These notes are from March 2011.

Things I learned today/arguments I encountered:

-The creation of modern Lebanon as a Maronite Christian nation was initiated by the Zionist movement in order to strengthen the argument that the Middle East was a religious mosaic (David Hirst, "Beware of Small States").

-Lebanon is approximately the size of Connecticut and has 15 religious denominations represented. I would bet that Connecticut has also.

-The pan-Arabist movement was intended to be a secular movement.

-Syria used to be the name for Syria-Lebanon-Jordan.

-Twitter and Flickr posts from smart phones include GPS information that can be decoded by anyone to get your specific coordinates (On the Media, 3/11/11).

-Jerusalem may represent the fundamental human condition: as animals, we are compelled to war, but as conscious beings, we are laden with compassion and grief (On Point, "James Carrol's Jersualem," 3/8/11).

-All of life is a flow. Capitalism and industrial production are no exception (D&G, "Anti-Oedipus)