hours later I decided to take Samson outside for a quickie - not out to the street - just to the shrubs along the side of the house but I didn't get two feet before a soldier shouted at me to get into the house. He scared the poop out of me and I promptly did as I was told.

Such is the fervor with which Israelis deal with terrorists. No one seriously doubted that if terrorists came ashore, stormed and took over the Embassy (practically on the beach in the southern part of Tel Aviv), the Israeli Army would level the building and kill every single terrorist. Probably everyone else, too. They don't fool around much in that part of the world.

Before 1967, multi-national personnel at North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Headquarters near Paris found English to be an easy language ... until they tried to pronounce it. To help them discard an array of accents, the verses below were devised. After trying them, a Frenchman said he'd prefer six months at hard labor to reading six lines aloud. Try them yourself.

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Shake your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sleeve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
(73 min left), (H)elp, More?
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!

I'd rather go fishing then just about anything else. I don't catch many fish, but that's only a small part of fishing, anyway. At least, that's what I tell myself.

If I have a choice, I prefer to fish from the shore. I've fished from boats lost of times and almost enjoyed every minute, but there's something about sitting in a little container completely surrounded by very deep water that makes me uncomfortable. It may be because my swimming ability leaves something to be desired. The terms "thrashing about" and "swimming" are synonymous to me. I can, however, wade with the best of them. I am an expert wader! I love wading! You just show me some water, and I'll wade in it every time! In fact, if wading was an Olympic event, I'd surely medal in it. Of course, wading only works well in water up to about four feet deep, and most lakes I know about are a tad deeper than that out in the middle. So I stay out of boats and stick to the banks and shorelines.

Back in the 1950s in Waterford, there were places where I fished with both feet planted on the ground. Oh sure, the ground might have been something akin to quicksand or under a couple feet of water, but it was terra firma nevertheless. Well, maybe not so firma.

One of my favorite places to fish was along the shore of Lake LeBoeuf. Just a little way south of Waterford, Routes 19 and 97 separate at what was always called "The Y." If you follow Route 19 past The Y, you come almost immediately to Lake LeBoeuf.

When I was a kid, the roller skating rink stood along the lakeshore (the building burned several years ago), and the "Showboat" nightclub/dance hall was just beyond. We fished behind these two buildings. The "we" usually meant my cousin Howard and me. The fish we caught were mostly bluegills and sunfish, but they were huge and they were plentiful. Once in awhile, we'd catch a bass, and although we often saw muskies jumping way out on the lake, we never hooked any.

Dad and I used to go bullheadin' near Waterford's covered bridge. (Editors note: That covered bridge is still there. It has been rebuilt, but is pretty much the same as it was when Herb and I were kids.) Bullheads are fun to catch, even though they're ugly and have very nasty dispositions. They really resent being caught, and given the chance, they will jam one or more of their sharp fin spines into your hand or clamp onto a finger with jaws like a bulldog!

Even so, Dad and I loved to catch them.

We would get to the bridge just before sunset and set up a few yards downstream. "Set up" meant gathering twigs, sticks, and dead branches for a fire. You can't go bullheadin' without a little campfire. It's a rule! I'm pretty sure it is so stated in some important document.

As our fire got going and dusk changed to darkness, we would start catching bullheads -- big, fat bullheads! Sometimes we'd stay until midnight. It was wonderful! Even if the fishing wasn't good, we would sit and listen to the crickets and frogs and watch the fire. No summer night was ever better than that.

My friend Ted and I used to fish just below the Town Bridge in LeBoeuf Creek. There wasn't much to catch there, but it was handy for us when we were still of non-driving age. Mostly we caught little chubs and shiners, but one time Ted caught an enormous perch, and it was there that I lost the biggest sucker I almost ever caught!

My all-time favorite fishing area is near Benson's Bridge northeast of town. When I was a kid there was no bridge there. A gravel truck had gone through it, and it was a long time before it was replaced.

There was a path that led upstream, from where the bridge should have been, through a wooded pasture where most of the trees were big hemlocks. A little way further, the woods opened up into a grassy meadow with clumps of joe-pye-weed growing here and there. Beyond this, the woods started up again, but here the trees were hardwoods.

The creek was wide and deep in this area, and fishing was good any place one cared to drop a line. And everything was there to catch: sunfish, bass, suckers, bullheads, and even an occasional musky. Of course there were times when the fish just weren't biting, but there were always other things to do.

There was an entire woods to explore with grape vines to swing on and plenty of mud along the creek for mud fights and slides. And of course, there was the creek itself to thrash about, er, swim in.

The woods and creek were so secluded that a kid could safely go skinny-dipping if he wanted to. Of course, I never did that -- much.

On a few rare occasions, Dad and I fished in French Creek.

When I was about 12 years old, I wanted a fly rod. With very little money and an equal amount of common sense, I bought a telescoping metal rod and plastic reel. Perhaps you've heard of ultra-light rods. Well, this was ultra-heavy. And I can tell you now that a telescoping metal rod is suitable only to hang curtains on. It should never be considered a piece of fishing equipment.

Dad had a short casting rod with all the flexibility of an axe handle, but he liked it and used it well. Thus equipped, we showed on the bank of French Creek one summer day. One couldn't ask for a more ideal place to fish. French Creek was wide there, deep in some places, shallow in others. The whole area looked like a picture on a calendar.

Dad started fishing a little way upstream from me while I rigged my new rod with a large, homely fly having enough feathers on it to re-upholster an owl. No self-respecting fish would have come within 50 yards of it, but it looked good to me at the time.

I finally began "fishing," doing much unnecessary false casting and ripping great quantities of leaves from the overhanging willow trees. Sometimes I actually got the fly in the water. It may not have been more than three feet from where I was standing, but at least it go wet. And the wetter it got, the heavier it got, and the less inclined it was to be cast. It was a little like having a soggy feather duster on a string attached to a length of galvanized water pipe.

Within about 10 minutes, my arm was so tired I could hardly get the water-logged monstrosity off the ground!

I was also about to lose my temper.

In a fit of desperation, I summoned all my strength and flailed away faster than ever! The last cast sent the sopping fly, traveling at near-light speed, whizzing by my ear, missing me by only a millimeter or two!

Well, that did it! Grunting and growling (because there were no words to express my feelings), I broke the plastic reel off the rod and stuffed it into my pocket. Then, I neatly folded -- not telescoped -- the rod many times until it resembled a carpenter's rule and threw it half-way across the creek. If my arm hadn't been so tired, I would have thrown it further!

Calmly, but tearfully, I climbed the bank and retired under one of the big, now leafless willows.

I glanced over at Dad. He was just standing there watching me. He never said a word. Reasonably sure I wasn't going to exploded, he left me alone to finish smoldering and went back to his axe handle for a while.

I don't remember for sure, but I don't think we caught anything that day.

Editor's note: Herb, a previous contributor to the CANDOER, is a retired school teacher. He now lives in Albion, PA, not far from the farming community of Waterford, where he and I grew up together in northwestern Pennsylvania. He says the ending to the fly rod encounter was happier. His dad had pointed out many huge tadpoles in shallow water at the edge of the creek. "So when my blood pressure and heart rate returned to normal, I splashed around and caught tadpoles for the rest of the afternoon. I got wet. I had fun. It was a good time ... and after all, that's what counts!"

The Reproduction section of the communications center was a large room situated outside the shielded enclosure, next to the cryptographic equipment room and the systems operations area. The section had nine off-set presses, together with a large collating machine, two high speed Shepherd printers, equipped with off-set master paper, and several work tables and work stations. This section was situated along an outside hallway (corridor two) with a pass-through window where messengers could come to pick up telegrams.

It was the custom on Friday afternoon to move large flats containing many reams of paper next to each off-set press so that the operators would have enough paper to last them over the weekend. These flats were moved by dollies.

When the center was designed, we tried to locate each press, and other equipment, in such a way that movement of telegrams would be minimized and efficient. Because there was no raised floor in Reproduction, the electric power was put into floor molds along the surface of the floor. We had mis-located one of the presses. When it was relocated an electrical outlet was exposed, along with some of the floor molding.

Shortly after we became fully operational in this area, the supply man came to resupply the presses for the weekend, with his dolly full of paper. Unknown to him, he accidentally hit the outlet and tore up some of the floor molding, which caused and electrical short.

While sitting in my office at the end of the hall, I heard some one running. It was my Deputy, Bob Nichols, who burst into my office shouting, "There is a fire in Reproduction." I immediately ran to the section and saw smoke and sparks coming up around the paper. I quickly formed a chain gang of people to remove the paper from the skid, which was placed over the outlet.

Ernie Field, the ITT maintenance chief, was in the section. I told him to check the circuit beakers. No breaker had tripped. I told him to check the sparking outlet with his meter. He found 240 volts coming from the outlet. We then turned off each circuit breaker associated with that area until we found the one controlling this outlet and shut it off.

Later investigation revealed that the electrical grounds had been improperly installed causing some of the outlets to have a "floating" ground, which meant there was no ground on that outlet. No one could explain why a dead short failed to cause the circuit breaker to trip.

Another lesson learned and another day in the installation of the ATS.

The following information, on how to clear your cache, was obtained from Erols, my Internet Service Provider, and is furnished for your information.

Netscape and Internet Explorer set aside space on your hard drive to store the graphics (images) and text that your browser downloads whenever you visit a web site. This set aside space is called Cache (cash).

The browsers does this to save you time when you are surfing the Internet.

Let's say you visit www.microsoft.com to get the latest upgrades. This is your first visit. Downloaded into your cache will be the images and text that form the site, such as the logo and headers.

Once these images are stored in your cache, the browser will not have to download them the next time you visit the site. The browser will search the cache to see if the images are present in your cache and load them up on your screen from the hard drive faster than if they had to be downloaded. So what actually downloads on your succeeding visits is only the latest information. This saves your Internet access time.

Problems arise, however, when the cache gets full, or the image and text files it has stored get corrupted. So, it is recommend that you erase the cache every now and then, especially if you are a frequent surfer. (Because of the number of times I browse the web, I clear my cache at least once a month.)

Here are the main reasons to clear the cache:

1) Reclaim disk space. Browsers set aside a fixed amount or percentage of the space on your hard drive to store stuff cache. In Netscape Communicator 4.5, for example, the default value is 7,680 kilobytes. If you are short of disk space, clearing the cache will give some back.

2) Solve (some) browsing problems. If you are having trouble visiting certain sites, or your browser is working slowly and nothing else has helped, it could be that files in your disk cache are corrupted. In other words, when your browser visits a site, the files it has stored for it no longer match that particular place. The browser gets confused, shall we say, and slows down. Clearing the cache should clear this up.

3) Make sure you are getting the latest stuff. When you clear the cache, the next time you visit your favorite site it will not find the old files, so it will automatically download fresh, new ones. The site will take a bit longer to load on the first visit, but you will have the latest images and text.

4) If you have visited a web site and do not plan on visiting it again, this will clear out all the image and text files being stored in the cache for later use.

The procedures to clear the cache are slightly different for each type and version of browser you are using. Below you will find instructions on how to clear the cache in both Netscape and Internet Explorer:

Netscape Navigator 2.01 or 3.01:

1. In Netscape, click Options | Network Preferences.
2. Click the Cache tab.
3. Click Clear Memory Cache Now, then click OK.
4. Click Clear Disk Cache Now, then click OK.
5. Click OK.

Netscape Communicator (4.0 and above series):

1. In Communicator, click Edit | Preferences.
2. Under Category, click on the plus (+) sign next to Advanced.
3. Under Advanced, click on Cache.
4. Click Clear Memory Cache Now, then click OK.
5. Click Clear Disk Cache Now, then click OK.
6. Click OK.

Netscape Communicator (4.5 and above series):

Essentially the same as above, except you will see more options under categories.

1. In Communicator, click Edit | Preferences.
2. Under Category, click on the plus (+) sign next to Advanced.
3. Under Advanced, click on Cache.
4. Click Clear Memory Cache Now, and then click OK.
5. Click Clear Disk Cache Now, and then click OK.
6. Click OK.

Internet Explorer 3.02:

1. In Internet Explorer, click Options | View.
2. Click the Advanced tab, then click Settings.
3. Click Empty Folder, then click Yes.
4. Click on the Navigation tab.
5. Click on Clear History, then click Yes.
6. Click OK.

Internet Explorer 4.0:

1. In Internet Explorer, click View | Internet Options.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Click Delete Files in the Temporary Internet Files area.
4. Click on Clear History, then click Yes.
5. Click OK.

Internet Explorer 5.0:

1. In Internet Explorer, click Tools | Internet Options.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Click Delete Files in the Temporary Internet Files area.
4. Click on Clear History, then click Yes.
5. Click OK.

ENJOY!