Month: September 2007

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Yemen

Power problems

Before Ramadan, there was a lot of worry about the ongoing power problems. Yemen does not have the generating capacity to supply all of the energy demanded. Eventually, they will build new power plants (they want nuclear, God help us), but for now we have rolling blackouts. The government claimed that they would be buying more power from “neighboring” countries for Ramadan, but it asked people “not to use too much electricity.” I am a little dubious about the buying more power claim, as least for Sana’a power generating plants in KSA or Oman are a long ways away, and there’s a lot nothing at all in between them in Yemen. Asking people to conserve never works, we all know that. Unfortunately, one of Yemen’s many problems prevents them from doing what they should. In a functioning market, if the demand outstrips supply, you just raise the price until there is just enough supply to meet demand. This works, it makes sure that there aren’t any shortages and the profit is high enough that there is a powerful incentive to create more of the commodity in short supply. The usual complaint, that the poor will suffer more than anyone else isn’t too much of a problem here in Yemen. Everyone cooks on gas, and the poor here have very little to power with electricity… The problem here is the electrical utility does not seem to have to ability to cut people off for not paying bills. There are many reports of people owing vast sums of money to the electrical company, but if you know the right people, your electricity keeps coming. The other problem is obvious with just a look around Sana’a. The wiring here is a mess. People routinely tie into main power lines whenever they need electricity. It doesn’t seem likely that the power company really has any idea who is using the electricity. The first step in solving Yemen’s power issues is to clean up the distribution. If they know who is getting the power and they have the ability to turn off the power for nonpayment, I think we’d see a big improvement. Instead, everyone is holding out for Yemen’s nuclear power plants to come along. I really hope they don’t come into being, I can’t imagine many things more dangerous than this government with uranium…

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Religion

Name of the Rose

I just finished “The Name of the Rose” this morning. It was good, but you have to be in the mood for really Catholic book. A lot of the plot revolves around different orders (Benedictines, Franciscans), heretical movements, and various political intrigues involving the papacy, emperors, and various power bases in the cities. There is a fair amount of theological discussion, at times the characters break down and argue and fight about them. The main theological issue that dominates the book and drives the plot reminds me a bit of a book that I only read a part of during my trip to Greece.

I found “The Principles of Orthodox Spirituality” in a bookstore in Athens. It was a religious bookstore with about two shelves of English titles on it, this being one of them. Seeing it, I thought that my friend Dana would enjoy it. She’s an Episcopal that is fascinated by Catholics. She also studied Russian for a while and so I figured she might be intrigued by the Orthodox churches as well. I read a few chapters while I was in Greece. It was a bit of a struggle to read since I’m not used to reading theology, but I did get a few interesting tidbits from it. The thing that struck me was the quick differentiation that the book made between the Catholic churches (Roman and otherwise) and the Orthodox ones. In a nutshell, the author claimed that the Orthodox fathers had, unlike the Romans, rejected the Aristotelian approach to theology and God. I consider it kind of odd since this particular church started in Greece… I don’t think that they rejected logic all together, but they do not depend on it to make their theology coherent. I could be wrong about this, but it was the general gist of what I read. Anyway, that struck me because I had never really thought that there was much difference between Catholics and the Orthodox churches, but I guess there is. It intrigued me because as much as I admire Catholics (most of the people that I have known that I could call exemplary Christians have been Catholic), their theology, as coherent as it is, relies on some sometimes torturous logic. In addition, in years past many of the decisions to label things as heresies (when not motivated by political issues) were based on exacting logical arguments on what was and was not logically consistent with church teachings. If the Orthodox theology could avoid some of that, I would find it much more appealing.

“The Name of the Rose” certainly highlights the dangers of logic mixed with religion. Granted, it was only a danger to people that were extremely well read in not only the early church fathers, but in the classic philosophers as well. In addition, their position in the church and their placement in the timeline of church history also were determining factors when it came to how “dangerous” these ideas were. The worldwide impact of these ideas has long since past, but it can still crop up in the thoughts of thoughtful people who may be overeducated. I, of course, have no idea who those people could be (ahem), but I think that it could be a good read for people that are interested in that sort of thing…

Oh, one other thing. About 4/5ths of the way through it, I realized that I had been told, or had read how the people were dying in the book years before. That kind of pissed me off as the murder mystery element had been ruined for me. Still, I knew the how, which allowed me to figure out the who, but I still didn’t know why. I won’t ruin the ending for anyone, but even if you do know the how, it takes the entire book to explain the why…

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Yemen

Religious freedom in Yemen

There are some people criticizing a recent report from the US about religious freedom here in Yemen. The Yemenis point to the fact that you can practice any religion you want here. In fact, down in Aden there are 3 Catholic churches, an Anglican church, and a hindu(!) temple. The report points out that there aren’t any churches in the former North Yemen, including Sana’a. The thing that really gets people here is that the report criticized Yemen for making conversion from Islam and proselytizing muslims illegal. I’m pretty sure that converting from Islam is a capital offense, it is by Sharia law certainly. People here have various lame excuses like, “But no one is coerced into becoming a muslim here,” which may be true enough, but God help anyone here that grew up muslim and finds Jesus somehow… All of the defenses basically boil down to, “But we have the correct religion…”Seriously, how can people defend this? I know, it’s in the Koran. I’m sorry, but anyone with any critical reasoning skills can see what a transparent power play this is. Christians gave this up a long time ago. They now have what I believe to be the “correct” view, “Do whatever you like, but you better choose well cause God’s got the final say…” To me, this is the essence of religious freedom, you choose, and you (like everyone) will eventually pay for whatever bad decisions you make throughout life. Why can’t they leave religious “justice” up to God?

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Economics

I hate to say, "I told you so…"

.. but you know, I did. Here as a matter of fact. It turns out that prices of wheat have continued to rise despite the fact that the government has fixed the price. Not only that, but the government, who is selling wheat for well below the going rate, has run out of it in some areas. The places that have not have very long lines for the wheat. The upshot? Dealers are charging, and getting a much higher price, sometimes twice the government’s price… Surprise surprise. You mean that prices can’t be arbitrarily set without consequences?

But wait, there’s hope! The cabinet has amended a law and now allows foreign companies to import food directly into Yemen! This goes along with another change that they made 3 or 4 months ago allowing a company not owned by a Yemeni to operate within Yemen. Imagine! This is huge, and while it won’t help Yemen this Ramadan, it surely will next time around. Of course there are people that caution that the foreign companies will monopolize the food market and may be put local companies out of business. We’ll ignore their probable monetary interest and lack of evidence from around the world (concerning the negative impact of a foreign monopoly) and point out the obvious. If all the local companies did was to collude and artificially inflate the prices to consumers, why would you want to protect them? The editor of the Yemen Times said as much in their op-ed, it’s good to see some common sense starting to spread. 2 months ago, you never heard of anyone talking about free trade, and now the promise of it has arrived, Hamdillila!

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travel

My new airline

Score! Qatar airways now flies from Doha to DC direct. A Sana’a-Doha-DC trip sounds much more appealing than a Sana’a-Dubai-NYC-DC trip. Plus, it’s about $600 cheaper round trip! Oh this is good news, think I’ll go down to their office pretty soon…

Categories
odds and ends

An experiment

I haven’t shaved in a couple of weeks and I’ve decided that I’m going to see what I look like with facial hair. I’ve never had it before, I’ve never gotten past the looking really scruffy bit before. I figure it’s something every guy should do once in his life at least. We’ll see how it goes, this may take a while as my whiskers don’t grow very fast…

Categories
Yemen

I’m back!

The trip back was nothing special, with the exception of having the pleasure of sitting next to a Yemeni while he ate a previously saved meal. As soon as we took off and the sun had set (it’s ramadan) he took out an older airline food meal and started to eat. He did so with his hands of course, and there was food everywhere. Thank God out trays were touching, it was the only thing saving me from a lap full of food… I’ve read almost 500 pages of Nicholas Nickalby since yesterday. i’ll probably finish it tomorrow. It’s a good story, but nothing like his “deep” works. It’s fun, I’m glad I bought it…

Categories
travel

My last day in Athens

I didn’t really do much. The hotel I’m in is closer to the airport than the city. It’s a nice enough hotel, but it makes getting into town a bit of a pain. The bus ride into downtown Athens is not only 45 minutes, but it costs the equivalent of 5 bucks each way. I went down there today with some specific goals. I wanted to eat at McDonald’s, buy some books, and find some decent chocolate. Greek chocolate sucks, it’s that simple. I was really happy to find a Nestle’s crunch bar, and I don’t consider that good chocolate at all. I wanted to eat at McDonald’s because I have been craving a cheeseburger for a long time. I don’t think that McDonald’s is very good, but it was one of the better meals I’ve had here… I needed some books for not only my 8 hour layover in Istanbul, but for living in Yemen. There have been many times that I wished I had something to read other than the Arabic equivalent of “See Dick run.” People have asked me if I want them to send me some books, but I always say no. Not because I don’t want the books, but because it will be way too expensive to send them here. If books are sent through the regular mail (the only reasonable way to send anything to me), they have to go through the censor. And I do think that it is THE censor. It seems to be common knowledge that if books go to the censor, I’ll never see them. If you send them through one of the courier companies (DHL, FedEx, UPS, etc.) they don’t go through the censor, but they cost a million dollars to ship to Yemen. Anyway, for the first time in years, some fiction really appealed to me. I picked up “The Name of the Rose” by Eco, and “David Copperfield” and “Nicholas Nichalby” both by Dickens. All of them are books that I have meant to get to for a long time. I’ve always liked Dickens, the last book I read by him was “A Tale of Two Cities” back in my sophomore year of high school! Anyway, I hope that these will last me until I can get back to the states. Tomorrow I leave for Yemen. I’ll be coming back in the middle of Ramadan, should be fun…

Categories
travel

Greece wrap up

I’ve had fun in Greece, but I’ve learned a few things about traveling here as well. I missed a lot of the Athens trip, but everyone agreed that we probably should have only spent a couple of days in Athens. There really isn’t all that much to do except shop if you’re not really into ruins. To be fair, the shopping can be quite good, but it really isn’t worth coming here just for that. Crete, on the other hand, had much more to offer. The scenery was beautiful, and the villages we went through were quite memorable. I don’t know much about the mainland, but I think that the mainland would probably be much like Crete.

I was surprised at much I really didn’t care about the ruins. The “good” ones are nothing more than stones outlining squares and rectangles on the ground, and the bad ones (like Knossos IMO) were filled with concrete reproductions, they didn’t even have the stone squares there! I did think that the temple of Zeus was quite amazing, for about 10 minutes. It’s amazing how quickly an ancient temple of magnificent proportions becomes a a handful of columns guarded by tired, overweight women selling tickets. I’m sure the Acropolis would have been more impressive, and for a little longer, but inevitably I would have the same reaction I’m sure.

And then there is the food. When we first got here, I emailed Tyler Cowen about eating in Athens. He’s an economist, art collector, food critic, traveller, and blogger extraordinaire over at marginal revolution. His response was that he has never gotten a good meal in Athens. “OK then,” I thought to myself, “that’s what you get for asking a food critic..” I figured that he couldn’t find any haute cuisine to his liking. Well, as it turns out, he meant that he couldn’t find a good meal here. We were unimpressed, the best meals I had were a club sandwich (which wasn’t all that good) and some chicken Madras at an Indian restaurant. We went there our last night together here because we really couldn’t take it anymore. Tonight I tried some Greek fast food. There is only one restaurant near this hotel, it’s a chain called “Goody’s.” I had what had to be the worst hamburger I’ve ever tasted, and that’s saying something. The McDonald’s I had for lunch was miles above it, I really wonder how they stay in business.

So what did I like? I really enjoyed hiking in Crete. The landscape is wonderful, and the terrain is not all that difficult. I loved going to the two monasteries that we went to. I’m bummed that we didn’t get to see any churches. We were always wearing shorts, and Butler was usually in a tank top so when we did see a church, we weren’t really appropriately dressed. If I came back here (and I might one day), I would seriously think about planning the trip around monasteries and churches. The icons here can be breathtaking. Butler (a lifelong Episcopal) went into this trip thinking that the Orthodox Church basically made things up, but she left saying, “I get it now.” The icons can really have an effect on you. The icons in the monasteries (and I assume the churches) that is. There are plenty of junk icons around in the tourist areas, don’t let them give you the wrong idea…

I really enjoyed the villages as well. They have a really nice vibe to them, very relaxed and very informal. The cities are a nightmare of noise and congestion. I really noticed the traffic in Crete. We drove through the countryside and there was hardly any traffic at all, but once you hit a city, it was congestion city. Both Herakian and Chania were nightmares to drive in, mostly because of the traffic. Athens is, of course, very hectic as well. If you come here, really try to get a hotel out of a major city. They may not be as fancy, but you will have a much nicer vacation.

I’ve had a great time here, and it was great seeing Dad and Butler, thanks guys! I’m back to Yemen tomorrow and this blog will get back on topic:-)

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Music

Speaking of music…

I went through and added links to the songs and videos on my Never Hear Great Songs and video pages. Now you can actually hear, and sometimes see, what I’m talking about. Links weren’t available for all songs, and some of them are things put to the original song. I never would have expected to see the Crystals set to some Anime, but there you are. Of note is the ultra rare video of “Freedom of Choice” by Devo and a mesmerizing performance of James Brown at his peak. You can see my Never heard great songs here, and my page on music videos

here

. Have fun!

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