Replying to LO28942 --
Dear Organlearners,
Andrew Campbell < ACampnona@aol.com > writes:
>Thank you.
Greetings dear Andrew,
The pleasure is mine. There is so much we can lean about irreversible
self-organisation in nature. The more we learn of it with its wondrous
diversity in nature, the more we will become aware of it as vital to
wonder of becoming humane.
>There is a hill nearby. One day a few years ago now;-)
>in the late summer afternoon I was riding down-hill and
>home;-) and from my right where a farmer was burning
>a field;-) there arose a mini tornado or whirlwind, just as
>you described it, but having been born in a field ablaze
>with burning wheat stubble it was full of ash and orange
>and yellow sparks, it was about twenty meters high and
>as it ran over the field I noticed it was going to coincide
>with my trajectory...it was fascinating to watch the burning
>funnel with what looked like flames in it...but the real;-)isation
>suddenly grew in me that this thing and me were going to
>collide...I was caught between two desires in one moment...
>within tens seconds it and I were virtually side by side, then
>very suddenly it collapsed, just fell out of view I suppose as
>it hit the relatively cool road and edge of the field which had
>sustained it. When I got home I was still amazed.
I think you are right as to what extinguished it.
I have seen exactly the same phenomenon some twenty years back. The only
difference was that it was a maize field.
This fire devil is far more dangerous than a desert devil. Once it went
over you, you will still be burning.
The desert devil is less dangerous. I have stepped once deliberately into
its path to experience it. You will have to clutch you hat in your hand
otherwise it will be plucked off. You will have to stand wide legged with
knees slightly bent otherwise it will topple you over. You will have to
close your eyes otherwise they will be swept with dust and sand. You will
have to keep your mouth closed and stop breathing through your nose. You
will have to persist the pain of thousands of sand grains and some sharp
sticks stinging at your skin like bees. You will have to stay courageous
because it takes about 30 seconds to pass you. The experience will be
frightening, but it will also be amazing.
On another occasion later on which I told about, my own walking triggered
the emergence of the desert devil. In that case it took some two minutes
to develop completely before it left me. Were it not for my first
experience, I might have gone crazy with fright.
How can you not accept nature's invitation to get amidst one of its
irreversible self-organising phenomena? Perhaps, because of their
edification nature, we should call them desert angels. (By the way, I made
sure in advance by observing many desert angels that nothing too dangerous
will happen to me ;-)
When driving a car on road through a desert, the desert devil may cross
the road exactly at that moment when the car gets there. This is more
dangerous because of the size of the car. The effect is exactly the same
as driving on two-way road with high speed and a pantenal truck aproaching
from the opposite direction, also with high speed. You will have to clutch
the steering wheel firmly with both arms, otherwise it will pull you in
its wake so that you may veer of the road. In the case of the desert devil
it will pull the car in the direction of its twisting.
It makes me think of organisations. The bigger the organisation and the
faster it and the twister cross each other, the firmer its driver has to
keep the steering wheel. I have seen several political parties veering off
their road (vision). Its leader usually made the error of making an
opportunistic move rather than following the party's vision firmly. The
most recent case here was this year. I think that many of you fellow
learners will be reminded of another case a few years ago. That party was
traveling on a wide road so that only at the next election did it hit the
rough terrain. The newspapers do a good job of uncovering reckless
drivers! Perhaps they should now focus on drivers under the influence with
all the recent economical disasters.
Complexity mongers say nothing can be predicted of emerging phenomena.
Desert devels in South Africa twist more in a clock wise direction (seen
from above) than otherwise. Immensely larger cyclones on sea invariably
twist clockwise. However, in the northern hemisphere the rotation will be
anti-clockwise. The reason is the Coriolis forces. In a cyclone they are
strong enough to initiate and keep the clockwise direction. In a desert
devil they are so minute that any other factor may easily override them.
How I love local community newspapers, both those to the left and those to
the right. They all help to keep the local community leaders in shape.
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@postino.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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