i’ve tried describing the algerian war to my american friends by imagining that instead of the vietnam war, the war was in iraq. but iraq was not being invaded, it was the 51st state with about 5 million white christian american population that had immigrated there as a sort of pioneers over 100 years. but the…

thank you for not reading my story and your positive input! :D

i have traveled to about 55 coutnries, though i have settled down lately. i have a few border stories to tell. like when i went with my dad to new ireland island, new guinea, to survery coral reefs there. i got stopped and thoroughly searched coming back through LAX because me; 20s, long hair, beard etc. while my dad,…

thank you for this, this is an extremely well done summation of data, which is a very difficult thing to do right. it shows graphically, in a simple and beautiful manner, what i have not seen from other, better financed news organizations.

so, i guess the next big bad that threatens the universe will be the beyonder?

for general history you have: istanbul (not constantinople), seat of the holy roman empire and the ottoman empire.

turkey is one of my top places too. thailand, colombia, and turkey rank up there as some of the friendliest people that i have met on my travels. if it was not such a mess at this point in time, i would go back again with my family in an instant. not only is it chock full of greek history, but also christian and…

this is the photo of my worst ride ever. a toyota pickup with 15 other people and all their baggage, 6 in the cab and the rest in the bed. 2001, cambodia, battambong to phnom penh. 8 hours, sitting on the tailgate, on some of the worst roads i have ever seen in my life! there were more holes than intact pavement. i…

by the time FF25: Too old and Too Flatulant rolls around they’re going to be chasing each other with motorized carts, wheelchairs, and segways. :D

how about boasting electric cars with ridiculous acceleration and top speeds? this is not necessary, mostly it’s just marketing, but you know that too many people are going to do stupid things with both. i don’t care that the cars are capable of being able to handle it. you know that if someone can get an EV that can…

geez, and one last thing. that price for the citroen ami, listed above, is the 4 year lease price. not sure which trim/leasing term. to buy is about 9000€. though there is a €1000 e-car subsidy.

oh, and i have seen the citroen ami seat two lycéennes (high school girls) with a third in the “trunk”. probably not the safest thing, but seriously it’s perfect for the 20's high school students.

i am not surprised by the citroen ami being last. they are very slow, and it sucks when they are on the 70km/h roads tootling away at 50. they do go faster on inclines, i will give them that.

either TSF jazz, the french national jazz station, or Nostalgie, the french oldies station. the first for, of course, the jazz, and it is a pretty good station. the other because it is good for enculturation, namely to learn the local music culture by learning what was popular back in the day. though, the oldies now…

hah ha! but it really does look like san diego though. i lived in that area for a few years. driving around here really does remind me of the corridor up to LA. it’s the hills and flora, semi tropical/semi arid desert. here’s a photo from february, not too far from st tropez, about 5km away just up in the hills. :)

except st tropez is mediterranean, in south france, about 100 miles as the crow flies from the italian border. ;)

i live 15 minutes from st tropez. (ok, 15 minutes in winter time, 60+ minutes tourist season) i would not go down there unless i absolutely had to, it sucks. it’s a nice village and all, but it is mostly to see and be seen. to see the rich and famous or to be looked down up upon by them. the things people will do and…

realistically, if i see a car of another colour, other than the tyranny of the big 5 colours, on the streets near st tropez where i live, they are almost all invarably a fiat 500.

i would have to say i was a combo of stoner/philosopher fuckboy. i would say i am simply a middle aged slacker, sans classification at this moment. when they eventually legalize weed in europe and my kid is an adult i will probably revert to stoner, because why the hell not? :D

boy is my memory a mess, appparently it is not from what i thought. the ottomans had a language reform in the 1800s, and a lot of the french loan words that came from their attempts of westernisation by sending students to europe. the adoption of the romantic alphabet was a post-ottoman reform by Ataturk, in an…