Monthly Archives: June 2010

Shopping mall established in 1461

Posted on 30 June 2010 by

Yesterday’s post brought up the interesting question of just how different a modern shopping mall is from a bazaar. Certainly the concept of gathering a multitude of merchants into one convenient location is almost as ancient as the concept of … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | 4 Comments

“No shopping malls”

Posted on 29 June 2010 by

I was reading an article in Salon.com about a reporter visiting South Africa for the World Cup, and found this description of Soweto: Old photos of Soweto show tracts of tiny, rectangular, one-story brick dwellings with bald lawns of worn-down … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, Portugal, USA | 4 Comments

Wallpaper Monday

Posted on 28 June 2010 by

Yet another on my long list of Places To Go, and almost exactly on the opposite point of the globe from Portugal: the South Island of New Zealand. This is Lake Wanaka, one of several spectacular lakes tucked into the … Continue reading →

Posted in wallpaper | 8 Comments

Egyptian grasshopper

Posted on 24 June 2010 by

We had a bit of excitement in the house last night. Our mighty hunting cat, who is constrained to several screened verandas filled with planters, was delighted when the largest insect she had ever seen dropped onto one of the … Continue reading →

Posted in life, Portugal | 8 Comments

World Cup widow

Posted on 23 June 2010 by

I now know what it means to be a football widow. The World Cup rules our schedule. We have out of town guests (hence the short blog posts this week), and on a day we’d planned to take our guests … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | 19 Comments

Tell them “only beautiful and sexy people may apply”

Posted on 22 June 2010 by

A Guardian article on the weekly “bikes only” day in Bogotá mentions that cyclists taking part needn’t worry about flat tires, mechanical issues, or bumps and bruises: there are hundreds of paid guardians on hand, carrying medical and tool kits. … Continue reading →

Posted in culture | 1 Comment

Wallpaper Monday

Posted on 21 June 2010 by

Last week’s wallpaper took us to Hawaii…this week I felt like going a little further afield. And you can’t get much further afield than Antarctica. Even in good weather it can be a rough trip getting down there, because in … Continue reading →

Posted in wallpaper | 2 Comments

US/Portugal culture: Fences and walls

Posted on 18 June 2010 by

A recent article in the New York Times discusses the fate of a promenade along the edge of the sea cliffs in Newport, Rhode Island. The Cliff Walk, as it’s called, is lined in places by not-very-scenic chain link fencing, … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, Portugal | 49 Comments

If the penis were a muscle

Posted on 17 June 2010 by

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal has nailed the male psychology: Click the image to see what happens in the rest of the comic. Hint: it doesn’t look good for the human species.

Posted in humor | Leave a comment

BBC proves scientists are more fun

Posted on 16 June 2010 by

Today the Beeb offered proof that scientists (and science journalists) are more fun than world news journalists. The proof is in the vocabulary. My newsreader collected this headline from the Science/Nature RSS feed at 9:43 AM: Less than one minute … Continue reading →

Posted in science | 5 Comments