Young Mongolian American Professionals

“To unite Mongolian-American active professionals across the United States and Mongolia by providing development and information sharing opportunities to create positive change to the community.”

YMAPUSA.org

Happy Hajj

Muhammad at the Kaaba

illustration in Siyer-i Nebi (The Life of the Prophet)

ca. 1595 Ottoman

like the despairing sounds of futile existence

"Short films are lithe and trim athletes; TV series and feature films, meanwhile, are colossal lardarses: their bodies great acres of blubber, their pendulous jowls resembling saggy, blue-veined buttocks, their limbs ever-shifting oceans of lumpy porridge, their sugar-encrusted maws forever agape as they release low, continuous bellows directed at the heavens like the despairing sounds of futile existence."

--Toon Zone, "Toons of the 2000s: Top 5 Animated Shorts," 2009 November 23

Haditha Massacre

On 2005 November 19, in the city of Haditha in Iraq, United States Marines murdered 24 people, many of them children.

Abdul Hamid Hassan Ali, 76 - grandfather, father, husband
Khamisa Tuma Ali, 66 - wife
Walid Abdul Hamid Hassan, 35
Jahid Abdul Hamid Hassan, middle-aged
Asma Salman Rasif, 32
Rashid Abdul Hamid, 30
Abdullah Walid, 4
Younis Salim Khafif, 43 - husband, father
Aida Yasin Ahmed, 41 - wife, mother
Noor Younis Salim, 14 - daughter
Sabaa Younis Salim, 10 - daughter
Muhammad Younis Salim, 8 - son
Zainab Younis Salim, 5 - daughter
Aisha Younis Salim, 3 - daughter
girl, 1
Jamal Ahmed, 41 - brother
Marwan Ahmed, 28 - brother
Chasib Ahmed, 27 - brother
Qahtan Ahmed, 24 - brother
Ahmed Khidher - taxi driver
Akram Hamid Flayeh - university student
Khalid Ayada al-Zawi - university student
Wajdi Ayada al-Zawi - university student
Mohammed Battal Mahmoud - university student

Edurelief: Laptops for Teachers

"We are proud to announce that Edurelief has just launched an exciting new program in our ongoing endeavor to promote education in Mongolia. Laptops for Teachers is a program that provides teachers with laptops at 0% interest loans to aid them in their efforts of educating Mongolia's youth. We've been dreaming about this program for a long time and are beside ourselves with excitement that it is finally happening. We delivered our very first laptop this month and are working hard to put together a pilot program for 10 other teachers. We've never seen 10 applicant spots fill so fast, demand is huge.

"Meet Natsagdorj, the first teacher to benefit from our Laptops for Teachers program. Natsagdorj is a 62-year-old Mongolian language teacher and one of only two teachers in the entire country that has a doctorate in teaching Traditional Mongolian Script. Natsagdorj has had a great need for a laptop to continue his research and textbook writing so he can pass his knowledge onto other teachers and students but until becoming a part Edurelief's Laptops for Teachers program, was unable to afford one. Thanks to our 0% interest loan and the ability to pay over an extended period of time, he chose to split up his payments over the next six months and has already started working on a new textbook. It is our hope that with seed money from investors we will be able to provide many more teachers in Mongolia with laptops and thus vastly improving their ability to prepare lessons, share curriculum, and promote education.

"Help us invest in Mongolian education by helping teachers to purchase laptops. These teachers are working face-to-face with children daily and being able to do research, plan lessons, and write and share curriculum makes a huge impact on the development of education. A $500 donation covers the cost of a new laptop, as well as shipping and customs fees related to getting the laptop into the hands of a teacher. This cost is still well below market price in Mongolia and since teachers can split up their loan into as many as 12 monthly payments it's an opportunity that many will benefit from. After the loan is fully repaid we simply use those funds to purchase another laptop. What does this mean for you? It means that over the course of several years, your $500 donation is reused over and over again, aiding teachers and promoting education in Mongolia. Help make a difference today, invest in a teacher."

--Edurelief Staff

http://www.edurelief.org/updates/1109.html

http://www.edurelief.org/

Lord Dunsany's Chess

Chess variant by the British weird-fiction writer Lord Dunsany:

http://www.pathguy.com/chess/Dunsany.htm

tree in Bogd Khan Uul Strictly Protected Area

photo from Corrie

We are speaking on this occasion, not as members of this or that nation, continent, or creed, but as human beings

"Remember your humanity, and forget the rest."

--The Russell-Einstein Manifesto

all collapsed

"All collapsed, and the great shroud of the sea rolled on as it rolled five thousand years ago."

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

deviantART.com

"Joy" by Tomi Joy

"Bridesmaid" by Sara H

"CDR photo re-touch" by christiane robinson

"Never Hesitate" by jenni tapanila

"ocean 118" by Hengki Koentjoro

deviantART.com

Whiskey River

Whiskey River, don't run dry
You're all I got to take care of me

--Johnny Bush, "Whiskey River"

red piranha (Serrasalmus rhombeus)

"THE MADNESS OF CROWDS

"One morning, deep in the Amazon jungle, a native woman cut her hand while washing clothes on the flat stones set in the bank of the small stream bordering her village. Forgetful, she waded into the dark water to wash away the blood. Suddenly, the stream came alive, churning with piranhas in a hungry frenzy. Hearing her screams, the villagers rushed to her rescue, but in the brief moment it took to reach her, these ferocious fish had reduced her body to shreds. Hundreds such stories are told of the fanatical fury of these fish, but oddly, the piranha in captivity undergoes a strange transformation, and becomes almost a different fish. Alone or with only one or two others, it becomes nervous and jittery, easily frightened by a sudden movement outside the aquarium tank. Still capable of slicing a piece off another fish in the tank, the lonely piranha seldom demonstrates the boldness it possesses when surrounded by others of its kind."

--Animal World in Color, Volume 8 - Hunters: Birds, Fish, and Amphibians, edited by Maurice Burton, Childrens Press: Chicago, 1969

piranha or caribe (Serrasalmus piraya)

"BLOODY BUTCHER OF THE RIVERS

"The most ferocious of all living creatures exists not on land, but in the fresh waters of South American rivers. It is the much-dreaded piranha or caribe, that is irresistibly attracted to blood. No animal, however big, or even a man attempting to ford a piranha-infested stream, can hope to survive if their skin is even slightly scratched. The piranha will instantly attack, and scores, even hundreds of its kind, will rush to the kill, literally slicing their victim to shreds in a matter of minutes. An authentic instance occurred in eastern Brazil, where a horse including its saddle was destroyed in five minutes. This butchery is easy for the killer because its teeth are serrated and sharp enough to cut through flesh and sinew at one snap. Even if a victim drags himself ashore, the piranha still clings, viciously biting to the last moment of its life. Anglers fishing for piranha, for the sake of its delicate flesh, have to use a specially strong hook and line. Ordinary tackle would be snapped like cotton."

--Animal World in Color, Volume 8 - Hunters: Birds, Fish, and Amphibians, edited by Maurice Burton, Childrens Press: Chicago, 1969

Urangoo Baatarkhuyag needs helps to fight leukemia

"Urangoo Baatarkhuyag was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia on Sept 5, 2009. She came to Provo, Utah from Mongolia when she was just 18 years old to attend Utah Valley University. A little less than a year ago, she was awarded a Bachelor's degree in Engineering/Drafting and graduated with honors....

"The blood test results showed leukemia cancer cells spread in the blood stream and deteriorated her immunity. After chemotherapy treatments during these last few days at the LDS hospital in Salt Lake City, the cancerous cells are still found active and further damaged the chromosomes. She is predicted to live few months unless she undergoes an immediate bone marrow transplant which is an extremely expensive procedure....

"She has about 60% survival rate if the procedure is carried out. Our goal is to raise $350,000 to cover the initial cost. She needs our help and generosity to live and smile again. Please, give her the gift of life and donate what you can; every dollar will count and make a difference. Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity."

http://saveuvugirl.blogspot.com/

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=8505904

clear as water, stiff as earth, high as a rock when the hour nears

Oh, I am drunk
When the hour nears, you will die within a day and a night
The body as soft as cotton and then as hard as wood
Your eyes clear as water and stiff as earth
Your belongings heaped up high as a rock
Will be covered with dust
The very dearest and closest friends turn into demons
Your serenity, burning like fire will collapse like ash...
Your fame like the wind will fade, like the rainbow
And one will throw away like an old fur
What you have treasured like gold

--Danzan Ravjaa, in History of Mongolian Literature by Walther Heissig

nothing is momentous; soon

"Practically all writers and artists are aware of their destiny and see themselves as actors in a fateful drama. With me, nothing is momentous: obscure youth, glorious old age, fateful coincidences--nothing really matters. I have written a number of good sentences. I have kept free of delusions. I know I am going to die soon."

--Eric Hoffer, 1977

Happy Guy Fawkes Night

Blow up the government!

Ways to Celebrate Halloween

"Egg or toilet paper your own house, then, stand outside and angrily blame it on every innocent person who walks by.

"Gather some friends and go Halloween caroling. Instead of singing Christmas songs, knock on doors and try out an A cappella version of Cypress Hill's 'Insane In The Brain.'

"Wait at home for trick or treaters and instead of giving out candy, hold out a big bowl filled with some delicious punch. They have no cups! What are they gonna do without cups? Hilarious."

--PDX Magazine, 2008 October

First Lovecraft Reading in Mongolia

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL at Cafe Amsterdam in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia:
H.P. Lovecraft Horror Stories as read by Radigan Neuhalfen

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
--H.P. Lovecraft

Thrill to a selection of H.P. Lovecraft's sanity-shattering horror stories in a special Halloween live reading by Radigan Neuhalfen.

H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) is the most influential American horror writer of the Twentieth Century and the acknowledged heir to Edgar Allan Poe. Through his stories, which blended gothic horror with elements of science fiction, Lovecraft presented a stark and compelling view of the universe as something incomprehensibly and horrifyingly vast, within which great forces operate that are essentially indifferent--and perhaps even malignant--towards humanity, a view that has come to be known as "cosmic horror."

Everybody is welcome Wednesday October 28 at 8PM in Cafe Amsterdam for a very special and thrilling evening.

With every influx of light comes new danger.

"Or do men desire the more substantial and permanent grandeur of genius? Neither has this an immunity. He who by force of will or of thought is great and overlooks thousands, has the responsibility of overlooking. With every influx of light comes new danger. Has he light?--he must bear witness to the light, and always outrun that sympathy which gives him such keen satisfaction, by his fidelity to new revelations of the incessant soul. He must hate father and mother, wife and child. Has he all that the world loves and admires and covets?--he must cast behind him their admiration and afflict them by faithfulness to his truth and become a byword and a hissing."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Compensation," Essays, 1841

Norsk Høstfest

www.Hostfest.com

imponderable thoughts

"Oh! how immaterial are all materials! What things real are there, but imponderable thoughts?"

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

www.TheSteppe.com

"Calvin and Hobbes": a Critique of Society's Values

"Although ethical discussions are not a particularly popular subject for the mass media, many people who might rarely, if ever, have been exposed to ethical arguments (much less challenged by them) were exposed to them through this comic strip."

--Alisa White Coleman, "'Calvin and Hobbes': a Critique of Society's Values," Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 2000

New Blog by a Badger in a Buddhist Center in Bozeman, Montana

Bitterroot Badger's Bozeman Buddhist Blog

Charismatic Cults

In defining Max Weber's concept of "Charismatic Authority," you cannot go wrong in providing Jesus and Hitler as your only two visual examples:

"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"In his writings about charismatic authority, Weber applies the term charisma to 'a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These are such as are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader...' (Maximilian Weber, Theory of Social and Economic Organization, 1922, translated by A.R. Anderson and Talcott Parsons, 1947)

"Jesus is considered by scholars such as Weber to be an example of a charismatic religious leader.

"Hitler is also considered to be an example of a charismatic leader."

will one day cause great changes in the world

“Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world. Americans are the western pilgrims, who are carrying along with them that great mass of arts, sciences, vigour, and industry which began long since in the East; they will finish the great circle.”

--Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, “What is an American?”, Letters from an American Farmer, 1782

Myths and Legends of the Swahili

My favorite stories from Myths and Legends of the Swahili by Jan Knappert, copyright 1970, published by Heinemann Educational Books: London, Nairobi, Ibadan, Lusaka:


THE RIVER SPIRIT
A man was travelling along a river; when evening came he sat down for a rest. Suddenly, a spirit flew down from a tree and knocked him on the head. The spirit lifted him up like a dead branch and carried him across the river. There he put him down. The man found himself in a city where all the houses were made of gold. In one of these houses the door was open and a beautiful girl was awaiting him. She welcomed him and he had a wonderful time with her. After some days he felt dizzy in the head. He went to a doctor who gave him medicine to drink. He fell asleep, and when he woke up he was again sitting near the bank of the river.


THE WOMAN IN THE BUSH
A certain traveller was on safari in the wilderness, and when night fell he saw no town or village. So he decided to sleep in the bush. As soon as he was asleep, a hyena arrived and started to drag him away by his cloak. He woke up, and when he saw the hyena he leapt up and ran away. He saw a house, went in and shut the door. At first it was dark, then he saw two little flames, then a woman with two candles. She was very beautiful, she smiled and bid him welcome. She gave him a copious meal of meat and fruits; then they slept. The traveller spent many weeks with the good woman and they were very happy. At last the traveller had to go back to his town and his business. He said good-bye to his hostess, and asked her what her name was, so that when he wanted to come back he could ask the people on the road how to find her house. She said: “I am the Hyena.”


THREE DREAMS
Three men were travelling in the wilderness when they discovered they had only one loaf of bread left. They decided it would not be enough for the three of them, so they made an agreement that one man would have all the bread. After much discussion they decided it should be the one who would have the best dream that night.

They settled down for the night, and two of them slept at once. The third one could not sleep as he was plagued by hunger. So he got up and ate the bread. All of it. The next morning his companions rose early and he pretended to be emerging from profound dreams. He asked them at once what dreams they had had.

The first one said: “I dreamt that I saw a golden ladder rising up into the sky. I climbed it, up and up and up, until I reached the gate of Paradise. The gate was at once opened by a beautiful angel who took me by the hand and led me to a hall where there was music and food and feasting. And I was told I could stay there for ever. Alas, it was only a dream.”

The second one said: “I dreamt that an ugly devil arrived, seized me and dragged me down into Hell through a hole in the ground. There, I was locked in chains and shackles and beaten with iron rods. Oh, it was horrible. Thank God it was only a dream. The worst was that I was told I would stay there for all eternity.”

Now the man who had eaten the bread told his companions: “I dreamt that an angel came to me and asked me: 'Have you seen what has happened to your friends?' I said no, I have not. So the angel took me by the hand and flew with me, up towards the stars and into Heaven. There we entered a hall where musicians were playing and where people were eating and feasting, and there I saw you, my friend, sitting on a golden throne and surrounded by beautiful angels. I was then told that you would be staying there until the end of time.

“Next, the angel took me down, down, past the stars and the clouds and into the ground through a narrow passage, until we arrived in Hell. There I saw you, hanging in chains and shackles and being beaten by ugly devils. And I was told you would stay there and never get out. So when I came back here, knowing that neither of you would return, I ate the bread.”

The Dukes of Hazzard at Cracked

"The Dukes of Hazzard was a long-running CBS television show starring a 1969 Dodge Charger and Catherine Bach's ass in short shorts....

"The Duke boys were constantly involved in car chases with the law, even though the authorities chasing them knew exactly who they were and where they lived....

"Sorrell Booke graduated from both Yale and Columbia universities, served the U.S. during the Korean War as a counterintelligence officer, fluently spoke five languages, and once conducted the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Naturally, he is best known for playing Boss Hogg, a greedy fatass in white polyester."

--http://www.cracked.com/funny-526-dukes-hazzard/

Health Care

"What Americans often consider a single unique system of health care is an illusion: we exist in a sea of not-so-unique alternatives. Like the citizens of Germany and Japan, workers in the United States share insurance premiums with an employer. Like Canadians, our older, destitute and disabled citizens see private providers with the government paying. Like the British, military veterans and Native Americans receive care in government facilities with the government paying the tab. And like the poor around the world, our uninsured pay cash, finagle charity care, or stay home."

--Abigail Zuger, "One Injury, 10 Countries: A Journey in Health Care," New York Times, 2009 September 14, review of The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care by T.R. Reid

Lovecraft Film Festival

Oregon, Portland, Hollywood Theatre

2009 October 2-4

Founded in 1995, the "H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival promotes the works of H.P. Lovecraft, literary horror, and weird tales through the cinematic adaptations by professional and amateur filmmakers."

www.hplfilmfestival.com

"The only festival that understands."

if you ponder

"You can't appreciate the beauty of a rose if you ponder that the color red is just the brain's interpretation of a specific wavelength of light with crests that are roughly 700 nanometers apart."

--Joel Achenbach, "The Power of Light," National Geographic, 2001 October

photograph by jules

one must be

"To cut oneself entirely from one's kind is impossible. To live in a desert one must be a saint."

--Joseph Conrad, Under Western Eyes, 1911

www.TheSteppe.com

a spiritual culture

"'Art is a spiritual culture whose best conceptions are never brought down to the physical plane.' This may have been esoteric philosophy, or it may have been an excuse for indolence--of that intellectual kind that often accompanies great powers."

--Julian Hawthorne, "The Delusion of Ralph Penwyn," 1909

American Samoa

"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"In March 1889, a German naval force invaded a village in Samoa, and by doing so destroyed some American property. Three American warships then entered the Samoan harbor and were prepared to fire on the three German warships found there. Before guns were fired, a typhoon wrecked both the American and German ships. A compulsory armistice was called because of the lack of warships."

Songs entitled "North Dakota"

"North Dakota" by Lyle Lovett, U.S.A.
album: Joshua Judges Ruth, 1992

The boys from North Dakota
They drink whisky for their fun


"North Dakota" by Thrush Hermit, Canada
album: Sweet Homewrecker, 1997

If it makes you sad
It makes me sadder
If you ever miss me
I will always miss you more
In North Dakota we can only waste our time


"North Dakota" by Kris Delmhorst, U.S.A.
album: Appetite, 1998

And I'm watching your goodbye and I'm trying to cry
Guess I'm not built for this load, guess it's back to the road

So now Delaware is tollbooths, Virginia is twilight
and Michigan's beef jerky in a small boy's hand
and Arkansas's a skinny cop, Oregon is purple hands
and Flagstaff, Arizona is delirium at night

And I love North Dakota 'cause you have never been there
and the days go on for hours and the towns all look the same
and I can ride the back roads and I can walk the main streets
and I could show everyone your picture but they would not know your name
I love, I love, I love
North Dakota


"North Dakota" by Chris Knight, U.S.A.
album: A Pretty Good Guy, 2001

I never should have brought her here
Living’s rough this time of year
Trying to keep food and fire till winter's done
Sometimes she gazed across the plains
With a look that I couldn’t name
And I’d wonder if she’d stay till springtime come

I found her on the first warm day
The rain had washed the snow away
Went for wood and lost her way back home
And I ain’t the kind believes in ghosts
But some nights I get pretty close
When the North Dakota winter moans


"North Dakota" by Hold On Kid, Australia
album: Just For The Record - Demo, 2008

Maybe we should get away
Be ourselves, just the two of us
In your car, we'll drive till the road runs out
We can run forever

Hey and when we get there
We can find a cheap hotel
Where we can hide from the world
We can pretend that we're all alone
And no one else exists

your notion

The girl wept. Through her tears she said, with a knife for a voice: "If you are a man, you will do it."

"Oh no, lady. Only if I am your notion of a man."


--Tanith Lee, Cyrion, 1982

spiritual over-lord

"The Buddhism of Tibet is not the pure original doctrine of the gentle Indian prince who lived and died six centuries before the birth of Christ. It is the usual degenerate form, full of devils and spooks, and it has forgotten a great many of the noble teachings of the founder of that great Asiatic faith. But Tibet has been a bulwark of Buddhism which has been of great help in preserving that religion against the attacks of the Mohammedans from the west and the pagan creeds of southern India....

"During the reign of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan and an ardent convert to Buddhism, the abbots of an important Tibetan monastery were recognized as the political rulers of all Tibet. In return for this favor, the new Dalai Lama, in his quality of spiritual over-lord of the whole Buddhist world, officially crowned the Tartar Khan Emperor of Mongolia, just as Pope Leo III had crowned Charlemagne."


--Hendrik van Loon, Van Loon's Geography: The Story of the World We Live In, 1932

An American Clipper Ship in a Chinese Port (detail)

Anton Otto Fischer

1882-1962 American

the ontological argument

"I have never seen anyone die for the ontological argument. Galileo, who held a scientific truth of great importance, abjured it with the greatest ease as soon as it endangered his life.... Whether the earth or the sun revolves around the other is a matter of profound indifference. To tell the truth, it is a futile question. On the other hand, I see many people die because they judge that life is not worth living. I see others paradoxically getting killed for the ideas or illusions that give them a reason for living (what is called a reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying)."

--Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus, 1942, translated by Justin O'Brien

Mongolian Music

www.ZaluuS.cc