Phoney Spanish gypsy dancers at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York?

The Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901 is now remembered mainly for the assassination of McKinley by a Polish-American anarchist follower of Emma Goldman. However it was yet another triumph for Thomas A Edison, Inc and its electric chairs, X-ray machines (McKinley might have survived had an Edison X-ray machine been allowed to locate the…

How the políticos screwed DVB-T in Spain

Check out this good short piece by Pedro Soria-Rodriguez on how for party political ends Spanish national and regional government have ensured that DVB-T/TDT will not increase choice for consumers. This is not a direct issue for me–I only see the telly in Spain in bars (the same applies in France and the UK)–but it’s…

Spain, la gran puta

There are various explanations of Spanish anti-Americanism. The post-colonial hypothesis is popular: Spain is bitter about its loss of empire, its defeat in 1898, its not being invited to the G-whatever. An alternative hypothesis is that anti-Americanism is frustration arising from the idea that an implicit bilateral dollars-for-favours deal has been violated. In Luis Berlanga,…

How singing can save your life

César-Javier Palacios reports on the cyclist, shot dead by a hunter who mistook him for a boar. When in death’s dark vale loud singing usually suffices to drive off hell’s hunters. Hunters know this too. In his romance, Count Arnaldos, hungry hawk in hand, falls prey to a sailor (love, glory or death, true or…

Redesign

Two lovely designers who trade the occasional hour with me and eat my curries and drink my hooch have informed me that all the various sites grouped under oreneta.com need to change. The Baldie needs to be legible by users over 35. Kalebeul needs more identity (someone said duotint photo 2 in sepia; I tried…

Traditional disregard for parking regulations among Spanish UN diplomats

Spain’s up at no 52 on the UN parking ticket corruption index, so that’s between the Ukraine and the Philippines, with average 12.7 unpaid violations per diplomat. The UK averages 0.0. Other crime news: Either the Azerbaijanis or the UAEers have stolen an “r” from Australia. The data’s pretty old, so perhaps Spanish councils’ new…

Wesley Willis

Has got to be in there somewhere: Lyrics: Suck a polar bear’s funky ass! Suck a racehorse’s cock with Heinz Tomato Ketchup! Suck a donkey’s shitty ass! Suck a male camel’s dick with Hoisin sauce! Suck a cheetah’s dick Suck a cheetah’s dick Suck a cheetah’s dick Suck a cheetah’s dick Suck a European bison’s…

Generic description of pipes

The tubular and conical wooden pipes are made on a lathe and tuned with stopped plugs. Larger (lath) pipes are long rectangular tubes made by sticking four thin slats of wood together with glue and carving a whistle for the end. Wooden tubes that can be seen are layered with gold or aluminium paint before…