What Happened to the Van Nuys Air Show?

Once upon a time, long ago but as recently as 2006, the City and County of Los Angeles had a pretty wonderful air show at the Van Nuys Airport.  It attracted people from all over the city and the region.  It was cross generational and attendance was a tradition for many people and families.

Air shows are a way to see some exotic hardware and learn about the history of aviation.  Los Angeles was and is a center of aviation innovation and history. Many of the pioneers of aerospace such as Douglas Aircraft, Lockheed, TRW as well as hundreds of smaller companies were located here.    It is right and proper for the city to host an air show.  

So what happened?  Apparently the city sold out the air show because rich people and corporations wanted more space to store their jets.  The city said it did it for the money but some people believe the real reason was that they wanted to kiss the ass of their masters and show proper deference.   After all who cares about a festival beloved by the citizens of Los Angeles?  Certainly not us, the politicians thought.  

If the city had really wanted money, all it had to do was to lease the space to the rich for 11 months of the year and have the air show during the 12th month when the rich would have to fly their jets somewhere else, perhaps the Bahamas, or the South of France or Bali.  Or the rich people's jets could even be part of the show.  No problem.  But that is not what the city chose to do. 

I have heard that the government of the City and County of Los Angeles is corrupt and there is evidence for that.  But another explanation is that they are just not very good at their job and are indifferent to the lives and well-being of the people who for one reason or another have to live here. Our public servants are not pretending to be shallow and incompetent.  They are shallow and incompetent.  They are true to their values.

A visualization of private jet area of Van Nuys Airport courtesy of MidJourney.

Rand 1700 Main Street Re-creation

draft

A real time simulation of the early RAND buildings at 1700 Main Street in Santa Barbara.  This is a screenshot from version 53.

 

It runs best in Google Chrome by the way, but it will run in any browser that has WebGL enabled. It may take a few seconds to load textures.

https://mwahrman.com/dist_053/rand_0_53.html

Head of a Griffin at the Metropolitan

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is this head of a Griffin sitting in a case.  I believe that they give an approximate date but very little other information.  What was its provenance.  Where on earth did this come from?  A tomb?  Was it designed to be mounted on a staff?  

I had an opportunity in New York City to hear a lecture by Adrienne Mayor, an art historian from Princeton at the time, about her theory of the origin of the Griffin.   First mentioned by Herodotus who said that the story was spread by nomads and traders on the silk road, Ms Mayor observed that on one portion of the silk road one finds large fields of fossils exposed to the air.  One of the most common would look like the skeleton of a very large, four footed beast with the head of a bird.

Griffin on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin

Adrienne Mayor on Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrienne_Mayor

What Really Happens to Priceless Artifacts in War-Torn Countries

The following pattern has now happened at least three different times in the recent past. The press and the public are told that priceless ancient documents or artifacts are stolen or destroyed by thieves or stolen by an invading army or militia. 

The press reports all this as true and the world wrings its hands in despair and raises its eyes to heaven. 

How could this be allowed to happen, some angry academic screams in the media.

But three different times, that isn't what happened.

Not in Afghanistan when the Soviets invaded.  Not in Iraq when the U.S. was accused of standing idly by while hooligans looted and burned Iraqi museums.  And not in Mali when Islamic militants occupied Timbuktu where ancient Islamic documents had accumulated.

In Afghanistan, the priceless artifacts turned out to be in the back of the bottom vault of the Bank of Afghanistan where some smart people from the national museum had stashed them, and then conveniently neglected to tell anyone.   Hey what happened to all those priceless gold artifacts ?  Oh, those artifacts, they would say, we don't know, they just disappeared.  Maybe the Soviets took them, they would say.   The Soviets say, what artifacts?    Then, mysteriously, 20 years later, they look in the back of the vault and they find these mysterious trunks.

Anybody seen that big gold thingie ?   You know, the one with the dragons and weird guy with the circle on his head?

In Iraq, it turns out that all most of the allegedly stolen artifacts were in the basement of the main museum.  Where they had been put.  Then when people did come by to loot the museum attendants would say, gee, someone must have already taken them.  Better ask the Americans, they would say, its all their fault.

And finally in Timbuktu, we discover that the priceless manuscripts were smuggled out of town in an operation described in the Washinton Post, see "A Daring Rescue in Timbuktu"

What is going on?

What is happening is that when a country or city is occupied by foreign troops, a militia, or descends into chaos, responsible people who love their country's history put the items away, secretly, for safe keeping. Then when the bad guys show up and ask for the stuff, they are told that someone already destroyed them, or stole them, or that they are no longer there. 

And of course the press reports them as stolen or destroyed because (a) that is what they are told and (b) the last thing you want to do is to tell everyone where they actually are because then they might actually be stolen or destroyed.

So the next time you hear about some cultural disaster, be concerned, but do not despair. There is a good chance that things will show up again, eventually.

But one footnote.  Although it would be a shame if a document were lost, how could it be that they had not already been scanned and put in a dozen libraries around the world?  That is the real story, don't count on reading that story in the press anytime soon.  Way over their heads.

Also see:

Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Afghanistan
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/mission/afghanistan-treasures/