Cinco de Mayo in the United Arab Emirates … well, it’s May 5. The end. The day after May 4. The day before May 6. Cindo de Mayo does not exist as any sort of holiday here because Mexico may as well be on the moon to the overwhelming majority of people who live in […]

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This is Part 1 of this topic. With Part 2 to come … eventually. Once I get around to compiling a list. And I think about it every day. Really, I do. Today, we address the following phenomenon: In a newsroom where everyone speaks English … why are about half of all declarative sentences answered […]

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We interrupt our Abu Dhabi travelogue to strap into the Wayback Machine and check in on Don Markham. For those of you looking for United Arab Emirates material, come back tomorrow. For generic observations about Southern California, same deal. Or maybe the day after. Today, for one day only, we go back to the Inland […]

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Time for a list! I didn’t do a survey on this. This is a hunch sorta thing. Who are the 10 best-known active American athletes in … the United Arab Emirates? Who travels? Who rates? Who stirs interest? Who plays a sport that a country that is mostly Indians, Pakistanis, Arabs, Filipinos and Britons (in […]

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I take my own lunch to work. Seems healthier. Less expensive. A couple of aspects of it … Green tea from Asia. Carrots from California. Go figure.

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I am told this is good. I am not a gadget guy. Not at all. If we stopped the technical world at “e-mail” … I would be fine. I am not waiting breathlessly for an iPad. I’ve never had an iPhone. I generally prefer someone else reset my watch when daylight savings rolls (or unrolls) […]

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A Disturbance in the Force in the Dodger Nation. General manager Ned Colletti said some snippy things about outfielder Matt Kemp on Tuesday, as the Dodgers were on their way to being swept in New York and falling to 8-13. Now, 8-13 isn’t very meaningful in the context of “162”, but when you’ve been to […]

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Don’t get me wrong. Not a day goes by in this country when I don’t think, “Thank goodness for air-conditioning.” It is a necessity of life here. Like air, water and falafel. But too much of a good thing (aside,  perhaps from vanilla ice cream)  can be bad. As we found out again tonight in […]

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The United Arab Emirates, and Abu Dhabi in particular, are wealthy. Very. All that oil money … The country, and this emirate, can buy huge developments and the latest technology and foreign experts. It can absorb luxury goods at a high rate. It can create the sense that no problem is so big that it […]

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First, the obscure and dated cultural reference (above). “Young Frankenstein,” circa 1974. Gene Wilder as Doctor Frankenstein (pronounced FRONK-en-steen), Marty Feldman as EYE-gore … and the newly awakened monster. Wilder is despairing of the criminal’s brain he unwittingly has put into his mix-and-match creature, and is beating on its chest shouting, “Rotten! Rotten! Rotten!” And […]

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