Friday, October 28, 2005
Hum Dee Dumm
This is a strange world, those poor things. Why couldn't it be one eagle? I don't believe it has a title either...it's not a zoo...that's for sure, because the species in this park mix together...sometimes, we see goats hanging out with the peacocks...
The only thing natural about that eagle cage is the eagle itself.
I feel bad for those animals trapped in the greatest parks like Leats Estate in England too, because it doesn't seem justifiable, but at least they have the utmost of 200 acres to an animal..
Thursday, October 27, 2005
You Blue Eyed Devils!
Now, it makes me wonder if there are some factions to this hate... are there white supremacist groups who believe that other "colors" can join in? I mean, do they consider browns and light browns, orange-browns, cream-browns? They could always use some sandpaper and scrub the color out of them.
Prussian Blue Fear
Now that's scary...Blonde, blue-eyed, 12-year old Sadists.
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Rest Peacefully
My sweetness is gone to another place far from my thoughts. It's been a long time since I talked to little Shiri, and now, he is no longer there.
Funny, people dream of Imam Ali here, I dreamt that my cunning Shiri was in my arms and I felt so happy to see such an incredibly dependent furball...ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
But death is so easy to come by in my past, there are no flowing rivers here, just a pool of reflection.
The image is so similar to him but I had no picture so I got one from a favorite cat realm online...he had much more deep blue eyes, like a jewel.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
A Song
once lay upon thy wicked, widowed eye,
and seeing half as such a handsome man,
thy nightmare hands were led to fan
a flame with which the spinning rods
would race within the hearts of gods,"
Oh boy...
October 16, 2005
New York Times
God Is in the Rules
By GEOFF D. PORTER
Fatwas, the legal opinions proclaimed by Islamic scholars, have proliferated in the Muslim world since the 1980's, driven by rising literacy rates and the Internet. The growth in fatwas - some of them contradictory - has led to a debate over who can legitimately issue them and has alarmed governments in the Middle East, since the decrees sometimes challenge state-sanctioned interpretations of Islam.
Yet criticizing fatwas about divisive issues like the propriety of killing civilians and Shiites can be dangerous for officials. So the Saudi government is trying a different tactic, zeroing in on what it considers frivolous fatwas in order to rally support for tougher measures on who can and who cannot issue opinions. Recently, Al Watan, a semiofficial Saudi daily newspaper, reported that a young athlete had joined the jihad in Iraq under the influence of a fatwa forbidding playing soccer by regular rules. The newspaper also republished the fatwa, said to have originally appeared on an Islamic Web site. Portions of the fatwa, which I translated from the Arabic, follow.
- GEOFF D. PORTER
In the name of God the merciful and benevolent:
1. Play soccer without four lines because this is a fabrication of the heretics' international rules that stipulate using them and delineating them before playing.
2. International terminology that heretics and polytheists use, like "foul," "penalty," "corner," "goal," "out" and others, should be abandoned and not said. Whoever says them should be punished, reprimanded and ejected from the game. He should be publicly told, "You have imitated the heretics and polytheists and this is forbidden."
3. Do not call "foul" and stop the game if someone falls and sprains a hand or foot or the ball touches his hand, and do not give a yellow or red card to whoever was responsible for the injury or tackle. Instead, it should be adjudicated according to Sharia rulings concerning broken bones and injuries. The injured player should exercise his Sharia rights according to the Koran and you must bear witness with him that so-and-so hurt him on purpose.
4. Do not follow the heretics, the Jews, the Christians and especially evil America regarding the number of players. Do not play with 11 people. Instead, add to this number or decrease it.
5. Play in your regular clothes or your pajamas or something like that, but not colored shorts and numbered T-shirts, because shorts and T-shirts are not Muslim clothing. Rather they are heretical and Western clothing, so beware of imitating their fashion.
6. If you have fulfilled these conditions and intend to play soccer, play to strengthen the body in order to better struggle in the way of God on high and to prepare the body for when it is called to jihad. Soccer is not for passing time or the thrill of so-called victory.
7. Do not set the time of play at 45 minutes, which is the official time of the Jews, Christians and all the heretical and atheist countries. This is the time used by teams that have strayed from the righteous path. You are obliged to distinguish yourself from the heretics and the corrupted and must not resemble them in anything.
6. Do not play in two halves. Rather play in one half or three halves in order to completely differentiate yourselves from the heretics, the polytheists, the corrupted and the disobedient.
9. If neither of you beats the other, or "wins" as it is called, and neither puts the leather between the posts, do not add extra time or penalties until someone wins. No, instead leave the field, because winning with overtime and penalty kicks is the pinnacle of imitating heretics and international rules.
10. If you play soccer, do not appoint someone to follow you called a "referee," since there is no need for him after doing away with international rules like "foul," "penalty," "corner" and others. His presence would be in imitation of the heretics, Jews and Christians and would follow international rules.
11. Young crowds should not gather to watch when you play because if you are there for the sake of sports and strengthening your bodies as you claimed, why would people watch you? You should make them join your physical fitness and jihad preparation, or you should say: "Go proselytize and seek out morally reprehensible acts in the markets and the press and leave us to our physical fitness."
12. If you finish playing soccer, do not talk about your game and say, "We were better than the opponent," or "So-and-so plays well" and so on. Instead be concerned with your bodies and their strength and muscles, and say, "We played only to drill in running, attacking and retreating, and to prepare for jihad in the name of God on high."
13. You should spit in the face of whoever puts the ball between the posts or uprights and then runs in order to get his friends to follow him and hug him like players in America or France do, and you should punish and reprimand him, for what is the relationship between celebrating, hugging and kissing and the sports that you are practicing?
14. You should use two posts instead of three pieces of wood or steel that you erect in order to put the ball between them, meaning that you should remove the crossbar in order not to imitate the heretics and in order to be entirely distinct from the soccer system's despotic international rules.
15. Do not do what is called "substitution," that is, taking the place of someone who has fallen, because this is a practice of the heretics in America and elsewhere.
These are some conditions and precepts so that morally aware youth do not inadvertently imitate heretics and polytheists when playing soccer … Hell awaits those who die playing soccer according to rules established by heretical countries, at the head of which is America.
Geoff D. Porter directs Middle East and North Africa analysis at a political risk consulting firm.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Stuff That Simpleton!
Overlap
It would seem easier to point our fingers at the figures in the past, than to sit and think about the present situations.
Let’s say, there is a country by the name of A, that sits somewhere on the map of the world, and this country is ruled by a leader of religious principle and ideology. Country A’s system of government is comparable to the theme of political religion; a play on the faith of previous religious states married to the more rationalist idealism of the modern world.
It’s possible that Country A was finally able to concede to the fact that religious morality and humanity was just not enough to combat Satan and his leagues of demon. This system of rationalist ministries and politicians shrouded by the superstitions of faith sprouted from a movement infamously remembered as Revolution. Most survivors of this uprooting of social and economic life, Revolution, are characterized by their works in later years; Essays and novels written by exiles of Country A are often marked by their “sensual abandonment, urgency, and split-personalities”
This contemporary state of religion seems to carry the genetic makeup of the more ancient states of
Country A, in general, has the distinct quality of dream and sleep rather than the reality that should have been. Tracing through to years before the Revolution, one can mark the rising of secularism and the apparent attempts at murdering religion in Country A; this plan failed, miserably, and the result was the nightmare that Revolution became. Peasant faith is often stronger than Political power and such was the case for Country A.
This change in the political weather of Country A brought along winds of traditional moral utopia. From the cries of laymen came the reactionary, the totalitarian, and the religious politician. Because there was room for only one of them they knew they needed recruits. These recruits would later become followers, worshippers. Country A was splitting on all sides, that is, until the religious politician reached far into the depths of his faith filled past and found an answer that the moral insanity of the others could not find; a savior.
Obviously, this savior need not be crucified and then rise on the third day, rather, something state-of-the-art, new. Something along the lines of millions; one million saviors led by the shroud of a simple Saint. Country A warred, succesfully, against another imaginary country and was able to imprint nearly two million lives into the prayers of its citizens (or rather, recruits). I won't point out that those who ran Country A's pious system were either mad, bad or both. In its superficial world, having both could be considered a godly achievement.
There's a saying that blaming is a game played by "God and children only", and it's true. Country A has only to look and see that its concepts of unself-conscious law and order become a veil to cover the true plotted imaginings that follow the wake of its corrupt system. The line that separates the operatives of religion and secualrism in Country A is nearly invisible, but where it overlaps it is darkest.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
A Little Laugh'O
James Meek
Photo Manipulations
These are digital pictures loaded onto Photoshop, and based on some full photos that I've cropped to single out various sections that interest the most. My model is my sister, my friend, R°.
"End, Fear."
Monday, October 17, 2005
MTV Chi?
In between Viva La Bam, Sweet Sixteen, Newlyweds, Punk’d, Date MY Mom, and other “Reality” shows, I wonder, where they went wrong. A week later, still watching these shows, delighting in their wet-behind-the-ears innuendos, and the occasional witty fart, it becomes unnecessarily clear what’s
missing in these shows. A lack of dialogue, a lack of plot, a lack of humanity, a lack of….hmm, wait, this is “Reality TV”! DUH! Lol! HEhehehe!
I mean, life is all about not understanding your significant other, destroying your property, wearing “gothic” pink clothes, exercising free speech (fuck you), and the likes.
For most of my sessions with the youth of the IRI, it seems the average middle-class guy and girl believes they are one intelligent leap ahead of most American kids their own age. They believe they have strict and higher knowledge starting from the Ninth grade. They believe they know more about life, and what a decent life means. Obviously, MTV makes everyone look like they have a decent life. It isn’t surprising that so many people, like me, can be lured in by shows like Punk’d, and Viva La Bam.
The destruction and mock violence is funny, knee-slappin’ joy. The gruesome acting is even better. There’s an indelible attraction to the fact that these shows are degrading others; Kutcher wants to “degrade” actors better than him; Bam Margera likes to spend quality time with his Ape…his mother.
I hate to do it, really, but I stopped watching the shows yesterday, and succeeded in spending my time elsewhere, more productively. I sincerely doubt the reality shows that MTV broadcasts all over the world can get anymore recycled than that; like a broken record, the shows are replayed everywhere, and distributed to Arabic channels like Onetv; I don’t think the
A Stone's Throw Away
A Stone’s Throw Away
Amongst the daily headlines in my newspaper, between the IAEA and the Avian Flu, was a small, unnoticeable article. The title was insignificantly different from most other articles relevant to its main issues; murder, prostitution, and the death sentence. But here, it was a strange awakening.
On the headline, in medium print, it read as all normal murder/homicide cases would go, but in the finer script detailing the murder, the death sentence was stoning.
Many people pay serious attention to the legalities of death sentences here, but stoning was never a “BIG” issue to deal with. I should probably re-word that; there is no way of dealing with it, at least, no legal or diplomatic way, and if there ever was, it obviously does not work.
The woman’s crime is judged first degree murder with a second count of adultery/prostitution (her accomplice in the murder was her mystery lover). Her sentencing, as seen fit by the Supreme Judge, was fifteen years with stoning. The order in which these sentences are carried out is a mystery, since there was no more information that a) was in the paper or b) online.
If Afghanistan is still fresh on anyone’s mind, one of the greatest shocks for most people in my part of America was stoning and other such punishments (amputations, whippings, etc…) Even when I’d seen it in a Times report, in 2001, I couldn’t believe it, until yesterday, when it suddenly became all too true. Whether or not anyone remembers, it is an important reality.
The reality of stoning is gruesome, but it is also a practice for a religion that, 1000 years ago, did not comprehend the idea of jail. There are no punishments pertaining to jail in this religion, it’s always a direct and quick punishment befitting the crime (And no, there are not that many options). Cutting off hands and feet for thievery; Adultery/murder gets the execution. Whipping is used indignantly in all punishments; whipping is sort of the crème de la cake. After the punishment is meted out, the criminal is free.
Today, these rules are a little blurred between jail and execution, man and woman. There are probably explanations for who gets the jail sentence and who gets the stoning, but those fine print details are fairly out of my reach right now. If you get a chance during this lifetime, try and find someone who can explain the details to you.
A few of my inquiries into the article led to a ginormous amount of notes. Firstly, prisoners who were married and committed adultery will get the stoning, although, men have priority here; if a man is married and commits adultery and happens to get caught (or reported by his wife), it is HIGHLY unusual that he will be stoned; male prisoners usually get jail time or lashes.
The female prisoner who was sentenced can try to get pardon or “Rezayat” from the immediate relations of her husband, whom she adulterized and murdered, but if they pardon her, she has to pay a price or “dieh”. A grown man has a price of 25 million tomans, a grown woman 12 million, an adolescent male 12 million, and an adolescent female (whether or not she is virgin) unknown.
If this woman cannot pay the dieh, and is not pardoned, there is a public date and place set for her execution; usually towards the center-south districts of
The law as the majority of people know it, states that the woman can be freed if she survives. That is, if she can climb out of the hole, alive. There is no set time frame for stoning; how long does it take to get your brains knocked out of your skull?
Just climbing out alive is not going to do it, there are a few strings attached. If there are witnesses who claim the woman committed the said crimes, and the woman claims (three times) that she did not commit them, and she somehow gets out of that hole alive, she is free, irregardless of the evidence. If there is concrete evidence, and she does not deny it, but she tries to get out, they pop her back in. Round two.
Nothing short but a miracle will pull her out of that thing, and God ain’t answering any calls right now.
We wonder, has anyone tried to take stoning away? Capital punishment is a crime to some, but others would rather see the woman isolated in jail rather than stoned. These laws that order stoning come under the jurisdiction of a system of laws called the Shari’aht; anyone can learn more about that system of laws and ideology on the internet. But most of the laws that system uses are considered backward to most of the world; “It doesn’t stand a chance when western ideology and law has major influences on the minds of people all around.”
On whether or not stoning is an issue, many point to the Parliament, or the Majlis. But, the few women there who represent the female population of the IRI stand for stoning, and have repeatedly tried to pass lashing sentences for those women who do commit the crimes. Without knowing more about the above, it would seem ridiculous, if it isn’t already, to add lashings. But what most doe-eyed strangers don’t understand is that stoning, lashing, and amputations are a part of the material punishment/humiliation/purification of the prisoner. Lashings are to purify his/her crimes. Stoning is to purify her; to humiliate his/her “soul” in front of all people and God. This need to purify the sinner seems like a good reason to instill lashings before executions.
It almost seems like a community outreach program; everyone reaches in to help, and everybody learns a lesson or two.
Wobert, Williams
Brutally beautiful. Makes me wanna lala, all over again.
Other than that, his hits are really 4x4x8s and they’re great when you need 4x4x8 hits. I just enjoy looking at him. It pleases the eye.
No Regrets
R. Williams
Tell me a story
Where we all change
And we'd live our lives together
And not estranged
I didn't lose my mind it was
Mine to give away
Couldn't stay to watch me cry
You didn't have the time
So I softly slip away...
No regrets they don't work
No regrets they only hurt
Sing me a love song
Drop me a line
Suppose it's just a point of view
But they tell me I'm doing fine
I know from the outside
We looked good for each other
Felt things were going wrong
When you didn't like my mother
I don't want to hate but that's
All you've left me with
A bitter aftertaste and a fantasy of
How we all could live
No regrets they don't work
No regrets they only hurt
(We've been told you stay up late)
I know they're still talking
(You're far too short to carry weight)
The demons in your head
(Return the videos they're late)
If I could just stop hating you
(Goodbye)
I'd feel sorry for us instead
Remember the photographs (insane)
The ones where we all laugh (so lame)
We were having the time of our lives
Well thank you it was a real blast
No regrets they don't work
No regrets they only hurt
Write me a love song
Drop me a line
Suppose it's just a point of view
But they tell me I'm doing fine
Everything I wanted to be every
Time I walked away
Every time you told me to leave
I just wanted to stay
Every time you looked at me and
Every time you smiled
I felt so vacant you treat me like a child
I loved the way we used to laugh
I loved the way we used to smile
Often I sit down and think of you
For a while
Then it passes by me and I think of
Someone else instead
I guess the love we once had is
Officially dead.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Wake Me In The Morning
[ Sheds some new light on the phrase "A penny for your thoughts".]
Monsieur Behi Flies High
"
To have nothing to depend on, is not independence!
I still believe that Iran is going into a wrong way in the nuclear issue but there is a view that is supported by Iranian government, which is a good view in principal but does not make sense as far as I think about it. They say we need nuclear technology to become advanced in science/tech. In fact, it is good for Iran to be able to export technologies, make money for the nation with the expertise and become the so-called independent from the west. But are we independent on everything and only nuclear independence is missing? So are we fighting so hard for the last stride to independence? Let me remind you about things Iran could be powerful and it deliberately failed to be: Read Below"
Mr. Behi has the rest of his article on his blog, please continue to read it. Interestingly enough, this idea was already cooking in documents from my spring quarter, but remained unpublished. I had wondered, through all that reading material that I scored through in the first weeks of this row, why anyone could defend the issue of atomic energy when they have major difficulties transporting gas-energy. Let's see, it was near February of 2005 when they could not send gas from a plant near Karaj to Karaj itself in the middle of winter and half the city shivered for four-five days; they want to ship energy from Esfahan to Tehran on what planar field?
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
RP
Racial Profiling
Haha.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Special
Applying to universities this month. Have a few in mind, but it seems that my wandering in this country has eliminated my chances of a full scholarship to the universities that I chose...their deadlines were gone spring-2005...What has to be done...apply to college, and apply for scholarship next year.
It's much worse when one misses a full academic year, here. The national university tests, Konkoor, or Conquer (from French) is a big bad atomic mishap, and most students, far more intelligent, smart, than almost half of the people back home, FAIL this test. 100,000 acceptance letters out of ....1 million....1.5 million.
Waiting.
