In Arabic, the word ḥadīth (Arabic: حديث) means a “report, account, narrative”. To Muslims, the word Hadīth connotes “report on the words and actions of Prophet Muhammad”.
The Hadith of Gabriel (ḥadīth Jibrīl) in Sunnī Islām, is the single most important Hadīth. It is found in both the Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and the Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim.
Though not mentioned in the Quran, but summarized in the famous hadith of Gabriel are the Five Pillars of Islam (arkān-al-Islām أركان الإسلام; also arkān ad-dīn أركان الدين “pillars of the religion”) which are the foundation of Muslim life – five basic acts in Islam, considered obligatory by believers. They are:
Shahadah (belief, confession, or declaration of faith – Muslim life)
Salat (obligatory worship in the form of prayer)
Zakat (compulsory alms or charitable giving or concern for the needy)
Sawm Ramadan (self-purification by fasting during the month of Ramadan)
Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime)
The Arabic word Ṣawm (Arabic: صوم; plural: صيام ṣiyām), regulated by Islamic jurisprudence literally means fasting – to abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours.
The Muslims of Iran, Central Asia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh use the words roza/rozha/roja/oruç, derived from Persian.
The Muslim communities in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Southern Thailand and Southern Philippines call it puasa, the word derived from Sanskrit, upauasa.
Annually, Muslims, worldwide, observe self-purification by fasting during the month of Ramadan which lasts 29–30 days based on the visual sightings of the crescent moon.
The word Ramadan derived from the Arabic root ramiḍa or ar-ramaḍ, means “scorching heat” or “dryness.” It is “obligatory” for adult Muslims to fast, except those who are ill, diabetic, traveling, pregnant, breastfeeding, or during menstrual bleeding.
The Quran states:
The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed, a guidance to men and clear proofs of the guidance and the distinction; therefore whoever of you is present in the month, he shall fast therein, and whoever is sick or upon a journey, then (he shall fast) a (like) number of other days; Allah desires ease for you, and He does not desire for you difficulty, and (He desires) that you should complete the number and that you should exalt the greatness of Allah for His having guided you and that you may give thanks. [Quran 2:185]
Bowling Green is a small public park in Lower Manhattan at the foot of Broadway next to the site of the original Dutch fort of New Amsterdam. Built in 1733, originally including a bowling green, it is the oldest public park in New York City surrounded by its original 18th-century fence. At its northern end is the Charging Bull sculpture, which is sometimes called the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull.
Dhuhr (Noon) prayer in Bowling Green (Photo: T.V. Antony Raj)Dhuhr (Noon) prayer in Bowling Green (Photo: T.V. Antony Raj)
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While my wife and I were in New York, we saw a faithful Muslim in the Bowling Green at 1:23 pm unmindful of the blaring noise surrounding him, perseveringly reciting the Dhuhr (Noon) prayer. We were spellbound by his faith in God and his steadfast adherence to his religious duties.
When Hurricane Sandy, unofficially known as the “Superstorm Sandy“, devastated the United States in October 2012, I was in Ellicott City in Maryland.
Hurricane Sandy was the second-costliest hurricane in the history of the United States. It was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season. It all began on October 22, 2012.
A Timeline of Hurricane Sandy’s Path of Destruction
Monday, October 22, 2012
Developing in the southern Caribbean Sea off the coast of Nicaragua as a tropical easterly wave causing areas of cloudiness and thunderstorms, The depression strengthened and six hours later becomes Tropical Storm Sandy, with maximum winds of about 40 mph. It moved slowly northward toward the Greater Antilles and gradually intensified.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
On October 24, Sandy became a Category 1 hurricane, moved northward across the Caribbean and made landfall near Kingston, Jamaica with winds of 80 mph.
Although Hurricane Sandy’s eye does not cross the Dominican Republic and Haiti to its east, the storm dumped more than 20 inches of rain on Hispaniola. More than 50 people died in flooding and mudslides in Haiti.
A few hours later, it re-emerged into the Caribbean Sea and strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane. Off the coast of the Northeastern United States, the storm became the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with winds spanning 1,100 miles (1,800 km).
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Detailed map compiled by NOAA on October 25, 2012, that shows the track of Hurricane Sandy (Source: gowally.com)
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Sandy strengthened as it moved from Jamaica to Cuba and made landfall in the historic city of Santiago de Cuba with winds of about 110 mph as a Category 3 hurricane.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Sandy caused more devastation as it crossed the Bahamas and made a slight turn to the north-northwest.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Sandy moved away from the Bahamas and made a turn to the northeast off the coast of Florida. Sandy weakened for a brief period to a tropical depression and then restrengthened to a Category 1 hurricane.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sandy continued moving northeast on a track parallel to the coasts of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. As it approached latitude 35 degrees north off the coast of North Carolina, the hurricane’s eye stayed well offshore. Even then, the storm still a Category 1 hurricane with peak winds of about 80 mph sent powerful tsunami-like waves onto North Carolina’s Outer Banks washing out some places in NC Highway 12.
Due to an unusual configuration of converging weather factors, meteorologists warned that the storm as it churns northward would likely morph into a powerful, hybrid super-storm.
A high-pressure cold front to Sandy’s north forced the storm to turn to the north-west toward major cities such as Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia and New York. And the meteorologists expected that in conjunctions with the effects of the full moon Sandy’s storm to surge up to 11 to 12 feet in some places and a little higher as it made landfall.
Sandy expanded into a huge storm covering about 1,000 miles with strong winds.
Monday, October 29, 2012
This satellite image from NOAA shows Sandy on the morning of October 29, 2012 as it was about to begin its approach to the coast of New Jersey (Source: voices.nationalgeographic.com)
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At 12:30 pm, Sandy made its expected sharp turn. It curved west-northwest (the “left turn” or “left hook”) and then moved ashore near Brigantine, New Jersey, just to the northeast of Atlantic City, as a post-tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds. The storm also has started interacting with other weather systems, gaining energy in the process. The storm dumped heavy snow in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.
During the afternoon, Sandy brought high winds and drenching rains from Washington, D.C. northward, toppling trees and power lines and cutting off electrical power for millions of people. The storm eventually affected more than 50 million people on the Eastern Seaboard.
At 8 pm, Sandy’s centre came ashore near Atlantic City, New Jersey. The storm was no longer considered a hurricane but classified as a post-tropical Nor’easter. But the storm’s unusual path from the south-east made its storm surge much worse in New Jersey and New York.
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The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel iflooded after a tidal surge caused by Hurricane Sandy, on October 30, 2012, in Manhattan, New York. The storm has claimed at least 39 lives in the United States and has caused massive flooding across much of the Atlantic seaboard. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
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A high storm surge, a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water occurred in New York City with a high tide of 14 ft (4.2 m), a new record for a storm surge in the harbor, flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city. The surge tops the sea wall at The Battery Park in Lower Manhattan and floods parts of the city’s subway system. The surge also floods the Hugh Carey Tunnel, which links Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
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Spooky gray NYC skyline
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The wind, rain and flooding from the huge storm pounded New Jersey and New York throughout the night and through three cycles of high tides and low tides.
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Tanker John B Caddell beached on Front Street, Staten Island (Photo: Jim Henderson)
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Staten Island also was hit very hard by the storm. The Seattle Times later reported that towns such as Oakwood Beach, Midland Beach, South Beach and Tottenville — which lost many residents who were police and firefighters during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 — were among the hardest-hit communities.
When I look back, I remember posting several times on Facebook on 29th and 30th October 2012 about Hurricane Sandy to benefit my friends and readers in the United States and to assure my kith and Kin in India that my family was safe:
7:00 amEDT: From the Carolinas to Maine, Hurricane Sandy will affect 50 million people.
Hurricane Sandy is churning off the East Coast and is expected to join up with two other weather systems to create a huge and problematic storm affecting 50 million people. Here’s a snapshot of what is happening or expected, state by state.
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CAROLINAS
The storm lashed barrier islands off North Carolina and rendered several homes and businesses nearly inaccessible. About 90 miles off the coast, a tall ship carrying 17 people was in distress; the Coast Guard was monitoring.
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CONNECTICUT
The number of power outages increased quickly in a state where utilities’ response to past weather-related failures has become a political issue. Connecticut Light & Power says hundreds of customers are without power. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy asked a task force to make sure fuel suppliers are fully stocked. Many residents along Long Island Sound heeded warnings and evacuated.
DELAWARE
Hundreds of people fled to shelters as the rough surf pounded the coast. Water covered some roads.
KENTUCKY
Snow is expected in mountainous areas.
MAINE
Officials predict coastal flooding and beach erosion, and utility crews have been brought in from Canada to handle anticipated power failures.
MARYLAND
Baltimore is opening six shelters; several city intersections are closed because of flooding threats. Early voting, which began Saturday and was to run through Thursday, was canceled for Monday.
MASSACHUSETTS
Utilities brought in crews from as far away as Texas and the Midwest to cope with anticipated power failures. Most schools and colleges have canceled classes. The Boston transit authority said it would continue to operate as long it was safe.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Gov. John Lynch put 100 National Guard soldiers on active duty to help with preparations. Two shelters are being set up, and some schools have closed.
NEW JERSEY
Sandy’s center is expected to make landfall in New Jersey late Monday. By daybreak, more than 5,000 homes and businesses were without electricity. Thousands of people evacuated low-lying areas, and many inland towns hit by flooding from storm Irene last year issued evacuation orders.
NEW YORK
Many residents left low-lying flood evacuation zones, and the subway system shut down Sunday night. A storm surge of 11 feet is possible, the highest of all coastal areas being hit by Sandy. The New York Stock Exchange and other U.S. financial markets shut down for at least the day. Thousands of flights were canceled at the city’s major airports.
OHIO
Residents of low-lying areas and along Lake Erie were told to watch for flooding; utilities are anticipating high winds that could blow down trees and poles. Snow is forecast in some areas.
PENNSYLVANIA
Many schools closed. Philadelphia shut down its mass transit system, and hundreds of flights were canceled at the city’s airport. Dozens of people took shelter at evacuation centers. Thousands of members of the National Guard have been told to be ready for deployment.
RHODE ISLAND
Several communities have ordered mandatory evacuations and many schools closed for the day. Big waves are expected to cause flooding along Narragansett Bay, which bisects the state. Authorities told people to be prepared for long periods without power.
TENNESSEE
Snow is expected in higher elevations, where a freeze warning has been issued. High winds are expected in many areas.
VIRGINIA
About 2,000 customers lacked power, and a utility said as many as 1 million could ultimately lose electricity. Many residents of Chincoteague Island, popular with tourists, shrugged off the idea of evacuation.
VERMONT
Gov. Peter Shumlin declared a state of emergency to provide access to National Guard troops in a state still recovering from the devastating effects of the remnants of Hurricane Irene. Culverts and storm drainage basins in some spots have been cleared of debris.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The capital area’s transit system shut down rail service for the first time since 2003, and the Smithsonian Institution closed for the day.
WEST VIRGINIA
As much as 2 to 3 feet of snow were forecast in mountainous areas, and flooding was possible in some areas. Several shelters were put on standby, and power crews were mobilized to handle potential failures.
3:30 pm EDT:
Here in Ellicott City, Maryland, the wind speed is 41 mph NW. Not menacing at the moment.
3:40 pm EDT:
Landfall for Sandy within 3 hours time near Atlantic City, New Jersey shore with a wind speed of 90 mph in the center. The system moves at 18 mph.
8:40 pm EDT: In Ellicott City, Maryland, the wind speed has risen to 49 mph WNW.
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8:54 pm EDT: Sandy landfall in Cape May, New Jersey around 8 pm.
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9:00 pm EDT:
Battery Park in New York City is now inundated with 11.87 feet high. Water might enter NYC subway. Trains and buses won’t run on Tuesday (tomorrow).
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9:30 pm EDT:
Waters from Hudson river has breached the Manhattan Broadwalk. Battery Park in New York City is now inundated with 13.7 feet high. MTA confirms that the subways are flooded.
1.5 million homes experience power outages in many states. In Maryland, 195,000 homes are without electric power. We have still not been hit by a power cut.
9:45 pm EDT:
Power surges, outages and flashes being experienced in the New York City area. Everything is dark over there. Manhattan is in darkness as well as the Statue of Liberty.
10:47 pm EDT:
All bridges were closed for traffic. Chesapeake Bay Bridge that connects Baltimore-DC area with the northern parts of Maryland such as Kent Island too was closed for traffic around 4 pm.
10:55 pmEDT:
Sandy is still on its way towards us playing havoc with everything in its path.
Sandy had its landfall in Cape May, New Jersey around 8 pm. Ellicott City, MD is about 210 miles from the landfall area. The system is moving around 20 to 25 mph and I expect it to come here on Tuesday (tomorrow) morning around 6 am EDT.
Tuesday , October 30, 2012
2:10 am EDT: Hurricane Sandy plays havoc: Widespread Power outages have occurred in all the north-eastern and eastern states. In Maryland, 391,005 homes are experiencing power cut.
2:15 am EDT: Sandy is 10 miles southwest of Philadephia, PA.
10:50 am EDT: Sandy has passed us. We did not incur any damages. We did not lose any power.
I thank you all for praying for us.
However, my heart bleeds for those who have suffered and are undergoing hardships due to the havoc created by this “Frankenstorm” called SANDY.
11:00 am EDT: Sandy: The loss to properties has been assessed between 10 and 20 billion dollars.
11:30 am EDT:
Sandy slammed New Jersey last night and early morning today. At least 16 deaths reported. Massive flooding, high winds, and widespread power outages hit the East Coast as Sandy moves inland.
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Hurricane Sandy dissipated over western Pennsylvania, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its final advisory on the storm: “multiple centers of circulation in association with the remnants of Sandy can be found across the lower Great Lakes.”
People scavenging for food in a dumpster where a Key Food supermarket has discarded spoiled food, due to power outages after Hurricane Sandy hit New York (Photo: Mr. Choppers)
Violet Jessop said that it was her habit to breathe in the fresh air on deck before retiring for the night. Regarding the fourth day of sailing on Titanic she wrote:
“If the sun did fail to shine so brightly on the fourth day out, and if the little cold nip crept into the air as evening set in, it only served to emphasize the warmth and luxuriousness within.” .
Titanic in ice field (Artist: Ken Marschall)
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From the second day on, after leaving Southampton on its maiden voyage, RMS Titanic received reports of ice from ships passing through, or stopped due to heavy ice in the region she would be sailing to New York. On the 11th she received six warnings, on 12th five, on 13th three, and on 14th six. As a matter of fact, the Marconi room of RMS Titanic relayed some of the warnings to the shore.
As a routine, all these messages would have been logged in the radio book as they were received or intercepted and passed on to the officers on the bridge. So, it is unlikely that Captain Edward Smith and his officers would have been unaware of the dangerous ice that was lying directly in the path of the ship.
Here are the messages received or intercepted on Sunday, April 14, 1912 – four days into the crossing:
At 9:00 am (“Titanic” time), RMS Caronia (call sign MSF), a Cunard Line ocean liner, Eastbound New York to Liverpool, sent an ice warning message to RMS Titanic:
“Captain, ‘Titanic.’ – Westbound steamers report bergs, growlers and field ice in 42°N from 49° to 51°W, 12th April. Compliments. – Barr.”
Action taken: This message referred to bergs, growlers and field ice sighted on April 12, 1912 – at least 48 hours before the time of transmitting the message. At the time this message was received RMS Titanic was at 43°35’N, 43°50’W. Captain Smith acknowledged the receipt of this message and posted it for his officers to read.
At about 8 am on April 14, 1912, Greek steamer Athinai (call sign MTI) belonging to the Hellenic Transatlantic Steam Navigation Company, Westbound from Piraeus and Mediterranean ports to New York, encountered a large ice field containing several large bergs. During the morning she sent an ice advisory to RMS Baltic, an ocean liner of the White Star Line, Eastbound New York to Liverpool.
At 1:42 pm, RMS Baltic (call sign MBC) relayed this report to its sister ship RMS Titanic:
“Captain Smith, ‘Titanic.’ – Have had moderate, variable winds and clear, fine weather since leaving. Greek steamer ‘Athinai’ reports passing icebergs and large quantities of field ice today in lat. 41°51′ N., long. 49° 52′ W. Last night we spoke German oiltank steamer ‘Deutschland,’ Stettin to Philadelphia, not under control, short of coal, lat. 40° 42′ N., long. 55° 11′ W. Wishes to be reported to New York and other steamers. Wish you and ‘Titanic’ all success. – Commander.”
Action taken: At the time this message was received the RMS Titanic was at about 42°35’N, 45°50W. Captain Edward Smith acknowledged the receipt of this message.
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J. Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director of the White Star Line
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Captain Smith showed the message to J. Bruce Ismay, the Managing Director of the White Star Line, onboard the RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage to let him know that ice was to be expected that night. The latter pocketed the message and showed it later to two ladies, and of course, many people on board became aware of its contents. At 7:15 pm, Captain Smith asked for its return, when it was finally posted in the chart room.
At 11:20 am, the German steamer SS Amerika, belonging to the Hamburg America Line of Germany, Eastbound, New York to Hamburg sent an ice advisory telegram message to the Hydrographic Office in Washington, DC via RMS Titanic because Titanic was nearer to Cape Race, to which station it had to be relayed to reach Washington. Here is a facsimile of the message:
File copy from Samuel Barr of the telegram from SS Amerika via SS Titanic on the location of two large icebergs 14 April 1912. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
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Jack Phillips, Marconi operators onboard Titanic.
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.Action taken: The location of the bergs 41°27’N, 50°08’W was 12.5 miles from where the RMS Titanic later sank. The message does not mention at what hour the bergs had been observed. However, as a message affecting navigation, it should have been taken to the bridge. The two Marconi operators on board Titanic were 25-year-old John George Phillips, better known as “Jack Phillips”, and his Deputy, 22-year-old Harold Sydney Bride. Maybe Phillips waited until the ship would be within call of Cape Race (at about 8:00 or 8:30 pm). No one onboard the RMS Titanic knew about this message outside the Marconi room.
The SS Californian, a tramp steamer of The Leyland Line, transporting cargo to whichever port wanted it, commanded by Captain Stanley Lord, left London on April 5, 1912, and was on her way to Boston, Massachusetts. Although she was certified to carry up to 47 passengers, she carried none during this trip. She had a crew of 55 men. At 6:30 pm she sighted three bergs to her southward, 15 miles (24 km) north of the course the RMS Titanic was heading.
At 7:30 pm, Cyril Evans, the only wireless operator of the SS Californian (call sign MWL), sent a wireless message of the ship’s position to their sister ship SS Antillian:
“To Captain, ‘Antillian’, 6.30 pm apparent ship’s time; lat. 42°3’N, long. 49°9’W. Three large bergs five miles to southward of us. Regards. – Lord.”
Action taken: Harold Bride, the other wireless operator on RMS Titanic intercepted the message but delivered it to the ship’s bridge only at 10:20 pm. Later, Bride said that he could not remember to whom he delivered this message.
.At 9:40 pm, the Marconi station of the MV Mesaba (call sign MMU) belonging to the Atlantic Transport Line sent the following message:
“From ‘Mesaba’ to ‘Titanic’ and all eastbound ships. Ice report in lat. 42°N to 41°25’N, long. 49° to long. 50°30’W. Saw much heavy pack ice and great number large icebergs. Also field ice. Weather good, clear.”
Action taken: This message clearly indicated the presence of ice in the immediate vicinity of the RMS Titanic and was not delivered to the deck or to any of the officers.
Harold Bride, Marconi operators onboard Titanic.
. This message never left the Titanic’s radio room because the wireless set had broken down the day before, resulting in a backlog of messages that the two radio operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride were trying to clear. At the time this message reached Titanic’s radio room an exhausted radio operator Harold Bride was getting some much-needed sleep. Phillips may have failed to grasp the significance of the message as he was preoccupied with transmitting and receiving messages for passengers via the relay station at Cape Race, Newfoundland.
At Longitude 42°05’N, 50°07’W, a position to the south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, SS Californian was confronted by a large ice field. Captain Stanley Lord decided to halt the ship at 10:21 pm and wait until morning to proceed further.
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Officers of SS Californian. Front row, left to right: Captain Lord, Chief Officer Stewart. Back row, left to right: 2nd Officer Stone, 3rd Officer Groves.
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Around 11 pm, Lord saw a light in the east but thought it could be a rising star.
At 11:10 pm Third Officer C.V. Groves on deck also saw the lights of a ship 10 or 12 miles away. To him, it was clearly a large liner as he saw brightly lit multiple decks. Fifteen minutes later Groves informed Captain Lord of what he saw.
They tried to contact the other ship using a Morse lamp but did not see any reciprocal reply. The Captain then asked his wireless operator Evans if he knew of any ships in the area. Evans said: “only the Titanic.” Captain Lord instructed Evans to call RMS Titanic and inform her that the Californian was stopped, surrounded by ice.
When Evans tried to convey the message the RMS Titanic‘s on-duty wireless operator, Jack Phillips, was busy working on a large backlog of personal messages sent and received from the wireless station at Cape Race, Newfoundland. The relative proximity of SS Californian made signals sent from it loud in Phillips’ headphones. So, Phillips rebuked Evans with: “Shut up, shut up! I am busy; I am working Cape Race!“
Evans waited and at 11:30 pm when he did not receive any reply from Phillips he switched off the wireless and went to bed.
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Violet Jessop was a firm believer in the power of prayer. As a devout Catholic, she always had a rosary in her apron. In her memoirs, Violet says she had taken along with her belongings a copy of a translated Hebrew prayer that an old Irish woman had given her. On that fateful day, after settling down in her bunk she read the strangely worded prayer supposed to protect one who read it against fire and water. Then, she persuaded her roommate, a stewardess (according to editor John Maxtone- Graham, possibly Elizabeth Leather) to read it.
Ramadan (Arabic: رمضان Ramaḍān), the ninth month of the Islāmic calendar, is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
Though not mentioned in the Quran, but summarized in the famous hadith of Gabriel are the Five Pillars of Islam (arkān-al-Islām أركان الإسلام; also arkān ad-dīn أركان الدين “pillars of the religion”) which are the foundation of Muslim life – five basic acts in Islam, considered obligatory by believers. They are:
Shahadah (belief or confession of faith – Muslim life)
Salat (worship in the form of prayer)
Sawm Ramadan (self purification by fasting during the month of Ramadan)
Zakat (alms or charitable giving or concern for the needy)
Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime)
Annually, Muslims, worldwide, observe self-purification by fasting during the month of Ramadan which lasts 29–30 days based on the visual sightings of the crescent moon.
The word Ramadan derived from the Arabic root ramiḍa or ar-ramaḍ, means “scorching heat” or “dryness.” It is “obligatory” for adult Muslims to fast, except those who are ill, diabetic, traveling, pregnant, breastfeeding, or during menstrual bleeding.
The Quran states:
The month of Ramadan is that in which the Quran was revealed, a guidance to men and clear proofs of the guidance and the distinction; therefore whoever of you is present in the month, he shall fast therein, and whoever is sick or upon a journey, then (he shall fast) a (like) number of other days; Allah desires ease for you, and He does not desire for you difficulty, and (He desires) that you should complete the number and that you should exalt the greatness of Allah for His having guided you and that you may give thanks. [Quran 2:185]
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The Bowling Green (Photo: T. V. Antony Raj)
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Bowling Green is a small public park in Lower Manhattan at the foot of Broadway next to the site of the original Dutch fort of New Amsterdam. Built in 1733, originally including a bowling green, it is the oldest public park in New York City surrounded by its original 18th-century fence.
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My wife and I holding the horns of the Wall Street Bull (Photo: V. A. Subas Raj)
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At its northern end is the sculpture of the Charging Bull, which is also known as the Wall Street Bull and the Bowling Green Bull.
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Dhuhr (Noon) prayer in Bowling Green (Photo: T.V. Antony Raj)
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Last year, while my wife and I were in New York, we saw a faithful Muslim in the Bowling Green at 1:23 pm. We were spellbound by his faith in God and his steadfast adherence to his religious duties, unmindful of the blaring noise surrounding him, perseveringly reciting the Dhuhr (Noon) prayer.
“When I saw this wonderful man [Thomas Alva Edison], who had had no training at all, no advantages, and who did it all himself, and saw the great results by virtue of his industry and application – you see, I had studied a dozen languages … and had spent the best years of my life ruminating through libraries. I thought to myself what a terrible thing it was to have wasted my life on those useless things, and if I had only come to America right then and there and devoted all of my brain power and inventiveness to my work, what could I not have done?” (Nikola Tesla, in My inventions: My early life. Electrical Experimenter; February 1919)
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Nikola Tesla
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Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American, was born in what is now Croatia on July 10, 1856. He was a physicist, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, an inventor, and futurist. He is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.
During his lifetime, Tesla obtained about 300 patents for his inventions. Today, we take many of his inventions for granted today. For example, we owe Tesla for the flip switch when we turn on the light.
Tesla was one of the few inventors who contributed to advances in science and engineering in the early 20th century. As one of the fathers of Electricity, Nikola Tesla did pioneering work on alternating current (AC) power system, electromagnetism, hydroelectric power, radio, radar etc.
Tesla gained experience in telephony and electrical engineering before he immigrated to the United States in 1884.
In 1882, Nikola Tesla started working for two years at the Continental Edison Company in France designing and making improvements to electrical equipment. In June 1884, Tesla relocated to New York City. During his trip across the Atlantic, his ticket, money, and some of his luggage were stolen. Then, mutiny broke out on the ship and he was nearly thrown overboard. When he landed in the United States he had only four cents in his pocket, a letter of recommendation from Charles Batchelor, the English engineer who managed the Continental Edison Company in Europe.
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Thomas Alva Edison
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Tesla met Edison. Knowing the famous American inventor had a hearing problem spoke up and introduced himself. He produced the brief message from Batchelor.
Edison snorted after glancing at the brief message. “I know two great men and you are one of them,” Batchelor had written. “The other is this young man!”
A rumpled, weary, and deeply skeptical Edison asked Tesla what he could do.
Tesla humbly described the engineering work he had done in France and spoke of his designs for induction motors that could run smoothly and powerfully on alternating current. Edison, however, knew very little about alternating current and believed it to be the work of the devil. Edison was a bigot, who in the past had waged a propaganda war against the gas companies stating the use of gas as a source of power would endanger humans due to possible explosions.
Eventually, Edison hired Tesla to work at the Edison Machine Works in New York.
One year later after a disagreement over emoluments, Tesla struck out on his own. With financial backers, he set up laboratories and companies to develop a range of electrical devices that sparked the long-running, and bitter “War of the Currents.“
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Laboratory where Tesla and Westinghouse’s engineers developed apparatus for AC systems.
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George Westinghouse used Tesla’s patented AC induction motor and transformer under license and hired him as a consultant to help develop a power system using alternating current.
Tesla is also known for his high-voltage, high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs. His patented devices and theoretical work were used in the invention of radio communication, and in his X-ray experiments.
At that time, James S. Warden, a western lawyer and banker had purchased land in Shoreham, Long Island, about 60 miles from Manhattan. Here, he built a resort community known as Wardenclyffe-On-Sound. Warden believed that with the implementation of Nikola Tesla’s “world system” a “Radio City” would arise in the area. He offered Tesla 200 acres (81 ha) of land close to a railway line on which to build his wireless telecommunications tower and laboratory facility. In 1901, Tesla designed the Wardenclyffe Tower also known as the Tesla Tower, an early wireless transmission tower intended for commercial trans-Atlantic wireless telephony, broadcasting, and proof-of-concept demonstrations of wireless power transmission. It never became fully operational and the tower was demolished in 1917.
Tesla with his achievements and his seemingly miraculous inventions and his abilities as a showman became world-famous. Though he reaped much money from his patents, he also spent a lot on numerous experiments. For most of his life he lived in New York hotels. Finally, the end of his patent income and eventual bankruptcy led him to live in diminished circumstances. Even then, Tesla continued to invite the press to parties he held on his birthday to announce new inventions he was working on. Due to his pronouncements and the nature of his work over the years, Tesla gained a reputation as the archetypal “mad scientist”.
Though Nikola Tesla was one of the world’s greatest inventors, as fate would have it, he died penniless and in obscurity on January 7, 1943, in room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel.
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This monument to honour Nikola Tesla near the entrance to the “Cave of the Winds” on Goat Island (Niagara Falls State Park), New York, USA, the work of famous Croatian sculptor Krsinic was the gift of Yugoslavia to the United States, 1976. (Photo: T.V. Antony Raj – August 3, 2012)
“Family in Need. Due Lay off. Any help Appreciated. Thank you God Bless.” (Photo: T.V. Antony Raj)
The United States can be a cold, inhospitable, and cruel country for the poor, where mercy and compassion are not particularly evident.
Poverty continues to grow each year, and the middle class continues to shrink as unemployment stays high. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2011, due to rising living costs, nearly half the Americans have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income. In other words, more than 146 million Americans are categorized as poor or have a low income, and this does not include those classified in the “near poverty” category. These figures follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that has hurt millions of workers and families.
Though the federal government claims that the recession is over and things are getting better, the number of layoffs last month in the United States was 30 percent higher than a year ago. What the poor in this country really need are jobs.
Mole people living under New York City.
Poverty has driven thousands of people out of their homes and has transformed them in to mole people, living under major U.S. cities – in abandoned subways, railroads, flood and sewage tunnels and heating shafts. They are also called “tunnel people” or “tunnel dwellers”. Mole people are found in New York City, Las Vegas and even in Kansas City, Missouri.
Besides the thousands of mole people living under the major U.S. cities, there are thousands living in tent cities, thousands that living in vehicles. It is pathetic to know that more than a million public school children do not have a home to go back to at night.
.‘Student discomfort is not a reason to deny access,‘ says education commish
Shame! Shame!
A new, official interpretation of state law released by Massachusetts Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester requires schools to permit “transgender” boys to use girls’ locker rooms, bathrooms and changing facilities if the boys “assert” they’re really girls.
“Some students may feel uncomfortable with a transgender student using the same sex-segregated restroom, locker room or changing facility,” the official document admits, but then concludes, “this discomfort is not a reason to deny access to the transgender student.”
Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, however, says there’s something far more significant than “discomfort” at stake.
“The School Commissioner’s first duty is to protect all students, from kindergarten to grade 12, not endanger them,” Mineau said in a statement. “The overriding issue with this new policy is that opening girls’ bathrooms to boys is an invasion of privacy and a threat to all students’ safety.”
Furthermore, the policy document explains, neither doctor’s note nor hormone therapy nor even parental permission is needed for a student to switch sex: If a boy says he’s a girl, as far as the schools should be concerned, he’s a girl.
“The responsibility for determining a student’s gender identity rests with the student,” the statement reads. “A school should accept a student’s assertion of his or her gender identity when there is … ‘evidence that the gender-related identity is sincerely held as part of a person’s core identity.’”
The document further warns that referring to transgendered students by their birth name or sex, if it doesn’t match their current, preferred name or sex, “should not be tolerated and can be grounds for student discipline.”
The document creates policy related to a law that went into effect in July of last year called “An Act Relative to Gender Identity,” which in turn amended G.L. c. 76, §5 “to establish that no person shall be excluded from or discriminated against in admission to a public school of any town, or in obtaining the advantages, privileges and courses of study of such public school on account of gender identity.”
According to the 11-page policy paper, that means that boys who identify as girls should not only be addressed by the feminine pronoun and be listed as girls on official transcripts, but they should also be allowed access to girls’ facilities and be allowed to play on girls’ athletic and club teams. Likewise for girls who insist they’re boys.
Andrew Beckwith, attorney for Massachusetts Family Institute, however, warns that the document’s definition of transgender “is extremely broad.”
“If a male student tells his teacher he feels like a girl on the inside, the school has to treat him in every way as if he actually is a girl,” Beckwith explained, citing the policy paper. “School personnel may be forbidden from informing the parents of their child’s gender decisions, and students can even decide to be one gender at home and another at school.”
The Massachusetts Family Institute notes during the debate the law giving rise to this new policy had been dubbed the “Stealth Bathroom Bill,” even though opening public bathrooms to self-identified transgender people were specifically removed from the law out of legislators’ concerns for the safety, privacy and modesty of all its citizens.
In schools, however, the bathroom provisions will now effectively be put back in.
“Each situation needs to be reviewed and addressed based on the particular circumstances of the student and the school facilities,” the education policy states. “[Yet] in all cases, the principal should be clear with the student (and parent) that the student may access the restroom, locker room and changing facility that corresponds to the student’s gender identity.”
The policy also gives the following example: “In one middle school, a male-to-female transgender sixth-grader socially transitioned after spring break. For the rest of the school year, she used the nurse’s restroom and the other unisex restrooms at the school. Beginning in seventh grade, she used the girls’ restroom.”
Democratic State Rep. Colleen Garry has introduced amending legislation to the current law says she would prevent precisely these scenarios by ensuring that people use the restrooms and locker room facilities consistent with their anatomical sex.
“Like many of my colleagues, I am very concerned about Commissioner Chester’s directive to open public school bathrooms to all genders,” said Garry. “This was not the intent of the Legislature, and we need to pass legislation that clearly defines the use of such facilities.”
WND contacted Commissioner Chester’s office for comment, but received no reply. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education can be contacted through its website.
WND has also reported previous attempts by state lawmakers in other states who have attempted to open up shower and bathroom facilities to cross-dressers and “transgendered” individuals.
In Maryland, for example, Montgomery County used the courts to squash a petition of 27,000 residents concerned about county legislation that granted men access to Womens’ restrooms, and vice versa, in the name of “gender identity” and “anti-discrimination.”
And in New York City, a lawsuit opened up the bathrooms in Grand Central Station after a man in woman’s clothing was arrested for using the ladies’ room.
The Brooklyn Bridge, viewed from Manhattan (Photo: Postdlf at the English language Wikipedia)
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On January 3, 1870, construction began on one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States – the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. It was the world’s first steel-wire suspension bridge. With a main span of 1,595.5 feet (486.3 meters), it was the longest suspension bridge in the world until 1903. The bridge spans the East River connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The construction of the bridge was the personal project of John Augustus Roebling, a German born American engineer, who on a cold winter day found the ferry that he took daily to travel from Brooklyn to Manhattan unable to sail across due to the ice covering the East River. Roebling worked on the idea of building a suspension bridge that united both cities (then Brooklyn was not a district belonging to New York).
It took over 13 years, four months and three days, and $15.5 million to construct the bridge. At the time of completion of the construction of the bridge, the tallest building in New York was only 5 feet taller than the bridge’s 276.5-foot towers. Around 27 people died during its construction, including John Roebling.
In 1915, the city government formally named the bridge as the “Brooklyn Bridge” that was originally known as the “New York and Brooklyn Bridge” and as the “East River Bridge.”
Since its opening on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972 has become an icon of New York City. Though this landmark is 128-year-old, it still continues to serve the people of New York.
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Johann August Röbling
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John Augustus Roebling (born Johann August Röbling), a German engineer, the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge left Prussia with his brother Karl Roebling on May 22, 1831 and migrated to the United States since career advancement were difficult for engineers in the Prussian society.
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John Roebling House with bridge at Saxonburg
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On October 28, 1831, John and Karl purchased 1582 acres (6.4 km²) of land, in Butler County, Pennsylvania with the intent to establish a German farming settlement. They named their land Saxonburg. Instead of following an engineering profession Roebling took up farming. Five years later he got married to Johanna Herting, the daughter of a tailor.
The colony attracted few settlers and Roebling got fed up with farming. In 1837, after the death of his brother Carl and the birth of his first child, he returned to engineering.
At that time, canal boats transported from Philadelphia on railroad cars across the Allegheny Mountains enabled them to continue their journey to Pittsburgh. The expensive hemp rope up to 7 centimeters thick used to pull the railroad cars up and down the inclines had to be replaced frequently. In 1841, Roebling developed a 7-strand wire rope and started producing wire ropes at a ropewalk that he built on his farm at Saxonburg.
In 1844, he won a bid to replace the wooden canal aqueduct across the Allegheny River. In 1845, he built a suspension bridge over the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh. In 1848, Roebling undertook the construction of four suspension aqueducts on the Delaware and Hudson Canal. During this period, he moved his successful bridge construction and iron wire rope business to Trenton, New Jersey. In Trenton, he built a large industrial complex for producing wires.
After several other constructions, the American Civil War fought from 1861 to 1865 brought a temporary halt to Roebling’s work. However, in 1863, he resumed building a bridge over the Ohio River at Cincinnati which he had started in 1856 and halted due to financing. He finished the Cincinnati-Covington Bridge, later named the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in 1867 – the world’s longest suspension bridge at that time.
In 1867, as a highly respected engineer and prosperous businessman, Roebling started design work on the Brooklyn Bridge. One day in 1869, while standing at the edge of a dock, surveying the location of the Brooklyn tower for the Brooklyn Bridge a docking boat crushed his foot. Even after the amputation of his injured toes, Roebling refused further medical treatment and resorted to cure his foot by “Water Therapy” namely pouring water continuously over the wound.
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Washington Augustus Roebling (1837-1926)
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As John Roebling’s health deteriorated as tetanus set in, he appointed his 32-year-old son Washington Roebling in command of the project. Washington who had assisted his father on other suspension projects was familiar with European experiences with caissons, which would be needed to complete the piers. In geotechnical engineering, a caisson is a watertight retaining structure used, such as, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier.
In the early-morning hours of July 22, 1869 in Brooklyn Heights, New York, 24 days after the accident John Roebling succumbed to tetanus.
John Augustus Roebling is buried in the Riverview Cemetery in Trenton, New Jersey.
Shortly after the beginning of construction on January 3, 1870, Washington Roebling suffered a paralyzing injury as a result of decompression sickness (also known as divers’ disease, the bends or caisson disease). This condition, afflicted many of the workers working within the caissons.
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Portrait of Emily Warren Roebling by Charles-Emile-Auguste Carolus-Duran (French, 1838-1917)
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Washington Roebling’s debilitating condition left him unable to supervise the construction in person. His wife Emily Warren Roebling came forward to help him. She acted as the link between her husband and the site engineers. Emily studied higher mathematics guided by her husband. Washington taught her the calculations of catenary curves, the strengths of materials, and bridge specifications. She learned the intricacies of cable construction. During the next 11 years, she assisted Washington Roebling by supervising the construction of the bridge.
On May 24, 1883, the day of the inauguration of the Brooklyn Bridge, thousands of people attended the opening ceremony. Many ships were present in the East Bay for the occasion.
President Chester A. Arthur and New York Mayor Franklin Edson crossed the bridge first, and when they reached the Brooklyn-side tower, Brooklyn Mayor Seth Low Arthur greeted them. The next person to cross the bridge was Evelyn Warren Roebling. She got down from her carriage and ran from one end to the other. Behind her, 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed what was then the only land passage between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
After the opening ceremony, President Arthur went to Roebling’s residence and shook hands with him. Though unable to attend the ceremony in person, Washington Roebling celebrated the day by holding a banquet at his house.
Pedestrians paid a 1 cent toll on opening day and 3 cents thereafter. The vehicle toll was 5 cents. A year after the bridge opened, every day 37,000 people used the Brooklyn Bridge to cross the East River.
On May 30, 1883, six days after the inauguration, a rumor that the Bridge was going to collapse caused a stampede that crushed 12 people to death.
A year later, on May 17, 1884, P. T. Barnum thwarted the doubts about the bridge’s stability by leading a parading 21 elephants over the Brooklyn Bridge.
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Brooklyn Bridge under construction. The photo shows the footbridges used by workers to access the towers while under construction. (Source: elizabethgaffney.net)
Nov. 29, 2012: Charlotte Muhammad holds up two $100 dollar bills she got from Secret Santa, at St. Joseph’s Social Service Center in Elizabeth, N.J. (AP)
Nov. 29, 2012: A woman hugs Secret Santa after receiving a $100 dollar bill from the wealthy philanthropist from Kansas City, Mo. Secret Santa distributed $100 dollar bills to needy people at St. Joseph’s Social Service Center and other locations in Elizabeth, N.J. (AP)
Nov. 29, 2012: A woman is surprised after Secret Santa gave her a $100 dollar bill while looking for clothes at the Salvation Army store in the boro of Staten Island, New York, N.Y. (AP)
NEW YORK – A wealthy Missouri man posing as “Secret Santa” stunned New Yorkers on Thursday, handing $100 bills to many in Staten Island who had lost everything to Superstorm Sandy.
The Kansas City businessman is giving away $100,000 this holiday season, and spent the day in New Jersey and New York giving away thousands. But he says money is not the issue.
“The money is not the point at all,” said the anonymous benefactor as he walked up to surprised Staten Island residents and thrust crisp bills into their hands. “It’s about the random acts of kindness. I’m just setting an example, and if 10 percent of the people who see me emulate what I’m doing, anybody can be a Secret Santa!”
A police motorcade with sirens took him across the borough, passing a church ripped from its foundations and homes surrounded by debris. At a nearby disaster center run by volunteers, a woman quietly collected free food and basic goods.
“Has anyone given you any money?” he asked her.
“No,” replied Carol Hefty, a 72-year-old retiree living in a damaged home.
“Here,” he said, slipping the money into her hand.
“But this isn’t real money!” said Hefty, glancing at the red “Secret Santa” stamped onto the $100.
“It is, and it’s for you,” he tells her.
She breaks down weeping and hugs him.
And so it went, again and again.
Secret Santa started his day long East Coast visit with stops in Elizabeth, N.J. Keeping close watch over the cash handouts were his security entourage — police officers in uniform from New York and New Jersey, plus FBI agents and former agents from various states. Some have become supporters, wearing red berets marked with the word “elf” and assisting “Santa” to choose locations where people are most in need. He himself wears an “elf” beret and a red top, plus blue jeans.
The group must choose stops carefully, and refrain from simply appearing outdoors in a neighborhood, lest they be mobbed by people hearing that cash is being handed out.
At a stop at a Staten Island Salvation Army store, one woman is looking over a $4 handbag. “But you get $100!” he tells her, offering the bill.
“Are you serious?” said Prudence Onesto, her eyes widening. “Really?”
“Secret Santa,” he deadpans, breaking into a broad grin.
The 55-year-old unemployed woman opened her arms and offered him a hug.
An aisle over, 41-year-old Janice Kennedy is overwhelmed: She received four $100 bills.
Unemployed with a 2-year-old daughter, she lost her home in the storm and lives with her boyfriend. The money will go toward Christmas presents and her toddler’s next birthday.
“You’re not alone. God bless you!” the Missouri stranger tells Phillip and Lisa Morris, a couple in their 30s whose home was badly damaged — but now had an extra $300 in cash for rebuilding.
Secret Santa took up the holiday tradition from a close Kansas City friend, Larry Stewart, who for years handed out bills to unsuspecting strangers in thrift stores, food pantries and shelters. Stewart died in 2007 after giving away more than $1 million to strangers each December in mostly $100 bills.
The current Secret Santa will not divulge his name. Nor does he allow his face to be photographed. But he said he’s been to cities across America, from San Diego to Chicago to Charlotte, N.C.
A reporter asked whether he might be a sort of Warren Buffett of Kansas City. He smiled mysteriously and said only that he admires Buffett for his philanthropy. “And I hope I give all my money away before I die.”
Then, as suddenly as he arrived, the generous stranger left for the airport and home, riding in the volunteer motorcade he jokingly calls “my sleigh,” zipping with ease through red lights and city traffic.
One of his patients recalled: “after he delivered my baby, I did not wake up for 2½ days, and he kept me hospitalized for a week. I asked him, ‘What have you done to me?’ Burt said, ‘Oh, I just patched you up,’ … He told me by fixing me like he did, it would be just like being a virgin again.”
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James Caird Burt Jr. was born on August 29, 1921, in Dayton the 6th largest city in the state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County.
He graduated in 1945 from medical school at the University of Rochester in New York. After his internship in Houston, spending time in the United States Air Force Medical Corp, he resided in Chicago and New York City. Eventually, he returned to Dayton where he set up his gynaecology and obstetrics practice after receiving his medical license from the State of Ohio.
A surgically planned incision in the perineum and the posterior vaginal wall during the second stage of labour is known as episiotomy or perineotomy. It can be midline or at an angle from the posterior end of the vulva, performed under local anaesthetics, and closed by suturing after delivery. This common medical procedure performed on women during childbirth has steadily declined over recent decades is still widely practised in many parts around the world, including India, Qatar, Latin America, Poland, and Bulgaria.
Shortly after establishing his practice, Dr Burt began altering the standard episiotomy repair.
Between 1954 and 1966, he experimented on his unknowing patients with variations on this repair. He added a few more stitches to make the vaginal opening, smaller and tighter. However, in 1966, he discovered two things:
1. The role played by the clitoris in female sexual response, thanks to the recently published research of Masters and Johnson.
2. Even though he had not revealed to the women that he had performed a variation of standard episiotomy repair on them, they told him that their sex life had improved.
From these two discoveries, Dr Burt concluded that women’s bodies were not properly aligned for heterosexual, penetrative sex with men, and he needed to do more to correct for this anatomical problem. According to Burt, the clitoris lay too far from the opening of the vagina for women to receive adequate stimulation from the penis while copulating in the missionary position. To correct this, he began building up the skin tissue between the anal opening and the vaginal opening, thus moving the opening of the vagina closer to the clitoris. This added tissue changed the angle of the vagina’s opening. The vagina’s redirection, when the woman lay on her back, was no longer horizontal but almost vertical, with the labia majora drawn into the vaginal opening.
Burt maintained that women who benefited most from his love surgery had lost all or part of their orgasmic ability following childbirth. These women, Burt believed, that the vagina became too loose after childbirth, with some women ‘‘large enough to ‘drive a truck through sideways’’’ (Burt, J. C., & Burt, J. Surgery of love. New York: Carlton Press. 1975, p. 41).
James Burt envisioned love surgery as a procedure on the female body for the encouragement of heterosexual, penetrative sex. He designed the surgery, not just for the sexual benefit of women, but also to accommodate their male sexual partners. By tightening the vagina, Burt stated “any man at any age’” could “love his woman to exhaustion,” because after the operation “every man can be a stud!” (Burt, J. C., & Burt, J. Surgery of love. New York: Carlton Press. 1975, p. 183).
By 1975, Burt had performed love surgery on nearly all of his obstetrics patients and many of his surgical patients, by his count 4,000 women, none of whom had he informed and none of whom had requested his variation of episiotomy repair.
Around this time, Dr Burt believed his love surgery was successful enough to share it with others. He tried multiple times to publish in peer-review medical journals; by his own count, his folders overflowed with rejections. After repeated refusals, he became frustrated with his peers and took his surgery directly to the public by self-publishing his book, Surgery of Love, in 1975 with his wife Joan Burt.
A month after the book’s publication, the local Dayton Daily News ran an article about the surgery under the headline “Local Doctor Develops Corrective Surgery“. In the article, Dr Burt claimed that his surgery would turn women into “horny little mice” and that nearly 100 per cent of the women who had undergone love surgery were “ecstatic” with the results. His wife and co-author Joan Burt added that her husband had “given women the opportunity to enjoy sex“.
This resulted in women from Dayton and beyond to come to his clinic hoping for a surgically enabled better sex life. By the mid-1970s, Dr Burt promoted and offered his surgery as an elective for $1,500 plus hospitalization costs. The two-hour-long surgery required 5 days in the hospital, at least a week of sitting on an inner tube, and 6 to 8 weeks without sex. 200 women requested the surgery by 1978. However, he continued to perform it on women who did not come to him for it or knowledgeably agree to have it.
In June 1978, the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective (BWHBC) as part of their monthly mailing to 250 women’s health organizations across the United States sent copies of a Medical World News article about the surgery performed by Dr James Burt. Along with the article, the BWHBC enclosed a letter, saying they were “appalled by the vaginal and clitoral mutilation recommended by Dr James C. Burt“. To suggest, the letter continued, “that women need vaginal surgery because they do not have an orgasm with each penile-vaginal intercourse is to inflict upon women male fantasies and assumptions about female sexuality.” The BWBHC’s efforts to expose the sexism of the surgery failed to end Burt’s surgical practice.
In 1989, four women sued him for malpractice and accused him on national television of performing love surgery upon them without their consent.
On January 1989, Dr James Burt voluntarily surrendered his license thereby avoiding a medical board hearing which might have uncovered more evidence against him. He subsequently divorced his wife and declared bankruptcy due to the victim lawsuits totalling US$21 million.
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Impressions 