As I said at the start of the year, it's a year of commemorating anniversaries. Today is the twentieth anniversary of my brother's passing; he was 41 when he stepped into eternity. It's still difficult to really write about this. And it's not because I'm "blaming God" either. Most of the disasters that befell my …
When Your Metairie is Wiped Out: My First Post After Hurricane Katrina
This weekend is the tenth anniversary of the Gulf Coast landing of Hurricane Katrina, which wrought so much destruction in both Louisiana and Mississippi. I had started the predecessor format of this blog earlier that year. Given ancestral and business interests, a disaster of this size made an impact on me, especially after visiting the …
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The Ottoman Tales X: An Officer and a Gentleman
This continues a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. I've mentioned earlier that the Ottomans were capable of adjusting their MO to suit non-Turkish public opinion when the situation called for it. This story--which comes long after the last Sultan abdicated and the Empire came to an end--shows …
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The Ottoman Tales IX: Seated at the Right Hand
This continues a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. As I've noted earlier, the Ottoman Empire's lurch towards representative government was one of fits and starts, mostly fits. The first Ottoman parliament opened in March 1877, in (of all places) the Sultan's own Dolmabache Palace (soon to be …
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The Ottoman Tales VI: Not Much for Victory, but the Eats Were Good
This continues a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. As Sultan Abdul Hamid raised the Banner Named Barack, his armies had one distinguishing feature: In one, and only one thing, the Turkish soldier is not cheated. He is well fed, and gets his full allowance of the rations …
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It Really Does Matter What You Believe
I mulled long and hard what I'd put up as a reflection of the terrorist shootings here in Chattanooga last Thursday. Given that the shooter was an electrical engineer and graduate of the same institution where I teach, I think it proper to repost--with a few updates--my piece Coming Home from Heathrow, which I first …
The Ottoman Tales III: The Banner Named Barack
This continues a series inspired (somewhat) by Noel Barber’s The Sultans. The previous instalment is here. When Benito Mussolini broke with the Socialists and began his journey towards Fascism and taking over Italy, his newspaper, The People of Italy, screamed with this headline for its first issue in 1914: The Banner of the Prophet in …
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Bullies and Chastity Rings
This is the month we get to see whether SCOTUS will "redefine" marriage. That "redefinition" was entirely avoidable if either the protagonists or the opponents of same-sex civil marriage had challenged the concept of state defined marriage to start with, but our political debate is not up to such an idea--not yet, at least... In …
Happy Nowruz to My Iranian Friends
It's a little controversial, but I'll say it anyway: I'm wishing my Iranian friends a Happy Nowruz. How Nowruz came about, and how I came to know my Iranian friends, are two interesting matters. Let's start with the first: Nowruz, the celebration of the Vernal (Spring) Equinox, goes back to pre-Islamic times when Persia ruled …
The Outpouring: Alive at the Community Coffeehouse
OUTA1 (Fall 1993) The coffee-house ministry was the gathering par excellence of the Jesus Music era. Although there are live recordings out there of concerts, coffee-house recordings are few and far between. This site features only two, both from Texas: the Answer (and that was a rehearsal) and the Latter Rain. And both of those …
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Positive Infinity 