PicoBlog

The basic reason for my unusual style of facial hair is that because of my burn scars, I have no hair on the right side of my face. Of course, I could choose to shave the other side and look less asymmetrical, which I did for many years. The somewhat more complex story behind the half beard started with a monthlong hike I took when I turned fifty, during which I didn’t shave and hardly saw what I looked like.

1 Article for the Week: There are many professionals (including Quality Function) who do not know the difference between Defects and Defectives. Defect: The issues / problems (out of specification) found in the product. E.g. If you manufacture Shirts, the issues may be Wrong Stitching, Button Missing, Wrong Thread, etc. These are called Defects. Defective: Because of these defects, the product becomes a Defective Product. In this case, the shirt is a Defective shirt.

I’m sorry to intrude on your holiday week with this, but I want you to be prepared for what’s to come next week. January 6 will be the first anniversary of one of the most shameful days in American history. On that date in 2021, the United States Capitol was attacked by thousands of armed loyalists to Donald Trump, some intent on killing members of Congress. Roughly 140 officers were injured in the attack.

 “On this day I will descend to the underworld. When I have arrived in the underworld, make a lament for me on the ruin mounds. Beat the drum for me in the sanctuary. Make the rounds of the houses of the gods for me,” the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna declares in one of the oldest written accounts of an underworld journey. The goddess removes her adornments and finally her ego itself as she is transformed into a hunk of rotting meat, hung on a hook.

Let's imagine a bit of research that we could easily perform, following standard procedures, and still get a misleading result. Say I'm an administrator at Harvard, a truly selective institution. I want to verify the College Board's confidence that the SAT effectively predicts freshman year academic performance. I grab the SAT data, grab freshmen GPAs, and run a simple Pearson correlation to find out the relationship between the two. To my surprise, I find that the correlation is quite low.

The last time I visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was in the scorching summer of 2018; it was merely a stopping point between assignments in war-ravaged Yemen. Back then, it was a laborious back-and-forth-to-the-consulate to obtain a visa. The state-owned airline separated ladies and gents, and we all embarked on a joint prayer from the Quran pre-flight. My local contacts insisted I cover my head and blend in with the other women in a black abaya.

Being a translator, and especially as a legal translator, I am acutely aware of the fact that the word “omertà” is practically untranslatable. It is often expressed in English as “code of silence” but this fails to convey the deeply ingrained social attitude born out of a mixture of fear, distrust and feelings of helplessness inherent in the word. This piece attempts to explain what omertà is and how it works in Sicilian society.

The year and reign of Rema continues as "Calm Down" featuring Selena Gomez, has become the first song with an African lead artist to reach one billion streams on Spotify. "Calm Down" also made history as the first African song to spend 1 year on the Billboard Hot 100 chart - peaking at No.3 behind Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers”. It also becomes the first-ever No.1 hit on The Official MENA Chart.

Scouts across the country have wasted no time getting started on the Citizenship in Society badge that was officially released in November. Whether at troop meetings or virtually on Google Classroom, plenty of scouts have now had the opportunity to complete the requirements. And their scout leaders have some reflections on how the badge turned out. I spoke with three merit badge counselors who’ve taught the badge in all types of settings.