Favorite adventure/detective/spy stories? Ideally work in the public domain. Looking for whatever's exciting, or inspires you to do something cool.

This is a wonderful thing about all those cranked-out thrillers twenty to forty years ago.

The great thriller writers of the eighties and nineties like Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy may have been the last people to really understand what modernity was producing. As in, they were forming a holistic view of it and writing stories that made sense in it.

Ernest Hemingway in Venice, 1948.

This is a very pretty boat.

Her smile is contagious— I was born to love her I'll see your face in the stars above— in the tall grass, in the ones I love

Let us not talk falsely, now; the hour's getting late

I wish I could live here

Ancient rain and sun protection. I've never heard of this. This kind of technology could practically be more than 10,000 years old. Very cool.

Au château de Compiègne, la bibliothèque de Napoléon Ier vient d'être rouverte après restauration (du plafond par l'atelier ARCOA, des boiseries dues à l'ébéniste Jacob-Desmalter, et modernisation du système d'éclairage et de ventilation). 1/2

Film soviétique culte en Russie, totalement foutraque sorti en 1986. Selon Wikipedia : Un extraterrestre à l’allure étrange confie à deux humains, Vladimir Machkov dit Oncle Vova et Gedevan Aleksidze dit Violoniste, un appareil mystérieux. À la suite d’une manipulation imprudente, Oncle Vova et Violoniste se retrouvent transportés sur la planète désertique Plouke de la galaxie Kin-dza-dza. Peuplée d’humanoïdes télépathes, la planète cultive un curieux paradoxe. Disposant d’une technologie très en avance sur la Terre, Plouke présente un système social proche de la barbarie.

I've been to Kilauea when it wasn't erupting; I remember it lighting the clouds over the crater red at night when I was camping nearby. It would be extremely cool to see it right now.

👀 The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Mindanao caused parts of the seabed to rise by as much as 2 metres and the coastline has reportedly moved out by around 200 metres. The sudden uplift has exposed coral reefs, seagrass and marine habitats, leaving sea life stranded and causing damage to the underwater ecosystem. Officials found exposed coral and dead marine animals along affected areas. It’s incredible to think about the force needed to physically lift the seabed out of the ocean like this. 📷 DENR Soccsksargen

Hispanic culture across the world: I'm a huge fan.

Hoy hace 40 años moría lejos de su país, este bebé porteño que llegaría a ser uno de los fundamentales escritores de las letras universales. Si Jorge Luis Borges cometió el peor de los pecados, no haber sido feliz, a millones de lectores, nos regaló la felicidad de leer su obra.

Classic Spanish 🇪🇸 meal this lunch: "cicira i granuni" - chickpeas and durum wheat - spiced with "arianu i summaccu" - oregano and sumac. With sweet red wine!

I think about this idea all the time. Martin Scorsese seems never to slow down, but he says he's out of time. It's got to be an odd feeling, knowing you've probably only got twenty years of working time left (at very most) to make anything at all and then you're literally dead.

Nice to see Russell Crowe speak. He's one of those actors who's really quite an artist.

An old king from some vanished country speaks [“What’s Left Is Joy,” NYT]

Proustian madeleine, or horseshoe crab?

I never had a China Doll down in Old Hong Kong (that waits for my return), but still sort of missing Hong Kong today. This was the first thing I ate there, though I didn't leave the airport until a later pass-through. Hong Kong is great for a 12-hour layover.