Bill Murray's Blog, page 156
March 29, 2012
Don't Go to Belarus
Besides the monuments, the Communist Square, the Independence Square, the Freedom Square and so on, and Lee Harvey Oswald's former residence, the most obvious thing to see in Minsk (on a visit in August 2011) was the preparations for the 2014 ice hockey world championships.
There was a new stadium. A whole vast athlete's complex was sprouting on the edge of town.
Today the headlines read Former Leader Supports Moving Hockey Championships From Belarus. Sure, the former leader, Stanislav...
March 28, 2012
A Catholic Wednesday HDR
Il Papa is in Havana today to celebrate mass at Revolución Square in the Vedado neighborhood outside downtown. Revolución Square is dominated by a graceless 358 foot tall monument to Cuban independence hero Jose Marti. It's safe to say that the Catedral de la Virgen María de la Concepción Inmaculada de La Habana on Cathedral Square is a lot prettier.
Click it to make it much bigger. From the Cuba Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.
March 27, 2012
Postscript: de Villepin
From the Reuters article headlined Former PM de Villepin bows out of presidential race (via France 24):
"it would take a miracle for him to get the signatures of 500 official sponsors by tomorrow's deadline, without which he will not be able to take part in the contest.
"I'm still around 30 short," he told France 2 television in an interview."
De Villepin is a poet, literary critic and former Prime Minister of France, having been appointed by former President Jacques Chirac. He...
March 26, 2012
Gee, Nowadays Everybody's Going to Cuba
Over the weekend there were features on CNN, BBC and in the Financial Times about Cuba, and now MSNBC has a live hour from Cathedral Square in Havana all this week.
A couple of weeks ago our local paper, the Atlanta Journal Constitution ran a story in its sports section about a trip to a baseball game in Havana. Oh, and the Pope is in town.
Here's a banner welcoming the Pope that hangs ouside the Catedral de la Virgen María de la Concepción Inmaculada de La Habana (Cathedral of The Virgin...
March 25, 2012
Good Reads
Christopher de Bellaigue is a pleasure. I've really enjoyed his Rebel Land, which details his search for truth on the Turkey/Armenia question. Okay, that may not be mass appeal stuff, but I'm personally interested, and he has an entirely engaging style.
After he lived in Turkey, de Bellaigue lived in Tehran, and another of his books, In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs, is on the next-to-read list. Got to get on with it, though, because his next book comes in May. It's about the coup against...
March 23, 2012
EarthPhotos.com Announces Digital Downloads
Today I'm happy to announce Digital Downloads on EarthPhotos.com. Just about all of the 18,691 photos on EarthPhotos may now be downloaded immediately. Two sizes are on offer.
You can buy a Web Size image, roughly 640x480 pixels in size, or 0.3 megapixels. This is suitable for web sharing on social sites like Facebook. Or you can buy a 1Mpix image, roughly 1 megapixel in size. These photos are for your personal, and not commercial use (Read Personal License). The 1 Mpix download is...
Friday Photo Quiz #145 - Where in the World?
Those are the al-Hajar mountains in the background, and the sea is behind us. Where are we?
Can you name this capital city? The answer is after the jump.
And the answer is ..................................................... it's Muscat, Oman and its sister cities, lying along the Gulf of Oman, beyond which is Iran. To our right in this photo are the United Arab Emirates, and to the left, across the Arabian Sea, lies India.
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See 83 other photos from Oman in the...
March 22, 2012
The Queue and You
There are two aisles open for American Citizens and Residents in the arrivals hall. Travelers hurry off their planes and fill the queue and it snakes way around behind the pass control booths. The line backs up pretty quick.
You hustle off the plane (Hard learned tip: If there are stairs and an escalator between the plane and pass control, ALWAYS take the stairs) because just like at airline check-ins, if you get in the wrong one, where people have too many bags, or there's some paperwork...
March 21, 2012
Stuck in the Sixties - Wednesday HDRs from Havana
These Havana photos have been a lot of fun to work on. Click each to make them bigger. There are three dozen photos up now in the Cuba Gallery at EarthPhotos.com. Probably will be another dozen or so. See also the HDR Gallery.
