Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1987. július-december (41. évfolyam, 26-48. szám)
1987-07-02 / 26. szám
10. AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ Thursday, July 2. 1987. JÓCSÁK AND SON BY JOHN F. GOJACK XVIII. "Let me give you two bottles of Old Grandad, one for my father and one for yourself," I told Pop's nurse friend. "And when you run low, please go to Andy's bar and he'll give you two more any time. It's on my bill." "No need to do that. It's been easy to sneak a little whiskey in for your father. He's my favorite patient," she said. The best compliment she paid me was to say I was as nice as Pop. After a few more years, Pop 'was less antagonistic about the railroad, though he never gave up the idea that he had a worthwhile lawsuit against it. My visits were always interesting and went swiftly as he always had much to report about old friends who died, minor grievances against the hospital, and gossip that he heard concerning the West Side - our original neighborhood. Pop was not too sophisticated regarding politics but never hesitated to express his opinion. He cussed most politicians as crooked and worse, so perhaps he was not too naive. When it seemed that life at the Chronic Patients' Hospital was running smoothly and the serene monotony would go on forever, the foundation was rocked by an unbelievable event. We never learned whether Pop actually had a cold or was simply bored by the routine in the hospital. What was pieced together after the event was that Pop called Andy, complaining of a horrible cold. "Can you visit soon and slip me a bottle of Old Grandad?" he asked. The same day he called Pauline with the same story, and begged her to bring, or send out with her son, a bottle of Old Grandad. Catherine was another patsy. She was not well and had not been in direct touch with Pop for years. However, his story touched her and she arranged to visit and slip him another bottle of Old Grandad. Mike was a cinch. The baby of our family came through easily, with another bottle. Not satisfied with enough to float a Grand Ball, Pop convinced his nurse friend to bring in her supply of Old Grandad. A party was organized on a weekday evening, after the usual early evening meal when most of the staff were gone. No visitors were around nor any supervisors. Some patients told me it was the most exciting party of their lives. Singing, speeches and games predominated. Then contests of many kinds, with the wheelchair races topping the list. There were some minor accidents, with no injuries, lots of laughs, and the bottomless bourbon kept the party going for hours. The skeleton staff shared in the drinks and watched with interest, never having seen the patients have so much fun. Patients claimed that an early arrival for the graveyard shift, one up-tight supervisor, blew the whistle on the party. The party was winding down, with just a few heavy drinkers at the bourbon table. According to one friendly aide, the ward looked like a cyclone hit it or it had not been cleaned for a year. Others described the scene, praised the party highly and none had the slightest negative comment. My Father Most paid tribute to Pop as an organizational genius, and admired him for his courage in promoting such an unusual event. Two days later Andy called me, having heard from the nurse's aide that Pop pulled off this fantastic caper and was being punished by being locked in the dark storage basement of the hospital. I was scheduled for a union meeting that weekend, but quickly begged off and went to the hospital and got a complete report from the friendly nurse. I found Pop in his bed in a long, vacant hallway of the basement. With only a dim light to see and his wheelchair taken from him, he was literally a prisoner. My years in the union taught me not to curse but to act. It was Saturday and all the top personnel were off duty. I got an official's phone number. He was home and listened to my report of the event. He had heard nothing of it. Then I told him where Pop was located as punishment, and in a quiet but firm voice warned that if Pop was not back in his regular room in four hours, I would arrange to have my old union friends in Dayton and my brothers join me in a picket line at the hospital. The press and photographers would be called and told of this medieval punishment for an old amputee who was merely trying to bring a little joy to his fellow patients. The hospital executive wanted to talk about it. I briefly described my union background, adding that I had to get back to care for my father. "Don't call the papers until I get a chance to look into this," he said. "I won't do anything for four hours," I promised. In less than one hour he was at the hospital. Within minutes Pop was out of the dungeon and back in his own room. I stayed with him while the official was in his office, getting reports from the staff on the amazing party. After an hour or so, he came into Pop's room. "Well, John, nothing like this has ever happened in our hospital. Would you mind telling me what you know about it?" to be continued SZÉDÜLETES SZÁMOK (folytatás a 8. oldalról ■ 1 < I tol. A vila^ legnagyobb kolcsonzo államából a világ legeladósodottabb államává lettünk, (kb. 127 biliiá dollárral) megelőzve Braziliát, Mexikót, Argentínát, mig nemzeti adósságunk meghaladta már a 2^ trillió dollárt. A "Csillagháború" költségei, a tökéletes védelmet úgysem nyújtó védelmi pajzs költségei, amire készén lesz, meghaladhatják a 2.5-3 trillió dollárt, ha nem sokkal többet is. Próbáljunk most földi gondjainktól megszabadulni legalább kis időre, s nézzünk körül egy kicsit a világűrben, az igazán szédületes szamok után. Először azonban gondoljunk arra, mennyi is 1 "millió"; 1 millió (a matematikusok nyelvén: 10®), 1,000x1,000, azaz 1, hat nullával (zéróval) utána. A billió (10®) 1,000x1 millió, azaz 1, kilenc nullával utána t (1,000,000,000). Az 1 trillió 1^000x1 billió (1012), vagyis I, tizenkét nullával utána (1,000,000,000,000). A trillió után a quadrillió, azután pedig annak ezerszerese: a quintillió következik. Érdemes megemlíteni, hogy szép kis hazánkban oly borzasztó volt a II. Világháború utáni depresszió, infláció 1946-ban, hogy pl. júniusban, azután különösen júliusban az átlagos dolgozó fizetése elérte a trilliót, julius közepere a quadrilliót, úgy, hogy az emberek úgy hivatkoztak ezekre a majdnem értéktelen bankokra, mint "kék-pénz", "zöld-pénz", stb, hiszen alig tudtak, ha egyáltalán tudták, felfogni azoknak a szédületes számoknak az igazi jelentőségét. A fény sebessége a levegőben 186,300 mérföld (300,000 km) másodpercenként; II, 178,000 mérföldnyi percenként és ... 670.680.000 mérföld (1,073,088,000 km) óránként. A Hold nagyon közel: csak 238,857 mérföldnyire van tőlünk. Napunk 93 millió merföldnyire es a távolság naprendszerünktől a legközelebbi csillagig: "Alpha Centauri"-ig csupán (!!) 25 trillió mérföld (kb. 40 trillió km,') Mennyi ideig is tartana az emberi agynak ezeknek a szédületes számoknak a számolása 0-tol kezdve, ha megállás nélkül, ejjel-nappal számolnánk? 1 .. 1 másodpercig; 1,000 ... 17 percig; 1 millió ... 12 napig; 1 billió ... 32 évig; 1 trillió ... 32.000 évig, ami hosszabb idó* 1, mint az emberi civilizáció létezése a Földön; 1 quadrillió ... 32 millió évig és 1 quintillió ... 32 billió évig, ami hosszabb idő lenne, mint magának az Univerzumnak a kora, melyet az asztronómusok, meg- nem-egyezően kb. 15-20 billió évesnek becsülnek... jelen tudásunk, ismereteink alapján. Szerencsére az "igazán szédületes számok" a modern tudósok birodalmába tartoznak, azonban nem ők találtak fel azokat mostanában, hanem már az ősi mexikói Maya indián tudósok, asztrológusok is foglalkoztak ezekkel a számokkal, sót Coba ősi emlékein Quintana Roo-ban a bevésések azt mutatják, hogy a maya indián tudósok szerint az Univerzum kb. 1q29 £ves lehet. Szicília szigeten Kr. e. 287-ben született egy matematikus: Archimedes (Szicília akkor még egy görög sziget volt) úgy becsülte, hogy kb. 106® (1 es 63 nulla utána) homokszem töltene be a Cosmost. Emberi ésszel felfoghatatlan, "szédületes szamok" ezek! (Dr. C. Sagan cikke figyelembe vételével.) TERJESSZE LAPUNKAT
