YOU SAY OHM SHANTI, I SAY BIOSPHERE II I went wandering to the Yoga Journal site looking for an article in the June issue on Trust (with a big "T," yes), because it had some nice things to say about trusting the core goodness in people, and about allowing yourself to be vulnerable at the risk of disappointment: "You simply trust that however the relationship unfolds, your vulnerability to the other is a worthy act." But you'll have to buy the June issue yourself, because the article isn't online. Still, the Yoga Journal site is chockful of useful wisdom, basic yoga posturing and more, more, more. Worth a gander and a stretch or two. Hold that pose.

LEG0DEATH Thank Andrew Sullivan for lightening an otherwise battering, exhausting, gloomy day with a link to The LegoDeath Museum of Horrors, which is a nice photo gallery of Lego-constructed torture and accident scenes. Next week, I'll introduce everyone to a site that uses Legos to retell most of the major stories of the Old and New Testaments. Ugh. Today needs to not be here anymore. It's wearisome. Give me some tomorrow already.

WHO KNEW WHAT WHEN This transcript of an online chat with the Post's White House correspondent Mike Allen hits on some of the key non-political issues surrounding recent revelations about pre-September 11 terrorist warnings. (Don't worry. I'm sure the non-political issues will quickly find their way into the land of partisans. Ugh.) I think I worked with Mike at the Times-Dispatch, which has no relevance to anything except he always wore khakis and blue oxfords. The chat is good, shapes some nice perspectives and sums up some issues. In three days, everything will change again, so don't get too comfortable with this morning's headlines.

ELVIS HAS LEFT THE CONTINENT Apparently, even the Washington Post is a bit flustered and amused that stodgy, ineffectual Paul O'Neill (your Secretary of the Treasury) is traveling to the Dark Continent (in a Conradian sense, thank you) with Super-Fly Paul Hewson (Bono, baby, Bono) to tackle one of the Bush Administration's Number One Priorities: using the village to raise a child. Or was that another President? Anyhoo.

My glibness aside, next week's trip should serve to do a few things: raise some awareness among the general public that Africa needs help; put the Administration in the position of possibly doing something useful (which is a sight better than I would have expected from them last year); and clarified some key issues, such as debt relief and AIDS.

"My job is to be used. I am here to be used," Bono said in a telephone interview yesterday. "It's just, at what price? As I keep saying, I'm not a cheap date." If the trip helps advance progress on forgiving debts, beefing up a global fund for fighting AIDS and lowering trade barriers to African products in rich-country markets, "then I'm very, very happy to be used," he said.

BETTER SOURCES Thankfully, there are many people out there posting online who have more useful things to share with the world than I do. Journalist and author Peter Maass is one of them. Today, his weblog serves up a hopeful reminder that the entire world is not going to Hell; in fact, Sierra Leone, which went there years ago, appears to be re-emerging. With so much bad news coming out of Africa these days, it's refreshing to hear some positive perspectives on democracy and development.

AN APPLE FOR THE KENNEDY'S There are few enough reasons to like Ted Kennedy, especially as he crawls along at the slow, compromising pace of an aging liberal, but I found one online at Wired recently: his staff is one of three on the Hill who use Macs. I'd wondered for years just what the hell was wrong with our government with its candy-assed bureaucrats and simpering regulations. Now I can blame it all on the Senate Office of the Sargeant At Arms, who makes all the bad decisions about technology for Congress. For the love of Thomas Edison, they're still using Lotus cc:Notes for email! Buncha freaks.

SNAKE MUCKING Walking barefoot in a swamp would creep me out. Walking barefoot in a swamp for the expressed purpose of curling your toes around a 30-foot, 1,200 pound anaconda makes me want to just curl up and whimper like... well, like someone getting ready to be consumed by a 30-foot, 1,200 pound anaconda. Still, I found myself drawn in by this National Geographic burble on a researcher who wanders the muck of Venezuela doing exactly this. And if big snakes don't bother you, he stalks them in a swampland also inhabited by 140 pound rats.

PARANOIA ASIDE, POLITICS RETURN The side of me that used to obsess about Freemasons and alien implants so many years ago twitched last night, but I tucked it away. The political side of me twitched, too. That side I listened to. The release of information over the past week that the Bush team had more information than people knew about threats, especially when that information connects words like "airplanes," "terrorists" and "al Quaeda," makes for simple political arithmetic. The NY Post summed it up with the screaming headline, "Bush Knew!" Which, of course, he didn't (unless my paranoid side was right). But you can bet he'll be holding a press conference next week, that the Republicans are suddenly more concerned about this fall's congressional elections, and that someone at FBI headquarters is going to be cleaning out their desk soon.

BECAUSE YOUR BRIS IS ALL I'LL MISS I went to my first bris today, and was amazed primarily by how few people I know had a clue what a bris was. Then I realized that I didn't really know what one was, so off I went to Google for a quick search. The bris ceremony consists of the ciircumcision (which took place before the guests arrived) and the naming ceremony. Today's bris celebrated the naming of little Elijah Held Bossola, son of my friends Chris and Allison. Elijah is just a wee little thing, but cute as a button. And it was a very nice ceremony, and informal. Much less dull than some christenings I've endured. So, welcome to the world, Elijah. The rest of you, click and be educated.

FLIP FLOP TRUNKSHOW.COM "Exquisite women's sandals, thongs, slides & mules priced from $10-$400 in stock for immediate delivery." And you thought I was joking yesterday. Fools.

SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE Yes, now you can get my words hurled into your email box with lightning-fast precision and with the force of a gajillion tiny electrons. Thanks to a new automated service, you can save yourself the hourly visits... well, periodic check-ups. Or you can continue to live life the old-fashioned, unintrusive way. It's like a flip-flop delivery service -- totally not needed by anyone, but available to senior citizens and the wealthy people afraid of getting sand between their toes.

THE NEW APPLE ITOILET Okay, so I hate when people take potshots at Apple computers, but this is pretty cute. It's really a waste of time to read all of the text, but the opening paragraph and the images are worth the visit.

THE SMILING FACE OF EVIL Sure, "evil" is overused these days, and it's really not fair to compare Wal-Mart with Iraq since I sort of lean more towards southwest Asia's culture than Arkansas'. But as this article by Jim Hightower catalogues, there are many reasons to scowl when you see the Wal-Mart smiley face. Obviously, moderate as I am, I'm inclined to dismiss some of his accusations as the sad and simple result of operating a huge, multi-national business who should have the right to leach every nickle out of its stores. But, on the other hand, I've never liked Wal-Mart or the way it treats its employees or its neighbors, and I find some of Hightowers' points to be right-on. "As Charlie Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee reports, "In country after country, factories that produce for Wal-Mart are the worst, 'adding that the bottom-feeding labor policy of this one corporation "is actually lowering standards in China, slashing wages and benefits, imposing long mandatory-overtime shifts, while tolerating the arbitrary firing of workers who even dare to discuss factory conditions.'" You know, in this era of increasing globalization, the absolute last thing we need are companies that demonstrate lousy practices and have disingeneous principles. Much less ones that lower standards that already suck.

USEFUL ARABIC. NOT AN OXYMORON Yah, yah. I know. Not everyone has the same low-energy passion and lackluster discipline that I do when it comes to the Arabic language. But the folks at Cafe Syria have made it easy for all of us with "Arabic Made Easy," a site that gives you easy-to-understand tips on Arabic basics, including gestures (because "Syrians are also masters of the art of Gesticulation."). You won't learn the nuances of the language (of which there are apparently 16 million), but you'll be able to tell those pesky kids in Damascus to scram. Imshi.

THE COLA WARS It's getting hard to make the right choice when it comes to soda consumption, which is why this Brunching Shuttlecocks scorecard on your basic soda flavors is so useful. "Basically, if the bottle and the liquid inside are both greenish, and it's not ginger ale, it's lemon-lime. Fresca is lemon-lime in spite of tasting like grapefruit, and Mountain Dew is lemon-lime in spite of being made out of squeezings from the adrenal glands of snowboarders." You just can't go wrong when you allow such wisdom to guide your journey. You can't.

THE THINGS WE'D RATHER NOT KNOW So, is anyone upset that they weren't aware in July of 1999 that "the prospect of nuclear war that year was perhaps greater than at any time since the United States and the Soviet Union faced off during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962"? Yah, didn't think so. But a recent article by a former Clinton advisor on Asian affairs lays out a nervous state of affairs that took place when Pakistan and India came close to the brink. It's not reassuring in the least that then-President Sharif of Pakistan wasn't even aware that his top military officials had prepared and armed medium-range nuclear missles. It's even less reassuring to know that as tensions rise again just three years later, those same military officials are running the country.

NO LONGER A BELLIGERENT 6TH GRADER When I was 12, I won my first real money bet. It took place on the school bus, and when Ronald Reagan won the Presidential election, I collected $10 from a kid who thought that Jimmy Carter was the man with the plan. Well, times have changed. My high-pitched voice, and my love affair with nuclear disaster and strong-armed conservatism, ended with the advent of puberty. And Jimmy Carter, daft as he can be at times, is probably the only living President I'd ever want to shake my hand. The text from his speech in Cuba last night is as thoughtful, balanced and reasonable as I'd expect: "Our two nations have been trapped in a destructive state of belligerence for 42 years, and it is time for us to change our relationship and the way we think and talk about each other. Because the United States is the most powerful nation, we should take the first step."

LASTING IMAGES Hot on the heels of an email discussion over the weekend (a lesson, really) about Rita and the girls comes this article in New City Chicago about how Hollywood and American women created a compelling image of the iconic woman.

In part, [film critic Barbara] Scharres says, the answer lies in the way women, not men, reacted to the two actresses' images. "In a certain way these women both created a model for American women at a particular time that still has an influence. Neither of them was as idealized by men as they were by women," she says. "Look at the way Grace Kelly's look and manner was idealized by women at the time. And it's still the ultimate--not just the look, but the whole package. And she wasn't the goddess men were drooling over, it was the women who were drooling over her.

"But there's something more mythic than that and it has to do with transformation," Scharres continues. "Audrey Hepburn's role in 'Funny Face'--she's transformed from someone mousy--if you could ever call Audrey Hepburn mousy--a clerk in a bookstore. In 'Roman Holiday' she's a princess. Even when she's out around town, she's still a princess. By the time you get to 'My Fair Lady,' it's almost a parody of the types of transformations she's gone through in her entire career. And you're especially conscious of this in films like 'Breakfast at Tiffany's,' where she's essentially a call girl. At the same time she's also this princess."

PLAYING CHOPSTICKS The mysteries of sushi, finally revealed. This is a nice little article that clues you in on some of the finer etiquette points involved as a patron at a sushi restaurant, such as: "Don't order sushi and a side of rice. That's like ordering a sandwich and a side of bread. Sushi is expensive, but filling up on rice is an easy facade to see through. Your sushi chef wasn't born yesterday." It's not rocket science, but for the unitiated this may just save you from the sushi chef spitting in your rice. Or whatever chefs do in Japan when the customers really stir their wasabi.

Institute for War and Peace Reporting If you need any convincing that the world can be an ugly place, this investigative piece by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting on what are basically prostitution and smuggling rings in the Balkans might do it. The report notes that between 6,000 and 10,000 foreign women are working as prostitutes in the region, most against their will and many in what amounts to abusive, sex-slave environments. Local authorities are usually implicitly involved, and it has been difficult for Non-Governmental Organizations to make significant inroads into shutting down the operations until recently. Today, the United Nations' Office for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch and the International Organization for Migration are among a small handful of groups trying to put an end to these smuggling rings. "The UN works in cooperation with Bosnia's six temporary safe-houses run by IOM and local NGOs," the report notes. "Since August 1999, the IOM has assisted 429 girls and women, repatriated 404, and resettled one to a third country. The others are still waiting. Twelve were minors with the youngest victim 12 and the oldest 36." It's not just in the Balkans. This kind of crap has been big business in Western Europe and southeast Asia for years.

ZIPPY THE PINHOLE I've recently begun to dabble again with photography, though Lord knows what I'm going to do with the wide angle and telephoto lenses I've acquired. But this company, Zero Image, makes some pretty gorgeous, handmade wooden pinhole cameras. My last encounter with a pinhole camera was in seventh grade art class -- it was a lovely thing made of sturdy cardboard and black electrical tape. I can't for the life of me remember what we took pictures of, but it was the same year we sat behind the building and shot off model rockets. The late 70s really brought out the dorkiest aspects of life for some of us.

I AM TRYING TO [FILM] YOUR HEART A concise little piece in Salon that takes a look at the filming of the new documentary on the making of Wilco's new album, an act of filmwork that coincidentally overlapped the band's record company fist fights, the loss of two band members and the release of their new album, which may best be described as Radiohead meets The Silver Jews. Perhaps. Rootsy electronica. The film, "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," takes its name from a track from the new Wilco album and should be hitting the big screen in July.

MOTHERS, DAYS Even during the weekends I don't pick up the Post, I usually track down Jeanne Marie Laskas' "Significant Others" column online. Laskas lives in a rural community with her husband and toddler daughter, having moved there to escape the daily grind; she writes of goats and gardens, a fresh (for her) sense of community. Good things. Today, Laskas writes of Ji Hong Bin, the 14 month old girl waiting for the paperwork that will relocate her from an orphanage in southern China to the Laskas home. Laskas writes of falling in love with this perfect child, and the frustration of the wait. She writes:

A mother's love doesn't begin with the mother, or the child, let alone a set of rules or recommendations or anything having to do with the mind. A mother's love comes on like a thunderstorm. You may or may not hear the low rumble as it approaches, you may or may not have time to close your windows and call in your cat. But when the storm comes the storm is all there is. The sky opens and weeps and howls and devours.

ISLAM: THE UNDERSTANDING GAP A Book World review of John Esposito's "Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam" by Peter Bergen. I haven't read the book, but one of Bergen's paragraphs lays out a very clear perspective that tends to wash from most of what we read in the news and resonates with some of the previous articles I've offered up here that clarify the tensions between fundamentalism and modernism.

This basic view that conflict between the West and Islam is far from inevitable also informs Unholy War. Here Esposito details the long history of Muslim thinkers who tried to grapple with the modernizing influence of the West and determine how best to integrate modernity with Muslim forms: "To ask whether Islam is compatible with Western civilization is to ignore past and present exchanges and cross-fertilizations." Readers of Unholy War will find many interpretations of Islam divergent from bin Laden's, beginning with the well-known Koranic injunction that "there is no compulsion in religion" and taking in such latter-day case studies as Egyptian society, which has become more Islamicized at the grassroots level. "Physicians, journalists, lawyers, political scientists, men and women speak out on issues of Islamic reform such as pluralism, women's rights, and social justice." This gathering of voices underlines a vital point that is little understood by many Westerners who conflate bin Laden and Islam: In reality, bin Laden's credentials as a religious scholar are zero, and in several countries in the Middle East -- not only Egypt, but also Iran, Yemen and Jordan -- there is an emerging Islamism that is nonviolent, politically influential, does not reject democracy, and is not necessarily anti-Western.

THE TRUTH WAS OUT THERE A brief and telling piece by William Nash, a retired general who was to be on the U.N. team investigating events in Jenin. Nash quickly summarizes the events -- being tapped to be on the team, meeting his fellow investigators in Geneva, waiting with growing frustration for clearance from Israel that never came. More important, Nash describes the composition of the group -- officers with experience in Northern Ireland, the Balkans and Africa; investigators who had worked in Cambodia, Namibia, Yugoslavia; a renowned Finnish forensic pathologist -- and why he thinks it was important for the investigation to go forward. Nash is clear is his impression that war crimes of some degree did take place in Jenin, but goes further to describe how both the Palestinians and Israelis were to blame. Something less than a massacre, something more than acceptable outcomes of conflict... and for a lack of a reasoned investigation, new myths will be born on both sides. New myths that seek to avoid accountability, create justifications, breed more defensive posturing.