Al-Buraq to Earth. Contact made. Link established with planet Earth. Kamal, onboard computer, setting up Mission Log in accordance with first contact… - Yakoub Islam

Learning is something I’m good at, given the right conditions. Drop me in the middle of an academic subject I care about, and that has relatively clearly defined boundaries, and I can do "expert" more quickly and more comprehensively than most. It’s not vacuous memorization: I’m no savant. What I do is create a schema of fundamental knowledge and understandings, usually over-learned using SQ3R, and that schema then becomes a powerful magnet for related information.

Celebrity has merged human institutions into a “much-of-a-mulchness”, such that the values surrounding political leaders and infamous sex workers are becoming increasingly indistinguisable.

We’ve been listening into and watching your planet’s radio and television transmissions ever since Reginald Fessenden proclaimed, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good willies’, back in 1906. Since then, our research at the University of Weagu Tafrid has focused primarily on the concept of human “celebrity”.