Ramblings of a Hopeless Khowaga

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Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

The Texas Two-Step
2008-03-05 15:05:00
Well, I’ve done gone and ‘et my words: I am a caucusian. If you live in These United States, you’ve probably heard about the weird ass system we have down here in Texas where we have both election and caucuses for the presidential primaries. The Texas primaries are always so freaking late in the year ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The Texas Two-Step ", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F05%2Fthe-texas-two-step%2 F&seed_title=The+Texas+Two-Step" });

Please switch your phone to vibrate
2008-03-04 18:59:00
… so, what do you think? IS the Nokia stock ring tone the most commonly played “song” in the world now? SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Please switch your phone to vibrate", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F04%2Fplease-switch-your-p hone-to-vibrate%2F&seed_title=Please+ switch+your+phone+to+vibrate" });
More About: Phone , Asides , Switch

Links for 2008-03-03 [del.icio.us]
2008-03-04 07:00:00
How to Infuse Vodka "Maceration" may sound like some crazy combat maneuver, but it's really what happens when a flavor is steeped into a fluid. If you're using the process to add flavor to your vodka, it's given the much cooler moniker of "infusion."
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24 hours left?
2008-03-03 21:53:00
If I have to hear Hillary Clinton tell that story about doing voter registration on the Texas border one more time … … Mexican food … yeesh … SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "24 hours left?", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F03%2F24-hours-left%2F& ;seed_title=24+hours+left%3F" });
More About: Asides , Left , Hours

Saturday in the sun
2008-03-03 20:24:00
The first Saturday in March has, for several years now, been the university’s open house event (now called “Explore UT” — this is the third moniker they’ve used in my time here). I’ve grown over many years to loathe this event with a hatred that is normally reserved for people who can’t use apostrophes ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Saturday in the sun", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F03%2F03%2Fsaturday-in-the-sun% 2F&seed_title=Saturday+in+the+sun" });
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Links for 2008-03-02 [del.icio.us]
2008-03-03 07:00:00
Teaching Boys and Girls Separately The idea is gaining traction in American public schools, in response to the different education crises girls and boys have been reported to experience. Students of all ages get taste of college Exploit, er, Explore UT: Where we get to take everything we do and turn it into a craft project and spent hours in the heat watching screaming children fight with their parents. Brought to you by the President's Office. I Need a Virtual Break. No, Really. Thus began my ?secular Sabbath? ? a term I found floating around on blogs ? a day a week where I would be free of screens, bells and beeps. An old-fashioned day not only of rest but of relief. Gourmet Guide to Hawaii In the years since the sugar industry packed up shop and left Hawaii, the Aloha State has taken on a limited culinary identity: poi and pineapple, seafood and shave ice.
More About: Links , 2008

Links for 2008-02-29 [del.icio.us]
2008-03-01 07:00:00
Must Read: The Twenty Science Fiction Novels that Will Change Your Life Whether it's because they've altered the course of science fiction writing, or simply provide a genuinely alien perspective on ordinary life, these are novels that will rearrange how you think.
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Reality check
2008-03-01 01:12:00
It was the end of the second of the two days that I spent coordinating a workshop for a group of army officers preparing to deploy to Iraq that the realization finally hit me. I’d brought in a lecturer to talk about Islamic law, and she was rattling off about hadith this and family ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Reality check", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F02%2F29%2F747%2F&seed_titl e=Reality+check" });
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Links for 2008-02-26 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-27 07:00:00
Turkey in radical revision of Islamic texts The country's powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.
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The Tree
2008-02-25 20:26:00
???? ?????? This one’s for Will . It’s in the 80s today in Austin, so I spent some of my lunch break sitting out under Mohammad’s tree. It’s kind of sad, because gone are the days when Mohammad would hold court beneath his tree — which I think he co-opted from the LGBTQ Students’ Association, since he ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The Tree ", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F02%2F25%2Fthe-tree%2F&seed _title=The+Tree" });
More About: Photos , Home

Links for 2008-02-24 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-25 07:00:00
The Myth of the Surge : Rolling Stone Hoping to turn enemies into allies, U.S. forces are arming Iraqis who fought with the insurgents. But it's already starting to backfire. A report from the front lines of the new Iraq Echoes of Amado in the Dark and the Light For visitors keen to experience the tropical mysteries of Salvador da Bahia, the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado went so far as to suggest an itinerary in his novel, ?Tereza Batista: Home From the Wars.? Spongebob Rectal Thermometer
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Trippin?
2008-02-22 20:08:00
Skyline Drive, in the Shenandoah National Park. I always love landing in DC: “There is an airport down there somewhere, right?” SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Trippin’", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F02%2F22%2Ftrippin%2F&seed_ title=Trippin%26%238217%3B" });
More About: Travel , Photos

Links for 2008-02-21 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-22 07:00:00
20 Worst Foods in America
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Oh, I wish I were a Flash Gordon villain
2008-02-21 14:09:00
It’s raining this morning, which is perfect, cos I have to leave the house in a few minutes to go to the airport and fly to DC. I’m off to a conference that, as I told anyone who crossed my path yesterday by phone, e-mail, IM, or Psychic Friends Network, I just don’t have ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Oh, I wish I were a Flash Gordon villain", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F02%2F21%2Foh-i-wish-i-were-a-f lash-gordon-villain%2F&seed_title=Oh% 2C+I+wish+I+were+a+Flash+Gordon+villain" });
More About: Flash Gordon

Signs of the Time
2008-02-19 15:15:00
Just in case anyone on campus has forgotten, here’s a helpful reminder that early voting in Texas starts today. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Signs of the Time ", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F02%2F19%2Fsigns-of-the-time%2F &seed_title=Signs+of+the+Time" });
More About: The Time

Links for 2008-02-18 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-19 07:00:00
Gay Africans And Arabs Come Out Online There are blogs bridging the Arabic-speaking world from Morocco in the west to the United Arab Emirates in the east.
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A Day in the Life
2008-02-19 03:45:00
We’re sitting here watching Deal or No Deal, for reasons that I can’t quite figure out. In amongst pondering our preposterously bad taste in television. Fortunately, we have not stooped to the point of, say, My Dad is Better than Your Dog, or Who Wants to Marry a Quadriplegic?, and I can still make fun of America’s Next Top Model replete in the inner knowledge that I have never actually seen the show. (Who needs to, when you’ve got Shin? When the show’s not crazy enough on its own, he’ll write his own sketch.) Because I’m who I am, I’m also mulling over an incident at work today that I should let go, but there’s residual drama there (fortunately, I’m tangential at best), and I’m trying to decide if a) I’ve accidentally added to it, and b) whether saying anything to the party in question would accomplish anything. The answer isn’t at the bottom of the bottle of Texas Hills’ Cinque Vino Rosso that...
More About: Life , Day In The Life

Links for 2008-02-17 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-18 07:00:00
Marriage, religion and idleness at The Arabist The Arabist responds to the NYT: "The thing that struck most about the article, and which I recognized from everyday life in Egypt, is not so much the pervasiveness of religion but the central role idleness plays in young people’s lives." Minority Rules Nationalism used to hold Turkey together. Now, as the Kurdish crisis is showing, it’s tearing the country apart. Can homegrown multiculturalism be the new ideology that binds? One big-city mayor gives it a try. Of Crime and the River In this story of a bitter fight against a dam in western Belize, Bruce Barcott mashes up adventure, nature writing and biography in a steamy climate of corruption and intrigue.
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On My Mind
2008-02-17 20:21:00
It’s been a few days since I’ve written a “real” post — ironic for me, since I’m usually heavy on the words and light on the photos. It’s like we’ve all shifted into that Parallelland that I wrote about a few days back. Ah, Paralelland. So, in no particular order, here’s what’s on my mind: I still don’t know who to vote for. Now that it’s become rather obvious that the Texas primary on March 4 will actually mean something, my deer-in-the-headlights approach to choosing a candidate seems like it’s a little less advisable, and yet … {stares at the pretty lights .. it’s so beautiful! … crash!} I decided, on the recommendation of a friend who is having problems making up her mind like I am, to visit Glass Booth, a site that features one of those Cosmo-type quizzes where you rank the relative importance of a number of issues, choose your stance on them, and then it splits out a list of c...
More About: Mind , On My Mind

Links for 2008-02-16 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-17 07:00:00
Dreams Stifled, Egypt's Young Turn to Islamic Fervor Across the Middle East, many people are forced to put off marriage, the gateway to independence. In their frustration they turn to religion for solace. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge? Susan Jacoby's new book bemoans the state of American culture. Not only are citizens ignorant about essential knowledge, she says, but they also don’t think it matters. Battlestar Galactica: Battlestar Won't Self-Destruct Good news: BSG will get to finish season 4. Bad news: it might be 2009 before the unfinished half of the 4th season airs. Also, rumors of a writers strike ...
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Friday Night
2008-02-16 16:40:00
There’s a lot of gatherings going on this weekend, which started off last night with an after work visit to a wine bar that … well, pretty much turned in to a full night out. Cork and Co. Michael and Daniel. Drinks. Bev and Lisa. Your host for the evening. Natalie and Kelly. Moving next door to Manuel’s for food. Bev, Kim, and mood lighting. ShareThis
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Links for 2008-02-15 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-16 07:00:00
Chicken Samosas with Cilantro-Yogurt Dip by Jean-Georges Vongerichten yum.
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Links for 2008-02-13 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-14 07:00:00
Roasted Red Tomato Soup We do need some things to help us get through these days, and soup is one of those things. Are You a Taco or a Burrito Person? Think of Cosmo quizzes: Everyone makes fun of how stupid they are, but everyone takes them.
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Links for 2008-02-12 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-13 07:00:00
5200 B.C. Is New Date for Farms in Egypt American and Dutch archaeologists reported last week the discovery at a desert oasis of what they say is the earliest known farming settlement in ancient Egypt. How Sticky Is Membership on Facebook? Just Try Breaking Free Some users have discovered that it is nearly impossible to remove themselves entirely from Facebook, setting off a fresh round of concern over the popular social network?s use of personal data.
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12 of 12: February 2008
2008-02-13 03:57:00
It’s time for 12 of 12 again! 6:15 AM: Can’t see a bloody thing … that’s better! Disclaimer: my poor vision and the effect of putting in my contact lenses may be enhanced for dramatic effect. 6:47 AM: On the way to pick up Bev I’ve commuted in to work for the past few years with a coworker who lives ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "12 of 12: 2008 .html">February 2008 ", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F02%2F12%2F12-of-12-february-20 08%2F&seed_title=12+of+12%3A+February +2008" });
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Diminishing Returns, or, Pure Terror, Part 2
2008-02-11 22:44:00
Well, since I blogged the experience, I may as well give you all the follow-up. Today we got the results of the Arabic language proficiency tests that we took two weeks ago, and I’m left wanting more. Since I wrote the post from my perspective as the terrorized victim of a Kafka-esque experiment, I may ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Diminishing Returns, or, Pure Terror , Part 2", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F02%2F11%2Fdiminishing-returns- or-pure-terror-part-2%2F&seed_title=D iminishing+Returns%2C+or%2C+Pure+Terror%2 C+Part+2" });
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Links for 2008-02-10 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-11 07:00:00
Universities Rush to Set Up Outposts Abroad The American system of higher education, long the envy of the world, is becoming an important export as more universities take their programs overseas.
More About: Links , 2008

Custody Issues
2008-02-11 00:28:00
I know people are going to see the title of this post and freak out: “OMG, you’re not splitting up with Ray?” No, not quite the type of custody issues I’m talking about. I’m currently in lazy-Sunday mode. I need to do laundry but won’t, the dog needs a bath and might get one ...SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Custody Issues ", url: "http://www.khowaga.us/feeder/?FeederActi on=clicked&feed=Articles+%28RSS2%29&# 38;seed=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.khowaga.us%2Fblo g%2F2008%2F02%2F10%2Fcustody-issues%2F 8;seed_title=Custody+Issues" });
More About: Weird , Just , Plain

Links for 2008-02-09 [del.icio.us]
2008-02-10 07:00:00
The Other Iran Lost in Esfahan, the old Persian capital, an American finds a mostly friendly welcome in bazaars, teahouses and even a madrasa. A View of Pueblo Life From the Inside Cabañas offer the best way to get a deeper glimpse of life in Oaxaca’s small pueblos than is possible in a day trip.
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Bicycling like a fish out of water
2008-02-09 23:08:00
And herein is the post where I describe my evening with the Palestinian Prime Minister. If you’re crazy or really, really interested, the School of Public Affairs posted a Webcast of the speech. Don’t bother looking for me, I’m way out of frame to the right, and I like it that way. The Director and Chair of my department had both received invitations from the hosts of the event, and neither particularly wanted to go, for various reasons (I won’t go into them here). Hence, I was sent as the official representative of the unit, and showed, dressed to the nines with invitation in hand. Because of who the guest of honor was, there was a lengthy line to get in, as well as a near-strip search at the door complete with guard dogs and metal detectors, and the way that the crowd control worked was that everyone who wanted to get in had to wait in a very long line outside the building. I arrived 45 minutes early and started waving around the invitation from the Dea...
More About: Fish , Water , Bicycling