Page 7:
"What is the Batcave?"
December 28, 2006
Since launching batcave.us in 2006, I've received a number of emails from folks asking, "uh... okay... but... what is the Batcave?"
The Batcave is one third Peaceful Inner Sanctum, one third Media Hall, and one third "Traditional Saloon." It is a Study built atop a 3 car garage, so it's roomy -- but most importantly, it has character. It houses part of my library, the giant Batcouch, the mystical Batdesk, the Bat Bar, Bat Fridge, my very swell Yamaha S90 keyboard, and a host of other things.
The Batcave is completely soundproofed, allowing me to listen to roaring movies or jammin' tunes at all hours while disturbing no one in the main house. The Batcave is almost always darkish, with some Speakeasy style victorian lamps gently illuminating the golden walls. Those walls don't talk, but if they did, they would tell tales of late nights of work, movie watching, dancing, or long talks of politics, history, religion, or just general silliness into the wee hours. But mainly, people who have been in the Batcave associate it with fun!
Some featured items on
The Batdesk
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My grandfather, Hugh Bob McCullough, was an extraordinary man who didn't finish high school but who was able to invent, build, and innovate some amazing things. While stationed in the army in 1945 during World War II, he fashioned this, which I call "Pappy's Puzzle." It's a picture of my mother as a small child in a wooden frame, encased in a glass bottle with a very small sealed opening.
When I was a boy, I spent many hours looking at this bottle trying to figure out how Pappy did it -- as did many, many others... Pappy wouldn't tell! The sides of the bottle have a seam, and it looked as though the picture was put in the "disassembled" bottle which was somehow subsequently sealed. In declining health the last year of his life -- Pappy passed away in 1999 at over 80 years of age --he told my mother "I guess it's time to tell you how I did the picture in the bottle." Ingenious -- he did it the only real way, the hard way! He built a collapsible picture frame out of popsicle sticks, fashioned small dowel pegs, put everything in the bottle (his empty after-shave bottle), and then assembled it all -- WITH A PENCIL! Miss ya, Pappy...
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In 1993 I spent several weeks working in Israel. I was able to see most of the country, from the green plains of the North to the bedouin of the desert South, all the way across to the towering stone mountains of Masada and the lifeless Dead Sea. We spent a day in Jerusalem one weekend -- an amazing mixing pot of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian peoples in an incredibly ancient city where the "roads" are 8 feet wide walking paths crammed in between connected miles of shops and bungalows. I bartered -- intensely! -- for a hand-crafted silver and gold plated menorah. I believe I paid $47 US for this, although the same product was $150 at my hotel in the far north village of Herzeliah...
No, I'm not Jewish, but have many friends who are. Wikipedia tells me that the menorah is one of the oldest symbols in the Jewish faith. This is a 9 branch menorah, which is used during Chanukah (Hanukkah), the eight day Jewish festival of rededication known as the Festival Of Lights.
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I love this thing -- layers of rings endlessly spin magnetically around a central sun. It reminds me that even things seem still, we are still moving... figuratively and literally. It reminds me that time "is a companion that goes with us on the journey, teaching us to cherish every moment...".
During a working trip to Israel in 1993, a work friend and I were able to travel to the lowerest place on earth at -1371 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea. In that area, towering like a giant front the flat rocky floor, is Masada, the rugged, 1300 foot rock mountain where Herod the Great built an extensive fortress and palace around 35 BCE. Built to withstand a provincial revolt, Masada was said to be inpenetrable.
Around 70 AD, a spirited group of 1,000 Israelites known as the Zealots took refuge atop Masada.. With its vast food storage, gardens, and Herod's complex water storage cistern system, they should have been able to live indefinitely there. However, in 72 AD, the Romans marched against Masada with some 15,000 troops and war prisoners in an attempt to lay siege to the fortress. Well protected with sheer vertical sides and a thick wall around the top, Masada withstood the Roman advance. Nonplussed, the Roman army camped there and began building a giant earthern ramp to approach the fortress wall. Some 9 months later, the Roman army was able to finish the giant ramp -- which is still there today -- and destroying part of the wall, they resolved to break through and enter Masada the next day on April 16. But when they entered the following morning, they only found 1,000 dead bodies. The night prior, the Jewish leaders decided to destroy themselves rather than submit to slavery. At the base of Masada today, the words of their leader, Elazar ben Ya'ir, are etched into a huge stone.
The experience of Masada is incredible and I highly recommend it if you are ever in Israel. The stone on my desk is from the top of Masada. The picture to the left/bottom is how the Dead Sea appears from the top of Masada.
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