Quote of the Day

"Screw you guys, I'm going home!"
- Cartman, "South Park"

Quote of the Day

Our Republican cause is to free our people and light the way for liberty throughout the world. Ours is a very human cause for very humane goals.
- Barry Goldwater

Quote of the Day

Alas, I am dying beyond my means.
- Oscar Wilde, sipping champagne on his deathbed

Quote of the Day

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Quote of the Day

Free hearts, free foreheads--you and I are old;
Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.
Death closes all; but something ere the end
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
- Alfred Tennyson, from "Ulysses"

Quote of the Day

Fiat justitia, pereat mundus
[Justice must be done, even if the world be destroyed]
- King Ferdinand I

Quote of the Day

Laissez faire, laissez passer
[Liberty of action, liberty of movement]
- Vincent De Gournay

Quote of the Day

The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it, which the merely improbable lacks.
- Douglas Adams

Quote of the Day

In the current political vocabulary, ‘need’ means wanting to get someone else’s money. ‘Greed,’ which used to mean what ‘need’ now means, has come to mean wanting to keep your own. ‘Compassion’ means the politician’s willingness to facilitate the transfer.
-Joseph Sobran

Quote of the Day

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
- Neil Armstrong

Quote of the Day

If we take the route of the permanent handout, the American character will itself be impoverished.
- Richard M. Nixon

Quote of the Day

The White House is the finest prison in the world.
- Harry S. Truman

Quote of the Day

Today marks the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's death.

One has no great hopes for Birmingham. I always say there is something direful in the sound.
- Jane Austen

Quote of the Day

What’s "just" has been debated for centuries but let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn "belongs" to you - and why?
- Walter Williams

Quote of the Day

Not one of the learned gentlemen who pretend that the Mosaic laws are filled with justice and intelligence, would live, for a moment, in any country where such laws were in force.
- Robert G. Ingersoll

Quote of the Day

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.
- Winston Churchill

Quote of the Day

We must be free or die.
- William Wordsworth

Quote of the Day

Only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.
- John F. Kennedy

Quote of the Day

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
- Winston Churchill on the Battle of Britain

Quote of the Day

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.
- John F. Kennedy

Back to Scotland

I'm planning my 12th trip to Scotland in September & October. Tickets are booked, hotels are booked and rental car is booked & my membership card for Historic Scotland has been polished.

Itinerary:
Fri Sep 29: Oslo – Aberdeen - Dundee
Sat Sep 30: Dundee – Stirling
Sun Oct 1: Stirling – Edinburgh
Mon Oct 2: Edinburgh – North Berwick
Tue Oct 3: North Berwick – Dunfermline
Wed Oct 4: Dunfermline – Callander
Thu Oct 5: Callander – Oban
Fri Oct 6: Oban – Inverness
Sat Oct 7: Inverness – Aberdeen
Sun Oct 8: Aberdeen – Oslo

I’m renting a car at the airport and plan on swinging by Claypotts Castle, Broughty Castle, Doune Castle, Stirling Castle, Bannockburn House, Bannockburn Battlefield, Craigmillar Castle, Hailes Castle, Dirleton Castle, Tantallon Castle, Aberdour Castle, Dunollie Castle, Glenfinnan Viaduct (of Harry Potter fame), Urquhart Castle and Culloden Battlefield. I shall once again holler with the good people of Pure Malt and the other locals assembled at The Old Rectory Inn in Callander.

Alba, cruit mo chridhe... I'm coming home!

Quote of the Day

Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say: This was their finest hour.
- Winston Churchill on the Battle of Britain

Quote of the Day

I am an Anarchist! Wherefore I will not rule, and also ruled I will not be!
- John Henry Mackay

Quote of the Day

The history of governments: one man does something which is to bind another. A man who cannot be acquainted with me, taxes me; looking from afar at me, ordains that a part of my labors shall go to this or that whimsical end, not as I, but as he happens to fancy. Behold the consequence. Everywhere they think they get their money’s worth, except for these. Hence, the less government we have, the better, the fewer laws, the less confided power.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote of the Day

Fundamentally, there are only two ways of coordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion - the technique of the army and of the modern totalitarian state. The other is voluntary cooperation of individuals - the technique of the marketplace.
- Milton Friedman

Quote of the Day

American Football is a mistake. It combines the two worst elements of American life: Violence and committee meetings.
- George Will

Quote of the Day

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.
- Mark Twain

Quote of the Day

Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuous revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows us to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions.
- Ronald Reagan

South Africa: Final day at Kruger, part II

After our photo bonanza at Lake Panic, we started driving back towards the main road. We hadn't gone far when we had to stop because yet another herd of ellies were crossing. As with all the other ellies, not a care in the world.


Tail swinging, a baby was trying to keep up with the others.


He really was the cutest.


We saw these birds several times, and their random behavior led us to name them the African Birdbrain. Here they're running around, making weird noises and attacking each other for no apparent reason.


Random croc sleeping it off.


A typical South African river landscape.


This was as close as we got to a leopard. We were driving down one of the umpteen gravel roads, when we suddenly spotted this tiny orange-yellow smudge among the trees. We must have stayed for half an hour, just hoping it would DO something, and just as we were debating leaving, a herd of impalas ran past. The leopard chased after them into the jungle and we never saw if he caught one.


I also have video. Note that when Albie's talking about shooting the leopard, she means taking photographs. At no point was it our intention to kill and skin any animal and to put its hide up on our respective walls, for us to look at on a chilly winter's evening while enjoying a fine steak from some endangered animal. Not our intention at all.


Two minutes later, we passed these impalas. One of them had accessorized with a live bird. Tres chic.


Seeing this outline of a vulture brought back memories of a thousand childhood comics.


There was a hillside where you could actually leave the car and walk around (at your own risk). The views were nice, but you couldn't see a single animal. The skies were nice, though.


We then drove back to the Kruger Gate, where we'd signed up for a so-called sunset drive. I must say that most of the 3-hour drive was pretty cold and boring, but the first half hour... well, five minutes after leaving the gate, we came across these guys... see for yourself.


Allow me to stress that we were driving a truck, where the walls were basically canvas. Our ranger had no weapons that I could see. If they'd wanted us for supper, there's little we could have done about it.


Yet, they were content to just walk along and in front of us, really not giving a fuck.


Six young male lions at sunset. It doesn't get much better than that for a finale.


Naturally, I was skeptical of Kruger.

South Africa: Final day at Kruger, part I

Our fourth and final day at Kruger was possibly also our best, in terms of photographic loot. We started driving along the Sabie River Road, where we saw this bird, which I believe was later diagnosed as a fisher eagle.


Things perked up two minutes later, when we stopped for a long time to watch a flock of baboons cavorting, with a special guest appearance by some literally buck wild impalas. This cheeky monkey was sucking his thumb like a human child.


The little ones are very cute and playful.


This one had his gangsta swagger on.


While this guy had a wide stance. Way to literally let it all hang out, dude.


I got video of him. And another one, with a horrible case of the hemorrhoids.


Watching the kids and pondering life.


Video of mother grooming baby and some cray-cray impala bucks jumping around to show their fitness to attract mates.


Then, things went sour quickly, with a huge quarrel over my desire not to take up too much space and time for everybody else, and a certrain someone who felt that the universe should revolve around her wish to get the thousand and thirteenth picture of a lion. Here, you can see a small group of them just chilling.


Close up of one. I was happy with this, even if it is a tad soft due to the long distance/crappy lens.


I also got in some video.


Back on the asphalt, this ellie was heading straight for us, but blissfully he walked off into the bushes before reaching us.


We then decided to drive up to Lake Panic, just north of Skukuza. When we got there, it didn't really look like much and the signs said the place itself was a bird sanctuary. But it turned out to be OH, so much more than that. We walked a short distance down to a bird shelter, but no one was really interested in birds. First, this bunch of hippos seemed to be snoozing on the shore.


Ah gots video:


Then, there were a couple of crocs chillaxing right next to them. You can only see the tail of the one in the back.


Ah gots more video:


Hard shell taco buffet.


And then... the cavalry arrived. A big herd of ellies came walking through the bush. We heard some trumpeting and I scurried over to the side of the shelter just in time to see them coming through the trees. Balance was restored to the universe when I let that certain quarrelsome someone have my seat and take appx. a quadrillion photos of them. We spent the next half hour or so taking pics and just gawping at the ellies drinking, until they disappeared into the forest again.


The babies are so cuuuuute.


Naturally, I have video.

Quote of the Day

I have lost friends, some by death, others through sheer inability to cross the street.
- Virginia Woolf

South Africa: The Panorama Route

We had decided in advance to take a small break from the Kruger Park and since we'd all heard about the Panorama Route, that's where we headed. The first leg of the trip was the drive up from Hazyview to Graskop. Hazyview takes its name precisely from the fact that the area is often hazy, especially in the morning. Once you get up in the very scenic hillsides above and around town the views are, if not spectacular, at least very nice.

Much of the woodlands you find around Hazyview is planted. There are HUGE plantations with nuffin' but trees as far as the eye can see.


The "haze" in Hazyview soon became apparent as we climbed up the hillsides.


Video from the road between Hazyview and Graskop.


In Graskop, we had a solid breakfast at a brilliant little restaurant called The Silver Spoon. As you can see, it was a variation on the English breakfast, with a big ole hamburger and some fries in lieu of tomato beans and mushrooms. I talked a bit to our waitress, who turned out to be from the Zulu nation and she gave us some hints on where to go and what to see.


We then drove on to one of the most famed sights along the route: God's Window. We paid to drive in to a parking lot, then we climbed straight up the mountain for hours and hours (ok, I exaggerate, but it FELT that way, walking up the steep hillside. It was hard and my feet hurt and it was hot and I was sweaty and whaaaaaaaaaa, I wanna go home). This was the very "proper jungle"-like area at the top of the climb. We later found out that this wasn't strictly speaking "God's Window", that particular site was way, way below, so basically we'd climbed much farther than we had to. Curses!


Jungle!


The views up there were impeccable. Sadly, the experience was almost ruined by a group of American godbotherers, who were singing religious hymns at the top of their lungs. Blissfully, they stopped after some time.


More haze.


Naturally, I was skeptical; mostly of the singing religious fucks.


I got video.


More video


I also got some video of Albie bossing some of the locals around for a photography session.


There were some nice views along the way, but little to justify the hype around the Panorama Route.




We all felt this juxtaposition was chuckleworthy.


The last scenic bit was the best; the area known as The Three Rondavels is nothing short of stunning.


The three in all their splendor.


Video of the Three Rondavels.


I was still skeptical of the Panorama Route.


Later, we passed several goat herds and the odd bovine on the road. As in literally ON the road, with no human supervision that we could see.


This little kid was cute, though.

Quote of the Day

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
- C. S. Lewis

South Africa: Third day at Kruger

At this point in my blogging about South Africa, I would like to remind you all that I'm an idiot. This series is being written in late November, and by now my hard drive has crashed and I have managed to upload two sets of the last day's pictures instead of the third day's on Flickr. So until such time as I can salvage my hard drive, the only stuff I have about this day are my videos, which I mercifully remembered to upload to YouTube.

Update: Strike that, I am a genius! I forgot that I had uploaded all 40 pics from this day to Facebook, so here are some of the best of 'em!

It all started with a small family of ellies walking in the mist. It was a really, really beautiful drive that morning.




Video:


Then we saw a big group of hippos at the same dam where we'd spotted the solitary lion on the first day.


This impala was kind enough to pose for me.


After a big brunch at Skukuza, we decided to go north and east along some gravel roads. First we crossed a bridge, where we saw a tiny crocodile. "What'cho lookin' at, huh?"


At another crossing, there was a grown one. I've ALWAYS seen crocodiles here; sometimes 2-3, but always at least one.


We were soon rewarded with three beautiful lions resting in a dry river bed (only two can be seen in the video). We spent over half an hour taking pictures & video and just staring at them. I think 2 or 3 cars passed us or came the other way during that half hour. It was our moment of Zen.







Video:


Dey sho purdy.


At one point, a solitary giraffe crossed the dry riverbed downstream of us.


A little further down the road, crossing the Sabie River, we saw a huge flock of ellies in the distance. We drove up and down the bridge several times, taking pictures of the lovely scenery and the ellies.


Video:


We then drove south and came very close to a small herd of ellies, but I didn't get a pic, nor a video of it because they were behind the car, and I had to stay where we were due to death threats from one of my US crew members who apparently had the perfect shot. Oh well. On the way back, we saw this solitary hippo.


Then we spotted this little eejit, who was sitting in the middle of the road, looking around him as if he wasn't quite sure where he was.




We then sped north, towards the Kruger Gate. Not having much time left of the daylight, we made a quick trip west along the Sabie river. We heard something in the bushes; at first I thought it was an ellie, but it soon turned out to be a solitary rhino. We followed him down the road until he veered off into the bushes again. In the video, you can hear us talking about having proof of being late - this refers to the fact that if you arrive at a gate after the posted closing time, you may face one helluva fine, unless you can convince them that you had a very good reason for your tardiness. In which case, footage of a rhino blocking the road would be kinda neat to have.


As it turned out, we still had a few minutes left when we reached the Kruger Gate. So we stopped and got some footage of this warthog. He was digging for food, and luckily for the stupid tourists, not giving a fuck about anything else. I was desperately hoping for footage of him goring some moron to death, but no such luck.


African sunset. It has its charm.