Why is the Ocean Blue?

Written By:  Andrew Eide

The poem IN 1492 goes:  “In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” The Earth has been called the Big Blue Marble as that is how it appears from space. The oceans have been called the deep blue seas, along with other references to the water being blue.

So the first question which pops into my mind is why all these references to the waters being blue when water is clear?

I did a little research and I found the following theories:

Blue wavelengths are absorbed the least by the deep ocean water and they are scattered and reflected back to the observer’s eyes.

Particles in the water may help to reflect blue light.

The ocean reflects the blue sky.

My research also came up with the following information:

The ocean usually appears blue to us because this is the color our eyes see. However the ocean can be many other colors depending upon particles in the water, the depth of the water, and the amount of skylight.

Here are my comments on this subject. Water is clear. I believe the first theory that the blue wavelengths are less absorbed by the water and reflected back to our eyes. I also believe that some of the blue color comes from the reflected sky. My many years at sea, while serving in the United States Navy, indicate that most of the time the ocean water appears green due to the algae content.

I guess the poem IN 1942 just wouldn’t sound the same if it read: “In fourteen hundred ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean clear.”

Why I will never invest in a Retirement Account again

Written By:  Andrew Eide

Where I worked from 1997 to 2003 we were told we needed to deposit money into the 403(b), which is a non-profit organization comparable Retirement Plan as a 401(k). I was the only person to stand up and complain that I didn't want my money tied up in the Stock Market. The Investment Company representative, from Franklin-Templeton, told us that they invest in about 100 companies for our account and in Mutual Funds. We were told that Mutual Funds have a very low risk and even if 50 of the 100 companies failed overnight they would replace them with another 50 and everything would be fine.

Every payday they withheld money from my paycheck and placed it into the retirement account with our company matching 2 percent up to a certain amount. After every payday we received a statement in the mail from Franklin-Templeton that gave the following information:

Amount of money deposited into the Retirement Account
Number of shares of stocks held
Total amount of money deposited into the Retirement Account to date
Market Value of the shares in that account

At that time I had a FUND A and and FUND B account so I received two statements every payday. Fund B received less money so for every 5 shares that went into Fund A, maybe 3 or 4 went into Fund B.

I noticed for almost two years that the Market Value of the Shares held only equaled or exceeded the amount of money deposited into the account maybe two times. All other times the value was less than the deposits into the account.

One day I came home from work and got the mail from the mailbox. I opened one of the envelopes from Franklin-Templeton and it was for my Fund B. The statement said the following:  Amount of money in account = $0   Number of Shares held = 0   Market Value of Shares held = $0

When I called Franklin-Templeton and told them that last statement I had about $1,000 in my account and this statement I have $0 so where the hell is my money. After 15 minutes of checking their reply was GEE, MISTER EIDE, WE HAVE NO CLUE WHERE YOUR MONEY IS! I went off on them big time. I demanded to know where my money is. I asked if someone at Franklin-Templeton took my money and took a vacation or what?

Finally I got a call from the Representative for our company. He said that all the money and shares from Fund B were transferred over to Fund A. He asked me if I opened the other envelope and I told him that I was so upset at seeing a $0 balance on Fund B that I didn't open the other envelope. When I did sure enough my money and Shares were there.

But why did Franklin-Templeton do that without confirming the change with me? To this date nobody knows but for sure I didn't authorize it. I was so upset I told them I refuse to work with Franklin-Templeton as they are incompetent fools. I demanded my money be returned to me and they said I would suffer a 10 percent penalty for early withdrawal. I reminded them that I already suffered a 30 percent loss of value of my money in the Retirement Account due to their incompetency!

Therefore I will never contribute into a Retirement Account again even if my employer will match 2 percent or more or what I put into it.

For damn sure my money would have had more value had I been putting it into a coffee can and burying it in my backyard.

How Things Got Their Name

Written By:  Andrew Eide

It is often amusing to find out how some items got their name.

For instance we use the term movie today to mean a story presented to us on television or a theater. When the concept of pictures which moved, rather than still photography, first came out they were called moving pictures. Over the years people shortened the term to movies which is where we got our term for today.

One of my favorites comes from a town in my home State of California. The name of this town is Coalinga and it is located about 175 miles southeast of San Francisco and about 40 miles southwest of Fresno.

Back in the days of steam powered locomotives the trains had to stop to load up with coal to fire the steam locomotive and water to place into the boiler to heat up to make steam to drive the train. Since coal was the source for firing the boilers in the locomotives these stations were called Coaling Stations.

During the initial preparation of these coaling stations they were called the following:  Coaling Station A…Coaling Station B…Coaling Station C…and this went down the alphabet until they were done naming the coaling stations along the railroad line.

Over the years people started to shorten the names of the coaling stations. Instead of using their long names they started calling the stations:  Coaling A…Coaling B…Coaling C…and down the alphabet until they reached the last station.

Then along came diesel locomotives which no longer needed coal and water to run. So the coaling stations along the railroad line were closed. However, the place where Coaling Station A (i.e., Coaling A) was located retained the name of the coaling station as the name of their town. Coaling Station A became Coaling A and then it finally came to be called Coalinga. Therefore to this date we have a town with the name of Coalinga which is a reminder of the history of rail travel in the State of California.