1991. On a train through Yugoslavia two young Americans faced one another across a table. Karine had a braid that wove its way down her spine, and that she played hypnotically around her shoulders as she talked. Kathleen was a petite, voluptuous chainsmoker with an acerbic wit and a laugh that started from deep within her notable body. Kendal, my Brazilian schoolmate, and I were supposed to be hitchhiking to Turkey, but a blizzard on the Austrian autobahn had intervened: the BMW that had given us a lift had pinballed off the guardrails on a slick, sweeping curve, and we had left the driver dumbstruck beside his crumpled vehicle and hitched a ride to the nearest village while the wet spring snows cloaked the valley. The next day the roads into Yugoslavia were closed, so we took the train. We met Karine and Kathleen soon after it left Belgrade. They were strippers from Seattle, journeying across Europe. To two young men in the midst of an adventure, they were catnip. Their next stop: Mount Olympus. We changed our plans.

The four of us disembarked late at night and made our way via taxi to the nearest beach. I put up my tent by headlamp while Karine and Kendal laid out their sleeping bags on the sand. When I unzipped the door, Kathleen threw her bag inside. By morning, we were a couple.

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Rizwan Manji is a self-described "dark-skinned, so Indian" actor - one who, even if he chose a stage name like Chris, would still be "the Indian guy." But when his new show, Outsourced, premieres on September 23, he will be in the company of many other Indian actors on a comedy set in the Southeast Asian nation. NBC has enough faith in the show to give it the coveted 9:30 Thursday night slot, following hit shows 30 Rock and The Office and forming a triumvirate of workplace-based programs. Manji is enthusiastic about the new show, on which he has a leading role, saying, "We're telling real stories of real people, and it's very funny."

He rejects fears expressed by some critics that the show is racist. "NBC has screened Outsourced for many people in the Indian community, and the response has been surprisingly positive," says Rizwan Manji. "Indian people are okay with laughing at ourselves." The new show is based on the 2006 film of the same name, and follows an American novelty sales manager played by Ben Rappaport who is sent to India when his entire department is outsourced. Rizwan is the ambitious and manipulative Rajiv Gidwani, assistant manager of the Mid America Novelties call center in India, who aspires to take over the top job.

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As a former intelligence officer who has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf States, I've been watching the controversy over the Ground Zero Mosque with growing alarm. Al Qaeda's goal for the 9/11 attacks was not only to destroy the American economy, but also to polarize Muslims and non-Muslims. Bin Laden understood that if Americans could be made to fear and despise Arabs, a wave of Muslim-bashing would ensue in this country which would ultimately reinforce Muslims' belief that the "Zionist-Crusader" coalition was accelerating its long-held goal of destroying Islam. This belief would make Muslims set aside what Bin Laden's 1998 Fatwa called "minor differences" among themselves and unite in a holy war against US-Israeli aggression.

My many conversations with Muslims in the Middle East have convinced me that Al Qaeda's 9/11 strategy is working. Even non-violent Muslims, who constitute the vast majority of adherents to the faith, suspect that, at its core, America hates Islam as much as it hates Al Qaeda. The moderate Muslims I know believe that equating Al Qaeda to Islam makes no more sense than equating the Ku Klux Klan with Christianity; yet the majority of Americans persist in lumping the two together. Widespread opposition in America to the Ground Zero mosque simply reinforces the suspicion in the Islamic world that America 's anger at 9/11 extends far beyond the Muslims who carried out the act to Muslims everywhere.

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Steve Hermann's mid-century, Trousdale Estate masterpiece has hit the Beverly Hills housing market with a listing price of $10.9 million. A self-taught designer turned developer to the stars, Hermann has worked on houses that sold to Christina Aguilera, Courtney Cox and David Arquette, Byron Allen, and Frankie Muniz. Real estate agents still talk about the record breaking $12.6 million sale of Hermann's Nightingale Drive property to Oracle heiress Megan Ellison.

610 Cole Place has undergone an extensive three-year rebuild under Hermann's direction. The property is private and located in a desirable Trousdale cul-de-sac near Mulholland Drive. It features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a sunken living room, a twelve-foot clearstory ceiling, Terrazzo floors, and a thirty-seat home theater. The home has been upgraded with Boffi, Poliform, Vantage, and BTicino brands throughout. The most defining element of this home is that the structure is built predominately out of glass to frame the expansive city views and natural light.

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