Technical difficulties.

A few weeks ago, while furiously tapping on my keyboard and getting fellow bloggers "riled", which is never my intent but just seems to happen anyway, I suddenly lost my internet connection. After spending an extraordinary amount of time evaluating every possible software issue, I traced the problem to a 4 port Linksys router. The router after 6 years of faithful service is no longer "routing". My better half has the "host" system and my "client" system just piggybacks off her system. Strangely, I have been planning to buy a new router but it just seems that I never have the time. If it's not this it is that. Maybe it is because there are alternative systems available to me like the host computer and the one at work. If these alternatives were not available to me, I would have solved this problem a long time ago. I think there is a lesson in all this. Can't think of what it is, though.

A secular viewpoint.

Wafa Sultan is a secular Syrian-American psychiatrist who currently resides in California. She tells it like it is on Al Jazeera in an interview back in February. Her interview is one of the best examples I have seen of someone calling for reformation of the Islamic faith. The woman is a magnificent speaker and expresses herself rationally and is not in the least flustered by her older scholarly opponent who repeatedly calls her a heretic and tries to intimidate her. I must commend her courage but also fear for her safety. So many individuals, who write or speak out against the injustices of fundamentalist Islam wind up being hurt or killed by religious fanatics.
Listen to her words, they are truly inspiring.