05.31.10
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:37 pm by Administrator
As Memorial Day approached, I had intended to spend a quiet day with my family crafting and contemplating the impacts of wars and being thankful for the relative security I have enjoyed throughout my life. But last night I was shocked to read that the Freedom Flotilla bound for Gaza was boarded by Israeli soldiers and several people died and others were injured. Just last week I had posted that I was kind of excited to hear that the Freedom Flotilla was on its way to send relief aid to the Gazans and hoped that all would be well and that no one would get hurt. I know that some people think that the Freedom Flotilla was just a front to send in aid to Hamas, but I don’t believe that. I do think that the flotilla was really carrying humanitarian aid and that the Palestinians in Gaza are really getting a bad deal at the hands of the Israelis. That is my suspicion as someone who does not live there, but who has tried to read about the situation there. So when I heard this news that there were deaths and injuries on the flotilla, I was upset and in disbelief. Disbelief because I really didn’t expect Israel would kill anyone. I had thought that either they would let the flotilla deposit their supplies OR they would turn the ships away, but not board and kill anyone.
The claim Israel is making that they wanted to inspect the ship cargo doesn’t explain their aggressive actions. Even if the flotilla refused to stop at Israeli requests, once the ship reached dock, it could have been inspected “before” anything was unloaded. It’s not like they could “sneak” 10,000 tonnes of materials in to Gaza without anyone noticing what they were unloading.
I didn’t want to comment right away about the incident because I didn’t feel that the full details were in, yet. As of last night the numbers believed dead fluctuated from 2 to 20 people and the numbers of injured were listed as dozens to 60. This morning more information has been trickling in, which has included video footage from a few angles and comments from peoples around the world. I still want to await more information, and in particular, I am interested to see how the U.S. reacts. I still feel sick with this news, but will reserve more comments as more info trickles in. One thing I do know is that now the memory of the Freedom Flotilla will be etched in my memory with the anniversary of every Memorial Day.
Marlakins
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05.28.10
Posted in Uncategorized, quotes at 9:40 am by Administrator
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
~Martin Luther King, Jr.
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05.23.10
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations at 6:12 pm by Administrator
People never cease to amaze me. Life, it seems, really is a struggle between good and evil. The trick these days is being able to identify which is good and which is evil. Our news outlets, be it with misinformation or lack of information, makes that task difficult at times. But since the Bible tells us that there’s no law against love and that it is the first and foremost commandment, and that we are nothing without love, then I would assume that charities and humanitarian aid to the needy is a good thing. So I’m kinda excited about the news that the Freedom Flotilla has finally hit the seas after years of planning.
Only a few more days and the Freedom Flotilla should be arriving at Gaza. The convoy of nine ships, both cargo and passenger ships is from the UK, Ireland, Algeria, Kuwait, Greece and Turkey, and is comprised of 800 people from 50 nationalities. They are carrying humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza in hopes of helping the Gazans as well as breaking the almost three year long siege. In response to their efforts, Israelis have claimed that they will dispatch two boats to coastal areas around Gaza in order to prevent a convoy as they claim that this “aid” is against Israeli law.
Israel claims that they are concerned that the aid could fall into the hands of Hamas, but some of the items listed as “banned” for entry are things like crayons, nuts, fabric, many building materials such as cement and wood, plus water purifiers, generators, and other necessities for rebuilding the damaged neighborhoods in Gaza. Sure Hamas might get a hold of some of those items, but they are necessary for the civilians, too, especially the crayons. . . No doubt this type of ban would severely affect the normal lives of civilians since it would make it extremely difficult to rebuild their damaged city. I believe there are about 2000 items on the banned list. Here’s a small YouTube clip that lists a few more of the items on the banned list.
And here’s a short clip of the Rachel Corrie (one of the ships in the flotilla named after the U.S. gal who was run over and killed with a bulldozer as she tried to help protect/save a Palestinian home), which left around the 14th of May from Ireland and shows more of the humanitarian supplies they are carrying to Gaza.
I’m hoping that all works out well, and hope that there won’t be any harm done as a result of the “standoff” these people are likely to face with the Israeli Navy and Israeli protesters. According to this article titled, Israel’ navy will have it’s work cut out, this flotilla is taking along two months supply of food for everyone on board in case it takes that long to get the supplies in to Gaza. They are anticipating they might meet resistance before they can deliver their goods. They are also hoping for more international recognition, so hopefully that will make their plight safer and successful. Now let’s see if our mainstream media even bothers to give them any air time.
Marlakins
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05.22.10
Posted in Historical Trivia, Uncategorized, museums at 1:08 pm by Administrator
A couple weeks ago I tagged along with my oldest son, Andrew, to visit the Wende Museum. His Post War Germany class was taking a field trip to the museum. As a special bonus, the teacher said that their guide was going to open up the vault for additional viewing. Oye! When I heard that, I asked Andrew if I could tag along, heheheh. Fortunately, his teacher didn’t mind, and the icing on the cake was that the curator allowed pictures so long as I didn’t use flash. So. . . here are a few shots I took in their gallery.
Well, I suppose I jumped the gun a bit. I should probably explain what the Wende Museum is. According to their webpage, “The Los Angeles-based Wende Museum is a non-profit organization dedicated to acquiring, preserving, and enabling access to materials of Cold War-era Eastern Europe. The collection encompasses artifacts and archives from all former Warsaw Pact states and emphasizes life in the Soviet Union and East Germany. So while the curator was very informative, my lack of German vocabulary made it such that I had a hard time following along with who was who and what things were called. For instance this is a picture of a type of horn that was played in East Germany. She said that if you popped in the name of this instrument on YouTube there will be some examples of how this instrument sounds. But do I remember the name of this instrument? Sadly, no. . .
Pretty wild looking, huh? But then again, some trumpets and horns do tend to look pretty intricate, anyway.
Then there were statues and busts of people, again, the names of who I didn’t catch. . . (I’m starting to feel like an idiot here, and see that I really need to brush up on my East German history, which was pretty much nil from my school days). As the wall came down and society was being restructured, many icons, statues, and other symbols that represented their government were taken down, such as this statuette.
Okay, so I actually know who this statuette represents. . . Sergi Kirov, a prominent Bolshevik from the Soviet Union. Kirov opposed some of Stalin’s more extreme policies and was eventually shot and killed by a gunman.
The museum was quite small, but was stuffed with lots of items which included paintings, propaganda posters, sports memorabilia, etc. Here’s a picture of a sports locker complete with uniforms, medals and awards, news clippings, etc. Sports events were important in history because they help to place times and dates of events as they tend to be recorded in newspapers and share global connections through competitions.
And speaking of propaganda, there were several posters on display that were used as propaganda tools for their masses such as pictures of their “happy workers”. One particular one that was “ironic” was this one, which claimed that the West spent more money on their military than on education.
Heheheh, in light of our current military budget, I’d say that “propaganda” was more fact than otherwise. I know that billions and even trillions of U.S. dollars have been spent on our military. I read an article recently that just for the Iraq war alone the U.S. has spent about 550 billion dollars. That doesn’t include all the other military expenses we have that are likely extremely costly such as research and development, etc. I’m sure there are varying figures, but here’s one example from About.com: US Government Info
Summary of Iraq War Cost Estimates
CBO estimated the following costs for an Iraq war:
- Initial deployment of troops: $9 billion to $13 billion
- Conducting the war: $6 billion to $9 billion per month
- Returning forces to US: $5 billion to $7 billion
- Temporary occupation of Iraq: $1 billion to $4 billion per
month
The US budget for education is about $70 billion for a year. Basically, “one” war, *not* including all the other U.S. military expenses for bases all over the world and research and development, etc., currently costs more than what the U.S. spends on education. The rest of the U.S. military expenses dwarfs what we spend on education. Apparently Soviet propaganda regarding our military vs education expenditures wasn’t too far from the truth. I find that a sad commentary.
Anyway, moving right along we passed the Wende Museum’s library. There were a couple researchers in there, so we didn’t go in and bother them, heh. Instead we headed down to their vault or archive department. I had no idea what to expect, and found that it was quite large and stuffed with more Eastern Bloc artifacts.
There were all sorts of items boxed and organized such as paintings, sculptures, flags, tapestries, books, record albums, uniforms, etc. Here are some of the busts.
Documentation regarding face recognition and passport information.
Files of border forms.
And passport stamps.
Various gift items from different countries. The pearl inlaid, rectangular box in the center of the table was a gift from Gaddafi, if I recall correctly. Or was it Sadat? Oye. . .
There was so much in there, and too many pictures to add here that won’t fit. They also had pieces of the Berlin Wall on their shelves, which I did take pictures of, but since there’s a more complete section of the wall displayed near my house, I thought I’d add that picture here instead.
Okay, so I think that’s all the pics that will fit on this one post. I got a few shots of Brian on the other side of this wall trying to climb over, ha! The side I’m standing on obviously is the side that faced the West. The Eastern facing side didn’t have all the artwork on it. This portion of the wall is currently being displayed right across the street from the LACMA.
For anyone interested in Eastern Bloc history, I recommend checking out the Wende Museum in Culver City.
Marlakins
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05.21.10
Posted in quotes at 9:26 am by Administrator
“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”
~Jesus Christ, Matt 12:25
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05.20.10
Posted in Book Reviews, Historical Trivia at 12:18 pm by Administrator
I haven’t finished reading The Ayatollah Begs to Differ, yet, but I am about half way through the book. It’s going much faster than Dark Sun, the Making of the Hydrogen Bomb probably because it’s a smaller book and the style of writing is much easier and casual. Nevertheless, I’ve already learned a lot of stuff in this little book that I had not known just a couple weeks ago that has helped some things I’ve seen and heard make more sense.
Anyone following my blog may know that I have been following the Iran nuclear controversy and have had an interest in Ahmadinejad. I’m a bit late on the scene as I am learning about Ahmadinejad and some middle east history more recently. I’m finding it very interesting, and as a result have been trying to understand the U.S or West relationships with Iran and, in general, the middle east by going back into history to see who’s who and try to connect the dots to why things are happening now. Or even how significant certain claims are now.
So what got me interested in Iran and Ahmadinejad? I think it started from the news claims that Ahmadinejad stated that, “Israel should be wiped of the map.” I wanted to see what it was that he exactly said because I know that the media has a tendency to misrepresent things and that foreign languages can often be mistranslated, not to mention “intentions” can also be mistranslated. During my searches I ran into other speeches and interviews given by Ahmadinejad such as the speech he gave at Columbia University that riled everyone up because he seemed to claim that the Holocaust never happened. Oye! Then I also saw an interview with him and Brian Jennings and by then I had to admit that despite other people claiming that Ahmadinejad is a nut, he is still a captivating speaker “because” he is obviously a thoughtful, articulate, and intelligent man who has a very interesting perspective. Did I agree or disagree with him? To decide that I felt that I should do more research myself and find the facts to help me make a better decision. I know what I had been taught in school and from TV documentaries, but have I done any independent research before other than visit the Tolerance Museum? No, not really. So, from what I have read about wars and other world dealings I have tried to piece some of these things together. And that is what I continue to do to today by reading what I can get my hands on and why I’m currently reading The Ayatollah Begs to Differ to help me get a better or more balanced perspective (if possible).
Okay, so to cut to the chase, the part that gave me pause in the book was a couple paragraphs dealing with “why” Ahmadinejad bothered to bring up the Holocaust. It gave me pause because it was an angle that I had not even considered, and showed again that Ahmadinejad might be more clever than I gave him credit. Well who knows, this could just be totally off the wall, but I find it an interesting angle. I’ll quote the paragraphs below:
“What I wanted to know most from the president’s top media was who among the top echelon of government official had thought, other than Ahmadinejad himself, that organizing a conference on the Holocaust in Tehran (held in the winter of 2006 to wide ridicule mainly outside, but also to some extent inside, Iran) had been a good idea. At least in terms of how the media would see it. Iranians, particularly those who haven’t traveled much outside the country and no matter what their level of education, have very little knowledge, if any, of the Holocaust. Contemporary European and American history is not taught much is schools, films and documentaries on the Holocaust rarely make it to Iran, and books on the Holocaust are rarely translated. It was and is still generally accepted by most Iranians that something very bad happened to European Jews under the Third Reich, but because it didn’t affect or have anything to do with Iran, not even Iranian Jews, who were mostly unaffected by World War II, the Holocaust was rarely thought about by Iranians until their president decided to make it an issue of great import.
“Javanfeker was frozen by the question. He started at me for a very long time, not angrily, but more with a bewildered look in his eyes. . .
“I thought of Fuad, my Jewish-Iranian friend from Los Angeles who had explained to me his perspective on Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial with no small measure of admiration for what he saw as the finest example of Persian ta’arouf one-upmanship. Ahmadinejad, Fuad reasoned, had in effect said to the Europeans (and, in a letter, to Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany) that he couldn’t believe that Europeans had been or could be such monsters (and this at a time when Iran was being portrayed as monstrous). ‘You’re not monsters,’ Ahmadinejad was saying. ‘Surely not? Surely you’re a great civilization,’ a sentiment that could only compel the Europeans, and particularly the Germans, to respond in effect, ‘No, no, no we were. We really were monsters. The very worst kind.’ And by further asking why Israel had had to be created by them, he was essentially getting the Europeans to admit that they were entirely capable of genocide again. It didn’t matter, Fuad suggested, that Europeans by and large didn’t squirm, for Iranians and Arabs got the message, if only subconsciously. The Westernized and West-worshipping Middle Easterners whom Ahmadinejad loathes with the same passion as Khomeini did could hear the civilization they so admired shout, loud and clear, ‘Yes, yes, we committed the very worst genocide in history. Only a few years ago, and who knows, we could do it again.’ And Ahmadinejad must have, Fuad said, derived enormous satisfaction in hearing Europeans indignantly insist that their fathers were mass murderers. But Javanfekr was unwilling or unable to explain the thought process behind a Holocaust conference in Tehran, and maybe Fuad had been too generous in his reading of Ahmadinejad’s intentions.”
Hmmm. Of course I wonder how much relevancy that really has to what Ahmadinejad really intended, but it does seem to parallel the current arguments Ahmadinejad has with the U.S. of how we are the only country who has actually “used” nuclear weapons on another country who didn’t have nuclear weapons of their own. Personally, I think that the development of nuclear power may have come directly from Satan. To use it even for nuclear energy, in my opinion, is a Faustian bargain. As much as I think Iran, in principal, probably should be allowed to have their own nuclear program, I wish they wouldn’t for all of our safety (think Chernobyl). And that leaves us between a rock and a hard place.
Marlakins
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05.18.10
Posted in Book Reviews, food and restaurants, hobbies at 9:40 am by Administrator
My longtime girlfriend and I have decided to make a one day a month craft day. We like to meet up at my parents’ house since their house is midway between our houses, and it also gives us a nice excuse to visit with my parents. So we meet up around 11:30AM, go out for a bite to eat, then head back to the house for a day of crafting. For May our craft day was last Sunday and we all went our for dim sum for lunch. I’ll take this moment to put in a plug for Restaurant 88 in San Gabriel. Tasty food at a very reasonable price. Here’s a shot of one of the food carts.
For anyone who isn’t familiar with what dim sum is, it’s basically a Chinese roving buffet. Women roll carts around full of various foods and stop at each table who wants any. If you like what’s in their cart, they’ll just place however many orders on your table that you request and stamp your ticket. At the end, they tally up all the stamps and that’s how they figure out your bill. The nice thing about dim sum is that the orders are small, so you can try lots of different dishes. Here’s an example of what our table looked like at one point. Keep in mind that as you polish off your container, they take it away and more comes, so it’s ever changing.
Usually they have so many dishes that it’s almost impossible to try everything. They also have desserts, but after my AA days, I don’t indulge in those anymore. For that matter, since my AA days, I had even avoided dim sum all together for “years”, and only recently started venturing out again. Here’s another closeup of more dishes.
I especially liked this one, which is veggies wrapped in nappa cabbage.
Now don’t ask me what these dishes are called. While I have eaten them many times in the past, I have no idea what each dish is called. And as a matter of fact, sometimes there is a bit of a language barrier, since these dim sum places are pretty much operated by Chinese, who speak Chinese and tend to have heavy accents. And even so, there are mistakes in translation. Here’s an example of what I mean.
You might ask for a lobster, and they’ll give you a crab, ha ha ha!
So moving right along. After we stuffed ourselves we headed back to the house for our day of crafting. We’ve been working on cross stitch patterns. Here’s an old pattern I made years ago and finally decided to try making it into a small pillow.
Here’s the finished, well, “almost finished” pillow along with the other little cross stitch patterns I’ve worked up. I’m kinda out of practice sewing and kinda winged it to put this pillow together. It’s a bit crooked, heheh, but I’m just going to use it as part of my Christmas decor at home, so no big deal. Plus I think I’m gonna put some cording around it to help dress it up a tad more.
Okay, so I still have a few more pics that I’ll post later because I’m almost finished with another shrug. . . 
and I still have the museum pictures to share from last Friday. We went to the Wende Museum in Culver City, but there is one pic I want to take to add to the post yet, so will hold off until I get that shot. I’m also still reading a couple books that have some info that I think would be interesting to share. The book, The Ayatolla Begs to Differ is turning out to be rather interesting. I’m certainly learning a lot more that I didn’t know, and I also appreciate the different perspective. I know that many cultures think differently, and understanding the culture does help to understand their behavior and decisions. This book helps in that in a funny way because the author has a nice sense of humor.
So until next time, hope all is well!
Marlakins
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05.15.10
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, family stuff, knitting and crocheting at 4:10 pm by Administrator
Just to update my yarnie projects, I’m happy to say that I actually finished a long-time project that I had almost forgotten about. . . my Babette blanket. . . I still need to block it, but I’m just not looking forward to doing that just yet. So, anyway, here it is, finally.
I placed it on my sofa to help give it size perspective, so here’s another shot at what it looks like laid flat.
Yep, another funky project that somehow caught my attention. But now that I got that out of my system, at least I’ve learned some things in the process and will be doing some things differently if I choose to make another Babette blanket. My oldest son isn’t too thrilled with this style and calls it my “Dr. Seuss” blanket. But I’ve always enjoyed Dr. Seuss, so maybe that’s why I like it? Ha!
Anyway, so moving right along. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I finally learned how to do entrelac. Well, I found a pattern that looked simple and kinda nice, so here’s what it looked like in progress.
And here’s the finished project–a shrug. . .
I’m finding it handy in our mild weather. The days are generally too hot to wear a full sweater, but the nights do get cool enough to warrant a little back and arm covering. I think I may be dabbling in a few other shrug patterns.
Then a while back I finished another multi-directional scarf pattern by Iris Schreier, so while I was clearing out the pics on my camera figured might as well share the finished scarf.
Then last week I finished another pair of socks for Andrew. However, he’s shy about modeling socks, so Brian did the honors here.
Oh, and while I’m at it (cleaning the pics off my camera), I might as well put in a little plug for Larch Hanson’s seaweeds. He’s my main seaweed supplier and a couple weeks ago my order from him arrived.
Our family likes to use seaweeds not only for flavoring, but also for micro minerals. We like to purchase the family pack which consists of a 1/2 pound each of kelp, alaria, digitata, nori, dulse, and a seaweed mix for soups.
Here’s what they look like outside of the plastic.
I’m so glad we have a person such as Larch who harvests these seaweeds with conscience and care. If anyone knows about seaweeds, it’s Larch! So if anyone is interested in ordering seaweed in bulk, check out Larch Hanson’s site www.theseaweedman.com Orders can be place through his website or by phone at 207-546-2875 or via U.S. mail: Maine Seaweed LLC, P.O. Box 57, Steuben, ME 04680
Good quality stuff! We’ve been using him for more than five years now, I think.
Okay, I think I’m updated now with my camera pics. Erp! Wait, I just remembered, no, yesterday I tagged along with my oldest son, Andrew, to a class trip they took to a museum yesterday. I have more pictures. . . but that’ll have to be for another post. . .
Toodles for now!
Marlakins
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05.14.10
Posted in quotes at 12:15 am by Administrator
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
~Albert Einstein, 1879-1955
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05.12.10
Posted in Book Reviews, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Historical Trivia at 9:24 am by Administrator
Like many others, I’ve been keeping an eye on the Gulf oil leak. It’s really heartbreaking to know and think about all the damage being caused and that it’s still not over. The leak is still not contained and who knows how long it will take to contain it. From previous oil spills and leaks, the damages caused have not been fully reversed even after 20 or more years. Specifically, the Exxon Valdez spill 20 years ago; and the off shore oil rig blowout by Santa Barbara, California back in the 60s. It’s my impression that the oil rig blowout that happened in California back in the 60s is what spurred the green-type of movement or the environmentally conscious people here.
We environmentally conscious people tend to get a bad wrap at times as tree-huggers or hippie types, but really, it amazes me more that people aren’t more concerned about their environment. Well, on second thought, people hardly give a second thought as to what foods they’ll pop into their mouths, so why should they give a rats-a about the environment, right? Hmmm.
Anyway, yesterday I came across an interesting article that listed some “Bizarre Man Made Disasters“.
This pit is in Turkmenistan, and the caption in the article reads:
“In the desert in Turkmenistan is a hole 328 ft. wide that has been on fire, continuously, for 38 years. In 1971, a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. Poisonous fumes began leaking from the hole. To head off a potential deadly catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole aflame.”
There’s actually a list of about 11 places, the last one included being the Zone of Alienation in Chernobyl. I actually blogged about that on another post not to long ago. Actually, that’s the second disaster site cited on the article related to nuclear contamination, the other being in the Marshall Islands as a result of nuclear testing back in the 70s and still radioactive today. Which brings me to the article I read today that Russia and Turkey are schedule for some talks, part of which deals with building Turkey’s first nuclear plant. . . grrrr. The full article is titled “Russia weighs Turkey energy deal“.
Okay, okay, I understand that it’s for energy purposes, but I can’t believe that all the bright minds in the world can’t think of a better, safer option? I understand that Iran claims to want their nuclear program for energy as well, and on the grounds of principal, I can agree. But I just don’t like nuclear energy. The disaster in Chernobyl should be warning enough, not to mention all the nuclear waste sites that are growing and rendering our lands uninhabitable.
Anyway, I continue to just read and try to keep myself informed. What else can I do? I’m still going through Dark Sun, the Making of the Hydrogen Bomb. It’s taking me forever! And then I just recently picked up The Ayatolla Begs to Differ, by Hooman Majd. Not only is this book supposedly helpful in understanding some of Iran’s culture, but also helps to explain their tenacity of their nuclear power program. Maybe I’ll eventually blog about what I find there.
Marlakins
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