Monakhos

Well, today is the day. I am getting married today and then going to New York. Therefore, do not be expecting anything new here next week.

Sufism has been in the news a lot recently, from Saudi Arabia loosening restrictions to this current photo journal on Sufis in Morocco (source: BBC.) I don’t know if I have just been more keen to notice articles on the topic, or if there are really more topics on the subject, but regardless of that check out the photo journal. Good pictures and some nice background on the movement there.

This has nothing to do with philosophy or anything, but I was just running into a lot of things today that I don’t get about Americans and American culture. As an American, I really don’t know where the rest of the populace got some of these ideas!

• Ice - Why do we need to put ice in cold drinks? It doesn’t make much sense to me at all. You end up having to fill your glass more often because of all the ice. And ice always just gets in the way when I am drinking.
• Soccer - The rest of the world is crazy about it, so why are American’s much more fascinated with basketball, baseball, and football (and why did they reterm football when the rest of the world uses football to mean soccer… And why do you play football with your hands in America?) Jessica says this might be because the games don’t score as high or because there are ties and Americans like winning or losing better than tying. I’m not sure why the reason is, but it seems a little odd.
• Public Transportation - I know some areas are better than others, but what is the fun in driving? I really don’t understand it. I’d much rather hop on a bus and read the paper. Of course in a lot of areas, it’s totally unpractical to do so, as transportation is so bad and the cities are very spread out, but still! You’d think there’d be a better system and more people asking for it.

These three hit me today and for some reason really bothered me. I just don’t get American culture. And I live in the midst of it every day of my life!

Pearls Before Swine is the best comic ever. Check it out. Be sure to look at some of the past ones. The crocodiles are especially funny.

Is 06/06/06. What fun. Sometimes people drop leading zeroes from numbers. Then it’s 6/6/6. And those slashes aren’t really important either. 666. Enjoy it, it won’t happen again for a while! Actually, I was mostly just excited how month day and year were all the same. It wasn’t until making this post that I realized what the guy on the radio meant this morning (it’s an early morning!)

Have a great ‘mark of the beast’ day!