tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-94578052024-03-13T23:18:22.181-07:00Across Difficult CountryC. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.comBlogger801125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-49063696256146404412015-12-31T13:18:00.000-08:002015-12-31T13:18:33.516-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy3naoqaNG7uojrEl7T095cGx5jtkD-fp6Y0H8zTOmg3RjATqUXa6kzuAGCze8Js-hMno5BcaoualRd4tB_L7iwAIhtVs_C_Xj_XQsfZhzgDQDZXcGs0lQDv5k4THoDaT9eHaLMw/s1600/Sabena+Airlines+first+class+lounge+Brussels+1958.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy3naoqaNG7uojrEl7T095cGx5jtkD-fp6Y0H8zTOmg3RjATqUXa6kzuAGCze8Js-hMno5BcaoualRd4tB_L7iwAIhtVs_C_Xj_XQsfZhzgDQDZXcGs0lQDv5k4THoDaT9eHaLMw/s400/Sabena+Airlines+first+class+lounge+Brussels+1958.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-89404200507867755892015-11-22T21:55:00.001-08:002023-07-10T20:50:54.916-07:00Christmas Books<span id="docs-internal-guid-0b5b51e3-32b5-344d-9b94-3695a35cd327"></span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-0b5b51e3-32b5-344d-9b94-3695a35cd327"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjngt_HuE2H6IG2AF8FCSTUJmM2CQcPqycgAQhfXoERyfVawiiHVMqvJvCWkqpE4IFXX9ILaw5vM56wrQkjU-DPKmi_aHDXt3TEEqNBA20rE0yIK2MfH18AGPn4U1ypDmrvw_73yQ/s1600/books.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjngt_HuE2H6IG2AF8FCSTUJmM2CQcPqycgAQhfXoERyfVawiiHVMqvJvCWkqpE4IFXX9ILaw5vM56wrQkjU-DPKmi_aHDXt3TEEqNBA20rE0yIK2MfH18AGPn4U1ypDmrvw_73yQ/s320/books.jpg" width="287" /></a></span></div>
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<i>The Illustrious House of Ramires</i>, by Eça de Queirós. A novel about an ineffectual nobleman writing an historical novel about his heroic ancestors. Queirós has been called the Portuguese Flaubert.</div>
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<a href="https://archive.org/details/largefeeshowtoge00harm" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "open sans"; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Large Fees and How to Get Them : a book for the private use of physicians</i></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "open sans"; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span> by Albert V. Harmon, M.D. If you practice early 20th medicine and want large fees, this book is essential reading. If you don’t, there are still lessons in its amusing and unsentimental discussion of various topics, like in the chapter “The Bugbear of Ethics”, where Harmon advises “ethics in its place is a good thing...But there is such a thing as overdoing the ethical proposition”.<br /><br /><i>Histrionics: Three Plays</i> and <i>Over All the Mountain Tops</i>, by Thomas Bernhard. Bernhard once said “I despise actors, indeed I hate them, for they ally themselves at the least sign of danger with the audience and betray the author and completely identify with stupidity and feeble-mindedness. Actors are the destroyers and exterminators of imagination, not those who bring it to life and they are the true gravediggers of literature.”<br /><br />
<i>The Rim of Morning: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror</i>, by William Sloane. In the 1930’s Sloane wrote two exceptionally inventive and elegant horror novels, then for the rest of his life did other things.</div>
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</span>C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-62510718512137648672015-11-01T19:56:00.001-08:002015-11-01T19:57:21.423-08:00That Scientific Air<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaK2xmm2RqwDONOpT16ugX03f7lcu9QlB-c9tED9RmpFFZAOu5irUlVgPrdJ2vzOok5IT2G9qvlb4ymucXIjmdl6otxoDK10bZdHLJpnmp1cWgkSUbO3VZ4LDT0lELykqkg0nHFA/s1600/Helicopter+de+La+Landelle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaK2xmm2RqwDONOpT16ugX03f7lcu9QlB-c9tED9RmpFFZAOu5irUlVgPrdJ2vzOok5IT2G9qvlb4ymucXIjmdl6otxoDK10bZdHLJpnmp1cWgkSUbO3VZ4LDT0lELykqkg0nHFA/s320/Helicopter+de+La+Landelle.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[I]n the popular mind, there is a manifest association of political innovation with scientific advance. It is not uncommon to hear a politician supporting an argument for a radical reform by asserting that this is an Age of Progress, and appealing for proof of the assertion to the railway, the gigantic steamship, the electric light, or the electric telegraph. Now it is quite true that, if Progress be understood with its only intelligible meaning, that is, as the continued production of new ideas, scientific invention and scientific discovery are the great and perennial sources of these ideas. Every fresh conquest of Nature by man, giving him the command of her forces, and every new and successful interpretation of her secrets, generates a number of new ideas, which finally displace the old ones, and occupy their room…[but] experience shows that innovating legislation is connected not so much with science as with the scientific air which certain subjects, not capable of exact scientific treatment, from time to time assume. </blockquote>
- Sir Henry Sumner Maine, <i>Popular Government</i>.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-69144963200904934452015-10-28T21:58:00.000-07:002015-10-28T22:01:11.862-07:00Halloween Costume Suggestions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuYTwFDIaUZdk4SaOxsRMRIX4ghp6CdYF2qjOuiu8g_Ng3D8p2JYvSxSxqlFy14uweN1pCx0nkGNgVEL9lAW8socn6P5ZlHqZZECo4v3V7-9S0aONjsiB8HINWxvyp3NUfEuhNw/s1600/meatyard1980.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuYTwFDIaUZdk4SaOxsRMRIX4ghp6CdYF2qjOuiu8g_Ng3D8p2JYvSxSxqlFy14uweN1pCx0nkGNgVEL9lAW8socn6P5ZlHqZZECo4v3V7-9S0aONjsiB8HINWxvyp3NUfEuhNw/s320/meatyard1980.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-ff78601d-b1ee-3c1d-f90c-78be1b1a288f"><span style="font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sexy Bernie Sanders. <a href="http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/2015/07/epic-coatesballs.html">The girl with the long dreads</a>. Person wearing invisible hat. Loose military blimp. <a href="http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/2015/05/slow-burn.html">Felonious tortoise</a>. Menger sponge. Actor-explorer<a href="http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/2014/08/news-fruit-misc.html"> Albert de Winton</a>. Tiddy Mun. Sexy Border Fence. <a href="http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/search/label/Sandsend%20blob">Sexy Sandsend Blob</a>.</span></span>C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-20522693717299833052015-09-20T20:03:00.004-07:002015-09-20T20:03:53.733-07:00iDols<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEOQrnO8SNtohn_wTmxwSGniZfreVxqyBVQaN8Xik3CLumK2kFTn1L_OpvYlL2D4uLDD1cV5RPxWIoszX-fvEKbQkyFUqxjNDozdSDVnopHAuJ3yuixdv5SevCC4545gK4RGw-g/s1600/pocketwatch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEOQrnO8SNtohn_wTmxwSGniZfreVxqyBVQaN8Xik3CLumK2kFTn1L_OpvYlL2D4uLDD1cV5RPxWIoszX-fvEKbQkyFUqxjNDozdSDVnopHAuJ3yuixdv5SevCC4545gK4RGw-g/s320/pocketwatch.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Sitting in a bar surrounded by people looking at smartphones reminds me the Lilliputians believed Gulliver's pocket watch was “the God that he worships” because “he seldom did any thing without consulting it”.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-86593109054010489082015-08-23T21:34:00.001-07:002015-08-23T21:35:16.673-07:00Extrapolations<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1pxGD8Gtqb-9Y4-U7X1uKLiwvg7w2taF31w6NgvM_qt-4bjgyLkrqsE90GLAbAguI1GDEEk-RVNyNKtXRoG_yE0NeFrDAgbHtUNQLw7PRNzqd6yx9RVd3xsGlkRVIw-jw0bJ4g/s1600/lawyers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ1pxGD8Gtqb-9Y4-U7X1uKLiwvg7w2taF31w6NgvM_qt-4bjgyLkrqsE90GLAbAguI1GDEEk-RVNyNKtXRoG_yE0NeFrDAgbHtUNQLw7PRNzqd6yx9RVd3xsGlkRVIw-jw0bJ4g/s320/lawyers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The olden days.</td></tr>
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Scientists say millions of years ago canines were unlikable weaselly creatures, and it’s in large part <a href="http://thenextdigit.com/25505/fossil-study-reveals-climate-changes-effects-dog-evolution/">thanks to global warming they evolved</a> into the delightful modern dog-shape we all know and love.<br />
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This suggests to me global warming could transform other weaselly creatures, like rats and lawyers, into more pleasing forms (don’t ask why the warming didn’t make weasels themselves less weaselly) . Mention this the the next time someone tells you climate change is an entirely bad thing.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-12480725140668822322015-08-23T21:13:00.000-07:002015-08-23T21:13:15.359-07:00The Story I Heard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXL6tGD7tChZBbaSCjrkukLuD1mOdxzvzu-vtEBfm8R1fIPKNA3iUE7jysED6FxZEPZbDrc6X4X-XClKve7nHJmeNqRFKnXLc3NdEtxJNRgqW1cDNwFUSBJ4sGSrCDcRZSO4AAw/s1600/jeb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXL6tGD7tChZBbaSCjrkukLuD1mOdxzvzu-vtEBfm8R1fIPKNA3iUE7jysED6FxZEPZbDrc6X4X-XClKve7nHJmeNqRFKnXLc3NdEtxJNRgqW1cDNwFUSBJ4sGSrCDcRZSO4AAw/s320/jeb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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People have been asking me to explain a ¡Jeb! Bush mailer <a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/313166-jeb-bush-black-hand/">depicting him with a black hand</a> (not because I’m a political insider, or a Bush confidante, but because I seem like the kind of guy who would know something about racially anomalous appendages).<br />
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The story I heard was that one time when ¡Jeb! was visiting his adopted homeland of Mexico he got bitten on the wrist by a <a href="http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/search/label/donkey">donkey</a>. The bite became infected, and ¡Jeb! was forced to have his hand amputated. Everyone knows Americans will not elect an amputee president, so to save his political career ¡Jeb! paid an impoverished negro refugee from Hurricane Katrina $500 for his left hand, which doctors then transplanted onto ¡Jeb’s! stump. Normally ¡Jeb! disguises the hand’s race with white skin cream, obviously the day that picture was taken he forgot.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-29221454503012852792015-07-17T15:41:00.000-07:002017-04-27T13:20:15.828-07:00Pilot H227<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfgHwffP7V1LZJIh1QxzojiB65zZggPWQ-Yx-CRFkuqiRp9IbYvMukCfnJMP-pyHw5livi_xa1MjSAYZM6yxoTU3MERxQRiMG5S0ZwleecuGiskCOrmqF0lDa9-POkdU19chTDQ/s1600/pilot+h227.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHfgHwffP7V1LZJIh1QxzojiB65zZggPWQ-Yx-CRFkuqiRp9IbYvMukCfnJMP-pyHw5livi_xa1MjSAYZM6yxoTU3MERxQRiMG5S0ZwleecuGiskCOrmqF0lDa9-POkdU19chTDQ/s320/pilot+h227.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In the morning I found a mechanical pencil I lost three, maybe four, years ago, it was like running into an old friend.<br />
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In the afternoon I ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen in years. We went to a bar and caught up over drinks. While my friend was telling me about his divorce and his children my mind kept drifting back to the pencil.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-39097340469300826672015-07-17T15:13:00.000-07:002015-07-17T17:26:21.313-07:00Coatesballs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-V4REW_CQ1OK02Q05dzSzxxzRhBFIhDWIc2HCQuWJpkDaJ9nr3vmQZ_oW2c3h11Qi8PNyE6b7GrngWIzE0cDRabDr0jNrqLh6TF-LPuda0aLYhfal_ABnQAINLC95jqPGMT0BxQ/s1600/advil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-V4REW_CQ1OK02Q05dzSzxxzRhBFIhDWIc2HCQuWJpkDaJ9nr3vmQZ_oW2c3h11Qi8PNyE6b7GrngWIzE0cDRabDr0jNrqLh6TF-LPuda0aLYhfal_ABnQAINLC95jqPGMT0BxQ/s320/advil.jpg" width="318" /></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I woke up one morning with a minor headache. With each hour the headache grew. I was walking to my job when I saw this girl on her way to class. I looked awful, and she gave me some Advil and kept going. By mid-afternoon I could barely stand. I called my supervisor. When he arrived I lay down in the stockroom, because I had no idea what else to do. I was afraid. I did not understand what was happening. I did not know whom to call. I was lying there simmering, half-awake, hoping to recover. My supervisor knocked on the door. Someone had come to see me. It was her. The girl with the long dreads helped me out and onto the street. She flagged down a cab. Halfway through the ride, I opened the door, with the cab in motion, and vomited in the street. But I remember her holding me there to make sure I didn't fall out and then holding me close when I was done. She took me to that house of humans, which was filled with all manner of love, put me in the bed, put <i>Exodus</i> on the CD player, and turned the volume down to a whisper. She left a bucket by the bed. She left a jug of water. She had to go to class. I slept. When she returned I was back in form. We ate. The girl with the long dreads who slept with whomever she chose, that being her own declaration of control over her body, was there. </blockquote>
- <a href="https://twitter.com/noahpinion/status/617800804477571072">America’s Tolstoy</a> mesmerizingly recounts the struggle <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=TV05BgAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PT42#v=onepage&q=dreads&f=false">between his black body and the influenza virus</a>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I am standing outside the library debating the Republican takeover of Congress or the place of Wu-Tang Clan in the canon. A dude in a Tribe Vibe T-shirt walks up, gives a pound, and we talk about the black bacchanals of the season…</blockquote>
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- <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=TV05BgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT39&ots=epP9wIeLz5&dq=the%20place%20of%20Wu-Tang%20in%20the%20canon.%20A%20dude.&pg=PT39#v=onepage&q=the%20place%20of%20Wu-Tang%20in%20the%20canon.%20A%20dude.&f=false">A portrait</a> of our <a href="https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/620438706181292036">preeminent public intellectual</a> as a young man.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The fear lived on in their practiced bop, their slouching denim, their big T- shirts, the calculated angle of their baseball caps, a catalog of behaviors and garments enlisted to inspire the belief that these boys were in firm possession of everything they desired.</blockquote>
- <a href="https://twitter.com/aoscott/status/617670126180139008">Essential</a> brilliance <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=TV05BgAAQBAJ&lpg=PT39&ots=epP9wIeLz5&dq=the%20place%20of%20Wu-Tang%20in%20the%20canon.%20A%20dude.&pg=PT12#v=snippet&q=bop&f=false">from</a> essentially the most essential writer in history.</div>
C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-45904521761172958942015-05-03T17:49:00.000-07:002015-05-03T17:49:17.144-07:00Slow Burn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ-5UpBXdnHHjzsn-ZEmaoVhaPU7L139pyKOEH4C6j5rivSbvpjp0lnozQmdbaro9VwKQULfYBavTkdEiOYIT-eXU3AcniRjvT8V-dn3ktlLYxEcZ_VuSZ4aWoYU3Mxc34G-YTEw/s1600/Arsonists.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ-5UpBXdnHHjzsn-ZEmaoVhaPU7L139pyKOEH4C6j5rivSbvpjp0lnozQmdbaro9VwKQULfYBavTkdEiOYIT-eXU3AcniRjvT8V-dn3ktlLYxEcZ_VuSZ4aWoYU3Mxc34G-YTEw/s320/Arsonists.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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A pair of tortoises set fire to a home in Fordingbridge, the <a href="http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/12924699.Two_tortoises_start_fire_in_Fordingbridge/">Salisbury Journal reports</a>. Remember how we all laughed at the <a href="http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/2014/07/slow-news-day.html">Ugandan policeman who shot and killed a fleeing tortoise</a>, after it aggressively and violently chased him? Maybe we owe him an apology.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-39208994621160421482015-04-14T14:13:00.000-07:002015-04-14T16:28:23.643-07:00April News Orts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQANuAnHO7X8GweyImU9V1aXvO-rQDhkkiPt6WZ8AuXAZd32YBWjqRBseKEYT7Am9R0b2MDkhZDdQAUOH0qkisAwkH-AdB8gbePvJF6rZ9Vt-Sl_HMlp1Bpb0kpXKmjev3_aytKg/s1600/serendipity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQANuAnHO7X8GweyImU9V1aXvO-rQDhkkiPt6WZ8AuXAZd32YBWjqRBseKEYT7Am9R0b2MDkhZDdQAUOH0qkisAwkH-AdB8gbePvJF6rZ9Vt-Sl_HMlp1Bpb0kpXKmjev3_aytKg/s1600/serendipity.jpg" height="167" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Who was it who said the definition of serendipity is shooting an armadillo and having the bullet ricochet and hit your mother-in-law? Because <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/14/georgia-man-kills-armadillo-wounds-mother-in-law-ricochet">that happened in Georgia</a>.<br />
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It’s been almost a year and <a href="http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/2014/05/bringbackourgrills.html">the grills are still missing</a>. #BringBackOurGrills.<br />
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A half-human, half-chimp humanzee was created in a Nigerian laboratory, <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201503190471.html">reports Humphrey Nakonde</a>. The creature talks and, sadly, has already contracted AIDS.<br />
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There are so many <a href="http://siberiantimes.com/home/voice-of-siberia/v0010-have-a-look-at-some-of-the-newest-ideas-from-siberian-inventors/">wonderful things being invented in Siberia right now</a>, from the practical (a car that runs on pine cones, moose turds and old socks) to the visionary (a kindergarten shaped like a giant cheese that will inspire children to be cheesemakers when they grow up (there may be something to this - I went to a kindergarten shaped like a giant blog)). <br />
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C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-30193935531149068192015-03-07T13:30:00.000-08:002015-03-07T13:30:04.521-08:00Progress in the UK<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDaRRwb0o41cppNXMxie0PF8oxWKCV-TxCUbZZV1KgLokU9Z5nK3Gyu1OgU-imC5rp9sqO8iEPrbRFsVWtbwgPrMnb7-wvEZ6HGXdmKcXPVOzedY84i9wQyhL8RK-z6N9y480-Q/s1600/Ratty.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDaRRwb0o41cppNXMxie0PF8oxWKCV-TxCUbZZV1KgLokU9Z5nK3Gyu1OgU-imC5rp9sqO8iEPrbRFsVWtbwgPrMnb7-wvEZ6HGXdmKcXPVOzedY84i9wQyhL8RK-z6N9y480-Q/s1600/Ratty.png" height="320" width="225" /></a></div>
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The UK Green party wants to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/green-party/11456572/Rodents-to-be-given-human-rights-under-Green-Party-plans.html">give rodents human rights</a>. If the Greenies’ plan is enacted, then cats who kill mice would be charged with murder, creating a market for feline-defense lawyers, which would benefit the economy (if one believes the logic of Prof. Paul Kroogman et al.). Surely at some point Glasgow U. would <a href="http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/2015/03/progress-in-scotland.html">rename a building</a> after Ratty the Water Rat. I imagine many other ridiculous things happening as well, they always do.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-31393841456704980612015-03-02T17:46:00.000-08:002015-03-03T13:11:17.444-08:00Progress in ScotlandCampus buildings named after Adam Smith, James Watt, and various other inconsequential “dead white men” will be renamed after women and blacks, <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/education/glasgow-uni-building-diversity-with-new-names-1-3705717">Glasgow University has announced</a>. I don’t know who they will honor, but one deserving black did occur to me: Cotton Watts, a comedic genius some believe is one of James Watt’s distant descendants.<br />
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This revisionism is supported by Nicola Sturgeon, a Glasgow U. graduate and current leader of the Scottish National [sic] Party. According to her, the initiative is “hugely important…Women have done great things and fantastic things, but you struggle to find the evidence of that.”<br />
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Finding that evidence is a struggle. It’s almost as if it doesn't exist.</div>
C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-22132168021920618432015-02-17T16:17:00.001-08:002015-02-17T16:17:52.423-08:00Gimme' That Expensive Spread<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Sad news from Roseville, CA, where S<a href="http://www.thepresstribune.com/article/2/16/15/sammy%E2%80%99s-rockin%E2%80%99-island-bar-and-grill-roseville-shuttered-yet-again">ammy’s Rockin’ Island Bar and Grill</a> will close after a mere five months of business. The grill, owned by Sammy ‘The Red Rocker’ Hagar, was a “major part of Roseville’s Downtown Specific Plan”. After the restaurant closes it’s believed Hagar will redirect his focus to making terrible music, while the town of Roseville promises this one setback will not deter it from centering future downtown revitalization plans around projects owned by butt rockers.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-48042599831970497862015-02-11T13:11:00.000-08:002015-02-11T13:12:28.469-08:00Valentine's Day Gift Guide<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-1666763938251670142015-02-10T16:21:00.001-08:002015-02-10T16:21:43.789-08:00Recent Journalistic Inanity: A Miscellany“But it was Lindsey Graham who put in the most impressive performance of the conference…Mr. Graham tells me that he is seriously considering a run for the presidency. Why not? The worst that could happen is to expose GOP primary voters to the views of a foreign-policy heavyweight in an era of encroaching global disorder.” - <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/bret-stephens-from-munich-to-munich-1423528171">Brett Stephens</a>, The Wall Street Journal.<br />
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“Given the obvious motivation for this bit of corporate cooperation—big-budget superhero franchises are all-but-guaranteed moneymakers and studios want to cash in—it would be heartening to see Sony and Marvel take a meaningful risk. Namely, the studios could take advantage of the relative safety that comes with doing a superhero reboot and finally bring a non-white Spider-Man to the big screen…From a PR standpoint, the move could be a huge win for everyone involved if played the right way. More specifically, this is an immense opportunity for Marvel to address growing complaints about diversity and hit the home run Sony missed out on…” - <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/02/spider-man-to-marvel-can-corporate-synergy-lead-to-real-diversity/385345/">David Sims</a>, The Atlantic.<br />
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“I’ve long believed that Matthew Yglesias hit on something really important…” - <a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/greece-the-tie-that-doesnt-bind/?_r=0">Paul Krugman</a>, The New York Times.<br />
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“Iggy is more talented and more deeply schooled in hip-hop than Vanilla Ice ever was…Iggy has bumbled into some troubling, distinctly American issues. It’s tough watching someone wear your race like a costume and get rewarded for it, especially when there is so much peril in being the genuine article…In Iggy, we see the ultimate in co-opting culture and race, at a time where events in Ferguson, New York, and Cleveland have made us hyper-aware…” - <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121022/iggy-azaleas-willful-ignorance-race-feeds-her-haters">Kashann Kilson</a>, The New Republic.<br />
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“Whether or not Olympic legend Bruce Jenner becomes its new champion, the transgender-rights movement is making strides on many fronts…” - <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/10/bruce-jenner-transition-aid-fight-transgender-rights/23175121/">David Crary and Lisa Leff</a>, Associated Press.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-16343840458920860692015-01-25T13:33:00.000-08:002015-01-25T19:40:41.080-08:00Dromaius Novaehollandiae<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/doomsday-clock-set-at-3-minutes-to-midnight/">Doomsaying scientists</a> who believe we are closer to doomsday have reset the Doomsday Clock to Three Minutes till Doom. After learning <a href="http://youtu.be/fiS-Itl27Cw">from a television commercial</a> that people are smearing themselves with grease made from melted-down flightless birds, I wonder if we haven’t passed the Point of Doom already and didn't notice.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-19896314062202113702015-01-22T16:21:00.000-08:002015-01-22T16:23:01.634-08:00Breaking NewsMany believe the robot holocaust has begun after a <a href="http://www.whitbygazette.co.uk/what-s-on/robot-titan-launches-luxury-hi-tech-bus-1-7065417">giant robot savagely attacked a gathering of bus aficionados in Whitby</a>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHHXLplwUpqMFXPinyHalhiEh9bjBOW0LKXMkQo8HxATiHiSHnyUBoFz4wJimKtpwWQwJpfnpsw_THMePWZg769LP1Q4gpMo5HHbs_woQwvLfvkLA1QiyCCqgiqpyX1PGj6ZU2Q/s1600/Whitby+Robot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMHHXLplwUpqMFXPinyHalhiEh9bjBOW0LKXMkQo8HxATiHiSHnyUBoFz4wJimKtpwWQwJpfnpsw_THMePWZg769LP1Q4gpMo5HHbs_woQwvLfvkLA1QiyCCqgiqpyX1PGj6ZU2Q/s1600/Whitby+Robot.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: right;">Tiny image of Whitbians about to be slaughtered by an 8 ft. mechanical monster courtesy the Whitby Gazette, which apparently has a limited pixel budget.</span></td></tr>
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In other news, <a href="http://www.driffieldtoday.co.uk/news/local/gluten-free-chips-at-harpers-wetwang-1-6981269">gluten free fish and chips are now available in Wetwang</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ZBftKrNRPMa_I-mSX1R-iA-Ay9brkGLpmfCC33nGz96izwFd_9RCx-3mMVUCljbFz44M7Ql7HQNDJ9nl8gGWeE_FQYWxbhurpLLExg7c060GKvLd4WjOsLdpSYgBGeXU1_2yRQ/s1600/Fish+and+chips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ZBftKrNRPMa_I-mSX1R-iA-Ay9brkGLpmfCC33nGz96izwFd_9RCx-3mMVUCljbFz44M7Ql7HQNDJ9nl8gGWeE_FQYWxbhurpLLExg7c060GKvLd4WjOsLdpSYgBGeXU1_2yRQ/s1600/Fish+and+chips.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Imagine the above minus the gluten and there you have what your gluten free Wetwang fish and chips look like, for the most part.</td></tr>
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<br />C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-45294095949210076492015-01-08T17:10:00.000-08:002015-01-08T17:10:48.231-08:00Current Events<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Gnostic societies and their leaders will recognize dangers to their existence when they develop, but such dangers will not be met by appropriate actions in the world of reality. They will rather be met by magic operations in the dream world, such as disapproval, moral condemnation, declarations of intentions, resolutions, appeals to the opinion of mankind, branding of enemies as aggressors, outlawing of war, propaganda for world peace and world government, etc. The intellectual and moral corruption which expresses itself in the aggregate of such magic operations may pervade a society with the weird, ghostly atmosphere of a lunatic asylum, as we experience it in our time in the Western crisis.</blockquote>
- Eric Voegelin, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=wXbRAgAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=eric%20voegelin%20the%20new%20science%20of%20politics&pg=PA170#v=onepage&q&f=false"><i>The New Science of Politics</i></a>.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-28182598719937753262014-12-15T16:26:00.001-08:002014-12-16T21:05:48.226-08:00Year in Books<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>A Handbook of Greek Mythology</i>, by H.J. Rose. A scholarly and wide ranging overview, concisely and skillfully written. Do professors like Rose still exist?<br />
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<i>Kill or Get Killed</i>, by Col. Rex Applegate. The classic guide to "riot control techniques, manhandling, and close combat". Full of information I look forward to applying in 2015.<br />
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<i>Lord Byron’s Foot</i>, by George Green. His poems are funny, he’s the contemporary master of ekphrasis, his references range from Pindar to David Lee Roth.<br />
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<i>The Counterfeiters</i>, by Hugh Kenner. Themes include "[T]he Enlightenment; Buster Keaton (stoic comedian); bad poetry; Albrecht Durer; Joyce; Swift, Pope; closed systems, mathematical and mechanical; Charles Babbage and his Calculating Engines; the late history of Latin abstract nouns; Andy Warhol; Gödel’s Proof; horses; computer games; a clockwork duck that suffered from indigestion; and a man who wore a gas mask to ride his bicycle."<br />
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<i>The History of Atlantis</i>, by Lewis Spence. Originally published in 1923, it’s still the most intelligent and evenhanded history of the lost continent I've ever read.<br />
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<i>Eric Ravilious - Imagined Realities</i>. Catalogue to the 2003 Imperial War Museum exhibition of the artist’s work.<br />
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<i>The Opposing Shore</i>, by Julien Gracq . An aristocrat from the mythical country of Orsenna must choose between waiting for catastrophe or hastening its onset (unless it’s not really a choice, and the catastrophe already happened and is merely unrecognized).C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-28648050646048616112014-11-22T10:36:00.001-08:002014-11-22T12:30:08.080-08:00Morebola<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last week <a href="https://ca.news.yahoo.com/bandits-guinea-steal-blood-samples-suspected-ebola-infection-105900372.html">bandits in Guinea stole vials of Ebola infected blood</a>. Were I not preoccupied with a multitude of existing charity efforts I would create and distribute an infographic illustrating items Guinean bandits should steal (cash, jewels, gold bars, etc.), and items Guinean bandits should not steal (old couches, gum wrappers, rocks, vials of Ebola infected blood, etc.).C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-90154308764893032952014-11-19T19:59:00.000-08:002014-11-19T20:07:26.899-08:00Clanging Chimes of Doom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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To atone for telling Ebola jokes I've pledged to mail a copy of the "<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/band-aid-30-single-sales-have-gone-bonkers-says-bob-geldof-1.2837516">We Are The World, We Are Ebola</a>" song to anyone who (1) writes me a letter requesting it; and (2) is currently infected with Ebola.<br />
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Update: The deal is off, it turns out "We Are The World, We Are Ebola" is unavailable on vinyl, and vinyl is my preferred format for charity singles I mail to diseased strangers.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-1029330735923624472014-11-11T21:06:00.001-08:002014-11-12T22:22:33.732-08:00No Word Back Yet<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/blogs.detail/display/11207/Verdict-in-Ferguson-shooting-could-come-soon.html">The Ferguson verdict to be announced soon</a>, and I have offered to go there and run over rioters with one of those armored vehicles police need now because society is collapsing. I mention this because I’m often accused of not being civic-minded.C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-11517538165522078142014-11-11T20:44:00.002-08:002014-11-11T20:44:38.973-08:00Ebola Solutions II<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Send Ebola patients to the <a href="http://rt.com/usa/203899-massachusetts-total-tobacco-ban/">aspiring Gulag of Winchester, Massachusetts</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Popping by the store for a pack of smokes may soon be a thing of the past in a central Massachusetts town, which is mulling an outright ban on the sale of all tobacco products within city limits. If approved, it would be the first such ban in the US.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Board of Health officials in Winchester, Massachusetts, a small town of 7,700, are set to hold a public hearing to discuss the proposed tobacco ban with townspeople on Wednesday, AP reports.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Town health agent Elizabeth Swedberg, a proponent of the ban, believes it is a reasonable response to a frustrating and persistent problem. </blockquote>
It’s not as if they could refuse: unlike smoking, Ebola is one’s own private business. Why does a town of 7,700 people have its own "health agent"? If any Winchesterites are reading this, I urge you to throw eggs and small dead animals at Elizabeth Swedberg's house until she resigns in shame<br />
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C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9457805.post-60165146019454737072014-10-15T17:58:00.000-07:002014-10-15T17:58:27.575-07:00Ebola Solutions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Isolate Ebola cases on a tiki-themed party barge floating five to ten miles offshore; staff the party barge with <a href="http://acrossdifficultcountry.blogspot.com/2006/03/are-friends-electric.html">RI-MANs</a>, deliver supplies by drone. This will contain the spread of infection and provide a festive environment in which to die a horrible death. (If you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned restricting travel from Africa it’s because I’m focused on realistic solutions.)C. Van Carterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09918883799053031223noreply@blogger.com3