Some College Memories

Winfree Smith threw a mint julep party each year for the Seniors. I really liked to drink in those years and I really enjoyed those mint juleps. I haven’t touched a drop of alcohol in something like three years and hope I never do again. But after I graduated and took a trip to New Orleans (once) I ordered mint juleps two or three times per day. I only remember getting stumbling drunk on three or four occasions during the four years.

I do remember when I was a senior that there were only one or two black students in the entire school one of whom was a freshman who had artistic ability. I needed some illustrations for my senior paper and she did them. I offered to pay her but she refused to take any money but she agreed to go with me to The Little Campus for dinner when the illustrations were done. I was shocked out of my head when we sat down to dinner and the white folks actually stared at us thinking that we were an interracial couple! I even asked her if it were my imagination but she laughed and said no, they really were staring and gossiping. I found her very attractive but I never thought about her romantically because I was so much older and about to graduate and leave Annapolis. I had no idea that people were so racist! After that dinner I did sort of ask her about her situation because she was so sweet and I was attracted but she said she had a boy friend. I can honestly say that I did not think about her race and since we were working together I did not think about her sexually. So I guess that is to my credit.

Old Yahoo Chat Friend in Peshawar Pakistan

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

Peshawar: Hi sir, after a long time, I used to write in your forum but I lost the ID. I am from Pakistan and I used to discuss things in 2005 and you appreciated.

William: Yes, indeed I remember

William: You sent me photos of Pakistan which looked like the North
East of American in the Fall… with pine trees

Peshawar: I am safe and sound among bombs , blasts, aggression, foreign or internal, and and unprecedent situation, haha howp sir u wll be safe and sound, yes sir

William: well, safe in NYC for right now
William: you are surrounded by much war activity…
William: are you near Lahore, what is your city

Peshawar: Same person , at that time I was student , now teacher or
lecturer in the university and college, so bit professional but still
need your benign shade and kind words.

William: Which city are you near so I may visualize on a map

Peshawar: Peshhawar, and personally belong to area,where recently
Taliban and govt fought interim war and people were displaced

William: Aha, you are near Peshhawar… or did you move
Which languages are you fluent in besides English and I
assume Urdu

Peshawar: not so unprecedent like Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Cuba,
and Mexico
Peshawar: I speak Urdu and Pushto

William: One acquaintance long ago in Lahore told me she must both
filter and then boil drinking water… how is your water situation?
must you filter and then boil

Peshawar: Sir I am looking forward for Phd now, will take admission very soon in mphil in Pakistan or outside Pakistan if God wills

William: aha you speak Pushto
William: do you know very many who are sincerely practicing Islam…
What is your position… must you come regularly to Masjid? I have
friend in Tehran who never goes

Peshawar: Sir we have good quality water in Peshawar, and my village,
there are springs, pure drinking water,

William: Do the people that you know seem to hate America? It is ok to
tell me negative things I shall not be offended. What do they think of
Obama. Do you know of many people who are in favor of Taliban? Or
are many there against Taliban

Peshawar: Sir, I do believe that one must have religion, irrespective,
Islam, Christainity or Judiasm Hinduism or any..

William: Regarding Islam, I was simply curious if there is a social
pressure for people to attend mosque…. in Tehran it is possible to
never attend, as long as one does not break rules of dress code in street. In Tehran the morality police inspect to tear down forbidden
satellite TV dishes… and the people just put them back up

Peshawar: once Stalin the president of ussr was depressed he asked a
doctor to prescribe medicine, the doctor asked him, do you believe in God, if so it will release your pressure, but Stalin said I am an athiest, and I do not believe on doctor,

William: in Peshawar, during Ramadan, are people punished if seen
eating or drinking during the daylight hours

William: Stalin is interesting because he died of old age in bed, ..
he was not assassinated, executed. So Stalin was successful in his exercise of power

Peshawar: the doctor said , then do believe in Satan, it wll decrease
your pressure, and Stalin said from now forward America is my Satin,

I am not personal, just believe on some thing

William: Is there a big problem in Peshawar with AIDS/Hiv infection?
Is the news suppressed…. can you ever read Al Jezeera news?

Peshawar: sorry I could not convey my point proper, but I believe
Peshawar: no sorry, no big problem like big cities

William: is there a black market in alcohol where you are…. is there
any problem with alcohol or drug addiction

William: in Tehran, the alcoholics are punished more severely than the
heroin addicts because Qur’an forbids alcohol but not heroin
(explicitly)

Peshawar: Drug addiction very common and cheap, even sitting next to
my home,

William: yes, because the opium is produced in nearby Afghanistan i
suppose

William: I spoke to a store owner in Brooklyn who is from Yemen… he
said in Yemen there is ONE thing you cannot get EVEN on black
market….. PORK (pig)

William: but you can get whiskey/vodka in black market illegally

Peshawar: i do not know about that, here too we have laws but not so
sever, never never compare iran with pakistan though we faces terrorism and malign names but here people are western in thier style

William: interesting
William: I am very glad to hear from you… I sometimes think of you

Peshawar: yes of course so common, available easy, but more common
herion opium etc

William: how do you access internet? by telephone dial up? by
cable…. how?

Peshawar: thank you to remember me,
William: can you access Facebook? I am on facebook all the time…
William: Facebook is banned in Tehran by my friend gets it through a
PROXY

William: IT IS good that you made progress and are an instructor
headed towards PhD

Peshawar: Do you know internet facility is most cheapest among the
world, just imagine, for one dollor, mite be 20 hours, wirless phone ,
through mobile, through optical fiber

William: wow
William: I did notice that there are inexpensive internet providers
located in Pakistan… if i remember

William: do many people in your town greatly dislike India

Peshawar: and imagine mobile phone talk for one hour on just 4 rupees
now one dollor equal to 86 rupees

William: In India, when Paki cricket team scores, the Indian Muslims
cheer… even though they are Indian and not Pakistani
William: what do people in your town think about the New York Ground
Zero Mosque dispute?

William: what is your best email contact
William: do you have gmail

Peshawar: i think it is beacuse of mentallity made by course books,
and plus media and govt but thnk very positvely about China and Iran

William: well, yes, positive attitude towards Iran is most
understandable

William: ah, good I will write that down in my address book
William: and what is your full name also
Peshawar: sir, humanism is the first religion, we are safe only if we
start believing on humanism

William: i wite it now
William: i write down your address
William: I just sent you test email from my blackberry

Peshawar: west is the not the problem , problem is the extreme of both ends , and secondly we are Sunni and they are Shia, as Christainity has Protestant , Lutheran, Catholic, and Anglican

William: yes, I am very familiar with differences between Sunni and
Shia

William: they physically pray THREE times per day, but they claim that
they combine two prayers into one, so they feel they pray FIVE times a
day

Peshawar: thank you, I hope you will not find me in the list of
pessimistic people

William: dont worry… be yourself… I enjoy candid truth… you do
not have to worry what i will think about your opinions
William: there are many understandable reasons why people around world might dislike america or europe… or prefer Islamic culture
William: in Iraq, there was gathering of Shia and Sunni and someones
cell phone started to play Shia religious music, and a fight broke out

Peshawar: thank time is about 9pm, and power will go for an hour,
just imagine, one hour power break in boston, or newyork, what will
happen, but nothing wil hapen here haha, thanks keep smiling and have
nice day

William: in Iraq, passport papers require TRIBE, and some people forge
papers to hide their TRIBE to avoid persecution
William: in your city, to people list their tribal affiliation?
William: what is the youngest girls you have seen married…. in
Tehran, one may see 13 year old, but in nomadic tribes… one may see
nine year old bride
William: same age as Ayesha

Peshawar: no problem at all, media very free anc cable available for
hunderd channel, just for 3 dollar per month, star movies, hbo, sky
news, cnn, bbc, star worlld etc

William: wow
William: i go to Egyptian diner in NYC, and they have cable with many
romantic song channels
William: very worldly… the Iranians would disapprove
William: very western, decadent, sensual

Peshawar: not big problem but some people of specific area are more
close eyes

William: do you go to Mosque every Friday?
William: just curious
William: do you know many people in your city who have done proper
Hajj to Makka

Peshawar: I think I go some time, but u know in Islam says that
blindly follow your faith, and no room for doubt, difficult to imagine
who made the world, believe in science

William: I gave up all tobacco and alcohol over two years ago because
of my health, i am age 61
William: yes,… i spoke with engineer in Saudi, and he said ONE MUST
NEVER QUESTION
William: ARE YOU ON SKYPE

William: i rarely use skype but i do have it

Peshawar: I think I studied both literature western and been a born
Muslim , I have a moderate view, do believe in science, and think
religion personal thing, not necessary to impose on some one

William: do many in your city use Ubuntu Gnu-Linux operating system

Peshawar: ya , i studied Linux in 1992
William: let me know if you got my test email to your hotmail
William: email me any time

Peshawar: do not know about Ubuntu gnu

William: just curious about Ubuntu in Peshawar
Peshawar: william in america is also called it bill
William: yes…. bill billy willy will
William: many nicknames for william
William: it is some kind of german for wilhelm = will’s helmet
William: something about protection, power
William: not certain

Peshawar: ok dear light (power) about to go, thinks
Peshawar: good explanation
William: ok…. email me
William: tell me about life
William: i can blog it anonymous… life in Peshawar

William: i did not know, interesting
William: email me your thoughts about Peshawar, and world,… i will
blog without mentioning your name

Peshawar: thanks we will share views

William: so you may be confidential
William: but, it will be valuable for world to hear your
thoughts/opinions concerns
William: i will always keep your identity confidential

William: i have school friend who works in Egypt
William: he tells me interesting things about Egypt

Peshawar: good , egypt is the mother of all civilization, visit sir,
pyramids
Peshawar: has signed out. (10/10/2010 12:08 PM)

Ambiguous Moral Judgments

The Bible mentions 6 or 7 different suicides and makes no moral judgment upon them. One of the most famous mass suicides occurred at Masada around 70 C.E. committed by Jews who chose to die rather than be taken captive by the Romans. Rabbi …Eleazar (I think) was their leader and left an interesting message. People like Gandhi chose to fast almost to the point of death in protest of a social injustice. Jesus and Socrates in a sense committed suicide since they foresaw their fate but made no attempt to escape. The Greek Orthodox lives of the saints records a case where nuns jumped off a cliff rather than be captured by Muslim invaders and their deaths were reckoned as martyrdom.

If only one person out of the roughly 7 billion on the planet decided to make a lifetime vow of celibacy they would probably be a curiosity and be interviewed by magazines and talk show hosts. But if each and every human being TOMORROW solemnly took lifetime vows of celibacy then their collective action would be the equivalent of genocide since the human species would be doomed to extinction. For several years I worked in an office with a young, beautiful, very devout Jehovah’s Witness woman. One day I commented to her that there is one circumstance under which the Bible would command her to have intercourse with me. She was in a state of shock and asked me to explain. I explained that IF perchance every human being on the earth died and she and I were the only survivors then according to the very first mitzvah (command) in Genesis, “be fruitful and multiply” it would be her religious duty to have intercourse with me and attempt to conceive a child. She reluctantly admitted that under such circumstances it WOULD be her duty.

If we examine a closed container of gas molecules it would appear to use that each and every molecule is moving randomly with total freedom in different directions with different velocities. And yet if we experimented with pressure and temperature and volume we would discover that collectively all those molecules obey very precise laws. Analogously each individual person seems totally free to make many choices or to chose to do nothing. Yet populations as a whole seem to be under some kind of broad behavioral laws though not as precise as those of the gas molecules.

By the way, there is one verse in the Gospels where Jesus basically says “no man kills me; it is given unto me to lay my life down and to take it up again” which might in theory be seen as a suicide of sorts. This is why all were amazed that he died upon the cross so quickly and that his legs did not require breaking.

Facebook posting reach

Sam: Ambreesh said he cannot see anything even though I changed MY privacy to EVERYONE. I am wondering if it would make sense for you to create a GROUP and then re-post really popular threads from your personal page to the GROUP. It is my understanding that a GROUP may have far more than 5,000 members. I had thought that perhaps there is some combination of privacy setting to extend the visibility of your posts to the FRIENDS of your 5000 friends but I guess not. Also I find that Facebook is unpredictable in the sense that there are TWO different selections for new feeds at the top right (which I cannot not see and remain in this post window.) AHA, I was able to visit FB in a new window and see my page and to the LEFT (at upper right is TOP NEWS and to the right of that is MOST RECENT) one or the other of those two settings has at the bottom OPTIONS where you may specify the number of friends to receive news from (default is 300 and I increased mine to 1040 because I have that many) and the other options are to list people you would like to hear MORE FROM and next to that a list of people you would like to hear LESS from). Anyway, bottom line, there is no real science to determine how many FB folks any given post will reach. I DO know that if you were to repost selected threads to a FB GROUP and then intern have a free WORDPRESS blog, and repost also to that blog then your tags and keywords would immediately enter the search engines and attention/readership would be drawn to your posts. Do let me know if you create a group or perhaps you have already created a FB group.
Thanks and keep on blogging!

Facebook and Blog Reposting

My practice is to repost each item of significance on my FB threads to my blog http://williambuell.wordpress.com . If I spend a lot of time composing several paragraphs I do not want them to disappear in FB. I like wordpress because it is easy to use and I can back it up regularly to a Flash/USB “thumb” drive. Blogspot is also a good blog which is easy to back up. Anyone who is popular like Sam Shropshire should also have a blog and should repost things of significance. Some people only want to add a friend on FB for the purpose of following what is said and have little interest in replying. A secondary blog site is idea for such people AND they may comment upon a blog post.

Now, suppose the robotic powers that be on FB decide for some reason to disable my account (or suppose FB gets bought up by some other entity and radically changes in nature.) Anyone who cares about what I write need only remember williambuell.wordpress.com to catch up with me.

I used to aggressively request FB additions selecting people who seemed to share many friends in common with me. My main goal was to connect with fellow alumni from St. John’s since we all have experienced the same four year program of readings, seminars and tutorials.

I adjusted my FB privacy settings so that “friends of friends” could see what I write with the assumption that people who are friends with my friends might share some interests.

I have stopped actively requesting friends additions. It IS possible for the FB bots to perceive you as requesting too many adds and punish you in some fashion. Occasionally someone will find one of my posts interesting and request an add. I add anyone as long as their page looks legitimate and personal (as opposed to commercial.) One may always defriend and even block so it is better to err on the side of excess rather than deficiency.

Seize the day! If not now, WHEN?

Carpe means “pick, pluck, pluck off, gather”, but Horace uses the word to mean “enjoy, make use of.” In Horace, the phrase is part of the longer Carpe diem quam minime credula postero – “Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future”, and the ode says that the future is unknowable, and that instead one should scale back one’s hopes to a brief future, and drink one’s wine. This phrase is usually understood against Horace’s Epicurean background.

The phrase “And if not now, when?” (Pirkei Avoth 1:14) comes to us from Jewish Talmudic wisdom.

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

Transformative Ideas

If I were artistic, I would sketch the cross on Golgotha/Calgary in the distance with one person whispering to another “It’s the THOUGHT that counts!” This might sound blasphemous, but I once blogged about how the IDEA of Christ (and Buddha and Ram) unquestionably exists even if one doubts the historicity, and ideas can be transformational and salvific!

(posted to my Facebook status today
http://www.facebook.com/william.buell )

The Sorrowless Grain of Rice

From my Facebook correspondence:

I don’t imagine life is a bed of roses for anyone, male, female, straight, gay, religious, atheist, conservative, liberal. A woman once came to Siddhartha Gautama (the historical Buddha) with her problems, so he told her to bring him a grain of rice from a household which has never known a moment of sorrow. She knocked upon many doors far and wide across the kingdom but returned to Siddhartha empty handed but with the new realization that many had sorrows greater than her own.

I met a wonderful young lesbian woman in her 20′s who works as an aid to the elderly in our building. She is comfortable with her sexual orientation. Her biggest problem that I notice is that she goes out drinking a lot on weekends and getting drunk. I have not touched a drop of alcohol or a flake of tobacco in 2 years now and hope I never do. Young people do not realize how subtly destructive such habits are.

It occurred to me just this week that our personal lives as well as the scriptures are meant to be metaphors for subjective interpretation and deconstruction rather than as some fundamentalist explicit equation not open to interpretation. Why would Jesus say SEARCH the scriptures for therein will you find… if there were some explicit unquestionable verses to point us to. We can tell Siddhartha’s unhappy client many things which are tried and true common sense but that wisdom will mean nothing to them until they spend some years knocking upon every door for that elusive grain of rice and realize for themselves, admit to themselves, that it does not exist. Also, the Epistles somewhere speak of bishops who “rightly divide the word.” Surely this means subjective interpretation rather than mechanical and objective application of some quadratic formula. Well, I shall post this now if it is not too long.

Internet Friendships

From a Facebook thread:

Ruth, I am sorry for your troubles. I do notice that you speak of Facebook friends as something *different* from *real* friends and now you mention of posting about topics other than your *real* life. I can understand and sympathize with many who see Internet relationships as synthetic. But I do feel close to Nyc and Wanda because we have shared some *real life* issues and I suspect they reciprocate such feelings in some fashion. People often speak of a “personal relationship” with Jesus. Jesus did “post” some things for us to read in the Gospels. However, I assure you I am quite real and my replies are prompt and candid so if I am not a friend in the flesh at least I am a friend in the sense of “flesh become words.”

Facebook gets cranky

Facebook just informed me that I am BLOCKED from posted on walls due to repeated misuse of the feature and that my account may be deleted.

I thought I was something of a sparkling conversationalist.

Different issue. Facebook used to suggest 10 or 20 friends adds per day and I would say yes to many of them. Two months ago Facebook warned me that I was abusing the add privilege and my account was in danger of being deleted. Since then I have hardly added anyone.

I realize that Facebook must be policed by automated software which simply monitors activity and reacts accordingly.