It's Time for Vacation Posting, but There'll Be Plenty to Read Here While I'm Gone

Tomorrow I begin two weeks' vacation. Since there's no clamor by colleagues eager to occupy this bully pulpit for the next couple of weeks, and since I'm not fond of summer reruns, I'm doing what I did last year: writing up non-time-constrained, but I hope interesting, posts ahead of time. Since I've found I often get more traffic and linking from my cultural/historical/linguistics posts, and since those aren't easily overtaken by events, the bulk of the vacation posts — at least one is cued to appear automatically each day — will be of that type. Many are quite a bit longer than my usual posts, in fact, since I often have to fill in a lot of background. So keep coming around; there'll be something new daily.

Last year the Libyan rebels undermined my advanced preparation by taking Tripoli while I was on vacation, and as I did then, I'll drop in from my holiday and comment if I feel I have something that needs saying.  But don't worry, there will be something new here every weekday I'm gone.

A Word About Next Week's Vacation Posts

Some readers may have noticed that over the past two or three weeks there have been few if any of my (I hope trademark) posts on obscure historical, cultural, or linguistic issues. The reason is, I've been "saving them 'in the can'" until I go on vacation next week. A post on, say, 19th Century Egypt will not be overtaken by events.  I do this out of a desire to keep my loyal readers coming here every day, lest you spend too much time playing Angry Birds or watching cats playing the piano on YouTube, and abandon me forever. I do not claim the wisdom of the ancients or the perspicacity of Thomas Aquinas, but I do want to keep you reading me instead of devoting your day to lolcats. There will be at least one post a day here, most of them rather lengthy and educational (but I hope in an entertaining, not a pedantic, way); some days may have more than one and I do not rule out a live post if the region gets really tense.

I won't say more about the subjects of the posts, to retain the element of surprise and keep you coming back even if you find it more boring than cats playing the piano. My dachshund is much more fun to watch, but I haven't yet made a video of him.

Of course, if something big happens, I'll check in with a comment.

Enjoy.

Taking A Week To Relax: Posts will be Occasional

It's the doldrums of August, and many of you will have noted that even the Foreign Policy Middle East Channel (a conglomerate of authors) declared they had "Gone Fishin'" this week. I'm just one guy blogging, not a group. But I have a wife and daughter who, during my broken hip, surgery, and cranky convalescence were constantly helping out all through a long, hot summer, and they as well as I need a respite from work. A planned two week vacation in July fell victim to the injury and doctors' orders, so a single week in August has to suffice. Still, we'd all like to relax as thoroughly as our dog Coco, shown here, does every day.

I don't have a guest blogger lined up, but I actually don't consider the blog to be work, am never without a computer, and I imagine I will post from time to time as I did during last year's vacation, by posting if anything major happens (Husni Mubarak dies/steps down/his hair turns gray; or Rima Fakih wins Miss Universe; or Israel/the US/John Bolton acting alone attack Iran: something like that), or I find a fun link, or I just feel like it. On the other hand the usual several posts a day will not be forthcoming. See you more frequently in a week; occasionally in the interim.