Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Today’s Post, Tomorrow!

text-tomorrow-true-Favim.com-448458Yes yes, I know.
The board on the right says you get a text post on Wednesdays.
It’s Wednesday, so where’s the post?

Well, the main feature has been moved – for extraordinary reasons – forward twenty-four hours.
Correct, you’ll read today’s post tomorrow.
This is because tomorrow post is special – it’s the review of a movie that does not exist.
And for reasons long to explain, it goes online on the third of October.

But I’d hate it should you feel shortcharged or something, so I promise a short post in a few hours, ok?

See you later.


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The rules

Guy-Kawasaki-What-the-Plus-266x400I’m stealing a page (three actually, but only the headers) from Guy Kawasaki’s “What the Plus!” to post a short list of good practices and “rules” to increase trustworthiness online.
I’m not so hot about rules – you have to have some, you have to be smart enough to know when to bend or ignore them.
But you need standards, too.
I’ve tried to stick to many of these instinctively – they are not that different from what my mother taught me.
But I’ll repost them here, because they are useful in many situations – from blogging to self-publishing, to interacting with other human beings.

Here they come.

  • Show up
  • Make the community better
  • Don’t be an orifice
  • Keep it clean
  • Trust others first
  • Disclose your interests
  • Gain knowledge and competence
  • Bake a bigger pie
  • Resist bad means

That’s it.
It works.

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Where the hell was Biggles?

“So, where the hell was Biggles when you needed him last Saturday?”

Cover of "Biggles of 266"

Cover of “Biggles of 266” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Biggles was mentioned, last Saturday, on a discussion group devoted to pulp adventure, among other things.
While American classic pulp heroes are getting some attention right now, there’s this feeling their British counterparts are somewhat neglected.
Sure, there are fine reprints (and new stories) about Sexton Blake, but what of Biggles and Bulldog Drummond?

As luck would have it, I’ve a Biggles novel right here on my desk – a twenty-odd years old paperback edition of The Camels are Coming I bought second-hand for 1 eurocent.
So, why not write a small post about Biggles*?

Written by a veteran of the First World War, W.E. Johns, the Biggles novels follow the adventures of James “Biggles” Bigglesworth – an ace pilot that, starting as a fighter pilot in WWI, basically goes through most of the conflicts of the first half of the 20th century… flying most of the available planes in the catalog. Continue reading →


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Why did the chicken cross the road?

“I have the answer,” said the terrifying voice. “ ’Tis not unlike the one that Thiazi baffled Grotnir with, five hundred winters agone. See you, mortal, a chicken is the human soul, and the road is life which must be crossed, from the ditch of birth to the ditch of death. On that road are many perils, not alone the ruts of toil and the mire of sin, but wagons of war and pestilence, drawn by the oxen of destruction; while overhead wheels that hawk hight Satan, ever ready to stoop. The chicken knows not why it crosses the road, save that it sees greener fields on the far side. It crosses because it must, even as we all must.”
[from Three Hearts and Three Lions, by Poul Anderson]