Bill Murray's Blog, page 93
March 21, 2017
1950s Moscow
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Screen shot from a fascinating photo essay at RFERL.com. It’s Moscow in the 1950s, in color.
March 20, 2017
Quotes:
“Istanbul’s shoeshiners have a great trick: They drop their brushes in front of pedestrians, and when the more goodhearted pedestrians return the brushes to them, they offer to shine their shoes. The mark, thinking this service will be on the house, readily agrees, and is surprised when he is asked to pay after his shoes are cleaned. Experienced locals see the brush falling from the shoeshiner’s set, and walkover it, as if nothing has happened. This is what we are learning to do in Istanbul this year.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/139679/walking-dully-along-dispatch-istanbul
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For many years the British journalist Matthew Engel kept little red notebooks of random quotes he found interesting, resulting in the compilation Extracts from the Red Notebooks. In the same spirit, this occasional feature shares things I think are worth knowing.
March 18, 2017
Weekend Reading
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Fine articles to enjoy this weekend:
• Bare Necessities: A visit to the edge of the Arctic Ocean by Amy Butcher in Harper’s Magazine
• Icebergs by George Philip LeBourdais in The Point magazine
• The Lost Tribes of the Amazon by Joshua Hammer in Smithsonian magazine
• Why is Finland Able to Fend Off Putin’s Information War? by Emily Tamkin in Foreign Policy magazine
• The Evolutionary Pull of Ocean Tides by Hugh Aldersey-Williams in Nautilus
• Is Global History Still Possible, or Has It Had Its Moment? by Jeremy Adelman in Aeon
• and finally, a St. Patrick’s Day-appropriate journey to Ireland’s Inveragh Peninsula from Laurence Mitchell
March 17, 2017
Over Under
[image error]On the occasion of publishing my new book about the Arctic and far north Atlantic (Out in the Cold, cover, left), here’s equal time for the southern hemisphere, a few favorite shots from Australia, each of which you can enlarge by clicking on the photo. Many more in the Australia Gallery at EarthPhotos.com.
A detail of the Sydney Opera House.
The Katherine Gorge, south of Darwin.
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Sydney.
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Sunset on Cable Beach, Broome.
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Watson’s Bay, New South Wales
Take the Rest of the Day Off
Padraig stops Declan and asks for the quickest way to the pub.
Declan asks, “Are you walking or driving?”
Padraig: “I’m driving.”
Declan slaps Padraig on the back and says, “That’s the quickest way.”
Cheers!
March 16, 2017
Quotes:
“According to the British-born historian Norman Davies, during “’peak empire’” the British colonies were 125 times larger than Britain’s landmass, the French 19 times larger than France, the Dutch 55 times, and the Belgian 78 times.”
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/01/europe-terrorism-migrants-debt-crisis
For many years the British journalist Matthew Engel kept little red notebooks of random quotes he found interesting, resulting in his book, wait for it, Extracts from the Red Notebooks. In his honor, or rather, stealing the concept directly from him, this entry inaugurates a sometimes feature, random things that I think people ought to know, that we’ll imaginatively call “Quotes:”
March 15, 2017
Netherlands Election
Any politician who utters the words “We will continue our fight” on election night has lost, and so Geert Wilders is invited to scurry off back to his armed guard while the Dutch center holds, delivering a bracing, if temporary, rebuff of Europopulism, and now, eyes on France. But as the reporting horde scurries from Amsterdam to Paris, there remain coalition politics to resolve back in Den Haag.
GreenLeft looks to end up with something like 15 or 16 parliamentary seats in today’s elections, a huge increase from its previous four, on the same night the Dutch Labour Party has been just about eviscerated, apparently for previously joining in a coalition with the center-right government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Despite Labour’s travails, given the current state of the European left, GreenLeft’s 30 year old leader Jesse Klaver should court Rutte’s VVD for inclusion in the coming Dutch governing coalition as a way to put down a marker, to claim legitimacy for his party after its remarkable quadrupling of its parliamentary presence, and to cement GreenLeft’s arrival on the Dutch political scene.
I’m just sayin’.
Greenland from Above
When you fly between Halifax, in eastern Canada, and Keflavik, Iceland, you cross Greenland at a much lower altitude than on the big mainline intercontinental routes. If you’re lucky enough to catch a clear day, the view of Greenland is spectacular. Betting that most people haven’t had this particular opportunity, I thought I’d share some of what you might see. In case you’d like to examine what’s going on on the ground (nothing human), each of these five photos links to a much larger version on EarthPhotos.com. They’re from inside a jet, mind you. When we’re able to charter a helicopter and hang out the window, I’ll let you know.
In my new book Out in the Cold (published within the week), we befriend Inuit bone carvers to learn about the fearsome Greenlandic totem known as the tupilak, and camp with an itinerant Italian musician who dreams of building the island’s first luxury resort, among other adventures in Greenland. I’ll put up a link to the book as soon as it’s available. For now, enjoy the view above Greenland:
This top photo is from a smaller plane, a Bombardier Q400 turboprop, leaving Tasiilaq, Greenland for Reykjavik. The rest are from the IcelandAir Haifax to Keflavik flight.
