It's late August, and the fall semester is about to begin!  Since classes are about to begin, I thought I'd steer you to this little opinion piece about education. Summary? Take a hard class that has real substance to it, not an easy class that

I ask because the presence of a big Buddhist monk smackdown! has confused me. Check out the news, headlined "Monks brawl at peace protest": COLOMBO (Reuters) - Protesters calling for an end to

Satirical headline from The Onion,  dated November 23, 2005: "Why Does Everybody Hate Me?" by Satan Actual headline from the Times of London, dated August 5, 2006: "Forget Judas, let's have sympathy for the Devil" by Ruth Gl

YES!!!! Now that's what computer software technology is FOR, baby.  Photos you aren't ashamed of.  *Giggle.* Well, as one communications professor told my Sibling: "The camera ALWAYS lies."

Just a personal note.  I'm in the process of moving house.  Right now I'm putting things into cardboard boxes.  I HATE MOVING.  It is a huge, nasty pain!  To make things worse, I have far too many books.  And everyone

This story from British academia is simply insane.   

I didn't think of this, but it's an interesting question anyway that another blogger has asked: "Why does the UN recognize Hezbollah, but not Taiwan?" There are plenty of answers.  But it's the question that drives us, isn't it? 

No, really! The headline honestly and truly does say: "French Trying Not To Be So Rude." I confess to poking fun at the French on occasion (with their government leaders, it is so hard not to), but this time I just can't help giggling.&nb

I haven't posted much on Taiwan lately, but here's something fun and fashionable from Taipei. The Taipei in Style fashion expo is going on right now!  Time to watch the catwalk and go to fashion seminars (they're being held in various languages

The shooting war has halted (for the time being, anyway), and the results are mostly bad.  Israel's the loser because it didn't destroy Hezbollah outright, and frankly, I was extremely frustrated with the odd behavior of the Olmert government --

Here's something interesting: the 15 most influential websites that have changed the way we work, play, do business, and surf the Internet. The news story gives the history of each website, but if you're in a hurry, I give you just the names of thes

This story made me laugh.  The BBC, long the exponent of "progressive" claptrap and the snippily superior commentariat, has found to its chagrin that the "diversity " crusade has come home to roost.  The BBC, you may rec

This little Internet quiz only confirms the sadly obvious: I am a nerd and bookworm. You Should Get a PhD in Liberal Arts (like political science, literature, or philosophy)

Inside Higher Ed has an essay by a university chancellor -- wait, wait!  I know the very words "university chancellor's essay" are enough to send you running, screaming, for the nearest exit.  Heck, the words "university chan

Sometimes you can say things as a comedian that you're just not supposed if you're not.  This young stand-up comedian has a rather piquant point to make about the famous "72 virgins" of suicide bomber-lore.  (Hey, pal, t

I found this tip via OpinionJournal, and I simply had to pass it on to you. Amazon.Com has started selling everything except souls, and I'm sure it'll get around to that sooner or later.  But the weird thing now is that Amazon, famous for selli

I haven't inflicted any Hello Kitty monstrosities on you recently, but this latest is so bad it should more than compensate for the weeks of freedom from the cartoon queen of cute. Take a look at the Hello Kitty hotel suite, and feel your eyes explo

Read this.  It's the satirical "Huffington Post List of Things to be Fearful of!" -- and the writer is really funny. Here are a few of my favorites: Fear of Walmart Fear of

If you don't know who Bernard Lewis is, please do discover him.  He is professor emeritus at Princeton and probably the most prominent scholar of the Middle East today.  He also writes very well, and some of his scholarly books are actually

Here is an interesting Australian opinion piece.

This is just fantastic -- Penn and Teller versus academia!  Smackdown! It's the best video clip I've seen in a long time. (Link via Phi Beta Cons.) I should warn you, that the language is rather . . . er, salty.  But the content is pretty

Check out this little post by awesome Aussie Tim Blair, complete with links. My  favorite is EU cartoon superhero Captain Euro.  I had no idea such a thing even existed.  You absolutely must click on the "Captain Euro Intro&quo

Learn well your English, boys and girls: English is the new global lingua franca.  This is NO surprise at all to anyone with a rudimentary grasp of international language use.  The very attempts by various nations (like France and Iran) to

I said erlier that the infamous Zinedine Zidane head-butt simply refuses to go away! And now it is a Chinese beer.  Check this out: A Chinese entrepreneur has registered the image of Zinedine Zidane's notorious

There are plenty of silly Mentos-and-Diet Coke video clips running around the Internet, but this one is the best I've ever seen.  It's not quite the Bellagio fountain show in Vegas, but pretty close for Mentos and Diet Coke! Now if only someo