Religious Propaganda and Holy War in the 12th Century: The Friday Sermon following Saladin's Conquest of Jerusalem in 1187

The more I delve deeper into the medieval ages kids, the more I'm understanding how life was so interconnected in the first 500 years of the second millennium. It's one of the time periods that was dark but also was showing signs of change that would form the world of today. The winning back of Jerusalem by Saladin from the crusaders is one of those spectacular events. Remember geopolitics. The reason Muslims celebrated the recapture so hugely is because Jerusalem was sacred to them. And the Christian hordes were barbarians truly. The crusades were simply a series of massacres. Truly tragic set of affairs. But Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin and big celebrations. Some parts of the Muslim world don't like losing their territory. Witness the fulminations against Spain! Or India or Israel and Jerusalem. There's a constant whine of moans. But read the khutbah. It tells you what drove them and what they want. These sentiments are echoed down to today son. When Isis takes over secular Syrian places, they place their arguments on exactly these kinds of arguments. 

History is indeed a vast early warning system. Stuff that was done centuries back echo now. 

Love

Baba

Religious Propoaganda and Holy War in the 12th Century: The Friday Sermon following Saladin's Conquest of Jerusalem in 1187

https://ballandalus.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/religious-propoaganda-and-holy-war-in-the-12th-century-the-friday-sermon-following-saladins-conquest-of-jerusalem-in-1187/

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The khutba or Friday sermon, delivered in the al-Aqsa mosque immediately following the conquest of Jerusalem by Salah al-Din Yusuf b. Ayyub (d. 1174-1193) in 1187, is preserved by Ibn Khallikan in his biography of Muḥyiddīn ibn al-Zakī. Ibn Khallikan (1211-1282) served as chief qāḍī of the Shāfi‛īs in Damascus. His greatest achievement is his biographical dictionary of some 800 famous Muslims entitled Wafayāt al-a‛yān wa-anbā’ abnā’ al-zamān (Obituaries of the Notables and News of the Sons of the Age), fully translated here: https://ia601406.us.archive.org/17/items/ibnkhallikansbi00slangoog/ibnkhallikansbi00slangoog.pdf

Translation

Abū al-Ma‛ālī Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Ḥasan ‘Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaḥya ibn ‘Alī ibn ‘Abd al-‛Azīz ibn Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Qāsim ibn al Walīd ibn al-Qāsim ibn ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ‘Abban ibn ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān [the third caliph], a member of the tribe of Quraysh and surnamed Muhyiddīn but generally known by the appellation of Ibn al-Zakī, or son of Zakī al-Dīn, was a native of Damascus and a jurist of the Shāfi‛ī school. He displayed acquirements of the most varied kinds, being versed in the law, general literature, and other sciences, and having composed some fine poetry, khutbas (sermons), and epistles. On Wednesday, the 20th of Rabī‛ al-Awwal 588 (5 April 1192) he was appointed Chief Judge of Damascus; so, at least, I have found it written in the handwriting of al-Qādī al-Fāḍil, and the same place had been previously filled by his father and grandfather, as it was subsequently by two of his own sons.

How The Royal Navy's X-Class Midget Subs Helped Make D-Day Possible

It takes a special kind of courage to drive one of these little boats kids. I've seen the x24. It's a tiny machine. Submarines are tiny anyway. Some of the more recent subs like the typhoon class of ussr or the American boomer subs or our trident class ones are fairly big but the ones of world war 2 time were truly diabolical. Tiny. Cramped. Wet from condensation. With the full knowledge that if they hit a problem, and believe you me, they hit giant amounts of problems, they cannot be rescued. The submarine bells and other rescue gear were invented long time afterwards. 

So consider an even worse situation with respect to a submarine. A tiny one. With very little amenities. Days on end. Rolling and pitching. But indomitable courage kids. That's the heritage you inherit from you being a citizen of the United Kingdom. There's a reason why the world war 2 brought out so many great attributes of what it means to be British. That doesn't mean you become a rabid nationalist but history tells you and helps you become what you are. 

Have a nice trip to Nottingham son. Send me your final cv and cover letter today so that I can review it quickly. And yes. Apply to as many banks as you can. No harm in that. Do you want me to arrange for a test interview with one of my graduate interviewers? But make sure you apply to all your top 10 banks by this weekend. Don't lose time son. Every day you delay, somebody else has applied and taken a place reducing the number of places for you. Remember what I said about luck. Lucky people jump at more opportunities than others. :) 

Diya, I've done the parent pay payment for you. I loved your two class photographs. You look totally squishilious. And I also loved you were called dodo because of your interest in history and weird facts. It's brilliant. People remember that kind of interesting personalities. :) I'll show you the Oxford photo of you with the dodo this weekend ok? 

Love

Baba

How The Royal Navy's X-Class Midget Subs Helped Make D-Day Possible
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/how-the-royal-navys-x-class-midget-subs-helped-make-d-d-1709530716
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Strange Sandboxes: Unusual Writing Habits of Five Famous Authors

Kids

These were funny stories about how writers write. I'm starting to do research and have been spending time in the library and at home writing. And it's an indescribable feeling. It's a high. You physically feel that you're on a different plane. I had the Same feeling when I used to code. Music in your ears and you write and type furiously. Words bubble out of your fingers. Your mind is whirring away like a top. Your fingers are typing furiously trying to keep up with the ideas. You flick Windows. You flip pages of the books. You look up at the ceiling. You stare blankly at the pen on your desk. And then dive back into writing. It's such a glorious feeling. Love it. 

Btw, observe how Mum writes. It's so cute and funny :) she gets very irate if you disturb her. Very cute :) 

Have a lovely day

Love

Baba

Strange Sandboxes: Unusual Writing Habits of Five Famous Authors
http://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/strange-sandboxes-unusual-writing-habits-of-five-famous-authors
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Imagine telling your boss the only way you can be productive at work is after imbibing two or three glasses of sherry. Or by lying flat on your back with your knees tucked tightly toward your chest. Or perhaps in a bathtub brimming with soap bubbles. You'd probably be fired.

How to fight the heat wave, the Odisha way

Kannu. 

I'm was reading about how the London government identified the source of cholera via the mapping of deaths. I think I've mentioned that map to you before. Fascinating son. It's amazing how data visualisation helps in public health and Decision making. I'm embarking on a process to create graphs and reports for the next 4 years. It's bloody exciting. To design something that thousands of people in the bank will use to drive their actions and then millions of customers will be impacted by those decisions. 

But this story was even better. How people work to improve public health. And it doesn't take much closer money son. Just needs people to be smart and change way of working. While I was in the gulf, I was surprised that people kept working even though it was horribly hot. According to the ILO, you cannot work when the temperature is more than 50 degrees  c. So guess what? The temperature never rose beyond 50 degrees.  Same in India. That's why so many people die of heat stroke. I'll take you to a desert one day son. It's a spectacular experience son. Makes you mystical but you've got to respect it. 

Anyway. Have a lovely day and if you can shift the suitcases from the hallway to up to your room that would be good. I fell over the bloody things three times today! 

Love

Baba

Business Standard-How to fight the heat wave, the Odisha way
http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/how-to-fight-the-heat-wave-the-odisha-way-115052900943_1.html
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My Page

In May, 1998 when I was travelling in Odisha, hospitals reported 2,042 deaths due to heat stroke across the state, right from the coastal cities to western regions.

A doctor posted at a government hospital in the coastal town of Kendrapara said, “I have counted more deaths than births in a week. Heat wave has killed more people than an epidemic.”

Quite an interesting perspective

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It's one of the big regrets in my life that I haven't really explored Goethe that much. Faust of course is required reading but This renaissance man is one of my hero's. What a man. Lawyer. Painter. Scientist. Warrior. Writer. Poet. You name it. And he travelled long and hard. Loved many wonderful women. Had loads of kids. Spawned entire genres. Is remembered posthumously. The man is a legend. In my travels in Germany I've come across his signs. But never managed to really get to grips with him like I've done with other Renaissance men like da Vinci or Michelangelo or Adam smith or Newton or Darwin and a host of others. Funny, I actually totted up the numbers of blog posts, papers and books and photo essays and and and that I've written so far. It's about 11000. Of course the quality sucks compared to Goethe but hey ho. I'm still a young man with much to blather on about eh? 

Love

Baba

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe
(via Instapaper)

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"Goethe" redirects here. For other uses, see Goethe (disambiguation).

"Göte" redirects here. For other uses, see Gote.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (/ˈɡɜrtə/;^[1] German: [ˈjoːhan ˈvɔlfɡaŋ fɔn ˈɡøːtə] (

listen); 28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German writer and statesman. His body of work includes epic and lyric poetry written in a variety of metres and styles; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him are extant. A literary celebrity by the age of 25, Goethe was ennobled by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Karl August in 1782 after first taking up residence there in November 1775 following the success of his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther. He was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. During his first ten years in Weimar, Goethe served as a member of the Duke's privy council, sat on the war and highway commissions, oversaw the reopening of silver mines in nearby Ilmenau, and implemented a series of administrative reforms at the University of Jena. He also contributed to the planning of Weimar's botanical park and the rebuilding of its Ducal Palace, which in 1998 were together designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[2]

10 Lessons I Learned from a Year of Productivity Experiments

Kannu

Some very interesting tips here. And makes sense son. Eat well. Sleep well. Exercise well. None of which I do particularly well but seems to be ok in total. Allows me  to do all that I want and need. Strangely enough, my life seems to have speeded up son, instead of slowing down! Strange eh? Maybe it's because I've started to learn about these productivity tips? 

THis year of yours will be crucial from the perspective of putting some serious corner stones in your life in terms of getting the internship and making the networking links that will help you get into a good job. It's a good thing you've enjoyed yourself this summer with 4 trips and holidays. Enjoy. It will be some time before you will again get to have so much fun. I'm kidding. You will of course have more fun and games. I'm starting to plan the Antarctica trip. More and more I read about it - it's becoming more and more challenging. But would be a good test of our abilities to survive some of the roughest seas in the world and cold so ferocious that you cannot believe. 

Still. These tips are good son. Worth noting although you are doing all these so I'm happy for you. 

Love you

Baba

10 Lessons I Learned from a Year of Productivity Experiments
http://lifehacker.com/10-lessons-i-learned-from-a-year-of-productivity-experi-1584800618/1733434839?utm_campaign=socialflow_lifehacker_facebook&utm_source=lifehacker_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
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Quite an interesting perspective

H-Net Review Publication: Woodall on Hill, 'Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects, Identities'

Well son. I'm sure you're throughly enjoying the snow and skiing and the camaraderie of the Oxbridge group at the moment. So perhaps this email isn't particularly pertinent at the moment or even later. 

This was an interesting perspective. That museum are nothing but biographies. Fascinating concept eh? I love museums. They offer a potted history of so many things. Having seen museums in so many countries this is right. Together they are biographies of humans and mankind. 

Somebody told me that I live in a museum. Yes. Quite possibly. Both mentally and physically. Lol. I collect books. Palm leaf books. Interesting bank notes. Cufflinks. Horological instruments. Interesting photographs. Collect experiences. Degrees and PhDs and certificates. And friends. It's nothing but a biography. 

As you know I'm a trustee at an animal home. We get legacies from people who have died and gifted things or money to us. And several times I've got to sign for the receipt of full house contents of people who died with a wish to donate everything to us. People collect the strangest things son. Buttons. Newspapers. Plastic bags. Matchbox covers. Condoms. Food items. Stamps. You name it. And sometimes I wonder what it says about you. 

Everybody collects son. I'm not making a judgement. But I'm just interested to know. So the small thought experiment would be for you son, ask your friends what do they collect? And why do they collect what they do? And what does it tell you about them? I'm sure it will help you understand them a bit more son. People love to talk about their hobbies and collections. And that will give you some amazing insights into people. 

Love

Baba

Begin forwarded message:

From: H-Net Staff <revhelp@mail.h-net.msu.edu>
Date: 8 December 2014 07:34:19 GMT
To: H-REVIEW@H-NET.MSU.EDU
Subject: H-Net Review Publication:  Woodall on Hill, 'Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects, Identities'
Reply-To: H-Net Staff <revhelp@mail.h-net.msu.edu>

Kate Hill, ed.  Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects,
Identities.  Heritage Matters Series. Suffolk  Boydell and Brewer,
2012.  x + 338 pp.  $99.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-84383-727-5; $34.95
(paper), ISBN 978-1-84383-961-3.

Reviewed by Alexandra Woodall (University of Leicester, School of
Museum Studies)
Published on H-Material-Culture (December, 2014)
Commissioned by Marieke Hendriksen

Museums and Biographies: Stories, Objects, Identities

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

It's one of the big regrets in my life that I haven't really explored Goethe that much. Faust of course is required reading but This renaissance man is one of my hero's. What a man. Lawyer. Painter. Scientist. Warrior. Writer. Poet. You name it. And he travelled long and hard. Loved many wonderful women. Had loads of kids. Spawned entire genres. Is remembered posthumously. The man is a legend. In my travels in Germany I've come across his signs. But never managed to really get to grips with him like I've done with other Renaissance men like da Vinci or Michelangelo or Adam smith or Newton or Darwin and a host of others. Funny, I actually totted up the numbers of blog posts, papers and books and photo essays and and and that I've written so far. It's about 11000. Of course the quality sucks compared to Goethe but hey ho. I'm still a young man with much to blather on about eh? 

Love

Baba

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe
(via Instapaper)

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"Goethe" redirects here. For other uses, see Goethe (disambiguation).

"Göte" redirects here. For other uses, see Gote.