Concrete and Barbed Wire: May 2012

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

I can now add a 59th country - Poland - to my list of countries where I have slept at least one montionless night:

UK
Malta
Canada
U.S.A.
Austria
Saint Lucia
Tunisia
France
The Netherlands
Cuba
Egypt
Eritrea
Czech Republic
Hungary
Ukraine
Portugal
Saudi Arabia
Germany
Guinea
Sierra Leone
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Switzerland
Ethiopia
Somaliland (Somalia)
Djibouti
Azerbaijan
Kenya
United Arab Emirates
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Australia
Brazil
Thailand
Malaysia
Cambodia
Ireland
India
Nepal
Liberia
Ireland
Belgium
Cyprus
Turkey
Sri Lanka
Bulgaria
Romania
China
Italy
Norway
Dominican Republic
Haiti
Russia
South Korea
Myanmar
Mexico
Central African Republic
Cameroon
Iceland
Poland

Countries I have technically visited but which do not qualify with one motionless night:

Croatia (airport transfer in Zagreb)
Japan (airport transfer in Tokyo)
Monaco (for lunch)
Martinique (day trip from St. Lucia)
South Africa (airport transfer in Johannesburg)
Slovakia (crossed twice at night by train)
Spain (crossed twice at night by train)
Sudan (airport transfer in Khartoum)
Holy See (museum and St. Peter's square visit)
Panama (airport transfer in Panama City)

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Iceland exploration Day 5: Akureyri to Reykjavík (386 Km)

Iceland exploration Day 2: Vík to Höfn (271 Km)

Iceland exploration Day 3: Höfn to Egilsstaðir (247 Km)

Iceland exploration Day 4: Egilsstaðir to Akureyri (266 Km)

Akureyri built its airport right in the fjord

Nearly ox-bow lake

Icelandic horses

Hvalfjörður Tunnel under the fjord

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Iceland exploration Day 4: Egilsstaðir to Akureyri (266 Km)

Iceland exploration Day 2: Vík to Höfn (271 Km)

Iceland exploration Day 3: Höfn to Egilsstaðir (247 Km)

Iceland exploration Day 5: Akureyri to Reykjavík (386 Km)

Public infrastructure at Europe's most powerful waterfall.

Dettifoss - Europe's most powerful waterfall. (Waterfall power = volume per unit time x height)

Námafjall geothermal vents

Sellandafjall

Goðafoss waterfall

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

2004 Readings

Here, captured from my now defunct website, is a partial bibliography of the books I read in 2004:

Please also see 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2003, 2002, 2001 and prior

Flashman and the Redskins, George MacDonald Fraser

The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene, 1940

Flashman in the Great Game, George MacDonald Fraser, 1975

Flashman at the Charge, George MacDonald Fraser, 1973

Flash for Freedom!, George MacDonald Fraser, 1971

Flashman's Lady, George MacDonald Fraser, 1977

Royal Flash, George MacDonald Fraser, 1970

Firefox Down, Craig Thomas, 1983

Flashman: Story of British Disaster in Afghanistan, From Flashman Papers 1839-1842, George Macdonald Fraser, 1969

The Quiet American, Graham Greene, 1955

The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, 2003

Porno, Irvine Welsh, 2002

Tattooing and Body Piercing, Bonnie Graves, 2000

Madam Secretary: A Memoir, Madeleine Albright, 2003

Eats, shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, Lynne Truss, 2003

My Life, Bill Clinton, 2004

Living History, Hillary Rodham Clinton, 2003

Formula One Cars, A.R. Schaefer, 2005

Australia, Tracy Boraas, 2002

Our Woman in Kabul, Irris Makler, 2003

Afghanistan, Mary Englar, 2004

A look at Australia, Helen Frost, 2002

A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy, Robert Moore, 2003

Things Maps Don't Tell Us, Armin K. Lobeck, 1956

Air Spy: The story of Photo Intelligence in World War II, Constance Babington-Smith, 1957

Rabbits on the Farm, Mari C. Schuh, 2003

Cats on the Farm, Mari C. Schuh, 2003

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Judy Emerson, 2004

Washington, D.C., Jason Glaser, 2004

Polar Bears, Emily Rose Townsend, 2004

The Life Cycle of a Penguin, Lisa Trumbauer, 2004

Modern Railways, Geoffrey Freeman Allen, 1980

2009 Readings

Here, captured from my now defunct website, is a bibliography of the books I read in 2009:

Please also see 2011, 2010, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 and prior

Beyond Miss World, Jennifer Hosten with Shaun Sarsfield, 2008

Tintin - The Blue Lotus, Hergé

Tintin - Cigars of the Pharoh, Hergé

Tintin in America, Hergé

2010 Readings

Here, captured from my now defunct website, is a partial bibliography of the books I read in 2010:

Please also see 2011, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 and prior

The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Stieg Larsson, 2007

The Girl who Played with Fire, Stieg Larsson, 2006

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson, 2005

Kingdom of Fear, Hunter S Thompson, 2003

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, Lilian Jackson Braun, 1966

The Time-traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century, Ian Mortimer, 2009

The Cuba Project: CIA covert operations 1959-62 – The Secret War, Fabián Escalante, 2009 top

Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell, 1949

Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell, 1933

2011 Readings

Here, captured from my now defunct website, is a bibliography of the books I read in 2011.

Please also see 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 and prior

Africa is Contagious - Experiences of a Doctor Without Borders, Steven van de Vijver, 2008

Dark Matter, Dark Energy: The Dark Side of the Universe, Sean Carroll, 2007

Papillon, Henri Charrière, 1969

2008 Readings

Here, captured from my now defunct website, is a bibliography of the books I read in 2008:

Please also see 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 and prior

The Box, Marc Levinson, 2006

A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini, 2007

2007 Readings

Here, captured from my now defunct website, is a partial bibliography of the books I read in 2007:

Please also see 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 and prior

Amsterdam, Ian McEwen, 1998

It is What It Is: The Autobiography, David Coulthard, 2007

Winning Is Not Enough: The Autobiography, Jackie Stewart,

2007

Working the Wheel, Martin Brundle

An Independent Man: The Autobiography, Eddie Jordan, 2007

The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver, 1998

The Berlin Wall - A World Divided, 1961-1989, Frederick Taylor,

2006

The Flight of the Iguana: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature, David Quammen, 1988

The Emperor's Children, Claire Messud, 2006

On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan, 2007

Home from the Vinyl Cafe, Stuart McLean, 2005

The Testament of Gideon Mack, James Robertson, 2006

The Kiwi's Egg: Charles Darwin and Natural Selection, David Quammen, 2007?

Fruit of the Lemon, Andrea Levy, 1999

Dis Information and other Wikkid Myths, Kark Kruszelnicki

Emergency Sex [and other Desperate Measures] - True Stories from a War Zone, Kenneth Cain, Heidi Postlewait, Andrew Thomson, 2004

Atonement, Ian McEwen, 2001

The Snow Leopard, Peter Matthiessen, 2003

Akimbo and the Elephants, Alexander McCall Smith, 1990

Saturday, Ian McEwan, 2006

Small Island, Andrea Levy, 1999

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, Jimmy Carter, 2006

The Boilerplate Rhino: Nature in the eye of the beholder, David Quammen, 2000

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, 2003

2006 Readings

Here, captured from my now defunct website, is a partial bibliography of the books I read in 2006:

Please also see 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 and prior

Complete Short Stories, Graham Greene, 2005

My Autobiography, Charles Chaplin, 1964

Flashman on the March, George Macdonal Fraser, 2005

Solomon Gurskey Was Here, Mordecai Richler, 1989

The Country Girls, Edna O'Brian, 1960

The Great Crash 1929, John Kenneth Galbraith, 1954

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, Mark Haddon, 2004

The Russia House, John le Carré

The Spaghetti Tangle, Alexander McCall Smith, 2005

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, Alexander McCall Smith, 2005

The Kalahari Typing School for Men, Alexander McCall Smith,

2004

Morality for Beautiful Girls, Alexander McCall Smith, 2002

The Magician's Tale, David Hunt, 1999

Tears of The Giraffe, Alexander McCall Smith

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith

The Good Doctor, Damon Galgut, 2003

Sula, Toni Morrison, 1973

A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson, 2003

2005 Readings

Here, captured from my now defunct website, is a partial bibliography of the books I read in 2005:

Please also see 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001 and prior

The Magus, John Fowles, 1966, revised 197?

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, 1962

Cat Among the Pigeons, Agatha Christie, 1959

The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton, 1905

Lake Wobegon Days, Garrison Keillor, 1990

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John LeCarré, 1962

The Third Man, Graham Greene, 1949

Flashman and the Tiger, George MacDonald Fraser, 2001

Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby, 1992

Flashman and the Angel of the Lord, George MacDonald Fraser,

1994

Flashman and the Mountain of Light, George MacDonald Fraser, 1990

Flashman and the Dragon, George MacDonald Fraser, 1987

Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathan Lethem, 2000

Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe, 1719

Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich, Joachim Fest, 2004

Diana Mosley: Mitford Beauty, British Fascist, Hitler's Angel,

Anne de Courcy, 2003

Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt, 1996

Letter from America, Alistair Cooke

The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe, 1979

Himalaya, Michael Palin, 2004

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson, 1971

2003 Readings

Here, captured from my now defunct website, is a partial bibliography of the books I read in 2003:

Please also see 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002, 2001 and prior

Swallowdale, Arthur Ransome, 1931

Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome, 1930

Unless, Carol Shields, 2003

In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson, 2000

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela,

Nelson Mandela, 1995

Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Robert F. Kennedy, 1968

The Hipster Handbook, Robert Lanham, Jeff Bechtel Illustrator

2002 Readings

Here, captured from my now defunct website, is a bibliography of the books I read in 2002:

Please also see 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2001 and prior

A Passage to India, E.M. Forster, 1924

How to be Good, Nick Hornby, 2001

Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris, 2002?

Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, Richard Bach, 1977

The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, Melissa Bank, 2000

A Burnt-Out Case, Graham Greene, 1960

The Heart of the Matter, Graham Greene, 1948

Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-1995, Joe Sacco, 2000

Stupid White Men, Michael Moore, 2002

Sin and Syntax, Constance Hale, 1999

Presidential Trivia

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