Bill Murray's Blog, page 147
October 19, 2012
Corruption in China's Push for High Speed Rail
There's an article in the New Yorker, also online, that may give you pause when you settle in to that new luxury high-speed train on your next trip to China. The key quote:
“Inside the system today, if you don’t take bribes you have to get out.
There’s no way you can stay. If three of us are in one department, and
you are the only one who doesn’t take a bribe, are the two of us ever
going to feel safe?”
Friday Photo Quiz #163 - Where in the World?
This week's country is big, big, big. It's in the world's top ten in length of coastline. As you can see, it has room for both big cities and a wild interior.
Can you name the country? Extra credit for guessing the city in the center photo. The answer is after the jump. A good weekend to all from CS&W and EarthPhotos.com.
And
the answer is
............................................................... coming in at number six in the list of countries by length of coastline, it's...
October 17, 2012
Montreal to Halifax on ViaRail's The Ocean
The Ocean, service from Montreal to Halifax.
Just about to get started on the train from Montreal to Halifax, six-days-a-week service that will be unceremoniously cut to three at the end of October, a decision by fiat of the dictatorial, supra-parliamentary Stephen Harper conservative government, according to one of our fellow travelers. They’ve branded this service The Ocean, with a logo of a famous lighthouse.
Here in the ViaRail Montreal terminal they're queueing by the down escalator wit...
October 10, 2012
Blowing Glass, Halifax HDR
These guys were at work at a glass factory along the boardwalk in Halifax, Nova Scotia, when we walked by.
Here, after re-exposing a single RAW photo several times in Adobe Bridge and re-combining them in Photomatix Pro, we're using a Nik Software duplex filter and lots of layers and masks in Photoshop CS5. Shot with a Nikon D-700. Click it to make it quite a bit bigger, and see more HDRs here, and more from Canada here.
Cuba? Maybe
When we signed up for a trip to Cuba back in March, we assumed the "people to people" regulations would hold at least until a possible change in presidential administration. Like everything in U.S./Cuban relations, it turns out to be more complicated than that.
Under criticism from Sen. Rubio and others, the State Department began to slow-walk tour companies' license renewal process, forcing many companies providing the tours to suspend Cuba travel. The company with which we traveled, Insig...
October 3, 2012
One More Cathedral - Wednesday HDR
The Notre Dame Cathedral, Montreal, Quebec, shot with a Nikon D-700 and processed in Photomatix and Photoshop, most using Nik plug-ins. Click to enlarge. 421 more HDRs here.
September 28, 2012
Friday Photo Quiz #162
It's a densely populated archipelago of a country, and in land area, one of the ten smallest states in the world.
Can you name the city? The country? And what sea is that?
The answer is after the jump.
And
the answer is
............................................................... it's Malta, its capital Valetta, and the Mediterranean Sea.
There are a few more photos from Malta in the Malta Gallery, and almost a thousand p...
September 27, 2012
Luxury without the Hotel
The London company OneFineStay looks to have a portfolio of several outstanding, higher-end vacation rentals that look like the kind of thing that would appeal to CS&W readers. They've been good enough to describe a few of their properties here. This photo is from the Violin Factory, described below, and there are several more photos below the fold. Contact OneFineStay.com.
The London ‘unhotel’
Traveling is all
about immersing yourself in the culture and lifestyle of your destination,...
September 26, 2012
Ten Places of Worship - Wednesday HDRs
Enjoy these HDRs of churches in Ethiopia, Italy, Lithuania, Panama, Cuba, Latvia and on St. Helena Island. Click any of them to make them much bigger. There are almost 400 more HDRs in the HDR Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.
The first two are from St. James Church, the oldest Anglican church in the southern hemisphere, St. Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean:
These next two are from the Riga Cathedral, Riga, Latvia:
Here is the Catedral de la Virgen María de la Concepción Inmaculada de La...
