Season 4, Episode 11 March 12, 2023

Hello! Thank you for putting your ear to The Listening Tube! I’m you host, Bob Woodley. On this episode, we’ll hear about black people joining the Confederate army in the American Civil war, Operation Northwoods, and some guy in Italy who walked around 35,000 years ago. Plus, an examination of some of the many forms of discipline. But first (not the headlines)...

Have you ever consumed so much alcohol that at some point you realize you’ve overdone it and for a fleeting moment you wish there was a way you could undo it? It could be for a variety of reasons, none of which you anticipated when you set out to have a really good time by consuming maximus alcoholicus, but by then, it’s already too late. The damage has been done, and the fact is, you’ll probably feel more effects of the alcohol before you begin to feel less of it. I remember a time when I had enough to drink that had to lie down in the grass of someone’s backyard. The moment I realized I had had too much was when I heard my friend’s mom tell him to push me closer to the house because it might rain. So, I obviously wasn’t passed out. Although it could have rained on me and I would have been ok with that. But now there may be a solution for that. Maybe. Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern have discovered what could be a cure for drunkenness. Humans have been trying to hasten the sobering process since we figured out how to get drunk. All we’ve done is figure out more ways to get drunk. But research using mice, which seem to react to stuff a lot like humans for some reason, has shown significant progress thanks to a hormone called FGF21. How do we know this? Because three scientists, Dr. David Mangelsdorf, Dr. Steven Kliewer, and Dr. Mihwa Choi led a team that got mice so drunk that they passed out. The story doesn’t say how, but I would imagine a nice mice party with a cheese platter and wine samples. Sharp and creamy cheeses with a variety of vintages including reds and whites from Texas vineyards. What mouse wouldn’t want to be there? At some point, the cheese ran out but the wine kept flowing and pretty soon, the scientists had tricked the mice into passing out drunk. It’s called “acute alcohol poisoning” and cute only describes half of it. Then, they would inject some of the mice with the hormone that, ironically, we all have in our bodies already, and the ones that got the injection of the hormone FGF21 got sober twice as fast as the ones that didn’t. I can’t help but wonder if they gave the other mice a placebo just in case one of the mice noticed that only half of them were getting shots. That’s a dead give away that even a mouse could spot. Anyway, the mice that got the hormone shot were able to stand up in just an hour and a half instead of the three hours it took for the untreated mice. But because humans don’t get as drunk as laboratory mice, I mean, those lab mice know how to party, this discovery could lead to a variety of treatments related to the consumption of alcohol. Acute alcohol intoxication results in about a million emergency room visits in the United States each year, according to an unattributed story published on the UT Southwestern website. The research also tried to mimic the amount of alcohol a human might drink. Just enough to make the mouse uncoordinated, and more likely to hit on a much uglier mouse than if if was sober. The FGF21 hormone again showed a significant return to normal when compared to the mice that were still out whoring around. Doctor Mangelsdorf says it could lead to a drug similar to what Narcan is for opiates. But Dr. Kliewer cautions that it’s not a signal that it’s OK to get drunk because a drug can undo it. By the way, even though the shot of FGF21 reduces the effects of alcohol, it doesn’t change your blood alcohol level. So even if you take the hormone or the drug developed from it, you still can’t operate a motor vehicle. Just because you’re no longer effected by the alcohol, you’re still carrying a measurable amount that may violate the law.

While the main benefit of the research is meant to be able to treat acute alcohol poisoning, there may be other ways the research may be abused. But, those initial abuses may lead to a safer world by limiting the effects of alcohol, be it that of a driver or that of an abusive spouse, or that of alcoholics who may rid themselves of the need for alcohol in much the same way a drug like Chantix eliminates the effect of nicotine. The research has shown that the hormone only effects alcohol, and no other types of sedatives, so it seems to be a hormone that has a specific purpose in our chemistry. At least that’s what the drunk mice are telling us. 

Drinking is something a lot of people like to do while on vacation. Maybe you’re playing the slots in Las Vegas and the free drinks just keep coming, or you’re on a cruise ship and you bought the unlimited drinks package. Many holidays in parts of the world where alcohol is allowed include it in festivities as well as leisure. But when it comes to holidays, who has the most? Which countries around the world give their workers the most paid vacation days? Which people have the most opportunities to celebrate or relax, perhaps with a beer or wine or a mixed drink? When I lived in Berlin, it seemed like the local people had a holiday every other week. I even mentioned it to my good friend and interpreter, a German local, Vladimir Benz. He insisted America had just as many holidays as Germans. I was like, “Yea, which month?” When I lived in Guam, each village had a Patron Saint, and every weekend of the year, there was a celebration somewhere on the island, and the rest of the island was invited. But when it comes to a combination of vacation and paid holidays, there are vast differences between those who have the most and those who have the least. According to a graphic on visual capitalist dot com, the country with the most paid time off is one of the countries where you aren’t allowed to crack open a beer or pull the cork out of a bottle of wine. When it comes to paid time off, Iran is the most generous country in the world, with 53 days per year. That’s more than one a week! By comparison, Germany has a paid day off every 1.7 weeks, or 29 a year. So, why does Iran have so much paid time off, or holidays, if you will. Well, perhaps it’s because it’s the cradle of civilization, and they’ve had a long time to accumulate reasons to celebrate or recognize in some other way. I don’t know, but many of the regions of the world that have the oldest history also have the most paid time off. Changes in leadership sometimes leads to fewer holidays as governments change and stop recognizing past occasions. But generally, holidays, and I only call them holidays for lack of another term than paid time off as I understand the root word of holiday is holy, but I’m also talking about secular celebrations, not just religious ones, tend to accumulate over time. There is only one place in the world that has fewer than 10 a year, and that’s Micronesia with 9. But Guam is geographically close, and it’s such a beautiful and laid back part of the world that you don’t need a lot of time off. The maximum speed limit on Guam was 35 miles per hour, and everything else moved proportionately. Most other places have somewhere between 25 and 40 paid days off each year, on average. Russia has 42! That’s a paid day off every 1.2 weeks! French workers are protesting right now over retirement age being raised from 62 to 64. French workers average a paid day off every 1.4 weeks. That’s better than Germany. So who’s country has the workers with the least paid time off other than Micronesia? Well, there are very few places that have average less than 20 holidays a year. Canada and Thailand come in at 19 a year, or one every 2.7 weeks. India has 18 days a year, and the Philippines and Taiwan only get 17 paid days off a year. China’s got 16. After that, Mexico gives their hard workers only 14 days a year. Other than a tiny island in the south Pacific Ocean called Nauru, only one country has an average of just 10 paid days off: The United States of America. Is it because our business owners expect too much of us? Is it because our union leaders aren’t doing their jobs? Is it because our nation is less than 250 years old and we haven’t had time to accumulate holidays? Or is it because Americans are hard-working people and we’d rather work more than relax. Maybe Americans like to stay busy, or get restless, or just don’t need as much time off as the rest of the world. Americans take less time off than everybody else on the planet except for two tiny islands in the Pacific Ocean. Sure, Americans love to party. Not as much as the Brits, but who does? But we also love to work, to create, to innovate, to come up with new ideas and make them real. Americans appreciate their time off, perhaps more than anyone, because we have less of it. 

Let’s go back liner

1783

In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. It was near the end of the Revolutionary War, and the soldiers hadn’t been paid in quite a while. Of course, they were fed and had quarters in which to live, but soldiers also need to be paid. They were originally promised half their pay for the rest of their life for fighting the British, but the country was broke, and Congress didn’t have the money or the will to pay the soldiers. Letters began circulating among the officers and men that they should take action against the civilian government, but not the violent kind you might expect. No, in this case, one of the options was to not disband the army, even though the war was ending. They knew the army would be trimmed to the basic needs once the war was over, but by refusing to disband, it put Congress between a rock and a hard place. The longer it took for Congress to pay the soldiers, the more they would have to pay them. Ten-thousand of them. They were owed back pay, and half of that for ever. At a very fragile time in the history of the United States, the army nearly mutinied and thus changed the course of world history. General Washington showed up at a meeting of his officers to which he was not invited. The officers had convened to plan how to force Congress to meet their demands. General Washington made a speech to his officers, many of whom had lost confidence in him, that is a bit long, but if you’ll allow me to recite just the first paragraph for you, I think you’ll find that much of what General Washington said in 1783 about letters circulating among his troops also applies to today’s media and social media. Allow me to recite just the first paragraph, and you can try to spot the parallels.

In the moment of this summons, another anonymous production was sent into circulation, addressed more to the feelings and passions than to the reason and judgment of the army. The author of the piece is entitled to much credit for, the goodness of his pen; and I could wish he had as much credit for the rectitude of his heart; for, as men see through different optics, and are induced by the reflecting faculties of the mind, to use different means to attain the same end, the author of the address should have had more charity than to mark for suspicion the man who should recommend moderation and longer forbearance, or, in other words, who should not think as he thinks, and act as he advises. But he had another plan in view, in which candor and liberality of sentiment, regard to justice and love of country, have no part; and he was right to insinuate the darkest suspicion to effect the blackest design. That the address is drawn with great art, and is designed to answer the most insidious purposes; that it is calculated to impress the mind with an idea of premeditated injustice in the sovereign power of the United States, and rouse all those resentments which must unavoidably flow from such a belief; that the secret mover of this scheme, whoever he may be, intended to take advantage of the passions, while they were warmed by the recollection of past distresses, without giving time for cool deliberative thinking, and that composure of mind which is so necessary to give dignity and stability to measures, is rendered too obvious, by the mode of conducting the business, to need other proof than a reference to the proceeding. 

IT’s almost as if General George Washington was describing the news and social media of today. Too many of us have our strings pulled by emotion rather than reason, and that’s exactly what Washington’s rivals tried to do. But General Washington’s speech, which is much longer, turned his rivals into patriots, and an a agreement was mad with the government to provide a lump-sum payment to the Revolutionary War soldiers rather than a lifetime pension. There was no coup d’etat, and General George went on to become our first President. 

1861

Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who has been evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy. Speaking of the Confederacy, it was this week in 1865, During the American Civil War, The Confederate States of America agree to the use of African American troops. Wait, what?…

Look that up liner

So did Black people really fight for the Confederacy? The very people who enslaved them? Why in the world would they do that? And why would white people who had no respect for black people want to go to war with the very people for which they had no respect and didn’t trust? None of it makes sense. Some argue that it never happened, which would make perfect sense. But it was 1865, which is when the Civil War ended, so the South may have been put in a position that required them to accept any help they could get. But an article on The Root dot com digs into the history. It says that as many as 25-thousand free black people enlisted in the Confederate army, and thousands more who were loyal to the white people who they served also fought along side them. Officially, the Confederacy prohibited slaves from doing so. But they fight for the Confederacy as a way that Civil War scholar James McPherson describes “as a wasy of purging their cause of its association with slavery.” 

When you think about black people fighting for the Confederacy, it’s really not that crazy, considering the time period and what would today be described as the media, or how news got delivered and how opinions were influenced and manipulated. If you’re born a slave and you don’t know a different way of life, and suddenly the people who you have served all your life tell you that bad people are coming to change the way we live, most of us would fight against that. At that time, you could also get paid for being a soldier, and getting paid is always a big draw for anyone who never got paid before. But even though thousands of black people signed up to fight for the Confederacy, it was in the waning month of the war, and the North would win. Those who fought for the Confederacy, both black and white, were eventually pardoned as a goodwill gesture and a way to unite the United States of America. 

1893

Former Governor General Lord Stanley pledges to donate a silver challenge cup, later named after him, as an award for the best hockey team in Canada; originally presented to amateur champions, the Stanley Cup has been awarded to the top pro team since 1910, and since 1926, only to National Hockey League teams.

1912

The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States. Only girls are allowed to join Girls Scouts, and that’s how it should be if they want it that way. The Boy Scouts, on the other hand, allow girls to join. Thousands did, and in 2021, the Boy Scouts recognized the first group of girls to attain the rank of Eagle Scout. While that’s great, it makes me wonder what the Girl Scout aren’t doing that makes thousands of girls want to join the Boy Scouts instead. For their part, the Girl Scouts said in 2019 that it wouldn’t change anything about them, and it hasn’t. 

1918

After being the Capital of Russia for 215 years, Saint Petersburg cedes the title back to Moscow. While Moscow has always been called Moscow, Saint Petersburg had a variety of names over its history, including Petrograd, and Leningrad, but in 1991, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, it reclaimed it’s original name of Sankt-Petersburg. According to corinthia dot com, it happened on my birthday. 

1942

The War Relocation Authority is established in the United States to take Japanese Americans into custody. Japanese people were put in camps where they were guarded by American soldiers because all Japanese people were now suspect. Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor, and there were many Japanese people who lived in America. But now their home country had done something hideous, and we didn’t know who we could trust. America was a melting pot, but the Japanese separated themselves by getting America involved in World War II. We knew not all Japanese people were loyal to Japan, but we had no way of knowing which might be. Putting Japanese people living in America, even American citizens, into guarded camps wasn’t the right thing to do in hindsight, but it’s what we did. It was unfortunate for those who had no ill will towards America. Innocent people who came from Japan to live in America for freedom and liberty suddenly found themselves deprived of both. 

Eighty years later, America is anticipating another conflict with an Asian country: China. We already know that Chinese Communist Party operatives are in the United States. We know who some, if not most of them are. If America and China were to become involved in a conflict, America wouldn’t round up all of the Chinese people and put them in an encampment as we did with the Japanese in 1942, but I hope the U.S. intelligence agencies know which ones to gather right away, and which ones to let alone.

1950

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name “Californium”. It took four year to produce enough of it to even be weighed. But it does have practical uses, even though it doesn’t exist in nature. Wikipedia says it can be used to help start up nuclear reactors. If you’re one of the people using it, you should know that can disrupt the formation of red blood cells by accumulating in skeletal tissue. After all, if you had no red blood cells, you would be left with only white blood cells, and although it’s alright to say you bleed black and gold if your a Steelers’s fan, if you bleed white, you’re just a racist. So keep away from Californium for your own protection. Especially if you’re not white. ‘Cause if you’re not white, but you bleed white, as Desi used to say, “You got some ‘spainin’t to do!” Although, I lived in southern California for about 9 years, and racism never seemed to be a problem. All kinds of people lived in Port Hueneme, especially hispanic people, white people and black people. A lot of good people in Port Hueneme at that time. I hope it’s still that way.

1952

In Cilaos, Réunion, which is a small island off the eastern coast of southern Africa, just beyond the larger island of Madagascar, 73 inches of rain falls in a 24 hour period, setting a new world record. That’s over six feet of rain, or about two meters. By comparison, the flood in Houston, Texas in 2019 totaled about 40 inches. Those 40 inches of rain made Houston sink from the weight of the water. Fortunately, islands generally drain more efficiently, but 73 inches in 24 hours is still a lot of rain. In 1952 “Climate change” said no one. 

1962

Lyman Lemnitzer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivers a proposal, called Operation Northwoods, regarding performing terrorist attacks upon Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. The proposal is scrapped and President John F. Kennedy removes Lemnitzer from his position. Now, you have to give the chairman credit for thinking outside the box, but America has values, and to fake terrorist attacks against your own military base to justify invading another country is against American values. President Kennedy was correct in removing the chairman. Now rescinding the security clearances of every intelligence agent who signed the letter stating that the Hunter Biden laptop story had all the hallmarks of Russian disinformation in order to influence the 2020 U.S. Presidential election would also be correct.

Speaking of President Kennedy, it was this week in 1964, a jury in Dallas, Texas, finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, assumed assassin of John F. Kennedy. Many would agree that it’s never been proven that Lee Harvey Oswald killed President Kennedy, but the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald was witnessed on live television, and Jack Ruby was the man who everybody saw do it. This being America, we still had to give him a fair trial by a jury of his peers. Oddly, we couldn’t find 12 other murderers, so regular Texans were used instead.

1967

The body of President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery. It was still there the last time I checked. The eternal flame is still burning as well.

1993

The Blizzard of 1993 – Snow begins to fall across the eastern portion of the US with tornadoes, thunder snow storms, high winds and record low temperatures. The storm lasts for 30 hours. “Climate change!” said Al Gore. Probably...

1995

Mississippi formally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment is officially ratified in 1865. So it only took 70 years after the rest of the country for Mississippi to agree that slavery is wrong. Well, good for you, Mississippi! 

2003

The journal Nature reports that 350,000-year-old footprints of an upright-walking human have been found in Italy. So we’ve been walking upright for 350-thousand years, and the best we can do is throw, kick and hit various types of balls. Let’s face it. Evolution hasn’t really moved as much mentally as it has physically. We’ve become bigger and stronger and faster, but we haven’t really become much smarter. Sure, we’ve become more technologically advanced, and we’ve learned how to create machines that enable us to calculate more quickly, and we’ve been able to build on the foundations great thinkers before us have left behind. But one could argue, and it seems I am right now, that we’ve progressed physically much more quickly than we have intellectually. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve make great strides in science and technology since the time of ancient Greeks, but average people now run marathons, or at least half marathons, while only a select few have the genius needed to figure out the most recent questions puzzling mankind. There might be more people willing to challenge the questions of science if it were somehow a spectator sport, but for now, we’ll be happy spending millions to watch athletes perform. People wonder why athletes get paid more than soldiers or academics. The answer is simple. We can’t turn war or thinking into events where you can charge 12 dollars for a beer. We could pay soldiers and scientists a lot more if we put them in stadiums and watch them eliminate each other. Three-hundred fifty years of walking upright, and we still bang our heads on stuff. It kind of makes me wonder how smart our ancestors were, and how smart we are. After 350-thousand years, we should have known better than to make the corners of cupboard doors the same height as our heads. Dolphins never bang their heads on cupboard doors. 

Phone and email liner

So the other day, I was hearing a conversation about how somebody didn’t hit somebody else in the face, even though they wanted to land a knuckle sandwich right in the sandwich hole. I was entertained by the story, but impressed by the restraint of the person who didn’t serve up said knuckle sandwich. Then I realized that it wasn’t necessarily restraint that prevented the uninvited delivery of food, hypothetically, but discipline. When you restrain yourself from doing something wrong, or something you might regret later, it’s a reflection of the discipline you have. Or more precisely, a discipline you have. Because the discipline it requires to not punch someone in the face is just one kind of discipline. It’s a much different kind of discipline than it takes to learn how to play a musical instrument. The type of discipline it takes to learn how to play a musical instrument would require you to practice often and dedicate time not only learning about music, but also developing the muscle memory it takes to see a note on a scale and automatically know how to move your fingers or change the embouchure of your lips to create the right note, and to also not flush your piccolo down the toilet or smash your guitar on the asphalt of your driveway. Discipline has many forms, and some of us have more than others. Self-discipline is probably the most important in a general sense, but self discipline can also mean meeting your crack dealer at the same time every day. That’s not exactly an attribute you might expect from discipline. But discipline does have negative connotations for some. Parents who were strict enough to deny enjoyment might consider themselves disciplinarians and do so for what they hope is a good result. But just as there’s a difference between the discipline it takes to not punch somebody in the face and the discipline it takes to play the piano, there’s a different discipline it takes to do your homework, or do your push ups or preserve the insects you caught and label them in Latin and English. There are many disciplines we share, like the one that makes us get up and go to work in the morning, or the afternoon, or whenever you go to work. Most of us have a variety of disciplines we may not even be aware we have. Some of the things we call habits or things we do without even noticing are often disciplines we have but don’t give ourselves credit for having. Taking the trash out every week can be a habit, a discipline, or in my case, something my phone reminds me to do because my wife has trained me to be disciplined enough to not piss her off. That right there is a clear example of how many different kinds of discipline there can be! To some people discipline means anger management. To other people discipline means remembering to pick up mozzarella cheese on your way home from work. It takes a certain kind of discipline to pay attention to what somebody is telling you, and it takes a certain kind of discipline to………..remember what you were talking about. The thing is, we were brought up to believe that discipline was something bad. Discipline was something only dished out when some type of misconduct took place, and those who followed the rules had no need to learn what discipline was. Discipline was reserved for those who broke the rules. As it turn out, discipline is what creates leaders and the people who set good examples for the rest of us. Those of us who find a discipline or two that keeps us interested in life and maybe even provides a good living are lucky. The more disciplines we have, the better. While being disciplined as a child wasn’t always enjoyable, and it probably wasn’t meant to be, finding the disciplines that make you happy or productive or unique when you grow up are going to be the things that define you. Your disciplines are going to determine how you treat other people, how you approach your job and your hobbies, how you spend your time with your family and a whole host of other variables in your life. Disciplines will sometimes be unpleasant, like keeping up with your health and other physical needs. It takes discipline to get a regular mammogram or colonoscopy. So here’s my advice. If you’re too old to punch somebody in the face, get a colonoscopy, and if you don’t want to learn how to the play the tuba, get a mammogram.

Discipline is not a bad thing, it’s a good thing. Kids need discipline, teenagers need discipline, adults need discipline. Discipline is not some weapon used by your parents to get you to do your chores (well, most of the time), and it’s not some Communist plan to make us all the same. Discipline is proof to ourselves and others that we have pride in ourselves and we also have expectations of others. Those of us who express discipline and display the qualities that come with discipline sometime bring out the discipline that others didn’t know they had in them. As we progress through life, we’ll discover disciplines we didn’t know we had, and witness some that we wished we had. But they’re all good. Sometime it just takes a bit long to discover to what disciplines you’re willing to devote your focus. But if not punching somebody if the face is the only discipline you have (or need), then that’s just fine with me. I’m confident that I have the discipline to not punch you in the face, too. As for learning how to play a musical instrument, well, I’ve tried many, but only the tuba brought out the discipline I needed to play it well enough to say I could play it.

The Listening Tube is written and produced by yours truly. Copyright 2023. Than you for putting your ear to the Listening Tube. I’m your host, Bob Woodley for thou ad infinitum.