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This post is full of wine images for my vast hoard of regulars who are drunken wine moms. At least I assume they are drunk, why else would they visit this idiotic blog? Anyway, enjoy the paintings as you get sloshed and bitch about the men in your life.
The video details the first attempt to climb Mt. Everest in 1922 following a 1921 expedition that surveyed the mountain to determine the best route for the climb.
While today climbing Everest is a bit of a rich man's tourist trap, in 1922 it was a challenge in largely unknown Himalayan territory. In 1922 they made three attempts to summit Everest, but each fell short, with their highest climb ending 2,000 feet below the summit. The last ended in an avalanche that killed nine porters. Still, they learned valuable lessons on the expedition, the most important being the value of bottled oxygen. It is a very interesting video.
This is all very foreign to me. As a Florida resident our tallest mountain range is located in Disney World and features such awesome peaks as Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, The Matterhorn, and Expedition Everest. You 'climb' them by riding in little cars, which seems preferable to me than having to hack out ice steps on the side of a cliff, although you will encounter such perils as animatronic Yetis and the like.
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| Detail of a basilica in Malaga, Spain |
Well, I'm back from my vacation. My plan to bag a whale, get it stuffed, and hang it above my mantel fell short. And no, not by the interference of the wankers of Greenpeace, instead it was TSA that foiled me. Apparently, you're not allowed to board an airplane with a harpoon. Who knew? Stupid airlines and their draconian carry-on rules.
Anyway, I went to Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco and the Canary Islands. I met interesting people along the way and made some new friends. It was a good trip.
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Maxime Maufra (1861–1918) was a French impressionist painter. He primarily painted landscapes and the seaside. His use of color is quite striking.
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| Maxime Maufra |
This is a video of a restaurant in Sidi Bibi, a small town in Morocco, that is known for its tagine. Tagine is both a dish, essentially a type of hunter's stew, and the earthen wear it is cooked in. The meal is generally cooked in a plate, which doubles as a serving dish, atop of that is placed a cone-shaped top that traps the steam during cooking. It looks pretty tasty.
