ELECTIONS
Khatami is still a long way from becoming Iran's comeback kid
With Khatami officially in the race, the Iranian presidential campaigns will begin in earnest. Never before has an incumbent Iranian president faced such a serious challenge. But in spite of Ahmadinejad's abysmal handling of the economy, he is far from defeated. The Iranian presidential elections will not be democratic by Western standards, but they won't lack excitement or fierce competitiveness. Khatami had earlier declared that he would only run if he was given guarantees by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, that his candidacy wouldn't be rejected by the Guardian Council, the body that vets candidates, and that he would be able to govern if elected
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ABANDON
A predetermined event over which the two have no control
It was decided. She felt no need to consult or ask permission from any other but her own conscience. Come to think of it she was not even nervous about making such a bold gesture to someone she barely knew yet felt she’d known all her life. What could be kinder than to invite him over to her home? Totally oblivious at the time to the connotations of that offer, she set out to make a romantic meal. She laid the table with great care, the first for two she had set in a decade. She concocted some sumptuous recipe from her old files; cooking lovingly and with abandon
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EXCERPT
"How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization"
by Jonathan Lyons
ABU JAFAR AL-MANSUR was taking no chances with his new imperial capital, for this was to be a city like no other. The second Abbasid caliph of the Muslims turned for guidance to his trusted royal astrologers, the former Zoroastrian Nawbakht and Mashallah, a Jew turned Muslim from Basra and now ``the leading person for the science of judgments of the stars.'' The pair consulted the heavens and declared that July 30, 762, would certainly be the most auspicious day for work to begin. Still, al-Mansur hesitated. He ordered his architects to mark the layout of the walls of his proposed city – a perfect circle, in keeping with the geometric teachings of the caliph's beloved Euclid – on the ground, first in ashes and then again with cotton seeds soaked in naphtha
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I always get myself into unnecessary trouble
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Buying a Volkswagen Phaeton was a brave choice that showed a commitment to understated cool in the face of severe depreciation
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HERITAGE
In Memory of Dr. Ezzatollah Negahban
It is dark and quiet in the plane. We are descending towards Philadelphia. Our sad journey began at nine this morning and probably will not end until eleven tonight. But, that is the easy part. The hard part is to enter the house on Rexford Rd. How can we step into your house Ezat Jon knowing that you will not be there to greet us with your cheerful, kind, and lively face, and your traditional three kisses on the cheek? How can we enter the house without your friendly smile and big welcome? My heart is aching for the good old days when the house was filled with life, warmth, laughter, and love
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