ability of HIV/AIDS in Texas.” 2011. Web. 08 Aug 2020.
Add Ilir Latifi to the list of fighters that think they were wronged by the judges in Houston.
Latifi (14-8 MMA, 7-6 UFC) opened up the main card of this past weekend’s UFC 247 in Texas, when he took on Houston’s own Derrick Lewis (23-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) in his heavyweight debut.
After a slow start, struggling to get in range, Latifi would eventually get the fight to the mat in Round 2 and get significant ground control. He was able to land another takedown in Round 3, but in the last minute or so of the fight, Lewis managed to make his way back up, throwing a flurry on the feet in a late surge.
But a disappointed Latifi thinks he was robbed and that Houston resident Lewis was given the hometown decision. Latifi delivered a statement via his Instagram, urging the UFC to invest in better judging.
Saturday night walking in to the arena to fight Derrick Lewis, Houstons home pride, I knew this battle wasn’t going to be easy.
Hopefully in the future we will see judges and scoring system that’s made for MMA by people of real experience of the sport like fighters and trainers that have better understanding of the sport and can make better judgments.
The loss comes as a big blow for Latifi, who was looking for new life at heavyweight, but has now lost his last three in a row.
I still remember learning about capital gains tax and income tax in the same day and though "wtf, they get a tax break AND they didn't have to work for it.  I'm in my mid 30s now and I still stand by that.



We could definitely use a limit on tax breaks for charitable donations. Even the ones that go to things that appear helpful to the community, like schools. They are essentially pick where their taxes are being spent. "Oh, looks like the government is trying to take my money. The perils of live radio –..
The perils of live radio – Enter the cleaner.
At the end of each evening on 3AW Nightline, Philip and Simon speak with Tony Moclair about what is coming up on his program Australia Overnight. On Tuesday 10 April, 2018. A new member of the cleaning staff wandered in to clean the studio, oblivious to the fact the boys were broadcasting.
If there’s one thing about talk radio. It stops for no-one. Here’s the proof.This past summer, Halie and I and our friend Morgan visited Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the wonders of Angkor Wat. I never wrote a blog about it because I struggled to put into words what I saw. Recently, while reading Anthony’s Bourdain second book A Cook’s Tour, I came across the following passage about his visit there. He said it better than I ever could so I’ll just let his words speak for me. After the quote, I’ll have a link to an album of some of my pictures.
I stopped taking photographs at Angkor Wat. No camera is adequate to the task. it’s too big, too magnificent to be captured in any frame. There’s no way to convey through simple images the sense of wonder when you encounter the cities of Angkor looming up out of the thick jungle. Mile after mile of mammoth, intricately detailed, multileveled temples, bas-reliefs, jumbo Dean Tavoularis-style heads, crumbling stone structures choked in the root systems of hundred-year-old trees. This was the center of the mighty Cham empire, which once extended as far as Nha Trang and the sea to the east, all of what is now South Vietnam to the south, to occasional sections of Thailand and the Indian subcontinent. The work, the time, the number of artists, craftsmen, and laborers it must have taken to construct even one of the hundreds of structures is unimaginable. Looking at the densely populated reliefs, you are utterly intimidated by the impossibility of ever taking it all in. The KR did its best to ruin Angkor for all time, laying mines all over the grounds, destroying statues and shrines. Looters and unscrupulous antiquities dealers knocked off as many heads as they could, stripped the temples of what they could carry, and sold them on the black market in Thailand and elsewhere. But the UNESCO people are there now, painstakingly restoring what they can. The mines have, for the most part, been removed, and you can wander the interior of the dark stone piles, a waiflike Khmer kid by your side, telling you what it all means, pointing out the two-tongued figures in dark corners, urging you to give the saffron-robed bonzes tending to small Buddhist shrines a few riel.  Standing at the foot of a great stone head, I could only imagine what the first Frenchmen who’d stumbled onto the place must have felt like.
Last week Halie had Thursday and Friday off for Makhabucha Day. We decided to use the long weekend to travel to Luang Prabang, Laos. Not knowing much of anything about the city but only hearing great things from friends who’ve been, we we’re excited to see what the mountains and hills of northern Laos had to offer.
As we descended through the surrounding mountains, we could already tell this ancient city bordered by rivers would be different. During the taxi ride to the homestay, a hodgepodge of architecture passed by us. French colonial buildings, wooden homes, temple ruins and thriving monasteries. We quickly checked into our hotel and decided to go explore the city. Right around the corner was the night market so no better place to start.
So if you notice the title of this post, I called Luang Prabang a “dichotomy”. Before I continue with our trip, let me introduce the first part of the dichotomy since it was the first night there that I was confronted with it. Tourist. So many of them. Half the city is 22 year old backpackers. The other half is wealthy, retired Europeans. Initially, it was somewhat of a turn-off to me. Most cities awash with tourists are structured cultural experiences. There’s a facade put in place to appease the masses and hide the authentic nature of the location. This is common across the world and at first glance, I thought Luang Prabang was another casualty.
Until the second day. Using Backstreet Academy, we were picked up by a translator and brought to a Hmong village to learn the art of embroidery with a lady and her daughter. Backstreet Academy is a company that connects travelers with local craftsmen and women to learn traditional techniques of all kinds of things: embroidery, bow making, brewing beer and wine, cooking and woodworking. The list goes on.
Halie and I spent the afternoon embroidering with two Hmong women. They begin learning this craft at the age of 7 or 8 and spend their lives making beautiful clothes and accessories to sell at the night market or use in local ceremonies. After finishing, we walked around meeting some of the other men and women of the tribe and learning about their lives and language and culture.
Let me get back to the dichotomy I was speaking of. I’ve never been to a city that had so many tourist but was so integrated into its own history and culture and local tribes. The night market wasn’t a tourist trap to get our money but a life-line for the Hmong and Khmer tribes surrounding the city to continue the crafts and traditions that they’ve been doing for hundreds of years. The well-kept French colonial structures weren’t a facade but an example of a city that appreciates its architecture and history whether it represents colonization by a foreign power, a powerful tribal king and kingdom or the current communist government.
Okay, back to our trip. Getting back to the city, we began exploring around a bit more.
The city is on a peninsula surrounded by two rivers coming together (Mekong and Nam Khan Rivers). The Nam Khan has a bamboo bridge that is only up 6 months of the year (they take it down for the rainy season). So of course we had to cross it. Who knew on the other side was going to be the greatest meal in my life!?
We were recommended a restaurant named Dyen Sabai by a friend. With benches, chairs and ground level seating all facing the Nam Khan, this place had atmosphere. Reading through the menu, we decided on what the menu called “Lao Fondue,” learning afterwards that this is a popular dish in Luang Prabang called “sindad.” The best way of describing this incredible food experience is a mix between Chinese hot pot and Korean barbecue. You have a pile of hot coals with a grill above. The grill is rounded with a moat for the broth. The meat, vegetables, noodles and eggs all come raw and it’s your job to cook them. Don’t forget to start with the spicy chilis and garlic before adding everything to the broth. Then use the grill to cook the meat (after adding a chunk of fat on top to grease the grill). The broth was the best broth I’ve ever tasted and everything coming out of it was just as good.
Last day, UXO Museum. This intense museum chronicles the 2 million tons of bombs dropped on Laos between 1964 and 1973 and the heroic efforts to locate, dismantle and remove the 80 million unexploded bombs left over from the war