Homer's Halloween Hell
Dyckia Rondonopolitana, I Presume?
 |
| a vegetarian pirhana! Thommaso Giarrizzo/WWF |
 |
| a species of titi monkey Thomas Defler/WWF |
It's About Time
Hmmmm. Fascinating but hard to wrap one's head around. If I have this right, the theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity, which do not agree right now, can be unified by something called quantum entanglement. Quantum entanglement is the factor that allows us to notice the passage of time: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24473-entangled-toy-universe-shows-time-may-be-an-illusion.html#.UnGxMCQtfgc
For an explanation (of sorts!) of quantum entanglement, see http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/q/quantum_entanglement.htm
For an explanation (of sorts!) of quantum entanglement, see http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/q/quantum_entanglement.htm
Second Sole
When shoes are too used to be passed along to someone else or to a charity, they've always ended up in a landfill. Not anymore. A group of British scientists has come up with a low-cost way to easily separate the materials so that each can be recycled and end up in things like playground surfacing or new shoes: http://zeenews.india.com/news/science/now-recycle-your-old-shoes_885430.html
Team leader Shahin Rahimifard explains how it's done (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAH0K7porxw
Team leader Shahin Rahimifard explains how it's done (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAH0K7porxw
Hallowear
 |
| a dress made of cow nipples by England's Rachel Freire |
'They Have the Right To Be Children'
 |
| Kakenya Ntaiya |
The Faces of Fear
 |
| Nightmares Fear Factory |
The Very Cultured Cat
 |
| Booker, of The Book Nook of Mexico |
In addition to being on the lookout for rare, used, new, and out-of-print books for their customers, the folks at AbeBooks in British Columbia, Canada, keep a catalog of bookstore felines and their stories, as told by their resident humans. (FYI, they're always ready for new editions): http://www.abebooks.com/books/bookseller-bookshop-bookstore/cats.shtml
Lives in the Sand
 |
| Agadez, on the edge of the Sahara, is on one of the main migrant routes. AFP |
U.$$$. Broadband
P.S., The New America Foundation (NAF), whose study yielded the data used in this article, is kind of interesting: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/printgroupProfile.asp?grpid=7616
P.P.S., Discover the Networks, whose information about the NAF is at the link above, is rather interesting, too: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/259679/discover-networks-stanley-kurtz
Always good to know who the players are.
Ale Well and Good
a bit about beer from wisegeek.com:
The Scottish beer Armageddon is believed to be the world's strongest with a 65% alcohol content. Most beers are around 4% - 8% alcohol content by volume. Armageddon beer is produced by the Brewmeister Brewery, which uses a freeze fermentation method to achieve the high alcohol content. In the United States, this beer is currently unavailable for sale in stores and can only be purchased on the brewery website.
More about beer:
The Scottish beer Armageddon is believed to be the world's strongest with a 65% alcohol content. Most beers are around 4% - 8% alcohol content by volume. Armageddon beer is produced by the Brewmeister Brewery, which uses a freeze fermentation method to achieve the high alcohol content. In the United States, this beer is currently unavailable for sale in stores and can only be purchased on the brewery website.
More about beer:
- There is evidence that the earliest civilizations, including the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, brewed beer. In fact, the ancient Sumerians had a deity of beer called Ninkasi.
- Although barley beer was invented on the territory of modern day Iran, it is illegal to consume it there presently.
- A beer enthusiast, or a person who loves beer, is called a cerevisaphile.
'Who's That Kid?'
 |
| Ronan and mom REX/Startraks Photo |
A Toddler's Tolstoy
Fall Back
So why the different dates? Find out this and more interesting stuff about the time change here: http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/k.html
Spacious Skies
 |
| screen shot |
So, This Candy Goes into a Bar ...
Halloween, as we all know, isn't about thrills and chills alone ~ it's also about sugar! Which makes this the perfect time for a little candy quiz (do you know where the name PEZ comes from?): http://www.parade.com/219002/viannguyen/how-well-do-you-know-candy/If you haven't had your fill yet, here's a list of America's favorite candies ~ good to know before you go shopping for treats (slideshow): http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/10/1021_americas_25_top_selling_candies/
Eat This With That
OK, I have not tried this and have no idea whether it makes sense or if it works, but it is interesting. There is a theory that we can help our bodies (aka ourselves) by avoiding certain food combinations and sticking to others. The idea is that some kinds of food break down faster than others, and you don't want them to ferment while they're stuck behind something that moves more slowly through the system (story, link to PDF of food chart): http://experiencelife.com/article/questionable-food-combos/
'Flagrant Violations of the Law'
Think of Louisiana and oil, and one automatically thinks of the disastrous BP spill in 2010, whose effects are still being felt. But BP isn't the only polluter of those shores, and Shell's, Exxon Mobil's, and others' documents dating back at least 30 years show how much those companies knew, when they knew it, and what they did about it (not much): http://harpers.org/blog/2013/10/secret-oil-company-memos-on-pollution-in-louisiana/
A great 2010 interview with the writer of that piece, Ken Silverstein, on why he decided to quit his post as Washington editor at Harper's and become, instead, a contributing editor. In a nutshell, he says this about that: "I began to feel like every story I wrote, I’d written five years ago or ten years ago or fifteen years ago, or all three. 'Lobbyists Kill Off Health Care Reform' or 'Private Special Interests Pouring Money into Campaigns.' It’s not that I don’t think these are good and important stories, but I started feeling like I didn’t want to be writing them anymore": http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/qa_outgoing_harpers_washington.php?page=all
A great 2010 interview with the writer of that piece, Ken Silverstein, on why he decided to quit his post as Washington editor at Harper's and become, instead, a contributing editor. In a nutshell, he says this about that: "I began to feel like every story I wrote, I’d written five years ago or ten years ago or fifteen years ago, or all three. 'Lobbyists Kill Off Health Care Reform' or 'Private Special Interests Pouring Money into Campaigns.' It’s not that I don’t think these are good and important stories, but I started feeling like I didn’t want to be writing them anymore": http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/qa_outgoing_harpers_washington.php?page=all
The New Freak Show
 |
| Rich Pell |
The museum's website itself is beyond fascinating. Kind of like a train wreck by the side of the road ~ it's disturbing, frightening, and repulsive, but you can't look away: http://www.postnatural.org/
The Chicken and the Pea
 |
| iStockphoto.com/Borko Ciric |
So what to do? Maybe the best way to end the suffering of egg-laying hens is to stop eating eggs. One company has come up with a faux, plant-based "egg," and its marketing is based on that premise: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bethhoffman/2013/10/22/the-end-of-the-egg/
Spirits of the Scribes
 |
| Papa pours himself a stiff one. Tore Johnson/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images |
Writers write about it, singers sing about it, poets write odes to it. But is their creativity helped or harmed by a little tipple? The answer depends on so many factors, but one thing is sure: Our libraries would be the poorer without it: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/20/why-do-writers-drink-alcohol
A Good Live Band
 |
| from thebeatlesrarity.com |
They were already a hit in Britain but hadn't yet played the Ed Sullivan Show when the Beatles really got a hold on their audience with a rockin' seven-song set recorded for Swedish radio 50 years ago this month (story, audio from the performance): http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/10/50-years-later-the-greatest-beatles-performance-of-all-time/280801/
And here they are on a Swedish TV show in 1963 (note that you can actually hear them ~ the funny thing is, some of the girls in the audience, who are all up front, actually look uninterested!) (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2nJXcZy_Gw
Test Your State of Being
 |
| Oregon! |
Time for Coffee
Nuclear Arctic
One of the repercussions of climate change is the opening up of the Arctic, including its undiscovered natural gas. Most of that area belongs to Russia, which is now planning a floating nuclear power plant to provide the energy to find and extract, well, the other kind of energy: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/10/131023-russia-floating-nuclear-power-plants/
Long May it Wave
The first 3D map of the movement of stars in the Milky Way shows that our galaxy is undulating. The question now is, Why?: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24464-milky-way-galaxy-is-fluttering-like-a-flag.html#.Uml5MCQtfgc
Vows Among the Cows
 |
| newlyweds at the farm Francine Orr |
One Central California dairy farmer has figured out a way to keep his small family farm afloat (and it isn't easy in these days of drought, federal ethanol policies, and corporate takeovers) ~ he rents it out for weddings. "It's just that they don't call them dairy weddings, because people tend to think about flies and manure," he explains. "It's 'barn weddings' or 'farm setting'" (story, slideshow, video): http://www.latimes.com/local/columnone/la-me-c1-dairy-weddings-20131024-dto,0,5168215.htmlstory#axzz2ifQucxVc
Book It
 |
| Last year, I gave my books to Project Hope Alliance. |
How D'You Like Them Apples!
 |
| screen shot |
In Memory of My Donation
 |
| the Cuban Friendship Urn dcMemorials.com |
A tour of some of our capital's lesser-known memorials and monuments is an eye-opening ~ and sometimes smile- or sigh-provoking ~ experience. It makes for an interesting history lesson, too (story, link to slideshow): http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-c1-monuments-20131023-dto,0,3660784.htmlstory
It Happens
They Just Do It
 |
| NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg Tim Sheaffer |
Vanity Fair's 2013 list of the people who make the decisions that change our lives. Not surprisingly, four of the top ten under the subheading "The Disrupters" control social media, half of the remaining six are in the computer biz, and number seven, a newcomer to the ranking, is the head of the NSA. Number one under the "Powers That Be" subhead are Jay Z and Beyoncé: http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2013/11/new-establishment-2013
True Tales From the Tomb
 |
| Friends of Wardsend Cemetery |
 |
| Friends of Wardsend Cemetery |
Want some really spooky stories to tell this Halloween? These come from an old cemetery in England called Wardsend. It opened in 1857, saw its last funeral in 1977, was officially closed about a decade later, and forgotten and neglected, fell into disrepair. It became overgrown and soon came to resemble the dark, spooky, shadow-filled cemeteries of one's nightmares. Recently, the local council cleaned it up and a group called Friends of Wardsend Cemetery put together this website and now offers tours of the place. The fact that these stories of some of the town's and the cemetery's inhabitants are true makes them just that much better, don't you think?: http://friendsofwardsendcemetery.btck.co.uk/People
Science Fiction
The online Cambridge Dictionary defines science as "the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the natural and physical world, or knowledge obtained about the world by watching it carefully and experimenting." Most of us have come to equate science with impartial truth and fact, but that view is being questioned. More and more studies have not been able to be duplicated (one of the prerequisites for a study to be considered conclusive), many statistical errors are not caught, and as a psychologist interested in this problem explains, "There is no cost to getting things wrong": http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21588057-scientists-think-science-self-correcting-alarming-degree-it-not-trouble
An Eye for an Eye
 |
| peek-a-boo! |
For a Few Rubles More
 |
| on the back of a bicycle taxi, Paris KW |
We heard a lot of Russian in Paris and on the Riviera, and that's just one of the signs of how much things have changed in the Motherland. There's a lot of money there, and those who have it want everyone to know. German photographer Frank Herfort became fascinated with all the new buildings that have been going up in the area. "You feel that each building wants to scream out that I'm the best, the biggest, the richest," he says (slideshow): http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20131021-post-soviet-imperial-splendour
Halloweenfo
And did you know that candy corn has marshmallow in it? or that it takes four to five days for it to go through the whole process of being made? Here's how the magic happens (video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgTvgQfcllM
Knit a Treat
 |
| Nosferatu's Count Orlok Quintet 2012 |
They Could've All Been Us
A 1.8-million-year-old skull found in the republic of Georgia is forcing scientists to question just how many branches of hominins there really were. "The significance is difficult to overstate," according to Tim White, a UC Berkeley expert on human evolution. "It is stunning in its
completeness. This is going to be one of the real classics in
paleoanthropology" (story, video): http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/17/skull-homo-erectus-human-evolution
A Place Called Home
 |
| Insect House, southern France KW |
Pocket Poet
This is the poem that Poem-A-Day sent out today:
poem I wrote sitting across the table from you
by Kevin Varrone
if I had two nickels to rub together
I would rub them together
like a kid rubs sticks together
until friction made combustion
and they burned
a hole in my pocket
into which I would put my hand
and then my arm
and eventually my whole self—
I would fold myself
into the hole in my pocket and disappear
into the pocket of myself, or at least my pants
but before I did
like some ancient star
I'd grab your hand
I would rub them together
like a kid rubs sticks together
until friction made combustion
and they burned
a hole in my pocket
into which I would put my hand
and then my arm
and eventually my whole self—
I would fold myself
into the hole in my pocket and disappear
into the pocket of myself, or at least my pants
but before I did
like some ancient star
I'd grab your hand
Creative Habits
from delanceyplace.com:
In today's selection—in his marvelous new book, Daily Rituals, Mason Currey profiles the work habits of 161 famously creative people—including scientists, novelists, mathematicians, painters and poets. What is striking about most of them? Even those we might consider wildly creative? They work very hard, and have ploddingly consistent work habits. Here are selections from two:
Pablo Picasso
"Throughout his life, Picasso went to bed late and got up late. At the Boulevard de Clichy [in 1911], he would shut himself in the studio by 2:00 p.m. and work there until at least dusk. Meanwhile, his girlfriend of seven years, Fernande, was left alone to her own devices, hanging around the apartment, waiting for Picasso to finish his work and join her for dinner. When he finally emerged from his studio, however, he was hardly good company. 'He rarely spoke during meals; sometimes he would not utter a word from beginning to end,' Fernande recalled. 'He seemed to be bored, when he was in fact
In today's selection—in his marvelous new book, Daily Rituals, Mason Currey profiles the work habits of 161 famously creative people—including scientists, novelists, mathematicians, painters and poets. What is striking about most of them? Even those we might consider wildly creative? They work very hard, and have ploddingly consistent work habits. Here are selections from two:
Pablo Picasso
"Throughout his life, Picasso went to bed late and got up late. At the Boulevard de Clichy [in 1911], he would shut himself in the studio by 2:00 p.m. and work there until at least dusk. Meanwhile, his girlfriend of seven years, Fernande, was left alone to her own devices, hanging around the apartment, waiting for Picasso to finish his work and join her for dinner. When he finally emerged from his studio, however, he was hardly good company. 'He rarely spoke during meals; sometimes he would not utter a word from beginning to end,' Fernande recalled. 'He seemed to be bored, when he was in fact
The Last Witness
 |
| Ford with the Dalai Lama |
Know Before You Throw
Bras? Really? Prosthetic limbs? Really? As I was looking around for how to recycle my refrigerator's old water filter (because, apparently, Frigidaire doesn't have such a program ...), I came upon this list of other things one wouldn't automatically think could be recycled but that can be: http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/recycling/stories/20-things-you-didnt-know-you-could-recycle
Good (Mood) Books
There's a group in England called The Reading Agency that puts together lists of particularly uplifting books. Here's this year's list, culled from readers' suggestions (pdf): http://readingagency.org.uk/adults/Guide%20to%20Mood-boosting%20Books%202013.pdf
Here's the 2012 list: http://readingagency.org.uk/adults/tips/mood-boosting-books-2012-list.html
And here's a list of books recommended for those with specific issues, like depression, anger, sleep problems, phobias, etc. (pdf): http://readingagency.org.uk/adults/BoP%20core%20booklist%20April%202013.pdf
Here's the 2012 list: http://readingagency.org.uk/adults/tips/mood-boosting-books-2012-list.html
And here's a list of books recommended for those with specific issues, like depression, anger, sleep problems, phobias, etc. (pdf): http://readingagency.org.uk/adults/BoP%20core%20booklist%20April%202013.pdf
Bridge to ... Who Cares?
 |
| 626 feet up at the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore |
 |
| circular pedestrian overpass, Shanghai |
What Remains
Used to be the only choice one had for one's body after the spirit left it was burial. Then came cremation and cryonics. But wait, there's more! (story, videos): http://www.care2.com/greenliving/4-interesting-alternatives-to-being-buried.html?page=1
The Many Lives of Carrie White
 |
| Sissy Spacek played Carrie in the first movie. |
What is it about Carrie? From the publication of the horror novel in 1974 to this year's remake of the movie, Stephen King's heroine has gone through a series of iterations, many of which reflect the changing times but all of which prove the universality of the revenge fantasy (story, slideshow): http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/movies/stephen-kings-carrie-through-the-ages.html?hpw&_r=0
Everthing Old Is New Again in NYC
 |
| 923 44th St., July 1, 1928, and now Marc A. Hermann, NY Daily News Archive |
Reading and Writing in Reykjavik
 |
| In the land of Asgard and Valhalla, books are a big deal. Claus Sterneck |
The Things We Absorb
Our skin is porous, which means it absorbs a lot of what we put on it ~ makeup, shaving cream, body lotions, shampoos, nail polish, sunscreen. It is an unfortunate reality that we in the U.S. are exposed in this way to many chemicals that the citizens of other countries are not. Many companies even sell two versions of the same product ~ with and without controversial ingredients ~ one for the U.S. and the other for elsewhere (slideshow): http://healthyliving.msn.com/health-wellness/12-cosmetic-ingredients-legal-in-the-us-but-banned-elsewhere#1
I thought that my drugstore eye makeup remover was as pure as a commercial product could be, as it was supposed to be gentle and hypoallergenic, but when I finally looked at the list of ingredients (after using it for years!), I was unpleasantly surprised. So I decided to do some research and found an easy-to-make, three-ingredient DIY remover that works without being too oily. It's equal parts water (purified, if possible, of course), witch hazel, and sweet almond oil (or any kind, I think). That's it. Simple and inexpensive. Just remember to shake it before using. Disclaimer!: Of course, as with almost anything, different people react differently to the same thing. For example, the witch hazel could sting the eyes, but as I am careful and keep my eyes tightly closed, I haven't had a problem. Use your judgment here.
Here's a list of ingredients to avoid when shopping for body-care products (wallet-size cards to print out): https://www.beautycounter.com/FileUploads/DocumentLibrary/Documents/PocketNeverList.pdf
I thought that my drugstore eye makeup remover was as pure as a commercial product could be, as it was supposed to be gentle and hypoallergenic, but when I finally looked at the list of ingredients (after using it for years!), I was unpleasantly surprised. So I decided to do some research and found an easy-to-make, three-ingredient DIY remover that works without being too oily. It's equal parts water (purified, if possible, of course), witch hazel, and sweet almond oil (or any kind, I think). That's it. Simple and inexpensive. Just remember to shake it before using. Disclaimer!: Of course, as with almost anything, different people react differently to the same thing. For example, the witch hazel could sting the eyes, but as I am careful and keep my eyes tightly closed, I haven't had a problem. Use your judgment here.Here's a list of ingredients to avoid when shopping for body-care products (wallet-size cards to print out): https://www.beautycounter.com/FileUploads/DocumentLibrary/Documents/PocketNeverList.pdf
Your Average Man
 |
| Nickolay Lamm |
It Started With One Step
 |
| Katherine Connor and friend Peggy Dyer |
Back on the home front, a travel blogger helps underserved girls ~ and now families ~ get their first passport. "I think travel should be available to everyone, particularly children," she says. "The sooner they explore, the better for the world": http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/travelers-of-the-year-2013/tracey-friley/
A Home of Their Own
 |
| Sweetwater has a pool and farm. Winni Wintermeyer for the New York Times |
The Flight of the Totonacas
 |
| jorfrai |
They twirl upside-down from a platform high in the sky on which sits a flautist, following the ages-old tradition of their people. They represent earth, wind, fire, and water circling the sun, and their flight is a tradition that the Totonacas in Mexico hope to continue for generations to come (story, great video): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24439200
The 984-Foot Asparagus
I did not know this. Did you? From those omniscient individuals at mentalfloss.com:
The Eiffel Tower was originally supposed to be in Barcelona, but the
city thought it would be an eyesore, and rejected Gustave Eiffel's
plans. That meant he was forced to repitch the project elsewhere.
Luckily, Eiffel found a home for his idea in Paris, where the Tower
could serve as the main archway for the 1889 International Exposition.
The Tower didn't exactly go over well with the Parisians, either. The
enormous iron structure was immediately belittled by critics, and one
especially harsh reviewer
The Smell Test
Fascinating! ~ and so important. A study by a graduate student at the University of Florida has shown that a simple smell test using peanut butter can pinpoint those in the first stages of Alzheimer's (story, video, slideshow): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/alzheimers-smell-test-peanut-butter_n_4072892.html
And the Winners Have Been ... UPDATE
 |
| britannica.com |
It's quite possible that our little Malala Yousafzai just may win this year, but she's not sure that she should. "There are many people who deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, and I think that I still need to work a lot," she said when asked about it. "In my opinion, I have not done that much to win the Nobel Peace Prize": http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/10/231388814/will-a-pakistani-teenager-win-the-nobel-peace-prize
For a graphic explaining the nominating process, see http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2009/10/the-nobel-peace-prize/
This year's winner is the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (story, video): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24490925
Disney Feels Good
Disney has figured out a way of allowing viewers to "feel" textures, using electrostatics to simulate friction. "If we artificially stretch skin on a finger as it slides on the
touch screen, the brain will be fooled into thinking an actual physical bump
is on a screen even though it is smooth,” explained Ivan Poupyrev, director of the interaction group at Disney Research (story, video): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/disney/10367418/Forget-3D-Disney-aims-for-Texture-TV.html
His Dog Spot
 |
| the late Cal Worthington and one of his "dogs" youtube |
Urine Luck
Well, like so many things we blithely throw away, it turns out that our urine has many valid uses ~ and the Smithsonian knows them all: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2013/08/from-gunpowder-to-teeth-whitener-the-science-behind-historic-uses-of-urine/
The Whole Sorrowful Land
Last year, I shared a very eye-opening piece on the Democratic Republic of Congo and its tragic history of war, colonialism, slavery, and exploitation. (The post included, btw, a link to Joseph Conrad's awesome Heart of Darkness, from which comes the title of this post [see below for the excerpt.]): http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2012/12/heart-of-darkness.html
Africa may seem a continent away (*smile), but what goes on there is important to us all. It is also important to understand why what is going on there (or anywhere) is going on. In this case, it started in the late 15th century (story, video): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24396390
Here's the passage from which I got the title for this post: "She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her
Africa may seem a continent away (*smile), but what goes on there is important to us all. It is also important to understand why what is going on there (or anywhere) is going on. In this case, it started in the late 15th century (story, video): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24396390
Here's the passage from which I got the title for this post: "She was savage and superb, wild-eyed and magnificent; there was something ominous and stately in her
Gotta Make Art
 |
| Francisco de Pájaro |
Brilliant Creations
 |
| Michel Séméniako |
Just Because: 'The Thousand Hour Day'
The first time I found this book, it was in one of my parents' many crammed, wonder-filled bookshelves. It's a long book, and emotionally draining, but I couldn't put it down. The title refers to the six weeks after the Nazis invaded Poland. The book, a historical fiction by W.S. Kuniczak, follows the stories of various people in completely diverse situations but all in that same period of time.
I loaned it to someone, never got it back, and forgot who had it. That was several years ago. Since then, I had occasion to recall it many times, wishing I still had it, but as I couldn't remember the exact title or the name of the author, Google as I might, I couldn't find it.
The second time I found this book, I was in a rental condo in Mammoth. This was last summer. I noticed that the owners were readers and that they read some pretty heavy-duty books. Intrigued, I started looking through their bookshelves ~ and guess what I found? Right.
Because there's so much to this book, a part of one section alone won't give an idea of its scope, so I'm regaling you with a couple of excerpts. Also, I usually post the first few paragraphs of a book, but in this case, I'm starting a little further in.
I loaned it to someone, never got it back, and forgot who had it. That was several years ago. Since then, I had occasion to recall it many times, wishing I still had it, but as I couldn't remember the exact title or the name of the author, Google as I might, I couldn't find it.
The second time I found this book, I was in a rental condo in Mammoth. This was last summer. I noticed that the owners were readers and that they read some pretty heavy-duty books. Intrigued, I started looking through their bookshelves ~ and guess what I found? Right.
Because there's so much to this book, a part of one section alone won't give an idea of its scope, so I'm regaling you with a couple of excerpts. Also, I usually post the first few paragraphs of a book, but in this case, I'm starting a little further in.
Hang yourself, brave
Crillon;
We fought at Arques
and you
were not there.
Fall 1939
And soon, my friend,
we shall
have no more time for
dances …
…
Sunday, August the
twenty-seventh
THE CORRESPONDENT
…
Coming to Berlin at
this time had been his idea. The office in New York had seen no need for it.
They had not been sure that anything would happen. The world had circled above
reality for ten years, after all. They thought the British and the French would
do it again: shuck off their obligations and back away smiling. Then Roosevelt
wrote to Hitler asking for guarantees that German appetites were satisfied
after Austria, the Sudetenland, Memel and the Czechs, and Hitler read the
letter in the Reichstag, rattling off a long list of names of countries,
planets, states and geographic equations in which Germany had no interest (all
to the thunderous laughter of the deputies), and William Shirer cabled his
report about the reasonable nature of Hitler’s demands, and the foreign
Meanwhile, Back in North Korea
 |
| Children extol the joys of agricultural self-reliance. David Guttenfelder |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)