1999: Putin takes over as Yeltsin resigns Boris Yeltsin has resigned as Russian president, taking the country and the rest of the world completely by surprise.  Mr Yeltsin made the shock announcement live on Russian television and said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will take over as acting president, with elections now due to take place on 26 March 2000.  “I am going.  I am going earlier than my established time,” he said.  The 68-year-old had repeatedly said he would serve out his second and final term in office, which was meant to continue until June 2000.  Mr Yeltsin asked for forgiveness for what he called the errors of his administration, and said Russia needed to enter the new century with new political leaders.

My brother is serving in Iraq and missed his son’s birth by 6 days. He was able to stay home for 14 days then back to Iraq for another six months. This small father and son series is so special to our whole family. We ‘re lucky we live in a time where he was [...]

Gathering for what members of the international science community are calling “potentially the most totally out-to-lunch freaky head trip since Einstein postulated that space and time were, like, curved and shit,” a consortium of the world’s top physicists descended upon Stanford University Monday to discuss some of the difficult questions facing the cutting edge of [...]

This satiric gem has been whizzing around the Hebrew-speaking online world for weeks. Finally, someone had the energy to translate it it into English. I did a bit of editing.
If Arik (Sharon) woke up today….
It is a rainy night and we are at Tel Hashomer Hospital. Only [...]

Finally, after months of reading all kinds of (Christian) blogs, one which actually promotes some real Christian ideas in the real world. Diana Butler Bass wrote this one. I know it sounds unrealistic, and that there is something of an apples/oranges relationship between the Amish and Al Qaeda, but this is an attempt to think [...]