First Annual.
Tomorrow, or more accurately, tonight is my birthday. I usually let these things pass me by. The last few years have found me on planes or by myself in a strange city or somewhere. This year, my friends in Cairo have quietly insisted on a party, and I am going to indulge them. [...]

Here’s to your inevitable political downfall!
I read this article about the respective public spectacles over Michael Jackson and Sarah Palin and it got me thinking about the spectacle that became Sarah Palin last autumn during the American presidential elections and her present attention-grabbing efforts. Her untimely resignation from the Alaska gubernatorial seat should be [...]

Testing… Testing. Is this thing on.
We are always, it seems, interested in measuring or coding personality. I read this article [PDF] this morning over my coffee and found it fascinating. The results aren’t necessarily fascinating, but the idea is.
The gist is: can we something about the personality of an individual based on their e-mail [...]

Not easily
My mood tends to reflect that of the people around me. If those around me are having a good time, then I will likely be having a good time. If those around me are upset, then I will be more likely to be upset. I realize the failure in this mode of being, but [...]

Not like you might think

I used to get nervous getting on planes.
I don’t really anymore. Years of conditioning myself to know how to feel on a plane by taking a pill or two and a pre-flight beer took care of that. I no longer fear the idea that the giant, heavy thing that I [...]

Is that “inshallah for real,” or “inshallah, it’s never going to happen?”

What will come over us next?

I caught this article this week on Reuters. Apparently, it has become a bit of a problem in Jerusalem that while people are there visiting holy sites and relics, something comes over them, causing odd behavior, spontaneous preaching and the perceiving of visions of prophets and messiahs. This phenomenon has [...]