LIARS! Vol. 1: Scout to the Pole

Copyrights

LIARS! Vol. 1: Scout to the Pole

By Bruce Nappi

Published by A3 Society LLC

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2010 by Bruce Nappi

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Photo credits:

Statue of Liberty: thephotoholic, freedigitalphotos.net

Iceland Sunset: Hordur Vilhjalmsson, freedigitalphotos.net

US Capitol: morgueFile.com

St. Peters at the Vatican: FreeStockPhotos.com

Dogsled: a collage from multiple photos from:

Picasa Commons and commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sled_dogs_sunset.jpg Steve Jurvetson from Menlo Park

Barrow Aerial Photo: Aero-Metrics Inc. 1997

Nanook and Schnook in Alaska - Boy's Life Magazine January 1966

Additional books by Bruce Nappi

Please look at my author website: http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Nappi

Look for the follow-on to Scout to the Pole LIARS! Vol. 2: Escape to Insanity

ver. 10k23

Nanook and Schnook - from Boy's Life Magazine, January 1966

Table of Contents

Foreword

Prologue

Chapter 1 North to Alaska

Chapter 2 Point Barrow - the Awakening

Chapter 3 Base Camp - Learning the Game

Chapter 4 The Max Factor

Chapter 5 The Electronics Shop

Chapter 6 CANCELLED!

Chapter 7 You CAN Take It With You

Chapter 8 Ears at the Top of the World

Chapter 9 Creativity! The Holy Grail! Yeah, Right!

Chapter 10 MicroMet Station

Chapter 11 Wireless Money

Chapter 12 Cervantes of the Five Lances

Chapter 13 Kon-Tiki Ahoy

Chapter 14 St. Patrick's - Cathedral of the Arctic

Chapter 15 St. Patrick's - Searching for the Truth

Chapter 16 DOOMED!

Chapter 17 Non-participating Officials

Chapter 18 Fairies in the Fog

Chapter 19 Coffee at the Aurora Lounge

Chapter 20 Mad Men of the Weir

Chapter 21 A Grand Unification Theory - in Memory of Albert Einstein

Chapter 22 North Pole Ahead

Chapter 23 Mission Accomplished ???

Afterword

Bibliography

About the Author

Stay Involved - The A3 Society

Foreword

Thank you for deciding to read this book. The story you are about to read is FICTION. I know. I WAS THERE.

In 1964, two Eagle Scouts were selected by national competition to accompany U.S. Navy explorers on an expedition to the North Pole. I was one of them. We were promised it would be another ‘Journey of Discovery’ - a Lewis and Clark adventure across the Northwest Passage. A Journey of Discovery it was. But NOT the one of progress and wonder that was promised. It was a journey into a world of lies, corruption and incompetence.

In 1969, I graduated with two degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT – yes, a true MIT rocket scientist. Throughout my 40 year career, a similar journey of lies, corruption and incompetence continued at every turn. I looked for wisdom; but found mostly superstition. I kept asking myself, how could society even function with so much misinformation? I realized that the real frontier for society’s passage into a just and beautiful world wasn’t in some far off frozen place. It was here, surrounding us - like a fog - holding our society hostage. But, just like the knowledge that air is a tangible substance eluded human understanding for millennia, the fog that engulfs our culture has also eluded human understanding. The search to understand this unknown took me to the fundamentals of knowledge. It was a Journey of Discovery like the one Darwin made on the Beagle and Einstein made into the cosmos. And like them, I really lucked out. Some very critical pieces fell into place. They allowed me to make many profound discoveries. But, having Darwin’s and Einstein’s discoveries to start from, and those of many other visionaries, my discoveries now advance both of their work as well as that of others to levels far beyond what society currently knows. I can finally answer some of the greatest unanswered questions of the ages.

To paraphrase Neil Armstrong, the journey presented in Scout to the Pole is a coming of age tour de force for one young man. It will now be a coming of age paradigm shift for all of mankind.

I initially wrote the book for two reasons.

The first was to organize 40 years observing human nature. Since high school, every time I read something I thought was profound, I wrote it down. How infrequently that happened given the amount of books I read was very discouraging and a poor commentary on knowledge in our culture. But, the result of that collection of knowledge has been profound. The repeated counsel from my friends was, No one has ever seen the world with your vision. You have to tell your story. Writing the book allowed me to collect all that information into a logical structure. What started out as a simple sorting process evolved into a huge effort. There were a lot of philosophical loose ends that needed to be tied together. More reading. Lots of thinking. The task took 7 years! But the discoveries that kept popping up kept driving me with greater commitment.

The second reason was to share what I’ve learned – to make YOU think – to share with YOU the tools I’ve discovered. You know that question we hear all the time now on TV, It’s 10:00. Do you know where your children are? Well? It’s 10:00 somewhere. Do you know where YOU are? GOOD LUCK!

The journey I’ve taken has given me a chance to see life in ways most people won’t ever get to experience. It was written to show you that there are many ways to look at life beyond the stereotypes that channel modern culture. The book was purposely written as a novel to share that experience with you in a very personal way – through the eyes of a smart, but very confused teenager, coming of age in a world of confusion. I describe this ‘sharing’ as personal, because, as I wrote, it always felt to me that YOU, the reader, were right there in front of me. So, every word was written to reach to you as if you were right there, listening, trying to understand.

The journey I will take you on is ALIVE. It is intentionally written to take you into new worlds, sometime with gut wrenching emotion. But these are real worlds. Fiction, yes. But the flow of the book actually follows my day to day experiences. The situations were mostly real. The flights of fancy could also really happen. I wanted to let you share the pain and anguish I felt so many times, so you can also get it – so you can feel the motivation that drove me to keep searching for wisdom in the face of the horrific lies and confusion that define our culture.

Maybe the way you look at life right now isn’t the only way. Maybe the way you look at life just seems to result in confusion and grief. I hope the viewpoints you find here will help you find a better path.

In August, 1968, my last college summer, I started a notebook. It was titled, Philosophy Notebook 1. On the COVER, I wrote a poem:

A man reaches

to know

A man reaches

to know men

A man reaches

to know the world

A man reaches

to know the universe

Why?

TO BEGIN TO KNOW HIMSELF

When I wrote this, I had already been to Alaska twice as an Explorer Scout. I had been in the plebiscite vote for freedom in Puerto Rico. I had worked at the atomic weapons lab in Oak Ridge Tennessee. And I was completing an intense 4 years at MIT. The simple world of my youth had crumbled in confusion. But I was brave. I was confident. I would be a leader. I would do my part and it would make the world a better place; a MUCH better place. BUT! I also knew, even then, that I didn’t have a clue which way I was headed. It would be an ominous premonition.

When I was 30, I remember reflecting on my 20 year old self and saying, If I only knew then what I know now. When I was 40, I remember reflecting on my 30 year old self and 20 year old self and saying, If I only knew then what I know now. When I was 50, I remember reflecting on my 40, 30 and 20 year old selves and saying, If I only knew then what I know now.

So! Go ahead and laugh! Big deal! It took me three times to see the pattern. But, if you think you saw the pattern right away, what then, really, is the LESSON? I said it again at 60 and I’m pretty sure I’m going to say it again when I get to 70 and 80. The pattern is sure to repeat because it describes the rite of Passage people endure as they enter the new worlds that a 10 year passage of time brings in the modern age. And that’s the KEY. If this was 5000 years ago and my father was a shepherd, I’d pretty much know what I was going to be. 500 years ago, same thing. But things changed drastically in our world 50 years ago, and from that point, history is NOT going to repeat itself.

So, what then is the value of knowing this pattern? Do we learn anything from observing it? Sure. We learn to wake up to the fact that major changes are in front of us. We learn to accept that change is here. We learn to open our minds and question the LIES all around us knowing that every day will bring, not only new knowledge, but also totally new meaning to many things.

On the FIRST PAGE of philosophy notebook 1, I listed my values in order of importance:

August 1968

Among the things I value…

The order begins:

My LOVE

My LIFE

My KNOWLEDGE

My FREEDOM

My EDUCATION

The order ends:

IGNORANCE

SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS

LOOTING

GOD

The word looting is a clear reference to Ayn Rand, who’s writing really affected my life at that point. That God would show up on the list but occur at the end indicates the immense turmoil my religious beliefs were in at the time. Again, this was after my experiences on the North Pole Expedition in Alaska, the Encampment for Citizenship in Puerto Rico and a stint at the atomic weapon’s Lab in Oak Ridge Tennessee.

In July, 1973, I was just ending a 4 year job designing nuclear weapons at Sandia National Lab. ( Yes, this will make a good sequel  )

I had become a VERY different person then – different from 1965; different from 2010. ( This sentence is an UNDERSTATEMENT. )

I made the following change to my list:

My LOVE

My LIFE

My FREEDOM

My KNOWLEDGE

An end need not be defined.

What was that all about? I think including the order ends when I first wrote the list was a sign of deep anger toward those values. THEN, I came face to face with the real meaning and emotions of ANGER when I held the elements of nuclear annihilation right in my own hands at the weapons lab. Having personal responsibility for such unlimited destructive power forced me to ask very hard questions about anger in society: where it came from and how it was expressed. I remember sitting with fellow nuclear scientists outside the lab gates side-by-side with Viet Nam peace demonstrators trying to really understand the larger issues that human conflict brings on us. I remember long walks with my brother, who was on the peace side, talking about this. I felt I was ALSO on the peace side. Could people actually be so over powered by anger that they could kill millions of humans? I believed there could be NO justification, no anger so great, to INITIATE such destruction. But things in life aren’t so simple. Think about the Bible. Think about the acts of God. The thought that any God could repeatedly massacre thousands or millions of people was completely mind boggling to me. I started on a journey to understand it and STOP it. This last change in my value list was the beginning.

Correct! Education also fell off the list. This is not an indictment of Education per se. But it was a rejection of the educational process I had been through and a condemnation of the U.S. education system. With all that I was taught, life’s major questions were left unanswered. Let me make that statement more accurate. Life’s major questions WERE ANSWERED in the educational process; but they were answered with LIES. And that’s a major focus of the book. This has not changed.

In August, 1978, I left the big laboratory environment. I began to see that knowledge wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. There was something missing. I added a new entry to my values list:

My INSIGHT

In 1985, after a turbulent ride in small business and human relationships, I made the following changes. They are shown verbatim: punctuation, parentheses and brackets included:

My LOVE ( which is INTIMACY )

My FREEDOM

My KNOWLEDGE ( which is WISDOM? – OPENMINDEDNESS? )

[ Don’t understand life right now]

What was that all about? First, LIFE gets dropped from the list.

I had just completed 15 years in the workplace at the executive level. That period can be summarized as a time of watching; but totally not understanding the extent of the corruption, market chaos and poor management I saw. The lessons preached to me at MIT, which implied that higher math ( i.e. calculus ) was needed to organize science, research, engineering and business, were self serving at best and totally misleading in practice. Sure, I carried a calculator in my pocket, like a good techie. But all it did was +, -, *, /. Senior executive math is mostly about counting chairs in the board room, adding income and subtracting losses. And in these cases, the executives mostly argued about how many chairs would actually be there, who would sit in them, and how they were going to earn more money for themselves. The income and loss numbers were always adjusted to support some political outcome and get around taxes. The major effort of the accountants and lawyers was manipulating the rules.

What seemed to me the most fundamental of American principles, THAT A PERSON IS REWARDED FOR WHAT THEY CONTRIBUTE, was a big LIE. The business leaders I knew were incompetent at best. Their power and financial rewards did not match their wisdom or their performance. Every business I was part of was thrown from boom to bust by winds of change completely outside the scope of things my individual company could control. ( Like Ralph Nader’s triggering the collapse of the nuclear power industry and Japan running off with manufacturing capability and quality leadership.) The result, on a personal level, was my observation that LIFE was also not something I could control. And given all the negatives it threw at me, it surely wasn’t a win. When a good night’s sleep with no dreams was something to look forward to, keeping LIFE high up on the value scale didn’t seem to make much sense.

It was also around the ’85 time frame when the importance of distinguishing WISDOM from KNOWLEDGE became clear. But why did I show wisdom with a question mark? And why did I include OPEN MINDEDNESS? The reason was I didn’t know a reliable process for achieving TRUTH. So, sure, I would have liked to list it as a value, but what good is listing a value that can’t be reliably achieved or, at that point, even pursued along a reliable path. It would just be so much wishful thinking. ( Little did I realize how LOVE would eventually fall into the same dilemma. ) The open mindedness value entered the picture because I felt it was a key to the door to wisdom.

So, what’s my list now? :-) Enjoy the book. Use an erasable pencil for your annotations!

Near the beginning of this foreword section, I made the statement that I found answers for ‘some of the greatest unanswered questions of the ages’. Pretty tall claim! But I believe it is true. To guide your expectations, so you’ll know the magnitude of the topics the story tries to present to you, I’m including here a list that summarizes the KEY social and scientific breakthroughs it presents.

Summary of major psychological, philosophical and scientific breakthroughs presented in LIARS: Volume 1 - Scout to the Pole

Functions of the human brain

1. A theory that two separate species of human actually coexist on earth today. It describes and quantifies two distinct forms of intelligence that distinguish each species, and describes the resulting conflict this has brought into society. Ch. 18

2. A new theory of human brain organization. It revitalizes the work of Sigmund Freud unifying it with the work of Abraham Maslow. Ch. 18

3. A logical and physiological basis for the well known three brain structures hinted at by Freud (Id, Ego and Superego) which, most people don't realize, he never actually defined. Ch. 18

4. A principle for clearly discriminating human intelligence from animal intelligence. Ch. 18

5. A new theory for human consciousness that finally explains what it is and how it works. Ch. 18

6. A major change in the theory of human language describing huge shortcomings it casts on human social structures. Ch. 8

Application of the new brain theory to psychology

7. A functional explanation for the inability of individuals in society to find happiness in a world of ever growing technical and social achievement. Ch. 18

8. A major recasting of the medical basis for cognitive psychoses and needed redirection for its treatment. Ch. 18

Philosophical discoveries

9. A resolution of the question of philosophical absolutes with practical examples. Ch. 14

Major religious questions

10. Philosophical and scientific facts that DISPROVE the inerrancy of the Bible and other religious books. Ch. 15

11. An explanation of the fundamental source of corruption in society. It’s NOT the devil. Ch. 18

Major social issues

12. An explanation for the failures of authoritarianism, socialism AND CAPITALISM and a description of a new sustainable social structure to replace all of them. Ch. 8

13. How modern society is brainwashed by pervasive LIES from their major social institutions. [ All throughout the book ]

14. A new theory of competition. Ch. 8

Major scientific discoveries

15. A major revision to the theory of evolution which still supports the Darwinian structure. Ch. 18

16. A new theory of physics that corrects Einstein’s theories and provides a new basis for grand unification. Ch. 21

17. New theories for light and mass based on Einstein’s incomplete research which explain how mass is created and transforms with energy. Ch. 21

18. A fundamental, tangible, simple explanation for force at a distance in physics. Ch. 21

19. A new theory of Black Holes. Ch. 21

20. A new theory for the beginning of the universe, which supports Big Bang observations but rejects the theory. Ch. 21

Major engineering breakthroughs

21. A description of a new computer memory architecture that can speed up computers by a thousand times. Ch. 21

22. A prescription for how to program computers to give them the equivalent of human consciousness. Ch. 18, 21

23. A reinterpretation of the Fibonacci sequence that explains why it fits so many life functions. Ch. 7

24. Description of a future transportation system that will be 100 times faster than those now in use. It’s not rockets. Ch. 9

Notes on composition

A few people have mentioned being annoyed with my use of capitalized words. They said it made them FEEL like I was SHOUTING at them! Duh? HELLO! That’s exactly what I’m doing. These are very important points in the book. But also, most of these instances highlight words or phrases that I found our culture uses imprecisely or incorrectly in typical conversation. So, when you see capitalized words – PAY ATTENTION! I use that formatting in conversations as if the person raised their voice, and possibly slowed down for emphasis.

Another element of style is the use of special type fonts for different people when there are multiple people having a conversation. I do this because I find having to include phrases like Bill said, with his characteristically wry humor inconsistent with how humans really talk to each other. When a discussion gets going, I want you to feel like you are really there, in the middle of it. Of course, some narrative is needed when body language and things going on inside the narrator’s head add a lot to the meaning of things.

I also don’t like the formalism of referring to you, the reader, as the reader. This book is NOT light reading except for the many strange antics of the investigators. It condenses 40 years of deep observation into this adventure. It attempts to create a relationship between us – to bring you along on the journey with me. Please. Enter the experience with me. Come there. Be part of the anguish and confusion. Wrestle with it just like I did. Let it help you grow.

Bruce Nappi

Prologue

Liars! Liars! They’re all liars!

Liars! Liars! They’re all liars!

Nurse. Please hand me the medical chart.

Let’s see. Temperature – 101, heart rate – 60, BP – 34/24/36, 4ml Eucalyptus applied manually to the posterior epidural thorax every hour …. Looks OK to me. So, how’s the patient doing?"

Who the hell are you?

I’m Dr. Peter Rolf, general medicine.

Bull shit!! You’re too young to be a doctor at this hospital. Furthermore, the patient’s chart isn’t OK. It’s a total crock! Brian doodled it up himself. And, what kind of doctor are you if you think 34/24/36 is a blood pressure measurement? Those are Marilyn Monroe’s measurements! What’s going on here?

OK! OK! I’m not a doctor. Big deal. I’m just trying to find out what’s going on.

Yea! So, why should I tell you anything and what are you doing here?

Look. I’m a writer, OK. I was sent here by Computer Games magazine to get a story on Brian. I put this doctor’s jacket on so I could sneak in here and not get stopped by the security people. My name is JJ.

Liars! Liars! You’re all liars!

Liars! Liars! You’re all liars!

So what’s up with our patient?

Well, not so good actually, especially for 57 years old. He goes in and out of coma. It’s been this way for a few days now. The only signs of consciousness are his ‘liars, liars ‘ outbursts.

And, who are you?

I’m Lisa Jones, Brian Napoli’s personal nurse.

Bull shit!! There aren’t enough nurses in this place for them to put someone in here full time. And why does he need a full time nurse if all you’re doing is just sitting around? And if that’s a bogus medical chart, where’s the real medical chart?

OK! OK! I’m not a nurse. I’m Easel, a 17th level Elf Sorceress. I came to be with him during his last days. He was a member of our Dungeons and Dragons club and a very close friend of mine. I’m wearing this nurses outfit so I can sneak in here too.

Now this is making more sense. Too bad he’s in such bad shape. It looks like I missed everything.

Well, not quite. I’ve been here off and on for about two weeks now. We did a lot of talking early on and I recorded most of what he said. See, I’ve got over 20 tapes. Besides, he told us a lot during the many years he was a member of our club. I can help you piece together a story. But you’d better headline it FICTION in big letters.

Yea, why’s that?

Because no body will ever believe it.

Liars! Liars! We’re all liars!

Liars! Liars! We’re all liars!

Chapter 1 North to Alaska

Where were you in 1965? Were you even born? In 1965, the head office of the Boy Scouts of America ( BSA ) found out that the University of Alaska was preparing for a NORTH POLE EXPEDITION. Back in 1928, an Eagle Scout named Paul Siple was allowed to accompany Richard Byrd on one of his Antarctic Expeditions. So, the BSA thought this scenario could be repeated. They contacted the university and the deal was set. The next step was finding the right Eagle Scout. So the BSA conducted a nation-wide hunt. Somehow they ended up selecting 6 candidates who were brought to New York for a final interview. I was one of them.

I remember walking some around the block near the building where we were supposed to meet. I was too afraid of New York to go very far. I finally showed up at the appointed spot at 12:00 noon for lunch. It was a large dining room with a big table. The room was dark. The walls were covered with paintings of important men. It seemed like the mansion of some rich guy. I was surprised by this because we were in what looked like just another drab downtown New York building. The table was covered with white table cloths. There were candles, crystal glasses, fancy china dishes and fancy silverware. There seemed like enough for a whole family next to each plate. There were cloth napkins and flowers. I’d never seen anything like this, especially all that silverware. I went to the window and looked out to see if I’d fallen into a hole to another dimension. Nope! Plain old New York street outside.

We all sat down. The scout leaders were dressed in scout uniforms. We six Eagle Scouts were dressed in our uniforms as well, all wearing our Eagle pins. It was a pretty solemn atmosphere. The head BSA scout master introduced himself and two other leaders that sat next to him. He then asked each Eagle Scout to introduce himself and tell where he was from, which we did. I remember feeling like I was a kid. All the others seemed so much older and more experienced with things of the world. The scout master gave a very short introduction about the North Pole Expedition and then told us to talk with our neighbors while we ate, which we did.

Maybe to some people, a meal is just a meal. But to me, the way the meal that evening unfolded was more like a movie. There were almost as many waiters as there were diners. They had tuxedos with long tails and wore white gloves. Everything they served came in silver bowls and was handled like it was fragile.

First there was a salad with lettuce that looked like Christmas tree branches. The waiter asked me what kind of dressing I wanted for it. I didn’t recognize any of the names he used, so I pointed to the one that looked like olive oil. He poured it on in big circles, round and round. I guess that made it extra special. It sure tasted good. While we were eating salad, the waiters brought around baskets full of hot bread. The bread was wrapped in a red cloth. Then they brought bowls with butter. It wasn’t just sticks. The butter was in balls with fancy patterns on them. The balls were nestled with ice cubes.

The next course was soup. It was pink like tomato soup, but it didn’t smell like tomato soup. I later found out it was called lobster bisque and had sherry wine in it. It sure tasted good. One of the other scouts told me about the sherry. Since I was still only 17, I didn’t know if I should eat it. But since all the other scouts were eating it, I figured they couldn’t arrest all of us. So, I ate all the soup and figured this was the best meal I ever had.

That’s when I found out it wasn’t over. They then started bringing out roast beef. It took two waiters. One held the big tray while the other one cut off pieces right at the table. It was about that time that I started to wonder who was going to pay for all of this. I mean, the Boy Scouts of America that I knew ran on a shoe string all the time. If we were out in a campground eating hot dogs, I could believe it. But this was . . . ugh . . I don’t know . . . it just didn’t add up.

They then brought out all kinds of vegetables. I never saw a feast like this in my life, except in the movies of course.

After the meat and vegetables, they cleared off a whole bunch of stuff from the table. Then they brought out plates of desserts. There were chocolate covered fruits and cakes, little pies, and then bowls of ice cream. I guess by then I didn’t care if I went to the North Pole or not. I figured I had just died and gone to heaven anyway, so what more could I ask for.

Then they came around with silver pots of coffee. This was a problem. I didn’t drink coffee. What was I going to do? I could just take it and force it down so I wouldn’t cause any disturbance. Or I could take it but just leave it. Couldn’t do that. Leaving food I was served was a sin. I knew that. I had to be honest. I asked the waiter, could I get milk instead of coffee? He looked at me in a strange way.

You are asking me for milk, right?

Is that OK? I mean, do you have it?

Sure we have it. I’ll be glad to get some for you.

I noticed him talking to another waiter, who then left the room. I figured something bad was going to happen. I just ate my ice cream.

The head scout master then started tapping on his glass like a bell to get our attention. He said we should start the formal part of our get together. He said the BSA was beginning to plan for the next national jamboree and he wanted to get our opinions about where it should be held. The three tentative locations were: New York City, Philadelphia and Valley Forge. He started with the scout closest to him and asked him to give us his opinion. I was glad about this because it meant I’d be near the end of the line for giving an answer. Two of the scouts were from the New York – New Jersey area and thought New York was the best place. They talked about the Statue of Liberty, Broadway and things like that. Another scout was from Philadelphia and had a similar list of good sites to see there. A forth scout was from Montana, but said he agreed with all of the previous ideas. What? How could that make sense? The previous ideas weren’t the same?

Next it would be my turn. DRAT! That’s when the waiter who had left earlier came back with a silver pot full of milk. He walked over to me, put down a large wine glass and filled it up with MILK. All the discussion stopped and everyone just looked at me.

So, Mister Napoli. What do you think?

I was going to die. What ever I had been thinking had long since gone out of my head.

Can I please ask a question? Where do most scouts live? I mean, do they live in cities or out in the country?

The scout master said that most scouts came from cities. I didn’t expect that answer. But it didn’t matter. I had a line of reasoning going so I just followed it.

The reason I asked that was I thought that jamborees should be a chance for as many scouts as possible to get a new experience. I actually thought most scouts came from rural areas. Both New York and Philadelphia were cities. So most scouts going to a jamboree there would not get much of a change from their everyday life. Valley Forge would let them get out in the country. Besides I always thought of scouting as camping anyway, so Valley Forge would be better that way as well.

The last scout, who was Roland Bigge from Los Angeles, said he agreed with me, but that the cities also had a lot to offer. The scout master asked a number of other questions that we all talked about, but I don’t remember any of them. But I guess they liked my answer because they did pick me and Roland. I guess the milk incident didn’t scare them off. Oh, and by the way, the jamboree was held in Valley Forge.

After lunch, we all headed to the EXPLORER’S CLUB on 70th street. Right! There is such a place. Again, I was shocked to see such opulence inside another ugly New York building. Lots of wood paneling. Large paintings of famous people on the wall. Rugs everywhere. What was bothering me about this? I guess, it wasn’t consistent that the outside of the buildings were so ugly while the insides were so beautiful. Ancient Greece was beautiful inside and out. Ancient Rome was beautiful inside and out. That was 2000 years ago. When I think of Rome during the Renaissance, or modern day Venice, I have the same image of beautiful architecture. Why has this been lost? In fact, the only place in the U.S. where I could think of that architecture seemed to be important was Washington D.C. True, I hadn’t traveled all that much. What a tragedy for the country. And, on top of that, U.S. cities don’t seem to have any pride on top of the ugliness they start with. WHY ISN’T BEAUTY IN OUR WORLD, IN OUR SURROUNDINGS, ONE OF THE HIGHEST GOALS OF SOCIETY? And now, with the destruction of our environment so rampant, it’s just . . . such a crime against all of us.

We were all waived into some room. I guessed this was where they were going to tell us the winners. The room looked like some movie set. TV cameras. Bright lights. Podium. Chairs. Reporters. It looked like a big deal.

The winners are: Eagle Scout Roland Bigge and Eagle Scout Brian Napoli.

I was shocked. They asked us to say something. I can’t remember a word.

The Flight from Connecticut

My whole family turned out at Bradley Field to wish me well, including my aunt. This was the first time I was on a large plane. I had already soloed as a private pilot in a Cessna 150. But a big plane was such a luxury. I wanted to be an aerospace engineer, so everything about flying was interesting to me. It was a short hop to NY; then on to Los Angeles; then to Seattle.

I was dressed in my scout uniform for the flight. At Kennedy airport In NY, a boy asked if I was going to the jamboree. I told him about Alaska. There was no news in the Boy Scout magazine about the trip yet. A man asked me if the Eagle Scout pin was a French flag. This caught me by surprise. I thought everyone in the world knew what the Eagle Scout pin looked like. I was starving. I decided to splurge and get a great meal. Maybe a hotdog, chili, French fries and a soda. Whoa! The hotdog by itself was 50 cents! I bought it and got a glass of water.

I thought back to the contest, to the opulence of the lunch room and the Explorer’s club. I looked around the airport. It was in pretty sad shape like everything I saw coming through New York. Why were the two worlds so different? Who lived in those fancy places? Why weren’t they doing something about the huge discrepancy? I didn’t know, but I was sure someday I could solve all of that. I was an engineer. I could do anything.

Besides, God was watching over us. I believed that. He gave us this beautiful world to live in. He wouldn’t let it be destroyed.

The plane from JFK to Los Angeles was a 707. I was going to fly on a jet plane. The world was truly filled with miracles. We took off. I had a window seat. I could see Manhattan and the bridges. Civilization as far as the eye could see. But the world of 1966 knew about the population problem. Both my mother and father came from families with 7 brothers and sisters. Except for one uncle and aunt on each side, all of the families I knew decided to only have 2 children. So, society had clearly understood the need to stop population growth. I mean, we all understood it. It was so obvious. Our parent’s generation, the depression and WWII generation, took that responsibility seriously.

It was a great flight. I took plenty of maps to follow the route. Most of the flight was cloud free. The softness of the rolling green Appalachians was like moss under my feet. New York City and the slums of humanity were vanquished to the past. Such a misleading thought. The demands that cities place on the rest of the earth are so misunderstood - part of human denial. Roads became infrequent but stood out so clearly. Trains were easily seen. Then the wide Mississippi, a mere rivulet underfoot. The land became flat as a rug. The beauty of the fruited plains was astounding. ‘From sea to shining sea … waves of amber grain’. The Oregon Trail, now passing beneath my feet at 700 miles per hour.

But, when we got over the Rocky Mountains, I was practically thrown into a trance. I was listening to the audio program. Respighi’s Pines of Rome came on. We had just passed over Durango north of Santa Fe. The ground below burst into bright colors. I had heard of the Painted Desert. But from 35,000 feet, it was breathtaking. The afternoon light was playing many tricks. The purples would glow with iridescent sparkles. The yellows would streak into the small canyons. The plane flew a deviated path so we could fly over Bryce Canyon, then Zion, then down over the Grand Canyon.

The hoodoos in Bryce cast long eerie shadows down the smooth clay slopes. The color banded cliffs revealed the paint box that at higher altitude splashed out across the Painted Desert. All of this was draped by a canopy of dark purple sky. We quickly snuck up on Zion. It was another world. Broad rounded domes of gray shale spot sprayed with subtle colored mudstones and sandstones. We then rolled over into the Grand Canyon. There was still snow cover on the peaks around the north rim. The contrast with the dark pine forests was so strong it was almost like a black and white photo. Then, with the view breaking over the rim, the escarpments of the south rim burst out in sharp, jagged horizontal red and yellow sandstones. And all the while, The Pines of Rome swirled through my head. I could not envision a more beautiful world.

A quick plane change in LA. Then, without time to digest the Rocky Mountains, another smorgasbord of nature along the West Coast slipping into Seattle in the dark. A visual meal fit for a king.

Seattle

Roland was already there. We were invited to stay for two days with a scout executive family. I was dead tired. Out like a light.

The next morning, after forcing my eyes open with a crowbar, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. They lived at the top of a peninsula in Bremerton between Ostrich Bay and the Port Washington Narrows. The view was spectacular. We were served like royalty. We ate breakfast out on the deck. This was so much a world I had never imagined.

We toured the University of Washington and the World’s Fair site. Then came back to their house for lunch and spent the afternoon sailing. Another night to get adjusted to the time shift. Another amazing breakfast. I asked Duane, our scout host, how far it was to the other side of the inlet. He said he didn’t know. He said he had a transit, but didn’t know how to use it. Roland and I jumped at the chance. 1430 feet. It took us about 10 minutes to set up and figure it out. I was already finding out that he was going to be a great partner for the summer.

The local scout executive had lots of contacts in the area. A military guy took us through the Navy shipyard. We drove to visit the battle ship Missouri and then up to a bluff to overlook the WWII mothball fleet. I had no idea the U.S. had built so many ships for the war.

Anchorage

The next day we were in the air again. We flew the infamous ‘Golden nugget’ flight. We left Seattle at noon. Again, the earth’s banquet of landscapes unfolded with beauty beyond my wildest dreams - every image a new experience. It was nothing like I expected. The mountains are tall and jagged - hours of them. Then, as if we had to land in the water at the edge of cliffs plunging into the sea, Anchorage appeared as a gray gravel tongue in Chickaloon Bay. The whole city was only about 4 times as big as the airport. We only stopped long enough to swap passengers and get fuel. Off we went again.

Fairbanks

The flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks went right past Mount McKinley. The expanses of plains between the mountains up there was amazing. It gave the land a feeling of expansiveness that was not unlike the approach across the plains to Denver.

Fairbanks was also on a plain with mountains all around. Fairbanks ‘International’ airport was about as big as a small town train station. Fairbanks had only 4000 people total. You could see from one side of town to the other right down main street. But the beauty of the surrounding mountains transported me to the edge of the wilderness. It surely ‘wasn’t Kansas‘.

There was a flock of dignitaries there to meet us. They had all kind of activities planned for us. And since we were so close to the arctic circle, there was plenty of daylight left, if you could call it that, even thought it was seven at night. The sun ‘officially’ set at 11:00pm and came up again at 1:00am. I was reserved about calling the light ‘daylight’ because the sun never really get’s very high.

The greeting party included Mr. Gleed and Dr. Wood from the University of Alaska and someone they called Colonel Haycraft. But the most important person there to meet us, at least from my viewpoint, was Colleen Kendall, Miss Alaska. I didn’t know what kind of colonel Mr. Haycraft was, but I do know that he liked baseball. So, if he liked baseball and got Miss Alaska to come to meet us, in my book, he was OK.

The first thing we did after we got off the plane and said hello to all these folks was to head off to a high school ballgame with Colonel Haycraft. Why would they think someone would come to Fairbanks Alaska to see a high school ballgame, I don’t know. But Miss Alaska came along with us and everyone was happy to see her. So, we had a good time. But I don’t think she cared much for baseball.

They put us up in what they said was one of the best hotels in Fairbanks. We had to take their word for it. The rooms seemed pretty shabby. But I guess they wanted to present a wilderness atmosphere. The curtains were flimsy. So, it was pretty hard to sleep with all the light.

Thursday, we spent most of the day touring the University of Alaska. The university was on a bluff north of the city. The architecture was modern and the landscaping was neat. You can look down over the whole valley with the mountains in the background. It seemed like such a great place to be a student.

We went to the a museum of Eskimo culture at the University. An artist was displaying paintings with a spectacular new technique that built translucence into the paint. The paint was applied in very thick layers. We drove out to the space mission tracking center. They had multiple large parabolic antennas.

We drove into town to meet members of the Chamber of Commerce at the Travelers Inn for lunch. Guess who showed up again? Miss Alaska! This time she performed for us. She played the accordion. It took everything I had to keep from going up there and playing a round myself. Better that I didn’t. It wouldn’t have been good to show her up.

After lunch Colonel Haycraft took us to visit the high school where the ball game was. It was very modern and in good condition.

Later in the day, we took a boat trip on the Chena and Tanina Rivers. The captain was a really friendly guy. But he had a much different view of Fairbanks life than we had heard up till then. He said there were always people on the move, 24 hours a day. He said Fairbanks was just a 24 hour saloon. 12:00 at night there would be drunk Indians all the way up and down the street. By Indians, he didn’t mean Eskimos. There are no Eskimos in Fairbanks. He told us about the drunkout they have on New Years Eve. He said, the saloons save all their left over drinks in a big barrel. On New Years Eve, they open all the saloons for free drinks. By six in the morning, there are so many people drunk lying on the sidewalk, you can walk on top of them the whole length of town without touching the sidewalk.

On the boat trip, we visited an Indian ‘settlement’ 15 miles out of town. As much Indian lore as I thought I got in Scouts, I never really had an image of daily Indian life or what modern day Indian living was like. The settlement was as primitive as a boy scout camp. There were many log cabins along the river. In fact we saw them everywhere. But they were spread far apart. The only thing approaching the density of what we would call suburbs, was in the city itself. The tallest building was a three story hotel.

But the most notable memory of the boat trip was the mosquitoes! They aren’t everywhere in Alaska. We didn’t run into any in town while we were there, for example. But when we were out on the river in a narrow area, we learned what all the legends are about. The sky actually turns visibly darker as a buzzing cloud settles over you. At first you think you can just swat them off. But they are huge and cover so much of your skin so quickly, you don’t have a chance. If you go to swat your head, both your head and your hands get covered. They are so bad on the tundra they have been known to KILL full grown caribou. The boat driver knew this. He gave us head nets just like you’d see in the jungle. It was cool enough that we had heavy jackets on. So, with the head nets and our hands in our pockets, we survived. It was a funny site seeing tourists walking through the Indian village wearing head nets. The boat driver smoked a big cigar. That seemed to keep them off him. But the Indian kids didn’t seem to be bothered. The driver said they were mostly immune to the bites, but also that they were covered with bear grease, which was why they smelled so bad.

After the boat cruise, we were on our own for the evening. So we walked around the town - the WHOLE town. Roland and I were getting to know each other pretty well. He’s such a great person. We picked on each other and told jokes about everything. To tease me, he started calling me NANOOK. Nanook is a derivation of the Inupiaq Eskimo word for polar bear nanuq. It’s also the name of a famous movie about an Eskimo hunter called Nanook of the North. All the University of Alaska sports teams at Fairbanks are called Nanooks. UAF was established in 1917. The basketball teams were nicknamed the Polar Bears. After 1963, the Polar Bears became known exclusively as the Nanooks. So, to tease him back, I said if he was going to call me Nanook of the North, I was going to call him the Schnook of the South. And from that moment, the names stuck.

We stopped in almost every store in town. The people there have mostly come from other places. The girl in Woolworths was from South Carolina. The girl in the drug store was from Texas. The phone book was half the size of a physics lab manual. We saw a weather report in the paper about Barrow. The previous day it was 4 degrees below zero at night with a record 70 degrees during the day. This was at the end of June, remember. It was also very curious to me because there was hardly much difference in sunlight between day and night this time of year.

We decided we had to go into at least one saloon, just to see what it was like. I mean, if we didn’t, we’d miss experiencing the atmosphere of half the buildings in town. I guess, two Scouts in uniform walking into a bar in Fairbanks wasn’t too typical. But for drunks who see pink elephants, who knows what they’d think. As soon as we walked in, some guy spotted us. He staggered to his feet and slowly staggered over to us. He was the caricature of a Yukon gold panner: short scruffy beard, ragged clothes. He was a riot.

Hey. Are … you guys … the … mounted police? burp!

I didn’t know what to say. But Schnook always had complete control of the situation.

Yeah! We’re the mounted police. You been drinking?

What kind of question was that? You could use him for a blow torch if you lit his breath.

Yeah! … I been … drinking. Burp! What you … goin’ …to do about it? It’s a … free country. Burp!

I’m goin’ to give you a big break, that’s what. We were goin’ to throw you in the can for 20 years. But we’re goin’ to let you off because you came over and talked to us. But there’s one condition. You have to tell us the meanest story you ever heard about Alaska. If it ain’t mean enough, your goin’ up the river.

The guy was short and stooped over. He squinted as he looked up at the uniformed Schnook towering over him. I was in hysterics but trying to keep a straight face.

Mean huh! You … don’t know mean. Have you ever … lost … a hand? Have you … ever lost an arm? Have you ever … lost … an eye?

My laughing was getting uncontrollable. Duh? I mean, didn’t we both have two hands and arms and eyes? The guy was nuts!

It was … so cold one year … I lost both my hands. A grizzly … bit off my arm. A wolverine chewed out … both my eyes. I could hardly … see where I was goin’. Then I … see’d some yella in the water.

He started to raise his hand to point to the ‘yella’ gold and crumbled straight to the floor. Schnook grabbed his collar in a flash so he didn’t hit his head going down. The bar tender nonchalantly threw down his towel and came walking over.

Help me get him up in his chair. Which we did. So, are you the scouts going up on the North Pole Expedition.

Right. That’s us. Schnook could talk to anyone.

Sounds like a great experience. Keep your eyes and ears open. Alaska has a way of getting under people’s skin - bringing people in touch with the basics. There are a lot of lessons to learn up here.

Thanks for the tip. We just came in to see what a real Fairbanks saloon was like. Thanks for the lesson.

The guy smiled and we headed out.

As we snooped around, we learned a little about the local customs. They do have running water in the buildings. This may not seem unusual. But, it is when you find out that the characteristics of the ground up here are almost exactly opposite to what they are in the lower 48. Below about three feet down, the ground is always frozen. They call it permafrost. Only the top 3 feet will thaw in the summer. So, all the water pipes in the streets are completely insulated and enclosed with steam pipes.

The fire hydrants are drained in the winter and filled with kerosene. Good luck with a house fire in the winter. A guy told us about a fireman who moved up here. He saw a house on fire, hooked a hose up to the fire hydrant and proceeded to burn the whole place down with kerosene in 2 minutes. Can you believe that? You’d better not. The guy was a total liar like so many people up here. I guess they don’t have enough excitement so they have to keep inventing wild stories. I mean, where would the fireman get a hose? Wouldn’t he notice that the stuff coming out of the hydrant didn’t quite smell or feel like water?

Around September, when the temperature permanently drops below freezing, many people start their cars and leave them running all winter. Some have electric heaters that plug into cords at parking places. We saw that up at the University as well.

Prices are almost as bad as they were in the gold rush days. Milk was 50 cents a quart, eggs 35 cents each. At home that would be 20 cents and 35 cents a dozen. A ranch house cost $72,000. Orange juice was 75 cents a glass. Pizza, 6" across, $1.70. Almost nothing is grown locally. It all got flown in from Seattle. I looked at parkas. They were gorgeous. Fur collars, beaver skin, lots of bead work. But also $400 !

On Friday, we met Mr. Beers. More touring at the U. of A . Each day continued to unfold new surprises. We saw the computer center, the bio-research labs, and the geo-physics building. We went to the athletic building and into the indoor pool area. Everything was in such good shape. It’s had all been built very recently. Then I noticed a boy in the pool struggling. He just dove off the low board and apparently couldn’t even swim. The life guards were talking to the co-eds and didn’t even notice. ‘Throw, Row, Go!" I grabbed a life saving ring and tossed it out to him. You can’t imagine the big deal this turned into. ‘Eagle Scout saves drowning U. of A. student!’ And they pay these life guards $4 and hour?

We drove out to a musk-ox farm. They may keep these animals fenced in, but they surely haven’t run the wild side out of them. We went to visit an old gold sluice. This was a huge machine that essentially crawls up a running stream and automatically pans the gold out of it. The price of gold was not high enough to run the machinery anymore now that the major gold deposits have been taken. It was hard to believe that a natural resource like ‘all the gold in Alaska’ could already have been depleted.

For dinner, we were invited to a Lion’s Club dinner. Now I have to admit, I’d never been to a Lion’s Club before. So this was all new to me. It seemed like a German beer fest. Lots of singing. Lots of speeches about how great each of the member were. I even got an award for saving the U. of A. student from drowning. Miss Alaska showed up again. But with only one or two events going on each day in the whole city, she probably had to go to all of them. And where else could she go? Anchorage? It’s so ironic. The smallest state in the Union, Rhode Island, had twice the population of the largest state.

Chapter 2 Point Barrow - the Awakening

Flight From Fairbanks

We boarded a DC 3 prop plane for the flight to Fairbanks on Saturday around 9:00 am. The trip from Fairbanks to Barrow is about 500 miles. That means about 5 hours in a clunker like a DC 3. As soon as we took off we had to climb at maximum rate to get over the mountains. They were snow covered and went on and on and on. In 45 minutes we crossed over the Yukon River. It was huge. 20 minutes later we crossed the arctic circle. The stewardess came down the isle passing out Arctic Circle patches. Finally, we crossed the Brooks Range, which is actually the continental divide in Alaska. Unlike the Rockies in the lower 48, the continental divide runs east-west in Alaska. We were still 250 miles from Barrow.

After another 45 minutes the ground broke into a 100 mile wide set of sharp foothills. These were mostly green from mosses and grasses. There were no conventional trees. I say conventional because there are trees there. But they don’t grow vertically. They spread out like floor mats. The foothills slope from the mountains to the tundra.

The tundra is distinct from the slopes because of its yellow tinge, horizontal plane and rolling flatness. It is mostly covered by moss and grasses. It is classified as a desert because it gets less than 10 inches of equivalent rainfall per year, most of which falls as snow. But because the ground is permanently frozen below about 36 inches from the surface, any rain or snow that falls and melts has nowhere to go. So, the tundra ‘desert’ is also actually a swamp, 100 mile N-S by 400 mile E-W, another irony. It is a desert covered with shallow ponds in the summer.

There are permanent Eskimo settlements along the North West coast of Alaska, including Point Hope, Icy Cape, Wainwright and Point Barrow. But none farther east than Barrow because the Arctic ice pack does not open and close there. So the Eskimos can’t easily hunt seals. To the west of Barrow, ocean currents keep the ice pack moving. Leads of open water in the ice allowed Eskimos to hunt hair seals, which have vitamins in their oil that prevent scurvy.

Arrival in Barrow

Barrow ‘international’ airport was just as ironic as the tundra was a desert-swamp. The runway was only a long strip of