A Stitch in Haste

Observations About Denmark

Kip — 2008-05-19T10:05+00:00

Congratulations to all who were able to deduce that the undisclosed location was Copenhagen.

You can see my photos here. Videos forthcoming at the YouTube page.

Some hasty stitches:

--Traveling to another country when your currency is at record lows is much like playing a sport: You can read about it, but until you actually undertake it for the first time you have no idea what the experience is really like. Regardless of how much or little money you have, five dollars for a bottle of soda is a lot.

--The Danes, or at least the Copenhageners, are the rudest Europeans I have yet encountered. Even my guidebook mentions it. One notorious manifestation is their unwillingness to form queues: they cut past you at the immigration line at the airport, at escalators, ticket lines, etc. Remind me again how it's we Americans who are uncouth and uncivilized?

--Copenhagen is the most pedestrian-hostile city I have ever encountered. The favoritism, however, is not toward automobiles but toward bicycles. Copenhagen is a remarkably flat city, so those who can — and that's many — bike everywhere. Everywhere.

--To make its bike lanes, which every street has (even side streets), the city cannabilized not the roads but the sidewalks, which are therefore excruciatingly narrow (and, to make matters worse, guess where all those bicyclists park all those bicycles). Meanwhile, the only people who don't bike everywhere are those who can't: the frail elderly, those pushing baby strollers, and (obviously) tourists stopping every five feet to gawk. The end result is that, to someone from a pedestrian-friendly like New York, trying to ambulate around center-city Copenhagen is closer to being in a cage than to being unleashed.

--Speaking of automobiles, the price of gasoline, currency-adjusted, is just under $9/gallon. But nobody seems to be complaining. See also, "bicycles." Just saying.

--Who says a city's main, centrally located park has to be a strictly public good?

--The Scandinavian tongues are the linguistic equivalent of sadomasochism. I thought Dutch was hard to listen to; Danish is worse. (Yet I didn't feel that way about Icelandic, which is the "purest" Scandinavian language — i.e., most closely related to the original proto-language. Go figure.) Maybe it's dialectic, like the difference between High German and the intolerable Swiss dialect that even my Hessian mother can't make heads or tails of.

Any thoughts?

Where in the World is Kip?

Kip — 2008-05-17T06:05+00:00

Hint #3 of 3:

(Comments are closed for this post.)

Where in the World is Kip?

Kip — 2008-05-16T14:05+00:00

Hint #2 of 3:

(Comments are closed for this post.)

Where in the World is Kip?

Kip — 2008-05-15T13:05+00:00

Hint #1 of 3:

(Comments are closed for this post.)

Semi-Hiatus

Kip — 2008-05-14T16:05+00:00

I am off tonight to an undisclosed location for a brief holiday. Returning Sunday.

I have a few posts already prepared, as well as some of my infamous "Kip Clips" intended to spark lively discussions in the comments (though they never do — reach/grasp/heaven, etc.).

Regular blogging resumes Monday.

Happy Ground-Dog Day!

Kip — 2008-02-02T12:02+00:00

Whom are you going to trust, a fat tailless squirrel:

or the best dog in the world:

Diamond saw her shadow this morning, so expect ~~six more weeks of winter~~ the Giants to win 28-22.

(Background on Groundhog Day here.)

Kip Does McLaughlin 2007 Year-End Awards

Kip — 2008-01-14T12:01+00:00

Now available on YouTube.

Find out whom I picked for:

Biggest Winner
Biggest Loser
Best Politician
Worst Politician
Most Defining Political Moment
Turncoat of the Year
Most Boring
Most Charismatic
Bummest Rap
Fairest Rap
Best Comeback
Most Original Thinker
Most Stagnant Thinker
Best Photo Op
"Enough Already!"
Worst Lie
Capitalist of the Year
Person of the Year

---

This will be the last episode of KDM, at least for a while. It's too time-consuming. But if anyone is ever interested in starting a real libertarian-oriented roundtable-format collaboration podcast, I'd be interested.

Friday Knutblogging

Kip — 2008-01-11T12:01+00:00

Knut!

To review:

--The Politics of the Warm Fuzzy Polar Bear

--The Politics of the Dead Fuzzy Polar Bear

--Judgment at Nuremberg

(Carnivalized at Modulator's Friday Ark.)

Where in the World is Kip? (Hint #3)

Kip — 2008-01-06T08:01+00:00

Last hint:

If you can't figure it out now, then you need a course in remedial Googling.

Where in the World is Kip? (Hint #2)

Kip — 2008-01-05T15:01+00:00

This hint might only be helpful to those who have actually been there:

I'll only add that it's a quite evocative site.

Again, little or no substantive blogging through around January 10.

(Comments are closed for this post.)

Where in the World is Kip? (Hint #1)

Kip — 2008-01-04T07:01+00:00

So far all I've mentioned is "Europe." Here's your first hint:

No substantive blogging through around January 10.

(Comments are closed for this post.)

In Memorium: The Edmund Fitzgerald

Kip — 2007-11-10T17:11+00:00

Thirty-two years ago today...

Kip Does McLaughlin #014

Kip — 2007-11-10T12:11+00:00

Now available at the YouTube page.

2 November 2007 episode (abbreviated version this week): "The Economy - Trick or Treat?"

Check it out!

Kip Does McLaughlin #013

Kip — 2007-11-02T11:11+00:00

Now available at the YouTube page.

26 October 2007 episode: The dangers of Pakistan; the end of America as a superpower. And a prediction!

Check it out!

Kip Does McLaughlin #012

Kip — 2007-10-25T11:10+00:00

Now available at the YouTube page.

19 October 2007 episode: Russia + Iran = WWIII? Is Hillary inevitable? And a prediction!

Check it out.

Friday Cameloidblogging

Kip — 2007-10-12T11:10+00:00

It occurred to me that I haven't done any Friday Diamondblogging in awhile. I haven't been taking many pictures of her recently.

So here are some Peruvian cameloids instead:

To review: there are four species of Andean cameloid: the (domesticated) llama and alpaca, and the (non-domesticated) guanaco and vicuna.

Cute.

More pictures at the Flickr page. Videos at the YouTube page.

(Carnivalized at Modulator's Friday Ark.)

Kip Does McLaughlin #011

Kip — 2007-10-11T11:10+00:00

Now available at the YouTube page.

5 October 2007 episode: Romney v. Giuliani, Putin Power Grab. And a prediction!

Check it out.

---

No sooner had I recorded this snippet for the video:

Than I saw this item (edited for length):

Behold enlightened American theocracy at its purest.

Kip Does McLaughlin #010

Kip — 2007-10-04T11:10+00:00

Now available at the YouTube Page.

28 September 2007 episode: Crime in America, war on drugs, Iraq withdrawal -- and a prediction!

Check it out.

Kip Does McLaughlin #009

Kip — 2007-09-27T11:09+00:00

Now available at the YouTube page.

September 21, 2007, episode: Abizaid, Ahmadinejad, HillaryCare 2.0, and a prediction!

Check it out.

Peru Pictures

Kip — 2007-09-25T11:09+00:00

Now up at the Flickr page.

Videos at the YouTube page will be forthcoming.

Blogging will still be a bit light this week as I continue to play catch-up.

Carry on...