You guys sold out. Whats with the moderation. I have sent Lounsbury an email and I didnt get a reply. Is that the policy here?

bikhair:

didn't you notice the "An Aqoul Energy Subsidiary" tag at the bottom?

E: redesign looks good. keep up the good work.

All: write more to keep a bored engineer happy at work.

Bikhair: We get a lot of spam. Your comment was junked by the filter due to "Incorect/missing passphrase" (cat) and "Number of links exceed junk limit (3)".

Nothing personal, I have since unjunked it.

As for Lounsbury not replying to emails, well, he is not known for his commitment to customer service.

Ooo - everything has changed so much. It makes me feel a bit sad/nostalgic for the old layout, but you can see a lot more on the new one.

The lovely araby background pattern (the octate stars) only shows while loading.

secret: only if you have a freakishly small screen.

My DSL lines are down, afraid I shall not be able to respond to messages or post until this is resolved.

aziz poonwalla and ali eteraz are seeking french muslim bloggers for the brass crescent and the islamosphere. eerie suggests the invitation be extended to northafrican bloggers as well. blogging in english is not a prerequisite.
i had thought shaheen might know of some french blogs.
eteraz-at-gmail-dot-com or azizhp-at-gmail-dot-com

Hmmm...I'm surprised that no one is commenting on former Iranian President Khatami's sudden visit to the United States (Chicago).

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2006/September/middleeast_September57.xml§ion=middleeast&col=

Well, I do think about Iran sometimes. Can't bring myself to write about it though.

I was at the Islamic Soc of North America convention in Chicago last weekend and Khatami spoke there. Unfortunately the sound system was "ba'iz" (ruined in Egyptian slang) and I could not hear either him or his translator right and we gave up and left. He sure has a presence.

Anna: are you in the left or east coast Portland?

So did they already start to clean up the oil spill in Lebanon?

hm, without the firebreathing Lounsbury around this site is deserted, it seems.

so anyway:

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=75383

Seems Blair's stance on Lebanon was what kicked off his current political freefall.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5285986.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/5284226.stm

But things had been building up for a long time. Just toppled from a curious angle. Does anyone know anything about Brown's take on MENA and USA, perhaps also pre-New Labour?

Suppose I could try impersonating him, but it just wouldn't be the same.

Ah, the Blair soap opera continues. Will read those later.

it has been rather quiet around here, what with L furiously bailing water. maybe it's time to start running a "Best of Lounsbury" feature regularly.

or a Lounsbury insult generator, like the famous Dilbert mission statement generator.

or we could get into the Macaca debate

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/09/10/the_last_of_the_maca.html

Sorry to disappoint amigos, sometimes I have to pay attention to work. I would hope with the other co-authors however that someone besides me and Matt can whank on.

Ramadan should give me time to resurface.

or a Lounsbury insult generator, like the famous Dilbert mission statement generator.

This idea has a lot of potential.

Easy to do, but need a good list of Lounsburyesque adjectives, nouns and verbs.

it's very easy. just seed random phrases with the word "wanker"

I did a bit of thinking about the Lounsbury Insult Generator on the back of a napkin earlier, however must make a post else Mr. AWOL will continue complaining.

Ah, and now my nails are drying and can't type.

E: can't you get Kitten to blow on them for you?

Re: the oil spill, I hope to have some stuff to report in the next week or two. (Greenpeace is sending the Rainbow Warrior! I think they'll try and buzz the French blue helmets once or twice). I'll try and get some reporting in from Leb land, now that I'm back.

about bloody time, Tom. it's not like there was a war or anything.

you get bonus points if you're actually on the rainbow warrior when it buzzes the blue helmets.

Interesting article on Moslems in France in Foreign Affairs 85:5. I recall a thread on the subject but it was so long ago that I didn't want to perform threadomancy on it.
Anyway, I broke down and dropped the $6 on the pdf. If anyone wants to read it and balks at the price, I reckon I can be emailed through the board administration.

one little thing: eerie, whenever anyone previews their comment, the link provided is replaced with the name of the poster. Fix, if it fixed be can.

Wondered about these British power struggles. Kept me up all night...no, not really. The Tories were a fun bunch of animals to look at in the 90s, and the way Kennedy was backstabbed over excessive honesty about his alcoholism in the Libdems creates a common theme in concordance with the current regicide in Labour.

Maybe all that pragmatism in the UK political system keeps their spite and malice bottled up, until the time is ripe. Just seems more civilized elsewhere.

to add to the wanking, it appears Borat has finally caused a true international incident. http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowbizNews.asp?Code=ZX134406U&headline=borat_sparks_summit

yes, that's right. president Nazarbayev is flying in to meet with president Bush to try and resolve any misconceptions Borat's movie might create. Kazakhstan is also going to do a media blitz to try and give people the right image of the country. "Come to Kazakhstan! The nuclear sandbox of russia for 60 years!"