Adonis Diaries

Tidbits and notes posted on FB and Twitter. Part 229

Note: I take notes of books I read and comment on events and edit sentences that fit my style. I pay attention to researched documentaries and serious links I receive. The page of backlog opinions and events is long and growing like crazy, and the sections I post contains a month-old events that are worth refreshing your memory

La haine est proche de l’amour, quand le mepris lui est etranger

Chinese president Xi Jinping: “Don’t let pillow talk lead you down to corruption.”

Pillows are basically like toilet seats, one microbiologist told the New York Post: “They both touch cheeks.” As far as the microbes go, you can rest easy: The bacteria are not usually dangerous to humans. But go and wash your pillowcase, just to be safe. (No washing can eliminate the bacteria anyway, since temp doesn’t exceed 60 degrees Celsius))

Smart pillow Moona, a Kickstarter-funded startup, can adjust its temperature based on user preferences, learning over time whether you like it warm or cold. Other gadgets trying to disrupt pillows include the Zeeq, which vibrates gently if it determines you’re snoring, and Qoobo, a two-pound plush pillow that sits on your lap and wags its fluffy robotic tail.

Choose a pillow that will keep the neck aligned with the chest and lower back. Your pillow should be adjustable to allow you to sleep in different positions. Replace your pillows every year or so.”

For years I suggested the EU handle 2 Euro currencies: Euro B for internal market of each member state, which can print according to internal market fluctuation, and Euro A for export (to other member States, and outside EU) and Germany will keep the monopoly of issuing the Euro A

We can safety censure Incha2 Allah from our public discourse in our region: It won’t change much in our behaviour, but the illusion of probable change is important for our sanity

Let’s have this experiment: censuring “incha2allah” from all movies, and observe if the meaning of the story remains the same. The implicit meaning will mostly be the same for the vast majority of destiny-believers

National security adviser H.R. McMaster is the 25th senior official (paywall) to leave Trump’s White House since the president’s inauguration. How many of the original officials remain? They must be great ass-kissers to remain put.

Cambridge Analytica isn’t the first practitioner of electoral dark arts. As long as there have been elections, there have been shadowy actors looking to fix the results (paywall).

Female reporter/journalist Andree’ Viollis (1870-1950). Covered Afghanistan in 1929, Viet Nam during French occupation and reported the violence and repression committed in Annam-Tonkin

Female reporter/journalist Magdeleine Paz (1889-1973). Covered the colonial dramas and calamities

Female reporter/journalist Titayna Sauvy (1897-1966). Founded Jazz in 1928 and covered the antropophages in the antipodes

Al Mashnouk khosser al intikhabaat: zaadaha bil al awbaash wa al 7aki khaarej mas2ouliyaatou bil al daakhiliyyeh. bi yetna2al min sofrat la sofrat wa fa2ar al Beiroutiyyen ad ma bi yaakol wa bi yet masmass. Za3bar 3al mafdou7 bi sanadeek al tasweet ta yerba7

Hal “awbaash” sakkarou makaraat wa awkaar Mossad fi Beirut. Mosaad edtarrat tfatesh 3a modon taniyat