Tree trivia

David E Vassberg (Land and Society in Golden Age Castile) writes: There exists also an old proverb (of unknown vintage): En tierra de señorío, almendro o guindo; en tierra real, noguera o moral (In seigneurial lands, almond or cherry; in royal lands, walnut or mulberry), which the editor of the collection of proverbs [Bergua, Refranero…

.cat abuse

puntCAT’s application for the sponsored top level domain .cat clearly states that its purpose is to serve the Catalan linguistic and cultural community. All 67 supporting organisations and all examples given of eligible entities are of this nature; none are state entities whose purpose is public administration in its general sense, which is a rather…

Dutch terror arrests

A life-long pessimist suggests that the news that the Dutch parliament complex, ‘t Binnenhof, has been “hermetically sealed” is the police’s way of saying, “Either they’ll blow you up or we’ll suffocate you.” One of the guys arrested, suspected of trying to collect guns and explosives to attack government figures and buildings, was cleared earlier…