Salman Rushdie Attacked Onstage. A 34 Year Death Threat.

Author Salman Rushdie was attacked on a stage last Friday. He was about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, before an audience of several hundred people in an outdoor amphitheater, when an assailant ran across the stage and stabbed him in multiple places. At least one other person was injured while trying to help Rushdie before the attacker was subdued. Rushdie, 75, is still in the hospital with a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm, and likely loss of one eye.

For those of us who've been around awhile, mention of Salman Rushdie turns our thoughts back to 1988. Yes, 34 years ago. That's when this author, who honestly wouldn't have been known outside literary circles except for this, became worldwide news when Ayatollah Khomenei of Iran issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's assassination over the publication of his book, The Satanic Verses, which the Ayatollah branded offensive to Islam.

Lest you think, "Well, that was a long time ago, it's not relevant today," or, "Religious leaders say intemperate things all the time," consider these Five Things:

1. The Ayatollah is Iran supreme religious leader and dictator. Yes, Iran is actually a totalitarian theocracy despite the presence of "elections" for jobs like president.


2. Subsequent leaders of Iran have reiterated the fatwa.


3. There's a significant bounty for Rushdie's assassination— and Iran's leaders have increased it over time. This isn't just some pronouncement that a religious nutjob issued, it's a) the official policy of Iran (see above) and b) backed by a now $3,000,000 reward.


4. This was not some little-known event from 1988. It received weeks of international news coverage and was one of the biggest news stories of the year.


5. Rushdie, the publishing world, and Western governments took the death threat seriously enough that Rushdie went into hiding for years and traveled with additional security for years after that.

So, was the attacker, Hadi Matar, a 24 year old man from New Jersey, acting under this now 34 year old assassination order from a leader half a world away? I held off on writing about this for a few days in hopes that more information about the attack would be uncovered. The fact is we can't say with certainty yet— at least with the certainty required by criminal law in the US. The attacker has pled not-guilty to charges of attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault. Authorities continue to investigate.

3 Lenses, 3 Views: Stevens Canyon at Mt. Rainier

Last week Saturday afternoon we drove through Mt. Rainier National Park east to west making numerous stops along the way. Most of these were planned or at least willing; we stopped for trails we wanted to hike and at places that looked interesting. A few were unplanned and unwilling. As we drove the park road through Stevens Canyon there were a few stops due to construction and one-way traffic.

Once we got through Stevens Canyon and started to climb up the other side the cause for these delays became more apparent.



Looking back across Stevens Canyon we can see that the road is not so much a road as a tiny little shelf carved into a mountainside. There's 1,000 feet of rock above it and 1,000' feet of rock below it. Those places where slides have damaged the road? That's not just road damage, those are gullies that run from earth to sky.

The second thing that's cool about stopping at this spot is that I got to use all three lenses for my camera. The wide vista above I photographed with my super-wide zoom lens at 10mm. (My Fuji X-T3 camera uses an APS-C format sensor, so a 10mm lens on it gives a field of view equal to a 15mm lens on a 35mm film camera or "full frame" digital. 15mm is still hella wide.) Most of the pictures I captured earlier in the day at Silver Falls, Box Canyon, and not-Cougar Falls were with my cheapo mid-range zoom. As I'd been carrying the heavy, expensive super-wide lens around all day I was glad for the opportunity to use its unique capability.



That said, there are still plenty of times to use a mid-range zoom. A photo like this one (above) frames Mt. Rainier rising over Stevens Canyon nicely.

Wait, what's that toward the right side of the frame, below the treeline but at the top of Stevens Canyon?



It's a waterfall. Actually, it's a triple waterfall. And I can get a good view— and a good photograph of it— courtesy of the other heavy piece of kit I've been lugging around all day with no opportunity 'til now to use, my telephoto lens.

In beauty I walk... even when I stand a mile away and view it through a scope.

Hiking Martha Falls

As much as Friday a week ago was a packed day of hiking in Washington with 4 hikes, Saturday was no slouch. By the time we shouldered our packs to start hiking to Martha Falls in Mt. Rainier National Park it was already our fourth hike of the day, in addition to one or two hop-out-for-pictures places and at least two more hop-outs to come afterwards.

The Stevens Canyon pictures I posted in my previous blog were not just a matter of "Oh, look, Stevens Canyon." They were from near where we parked to hike Martha Falls. Martha Falls is another find in Professor Smedley Q. Boredom's Very Dull Book of Waterfalls— so it was par for the course that we had to drive back and forth several times before finding the trailhead. Ultimately it was unmarked where the trail crossed the road, and the nearest parking was a small, unmarked pullout 50m up the road.



Difficulty finding the trail crossing notwithstanding, the trail itself was beautiful. From the road it ducked immediately into dense forest. Mature trees towered overhead and the air smelled of firs. There were even patches of wildflowers in places where the big trees' canopies parted enough to let rays of sunshine reach ground level.



The trail itself, appropriately named the Wonderland Trail, was beautiful. The only problem was that it was down. Down, down, down.

What's wrong with down? It means that the return trip is up. Up, up, up, when we're more tired. And since this trail was from Smedley's book, there wasn't guidance on how much down/up we faced.

We grew concerned as we dropped seemingly 300', 400', 500'... where was Martha Falls? Would it be another Smedley wild goose chase? Hikers coming up the trail assured us that the falls was not much further. Indeed, as we rounded a bend we heard the crashing of water. But it was at least another 100' down into the canyon!



So, yes, Martha Falls is real. It's a 50' drop over a rock face with many small ledges. And it's not too far in from the road. Maybe a mile each way? Though it is a climb on the way out, probably about 600'. But the falls is worth the trek.