Johannes Avetaranian, missionary in Kashgar

JOHANNES AVETARANIAN

The first person to stay in Kashgar 1892 to work for the Swedish Mission was not a Swede but a Turk from Turkey: Johannes Avetaranian. Let us look at the life of this pioneer. He was born in Erzurum in Asia Minor 1861 in a Muslim family. His birth name was Muhammad Shukri. His father was a dervish. His mother, who was deaf, mute and blind, died when Muhammad Shukri was only 2 years old. At the age of 18 his father died.

Johannes supported himself as a schoolteacher and imam. He was very zealous in his spiritual search, studying the depths of Islam. At that time a Turkish soldier had returned to Turkey from imprisonment of war in Russia. In the prison the soldier had received a New Testament. Muhammad Shukri borrowed this New Testament and later on bought a copy of his own. He was reading it with growing interest. After some time he found the salvation he had been searching for. One day he openly confessed himself as a Christian. He spent a full year studying the Bible and also preaching his new-found faith. For this he was persecuted. During several years he had to flee for his life from one place to another. He came to Persia and then to Caucasus. In Tiflis he met an Armenian preacher, Abraham Amirkhanjanz, who became a great support to him. There he was baptised and took the name Johannes Avetaranian.

Read on...

What dolphins eat

Dolphins are predators and they usually eat fish. This is what they are given when you see them participating in dolphin shows -- they are fed fish out of a bucket. Of course, they do not hunt down big sharks but eat fish the size they can handle without having to bite off chunks of it. Dolphins do not bite but swallow. If a fish is too big to fit in their mouth, they generally speaking do not eat it.

Dolphins also eat squid. I am sure they would eat rodents but those are not found in the sea. So they are restricted to whatever they can find in their natural habitat.

Your dog staring at you for a long time

What does it mean when your dog just sits there and looks at you directly in the eyes for like a long time?

This is a question I accidentally came across on Yahoo Answers. I was looking for something else but this made me stop. What does it mean when your dog is looking at you? For a long time? I mean half of the world is starving and the other half is soon going to, allied forces colonizing the Middle East, the globe is slowly heating up and we will drown when the Arctic ice melts. But some people wonder what is going on in their dog's mind.

But then this made me think. After all, I wonder about similar things. Not dogs but perhaps my neighbor's look the other day. Or the stain in the hallway -- where does it come from? And so on.

So I clicked and read the answers. It turns out that the dog is trying to assert his dominance over his master. Huh? The next thing you know your fish will be ordering you around. Or your MP3 player. Your cheeseburger one day will just sit there wordless, directly in front of you and with its morose silence force you into vegetarianism.

Maybe I should get a dog...

Youtube going international

Did you notice how Youtube is showing more and more non-English content? I commonly get Russian, Polish and Japanese on my screen, sometimes at the same time. And believe me, I am not using a Polish browser and definitely did not set my preferences to Russian.

Apart from the annoyance that I cannot read some of the things in front of me, especially when I will start getting Hebrew and Arabic there, I think it is a good thing. I mean English has dominated the Internet long enough. Although from Dallas, TX the world really seems that way, with a bit of Spanish in the background, in reality the world is a multicultural and multi-ethnic place. Isn't it?

John Stuart Mill on grammar and Logic

"Grammar is the most elementary part of Logic. It is the beginning of the analysis of the thinking process. The principles and rules of grammar are the means by which the forms of language are made to correspond with the universal forms of thought. The distinctions between the various parts of speech, between the cases of nouns, the modes and tenses of verbs, the functions of participles, are distinctions in thought, not merely in words. The structure of every sentence is a lesson in Logic."
John Stuart Mill, Rectorial Address at St. Andrews, 1867, quoted from Jespersen, The Philosophy of Grammar, London, 1924, p. 47.

The Taj Mahal in Agra

I thought I'd share a picture of the Taj Mahal from my trip to India. It really looks gorgeous, especially on this photo. Otherwise it was quite hot, I had a really bad stomach and there were way too many people. Oh, and my camera ran out of batteries as soon as I took a couple of pictures.

So all in all this was not a very pleasant trip. We were also given a guide, included in the hotel/car package, who felt absolutely driven to tell me everything about the history of the Taj Mahal. Love, death, tomb, etc.

Cars in old Shanghai

This is an old picture from Shanghai in 1919, showing a taxi company called Johnson Garage. Cars first appeared in Shanghai in 1901, imported from Hong Kong by Leinz, a Hungarian businessman. Initially they were all used as taxis, and the number of private cars was minimal.

Of course, today there are zillions of cars in China and the number of cars made there is now more than in Germany.

Blogger available in Maya, Sanskrit and Ancient Egyptian

This icon just caught my eye while playing around with Blogger. "We are excited to announce that Blogger is now available in three more languages: Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian!"

Wow! For a moment it seemed as Google was pitching for the representatives of all ancient cultures. Having stopped to look at this, of course I realized that these languages are spoken even today, but seeing them together somehow provoked in me the image of past civilizations. (This is not to say, of course, that today they are insignificant. Quite on the contrary...)

So I was wondering what it would feel like to see one day that Blogger was out in Maya, Sanskrit and Ancient Egyptian. Having covered the globe geographically, we would read in the news, Google decided to grasp the time aspect of it and catch up with the past as well.

There are scholars out there who have been trying to decipher the Indus valley script or the Khitan writing for decades. But perhaps a motivated team of Google employers would be more successful in this. Maybe it is not scholars and erudition you need but some goal-oriented, dynamic approach coupled with serious computing power. Maybe...

Sin-eaters in Wales

What connection there may be between these customs and the strange and striking rite of the Sin-eater, is a question worthy of careful consideration. It has been the habit of writers with family ties in Wales, whether calling themselves Welshmen or Englishmen, to associate these and like customs with the well-known character for hospitality which the Cymry have for ages maintained. Thus Malkin writes: "The hospitality of the country is not less remarkable on melancholy than on joyful occasions. The invitations to a funeral are very general and extensive; and the refreshments are not light, and taken standing, but substantial and prolonged. Any deficiency in the supply of ale would be as severely censured on this occasion, as at a festival.” Some have thought that the bread-eating and beerdrinking are survivals of the sin-eating custom described by Aubrey, and repeated from him by others.

But well-informed Welshmen have denied that any such custom as that of the Sin-eater ever existed in Wales at any time, or in the border shires ; and it must not be asserted that they are wrong unless we have convincing proof to support the assertion. The existing evidence in support of the belief that there were once Sin-eaters in Wales I have carefully collated and (excluding hearsay and secondhand accounts), it is here produced. The first reference to the Sin-eater anywhere to be found is in the Lansdowne MSS. in the British Museum, in the handwriting of John Aubrey, the author.

It runs thus: “In the county of Hereford was an old custom at funerals to hire poor people, who were to take upon them the sins of the party deceased. One of them (he was a long, lean, ugly, lamentable poor rascal), I remember, lived in a cottage on Rosse highway. The manner was that when the corpse was brought out of the house, and laid on the bier, a loaf of bread was brought out, and delivered to the Sin-eater, over the corpse, as also a mazard bowl of maple, full of beer (which he was to drink up), and sixpence in money, in consideration whereof he took upon him, ipso facto, all the sins of the defunct, and freed him or her from walking after they were dead.” Aubrey adds, “and this custom though rarely used in our days, yet by some people was observed in the strictest time of the Presbyterian Government; as at Dynder (nolens volens the parson of the parish), the kindred of a woman, deceased there, had this ceremony punctually performed, according to her will : and also, the like was done at the city of Hereford, in those times, where a woman kept many years before her death a mazard bowl for the Sineater ; and the like in other places in this country ; as also in Brecon, e.g., at Llangors, where Mr. Gwin, the minister, about 1640, could not hinder the performance of this custom. I believe,” says Aubrey, “this custom was heretofore used all over Wales.” He states further, “A.D. 1686: This custom is used to this day in North Wales.” Upon this, Bishop White Kennet made this comment: “It seems a remainder of this custom which lately obtained at Amersden, in the county of Oxford ; where, at the burial of every corpse, one cake and one flaggon of ale, just after the interment, were brought to the minister in the church porch.”

No other writer of Aubrey's time, either English or Welsh, appears to have made any reference to the Sin-eater in Wales ; and equal silence prevails throughout the writings of all previous centuries. Since Aubrey, many references to it have been made, but never, so far as I can discover, by any writer in the Welsh language a singular omission if there ever was such a custom, for concerning every other superstitious practice commonly ascribed to Wales the Welsh have written freely.
In August, 1852, the Cambrian Archaeological Association held its sixth annual meeting at Ludlow, under the Presidency of Hon. R. H. Clive, M.P. At this meeting Mr. Matthew Moggridge, of Swansea, made some observations on the custom of the Sineater, when he added details not contained in Aubrey's account given above. He said : “When a person died, his friends sent for the Sin-eater of the district, who on his arrival placed a plate of salt on the breast of the defunct, and upon the salt a piece of bread. He then muttered an incantation over the bread, which he finally ate, thereby eating up all the sins of the deceased. This done he received his fee of zs. 6d. and vanished as quickly as possible from the general gaze; for, as it was believed that he really appropriated to his own use and behoof the sins of all those over whom he performed the above ceremony, he was utterly detested in the neighbourhood regarded as a mere Pariah as one irredeemably lost.” The speaker then mentioned the parish of Llandebie where the above practice was said to have prevailed to a recent period. “He spoke of the survival of the plate and salt custom near Swansea, and indeed generally, within twenty years, (i.e. since 1830) and added : “In a parish near Chepstow it was usual to make the figure of a cross on the salt, and cutting an apple or an orange into quarters, to put one piece at each termination of the lines.” Mr. Allen, of Pembrokeshire, testified that the plate and salt were known in that county, where also a lighted candle was stuck in the salt ; the popular notion was that it kept away the evil spirit. Mr. E. A. Freeman, (the historian) asked if Sin-eater was the term used in the district where the custom prevailed, and Mr. Moggridge said it was.

Such is the testimony. I venture no opinion upon it further than may be conveyed in the remark that I cannot find any direct corroboration of it, as regards the Sin-eater, and I have searched diligently for it. The subject has engaged my attention from the first moment I set foot on Cambrian soil, and I have not only seen no reference to it in Welsh writings, but I have never met any unlettered Welshman who had ever heard of it. All this proves nothing, perhaps; but it weighs something.

(From Wirt Sikes, British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions, London, 1880)

"The Ainos, a bearded and gentle race, who are supposed to have been the aborigines of the Kurile and Japanese Archipelago, are now restricted to the southern districts of Sakhalin. But the Aino geographical terms occurring even in the extreme north show that this race formerly occupied a much wider range. They have been driven south and since the middle of the present century some of their villages have been completely wasted by small-pox. The slavery to which all the Ainos have been reduced by the Japanese fishers has also contributed to diminish their numbers as well as to increase their moral debasement. "
"... But a Japanese etymology quoted by Satow explains the word "Aino" to mean "Dog" (Inu), and an old tradition refers the origin of the race to a dog and a Japanese princess banished northwards. The Aleutians havea similar tradition, and seem to be very proud of their canine descent, pretending that for a long time they had paws and tails like those of a dog but were deprived of them on account their crimes."
(The Earth and Its Inhabitants: A Universal Geography, 1876)

Mongolian rap

Tatar - esreg odor, a video clip of a Mongolian rap group. It really is great.

Dost Mohammed Khan: Drinking and playing music

"The Sardar Dost Mohammed Khan was excessively found of drinking, and carried it to an extreme excess. It is said that he has emptied several dozens of bottles in one night, and did not cease from drinking until he was quite intoxicated, and could not drink a drop more. He has often become senseless with drinking, and has on that account kept himself confined in bed during many days. He has been often seen in a state of stupidity on a horseback, and having no turban, but a skull-cap on his head.

"It has been stated by the early companions of the Sardar Dost Mohammed Khan, and confirmed by his own mouth, that he had, and still has, an extraordinary taste for music. When pleased with drinking wine, he has often sung ballads and played upon the "Rabab," a kind of fiddle. His intimate friend and supporter was Gholam Khan Populzai; and both these persons were considered in Afghanistan the first players on the "Rabab." The fort of Nanchi was he favourite seat where Dost Mohammed Khan formed his pleasure parties."
(William Tait, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, 1846.)

Rory Gallagher in concert

A video of A Million Miles Away, from Rory Gallagher. He really was the best blues guitar player, wasn't he?


Rory Gallagher, A Million Miles Away

Kashgar consuls George Macartney and Captain Shuttleworth

I am reading about George Macartney and Captain Shuttleworth the British Consuls in Kashgar during the period of the Great Game. These were the people who were present in Chinese Turkestan (called by the Chinese Hsinkiang, Sinkiang or Xinjiang) when the explorations of Aurel Stein took place, primarily known today for his acquisition of the Dunhuang manuscripts.

But what strikes me is how little information there is on Captain Shuttleworth. Every single source, including Wikipedia says the same thing and attributes this to Peter Hopkirk's book Foreign devils on the Silk Road. They say that Shuttleworth was acting consul in Kashgar in 1908 when Macartney was back in England. But I know for fact that he was there in 1909 as well. Isn't there some source that is more precise than Hopkirk's semi-popular books? This was an important period in both Chinese and British history, it would be useful to get the facts straight.

Bob Dylan: Slow train coming

Dylan's "Slow train coming" is definitely one of my all time favorite songs. I love the monotony of the heavy rhythm and I love the lyrics.

There is something very powerful in the image of a slow mass coming towards you with unstoppable force. No matter what you do, it will appear from behind the bend and will reach you.

Slow train coming: The lyrics

Sometimes I feel so low-down and disgusted
Can't help but wonder what's happenin' to my companions,
Are they lost or are they found, have they counted the cost it'll take to bring down
All their earthly principles they're gonna have to abandon?
There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

I had a woman down in Alabama,
She was a backwoods girl, but she sure was realistic,
She said, "Boy, without a doubt, have to quit your mess and straighten out,
You could die down here, be just another accident statistic."
There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

All that foreign oil controlling American soil,
Look around you, it's just bound to make you embarrassed.
Sheiks walkin' around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings,
Deciding America's future from Amsterdam and to Paris
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

Man's ego is inflated, his laws are outdated, they don't apply no more,
You can't rely no more to be standin' around waitin'
In the home of the brave, Jefferson turnin' over in his grave,
Fools glorifying themselves, trying to manipulate Satan
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

Big-time negotiators, false healers and woman haters,
Masters of the bluff and masters of the proposition
But the enemy I see wears a cloak of decency,
All non-believers and men stealers talkin' in the name of religion
And there's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

People starving and thirsting, grain elevators are bursting
Oh, you know it costs more to store the food than it do to give it.
They say lose your inhibitions, follow your own ambitions,
They talk about a life of brotherly love, show me someone who knows how to
live it. There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

Well, my baby went to Illinois with some bad-talkin' boy she could destroy
A real suicide case, but there was nothin' I could do to stop it,
I don't care about economy, I don't care about astronomy
But it sure do bother me to see my loved ones turning into puppets,
There's a slow, slow train comin' up around the bend.

Putin delivering the Judo chop ... in socks

Ever noticed how Vladimir Putin (yes, the Russian president/prime minister) wears socks on this famous photo in a judo uniform? To be sure, the socks are white and match the judogi but Judo is one of those rare sports, like swimming, that is done without socks.

And on the second photo, he is not even wearing a uniform. Again, the blue socks match his all around blue clothes.

Identifying rats and mice

I am looking at this chart called "Field identification of domestic rodents" which is essentially a picture of different kinds of rats and a mouse. I never knew how they differed and, lo, here is a nice and clever visual aid to show what the difference between the various kinds is.

The only problem is that to me they pretty much look alike. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, who prepared this helpful aid, apparently used the same clipart picture to show the rats. They only resized them and, looking at them on the screen, I can only visualize sizes in comparison. So to identify a rat in real life, I would have to see at least two different kinds at the same time. Perhaps even more. I see the little scale at the left bottom corner but I am just not good at these abstract things.

So I started looking for differences. This is like one of those games where you have to spot seven differences between two images of Clint Eastwood or whoever. And I found that the Norway Rat has a slightly blunt nose and a smaller ear. You can really only see the differences when you read the text. Then you notice the length of the tail, etc.

Whale explodes in Taiwan

A dead whale exploded in the city of Tainan, located in southern Taiwan. The photo shows how internal organs are splattered all over the street. The explosion was due to putrefying internal organs which created gases and the mounting pressure eventually burst the dead whale open. People living and working in the neighborhood had to wear masks to cope with the overwhelming stench.

I know that a whale is not a fish but it might still smell like one. And the smell of rotting fish in a warm climate is definitely not a pleasant thing.

I guess this shows that whales are meant to rot on the streets of a large city, it is not their real habitat. I am sure Taiwanese bypassers will not want to eat whale meat for a while (even though this particular whale was intended to be not eaten but researched).

Oh, and before you get all excited about current events, this happened four years ago, in January of 2004. I am only posting what happened here because I like whales.