text:
An old Persian proverb states, "A bad wound heals, but a bad word doesn't,"[1] meaning a cruel tongue can always do more harm than a sword. It may be safe to say that this popular adage rings true across all time and cultures. Similar versions of this proverb can be found throughout the world – for death is always immediate, but the pain of insult can linger for years. Simply put, nobody likes to be made fun of. No one likes their weaknesses and vulnerabilities to become the focus of public amusement. Very few can avoid self-conscious embarrassment when they become the 'butt of a joke'. To be the target of mockery and social disapproval can be more humbling than any loss incurred on a battlefield and cut deeper than any blade.[2]
The culture of Afghanistan is patriarchal and communal at its very essence. Almost universally amongst the various ethnic groups throughout the country, a man's honor and reputation are of primary importance. This point cannot be underestimated. Jealously protective of their image, most Afghan men are intensely conscious and perpetually vigilant to the faintest slight or compromising situation. Because of the very public and communal nature of social relations here, both men and women are under constant personal, familial, and public scrutiny to abide by specific codes of conduct and meet certain social and religious standards. As such, most Afghans are particularly sensitive and attuned to matters of honor and social reputation. And as in any culture, the more conservative the personal orientation, the more consuming the social pressure to fulfill socially-prescribed roles, and/or the more public the persona, the more vulnerable to humiliation and social ridicule one can become.
Such ridicule has been used as a weapon of war in the region for millennia. There is, for example the old Arab institution of the hidja, dating back to tribal times, referring to the practice of reciting satirical poetry belittling the enemy on the eve of battle. The Prophet Muhammad himself deployed warrior poets ahead of his invading armies to soften the targets through mockery and derision intending to discourage support for any resistance and weaken morale of the remaining combatants.[3] Similarly, Afghanistan has a long tradition of warrior poets, famous not only for glorifying war, local heroes and tribal victories, but for lampooning enemies and belittling competitors and other tribes in their lyrics, tales, and songs.[4]
This form of weaponized humor can be any speech or action intended to cause contemptuous laughter at a person or thing[5]. It is a peculiar combination of humorous shaming directed at an individual's weaknesses, physical and psychological abnormalities, socially-unacceptable behavior, mistakes, and/or mishaps which are intended to delegitimize an individual or group's prestige, undermine their authority, charisma, and seriousness, and ultimately tarnish their public image. Such aggressive use of humor can range from comically defined physical assaults (pranks, practical jokes), through visual representations (such as cartoons), to verbal acts running on a scale from an ad hoc sarcastic remark, song, poetry or parody, to a play by Aristophanes. The most common verbal prototype is the "put-down" joke.[6]
Being made to look like a fool amongst audiences in which the target demands respect usually provokes the target – all the more, if the audience finds it entertaining. Often a target's response to such derision is defensive, emotional, and hasty - typically reinforcing the accusations and furthering their own parody. The ability to psychologically manipulate your enemies like this can be a particularly potent advantage in any conflict, and thus it is worth exploring its potential use for IO/PSYOPS in Afghanistan.
Understanding what can undermine an Afghan in the eyes of their peers will allow us to better know how to do so. Appreciating what Afghans find funny and shameful allows us to develop a much needed sense of cultural intuition regarding what constitutes ridicule amongst Afghans. With a proper sense of the absurd, in the Afghan context, we increase our ability to relate to populations and disseminate messages that resonate in a more engaging and memorable way. Operationalizing the use of humor and ridicule as a tool of IO/PSYOPS in Afghanistan could increase the coalition and GIRoA's ability to undercut Taliban leadership in the eyes of their followers and supporters, provoke them into rash and hurried decisions, mock or trick combatants into laying down their arms, create divisions and doubts in multiple forms in the enemy camps, lessen their power to intimidate and weaken their omnipotence in the eyes of the rest of the population. In order to do this, there needs to be some culturally specific guidelines as to what is funny and what constitutes ridicule in the Afghan context. It is to this end that this paper is dedicated.
The capacity to perceive something as being funny is universal; there has been no human culture without it. At the same time, what strikes people as funny and what they do in order to provoke a humorous response differs enormously from age to age and from society to society. Put differently, humor is an anthropological constant while being a culturally relative value.[7] However, despite this relativity, the paper works from the assumption that there is indeed something like a national sense of humor, which will usually be further differentiated by region, ethnicity, and class.[8] Humor, like all other forms of communication is transferred through the use of specific signals. These signals are diffused through entire social groups or societies, and people learn them in the course of socialization along with the rest of the socially constructed symbol system of their culture.[9] While the ability to laugh and be funny is innate, what one laughs at is learned.
Every AO requires specific knowledge of the target audience in order for the message to be effective. But one cannot possibly COMPREHEND foreign humor without 1) speaking the language well, and 2) knowing the culture by living there. With that in mind, one can at least begin to relate to foreign humor through a thorough survey of historical and cultural artifacts, interviews with various Afghans, and personal observation and analysis. Although this paper is meant to be informative, a native Afghan's perspective must be consulted before any creation of products, in order to achieve the local nuance necessary for optimal resonance.
This article is primarily for IO/PSYOP personnel and professionals operating in the Afghan theater, but much of the content could also serve as a general reference/primer for any individual, military or civilian, deployed to Afghanistan or simply interested in learning more about Afghan culture. The method utilized to characterize the Afghan sense of humor and identify targets for ridicule will be a qualitative synthesis of research on Afghan culture, bringing together various aspects of indigenous literature, folklore, myths, legends, superstitions, and poetry coupled with subject-related interviews conducted with native Afghans and supported by background research in the psychology and sociology of humor. While several examples will be provided, the focus in the following pages will not be to describe how each and every element of Afghan culture can be transformed into a dissemination-ready IO/PSYOP project. Much more generally, several relevant aspects of Afghan culture will be listed to reveal the sense of values which provide conceptual guidelines that will be informative when developing properly-attuned Ridicule Narratives. The format will first consider the Afghan sense of shame and then explore examples of Afghan humor in some detail. Additional aspects of Afghan culture will be then be provided to give further context to deploying ridicule in the Afghan theater. The paper will conclude with some thoughts on Taliban vulnerabilities that could be targeted for ridicule.
To ridicule properly, one must first learn what stigmatizes Afghans and only later what makes them laugh. Guilt and shame can be an extremely coercive form of persuasion. The Taliban consciously target these emotions to influence the populations they seek to intimidate and control.[10] Afghan culture is highly conservative, patriarchal, traditional, and tribal/communal. In such an environment, an individual's honor, social status, and personal code of conduct are largely determined by the institution of the family. Maintaining family discipline is a cherished ideal, as it gives a man a good name and enhances his prestige in the community. Individuals are encouraged to avoid committing actions that negatively affect the name and status of their families or bring disgrace.[11] In social, political, and economic terms in the village, you have to maintain your honor or become extinct.[12]
For all Afghan men, but particularly for Pashtuns, survival in his village depends on his maintenance of his manliness, the approval of his family, and his adherence to a standard of honor – whether this standard is Pashtunwali or another tribal/ethnic/party code. Being waykar, a man of honor, is the primary focus of an Afghan man's identity. If you are an honorable man, and all the men from your extended family are honorable men and your family will be able to compete for good arranged marriages and economic opportunities. Without his manhood and honor, an Afghan has nothing.[13]
There are several aspects to Afghan manliness that could make him vulnerable to ridicule:
• Behaving like a coward, appearing effeminate, weak or submissive is often viewed as an inexcusable offence, punishable by public mockery and social ostracism. There are several Persian and Afghan short stories and anecdotes that refer to mothers rejecting and disowning their cowardly sons.[14]
• There are a number of insults Afghan men use, both playfully and maliciously, to imply another is the receiver in a homosexual act, and thus weak, submissive and effeminate.
• An Afghan male should be hailed for his strength, bravery, cunning, self-reliance, virtue, and most importantly, self-control – if he comes off petty, dependent, overly sensitive, emotional, or hot-tempered, he will likely lose the respect of his peers and influence in his community. "A man who cannot control his emotions is a weakling who deserves no respect and has nothing useful to say."[15]
• Many rural Pashtun men are constantly on guard about anything that might hurt their public reputations – and the behavior of cousins reflects directly on a man's reputation. If a cousin makes himself seem braver, better, or more successful, than then a man will feel compelled to match the cousin or put him back in his place.[16]
• Breaking one's promise or fickle loyalty, while common in Afghan culture, is also seen as a sign of spinelessness among the Afghans.[17]
• And as in most other cultures, ignorance and foolishness are embarrassing vulnerabilities/weaknesses to be concealed from others at all costs.
The value system which informs these guidelines for reputable conduct derives from a combination of two sources: Islam and Pashtunwali.[18] Appearing irreligious, lazy, cheap, gluttonous, selfish and uncharitable, hypocritical, immoral or religiously unobservant, marrying or cavorting with non-Muslims, and sometimes non-Afghans, or to be assumed to engage in gross corruption are all grounds for familial and communal disapproval based on Islamic principles. Massood once famously remarked about Hekmatyar – "He is a man without religion who belongs not even to a sect…. he is a joke."[19] On the other hand, appearing unwilling to avenge one's honor, wife or female family-member or family's honor, defend his property, country, or culture, demonstrate hospitality to visitors or mercy to surrendering enemies and those in need are all considered dishonorable through the lens of Pashtunwali.[20]
Most Afghan jokes, to westerners, seem illogical and enigmatic. Academic materials concentrating on an analysis of the Afghan sense humor are virtually non-existent. It's not just that you can tell a joke, it's also a matter of how you tell them. Wit, jokes, and satire are always conscious products, and their production depends on a social situation in which the comic producer has a certain audience. Cultural norms and learning play an important role in determining how humor is used and expressed in social interactions, and what topics are considered appropriate for it.[21] Really, only local cultural competence can fully appreciate turns of phrase, local references, the use of metaphor, and dramatic exaggeration. When telling a joke or humorous anecdote, punch-lines are discernable by the teller's pitch, rhythm, and other paralinguistic and kinesic patterns as well as more-or-less obvious closure with regard to content. All can, and do, vary by ethnicity, locality, language,[22] as well as social and economic position throughout the country.[23]
A rich oral tradition of folklore, poetry, proverbs and jokes has developed in Afghanistan – one that is still very much a part of the collective conscious, whether rural or urban Afghan. "His native land is ever dear to an Afghan, and there is hardly any nook in the mountains or a corner of his own village that does not bring remembrances of past glory or around which ancient myths and legends are not woven."[24] Great battles and victories are woven into poetry and song, silly tales of kings and viziers, their sons and daughters, princes and princesses, wives and old women often end with someone receiving their just desserts. In Persian fairy tales there is always a hero, who does the right thing. And there is always a lesson learned and a moral to the story. The concepts of love, jealousy, war, heroism, and the like run through the literature of the Hazaras, Baluchis, Uzbeks, Turkmens, and others as well."[25]
The majority of Afghan comic tales concern fools and their absurdities, persons with some physical handicap or affliction, such as baldness or deafness, and impostures of one kind or another. Values relating to religion, governance, personal ethics, and sexuality are often cleverly intertwined. Hundreds of tales, anecdotes, proverbs, and aphorisms all subtly or explicitly, generally or specifically, praise proper behavior and admonish the audience to right actions and attitudes through parody and the shifting of fortunes between archetypal protagonists.
Most investigators would agree that humor involves an idea, image, text, or event that is in some sense incongruous, odd, unusual, unexpected, surprising, or out of the ordinary.[26] Jokes, humorous stories, proverbs, poems, and songs all, more or less, ultimately consist of a set up and a punch line. The setup, which includes all but the last sentence, creates in the listener a particular set of expectations about how the situation should be interpreted. The punch line suddenly shifts the meaning in an unexpected and playful way, thus creating the perception of non-serious incongruity – often between the sublime and the ridiculous. [27]
There are several common techniques/forms running through Afghan comedic tales:
• Proverbs - Afghans continually use one-liners and proverbs in order to give an example, make a point, defend a position, or to emphasize the importance of an issue.
• The Use of Wit and Cleverness in moral fairytale – often contrasted with foolishness.
• Practical jokes, silliness, nonsense formulas - sometimes in rhymed prose, but with humorous content, in the form of non sequiturs or preposterous brags.
• Self-satire
• Word-play - innuendo, double entendre, verbal play, the use of hyperbole, rhetorical plays on assumptions, euphemisms, allusions, symbolism, and processes of literalizing the figurative, a basic strategy of humor.
• Sexual adventure/misadventure and rowdy sexual humor[28]- stories of sexual ignorance; explicit or implicit sexual overtones, sometimes subtly tantalizing and teasing; the use metaphor and allusion in the sexual context to refer to sexual anatomy, often through the use of food imagery or farming tools.
• Earthly humor and animism
• Riddles and cryptic counterstatements - riddles are another form of prepackaged humor, closely related to jokes, which often involve a play on words and are particularly enjoyed by younger children. Many stories contain riddles or enigmatic statements. The solution to these riddles may be the motive for a quest, or the condition imposed for releasing a prisoner or winning the hand of a princess. Sometimes the answers to the questions are expressed by means of gesture, as a form of signal/sign language - by pointing to a pool of donkey urine, by setting fire to a turban-cloth, by exchanging clothes with the vizier, breaking pots, etc. Sometimes stories contain "Neck Riddles", which require a solution to save one's life.
There are also several common thematic trends to be found throughout Afghan folklore, music, theater, and comedy:
• Cleverness – craftiness, resourcefulness, cleverness, trickery, and betrayal are all held as the highest of art form in Afghan culture. Examples are the figure who outwits all his opponents, but humorously, becomes trapped in his own net of intrigue; exploiting technicalities in contracts/aggreeemnts; sleight-of-hand; the use of tricks and deception to shift fortunes or teach a lesson; sometimes a protagonist will feign ignorance and gullibility, humorously acting foolish, to catch a competitor off-guard. Many of these stories twist fortune so the manipulator becomes the manipulated or one's own words or actions are used against them.[29]
• Foolishness – cleverness' corollary - fools, foolishness, buffoonery, ignorance, incompetence, culpable forgetfulness are typical traits of main characters or story plots. Two foolish swindlers may try to swindle each other, the humor deriving from misunderstandings arising from their respective ignorance. A number of tales depict stupidity as a family affliction. Many times, such humorous exaggeration and presentations of the absurd can act as a screen for pointed criticism.[30]
° Rustic foolishness – Given Afghanistan's rural character, farfetchedness often comes in the comic portrayal of hyperrusticity and earthly humor, whether exaggerating an ignorance of modern ways or humorizing some aspect of rural life or work, which may seem disgusting or uncouth to a modern urbanite.[31]
• Ethnic Humor - tales of fools can move to ethnic slur, stereotyping, and sly didactic admonition. Ethnic jokes, playing upon local dialects and other cultural features to build up local stereotypes, of say an ignorant countryman. The stupidity and disloyalty of menial tribes is a typical platform for a number of ethnic jokes. Almost every Afghan knows the standard jokes about ethnicities or specific provincial characteristics that have been passed through generations, such as those about stupid people from the province of Wardak and tricky ones from Laghman. The Mongols are a common ethnic group targeted in Herati humor. Ethnic humor works to build solidarity among teller and listeners by lampooning the "otherness" of some third group. Ethnic humor and ethnic stereotypes tend to focus on the target groups practices with respect to food and sex and accuse the group of confusion of basic categories and disorderly behavior around these topics. Aside from sex, one could add death and religious practices to the basic list of topics for stereotype construction. Also to be found are several forms of dialect jokes focusing humorous attention on difficulties of speech and weird accents.[32]
• Physical, Bodily, Sexual Humor – themes of sexuality, gender roles, off-putting bodily functions, reference to body parts, and rowdy sexual humor are common in prepackaged jokes and riddles as well as in regular conversational humor.[33] Confusion of food and sex is a common theme in ethnic stereotyping - food metaphors are also common currency for euphemizing sexual matters in everyday speech. There are numerous examples of ironized sexual invective, supposed sexual and social naiveté of the women of another group, wives as sexual aggressors, the predatory nature of mother or son-in-laws, sexual euphemisms and allusions to nature, such as "big pine", satirical attention to sexual foolishness, sexual promiscuity, sexual frigidity, and so on.[34] Importantly, there is a specific sexual dimension of the honor of Afghan men that depends on the virtue of women (Namus).[35]
• Social Order and Good Governance – There is a long and pervasive tradition of Afghan skepticism of central authority, noninstituional moral authority, autonomy, intense egalitarianism, and demystification of state power.[36] A host of populist critiques of a state which cannot fully protect or provide services for its citizens, nor fully realize the Islamic ideal of social order has taken form in a rich body of oral tradition – folk farce, self-declared imaginative fiction, jokes and anecdotes, and other nonnarrative critical forms. Islam, legitimate and illegitimate authority, politics and governance, and ethnicity emerge contrapuntally, none being wholly obscured for long and each providing an opening into one or more of the others.
° Pretentiousness, hypocrisy, and gullibility are the three roots of Islamic religious humor. Faith itself is not maligned as delusional or ludicrous, only the attempts of foolish and corrupt people to approximate it.[37]
? The bribe-taking judge, incompetent official, or parody of a mullah are saturated with overt and implicit Islamic ideology. Islamic themes emerge differently in shifting portrayals - religious leaders, usually behind their backs, become the butt of jokes in villages. Corruption of disciples by masters, or vice versa, is one humorous topic in a very extensive body of traditional Muslim anti-clerical humor.[38]
? The regulation of sexuality in storytelling is also part of traditional visions of social order and good governance.[39]
° An Afghan has always liked to grumble about his county - while loving it ardently, he has always liked to find as many faults as he can find. But does not like to hear adverse criticism of his country or countrymen from others, and would certainly be offended if a foreigner were to agree with him.[40]
• Popular wisdom – there can also be found a vein of down-to-earth realism and popular wisdom characteristic of a peasant society, even in the most fantastical tales. The style of the tales is always stark and economical. Descriptive adjectives and metaphors are comparatively rare. There is belief in miracles - extraordinary feats are performed by fakirs, saints, and persons skilled in sorcery. Jinns or spirits haunt the sinful or prideful.[41] Hard work is rewarded. Often a seemingly irrelevant detail is introduced at the beginning of a tale that later proves to be of vital significance. Most of these tales contain a blend of wit, fantasy, comedy, and romance.[42]
• Belief in Fate, Destiny, and Luck – Most Afghans have a mindset of "inshallah" (God Willing), which views man as impotent in the face of destiny and the mysterious design of Allah. If a man is destined to succeed, he will do so despite his blunders, whereas if a man is destined to die, his intelligence will not save him. Luck is famously more valued than intelligence in several famous Afghan folktales and jokes.[43]
Sigmund Freud defined wit and sense of humor to be the process of sublimating repressed anxieties of the unconscious. For Freud, discovering what a people find funny depends on the dominant social and psychological controls and stresses of their environment.[44] By identifying the taboos, sources of social awkwardness and/or disapproval, and collective memories of pain and anxiety, one finds the dominant repressed ideas and motivations of a society, and likely discovers what they likely use as subject-matter for humor. The current Afghan comedy scene lends some credence to this view.
In a country that had been stung by successive violent regimes, humor has long been a trusted coping mechanism. Comedy in Afghanistan thrived from the 1800s until the 1960s, when Afghans held actors in high esteem and Kabul's royal family frequented theaters. But after the Soviet invasion of 1979, actors slipped out of the country and comedy declined. During the factional fighting in the early 1990s, mujahedeen literally blew the roof off the once-stately theater that used to show Molière and Chekhov adaptations. When the Taliban arrived in 1996, comedic theater came to a standstill.
But even when in power, the Taliban were the butt of jokes - behind closed doors - that targeted everything from their spot checks for shaved armpits (a rule in Islam) to the radio call-in show where people dedicated songs by mullahs (minus the music, of course). Like others, Afghans have used humor to channel dissent, avoid aggression, and let people separate themselves from the ruling group.
In plays and TV shows, Afghans seem to find the terrible funny. Topics often seem more apt for tears than big laughs — child marriage, corrupt cops, the poor behavior of international troops, heroin addiction, high food prices - Rattled off in rapid-fire, the standard method of delivery. In recent years, a new generation of comics has increasingly used humor, parody, and political satire. One of the most popular shows on Tolo TV, a private cable station in Kabul, is "Lahza Ha," (Moments). It's the Afghan equivalent of Candid Camera, where pranksters stop Kabulis on the street and con them with gags. The show is so well liked that some Afghans pray early so they don't miss it, and jokes are rehashed the next day. Another show, called "Alarm Bell," has been particularly hard-hitting, an Afghan version of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." It has mocked corrupt and incompetent leaders, even showing actual videos of parliamentarians sleeping in session and throwing water bottles at each other. Other comedians perform spot-on impressions of a Taliban soldier, an Afghan drug addict, a Chinese bride, inept officials, bribe-taking policemen, and others. They don't actually make any changes to the behavior of their target. They simply go for as realistic a version as possible, and rely on the fact that they're not the person they're mocking to get the laughs. Though, in a country where officials and insurgents are reputed to be thin-skinned, the comics are often treading on dangerous ground. Contestants on "Laugh Bazaar" never mention top Afghan officials by name, even while they insult Pakistani President Perez Musharraf and President George W. Bush directly – seeing it dangerous to name local names.[45]
Comedy is also being currently utilized as civic education in Afghanistan. Before the first presidential elections, a Kabul-based nongovernmental organization hired actors to promote voting in some of the country's most remote southern villages. Hundreds of people saw each show. Women's turnout in Paktia province, which borders Khost and is very traditional, so much so that women are rarely seen in public, was among the highest in the country. The success of the shows, Afghan observers say, illustrates how effective humor and theater is for educating a public with a low literacy rate (only 64 percent of Afghans can read). It may be, they say, the best way to unify the country's four major ethnic groups that are still quietly split along ethnic lines - one of the major obstacles to lasting peace.[46]
In Pashto, the word for ostracism is Shah-rel. Ostracism basically means making some one or some group an outcast. It is a way of enforcing social norms of behavior which has been found all over the world, from the aborigines of Australia to the ancient Greeks. It is a central part of Pashtun social code as well, and it is part of the fabric of Pashtunwali. It is also the basic cultural corollary to the use of ridicule for IO/PSYOPS.
Ostracism is a powerful social weapon in closed tribal societies like the Pashtun. In America, if you manage to alienate your entire neighborhood, you can always move to a new one. This mobility is not really possible within a closed tribal group. There is a major compensating element of Pashtunwali which emphasizes personal freedom, but this is really a façade. Tribal Pashtun life is very conformist. All members of the tribe are expected to stay within their proper lanes of behavior. To enforce this, there is evidence of a long tradition of formalized ostracism in Afghan culture. [47]
There is a spectrum of ostracism, from the very mild forms of teasing and making jokes about someone's inappropriate behavior (behavior which doesn't conform to what the community expects), all the way up to killing the person if they don't "shape up and fly right." The mildest form of ostracism is gentle teasing, or paighor. This is a form of reproof wrapped in humor meant to remind the man that he is near the edges of the envelope of acceptable speech or behavior. This sort of thing is often seen in teasing.
Perhaps the next mildest form is complaint, or gila, from the community. If a clan member's actions or behavior are irritating the clan, members of the community may try to alleviate the problem with gila. An example cited by anthropologist Niloufer Qasim Mahdi is that of a Pashtun man being rude to elders, which is unacceptable within Pashtunwali. In such a case, members of the community may approach the man's family members to do gila. The family members will then discuss the issue with the man, and put pressure on him to conform to the accepted standards of behavior.[48]
Another aspect of ostracism is shunning. Shunning is the act of deliberately avoiding association with an individual. When a person is shunned, they basically become invisible to all other members, who do not "see" them or speak to them. This form of ostracism is still practiced among some Pashtun tribes in remote rural areas, when a family decides to exclude an individual from social activity. The shunning is not usually complete; the man might not be considered for marriage agreements, for example, but still participates economically in village life. This appears to be done on a family-by-family basis, rather than by an entire community. If a family makes this decision against some one they "have issues with," they cut off the social relationship with that person. This practice is called meRai- jhwandai neh kawel. MeRai means death/ funeral, jhwandai means mostly weddings and/or other festivities, neh is not and kawel is the verb "to do." In other words, they do not participate in each other's funerals or weddings, which is a dishonor for the families having the funerals or parties. The operational use of this would obviously be to encourage rural families to exclude those families in a village who provide sons to the enemy from the village's social life, a powerful social tool to discourage enemy recruiting.[49]
Kashunda or exile is practiced among some Pashtun tribes, including the Mohmands, and involves a person who has committed an act likely to provoke the reprisal of being sent away from the tribe. This is a terrible punishment for a people who live as a collective organism and whose life support system is the tribe. In other words, the person has committed acts which will adversely affect the whole village; therefore the person has been exiled to detention to protect the village. Rural Pashtun culture operates on the principle of collective responsibility -- the whole village is collectively responsible for the action of each individual. [50]
A man has to maintain his honor. The Pashto term dah' uz means "man of no honor." No family wants to marry their son or daughter into the family of a dah 'uz. When Afghan men want to insult each other, there are many words like Daoos, mordagaw (Pimp), Eazak (effeminate), Konee (Catamite), Koss Mather (Motherfucker) and sentences like Matherat ra gayam (I fuck your mother), Khwaharat ra gayam (I fuck your sister) and Zanat ra gayam (I fuck your wife) they use to insult each other, playfully and/or maliciously.[51]
Calling someone "impotent" and saying that his "balls are tiny" are other grave insults. Where Americans would go for more of the "penis insult" (i.e. the pleasure aspect of sex), Afghans focus more on the "functionality" of sexual body parts (i.e. producing offspring and thus fulfilling the male role in the family). Since casual sex is supposedly rare in Afghanistan, being attractive to women isn't thought of as too important, as long as the husband can satisfy his manly duties. The "catamite" insult demonstrates that you're only gay if you're the catcher. The "giver" gets to retain his strength, dominance, and manhood.[52] Another insult is to say that a man has a heart made of glass, signifying that he is a coward or easily discouraged[53], thus weak-willed and fickle like the derogatory stereotype of women.
From innumerable interactions with various groups of Afghans, a penitent for teasing became apparent through the course of research. In order to tease, nag, and just generally poke fun and get on their nerves of another, Afghans, like Americans, make each other self-conscious of a particular behavior, competency, or personal characteristic. Often the focus doesn't even have to really be truthful and/or malicious; simply the harping on one aspect of another repeatedly can really get under their skin. Particularly when it is something they think take pride in, think they are good at or employed to do - even if it's small and inconsequential, like a particular way a cook makes soup. Constant ragging on a singular thing, even if not necessarily true can make them, like us, feel self-conscious and become defensive. This would be particularly easy to deploy as an IO/PSYOPS campaign, by focusing on one flaw in a leader or other target and releasing multiple products with a similar message.
Those who laugh together, are together.[54] Laughter and humor can help solidify the cohesion and solidarity of a group. Ridicule is the deliberate/targeted use of humor for purposes of attack, ostracism/alienation, and humiliation. Like satire, the aggressive intent becomes the central motif of comic expression. All elements of the comic are then, as it were, welded together into the shaping of a weapon. Satire can be expressed in visual art – as in the caricature, which, in modern times, has become a common and effective instrument of political attack. Most commonly, of course, satire manifests itself verbally and as a form of literature. It always involves irony. Like the martial arts, it always uses the adversary's strengths against him and thus turns them into weaknesses. A particularly effective version of this is parody, in which the adversary's own words are used against him.[55] The use of such humor, designed, targeted, and disseminated properly, can help bring various like-minded groups together, while simultaneously distancing and delegitimizing uncooperative and anti-government elements in the process.
Because of their behavior, the Taliban are easy targets. Factions remain acutely susceptible to ridicule, mockery, and all forms of ostracism. Besides their reputation for the provision of swift justice, they generally enjoy minimal community support apart from that garnered through intimidation and coercion. Based on the values, codes, common themes and techniques discussed above, humor and public mockery in the form of cartoons, jokes, stories, TV shows and other media could be immediately utilized, with the help of native Afghans providing local nuance, to delegitimize uncooperative power players, provoke them into hasty decisions, weaken the cohesion of their camp, and lesson the appeal and/or power they have in the eyes of local populations. Those unwilling to reconcile can be shunned, badgered, and humiliated into irrelevance.[56]
The Taliban are vulnerable to tribal rifts, rivalries and conflicts, as much as any non-insurgent Pashtun community is. The Taliban remain conscious, and vulnerable, to the damage done to the movement's political capital by the incorporation of criminals into the movement during the "open door" recruitment policies enacted in 2003. Infighting among Taliban factions is another key concern, something that has been recorded steadily over the past two years. Clashes routinely break out between rival Taliban factions concerning war booty, territory, respect, and in some areas, lucrative narcotics issues.
This leaves plenty of room for cleavages to form and be exploited. Opportunistic predatory behavior is interfering with Taliban tactics and strategy, and corrupting the organization from the district level on up, infecting provincial level leadership as well. Media reports from this summer speculate a financial drain of the "central treasury" was partially caused by corrupt and greedy tactical and district level commanders who helped bleed resources for their own self-interests and caused inner-Taliban rivalries based on economic domination of specific territories.
The Taliban also prohibit the use of young males "that have no beards" for jihad.[57] This is a direct contradiction to the numerous instances when the Taliban have trained and used children for combat purposes: including beheadings (mentioned above) and suicide bombings. This may have something to do with their desire to keep the pre-pubescent and teenage boys for their sexual pleasure. Even if this is not true, there are several ways such a message can be implied through jokes, stories, and/or parodies to embarrass, humiliate, or at least plant doubt in public perceptions.
The Taliban in general have always been disrespectful, if not outright violent towards village elders, systematically undermining their traditional authority. They have killed countless civilians, assassinated peacemakers, and terrorized villages throughout the country. They have levied unfair taxes, siphon off limited community harvests and resources, and have taken advantage of the Afghan tradition of hospitality. They continue to trample on several others respected Afghan traditions as well. They have behaved in ways that are clear affronts to cultural and religious values that have been hallmarks of Afghan culture for centuries. However, they have rarely been properly admonished for their balking or gross exploitation of certain tribal codes and religious norms. This paper has been an attempt to compile relevant cultural information to inform the use of ridicule and humor as tools of IO/PSYOPS against the Taliban and other anti-government elements in Afghanistan. With the assistance of native Afghans and detailed local knowledge, US/ISAF IO/PSYOPS should take note of the potential of operationalizing humor as a weapon to demystify Taliban power, weaken their ability to terrorize and intimidate, and further alienate them from the rest of the Afghan population.
About the Author: Paul Sims is a graduate of Texas A&M University, and deployed to Iraq in 2008 as a Psychological Operations Detachment Commander. He currently holds the rank of first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves, and is working as a research collection manager for Glevum Associates, deployed in Afghanistan. Michael Cohn, a graduate of Adelphi University in New York, Sussex University in England, and The Institute of World Politics in Washington, D.C. is also about to complete a post-graduate certificate from George Washington University in Political Psychology. Mr. Cohn also works for Glevum Associates and is currently deployed in Afghanistan as well.
Books (Listed by progressive year of publication):
Caravans. James A. Michener. Bantam Books. 1963.
A Cultural History of Afghanistan. Mohammed Ali. Punjab Educational Press, Lahore, Pakistan. Published by Dr. Ali, Kabul. 1964.
The Horsemen. Joseph Kessel & Translated by Patrick O'Brian. Ambassador Books, Canada. 1967.
The Afghans. Professor Mohammed Ali. Kabul University. The Punjab Educational Press, Labore, Pakistan. 1969.
Rhetorics and Politics in Afghan Traditional Storytelling. Margaret A. Mills. University of Pennsylvania Press. Philadelphia. 1991.
Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience. Peter L. Berger. Walter De Gruyter & Co. Berlin. 1997.
Nasruddin's Stories: Over 300 stories relating to the funniest situations of Nasruddin's life. Translated into English by Dr. Ibne Amin and Edited by Fawad Ahmad Azizi. Khawar Book Co. Peshawar and Kabul.
An Anatomy of Humor. Arthur Asa Berger. Transaction Publishers. 1998.
Afghanistan of the Afghans: Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah. Sang-e-Meel Publications. Lahore, Pakistan. 2002.
Once Mulla Nasruddin. Edited by Turaj Muhammad Rais. Shah M Book Co. 2002.
One Hundred Afghan Persian Proverbs. J. Chesty Wilson, Jr. (Self-Published). 1961 & 2002.
Tales from the Bazaars. Amine Shah. Octagon Press. London. 2002.
Pashtun Tales from the Pakistan-Afghanistan Frontier. Aisha Ahmad and Roger Boase. Irajbook. 2004.
Real Men Keep Their Word: Tales From Kabul, Afghanistan – A selection of Akram Osman's Dari Short Stories. Translated by Arley Loewen. Oxford University Press. NY. 2005.
Culture and Customs of Afghanistan. Hafizullah Emadi. Culture and Customs of Asia – Hanchao Lu, Series Editor. Greenwood Press. Connecticut and London. 2005.
Hot Steel: From Soviet-era Afghanistan to post 9-11: Frontline encounters of the longest-serving foreign correspondent in Kabul. Terence White. Penguin Books. 2006.
Afghanistan. Louis Dupree. Oxford University Press. Pakistan. 1973 & 2007.
The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach. Rod A. Martin. Elsevier Press, 2007.
Empires of Mudd: Warlords and Warlordism in Afghanistan. Antonio Guistozzi. Columbia University Press. 2009
"In Afghanistan, comedians joke their way to civic renewal," Lane Hartill, Christian Science Monitor, February 23, 2005.
"Ridicule: An instrument in the war on terrorism," J. Michael Waller, Public Diplomacy White Paper, No. 7. Posted: Thursday, February 9, 2006.
"PSYOPS by ridicule: New York Times says IWP paper got Pentagon review." Posted: Sunday, May 7, 2006, www.iwp.edu.
"Larry, Curly and Osama: Ridiculing terrorists as a weapon of war," Los Angeles Times. J. Michael Waller. May 21, 2006
"The cognitive mechanisms of adversarial humor." TONY VEALE, KURT FEYAERTS, and GEERT BRONE. Humor 19–3 (2006), 305–338. 0933–1719/06/0019–0305. Walter de Gruyter, http://afflatus.ucd.ie/Papers/Journal_of_Humor_Research_2006_trumping.pdf.
"Operational Pashtunwali." Understanding Afghan Culture - Program for Culture and Conflict Studies (CCS), Occasional Paper Series # 1. Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School. Monterey, CA. April, 2009.
"The Perception of Colors, Numbers, and Language Among Afghans." Understanding Afghan Culture - Program for Culture and Conflict Studies (CCS), Occasional Paper Series # 2. Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School. Monterey, CA. June 15, 2009.
"Analyzing the Taliban Code of Conduct: Reinventing the Layeha." Understanding Afghan Culture - Program for Culture and Conflict Studies (CCS), Occasional Paper Series # 3. Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School. Monterey, CA. August 6 2009.
"Poetry: Why it Matters to Afghans?" Understanding Afghan Culture - Program for Culture and Conflict Studies (CCS), Occasional Paper Series # 4. Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School. Monterey, CA. September, 2009.
"Pashtunwali – The Pashtun Code of Honor." Naval War College MS Power Point Presentation. 5606 – AY 2009. IJSingh\NWC\6500\PAKHTUNWALI.
Dictionary.com search for 'Ridicule,' http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/ridicule?page=1&o=&qsrc=&jss=.
International Society for Humor Studies - HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, http://www.hnu.edu/ishs/JournalCenter.htm.
Published Articles in HUMOR, 1988-2008. http://www.hnu.edu/ishs/ISHS%20Documents/Humor1988_2008.pdf.


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Universal African Peoples UAPO President Zaki Baruti lead local citizens in a protest at Fergurson Police headquarters on Monday, August 11th, 2014. They protested the the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson police officer last Saturday. Protesters shouted, "No Justice, No Peace!" The Rally started at 10am. Later Baruti led group in a slow drive to memorialize the death of Michael Brown. Baruti advocated for the officer that shot Brown to be removed, arrested and charged. Baruti argued that there's not enough African Americans on the police force. Of all the officers participated in crowed control, there where one woman and a handful black officers out of majority of white men. As the cars left some people stayed behind.
Fergurson Mayor James Knowles III tried to talk to some of the protesters after he finished his interviews with the media but was shouted down. Vinita Park Mayor James McGee intervened and managed to calm the crowed down enough to get some words in.
we got to have inclusive…It's about the children not about us.
The police started to move the crowed off the streets about noon. Some of the protesters asked their fellow protesters to calm down. By 1:20 p.m. 7 arrest, 6 men and 2 women where arrested. The police was trying to prevent the crowd from going out of control and start rioting. On Sunday night the some businesses in north county were looted and set on fire. In controlling the crowd the Ferguson police were joined by Missouri highway patrol, St. Louis County Police and other local municipality police department.
There will be another rally on Tuesday, August 12 at 10.a.m. at 100 S. Central, Clayton, Missouri.

subset: commoncrawl


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Starbucks® Evergreen Coffee and Tea #DS635
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Send thanks and good wishes with this gift of Starbucks Coffee and Tazo Tea delights! A perfect way to show your gratitude or send your appreciation for a job well done, this lovely cream basket contains three classic Starbucks coffees, French Roast, Caffe Verona and Starbucks VIA ready brew, six Tazo Tea bags and two sweet Nonni's biscotti, as well as a classic green Starbucks logo mug. Exquisite and ready to be enjoyed! Available for a limited time while supplies last. (Florist delivery in the
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With our belly's full and our cameras twitching for some action we got to work, albeit twelve hours ahead of the predefined schedule.
This is just an early taste of what we'll officially show tomorrow at the 2013 AIS conference hosted by LSI.
It was one thing to hear LSI tell us over the phone that SF3700 is capable of delivering 1800 MB/s sequential performance but seeing it in person is totally different. This result was from a PCIe 2.0 4 lane product that we'll first see on enterprise products but consumer models will follow soon. LSI has a winner on its hands and we're glad to see the shift to PCIe based storage with a native controller.


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The natural air, leaving the city noise behind, rediscovering tradition, etc. a whole number of reasons to stay at PLAYAS DE LIENCRES APARTHOTEL. It's97 rooms offer customers a functional and pleasant environment. For families with children, the hotel is able to meet the needs of the very young. Back at the hotel, a swim in one of the pool will smooth away the tiredness from a day full of excitement.
The rooms have Independent Heating, Telephone, TV, Balcony, Background Music, Hairdryer, Bathtub and Safe , and among our services and facilities available we have Air Conditioning, Lifts, Smoking Area, Outdoor Summer Terrace, Sun beds, Cot, Babysitting Service, Mini-Club, Children´s Park, Games Machines, Billiards, Darts and Bar Cafeteria. We also have Tourist Information and Parking for Buses. Activities and relax: Quads, De 1 a 4 Máquinas, Massages and Horse ride. Cuisine: Typical of the Area. Pets not allowed. Credit Cards: Euro/Mastercard, Master and Visa.


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LOS ANGELES -- UCLA football coach Rick Neuheisel said Monday he wasn't giving up on running back Johnathan Franklin.
As it turns out, Franklin isn't giving up on himself either.
The freshman continues to be the Bruins' rushing leader, netting 532 yards on 119 carries, and two 100-yard games. But a recent rash of fumbles has cast a bit of a shadow on the graduate from Dorsey of Los Angeles.
Franklin rushed three times for 22 yards in last Saturday's 43-7 victory at Washington State, but the one carry that sticks out in his mind is the one that ended in a fumble that was recovered by the Cougars.
The previous week against Washington, Franklin fumbled twice. The Bruins recovered the first, but the Huskies recovered the second and drove down the field for a touchdown.
"It's rough, especially when ... it's just rough," Franklin said. "It's the worst feeling ever. It's one of those feelings that is indescribable, especially as a running back.
"You've got the team counting on you, you've got the coaches, you've got the family in the stadium watching, family at home watching. It's disappointing. A lot of people are counting on you and by fumbling, you let a lot of people down."
Franklin didn't include himself on that list but he could have. His recent turnovers have left him feeling frustrated but he insists that he has to continue to look forward.
"It's something I have to learn from," he said. "It's something I have to learn from to better my career or to basically stay on the field."
Staying on the field doesn't seem to be a problem. Franklin was one of a handful of running backs getting his share of reps with the Bruins' No. 1 offense Tuesday.
Franklin is quick to push his successes and failures into the past. One of the worst things he can do is try to make up for the missed opportunities because that is when more mistakes are made.
"Regardless of what happens in a game, you have to let it go," he said. "It definitely takes time to get it out but to progress and better yourself, you have to let it go and move on. You have to. You always have to keep your head up and keep a good attitude to become a better player."
Tuesday was a day that defensive tackle Jerzy Siewierski had been waiting for.
With his injured right foot finally cooperating, Siewierski returned to practice with his teammates and actually got to stay the entire time.
Siewierski missed the past three games because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
"All I can compare it to is when you're a kid and you're friends are outside and you're grounded, watching from the window," he said. "That's what it's like for me. It opened my eyes and made me hungry for the game. It's not that it wasn't there before, but this intensifies it and I'm happy to be back out here with my friends. I'm not grounded anymore. I can come back out here and play."
The coaching staff will see how his foot reacts before deciding on his status for Saturday's game.
Offensive lineman Stanley Hasiak returned and practiced Tuesday. He has been in limbo since missing the Oregon State game Oct. 31 because of "personal issues" and even returned home to Hawaii last week.


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Jul 30, 2013 9:20 AM
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Car vs. Car: Corvette C6 vs. Corvette C6.R
And though the 1960s are recognized as the halo years for outright horsepower, it wasn't until the new-found performance potential of the 1990s that the Chevrolet Corvette entered auto racing — beating some of the greatest performance cars in the world on the racetrack and on the sales sheet. In 1999, General Motors formed Corvette Racing to enlist their Corvette C5s to do battle with the new American kid, the Dodge Viper. In spite of a 30-plus year absence from major competition, those Chevrolet Corvettes racked up 45 victories in international races over five seasons. The Chevrolet Corvette C6.R came in second and third place at the 2005 12 Hours of Sebring, and assumed the front line for Corvette racing in a charge that captured a fourth-place finish at the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans.
So because Corvette continues to annihilate competition on the roadways and on the racetrack, it's only fitting that this classic finds its most serious competition within its own family. With that being said, lets smoke some tires within the C6 and C6.R bloodline.
Chevrolet Corvette C6MSRP: $44,995
Engine: 6.0-liter LS2 V8
Horsepower: 400 hp
Torque: 400 lb-ft.
MPG: City: 18; Highway: 28
Performance - 16/20
A tribute to a simpler time in high-performance muscle, the Chevrolet Corvette C6's heart and soul has been the bulletproof V8 small-block. Featuring a small-block's two-valve, push-rod design — though lacking the mesmerizing workings for a Ferrari or Porsche 911 power plant — the LS2 V8 simply pounds the sound of 400 horsepower out of the four-tip exhaust system, serving as a 6,500 rpm symphony (or more appropriately, a 6,500 rpm rock concert). Shifting the six-speed manual into first gear, the Corvette coupe guns it down Route 66 with a 0-60 mph time of 4.7 seconds.
Cross-drilled brake rotors and the Active Handling traction control maximizes your driving experience at any speed, keeping every movement of the Corvette C6 firmly in your hands.
Exterior design - 17/20
Retaining the wedge-like silhouette that dates back to the legendary 1960's Corvette Sting Ray models, the 2007 Chevrolet Corvette's design is a subtle modernization of one of the most recognized American cars. One of the most noticeable design cues you'll discover on the C6 is the new pair of flush headlamps, doing away with the iconic, though aerodynamically deficient, hidden headlights that had donned every Corvette from 1963 to 2004. With the headlamps now visible, the conventional door handles were also re-engineered to be hidden while operating on a cutting edge set of membrane-activated switches placed behind the door panels.
The Chevrolet Corvette C6 is put to the test...
Have a question? Get it answered by AskMen's guyQ.


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More Project Fuji screencasts - Interceptors
By alexismp on Jul 02, 2008
Keith Babo has released a new ten minute screencast on Project Fuji's interceptor feature which intercepts messages as they travel across the NMR (Normalized Message Router) to implement alerts, auditing, validation, security, routing, and many more useful scenarios in a very non-intrusive way.
The interceptor itself is a Java POJO and this screencast goes into what it takes to develop the annotation, build the application and create an OSGi bundle, and finally install and start the interceptor in the Felix runtime. Interceptors are started and stopped independent of the application. Details on the Java
@Interceptor annotation are available from this wiki page.
Project Fuji was announced at this past JavaOne and is the next generation OpenESB architecture based on GlassFish v3, OSGi, and JBI. It also features a top-down development language, IFL (Integration Flow Language) briefly shown in a previous screencast. Keep also an eye on the GlassFish Podcast for a Project Fuji presentation by tech lead Andreas Egloff. Previous entries on the topic are marked with the "Fuji" tag.


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Pulling on ears- not infected?
My 8.5 month old has been pulling at her ears for about a month. I've taken her to the doctor twice, convinced its an ear infection and each time they examine and say its probably just teething. She doesn't have any teeth yet but I don't feel any about to break through. The pain is so bad, she doesn't go an hour without screaming and pulling her ears, throwing her head back. Sometimes she bleeds behind her ears from scratching at them so much while she's trying to sleep. I am at a loss- teething toys/medicine doesn't seem to help. It seems a bit much for just teething, but what else could it be?
Posted: 06/04/2013 by a BabyCenter Member
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my granddaughter jayda keep scratching her ears but no ears infections.What can I do to ease the pain?posted 08/10/2015 by prettymya1
My doctor told me one time I brought my LO in for a suspected ear infection (which turned out to be nothing), he said that teething will bother their ears sometimes. They are all connected. I wish i can remember exactly what he said, but when my lo gets an ear infection, she pulls at her ears, she has a runny nose and a cough. That is how I know she has an ear infection. Everytime she has one, they give her meds and say it should clearI up her runny nose. In my opinion and belief that since they are all tied together, ears, nose and mouth that when she gets an ear infection, it causes an infection in her sinuses creating her runny nose. I could be wrong, but that's my opinion anyway.posted 06/11/2013 by a BabyCenter Member
I am also wondering the same thing. My daughter always pulls on her ears, her doctor told me it wasn't an ear infection but never recommended that it might be teething. She already has two teeth, she is almost 8 months old and she has had her two bottom teeth since March. Also, be extremely careful with baby Orajel. Our doctor told us to not give it to her because it can be dangerous to them. Something happens and they have the possibility to not swallow and that in turn causes them to choke.posted 06/10/2013 by a BabyCenter Member
Have you tried a pacifier? I wonder if there is pressure in her ears and she doesn't know how to release the pressure. A pacifier would help; it's the same idea of us needing to pop our ears due to altitude.posted 06/05/2013 by BethyBeth83
My son used to do the exact same thing when he was about that age. He will be 12 months this Friday June 7th. He would constantly pull on his ears and leave bad scratch marks in his ears. He did this for about a month. I also kept taking him to the doctor convinced he had an ear infection but his ears were fine. I think it was the beginning stages of teething. It takes awhile for the teeth to come through, but they get the symptoms way before the teeth show. My son also gets diarrhea and fevers sometimes when he starts to teeth so keep an eye out for any changes in her bowel movements and if she gets a fever. Just keep putting baby Orajel or whatever teething medicine your using because it sounds like your daughter will be getting teeth soon.posted 06/05/2013 by shawnetta1
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Karen Tappin l Karen's Body Beautiful
Entrepreneur and educator Karen Tappin-Saunderson is one of the billion-dollar beauty industry's rising stars. In just seven short years, Karen, the founder and proprietor of Karen's Body Beautiful, has transformed her organic body care line from a modest home-based business to a blossoming enterprise with robust internet sales, a luxurious store and a chic spa. Karen's foray into the rarefied world of beauty happened by chance. In 2003, Karen, an astute businesswoman, was successfully marketing custom gift baskets during the holidays. Alarmed by the presence of preservatives and possible carcinogens in some conventional bath and body products, Karen decided to create all natural alternatives to incorporate into her gift baskets.
After researching the cosmetic and therapeutic properties of natural ingredients, Karen developed recipes for a full spa line made from all natural ingredients, including lotions, soaps, scrubs, oils, candles and bath salts. Karen's products were immediately a hit-so successful in fact that the following year she and her husband decided to focus their entrepreneurial efforts on selling bath and beauty products. Karen's Body Beautiful was officially launched in November 2003. Buoyed by an immediate loyal and cult following and a great grassroots marketing campaign, Karen's first store in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn opened three months later. Karen then created an all-natural hair care collection that quickly developed a cult following. The business grew at a rapid clip and Karen installed a kitchen in the store to make her products, which streamlined the production process, increased capacity and drew interested bystanders from the street, who often became customers.
In February 2006, Karen's Body Beautiful moved to a larger store in Clinton Hill where she was able to expand her merchandise display and the size of the kitchen, which is still visible to the public.
Karen is a highly sought after speaker and has participated in a number of business related lectures and panels. She's also an active community volunteer who has worked extensively with urban youth, particularly teenage girls. Her company and products have been profiled in a myriad of publications, including New York Times, New York Daily News, Black Enterprise, Ebony, Essence and Vibe Magazine.


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Choreographed over a period of several months, this pictorially orientated coffee table book is a fine testament to Pike House, one of the most photographed country homes in the area and a superb example of vernacular Cotswold architecture. Formerly called Tilt-Up-End Cottage, this Grade II, listed property situated in a southern corner of Chipping Campden has been gradually changing over the past century, both inside and out. Whilst still a quintessentially 'chocolate box' cottage with a myriad of original features - this property has now been elevated to such a high 'level of luxury' that I can only describe it as ...fit for a king!
Paul has been shooting pictures professionally for well over thirty years - highlights include having just minutes to photograph the complete Midlands Today team for the BBC, waiting five hours for an audience with the now infamous Robert Maxwell, flying well over a thousand miles in a Chinook helicopter with just the pilots to rescue a sinking yacht, dodging terrorists whilst running a wildlife safari, documenting a myriad of semi-submersible rigs and oil drilling platforms in the North Sea - and he's also been lucky enough to work with an almost endless list of prominent people, blue chip companies and many multi-nationals too.
DWD Developments Published June 03, 2011
Niche of Shipston Published May 24, 2010
Shepherds Close Published February 22, 2010


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Separation is bought about differently in many relationships, but how does one handle separation in a gay or lesbian relationship? Separation is most times difficult for both partners, but many gays and lesbians that I have spoken with often agree that if the states they lived in had gay marriage laws that the separation process would be a lot easier. With about six states having gay marriage laws, separation can be difficult when it comes to dividing material things between couples, or trying to share custody of a child or children. As a gay Christian I do not believe in separation and find it easier to make it a point to only date women that do not believe that separation or divorce is an option when it comes to marriage and commitment; but what do you do when separation does become an option for you?
I recently began looking for churches, along with psychiatrist and therapist that offered Christian counseling to gay Christian that are on the verge of separation or divorce, when I heard about the tough time one of my friends was having with her separation from her partner of many years. I was seeking help for her because she had a child involved and was seeking a peaceful way to part ways with her now Ex lover and also share custody of their small daughter. Knowing that she was a Christian and wanted to do things in a peaceful manner I began searching for help that I knew I was unable to offer. I was very pleased and shock by the amount of help that is offered to gays and lesbians in the Atlanta area. I started my search through Google.com and came across a site called PsychologyToday.com. I was pleased to see that there were literally hundreds of therapist and psychologist that are offering gay Christian counseling to gays and lesbians in need of marriage or separation counseling. I myself went through a very tough separation in North Carolina about a year and a half ago and found it very hard to find counseling for a gay person of Christian background.
One of my favorite Bible scriptures that speaks on marriage is 1Corinthians 1:27-28, which says "those who marry will face many troubles in life". Tough times will come in marriage, but is it not worth it to push through those storms? Gay marriage comes with all the trials and tribulations as any marriage and should be treated no differently. There is help out there if you are looking to save your marriage or need help through separation, and there is definitely Christian help out there. If you are not comfortable seeking the help through a therapist there are GLBT churches out there that offer help as well. One of the many churches that offer this help is New Covenant Church of Atlanta, which offers premarital counseling which could definitely help counsel those looking to be married and not ever wanting to see their marriage end in separation. New Covenant is located at 2700 Northeast Expressway/ Access Rd. NE, Atlanta GA 30345


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Constant Innovation and Translation of Scientific...
Focused Genetic Analyses Seek To Improve...
Diseases of the Eye That Cause...
Widespread Adoption of Biomarkers Has Been...
Debiopharm and its European licensee, Ipsen, confirmed French regulatory clearance for the six-monthly sustained-release formulation of the LHRH agonist, Decapeptyl®, for locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer. Ipsen says that it expects to launch the drug in France during the first quarter of 2010.
The six-monthly formulation was approved in October via the European decentralized registration procedure in nine countries: Germany (the reference member state), France, Austria, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, and The Netherlands. Regulatory submissions in Portugal, the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Romania, and Lithuania have been filed as national line extensions to existing approvals for other Decapeptyl formulations.
The therapy is already available in monthly and quarterly sustained-release formulations as well as a daily formulation. It is sanctioned in various markets including the U.S. for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer as well as for indications in endometriosis, precocious puberty, IVF, and uterine fibroids. Debiopharm says worldwide sales by its licensees are over $400 million.
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Scrabble word: SENTENCES
In which Scrabble dictionary does SENTENCES exist?
Scrabble (US/Canada)
(61 pts)
Scrabble (UK)
(61 pts)
Official Scrabble (OSPD)
(61 pts)
(62 pts)
Words with friends
(49 pts)
Hanging with friends
(49 pts)
(9 pts)
Lexulous (US)
(62 pts)
Definitions of SENTENCES in dictionaries:
- noun - a string of words satisfying the grammatical rules of a language
- noun - (criminal law) a final judgment of guilty in a criminal case and the punishment that is imposed
- noun - the period of time a prisoner is imprisoned
- verb - pronounce a sentence on (somebody) in a court of law
- verb - to declare judicially the extent of punishment to be imposed
There are 9 letters in SENTENCES: C E E E N N S S T
Scrabble words that can be created with an extra letter added to SENTENCES
All anagrams that could be made from letters of word SENTENCES plus a wildcard: SENTENCES?
Scrabble words that can be created with letters from word SENTENCES
9 letter words
8 letter words
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6 letter words
5 letter words
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Images for SENTENCES
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|Dec 26, 2002
come on people, complaining about the media format? its obvious the tech support for this site suks, over a year and they havent even managed to put the clips in order yet.. and you think your geting it in another format? -girls ok, toys are cool, only get a 3 for havin a guy in it.
|Fucking Machines
18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement All material shown on this website is consensual. No model was harmed during the filming of these movies. Copyright ©2016 Kink.com


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University Fellowships Office
212 Boucke Building, 863-8199
The University Fellowships Office (UFO) assists qualified Penn State students with the process of competing for prestigious scholarships, fellowships, and awards. Penn State students are encouraged to utilize the many resources and opportunities available through the UFO, including individual meetings, advising and counseling during the initial searches for scholarships and fellowships, as well as assistance with the application process. Penn State students fare very well. In previous years, awards garnered by students have included Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell and Gates Cambridge Scholarships, Fulbright Grants, Astronaut Scholarship and National Science Foundation Fellowships, to name a few.
Major National/International Scholarships and Fellowships
Each year, Penn State can nominate up to four outstanding sophomores and/or juniors majoring in mathematics, the natural sciences, and engineering and who plan to pursue graduate studies that includes research. Approximately three hundred Goldwater research scholarships are awarded each year. Goldwater scholars' eligible expenses that would be covered include tuition, fees, books, and room and board - the scholarship provides a maximum of $7,500 annually. Those interested in applying must be a sophomore or junior, have a minimum 3.0 GPA, be in the upper quarter of his/her class, and a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident.
Even though Penn State can only nominate one candidate for the Beinecke Scholarship, student applicants who demonstrate superior academic intelligence, are U.S. citizens, have demonstrated financial need, and are college juniors, are invited to apply through the UFO. Twenty scholarships worth $34,000 are awarded annually to students, who plan to attend graduate school and study in the arts, humanities, or social sciences fields. The scholarship is not applicable for law or medical schools.
These awards provide up to $20,000 to U.S. undergraduate students to study abroad in areas of the world that are critical to U.S. interests and underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin American, and the Middle East. The countries of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are excluded. Boren Scholars study less commonly taught languages, including but not limited to Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Swahili.
Boren Scholarships are funded by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), which focuses on geographic areas, languages, and fields of study deemed critical to U.S. national security. Applicants should identify how their study abroad program, as well as their future academic and career goals, will contribute to U.S. national security, broadly defined. NSEP draws on a broad definition of national security, recognizing that the scope of national security has expanded to include not only the traditional concerns of protecting and promoting American well-being, but also the challenges of global society, including sustainable development, environmental degradation, global disease and hunger, population growth and migration, and economic competitiveness.
Each year the Endowment offers 8-10 one-year fellowships to uniquely qualified graduating seniors and individuals who have graduated during the past academic year. They are selected from a pool of nominees from close to 400 colleges. Carnegie Junior Fellows work as research assistants to the Endowment's senior associates to produce commentary and analysis addressing the most important foreign policy issues of the day and the regions they affect.
Approximately 40 Gates Cambridge Scholarships are awarded in the United States each year. The scholarship covers the full cost of study at Cambridge (for a maximum of four years). The award covers all approved university and college tuition fees, a maintenance allowance, and a further discretionary allowance for study-related activities, in addition to airfare. Scholarships are awarded on the basis of an applicant's intellectual ability, their ability to contribute to the world by providing services to their communities and applying their talents and knowledge to improve the lives of others. Those interested must be pursuing graduate research and/or study at Cambridge in their selected academic discipline.
The Mitchell Scholarship supports one year of graduate study for twelve U.S. citizens between the ages of 18 and 30 in any discipline offered at an institution of higher learning in Ireland or Northern Ireland. The Mitchell Scholarship provides tuition, housing, a living expense stipend, and international travel support. Mitchell scholarships are awarded annually to students who exhibit superior levels of academic achievement, leadership, and extensive community service.
The Gilman International Scholarship Program offers grants of up to $5,000 for U.S. citizen undergraduate students of limited financial means to pursue academic studies abroad. Undergraduate students who are receiving federal Pell Grant funding are eligible to apply.
Such international study is intended to better prepare U.S. students to assume significant roles in an increasingly global economy and interdependent world. International experience is critically important in the educational and career development of American students, but also requires a substantial financial investment. The Gilman scholarship aims to support students who have been traditionally under-represented in study abroad, including but not limited to, students with high financial need, community college students, students in under-represented fields such as the sciences and engineering, students with diverse ethnic backgrounds, and students with disabilities. The program aims to encourage students to choose non-traditional study abroad destinations, especially those outside of Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Seventy-five scholarships are awarded to juniors who have demonstrated an outstanding capacity for public service, including: academics, leadership, and community service. Those interested in applying must be U.S. citizens, intent upon pursuing a graduate degree, and have participated in leadership activities and community service organizations. The scholarships cover expenses for the senior year and the first year of graduate school--up to $30,000.
Marshall Scholarships award two years of graduate study and/or research at any university or business school in the United Kingdom. Forty scholarships are awarded annually to intellectually distinguished Americans providing opportunities to gain appreciation of contemporary Britain and strengthen the relationship between the British and American peoples, their governments, and institutions. The scholarship covers the cost of tuition, books, approved travel (in connection with studies), and living costs. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, graduates under the age of 26 by the start of their stay in the U.K. and have an exemplary academic record. Additionally, applicants should have demonstrated strong academic performance, leadership potential, and have obtained no lower than a 3.7 GPA.
NSF Fellowships offer three years of support for graduate study and research to approximately 1,100 outstanding graduate students in the mathematical, physical, biological, engineering, and social sciences. Selected NSF Fellows receive a stipend of approximately $30,000 per year and an annual cost-of-education allowance of $10,500 paid to the NSF Fellow's institution in lieu of full tuition and fees. The fellowship is a three year long grant. Additionally, the fellowship offers a one-time international research travel allowance for fellows who plan to study and conduct research full-time at a foreign site for at least three continuous months.
The Rhodes scholarship is for two years though may be held for one year only; applications for a third year are considered during the course of the 2nd year. graduate study in any academic field at Oxford University. Thirty-two scholarships are awarded annually to student scholars who exhibit character exemplifying a blend of intellectual, moral and physical leadership, integrity, and energy. Applicants must be U.S. citizens graduating with an undergraduate degree prior to the beginning of their Rhodes scholarship and are under age of 24. The scholarship covers tuition and academic expenses, along with an allowance to cover round-trip air fares and personal expenses while at Oxford.
Udall Scholarships are awarded to undergraduate students who have demonstrated an involvement and commitment to careers related to the environment, including policy, engineering, science, education, urban planning and renewal, business, health, justice, and economics. The Udall Foundation the Foundation expects to award 80 scholarships and 50 honorable mentions on the basis of merit to sophomore and junior level college students. Scholarships are offered in any of following three categories: 1) students who have demonstrated commitment to careers related to the environment; 2) Native American and Alaska Native students who have demonstrated commitment to careers related to tribal public policy; and 3) Native American and Alaska Native students who have demonstrated commitment to careers related to Native health care. Udall Scholarships (valued at $5,000) are available to sophomores and juniors who have a minimum 3.0 GPA, are full-time students, and U.S. citizens.
Fulbright Grants offer year long, funded experiences in a country of choice for study, research, or teaching in any field. Penn State student applying for Fulbright Grants must be graduating seniors, who have completed a minimum of a bachelor's degree at the start of the grant, and graduate students. Approximately 7,500 grants are awarded each year providing opportunities for Fulbright Grantees to study, teach, or conduct research in more than 155 countries.