tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564Tue, 18 Mar 2014 03:21:20 +0000LebanonTravelcurrent eventsrandomBeirutAUBphotosarabichealthcarepeoplePalestinesportsAsiacentral asiaconflictlogisticsscienceSyriaThailandrantstechnologyIndonesiafunnyskiingsurfinghttp://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)Blogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-7312975558891679988Sun, 31 Aug 2008 06:06:00 +00002008-08-30T23:10:38.316-07:00IndonesiasportssurfingTraveljust a few pictures:Balengen barrel at low tideFishermanBalengenBalengen from behind the peakI've been here in Bali for about five days now. I'm staying in a little shack on Balengen Beach on the Bukit Peninsula that costs $4 /night. My bed is just a mattress on the floor and there are some disturbing-looking insects crawling around, and there is no electricity, but the surf is literally 30' awayhttp://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/indonesia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-5875110795935259947Sun, 24 Aug 2008 11:20:00 +00002008-08-24T05:22:30.170-07:00AsiaAUBBeirutLebanonlogisticspeoplephotosThailandTravelsunset on the corniche in front of AUB last monthI fly Beirut - Doha; Doha - Bangkok tomorrow with Qatar Airways. I am excited to move on, but I am sure that I will really miss Lebanon and Beirut. I missed Beirut just being in Damascus for a few days, and it is also a little sad that I may not get an opportunity to come back for quite some time. I would love to think about coming back here next http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/blog-post.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-1028626585068439472Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:21:00 +00002008-08-23T02:40:33.793-07:00BeirutLebanonphotosrandomtechnologyTravelI took this last night in Gemmayzeh, and I like the blue. I had my camera at ISO 1600, so this was only exposed for 1/80 without using a flash. I also just noticed that apparently some cameras are capable of including location metadata in a JPEG, so it's possible to keep track of all the GPS coordinates of where all of your pictures were taken.That is...so cool. Flickr has location tagging, and Ihttp://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/picture.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-5631410388364297546Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:25:00 +00002008-08-23T02:07:47.131-07:00current eventsI'm stoked for Biden. I'll be really curious to see how this choice affects the polls, and I'm already laughing in anticipation of the Republican ads that will probably dwell on trivial details regarding Biden's personality and relationship with Obama. God, I hate Republican ads. They're disgustingly insulting and the fact that they are effective is even more scary.Anyway, from the NYTimes Op-Ed http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/happy-vp-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-6704170471921615223Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:23:00 +00002008-08-23T00:25:12.136-07:00healthcarerandomsportsSAC comes up with another world-saving idea:Today's Deals on Steep and Cheap:I didn't skip class much in high school, but blood donation day was a free pass for anyone over 18 years old. You could check in at each class and then say you were heading out to donate blood. The program's oversight was worse than Enron's. I think blood donation drives would achieve much greater success if they traded http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/steep-and-cheap.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-2543796981686850878Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:55:00 +00002008-08-22T09:07:00.312-07:00AUBcurrent eventsrandomthree of my friends from CAMES have recently had articles published:Nadine Marroushi -The Daily Star: Ras Beirut: model of coexistence for all of Lebanon?Sarah Lynch - CNN: Americans adopt new election strategies in LebanonAlice Fordham - The Daily Star: The challenge of having Western readers see past culture and genderhttp://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/articles.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-4010182837466534321Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:17:00 +00002008-08-22T08:27:40.752-07:00randomskiingsportsIt's only mid-August and I'm halfway around the world from Seattle, but I'm already getting excited for this winter...I can't wait to see Black Diamond's new boot line, to start lifting and getting back into shape for the winter, and to have a season that doesn't get disrupted by a broken hand!from last winter:jonah at stevens pass, watim at stevens pass, wame at khahane ridge, wa (photo by jonah)http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/skiing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-7543475836423411023Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:53:00 +00002009-03-19T13:15:11.082-07:00randomsciencetechnologyI can't seem to shake off this dehydration and malaise that I've been feeling since before I went to Syria. The humidity (الرطوبة) has been particularly high lately, and it has actually been cloudy three days in a row after two months of blue skies. I guess this might be why I've been tired, but I'm not sure where the dehydration is coming from.Anyway, I have laying low for the last few days, andhttp://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/blog-traffic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-2481036007324244930Wed, 20 Aug 2008 08:23:00 +00002008-08-20T04:20:23.837-07:00conflictcurrent eventsLebanonSyriaTravelKrak des Chevaliers, north-central Syria... "the castle from your childhood dreams," as Lonely Planet saysI just got back to Lebanon after spending several days in Syria. I traveled to Syria last year, and spent several days in Damascus (دمشق or Dimashq in Arabic, or "ash-Sham" if you're local). I'm too lazy to write much about it, but the one thing that can't really be put into the pictures http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/syria.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-922068805096435304Mon, 18 Aug 2008 12:21:00 +00002008-08-18T05:29:03.751-07:00conflictSyriaTravelI've been in Damascus, Syria for the last few days. This morning I went to the Ministry of the Interior and got a permit to visit Queneitra, which is in the demilitarized zone on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. It took me several minibus rides and a few hours to actually get out there from Damascus, and the town was completely destroyed from rocket attacks. I saw the Pentagon after 9/11, http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/golan-heights.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-3142640953963508313Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:14:00 +00002009-02-18T20:10:28.044-08:00rantsTravelAnyone who is familiar with my travels last year and with the Bonderman Fellowship should read this:The Stranger - Busted in NicaraguaHonestly, I got pretty damn pissed off reading this story. The Bonderman Fellowship is unique. There's nothing else quite like it...we compare it to the Watson, etc., but it is completely different in a lot of ways. It is something I am genuinely proud to have http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/disgust.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-7864926098103919905Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:41:00 +00002008-08-14T03:42:35.780-07:00current events "This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, where Russia can invade its neighbor, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it. Things have changed." CONDOLEEZZA RICE, secretary of stateHmm...but we can?http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/double-standard.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-7252418253096783379Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:58:00 +00002008-08-13T09:03:35.011-07:00conflictcurrent eventsLebanonStrangely, my mom heard about this bomb blast in Tripoli, which is a city in north Lebanon, before I did:NYTimes - Lebanon Bomb Kills at Least 10 PeopleTripoli has been the victim of several bouts of seemingly random violence in the last two years. I say seemingly random because I do not understand the undercurrents that give rise to these attacks, though I am sure that experts in Lebanese http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/explosion-in-tripoli.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-599884870971551017Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:39:00 +00002008-08-12T11:15:04.551-07:00current eventsLebanonPalestineI went to the south of Lebanon again today with four other CAMES students. We didn't get as much done as we had aspired to, but we did make it to Qana, which is a mainly-Shiite town south of Tyre/Sur. Qana is of religious significance because it apparently may be the "Cana" where Jesus performed the first miracle of changing water into wine. We actually found this site after some time, and it http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/south-lebanon-today.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-6245545017593895518Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:19:00 +00002008-08-12T10:27:00.960-07:00current eventshealthcarephotosrandomrantsscienceFrom NYTimes article Photography as a Weapon: CHARLES JOHNSON: No, I think their reasoning is it was a sexy picture. That’s what I think. I don’t think it has anything to do with ideology. ERROL MORRIS: It just looks good? CHARLES JOHNSON: Right.I am just posting this because it reiterates a point I was trying to make several weeks ago about (how I see) journalism - it is an institution that http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/photography-as-weapon.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-6366273420758534456Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:59:00 +00002008-08-11T09:17:10.336-07:00AsiaAUBBeirutcentral asiacurrent eventsLebanonPalestinerandomTravelAnyone who likes reading about Middle Eastern politics might want to read this article, which includes some interesting projections (at least according to C. Rice) about the future of the geopolitical spectrum of the area. I actually came across this when it was incidentally used in an Arabic lecture. This map is from the article (click to make bigger):Also note - this map is a NATO/Pentagon http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-will-middle-east-look-like-in-20.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-2846685374021996331Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:14:00 +00002008-08-11T07:50:52.690-07:00AUBBeiruthealthcareLebanonPalestinerandomTravelI never really wrote about this in detail, but I had the opportunity last week to shadow an American surgeon in Haifa Hospital, which is a small hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Borj al-Barajneh refugee camp in south Beirut.I should be clear about one thing - any sort of volunteering, shadowing, or work that I am able to do, whether at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/haifa-hospital.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-5611531809587363832Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:59:00 +00002008-08-08T08:01:13.853-07:00randomsciencePatrick from my program just sent me a really cool article:http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.htmlhttp://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/mit-article.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-2768376322598102256Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:21:00 +00002008-08-08T07:22:46.212-07:00arabicAUBBeirutLebanonlogisticspeoplephotosrandomTravelFor me, this is when traveling is the most difficult. I can deal with being sick, riding on sketchy minibuses at breakneck speeds, finding my way when I don't speak the language, and plenty of other difficult aspects of traveling, but leaving people is always the most difficult thing. Most of the people in my program here are headed straight home, and even though I'm only in Beirut for an extra http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/end-of-cames.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-380541250855976682Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:48:00 +00002008-08-07T22:50:13.624-07:00AUBBeirutLebanonpeoplephotosrandomlast night after everyone finished their exams:from left to right: Mona, Jannah, Patrick, mehttp://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/graduation-after-only-6-weeks.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-8145620650184413269Thu, 07 Aug 2008 04:55:00 +00002008-08-06T21:56:30.281-07:00randomCna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55% of plepoe cani cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/email-forward.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-465788009790171149Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:25:00 +00002008-08-06T10:28:11.793-07:00BeiruthealthcareLebanonPalestinetuberculosis poster in Haifa Hospital, Borj Barajneh refugee camphttp://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/poster.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-1228302843258583949Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:07:00 +00002008-08-06T10:16:58.469-07:00current eventshealthcarerandomTo Heal the Wounded - NYTimesReading about developing those kind of new strategies and responses in medicine is really interesting to me, even as an undergraduate. People are often very quick to get down on anything related to the military, but the fact is that innovations of that nature could greatly benefit the capabilities and efficacy individuals and organizations working in conflict zones, http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/battlefield-surgery.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-526474940683794818Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:06:00 +00002008-08-05T08:07:06.984-07:00arabicAUBBeirutLebanonانا سافرت الى الشرق الاوسط منذ سنة في منحة من جامعتي. ذهبت الى  تركيا ولبنان وسوريا والاردن والقدس ومصر. اردت  ان اسافر الى ليبيا ايضاً لكن ما كان عندي وقت . اكيد احسن بلد كان لبنان لانّ فيه بلدات في الجبال و بجانب البحر. انا احب الجبل والبحر كثيراً. بالنسبة لي البحر المتوسط جميل جدّاً واحب الوانه. احب التاريخ القديم وان شاء الله سأعيش بجانب هذا البحر  في مستقبلي. في لبنان انا سافرت الى مناطق http://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/final-arabic-essay.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2667687779557675564.post-2987199079926520160Tue, 05 Aug 2008 06:33:00 +00002008-08-04T23:38:43.789-07:00randomsportsTravelFrom The Daily Dose on SteepandCheap.com:Today's Deals on Steep and Cheap:I went to Florence once, but I didn't see Michelangelo's David sculpture. I was standing in front of the museum with cash in hand, but my ex-girlfriend didn't want to go in because it cost $9 and, "David is the only good thing they have here." I have no idea where we decided to go and spend our $9 instead of the museum, buthttp://levantinesummer.blogspot.com/2008/08/traveling-summed-up-by-steepandcheap.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Spencer James)0