№ 254. The Reading Club

Here's a good Friday find:

If you put all the books you own on the street outside your house, you might expect them to disappear in a trice. But one man in Manila tried it - and found that his collection grew.

№ 253. 21st Century Songs of Fire and Ice

Twenty-first century appears to be mirroring its predecessor period. From a bipolar world that emerged from the Cold War, we are once again getting more fragmented and multi-polar. After the realignments of nations in the Second World War to the disintegration of the Soviet bloc in the 1980s and the 1990s, spheres of influence have splintered.

Ball games are not safe with live ammunition and
civilian exposure.

№ 252. Solo Travel

Solo Travel Tips

Maybe it's time for a new adventure. Ticking off undone, unfinished businesses is exhausting.

№ 251. Homey

"When I first got pregnant, I was a smart-arse corporate lawyer, used to getting my own way. What I really needed was someone to tell me the following: “You know your worst ever client? The guy who calls at 2am just to tell you how terrible you are? The one who suddenly, urgently needs an obscure spreadsheet, so you move heaven and earth to find the spreadsheet and when you do he gets furious because that isn’t the one he wanted, even though that’s the one he asked for? Congratulations! Now you live with a tiny, incontinent version of him. Sadly, nothing you have learned to date is of any use with your new client."

№ 250. Paper History

Bank Note

"My interest in bank notes is related to the history printed on them that supplements textbooks, classroom history, and civics because it expresses something about the past: the founding fathers, significant events and personages.

Bank notes attempt to tell a story, or part of a story, regarding a nation and nationhood. Like classroom history, a bank note is both informative and formative when the past is utilized to situate citizens in the context of a nation. While a bank note tells a story on a small sheet of paper, what people do not see are the reasons behind its design: For example, the use of particular historical personages and the exclusion of others are a decision that underscores the contested nature of history especially when it is handmaid to nation-building and nationalism."

№ 249. The Thorn Birds

The Art of Plating

“There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth.

№ 248. Awaken; Live

"If you are fortunate enough to be awakened..., you will know why the finest language is the one that is not spoken, the finest action is the one that is not done, and the finest change is the one that is not willed." --- Anthony de Mello.

№ 247. Urbi et Orbi

CNN reports about the Trump Phenomenon and this got me thinking.

The U.S., as the lone superpower, sets the agenda for the world. Like it or not, if Trump wrests his way to Washington DC, the ripples of his pompadour will be felt in this far corner of the world. Shouldn't we, at least, take notice and somehow be heard, as well?

Here's a shout out:

The U.S. President is, to be sure, the de facto leader of the world. That means Trump's policy will affect me--- an Asian, a non-citizen and leaps of miles across the Pacific lake (yes, it has shrunk). And I don't get to say or do anything?! There ought to be a law.

Urbi et Orbi