Month: July 2009

Love the background slide

Kindle deletions pave way for digital book banning

Posted: 21 Jul 2009 08:40 AM PDT

bezosburnsem.jpg

If publishers can give Amazon orders, why not the courts? Why not government? The very existence of Amazon’s book-deleting system could be used to enforce libel judgments, execute injuctions, or simply to ban books at the state’s behest.

Farhad Manjoo plots out this depressing vision of 2024, at Slate.

Photo: n8agrin

Why 2024 Will Be Like Nineteen Eighty-Four [Slate]

Flora and Fauna closer to home

I was looking out the kitchen window at the hummingbird feeder and saw a hummingbird, hanging upside down on it from one of the perches, perfectly still.

“My, God, I’ve finally killed one with my homemade sugar syrup!” was my first thought.  Second thought was that the mixture had been out there too long and was contaminated.  I hollered at Bob to come look and I got my camera.  Bob saw it and I got close for a nice photograph.

Before I could snap the picture, the little fucker let loose and flew away.  I think he was drunk.  Really.

The little alkies all love the mixture most if it’s been out long enough to ferment.  They don’t touch it on the first two days in the summer after I refill it.  If it’s cooler out, they wait even longer.

Anyway, I guess I’m glad it wasn’t dead but I wish I could have snapped that picture.  Who ever heard of a hummingbird hanging upside down on a feeder?

Second fauna of note:

We finally got Goob a new swimming pool.  I feel like a bad parent for waiting so long.

goobinpool1

goobinpool

He jumps in about every 10 minutes or so and scrapes up the water.  He acts like he’s possessed most of the time.

Lewi’s getting out of the way here so he doesn’t get wet.

Home again

Oh, what a lovely trip that was! We saw lots of beautiful places and ate lots of beautiful food.

Beth and the birthday girl

This is me and Margie, the Birthday Girl, in front of a very old fountain in Heraklion/Iraklion/Iraklio

Things I learned in Greece:

  • There are at least three ways to spell anything in Greek.  Heraklion, Iraklion, and Iraklio are all the same thing.  Road signs are no exception.
  • Yogurt, cheese, bread, tomatoes and olive oil are all better there than here.  Way. Like, no comparison. Who knew?  Must be the soil, because the ingredients are all the same.  Their restaurant tomatoes were all better than my homegrown.  I didn’t know that was even possible.
  • Goats and sheep can climb trees.
  • Locals like to play chicken on the one lane roads with the tourists.
  • The Mediterranean Sea is not bathtub warm but it’s so beautiful it doesn’t matter.
  • Greeks always drink a shot of Raki after dinner.  It’s AWFUL.  Made of grape leavings, reminds me of grocery store vodka.  If you eat a lot of rich Greek food and then have MORE than one shot of raki, you will probably be hurling/yakking/spewing at 3 a.m.  Bob can personally verify this.
  • The spiders on Crete make the largest of spiders here seem small and slow.  Eeeek!
  • Rock walls can be works of art.  That was, I think, my favorite part of the trip.  All the beautiful stone walls, old and new.  The really great ones look like they are fitted together with no mortar.  Seriously, they were works of art.
  • Greek people don’t seem to care too much about coffee.  We couldn’t find a coffee maker.  The restaurants and stores all featured NesCafe like it was something good.  Bleah.  I missed my Seattle’s Best for sure.
  • Greek restaurants overcook just about everything but it doesn’t seem to really matter.  Rare meat is not an option there.  Crisp tender vegetables do not exist.

rockwall3

Gorgeous rock walls.  One side of the island has this red colored rock, the other has a gray color.  Two tectonic plates met up here.

Here are some of the eight gazillion pics.  Bob took the bulk of them – if it’s scenery and beautiful, he took it:

Beaches  http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/BeachesCrete#
Samarian Gorge Hike http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/SamarianGorgeHikeCrete2009#
Heraklion  http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/IraklionFountainAndPort#
Knossos  (birthplace of the Minoan labyrinth myth) http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/KnossosPalaceCrete2009#
People http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/PeopleShotsCrete2009#
Sailboat trip  http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/SailboatTripSoudaBayCrete#
Glass factory in our village http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/GlassFactoryKokkinoChorio#
Various architectural shots  http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/OldBuildingsWallsInterestingArchitectureCrete#
Flora and Fauna http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/FloraAndFaunaCrete#
A few villa shots   http://picasaweb.google.com/bcamero/Villas#