Land Laws in Coastal Spain allow for 'Land Robbing'

Why I can't afford to buy a house...bloodsucking bastards
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15408505/

British students miserably fail a recent national geography quiz. Apparently "ass" and "hole in the ground" were left of the list.

1 in 5 can't find the UK on a map, 2/3 don't know where the US is and over 1,000 of the students polled didn't know that London was the capital.
(I haven't seen figures on an American geographical poll, but I can only imagine it would be just as stellar).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6074202.stm

La Riso Terapia de Epi

Ernie still holds his own here in Spain against the Elmo indoctrination that swept the states a few years back. However, here Ernie is called Epi and here Epi has been transformed into 'riso terapia' or 'laugh therapy'. This clip is apparently what your child wants this Christmas...good luck with that.

It's All Downhill From Here

Wisconsin Representative Frank Lasee wants to arm his state's teachers. This should end well.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/index.php?ntid=102133&ntpid=1






Sketch courtesey of:
http://www.bigmagic.com/pages/blackj/guns.gif

"Why Men are Paid More"

Bettina Arndt an Australian journalist who works for The Herald Sun (a Rupert Murdoch owned Australian newspaper) lays it down why women make less money than men and why they should just stop whining, shut up and be thankful that their man lets them see the sunshine for a few hours a day (she doesn't really say that last part...I made that up. I let my faux male chauvinism get in the way).

Bettina, get in there and fix me a chicken pot pie!
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20586168-5000117,00.html

Ninth of October Parade

This is a clip of the Nou d' Octubre parade in Valencia last night. Pardon the jumpy Zapruder style film technique. I had to hold the camera above my head to do the taping. The later it gets, the darker it gets and the film in the camera starts to slow down, I guess to compensate for lack of light...I don't really know. At any rate it is what it is, enjoy.

Feliç Nou d' Octubre

On this date October 9, 1238 King James I of Aragon conquered the Moorish ruled taifa of Valencia and Denia founding the Kingdom of Valencia.

Today is the official day of the Valencian community. The celebrations began yesterday with a mascleta in the afternoon and a large fireworks show at night. The festivities continue tonight with a parade through the center of Valencia city of medival Christian and Moorish knights and warriors.

KT Tunstall - "Miniature Disaster"

You may have noticed the recent stockpiling of video footage from YouTube that has been littering the blog over the last week. There is a two-fold explanation to this A) I've discovered that I can add video to my blog, which essentially means that with my digital camera I can film things and goings on and put them up on my blog B) I'm lazy and its an easy way to post without actually having to come up with something to say.
At any rate enjoy this performance of KT Tunstall from the AOL sessions.

Fox News Stoops to a New Low

Bill O'Reilly has decided to relabel disgraced Republican Mark Foley as a democrat preying on the ignorance of Fox news viewers...there is no sound on this clip, you just need to watch.

Johnny Cash "Sunday Morning Coming Down"

Tomahawk "God Hates a Coward"

October Reading and Listening Recommendations

Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes is narrated through the writing of Charlie Gordon, who is mentally retarded and has agreed to undergo experimental testing to enhance his intelligent. The journal is kept in the name of science and illustrates Charlies progression through language and context as he goes from mentally handicapped to a super genius. All the while his progress is being monitored by the progress of a lab rat named Algernon that had undergone the experiment shortly before Charlie.

Lately I've felt the need to dip back into something familiar. What I have found is that I stand alone in my familiarity with The Beastie Boys. I don't know if they never quite made it to Spain, or if they just didn't take. The Sounds of Science is what I've been pushing on some of my non-Beastie running buddies as a solid introduction to the band. The collection includes the hits from 5 of their 6 major releases as well as some tracks from their early releases, such as Pollywog Stew.

E tu Popeye?

So apparently there was something to Popeye ingesting "spinach" through his pipe. Food writer Michael Pollan speaks with Brooke Gladstone on NPR's On the Media about the recent spinach E. Coli fiasco.
In the discussion Pollan reveals that spinach was in fact slang for marijuana in the 1930's when Popeye was created. The weed had recently come under fire from the federal government where it was suggested that the smokers and ingesters would become bezerk with superhuman strength.

Stay tuned for next week's episode Scooby Snacks, Dagwood Sandwiches and Methadone: Which Treatment is Best for You?

http://onthemedia.org/pretranscript.html
* transcripts won't actually be available until Tuesday September 26th, audio available now.

Congresspedia

Know your congressman with this new wiki server, congresspedia. Note the $1,000 opportunity on the home page for anyone who can convince their congressman/congresswoman to post his/her daily schedules on the internet.

Included in this information is the fundraising profile of each member as well as their top contributors and top industry supporters. This is all part of Sourcewatch and The Sunlight Foundation's efforts to get people involved in the Democratic system.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Congresspedia

Midterm Election Scorecard

Here's your Midterm Election Scorecard for heated battles this coming November.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14275232/

Pluto Update...or should I say 134340 Update

134340 or "the planet formerly known as Pluto" has been given the final blow in its public defrocking.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14789691/

September Reading and Listening Recommendation

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre
Pierre is an Australian writer and Vernon God Little was his first book, for which he won the 2003 Booker Prize. To simplify this book it satirizes what those who have never been to America that think they know what America is about from watching stereotyped productions of the lower class and trailer parks or the American representation in news programs. Vernon G. Little, the protagonist has been compared to Holden Caulfield of Catcher in the Rye and Ignatius J. Reilly of A Confederacy of Dunces. It was described by the Booker Prize judges as a "coruscating black comedy reflecting our alarm but also our fascination with America" ("Author Pierre wins Booker prize", BBC, October 15, 2003).
It is set in a fictitious small town in Texas, less than a week from when Vernon G. Little’s only friend Jesus Navarro committed suicide after first killing 16 class bullies. Vernon is fingered as the scapegoat since there is no one to convict for the crime.
DBC Pierre is the pen name of Peter Warren Finley who claims to have written the book primarily to exercise his own guilt ridden demons of his youth and one particular moment where he had conned an elderly artist out of his home.


Powder Burns by The Twilight Singers
Recording on Powder Burns began in singer/songwriter Greg Dulli’s adopted home New Orleans before Katrina’s destruction and continued immediately afterwards using generators. This isn’t an album about Hurricane Katrina, but as a good portion of the songs were written after the fact, the influence is there. The first song is an instrumental called “Towards the Waves” which has been described as “represent(ing) the calm before the storm” (Harmonium.com). In “There’s Been an Accident” Dulli sings, ‘I’m alive, it kinda took me by surprise/but everytime I look away, there’s no light/ there’s no sentry at the gate’. Similar emotions can be drawn out in “Underneath the Waves”, “Powder Burns” and “I Wish I Was”. As each one of these songs has been connected to the obvious link of Katrina, they have all likewise been connected to Greg Dulli’s recent sobriety. Since I haven’t been able to find a quote from Dulli himself, you can pick whichever back story you prefer, whether it be the timeless tale of the drug-addled rockstar who finds redemption through sobriety or the untold tale of the rockstar clinging to the nearest tree while the vicious barrage of Mother Nature’s fury is unleashed on him and his neighbors. Redemption through sobriety has a happy ending, while sorting out the why’s and how’s of Katrina falls more in the category of we’re damned because we haven’t.

Republicans Opt for their Standard Practice of Mudslinging Come November

The Republicans, with their backs against the wall going into November, have announced their battle plan to maintain the majority, fight dirty. They have been spending their resources in uncovering anything even remotely spin-worthy about their democrat counterparts and as in elections past where there is no spin, we can count on them to make it up.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14757598/

It is suggested that negative campaigning plays a role in keeping the fringe voters at home while turning out the more partisan crowd which generally works in the GOP's favor (hence the majority party).

http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=crisp

Lamentation of the Peanut Butter Kit Kat

This little beauty came to me from Prague over the summer. Having been in Spain now for a little over a year I have grown accustomed to the less adventerous Spanish palate. This basically means if it doesn't come in Lemon or Orange flavor you're shit out of luck.
In many ways I feel cheated. When my wife and I planned our move to Spain, I had never considered that I might want to give the people at Kit Kat a call for an update on any possible peanut butter combinations they were whipping up. But now, there it is and here I am. Unless I continue smuggling them in from Central Europe, I will sit here patiently waiting for the Lemon Kit Kat or maybe a Kit Kat paella.

Pluto 1930 - ? (Update)

Pluto may be spared. Neighbors report that one Mr. M. Mouse is not such a heartless bastard after all.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060831_planet_definition.html

Bo Sox Didn't Feel Like Going to the World Series This Year Anyway

As we come into September Boston stands at 8 games behind the Yankees and 7.5 games out from the wild card berth. But you may ask, why would a Cubs fan devote a post to the Red Sox's chances in the World Series. Honestly, I just wanted an excuse to post this picture.

Pluto 1930 - 2006 R.I.P.

Pluto was mercilessly put down earlier today. Scooby-Doo has reportedly been put on notice.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a_fxxEJGwq3Y&refer=europe

Going on Vacation - Be Back End of August

We are closing the doors here at Inner Sense Abroad for a week or so. We will be knocking about The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. We'll be back in business at the end of August.

L’Albufera

L’Albufera is a freshwater lake that is the prime wetlands habitat for birds in Eastern Spain. It is fed by the River Turia from the North, the River Jucar to the South and connects to the Mediterranean Sea through three drainage channels. Its maximum depth is 2.5 meters / 8 ft, but because of silt buildup it is getting shallower.
The barraca was the common housing style in this area; many of them are still in use for housing, storage and restaurants. The base of the house was made of clay and mud from the lake and the roof was thatched from the canes growing out of the water. The original barracas can be identified by the religious symbol on the roof. The Christian families put a cross on the roof, the Arabs had a crescent moon and the Jewish put a Star of David. Considering the Arabs and Jews were driven out of Spain in 1492, the barracas with the cross on top are much more common, but apparently there are still a few left with the crescent moon and the Star of David.
The Romans called it Nacarum Stagnum (which I think means the singing lake) and it was known as the Mirror of the Sun by its original inhabitors, the Arabs. Due to Arab rice farming techniques in the Middle Ages the lake has shrunk by 10 times its natural size. The ancient rice paddies are still in use today and account for 1/3 of Spain’s rice.

While Strolling Through Valencia...The Saga of Yo La Tengo and Starbucks

Marta's biggest complaint since moving to Spain was that she couldn't find a proper iced mocha or Italian soda anywhere. She would often (apologetically) pine for a Starbucks knowing that was more realistic than a Java House ever making its way here. Lo and behold, while strolling through Valencia today we stumbled across the brand new Starbucks. She paused long enough to catch her breath. Feeling torn about going into a Starbucks, I will admit a certain feeling of familiarity washed over me when we walked through the doors. The smell doesn't remind me of coffee, it reminds me of books. It made me think of my endless hours perusing the shelves of Barnes and Noble and Prairie Lights. At the counter I was floored to find the chocolate banana muffins. I might be able to come to terms with this Starbucks. Now I'm going to close my eyes and hope for a Dunkin' Donuts...I'll let you know how this works out for me.

Included are some other pictures we took while walking around today. On a completely unrelated note, I found the Yo La Tengo double disc Prisoners of Love collection at fnac today for 9 euros. There are two retrospective essays in the cd's booklet. The second essay mentions the show that they played with Tortoise here in Valencia at The Roxy in 2001.

Travel Blog

I just started a travel blog. Much like this blog, it was by accident. A friend had a blog and I was poking around and signed up just out of curiosity. Like this blog I'm going to stick with it and see what happens. It is only for travel, it maps out where I've been and where I'm going.
Who knows how much traveling I'll actually be able to do, but in one week we're going to Budapest and then to Prague, so I'll have that.

At any rate check it out:

http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-profile/sjdevore/tpod.html

Monasterio de El Puig

King Jaime I of Aragon, who was conquered Valencia from the Moors, founded this monastery in the 13th century to affirm Christianity in Eastern Spain. This monastery is believed to have printed the first book in Spain in 1474. It currently holds 240 paintings from between the 16th and 18th centuries. It also holds a copy of the world’s smallest book.

August Reading and Listening Recommendation

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Let me start off by thanking Eoghan. He took off for some summer gigs around the U.K. and Germany. In doing so he left me in charge of his library. This book is part of the Eoghan collection.
Someday I hope to be able to read Marquez in his original language, but for the time being I’ll settle for Edith Grossman’s translations. If you haven’t read Marquez to tell you what a particular story or book is about doesn’t do it justice. The art is in the process. Love in the Time of Cholera is about a love triangle that goes unrequited for fifty-one years, nine months and four days. It is set in Columbia during the latter 1800’s and early 1900’s, when Cholera was ravaging the residents of the Columbian countryside. As I was nearing the end of the book, I found myself reading slower to avoid finishing it.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez is currently writing the screenplay for a movie version which will star Javier Bardem (see Mondays in the Sun, a fantastic movie). I still have one question that lingers and anyone can feel free to answer it. In the last few pages of the book Fermina Daza is going down the river in a riverboat and she sees a woman that she recognizes who is obviously distressed on the shore. She asks the capitan why they don't stop to pick her up and the capitan explains that the woman is a ghost who is always there trying to lure the riverboats into the rocks. Is that woman on the shore Fermina's mother?


Thom Yorke has a new album out as do The Twilight Singers, Johnny Cash and Golden Smog but we haven’t bought any new music in a while, so this month’s selection is brought to you by the Matt Melvin inspired wing of our collection.

Satan is Real – The Louvin Brothers
Outside of what might be the best album cover in our collection and the preachy content (seriously), this comes down to being simply a good gospel/folk collection of Americana. Boasting songs such as “The Angels Rejoiced Last Night”, “There’s a Higher Power”, “The Christian Life” and the two part epic to a drinking man’s finding of Jesus “The Kneeling Drunkard’s Plea” and “The Drunkard’s Doom”.
Charlie and Ira Louvin started in the 1940’s working with Chet Atkins. The brothers were inspired by Appalachian Folk Music. They joined the Grand Ol’ Opry in 1955 and stayed there until 1963. Ira was killed in a car accident in 1965 and Charlie attempted a solo career. The Louvin Brothers provided inspiration for the country-rock genre having influenced The Byrds, Crosby Stills and Nash and Gram Parsons.

Now With Handsome Irish Goodness

Our apologies on neglecting the opportunity to portray the handsome Irish goodness from the June 20th post (I assume that would be the fella' with his arm draped all over this blogger's wife, the bastard).

Tax the Middle Class! (Bastards)

It appears that Congress has finally had the insight to do away with out of control tax breaks, such as tax breaks for college tuition or tax breaks for teachers having to buy their own supplies.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aqKKaxKK5Z9g&refer=home

Comments and questions are always welcome

Squeezing the Big Boxes (They Can Take It)

This story was brought to our attention by Adam, thanks Adam and good luck on your final thesis paper.
I like the fact that Wal-Mart is complaining about having to pay their employees $10 an hour and give them health insurance. I also like how Mayor Daley may veto the measure, in order to "help the people of Chicago".
That's the funny thing about Chicago they think that they want livable wages and health care, but they really don't and sometimes it takes elected officials and big business to remind them of this.


Remember, this is a blog, so comments and questions are encouraged and welcomed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/us/27chicago.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Oh, Sweet Sweet Irony

Man responsible for passing around the Danish Mohammed cartoons which resulted in the destruction of the Danish embassy in Lebanon is ironically saved by the very same Danish embassy in his evacuation from Lebanon back to the safety of Denmark.

http://bibelen.blogspot.com/2006/07/akkari-and-danish-flag.html

"Global Warming is a hoax" Says Professional Liar.

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) is the Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and he is comparing Global Warming to the great lies of the Nazi Party (I'm not sure that I follow his insinuation here). Who in the hell elects these people to office?

Remember this is a blog, so comments and suggestions are always welcomed and encouraged.
http://www.senatemajority.com/
outrageous_quote_of_the_day_james_inhofe

MA Universal Health Care Update

Massachusetts passes Universal Health Care insurance Act. Now officially the first state in the country to do so.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/07/26/national/a133956D72.DTL

Darth Vader Reminisces

If you have 10 minutes to kill, I thought this was funny.
http://www.akjak.com/vader-sessions/

Demon Ducks...by Request

Last week fossils of giant flesh eating Demon Ducks of Doom and Killer Kangaroos were found in Australia.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5172292.stm

On This Date (Warning: this is a cop-out post)

July 16
64 A.D. - The Great Fire of Rome, Nero fiddles.
1967 A.D. - Vin Diesel is born. While setting Hollywood on fire, he does not fiddle as he is too busy kickin' ass.

July Reading and Listening Recommendation

A Confederacy of Dunces
The first I had heard of this book was as a recommendation from a friend as we were settling in for pizza on his last night in Spain before making his way back to Ireland (and eventually to South America). At the time he was halfway through the book, but sold half of the book to me as well as he could.
Later while reading 24-7 (the English guide to Valencia) I read a review of it as an "oldie but goodie". The back story is almost as interesting as the book itself.
The author, John Kennedy Toole had committed suicide in 1969, long before the book had been published. In 1976 his mother had found the manuscript while going through his belongings. She read it and took it to to Professor Walker Percy of Loyola to see if he would be interested in doing something with it. Not terribly interested on giving up time on a scratchy manuscript based on the recommendation from the dead author's mother as "pretty good", he let it sit on his desk. He eventually got around to reading the first page with the intentions of not continuing, but he was looking for a substantial reason to tell the mother that he couldn't do anything with it. As Percy tells it he found himself enjoying it and agreeing that it should be published. It was realeased in bits and pieces in 1978 in the New Orleans Review and it was finally published in its full form in 1980, eleven years after the author's death.
The story itself is about Ignatius J. Reilly a 30 year old man that still lives with his mother. He is a self-proclaimed genius and is five years into the process of writing his masterpiece about the decline of civilization since the Middle Ages. He writes at the pace of roughly a paragraph a month and references a previously written 5 page piece on the same subject that he boldly gave shelf space to in the New Orleans public library. Mrs. Irene Reilly is determined to get her son out of her house and into a job, this is where the hilarity ensues.

Broken Boy Soldiers
The Raconteurs is the "not a side project" from Brendan Benson, The White Stripes's Jack White, and Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler of The Greenhornes. Broken Boy Soldiers isn't as experiemental or groundbreaking as The White Stripes, but if you remove Jack White's previous credentials from the equation you have a fun little foot stomping collection of tunes. The influences stem more from The Beatles or the pages of No Depression than any resemblance to White's other band. For any Australian readers, you'll be looking for Broken Boy Soldiers from a band called The Saboteurs. Apparently the name, The Raconteurs, is being used by a local Queensland band that is refusing to be bought out.