adventurers

“Pity those--adventurers, adolescents, authors of young-adult fiction--who make their way in the borderland between worlds.”

--Michael Chabon, “On Daemons & Dust,” Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands, 2008

Ways to be Nasty

Use all the hot water.

Free your spider collection.

Pour honey in the mailbox.

Slobber on the couch.

Rake the leaves into your neighbor's yard.

Stick your hand in the clam dip.

Throw a tantrum when you lose.

Hard-boil all the eggs.

Scream in the dentist's office.

Cut the strings off all the tea bags.

Giggle during the eulogy.

Burn the toast.

Cut the clothesline.

Salt the Band-Aids.

Plant ragweed.

Deliver lectures on abstinence and temperance.

Stray into other people's snapshots.

Clog the sink.

Ignore everybody.

Don't train your Doberman.

Paint your house chartreuse with pink trim.

Grab someone's nose and don't let go.

Breed rats.

Take the last cookie.


--Jim Erskine and George Moran, Throw a Tomato and 151 other ways to be mean and nasty, 1979

Sudden Prosperity

“Mongolia’s billions of dollars worth of copper, gold, uranium and coal reserves promise the greatest influx of wealth for the country since Genghis Khan conquered much of the known world in the 13th century.

“They also may spawn a crisis. Sudden prosperity can overwhelm an economy, exposing it to commodity-price swings. Mongolia’s leaders say they are determined to avoid a sudden surge in wealth that ultimately hampers expansion....

“'If you go to most developing countries, they’ll tell you, “We’re saved; we’ve found uranium,”' said Hernando de Soto, a Peruvian free-market economist. Mongolia has 'a president who says, “We are in grave danger because we have discovered we have a lot of natural resources.”' The fact that 'they are forewarned gives you hope.'”


--Michael Forsythe, Bloomberg.com, 2010 February 15

gloomy contemplation

“Many Americans have never seen a corpse, and those who have probably encountered only the travesty of a beautiful death concocted in the mortician's beauty parlor. Nor is the prevailing present-day lifestyle in the United States and large parts of the Western world, set by egotistical, hyperactive people obsessed with amassing money and luxury goods, conducive to gloomy contemplation of death...”

--Jan Bondeson, Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear, 2001

ye believers in gods

"Lo! ye believers in gods all goodness, and in man all ill, lo you! see the omniscient gods oblivious of suffering man; and man, though idiotic, and knowing not what he does, yet full of the sweet things of love and gratitude."

--Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale

Edurelief Global Giving Challenge

"Dear Edurelief friends and supporters,

"Our goal in 2010 is to start 10 new library projects in rural areas. To kick off this initiative we're taking part in Global Giving's (www.globalgiving.org) Open Challenge. Our challenge is to raise $4,000 from at least 50 individual donors in 30 days. Completing this challenge will not only get us well on our way towards funding 10 new libraries but it will open up the door for us to qualify for Global Giving matching grands, corporate donors, and other sources of funding. We could really use your help completing this challenge! Whether you can give, $10, $25, $50 or more, every little bit counts. Please share this with your friends as well and together I'm confident we can reach our goal.

"We've spent the last two years in Mongolia now, visiting schools, starting new projects, and investigating the situation of education in rural areas. Good school libraries are an urgent need and make a huge difference in their communities. It's proven that access to a school library and textbooks boosts school attendance, improves grades, and motivates new interest in learning.

"This month let's work together to fund our first two school libraries and then we can work towards the other 8 we have planned for the rest of the year.

"Please give via our Global Giving Challenge page found here:
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/school-libraries-for-mongolia/

"Thank you for your support!

"Sincerely,
Jonathan and Marielle Renich
Edurelief"

===

"Эдүрэлиф-г дэмжигч эрхэм хүндэт найз нараа,

"Бидний 2010 оны зорилго нь хөдөө орон нутагт 10 шинэ номын сан байгуулах юм. Энэхүү зорилгодоо эрчимтэй хүрэхийн үндэсийг тавин бид Глобал Гивинг-н сорилд оролцож байна. Биндний энэ сорил нь 30 өдөрийн дотор 50-с дээш хүмүүсээс нийтдээ $4000-ийн хандив цуглуулах юм. Энэ сорилд тэнцэж чадваас бид 2010 оны зорилгодоо хүрэхэд ойртох бөгөөд бидний өмнө Глобал Гивинг-с тэнцүүлэн хандив өгөх, бусад том том компаниудаас хандив авах, болон бусад сангуудтай харилцах үүдийг нээж өгөх юмаа. Тиймээс яг одоо бидэнд та нарын тусламж маш ихээр хэрэг болж байна. $10, $20, $50... чадахаараа туслаарай. Мөн энэхүү үйл ажиллагааны талаар найз нөхөд таньдаг хүмүүцдээ цааш н дамжуулаарай.

"Бид өнгөрсөн 2 жилийг Монголд сургуулиадаар явж үзэж, шинэ шинэ төсөлүүд эхлүүлэн, хөдөө орон нутагийн боловсролын салбарт судалгаа шинжилгээ хийн өнгөрүүллээ. Чанартай номын сан нэн хэрэгцээтэй байгааг ойлгосоноос гадна цаашлаад нийгэмийн амдралд олон талын тустайг харсан. Сурагчдад хүрч чаддаг номын сан сурагчдын сурах эрмэлзэл, идэвхи, хүсэлийг илүү болгодог гэдэг нь батлагдсан.

"Тиймээс энэ сард бүгдээрээ хамтран ажилцгаая! Доорх линкээр ороод хандиваа өгөөрэй:
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/school-libraries-for-mongolia/

"Та нарын дэмжлэгт баярлаа! Сайн үйлс дэлгэрэх болтугай!

"Хүндэтгэсэн,
Б. Мөнх-Эрдэнэ"

===

"Chers amis et supporters d'Edurelief,

"Notre objectif en 2010 consiste à lancer 10 nouveaux projets bibliothèque en zone rurale. Pour nous lancer nous prenons part à l'Open Challenge de Global Giving (www.globalgiving.org). Notre challenge consiste à réunir $4000 en provenance d'au moins 50 donneurs et cela dans une limite de 30 jours. En relevant ce challenge non seulement nous aurons déjà réuni assez pour nous rapprocher de notre objectif de 10 nouvelles bibliothèques mais en plus nous serons qualifiés auprès de Global Giving nous donnant accès à des subventions, donations d'entreprises et autres sources de soutient. Nous comptons sur vous pour relever avec nous ce challenge! Que vous donniez $10, $25, $50 ou plus, chaque don compte. Parlez-en aussi autour de vous et ensemble je suis sûr que nous arriverons à atteindre notre but.

"Nous avons passé ces deux dernières années en Mongolie, à visiter les écoles, à lancer de nouveaux projets et à enquêter sur la situation de l'éducation en milieu rural. De bonnes bibliothèques scolaires représentent un besoin urgent et font toute la différence dans les villages. Il est prouvé que l'accès au livres et manuels scolaires augmente la fréquentation des écoles, améliore le niveau scolaire des élèves et les motive à apprendre en stimulant leur intérêt et leur curiosité.

"Ce mois-ci travaillons ensemble à financer deux nouvelles bibliothèques scolaires et nous poursuivrons au cours de l'année pour financer les 8 suivantes.

"S'il-vous-plait, faites votre don via la page Global Giving Challenge que vous trouverez ici:
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/school-libraries-for-mongolia/

"Merci pour votre soutient!

"Sincèrement,
Jonathan et Marielle Renich
Edurelief"

Earthquake in Ulaanbaatar

"Journalists and the general public rush to any suggestion of earthquake prediction like hogs toward a full trough."

--Charles Richter, creator of the Richter scale for measuring the magnitude of the seismic energy of earthquakes

I received the following message from a Mongolian friend in UB:

"Hello Radigan,
Lately, there are some signs of an earthquake in UB. It will be about an 8-ball and even the president of Mongolia announced a warning to the nation on TV. Looks like it will happen for sure..."

Interestingly, the U.S. Geological Survey has done work in Mongolia studying "earthquakes that occur in the interior of continents far from plate boundaries."

There was earthquake activity in Mongolia in the Twentieth Century, but in western Mongolia, not near UB. The last large earthquake in Mongolia was over 50 years ago, in 1957. If the quakes are cyclical, which they may be, there may not be another large earthquake there for thousands of years:

"The penultimate event on the eastern part of the Bogd strike-slip fault occurred about 2400 years ago, whereas on the western segment only two large earthquakes occurred during the 12,000 years prior to 1957. The Dalan Turuu thrust appears to have slipped every 8000 years on average, the Gurvan Bulag thrust appears to produce earthquakes about every 4000 years, and the Toromhon thrust last moved several tens of thousands of years ago."

--USGS: Earthquake Hazards Program, "1998 USGS Expedition to Mongolia: Previous Work in Mongolia"

Just as there can be earthquakes in San Francisco but not in California's capital city of Sacramento, which is 144 kilometers (90 miles) away, there can be earthquakes in western Mongolia and not in Ulaanbaatar. Charted global earthquake activity shows eastern Mongolia as free of earthquakes as the Amazon and the Sahara:

The multi-organizational Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program concluded that eastern Mongolia is at relatively low risk of earthquakes, though the Program listed western Mongolia at high risk. Ulaanbaatar sits near the juncture of the risk zones:

Conclusion: It seems unlikely though not impossible that an impending earthquake will strike Ulaanbaatar.


Regarding rumors, it is good to remember that earthquakes cannot be predicted:

http://scec.ess.ucla.edu/~ykagan/perspective.html

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/100_chance.php

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/?topicID=53&topic=Prediction


There was a 5.1-magnitude earthquake in Dundgov aimag in January that was felt in UB. This event probably fanned earthquake rumors:

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6864349.html


There was also a 4.8 earthquake near Lake Khovsgol two weeks ago:

http://www.gdacs.org/reports.asp?eventType=EQ&ID=83332&system=asgard&alertlevel=Green&glide_no=&location=MNG&country=Mongolia


It is noteworthy that there was a similar earthquake rumor in UB in the spring of 2008:

http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=159165

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1616084


Preparedness:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/faq/?faqID=79

http://www.fema.gov/hazard/earthquake/eq_before.shtm

Happy Easter (Banned in the UK)

The poem that resulted in successful prosecution for "blasphemy" against the publishers in the U.K. (an episode in the history of censorship):

"The Love that Dares to Speak its Name"
James Kirkup
1918-2009 English

As they took him from the cross
I, the centurion, took him in my arms--
the tough lean body
of a man no longer young,
beardless, breathless,
but well hung.

He was still warm.
While they prepared the tomb
I kept guard over him.
His mother and the Magdalen
had gone to fetch clean linen
to shroud his nakedness.

I was alone with him.
For the last time
I kissed his mouth. My tongue
found his, bitter with death.
I licked his wound--
the blood was harsh.
For the last time
I laid my lips around the tip
of that great cock, the instrument
of our salvation, our eternal joy.
The shaft, still throbbed, anointed
with death's final ejaculation.

I knew he'd had it off with other men--
with Herod's guards, with Pontius Pilate,
with John the Baptist, with Paul of Tarsus,
with foxy Judas, a great kisser, with
the rest of the Twelve, together and apart.
He loved all men, body, soul and spirit -- even me.

So now I took off my uniform, and, naked,
lay together with him in his desolation,
caressing every shadow of his cooling flesh,
hugging him and trying to warm him back to life.
Slowly the fire in his thighs went out,
while I grew hotter with unearthly love.
It was the only way I knew to speak our love's proud name,
to tell him of my long devotion, my desire, my dread--
something we had never talked about. My spear, wet with blood,
his dear, broken body all open wounds,
and in each wound his side, his back,
his mouth -- I came and came and came

as if each coming was my last.
And then the miracle possessed us.
I felt him enter into me, and fiercely spend
his spirit's final seed within my hole, my soul,
pulse upon pulse, unto the ends of the earth--
he crucified me with him into kingdom come.

--This is the passionate and blissful crucifixion
same-sex lovers suffer, patiently and gladly.
They inflict these loving injuries of joy and grace
one upon the other, till they die of lust and pain
within the horny paradise of one another's limbs,
with one voice cry to heaven in a last divine release.

Then lie long together, peacefully entwined, with hope
of resurrection, as we did, on that green hill far away.
But before we rose again, they came and took him from me.
They knew not what we had done, but felt
no shame or anger. Rather they were gald for us,
and blessed us, as would he, who loved all men.

And after three long, lonely days, like years,
in which I roamed the gardens of my grief
seeking for him, my one friend who had gone from me,
he rose from sleep, at dawn, and showed himself to me before
all others. And took me to him with
the love that now forever dares to speak its name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitehouse_v_Lemon

Churchill advocating the initiation of gas warfare in World War II

“It is absurd to consider morality on this topic when everybody used it in the last war without a word of complaint from the moralists or the Church. On the other hand, in the last war the bombing of open cities was regarded as forbidden. Now everybody does it as a matter of course. It is simply a question of fashion changing as she does between long and short skirts for women.”

--Winston Churchill, as quoted by Barton J. Bernstein in “Why We Didn’t Use Poison Gas in World War II,” American Heritage, 1985 August/September

Poison gas in World War I

“From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Mustard gas did not need to be inhaled to be effective — any contact with skin was sufficient. Exposure to 0.1 ppm was enough to cause massive blisters. Higher concentrations could burn flesh to the bone. It was particularly effective against the soft skin of the eyes, nose, armpits and groin, since it dissolved in the natural moisture of those areas.”

Canadian soldier with mustard gas burns

ca. 1917

“Chapter XVI: Practical Hints for Treasure Seekers”

“If one is unable to finance an expedition aboard a swift, black-hulled schooner, it is always possible to dig for the treasure of poor Captain Kidd and it is really a matter of small importance that he left no treasure in his wake. The zest of the game is in seeking. A pick and a shovel are to be obtained in the wood-shed or can be purchased at the nearest hardware store for a modest outlay. A pirate's chart is to be highly esteemed, but if the genuine article cannot be found, there are elderly seafaring men in every port who will furnish one just as good and perjure themselves as to the information thereof with all the cheerfulness in the world.”

--Ralph D. Paine, The Book of Buried Treasure, 1911

Cuba - Fidel, Che, Hemingway

“There’s a strange secular trinity in Cuba: Fidel is the Holy Father, Che is the martyred son, and Hemingway is the mysterious but powerful Holy Ghost.”

--David Lansing, “Papa’s story changes at Finca La Vigía,” 2009 March 19

The Toblerone Line

“Despite the effort put into building the line over several years, the Swiss, lacking sufficient modern weaponry, and having seen the methods used on European battlefields, were under no illusion that they had built an impregnable barrier. The best they could hope for was to make the enemy pay dearly for any victory. It was considerably less obvious in 1940 than it is today that Hitler would not invade, especially after German troops had swept into neutral Belgium and neutral Norway.”

--http://www.toblerones.ch/en/cadre.htm

after you've bought ten swampy acres of cutover forest in Michigan, and the idyllic version we often imagine (yours is not a country background; most people's isn't)

“In our imaginations, as well as in our literature, we often carry an image of life in the country that is a conglomeration of our favorite fantasies. We see a 'little place in the country' as the best reward for a life of city labor in 'commerce,' and as the realization of our deeply-felt hopes for what a pleasant life should be. Somehow we regard country life as more complete than city life, its pleasures more natural and its rhythms more in tune with the seasons and with the earth. Country vs. city has been a standard literary conflict for hundreds of years; and almost always it is country life that wins the tussle....

“Today as we look at our cities we really do find an appalling situation. In older, more established places like Philadelphia we find an inner city area where murder is commonplace and where huge blocks of buildings stand abandoned and condemned. In more 'futuristic' cities such as Los Angeles the inhabitants have escaped the concentration of a central area, but the result is that they move about enclosed in small glass and steel cubicles, isolated from a polluted sky, from the earth and from each other. The great freeways, built to promote speedy transport, developed traffic jams that often return the traveler to something slower than the speed of grandpa's horse and buggy.

“The effect of this urban deterioration is to disenchant us with city life, and to bolster our image of the country as an escape--as an ideal, 'natural' way of life. Removed as most of us are from the realities of rural living, we cling to a fantasy version of 'life on the land,' even embellishing the benefits of the country to the level of poetry. The dirt and dangers of city life take a poor second place to the imagined pleasures of the white farmhouse on a country lane....

“How To Tell If Homesteading Is For You

“Try to look at yourself objectively. If you grew up in Paramus, New Jersey and have had no experience with country living, ask yourself: Why do I want to leave the kind of life I am living? What am I really looking for in the country? Make a list of the rewards you expect. Especially, tote up what talents or interests you have that you think will enable you to live happily in the new and foreign environment.

“Answering difficult questions like these (and others discussed later) is important, and doing so early on in your thinking may save you misery and money later on. Many city people do need a change or move, but they don't necessarily need to move to rural Maine or British Columbia. If, on the one hand, yours is not a country background (and most people's isn't), you will have much to learn, and to give up. You have, in other words, every reason to assume that you would not be happy as a homesteader.

“On the other hand, you may discover you are genuinely frustrated by not being a homesteader (which you probably knew long ago). In any case, take a very long look at your motives. Look at your skills, your ability with tools, your preferences for entertainment, and your opinion on weeding gardens. The best time for having second thoughts is while you're still contemplating the trade-in value of your green Cadillac, not after you've bought ten swampy acres of cutover forest in Michigan....

“This chapter has emphasized not the pleasures and rewards of homesteading, but the hard work and care required in beginning this kind of country life. The reason is this: It is very easy to drive through the country and find the white farmhouse and red barn that seem the epitome of country life. It is far better to realize that this quaint country place likely has no plumbing, no central heating, has sagging floors and rotted sills, poor insulation, and a damp cellar. It is likely to have no adequate water supply. The land around it may be eroded or pocked with rusty farm machinery hidden in the weeds. Out back may be a rotted and sagging barn and the remains of an old fruit orchard. This bleak picture probably is an exaggeration, but it is no more extreme than the idyllic version we often imagine.”


--David E. Robinson, The Complete Homesteading Book: Proven Methods for Self-Sufficient Living, 1974, illustrated by Paula Savastano

the felt tents of his encampment

“In the 1190s a young and somewhat embittered Mongol who had become khan of his people began to seek revenge for slights and injuries to them by the Tatars (another nomadic nation). Within a few years he was accepted by all the Mongol tribes as their 'universal khan,' or, in their own tongue, 'Chinghis Khan.' Mispronounced in Arabic, this name became 'Genghis Khan' to Europeans. He proved to be the greatest conqueror the world has ever seen, terrorizing Europe and Asia alike. But Chinghis also built up something much more like a true empire than any other nomad chief, even though its only capital was the felt tents of his encampment....

“The unity of Chinghis Khan's empire had given way to a loose connexion of khanates ruled independently by Mongol princes, but with much in common. A sort of Mongol federation stretched at its greatest extent over something like a sixth of the old world's land surface. Its communications were good and well policed and the Mongols made intelligent use of their conquered subjects. They enlisted them in their armies, while Chinghis used Chinese civil servants to run his taxation system and borrowed the Turkish script in order to write down the Mongol language.... The Great Khans came to see themselves as somewhat like Chinese emperors. They expected other peoples to pay them tribute, not to negotiate with them as equals, and believed they exercised a universal monarchy on behalf of their own sky god. Yet they were tolerant in religion and the diversity of belief at the Mongol court impressed Christians.”


--J.M. Roberts, A Short History of the World, 1993

if you examine it closely

“The history of ideas is a history of gradually discarding the assumption that it's all about us. No, it turns out, the earth is not the center of the universe—not even the center of the solar system. No, it turns out, humans are not created by God in his own image; they're just one species among many, descended not merely from apes, but from microorganisms. Even the concept of 'me' turns out to be fuzzy around the edges if you examine it closely.”

--Paul Graham, “See Randomness,” 2006 April

American Soldiers Committing Murder, Rape, War Atrocity, and the Rare Heroism of Hugh Thompson

Vietnam, Son Tinh, My Lai

1968 March 16

photo by Ronald L. Haeberle

"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Warrant Officer One Hugh Thompson, Jr., a helicopter pilot from an aero-scout team, witnessed a large number of dead and dying civilians as he began flying over the village — all of them infants, children, women and old men, with no signs of draft-age men or weapons anywhere. Thompson and his crew witnessed an unarmed passive woman kicked and shot at point-blank range by Captain Medina. The crew made several attempts to radio for help for the wounded. They landed their helicopter by a ditch, which they noted was full of bodies and in which there was movement. Thompson asked a sergeant he encountered there (David Mitchell of the 1st Platoon) if he could help get the people out of the ditch, and the sergeant replied that he would 'help them out of their misery'. Thompson, shocked and confused, then had a conversation with Second Lieutenant Calley, Platoon Leader of 1st Platoon, who claimed to be 'just following orders'. As the helicopter took off, they saw Mitchell firing into the ditch.

"Thompson then saw a group of civilians (again consisting of children, women and old men) at a bunker being approached by ground personnel. Thompson landed and told his crew that if the U.S. soldiers shot at the Vietnamese while he was trying to get them out of the bunker that they were to open fire at these soldiers. Thompson later testified that he spoke with a lieutenant (identified as Stephen Brooks of the 2nd Platoon) and told him there were women and children in the bunker, and asked if the lieutenant would help get them out. According to Thompson, 'he [the lieutenant] said the only way to get them out was with a hand grenade'. Thompson testified that he then told Brooks to 'just hold your men right where they are, and I'll get the kids out'. He found 12 to 16 people in the bunker, coaxed them out and led them to the helicopter, standing with them while they were flown out in two groups.

"Returning to My Lai, Thompson and other air crew members noticed several large groups of bodies. Spotting some survivors in the ditch Thompson landed again and one of the crew members entered the ditch. The crew member returned with a bloodied but apparently unharmed child who was flown to safety. Thompson then reported what he had seen to his company commander, Major Frederic W. Watke, using terms such as 'murder' and 'needless and unnecessary killings'. Thompson's reports were confirmed by other pilots and air crew.

"For their actions Thompson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and his crew were awarded Bronze Star medals. In 1998, their medals were replaced by the Soldier's Medal, 'the highest the US Army can award for bravery not involving direct conflict with the enemy.' The medal citations said they were being awarded 'for heroism above and beyond the call of duty while saving the lives of at least 10 Vietnamese civilians during the unlawful massacre of non-combatants by American forces at My Lai'. The veterans also made contact with the survivors of My Lai."

how cultural that is

“One morning, while applying bug repellent, I was watched by an older Pirahã man, who asked Everett what I was doing. Eager to communicate with him in sign language, I pressed together the thumb and index finger of my right hand and weaved them through the air while making a buzzing sound with my mouth. Then I brought my fingers to my forearm and slapped the spot where my fingers had alighted. The man looked puzzled and said to Everett, 'He hit himself.' I tried again—this time making a more insistent buzzing. The man said to Everett, 'A plane landed on his arm.' When Everett explained to him what I was doing, the man studied me with a look of pitying contempt, then turned away. Everett laughed. 'You were trying to tell him something about your general state—that bugs bother you,' he said. 'They never talk that way, and they could never understand it. Bugs are a part of life.'

“'O.K.,' I said. 'But I’m surprised he didn’t know I was imitating an insect.'

“'Think of how cultural that is,' Everett said. 'The movement of your hand. The sound. Even the way we represent animals is cultural.'”


--John Colapinto, “The Interpreter: Has a remote Amazonian tribe upended our understanding of language?”, The New Yorker, 2007 April 16

2010 Flood

“Kevin Tobosa sent a message to the members of Fargo - Moorhead Flood Volunteer Network.

“Subject: 2010 Flood Information Channels

“With the spring thaw nearing, FirstLink is preparing to coordinate volunteers to assist with a potential flood fight and response efforts. In addition to our Volunteer Hotline, FirstLink will once again use social and mobile media to help with sharing information, mobilization efforts and engaging volunteers.

“Facebook users, please note that in order to streamline our process this year, flood volunteer information will be distributed through FirstLink’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/myfirstlink

“Residents are encouraged to use the following channels to receive official volunteer and flood related information directly from FirstLink:

“Volunteer Hotline: 701-476-4000
Facebook: www.facebook.com/myfirstlink
Twitter: www.twitter.com/myfirstlink
Text Messages: Simply text 'myfirstlink' to 84074 to subscribe (standard messaging rates may apply)”

http://www.myfirstlink.org/

Dharma Bums VIII

"'Bang! Come on, you girls! gimps! punks! thieves! pimps! hangmen! Run!' Then I suddenly had the most tremendous feeling of the pitifulness of human beings, whatever they were, their faces, pained mouths, personalities, attempts to be gay, little petulances, feelings of loss, their dull and empty witticisms so soon forgotten."

--Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums, 1958

Happy Valentine's Day

"Threesomes Within a Christian Marriage"

Also of note:
"Fisting and God's Will"

Critics

"When most people talk about 'critics' they're talking about professional critics, whose job is to write movie reviews that you disagree with. The function of professional critics is to make us feel good about ourselves for being smarter at evaluating movies than an official critic....

"You can't argue with the numbers. If you were to take a list of movies and rate them either good or bad, you would find at the end that you were 100% correct."


--"Criticism," Cracked.com

Alert From Mongolia

Message from Konchog:

"Hello everyone,

"I'm writing to all my friends who are in some way connected to Mongolia. As I'm sure you're aware, the Mongolian herders and animals are suffering through an unusually terrible dzud this year. Today, Shambhala Sun was kind enough to publish a guest post of mine on the subject and feature it on their front page. I hope you might take a moment to read it, and help spread the word to those who care about our friends in the countryside who are really struggling now. I've been soliciting funds for the Cambridge Mongolian Development Appeal (CAMDA), who are on the ground in Mongolia providing direct relief right now, but you may have another organization you support. In any case, it's urgent, so thank you for listening and telling your friends. There are some more details at my blog (link below) and that's where I'll post CAMDA updates.

"All the best to you,

"Konchog

"Blog: Bitterroot Badger"

Merry Super Bowl

“It's become a de facto national holiday. Super Bowl Sunday and New Year's Eve are the two biggest party days in the United States, and probably in that order.”

--Peter Schwartz, quoted by Eliott C. McLaughlin at CNN.com

North Dakota in black and white

photo from Katie

North Dakota in color

photo from Katie

the majority

“Life for the majority of the population is an unlovely struggle against unfair odds, culminating in a cheap funeral.”

--Siegfried Sassoon, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, 1930

flung at random

“The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random among the profusion of the earth and the galaxies, but that in this prison we can fashion images sufficiently powerful to deny our nothingness.”

--Andre Malraux

go lull yourself

And go lull yourself with what you can understand, and with piano-tunes,
For I lull nobody, and you will never understand me.

--Walt Whitman, “To a Certain Civilian,” Leaves of Grass

Under the Influence: Masters of the Universe Art Show at Gallery 1988, Los Angeles

Battle for the Master of the Universe

Allison Reimold

Fearless Predator

Eric Tan

Master of His Universe

John Rozum

Skeletor was OG

Meggs

I Am the Master of the Universe

Jason Hernandez

Gallery 1988

http://ihavethepowerart.blogspot.com/

Chinese birthday candle from Corrie in UB

Cold

illustration in Van Loon's Geography: The Story of the World We Live In

Hendrik van Loon

1882-1944 Dutch/American

The Hideously Arrogant Desire to Preserve the Cultures of Poor Countries Against the Influence of the Cultures of Rich Countries as Living Ethnographical Museums for Citizens of the Rich Countries to Visit

“One afternoon, in the early spring of 1993, a young American Peace Corps volunteer in a north central town of Mongolia expressed to her Mongol friend, as they walked down the town's main street together, a sense of disappointment that local Mongols were learning modern Western dances soon to be demonstrated in a public performance. She animatedly explained that she personally liked traditional Mongol dances, had learned some herself, and thought that it was inappropriate for Mongols to learn modern dances. Like many Westerners, this young American had a certain vision of the Mongols that the incursions of modernity, in this case forms of modern pop dancing, threatened. Her tone and the way she addressed her Mongol acquaintance suggested that she knew what the Mongols should do based on her authority as an American.”

--Kevin Stuart, Mongols in Western/American Consciousness, 1997

Mine-golia

Solitude

"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Once a certain capacity to resist distractions is achieved, people become less sensitive to distractions and more capable of maintaining mindfulness and staying inwardly absorbed and concentrated. Such people, unless on a mission of helping others, don't seek any interaction with the external physical world. Their mindfulness is their world, at least ostensibly."

www.TheSteppe.com

Live in Russia

Search for “Russia” on Google Images, and after a photo of St. Basil's Cathedral and a map of the country, this is the third image that's returned:

http://englishrussia.com/?p=894#comments

“It’s not really like that, we only wear gas masks half the time.”

The Machine Gun in World War I

“The machine gun had been a symbol of European dominance over distant, alien and despised peoples in Africa and Asia.... By the second decade of the twentieth century, the machine gun had become a means whereby those societies that felt they shared the highest values of civilization, religion, philosophy, science, culture, literature, art, music and a love of nature, were able to continue to bleed each other barbarically year after year.”

--Martin Gilbert, The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War, 2006

J.R.R. Tolkien: World War I British second lieutenant

“It seems now often forgotten that to be caught by youth in 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead.”
--J.R.R. Tolkien, introduction to the second edition of The Lord of the Rings

“The Dead Marshes and the approaches to the Morannon owe something to Northern France after the Battle of the Somme.”
--J.R.R. Tolkien

“Hurrying forward again, Sam tripped, catching his foot in some old root or tussock. He fell and came heavily on his hands, which sank deep into sticky ooze, so that his face was brought close to the surface of the dark mere. There was a faint hiss, a noisome smell went up, the lights flickered and danced and swirled. For a moment the water below him looked like some window, glazed with grimy glass, through which he was peering. Wrenching his hands out of the bog, he sprang back with a cry. 'There are dead things, dead faces in the water,' he said with horror.

“'Dead faces!' Gollum laughed. 'The Dead Marshes, yes, yes: that is their name,' he cackled.”
--J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

World War I

On the firestep in the trenches during the night, you could hear the groaning of the dying — but you couldn't go out to help them. There were rats feeding on their flesh. They were dying there, dying in misery and pain, and the rats were nibbling away at their flesh.
--Cecil Withers, British private

The air in the dugout is so foul that I sit by the entrance. Walter Mayer and Hendrich from my squad sit next to me. Hendrich has completely lost his composure. He is down on his knees and prays. Mayer loses all patience. He tells him off. In this situation a prayer is senseless... Our roof is blown apart by a 28 cm shell. Because I am sitting by the entrance, I am left unscathed, just shoved inside. Most of the men are dead.
--Walter Pechtold, German soldier

The appearance of the trench is atrocious... In places pools of blood. On the protective wall, in the communication trench, stiff corpses covered with tent canvas... An unbearable stench poisons the air... I have not slept for 72 hours. It is raining.
--Charles Delvert, French infantry captain

When we started firing we just had to load and reload. They went down in their hundreds. You didn't have to aim, we just fired into them.
--German machine gunner

The first thing I saw were two legs sticking out of the ground... There was a skull high up in a tree and helmets with bits of head in them...
--John Masefield, British visitor to the front

Some injured men are able to drag themselves to the rear, the one supporting the other, some using their rifles as crutches. Stretcher-bearers follow them in single file, carrying their burdens of suffering... Oh! The terrible explosion! With infernal violence, a shell bursts right amongst this mob and hideously tears it to pieces.
--Thellier de Poncheville, French soldier

Soon a fresh gun gets through the fire to the front. They are selected soldiers. But by midday they, too, are finished. One of them, bleeding, comes to us. The men are so apathetic that they cannot bring themselves to bandage the man.
--Walter Pechtold, German soldier

All day long they lie there, being decimated, getting themselves killed next to the bodies of those killed earlier.
--French officer

The men often cannot eat in the forward lines because of the smell of corpses, and they cannot sleep either.
--Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand, German commander

Shrieks of agony and groans all around me... All about me are bits of men and ghastly mixtures of cloth and blood.
--Anthony R. Hossack, British soldier

These are horrendous days... The infantry have lost about half their men, if not more. Some of those who have survived are no longer human beings, but creatures who are at the end of their tether...
--Albrecht von Thaer, German lieutenant-colonel

I can still see the bewilderment and fear on the men's faces when we went over the top. All over the battlefield, the wounded were lying there — English and German, all asking for help... You couldn't help them. I came across a Cornishman, ripped from shoulder to waist with shrapnel, his stomach on the ground beside him in a pool of blood.
--Harry Patch, British private

Among the living lay the dead. As we dug ourselves in, we found them in layers stacked on top of one another. One company after another had been shoved into the drum-fire and steadily annihilated.
--Ernst Junger, German officer

What a slaughter. Hell cannot be this dreadful.
--Alfred Joubaire, French lieutenant

I saw men dead from exhaustion from their efforts to get out of the mud... We were pitchforked into a quagmire in the dark and there was no possibility of a man helping the one next to him... It was the worst instance I came across of what appeared to be a cruel useless sacrifice of life.
--L.W. Kentish, British officer

Under no circumstances must we relax our effort, and we must retain the offensive.
--Douglas Haig, British commander

hand

decomposed German soldier

legless dead French soldier

dead American soldiers

wounded British soldier

sources:
Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War by Alan Kramer, 2007
The Faces of World War I: The Great War in Words and Pictures by Max Arthur, 2007
The Pity of War: Explaining World War I by Niall Ferguson, 1998
The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War by Martin Gilbert, 2006

photographs from Corbis, Getty Images, and the Imperial War Museum London

World War I flyers

skull with aviator's helmet and goggles and German 50-mark note between the teeth as a symbol of the cheapness of an aviator's life

Take the manifold out of my back
Take the crankshaft out of my brain
Take the pistons out of my stomach
And assemble the fucking engine again

--World War I aviators' song