Bill Murray's Blog, page 143
February 8, 2013
Photo Quiz #173 - Where in the World?
The country in this week's quiz looks modern enough, especially the capital (top). That's a pedestrian mall in the capital (middle), and hey, no scouring the signs for a giveaway. Trouble is, when you get outside this country's capital, you realize it's got some modernizing to do (bottom).
Possible caveat: These photos are from 2006, so everything might be all shiny and new now. But I'm skeptical. Can you guess the country? Its capital city? What's that body of water in the top photo? C...
February 7, 2013
Sochi Olympics Watch: Corruption? In the Russian Caucasus?
Imagine.
(Reuters) - Vladimir
Putin fired a top Russian Olympic official on Thursday after publicly
ridiculing him on a visit to half-finished sports complexes planned for a
winter Olympics dogged by reports of corruption and construction delays.
February 6, 2013
One More Wednesday HDR from Easter Island
Click this photo to make it much bigger. These statues on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) are called moai. They stand on ahus, stone platforms, some of which are ossuaries. The moai on the right in this photo is Ahu Ko Te Riku. Farther out is Ahu Vai Uri and in the distance, that's the island's only town, Hanga Roa.
This photo is an HDR created with Photomatix, Nik filters and Photoshop CS5. It's overlaid with a texture. See more photos from Easter Island here and more HDRs here.
Now with Fresh Aborigines!
Here's a page from a menu in the Miraflores district of Lima, Peru, seen in December. Consider the Lasana Vegeteriana. There's a closer view below:
Yum. Maybe they meant aubergines?
January 30, 2013
More Moais - Three Last Wednesday HDRs from Easter Island
Three more fancied-up moais from Easter Island:
Top, the quarry at Rano Raraku, where these guys were carved out. It's a long way and a lot of effort to finally stand in this quarry, but if you ever make the trip, it feels like pretty much no other place. Too many mysteries. How did they move these guys all over the island with no modern tools? Why did they stop as if in mid-hammer blow, put down their things and walk away, leaving dozens and dozens of these guys at the quarry? And what ha...
January 29, 2013
Opaque Regime Watch
Two good reads today:
A Glimpse into a Mysterious African Dictatorship: Is Eritrea on the Verge? from Time
and
The secret lives of North Korea from The Independent
Eritrea is one of those countries most people can't quite put their finger on on the map (Clue: All you have to do is find Djibouti). The author and African correspondent Michela Wrong's I Didn't Do It for You is one of the only books about contemporary Eritrea I'm aware of, other than an odd, very handsome 2007 coffee table book...
January 26, 2013
Photo Quiz #172 - Where in the World?
It's verdant. It's poor. And it has beaches. Can you guess the country? Continue reading below for the answer. A good weekend to all from CS&W
and EarthPhotos.com.
And
the answer is ............................................ it's Malawi.
The body of water in the two photos is Lake Malawi. Read our story of a trip across the lake aboard the vintage steamer MV Ilala in Common Sense and Whiskey, the book (Amazon.com, BN.com, or the Kindle version).
It's really a lovely country. There...
January 25, 2013
First Impressions, Peru
Quick: How many countries’ names end with the letter “u?”
Answer: Seven
Nauru, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Palau are small Pacific island states. Macau is part of China. So Peru is the only real, manly, by God state to end in a “u.”
•••••
Likeable enough folks, concrete block city, not much spirit, few attractions, “covered in a blanket of low cloud except for the months of January and February when the sun shines,” and every single non-Peruvian either coming from or going to Cuzco. Even th...
January 24, 2013
Another DPRK Travelogue
With North Korea acting evil again, here's another look inside Pyongyang from Sophie Schimdt, daughter of Google's Eric Schmidt, who was recently in the DPRK on another one of those Bill Richardson trips. She shares her photos of a government guest house, which is, as she puts it, "a bizarre mix of marble grandeur and what passed for chic in North Korea in the 1970s."
Meanwhile, this guy is into watching North Korea from above.
January 23, 2013
More Moais - More Wednesday HDRs from Easter Island
Top: Sunset at Ahu Ko Te Riku, the ahu nearest the only town on Easter Island, Hanga Roa, which explains that the ship would be there. There's no port. Ships offload with cranes to shallow draft barges. Middle: The seven moai facing the sea at Ahu Akivi. All the other standing moai face inland. Bottom: Detail of the moai at Ahu Tongariki. All HDRs shot with a Nikon D700 and post-produced with Photomatix, Nik plug-ins and Photoshop. Click these photos to open larger versions.
The collection o...
