Dawood Khan's Blog

Archive for February, 2009

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In Humor, Middle East, Military, Politics, Quotes, thinking out loud on February 28, 2009 at 7:52 am

In addition to communicating with the local Air Traffic Control facility, all aircraft in the Persian Gulf AOR are required to give the Iranian Air Defense Radar (military) a ten minute ‘heads up’ if they will be transiting Iranian airspace. This is a common procedure for commercial aircraft and involves giving them your call sign, transponder code, type aircraft, and points of origin and destination. I just flew with a guy who overheard this conversation on the VHF Guard (emergency) frequency 121.5 MHz while flying from Europe to Dubai

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The conversation went like this…

Iranian Air Defense Radar: ‘Unknown aircraft you are in Iranian airspace. Identify yourself.’

Aircraft: ‘This is a United States aircraft. I am in Iraqi airspace.’

Air Defense Radar: ‘You are in Iranian airspace. If you do not depart our airspace we will launch interceptor aircraft!’

Aircraft: ‘This is a United States Marine Corps FA-18 fighter. Send ‘em up, I’ll wait!’

Air Defense Radar: Absolute silence

I don’t know the veracity of this story. Nonetheless, it’s a great story.

Habibi

In Uncategorized on February 27, 2009 at 12:53 am

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Out of Iraq By August 2010

In Middle East, Military, Politics, thinking out loud on February 26, 2009 at 10:54 pm

http://www.politics.co.uk/photo/iraq-$8370$300.jpg

Obama Favoring Mid-2010 Pullout In Iraq, Aides Say (New York Times, Feb. 25, 2009, Pg. 1) President Obama is nearing a decision that would order American combat forces out of Iraq by August 2010, senior administration officials said, as he seeks to finally end a war that has consumed and polarized the United States for nearly six years. The timetable would give the military three months more to withdraw than the 16-month pullout Obama promised last year on the campaign trail. Officials said Obama was prepared to make that shift because he agreed with the concerns of ground commanders who want more time to cement security gains, strengthen political institutions and make sure Iraq does not become more unstable again. Even with the withdrawal order, Obama plans to leave behind a “residual force” of tens of thousands of troops to continue training Iraqi security forces, hunt down foreign terrorist cells and guard American institutions, as he said he would during last year’s campaign. Obama Expected to Set Date for Iraq Pullout August 2010 is Likely Decision, Three Months Later Than Pledged in Campaign (Washington Post, Feb. 25, 2009, Pg. 4) President Obama is expected to announce as early as Friday that he will remove all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by August 2010, three months later than promised during his campaign, U.S. officials said. Obama has not made a final decision on the matter, but it could come during a trip to give a speech in North Carolina on Friday, the officials said. The withdrawal timetable of about 19 months was one of several options outlined for Obama by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, including a faster schedule of 16 months and a slower plan of 23 months, one official said. “The risks are different with each option, and there are pros and cons of each one,” he said.

I absolutely agree with this. It’s time to get out. We’ve been wasting too much money on this place. Too much time and money. It’s time to prove to the world what we said. Restore a semi-Democracy and get out. It also proves that many of the most cynical Americans and other critics of the war were wrong. We took out Saddam. Helped to secure and started the rebuilding effort. We are leaving the country to the Iraqis now. It’s up to them to become an upstanding member of the international community. Islam and terrorism can be no excuse. They either stand or fall based upon their actions.

It’s time for America to leave Iraq to the Iraqis…

http://www.cfif.org/htdocs/freedomline/cartoon-corner/IraqWithdraw-2.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/2695907806_e1f308a5de_o.gif

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/iraq_rel_2004.jpg

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Habibi and the Egyptian Papyrus

In Middle East, Travel, culture on February 23, 2009 at 12:15 am

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I bought this in Cairo.  Usually, I’m simply not into this kind of art.  The whole papyrus thing has never excited me.  But this darker piece and the three ladies interested me for some reason.  The feminine is always fascinating to a man, I suppose.  So I asked the proprietor his price.

He tells me “1500 EGP.”

I laughed.  Loudly.

That’s about two or three hundred dollars.

I haggled back and forth with him.

Finally, I told him that I’d give him 50 bucks for it.   “AND NOT A PENNY MORE!”

He tried to get me to accept the same painting on a smaller piece of papyrus.

I just laughed at him again.  Told him that his store looked pretty empty to me so he’d better take the sale while he had it.  Because it was about to walk out his front door.

He acquiesced.

I think he finally saw the wisdom in making a sale rather than attempting to bugger another tourist.

I was wrong.

He carries the piece over to his counter and starts to retrieve packaging for it.  A tube and some wrapping paper and a certificate of authenticity.  He hands me a receipt on which he’s written 300 EGP as the sale price.  I laugh at him.

I say;  “Dude, 300 EGP is 60 bucks.  We agreed on 50.”

Achmed the Papyrus Proprietor replies; “It’s only 10 dollars more.”

I tell him; “That’s ten bucks more than agreed.”

And I start to walk out of the store.

He tells me that he’ll change the price on the receipt and tells me to pay at the cash register.

I tell him;  “NO WAY!  Wrap up my purchase and hand it to me and I’ll hand you the 250EGP.”

He and his compatriots stare at me.

I tell them; “Dudes, if you want the money, wrap up the papyrus in one of those pretty little tubes and hand it to me.

You do that.  I’ll give you the money.  Until then, no one gets a dime out of me.”

Finally they relent.  I get my papyrus in the handy dandy little scroll carrying tube and a quaint little certificate of authenticity.  They get their money.

After returning to Herat in mid August, I unpacked.  Found the papyrus in my bag and threw it into the corner.  Wondering why I’d bought it.  It was a nice piece.  And the three ladies are brilliantly done.  And, admittedly, it’s a gorgeous piece.  But what was I gonna do with it.  Certainly not tack it to my wall in my hooch.

So it sat in the corner.  Forgotten.  Until…

December 25th.

On the 24th, I arrived in Bangkok for my R&R.  I had a lunch date.

But…

She called me and told me to meet later.  5 PM.  AND…she’s bringing a friend.

I agreed.  I’m excited to meet this girl but now I’m a bit apprehensive.  Thinking that maybe she is going to blow me off.  Call again and tell me that she can’t meet me.

We agree to meet at Gulliver’s Tavern on Sukhumvit Soi 5.

So I walk down there a bit early.  Want to make sure that I’m not late.

She calls to tell me that she’s on the way.

BUT…she and her friend decide to stop at Starbucks.  Right at the end of the Soi (street).

I’m not getting a full appreciation of what is going on at this point.  Kinda freaked out.  Why did they stop down there to get a coffee if we are supposed to have dinner.  I guess they were tired and needed a caffeine jump start.

She texts me and asks me if I’m coming or going to wait at Gulliver’s.  I walk down to Starbucks.  I walk in to Starbucks and immediately recognize both of them.  Two diminutive, yet stunning, Thai girls sitting right at the door. Unny–the girl I came to meet and Khanitta, her friend.  I’ve seen Khanitta’s pictures on the website ThailandFriends.com.  So I know who she is.  I had erroneously assumed that she was married or otherwise involved with another fellow.

Now, I’m not scared of women.  But I get a bit nervous at times.  This is such a time.  I have to entertain two gorgeous Thai ladies now.  How to do so?  Luckily, it turns out to be easy.  They were incredibly easy going.  They didn’t have to be coaxed into talking or joking around.  They weren’t difficult.  Maybe, we just had good chemistry.  Part of it is that I’m so relaxed in Thailand that I’m easy as well.

After finishing their coffees, we walk up to Gulliver’s.  We are seated.  We eat.  We chat.  We get along pretty well.  By now, it’s getting on 8 PM.  Khanitta suggests that we walk down the street to Soi 4.  I’m a bit shocked by this as Soi 4 is part of the “dark side” of Thailand.  It’s bar girl [prostitute] central.

We make the trek down Sukhumvit Road to Soi 4 and go to a bar called Big Mango.  It’s a little dive in a back alley off of Soi 4.  It’s a decent joint with a bit of personality.  A smallish room with a square bar in the middle and a pool table in the back near the restrooms.   We walk in and Khanitta introduces me to two of her friends–Tony and Stevie.  Two Scottish fellows.  Mid-40s or so.  Stevie is a nice, laid back fellow.  Tony seems a bit mad to me.  He seems to be attempting to shock everyone with how crass he can be.  I’m not the most tactful fellow on the planet.  Tony makes me seem quite the diplomat by comparison.

Khanitta, Stevie and I play a bit of pool   I get my ASS handed to me by both Khanitta and Stevie.  Too nervous to play pool at this point.  (Give me a couple drinks and I’d play better.  lol)   Unny sits at a table behind us watching.  I don’t know what to think about her at this point.  The usual.  Is she interested?  What to talk about to keep in interesting?  How to act?  What’s next.  Should I just give it up and call it a friendly night out with a couple of gorgeous ladies and count myself blessed.  I can always meet someone later at Q Bar or one of the countless clubs and after hours bars in Bangkok.  Never had a problem with meeting women in Bangkok.

But I like her.  So I try to be patient.

Tony at one point tells me loudly.  “Just remember lad.  When you’re back home, we’re fucking them.”  I look at him and think to myself.  “Yeah, right.  There’s not many women that you’re fucking that you haven’t paid.”  I chuckle to myself and walk over and miss my shot on the pool table.  Stevie, aside from being a generally good guy, is a pretty good pool player.  So he takes me out easily.

We spend an hour or so there and then we head out.

It’s time to hit the Q Bar.

At the Q Bar, we lounge in the corner room on a couple of couches that I’ve reserved for the festivities that I’m hoping will be my Birthday.  The waiter brings over the two bottles of Jack Daniels that I’ve ordered for the occasion.  Khanitta and I pour ourselves a drink with a liberal amount of Jack.  Unny sips on a Coke.  She doesn’t seem to be too much into drinking.  She only weighs about 90 pounds.  I understand a reluctance to drink for her part.  Can’t take too much to get her fairly well lit.  Khanitta drinks like a pro, though.  lol

Eventually folks from TF start showing up.  Emma (EmoKitty) and Oh  (I’m Back).  Stevie makes it over.  And a few others.  It’s a pretty good time.  And I’m pretty lit.  I can’t remember the names of anyone to whom I was introduced that night.  But all nice folks and we all got pretty hammered.

I spend most of my time sitting with Unny.  Trying to talk to her.  Trying to get to know her.  Just looking at her because she is so breathtakingly beautiful.  I get up and mingle with others as well.  We make toasts and generally act as people do when imbibing heavily.  Khanitta has her camera with her and takes tons of pics.  Khanitta is a really wild and fun gal.  I was happy that Unny brought her along.  She’s the life of any party.

Emma brought me a little Strawberry dessert thingie.  It seems like someone sang the “Happy Birthday” song to me.

I went outside a couple of times to talk to family.  I think I got Terry, Ginger, Jonathan and Momma on the phone that night.

It was  a great birthday.

But the best part of it was meeting Unny.

She was pretty quiet and shy.  I was starting to doubt that she was interested in me until I went outside and one of the girls asked me if I wanted to go have some real fun or if I was going to stay with my “shadow.”

When I realized who she was talking about, it was all I could do to suppress the smile.  I really wanted to get to know Unny.  If this gal was noticing this then I probably stand a good chance of getting a second date with her.

So I declined the invitation and hung tight with Unny.

At some point, we all part ways.  Q Bar closes at 2 AM.  So I’m sure that it was 2 AM.  Unny, Khanitta and I rolled down Soi 11 to the Ambassador Hotel’s Spice Club.  It’s an after hours bar.  Stays open late…until 6 AM on some nights.

Unny was still being a bit of a wallflower.  I got a bit too drunk and start telling her that  she is “the most beautiful girl” and some other nonsense that probably bored the piss out of her.  At one point, I realize that I’m probably making an ass out of myself.  So I tell her;  “You probably get this kind of talk all the time.”  And I vaguely remember apologizing to her for boring her to tears and being lame.  haha

Khanitta and I get up on the stage at Spice Club and dance together.  We both try to get Unny to come up with us.  But she’s either too shy or doesn’t really like to dance.  At this point.   For some odd reason that I don’t recall, I decide that it would be a good ieda to pick Unny up [and carry her to the dance floor?].  This royally angers her.  Little gal.  Cute as hell.  Probably has had a problem with this before.  Doesn’t appreciate the loss of control or being manhandled by an idiot.  She’s pissed.  She stomps off.

I’m standing there in shock.  Thinking to myself.  “Dave!  You DUMBASS!!!  You just royally fucked it all up there…retard!”

So I just kind of stand there.  Figure I’ll wait for a minute and then head back to the room.

As I start to get up to walk out of Spice to head back to the room, Khanitta walks back in and tells me to come on.  I’m a bit surprised.

Unny had told her to come get me.

My luck has held through.  Unny still isn’t completely turned off by my buffoonery.  haha

So I walk out and sheepishly join up.  I apologize.

Then I notice that I’m drunk AND hungry.

I suggest that we go eat on Sukhumvit Road.  One of the street vendors that sells “Isaan food.”

We walk on down to the Suk.  Grab a couple of chairs and eat fried rice and whatever else is on the menu.  Sit there and chat for a bit.

After eating, we head home.

Next day, I text Unny and ask her to meet me again after she gets off work.  To my amazement, she agrees.

We spend all that night talking.  Just talking.  It’s one of the nicest nights I’ve spent in Bangkok.  Talking about anything with the most beautiful girl in the world.  I can’t take my eyes off of her.

All the while, I’m thinking to myself.  “This girl reminds me of someone.”

After a bit, I remember theEgyptian ladies on the papyrus that I had purchased in Cairo.  Unny has the same eyes.  Almost the same nose.   I decide at that moment that I will send it to her as thanks for making my time in Bangkok so enjoyable.

About ten days later, I’m at the Camp Stone APO with the papyrus in hand.  It takes a month to get there.

When Unny receives it, she texts me excitedly to tell me that she loves it.  As well as the little post card inscription that I’d sent with it.  I’ll let that be between us, though.

What you see in the pictures is the result of this little story.

And with the blessings of the Gods, there will be many more stories to relate about Unny and Dave.

Insha’allah…

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Liggins to Patterson

In Sports, UK Basketball on February 22, 2009 at 10:21 pm

During the Tennessee game.   This pass had me running around the room screaming like a mad man at 2 AM.

Damn, it’s good to be a Kentucky fan!

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THE ONE

In Quotes, thinking out loud on February 22, 2009 at 2:32 am

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When love beckons to you, follow her,
Though her ways are hard and steep.
And when her wings enfold you yield to her,
Though the sword hidden among her pinions may wound you.
And when she speaks to you believe in her,
Though her voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall she crucify you. Even as she is for your growth so is she for your pruning.
Even as she ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall she descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn she gathers you unto herself.
She threshes you to make you naked.
She sifts you to free you from your husks.
She grinds you to whiteness.
She kneads you until you are pliant;
And then she assigns you to her sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.

When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Kahlil Gibran, On Love

She is…

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Jay Bilas on Jodie Meeks

In UK Basketball on February 20, 2009 at 12:22 am

http://johnclay.bloginky.com/files/2008/12/meeksasu.jpg

Perfect Form, Perfect Feet.

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Protected: Cruising Herat

In Afghanistan on February 19, 2009 at 7:54 am

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:


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Doing my thing…

In Afghanistan, thinking out loud on February 18, 2009 at 1:59 pm

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Instructing a class on Logistics.  Showing how it’s done.  The electricity went off, so I had to give the class from memory with no aids.  I managed to finish the class just in time for the electricity to be turned on again.

Guess they finished re-fueling those generators.

I actually enjoy this part of the job.  It’s the begging for students and begging for transportation to and fro and the meetings that gets on my nerves.  The class room instruction and interaction with the students is always a great time for me.

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Jodie Meeks blasts the Hogs for 45 points!

In Sports, UK Basketball on February 17, 2009 at 1:14 pm

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jodie Meeks scored 45 points, setting a Bud Walton Arena record and leading short-handed Kentucky to an easy 79-63 win over Arkansas on Saturday.

Meeks scored 22 points in the first half and 23 in the second, capping his spectacular performance with a two-handed dunk with just over a minute to play. He helped the Wildcats (18-7, 7-3 Southeastern Conference) withstand the absence of center Patrick Patterson, who sprained an ankle in Tuesday night’s win over Florida.

The rebuilding Razorbacks (13-10, 1-9) were without suspended point guard Courtney Fortson. Michael Washington and Stefan Welsh scored 14 points each for Arkansas.

Meeks, a junior, went 17-of-24 from the field and 7-of-12 from 3-point range, breaking the 40-point mark for the third time this season.

Associated Press

Meeks gets 45 in 79-63 Win over Arkansas and John Pelphrey

Gillispie talks about Galloway and Patterson.

Next victim:  Vanderbilt!

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Another Painting from Vietnam

In Travel, Vietnam, thinking out loud on February 17, 2009 at 2:14 am

http://hereticdhammasangha.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/mailgoogfdlecom.jpg?w=411&h=548

This painting reminds me of the “olden days.”  Simpler times and uncomplicated people.  A time in which I would have loved to have lived.  Grow  your own veggies and fruits.  Hunt your families meat.  Make your own clothing.  Create from  scratch or barter for other of life’s necessities or luxuries.  Build your own hooch in the jungle or on the river.  Live your life in as simple a manner as possible.  I don’t know if it was ever really like that, but, it’s a nice fantasy.

We have made life much too complicated in modern times.  We have created Governments to free us and provide security, etc.  But!  Have we freed ourselves?  Are we truly secure?  Governments are created and forced on people no matter their preference to have or to not have them.  In modern times, the people have grown so dependent on governance that we have no semblance of true independence.  No idea of true free will.  I don’t know if this is good or bad.  What have we as choices in America?  Democrats with their independence diminishing entitlements programs and Republicans with their parasitic, blood  sucking big business.  I’m inclined to believe that both are enemies of the people.  Both enemies of freedom and free will.  We have allowed our independence for which the founding fathers paid a blood price to be whittled away until it is no more than a mere shadow of it’s former self.  We have sold our freedom so that we might shuffle up to the trough of Democratic entitlements or 9-5 slave waging for Big Business.   It seems to me at times that we are no more better off than the serfs of the Middle Ages.  Certainly, we are fatter and we live longer.  But, to what end?  To what end.

At any rate, this is my favorite painting of those that I purchased in Vietnam.  I bought this in Hanoi in  the old French Quarter not too far from the Hanoi Hilton.   Hanoi was amazing to me.  It was another world.  I roamed the streets for hours.  Hired both a moto-taxi and a Sampan to tool me around during my two day visit.    I took a tour of the infamous Hanoi Hilton with it’s pictures of John McCain and John Kerry.  It’s a horror show inside as it was a French Colonial and Vietnamese house of horror and torture.  The prison was built by the French Colonial Government and used to hold and interrogate political prisoners until the French withdrawal after their defeat at Dien Bien Phu.   The Ho Chi Minh government then took control of it and used it to hold American POWs as well as Vietnamese POWs, political dissidents and others who opposed the communist governement.  Only a small part of the oringial compound remains.  Still, it is an interesting tour.  One can wait in line for an hour or so and view the body of old Uncle Ho.  No cameras allowed, though.  Take a 15 minute ride on a sampan and view his house and Capital building.  Venture over to the War Museum with it’s grotesque displays of human tragedy and war propaganda.

Some of the damage that America wrought 30 years ago in Hanoi is still evident.  One can still see the bomb craters here and there around town and in the country side.  Even so, the Vietnam people have mostly moved on.  Leaving the war behind as best they could and a bit better than we did.  I’m sure there are many wounds that are yet to heal.  But the people whom I met welcomed me and were generous in their hospitality towards me–the visiting American.

Traveling on the Mekong, one sees women much like this lady washing their hair over the river.  Rinsing their hair with a bucket or a bowl.  Early in the morning.  Sometimes through a foggy haze…it’s quite beautiful.  A mesmerizing site.

Something wonderfully peaceful about such a scene to me.  I can’t quite explain it.

I got her framed at Deck the Walls in Oxmoor Mall in St Matthews Mall in Louisville, Kentucky.  My old Kentucky Home.    And she hangs in my parents house while I’m over here in Afghanistan.

Dolly Parton — He’s Alive

In Music, culture, family, thinking out loud on February 16, 2009 at 5:19 pm

I remember watching this on TV.  I must have been home on leave or just for the weekend from Fort Knox.

This performance gave me goosebumps back then and it still does.

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The Thai Wai

In Quotes, Thailand, culture on February 16, 2009 at 2:09 am

Wai, like many other gestures e.g. no loud or bang when talking or shutting doors, reflects your overall etiquette that is perceived to link to your family background and stand in the society.

Thais are rooted from the hierarchical order of society; our wai thus has different height levels. To wai beautifully, it takes time to practice (and many details that i do not even remember!).

Not sure if a proper wai is at all significant in today modern lifestyle. But since i was put in the Queen school, hope that I can be little helpful here.

We wai when we want to (1) pray, (2) greet, (3) thank you, (4) apologize, and (5) denote a receiving / wai back.

Wai Monk = Thumbs between eyebrows. Index fingers touch forehead.

Wai Parent = Thumbs touch nose (parents are your breath of life). Index fingers between eyebrows.

Wai Teacher / Master = Thumbs touch lip (teacher words of mouth make you a better person). Index fingers touch nose.

Wai Senior Person than You = Thumbs touch chin. Index fingers touch lip.

Wai Same Age / Younger Person than You / or Wai Back = Thumbs touch between breast. Index fingers touch chin.

Note, bend your head down slightly a bit to cater the reaching of your index fingers.

One of the the best and simplest explanations of the Thai traditional wai that I’ve come across.

With thanks to ConcreteAngel of ThailandFreinds.com


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Herat City Map

In Afghanistan on February 15, 2009 at 4:44 pm

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This is an excellent map that gives incredible detail on western Afghanistan’s great Silk Road city.

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Kanchanaburi

In Thailand on February 15, 2009 at 11:39 am

http://hereticdhammasangha.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/0011.jpg?w=477&h=318

On an early morning not too long ago, a few ladies and gents got together and made the world better for a school in a sleepy little place called Kanchanaburi near Bangkok, Thailand.

Funds were collected.  Supplies and Equipment purchased.  Then the task of planning and executing the movement from Bangkok to a sleepy village called Kanchanaburi and a little school on an Island.

That narrow little rope/plank bridge looks a little treacherous.  lol

The kids all look happy.

These generous folks put on a little show for the kids.  Played them a couple of animated movies.  Kung Fu Panda and another.  Served up a meal or two.  Handed out school supplies, uniforms and a few other essentials.

Spent the night in tents out on the school grounds.

And then quietly made their way home…

Leaving behind a hundred or so smiling young faces.

Here are pics of the event:

Helping others is good for the soul.

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Happy Valentines Day Unny

In Music, thinking out loud on February 14, 2009 at 9:39 pm

This movie requires Adobe Flash for playback.


Investing 101

In Commerce, thinking out loud on February 14, 2009 at 1:39 am

Elementary School:

  • One Up On Wall Street, by Peter Lynch
  • Buffett: The Making of An American Capitalist, by Roger Lowenstein
  • Value Investing With the Masters, by Kirk Kazanjian

Junior High:

  • The 5 Keys to Value Investing, by J. Dennis Jean-Jacques
  • Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, by Philip Fisher

High School:

  • John Neff on Investing, by John Neff
  • The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham

University:

  • Stocks for the Long Run, by Jeremy Siegel
  • Quality of Earnings, by Thornton Oglove
  • You Can Be a Stock Market Genius, by Joel Greenblatt

Grad School:

  • Value Investing: A Balanced Approach, by Martin Whitman
  • The Road to Serfdom, by F.A. Hayek

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How do the Poor become “not poor?”

In Politics, Quotes, thinking out loud on February 13, 2009 at 10:12 pm

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
– Thomas Jefferson

“I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.”
Benjamin Franklin

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Thomas Jefferson and the 2nd Amendment

In Politics, Quotes on February 11, 2009 at 4:54 pm

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‘Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.’ ~ Thomas Jefferson

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The Mountains of Western Afghanistan

In Afghanistan on February 9, 2009 at 12:08 am

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Everlasting Love

In Music on February 8, 2009 at 12:04 pm

He wasn’t looking for a pretty face
She wasn’t searching for the latest style
He didn’t want someone who walked straight off the tv
She needed someone with an interior smile

She wasn’t looking for a cuddle in the back seat
He wasn’t looking for a five minute thrill
She wasn’t thinking of tomorrow or of next week
This vacancy he meant to permanently fill

I need an everlasting love
I need a friend and a lover divine
An everlasting precious love
Wait for it, wait for it, give it some time

Back in the world of disposable emotion
In the climate of temporary dreams
He wasn’t looking for a notch on his bedpost
A love to push, pull, and burst at the seams

I need an everlasting love
I need a friend and a lover divine
An everlasting precious love
Wait for it, wait for it, give it some time

Is this love worth waiting for?
Something special, something pure

[chorus]

Is this love worth waiting for?
Bitterness will die for sure
Something precious, something pure
Is this love worth waiting for?

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Why Me Lord?

In Music, family, thinking out loud on February 7, 2009 at 5:46 pm

Johnny Cash. This is a song from my youth. As a child, my Mother would take us to church almost every day of the week. I remember going to tent revivals of Leroy Jenkins and a host of others. Parts of my family owned Churches.  Uncle Michael, who passed away much too young from diabetes, was a gifted guitarist and singer.  At least, I remember it that way.

We’d go to different churches all the time.  Evangel Tabernacle in it’s various incarnations.  Trinity Assemblies of God.  Clifton Baptist for summer bible school.  Ginger and I attended a choir at Clifton Baptis.  Forever, it seems.  Although, I think I was more a disruption than a singer.

“I’m a little piece of tin.

Nobody knows what shape I’m in.

Got four wheels and a running board.

I’m a four door,  I”m a Ford.

Honk Honk Rattle Rattle Honk Beep Beep!!”

lol

Our Dad drove the Sunday School bus at least one winter or one year that I can remember.  We’d sing songs on the bus on the way to Sunday School and Church.

“Oh you can’t get to heaven on roller skates…

Cause you’ll roll right past those pearly gates!”

I remember waking early in the morning because we’d have to get the bus from the Church.  Then make the rounds through the neighborhood to pick up the families and kids to take them to Evangel and Sunday School.

But this song.  I sometimes ask myself or God or whomever might be listening.

“What have I done to deserve my life?”

I feel so fortunate.  Blessed by God or the Gods.

Strange to think that at one time, I’d had “hands laid on me” by Jimmy Swaggert and Billy Graham and no telling who else.  I only went up there because Ginger wanted me to go with her.  But it was still a neat experience.

The only preacher or evangelist from those days who hasn’t fallen or become a shadow and hypocrite is Billy Graham.  Swaggert, Robertson, Bakker, Falwell.  They all preach hate or they are have been caught “being human” or “making mistakes” of all sorts.  The Bakkers being the most public and egregious.

I remember going to Royal Rangers.  A sort of Christian Boy Scouts.  Basically the same thing but directly sponsored by Evangelical Churches.  “Prepared,  Always Ready.  Ready to…”

Childhood and Church.  I can’t imagine what it would have been like with no Tent Revivals.  None of the memories of Grandma Hackney, Aunt Lola reading the bible to each other over the phone.  The impromptu Bible Studies that were held at Grandmas house with Aunt Lola, Aunt Hope, Aunt Helen, Momma, Barbara Jean, Mary Ann, Aunt Lillian and many other friends and family at the house on 120 N. Bellaire.  They were Pentecostal.  They were holy rollers.  And it was always electric.

It made life interesting that is for certain.

As kids, we used to spy on them.  And we’d sometimes feel the “spirit of the Lord” emanating from the room.  They believed so fervently that one could not hope but feel that vibe or that spirit if you watched them.  I was fascinated by it myself.  The Spirit of the Lord.

If a child was sick and in the same house as this group of praying and Bible reading women.  There’d be a laying on of hands as they surrounded the bed or couch on which one lay sick.  They’d pray for you.  And I swear to this day, it helped heal whatever ailed you.

I remember them speaking in tongues.  We’d imitate them as children by saying “heeka ma hockema, seeka ma sockema.” We’d run around the room.  Screaming and shouting that as well as the obligatory “Praise Jesus!  Halleluba!  Amen!  Praise the Lord!”  Imitating what we thought we saw in our parents and grandparents.

One story has it that my older brother Terry was upset when my mother had hands laid on her by a preacher.  They asked people to the front who wanted to “repent” or be prayed for “in the name of God.”  My Mother was one who frequently went forward at these times.   The preacher starts to pray for Mom and does that whole “slap the forehead” thing that Pentecostal preachers did back then.  When he slapped “Sister Millie” on the forehead and yelled; “BE HEALED!”  Momma fell to the floor.  Of course, she was helped down.  They didn’t just let her fall.  Upon seeing all of this frightening act, Terry who was all of 4 or 5 years old starts running toward the front yelling; “You get off of my Mommy!  You get off of my Mommy!”

I guess I drifted away from the Church about the time that my Mom and Dad were divorced.  I was about 16 years old.  My Mother re-married and we started the Mormon/LDS expereince.  I drifted in and out of the Church for about a decade before I left it altogether.  I almost married a Mormon girl that I met in Korea.  Sandra.  I was baptized and actually started being a good and sober fellow for a bit.

But I fell away from that after a time as well.  I, personally, have no bad memories about the Church.  None of my experiences were bad.  Mostly good.  Mostly decent folks with whom I interacted over the years.  I’m sure that I met a few bad apples here and there.  But not enough to convince me that all of Christianity is evil.

My personal opinion is the organized religion is unhealthy.  We, humans, are too prone to the mob mentality.  We start assigning spaces in the afterlife for ourselves and those who are not of the same belief all too easily and this leads to too much division in the here and now.  Not sure that Jesus intended it that way when he said; “Love the least of me as you would me.”  But this is merely my mortal opinion.

I’m still more of the mind to follow Buddhism and let others follow what path they will.

Nevertheless, religion was an amazing, exciting and major part of my childhood.  I do not regret the experience of it.  I feel fortunate to have had many of those experiences and many of those people in my life.

Peace.

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Democrats

In Politics on February 6, 2009 at 12:33 pm

Well, it’s their turn.  Let’s see how they do.

Take the test.

This test aims to be different. Most tests question your stance on political issues (abortion, gun control, taxes…). This test explains why you think what you think by mapping your personal moral system.

For instance we won’t ask you questions on taxes but try to find what moral views shape your opinion on taxes. Moral views are the major predictors of political opinions.

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Yea! Tho I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

In Literature, Quotes, thinking out loud on February 6, 2009 at 12:27 pm

Sam Jackson.  Pulp Fiction.  Classic.

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Minarets of Herat

In Afghanistan on February 5, 2009 at 4:57 pm
The Minarets of Herat

The Minarets of Herat

I can’t get out to these parts of town.

So…I gave my camera to my boys Shoaib and Wahid.  They cruised down to the Minarets and took these photos for me and did a pretty good job of it.

Great photos.  I cropped and shaped some of them up a bit.  The photos give an excellent idea of the experience of visiting these ancient edifices. I would love to be able to get out there someday and see the Minarets myself.  Touch them.  Feel their spirit or their vibe so to speak.

Perhaps I’ll get the chance someday.

These links give a bit of background information about the Minarets.

Wikipedia

Times Online

Letters from Herat

Function of a Minaret

As well as providing a visual cue to a Muslim community, the call to prayer is traditionally given from the top of the minaret. In some of the oldest mosques, such as the Great Mosque of Damascus, minarets originally served as watchtowers illuminated by torches (hence the derivation of the word from the Arabic nur, meaning “light”). In more recent times, the main function of the minaret was to provide a vantage point from which the muezzin can call out the adhan, calling the faithful to prayer. In most modern Mosques, the adhan is called not in the minaret, but in the musallah, or prayer hall, via a microphone and speaker system.

In a practical sense, these are also used for natural air conditioning. As the sun heats the dome, air is drawn in through open windows and up and out of the shaft, thereby causing a natural ventilation.

Minarets have been described as the “gate from heaven and earth”, and as the Arabic language letter alif (which is a straight vertical line).

The world’s tallest minaret (at 210 meters) is located at the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. The world’s tallest brick minaret is Qutub Minar located in Delhi, India. There are two 230 meter tall minarets under construction in Tehran, Iran.

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Scenes from Western Afghanistan

In Afghanistan on February 1, 2009 at 5:13 pm

camels-outside-herat

Took this pic on the road to Herat…near the Airport.   It looks hazy because I took it through a bullet proof window.  Thick and dirty glass…so it looks like it’s foggy but, really, it’s a clear day.  And warm for this time of year.  Last year, we had sub-zero weather and 3 feet of snow.  This year.  It’s 50 degrees out.  Can’t complain about that…

Camels are always fascinating for some reason.  Wish I could have snapped a clear shot, though.  Could have been a great shot.  But this one is ok, I suppose.

western-edge-of-the-hindu-kush

Opposite side of the road from the Camels.  Took this shot going out today,  This is the end of the mountains as you hit the plains rolling west through Herat and into Iran.  It’s the same route that Alexander and others used to enter Afghanistan over the millenia.

brown-dog

Big old dog…the Afghans usually cut their ears off and use these bad boys for fighting.  Note those huge paws.  If he was well fed, he’d have to weigh in at 100-125 lbs.  Imagine that coming at you.  This dog was at one of the Police Stations off the main road to/from Herat.  Kind of a guard dog or early warning system.  Hear them barking or growling…look out.  May be the Talibs coming at you.

afghan-squatter

The lovely restroom facilities.  This is a relatively nice one.  ‘Nuff said…lol

drawing-water

This little boy was with his father.  They were contractors building a new room on the roof of the police station.  Water pumps.  In America, this would seem a foreign concept.  But.  This is how much of the world gets their water.  Many do not have this luxury.  It’s a walk to the creek or river or a well.

ac-afghan-style

Old school AC.  I had no idea.  Had to ask.

Herat has a “season” that is called “the 100 days of wind.”  It’s actually closer to 120 days.  The wind blows.  Hard.  Constantly.  For 120 or more days.  HARD!  Did I say hard?  The wind can knock you down it blows so hard.  It’s actually a blessing.  Without the wind, it would be stiflingly hot.

Most of Herat is without electricity.  More of Herat is without air conditioning.  So…they set up a water jug or container of some sort over the brambles in the windows that allows a slow drop into the wood.  The wind blows through the brambles  into the windows and is cooled by the water.   Cools the air in the buildings.  AC!

momma-and-daughter

I’m assuming that this is a Mother and daughter out for an afternoon stroll or heading to market.

minarets
This is the famous Minarets of Herat.  Centuries old.  They are starting to fall because of the traffic on the road that runs between them.  Personally, I can’t believe that they laid a road between them.  If you get up close, you can still see remnants of the oven baked tiles that once covered the Minarets completely.

I was not able to visit these ancient edifices.  Afghan friends used my camera and snapped these photos for me.  I’d love to see these myself.  Walk up and touch them.  It would be quite and experience.

herati-minaret

A falcon or hawk lazily swoops in between the Minarets searching for prey.  There are 5 remaining towers in the Musalla Complex.  The others have fallen.  I think there were originally 7.  The site was built in the 1400s by Queen Gawharshad–wife of one of the Timurid Shahs.  The complex consists of the 5 remaining minarets and several shrines and libraries.

masjid-jami-in-herat

The famous Masjid Jami of Herat.  One of the most beautiful structures I have ever seen.  It rivals the Muhammand Ali Mosque in Cairo for magnificence.   This is the peoples Mosque.  It is the place where the city congregates each Friday.  Building on the Mosque began in 1200 AD.  I’m not certain as to how long it took to complete construction.  It has been badly damaged several times.   Genghis Khan conquered the city on his way through the region and left the mosque severely damaged.

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What is wrong in Lexington?

In Sports, UK Basketball on February 1, 2009 at 2:49 am

The Cats drop two in  row.

http://thenastyboys.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/gillispie5.jpg?w=604

http://ralphspubilliniclub.com/images/GILLISPIE%2002-04-07.jpg

http://ne.edgecastcdn.net/80055A/media.commercialappeal.com/mca/content/img/photos/2008/05/29/30d1a.jpeg

I agree Billy.  WTF!

USC comes into Rupp and takes it.  And the Cats led by BG let them.  Pitiful.

One has to question the heart of this team.

2nd Game in a row where Jodie Meeks is shut down in the 1st half.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GWGjpVDXhIw/SOAma1BlJYI/AAAAAAAAGLc/iL1SiTwhOZw/s320/Meeks.jpg

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Bush Hate, Obama Euphoria

In Politics on February 1, 2009 at 2:24 am

Bush Hatred and Obama Euphoria Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

Consequently, though Bush hatred may weaken as the 43rd president minds his business back home in Texas, and while Obama euphoria may fade as the 44th president is compelled to immerse himself in the daunting ambiguities of power, our universities will continue to educate students to believe that hatred and euphoria reflect political wisdom. Urgent though the problem is, not even the efficient and responsible spending of a $1 trillion stimulus package would begin to address it.

By PETER BERKOWITZ

Now that George W. Bush has left the harsh glare of the White House and Barack Obama has settled into the highest office in the land, it might be reasonable to suppose that Bush hatred and Obama euphoria will begin to subside. Unfortunately, there is good reason to doubt that the common sources that have nourished these dangerous political passions will soon lose their potency.

At first glance, Bush hatred and Obama euphoria could not be more different. Hatred of Mr. Bush went well beyond the partisan broadsides typical of democratic politics. For years it disfigured its victims with open, indeed proud, loathing for the very manner in which Mr. Bush walked and talked. It compelled them to denounce the president and his policies as not merely foolish or wrong or contrary to the national interest, but as anathema to everything that made America great.

In contrast, the euphoria surrounding Mr. Obama’s run for president conferred upon the candidate immunity from criticism despite his newness to national politics and lack of executive experience, and regardless of how empty his calls for change. At the same time, it inspired those in its grips, repeatedly bringing them tears of joy throughout the long election season. With Mr. Obama’s victory in November and his inauguration last week, it suffused them with a sense that not only had the promise of America at last been redeemed but that the world could now be transfigured.

In fact, Bush hatred and Obama euphoria — which tend to reveal more about those who feel them than the men at which they are directed — are opposite sides of the same coin. Both represent the triumph of passion over reason. Both are intolerant of dissent. Those wallowing in Bush hatred and those reveling in Obama euphoria frequently regard those who do not share their passion as contemptible and beyond the reach of civilized discussion. Bush hatred and Obama euphoria typically coexist in the same soul. And it is disproportionately members of the intellectual and political class in whose souls they flourish.

To be sure, democratic debate has always been a messy affair in which passion threatens to overwhelm reason. So long as citizens remain free and endowed with a diversity of interests and talents, it will remain so.

In October 1787, amid economic crisis and widespread fears about the new nation’s ability to defend itself, Alexander Hamilton, in the first installment of what was to become the Federalist Papers, surveyed the formidable obstacles to giving the newly crafted Constitution a fair hearing. Some would oppose it, Hamilton observed, out of fear that ratification would diminish their wealth and power. Others would reject it because they hoped to profit from the political disarray that would ensue. The opposition of still others was rooted in “the honest errors of minds led astray by preconceived jealousies and fears.”

Indeed, the best of men, Hamilton acknowledged, were themselves all-too-vulnerable to forming ill-considered political opinions: “So numerous indeed and so powerful are the causes, which serve to give a false bias to the judgment, that we upon many occasions, see wise and good men on the wrong as well as on the right side of questions, of the first magnitude to society.”

In surveying the impediments to bringing reason to bear in politics, it was not Hamilton’s aim to encourage despair over democracy’s prospects but to refine political expectations. “This circumstance, if duly attended to,” he counseled, “would furnish a lesson of moderation to those, who are ever so much persuaded of their being in the right, in any controversy.”

As Hamilton would have supposed, the susceptibility of political judgment to corruption by interest and ambition is as operative in our time as it was in his. What has changed is that those who, by virtue of their education and professional training, would have once been the first to grasp Hamilton’s lesson of moderation are today the leading fomenters of immoderation.

Bush hatred and Obama euphoria are particularly toxic because they thrive in and have been promoted by the news media, whose professional responsibility, it has long been thought, is to gather the facts and analyze their significance, and by the academy, whose scholarly training, it is commonly assumed, reflects an aptitude for and dedication to systematic study and impartial inquiry.

From the avalanche of vehement and ignorant attacks on Bush v. Gore and the oft-made and oft-refuted allegation that the Bush administration lied about WMD in Iraq, to the remarkable lack of interest in Mr. Obama’s career in Illinois politics and the determined indifference to his wrongness about the surge, wide swaths of the media and the academy have concentrated on stoking passions rather than appealing to reason.

Some will speculate that the outbreak of hatred and euphoria in our politics is the result of the transformation of left-liberalism into a religion, its promulgation as dogma by our universities, and students’ absorption of their professors’ lesson of immoderation. This is unfair to religion.

At least it’s unfair to those forms of biblical faith that teach that God’s ways are hidden and mysterious, that all human beings are both deserving of respect and inherently flawed, and that it is idolatry to invest things of this world — certainly the goods that can be achieved through politics — with absolute value. Through these teachings, biblical faith encourages skepticism about grand claims to moral and political authority and an appreciation of the limits of one’s knowledge, both of which well serve liberal democracy.

In contrast, by assembling and maintaining faculties that think alike about politics and think alike that the university curriculum must instill correct political opinions, our universities cultivate intellectual conformity and discourage the exercise of reason in public life. It is not that our universities invest the fundamental principles of liberalism with religious meaning — after all the Declaration of Independence identifies a religious root of our freedom and equality. Rather, they infuse a certain progressive interpretation of our freedom and equality with sacred significance, zealously requiring not only outward obedience to its policy dictates but inner persuasion of the heart and mind. This transforms dissenters into apostates or heretics, and leaders into redeemers.

Mr. Berkowitz is a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.

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Liberals will deny this phenomenon.  They pretend tolerance even as they attempt to censor the collective thought of the nation with their political correctness and similar intellectually empty and diseased philosophies.