New Site
After almost 2 years of knowing I needed to switch my site to faster hosting, I've finally switched to a new host and redone the site using a new theme.…
Train 34
I’ve taken the Moscow-Tallinn train any number of times. The scent of coal smoke, used to heat samovars for tea water on board, is indelibly printed on my brain as the scent of beckoning horizons. It’s an old Soviet train, built solid and ugly, but it stays warm and nowadays, they even usually keep it stocked [...]
Travel Research
I like to know as much as possible about places before I visit or move to them, and as I’ve been doing a lot of travel over the last few years I’ve worked some basic online research methods. Of course books are great and I love a good travel guide – Rough Guides are my favorite, generally – but most of the time I don’t have easy access to English language books. Hence, most of my research is done online. (more…)
On Seeking the World’s Soul
The last trip got to me. Just a bit, nothing too bad, only traveling two weeks around Turkey, where I've now lived for 5 months. It left me exhausted, though,…
Upgraded and broke my theme
Having some problems with my site at the moment - my apologies! I upgraded wordpress and the template I've been using for the last few years broke. So, trying to…
Sorry about the mess…
I just stopped using Zenfolio's photo hosting and now some of my older image links are broken. I've switched to self-hosted Gallery2 software and am in the process of uploading…
Mycoremediation
I've just been reading up on mycoremediation, or cleaning soil with beneficial fungi, at Fungi Perfecti. Here's an exerpt: What can you do? Delineate your garbage into categories. Not only…
Terra Preta
"Terra Preta", or "dark earth", is an Amazonian Indian technology which can vastly improve soil fertility and pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, potentially keeping it out for thousands of years. Biomass - plant and animal waste such as manure, waste wood, and crop leftovers - can be turned into charcoal (or "biochar") and then buried in agricultural soil, making rich black earth that plants grow very, very well in. Charcoal is extremely porous, and provides a perfect environment for beneficial soil microorganisms that help plants grow. It also holds water, and can greatly help crops to survive drought conditions.
Redesigning this site
I've been playing with a big site redesign - I'm thinking about switching to the "Options" theme and using Gallery2 for my photos, since google can index it and I…
Solstice in Berlin
It's the shortest night of the year. I'd much rather be out at a bonfire than here at the digital hearth, but at least Tony and I went out to…