Friday Ass Kickery
What a day yesterday was. Good grief.
* * *
Okay, I'd like to start out with a quote from the Bible that has done me a lot of good lately. I actually had occasion to read it out loud for some friends today, who were worried about a number of things that have been happening in the world lately. Observe:
There's a lot of bad stuff going down lately. I think we're going to get through it okay. Nothing has happened in recent months or years that hasn't been seen before. We as a nation, and we as a planet, have always bounced back and had more opportunities to do the same stupid shit all over again. I have no doubt that this is no exception. For the record, though, my hope is that we don't make the mistake of once again electing Jimmy Carter, this time in the form of Senator Barack Obama.
* * *
Twice in the last two weeks, my immediate family members have spent time in the hospital. Yesterday, my brother was injured at his job as a mechanic at a mine in Wyoming. He's going to be okay, they've got him patched up pretty good, but I'm still displeased to have gotten two phone calls like that in two weeks. Dad has improved, and Twitley will improve, but it makes it pretty difficult to be two or three thousand miles away from them.
With respect to the top quote in today's Fly Report, I'd been wanting to listen to Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs, the soundtrack to the TV show Frasier. Aside from having a lot of lousy jazz music that I forward past, it features a number of clips from the show. As I was leaving the house for work yesterday, I dug through my CDs until finding it. Once I was in the car, I opened the case, only to find that it was in there with a friend: a mix CD that a buddy had made me for my radio show in college (he co-hosted with me somewhat regularly during my first year on the air). I have two of those CDs from him, but I hadn't seen or thought about this one in quite a while. Its selections ranged from Dancing Queen to the theme song from The A-Team. What an awesome reminder of days gone by, and valued friends. *cue sappy music* By the way, go ahead and click on that A-Team link, you may be surprised at what you see - well worth the read, particularly for those of us who grew up in the 1980's.
As sort of a portent of things to come, today's video (not embedded, as you can see) is a video presentation from The Guardian, one of the more prominent non-BBC news sources in the United Kingdom. I've heard on a couple of occasions that there are sometimes issues in Afghanistan pertaining to translators: instead of telling Coalition leaders what indigenous folks are actually saying, the interpreters will say what they think the soldiers want to hear. This phenomenon is showcased in this video.
On the theme of Afghanistan, today's satellite image is Mazari Sharif (Wiki). Mazari Sharif is the location of the famed
Blue Mosque, believed by most Afghans to be the final resting place of Muhammed's nephew Ali (whose status caused the schism between Sunni and Shia). Unlike the southern half of the country, which is dominated by the Pashtuns, Mazari Sharif is populated mostly by Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras, and has a large Shia population. During the Soviet-Afghan War, this was a major base for both communist Afghan forces and the Soviets themselves. You can see some of the burned out remains of the old Soviet presence in the Mazari Sharif airfield, visible to the west of the city.
* * *
Although I haven't been dedicating as much time to it lately as I'd like, I'm having some luck at getting more familiar with the Arabic language. A few weeks ago, I started listening to podcasts from BBC Xtra. I've been listening to the Quran in Arabic and English for months. (They're the same mp3, the ayah being recited/chanted first in Arabic by Qari Abdul Basit, and then recited in English by an unnamed speaker with a haunting voice.) I've also been looking at selected verses from my Arabic Bible, identifying the words I know, and trying to figure out the other words and sentence structure accordingly. A lot of this is sporadic, but I'm trying to make an effort.
A day or two ago, I was able to figure out that the opening blurb for the Xtra podcast ended with the words "this morning from BBC Xtra". Also, while working on one of my books the other day, I apparently made a correct translation of "thanks for the prayer, father". These may seem like petty items to many of you, and maybe they are; but they're evidence that I'm starting to make things click together, and that's very encouraging.
* * *
Stay tuned: in addition to the first series of videos from Afghanistan, I'm likely to have a couple of pieces of big news next week. Don't miss out. As you leave for the weekend, your question for today is this: have you ever read a book that changed your life? Maybe one that changed the way you thought about the world? Maybe one that inspired you to do something massive? Tell me about it.
Okay, I'd like to start out with a quote from the Bible that has done me a lot of good lately. I actually had occasion to read it out loud for some friends today, who were worried about a number of things that have been happening in the world lately. Observe:
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
- Matthew 6:25-34
There's a lot of bad stuff going down lately. I think we're going to get through it okay. Nothing has happened in recent months or years that hasn't been seen before. We as a nation, and we as a planet, have always bounced back and had more opportunities to do the same stupid shit all over again. I have no doubt that this is no exception. For the record, though, my hope is that we don't make the mistake of once again electing Jimmy Carter, this time in the form of Senator Barack Obama.
Twice in the last two weeks, my immediate family members have spent time in the hospital. Yesterday, my brother was injured at his job as a mechanic at a mine in Wyoming. He's going to be okay, they've got him patched up pretty good, but I'm still displeased to have gotten two phone calls like that in two weeks. Dad has improved, and Twitley will improve, but it makes it pretty difficult to be two or three thousand miles away from them.
With respect to the top quote in today's Fly Report, I'd been wanting to listen to Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs, the soundtrack to the TV show Frasier. Aside from having a lot of lousy jazz music that I forward past, it features a number of clips from the show. As I was leaving the house for work yesterday, I dug through my CDs until finding it. Once I was in the car, I opened the case, only to find that it was in there with a friend: a mix CD that a buddy had made me for my radio show in college (he co-hosted with me somewhat regularly during my first year on the air). I have two of those CDs from him, but I hadn't seen or thought about this one in quite a while. Its selections ranged from Dancing Queen to the theme song from The A-Team. What an awesome reminder of days gone by, and valued friends. *cue sappy music* By the way, go ahead and click on that A-Team link, you may be surprised at what you see - well worth the read, particularly for those of us who grew up in the 1980's.
As sort of a portent of things to come, today's video (not embedded, as you can see) is a video presentation from The Guardian, one of the more prominent non-BBC news sources in the United Kingdom. I've heard on a couple of occasions that there are sometimes issues in Afghanistan pertaining to translators: instead of telling Coalition leaders what indigenous folks are actually saying, the interpreters will say what they think the soldiers want to hear. This phenomenon is showcased in this video.
On the theme of Afghanistan, today's satellite image is Mazari Sharif (Wiki). Mazari Sharif is the location of the famed
Blue Mosque, believed by most Afghans to be the final resting place of Muhammed's nephew Ali (whose status caused the schism between Sunni and Shia). Unlike the southern half of the country, which is dominated by the Pashtuns, Mazari Sharif is populated mostly by Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Hazaras, and has a large Shia population. During the Soviet-Afghan War, this was a major base for both communist Afghan forces and the Soviets themselves. You can see some of the burned out remains of the old Soviet presence in the Mazari Sharif airfield, visible to the west of the city.
Although I haven't been dedicating as much time to it lately as I'd like, I'm having some luck at getting more familiar with the Arabic language. A few weeks ago, I started listening to podcasts from BBC Xtra. I've been listening to the Quran in Arabic and English for months. (They're the same mp3, the ayah being recited/chanted first in Arabic by Qari Abdul Basit, and then recited in English by an unnamed speaker with a haunting voice.) I've also been looking at selected verses from my Arabic Bible, identifying the words I know, and trying to figure out the other words and sentence structure accordingly. A lot of this is sporadic, but I'm trying to make an effort.
A day or two ago, I was able to figure out that the opening blurb for the Xtra podcast ended with the words "this morning from BBC Xtra". Also, while working on one of my books the other day, I apparently made a correct translation of "thanks for the prayer, father". These may seem like petty items to many of you, and maybe they are; but they're evidence that I'm starting to make things click together, and that's very encouraging.
Stay tuned: in addition to the first series of videos from Afghanistan, I'm likely to have a couple of pieces of big news next week. Don't miss out. As you leave for the weekend, your question for today is this: have you ever read a book that changed your life? Maybe one that changed the way you thought about the world? Maybe one that inspired you to do something massive? Tell me about it.
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