Amusing neighbourhood battle for control of public resources

Old guard horticulturalist-hippies versus arriviste mums-with-babes-hanging-off-their-tits, at stake a substantial villa and gardens near Park Güell and corresponding state subsidies. Let the death threats commence! Younger and stony-broker, I briefly contemplated the cloister, sacred or secular (Dutch prisons were pretty good back then). With retreats genuinely isolated from public-spirited humans increasingly hard to find, I…

Spain, zombie kingdom?

Some terrible discoveries along the Llobregat.

intelicracia." title=""Rajoy is a zombie politician and the visible face of the invisible being which pulls the strings of the politicians and is called MARKET," stolen from intelicracia." />

Separating egg yolks from whites

Tülin Özen’s shell technique in Semih KaplanoÄŸlu’s Bal, comparison with the palm technique, brief speculation re historical usage of both, and a Moorish honey-cookie recipe.

<a href='http://www.amazon.com/Birchstone-Studios-Snot-A-Mug-Egg-Separator/dp/B0000CFGP6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312889158&sr=8-1'>Birchstone Studios Snot-A-Mug Egg Separator</a> (via comments)

Run like a gypsy

With Imanol Arias as El Lute, retired generaliser George Borrow, and walking and running style as social differentiators.

The Turks' gypsy hangman on the point of giving the Greek hero a new walking style in a scene from a Greek shadow puppet play (<a href='http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=3291073&partid=1&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&titleSubject=on&physicalAttribute=on&numpages=10&images=on&orig=%2fresearch%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&currentPage=6'>British Museum</a>). An Ottoman custom? A Barcelona cop tells me that his Algerian colleagues stamp on the ankles of bagsnatchers, making them easier to identify and capture next time.