In Nigeria, white farmers driven from their land in Zimbabwe, and their modern methods, are being welcomed with open arms. One can only hope it will stay that way.
History’s Ironies 1
Chinese colonists in Xinjiang, patriotic Communists when young, are being dispossed by the new Chinese capitalist economy, and have nowhere to go. It is sad, but probably neither Uyghurs or Tibetans are shedding any tears.
Moving Photo
This photo of Condoleeza Rice and a Kyrgiz eagle falconer is amazing, and should move anyone but the most hardened ideologue. When I was born, her family was living under Jim Crow, and he was a Soviet “minority” forbiden to roam with his herds, as his ancestors had always done, or even fly eagles, by …
Extremely Cool Beetles..
…at this Cornell site. The carbon dust illustrations here are particularly nice. Thanks to Will Brown of Blue Ridge Biological.
I could be wrong…
Any reader of this blog knows I am wary about China. So when I read an essay called “The Chinese are our Friends” in the November Esquire (not available online) I had to read it. It was not as weak a case as I supposed, and the author, Thomas P. M. Barnett, was neither a …
The 1918 Flu Pandemic…
…was a bird flu that jumped, just like H5N1. Author Gina Kolata also wrote Flu, THE book on the pandemic. Get your Tamiflu– its coming, sooner or later.
Carnival of Derbs
John Derbyshire has written many quotable and irascible things lately. In this essay he suggests a rough but possibly realistic exit strategy in Iraq– arm the Kurds, our only friends; give guarantees to the Turks; screw the rest. (Sorry, John, for a rather blunt but I think accurate summary). Who knows but that, with the …
George Leonard Herter
In this post at his NatureBlog, Chas evokes the eccentric ghost of George Leonard Herter, pioneer in outdoor catalogs, inspiration to our youth, author of both The Bull Cook and George the Housewife, and holder of … odd opinions. Those quoted in NatureBlog are relatively conventional. George the Housewife can be described as a male …
Alternate Histories
I have been having some interesting conversations with Chas on novels of alternate history– you know, the ones where a slight change in events results in, eventually, a very different world. He sent me this link to an interesting but ultimately unsatisfying discussion (do read it, perhaps skipping the Hegel, Walter Benjamin, Freud et al– …
Talibanning pigeons, 1996
In my continuing series on banning various animals, we come to one of the most notorious (though if our high- tech society decides to do it the results may be even worse). In December of 1996, under the presidency of Amir Bin Maluf, the Taliban issued 16 edicts. Most were the usual ones that made …