talkturkey

DTV Converter Box Coupon

As you may know, on February 17, all TV broadcasters will go digital here in the U.S. And if you're among the 14 million U.S. households who watch TV over analog signals, or who don't subscribe to cable or satellite, and without an HDTV set, you need to buy and install a DTV Converter Box for your TV.

The U.S. Government is offering up to two $40 rebate coupons per household, but are running up to six weeks behind in getting those coupons out. So they are urging everyone to order the coupons before the end of the year. That's tomorrow.

'Apply. Buy. Try.' So says the dtv2009 site. Do it now. Here is a list of the coupon eligible converter boxes.

All of this is especially important if you intend on dropping your cable service, and picking up an HDTV antenna, fully capable of receiving the appropriate frequencies and HDTV signals. "Plenty of high-definition TV is available for free, over the air," reports Wired's Gadget Lab, in the '12 Good Gadgets for Hard Times.'

In addition, you could also visit Hulu and/or Joost and watch your favorite shows online and on your own time, for free.

For those who would like to watch any Turkish network broadcast from Turkey, try dunya.tv and watch them all online streaming live. To watch broadcasts from around the world, try wwiTV. All for free.

Enjoy!

Israel vs Israel

I hate to be non-festive during the New Years, but others have chosen not to...

Kim Peterson of Dissident Voice writes, "Israeli Jews are massacring Palestinians again. Zionists are pinning the blame on the elected representative of the Palestinians: Hamas."

He adds, "Israel, the world’s most frequently cited violator of international law, a racist state, an occupation state built through violence and slow-motion genocide is being acknowledged as having the right to defend its criminality. This is preposterous; there is no right of an occupation regime to defend its occupation. Palestine, however, has a right to resist occupation!"

Does Israel have a right to defend itself? Do Palestinians need Israel to win?

What makes Israel's offensive initiative any different than the Turks going after PKK? Turkey surely does not intend any harm to the Kurds; after all, they are citizens of Turkey too.

Do we separate the action of a nation's government with its people? Is it the American people or its government that the world had a problem with for the past few years? Are all Jews, at least those who are Jewish (by religion), Zionists?

Mantra For 2009 and Beyond

”Everyday, think as you wake up, ‘today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’ “ Dalai Lama

Thanks to zenhabits for today's quote. Very appropriate for the new year. You can find this and other quotes, as well as tips on successfully implementing good habits, including '10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It,' '20 Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out in Life,' 'Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life,' '30 Things to Do to Keep From Getting Bored Out of Your Skull at Work,' and 'Handbook for Life: 52 Tips for Happiness and Productivity, all in The Beginner's Guide to Zen Habits. Enjoy!

Do you ever watch Discovery's Sunrise Earth?

The Descent of Sophia

My dear friend Vic has just released his new painting, 'The Descent of Sophia.' Sophia, the Goddess of Wisdom, is a stark reminder of our "journey back to the realization of our true nature."

"She has descended down on the balloon bringing down the embodiment of conscious awareness to a humanity still in its early stages of evolution operating within a sphere of instinctually programmed survival mechanisms signified by the little robot. As she presents the balloon to the little robot he is united with his conscious awareness and suddenly his caged instincts are released as signified by all the blackbirds flying out of his birdcage mid-section. All that remains are two love birds gathered together within the cage in the shape of a heart."

St. Victor and his lovely wife Lisa live in Santa Fe with their dogs...

Thriving on Less

Leo Babatuta, the author of 'The Power of Less,' has written a new book called, 'Thriving on Less.' The print edition is due to come out in a few days. But its companion is available for download as a free ebook on his booksite. Be sure to visit his ZenHabits blog as well. I highly recommend it for those willing to start afresh in 2009. Thanks to Lifehacker for the heads up.

Rick Warren Keynote

"Let me just get this over very quickly. I love Muslims. And for the media's purpose, I happen to love gays and straights."

Rick Warren, the 'controversial' inaugural invocation guy, who orchestrated the memorable forum between Obama and McCain a few weeks ago, recently was the Keynote Speaker at a convention.

What you might find odd is that the convention was the 2008 Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) held in Long Beach, California. And ... one of the performers was Melissa Etheridge. Good for the Muslims to come out of their shell finally. And accolades to Rick Warren.

Please watch the 36-minute video!

I say, don't believe everything the 'media' tells you.

As Warren says, "media loves conflict."

And here's what he said of Obama and himself:

"We're both willing to be criticized in order to try to bring America into a new day of civil discourse and to create a new model that says you don't have to agree only with your side on everything"

It's A Small World - DJ's Choi...

Nikon Face Detection Ads

LA Weekly posted this funny ad campaign from Nikon, to show off its face-detection technology, now better known as 'voyeur detection system.'

In the interest of your safety due to the 'peering' eyes of your boss, or your 'other' boss, and for the safety of the children around you (although they are probably too busy playing violent games on their computers anyway), you have to click on the next page to see the (NSFW) ad.

Bribery Reserve

Accountants would know about reserve accounts. They are created as line-items on the balance sheet for expected occurrences. It is not uncommon to reserve for bad debt in the case of receivables, or for annual expenditures, where monthly entries ease the burden of a whopping one-time recording at end of year.

Most people do the same thing. They normally account for annual expenses by reserving for it each month so they wouldn't have to deal with a large outlay at end of the year.

But for a corporation to legitimately have a 'bribery reserve?'

It is not uncommon in Europe to give bribes. In fact, it is already assumed and expected, and in some cases demanded. The word 'corruption' doesn't even enter the mix, since it is assumed to be the ordinary case of doing business.

Enter Siemens. And Hillary's conflict of interest.

Shalom Hollywood & Apologies

"I have never been so upset by a poll in my life. Only 22% of Americans now believe 'the movie and television industries are pretty much run by Jews,' down from nearly 50% in 1964. The Anti-Defamation League, which released the poll results last month, sees in these numbers a victory against stereotyping. Actually, it just shows how dumb America has gotten. Jews totally run Hollywood." Joel Stein, The Los Angeles Times

I've always found self-deprecating humor to be the best way to break the ice, as well as get over political correctness, now suffering from myopia.

Take the recent 'apology' campaign for example.

10 Items or Less

Shouldn't supermarkets have a special lane for those who have 100 items or more? I couldn't qualify for the 10 items or less, since I had 16, and I am self-conscious about those things. I actually had more, but the 6-pack counts as one item, since they are scanned in one pass. But come on people, if you buy 19 of the same 2-liter bottle of crappy orange soda, even if they are three for five dollars, you still have to count each one as separate.

Of course, I didn't want to use one of the 99 self-service checkouts, where I feel like I need to slap the voice behind the machine silly for saying things like, 'please put the item in the bag,' when I've done just that, and re-done it eleven thousand times already, even in slow motion, to try to fool the machine into catching up with me.

Here's what happens next!!!

Snow in Vegas

It's customary in corporate America to blame the person who is no longer there for all the ills uncovered during the transition when a new executive takes over. After all, the 'former' guy was let go probably for those reasons. Because he was not a 'performer.' Besides, he's no longer in a position (no pun intended) to defend himself.

But what's a person to do when all of his doings are unraveled as he was doing them, as well as long after he's gone, in front of millions of people, when it's obvious he's to blame for the mess that he, along with others may have put him up to, created?

I was in Vegas just a few weeks ago, and the temperatures were in the 100s. And today I find out it snowed in Vegas. It's pretty normal for Vegas's high-altitude and desert climate to see scorching heat in the summer and bitter cold in the winter. But this much snow?

I hold Bush responsible for the snow job. I even blame him every time I lose a button off my shirt too. Or when I lose my shirt in Vegas. It's not easy to be he.

Apple & Fiona

Fiona Apple and Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.) were both born in 1977. Here's a tribute to Apple's past 30 years set to Fiona Apple's 'Across the Universe.'

Steve Jobs will NOT be delivering the Keynote Speech at MacWorld in January.

In fact, it will be the last time Apple will be at MacWorld after 25 years.

Is Steve alright? I am sure the rumors of his health getting worse will start circulating once again...

As TIME reports, "Apple is Jobs and Jobs is Apple."

"The announcement itself was about as shocking as hearing that Barack Obama would be skipping the Inauguration and sending Joe Biden in his stead."

Dollar Auction Freakonomics

Freakonomics' post today includes a reference to the 'Dollar Auction.' Would you pay $21 for a $20 bill? Just so you don't end up paying $19 and end up with nothing. A simple case of a one dollar deficit versus a 19 dollar loss.

Do we often make irrational decisions based on a sequence of rational choices? And do our leaders follow suit?

Survivor Bob

One for the old guys. The oldest person to win Survivor, Bob Crowley outwitted, outlasted, and outplayed everyone else, and deservedly so, in Survivor Gabon Season 17.

But aside from winning several back-to-back immunity challenges near the end, he has one person to thank for winning the million dollars.

First, last week 'Sugar' made Bob aware of Kenny's plan to vote off Bob, if Bob kept his promise to Kenny by giving Kenny the immunity Bob won. Consequently, Bob kept the immunity necklace and Kenny's ally Crystal was voted off, leaving Kenny vulnerable and Bob still in the game.

Next, this week when it was obviously Bob who was going to be voted off in the final tribal, Sugar voted for Matty forcing a tie, and a fire-making challenge that Bob ended up winning. And it was Matty instead not in the Final Three.

As for the most tasteless person award, my vote is for Corinne. Randy, everyone else's favorite villain, doesn't even come close to Corinne's remarks to Sugar on the final show, and even worse, at the reunion show, when she had a chance to redeem herself, but instead used the opportunity to display her nastiness even more and with self-admitted pride.

She loathed any hint of remorse and loved the boos from the audience, even yelling 'keep it comin' people!' I guess she thinks she's the new Omarosa. Not even close!

Sad! ... Very Sad!

The New Old Turks

Here's the new face of the Ottomans.

The youngest member of the Ottoman Dynasty, then 2-month old Prince Ziya (pictured in 2006) with his mother Princess Ayşe Osmanoğlu, the great granddaughter of Sultan Murat V, and a mother of five.

And here are some more pictures of the Ottoman Family Reunion in Istanbul during 2006 for the kickoff of the TV documentary highlighting Ottomans in Exile.

But amid all this pomp and circumstance of the Ottomans, here is a recent account equating the fall of Constantinople (Istanbul) to the fall of the twin towers.

Ottomans in Exile

A documentary by the Turkish state-run TV network, TRT, was broadcast originally in 2006. Here is the first three parts of the nine-part series (about 30 minutes each) courtesy of Google Video, with apologies to the non-Turkish speaking followers. (only Part 3 is subtitled in English)

Check out the prologue to this post on the 'next page,' as well as my last post.  Here's one such recounts of an exiled Prince.

Enjoy! (double-click on the videos to watch them in full screen)

And now my PROLOGUE:

Back to the Future

Be sure to read the epilogue to this post as well ...

I've always been fascinated by history, particularly Ottoman history, as you can gather from my recent posts referencing Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa and Kanuni Sultan Süleyman.

The Ottoman Empire lasted from 1299 to 1923. It was succeeded by today's Republic of Turkey.

When the sultanate was abolished under the new Turkish government, the last Ottoman sultan, Vahdettin went into exile, back in 1922.

In fact, later in 1924, along with his replacement, the last Caliph Abdulmecit II, 600 or so people were declared persona non grata of Turkey and about a 150 of them were forced to leave the country.

The names of the rest of the 600 have never been made public.

And all along I was taught (by Turkish educators and Turkish history books) to believe Sultan Vahdettin had 'fled' the country amid all the chaos, leaving Turkey in an undesirable position of fending for itself; and hence, Ataturk... (well... you know the rest of the story...)

The History of Superpowers

They say 'history repeats itself!' How would 'they' know? Anyone old enough to have experienced this vicious cycle should be dead by now.

However, it is true. Or at least by reading and studying history, we can determine 'what goes around, comes around.'

During the period about 500 years ago, the superpowers of the world were run as monarchies. Elizabeth I (those who saw the movie may remember) ran the little island off mainland Europe, with neighbors like Scotland and Wales always posing a threat. Charles V was the King of Spain, and the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. And Frances I was the King of France, as its first Renaissance monarch.

But from 1520 to 1566, the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the longest serving of all of the aforementioned, was Suleiman the Magnificent. Under his rule, the empire experienced its greatest growth, not only on land, but at sea as well (see Barbarossa). By the time Suleiman died, the Ottoman Empire spanned across 2 billion acres (doubling during his reign).

Chicago Politics

What did he know? And when did he know it?

I notice a lot of the original and die-hard Obama supporters (not ones who've since jumped on the bandwagon) have been silent regarding Illinois Governor Blagojavich's 'Seat for Sale' scheme, now referred to as 'Pay-to-Play.'

How is it that a Senator (now President-Elect) would not care who would take his vacated seat in the Senate? Why should I take Obama's word that he simply didn't want to influence, or worse interfere, with the Governor's process of picking Obama's replacement?

Turkish Navy & Piracy

This post was inspired by Ardent's latest blog entry on 'Ottoman Proverbs.'

There have been a few grand admirals in the Ottoman era. But none as great as Barbarossa ("Redbeard") who helped stretch Ottoman dominance from beyond the Strait of Gibraltar all the way to Indonesia. Please read all about it on this very informative site dedicated to him.

In fact, the Ottoman naval victory at the Battle of Preveza in 1538 spearheaded by Barbaros (as he is affectionately known to Turks) protégé and successor 'Turgut Reis' ensured the Turks supremacy in the Mediterranean.

The Turkish Navy is still a dominant force in the world; ranked eighth, third in Europe. But more relevant to why this post today; piracy is once again gaining popularity.

And by piracy I don't mean illegally downloading music or movies off the net, but possibly a case of criminality (please read) on the high seas. However, much like the saying that one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter, who is a pirate can depend on the point of view.

But did you know that Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa (or Hızır Hayreddin Paşa; also Hızır Reis) was one of four brothers all of whom were seamen; he was born in Lesbos, the island his father captured from the Genoese for the Ottomans; to Muslim Turkish father Yakup Ağa and his Greek wife Katerina? And that Barbaros himself was a pirate? ...

a Church in Mecca?

Mecca is a city in the Inland Empire section of Southern California. Apparently, it is home to one of the poorest congregations. But now Mecca's Catholics have their church.And Muslims can become "more religiously observant and also more tolerant," because of Mecca as well.

Of course we all know about the Masonic shriners and their Arab fancy; Mecca temple in NY, Medina landmark in Chicago, the fez, etc...

Speaking of odd city names in the U.S., I am sure you've heard of Athens/Georgia (home to University of Georgia), Rome, also in Georgia, Medina/Minnesota (there's also Medina County in Ohio), Paris/Texas, Moscow/Idaho. Why no Istanbul?

Among some of the more bizarre city names are No Name/Colorado, Fart/Virginia, Intercourse/Pennsylvania, and Hell/Michigan.

Happy Eid (Bayram)

Why is it that Abraham's convictions and the depth of his faith in God are never questioned as he gets ready to sacrifice one of his sons Isaac (in the Bible version)? And as the picture above by Caravaggio depicts, such a killing must be performed by slitting the boy's throat! I mean, weren't other methods of 'humanely' killing a human being invented at the time? Why is 'The West' silent when it comes to the bible's 'sacrilegious' content?

Anyway, in the Islamic version only the names of the innocent have been changed. Isaac is Ishmael (the 'other' son). But the story ends the same way. A ram is sacrificed instead when it is determined by God that Abraham had passed the test of his will and determination and love for God...

How to Talk to Girls

"It is very hard to get a girl to like you. Sometimes it takes years."

Anyone wanting "a serious relationship with a girl should be friendly, attentive and be able to say compliments." Some good advice, especially coming from a 9-year-old. Alec Greven is the author of the book 'How to Talk to Girls,' full of advice for boys having communication problems with the opposite sex.

I wish I had this book when I was 9. I did the exact opposite of what 'smart' Alec suggests. And still did OK. But never thought about writing a book. Didn't want the competition to steal my thunder I guess.