Yeah….I pretty much didn’t know what to say either. It's even hand painted...
So anyways, if you see any let me know. Finding a Stinger Missile is kind of like winning the lottery around here.
Afghanistan is the world’s single largest opiate producing country; the big exports being Opium, Heroin, and black market editions of Codeine and Morphine.
I had a hard time finding a decent set of consequence related statistics for opiate consumption. Opiate use is not a popular concern….but I did find enough to talk about:
Annually, approximately 16,260 people die of Heroin overdose within the United States. That comes up to about five and a half nine-elevens a year…and gaining. These statistics do not include fatalities as a result of other black-market opiates (more than 25 alkoloids can be extracted from poppies). According to multiple sources, individuals who use heroine have a mortality rate between 6 and 20 times higher than their non heroine using peers (although, these last numbers are compounded by lifestyle habits: dirty needles (HIV, Hepatitis) and drug related violence).
The United States at just over 300M residents has about 1/22th of the world’s 6,602M population. Opiate use is prevalent world wide…with it’s greatest consumption per capita being in Asia, but with the greatest heroin use per capita being in Europe. To be conservative we will cut the US statistics in half and then cut them in half again, and say for argument’s sake that only 1.35 people per 100,000 die internationally from opiate use (though the real figure is surely higher!). This gives us just over 244 fatalities a day or one nine-eleven every twelve days!
Sources:
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Office of National Drug Control Policy
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction
Confucius The Great Learning
Kendo led me to reread The Book of Five Rings, which led me to The Art of War, which led me to Confucius. And Confucius has pointed to windows in all sorts of directions. This moral philosophy is compatible with everything from Buddhism to Islam to Christianity. Not at all what I expected.
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Robbert Heinlein Starship Troopers
I bought this book in Kabul last month and zipped through it on my R&R flight from Afghanistan back to the states. A great read and very different from the 1997 motion picture. Not as dynamic as Ender's Game, nor as imaginative as Eon; the book was however more interesting (...and perhaps a little frightening) from a socio political vantage. It deserves it's status as a classic.
Lance Armstrong Its Not About The Bike
I found this floating around the FOB's MWR tent and decided to give it a go. I am very glad that I did so. Armstrong's story is amazing and inspiring. I very much wish that I had read it years ago. The man is the epitome of human perseverance. For a sports autobiography/biography, the book is exceptionally well written and carries a reflective and thankful tone. It is easy to read and comes highly recommended by me.
Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice
Lets be honest here; this is a strait up fluffy romance novel. We can dress it up and call it a 'timeless classic' or a 'fine piece of prose' or whatever. At the end of the day, it is still a strait up fluffy romance novel. And yes, I liked it (I think I have enough macho credentials to get away with the admission).
Of course I never would have come to this book on my own. I had to be tricked: On a business trip this last year, the theatrical movie version of Pride and Prejudice was playing on the 737's only working movie channel, so I tuned in. Initially, I planned to have a fun time of scoffing and snickering at mushiness and silliness. But instead, i was sucked right in; I really enjoyed...even thoroughly enjoyed the movie. So much so, that I have viewed the movie three times since.
The book has a few more characters and develops the plot a little more carefully; still the same story though, just with a few more angles and development. Very well written and certainly worth the time. Also, the deneumont (or whatever it is that you call the post-conflict-happy-ending part) is much better than what the movie offers.
Miyamoto Musashi A Book of Five Rings
I initially read this in 2004, prior to going to Japan. And again I read it just before leaving Japan. I was impressed in 2004 but after living in Japan for a few years and with a little Kendo under my belt, the text made a great deal more sense to me. This book is about personal improvement and being the best you can be.
In the late 80s and early 90s, The Book of Five Rings was popular reading for Western businessmen trying to understand and decode the then intimidating Japanese Business Machine.
I like to think of Musashi as the Japanese version of the European Renaissance Man: he wrote important culturally defining things, he was very good painter, and he was arguably the world's greatest swordsman...without a doubt he is one of the most infamous.
Terry Goodkind Wizard's First Rule
I have always enjoyed loosing myself in good science fiction or fantasy book. It has, historically, been one of my favorite time wasting activities. This book, which I picked up in Kuwait on my way back to Afghanistan, is the first installment of a multi-book saga about rags-to-wizardly-and/or magical-riches. In this way, it seems to start out like so many many far too many other Sci Fi books. I know that this one of those best selling well loved series, but I just can get my self into it. Just as well, it would take me forever to get through the series, and I just don't have that kind of time anymore. In fact it's beginning is eerily similar to the way Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series starts out; and I have no intentions of getting stuck in anything like that again (every new book in the series doubles the characters, and triples the plot-confusion...and it has dragged on so long that I dont even remotely remember what happened in the first two or three books...).
Bernard Lewis A Middle East Mosaic: Fragments of Life, Letters and History
I scooped this book up in Tokyo at Narita Airport in January just before I got on the plane to head to training at Fort Bragg. However, I didn't open it until June. I wish I had done so sooner, as it is rather interesting. Basically, it is a collection of writings spanning several Centeries that compares what Middle Easterners say about Westerns and what Westerners say about Middle Easterners. It is a very relevant idea and it does a very fine job of exposing the often outrageous biases and prejudices that we have towards each other.
I have not finished this book. Though it is not really the sort of book that one would finish per say. Instead it is something to be referred to periodically for the sake of perspective.
Yagyu Munenori The Life Giving Sword
I read this book last fall and was really impressed; especially by it's great capacity to complement the study of Kendo. I was surprised that I had not heard of the book before, so I did a little googleing -- with the expectation of finding all kinds of hails and praise for Yagyu. Instead, I found a whole bunch of wishy washy comments on various Eastern Philosophy blogs. From what I gather, the book's first English translation was in 2003, so not so many Westerners have read it. Maybe it will pick up a better following in years to come....or maybe you just have to be a kendo-kai.
Lao Tzu Tao Teh Ching
Ok, this is it the book that all these other Eastern Philosophy books are rooted to in one way or another. I read it and reread it while going though the Combat Skills Training at Ft Bragg this last winter. It was a good companion for me and kept me calm when I needed to be. There is a lot of wisdom in this book but there is also a lot of craziness that truly flies in the face of decent God fearing democratic men and women. A few excerpts:
12
The five colors blind the eye
The five tones deafen the ear
The five flavors cloy the palate
Racing and hunting madden the mind
Rare goods tempt men to do wrong
Therefore, the Sage takes care of his belly, not the eye
He prefers what is within to what is without
38
...
Failing Tao, man resorts to Virtue
Failing Virtue, man resorts to humanity
Failing humanity, man resorts to morality
Failing morality, man resorts to ceremony
Now ceremony is the merest husk of faith and loyalty;
It is the beginning of all confusion and disorder
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Sun Tzu The Art of War
This is the book that everyone talks about, but that very few actually read. I was very impressed with it. So impressed that I read it twice (different translations). And this is how I know that no one reads it. Because it is a deeply misunderstood book. It is all about 'how not to go to war'. It provides multiple arguments for not going to war....'only doing so when it is completely unavoidable, and only when victory is a foregone conclusion'. It further advocates, that when war is necessary, that injury to the civil population and infrastructure should be specifically avoided. Despite it's namesake, this book provides a ruthless but deeply humane philosophy on war. To tell the truth, this is the book that should be named The Art of Peace
Morihei Ueshiba The Art of Peace
I snagged this little book, and it is little, on my way out of Japan. I figured that since I was going to war that this is the sort of thing that I should be reading to ensure that I remained a human being through the end of my trip. Turns out that the book doesnt really have anything to do with peace per say (at least in the Western since of the word). The book is more about personal balance and finding the 'way'. Ueshida was the founder of Aikido which is the martial art study of 'nonviolent way to victory'. The statements and pronouncements in the book are all reasonable and generally convincing. However the translation (John Stevens) seems poor as the book does not flow with the elegance of the versions of The Art of War that I have read nor does it match the strength of The Book of Five Rings. My biggest problem is that the book doesnt really flow all that well from cover to cover. I suppose I will wait for an alternate translation before I pass too much judgment.
Absurdistan
Ghost Wars
On War
On Dreams
Timothy Leary
Gary Shteyngart Absurdisan
O man is this a good book. Funny funny funny. You will, for sure, fall over laughing. The story takes place in a fictional former Soviet republic and follows the plight of the very obese son of a Russian mobster. Written with great wit and great skill...I think that this will be an all time favorite for me. Enough said!
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Steve Coll Ghost Wars
This book, which is about the history of Afghanistan from just before Soviet occupation until 10 SEP 2001, claimed the Pulitzer Prize in 1995. Accordingly, it was nominal mandatory reading for every member of my PRT (and probably every other serviceman in Afghanistan for that matter...). The book focuses a great deal on the CIA, MI6, the ISS and other intelligence agencies. Many, possibly most, of the events described in the book took place in and around Jalalabad; so my initial interest level was unusually high. I blitzed though the first 100 pages back in February, and then bragged to everyone I ran into about the books 'many amiable qualities'. Since that time, I have made little progress and am presently stuck on page 201. I just could not keep my interest high enough...this is for a myriad of reasons, none of which are very good. So it would be best if you just insert your favorite excuse here: “xxxxx”
Robert Greenfield Timothy Leary
In the summer of 2000, I can recall asking my Uncle what he had been up to. He replied carefully but energetically "I'm working on a Biography of Timothy Leary" then he said "...don't ask" in way that meant that I should ask. Only I couldn't ask, as I had no idea who Tim Leary was at the time (Uncle B, I am sorry for being too cowardly to tell you in person). Due to a very rural setting with no MTV, I grew up mostly oblivious to pop culture or counter culture....so it is only reasonable and natural I would also be clueless about Baby Boomer counter culture.
Anyways, this book is better than expected. That is to say I knew that it would be well written, it is just that I did not expect to find the subject matter so interesting. The book is full of all sorts of flower-power illicit-substance facilitated shenanigans and absurdities, all of which sucked me right in....and I do love absurdities. The man's life was stranger than fiction; certainly more ridiculous than fiction. I have just gotten to the part where he escapes from jail with the help of mixed up fanatical hippies...maybe I should have been a Baby Boomer.
Carl Von Clausewitz On War
This is the other book that everyone talks about, but that no one ever reads. In contrast to The Art of War, which is reasonably short, this book is the marathon of military treatises. And no, I am not very far into the book... nor do I expect to finish it anytime soon.
The trick with dear ol CVC is that he blabbers on and on about a whole bunch of nonsense rife with big words and run-on sentences that one frequently gets the impression that reading On War is useless. Then just as you are about to kick the text to the curb, some very important and often clever rule or comment is laid before the reader....forcing you to read further.
Now this is very funny: CVC claims that there are four kinds of officers: clever and industrious, clever and lazy, stupid and lazy, and stupid and industrious.
-- The clever and industrious make the best staff officers
-- The clever and lazy make the best commanders (on account of naturally finding the path of least resistance to success or victory)
-- The stupid and lazy are not your leaders but with supervision still have their uses
-- However, the stupid and industrious officers must be removed from the organization as quickly as possible as they will cause the greatest harm to progress.
Everyone has to like a guy who says that laziness is good for your career. lol
Aristotle On Dreams
Every so often I give Aristotle a go. Though it seldom sits well with me. On Dreams almost feels like reading the Electric Cool Aid Acid Test. Some of the conclusions he draws are absolutely ridiculous. Of all the books to associate with the Leary Biography, this was not the one I would have expected.... I digress. eh hem...so anyways, Aristotle is a weirdo, lets leave it at that for now.
btw: this picture, which is an excerpt from a larger painting, will serve well as the next frantzworkshop Art Quiz:
Name the painter for 20 points, for an additional 20 points name the painting and the two toga frat boys pictured in the midst of busting-a-rhyme.
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Yes yes, its all true: Jude Law came all the way to Afghanistan just to get my autograph.