Sometimes the answer to this question is just plain scary. When journalists talk among themselves about “what readers really want” … they almost always take the high road. Too high a road. Readers want incisive reporting and elegant writing, journalists say. They want global news. They want hard-hitting investigative journalism That Makes a Difference and […]

[Read more →]

Landon Donovan had not won this award before? Were they giving the MLS Most Valuable Player to other guys just as a sort of goof? To mess with us? And him? “And the winner is, Land … Hey, got you again! The winner is Luciano Emilio!” Or Guillermo Barros Schelotto! Christian Gomez, everybody! Amado Guevara!? […]

[Read more →]

It took me a while to notice this. One of those “you don’t pick up on absences as fast” sort of things. But here it is: There are very few insects in Abu Dhabi City. Which is bizarre. But I now am convinced of it, after five weeks in-country.

[Read more →]

Yes, I know a lot of you aren’t interested. But five more teams got into the World Cup over the past six hours, and I did a big post on the circumstances over at the “Countdown to SA 2010” blog. Which can be seen over on the right side of this page. Or, you can […]

[Read more →]

We turn on the tap here, we get hot and cold running water. Fresh water. Since it’s been through the salination plant, that is. Practically the entire water supply for the United Arab Emirates (of which Abu Dhabi is the biggest, most populous and wealthiest) comes from the seawater of the Gulf. It is a […]

[Read more →]

So, back at it today. Back out to the tiny place in Al Muroor, which I tried to write about yesterday, lost the file and directed you to Leah’s site … But before we get to that, some general impressions on finding housing in Abu Dhabi, city of.

[Read more →]

The internet goes down here, in the hotel room. It crashes without warning. It’s one of the parts of Abu Dhabi that is more Third World than First. Phones, communications … they can be erratic. Anyway, this site is supposed to auto-save every minute or so … but given the history of this service, I […]

[Read more →]

Yikes. Win forever? How about winning regularly? That’s two defeats in three games, both in blowouts, and the line of “Stanford 55, USC 21” hurt most of all. The 2009 Trojans already were on life-support when it came to their seven-year baseline aspirations — a BCS bowl, winning the Pac-10, finishing ranked in the top […]

[Read more →]

Yes, at it again. More World Cup information over on the countdown to South Africa blog. You can find a link to your right, and here’s another. Pretty wild day out there. Nigeria jumped Tunisia on the final day of group qualifying to snatch a bid to South Africa 2010 … New Zealand is headed […]

[Read more →]

One of our favorite former journalism co-workers, Jim Long, died in September at age 46. Far too young for far too good a guy. Here is the obit that we did here in September, but most of you have seen it. The news here is that his widow, Judith Pfeffer, has created a blog dedicated […]

[Read more →]