Snob

Anthropologists weigh in on Jared Diamond's latest: lack of citations, ethnographic carelessness, and the smoothing of complex narratives into quotable fables. The World Until Yesterday has prompted a flurry of commentary from anthropologists unenthusiastic about the physiologist turned evolutionary biologist turned geographer. In a recent London Review of Books, leading political anthropologist James C. Scott doesn't buy Diamond's description of the modern nation-state arising to curtail primitive tribal violence "[i]n a passage that recapitulates the fable of the social contract" given how "slaving was at the very centre of state-making." Anthropologist Alex Golub, who shares Papua New Guinea as a major research site, wrote "Still, it is telling that we live in an age when a member of America's National Academy of Sciences and one of the world's foremost public intellectuals has less concern for citations and footnotes than do the contributors to Wikipedia." David Correia pulls no punches in his opinion piece "F*ck Jared Diamond" calling Diamond's resurrection of environmental determinism as racist apologia and his latest book as essentializing primitivism in order to define Western industrialized exceptionalism.

Perhaps the transmutation of academic concepts into accessible pop-(social)-science bestsellers as performed by public intellectuals like Jared Diamond and Malcolm Gladwell through "cultural and historical bricolage" is an alchemical myth.

1. Aruba

Anonymous:

I’m going to talk about my lovely island Aruba :)

1. It is a small island in the Caribbean close to Venezuela.
2. It is part of the Dutch kingdom so we learn to speak dutch at school, but our native language is Papiamento, which has traces of Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish in it.
3. Together with Bonaire and Curacao, we are known as the ABC islands, the only islands who speak Papiamento.
4. Most Arubians speak 4 languages fluently. We are a multicultural island with diverse people.
5. Transportation is mostly by car. The roads are always busy and are filled with shitty-ass drives.
6. On the other hand we have really amazing beaches (known as top 10).


Salvatore.Freni

7. We have something called a natural pool, which is also pretty cool.
8. Arubians are known to be friendly, happy, lazy and easy going people.


atramos

9. We have really yummy food!
10. The country runs on tourism.
11. There are stray dogs every where. or really angry dogs that chase you down the streets when you go take a walk.
12. Family time is very important here.
13. Alcohol too.
14. There are cacti everywhere.


D-Stanley

15. It is always summer here.


TravelingOtter

16. Around January/February we celebrate Carnaval, which is like a parade with lots of music, colors, dancing and drinking!

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2. Guyana

Dhanishry Narine:

1. We are actually in South America and not in Africa (though with it’s name and its very colourful primary African coloured flag will let you believe otherwise.) (Eds. Fun Fact: Our flag, named the “Golden Arrowhead,” was actually created by an American vexillologist, Whitney Smith)


Free Grunge Textures – www.freestock.ca

2. We speak English – in fact it is our first language and perhaps only language. Sure, we speak English with one of the most sing-song-y accent you’ve ever heard, but it’s fun to listen to, even if you have no idea what we’re saying, I reckon. We also speak a bit of combination Hindi-English, and Native Amerindian languages.
3. We are the only English speaking country in South America, and we speak the Queen’s English, so ColoUr, and NeighboUrhood, will be some of the spellings you’ll find.
4. Even though we speak English, most of our towns, cities and villages are French, Spanish or Dutch. This is because we were ruled by all of these countries once upon a time, only to be finally conquered by the English. This has influenced our architecture greatly.


madmack66

5. Hey, Dutch people! Thanks! Because of you, Guyana, with 80% rainforest interior and a land below sea-level still stays afloat, because of an amazing Dutch drainage system. Now, if the government would just update that system, I believe we wouldn’t flood so much.
6. Just like the British left India with an extensive railroad, we, too, had a railroad system. In fact, called the Demerara-Berbice railroad (I told you about those Dutch names!) it was the first railroad system of the South American continent. But this was soon dismantled, by the American-government elected, President Burnham. He had major post-colonial issues, or mommy issues with England, as I like to call it, at the time. You can read more about that here: What is the most outrageous conspiracy theory that ultimately proved to be correct?
7. Because of our pickled history, our main and natural export is actually our people, we have the highest brain drain of 95% of higher educated people leaving the country. It is the highest in the world. But we also export rice, sugar, bauxite, rum.
8. Don’t drink the koolaid! Seriously, don’t drink it. Many Americans say that reference because it’s a part of our American culture, however, Jonestown actually happened in the remote jungles of Guyana. Since, it was so remote, Guyanese people were not aware of it either.
9. We are actually more culturally Caribbean, i.e. West Indian than South American (due to the fact that we share similar colonization stories with countries like Trinidad and Jamaica – but we’re working on feeling more South American-y, by having roads connect to Venezuela, Suriname and Brazil (our neighbours) I think, this will eventually change our culture again!
10. Our people are very diverse, because of colonization we have people with origins from Africa, India, China, Portuguese from Madeira Islands, Europeans, and Native South-American tribes, mostly Arawak and Caribs (the Caribbean was named after them!) Though, most of the population is divided between African Guyanese and Indian Guyanese. We only know the difference when there is an election, as people seem to vote along racial lines, which I’m pretty sure they know, is not cool.
11. With so many ethnic groups, our cuisine is very interesting – Roti and curries (Indian), pepperpot (Amerindian), Metemgie, a soup with ground provisions and dumplings (African), bread-pudding, cheese rolls, pinetarts (European), Cookup Rice (peas and rice), Lowmein and chowmein (Chinese). Culturally, we are food sharing people, so if you’re ever over at one of our houses, we’ll probably have to fight the urge to feed you, and to insist that you take left-overs for your family as well.
12. We are a secular country and we celebrate all holidays from our major religion – Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. The Color Run is inspired by us, we call the Hindu festival (Holi) – Phagwah based on the month it normally falls.
13. We celebrate Easter not with the Easter Bunny but by flying kites. It’s the resurrection of Christ, and the kite depicts his soul flying towards heaven.
    We fish a lot, eh? Our country is 70% rivers. Hassa Fish a local delicacy. (It’s curried here, with okra vegetables.)
14. We have a lot of fruits and vegetables that you’ve never heard of, and locals will either wait til they are ripe to eat them/ cook with them, or my favourite, eat them when they are so green that they are pale yellow.
15. Pictured here is a fruit called, Sapodilla it tastes like a persimmon but sweeter, a bit grainer as if someone sprinkled brown sugar over a persimmon.
16. Have you ever had an apple that looks like a STAR?
17. Foods tend to be spicy.
18. Politics is a past-time sport. Everyone bashes the government. But to be honest, they are justified.
19. Our favourite sport is probably cricket, we play for the West Indian team and we wear our pride on our sleeves – Shivnarine Chandrapaul, Carl Hooper, Lance Gibbs, Colin Croft, and golden cricket legends such as Rohan Kanhai, Clive Lloyd, Alvin Kallicharran are all Guyanese cricketers. (This point will make my dad very proud!)
20. But we also excel at playing squash, and we are getting better at soccer as well.
21. Guyana as a whole has neglected arts, and sports, parenting stresses more emphasis on being some variant of the following – doctor, lawyer, engineer, so every time I am made aware of a Guyanese sportsman and artist, I support!
22. Rihanna and Leonna Lewis are of Guyanese heritage.
23. You must know of our sugar – Demerara sugar was the standard that was created when sugar was a major commodity.
24. The most famous and one of the most expensive stamps in the world, is the British Guiana 1c Magenta. In the Guiana, they ran our of stamps and then used magenta paper, which was available as postage.
25. We are also known for our rum – El Dorado Rum. It’s an award winning rum. we like rum.
26. Why is our rum and almost everything named El Dorado? Because, geographically, Guyana is estimated to be El Dorado. Our country is high in gold (and gold mine) and has one of the richest golds in the world, mostly because it was left in the earth for so long. There are many TVs that seem to be fascinated by this – Discovery Channel’s Gold Rush and Bamazon Boys.
27. Do you like to rock climb? Because, I want a buddy to rock climb this baby! The Disney movie, Up featured the mountain, Mount Roraima, it is the highest peak of a chain of tepui plateau in South America. Made of Precambrian rocks, it literally looks like a tabletop in the sky. It’s the point where Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana meet and many waterfalls are associated with the mountain (Angel Falls on the Venezuelan side), and ours Kaieteur Falls, is the longest, single one drop water fall in the world.


paularps

28. Every Guyanese is going to make me tell you about Kaieteur Falls. It’s supposedly the highest single drop waterfall in the world.
29. Our rain forest is pretty much untouched, and is being protected by Norway (Go Norway!) and the (lack) of Government of Guyana to offset our carbon footprint. The amazon is also in Guyana. Guyana has one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world. Guyana, with 1,168 vertebrate species, 1,600 bird species, boasts one of the richest mammalian fauna assemblages of any comparably sized area in the world. The Guiana Shield region is little known and extremely rich biologically. Unlike other areas of South America, over 70% of the natural habitat remains pristine. When I was a kid, I woke up by listening to the sounds of parrots, kiskadees and macaws at the crack of dawn. They can be pretty annoying.
30. We have cowboys and ranches in the region closer to Brazil.
31. We have Carnival, not as big as the Brazilians, or the Trinidadians, and we call it “Mashramani” or Mash for short. It’s always in February, and most of the music will tell you to get something and wave, and really that’s what you should do.

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3. Somalia

Ridwa Mousa:

I’ll pick Somalia as the UK and the Netherlands have already been written about.

1. There’s only a small group of fishermen that have started to terrorise the coast as pirates. The rest of us aren’t actually that keen on kidnapping people.


expertinfantry

2. Despite the lack of international recognition, Somalia is divided into 3 nations; Somaliland, Puntland and Somalia.
3. Each of these nations speak a different dialect and Arabic is also a national language. Most Somalis also speak English and/or Italian and Swahili. The average Somali speaks 3 languages.
4. Arranged marriages aren’t actually custom in Somalia and only a small group of people hold this tradition.
5. We are an extremely funny nation and nothing is off limits when it comes to humour.
6. Somalis all have nicknames based on how they look or what they’re known for; Liban Long Leg, Chubby Cibado, Dirir Drink a Lot ect. This isn’t considered offensive at all.
7. Once upon a time we were a peaceful and developed country. We even had cinemas and clubs. True story.
8. Mogadishu is home to Lido beach, one of the most beautiful pristine beaches in the world.


ctsnow

9. We aren’t all experts in torture techniques nor do we all own guns.
10. Yes, there have been Al-Qaeda terrorist quarters in Somalia that terrorised the natives. We are not all terrorists, in fact, many have been killed because they refused to join these terrorist groups (including my uncle). So I’d really fucking appreciate it if I didn’t get interviewed/searched every time I went through an airport because I was born in Mogadishu.

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4. Nepal

Kishan Gupta:

1. The first thing to start with would be the geography of the place. Nepal has the highest altitude variation in the world. From the plain of Ganges to the peak of Mt. Everest, the altitude varies from almost sea level to 8848m above sea level.
2. Eight of the fourteen eight-thousanders are located in Nepal. I am talking about mountains here. We have eight 8000m tall mountains and all of them are listed in the 10 highest peaks of the world. We occupy 80% of the slot. Beat that!


Luca Galuzzi
Mount Everest: (Highest Peak in the world)



Kanchenjunga (3rd Highest peak in the world)



Lhotse (4th Highest)



Ben Tubby
Makalu (5th highest)



Cho Oyu (6th highest)



Dhaulagiri (7th Highest)



Ben Tubby
Manaslu (8th Highest)



Arite
Annapurna (10th highest) : This is one of the most dangerous mountains to climb.

3. Second richest in water resources after Brazil. And possess potential for production of 83000 MW of clean hydro electricity. Yet, we have electricity shortages and have to bear with an average of 8 hrs of power cut everyday.
4. Kathmandu valley is the capital. It has the densest concentration of World Heritage Sites. Kathmandu valley alone has 7 World Heritage Cultural sites within a radius of 15 kilometers.


Jeanne Menjoulet

5. One of the areas in Kathmandu valley is called “Freak street” (I think this name was given by Jim Morrison after he saw the huge inflow of hippies who came in droves by buses on this street). See: Old Freak Street.
6. Yes, we have a song called “Kathmandu” written by Bob Seger. He wrote it in 1975, at a time when he wanted to disappear from the record business, media and touring. Kathmandu represented a far way land where no one would be able to find you. Also, Jim has some verses of road house blues in Nepali!
7. It’s the country with the highest Hindu population. Almost 80% of the people here are Hindu. It was the only Hindu country in the world until 2010 when it went republican and became secular.
8. We have the bravest people in the world, the Gurkhas. We have fought wars alongside Britishers and are most feared warriors. Don’t get this wrong though, Nepalese are really peace loving people.
9. Our Sovereignty was never broken. Never ruled by any other country in the world. Britain tried to invade Nepal but could never succeed. Refer Anglo-Nepalese War.
10. We have the popular and cheap ‘fast food’ called Momo. Delicious dumplings made from flour and water; and filled with different fillings like chicken, meat or vegetables either fried or steamed and served with a dipping sauce.
11. The deepest gorge in the world named Kali Gandaki Gorge is in Nepal.


Michał Sałaban

12. One of the highest lakes in the world, Tilicho Lake. Situated at the height of 4919m.
13. I can go on and on about the Natural beauty of Nepal. So giving it a stop, I will just mention it briefly. The trekking trails of Nepal are really beautiful. Everest Base camp Trek, Annapurna Trek, Mustang Trek routes are really awesome! Nepal is no less in its flora and fauna. Some of the rarest species are found here. And the mountains are the sources of some highly valued medicinal herbs.
14. There was a massacre in the Royal House in 2001 when our king queen and majority of their family members died. Nepalese royal massacre.
15. Nepal is birthplace of Gautama Buddha, founder of Buddhism. As a consequence, Nepal is home to beautiful Stupas and Gumbas, monuments with round roofs.
16. Despite all this, we are really poor. Don’t be surprised if you see small huts in the hills. We have not exploited tourism or even hydro power to its potential. Roads are not much developed. And if you book some flight ticket to travel inside Nepal don’t panic if its a small 10-12 seater twin otter with shaky wings :P
17. Lastly, everything I have said lies within an area of 147,181 square km. Yes, my country is really small.

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5. United Kingdom

Elin Grimes:

I’ll just address some misconceptions about the UK.

Languages
We have a reputation for being monolingual. Not true, we have several languages in the UK, including:

English, Welsh, Scots, Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, Cornish, and BSL (British Sign Language).

Yn ni’n gallu siarad myw na un iaith, t’mod. ;) (Welsh for “We can speak more than one language, you know”). Unfortunately languages are not taught well in the UK, so our reputation is not entirely unfounded…

British Cuisine
…also has a terrible reputation, but in fact we have loads of delicious food, and our strength is our openness to other cuisines. We love all world cuisines and adopt many aspects into our own cooking. Almost all British households regularly cook curries, stir-fries, and pastas (particularly Spaghetti Bolognese), as well as more traditional British cooking. Did you know the Balti was created in the UK? We don’t see British food as something static but very dynamic.

www.theedinburghblog.co.uk

We got a bad reputation thanks to rationing during the war where Brits had to do their best with powdered egg and spam, but really…it’s time to move on guys. Our specialties include:

• Pies of all kinds, including Cornish pasties and Melton Mowbray pork pies
• Sausages – every town has its own type and they’re all awesome
• Cheeses – including Cheddar, Wensleydale, and Stilton
• Welsh Lamb
• Scotch Whisky
• Beer / Real Ale – almost infinite numbers of awesome beers (Badger Brewery is my favourite)
• Mead and yes, we have good wines too (some of our land is on a level with wine growing regions in France)
• Sunday Roasts
• Fish and Chips (yeah, every country thinks they do these best…I know!)
• Full English Breakfast
• Cream teas: tea with scones, Cornish cream and home-made jam:

ZapTheDingbat

And so on. We also invented almost all the classic biscuits. We are a little bit biscuit obsessed. Why? Why else? They go great with Tea!

(They’re also incredibly cheap over here)

Enough! We have a duck race to get to.

Eccentric Traditions
In short, we have them.

What to do this weekend…race a rubber duck?

vagueonthehow

Join in with a Pancake race that dates back to 1445?

robinmyerscough

Wang a welly?

Annie Mole

Or just chase a cheese down a hill.

mike warren

(I wonder if that house at the bottom has insurance against cheese-related damage?)

Safer to stick to a morris dance.

Mystery People

The most common misconception of all though is that all of the UK is London.

The UK is Not Just London

TJ Morris

Man & His Cam

London is cool, but the UK has so much more, especially regarding scenery. People think of us as a crowded little island with a metropolitan feel. We have some amazing historic towns and cool cities, but our beautiful landscape is underrated by other countries who think we don’t have any.

You might know already how breathtaking Scotland is:

monkeyatlarge

Glen Bowman

Martin de Lusenet

Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It.

Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It.

Kyle Taylor, Dream It. Do It.

But did you know about Northern Ireland?

eutrophication&hypoxia

lyng883

Tony Webster

rovingI

SarahDepper

BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives

(Did you know that we have about 1,000 stone circles and 80 stone henges in Britain and Ireland?)

And what about the mountains, valleys, castles and music of Wales? The Welsh for Wales is Cymru:

A Roger Davies

Fields of View

A Roger Davies

300td.org

Theodore Scott

And of course, from the moors, dales and lakes to the beaches, forests and flatlands, England:

jthetzel

brianac37

Dimitry B

scotbot

PhillipC

Still think we’re all just London? :)

I could go on, but it’s time for tea…

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6. New Zealand

Anonymous:

1. It’s way down there – In fact Wellington, the Capital City of New Zealand, is the southernmost capital city in the world.
2. No snakes here bitach! – Edit: So after some research it seems that there once were snakes in New Zealand, millions of years ago when New Zealand was attached to the Mainland (Australia etc.), but they haven’t appeared since the Ice Age. Also sometimes(rarely) sea snakes appear.
3. Kiwi – Not the fruit, our native flightless bird is also a term to call a New Zealander. Currently endangered as they are flightless and easily attacked by other animals and they also lay massive eggs!


Allie_Caulfield

4. All Blacks – We’re insanely great at Rugby!
5. The name New Zealand was from Dutch cartographers, who called the islands Nova Zeelandia, after the Dutch province of Zeeland.


phault

6. There are more sheep than there are people. Oh, and sometimes they protest. (Check out the video!)
7. New Zealand has won more Olympic gold medals, per capita, than any other country.
8. Lord of the Rings was filmed here – You probably already know.
9. Bungy Jumping was invented here – By AJ Hackett.
10. We drive on the left – Like Australia and England.
11. We are located on the Ring of Fire – Which means that we have several volcanos and get about 1400 earthquakes each year. Mount Ruapehu is one of the most active volcanos in the world. Lake Taupo is actually a crater caused by the largest known eruption in the world 26,500 years ago. You also may have heard of the 2 earthquakes in Christchurch, one in 2010 and one in 2011 killing 185 people.


PhillipC

12. We fucked up in the America’s Cup.

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7. Russia

Alex Shmitko:

1. Russia and Moscow. There are actually two Russias: Moscow and the rest of it. Moscow is, unfortunately, way more developed, civilized, tolerant and educated than the rest of Russia. St. Petersburg (which used to be our capital in 18th, 19th and the beginning of 20th century) is sometimes and partially an exception. So don’t believe all the stories of people who say they’ve been to Russia if they’ve only been in Moscow.


ccchan19

2. Bears and vodka. Of course bears do not walk in the cities. Russian people do drink a lot of vodka, but there’s an explanation for this: vodka is the cheapest (by far) hard liquor in the country.
3. Russia and the USSR. A lot of Russians strongly divide the Russian and the Soviet periods of our history and do not accept the latter as part of our heritage.
4. Empire. Russia was the only borderless empire with all the colonies adjacent to each other.
5. Visiting Russia. Most of Russian cities are incredibly beautiful, but only during May-September. There is really very little point in visiting any other time of the year.


ccchan19

6. Visiting Russia 2. If you’re from anywhere except the CIS, you will need a visa to come to Russia (with rare exceptions). And Russians need visas to go to almost anywhere.
7. Foreign languages. The majority of Russians do not speak any languages besides Russian.
8. Food. What most people think of as Russian cuisine is not actually Russian, e.g. borsch is Ukranian and draniki is Bielorussian.
9. Friendship. A friend is a very strong word in Russian. There are many words for different levels of friendship. I wouldn’t call somebody I know just a month a friend and there can only be one best friend. Those usually (not always) date back to school or at least to university. Time is not the most important factor, but close to an obligatory one.
10. Traveling. Most Russians rarely travel and almost never move from the place they were born (this started to change recently).


ccchan19

11. WW2. If for some weird reason you don’t think that Russia won the WW2, I strongly advise you not to bring it up when talking to a Russian. Especially if you both or this Russian is drunk. We are very sensitive about it.
12. WW2 again. I don’t know why, but an absolute majority of Russians (even through official channels: TV, radio etc.) say ‘Fascists’ instead of ‘Nazis’. When you’re talking to a Russian and she said ‘fascist’, she probably meant ‘nazi’.
13. Prices. Cars, clothes and anything luxurious are very expensive here. Strangely, in Moscow those things are cheaper than in any other city. Note, that’s it’s not cheap here and expensive anywhere else. It’s just even more expensive anywhere else.
14. Oil. For a country that is one of the leaders in oil extraction gas prices are pretty darn high! The average price right now is around 34 roubles per litre ( 1.03$, 3.84$ per gallon).
15. Criticising Russia. Russians tend to be very protective and sensitive when talking about it with foreigners. If you are a close friend or a Russian started such a conversation, then it’s OK. But otherwise, better not do it.
16. Loving Russia. Have no doubt: almost any Russian loves the country. A lot of us live by the saying “I love my country, I have my state / government”.
17. Elections. Yes, all elections are rigged one way or another. This situation has started to change (people protest, enlist as observers, work as volunteers for candidates from opposition etc).
18. The Church. The Russian Church is experiencing something of a Renaissance right now (sanctioned by the government). Some technical universities even have theological departments now and those classes are obligatory (not that widespread yet)!
19. Justice. The percentage of not guilty verdicts in Russia is 0.5%. Yes. 0.5%. Russian judiciary system is very closely intertwined with the government (doesn’t matter: federal, regional, local) and all the ‘high profile’ cases’ verdicts are known in advance.
20. Doctors. A funny (and sad) fact: doctors’ salaries in Russia are very small (a surgeon in a small town in Russia may very well earn less than 8,000$ a year. And you said you wanted to be a doctor when you grew up?

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8. Denmark

Natasha Figueroa:

1. We speak Danish, not dutch.


Leo-setä

2. What Americans call ‘danishes’, we call it ‘wienerbrød’, which actually means ‘Viennese bread’.
3. We don’t think of ourselves as the happiest people in the world, rather, we are the most content. There is a big difference to us. Happy is a temporary high, while content is an average mean. Very important distinction when you only see the sun a handful of times a year.
4. It is very easy to get to know us slightly (very friendly), but incredible difficult to get to know us well (very private). Also, most of us have the same friends since childhood, so we don’t have much time for new friends.
5. Privacy is considered a basic human right here. So that means, don’t talk to the person next to you on the bus, it’s considered rude.
6. ‘Irony’ is the basis of the Danish psyche. We will often make an inappropriate joke when we are feeling uncomfortable, which is often.
7. Women & men are very equal here, so that has led to some confusion in the standard mating ritual. Think of two rams butting heads, but with less romance and more sex.
8. We are VERY relaxed about sex, but we used to be more relaxed about nudity. Used to be, every beach was awash in nude bodies, but that has slowly disappeared. We blame American media for their portrayals of unattainably perfect bodies so that now Danish women are self-conscious.
9. We like to blame America for a lot of the things that ail us, but at the same time, we are very enthusiastic about embracing much of American culture.


magnetismus

10. Marriage is a bit of an outdated concept here. Someone will talk about their girlfriend, and then you find out they mean the mother of their three children that they have lived with for 20 years.
11. A huge majority of the country belongs to the Church of Denmark, but in reality we are all just a bunch of godless heathens. We don’t need to pray for salvation when we have such a great welfare system.
12. Most of us are not racist, just ignorant, since Denmark is such a homogenized place. Outside of Copenhagen, it is Whiteytown, capitol of Whiteyville. If you grow up with brown skin in a small town (like I did), be prepared for a LOT of ridiculous but well-meaning questions.
13. Speaking of ridiculous, the men and women of Copenhagen are ridiculously good-looking. Good genetics, a love of fitness, and healthy food really go a long way.
14. We are not nearly as violent as all our exported television programs portray us as. There is actually very little murder & crime here.
15. If you can put up with the expense & the weather & the difficulty getting to truly know people, it is a lovely place to call home.

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9. Ethiopia

Lily Eabi:

1. Ethiopia is the origin of coffee. Our coffee preparation ceremony takes at least 2 hours everyday.
2. We have 13 months in a year.
3. Currently the year is 2006 and new year starts on the month of September.


Achilli Family | Journeys

4. We have more than 80 languages.
5. We have our own alphabet consisting of 252 characters (compared to english 26 characters)
6. Ethiopian food is loved by vegetarians all over the world.
7. We are the only country in Africa that has never been colonized.


A.Davey

8. Ethiopians are very religious. Only 1% of 90 million people have no religion.
9. Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis) was discovered in Ethiopia.
10. Everyone has at least 80 close family members.
11. You are not expected to call or make an appointment to visit a friend or a family, you just show up at their house and you’ll always be welcomed.
12. No! we don’t have elephants and lions as pets.

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10. Jordan

Anonymous:

I will talk about Jordan. So I am Jordanian and there is no camel in my background :P

• The name of my country is actually: الأردن‎ , ‘al-Urdun’.
• We are a small peaceful country (89,342 km2) surrounded by bigger and troubled countries (Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Palestine) and Israel.
• Jordanians have different origins. Beside native Jordanians there are Palestinians, Syrians, Circassians, Armenians, Chechens and others.
• We have a beautiful and lovely Queen, Rania Al Abdullah.


Studio Harcourt

• Our capital city is Amman. In the past, Amman sat on seven hills, much as Rome and Lisbon. Amman now covers at least nineteen hills.
• One of our national sites, Petra, is rated as one of the 7 Wonders of the World.


elicrisko

• Jerash is a city in the north full of ancient Roman historical sites.
• Jerash festival is an annual festival which is a three week long summer program of dance, music, and theatrical performances.
• Around the Dead Sea, we have the lowest dry point on earth, (1,371 ft) below sea level!


nborun

• In the Dead sea, You can float without any support because of natural buoyancy. Just relax and Enjoy :D
• Wadi Rum, one of the most amazing valleys in the world.


amerune

• The sky at night is just breathtaking; no words can describe it.


lawmurray

• Hammamat Ma’In (Ma’in Hot Springs): hot freshwater mineral springs and waterfalls that lie 866 ft below sea level. Excellent place to enjoy a naturally warm bath.
• Climbing the waterfalls in Wadi Mujib is a must if you love adventure! Wadi Mujib is the lowest nature reserve in the entire world!
• Don’t forget the scuba diving at Aqaba bay and explore the colorful coral reefs!

But what about religious sites?

• The Baptism Site of Jesus Christ (Al-Maghtas) in Jordan is located 10 kilometres southeast of Jericho. This place was surveyed, excavated, restored, and prepared to receive pilgrims and visitors who seek the blessings of a land graced by great prophets. Al-Maghtas was visited by Pope John Paul II in March 2000 and by Pope Benedict XVI in May 2009.


jemasmith

• Mount Nebo is the place where it is believed that Moses was buried. Mount Nebo became a place of pilgrimage for early Christians from Jerusalem and a small church was built there in the 4th century to commemorate the end of Moses’ life. The Serpentine Cross sculpture, atop Mount Nebo , was created by Italian artist Giovanni Fantoni. The sculpture is symbolic of the bronze (or brazen) serpent taken by Moses into the desert.

Now traditions!

• Our folk dance is called Dabkeh :)


Dance Photographer – Brendan Lally

• Our traditional dish is Mansaf ( rice, yogurt and a lot of meat .. and I mean A LOT)
• Oh yeah, don’t be terrified if you see us eating it with our hands! :D
• Our typical breakfast looks like this: (@Hummus and @Falafel)


yummyporky

• For my vegetarian friends, it’s easy to survive without eating meat in Jordan ;)
• Beside Hummus and Falafel, here is a small list of dishes you can easily find in Jordanian resturants:

TheHungryDudes
Fattoush (our favorite salad !): tomato, cucumber, lettuce, and radish with toasted pitta bread croutons int, parsley, lemon, garlic, olive oil, and vinegar.

Bazel
Mutabbal: Aubergine with tahini and lemon.

Sjschen
Zaatar w Zeit pastry: pastry of dried thyme, sumac, and sesame seeds mixed with olive oil.

Note that Jordanian cuisine is part of Levantine cuisine so these dishes except Mansaf are all can be found easily in Levant countries.

Hope you enjoyed my answer ;)

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11. Indonesia

Chairunisa Azizah:

1. Bali is not a country. It’s an island which is, a part of Indonesia.
2. We’re more than just Bali. We consisted of more than 17.508 islands based on wikipedia (okay maybe about 10 big islands and the rest are small islands and some uninhabited), and some of them are more beautiful than Bali.


Trekking Rinjani
Mount Rinjani – Lombok



mORph
Weh Island – Aceh

3. One of our island, Komodo Island was voted as new 7 wonders of nature. it has pink beach and, komodo dragon. They’re carnivores by the way.


mORph

4. Yeah we look like Malaysian, and we’re so much different than Indian.
5. We speak Bahasa Indonesia with lots of accents and sub-language, you know just like any other countries.
6. We also the fourth largest country based on population.
7. We’re a democratic country.
8. Most of us knows how to joke around. Even our politicians like to make jokes (if you know what I mean).

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12. Germany

Lutz Enke

Originally divided by hundreds of borders.

Borders both political and religious.

Until the German unification in 1871, there was no real Germany. It was a rather loose confederation of hundreds of small states. You had to pay toll dozens of times when you wanted to go by road from what today is one end of Germany to the other.

In 1618-1648, Germany was the battlefield of the Thirty Years’ War – a war of religions, as half the smaller or bigger German states was protestant, and the other half catholic. More than 30% of Germany’s population died in these 30 years. Remember that about Christianity when you today look at Syria. I sincerely hope the Muslim world can avoid such long-term, large-scale, atrocious sectarian conflict.

Proud part of Europe

The Schengen Area comprises 26 European countries that abolished border controls. If you drive from Germany to e.g. France, you might notice some road sign telling you when you cross the border – other than that, you will see nothing.

Even the former border checkpoint facilities/buildings are gone mostly. Combined with the common currency of the Euro zone, this gives a feeling of freedom to us that is now normal for young people, but would be unimaginable a couple of generations ago.

That’s part of the reason why many Germans feel so strongly positively about Europe and the EU, despite the various problems.
You get to see a nice border sign, but that’s about it.

Politics

Germany didn’t invent Green politics – but here, the Green movement got mainstream popularity for the first time. A green politician, Joschka Fischer, was vice chancellor and minister for foreign affairs from 1998 to 2005.

Similar, the Pirate Party movement has its roots in Sweden, yet got larger success for the first time in Germany, conquering a dozen seats in Berlin’s state parliament.

Drink with 16, Drive with 18

I guess it’s not a rule that is unique to Germany, but it’s often surprising to people from the US. You can legally buy and drink beer with 16, but not get your (car) driving license before 18.

One of the effects is that nearly every German experienced the loss of motoric control caused by alcohol many times before learning how to drive a car. Thus, the majority knows of the dangers, contributing to the low death rate by car accidents in Germany.

Markburger83

There is danger in beer. But also so much joy.

Cars

Indeed, Germans are more obsessed about their cars than many other countries. If you classify cars by size/price, Germans have a much higher share of large cars (e.g. Mercedes C+, BMW 3+, Audi A4+) than other European countries.

Also, you will see Germans care much more about their cars not being scratched or bumped into than in, say, France or Italy – where people are generally relaxed about even small accidents.

Lothar Spurzem

German cars always sold well internationally – e.g. the pretty beetle.

Streets

Many people think of the Autobahn when they think of Germany. While it is true that on many of these highways, there is no speed limit, there is still a recommended maximum speed of 130 km/h. It’s not illegal to go (far) beyond it, yet in case of an accident, it might get you a partial responsibility to have gone faster.

And, there is a movement -rooted in fuel efficiency – to introduce a general speed limit. Hotly debated topic, and often parties clearly state whether they are for or against it in a general election.

Street Food

The most popular street food in Germany is the Döner Kebab, of Turkish origin. Especially in Berlin, you find a booth at every corner. 2nd comes the Currywurst (a grilled sausage with ketchup and curry powder).

Nowadays, the Döner usually comes with red and white cabbage – even Turkish food can be Germanized a bit.

Food

The – percievedly very Germany – Currywurst lets us think about a key ingredient: tomatoes. Which isn’t native to Germany and got popular only in the last 60 years.

As you can imagine, before the immigrants came to Germany with their recipes and ingredients, Germany was a pretty dull place food-wise.

Immigration

Brings us to the cultural effects of immigration. A vast majority of Germans would agree that the culture (food-wise most prominently) that the immigrants from Italy, Turkey, Greece etc. brought, made Germany a far, far more liveable and likable country.

Football

Steindy

By far the most popular sport in Germany. Basketball, Handball and Ice Hockey come after football – but even combined, they might enjoy just 10% of football’s popularity.

The German football association has more than 6 million members – in a country of about 80 million.

German Football also profited heavily from immigration. Just look at Arsenal’s new star – Mesut Özil, or at Real Madrid player Sami Khedira. Or at our two strikers of Polish heritage – Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose.

Special about German football is that the clubs are not allowed to sell 50% or more to investors. This keeps them in the hands of the clubs, who are ultimately controlled by the supporters.

One of the effects of this are ticket prices: you can get a full season ticket at Bayern Munich for less than €150. At Arsenal, the cheapest season ticket does sell for more than €1,000. And even at a smaller Premier League club in England, tickets will be more expensive compared to the German Champions League winner.

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13. Romania

Cristian Manta:

1. Ancestry
My country has Latin origins even if it’s in the middle of the Slavic part of Europe. The creators of the Romanian nation are considered to be Decebal, the king of Dacia and Trajan, the Roman emperor (100-106 AD – wars between Dacians and Romans). The Romanian language is very similar to Italian.

2. Capital city
Romania’s capital city is Bucharest, not Budapest. I must say this because many rock stars use to open their concert in Bucharest with a well known “Good evening Budapest!”
Romania Map:

3. The Revolution
Our recent history is divided in two: “before 1989” (communist era, of Ceausescu) and “after 1989”. On December 15, 1989, a revolution started in Timisoara (a city in western Romania). It quickly spread to the entire country. It was a bloody revolution, hundred of thousands of people went out in the streets, many people died, but finally the dictator was caught, sentenced to death and later executed with his wife on December 25, 1989.

4. Myth of Dracula
Most Romanians don’t consider Dracula representative for Romania. What you probably don’t know is that there was a Romanian leader back in 15th century, count Vlad Tepes (also called Vlad Dracul, after his father). He used to impale murderers, persons sentenced to death for various crimes and war prisoners; probably this is why he inspired Bram Stoker for his novel.

5. Famous people
If we’re talking about reputation, I can give you some examples of Romanians we consider to be famous: sculptor Constantin Brancusi, historian/philosopher Mircea Eliade, composer George Enescu or athletes such as Gheorghe Hagi (soccer player), Nadia Comaneci (gymnast who got the first score of 10 in Olympics history, in Montreal 1976), and Ilie Nastase (tennis player, winner of Roland Gaross in 1973 and US Open in 1972).

6. Territorial organization
Romania is divided in 41 counties, but there are three main historic regions: Transylvania(northwest), Moldova(northeast) and Tara Romaneasca (The Romanian Country) (south). Romania’s eastern neighbor, Republic of Moldova, was part of Romania until 1945 when Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill agreed in connection to Russian influence in Europe and decided to take it away from Romania and give it to USSR (Yalta Conference).

7. Influences
Because throughout the history Transylvania was under western foreign occupancy (Austro-Hungarian most of the time), there you will find some mixed cultural influences and similarities, especially with Hungary and Austria. This led to some kind of superiority complex of Transylvanians, and of course that people from other Romanian regions (especially “the southerners”) did not like this. Also, in Transylvania, the nationalism feeling is more pregnant than in other regions of Romania. The reason is the same: foreign occupancy in the past.

8. Food
The traditional Romanian food is very tasty, even though not very healthy (pretty fat). Most traditional dishes are pork-based. But if you’re here in a vacation for just a few days, you can eat as much as you want, it’s safe. Nothing bad will happen. If you’re here for the Christmas – New Year celebrations, do not miss “cina porcului” (pork supper) – a meal based on fresh made pork dishes. Some of them could be strange but tasty as well. You must also try the Romanian traditional “mici” and “sarmale” (main courses) and “papanasi” for desert. If you find this interesting, you should stay for a few days in a small family-run B&B in the countryside. You’ll probably get some of the above-mentioned. And one more thing: every year, when orthodox holidays are coming (Christmas and Easter), the number of calls at 112 (Romanian / European version of 911) is huge. The reason: above-mentioned courses eaten in industrial quantities. And of course, alcohol.

9. Facts
Romania is a country of contrasts: if you travel to the countryside you will see people performing agriculture works using archaic methods: plowing with horses or oxen, carrying stuff with carts pulled by horses, manually hoeing or mowing, etc. But you’ll be very surprised when you’ll get to your B&B or hotel room and you’ll see that your internet connection is faster than in most of the places you’ve stayed before. Romania’s 3rd in top world internet speed connection, after Hong Kong and Japan. And after you’ll see the archaic farmers in a village, at 10 km away you’ll be able to find a big city with modern malls, pubs, restaurants and everything a modern civilized life involves. Also, on Romanian roads you’ll see 20-30 year old cars next to luxurious cars, but don’t be surprised; this is Romania.

10. More facts
When Romanians travel to western Europe (“civilized countries” – we like to use this cliché when talking about the western states), they like speeding on the highways. That’s maybe because we don’t have too many highways in Romania. There are less than 400kms of highway in Romania, and this is frustrating. Romanians must thank for this to the politicians that, by the way, are mostly hated. But I think this is nothing new. The rest of the roads are “national roads” or “county roads”, most of them having only one lane for each direction. So, driving your car in Romania for a few hundred kilometers could be tedious if you’re not used to it. If you have to drive on secondary roads or on any other kind of local roads you must expect the worst: unpaved roads, macadam, many holes, etc. We are on one of the last places in a world-ranking top concerning roads quality.

11. The countryside
As a regular basis, the countryside people are mostly naive, friendly and well intentioned. If somebody approaches you, talking to you, you don’t have to be too cautious. They’re just friendly and curious. If your car breaks somewhere in the middle of nowhere, don’t be surprised if somebody comes to help you, even if you didn’t ask to. And after that maybe you’ll get something to drink or eat, without asking anything in return for this. I can’t say the same if you’re in a big city, where the communist age left deeper marks on people’s mentality, especially on elders. Of course, exceptions can occur anytime.

12. Landscape
The landscape has much to offer: We have the Black Sea, Carpathian Mountains (with Moldoveanu Peak, the highest – 2,544 m), and the Danube Delta, which is a Unesco protected site due to life diversity (biosphere reservation). It’s the best preserved delta in Europe; you can find here over 3,400 wildlife species. Also, here you can admire maybe the last herds of wild horses in Europe, also called the Romanian Mustang.

13. Incomes
Romanians’ salaries are almost the lowest in Europe, and definitely the lowest in European Union (approximately the same as in Bulgaria – minimum net income less than EUR 200,-). That’s really frustrating and that’s why people choose to go abroad for work. Lots of drama happens because of the children being left with their grandparents, while their parents go to work abroad. I am talking about Romanians, and yes, I said to work, not to steal. I really must highlight this issue because sometimes in countries like Italy, the word Romanian equals Gipsy, which is a great injustice for us. Gypsies (Rroma or Rromani people) is just an ethnic minority in Romania, and unfortunately, yes, they are going abroad especially for stealing and begging. Exceptions could occur in this case as well.

I am aware that some essential issues regarding Romania are not mentioned above, please feel free to add if you consider necessary. Thank you!

14. Canada

Tom Curran

• Yes, we do apologize if you bump into us.
• Yes, it’s cold. Not all year, but when it’s cold, it’s COLD.
• Yes, we love hockey. Pretty well more than anything else.
• Yes, we smoke more marijuana than just about anywhere else on earth.
• Yes, we have extraordinarily clean and safe cities.
• Yes, the country is both huge and empty. Most of us live within 150 km of the US border. Yes, you can, if you want, go for days without seeing another human.
• Yes, we occasionally have bears, moose, and such wandering around in major cities.
• Yes, the Canadian is the one who keeps saying “eh?”.

On the other hand…

• We make amazingly good wines.
• We are among the most urban and cosmopolitan populations in the world.
• Our major social issues have never been crime, homelessness, or poverty (although we take them all seriously). We just don’t have enough of any of them.
• Sure, we are sometimes mistaken for Americans. We honestly don’t mind, even though we pretend to be offended. The reality is that apart from their tendency to shoot each other, we kinda like Americans and America.
• We don’t really have a military. It was turned into a government job-creation program forty years ago, and never quite got back on track. Nobody has ever noticed we don’t have an army, because we haven’t needed one.
• We don’t have a history, either. We decided that national histories are pretty divisive, what with all the wars and the winners and losers and long-standing grudges, and since we keep inviting more and more immigrants into the country, it’s easier and friendlier not to bother remembering what we used to be. We are what we are, and tomorrow we’ll probably be something else.
• We claim responsibility for poutine and butter tarts.

You should know that…

• What you hear on the CBC has little to do with the way most Canadians think. It’s a limited, downtown-Toronto viewpoint which is as representative of the average Canadian as Manhattan is of the U.S., or the City is of England.
• You can’t get there today. It takes about 10, 8-hour days to drive from St John’s, Newfoundland to Victoria, B.C.
• We don’t all speak French. In fact, fewer than a quarter of us do.
• We have a huge national inferiority complex. We are so convinced that our country really sucks that we go nuts every time another U.N. poll says that ours is the best country in the world in which to live. We’ll love you if you tell us how great you think Canada is. We won’t really believe you, but we’ll love you.
• And we did make a mess of our relationship with our aboriginals. We’re really sorry about that. But do you know how hard it is to make it up to someone who insists on being allowed to hunt and fish for a living AND have all the benefits of the modern world? We don’t know how this one’s ever gonna get resolved. But we know it, OK? We don’t like being told that our human rights record is comparable to Zimbabwe or China. Because it’s not.
• Our national anthem has a pretty good tune, but please, don’t listen to the words. In either language. They’re just silly.
• And finally, we’re sorry about Justin Bieber. Please forgive us, eh?

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15. Austria

Nikolaus Piccolotto:

Ok, so I’m going to tell you about Austria. It’s a small country – roughly 8.5 million inhabitants – in Middle Europe.

1. First things first: Not to confuse with Australia. Yes we have electricity, refrigerators and vacuum cleaners. No, we’re not living on mountains (okay, some do) and yodel to communicate. Progress didn’t stop at our borders.

2. Borders!

3. Germany: We have a complicated relationship with Germans. We consider Bavarians as one of us, but none from the other states. That’s because their accent is similar to ours. We tend to think of Germans as fat, arrogant and wearing socks in sandals. Oftentimes, when we meet Germans, we somehow have to emphasize how GREAT Austria, Austrians, Austrian landscape, Austrian culture, Austrian language (we consider German with Austrian accent as a language of its own), Austrian buildings, Austrian flowers, Austrian pottery and everything is compared to (eww) Germany. In sp...

El chile es la base de muchos platillos en México, y la evidencia más antigua hasta ahora encontrada en semillas, se remite a la cueva de Coxcatlán, en la región de Tehuacán, Puebla, donde arqueólogos descubrieron restos de chile de entre 6900 y 5000 a.C.. Puede clasificarse como verdura, baya, especia o fruta de sabor picante y acre de la familia de las solanáceas
Es sinónimo de la cocina mexicana, porque la define, caracteriza y distingue. Hablemos de chiles.

Su nombre deriva del náhuatl, chilliy; pues ya se cultivaba hace mil quinientos años, En el mundo existen más de 255 tipos de chiles, todos del género Capsicum -del latín Caja de semillas, Por estar cerrada de forma hermética y contener la semilla dentro, con cinco variedades (annuum, baccatum, chinense, pubescens y frutescens); en México hay más variedades de chiles cultivados que en ningún otro país del mundo, la gran mayoría de sus 150 variedades son de la primera especie.

Vamos ahora a tratar de conocer las diversas especies de chiles mexicanos, en este post que es el primero, dando inicio con los chiles emblemáticos por Estado.

Amashito, de la zona sur, Tabasco, Yucatán, Chiapas. Es un pequeño chile de no más de un centímetro, se utiliza verde, es cónico y muy picante. Se usa mucho en Tabasco, por ejemplo, para los cocteles de camarón, en el que sirven el chile molido en salsa, para que cada quien le ponga lo que guste. Lo probé, y me encantó. En cualquier mercado o tienda, se encuentran chile amashito en conserva. ¡Muy rico!

Chile Bandeño- En el estado de Guerrero, un nombre para el costeño verde. El nombre se refiere a la orilla de un río. Existe poca información sobre este chile, parece que algunos le llaman Costeño que es el nombre como lo conocen en Oaxaca. Aquí una imagen que aclara más que las palabras qué tipo de chile es.

Chiltepín- Sonora. Varía de 1/4 de pulgada a 1/2 pulgada de diámetro. Muy picoso. También deletreado Tepin, chiltepe y Chiltipin, se encuentra seco en muchos restaurantes y cocinas de Sonora y se pone en las mesas un “molino” pequeño de madera de palo fierro, para que el cliente ponga al gusto en su platillo. Sobre el chiltepín, aclaro, que no es el chile piquín como algunos creen, este chile es completamente redondo, y el piquín no. Ya lo verán en el siguiente post.

Faltan muchas variedades, que poco a poco, iré posteando a la brevedad. No solo quiero poner nombres, si no los acompaño con una fotografía. Espero poderles hablar de los menos conocidos y de los que falta tanto que contar y saber.
src=“http://img.directoalpaladar.com.mx/2013/11/chileposter.jpg” class=“centro” />

Algunos códices hacen referencia a la importancia de este producto para diversas culturas prehispánicas, entre ellos el Mendocino y el Florentino. Así como en el Popol Vuh.
La investigadora Janet Long Towell (en el libro El chile. Protagonista de la Independencia y la Revolución, 2011, Fundación Herdez), dice que los mexicas rendían devoción a Tlatlauhqui cihuatlichilzintli, diosa del “Chilito rojo”, hermana de Tláloc (dios de la lluvia) y Chicomecóatl; a su vez los zapotecas de los Valles Centrales de Oaxaca veneraban a Losio, abogado de las sementeras y del chile.

Y para finalizar, esta primera parte, les dejo este párrafo de la revista Arqueología Mexicana, en su edición de octubre de 2009, y que habla sobre el chile:
El chile es un buen ejemplo del proceso de adaptación de las plantas a las necesidades humanas: lo que se conoce como domesticación. El fruto de la mayoría de las especies silvestres ve hacia arriba y tiene un llamativo color, lo que atrae a las aves que al comer el fruto contribuyen a su dispersión. En cambio el fruto de las especies domesticadas tiende a colgar, lo que evita que las aves lo coman, reservándose para el consumo humano, y permite que sea de mayor tamaño.

En Directo al Paladar, les dejo una receta de salsa picante muy simple: Salsa Verde tipo mayonesa.

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La noticia Chiles mexicanos, frutos picosos inseparables en la dieta de casi todo mexicano. fue publicada originalmente en Directo al Paladar México por Gaby Tejeda.

El otro día me acerqué al cine para ver El juego de Ender. Fue un poco por casualidad y sin querer, llevado por el destino y la paternidad a un multisala de centro comercial. Dos filas tras de mí había un veinteañero regordete y despeinado con una señora que debía de ser su madre. Eran muy feos. También había una pareja en los dos asientos más cercanos a la puerta de entrada, que es un lugar raro para ponerse, señal de que es gente que no se esfuerza en ir más allá o que buscan escapar cuanto antes por si las cosas, dentro o fuera, se ponen mal. Yo, que soy un inconsciente, me sitúo en un lugar que no garantiza nada en caso de peligro. Llevo una bolsa con emparedados, eso sí.

Leí El juego de Ender hace veinticinco años y no me importa confesar que quedé bastante deslumbrado. Siempre me pasa con los libros que se leen muy rápido. Me dejo llevar por los acontecimientos y no atiendo a sutilezas, las haya o no. Durante unos años lo recomendé mucho, seducido por sus niños militares que se pelean en la ducha, su engañoso canto a los videojuegos y su inesperado giro final. Se lo recomendé, por ejemplo, a un informático de la oficina que tenía la fantasía gris, que es un mal que aqueja a muchos. Hoy sé que hice mal porque la novela le entusiasmó. Se hizo fan de Star Trek, se matriculó en psicología, se especializó en recursos humanos y acabo de jefe de personal en una gran empresa, donde despidió a mucha gente. En una ocasión me reveló que en una entrevista de trabajo lo más importante es sentarse recto, firme, y colocar la palma de cada mano sobre la pierna que le es respectiva, con la punta de los dedos allí donde nace, o muere, la rodilla. Jamás me he sentado así porque intuyo lo nocivo del asunto, pero lo hago ahora mientras escribo un poco por si me ayuda a ser más preciso en la descripción de la postura y, joder, que chungo, tíos, es como si te alinearas con la Nada, una dolorosa patada de normalidad. Esto de las posturas es un rollo pernicioso, mira lo que le pasó a Lou Reed, nada menos, y el puto Tai-chi de los cojones.

Mi entusiasmo por El juego de Ender se desvaneció con los años e incluso diría que mi subconsciente se esforzó en enterrar su existencia. Ni siquiera cuando supe que Orson Scott Card era un jodido mormón me picó el gusanillo de releerlo entre líneas buscando el puto panfleto. Por eso, en el cine, protegido tras una bolsa con emparedados de pan de molde, escudriño una película que es una mierda y me pasma su condición de fábula moral sobre la forja de altos directivos adiestrados para exterminarnos a todos. También siento curiosidad por saber si esa metáfora sobre la bondad de una guerra preventiva estaba ya en el original. El puto 11-S, me cago en Dios, que nos lo quiere explicar todo y mira cómo hemos acabado. Pero lo que de verdad me aterra es que he venido al cine con mi hijo y ahora me entra la duda de si he hecho bien, no sea que haga suyo ese caramelo de que la vida es un continuo desafío a la autoridad porque, qué coño, para mi hijo la autoridad soy yo. A la salida le pregunto si se esperaba el final y me dice que sí, claro, que había visto el tráiler, y eso me tranquiliza. Los spoilers, no sé para qué lloráis tanto, también pueden ser buenos porque desactivan toda emoción, y es por ahí por donde nos la meten doblada.

Aún así, me quedo con la mosca, que está zumbando, porque hace ya tiempo que cuando mi hijo me mira le brilla el desafío y cualquier día se sienta ante mí con la frialdad del genocida, firme y recto, con las palmas de la mano sobre la rodilla. He diseñado dos planes de supervivencia. El plan A y el plan B. El plan A es comprarme una grúa con bola y cadena. Es un poco complicado, lo sé, pero lo peor es que hay tanto por derrumbar que no sabría por dónde empezar. El plan B es llamar a los colegas y convencerles de que hay un camino por recorrer, doce pubs, doce pintas de cerveza, y que lo suyo es correr por delante de los ultracuerpos y ganar tiempo gritándole a la autoridad que corresponda que queremos ser libres para hacer lo que nos dé la gana, y que lo que queremos es estar colocados y pasarlo bien. Así que eso es lo que voy a hacer. Una fiesta, qué coño.

ECC ha recuperado en un volumen único la mítica primera serie del Marshal Law de Pat Mills y Kevin O’Neill: Miedo y asco. El recuerdo de aquel salvaje alegato contra los superhéroes me llevó directamente a la estantería para localizar, de nuevo, la anterior e inencontrable primera edición en castellano, que sacó Forum en 1991 como estreno por aquí del sello Epic que también la amparó en su publicación original. Era 1987 y corrían tiempos de ruptura en el mercado y la industria del tebeo de superhéroes norteamericano. Un año antes habían visto la luz el Watchmen de Gibbons y Alan Moore y el Dark Knight Returns de Frank Miller, con sus contenidos adultos y oscuros; y quizá sea esta fábula violenta, una bofetada cargada de ironía y mala leche contra el superhombre popular, la tercera pata sobre lo que se construyó lo que estaba por venir, para lo bueno y para lo malo. (...)

Este es el primer párrafo de la reseña de Marshall Law: Miedo y Asco que he publicado en Gencomics. Pueden seguir leyendo aquí (click).

Lo cierto es que me ha gustado regresar a un tebeo que tenía casi olvidado desde que lo leí y disfrutar de un demoledor ataque contra el género superheroico cuando no estábamos acostumbrados a ello. Ahora me llama la atención, por ejemplo, los muchos paralelismos que guarda con The Boys de Garth Ennis. También su clara condición de tebeo británico hijo directo de 2000 AD pese a que se trate de un proyecto al amparo del sello Epic de Marvel.

Por último, dado que la temática Heroes, Superhéroes y Drogas es uno de mis campos de interés y estudio, dejo aquí un demoledora viñeta, a toda página y que abre la cuarta entrega original, en la que Espíritu Público, inspirado en el arquetipo de Superman, se mete un chute de superesteroides en plan yonqui.

pieratt:

This might be the best educational diagram/gif I’ve seen.

Publicandolo en conjunto con el blog mdbgroup, les presentamos The Sandman: Overture.

"El Rey del Sueño retorna, triunfante, desde una galaxia lejana, extremadamente cansado y al límite de su resistencia. Su victoria es corta: desde la oscuridad, viejas voces lo llaman, y él despierta en una prisión de cristal, en un profundo sótano." The Sandman #47, Brief Lives.

Con esas palabras, Destino relata el momento inmediatamente anterior a la captura de Morfeo, que vimos en The Sandman #01. The Sandman: Overture nos presenta finalmente esa historia, la verdad sobre los hechos que llevaron al Rey del Sueño a ser capturado, dándole comienzo a una de las series de comics más aclamadas de la historia.

Los Eternos regresan desde la infinita imaginación de su creador original, Neil Gaiman, quien junto con el artista J.H. Williams III se proponen narrar los hechos anteriores a lo visto en "The Sandman" una de las más grandes obras del noveno arte.

Neil Gaiman es un escritor y guionista inglés, autor de novelas best-sellers como Neverwhere, Stardust, Casos Violentos y Coraline, pero sobre todo conocido por ser la mente detrás de uno de pe los comics más famosos y aclamados de la década de los 90: The Sandman.

J.H. Williams III es un artista americano, ganador de premios Eisner y Harvey, mayormente conocido por su trabajo en la serie Promethea, de Alan Moore, y recientemente por su arte en la serie regular de Batwoman.

Idioma: Español.
Editorial: Vertigo
Guion: Neil Gaiman
Dibujo: J.H. Williams III
Tradumaquetador: Mato (MDB)
Archivos: 1 / 19
Formato: CBR.
Tamaño: 23.1 Mb



Descargar comics:

• The Sandman: Overture

LA HORA LOCA 30. Clásicos del comic-book: los números menos buscados.

Charlotte Stokely decidió aceptar la invitación del fotógrafo Nate Smith para hacer juntos un viaje lúdico-festivo a Bracalandia, Portugal. Un lugar de diversión y entretenimiento a raudales a la altura del mismísimo Jurasic Park. Todo ello a gastos pagados y con la única condición de realizar un reportaje fotográfico que documentara todo el viaje para su posterior publicación en Driven by Boredom, el blog del propio Nat.

Así que hoy os traemos una galería con parte de las imágenes de ese viaje. En ellas se puede observar el entrañable encuentro de Charlotte con los divertidos saurios del parque, su descubrimiento de la gastronomía local por medio de una apetitosa francesinha y sus paseos por el parque natural Peneda-Geres.

Bueno, quizás no estén en Portugal… Pero qué más dará donde estén!?

Galería completa aquí

La entrada Charlotte Stokely de vacaciones en Bracalandia con Driven by boredom aparece primero en POR NO BUSCAR PORNO |XXX|.

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It’s been long since established that I think a woman giving a handjob is absolute madness. It’s basically the stupidest, most useless sex act a woman can do, because she’s never going to jerk a dick as well as the man attached to it. That’s just a plain factual analysis of the wanker playing field. And yet–there’s nary a man who won’t take a woman’s hand and put it on his penis at some point or another in the course of their sexual interactions. There are even women who are so bold as to go for the ol’ tug themselves (braver women than I). So here are some tips for giving a handjob, from one straight girl to all the other straight girls.

1. Spit On Your Hand

I was having this conversation with an uncircumcised male friend the other night–in American movies, there’s often a lot of lubricant around during masturbation scenes. We both agreed that, as people who grew up outside the US, this was weird to us, because all the dicks around us were already pre-lubricated–all the foreskin really is is a rubbing bag wrapped around a penis. So girls, when you’re hand to knob with a circumcised penis, spit on your hand. There’s nothing worse than trying to give a dry handjob where there are no moving parts to help you. And I imagine there’s nothing worse for the dude than receiving one.

2. Or Don’t Spit On Your Hand

But then again, like I mentioned already, if there’s a dickbag (aka foreskin) helping you out, then you probably won’t be needing any extra lubrication, and you might just look like a weird freak spitting all over the place.

3. Hold It Firmly

Don’t be a pansy–grip that dick! I guess you want to try and mimic the tightness of a vagina. Probably not a virgin vagina, but you know, one that fits cock in it fairly easily, but not too easily.a

4. But Not Too Tight!

Apparently however, there is such a thing as too tight. I mean, you don’t want to stop the blood flow to the poor little carpet snake. You need to hold that thing with equal parts delicacy and firmness–think of it as your liquid eyeliner. If you’re holding it with white knuckles you’re going to get a fat, overdone line, but if you’re holding it like a feather between your thumb and forefinger the line’s going to be wobbly. Yes, I just analogized handjobs to liquid eyeliner (because obviously putting on makeup is something all women can relate to, amirite girls, LOL?!)

5. Don’t Go Too Fast

This makes no sense to me, because a guy will stick his dick in you and pump you like its a race to create a new world record for thrusts per second, but he won’t like it when you wank him off at the same speed. Note to any guys reading this: You’re really fucking confusing us on the speed thing. Vaginas = fast, but wanks = not so fast.

6. But Don’t Go Too Slow Either

Once a guy complains that you’re wanking him too fast, the next thing that will happen is that you will start wanking him too slow. IS THERE NO GOD?!?!

7. Prepared To Be Psychologically Scarred By The Process

There are so many contradictions involved in giving a handjob, and you’re probably going to go totally mad in the process of giving one. Between too wet and not wet enough, too fast and not fast enough, and too tight and not tight enough, there’s almost no way to find a balance. My best advice is to resign yourself to the fact that you will never give a perfect handjob, and take the handjob cue as an opportunity to distract the motherfucker trying to make you give him one with a blowjob instead. Now that, you can excel in.

El proyecto de saneamiento del Sarela se adjudicó en el 2011 y el del Sar lleva unos tres lustros en ejecución

• Varios planes hicieron soñar con un paseo fluvial
• La vía peatonal descubrió nuevas rutas a los vecinos
• Parte de su cauce se recuperó en superficie en Salgueiriños

A palabra castelá esquirol é desas que funcionan como cápsulas da historia e que só coñecendo o seu sentido podemos entender parte do noso pasado. L’Esquirol é un dos núcleos de poboación que forman o actual municipio catalán de L’Esquirol-Santa Maria de Corcó, un extenso municipio que durante o século XIX viviu, como o resto do país mediterráneo, a alta conflitividade da revolución industrial.

O ano 1855 foi un dos máis sobranceiros na historia do movemento obreiro estatal xa que foi nesa data cando se realizou a primeira folga xeral. O seguimento dos traballadores foi masivo e a resposta do goberno de Isabel II, que naquel tempo dirixía Baldomero Espartero, foi brutal. Houbo detencións e incluso deportacións.

Un dos focos de maior conflito foi Catalunya. A paralización da industria, a pesar da represión militar, foi case total e os empresarios tiveron que buscar o xeito de manter a produción. Foi entón cando L’Esquirol se fixo famoso. Para substituír os folguistas da localidade próxima de Manlleu, os industriais contrataron veciños de L’Esquirol no seu lugar. Foi a partir dese momento cando se foi estendendo a palabra esquirol como sinónimo de crebafolgas.

En galego, esquirol considérase un castelanismo. Recoméndase utilizar crebafolgas ou rebentafolgas, tanto para definir os traballadores que substitúen os folguistas como os traballadores que non secundan unha folga.

Coido que os lazos evidentes coa historia que acabo de contar fan conveniente que a palabra esquirol tamén se inclúa no noso vocabulario. Non para escarnio dos pobres habitantes de L’Esquirol-Santa Maria de Corcó, senón porque debemos recordar momentos destacados da historia, caso deste, aínda que nos quede a mil quilómetros de distancia.

A empresa estatal asegura que segue "a traballar" para contruír os gaseiros de Repsol e Gas Natural que os armadores xa confirmaron que se realizarían en Asia. Este novo golpe, unido ao dos floteis ou o dique flotante, prevé endurecer a resposta dos traballadores.

O outro día presentamos en Santiago o proxecto Vento e Chuvia. Agora é o momento de xa presentar o libro, e sobre todo, achegar algo distinto á presentación do outro día: o apaixonante proceso de traballo a nivel conceptual, narrativo e gráfico que está detrás de Vento e Chuvia. A idea é explicarvos a nacenza, o tecido dalgunhas das historias, ver o seu río e a súa desembocadura. Sole Felloza axudaranos narrando algunha delas. Será este venres 22 ás 20:00 na Libraría Couceiro, na cidade vella de Compostela. Alí nos vemos!

 

Mark Grist is a poet, rogue teacher, and Chief Bard of the Fens (2009). He recently released a fabulously updated version of his "Girls Who Read" performance. He's been featured on MetaFilter before: here and here.

Image courtesy of the author

If you’ve used the internet in the last seven months, you know who I am. If you’ve noticed a sudden resurgence of term “cunt punt” in daily conversation, if you’ve watched the Michael Shannon video where he spits off enough swear works to make his parents spin in their graves like hurricanes, or if you’re one of the lucky souls who were matched up with me on Tinder, you know who I am.

I'm Rebecca Martinson, the so-called deranged sorority girl.

But let's cut the shit. I know that 60 percent of you will read this, call me a slut, and think, What kind of fucked-up household did this girl live in? To answer your question, I lived on a nice street in a nice neighborhood in a nice suburb of Maryland. Everything around me was boring. There was nothing to do. There's still nothing to do. The most interesting part of my family is my parents keep the house at 50 degrees during winter to save on heating bills. My family is the definition of waspy—obviously I’m not included in that dictionary entry.

Because there was nothing to do in my hometown besides walk around the mall and say “Let’s go check out the clearance racks at Abercrombie & Fitch,” my classmates and I had sex. All the time. Everywhere. Even the weird kids in my high school received handjobs in the back of AP Calculus, busting loads on the chemistry textbooks they would need later that day. It wasn't even because we wanted to fuck all the time—it was because everyone was so bored, we thought, Hey, we might as well diddle each other and see who gets caught first. But after a certain point, screwing around during class got old. Once we realized our teacher had an online Scrabble addiction and the fucking Pope could walk into the classroom with all the Cardinals and our teacher would never notice, we no longer found sex exciting. But we continued fucking in college, and I ended up dating Douchebag during my freshmen year at UMD.

I know the stereotype about girls falling for jackasses, but that’s not how our relationship started. I could have done better than Douchebag. Although he was a nice guy, he wasn’t the smartest or the best looking. (If I hadn’t come along, he’d still be a virgin.) I’ve been told I have a tendency to “date down,” but other than that I don’t have any way to justify our relationship other than to say that I’m fucking stupid. This is also probably why I convinced my best friend—we'll call her KiKi—to blow Douchebag.

The first semester of freshmen year, Kiki and I drove up from Virginia Tech, where we had been partying, to spend a couple of nights blacking out at UMD, where I actually go to school. I told Kiki I’d give her a free bottle of Burnett's if she blew my boyfriend. A handle of Burnett's costs around $15, which was about $2.6 million to us, considering we were college freshmen who had no clue how to budget and had already spent $900 drunk-eating Papa John's in one semester. To us, cheap ass liquor was like golden liquid inside a diamond encrusted bottle. Who wouldn't suck a dick for that?

Around 8:30 PM, Kiki and I arrived at Douchebag’s dorm room. His room was a dump. The poor kid lived in a triple, a tiny room meant to be shared by three students, so we had the pleasure of making awkward conversation with Douchebag’s roommates as we waited for him. His cool roommate was gone, but his other roommate was still in the room. This roommate was pasty—not pasty as in pale, but pasty as in there was nothing interesting about him and if you put him to next to a jar of Miracle Whip and left me in a room with him and the jar, you’d find me chatting with the inanimate condiment and not him.

Eventually, Douchebag arrived and kicked this piece of shit out of the room, and the three of us were the only ones left. We pounded shots. (I wasn’t going to give a double blowjob sober. Do I look like a fucking hooker?) After eight or so shots, Kiki called quits on the booze and decided it was time to earn that handle of vodka.

Douchebag dropped trough.

He did the pants dance, shuffled his boxers to his knees, and then suddenly: there was his dick.

I went down on him first, because I was the luck lady dating this winner. A smashed Kiki tried to wrap her lips around his dick but then there was a plot twist...

Douchebag couldn't get his dick up.

I don’t know how he couldn’t get a boner. I distinctly recall him refraining from chugging vodka so he could get it up. I distinctly recall licking Kiki's right nipple for no reason whatsoever other than that we were both hammered and topless. I also distinctly recall Kiki giving up, because if two moderately attractive topless girls can't get you hard, what will?

I really wish this story ended with a climax, a threesome, or Kiki and I getting it on since since Douchebag couldn’t carry his weight. (To be fair, his dick was big and a lot of weight to carry.) Instead, Kiki grabbed a box of Lucky Charms and sprayed the cereal around the room like a popped bottle of champagne, and Douchebag and I did something that was unmemorable.

Sadly, not every night ends in orgies and cocaine.

@becca_martie

More wild girls:

Coke Sex for Teen Sluts

Orgasms: Where R They

Thank U for Touching Me

Everybody’s favorite smoking baby Aldi Rizal, of Indonesia, has quit smoking. The bad news: He’s now crazy addicted to junk food.

Aldi is getting ready for his second 15 minutes of internet fame as part of a show tonight on TLC UK called “Elephant Man: Body Bizarre.” The overindulgent tyke melted the internet in 2010 when video surfaced of him smoking like a sailor, just three years old at the time. After he became a worldwide sensation, he was sent to rehab to quit his 2-pack-a-day habit and learn about why cigarettes were terrible for him.

But now according to UK Tabloids like The Sun and The Mirror, he’s simply substituted one vice for another. His new crutch? Junk food.

“He would bang his head on the wall if he couldn’t get what he wanted. That’s why I get him cigarettes in the first place – because of his temper and his crying,” said his mother Diane, apparently with a straight face.

“When Aldi first quit smoking he would demand a lot of toys. …Now I don’t give him cigarettes, but he eats a lot. With so many people living in the house it’s hard to stop him from getting food.”

Apparently he has a special fondness for condensed milk, of which he drinks up to three cans a day. Aldi, now six, currently weighs about 150% of what a boy his age should weigh.

“At first when we were weaning Aldi off the cigarettes he would have terrible tantrums and I would call Dr Seto for help,” says his mother, “But now he doesn’t want them.” Good news!

It seems the only injury now—aside from the early-onset obesity— is a wounded ego. “I feel annoyed when they refer to him as ‘the smoking kid,’” says Diane. “It makes me feel like they are accusing me of being a bad parent.”

Riiighto.

Image

 
On his fortieth birthday in 1993, Alan Moore openly declared himself to be a magician, something he discussed in an interview with The Guardian in 2002:

“One word balloon in From Hell completely hijacked my life… A character says something like, ‘The one place gods inarguably exist is in the human mind’. After I wrote that, I realized I’d accidentally made a true statement, and now I’d have to rearrange my entire life around it. The only thing that seemed to really be appropriate was to become a magician.”

For Moore, his writing is his magic and his magic is his artform. In The Mindscape of Alan Moore documentary, he states rather unequivocally:

“I believe that magic is art, and that art, whether that be music, writing, sculpture, or any other form, is literally magic. Art is, like magic, the science of manipulating symbols, words or images, to achieve changes in consciousness… Indeed to cast a spell is simply to spell, to manipulate words, to change people’s consciousness, and this is why I believe that an artist or writer is the closest thing in the contemporary world to a shaman.”

Consider the truth of that statement in terms of Moore’s very own work and say… the Occupy movement or Anonymous.

God, I love Alan Moore. May he have the best birthday ever this year (and every year).

Click here to read about “Who Strips the Strippers?” Excelsior Burlesque’s tribute to Alan Moore.

Below, a video of Alan Moore’s complete lecture at Northampton College on September 26, 2013. The mage of comics reads an extract from his book, The Mirror of Loveand offers insights on being a writer.
 

Un seminario sobre la elaboración de esta bebida, que contó con siete ponentes, reunió en Sarria a unas 200 personas

Hay algunas (pocas, muy, muy pocas) situaciones en la vida de un hombre en que no aprovecharía la invitación abierta y desinhibida al encuentro carnal de una mujer desnuda con un cuerpo aceptablemente bonito. Una de ellas es la del siguiente vídeo: nadie sabe si fue solamente fruto del alcohol, si tomó alguna droga muy juguetona, si tuvo un brote de demencia transitoria o si simplemente esta es su forma de ligar. Pero ahí la tenéis, retozando sobre el asfalto en la séptima con la treinta y nueve para regocijo de viandantes.

O amigo Franjo Padín realizou esta deliciosa (outro adxectivo non podería ser máis preciso) Historia da Arquitectura, desde unha perspectiva galega, para a Bienal Luso Galaica da Caricatura, dedicada ao patrimonio. Unha auténtica chulada.

Con Franjo estamos a preparar un proxecto moi importante, destinado a facer xustiza e a contribuír a enmendar un problema grave en relación ao patrimonio que levamos arrastrando demasiado tempo. Xa o veredes, pero vai ser de impacto.