Steve Hely's Blog, page 37

March forth

Pretty good start to a book:

Here’s how the Penguin translation warms us up:

I’ve found both editions of The Persian Expedition to be a bit of a slog. I do enjoy a work based on Xenophon, 1979 film The Warriors, which begins with a summons from Cyrus.

Here’s what Benet has to say in his Reader’s Encylopedia:

(Two Benet brothers won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry!)

Xenophon was pals with Socrates, and wrote a book about horsemanship and one about hunting with dogs.

historians disagree on whether his nose was actually like that

The Greek verb exelauno, meaning “to march forth,” occurs frequently in Xenophon.

now this just seems wasteful

via

WWOZ

Homebound at the opening stages of the pandemic (around the time of the “Tom Hanks Crisis”) we started listening, via Internet stream, to WWOZ, roots radio from New Orleans. The music is festive, the catalog is deep: it’s kind of amazing how much music there is about New Orleans. WWOZ could fill days and days with specifically local music.

Metro New Orleans has 1.2 million people, putting it below Oklahoma City, Pittsburgh, greater Orlando, Sacramento, just a hair above Fresno in terms of size. But New Orleans punches so far above its weight culturally as to make it a unique exception and special case on a world scale.

Something about listening to an actual radio station with live DJs feels more connective, although Bryson Whitney at Spotify keeps a WWOZ playlist that has way beyond 24 hours of music at the ready.

WWOZ is the station where Steve Zahn’s character, Davis McAlary, is a DJ in the 2010-2013 HBO series Treme*, but don’t let that put you off. The DJs for the most part are remarkably unobtrusive.

Tuesday is Mardi Gras. There are enough songs specifically about Mardi Gras to power WWOZ for probably weeks of steady airtime. You will hear Professor Longhair and Wild Tchoupitoulas. It’s funny to observe the transition in music when Ash Wednesday rolls around. They really do have to dial it back!

Previous coverage of New Orleans.

* when Treme first came out we found it a little offputting, it seemed to be criticizing us, the viewers, for not appreciating New Orleans enough. This may have been partially based on a scene in the pilot where some well-meaning tourists are humiliated by Sonny (Michiel Huisman), a street musician. But we rewatched a few years ago and found the series went deeper than we may have perceived. For instance Sonny himself is a transplant. His pretentious attitude is deflated over the course of the series as he experiences a humbling journey related to his efforts to get out of addiction and restore himself. On review ,Treme does a powerful job of capturing not only what’s so special and alluring about New Orleans, but also what’s probably annoying and frustrating about living there. The dilapidations, corruptions, poverty and inevitable hangovers of a place that survives by selling itself as partytown. Some of New Orleans is disgusting, some of it is really refined and beautiful. Those contradictions are captured in the show, full of inhabited characters who aren’t always having good times. Treme is deep and interesting if not always fun.

Xth

The ten year anniversary of Helytimes rolled around without our really noticing.  We started this website* in February 2012.  The posts from that month are as clear a reflection as there is of the idea (extinct links and lost images are a curse but come w/t/territory).

There wasn’t a master plan.  “I should know something about writing for the Internet.” The directness is powerful (and frightening): what writer of the past wouldn’t have dreamed of an instantaneous worldwide publishing platform you could control? A piece published on Helytimes generates a link that’s as accessible as a link to The New York Times. How could we not try that? Authors had websites; I’d published two books and hoped to do more.  The magic of putting up pieces that entered the great Google library, the creation of a personal wondermuseum, it seemed fun.  

A strong sense memory lingers about the day of origin: I was in my office on the TV show The Office. Across the hall was my college Alison Silverman. Our offices were in an annex trailer in the parking lot, which often roasted in the sun. Inside between our offices was a treadmill people sometimes used. That was a funny time and place. I told Alison I was thinking of starting a blog and I remember not having any reaction at all. It was like I said I’d had a salad for lunch. But what was I expecting?

WordPress provided the structure. I’m not sure I’d recommend WordPress, it feels flimsy, it feels like it could collapse tomorrow. GoDaddy sold us the URL. Although GoDaddy’s name and TV ads make it seem ridiculous, they are really dependable, we’ve never had a problem. I copied a simple design template my cousin was using and off we went.

Since then we’ve published 1,624 posts.  Some of the most popular are:

– a guest post by Hayes about a local political issue, No on Measure S (No prevailed, and thank goodness). This post shows the value of possessing an easy distribution platform

– a post about the alleged subject of Gordon Lightfoot’s song Sundown. People Google this person and find the site, it’s celebrity gossip.

– a comparison of the UK in size to California. Another Google inbounder.

– Mountaineering movies on Netflix (needs updating, The Alpinist and 14 Peaks both great)

– an investigation of whether the last joke Abraham Lincoln heard was funny

– a consideration of how a mosaic at Disney World was made by Hanns Scharff, one of the Luftwaffe’s top interrogators (and revealing insights in interrogation)

– a look into the darkness of Donald Trump’s father and the destruction of Coney Island

Some posts about JFK were also quite popular, as was a post about The White House Pool.

Anything about Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger will pop.  

Anything about writing or writing advice from other people will move the needle.

We consider Record Group 80 to be kind of a signature post.

Ten years as an amount of time is significant.  We once heard an interview with Joseph Campbell, he was talking about a young student who was asking Campbell about whether he thought he, the student, could make it as a writer.

Well, can you go ten years without making it?

was Campbell’s question. A good question to ask.  

What would “making it” mean?  We don’t profit off this website, but it’s very valuable as as storehouse of material that caught our attention. And it feels contributive.  It’s brought about many connections and friendships of great value, even if you can’t put a price on them.  

Once I was talking to a guy who knew a thing or two about SEO and metrics and online business about the site. He suggested we should pick any one specific niche and go deep, make that our thing. For instance, “Navy photos.” But that’s not the idea (and it would be boring).

Once I was talking to a successful Hollywood type guy who’s a reader of Helytimes. I asked him what I should do to get more readers. He looked at me like I was kind of an idiot.

Write about the Kardashians

he said.

That’s not the idea here either.

This isn’t any kind of business. During the lifespan of this website we published a book, wrote several other books, wrote lots of television, co-hosted hundreds of episodes of The Great Debates. This is a straightup side project. But sometimes that’s where the life is.

My life times out so my growing up parallels the Internet growing up. My age 18 was close to the Internet’s age 18. So I followed and tracked the rise of what we unfortunately have to call blogging. 

Andrew Sullivan was an early one. Blogging eventually burned him out and he had to stop.  Matt Yglesias was my near contemporary in college (I don’t think I ever met him).  He seems built to be a blogger and has made a job of it.  That takes stamina, focus, and drive we don’t have.

Hot takes aren’t the game around here. Unless they’re hot takes on something from like the 15th century. 

We maintain this site out of desire to clean out the brain-attic, to keep an independent publishing vector open, to settle anything that’s gnawing at us, to share (and clear the mind of) passions, obsessions, curiosities and discoveries.  

Over the years we’ve had a worldwide readership, lured in some surprising customers, lost one contributor to death by tragedy, and had some touching comments.  The funniest people reach out to us. Usually about content we never would’ve thought anyone would care about. 

We made a scratchmark on the cave wall, which, what else are we here for?  

So, onward!  Thanks for reading, we really appreciate you.  

* the word blog just isn’t a winner, is it folks?

The Qur’an: A New Translation by Thomas Cleary

Finally completed a seventeen year mission: to read the Quran.

The Opening:

I am no expert on the Quran.  Any statement about the Quran is in danger of inviting disputation.  With respect, I offer here the modest fruits of my studies in case they prove useful to you.

Recite

The first thing to know about the Quran is that like Shakespeare, it is not intended for you to read it.  It’s intended for you to hear it.  In Arabic.

The first word of the Quran is often translated as “recite.”  (Good Quora post about the first word).

About the meaning of the term `Quran`, there are two famous opinions:

1) it is driven from al-Qar` meaning `to collect`.
2) It is driven from `Qara` (to recite).

So says Ask the Sheikh.

The idea of whether the Quran can even be translated is a question with centuries of discussion and commentary and argument on it.   

Regrettably, learning Arabic at this time proved not practicable for me.

The problems surrounding the nature of the Quran are so many that this guy:

barely even gets to the content of the book.  This book focuses on the unique place of the Quran within Islam, and the sort of meta-questions of the Quran itself.  And I’m told Prof. Michael Cook is a leader in the field of English language Quranic interpretation.

This one I found more useful for basic setup:

A monologue

The Quran is a sort of monologue by Allah delivered through the angel Gabriel (Jibril).

In the Bible God doesn’t actually talk that much.  Nor is He (Bible God) quite as firm as Allah on the importance of getting His exact words right.

Allah put forth this monologue in seventh-century Arabic.  Even if I spoke Arabic like a native 2022 Saudi, Quran Arabic would be difficult for me to understand.

To put it mildly, a lot of thinking has gone into translating the Quran.  Here is a sample of some the various translations for 6:32:

Some translations of the Quran are so stiff as to be almost incomprehensible.  I cannot think this is correct, because the sounds and rhythms of the Quran from the time of its first recitings convinced so many.

Reciting it is the key.  So the Quran must flow, right?

But what do I know, maybe Allah wanted to sound stiff.

Cleary’s translation

The translation I chose is done by the mysterious and astounding Thomas Cleary.

source, cannot confirm this is really him

from the only interview I can find of Thomas Cleary:

Sonshi.com: According to a recent LA Times story, you were with the Dalai Lama. The news reporter incorrectly described you as a Harvard professor. Could you tell us more accurately what happened?

Cleary: I am not a Harvard professor, as the LA Times article says. All the other representations and their implications are likewise fictitious. I was not onstage with the Dalai Lama, and did not flank him at any time. I was not among those sporting the silk scarf he bestows. My work is not connected to any personal, political, or sectarian associations or alliances. My message that day had no relation whatsoever to the Art of War, and I was not introduced or identified that way.

As I have already translated both Buddhist and Islamic scripture from their original Sanskrit and Arabic, I was requested to address that assembly. I just recited some scripture as an amicus mundi, friend of the world.

These are the passages I presented.

Qur’an:

The Age

By the age, man is indeed at a loss, except those who have faith and do good works and take to truth and take to patience.

The Atheists

Say, “O atheists, I don’t serve what you serve, and you don’t serve what I serve. And I won’t serve what you serve and you won’t serve what I serve. You have your way, and I have my way.”

Assistance

Do you see the one who repudiates religion? That is the one who rebuffs the orphan and does not encourage feeding the poor. So woe to those who pray yet are inattentive to their prayer: those who put on the appearance and yet are withholding assistance.

Good enough for the Dalai Lama, good enough for me.

Wolfgang H. Wörderer took this one

I found Cleary’s translation comprehensible and approachable.  As far as I can tell he is a serious scholar with respect for the tradition.  Here’s a very thoughtful review by a Muslim.

Don’t make fun of the Quran.

That’s one of the big messages in the Quran.

But there are some people

who vend amusing tales

to lead astray from the way of God

in the absence of knowledge,

making a joke of it;

there is a degrading punishment

in store for them.

My intention is not to make a joke of the Quran.  For the most part it’s not funny.  Much of it is very beautiful and clear-sounding.

People, an example is set forth:

so listen to it:

those to whom you pray instead of God

could not create a fly,

even if they all cooperated at it.

And if the fly should snatch anything from them,

they would not recover it from it.

The seeker is weak, and so is the sought.

Is it a sacrilege to compare the Quran to a series of long raps?

Several times in the Quran, 11:13 for example, Allah challenges anyone who doesn’t believe in the Quran to try and produce their own verses.

Segments

And We have divided the Recital

so you could recite it to people

in segments, with logical stopes:

We have discharged it

by sending down inspirations.

Say, “whether you believe in it or not, those to whom knowledge was given before you

fall on their faces humbly

when it is recited to them”

The Quran is organized from longest chapter to shortest.  I can think of no other book organized this way.

Controversial passages

I can’t top this list.  If you’re reading the Quran looking to condemn it, you might be disappointed.  I find nothing in it that’s much worse than stuff you can find in the Bible.

62:5 says that “those who were charged with the Torah but then did not carry it out were like a donkey carrying books” which is a funny phrase.

Top quote?

So hard to pick.  I won’t.  I do like The Family of Imram:92 or 3:92:

You will not attain righteousness

until you give of what you care for

33:53 is funny, discusses how too much chatting annoys the Prophet.

How about 13:26:

God expands the provision

of anyone at will, and limits

Yet they delight

in the life of the world.

But the life of the world

is but a utensil

in respect to the hereafter.

Bold mine.

There’s the Quran, and then there’s the sayings of the Prophet

Whole other story.

I like this one.

Not sure what to do with this.

There’s the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet and then there are the interpreters

The Quran has had thirteen centuries of people interpreting it.

Graeme Wood’s surprisingly (?) entertaining book about the rise of ISIS is, in a way, about how study and interpretation and interpretation of interpretation of the Quran can lead to wild and wildly different outcomes, with ISIS being a no bueno example.  Conversation with Graeme Wood much improved my Quranic studies.

Not scoffing

The Quran several times warns “scoffers” or disbelievers.  Let me be clear: the Quran is nothing to scoff at.

Or do they say, “he made it up!”?

They simply don’t believe

Let them come up

with a story like it

Peace be upon the Prophet.  I am happy to have had Thomas Cleary’s help in taking the first step towards understanding the Quran and recommend his translation.

Healy

“I think that fact that we did it live really made the show what it was,” Ensley said in 1997. “We’d show film of me fishing someplace, then we’d have live guests. People from everywhere would call us to see if they could be on to show the fish they had caught. One time a guy from Hiawatha, Kansas came in with a 72-pound flathead catfish. We had it in a horse tank in the back of a pickup, and he drove it right onto the set. When he pulled that big catfish out of the tank, water went flying everywhere.“

Harold Ensley probably the most famous person from Healy, Kansas. He hosted a TV show called The Sportsman’s Friend.

The cast of Gunsmoke appeared on his show, and he appeared on Gunsmoke as one of Festus Haggen‘s drunken cousins who was thrown in jail.

He really did it:

During their last conversation, Ensley claimed, to his son, to have been dreaming about fishing. “He said he’d been dreaming about bass fishing at Table Rock Lake using a buzzbait,” Dusty Ensley said. “He went out thinking about hunting and fishing.” Harold Ensley died at his home in Overland Park, Kansas, at the age of 92.

As for Healy, pop 195:

The community is served by Healy USD 468 public school district. Their mascot is “The Eagles”, and offer volleyball, basketball and track, collaborating with Ransom, KS. Since the 2012-2013 season, the Healy High School basketball team holds a record of 5-97, and according to MaxPreps, is ranked as the second worst team in the state of Kansas, just ahead of the Kansas School for the Deaf in Olathe

Soviet memorial, West Hollywood

The only monument to soldiers of the former Soviet Union on US soil is in West Hollywood.

The monument was and is controversial.

Out for a walk the other day we spotted this at the Russian language library:

How many of those are left?

The only monument to soldiers of the former Soviet Union ...

The only monument to soldiers of the former Soviet Union on US soil is in West Hollywood.

The monument was and is controversial.

Out for a walk the other day we spotted this at the Russian language library:

How many of those are left?

Pipelines

To understand the Kremlin’s motivations in regard to its smaller, and relatively impoverished, neighbor, the key fact to know is that Russia supplies 40% of Europe’s heating-fuel supplies — namely, natural gas.

To get it there, Russia relies mostly on two aging pipeline networks, one of which runs through Belarus and the other through Ukraine. For this, Russia pays Ukraine around $2 billion a year in transit fees.

Russia is a petrostate and relies on oil and natural-gas sales for about 60% of its export revenue and 40% of its total budget expenditures. Any crimp on Russia’s ability to access the European market is a threat to its economic security.

so writes Lukas I. Alpert in Marketwatch. Samuel Bailey is credited for the below map, found on the Wikipedia page, “Pipeline Transport.”

Ironically the cost for Russia will be “decertification” of Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Closer to home: big news came from the Supreme Court today re: the Dakota Access Pipeline. The court declined to hear Energy Transfer’s plea to avoid a legally mandated environmental review.

The ruling is a huge victory for North Dakota tribes including the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe which rallied support from across the world and sued the US government in a campaign to stop the environmentally risky pipeline being built on tribal lands.

It signals the end of the litigation road for the Texan energy company, but the pipeline, known as DAPL and open since 2017, will continue to operate as the review is carried out.

You gotta be on the side of the tribes here, they don’t want a pipeline under their lake. But on the other hand, aren’t pipelines a pretty good way to transport oil? What’s better, trucks? Trains?

Oil and gas is extracted in inconvenient places and is messy to move. The limited pipelines create chokepoints. Remember when “hackers” shut down Colonial? 45% of all the fuel consumed on the East Coast comes through that one pipeline.

A map of US pipelines made using a tool at FracTracker.

Here in greater Los Angeles we have refineries, so several pipelines flow out. If I understand right, just two pipelines, one from here and one from Utah, bring all the necessary jet fuel, heating oil, and gasoline to Las Vegas.

You’d think there’d be one of those books called like Invisible Veins: How Pipelines Run Our Lives but I couldn’t find one. If you look up “pipeline” in books on Amazon, you get a graphic novel, some books about metaphorical “pipelines” like in education and income, and this one:

Beautiful cover. The target audience for that one seems to be those involved in legal matters:

In this edition of Oil and Gas Pipelines in Nontechnical Language, Tom Miesner and Bill Leffler leverage the hundreds of courses they have taught in the past decade, along with the interaction with their audiences, clients, and opposing attorneys to present a totally understandable view of pipeline inception, planning, construction, start-up, and operation. Those experiences allowed them to expand but simplify the complexities of pipelines, including a totally revised chapter on equipment that provides a complete view of pipeline components. A separate chapter on control systems updates this technology.

At over $100 that’s too expensive for a probably very boring book right now, but we did get this one:

and will report

In this lyrical manifesto, noted climate scholar (and saboteur of SUV tires and coal mines) Andreas Malm makes an impassioned call for the climate movement to escalate its tactics in the face of ecological collapse. We need, he argues, to force fossil fuel extraction to stop–with our actions, with our bodies, and by defusing and destroying its tools. We need, in short, to start blowing up some oil pipelines.

Haven’t read it yet, but blowing up an oil pipeline seems like one of the messiest things you could possibly do! You really gotta believe in the ends justifying the means etc. if you’re blowing up pipelines to help reverse ecological collapse.

I wonder if we ought instead to say a prayer for the health and safety of all pipelines!

We’ll let Malm make his case.

Texifornia

Inspired by the shirt the crew wears at Bludso’s BBQ decided to compare. How big is California compared to Texas?

And just for a laugh:

True Size Of... is the tool used for that.