IHADAV8.com - Turbo Buick Tech, and Nonsense
General => IHADAV8 Playground => Topic started by: Steve Wood on February 27 2011, 09:01:27 PM
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I went to Libya in 1966 just short of my 25th birthday. I went because I found out that the $450 a month that I was making would be raised to $650 and I would be paid approximately $280 a month in local Libyan currency as I would be based in Tripoli. One would have to be nuts to pass up that kinda money!
Now, like most, I had no idea of life outside the U.S. Okay, I had no idea as to life is more like it, but, the hippy generation was underway, and things were beginning to look up at home, but, I wanted to get rich quick so I would not have to work all my life. Everything I heard about Libya was bad and I expected to suffer for the paycheck. Figured it was a bunch of camel jocks and tents. Imagine my surprise when the plane was landing and I saw a major city lit up like the Las Vegas strip...okay, a slight bit of hyperbole, but, it was a major sized city.
We should know about Tripoli from the Marines song, Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli..it is an old city, and, has existed in some form since the Romans ruled North Africa. Like most of the Middle East and North Africa, it has been ruled by numerous external powers, and like most of the area, it had no formal boundaries until after the Second World War.
Before the first War, it was under the control of the Turks who sided with the wrong side in the war and the Italians ended up in charge until the Second War when they chose the wrong side and the Brits claimed it. Now, I blame the Brits for many of the Mid East problems because the various winners took over and started dividing the area up into new countries and put their favorite allies in charge even if the population did not particularly like these new rulers.
In Libya, they took a desert chieftain of the Senussi tribe and made him King Idris of Libya which I think was about 2.5 times the size of Texas and it had a population of a bit more than a million people at the time consisting of three major groups, the Senussi's in the east (Cyrenaca), a black group way down south in the lower Sahara (the Fezzan), and some other tribes in the western part which was called Tripolitania. Beyond these basic groups, there were green eyed Berbers, Touaregs, and other groups that belonged to other affiliations that I no longer recall. The one clear thing was none of them liked the next.
Like most of the other groups, the population was further divided into the haves and the havenots. Rich and corrupt, or poor and mean as a sand rattler.
The first thing I learned about Tripoli was that it was paradise for single guys. There were about three women for each guy. Most of these women were secretaries imported from Britain and paid about $300 a month and glad to get it it as England was in the midst of its Socialist revolution and people were not doing well at home unless they were labor leaders, or billionaires.
At that time, the Brit birds were way ahead of the U.S. when it came to Sex and Rock 'N Roll. Even I could get laid whenever I wanted. No drugs, that was asking to get something cut off and it was not worth the risk. Being that most guys worked in the desert, it was like shooting fish in a barrel...altho I have never tried that.....
The Italians still had a strong influence and ran large olive groves and the local brewery. Beer, and all forms of alcohol were availabe as well as a Casino, cabarets, picture shows, etc. It was very western like, but, probably a bit more corrupt. There was virtually no customs duty on electronics, cameras, and such so that the normal luxury items were often cheaper than back in the States. Malta, Rome, Athens, and London were close at hand. Athens, in those days, would get you a room, a woman, and a meal for about $5.00 for the night. So would Malta, but, until this day, I have never seen a Maltese that was worth that when it came to looks....
There was also a small Jewish population in Tripoli that lived in what I guess could be called a ghetto but, really, it was just a small somewhat contained area. No one messed with them because the provided the brains and guidance to the rich Libyans and showed them how to use their money for the maximum return. Pretty much like a lot of Europe prior to WWII, I should guess.
As a foreigner, we were normally left alone and could go just about any place in the country, if there was a road there in safety. It helped, of course to speak a little Arabic, or Italian once off the beaten path.
The countryside was very interesting, and, often beautiful As I mentioned the Romans had once occupied the country and the Phoenicians had once operated ports there. The best Roman ruins outside of Italy are found along the coast line of Libya. In some places, the sea had encroached into the cities and if one went swimming one could see marble columns, statuary, etc in the water as well as sometimes find roman coins. In some of the buildings that were still standing were paintings of how the countryside looked in those days when much of it was grass land and not desert. There were a few areas not too far from the coast where one could sometimes find hyenas, gazelles, and a small spotted cat that I think was called a serval altho I may be thinking of someplace else.
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Further inland, on top of escarpments, were still the remnants of Roman forts that were placed there to prevent raiders from the south coming up to attack the coastal cities.
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I got tired fingers and left out the time I got two bricks thru the windshield of my MGB the day the '67 war broke out...one which skinned my ear on the way by, and the time I drove a Fiat 600 between the front and rear legs of a donkey at 1 AM and flipped it over the car...only wrinkled the hood of the car...not too mention the mess in the seat.
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I got tired fingers and left out the time I got two bricks thru the windshield of my MGB the day the '67 war broke out...one which skinned my ear on the way by, and the time I drove a Fiat 600 between the front and rear legs of a donkey at 1 AM and flipped it over the car...only wrinkled the hood of the car...not too mention the mess in the seat.
Did you leave the mess?
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This is the most incredible thing I've ever read. While it's hardly befitting of a person of my standing to exhibit humility in any form, I've got to acknowledge what a treasure we have here. Thanks, Steve. Really.
Can we start a thread like this on old stories? I'm skeptical that any could compete with Woody's contributions but I think it would be neat.
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damn straight I left the mess in the road, that would have been the most expensive donkey in Libya. My wife, whose Fiat it was, made me clean up the inside once she stopped screaming we are going to die.
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One of these days you and I will chat Steve. I think we may have a few stories to exchange. Glad you made ti back from the idiots.
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Steve needs his own Dos Equis commercial.
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give me the women, keep the commercial
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Shortly after the revolution, the Russians saw an opportunity to replace the west in Libya and sent them a bunch of bargain basement tanks.
You know those rubber tank tread protectors? Apparently, the Libyans didn't. They unloaded them at the port and promptly jumped into them, fired them up and began to roar down every street in Tripoli. Amazing how quickly a tank will turn an asphalt road into a giant rumble strip.
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We Pay for those things on the road edge so you wake up if you go in the ditch!
Let's just get some tanks & have some Fun doing it!!
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Great Post Steve...
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We Pay for those things on the road edge so you wake up if you go in the ditch!
Let's just get some tanks & have some Fun doing it!!
Am I the only one who cheers whenever they play the video of the guy in San Diego who stole a tank?
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This is the most incredible thing I've ever read. While it's hardly befitting of a person of my standing to exhibit humility in any form, I've got to acknowledge what a treasure we have here. Thanks, Steve. Really.
Can we start a thread like this on old stories? I'm skeptical that any could compete with Woody's contributions but I think it would be neat.
would have to agree and I am not kissing anyone arse...I know Jim Seaton has some stories to tell...my only claim to fame is when I met Queen Juliana of the Netherlands as I used to live across the street from her palace and was in her park riding my bike...but all my stories are from when I was kid...as well as hanging out with Ambassadors children when I lived in the Netherlands...
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Sean, pace yourself. First tell me who the hell Queen Juliana is.
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she was Queen back in 70's before she abdicated and gave up throne to Beatrice...
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When I went to Libya, the U.S. had a big AFB there (Wheelus). Had some American school teachers on the base, some slot machines in a bar, and they served hamburgers and such. Hamburgers were almost as bad as Mickey D's. Later, I found out that the burgers were reportedly made of camel meat. It damn sure did not taste like beef.
In those days, I used to try to play golf. The greens were oiled sand and they were the color of oil soaked red sand. Now, I learned to hate golf with a passion trying to play there. If I ever managed to actually get to the "green" which was particularly difficult because I had a slice and a half and I had to aim at ten o'clock to approach 12 o'clock and that was on my good days...sometim es it was more aim at 8. Once around the hole, it was like putting on a twisted up pool table. There were actually guys that would get drunk and play for money. One had a better chance at winning at Powerball than being low score even if they were normally decent at golf.
Wheelus had a tv station but they showed reruns from the '40s, or so it seemed to me. I lived on the sea and often I could get stations in Malta, Rome, and Tunis...some days other European stations would also come in. TV is line of site so if there is no surface obstructions in the way, you can get good reception. In order to do better, I went downtown and bought an amplifier to put on the antenna on the roof. I got home and started to install it and it had no instructions in it. No one could figure out how to hook it up. I went back downtown and told the Egyptian shop keeper that it had no instructions. He said that instructions were extra and if I wanted instructions it would cost me another 20 pounds. I then knew why so many Libyans did not like Egyptians.
It was worth it later, because I stayed home one day and saw the first moon landing via Tunisian television. I watched a lot of tv after the revolution when the Libyans took over the Wheelus station. None of it was Libyan, however. Mostly from Rome. It had good looking women even tho I did not understand much Italian when it was spoken.
I lived a couple of kms out of town on the highway to Tunisia. The villa was a big duplex affair right down on the water. Each room was painted a dark color...living room was a dark blue with 12ft ceilings. Took a lot of paint to repaint the inside. I hired some guys from work to redo it. Instead of putting down tarps on the floor, they hauled sand inside and spread it on the floor to catch the drips. They did not understand why I did not like the color scheme. It was a four bed room villa and my bedroom was purple.
A couple of days after the revolution, I decided to try to get to work. I drove up to the highway and was promptly stopped by some "soldiers" that appeared to be about 15. They were equipped with a variety of guns and managed to get a couple of rounds fired off into the air. One of them stuck a gun in my face and asked something that sounded like-where the eff are you going? I knew from my neighbors that the curfew was supposed to have been lifted for daylite hours so I butchered up the Arabic and said I was going to work. I also congratulated them on the revolution and their new freedom with about ten new words I had learned on the tv the past couple of days. They were all happy and let me go. My room mate decided he would be brave and come out and go to work as well after he saw me depart. Ol' Roland was from Mississippi and he was still trying to communicate with the Brits and knew no Arabic. They pulled him out of the car, searched him, waved guns around, and finally let him go back to the house. It was two weeks before he would leave the house again. He did not stay there too much longer. I reckon they knew he was the guy that ate hamburger steak every night and poured a bottle of ketchup over it til it was completely hidden. I don't it was camel either. That was 1969 and I did not eat another hamburger steak until about two years ago. That ketchup grossed me out.
After all the hassles that we endured after the revolution, I missed Libya many times when I moved to Australia right after they elected a Labor government and some of them people absolutely refused to work or take orders. I often thought give me 70 Libyans and you all can go sit down. Other than work, Australia was a fantastic place to live in the '70s
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One thing I learned when working overseas. If you are an American and need help, don't waste your time going to the American Embassy unless you are an official American which basically means something like CIA. Go see the Brits, the Dutch, the Aussies, etc. They will help you gladly.
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she was Queen back in 70's before she abdicated and gave up throne to Beatrice...
My bad. Freakinb' American schools teach kids as if we were the only country in the world.
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she was Queen back in 70's before she abdicated and gave up throne to Beatrice...
My bad. Freakinb' American schools teach kids as if we were the only country in the world.
You are a hundred percent right...I don't remember ever learning that the Normans used to rule Sicily and other areas...hell, the Normans fought in the battle of Hastings in 1066 and that was all I ever heard about them. The Goths, the Vandals, etc. History is damned interesting if they would quit teaching cartoon, politically correct crap and actually teach the politics behind the scenes.
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I actually saw someone having difficulty finding Salt Lake City on a US map once and knew that the problem was indeed as bad as they say. I can't think of much that is more important to learn in school than history and geography. I think I was around 18 years old before I figured out why I couldn't find Prussia on a map.
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LOL
if they would quit teaching dates and teach something interesting, it would be better...
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Normans in Sicily and northern Italy fighting against the Byzantines joining with the Vikings and populations of Flanders...att acking England after Herold claimed the throne after Edward the confessor died in 1066 ...
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If I had not watched the history channel and read a few books, I would think you were speaking French :)
I also never heard anything about the Sumerians and the development of an alphabet long before anyone else did so...I still think there is some credence to their stories of visitors from outer space
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Am I way out of line to think that alot of mathematics could be skipped? Barring the onset of a full-on Hollywood-esque dystopia, we'll always have devices to take care of that. Shoot, I bet you'd be hard pressed to find a surveyor anymore who can do the long-form trig for his triagulations.
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trigonometry do they even teach that anymore
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Apparently they don't even teach dopes like me how to spell 'triangulations'.
Being a southpaw (and an idiot), I had to all but cheat to get through algebra as a kid. I still barely posess the skill needed to do simple multiplication . I deserve stones thrown at my head, but I never was any good with anything as concrete as mathematics.
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he who casts the first stone
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advanced math is wasted on most because they never need it.
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I believe there is a much greater need for talented plumbers, electricians, builders, etc. than there are for college graduates that cannot produce anything useful but are well qualified for government jobs which produce nothing.
I was in Harbor Freight last week and some HS shop teacher was there on a field trip. He was explaining what all the tools are and how to use them. Now that teacher deserves a raise.
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I believe there is a much greater need for talented plumbers, electricians, builders, etc. than there are for college graduates that cannot produce anything useful but are well qualified for government jobs which produce nothing.
I was in Harbor Freight last week and some HS shop teacher was there on a field trip. He was explaining what all the tools are and how to use them. Now that teacher deserves a raise.
To bad he has to take them there and did not have them in the school. But kudos
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I believe there is a much greater need for talented plumbers, electricians, builders, etc. than there are for college graduates that cannot produce anything useful but are well qualified for government jobs which produce nothing.
I was in Harbor Freight last week and some HS shop teacher was there on a field trip. He was explaining what all the tools are and how to use them. Now that teacher deserves a raise.
To bad he has to take them there and did not have them in the school. But kudos
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Machinists do, or did, use trig every day. I did but it's mostly CNC anymore so there aren't nearly as many actual machinists that go from the blueprint to the finished part making the calculations themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem
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I believe there is a much greater need for talented plumbers, electricians, builders, etc. than there are for college graduates that cannot produce anything useful but are well qualified for government jobs which produce nothing.
I was in Harbor Freight last week and some HS shop teacher was there on a field trip. He was explaining what all the tools are and how to use them. Now that teacher deserves a raise.
To bad he has to take them there and did not have them in the school. But kudos
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I will bet the average 14 year old doesn't know 12x12 without a machine to help!
But they sure know how to Text words in short form!!
They are forming a new written language right in front of us with all the shortcut words they use. I don't understand half of it, not having a teenager? :rolleyes:
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X a million a half-vowels are a vanishing breed-kinda like Arabic writes no vowels normally. You either know the word, or you are screwed...
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Kinda like people that use wayyy too many emoticons.
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I like the Bud commercial where the guy is ordering a beer speaking emoticons
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Sean, pace yourself. First tell me who the hell Queen Juliana is.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Juliana_1963.jpg)
Juliana (Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909