Gaza genocide?

 Is Israel’s Gaza campaign genocidal?

Two questions to consider:

1.    Does the weaker opponent have the capacity to resist?  Is the weak combatant showing any form of resistance?
2.    Does the weaker opponent have any leverage it can use against its rival?

If the answer to any or both questions is yes, then it is not a genocide.  It is just a war between two parties with grossly uneven military capabilities.

The deadwood theory of California Wildfires

 
 

 

Having lived in California regions prone to wildfires, for a decade, I have an opinion on what causes the wildfires to grow rapidly.  It is true that most wildfires start when dry bush is ignited, but how does a fire grow so big as to devour standing trees.  The answer lies in the observation about other readily combustible material, besides dry bush, present in the environment.  And that combustible material is deadwood.  It is the fallen branches of the trees; it is the old trees that die and are uprooted by wind.  The deadwood is the main ingredient that makes a small bush fire a ferocious wildfire.  Once we understand this phenomenon, we know the solution.  Remove the dead wood.  How?  Let people collect deadwood from wilderness.  Let them use the deadwood in their wood burners.  By eliminating dry bushes butting roadways, and by removing deadwood in the general vicinity of human presence, we can cut down on a great number of California wildfires. Is the State Fire Marshal (Daniel Berlant?) at Cal Fire listening?

Social Media posts and the real stories behind them

Social Media posts and the real stories behind them

Post: I really appreciate the thousands of messages I have received on my birthday from friends around the world. You make me feel so special! I cannot possibly thank each one of you individually. Kindly accept my electronic hug to all of you.
The real story: Dammit! It was my birthday, and no one noticed! Let me post something clever online about the historical day to get something out of hundreds of my stupid cyber friends.

Post: I am humbled by the service to humanity award I have received from the International Society of Sages and Augurs.
The real story: I donated just $5 to the International Society of Sages and Augurs, and they gave me this award in recognition of my ‘services to humanity’! This piece of paper can most probably be used in a toilet. Oh, well, let me post this news online and see if I can get a few Likes.
 

Post: Last week, I was interviewed by the world-famous New England Journal of Science and Stellar Technologies. I never in my wildest dreams thought my life would take me where it has taken me. It is all because of my mother’s prayers and best wishes from friends like you.
The real story: New England Journal of Science and Stellar Technologies is a decent website. Why is nobody noticing my name there? Let me make an online post to wake up a few people who don’t bother to read these prestigious journals.
 

Post: My wonderful daughter, you make me proud! Look at her beautiful smile in this photo.
The real story: She is 25 and has not moved out yet; she treats me like an ATM. Let me put something online with her picture to shame her.

Post: My beautiful wife, my best friend, my companion for the last fifteen years, I love you beyond your wildest imaginations!
The real story: She is getting weird day by day. What a ruckus she made last night! Let me post something online to calm her down. If it does not work, this relationship is over.

Package delayed due to incorrect address. Please update at this link.

Got a text message from 382-889-0796.  The image had the United States Postal Service logo.  The message read:

Package delayed due to incorrect address.  Please update at this link.

I wrote back.

Thanks for letting me know on my correct telephone number that the address on a package for me is incorrect.  Please send the package to the incorrect address and notify the incorrect telephone number associated with the incorrect address.  Love, always.  C.

Lip Sync, Music That Moves

 

Yesterday, I watched the last fifteen minutes of “Lip Sync, Music That Moves” theater show, at the Soper Reese Community Theater in Lakeport, presented by the Lake County Theater Company.  The theatrical performance was woven around the theme song of the famous Addams Family movie/TV show and was a choreographed assortment of various popular songs lip sung by the dancing performers.

Directed by Larry, Zoe and Kiana Richardson

Produced by June Wilson-Clarkin

Choreographers: Larry Richardson, Zoe Richardson, Kiana Richardson, Olivia Saldana, Sarah Dutra, Barbara Clark, Leah Odom, Jo Fay, Cyndy Forbes, Cindy Sobel, Sandy Robertson, William Odom, Lilian Huang, John Tomlinson, Jessica Henson

 

 

Should men squat to pee?

 

A water closet is not meant to be used as a urinal.  Men should not use the WC at home as a urinal: please sit down to pee (to avoid making a mess).

Traveling is the best celebration of life

 The more dead you are, the less you move. Travel is the best celebration of life.

 

جو اپنی جگہ جس قدر ساکت ہے، اس قدر مرا ہوا ہے۔

 

San Francisco Bay Area Community Leader Hasan Jahangir Hamdani remembered

 

 

 

In a book introduction program held on January 21, 2024 at the Chandni Restaurant in Newark, California, San Francisco Bay Area South Asian community leader Syed Hasan Jahangir Hamdani was remembered and eulogized.  The promoted book was Hamdani’s ‘Dasht e Junoon’, a posthumous collection of his mainly Urdu and some Persian poetry. Hamdani’s family members as well as Bay Area connoisseurs of literature including Tashie Zaheer, Professor Abdul Jabbar, and Javed Ellahie spoke at the event.

 

 

Emcee, Ahsan Jahangir Hamdani

                                         

Poetess Mehnaz Naqvi

                                                    Mrs. Sahab Hamdani
 

 

Singer Almas Shabvani

 

                                                Attorney Javed Ellahie

                                                    Professor Abdul Jabbar

 

Journalist Abdus Sattar Ghazali

 

 

Urdu Poet and Community Leader, Tashie Zaheer

                                                Dr. Anshuman Chandra