Although the summer solstice actually occurred on 21 June 2008 at 01:59 hours Central European Daylight time, the 20th was the longest day of the year, and I decided to bike out to the dunes along the North Sea coast to greet the sunrise and bid the sun farewell on that day:
The Hague’s Stadhuis, or city hall, regularly hosts free art exhibitions. Passing through the cathedral-ceilinged atrium today, I encountered what appeared to be a colossal representation of the lifeless head of U.S. President George W. Bush. Sure enough, it’s a vinyl-covered nylon fabric sculpture by contemporary American artist Paul McCarthy titled “Bush” (2007):
As American drivers come to grips with $4.00-a-gallon gasoline and presidential hopeful John McCain suggests a temporary “tax holiday,” it’s worth noting that in some places, it’s been a long time since gas was so cheap as that. The photo you see here shows fuel prices at my neighborhood gas station in The Hague, The Netherlands on Saturday, 10 May 2008. Prices are in euros per liter. Converted to dollars per gallon at prevailing exchange rates, the prices are:
My last trip to the gas station (in a Chrysler Voyager) cost about $150. The U.S. can (and inevitably will have to) adjust to higher fuel prices, just as Europe has long since done.
A clever parody of the bizarre fusion between evangelical Christianity and nationalism in America:
For the first time in a long time, there is a candidate for president of the United States whom I can enthusiastically support: Barack Obama. I’m deeply impressed by his intelligence and candor, and in particular his early public opposition to the invasion and occupation of Iraq and the fact that he does not accept campaign contributions from corporate interests or lobbyists.
Hello, my name is George Maschke, and welcome to my home page! I am in the process of developing this site around the open source package, WordPress. If you wish to contact me, you can reach me by e-mail to maschke [at] zonnet.nl.
