© 2011-2025
I can’t think long about U.S. policy toward Israel without remembering the political mastermind who destroyed his career by suggesting this photo to a reporter. I’ll get to him soon. When I do, you’ll know why. Some facts of the Israel-Hamas war that strike me as key: (♦) Hamas is a militant, adamantly anti-Israel movement that…
(Nota: Casi todos los enlaces están en inglés.) No puedo pensar mucho en la política estadounidense hacia Israel sin recordar al cerebro político que destruyó su carrera al sugerir esta foto a un periodista. Llegaré a él pronto. Cuando lo haga, sabrás por qué. Algunos hechos de la guerra entre Israel y Hamas que me…
The block universe theory holds that our human perception of time misleads us, that past, present and future are equally real. Or that’s how I understand it, at least, as a lay person. I sit at my Madrid computer, blink at the display as I type these words; a doctor tugs my wailing, bloody newborn…
(Nota: Todos los enlaces están en inglés. Lo siento.) La teoría del universo de bloque sostiene que nuestra percepción humana del tiempo nos engaña, que el pasado, el presente y el futuro son igualmente reales. O al menos así lo entiendo yo como profano. Me siento frente a mi ordenador de Madrid, parpadeo ante la…
I am now a proud Madrid homeowner, post to tell what I think I know about buying a home in Spain (or in the capital, at least), and how the process compares to the equivalent in California. At the outset, I caution once more about plunking potential life savings on the counsel of a lone…
I’ll bet you haven’t heard of the Spain-USA tax treaty. A safe wager to offer, you may think, to stateside readers who may visit transitophile only in search of hotty train photos, who harbor no interest in moving abroad. Alas, I will with grim confidence extend this wager to my fellow U.S.-to-Spain expats, to emigrants…
I have been busy with other things of late, haven’t taken time to post, and admit I write today mostly to keep this URL from oxidizing, or sprouting green fungi. I may have more to hold forth about later in the year. In the meantime: another installment of favorite words and sayings in español: Mas…
Tarragona is a Catalan port city near the high-speed rail route linking Barcelona and Madrid. The ancient Romans called it Tarraco, built a shore side amphitheatre and a circus for chariot races. Tarragona has beaches, a touristy old town and a cathedral, one of Catalonia’s largest. I hankered for a visit, and also craved a…
I visited the capital city Vilnius and Kaunas, about ninety kilometers northwest. While there, I thought: LITHUANIA IS STRONGLY PRO-UKRAINE Expect to see the Ukraine bicolour on stickers, buttons, donation boxes, even on a mini-flag worn like a cape around a resident’s shoulders. Vilnius ❤ Ukraina declare the head signs of Vilnius buses. Putin, the…
About Madrid buses I have remained mostly silent, despite this blog’s fetishistic name and despite many past gushes about Madrid’s rail network. Why? Blogger bias! Blogger emotional bias. I lived without wheels for over a decade in car-centric Los Angeles, may suffer a straphanger’s PTSD from so many occasionally torturous slogs in buses there, as…