I don't have much to say, but our internet has been down for 5 days, so I feel I should say something...
There has been a profound and noticable shift the last 6 months here in Baghdad. The Iraqi security forces are doing the vast majority of the work. The Government still struggles with getting things done, I think because they are still jockeying for positions in the new Iraq. The corruption is so much a part of their system it's almost immpossible to imagine it ever getting much better. Still, corruption was (and is) a part of many, many former Soviet Bloc nations as well as South American democracies, and I'd be pleased with an Iraq that resembled any of those nations.
Writer's Block...
more later I guess
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Not so Sick
Been taking drugs to kill my little parasite, and I feel pretty good.
I was thinking about this...
Sadr City is a slum of AT LEAST 2.5 Million (up to about 3 Million)
It is a rectangle 3 miles by 4 miles.
That gives it a population density of....200,000 per square mile???
My math HAS to be wrong somewhere.
Monaco has a density of 43,000 per sq mile...
acording to a google search, Mumbai has a density of 46,000 and ranks #1 for cities of the world in terms of density.
BUT....
That is over the entire city, and Sadr City is not an entire city, it is part of Bagdad. You could take any small segment of a large city and have massive density numbers that don't reflect the entire city. Still, I find 200,000 to be obscene, yet I have NEVER, EVER, EVER heard anyone dispute 2.5 million.
This article DOES dispute it (ignore last sentence) and provides good visualization for Sadr City..
The neighborhood was built as a public housing project for the poor in the late 1950s and early '60s. The rectangle of roughly 125,000 homes northeast of central Baghdad covered an area about half the size of Manhattan, with streets in a grid, and simple brick homes of about 1,500 square feet, or about 140 square meters. These days, after decades of neglect under Saddam Hussein, many of the houses are crumbling and divided into multiple apartments.
Sadr City officials — including Rahim al-Daraji, Sadr City's elected mayor — claim that more than two million people live in the neighborhood, a third of Baghdad. If true, that would give Sadr City a higher population density than Calcutta and Hong Kong, something that demographers said was unlikely given the architecture.
Here's another article that suggests it is that high.
Although no official census was ever conducted, it is estimated that between a third and a half of Baghdad's entire population is packed into that small section of the city. In one Sadr City clinic alone, up to 1,300 children are born every week, and perhaps as many as 10,000 people live in each city block of Sadr City's northern side. A single battalion task force, supported by elements of the BCT, is trying to turn life around for approximately 2.5 million people crammed into a place of brutish, punishing squalor by design.
Hmm... Dunno.
But I am not moving here anyways.
Adam
I was thinking about this...
Sadr City is a slum of AT LEAST 2.5 Million (up to about 3 Million)
It is a rectangle 3 miles by 4 miles.
That gives it a population density of....200,000 per square mile???
My math HAS to be wrong somewhere.
Monaco has a density of 43,000 per sq mile...
acording to a google search, Mumbai has a density of 46,000 and ranks #1 for cities of the world in terms of density.
BUT....
That is over the entire city, and Sadr City is not an entire city, it is part of Bagdad. You could take any small segment of a large city and have massive density numbers that don't reflect the entire city. Still, I find 200,000 to be obscene, yet I have NEVER, EVER, EVER heard anyone dispute 2.5 million.
This article DOES dispute it (ignore last sentence) and provides good visualization for Sadr City..
The neighborhood was built as a public housing project for the poor in the late 1950s and early '60s. The rectangle of roughly 125,000 homes northeast of central Baghdad covered an area about half the size of Manhattan, with streets in a grid, and simple brick homes of about 1,500 square feet, or about 140 square meters. These days, after decades of neglect under Saddam Hussein, many of the houses are crumbling and divided into multiple apartments.
Sadr City officials — including Rahim al-Daraji, Sadr City's elected mayor — claim that more than two million people live in the neighborhood, a third of Baghdad. If true, that would give Sadr City a higher population density than Calcutta and Hong Kong, something that demographers said was unlikely given the architecture.
Here's another article that suggests it is that high.
Although no official census was ever conducted, it is estimated that between a third and a half of Baghdad's entire population is packed into that small section of the city. In one Sadr City clinic alone, up to 1,300 children are born every week, and perhaps as many as 10,000 people live in each city block of Sadr City's northern side. A single battalion task force, supported by elements of the BCT, is trying to turn life around for approximately 2.5 million people crammed into a place of brutish, punishing squalor by design.
Hmm... Dunno.
But I am not moving here anyways.
Adam
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Sick
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia_lamblia
So that's what's in my body right now.
It's been running around here, putting about about 10-20% of my platoon out of duty at any given time.
I feel under the weather, but I've been able to still function. I just went down to the aid station and got some drugs. Naturally they had told their medics "the next new case that comes in, get a stool sample."
Jeez.
Anyway, things are good. Just thought I'd write a quick note.
OK, having already established myself as a Ted Thompson HATER, I need to back him up a little.
There is no way to determine if he made "the right" decision this year. Even if the Packers go 6-10, IF 4 years from now, they are a consistent 10-6 team, constantly going deep in the playoffs, then it was the right decision. His problem in my opinion is that he gave up on the best team this year for a POTENTIAL good team over a 5 year stretch starting next year or the year after. SO if the Packers go 8-8 this year, I will not point fingers and say "told you so!" BUT if 5 years from now the Packers have not been back to the NFC title game, THEN it will be clear Thompson screwed up.
The reason I don't like this is because EVERYONE in Packerland assumes their QB will not get hurt. That's how it's been for a decade and a half. Ted Thompson is betting that Aaron Rodgers, who is VERY injury prone, will:
a. Not get injured
b. improve to pro bowl caliber
c. remain with the Packers for the next 7 years
If ANY of those fail to develop he's screwed, AND there is no reason (unless Rodgers told him behind closed doors) that he couldn't have told Rodgers he'd have to wait another year for his starting job. Brett could come out and announce this is his "Farewell Year" and Thompson could have given Rodgers a new contract for 5 years to show his commitment to his future.
This whole thing was awful. The two things I heard the most often that made the least sense:
"I feel bad for Aaron Rodgers." and "Brett has to learn a whole new offense, that's soooo difficult to do..blah blah...."
First. No matter where he ended up, someone was losing their job. So crying for Rodgers if Brett had stayed is a little silly, since you'd end up crying for someone no matter what. Starters lose their job all the time.
Second. Pennington started for Miami the same day Favre started for the Jets. I didn't hear a SINGLE story about how hard it was for him to learn a whole new offense and find chemistry with new guys around him....
just saying.....
Adam
So that's what's in my body right now.
It's been running around here, putting about about 10-20% of my platoon out of duty at any given time.
I feel under the weather, but I've been able to still function. I just went down to the aid station and got some drugs. Naturally they had told their medics "the next new case that comes in, get a stool sample."
Jeez.
Anyway, things are good. Just thought I'd write a quick note.
OK, having already established myself as a Ted Thompson HATER, I need to back him up a little.
There is no way to determine if he made "the right" decision this year. Even if the Packers go 6-10, IF 4 years from now, they are a consistent 10-6 team, constantly going deep in the playoffs, then it was the right decision. His problem in my opinion is that he gave up on the best team this year for a POTENTIAL good team over a 5 year stretch starting next year or the year after. SO if the Packers go 8-8 this year, I will not point fingers and say "told you so!" BUT if 5 years from now the Packers have not been back to the NFC title game, THEN it will be clear Thompson screwed up.
The reason I don't like this is because EVERYONE in Packerland assumes their QB will not get hurt. That's how it's been for a decade and a half. Ted Thompson is betting that Aaron Rodgers, who is VERY injury prone, will:
a. Not get injured
b. improve to pro bowl caliber
c. remain with the Packers for the next 7 years
If ANY of those fail to develop he's screwed, AND there is no reason (unless Rodgers told him behind closed doors) that he couldn't have told Rodgers he'd have to wait another year for his starting job. Brett could come out and announce this is his "Farewell Year" and Thompson could have given Rodgers a new contract for 5 years to show his commitment to his future.
This whole thing was awful. The two things I heard the most often that made the least sense:
"I feel bad for Aaron Rodgers." and "Brett has to learn a whole new offense, that's soooo difficult to do..blah blah...."
First. No matter where he ended up, someone was losing their job. So crying for Rodgers if Brett had stayed is a little silly, since you'd end up crying for someone no matter what. Starters lose their job all the time.
Second. Pennington started for Miami the same day Favre started for the Jets. I didn't hear a SINGLE story about how hard it was for him to learn a whole new offense and find chemistry with new guys around him....
just saying.....
Adam
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Back in Iraq after 18 days mid-tour leave
Well, I have had my batteries recharged!
Of course it was an exhausting process...
In my 18 days:
we had an overnight camping trip to the mountains
a 3 day stay in Estes Park
a "Kelli and me" 10th anniversary 2 day vacation in Boulder
took in a SkySox game
visited the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Museum with my Dad and Jan
spent a night in a local hotel with a water slide
built some stuffed animals with personal voice messages for the kids and Kelli
went golfing with my brother
went golfing with Kelli
went golfing with Joe and Kathy
checked out Tom's new house
talked with Shawn about winning the war in Iraq and more importantly the whole Favre debacle
had a block party to hang out with neighbors
won 3 of 4 Yahtzee games I played
destroyed Kelli in Cribbage
walked Connor to and from his first day in Kindergarten
hung out a couple times with my Mom and Frank
tore down the gym in the basement with help from my brother, Connor, and Samantha, while my dad watched
cleaned out the basement
cleaned out the garage
saw the new Batman movie
nearly finished up the paperwork I need to start school in January
jeez...I think there's some more, but I'm starting to get exhausted again just typing it all....
Anyways, I am back now and eager to finish this deployment out. A few milestones are ahead and I will mark my time with them.
SEP 10th or so Officially get orders promoting me to CPT. With these I can put in for my 30k bonus (taxed at 25%...luckily tax season will hit and bring that all back)
OCT 1st I will pin on CPT
NOV My replacement should show up sometime in NOV and I'll get him trained up
Late NOV/Early DEC I will redeploy to the Springs
Mid DEC Clear Fort Carson and finish up post deployment medical evals (a PAIN)
Xmas Vacation back to Wis/Illinois
Early Jan Vacation with Kiddos and Kelli to Disney World
Mid Jan register for classes and prep for school
Late Jan begin 18 months of schooling to finish degree.
Jun 2010 - show up for work somewhere....
There you have it.
Adam
Of course it was an exhausting process...
In my 18 days:
we had an overnight camping trip to the mountains
a 3 day stay in Estes Park
a "Kelli and me" 10th anniversary 2 day vacation in Boulder
took in a SkySox game
visited the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Museum with my Dad and Jan
spent a night in a local hotel with a water slide
built some stuffed animals with personal voice messages for the kids and Kelli
went golfing with my brother
went golfing with Kelli
went golfing with Joe and Kathy
checked out Tom's new house
talked with Shawn about winning the war in Iraq and more importantly the whole Favre debacle
had a block party to hang out with neighbors
won 3 of 4 Yahtzee games I played
destroyed Kelli in Cribbage
walked Connor to and from his first day in Kindergarten
hung out a couple times with my Mom and Frank
tore down the gym in the basement with help from my brother, Connor, and Samantha, while my dad watched
cleaned out the basement
cleaned out the garage
saw the new Batman movie
nearly finished up the paperwork I need to start school in January
jeez...I think there's some more, but I'm starting to get exhausted again just typing it all....
Anyways, I am back now and eager to finish this deployment out. A few milestones are ahead and I will mark my time with them.
SEP 10th or so Officially get orders promoting me to CPT. With these I can put in for my 30k bonus (taxed at 25%...luckily tax season will hit and bring that all back)
OCT 1st I will pin on CPT
NOV My replacement should show up sometime in NOV and I'll get him trained up
Late NOV/Early DEC I will redeploy to the Springs
Mid DEC Clear Fort Carson and finish up post deployment medical evals (a PAIN)
Xmas Vacation back to Wis/Illinois
Early Jan Vacation with Kiddos and Kelli to Disney World
Mid Jan register for classes and prep for school
Late Jan begin 18 months of schooling to finish degree.
Jun 2010 - show up for work somewhere....
There you have it.
Adam
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