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| This Week in Books - 8/20/17 |
| 2017-08-20 |
| The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise Dario Fernandez-Morera ISI Books, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2016 Within the official introduction: Page 11, Introduction This book gives special attention to primary sources (medieval Christian, Muslim, and Jewish chronicles; literary works; religious and legal texts; and biographies), and usually quotes them verbatim so that nonscholars can read these materials (which in modern publications on Islamic Spain frequently are not part of the narrative and often not even part of the notes) and decide for themselves whether the widespread hagiographic interpretations of Islamic Spain are warranted or not. Unless otherwise indicated, assertions in this book are abundantly supported by these medieval Christian, Muslim, and Jewish primary sources, which are either quoted in the text or cited in the notes. There is extensive notation, and every premise is backed up. So when a subject is approached, the reader can find the source of information. Page 60 Despite the bubonic plague, locusts, drought, and the civil wars that ravaged Spain in the years before the Muslim conquest, the Catholic kingdom of the Visigoths still presented itself as a wonderland to the uncultured eighth-century Berber invaders. Medieval Muslim chronicles tell of the astonishment the Islamic warriors experienced at the splendor of Toledo, Seville, Cordoba, Merida, and other Visigoth cities. They also tell us that the Muslim armies' sacking of Spain was stupendous. Christian chronicles corroborate these accounts, as does the archaeological evidence of the treasures Christians buried before fleeing the invaders. Other indicators are noted, including the shadow of the coin showing the value of slaves. Pages 154-155 Elsewhere Avila observes, "In spite of the existence of sporadic instances of women whose activities seem to indicate a certain independence and freedom - the most famous example being that of the well-born poetess Wallada - all indications are that freedom of activity for Andalusi (free) women was limited to the domestic sphere." Wallanda was the daughter of a sexual slave of foreign origin, from whom she may have inherited her mores, and she was never married, so she never became a muhsan. At the very least, this book is a fine counterweight to the perceived multi-culturism of Andalusia, the book quotes very precise slave prices and the Muslim view of the black African. To continue: Page 237 As Robert M. Haddan, Aptin Khanbaghi, Louis Milliot, and other scholars have noticed, the Christian dhimmis served as an intermediary between the more primitive society of the Islamic invaders and the superior civilizations of the Christian Greek Roman Empire and the Zoroastrian Persian Empire. The Persian Muslim chronicler Ibn al-Nadim testified that "in tenth-century Iran, the majority of philosophers were still Christian." In all, the book is a damning counterpoint to the Muslim occupation of Spain. The author does a fantastic job of remaining relatively neutral while laying out the evidence. Of course a decent understanding of history and dates will help the reader, but the text can stand on its own. This Week in Emergency Preparedness Ah, the boogie bag. Nothing around our campfire can start a conversation or confrontation quite like this topic. As the emergency preparedness planner for the family, and as a volunteer firefighter, I had identified an out of control prairie fire as threat number one, so I had a boogie bag tailored for such a threat. I give myself a C, perhaps a C- on packing. The easy part: what I got right. Food, though not tasty. Water, though not enough. A Mick Dundee for when the creepy truck driver was walking about the family car at the refugee post. Basic medicines and first aid. That I had one. That last point was probably the best part (puts on Jack Burton voice) because when the ash flakes of hell are falling and the air is crackling one thing for sure is Dad had thought of this, and you hit the road and find safety. Huge morale boost. Nobody was blindsided or froze. Life is not fun when you can't see one block and the temperature goes up 15 degrees in fifteen minutes. What I got wrong. To start with, all my vehicles had less than half a tank of gas, one less than a quarter tank. Not enough food and water for three, for three days. What I had was not fun to eat - more on that later. No spare clothing which cost about fifteen minutes. In my defense on that one, the season was winter to spring transition and my children had outgrown their previous spring clothing; the difference between the C and C- viewer's discretion. Clothing, what a hassle. You desert people can relate; 90 in the day, 20 at night. Fortunately we had a second pack handy and were able to pack current clothing for the affair. Not enough for three days, but extra undies and socks are nice to have, if not necessary. My first chance off the line I changed socks and it was like peeling duct tape off of wall paper, an actual health and safety issue. I have two packs now, tools and textiles. Textiles has socks and undies pre-packed. What else I missed? Charging cords, or rather, had old ones which didn't fit new things. Some of those port-a-battery-chargers would have been nice. Also missing was the DC/AC power inverter, probably located next to my three missing tape measurers. Point of order - cell phone reliability was totally squashed. I have good walkie-talkies which are no good if left on the charger. A pre-flight checklist would be good to have; I would have had the walkies, among other things, which would have pushed me into B or even B+ range. What else would have been nice? Pack of playing cards. Coloring books and crayons. Actual physical stuff to keep minds occupied during lulls, and lulls in this circumstance were long and often. Comfort food would have been nice. Marine emergency rations will get a person by, but some cherry or sour apple hard candies would have been fun. I had nicotine gum, but not nearly enough for a three day odyssey. Whatever habits a person has, smoking, drinking, chewing pencils, is going to explode in a high stress situation. Take that into account. And my wife, whoa was she hard on herself. She had a total firearm failure when creepy trucker dude started creeping. In short, she grabbed what was convenient instead of what was hers. She must have done that while I was getting gasoline. Ah, gasoline. The time I saved with having a boogie bag allowed me to beat the crowd to the pumps. Internet was sporadic; took me about eight attempts for the transaction to occur. Lucky there was still power. I do have a mechanical pump in inventory, but it would have done me no good in this instance. It was not yet spring, so I had not filled my lawn mower gas cans yet. Almost a very costly mistake - family could have made it out of the way, but not to the planned destination and would have had to fill up. Because scared people suck and attract predators, it is in my playbook to avoid filling stations especially. All in all, having a boogie bag and route of escape (go to x's house via a-town and b-town) proved to be very handy, if anything it is having a starting point during an emergency. I was assisting the town's evac and it was apparent who had and had not pre-planned an emergency. It could have cost lives. I am sure I will think of other things, and questions/comments are certainly encouraged, especially as you all in cities get ready to consider widespread civil disobediences. If I lived back where I have, in a city, I would plan to be stuck in my neighborhood or even residence for up to five days without power or even water. Just me. I lived next to a major interstate intersection; evacuation would have been near impossible. Shoot, it was tough getting anywhere on regular traffic days, and was too close to the intersection to take back roads, they would cram up way too quickly. I'll leave it at that. Urban shelter in place is about exact opposite of my considerations. Again, I am just sharing a story, not an instruction manual. If anything, I hope I am showing there is no right way to pack, only good and better. Keep up to date as well - bandage technology has progressed bounds since I put together my basic first aid kit some ten years ago. Tourniquets were not even a consideration then, now they are being built into clothing expressly designed to be applied by the patient operating solo. There is some very neat stuff out there if it has been a while since packing your boogie bag. I mean flashlights, are you kidding me? Remember when a mag-lite was holy crap bright? I have a dang nick-nack key deal with a light brighter than they were and for $5. Multi-tools, there are some very cute ones out there, probably some which look rustic and have beard trimmers. Basically, if it can't disconnect/reconnect a car battery it is worthless. |
| Posted by:swksvolFF |
| #21 Rice? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2017-08-20 23:07 |
| #20 Our emergency food supply is complicated due to the wife's wheat and barley allergy. She gets mild anaphylaxis when exposed. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2017-08-20 23:02 |
| #19 Maybe better than a thumb drive, a micro SD. Thing could be sown into clothing. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2017-08-20 22:16 |
| #18 Dunno Besoeker, still took us 30 minutes from me getting home to getting the three of them on the road. About 15 minutes later I heard a call to evacuate a town on route 15 miles away. Felt sick, still do. Credit to my wife for having the guts to go it alone - and creepy trucker dude or whoever was already done for in my wife's mind before encounter. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2017-08-20 21:32 |
| #17 Got to keep plenty of non perishable food and water available. Have enough buckets on hand to grab and go toot sweet. Bug out bags to keep you surviving in your car. I keep one in my truck for me. If I get stuck at work, like an earthquake happened, I will walk home. Be prepared to batch it outside for a while. Have paper maps of the area, esp topo. Water resistant if possible or at least in zip lock bags. First aid, etc. You have to think through the scenarios to kit up appropriately. GPS may work, but cellular may be worthless. Know the basics: survival, navigation, appropriate self defense in your situation, morale stuff. Work through it with your family. Situational and self awareness. Get cracking. Tempus Fugit. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2017-08-20 17:42 |
| #16 Anguper Hupomosing and swksvolFF, two amazing individuals who have just convinced me of man's ability to survive nearly anything. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2017-08-20 16:37 |
| #15 Dog tags for everyone. McMaster-Carr sells bulk quantities of s.s. ball chain & fasteners, enough to make dozens of necklaces & lanyards for whatever, far cheaper than regular retail outlets. I've gone through more than a 100 feet of ball chain over the years. My small LED flashlights all have s.s. ball chain lanyards, very easy to keep track of this way. Many companies sell s.s. tags with whatever you want engraved on them. There might be flash drives that can be worn indefinitely on these chains, containing one's medical history, maps, photos, whatever. I have tried a couple which stopped working correctly after being worn & showered for a year or so. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-08-20 15:44 |
| #14 I have gotten fairly good results with my smart phone, just copying family photos under glass & inside frames, hanging on living room walls. A regular digital camera with a polarizing lens would work much better for this. You need to know about lighting, reflections and contrast to do this properly, practice will teach you. On summer afternoons I have taken framed photos outdoors, propped them up on a kitchen chair under open shade, copied them with a digital camera on a tripod with very good results. I visit relatives all over the country & have a large selection of photos I got this way. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-08-20 15:38 |
| #13 I've been scanning photos for years & already have most of my old family stuff on chips & hard drives. A digital camera skillfully used can make very good copies of old photos as long as they are visible. Drawback of using a camera is the resulting image tends to be skewed. Then the digital result can be edited to improve on the original, & occasionally to reduce the skew. I once located a family photo of mother & child taken in 1909 - not known to exist before 2006 & absolutely precious to their descendants. It was a hand colored large format photo, way too big for a scanner. I took it out of the frame, took it to someplace like Kinko's where they have giant color scanners, and made full size color copies of the original. Rolled up the copies & mailed them in tubes to the descendants to frame. Put the photo back into the frame. All this cost very little. In 2006 I examined an old trunk passed down in the family since the Civil War. Found a folded, blackened document on heavy grade paper which appeared to have printing on it - illegible due to the darkening caused by moisture & age. I scanned this with a regular photo scanner, 24 bits of color & 1200 or 2400 dots per inch. Result was a very dark color image. Then I fiddled with it, every setting on the photo editing software, gamma, contrast, brightness, remove red, remove blue, etc. I didn't keep notes, but suddenly a very clear image popped out of the darkness - an original honorable discharge from the US Army dated July 1865. Had I not attempted this, the existence of this document would still be unknown. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-08-20 15:34 |
| #12 Good topic; perhaps our hurricane Rantburgers could assist with extended power outages? |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2017-08-20 15:32 |
| #11 Thank you AH9418; do have a table-top ice maker, but that was backup. Largest inverter I could find at the time. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2017-08-20 15:20 |
| #10 While I'm thinking of it, a Prius or similar hybrid vehicle has the capability to supply a lot of power to an voltage inverter. It will automatically start its engine to keep its main battery charged, and also has a 12VDC system. People in hurricane affected areas have reported running their entire house off of their Prius type vehicles parked outside, for days at a time. This also requires advance planning. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-08-20 15:18 |
| #9 Great idea, especially for identification/medical reasons. I would think saving it in a format easily accessible. Actually looked into a document scanner recently, about $60. Claimed searchable, usable formats. A lot of what my wife grabbed is not scannable, and dated about that time. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2017-08-20 15:13 |
| #8 I can run my inverter to a extension cord to my refrigerator. Your inverter better be a honking huge one &/or your fridge extremely low powered. I once bought a 2000W inverter to conceivably run a refrigerator off a car battery, then learned that properly sized cables from the battery to the inverter had to handle 200A or so of 12VDC to supply 15 A 120VAC to the fridge when it powers up. I would also need to buy several extra deep discharge batteries for my car to deliver all this power. It was far cheaper to buy a small generator. It just might be possible to power one of those very small ice making machines off a much smaller inverter. I still have that humungous 2000W inverter on the shelf. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-08-20 15:13 |
| #7 Stories of people using their cell phone travel locator to show when a turn is coming while visibility was next to nothing. GPS route finding on cell phones usually requires an internet cell connection. An almost unknown feature of Google Maps is that one can download - ahead of time - local maps anywhere & save them on your smartphone. Then, even if there is no cell data connection, you can still use your phone's GPS & downloaded maps to find your way. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-08-20 15:06 |
| #6 A Technician license for operating amateur radios has a test fee of about $15. I mastered the questions using online teaching aids in a couple of afternoons. It's not rocket surgery. I can routinely reach out & hit a repeater 50 miles away using a homemade 5/8 wave magnetic mount car antenna, cost about $5, and a 50 watt 2M amateur transceiver costing about $125, which runs off a car battery. 2M walkie-talkies can be had for $25-35 new. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-08-20 15:02 |
| #5 Totally agree AH9418. We (fire department) have inverters and cigarette to USB Charger units in all our vehicles. Cell communication was sketchy but very effective. Stories of people using their cell phone travel locator to show when a turn is coming while visibility was next to nothing. If my math is right, I can run my inverter to a extension cord to my refrigerator. Not certain I can run the freezer at the same time, so random bags of ice are in there already. In a pinch, bowls of ice in the fridge. S'Why I was so mad at myself for the gasoline levels being so low. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2017-08-20 15:01 |
| #4 Photo albums are so 1890's. Put your valuable photos on a half dozen or so flash drives & distribute them with family & friends all over the world. Do it now, avoid the rush. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-08-20 14:58 |
| #3 Tornadoes. Very dangerous, quickly occurring, yet very localized event. Wind is your enemy here: blocked roads, slow emergency response, no power or phone. What I like about the soccer uniforms is that they are usually brightly colored, and with the names on them, quickly identifiable. Laceration then trauma from flying debris, so maybe bonus points if a cache of clothes has blood type/important information permanently on the clothing? Our cache has work gloves, old shoes, in case of getting caught off-guard and have to self extricate. Bandages, flashlight, all that is good, probably my most important piece of equipment is a simple whistle. I consider if we are trapped, the whistle can identify our location. Practicing a cadence can locate a rally point for those who know the tune. Again, just plan on roads and cell phones being out for at least 48 hours. Local effective responders may have to come from 15-30 miles out, and if each road has a block of trees and/or power lines, there will be some lag, especially as priorities and the too distressed are addressed. If you have walkie-talkies, remember your radio etiquette. At the least. -Who you are, who are you asking for-. Over. (wait for response) -Give communication-. Over. (wait for confirmation, preferably with 24 hour local time) Stay calm; enough going on without panic blurts. Be right with your maker, the morning calm may get grabbed by the Jolly Green Giant and shook like a snow globe before the evening sets. *Just talked with my wife; she said she also grabbed photo albums, our emergency currency, and what extra essentials we had. Filling up with gas longer than I thought, and she is that good. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2017-08-20 14:49 |
| #2 Everyone with a car should already have their DC/AC voltage inverters installed and ready to use at a moment's notice. I'm a ham operator & once took a poll at a club meeting, only about 10% of those present had their inverters installed & ready. Of all people, they should have known better. I have a small power strip in the car, which allows me to charge 4 or 5 AC devices simultaneously. I have also pre-wired a 12VDC power strip with 4 sockets, keep that tucked under the front seat. If you get walkie-talkies, some will operate while being charged, and some will not. Buy what works for you. Besides a multi-tool, have multiple tools stashed all over the car. No reason why you can't conceal tools allowing you to remove your car's battery - right next to the battery. ? spray strong enough to repel a grizzly bear, along with a Mick Dundee ? A checklist is essential, not just good to have. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2017-08-20 14:27 |
| #1 It's time for me to review our situation. What we have is what I assembled when the trailing daughters were young, and I organized it for sheltering in place for a few days after a tornado. For clothing I used two of each of the girls' previous seasons soccer uniforms -- they have names across the back, so useful for identification if separated -- a hoodie and sweatpants for warmth, and lots of crayons, coloured pencils, and paper for writing and drawing. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2017-08-20 12:04 |