Entries in Life

Except for Tempuscidaphobia, I've got the guru phobias (though this does not necessarily mean I'm a guru, of course).

Yesterday, I talked for a bit with an Christian Arabic woman who has relatives in Bethlehem. She's been expecially troubled by the past couple of years: her son was born on September 11th and the obstetric staff at the hospital was barely there during delivery — they were all glued to the TV set.

Anyway, she and I talked for a bit about these things. She is obviously stressed because people she knows are being shot despite their innocence, but she can do nothing. (She related the story of a retarded boy who was shot because he was out after the 4:00 curfew.)

Even more troubling is that there is no real understanding that not all Arabic people in Palestine and the Middle East are radical Islamists, let alone Islamic. Many are Christians who, because of their ethnicity, are targeted by governments and vigilantes.

LongBets.org is an interesting site even if you aren't a bettor. According to their rules, the minimum bet is $1000 and the minimum length is 2 years (and you don't get any money if you win). Some interesting bets (like this one predicting "bioerror" will cause millions of deaths), and some fun speculation.

Also: I love their content-typeless URLs: no .html for them!