Bill Murray's Blog, page 157
March 21, 2012
Better Ending to Deadly Kidnapping
Good news for Judith Tebbutt this morning. As the BBC reports,
"Mrs Tebbutt was seized on 11 September last year from Kiwayu Safari Village, a luxury resort on a deserted stretch of Kenyan coastline, comprised of thatched cottages on the beach.
The couple had arrived only the previous day and were the only guests."
Her husband was killed in the kidnapping and she was taken by speedboat and held hostage in Somalia. She has been released on payment of ransom, and flown to Nairobi.
The...
March 16, 2012
The Revolucion, 2012, Havana, Cuba.
The Cuba photos are coming, a few a day. They're in the Cuba Gallery at EarthPhotos.com. There are around twenty there now.
In case you prefer, they're also going up on in a new set on Flickr. They'll appear more slowly there than on EarthPhotos, though.
Friday Photo Quiz #144 - Where in the World?
This is going to be a tough one. The style of the sail suggests an Arab dhow. No other clues, really, except wherever it is, is obviously on a body of water.Take as many guesses as you like. If one of them is right, you win.
Can you name this place? The answer is after the jump.
And the answer is ..................................................... It's Lake Malawi, East Africa, which borders Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. Sure enough, the Arab influence is there, as Arab traders...
March 15, 2012
The Things You Miss When You're Away
Catching up on a few things, since we've been away:
- It seems that the archepelagic nation of Kiribati has bought 25 square kilometres on Viti Levu, the main Fijian island, in case, well, Kiribati disappears. Climate change insurance.
- Nice piece from photographer Tim McKulka on the two Sudans. He spent five years traveling and taking pictures there. That's dedication.
- The closest land is Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, 1,090 miles (1,750 km) away. It's the most remote island in the world.
span
March 14, 2012
Wednesday HDR - Back from Havana Version
There's just about no internet in Cuba. No internet cafés, no internet in private homes. There's slow internet in hotel public areas, but we opted not to spend the time squeezing photos through the wires, so we have lots to catch up on about Cuba.
And there's lots to say, but I'd rather not be hasty. I want to let all our impressions steep for a few days before I make my inevitable brash and presumptious generalizations about the lot of the Cuban people. It'll come, over time.
For today...
March 12, 2012
Just Back from Cuba. Photos Coming....
Click it to make it bigger.
Not Getting Enough Mail? Join a Trip to Cuba
Let's pretend Google didn't already have all 10,467 searches I've done, listed day by day, back to February 2006. How else might I disclose personal information to strangers?
Consider a trip to Cuba.
Here's what came in the mail when we signed up to join a Person to Person exchange trip to Cuba. You'll get things like a Participant Profile Check-List and questionnaire, agreement and release forms, travel affidavit including liability release statement and air travel application.
Send...
March 7, 2012
Imagining Our Tour Group to Cuba - South Beach Edition
We're lurking here at dusk tonight on a trendier-than-we-are South Beach in Miami, imagining the people we'll be with for our group tour to Cuba. Due to the restrictions I've written about, we'll be two of a party of nineteen for a weekend in Havana, starting tomorrow.
We're due to meet in a pre-dawn queue at concourse G Level 2 at the Sky King charter desk. Since we're new at the group tour thing, it's fun to consider how our group will get along. Here are my predictions, and we'll see how...
Wednesday HDR - En Route to Miami Version
As we head south today, I leave you with an HDR I cooked up one rainy cold winter day, in front of the wood stove at the studio. This one is from somewhere up on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo.
Shot with a Nikon D-700, processed with PhotoMatix, Nik filters and Photoshop CS5. And a texture added. Click to make it much bigger. And see 365 more HDR photos here, at EarthPhotos.com.
March 6, 2012
Weekend in Havana
Individual, get-on-a-plane-and-go-to-Cuba travel isn't yet available to Americans. But along with seventeen people we haven't yet met, we're off on Thursday to Havana.
flightstats.com listed arrivals at Jose Marti airport (HAV) yesterday from Canada, Mexico, Panama City, Peru, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Argentina, Russia, France, Venezuela, Italy, Spain and Germany. In fact, a Cuban American with family in Havana wrote me, "We were in Old Havana for Christmas and I felt my cousins...
