Perhaps you read the stories, or the news reports based on the stories. Yasiel Puig has other things on his mind than playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Which might explain his repeated episodes of poor decision-making in the outfield and on the base paths and off the field. Or not. But Puig, according to […]

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This is the first month of the UAE calendar when you can assume a sane person no longer spends a lot of time in the sun. The high every day this week was 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Or more. However, if you pay attention to the meteorological data — or poke your head out the door […]

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I have been mulling this, off and on, for weeks. How is that we recall passages from complicated music — familiar orchestral works, for example? Not talking about the opening chords of Beethoven’s Fifth … rather, the key passages from lesser-known works. Is that process akin to the way in which we can hear the […]

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Beno Saradzic is at it again. Three years ago, the Slovenian photographer, who lives in the UAE, gave us a spectacular time-lapse photo/video of Abu Dhabi. It seems much more recent, in my memory, but here is the blog post from 2011. The new photo project is named: Beyond: Memoirs in a Time Lapse. You […]

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For the sixth anniversary of The National, tomorrow, the newspaper at which I work, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, it was decided by the editor, Mohammed Al Otaiba, to do something different. Something very different. Our four standard news sections … with almost no words. The mission: Telling the news of the day through […]

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A month ago, I noted with alarm that Landon Donovan, the greatest soccer player to play for the U.S. national team, appeared to spend a lot of time walking during a Galaxy game in Tijuana. Which led me to wonder if he were pacing himself … or carrying an injury. And it may have been […]

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James Milner is an Englishman who plays for the Manchester City club. He is in the starting 11 now and then. Mostly, he is an industrious backup midfielder. With the emphasis on industrious. Supreme fitness seems to preoccupy him. At a Euro 2012 tournament game, he famously ran 1.4 kilometers more (in excess of .86 […]

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Outside the front door of an apartment here in my building in Abu Dhabi is a sort of welcome mat. One with a message. It reads: “OOOOH GOODIE! “YOU’VE ARRIVED! “(at last)” It strikes me as a bit of an unusual welcome mat.

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How hard is this? Really? When you leave a gym … you put away whatever it was you had been using.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returned to Abu Dhabi tonight, and it seemed to get plenty of attention. The du Arena on Yas Island appeared to be filled to capacity (about 6,000) to see an eight-bout card capped by the American heavyweight Roy “Big Country” Nelson knocking out Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira of Brazil. This was […]

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