Month: June 2007

Destruction by the EU of pastoralism in the Balkans

This is one reason why large numbers of Romanian shepherds, shearers and others are ending up in Spain. There’s an interesting collection of info here (beware stupid music and cursor) dealing with the history and organisation of transhumance in Spain. While the sheepway infrastructure still exists in the Balkans, lorry transport, improved roads and the…

French exam

I omitted one feasible fraudulent etymology from the Viadós post because the etymon in question is little known and less read, even in his own country, whichever that was. Here he is anyway, in another anecdote from Cela‘s late but frequently excellent A bote pronto: Some 65 years ago, more or less, possibly more, when…

Spell-spiel

In the spelling carnival that is the only creative feature of Iberian nationalisms, the proponents of the creation of yet more language madhhab generally favour the etymological principle over the phonemic heresy, but those of the former faith are often bitterly divided over its application. For instance, it is crystal clear to all but Adolf…

Demagogy

Does David de Ugarte know nothing about the users and makers of the online world, or is he simply comfortable selling racial stereotypes and cheap lies to idiots in the grand tradition of anti-Americanism? But for the words “Anglo-Saxon” and “protestant”, one might think David was engaging in self-criticism here: “The majority of blogging tools…

Spanish vultures snacking in Holland

The crazy European regulation making it illegal to leave carcasses in the high mountains has led to reports of starving vultures attacking and killing large live stock in several parts of Spain. Now one of Nick‘s wolfmen has sent news of several hundred griffon vultures from the Pyrenees having sought alimentary asylum in Holland, in…

Is your bitch laughing behind your back?

This video shows her when she knows she’s being watched: Move your monitor back and lie on your desk with your face touching the screen and your feet left to view the next fragment. It shows her still getting used to the Bulgarian military hip camera used in its capture: Nothing much there, but check…

José Tomás vs Manolete

I’m different, says the former: The death of the latter: Bar Manolete in Mogón is excellent.

How the pizza got to Italy

Genetic data doesn’t actually suggest that the Turks brought it with them and then rebranded themselves as Etruscans in order to sell into European markets.

Using RSS/Atom feeds with JSON to drive a Simile Timeline

This application of MIT Simile’s marvellous Timeline widgety thing is based around WordPress and RSS, but with small tweaks should be applicable to Movable Type, Atom and so on. You may prefer to use a fine hosted service like MyTimelines if you don’t have the time to do this and if you’re prepared to accept…