Rage at the register.

When an express lane opened up at the store a few minutes before closing, I walked right on over, only to have a guy step in front of me at the last moment.  That was too bad for me, but fair.  After all, he had technically arrived there first, nothing wrong with that. 
When he [...]

People and particular paradigms of prayer.

Following links from lungis.com took me to some first-hand accounts by people who attended the March 18 Muslim prayer service in NY led by Prof. Amina Wadud, "thought to have become one of the first Muslim women to lead mixed Friday prayers."
One prayer.The woman-led jum’a: one big farce (but w/ a grain of salt)
Amina [...]

Violet vagaries.

Is it appropriate to congratulate someone for receiving a purple heart?  Oops, maybe it isn’t.  But that was what came out of my mouth when my aunt suddenly handed the phone over to me and told me to talk to my cousin.  There were one or two other things that came to mind, but they [...]

Subservient Sanjeev

Ouch.

Shirt shopping online, I noticed a shirt with an upright collar (sometimes called mandarin), and then I read the description underneath its photo a few times before I, um, got it:
Usually Ships in 24 - 48 Hours
Taiwan
one of these? Classic Asian style meets modern functionality in this
Kenzie top, featuring the definitive mandarin collar.

I look better [...]

Fantastic fro-hawk on Fox

Desi Girls on ‘da Rise

Kanishka kin.">Canadian condolences to Kanishka kin.

*The flight originated in Vancouver. Of the deceased, 280 were
Canadians, 80 of whom were children. In the 10 years since the
tragedy, a royal commission of inquiry has not been held. There
has been no parliamentary inquiry whatsoever into this terrorist
act.

I remind hon. members there was an inquiry in Ireland. There
was another inquiry in India.

The thing about [...]

Arbitrary associations.

Forget Me NotHow to win the U.S. memory championship.
…the more meaningful something is, the easier it is to remember…
Some memorizers arbitrarily associate each playing card with a familiar
person or object, so that the king of clubs is represented by, say,
Tony Danza. The grand masters associate each card with a person, an
action, or an object…For [...]

Mutt, man, and micro sausages [via]