The Koran Speaks Up For Women

Just a little extra something from Half the Sky.  (Now don't abandon me yet!!!  This is the end of this book's blogs.)

Something that is quite well received is lessons from the Koran throughout much of the world of Islam specifically for women.

The deal is, the Koran teaches that women should be treated well and equally, but those are not the scriptures that are well-known among the people of Islam.  So, when the women go to their Koran classes and learn of these scriptures, they go home and teach them to their husbands and something wonderful happens.  The men begin to better adhere to these teachings, because they believe and love the Koran.

Further, an interesting note is made that though the Koran is beautifully written, it can be misinterpreted, and scholarship is coming increasingly becoming more and more into the camp of believing that those who are martyrs for the cause are not going to be welcomed by seventy-two black-eyed virgins, but by a plate of seventy-two white grapes!!!!

"If the martyr-wanna-be's were to realize the prize in heaven for martyrdom was the Aramaic "Hur" (white grapes) and not the Arabic "Hur" (described variedly as a beauty, enchantress and virgin), argues Kristof, then Muslims would probably would not be in such a rush to kill themselves."  http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0805-02.htm

Jabberwocky and Beyond For My Scholarly Friends

You may have heard me brag at one time or another that I had memorized the following poem in high school for some insane reason, but you may not have realized how much I truly loved it.

During the viewing of the recent phenomenal Alice in Wonderland with the equally phenomenal Johnny Depp, there was a bit of schoolin' afoot concerning some of the vocabulary in the poem like the "frabjous day" and the like, and I, with my inquiring mind, took it a step further to Wikipedia and found much, much more.  Much.  The link follows the poem and if you know what's good for you, you'll follow it as well.  There's all kinds of fascinating other info included as well.  

I all ready knew that the beast itself was not the Jabberwocky but merely the "Jabberwock".  The name of the poem is "Jabberwocky" for obvious reasons.




JABBERWOCKY
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! and through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.


And now, follow the link or pay:


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

Justice for Henrietta

You have those stories that hit you and stay with you for years giving you pause more than once and making you think, cringingly again and again?  One to me was the story of Henrietta Lacks.  It came up again the other day with some consolation.  Here's the link:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Henrietta-Lacks-Immortal-Cells.html

It's been years and years ago that I first heard of this woman and her ubiquitous cancer cells and she creeped me out then and gave me periodic willies ever since.  I thought how cruel of history to remember her so horribly -- to have her cells torment labs throughout the world like they have.

The story then was that when labs thought that they were culturing one thing, HeLa, was actually on the job.  it was horrifying.  Henrietta Lacks' cells somehow migrated from lab to lab throughout the world, appearing in cultures everywhere: HeLa cells.  The poor woman had become something worse than Frankenstein's monster having done nothing more than dying tragically and much too young.

I'm grateful to have learned that her life meant more than that.  Her cells actually helped as the Smithsonian Magazine reports.  That she's not bedeviling science but helping post-mortem.  I'm also glad that Henrietta Lacks, whose pretty face I finally see, can rest in peace in my heart.

While I'm Listening To "It's The End Of The World As We Know It"

The Following came from a site called Wonder Club http://www.wonderclub.com/ on the Internet that has some pretty nifty stuff on it.  If you've got the time, spend it here.  I can't believe how much fun retirement can be if your behind can stand it.  (Get it?  If your behind can stand it?)  Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Incidentally, to the right is the Colossus of Rhodes if you weren't all ready aware.

Complete Listing of World Wonders


The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

• The Great Pyramid of Giza

• The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

• The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

• The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

• The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

• The Colossus of Rhodes

• The Pharos of Alexandria

The Seven Wonders of the Medieval Mind

• Stonehenge

• The Colosseum

• The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

• The Great Wall of China

• The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing

• The Hagia Sophia

• The Leaning Tower of Pisa

The Seven Natural Wonders of the World

• Mount Everest

• The Great Barrier Reef

• The Grand Canyon

• Victoria Falls

• The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro

• Paricutin Volcano

• The Northern Lights

The Seven Underwater Wonders of the World

• Palau

• The Belize Barrier Reef

• The Galapagos Islands

• The Northern Red Sea

• Lake Baikal

• The Great Barrier Reef

• The Deep Sea Vents

The Seven Wonders of the Modern World

• The Empire State Building

• The Itaipú Dam

• The CN Tower

• The Panama Canal

• The Channel Tunnel

• The North Sea Protection Works

• The Golden Gate Bridge

The Seven Forgotten Natural Wonders of the World

• Angel Falls

• The Bay of Fundy

• Iguaçú Falls

• Krakatoa Island

• Mount Fuji

• Mount Kilimanjaro

• Niagara Falls

The Seven Forgotten Modern Wonders of the World

• The Clock Tower (Big Ben)

• Eiffel Tower

• The Gateway Arch

• The Aswan High Dam

• Hoover Dam

• Mount Rushmore National Memorial

• The Petronas Towers

The Seven Forgotten Wonders of the Medeival Mind

• Abu Simbel Temple

• Angkor Wat

• Taj Mahal

• Mont Saint-Michel

• The Moai Statues

• The Parthenon

• The Shwedagon Pagoda

The Forgotten Wonders

• The Aztec Temple

• The Banaue Rice Terraces

• The Borobudur Temple

• The Inca City

• The Statue of Liberty

• The Mayan Temples

• The Temple of the Inscriptions

• The Throne Hall of Persepolis

• Petra

• The Suez Canal

• The Sydney Opera House

• The Red Fort in India

Read our World Wonder FAQ by clicking here

Maps of the World Wonders

• Ancient Wonders Map

• Modern Wonders Map

• Natural Wonders Map

• Forgotten Wonders Map

Maui - I Think I Was Meant To Be Born Here

The guilts is all ready settling in and it's only Monday.  You're all ready nauseated with our trip I'm sure, but I'm so glad to be here.

I've posted pictures of Maui on Facebook and here.  I've eaten shaved ice, I've sweated a little and have just about managed a few tears thinking about going home to snow.  It really is still summer here.  We've been here before, but not the week bridging January and February.

We're rubbing elbows with a bunch of people kind of in the same boat.  Some folk we've met were from Maryland, some from Valley Forge, some from Chicago, and some pikers from Arizona.  We even met some people from Canada who went from -30 to +80 in one day.  Can the human body stand that?  I don't think so.

Today we went whale watching.  Now is the time when the whales are having their babies and fattening them up for the long swim back to Alaska.  The adults don't eat here, they just mate and feed their young.  Learned today they don't have nipples either, if you'll pardon the French, but excrete the milk into the water and the young take it from there.  We saw enough action (meaning we saw whaleage) to make it a pretty interesting trip which is fine with me because I'm not really sea-worthy and tend to "feed-the-fish" if I have eaten too recently.  I'll not have to go again.

Carl got some good shots that he'll post on his Facebook page.

Don't patronize me by saying I've earned my vacation.  Just sit there and be happy for me sitting here in my summer duds, bundle up and stay warm, and chuckle a little knowing that in three days I've gotten most of my clothes dirty all ready.  I'm sure there's a washer somewhere.

What's With All These Changes Anyway

I have a hard time remembering to cough into my  elbow.  I just can't get it

I've had a cough since the swine flu struck a month ago and when the urge hits, I first go for my hands, because I have a big gob of Kleenex there, then I remember the elbow drill, go for that, remember the gunk that flies, lunge for the Kleenex again, elbow, spew, charge for the door, redden in the face, horrify others, make the sign for "Make way for one who is unclean", and pass out before having to make eye contact with anyone.  All the while I'm holding back a cough.

Five-year-olds make it look so automatic.  I can't do it.  It just doesn't work.  Maybe it's because my arms are just too long.  I'm afraid of clubbing my neighbor.  Maybe it's because of all the gesturing that takes place.  Maybe it's because I end up feeling like a big bag of germs coughing into my clothes like that.  I don't know.  I just liked coughing into my hands.  It's discreet, handy and quite lady-like.  Coughing into your elbow indeed.

I'm smart enough to not want to shake hands with someone holding a big handful of used Kleenex.  Why isn't everyone else?  I'm really not that bright.

Branson -- It's That Good

We're home from Branson, as of Saturday.  It was even better than we could have hoped Branson would be.  That's especially since we had almost no expectations whatsoever.  Ben, smart-aleck that he is, commented that he envisioned a giant HeeHaw stage.  Not even close to that.

Friday we saw Pierce Arrow which was about as close to country as we saw, but it was really good.  Many  types of good singing, great costumes and a wide variety of people. The comedian, who worked off and on throughout the show, was hilarious and he was clean.  Can you imagine?

And here's an info alert:  Branson is on the Ozark Plateau.  I thought before that Ozark was a perjorative, but actually, it's not.  It's a huge area that goes from Oklahoma almost to the east coast and into the south.  "Ozark" is in the name of about half the businesses in Branson including the "Ozark Trailer Park", (pause for laughter), and no one seems apologetic for it.  Speaking of businesses, I don't think there were any bars there either, or at least not very high-profile ones (the Bible Belt, remember), and I think the people there are even more conservative than they are here in Utah, which is going some.

Why do people go to Branson?  For the shows, I'd say.  There's a lot of talent in Branson.  I even heard Kristen Chynoweth on Glee muse that she might go to Branson.  It's that good.

The World Is Really Our Campus

Info alert:  during my visit to the Hogle Zoo on Saturday, I learned that our Zoo, for this brief moment in time, has the oldest elephant living in a US zoo at the same moment that we also have the youngest.  The baby above is five weeks old and the eldest is 49 years old.  While crowds stand ooohing and ahhhing at the baby, no one observes the cantankerous old beast with his/her wrinkly behind facing the crowd.  For the baby, there's the forms and the plastic box to find her a name.  I don't remember the name of the old one.  Pictured above is the baby.  I do not have a picture of the old pachyderm. 


What I learn from this is that when you're old, you need to use all the attention-getting devices you've learned over the years.  All babies need to do to get attention is eat, drink, poop, and plop over for another nap.  When you're old, you need to trumpet and stomp to be noticed.  Let this be a word to the wise.

Cold-Turkey Is Not Just Sandwich Meat Anymore

Withdrawal.  I'm not sure, but I think I know what it really feels like.  Not like cocaine, maybe, or heroin, but something a little like it.  Muscles really ache.  Nausea interjected with queasiness.   Sweaty and hot one minute and freezing the next.  Nasty ringing and sloshing in the ears.  Headachy with cotton wadded into the frontal lobes.  Indifference to fire alarms, screaming children and welfare of pets.


It all started when I went to the doctor a week or so ago.  All I did was complain that I was ballooning like a crazed clown.  (If you are literal-minded, the imagery is probably lost on you.)  I thought he'd prescribe a magic bullet, but instead he noted that the culprit was probably a little medication I've been taking for maybe 40 years. The condition for which I take it is annoying, but still requires respect.  So I do need the medication, but the doctor prescribed a smaller, less-likely-to-enfatten dose which he felt would suffice.  


But while in the office, I forgot to clarify how he envisioned incrementally lowering the dose, so I went from 90 mph to 10 in one step.  I considered periodically calling the doctor to find out what the plan really was, but I kept thinking maybe I'd beaten the worst of the beast and might as well continue on with the status quo.  Plus, waiting for his response somehow seemed intolerable at the time.  Also I think I forgot how to use a phone.  I was indeed wrong but that was then.  


A week out, I still feel like the walking wounded, but it's becoming more tolerable these days.  The first three days, however, were awful.


I bore you with this for two purposes.  One is to at least get some sympathy out of this.  The other is to alert anyone who might care, to the fact that there's nothing particularly romantic or worth it about coming down on the wrong side of drugs.  If this is a taste of what it's all about, I have a big, new sympathy for those who are really taking on the whole load of problems.  Rebellion has its place.  Taking charge of your own person is important in growing up.  But going this route isn't the smart way to manifest it.  


It might be easier just to jump out of a moving car.  I did consider it.

Do Not Think I've Given Up on this

If you happen to be a regular reader which is highly unlikely, I know, please do not abandon me. I'm having difficulty getting online with any regularity since I'm in ARIZONA and my timeshare no longer offers online accessibility as I like it.