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Yet
another disaster has claimed the lives of thousands in South
Asia. Today’s earthquake is now officially the largest quake of
the 21st century. The quake was centered in northern Pakistan,
but it was felt as far away as Kabul (Afghanistan), Dhaka (Bangladesh)
and Delhi (India). Topix.net features a dedicated section for news reports from Pakistan and the page is currently filled with updates on the aftermath of the earthquake.
In situations such as these, it is rather unfortunate that some very
important organizations are unable to post frequent updates to their
websites. Indymedia, Médecins Sans Frontières, and Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
(who maintains refugee camps and educational and medical facilities in
Pakistan) will all likely post news regarding the earthquake-effected
areas at some point in the future. But as of now, I suppose we
are left to depend on the mainstream media for updates.
Flooding and landslides from Tropical Storm Stan
have now killed over 250 people in Guatemala. At least two towns
have completely vanished under mudslides. While it is relatively
easy to locate updates on the situation via the Internet, television
coverage in the U.S. has been almost nonexistent. In fact, as I
was getting ready for work this morning I had the morning news on for a
while and the only mention of Guatemala was in a spot about who got
kicked off "Survivor: Guatemala" last night. Maybe I missed
the real news.
A report from The Miami Herald.com explains the urgency of the desperate situation in Central America:
More
than 24,000 people from 270 communities took refuge in shelters
throughout Guatemala, but were suffering from cold and a lack of food
and water, according to Guatemalan radio reports.
Quetzaltenango residents reported a similarly critical situation.
"It
was complicated arriving with new shipments of food" because of the bad
weather, said Agriculture Minister Alvaro Aguilar. "Today, we are
making an effort" to reach the areas by air.
In
El Salvador rescuers also stepped up aid flights and flyovers as the
sun emerged from behind the clouds. Authorities were on alert for new
landslides and more flooded rivers. Officials said nearly 54,000 people
had been evacuated to 370 shelters throughout the country, while nearly
80 percent of the country's roadways had been affected by the rains.
"The
rain stopped, rays of sun have begun to warm the country, but the
danger continues," said Salvadoran Red Cross spokesman Carlos López
Mendoza. "The ground is saturated and we could have more tragedies." (full article)
How about that win by the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday night! What a game! And to think that just a few years ago Neil Rackers
was the shame of Cincinnati! All in all, it was pretty exciting
and the fact that the game was played in Mexico City made it even more
interesting.
Arizona QB Josh McCown
was miked for sound by ESPN and the results were rather intriguing.
ESPN ran highlights from McCown's audio later in the evening. One of
the sound bites featured McCown celebrating after a touchdown. He
pointed up to the sky and yelled, "Thank you God...Thank you
Jesus!" The very next clip featured McCown rallying the Cards on
the sideline, yelling: "Step on their throats! STEP ON THEIR
THROATS!" What an interesting dichotomy, no?
Back to the prayer thing...A few years back, I had the distinct pleasure of attending a presentation by Albert Ellis,
a true pioneer in the areas of psychology and psychotherapy.
Ellis is a self-described probabilistic athiest and on the day of the
workshop that I was attending, some other folks in attendance clearly
wanted to pick a fight with Ellis on the matter of religion. Now, Doc
Ellis put up with the jabs and quips for as long as he could, until he
had enough. At that point, the 80-odd year-old Ellis closed his
eyes and yelled, "If there is a God, he doesn't give a shit!".
I'm not sure if Dr. Ellis was referring specifically to football or
about life in general, but I sure wish Josh McCown had been
there. How is it that prayers can guide a football into the hands
of a wide receiver, but they can't stop wars, hurricanes, and disease?
During
a recent check of our site stats, I was pleasantly surprised to find
that many hits for greeklish.org occur at our site's biography page on Zoya
Kosmodemyanskaya. A fair amount of hits come from Google and people have also linked directly to the bio page from a World
War II discussion forum and from the Swedish Wikipedia entry on Zoya.
Because this section seems to generate a bit of interest, I have
expanded it a little within the last week or so. I have now added an image gallery
that contains images from several books on Zoya and I will be adding
additional images from postcards, books and other resources when
possible. Additionally, I have started transcribing "The Story of
Zoya and Shura," which is a biography of Zoya and her brother
Alexander. This work was written by their mother, Lyubov
Kosmodemyanskaya. It was originally published by Foreign
Languages Press (Moscow, 1953) and the text is public
domain. The first several chapters are now posted and once
transcription of the entire book is completed, it will be added to the
Soviet History section of the Marxists Internet Archive. My
transcription could probably use some proofreading (hint, hint...) and
I would greatly appreciate notes on typos or scanning errors.
During
a recent check of our site stats, I was pleasantly surprised to find
that many hits for greeklish.org occur at our site's 
