The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Very insightful look into Arabic and specifically Afghani society. The first-person childhood accounts reminded me a lot of Kaffir Boy, the major difference being Kite Runner is fictional, though I hadn't known that when I started reading it. That made me realize how much better the story actually was, it's fiction but it was believable enough to be a true story. There were some interesting views into Afghani culture and I realized that some of the cultural practices are misinterpreted by people today. Specifically, there was a woman in an interview on TV a few months ago who was talking about her experiences being a female journalist in Afghanistan, remarking on how they regard women. She said that when she went to greet them the men slapped their hand across their chest as if to say "don't touch me!" In the book, though, the narrator explains that this gesture is a common greeting. In retrospect, shouldn't a journalist sent to Afghanistan have had at least a crash course on greetings and etiquette?

They've redesigned the periodic table. I have to admit, when I was in chemistry I sat looking at the giant periodic table poster and wondering if that was really the only logical way to organize it. Well, now I know. It is. This new thing sure is pretty, and it has Neutronium on the table, (the element I didn't know actually existed) but it's really not as functional. Maybe it's just my lack of understanding of chemistry, but why can't they make a table where the lanthanides and actinides are shown with the rest of the elements? I also really disagree with their claim that curves are more pleasing to the eye. Well, when it comes to charts anyway...

I just saw this car insurance commercial where they talk about "your baby in a chopshop" and of course by 'baby' they mean car. That really threw me the first time that commercial was on because I wasn't actually looking at the TV.