Dream: At the Movies with Cain and a Gun

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Monk dreamed of going to the movies with Quiet White. Another big element in the dream is that Monk is carrying a pistol, even wearing it in a holster - rather cowboy-style. This is Texas.

Going into the theater, Monk is nervous about the possibility that it is illegal to bring a gun inside. He decides to risk it, and he sees others visibly carrying guns. Monk is at least trying to conceal his under a long jacket, though his efforts are comically undermined sometimes, such as when it falls to the floor and he can't snap the holster shut.

Before the movie starts, Monk decides to get some candy and a coke. He gets into a rather protracted discussion with Cain about what he wants. Monk patiently works through this, while being anxious about missing the beginning of the movie.
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Dream: At the Movies with Cain and a Gun

~
Monk dreamed of going to the movies with Quiet White. Another big element in the dream is that Monk is carrying a pistol, even wearing it in a holster - rather cowboy-style. This is Texas.

Going into the theater, Monk is nervous about the possibility that it is illegal to bring a gun inside. He decides to risk it, and he sees others visibly carrying guns. Monk is at least trying to conceal his under a long jacket, though his efforts are comically undermined sometimes, such as when it falls to the floor and he can't snap the holster shut.

Before the movie starts, Monk decides to get some candy and a coke. He gets into a rather protracted discussion with Cain about what he wants. Monk patiently works through this, while being anxious about missing the beginning of the movie.
.

"Grapes??... Where Are My Virgins!?!"

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Monk threw up another debate today. Although it is about the Middle East and radical Islam, it was a lighter take into the issues. The discussion did begin convivially enough, but one shouldn't be surprised that it took on its heavier hues, though not too intense.

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"The virgins are calling you," Mohamed Atta wrote reassuringly to his fellow hijackers just before 9/11.

-- Nicholas D. Kristof for The NY Times

In his column today, Mr. Kristof speaks of a burgeoning field of Koranic studies, similar to what has been applied to the Bible for the past couple of centuries. Some of these new insights could be helpful in our conflict against radical Islam:

For example, the Koran says martyrs going to heaven will get "hur," and the word was taken by early commentators to mean "virgins," hence those 72 consorts. But in Aramaic, hur meant "white" and was commonly used to mean "white grapes."

For debate: May this renewed scholarship into the Koran lead to a reformation of Islam and to lessening the threat posed by the militant Islamists?

Okay, this may be trivializing matters a bit, but I think it's a good step in a long journey. And as Krisof says:

"The world has a huge stake in seeing the Islamic world get on its feet again. The obstacle is not the Koran or Islam, but fundamentalism, and I hope that this scholarship is a sign of an incipient Islamic Reformation - and that future terrorist recruits will be promised not 72 black-eyed virgins, but just a plateful of grapes."

( Kristof column )

"Grapes??... Where Are My Virgins!?!"

~
Monk threw up another debate today. Although it is about the Middle East and radical Islam, it was a lighter take into the issues. The discussion did begin convivially enough, but one shouldn't be surprised that it took on its heavier hues, though not too intense.

___ ___ ___

"The virgins are calling you," Mohamed Atta wrote reassuringly to his fellow hijackers just before 9/11.

-- Nicholas D. Kristof for The NY Times

In his column today, Mr. Kristof speaks of a burgeoning field of Koranic studies, similar to what has been applied to the Bible for the past couple of centuries. Some of these new insights could be helpful in our conflict against radical Islam:

For example, the Koran says martyrs going to heaven will get "hur," and the word was taken by early commentators to mean "virgins," hence those 72 consorts. But in Aramaic, hur meant "white" and was commonly used to mean "white grapes."

For debate: May this renewed scholarship into the Koran lead to a reformation of Islam and to lessening the threat posed by the militant Islamists?

Okay, this may be trivializing matters a bit, but I think it's a good step in a long journey. And as Krisof says:

"The world has a huge stake in seeing the Islamic world get on its feet again. The obstacle is not the Koran or Islam, but fundamentalism, and I hope that this scholarship is a sign of an incipient Islamic Reformation - and that future terrorist recruits will be promised not 72 black-eyed virgins, but just a plateful of grapes."

( Kristof column )