flickering pictures

The always fascinating Cool Things in Random Places hosts an article on the Karni Mata Temple in Rajastan, India, based in turn on a feature in National Geographic. Devotees flock from all over to worship and feed the temple’s 20,000 rats, paying their respects to Mother Karni, a 15th-century mystic. From the official Karni Mata [...]

[Read more →]

The quote of the day comes from Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan, who’s leading the GOP’s charge into social media: “We have to do it in the Facebook, with the Twittering, the different technology that young people are using today.” Is it just me, or does the phrase “do it in the Facebook” sound [...]

[Read more →]

From Harper’s Weekly A six-year-old boy and a five-year-old-girl were detained in Germany, on a train to the airport; they explained to police that they planned to fly to Africa to be married. The couple, disguised in sunglasses, had brought along several suitcases, a pink blow-up doll, swim fins, and the boy’s seven-year-old sister, who [...]

[Read more →]

Throughout the rebel armies and refugee camps of the world, Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s name has come to symbolize struggle against oppression, and his face just might be the most recognizable on the planet. The fact that Che advocated nuking New York and brutally slaughtered his own men on the slightest suspicion of disloyalty, and that [...]

[Read more →]

Born on January 8, 1935, Elvis Presley would have been 74 years old today. Other notable events on this day: 1835: For the only time in U.S. history, the national debt is exactly zero dollars. Today’s debt is just over $10.6 trillion, or about $35,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. 1867: [...]

[Read more →]

Just a little stub of a post today — I’m swamped at the moment, and I my typing fingers need a rest after that little novella the other day on press freedom in Gaza. A new mall in Nanjing, China will apparently host only stores that sell knockoff brands, such as “McDnoald’s,” “Pizza Huh” and [...]

[Read more →]

Eva Cassidy was born in Maryland in 1963 and worked the Washington, D.C. club circuit in the late 80′s and early 90′s. Her takes on classics like “People Get Ready” (above) and “Fields of Gold” blew away audiences and put her on the local map, and her one-of-a-kind voice led to work with Chuck Brown [...]

[Read more →]

Unless you haven’t turned on a television lately, you know that ten days ago the Israeli army launched a full-scale attack on Hamas forces in Gaza, with the stated aim of halting the barrage of homemade rockets that have been launched into Israeli towns since 2000. As I write this, the fight has left more [...]

[Read more →]

Stuffed with turkey, pie, and all sorts of yummy holiday foodstuffs, I’ve been a little delinquent with my posting lately. Some good friends are in from overseas, so I haven’t had much time to write, and I likely won’t be posting regularly until next week, when I finally collapse in a festive heap of post-Christmas [...]

[Read more →]