The World According to Milt: Let's travel back in time to ancient Egypt!

The World According to Milt: Let's travel back in time to ancient Egypt!

Let's travel back in time to ancient Egypt!

Anyone who knows me more than five minutes, knows I'm totally enamored with ancient Egypt. I go there just about every year and stay two or three weeks in this tiny farming village on the Nile Delta with my friend, Hamdy Nossair. Hamdy is an Egyptian native and archeologist who has lived in the U.S. for 25 years. He also has a tour business in Orlando and specializes in -- no surprise -- Egypt.

Well, guess what? We got together and organized a trip to ancient Egypt for a select group of travelers - people who would want to go to Egypt with Hamdy and me! This 11-day trip of a lifetime will see IN PERSON everything you have ever heard or seen about ancient Egypt -- Great Pyramids, Sphinx, King Tut's treasures and his tomb, the mummy of Ramses the Great, Valley of the Kings, Aswan Dam, Egyptian Museum, and much more. We will be staying in five-star hotels and enjoy a five day Nile cruise, where you can see farmers working in the fields as they did 5,000 years ago. The price is super reasonable and includes airfare from New York to Cairo, all hotels, tours, transportation, most meals, tour guides, the Nile cruise and a highlight of the trip -- a day in the tiny farming village where I go every year. Have tea with the farmers and their wives and enjoy a lunch prepared by Hamdy's family. This is NOT a tourist destination -- this is the REAL Egypt!

If you would like an itinerary and more information, email me at miltthomas@aol.com or call 772-567-2897. Y'all come!

facts vs opinions 2

I was happy to see Karen Nolan's op-ed piece in today's (Monday August 17) Press Journal. Karen is from California and edits The Reporter's (a news industry publication) opinion pages. In her piece, she mentions two schools of thought regarding Letters to the Editor, one being that this is the place where people can exchange ideas and let the reader decide who or what is right. The other school of thought says opinions should be based in fact and the editor does a disservice to all readers by knowlingly printing misinformation. Karen and I agree that the latter is more desirable.

However, in a Letter to the Editor on the same page, the contributor writes, "The Bible says one of the greatest global changes was because the wickedness of man was great and all the thoughts of man were evil continually." Please raise your hand if you are continually evil. I don't know any people like that.

This Letter goes on to claim, "There was a type of greenhouse with water in the heavens around the Earth. When the Noah flood came it covered every high mountain range." Does this count as 'misinformation'?

The Letter concludes with this statement of proof: "I wouldn't even worry about it except that the Bible has never been wrong."

I feel a lot better now, knowing that the PJ only prints "opinions based in fact."

Courtesy pays

The flight from JFK in New York to Cairo, Egypt takes about ten hours. I normally sleep very little on the flight unless the two seats next to me are vacant and I can lay down. (I always take an aisle seat). However, the plane is usually full and the only time I ever slept in a sitting position was back in my school days.

On this particular flight I had the added inconvenience of a seat that would not stay in its normal upright position. I found that out when I took the seat, buckled my seat belt, then leaned back and the seat went into full horizontal mode. I apologized to the Egyptian woman behind me, pulled the seat up and leaned forward. I then assumed this would be the longest ten hour flight of my life.

It was a Friday evening, rush hour, and we were about 42nd in line for take off. I tried reading but would momentarily doze, lean back, and the seat would go horizontal. I tried to make it look like I was doing it on purpose, you know, trying to strike up a conversation with the woman behind me. She wouldn’t have anything to do with me though, so I began talking to the nice Egyptian businessman in a suit and tie sitting in the window seat next to me.

He seemed exceptionally friendly, so we kept talking as the plane took off and I quietly fought the forces of gravity that would surely send me crashing back into the woman’s lap. We reached our cruising altitude and another well-dressed Egyptian man stood up two rows in front of me and came back to say hello. He explained that the man next to me was his friend and would I mind terribly taking his aisle seat two rows in front. Being the gentleman that I am, I said no problem, grabbed my briefcase and moved. His seat worked fine. Sometime later in the flight I seem to remember a man and woman behind me having an argument.

Sandy vs the Skinheads

Anyone who knows my wife, Sandy, knows she says what’s on her mind. But most people don’t know that she can back up her words with action. One day she was shopping at our favorite Publix store and the ‘bag boy’ was a little old Indian man (I purposely didn’t call him a ‘bag man’ since that carries an even more negative connotation). He pushed Sandy’s cart full of groceries out the front door but had to stop where the sidewalk slopes down to the street.

Two young head-shaven boys, probably in their late teens or early 20s, sat there smoking. The Indian man asked them to please move, to which one of the boys said, "We’re not moving for no towelhead." Without missing a beat, Sandy said, "Get the (expletive deleted) out of the way."

With that, they both stood up. The taller boy stormed over and pushed Sandy, who is 5 foot 2. Imagine his surprise when she stood her ground, then pushed him so hard that he lurched backwards and banged into a concrete column. As he rubbed his skinned head, his friend stepped out of the way and Sandy walked with the Indian man to her car. The little man thanked her profusely for standing up to them as he unloaded the groceries, constantly glancing back at the two boys who were still standing by the column. Sandy told him not to worry and escorted him back to the store. The two boys then walked away, probably looking for a towel to wrap around the wounded boy’s head.

Speak English, please

I recently received an email suggesting that for fun we all wear a T-shirt with a picture of Uncle Sam and the words "I want YOU…to speak English." I guess that’s a sentiment shared by many people who feel if you live here you should speak ‘our’ language. I, like most Americans, only speak one language, English. So we would naturally like everyone who comes here to save us the bother of learning Spanish or Mandarin.

As someone who travels frequently outside the US, I’m thankful that the countries I visit don’t share that sentiment (with one possible exception). Take Kenya for example. There are 42 tribes in that country, each with its own language. To communicate with each other, they speak a second language common to all of them, Swahili (even we know what ‘hakuna matata’ means). In addition, most of them speak English. I pity the poor soul who only knows Kikiyu.

If you visit Morocco, they speak a form of Arabic that most Arabs from other countries have a problem understanding. Not only that, restaurant menus are in Arabic with subtitles in French. For all I know, they could all be wearing T-shirts with a photo of Charles de Gaulle and the words "I want YOU…to speak anything but English," but since I can't read their T-shirts I will never know.

Milt to Earth….Milt to Earth….

Sorry to all my regular readers for being away so long. Aside from my three weeks in Egypt, a bronchial infection acquired at a health spa, deadlines on a book I’m writing, the death of our black lab, Abby, and our greyhound’s leg amputation, I really have no excuse.

What about those bad ass-et banks?

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty tired of hearing about bad ass-et banks. I thought the original idea was that banks offered us a small income if we kept our savings with them instead of in our mattress, then lent our money at a higher rate to people who needed it for business or buying houses. The bank would be very careful about who they lent that money to because it was, after all, OUR money and eventually they had to pay us back.

Then those bad ass-ets went and loaned money to people who purchased houses at unrealistic prices they could not afford. Why? Because all the other Lemmings were also doing it. These bad mortgages were so attractive that securities firms came up with new products to sell based on those bad mortgages. They protected themselves with insurance offered by AIG, which forgot to run these investments by their underwriters.

So here we are today, the people who thought our money was being managed by professional bankers, not riverboat gamblers, ponying up our grandchildren’s future to bail them out and save our entire monetary system. I don’t know about you, but I am feeling a distinct pain in the ass-et right now.

Beliefs and opinions

It all gets back to opinions. Everyone has opinions, some of which are strongly held and become beliefs. Wars are not usually fought over opinions, although many a bar fight has been waged over them. When opinions become beliefs though, watch out. If you believe Obama is ruining the country after three months in office, you don’t take kindly to someone who suggests Bush already ruined it in his eight years. If you believe human-induced climate change will be the death of us, don’t hang around with people who believe climate change is normal and they have a gun rack in their truck to prove it. If you believe only Saved Christians will go to heaven, don’t tell that to a Muslim or a Jew, who believe they are each exclusively God’s chosen people. The right thing to say is that everyone is entitled to his or her belief as long as I’m entitled to mine. At least, that’s my opinion on the subject.

Oh yes, there's that religious thing...

Let’s see – Jews believe in God and believe that God will send a Messiah. Their Holy Book is the Torah and the Old Testament reflects their beliefs and prophets.

Christians originally were Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah promised by God, but then went on to form a separate religion with the same God and the same Old Testament prophets, but with the addition of a New Testament based on the life and teachings of Jesus.

Muslims are people who practice Islam and they believe in the same God as Jews and Christians (they call him Allah, which means "The God"). They share the same Old and New Testament prophets, but add Jesus as a prophet, not the son of God. They also add another prophet, Mohammed, who came 700 years after Jesus, and his teachings are written in the Koran, their Holy Book, which is geared more to people of the desert.

In spite of all this similarity, these three religions have fought each other since their beginnings. Not only that, Christians have fought (and continue to fight) each other for centuries – Catholics vs Protestants. Muslims have also fought each other for centuries (and continue to fight) – Sunnis vs Shi’ites.

Hindu, Buddhist and other religious affiliations have also fought with Jews, Christians and Muslims. It seems the only group that doesn’t go around killing everyone are the Atheists.

Off to Egypt again

I will depart on Friday, April 24 for my annual visit to Egypt, where I will spend most of the next three weeks in the tiny farming village of Kafr el Arbein (kaf-L-R-bine). I don’t have internet access from the village, but a nearby city has an internet café and I hope to send home reports from there a few times a week. If you have any questions or comments about the people and politics of Egypt, write them here and I will respond.

Here’s some introductory info…
Egyptians are very family oriented and invest their hopes and dreams in their children. They complain about rising prices, government ineptitude and their bosses. Most are God-loving, conservative, eat too much and love to gossip. Wait, doesn’t that sound a bit like Americans?

record setting Hibiscus Festival in downtown Vero Beach

The recently completed 2009 Hibiscus Festival was one for the record books. The primary event was held in downtown Vero Beach on Saturday, April 18 (actually, the Hibiscus Queen Pageant on Friday, April 17 is part of the Festival but takes place exclusively inside the Heritage Center). Attendance on Saturday for all activities from the 5K race at 7am to the 60s Street Party from 5:30 to 8:30 in the evening, is estimated at 15,000 people. That makes it by far the largest gathering of people in downtown Vero EVER. The Beatles Remembered tribute band, which dressed like the Beatles, played the exact instruments played by the Beatles and sounded like the Beatles, sent a crowd of 5,000 (verified based on the $2.00 admission) into psychedelic orbit. Although they didn’t play any songs from the Sgt. Pepper era, the promise from one such song – "a good time is guaranteed for all" – was certainly fulfilled.

Is anyone in charge?

We are all concerned about the fiscal crisis, of course. It was our hope that after firing the previous administration and bringing in a high-powered team of financial experts with more degrees than an expensive thermometer, our new leaders would finally get a handle on the situation and restore fiscal integrity.

Instead, I get the distinct feeling our financial future rests in the hands of bickering politicians and confused experts. In normal times, economists rarely agree on anything, so that's not unusual. But these aren't normal times, so we expect some kind of consensus to arise other than telling us what we already know - we're in deep kaka. The head financial guru, Mr. Geithner, looks like a kid in his first job, not sure where the men's room is much less where the economy is headed.

As to our politicians, the Democrats were successful laying blame on the Republicans, and the Republicans are practicing their blame speechs for the next election. However, while they're 'fiddling' around, our financial future is burning.

Bright ties, bright minds?

I was watching the news one day this week and a group of Republican Congressmen were gathered at a photo op to lambast the Obama-Democratic administration. Politics as usual? Well, there was one striking difference.

Every one of the lambasting Congressmen was wearing an almost identical gray suit -- but each of them had a strikingly different, bright solid-color tie. The last time I saw such brilliant colors was for the expertly staged "Mission Accomplished" aircraft carrier reception for George W. Bush.

So I asked a fashion-conscious friend of mine if I should attach any significance to the gray-suited, brilliantly-tied Congressman. She opined that the gray suits reflected their collective conservative views, while the bright ties represented an attempt to look hip. I suppose this is a strategy in part due to the new Republican effort to woo younger voters.

Someone needs to tell them it's what they say, not how they dress.

From the Nile River to the Alimentary Canal

Two of my favorite TV programs are Anthony Bourdain: No reservations and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel. Tony, Andrew and I have a lot in common – they’re from New York, I’m from New York; they’re writers, I’m a writer; they’re both chefs, I like to cook; they’re famous, I’m from New York.

Another similarity is that I enjoy eating strange foods in far away places. I’ve done chibuku (native beer) and Mopani worms in Zimbabwe, fried grasshoppers in Uganda, durian fruit in Thailand, so smelly it can’t be sold in a food store. I drink local water in Morocco and fresh vegetables in Egypt. Yet, I rarely suffer the usual tourist consequences. My brother, who traveled with me to Egypt and ended up sick, refers to me as the family goat.

So what’s my secret? Yogurt. Before going on a trip, I eat a cup of live culture yogurt every day for ten days. Some people rank yogurt right behind chibuku and Mopani worms, but I like it. No fruit or cheesecake flavoring. Just plain yogurt. Many travelers prefer the opposite approach, taking Cipro or some other antibiotic as a preventive. But my philosophy is, hey, the first humans ate road kill. Totally organic. No preservatives. Whatever didn’t kill them, immunized them against food-borne diseases. Today we try to sterilize our food. It’s unnatural. Try yogurt instead.

global warming?

In spite of dire warnings that the sky is falling -- well, at least it's a bit heavier with all that carbon dioxide floating around -- there are many who still disbelieve global warming warnings. These are probably the same people who said cigarettes don't cause cancer even though it says so on the pack and that big banks could never fail.

You only have to look at all the cold, snowy, miserable weather this winter to prove the earth is not getting warmer, they say. Well, one year a trend does not make. I've known people with a terminal disease who have occasional good days. Do they go around saying this proves they don't have cancer?

Even if you don't believe in global warning or cancer, you should take the symptoms seriously, considering the potential result.

Please comment

I would like to receive some feedback on this blog, comments on the posts, suggestions (keep it clean, this is G-rated)...

Remember the jet in Pocahontas Park?

For those of you who have been around Vero Beach long enough and have wondered whatever happened to that fighter jet that used to sit in Pocahontas Park, check this out.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Museum_Marines_aeq.jpg

Will Piper continue to fly?

Piper Aircraft is almost synonymous with Vero Beach, just like the Dodgers once were, but our nation's current economic crisis may relegate the venerable firm to aviation history. It seems like only yesterday we were basking in the afterglow of Piper's decision to remain in Vero and add up to 500 more jobs to its workforce of more than 1,000. That was yesterday. Today, the company's 650 or so remaining employees wonder what the future holds for them. There seems to be a pattern of near-failure, rescue by a new buyer, near-failure. A number of potential suitors have visited the plant, including Japanese, Russians, a presumably, even Americans. Through all its ownership changes, Piper has continued to produce popular light aircraft. Let's hope the current market funk doesn't permanently ground it, or worse, live for another day as Piper-san or Piperski.

http://www.aopa.org/aircraft/articles/2009/090309piper.html

How to become a psychic in one day

At the risk of offending those who believe in (or belive they possess) psychic abilities, I thought this article was an interesting take on the subject. It's probably not going to change anyone's opinion, but for those skeptics out there, it should provide an "I told you so" moment.

http://www.skeptics.ca/articles/shermer-psychic.html

Welcome to Florida - the Third World of American education

The statistics are shocking -- according to the Press Journal, almost 1 in 5 children have no health insurance (2nd worst rate in America); about 30% of 4th grade public school students did not meet even minimum reading proficiency on the latest FCAT; one-fourth of public high school students don't graduate; one of every 5 chlidren under 8 years old lives in poverty; college graduation rates are below the national average; pay for child care professionals is less than animal control workers and parking lot attendants.

If all that is true -- and I've heard those numbers before -- we have what could be the most serious crisis of all affecting Florida's future. Why is that?

You only have to look at the average age of Floridians to know the answer. People retire here after giving their kids a good education and job opportunities up north so they can relax, have fun, and await death. Oh, and no taxes please.

I once met with a prominent member of the Taxpayer's Association, a retiree from Buffalo, and we discussed the need for education and economic development here in Indian River County (and Florida). He was a nice enough chap, but his response was, "Let them (our kids) go up north for their education and jobs, then come back here to retire like I did." That's the spirit.

I have a great idea --Why doesn't some developer propose a full service cemetery community? The marketing possibilities are endless: buy a plot in the sun, maintenance included in the price, all services within lying distance, only the finest construction materials, totally hurricane proof, and best of all -- no more taxes! I think people would be dying to purchase a permanent residence in a community where there are no kids, no dogs, peace and quiet. Of course, the neighbors are real stiffs...

Do as I say, not as I do

Sarah Palin, with all her sermonizing about family values, abstinence and banning sex education, found herself -- as sermonizers usually do -- with the awkward reality of a pregnant teenage daughter as she was campaigning on behalf of those values. It was okay though, because the teenage father was going to do the right thing, marry the pregnant girl and support his accidental family. All this when most teenagers are more concerned with acne scars than stretch marks.

Well, lo and behold, the shotgun marriage is off. What a non-surprise. I don't find fault with these kids -- unmarried teenagers have dealt with pregnancy through the ages. I feel sorry for Bristol, not only because she probably planned to do more with her young life than be a teenage single mom, but also because she will have to raise two babies - hers and her mother's.

What have we learned?

Remember when it was necessary to pay 20% down buying a home? And your mortgage could not exceed 30% of your monthly take-home pay? If we have learned nothing else with the banking crisis, it is bad business to offer mortgages with nothing down or less (mortgages in excess of selling price), and offer those deals to customers without a credit check or even proof of employment. We have greedy lenders and spendthrift borrowers to thank for the current crisis, requiring a taxpayer bailout of epic proportions.

Imagine my surprise to learn that you can STILL get a mortgage with little or nothing down. I know of a case locally where a mortgage IN EXCESS of 100% was offered!

Let's get serious, folks! We taxpayers are fed up with irresponsible people and institutions turning the American dream of home ownership into the American nightmare. So here's what I recommend -- if your bank or lending institution is offering these pie-in-the-sky deals, tell them you are sick and tired of paying your neighbors' debts. If they don't cease and desist, you will pull all your accounts. Or better yet, you will report them to the FDIC, which is almost broke now cleaning up after failed banks.

http://www.zerodownmortgagepro.com/

Newspapers falling on hard times

For anyone who enjoys reading an actual newspaper rather than a point and click edition, we may be seeing the demise of some prominent publications. If you have noticed our own Press Journal here in Vero Beach, you've seen it get smaller and thinner over the past year to the point it looks like the anorexic version of its former self. The question you have to ask is with cutbacks in editorial staffs around the country, who's going to keep tabs on the people we elect to public office? Democracy depends on a free press, not a dividend-paying corporation.
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1883785,00.html

So how are the Dodgers doing in Arizona?

Here's an email from a friend who visited the brand new Dodgers Spring Training facility in Arizona recently:

We're in Phoenix (actually Glendale) AZ visiting my relatives who live here. I went to see the Dodgers new digs. The facilities are nowhere near finished. There are hundreds of workmen and lots of construction vehicles there working. The Dodgers are there as well. The place has none of the charm of Dodgertown. It is surrounded by fences and security people. The practice fields and batting cages appear to be done. We were stopped by fences before we could get close enough to see anything (see picture). The stadium looks like it will be very nice when complete but we could not get very close (see picture I took through fence) It appears that the stadium will seat 10,000 to 15,000 people. The good seats are $45.00, the cheap seats are $8.00. The first home game is March 1 vs Chicago White Sox whom they share the Stadium with.

It took me some time to find out where they were. Everyone I asked knew nothing about the Dodgers being here and seemed not to give a damn about it. Finally I called the City office and they told me where to go. The place is called "Camelback Ranch" on Camelback Road in Glendale. I don't think they will be done by then.

What I have learned about religion in my travels..

Part of the problem in our failure to relate to people in the Middle East is the difference in religion. My parents always told me I would be best advised to avoid giving my opinions/beliefs about religion and politics if I want to get along with people. Those are two subjects that if they come up, and you are on opposite sides of an issue, they can ruin a friendship or business relationship, even break up a family.

The problem where religion is concerned, especially, is that every ardent believer in a particular religious affiliation or sect, is convinced that their version of the pathto truth and salvation is the only true path, which has made for some awfully bloody conflicts over the past two or three thousand years. People who feel they are above the fray because they 'tolerate' other faiths must be unaware of the definition of tolerate. I would be willing to bet you have people in your life who you 'tolerate.' On a linear scale, if you put 'intolerant' at one end of the continuum, what would you put at the other end? 'Tolerant?' All that means is you are less intolerant, at least less intolerant until the person you are 'tolerating' provokes you enough to punch him in the mouth.

No. The opposite of 'intolerant' is 'respect.' You can respect another person's beliefs and opinions - or at least the right of that person to express his/her beliefs and opinons - without actually believing them yourself. What's your take on all this?

It appears that resolving long standing conflicts with Arabs and Muslims is a top priority for President Obama. Knowing it will take considerable time to reach any kind of resolution, the president decided to at least get the ball rolling. My sources in that part of the world tell me people are elated. It is important to understand WHY they are elated, though, because it all gets down to basic human nature. We have shown little respect toward these billion-plus people. How do you react to someone who makes it clear he/she has no respect for you? It doesn't matter what else happens in a relationship like that, the parties will never get anywhere without showing respect for each other.

I saw one news image at the start of the Iraq War in 2003 that told me we would never win the hearts and minds of those people. It was the photo of a fully armed US soldier standing over an Iraqi laying in the dirt. The soldier's left foot was firmly positioned on the Iraqi's back. Those who know me remember when I said we're going to lose this war. Recently, an Iraqi journalist threw his shoe at President Bush and it was repeated ad nauseum on television, probably because the Iraqi had great aim and might be a prospect for the Yankees.

But the message was clear to anyone in the Arab world - simply showing someone the sole of your shoe is a great insult; throwing the shoe is an insult with an exclamation point. Standing on someone means you consider that person lower than the dirt found on the bottom of a shoe. If the people who led us into that war had done the simplest research, they would have known shoes are meant for more than walking. Unfortunately, no one bothered to do much research about the Iraqi people. One reason is that we believed the people would welcome us with open arms. The real reason we did not know the rules of their culture though, was because we had no respect for them.

What this is all about...

Welcome to my online 'newspaper,' THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MILT. I'm the publisher, editor, writer, photographer, columnist, account executive, pressman, receptionist, janitor and delivery person. Being chief, cook and window washer, I get to publish whatever I want.

The only problem with all this power is that if it isn't interesting, you're not going to read it! So I have a mandate -- make it interesting enough that you will want to read it and comment on what you read (or what you read, depending on present or past tense usage).

Obviously, I am doing this for the freedom to express my opinion on things and I welcome your opinion about my opinions, as long as they are not just mean-spirited, narrow-minded and uninformed -- like many letters to the editor. You don't have to agree with me, nor do I have to agree with you, but let's assume we all have at least a ninth grade education and have at least been exposed to civilized society.