dan collier

I arrived on Bermuda this morning, and after spending a full day (motor)scooting around the islands, I am really impressed. I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my week here exploring some of the areas I found today and finding more beautiful spots (when I’m not participating in the meetings I’m actually here to attend). I blogged a bit about my recent trip to the US Virgin Island of Saint Thomas, and it seems like Bermuda is most of the things I hoped St. Thomas would be.

It is notable that Bermuda had the highest per capita income in the world a couple years ago. For all the beautiful ocean-front homes, the wealth seems to have reached most corners of the islands. From the big stuff to the small stuff, the amount of litter lining the roads to the friendliness of the locals, Bermuda is all British charm where Saint Thomas seemed brash, a sadly typical in-your-face American colony.

At the end of a long day on my scooter, I realized that anyplace that a man can safely tour on a 50cc motobike (as the Vietnamese xe om would say) without losing any self-respect must be a good place. Pink sand beaches don’t hurt either.

The two pictures in this post are from Horseshoe Bay beach, taken with my phone. Obviously, they do the lovely beach no justice.

Iran Keeps Picassos in Basement – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, was in all the headlines today after his speech at Columbia University. This fairly recent story from the LA Times is about the great art collected in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum seems to prevent linking to individual images, but you can browse them all by clicking on one at that link.

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Cigarette Diaries – In 1944, bombardier Second Lt. Frank Pratt was shot down by the Nazis over Poland. Newsweek published excerpts of the diaries he kept, often on the inside of cigarette packages. In the accompanying video, Mr Pratt remembers jumping out of his crashing plane.

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Slick Willie, Uncut – Comedy Central posted Jon Stewart’s interview with Bill Clinton, plus 6 minutes that didn’t air on TV. Clinton is promoting his new book. If you didn’t see the interview, it is probably worthwhile. John Stewart, as usual, asked all the tough questions:

I read the book, Giving, and while I read it I wondered… “What’s in it for me?”

Venice Art Biennial 2007 photos – Lots of nice photos. These are two of my favorite collections.

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Name the 49 Countries in Europe – I’ll give you two that don’t show up on the map: Liechtenstein and Vatican City. Also, name the 50 US states.

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Map of an Operating System – A representation of the layered approach of the OSI Model as implemented in the Linux kernel. This is a case of beauty in the details.