Rhett Butler, who runs the monga bay website for habitat and species conservation (he may run the organization as well), has just posted some beautiful pictures from his trip to Laos. Go here if you have some time for a visual glimpse into a fascinating world.

Quickie World Round-up

The Thai PM is resigning, stranded air travellers finally free to fly home. One small step for tourism, one large step for ousting leaders by popular revolt. In Zimbabwe, soldiers attempting to violate the 18p bank withdrawal limit are now fighting against Harare police; this cannot be good for Mugabe, whose military supporters were key to his election fraud earlier this year. Christians and Muslims have agreed to stop killing each other in Nigeria, while Nkunda's "negotiations or war" ultimatum to Kabile's govt in Kinshasa fell off the media's radar in the wake of the attacks in Mumbia. Bahrain just celebrated its first National Women's Day and the Saudi govt has decreed that volatile books must be removed from circulation. Hillary and Gates are in, respectively replacing change and hope as cornerstones of the incoming administration. Condi Rice serenaded the Queen while W spent his list bit of Presidential Mastercard (TM) credit on the new Hank Williams 10 CD Deluxe BoxSet and is now wandering the White House humming the refrain from My Main Trial Is Yet To Come. Fidel meanwhile has been blogging about the collapse of capitalismo as his amigo on the continent makes another push for indefinite presidential terms in Venezuela. The american consumer subconscious is contending with death by shoppers; the Italians continue to contend with their garbage. Picture of the day comes from TimesOnline, taken by Antony Crossfield, winner of the 2008 Terry O'Neill Award.

Photos from Krakow

Not sure how this is going to work, but trying a new slideshow format by inserting it as an actual blog entry... hopefully won't muck up loading time. Photos have short captions; wikipedia has just about all the historical details starting with its page on the city, followed by its endless (circular) links to specific sites and districts.

Krakow is an extraordinary city! i breathed in so much that's new, i'm still in a state of stimulation overload... sorted out thoughts coming soon, in sh'allah.

Krakow '08