I leave for Portland, OR this evening to present a couple papers at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion conference. I haven’t been there before, so I’m looking forward to seeing a new city. Unfortunately, I’ve got several applications due very soon so I don’t think I’ll be doing much sight-seeing. I’ll at [...]
Entries from October 2006 ↓
Off to Portland
October 18th, 2006 — Personal
The Olympics of Koran Reciting
October 10th, 2006 — Muslims and Islam
Well I’ll be darned. Yesterday I wrote a few lines about Koranic recitation and the relationship between language and music, and today the New York Times has a piece on the Dubai International Holy Koran Award, a Koran reciting competition for males aged 21 years and younger.
Apparently this is quite the contest. There are over [...]
I just found the soundtrack for my movie
October 9th, 2006 — Muslims and Islam
I wrote earlier today about a “Being John Malkovich - Flatliners” mashup dealing with out-of-body experiences and the brain. Well, if that movie needed a soundtrack, I’d think about using parts of the following radio program. I know I overuse the word fascinating, but I can’t think of a better description for this. Kieran Healy [...]
Merlin Mann and David Allen on Procrastination…Tomorrow
October 9th, 2006 — Productivity
Merlin Mann of 43Folders announced a forthcoming podcast series on productivity that features conversations he had with the Getting Things Done guru himself, David Allen. The first installment is going to be on procrastination and it’ll be online tomorrow (Tuesday).
I’m really busy these days with grant applications and upcoming presentations, but it’ll be hard not [...]
Out-of-body experiences for fun and profit!
October 9th, 2006 — Miscellaneous
The New York Times had a fascinating article last week on out-of-body experiences and the brain activity that may account for them. A Swiss neurologist was apparently zapping people’s brains (that’s the technical description) in a way that caused them to experience bizarre sensations. Here’s an example:
Six years ago, another of Dr. Blanke’s patients underwent [...]
Yellow was the new white, white is the new black
October 1st, 2006 — Personal
As much as I like new technology and gizmos of all kinds, I’ve been using an aging G3 Powerbook as my primary computer for almost 6 years. It was top of the line when I got it, and as far as Powerbooks go one of the sturdier models. Back in the day I was using [...]