History Makes Me Laugh
Okay, i've been working on a huge paper, which i think i'll post in here, about Shi'ah and Sunni Islam. I've learned a lot. A LOT! Something occured to me though. I really do love patterns in history.
Islam swept the globe after years of brutal fighting between Persia and Rome. The ONLY reason that Muslims armys got as far as they did is because they had perfect timing. They hit Rome and Persia at the time when both empires were exausted from years of war. The Muslim army's quickly took over and swept from Arabia to as far as the South of France, and all the way into Africa.
How the heck is there a pattern?
Today. The Western...Empire (i think thats suitable) is watching Arabia and Persia fight itself, and is easily walking over them. I can't say easily...but militarly and economically yes 'we' have the upper hand.
Tomorrow? We will get tired of fighting, eventually, we can only fight so long. Who will walk over us? Asia? Africa...My first guess would be Asia. They have the economy, population, and opportunity. And boy, the US has been fighting wars for its entire existance, has it ever been in a true state of peace? Heck, it was even born of war, so i guess its fitting that it will probably die from war.
-im not trying to say asia is taking over lol, just a projection of something that could happen. Don't hit me with hate mail for that.
i just checked the news
Whoa! Mushareef just stepped down as the head of the Pakistani Army. That's huge! He's giving up a lot of power in doing this. Previous to this he held control of the parliment AND the military. It was practically a dictatorship.The guys a real jerk actually. He's had Pakistan under 'emergency powers' for too long, to be honest i'll admit my ignorance to why. Its quite important that he gave up these powers, im sure its more symbollic than anything, and the head of the army will still probably do whatever the heck Mushareef wants, but he does have the right to say no now.
on the more ironic side (different things i've been wanting to write about, put into one entry)
no sooner than i push away the one i love, then do i have a friend trying to set me up with one of her friends. We met at a party and i could tell she was interested in me. Hehe i was kinda forced into talking to her. My friend lead me right to a group of three girls when i got to the party, and one of them had a bag of ice on her knee. I saw that as an line of conversation. Its not like i was going to say 'hey im don, nice meeting you....im gonna talk to people over there now' cus thats rude. So we talked about why she had ice on her knee and yada yada. Then she practically pushed a girl off the couch and told me that there was room beside her, i sat for a moment, to be polite, and then i went and danced. You can't ignore Tiesto! The DJ was killer, well, she wasn't that good, she was just playing some killer tracks. I requested Tiesto and Daft Punk, and Eric Prydz remix of Pink Floyd. She didn't have the 'floyd' with her but i could tell she was excited that someone else there knew something about dance music. As soon as i said Tiesto, her face lit up 'I saw Tiesto in Germany last year!' I told her i was jealous. She was fun.
I had come from my friends comissioning service. It was in the far Northwest of Calgary. I read the invitation and thought 'oh foothills alliance...thats right on deerfoot, so it should only take like 40 min to get to' but see i think i read what i wanted to read. Yes, the invitation said Foothills, and i was thinking First Alliance. Im glad i talked to Trent that day because i would have shown up at the wrong church! Actually Foothills Alliance is off Country Hills Boulevard in the far Northwest of Calgary. Seeing as i'm coming from Southeast of Calgary that quite a bit of a difference in time, especially in rush hour traffic. Instead of the 40min i had planned on it took just over an hour. I think thats pretty impressive actually. I had thought it would take me an hour and a half, even up to an hour and forty-five minutes. The service was long, from 6:30-9:30, and they used every moment of it. Trent is now in the Phillipeans (spelled wrong i know..sue me), with his team and will be there for a while, and then he's off to Uganda.
It snowed lots yesterday, and traffic was a....not a nice person. The trip to school yesterday morning took my friend Breanne 2 and a bit hours. usually it takes just over one hour. Lucky for me i have class at 1 on tues and thurs so i didn't have to leave my house until 11:45. My trip was fine. You could see lots of cars in the ditch. This brings me to my next point. Why can't people drive in snow? I saw on the train yesterday instructions on how to drive in the winter (which made me chuckle...cus if im riding the train im not driving...but i get the point). I understand why the information is there, because of the influx of people into calgary in the last few years there are lots of people driving now that may have never driven in snow. For instance, my sisters boyfriend. He moved here last year from The Isle of Whyte, England. He never really had much snow while growing up, and now, he just got his liscense, and because he's in Alberta he HAD to buy a truck (which makes him the envy of all his friends back home im sure, cus you can't buy pickups like F-150's in England), but he's the worst combination for who should be driving. He's a teenage boy, just got his liscense, bought a real-wheel drive truck, never lived in snow. Last week he put his truck in the ditch, thats with just a little skiff of snow. Im interested to find out how he'll do when it actually snows!
I think thats everything i want to write about now. More later im sure.
Day 5
I've gone 5 days without talking to you. But maybe only a moment without thinking about you.
I saw you today, you looked right at me, you had these expectant eyes, and as i pretended not to notice i saw the expectation turn to disappointment. When i started this I knew it would be tough, and i knew that i was going to struggle...by why this much? Please remember its out of love that im doing it. I can picture your reaction to that line, confusion, anger, and its hard to explain. I hope you can understand and forgive me.
worst debate ever
i think she said 'muslim and hindo'...
These people know nothing coencides was used improperly.....ya, but it sounds cool...5 dollar word... 5 dollars doesnot ensure quality...good point, but what if your a jedi... then don't insult them or they will stab yo cracka-ass. I think i'll publish this as is...no you won't cause i'm writing this too...chummmmmmmmp
ahhhh hahahaha
England didn't make it into the EuroCup this year....
-maybe they need Beckham back.
he keeps saying
Dresden, as in Dresden, Italy. You know you've been listening to way too much techno when your prof says Dresden and you keep thinking Gabriel and Dresden, the techno duo. Ugh!
why don't i pay attention?
Google Earth is a wonderful way to waste time. You can find lots of pointless things to look at, like a coastline in South Africa. Well, not pointless....but certainly not pertanent to Music History
Music History
we just finished making fun of Pachebal's Canon....
'Barbara Strozzi gave us the Cantate....(another student)'BARBRA STRIESAND?'
'Montevaridi invented this style of music, and has been described as machine-gun like', 'Wait did they have machine-guns back then?'
-stangely it was the same student!
lighter stuff
a man walks into a bar....ouch!
A music joke for all you music nerds out there.
So a couple are in couselling because they haven't talked in years. The counsellor tries everything to try and to get them to discuss their problems, but to no avail. No matter what he does they won't speak to each other. Then he has an idea. He puts on a CD and has the couple listen to it. After a few minutes the couple begins to talk and all their problems were coming out. The music had opened a floodgate of talking. The couple began to talk to each other for the first time in years. After the session was over, the overwhelemed couple asked the couselor how he got them to talk to each other. He said that the CD he put on contained a long drawn out bass solo. Simply put, everyone talks during the bass solo
late
Im sitting in sociology waiting for a member of the debate team to get here. He's late. Thus, class runs behind, because of him. In Cadet's we were taught 'If you're early, your on time, if you're on time, your late, and if you're late, don't even bother showing up'. Hint hint maybe...
I never know what to put here
Im sitting at school right now, and im bored. I want to say something to someone, but im not sure how to say it. Funny thing is, i've said it before, but i want to say it again. They know what i want to tell them, because i don't let them forget what i told them. I feel hopeless and hopeful at the same time. Im being cryptic for a reason, because things that i write on here are not as anonymous as i think they once were. Its so frustrating to be torn like this. I feel like I'm being cheated. Although, to be cheated of something, you have to have it in the first place. Unfortunatly I let myself pretend far too often. We go for lunch, we talk like we would, you trust me like you would, you even relax with me. I let myself pretend. And that scares me, far more than you understand. I need to make a change, but i don't want to. Its hard when you believe something so fully, believe that they will trully happen. I'm a knight of faith (as Kierkagaard would say) against my will. I fight with my thoughts all the time about this. I scare myself sometimes with the battles i rage. The Good has the high ground, and holds the fort, but The Evil has a powerful army, much more powerful than mine. Im lucky that i have re-enforments. Sometimes i think The Evil takes too much ground before i force it back, and once a battle has been fought, the ground on which its been fought is changed forever. I have said before that my thoughts are my biggest demons. I wish i could just escape them sometimes, but i know i need them, to learn from them. Im gonna say what i need to say, but i won't address it to anyone, because if its directed to you, you'll know. Here goes: I love you, more than know, more than i'll ever get to show you, just understand that i'm not going anywhere and i will always be here to fight for you and to love you.
I was all prepared
to write something deep this morning, and i did have something, but i seem to have forgotten it.
I'll write out a list of good songs i've been listening to.
-'The Liscense to Ill' album by the Beastie Boy's (where else will you hear 'my crew gets big, and my crew is getting bigger!)
-Eva Cassidy
-Fort Minor (M. Shinoda)
-Sinistrio
-'In The Pub', by the Streets.(parody of In The Club by 50 cent 'When i walk you mistake me for a geeser or gimp/because i fell down the stairs and now i walk with a limp'
-In Search of Sunrise 6, Tiesto. Never has techno been so good.
-'When He Returns' - Kevin Max. Formerly of the Christian Super-Group D.C Talk, Kevin plays some awesome piano on this track, and writes a good ol' fashion hymn.
- Kashmir, Led Zeplin. DANG! In an interview Jimmy Paige said that the group agreed that this was the best song they ever wrote. And i agree!
-Arular, M.I.A., I think this is the London raised hip-hop artists newest album. Very much a Indo-Latin fusion. Strong beats and solid lyrics. Very political, in fact her father was the head of the Tamil Tigers (he might still be).
- 9 Crimes, Damien Rice, Most Played on my iTunes. Damien writes with so much soul and passion. He's Irish born and raised. I also adore his version of 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For'.
-'With or Without You' (cover), Keane. This guy sounds just like Bono. Its scary actually. I mixed his track with the real version, he sings the same key, same intonation, and almost the same tempo. This version is done entirely on electric keyboard
That turned into me going through my recently added play list on iTunes.
War
I never start these knowing what to write....
Sunday is November 11, and that means its Rememberance Day in Canada. This is the day that Canadians remember the sacrifice of fallen soldiers. We remember the cost of our freedom. That cost was, and is immense.
Not many people know that i almost joined the military. I was planning on joining after highschool. I didn't feel led to do it though. The one thing that changed my mind was the loss of a dear friend. Cpl. Brad Howell of Halifax, Nova Scotia. We grew up together, we went through Cadets together, then he moved out east.
Here is what i know; Brad gave his life for others. That is sufficent enough for me. I hope one day to be so honourable.
I don't want to be political, and say anything about 'the war', so i won't. I will say that the soldiers are there, and they are: Husbands, Wives, Sons, Daughters, Friends, Lovers, Fiances, Boyfriends, Girlfriends, Cousins, and Neighbours. They are real people, that sacrifice daily for others. I can't say that they give for us, but they give more for the people of Afghanistan.
In Flander's Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses
Row on Row
That mark our place
Within the sky
The lark still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the dead
Short days ago we lived
Felt dawn
Felt sunset glow
Loved, and were loved
But now we lie
In Flanders Field
Take up your quarrel with the foe
From failing hands we throw
The torch be yours to hold it high
If you break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep
Though poppies grow
In Flander's Field
-Lt. John McRae
Blue Sky Brad...Blue Sky
i think this is important to post, and i hope i don't get in trouble for it
The Qur'anic Legislation on War
Stage One: Nonconfrontation
-Q15:94-95 "Profess openly what you have been commanded, and turn away from the idolaters, for We are sufficient for you against the scoffers
-Q16:125 "Invite (all) to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching and argue with them in ways that are the best and most gracious: For your Lord knows best who has strayed from His Path, and who receives guidance"
Stage Two: Defensive Fighting
-Q 22:39-40a "Permission is given to those who fight because they have been wronged - God is Most Powerful for their aid - those who have been unjustly expelled from their homes only because they say: 'Our Lord is God'"
-Q2:109 "Fight in the path of God those who fight you, but do not transgress limits, for God does not love transgressors
Stage Three: Initiating Attack Allowed but whithin the Ancient Strictures
-Q2:217 "They will ask you about fighting in the Sacred Month. Say: 'Fighting therein is a grave (offense), but driving (people) away from the path of God, Unbelief in Him, expelling His people from the Sacred Mosque is far more grave in God's sight. Finta is worse than killing. They will not stop fighting you until they turn away from your religion, if they can. Those of you who are turned away from your religion and die as unbelievers, your acts will come to nothing in this world in the world to come. You will be companions of the Fire and remain there forever"
-Q2:191 "Kill them wherever you find them and turn out from where they have turned you out, for fitna is worse than killing, but do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque unless they fight you there. But if they fight you, kill them. Such is the reward of the unbelievers"
Stage Four: Unconditional Command to Fight all Unbelievers
Q 2:216 "Fighting is commanded upon you even though it is desagreeable to you. But it is possible that you dislike something which is good for you and that you love something which is bad for you. God knows, but you know not"
Q9:5 "When the sacred months are past, kill the idolaters whereever you find them, and seize them, beseige them, and lie in wait for them in every place of ambush; but if they repent, pray regularly, and give the alms tax, then let them go their way, for God is forgiving, merciful"
Q9:29 "Fight those who do not believe in God or the Last Day, and who do not forbid what has been forbidden by God and His Messenger, nor asknowlegde the religion of truth from among the People of the Book, until they pay the poll tax out of hand, having been brought low"
Now i know Jihad is not one of the 5 Pillars, but it hold tremendous importance, almost that of a 6th pillar. Muslims are to never give up on Jihad. After reading that, explain to me how Islam is peaceful. Especially knowing that many Muslim scholars consider Sura 9 more authoritative than 95 other Suras.
-Source: Reuven Firestone, "Jihad, the Origin of Holy War in Islam" (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) pp. 67-91. The Quranic translations are Firestone's
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