Lotta Lawyers

I am constantly amazed at how many lawyers find their way into the UN in one way or another. Obviously, the UN doesn't really practice law (except for the odd tribunal here or there). Most of these folks seem to be document jockeys in some kind of advocacy role. Women's issues, rights of childrent, etc. However, some of them are in really weird jobs, like peace keeping and such. Maybe the papery nature of the UN is attractive to people with good documentation skills...

Treffen

Today I met the only UN employee from Andorra. Apparently, they are still an under represented country, because they are allowed to have somewhere around 3-5 employees in the UN system.

Yeah, diversity.

$

I've come to the conclusion that I am more fond of money that I had previously thought. A few days ago, we had occasion to withdraw more money than normal from the bank. Shortly thereafter, I noticed how much I liked flipping through it, counting it, and generally having it around. Even then, it wasn't until Mary Ann gave me a "what are you doing?" look that I realized she and I have very different perspectives on cash.

Fortunately for our financial health, I teeter between a desire to hoard the money in nice little piles, and the desire to invest in high-yield items such as video games, PDA/phones, and trips to 3rd world countries. If Mary Ann were to go on a spending binge, my guess would be that there would be a lot more fabric and art in the house.

Hopefully, the balance between wanting to keep the money around will continue fending off spendiness.

Dreams

I'm a fairly ambitious person, and I've been fortunate enough to be able to achieve a reasonable amount of my goals thus far. The thing is I've noticed that very few of my dreams have turned out to be as good as I had visualized them to be when I was working towards them. My marriage is one major exception to this, as it has turned out far better than I had originally thought.

So what about you folks? Have your dreams turned out to be disillusioning once achieved?

Reading

I've decided that it's about time I buckled down and read the Koran. Some first-hand knowledge would probably be a good thing.

Well, look at that

For the first time, I’ve come across someone else who happens to have the same strange little genetic two-part eyebrow quirk that I do. I have no idea who this person is:



But here is the eyebrow in question.

His:




Mine:





Unfortunately, despite this similarity, I doubt we're similar enough genetically for any useful purpose, such as a murder alibi.

Proximity alert

Today my news aggregator presented me with this little gem:



Group-think has failed.

Random pictures

Fishing along the corniche in Beirut is a popular pastime. I'm not really sure why they do it though, most of the fish are really small...



This scene is the Dora highway in the area of Harissa at night.



I really don't know what this sign is trying to communicate. It's clearly a typical funeral wrapping, but maybe an Arabic speaker can translate exactly what they are trying to get across...

That's a pleasent surprise

Surprise hit humanitarian video game reaches one million players

UN reform

I rather like this website on UN reform.

http://www.lowlevelpanel.org/

Change of plans

I had been planning to take the kids out to the park this afternoon, until I saw this:

Lebanese torch Danish consulate over cartoons

I am not very happy with the idea that I need to check the news before leaving the house.

Following the crowd

Normally, I don't care to engage in these online poll thingies, but it seems that several of my family members are taking it, so I will too.

On the plus side, I seem to be decently righteous, but on the negative side, I seem rather boring. Watch out though, I'm moderately violent.

I wonder if that would make a good bumper sticker?

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Extreme
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very High
Level 2 (Lustful)	Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Low
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Did I just get old?

I just realized that I've had cable TV at our new apartment for over a month now, and I have utterly no idea which channel MTV is on. I do however have all the German channels, discovery and BBC/CNN memorized.

Hmmmm

The importance of reading the whole article

While I'm glad that the US, Iran, Cuban, Sudan and Zimbabwe can all find something to agree on, this isn't the first area I would pick.

Human rights organizations and the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus protested on Thursday a decision by the Bush administration to back a measure introduced by Iran denying two gay rights groups a voice at the United Nations.

In a vote Monday, the United States supported Iran's recommendation to deny consultative status at the United Nations' Economic and Social Council to the Danish National Association for Gays and Lesbians and the International Lesbian and Gay Association, based in Belgium.

Nearly 3,000 nongovernmental organizations have such status, which enables them to distribute documents to meetings of the council.

Among countries with which the United States sided were Cuba, Sudan and Zimbabwe, nations the State Department has cited in annual reports for their harsh treatment of homosexuals.

Sounds pretty unfair and weasely doesn't it? A bit further down the article, we find this little gem:

Mark P. Lagon, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said in an interview that the vote did not stem from "being against gay rights groups" but was based on "the controversial history of the International Lesbian and Gay Association — an affiliate of the North American Man/Boy Love Association, was associated with it in the past and openly condoned pedophilia."

While I have no idea if this reason/excuse is in fact valid, it does cast things in a different light doesn't it?