flickering pictures

June 24
As no taxi driver wanted to take us the apparently tiny distance from our hotel to the Tunis bus station, we set out on foot in more or less the right direction. As it turns out, what should have been a 30-minute stroll turned into a sweltering 90-minute hike with our big packs […]

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June 22
So we landed in Tunis around 10am, surrounded by French, German and Italian vacationers. The very few clothes they were wearing were all Gucci and Dolce & Gabbana, and I got the distinct feeling they were headed straight for one of Tunisia’s many coastal resort towns, which was just fine with us.
We’re just […]

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Hello from Tunisia!
I’d meant to do some fairly frequent posting from Tunisia, but I may have to go for a series of little posts, at least until I can figure out how to type on this thing without finger-pecking at two words per minute. This place is beautiful though, and from what I can […]

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As the Western world looks for ways to stave off a massive impending nursing shortage, the Czech Republic has come up with a novel way to attract nurses from other, richer countries: free boob jobs for everyone. I’m not sure if this makes the Czech Republic a better place to be a nurse, but […]

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Go on, find Palau on a map without Googling it — I double dog dare you.
Its 21,000 citizens have only had a country for 15 years, but the Pacific mini-state of Palau is already distinguishing itself by welcoming 17 Chinese Guantanamo inmates with open arms, and inviting them to settle wherever they like on its […]

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Smacker: “May I just whack you on the head with this shovel?”
Smackee: “You may.”
A new orange goo called D3O remains soft until you smack it with something (a shovel, say) at which point it becomes extremely rigid — hard enough to protect your head from a tumble over your handlebars, or from a good smack […]

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Antarctica is cold, barren, and an expensive place to send a research team. So what’s the best way to track penguins on the frosty bottom of the world? You rig a satellite to look for giant smears of penguin poop. Duh.
From the Guardian:

Researchers at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have used satellite images, […]

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