Book review Socrates in an Indian village

This is a bit of an old book. Dating back to 1928. Written by F C Brayne, MC, ICS. He was the deputy commissioner of Gurgaon district in Punjab. It has a foreword by Lord Irwin who was the then Viceroy and Governor General of India.

It's a collection of so called verbatim transcripts of what the author (who calls himself as Socrates - an old man whose very blunt in pointing out problems and issues) has in terms of conversations with villagers in Gurgaon district in the post World War 1 era.

By about the middle of the book, it becomes repetitive. But each conversation goes something like this. Socrates leads the villagers through a series of questions and leads them to understand that they have to stop shitting everywhere. They have to build toilets. They have to have better irrigation. Use better seeds. Use farm finance. Form cooperatives. Educate women. Educate girls. Have better health. Live in clean houses and surroundings. Wash often. Stop stupid spending on jewellery and weddings.

He frequently refers to old retired ex-servicemen who were part of the British army during world war 1 and saw action and life in Europe and Mesopotamia and other places. And why they lose all that discipline and cleanliness when they get home while they're wearing their ribbons and medals. Peacocks on dung heaps.

This is why I get thoroughly pissed with people who claim greatness in Indian history with mathematics and science and and and. All this whilst the current prime minister has to launch a frikking national campaign to clean India and construct and use toilets? This is why people look at such boasts of ancient knowledge sitting on top of dirty, unsanitary places as peacocks sitting on top of dung heaps.

This was written by a Britisher in 1928. And we Indians haven't yet learnt to keep things clean. And do basic hygiene factors. Or educate women. Or have toilets.

Here's a sample chapter from here. Full text available here.

Read. If you're a true Indian patriot, you will weep and resolve to do something. If you are a peacock on a dung heap, you will ignore this or get angry at me or this Britisher.

A HOLY WAR 

SOCRATES went to the chaupal, as usual, and found it full of 
ex-officers and ex-soldiers, all smartly got up with uniform and 
medals, and looking very proud and gay. 

SOCRATES : Good morning, gentlemen, how smart you all are 
to-day. Do you know what you remind me of most ? 

EX-OFFICERS : What, Socrates ? 

SOCRATES : Peacocks sitting on a muck heap. 

EX-OFFICERS: You are pretty rude this morning, Socrates; 
why are you pleased to make such an insulting comparison, old 
man? 

SOCRATES : Well, you are beautifully dressed and covered with 
medals, but your village is filthy. 

EX-OFFICERS: That is unfortunately true, but anyway you 
will admit that even your own comparison shows that what you 
describe is natural. 

SOCRATES : Oh, is it ? Did the peacocks make the muck heap ? 

EX-OFFICERS: No. 

SOCRATES : And aren't you all responsible for the dirty state 
of your village ? 

EX-OFFICERS : We suppose we are, to some extent. 

SOCRATES : Anyway,' what is happening is it a wedding or a 
garden party, or what ? 

SUBEDAR-MAJOR : x Hardly a garden party here, Socrates! 
We don't keep gardens in villages. 

SOCRATES : Then where do your wives take their little babies 
for air and exercise in the afternoon ? 

SUBEDAR-MAJOR : Nowhere, of course. What an idea ! 

SOCRATES : But surely a Subedar-Major's wife is as smart and 
dean and enlightened as a Subedar-Major ? Surely she doesn't 
live in darkness and squalor, the same as the rest of the village ? 

SUBEDAR-MAJOR : She lives in just the same way as all the 
rest of the village women. 

1 The senior Indian commissioned officer of an infantry battalion. 



46 Socrates in an Indian Village 

SOCRATES : Then all the training and uplift of army life was 
wasted on you, Subedar-Major Sahib, if you are content to drop 
back into the old ways, shed your enlightenment with your 
uniform, and forget all you ever learnt ? 

SUBBDAR-MAJOR : What would you have us do, Socrates? 
You've always got some strange new fashions for us. 

SOCRATES : Why, I should expect you ex-officers to bring 
back with you a little light and culture into the villages, to make 
your houses models of comfort and hygiene, and make gardens for 
your wives and children to enjoy. 

SUBEDAR-MAJOR : That sounds attractive, Socrates, and we 
have the means, but we seem unable to combine and no one will 
take the lead. 

SOCRATES : The old story, I fear. We can always combine 
for evil, and there are always leaders to come forward to lead us 
to mischief, but we can never combine for good, and no leaders 
will ever come forward to set an example in good things. 

SUBEDAR-MAJOR : That is so, Socrates, and always has been. 

SOCRATES : Then we must try and alter it. Let's make a 
start by starting a sort of ex-officers' club in our village, put 
together a little money, and make a small garden for the women 
and children to sit in ; and let us find out and practise all the 
various ways there are of improving village life. We are not 
poor, and many of the new things will bring in money 
too, such as good seed, iron ploughs, Persian wheels, and so on. 
The other things that reduce dirt and disease will cost nothing, and, 
by saving the time now wasted in bed with fever, we may save 
money too. Anyway, let's have a try. 

SUBEDAR-MAJOR : Very well, Socrates ; we will make a start 
and see if we cannot lead the village in peace as we led our braves 
in war. 

and this is why I spit on these people who go about proclaiming the glories of ancient civilisation while being stupid to their women. 

HONOUR YOUR WOMEN 

SOCRATES came into the chaupal 1 in a very cheerful mood, 
chuckling to himself, and the village elders were so surprised to 
see him in such an unusual vein that they hardly knew how to 
address him. 

VILLAGERS : Good morning, Socrates, What has happened, 
old worthy ? Have you found a clean village or a child without 
dirt and ornaments, or an educated village woman, or what ? 

SOCRATES : No, brothers, far from it ; I have got into awful 
trouble' this morning (and he chuckled again). 

VILLAGERS : Do let us share y - ar mirth, old man. We suffer 
from your wrath so often, it is but fair wr should share your very 
occasional laughter. 

SOCRATES : Very well (laughing out loud). I will tell you all 
about it, but promise you won't be angry when you hear. 

VILLAGERS : No, Socrates ; we will not spoil your pleasure by 
getting angry, whatever you may say this time. 

SOCRATES : Well, it was like this : I met a political gentle- 
man and we fell to discussing things, and all went well till he 
said, with rising indignation and repeated expressions of wrath 
and bitterness, that ' our India, with its ancient civilization and 
culture, is not respected as she should be in the world.' I 
foolishly burst out laughing, and this made memberji 2 still more 
angry, and he turned on me and abused me too, as well as the rest 
of the world. 

1 Sorry/ I said, * memberji, but I can't help laughing at such 
an astounding statement/ 

'Why? 'he said. ,, 

1 Why, how can you expect the rest of the world to respect 
you when you don't respect yourselves ? ' and I laughed again. 
' Oh, you refer to the untouchables/ he said with sarcasm ; * that's 
an old story and not half as important as you make out' * No, 

1 Common meeting place in village. 

2 Mi, 1 used alone or as an enclitic, signifying respect. 



34 Socrates in an Indian Village 

I don't refer to the untouchables/ I said, 'though they are 
bad enough and quite sufficient to make us all hang our heads 
in shame/ ' Then what do you refer to ? ' he said. ' Well/ I said, 
4 half the population is female, isn't it ? ' ' Yes/ he said, ' of course 
it is/ ' And all the men are born of women ? ' ' Yes/ he said, 
' why ask such foolish questions ? ' ' Well, then/ I said, ' until you 
treat women with respect, and while you pay more respect to 
cattle than to women, how can you be said to be respecting your- 
selves, and how can you expect other people to respect you ? ' 
Memberji got so angry and abusive then, and started talking 
so loudly about ancient civilizations and so on, that I hurried 
away. 

' We don't find it as easy to laugh as you seem to, Socrates/ 
said a young villager rather stiffly. ' Perhaps you'll explain a 
bit more ? ' 

So*-* \ then, if a man kills a cow there will be a riot ? 

very likely. 

.^an treats his wife so badly that she commits 
*# or runs away, will there be a riot ? 

. ^LAGERS : Certainly not ; we shall sympathize with him 
and attend his wedding when he gets another wife. 

SOCRATES : When your cow is going to calve whom do you 
call? 

VILLAGERS : A sensible zamindar, of course. 

SOCRATES : When your wife is going to have a baby whom 
do you send for ? 

VILLAGERS : The sweeper's wife, or the Chumar's. 

SOCRATES: The lowest and dirtiest class of woman in the 
village? 

Vv ^AGERS : Yes, that is so. 

* : - * "" And you reserve the darkest room and the 
/ent ? 

with all your boast of purdah and so on, you 
make no ^ Agements for women and compel them to suffer 

agonies of discon^rt waiting for night to come, so that they may 
prowl about outside the village, or else seek with shame some 
hiding place by day. They are liable to be disturbed both by day 
and by night, and have to shiA about like frightened dogs. 



ffonour Your Women 35 

VILLAGERS : That is correct, Socrates. You have discovered 
and shown up a very bad custom of ours. 

SOCRATES : And that is why a bastard is called a ' get gatwar 
kabacha?' 1 

VILLAGERS : That is probably so. 

SOCRATES : And you make no attempt to bring up the girls 
properly or educate them ? 

VILLAGERS : Hardly any. 

SOCRATES: When a girl is born you sympathize with the 
father ? 

VILLAGERS: Yes. 

SOCRATES : In fact, the girls have such a hard life in their 
infancy and childhood that more girls die than boys, though the 
doctors all say that girls are easier to keep alive than boys. 

VILLAGERS : Yes, I am afraid we do neglect our girls. 

SOCRATES : And you marry them in childhood, before they 
know anything about housekeeping, or domestic science, or how 
to bring up children or look after their husbands, and you force 
them to bear children while they should be still at school and 
developing their minds and bodies by learning and by playing. 

VILLAGERS : All this is true, Socrates, of many of us, and some 
of it is true of all of us. 

SOCRATES : And many of you lock your women up all their 
lives ? 

VILLAGERS : Yes, some of us observe purdah. 

SOCRATES : And many who do not observe purdah lock up 
their womenfolk as soon as they get a little money or a little 
education ? 

VILLAGERS : Yes, that is the custom, too. * 

SOCRATES: And the women do all the drudgery as well as 
bringing up the children, and the men sit by and smoke ? 

VILLAGERS : Yes, that is largely true, too. 

SOCRATES : And if your wife only bears you daughters you 
blame her and are unkind to her, and finally replace her by another 
woman ? 

VILLAGERS : That is often true, too. 

SOCRATES : And it is the women who have to nurse the sick 

1 A child of the farmyard. 



36 Socrates in an Indian Village 

and ailing children and see them die, all because of the filth and 
squalor you live in and the ignorance of the women as to how to 
bring up children and how to avoid simple diseases like smallpox, 
etc.? 

VILLAGERS : Yes, Socrates, we plead guilty. 

SOCRATES : And if you roused yourselves and improved your 
conditions of life, half the disease would disappear ? 

VILLAGERS : Yes, we believe it would. 

SOCRATES : And if you educated your girls, and did not marry 
them till they were educated and fully grown up, they would 
know how to bring up children and would avoid all the usual 
ailments that kill your children, and would be saved all the 
sorrow and trouble of tending sick children and seeing them die 
one after the other. 

VILLAGERS : Your charges are only too true, old man. 

SOCRATES : Would a woman who knew the value of vaccina- 
tion hide her baby when the vaccinator came ? 

VILLAGERS : Never ; the mother loves her baby far more than 
the father, and would never allow it to have smallpox if she 
really understood the value of vaccination. 

SOCRATES : Then when I said you do not respect your women 
and you reverence them less than you do your cattle, I am not 
far from the truth ? 

VILLAGERS : We fear you are absolutely true, Socrates. 

SOCRATES : And mark my words, O zamindars. As soon as 
you treat your women as the equals of men, honour and reverence 
them, bring them up properly and regard them as the equal part- 
ners of your homes and hearths, and not as God-given drudges to 
be knocked about, bullied and treated as slaves, so soon will you 
have bright, healthy homes, and so soon will you receive the respect 
of the whole world. 

Book Review: Sexual Life in Ottoman Society

An interesting book. Looks like it's translated from the Turkish but not that well. Has some thematic chapters arranged loosely around sultans, the structure of the harem,prostitution, slavery, homosexual behaviour, affairs of the heart, sexual humour and sexual poetry.

It's got copious amounts of illustrations, paintings and drawings by local and international artists and painters.

The author has obviously relied on primary research for her(?) book but the translation is poorly done. The boom jumps around very badly and therefore the editing is also done very badly.

For those who are of an academic bent, will find some of the references useful. For those who are expecting a detailed exposition, will be left wanting as there is very little contextual information given.

A particularly fascinating insight on the sexual descriptions of various nationalities of both sexes by Enderunlu Fazil Bey  in his book Hubanname is particular amusing and interesting. Here’s what he says about British Roses (the men).

“They are the silent but very much desired beauties who confuse your mind. They live on a quiet island. These guys who are beardless by birth are of medium height, and are as white as the whitest lily on a stream. Most of these fishlike men are sailors and they have a good sexual apparatus; nevertheless, I can not say that they give much satisfaction.

he was gay, so he didn't know much about women, but that didn't stop him from opining on the various nationalities.

“Eastern Indians: Their face, eyes, and skin are dark. They look like framed pictures on a wall. You wouldn't feel like having sex with them because they are frigid”

Jews: All of them sleep with us. Jewish women and homosexual boys are abundant. The women have plain faces with a dull skin which is as tasteless as snow.

British Women: When their lips move, you hear the nightingale. They are good natured and have lovely faces. They are very keen on finery and they wear sumptuous clothes

 

Still looking at the mildly Islamist trajectory that Turkey is taking, it's a bit of a surprise to see publications like this coming out in this decade.

The Irish Clan Behind Europe's Rhino-Horn Theft Epidemic

Kannu

Here's a nice economics question for you. When supply is highly restricted, what should be the response of public policy? 

Compare the situation with rhino horns and say hard drugs. What does it tell you about the incoherence of public policy Vis a Vis demand and supply along with the legal responses? 

Love

Baba

The Irish Clan Behind Europe's Rhino-Horn Theft Epidemic
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-02/the-irish-clan-behind-europes-rhino-horn-theft-epidemic

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When the phone rang at about 3 a.m. on April 18, Nigel Monaghan was asleep on the floor in his office in Dublin, tangled in a sleeping bag. In his job as Keeper of the National Museum of Ireland’s natural history section, he was overseeing filming of the latest episode of a children’s TV special, Sleepover Safari. Ten children, their parents, and a film crew were spending the night in the museum, known locally as the Dead Zoo, surrounded by Ireland’s foremost collection of taxidermy.

The call was from the museum’s central security office. Four stuffed rhino heads—ones Monaghan had sent away for safekeeping a year earlier—had been stolen from the museum’s storage facility near the airport. At 10:40 p.m., three masked men forced their way in, tied up the single guard on duty, and found the shelves where the heads were kept. The trophies were heavy and awkward. Expertly stuffed and mounted by big game taxidermists at the turn of the 20th century, they were monstrous confections of skin and bone, plaster and timber, horsehair and straw. When Monaghan and his team had come to move the largest—that of a white rhino shot in Sudan in 1914, with a horn more than three feet long—it had taken four men just to lift it down from the museum wall. But the burglars were undeterred, and soon they had every head in the back of their white van. They took nothing else, and within an hour they were gone.

A photo which made me stare at it for a long time

Waterfall amidst a mountain covered in ash after a volcano eruption. I cannot find the photographer’s name, I am afraid.

but this is such a powerful and disturbing image, in the middle of destruction, a waterfall of life. amazing.

From Fitzgerald to Reagan, 5 Letters of Fatherly Advice from History's Greatest Public Dads |

Kannu

I'm not sure whether to congratulate or sympathise with you. You have your mamma who wrote an entire book of letters to you (and to Diya) as well but then to compound it, your father keeps on sending you weirdass articles with strange commentary and advise. 

I'm reminded of a quote, 'the thing to do with good advice is to pass it on, it's never good for oneself'. 

I used to correspond  copiously with Dadu's elder brother. He was a ferociously intelligent man, with some very strong opinions about English, grammar, history, bibliography etc. I used to spend summers with him and we would talk and discuss about variety of things. And when I used to write to him, he would reply and also and my letters back corrected for grammar and spelling. Heh. 

Actually, there is a very long tradition down history of men writing to their sons or their mentees. For example, the first book I read was called as, Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son. Gandhi did it. You know why? Because fathers don't want their sons (and daughters) to make the same mistakes as they did or they want to make sure that the happiness they received is also adopted by their sons and daughters. I don't write too much to Diya at the moment about weighty things. She is a bit too young but we still have fun on a variety of topics, mostly related to what I photograph. 

Anyway, here are 5 letters that famous dad's wrote to their sons. History doesn't record what their sons thought of these letters but be that as it may, happy reading son. 

Love

Baba

From Fitzgerald to Reagan, 5 Letters of Fatherly Advice from History's Greatest Public Dads | Brain Pickings
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/06/15/fatherly-advice-letters/

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by Maria Popova

“The secret of success is concentrating interest in life… interest in the small things of nature… In other words to be fully awake to everything.”

With Father’s Day around the corner, let’s take a moment to pay heed to some of the wisest, most heart-warming advice from history’s famous dads. Gathered here are five timeless favorites, further perpetuating my well-documented love of the art of letter-writing.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

In a 1933 letter to his 11-year-old daughter Scottie, F. Scott Fitzgeraldproduced this poignant and wise list of things to worry, not worry, and think about, found in the altogether excellent F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters:

Things to worry about:

Worry about courage
Worry about Cleanliness
Worry about efficiency
Worry about horsemanship
Worry about…

Things not to worry about:

Don’t worry about popular opinion
Don’t worry about dolls
Don’t worry about the past
Don’t worry about the future
Don’t worry about growing up
Don’t worry about anybody getting ahead of you
Don’t worry about triumph
Don’t worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault
Don’t worry about mosquitoes
Don’t worry about flies
Don’t worry about insects in general
Don’t worry about parents
Don’t worry about boys
Don’t worry about disappointments
Don’t worry about pleasures
Don’t worry about satisfactions

Things to think about:

What am I really aiming at?
How good am I really in comparison to my contemporaries in regard to:

(a) Scholarship
(b) Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them?
(c) Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it?

During these days where children are killed…

you need something to restore your faith in humanity…even if its humans helping animals..

Algerian War

Son

You know that I hate wars. It's a spectacular waste of intelligence and human resources. The uk has invaded more than 180 countries and what do we have to show for it? Mouldering graves in all those countries of young men and their families? 

Wars have very long memories son. They don't end when the peace treaty is signed. And have seriously bad repercussions for decades and centuries afterwards. Think about Thermopylae. It still excites emotions. How about the battles of panipat? Or of Vienna? Or the Golden Horde and Moscow? Or or or. 

This is another example of how imperialism has cast a very long shadow over so many people and generations. France has suffered hugely because of its imperialism, the fourth republic fell because of this, civil wars happened. 

Tocqueville praised how Algeria was taken over. This man praised the quality of American democracy and wasn't able to look at Algeria in the Same way. We got you his book for your 18th birthday son. Read it. 

Then the fight between Algeria and Egypt. It boils over every now and then, over football recently. But look at the history, Egypt helped Algeria regain it's independence and paid for it by having France invade it. Again! Poor Egypt keeps getting its teeth kicked in. 

But Algeria is still suffering from what the French did. 

And the Berber Arab fight in the Maghreb goes back to what the Muslims did when they expanded their empire. So on and so forth. Wars are crap. Hate them. They ruin lives societies not only when they are raging but for generations afterwards. We allowed the irAq war to happen son but you will keep on suffering the repercussions of that idiotic war for decades. 

Read and weep for a tragic violent pathetic horrible war where hardly anybody came out smelling like roses. 

Love

Baba

Algerian War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algerian_War

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The Algerian War, also known as theAlgerian War of Independence or theAlgerian Revolution(Arabic: الثورة الجزائرية‎Ath-Thawra Al-Jazā’iriyya; French:Guerre d'Algérie, "Algerian War") was a war betweenFrance and theAlgerianindependence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria gaining its independence from France. An importantdecolonization war, it was a complex conflict characterized by guerrilla warfare,maquis fighting, terrorism, the use of torture by both sides, and counter-terrorism operations. The conflict was also a civil war between loyalist Algerians believing in a French Algeria and their insurrectionist Algerian Muslimcounterparts.^[5] Effectively started by members of the National Liberation Front(FLN) on November 1, 1954, during the Toussaint Rouge ("Red All Saints' Day"), the conflict shook the foundations of the French Fourth Republic (1946–58) and led to its eventual collapse. In 1961, president Charles de Gaulledecided to give up Algeria—which was up to then regarded as an integral part of France—after conducting a referendum showing huge support for Algerian independence. The planned withdrawal led to a state crisis, to variousassassination attempts on de Gaulle, and some attempts of military coups. Most of the former were carried out by the Organisation de l'armée secrète(OAS), an underground organization formed mainly from French military personnel supporting a French Algeria, which committed a large number of bombings and murders in both Algeria and the homeland to stop the planned independence.

Who Invented the Yellow Card?

Fascinating nugget son. How the yellow card was invented. It's a simple ideogram. Like the Chinese language. Should more be a logogram but let's not quibble. 

You see son, living in an Information Age means that we have to digest more and more information. So keep on top of things, one has to abstract things. When I was in my previous bank, I was responsible for creating a one pager for a bank wide transformation. A one page. Which encapsulates the past current and future state of a Multi billion dollar initiative. It was designed to be read understood and then discussed in 1 hour. One of my fields of interest is data visualisation. The science of how to portray data more efficiently. 

And it's fascinating. For the same data, decisions can be different of you've shown it in a table or a bar or radar graph. Reminds me of the quote, it's not your vote that counts but who counts your vote that counts. 

The power to communicate son. That's the key. Hold your audience in your hand. Use visual aids. 

Love

Baba

Who Invented the Yellow Card?
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/who-invented-yellow-card-180951915/

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Among the stadiums and balls and robots specifically designed for this World Cup, a few objects remain unchanged. Most visibly, perhaps, is the yellow card. It is now and has, since its introduction to the World Cup in 1970, been a plain, handheld, yellow, card. That's it. But that simple yellow card can literally change the game.

The use of the yellow card is strictly outlined in the FIFA rulebook, which notes that “a player is cautioned and shown the yellow card if he commits any of the following seven offences:”

• unsporting behavior
• dissent by word or action
• persistent infringement of the Laws of the Game
• delaying the restart of play              
• failure to respect the required distance when play is restarted with a corner kick, free kick or throw-in 
• entering or re-entering the field of play without the referee’s permission
• deliberately leaving the field of play without the referee’s permission

FIFA also documents the invention of the yellow card. The card was the creation of Ken Aston (1915-2001), one of the game’s toughest and most respected referees, who served on the FIFA Referee’s Committee from 1966 to 1972. In 1966, Aston, a Brit, was thinking about some controversial decisions made in a recent match between England and Argentina, which was so heated that, after the game, an angry Argentinian team purportedly tried tobreak into the English locker room. At one point, an Argentinian player was trying to communicate with a German referee, and his passioned pleas, unintelligible to the ref, got him expelled for "violence of the tongue." The Argentinian player refused to leave the field until Aston intervened. Driving home after the game, Aston pulled up to a stoplight and inspiration struck. "As I drove down Kensington High Street, the traffic light turned red. I thought, 'Yellow, take it easy; red, stop, you're off'," Aston had said. It’s that simple. Aston’s epiphany is now used to indicate warnings and penalties in more than a dozen other games, including fencing, field hockey, volleyball and water polo.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

And the British Soldiers who died in Afghanistan.

Some of the American Soldiers who died in Afghanistan and their ages.

Edward Joseph Acosta, 21
Trevor Brandon Adkins, 21
Ahmed Kousay al-Taie, 46 Erica Paige Alecksen, 21
Tobias Christoph Alexander, 30
Joseph James Altmann, 27
Mabry James Anders, 21
Joshua Ryan Ashley, 23
Bradley Wayne Atwell, 27
Daniel Benjamin Bartle, 27
Jon-Luke Bateman, 22
Jonathan Batista, 22
Rayvon Battle Jr., 25
Taylor John Baune, 21
Jordan Logan Bear, 25
Clayton Ross Beauchamp, 21
Genaro Bedoy, 20
Bryan Richard Bell, 23
Russell Ryan Bell, 37
Jose Oscar Belmontes, 28
Kenneth Wade Bennett, 26
Keith David Benson, 27
Richard Liam Berry, 27
Robert John Billings, 30
Christopher James Birdwell, 25
Jeremie Shane Border, 28
Christopher David Bordoni, 21
Joshua Alan Born, 25
Michael Cean Braden, 31
Mikayla Anne Bragg, 21
John R. Brainard III, 26
Sean Edward Brazas, 26
Andrew Trevor Britton-Mihalo, 25
Michael John Brodsky, 33
Christopher L. Brown, 26
Daniel Joseph Brown, 27
Milton W. Brown, 28
Gregory Thomas Buckley, 21
Antonio Carlos Burnside, 31
Thomas Jefferson Butler IV, 25
Brandon Lucas Buttry, 19

Gerardo Campos, 23
Shane William Cantu, 20
Daniel Lewis Carlson, 21
Sean Patrick Carson, 32
Roberto Cazarez, 24
Julian Clement Chase, 22
Nicolas D. Checque, 28
Gregory Lamont Childs, 38
Bruce Kevin Clark, 43
Junot M. L. Cochilus, 34
Kenneth Eldren Cochran, 20
Keaton Grant Coffey, 22
Julian Lee Colvin, 21
Timothy John Conrad Jr., 22
Gregory Todd Copes, 36
Cesar Cortez, 24
Niall William Cotisears, 23
Joseph D’Augustine, 29
Johnathon Frank Davis, 20
Nathan Tyler Davis, 20
Coater Bernard Debose, 55
Michael Robert Demarsico II, 20
Anthony Joseph Denier, 26
Leroy Deronde III, 22
Nicholas Michael Dickhut, 23
Scott Edward Dickinson, 29
Alex Frank Domion, 21
Curtis Joseph Duarte, 22
Michael Stephen Duskin, 42
James Evan Dutton, 25
Edward Joe Dycus, 22
Kevin Richard Ebbert, 32
Jason Kyle Edens, 22
Brandon Forrest Eggleston, 29
Vincent James Ellis, 22
Darrel Lynn Enos, 36
Richard Allen Essex, 23
Bobby Lee Estle, 38
Kyler Lavon Estrada, 21
Joseph Henry Fankhauser, 30
Aaron Matthew Faust, 22
Mathew Gregory Fazzari, 25
Patrick Delaney Feeks, 28
Arronn David Fields, 27
Krystal Marie Fitts, 26
Joseph Fitzmorris, 31
Thomas Kent Fogarty, 30
Nicholas Charles Fredsti, 30
Vilmar Galarza Hernandez, 21
Luis Antonio Oliver Galbreath, 41
Jonathan William Gifford, 34
Theodore Matthew Glende, 23
Jonathan Alan Gollnitz, 28
Moises Jesus Gonzalez, 29
Brandon Dwayne Goodine, 20
Brittany Bria Gordon, 24
Brett Edward Gornewicz, 27
Walter David Gray, 38
Kevin James Griffin, 45
Samuel Mark Griffith, 36
Jesse James Grindey, 30
Dustin Dean Gross, 19
Raul Madrigal Guerra, 37
Michael J. Guillory, 28
Ryan Preston Hall, 30
Carl Erik Hammar, 24
Shawn Thomas Hannon, 44
John Eric Hansen, 41
Justin Michael Hansen, 26
Jeremy Franklin Hardison, 23
Zachary Hayden Hargrove, 32
Aaron Arthur Henderson, 33
Alex Hernandez III, 21
Pernell Johnnie Herrera, 33
Channing Bo Hicks, 24
Darrion Terrell Hicks, 21
Tanner Stone Higgins, 23
Terence John Hildner, 49
Hunter Dalton Hogan, 21
Eric Scott Holman, 39
Patricia Lee Horne, 20
Brian Daniel Hornsby, 37
Justin Louis Horsley, 21
John Patrick Huling, 25
Francis Dee Imlay Jr., 31
Aaron Dale Istre, 37
Kedith Lamont Jacobs Jr., 21
Sean Robert Jacobs, 23
Jamie Darrell Jarboe, 27
Ryan Paul Jayne, 22
Ryan Jeschke, 31
David Andrew Johnson, 24
Donna Rae Johnson, 29
Nicholas Scott Johnson, 27
Payton Alexander Jones, 19
James Austin Justice, 21
Ramon Taisakan Kaipat, 22
Matthew Geoffrey Kantor, 22
Andrew James Keller, 22
Thomas Elliott Kennedy, 35
Kurt William Kern, 24
Richard James Kessler Jr., 47
Michael Joseph Knapp, 28
Jabraun Steven Knox, 23
Noah Mark Korte, 29
Suresh Niranjan Aba Krause, 29
Jarrod Allen Lallier, 20
Todd William Lambka, 25
Matthew John Leach, 29
Dick Alson Lee Jr., 31
Brian Jeffery Leonhardt, 21
Joseph Michael Lilly, 25
Darren M. Linde, 41
Daniel Lee Linnabary II, 23
Kevin E. Lipari, 39
Roberto Loeza Jr., 28
John Darin Loftis, 44
Joseph Daniel Logan, 22
Jesus Jonathan Lopez, 22
Conner Thomas Lowry, 24
Bryant Jordan Luxmore, 25
Bruce Andrew MacFarlane, 46
Thomas Raymond MacPherson, 26
Matthew Patrick Manoukian, 29
Robert Joseph Marchanti II, 48
Justin Cameron Marquez, 25
Chase Stone Marta, 24
Ethan Jacob Martin, 22
Alex Martinez, 21
Robert Anthony Massarelli, 32
Erik Nathaniel May, 26
Kyle Brenton McClain, 25
Philip Daine McGeath, 25
Nathan Ronald McHone, 29
Allen Robert McKenna Jr., 28
Barett Wambli McNabb, 33
Richard Lewis McNulty III, 22
John David Meador II, 36
Dale Wayne Means, 23
Kashif Mohammed Memon, 31
Michael Joseph Metcalf, 22
Daniel Thomas Metcalfe, 29
Jonathan Matthew Metzger, 32
Cale Clyde Miller, 23
Eugene Clifton Mills III, 21
Christopher Michael Monahan Jr., 25
Jose Luis Montenegro Jr., 31
Osbrany Montes De Oca, 20
Cody Otho Moosman, 24
Travis Alan Morgado, 25
Christopher E. Mosko, 28
Sky Russell Mote, 27
Christopher Lee Muniz, 24
Dustin Paul Napier, 20
Juan Pantoja Navarro, 23
Benjamin Harold Neal, 21
James Dominic Nehl, 37
Joshua Nathaniel Nelson, 22
Sapuro Brightley Nena, 25
David Paul Nowaczyk, 32
Israel Paul Nuanes, 38
Nicholas Henry Olivas, 20
Tyler J. Orgaard, 20
Kyle Bruce Osborn, 26
Jesse Aaron Ozbat, 28
Scott Patrick Pace, 39
Joshua Cole Pairsh, 29
Michael Jeremy Palacio, 23
Alejandro Jose Pardo, 21
Christopher Alexander Patterson, 20
Brandon Robert Pepper, 31
Sergio Eduardo Perez, 21
Trevor Adam Pinnick, 20
Benjamin Carlos Pleitez, 25
William Compton Poling Jr., 42
Paris Shawn Pough, 40
Alexander George Povilaitis Jr., 47
Stephen Chase Prasnicki, 24
John Castle Pratt, 51
Daniel Joseph Price, 27
Scott Eugene Pruitt, 38
Michael Wayne Pyron, 30
Christopher Keith Raible, 40
Thalia Suzanne Ramirez, 28
Ryan Davis Rawl, 30
Clovis Tim Ray, 34
Jerry Don Reed II, 30
Chad Robert Regelin, 24
Nicholas J. Reid, 26
Kevin James Reinhard, 25
Jose Joel Reyes, 24
Jeffrey Leon Rice, 24
Joseph Alvin Richardson, 23
Travis William Riddick, 40
Jeffrey James Rieck, 46
Michael Eugene Ristau, 25
Richard Anthony Rivera Jr., 20
Daquane Demetris Rivers, 21
Dion Rashun Roberts, 25
Leonard Robinson, 29
Daniel Anthony Rodriguez, 28
Jose Rodriguez, 22
Kyle Robert Rookey, 23
Adam Corey Ross, 19
Nicholas Jan Rozanski, 36
Clinton Keith Ruiz, 22
David E. Rylander, 23
Brenden Neal Salazar, 20
Christian Riley Sannicolas, 20
Ryan James Savard, 29
Philip Channing Sipe Schiller, 21
Joseph Lee Schiro, 27
Jonathan Philip Schmidt, 28
Julian Seiji Scholten, 26
Jacob Michael Schwallie, 22
Matthew Scott Schwartz, 34
Matthew Ryan Seidler, 24
Ricardo Seija, 31
Anthony Ramon Servin, 22
Dean Russell Shaffer, 23
Christopher Greg Singer, 23
Matthew Steven Sitton, 26
James Lyn Skalberg Jr., 25
Tyler James Smith, 24
Orion Nelson Sparks, 29
William Chapman Stacey, 23
Cameron James Stambaugh, 20
Trevor Jovanne Stanley, 22
Camella Marchett Steedley, 31
Riley Gene Stephens, 39
Steven Prince Stevens II, 23
Matthew Henrick Stiltz, 26
Jesse Wade Stites, 23
Michael Joseph Strachota, 28
Sean Patrick Sullivan, 40
Billy Albert Sutton, 42
Steven Gene Sutton, 24
Jason Michael Swindle, 24
Abraham Tarwoe, 25
Robert Joseph Tauteris Jr., 44
Tofiga Joshua Tautolo, 23
David Wayne Taylor, 20
Nicholas Andrew Taylor, 20
Alec Robert Terwiske, 21
Matthew Bradford Thomas, 30
Alejo Rene Thompson, 30
Joel Del Mundo Tiu, 48
Louis Ramon Torres, 23
Jon Ross Townsend, 19
Gregory Ray Trent, 38
Nelson D. Trent, 37
Neil Isaac Turner, 21
Jalfred David Vaquerano, 20
Manuel Joseph Vasquez, 22
Jorge Luis Velasquez, 35
Dain Taylor Venne, 29
Don Cayetano Viray, 25
Paul Clarke Voelke, 36
Brian Lloyd Walker, 25
Jonathan Patrick Walsh, 28
Eric Dean Warren, 23
David John Warsen, 27
Samuel Thomas Watts, 20
Dennis Paul Weichel Jr., 29
Jeffrey Lee White Jr., 21
Nicholas Schade Whitlock, 29
Justin Michael Whitmire, 20
Ronald Herbert Wildrick Jr., 30
Justin James Wilkens, 26
Clarence Williams III, 23
David Vincent Williams, 24
Eric Edward Williams, 27
Wesley R. Williams, 25
Ryan James Wilson, 26
Shane Gregory Wilson, 20
Wade Daniel Wilson, 22
William Robert Wilson III, 27
Jessica Marie Wing, 42
Benjamin Brian Wise, 34
Joshua Eli Witsman, 23
Chris John Workman, 33
Sterling William Wyatt, 21

2,000 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Action and 17,644 Wounded In Action in Afghanistan War

Common law

Son

I'm going to start a course on English common law soon. It's going to be required for my next PhD. 

Law is a fascinating creature. It distinguishes countries. It defines societies. It very closely tracks the history of a country and actually has immense implications on the temper of a country. 

At this moment, the world has common law (which we are familiar with) civil law which is in most other countries outside the sharia law driven Muslim countries. You know my views on the sharia law countries. But slowly these three systems are going to converge. Look at the financial markets which very easily handle all three systems easily. 

Economics and economic development hugely depends upon the kind of legal system you have. You can count yourself lucky that you're born and brought up and will work in a common law society son where there's more stability and predictability. Easier to love and live and do business and be happy! 

Anyway. Should be fun. 

Love

Baba

Common law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law

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For other uses, see Common law (disambiguation).

Legal systems of the world[original research?]

Civil law

Common law

Bijuridical/mixed (civil and common law)

Islamic law (Sharia)

Common law (also known as case law or precedent) is law developed byjudges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals, as opposed to statutesadopted through the legislative process or regulations issued by the executive branch.[1]

A "common law system" is a legal system that gives great precedential weight to common law,[2] on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different occasions.[3] The body of precedent is called "common law" and it binds future decisions. In cases where the parties disagree on what the law is, a common law court looks to past precedential decisions of relevant courts. If a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is usuallybound to follow the reasoning used in the prior decision (this principle is known as stare decisis). If, however, the court finds that the current dispute is fundamentally distinct from all previous cases (called a "matter of first impression"), judges have the authority and duty to make law by creatingprecedent.[4] Thereafter, the new decision becomes precedent, and will bind future courts.