Bill Murray's Blog, page 40
March 30, 2019
Quotes: He Must Be Right
“And while MPs deserve credit for trying, there is unlikely to be a majority in the country for a deal cobbled together over a weekend on the basis of MPs’ third or fourth choices that could decide the next 100 years of our history.”
– Gordon Brown on the state of Brexit after the government plan’s third defeat.
March 29, 2019
Weekend Reading
Mainly, CS&W is about exploring the world out there, so here is some interesting weekend reading about places that chances are, you’re probably not right now:
Long train travel: There Is No Reason to Cross the U.S. by Train. But I Did It Anyway.
Shorter train travel: Brexit, and train travel through Europe.
How the contest between free trade and protectionism sparked fervor and unrest in medieval England: Maken Engelond Gret Ayeyn.
An article that prompted a post earlier this week: Grocery Stores Are at the Front Line of Turkey’s Latest Political Battle.
China, India, Nepal and the political future of Buddhism: China Is Winning the War for Nepali Buddhism.
How to escape despotism: The Underground Railroad of North Korea.
Policy wonk note: One of the recurring themes here is that, since the crumbling of the Berlin Wall in 1989, throughout the Clinton, Bush and Obama years, it has taken a long, long time for an international order to emerge from the ‘Post-Cold-War’ period. Here is a longish article that suggests that, finally, it’s time: The End of the New Deal Era—and the Coming Realignment. The author, Frank J. DiStefano, writes
“American parties are temporary coalitions forged as tools to self-govern our republic at specific moments of crisis. They bind fractious collections of people who disagree about many things but agree on how to solve the biggest problem of their age,”
and he says that is about to change. (Note to readers outside the U.S., it’s a little heavy up on American history.)
And finally, in the aesthetics department: How to Arrange Your Kitchen: According to Julia Child.
See you next week.
March 28, 2019
Photo a Day, Vietnam, Day 10
In Shadows and Wind, A View of Modern Vietnam, Robert Templer writes about Hanoi, capital of a then-newly reunified Vietnam, and a city hard by China, “After 1978, the city’s Chinese population was expelled.” Down south, the Cholon neighborhood of Ho Chi Minh City remains home to a thriving community of ethnic Chinese around half a million strong. Here, incense in a temple, Cho Lon, Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) Vietnam.
A photo a day from Vietnam as we get set for a month in Ho Chi Minh City. These daily photos are collected here, on Earthphotos.com.
March 27, 2019
Quotes: Rocket-Propelled Dutch Politician
[image error]36-year-old Thierry Baudet is the latest shiny new thing in Dutch poliics.
His Forum for Democracy party, started only in 2016, scored an unpredicted, and some would say, troubling success in Dutch elections last weekend and will have the most seats in the upper house of parliament.
“I am ideologically against the EU, against the internal market, against the open borders, against the euro, against the whole thing,” Baudet says.
“Bert Wagendorp, a columnist for De Volkskrant newspaper, placed Baudet firmly in a political tradition started by Pim Fortuyn, who was assassinated 17 years ago.
“Baudet is the third stage of the Dutch populist rocket launched by Pim Fortuyn in 2002, further boosted by Geert Wilders and now being sent to the moon by Baudet,” he wrote.”
From The naked populist: Thierry Baudet stuns the Netherlands.
(2018 photo by DWDD via Wikimedia Commons.)
Photo a Day, Vietnam, Day 9
Two today:
You gotta get up mighty early in the morning to take in all the activity at the Hoi An fish market.
A photo a day from Vietnam as we get set for a month in Ho Chi Minh City. These daily photos are collected here, on Earthphotos.com.
March 26, 2019
Quotes: In Turkey, Food Police Are A Thing
Municipal elections are coming up in Turkey. Don’t fret, the police are on your side and they’re here to help:
Police officers walk the beat in grocery stores to monitor prices. Inspectors have seized tons of onions from warehouses, fining the owners for hoarding, even though storing the bulbs is common practice to prevent rot.
From Grocery Stores Are at the Front Line of Turkey’s Latest Political Battle.
Photo a Day, Vietnam, Day 8
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Loom at a sewing factory in Hoi An, Vietnam. Here’s a four-minute video from Hoi An.
A photo a day from Vietnam as we get set for a month in Ho Chi Minh City. These daily photos are collected here, on Earthphotos.com.
March 25, 2019
Photo a Day, Vietnam, Day 7
Some of the things you can buy at Cho Cu ‘Old’ Market, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
A photo a day from Vietnam as we get set for a month in Ho Chi Minh City. These daily photos are collected here, on Earthphotos.com.
March 22, 2019
Weekend Reading
A schizo spring so far in our corner of Appalachia. Early blooming dogwoods and azaleas nipped in the bud. Trees normally not yet heard from way ahead of the weather. Mornings still at or below freezing as often as not. A pretty, early spring weekend is forecast, good for being outdoors.
Should you find a little spare time, here are a few articles I’ve found worthwhile this week.
– In the last couple weeks, the New York Times has featured two places we’ll find ourselves this summer: Helsinki and Hoi An.
– On France: Among the Gilets Jaunes.
– Réné Descartes “held that only humans are conscious, have minds and souls, can learn and have language and therefore only humans are deserving of compassion.” Bah. Here, a study of bears’ communication casts doubt on human supremacy over animals.
– On being eastern European: The East in you never leaves.
– What Makes a Waterfall? Maybe It Forms Itself.
– A future of stuff, and accumulating it: Free Shipping.
– Russia’s eternal search for security “makes it less secure:” Russia’s Tragic Great Power Politics.
Enjoy the weekend. See you next week.
Photo a Day, Vietnam, Day 6
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In the middle of the country near Da Nang and Hue, Hoi An has turned into a tourist magnet. Here, the morning market.
A photo a day from Vietnam as we get ready to head to Ho Chi Minh City. I’ll gather all these photos day by day here, on Earthphotos.com.
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