Leonard Nimoy died yesterday. He was 83. He was an actor best known for a three-year role as the half-Vulcan/half-human Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame. His was just one character of a television series that lasted only three seasons, from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969, before coming back to life as a […]

[Read more →]

The first adult photo of the Islamic State executioner known in popular media as Jihadi John was revealed today … And Mohammed Emwazi, Kuwaiti national, former London resident, is seen … wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates cap. Much to the consternation of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

[Read more →]

Most of us have a pretty good idea how easy it is to pass along germs in the workplace. Probably could have done without knowing just how easy it is. A news reporter at The National came up with the idea of testing various surfaces in the newsroom to see what sort of bacteria might […]

[Read more →]

I was a big fan of Maury Wills, when he played for the Dodgers in the 1960s. These were the struggle-to-score Dodgers, who often went back to Dead Ball Era tactics to win, with “Little Maury” leading the way. Bunt single, stolen base, ground ball to the right side, sacrifice fly. That was a Dodgers […]

[Read more →]

Now and then, the name O.J. Simpson, pops up. When they see that name, most Americans who were adults in the middle 1990s probably have a couple of thoughts flit through their heads. “Football star … killed two people and got away with it …” Often, the next-most-pertinent thought — “currently in prison” — doesn’t […]

[Read more →]

In the “emperor has no clothes” category, boxing division, we have Manny Pacquaio, elite pugilist, apparently being told by so many fawning people that he can play professional basketball … that he is attempting to do so. This, when anyone paying attention knows that the 5-foot-6, 36-year-old fighter is, at best, a decent pickup-game player. […]

[Read more →]

Omar Abdulrahman is the best soccer player in the UAE. He might be the best soccer player in the Middle East. He is good enough that whenever foreigners see him play, they inevitably ask: “When are you going to Europe?” Now and then, Omar has seemed vaguely interested in that concept. He trained for a […]

[Read more →]

Seems like an act of hubris to put up a 79-story skyscraper in Dubai and name it The Marina Torch. Isn’t that sort of asking for fate to intervene? Had the builders never seen (or heard of) The Towering Inferno? So, The Marina Torch, often known simply as the The Torch, got some global notoriety […]

[Read more →]

The UAE gets sandstorms. We get that. Like Southern California gets Santa Anas. But this one is unusually severe.  As the photo, above, from our balcony showed, the sun has been nearly blotted out and we cannot clearly make out buildings more distant than across the street. And this was at high noon on February […]

[Read more →]

We are very interested in crocodiles, over here in the UAE. They’re big, they’re ugly, they’re dangerous and they’re here. They do not occur in nature anywhere around the Gulf, far as I know, but that has not stopped the operators of Dubai Mall from bringing over a pair, dubbed King Croc and Queen Croc, […]

[Read more →]