Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Grilling shrimp in Borneo

This video takes place in Borneo. It is shrimp season, so they travel down a river to get some shrimp and then return to their home, which is in a long building divided into apartments. They grill and pan fry the shrimp and enjoy their dinner. After eating they relax on the patio area in front of their apartment and then take a walk through the village.

If you want to get some sense of what they are talking about you'll need to turn on Captions>Auto-translate>English. Much of what you'll get will be gibberish, but you can follow along here and there.

 

Sunday, April 26, 2026

Mail-centric paintings

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Email has largely replaced written mail, but back in the day it was as feature of life. Now it is little but bills and advertising flyers. These are pictures from the time when the letter was king: postmen, postal workers, mail delivery, reading letters, and mailboxes. 

Friday, April 24, 2026

Cry Me A River

Get ready for a waterlogged weekend with Von Smith backed by
Jacob Scesney, Lemar Guillary, Adam Kubota, Todd Schroeder, and Otis Hayes III. 

 

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Taroko Gorge

The Taroko National Park in Taiwan is centered around a rather spectacular gorge. The marble cliffs that surround the river that created the gorge are steep and very tall. Along with marble, there are a lot of jade deposits. It is a very impressive natural wonder.

I've been to it. In fact, the hotel he shows is the place that I stayed in. Within walking distance of it is a small village with street stalls, the tall pagoda, and various other temples and monasteries. Throughout the gorge are many other temples. It is well worth a visit if you're in the neighborhood. The gorge itself is spectacular. 

  

Sunday, April 19, 2026

George du Maurier's illustrations

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George du Maurier (1834-1896) was a French novelist and artist who settled in London. He was a caricaturist whose illustrations appeared primarily in the satirical Punch weekly magazine. His subjects were the upper class of the Victorian era. 

George du Maurier'

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Happy Tax Day!

16th Century Russian tax collectors
conducting an audit

Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.
- Calvin Coolidge -

What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue.
- Thomas Paine -

A fine is a tax for doing something wrong. A tax is a fine for doing something right.
- Anonymous -

The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.
- Albert Einstein -

We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.
- Leona Helmsley -