“Well, basically, there was this little dot, right? And the dot went bang and the bang expanded. Energy formed into matter, matter cooled, matter lived, the amoeba to fish, to fish to fowl, to fowl to frog, to frog to mammal, the mammal to monkey, to monkey to man, amo amas amat, quid pro quo,… Read More Fish and Fowl
“Rice is a beautiful food. It is beautiful when it grows, precision rows of sparkling green stalks shooting up to reach the hot summer sun. It is beautiful when harvested, autumn gold sheaves piled on diked, patchwork paddies. It is beautiful when, once threshed, it enters granary bins like a (flood) of tiny seed-pearls. It… Read More Fish ‘n Grains
“We shall reign with righteousness, for the benefits and happiness of the Siamese people.” – Oath of Accession for the Thai king Buenos Aires – Look, he wasn’t feeling well, wasn’t even able to deliver his annual birthday address to the nation the night before his birthday festivities, so we didn’t count on him to… Read More Long Live the King!
“French speaking countries in Africa have always enjoyed a special relationship with their former colonial master. French influence in those countries remained strong even after independence, with currencies tied by a fixed exchange rate to the French franc, military agreements allowing the stationing of French intervention forces in Africa, and a strong presence of French… Read More French Africa
“We still think of ourselves as Basques”, says Mme Pitchoauajue. “Until I went to school at the age of seven, I couldn’t speak a word of French.” – Graham Simmons, The Basque Way Buenos Aires – Although it was suggested, I did not wear a proper French Basque Beret to celebrate “National Day” in the… Read More Straddling the Pyrenees
“The Federal Republic of Central America, also known as the United Provinces of Central America, was a short-lived state in Central America, which consisted of the territories of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala. An experiment in republican democracy, it existed from July 1823 to 1840. It was intended to be a federal republic modeled… Read More In the Middle
“Finally, when it had been erased from the map of the penninsular after some many centuries, the name ‘Langkasuka’ again appeared in our history when it was mooted by our founding fathers as a possible name for independent Malaya.” – Sabri Zain, The Lost Kingdom of Langasuka Buenos Aires – There was no reason in… Read More Langkasuka
“When we lose sight of the distinction between our plans and the vision we are pursuing, we set ourselves up for a large dose of discouragement. A vision is a picture of what could and should be. A plan is a guess as to the best way to accomplish the vision. Failed plans should not… Read More The Importance Bug