"Over and over again we have tried to find a peaceful way out of the differences between ourselves and those who are now our enemies. But it has been in vain. We have been forced into a conflict. For we are called, with our allies, to meet the challenge of a principle which, if it were to prevail, would be fatal to any civilised order in the world ( Read more... )

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I go to my ear doctor for the (hopefully!!) final visit today ( Read more... )

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A week ago, I went to a cousin's wedding. It was quite good, especially since I seem to be past the age when it's considered socially acceptable to give me a conspiratorial nudge and say "So, when are we going to dance at yours, eh?" It would have been like thousands of other quite-good weddings, if it hadn't been for this one thing...

At some point ( Read more... )

"On 27 January 1556, Humayun, with his arms full of books, was descending the staircase from his library when the muezzin announced the Adhan (the call to prayer). It was his habit, wherever he heard the summons, to bow his knee in holy reverence. Kneeling, he caught his foot in his robe, tumbled down several steps and hit his temple on a rugged ( Read more... )

Coming from my US supervisor:

"I shouldn't say "there's no way we can screw it up," because of course there is."

I have news: I started horseback riding lessons three weeks ago.

Highlights so far:

-- the inner sides of my thighs are covered in lovely multicolored bruises;

-- I have sore muscles in places I didn't even know had muscles;

-- my coach makes fun of me (and looks like he's having fun watching me struggling, too!);

-- I got a somewhat cranky horse that
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My brother send me a link to a YouTube video today, and this is something I can't possibly keep from sharing with as many people as I can!

Background: the song is in Russian, the event being the start of the school year. To get what's going on, the knowledge of Russian is optional. ;)

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A coworker and I were asked to do a comparison of three lists of things. We took the one that looked the most important as our basis and went on with it. Then we discussed it with our manager ( Read more... )