Unguided Blog

I am back, finally! Being unemployed for so long had taken its toll and I had to take a vacation to shake off all the dust. Fortunately, living in Turkey gives some privileges, so I did not have to take a long distance flight, bored with complicated hotel bookings, transfers at an airport in strange hours of the day, or night.

However, I am picky when it comes to where to go, if it is summer time. I have some rules, or so claim a few of my friends. I call them habits. I admit, it is sometimes difficult to explain to those who have not been born by the sea, but those who have will probably sympathize with me.

So, without further ado, my rules, written or unwritten:

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I came across this at Apache. Too bad the blog was suspended.

Warning: Consult your doctor before using medication.

Quoting Lala in her comment:

However, that is interesting and now, thinking I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard this song, I will have to go and have a listen (so I’ll be able to spot a Communist )

There is an easier way of course: anyone with an appetite for steak is a good candidate.

I have found a reasonably good version of The Internationale in Youtube (in Hungarian with English sub-titles) and posting it for all fans of McCarthy. I also would like to thank to the anonymous person running the proxy server in Colombia (as you know Youtube is blocked by our beautiful government).

I made a typo in the previous post (actually it was the spell checker, not me, but I did push the “change all” button), Internationale ends with “e”.

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This whole thing, the Creationist ideology that is, really amazes me. It reminds me the confused state our beautiful government is in. Whatever they or the people of science claim, it may very well be the artist who has the final say in the whereabouts of our origin.

Halil Bey was the Ottoman ambassador to Paris in the 1880’s. Born in Egypt, he was a great art lover and known to order paintings from popular artists of the time; unlike today, ambassadors were paid very well in those days. Like most of us, he had a few flaws in character, though, one of which happened to be gambling.

Gustave Courbet, the renowned painter, gave “Origine du Monde” to Halil Bey as a present when he delivered “Sleep”, the painting Halil bey had ordered. From the names of the paintings, one could tell they had another flaw in common.

Anyway, upon declaring Chapter 11 or whatever its equivalent those days, Halil Bey had to return to Istanbul in 1888 and his collection were sold to cover his debts.

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It’s a good thing we have computers, isn’t it?