Child Like Nature

"Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like thinking about an enigma. There it is before you, smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering, 'Come and find out'."

― Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

Storms bring mayhem, but raise prices

31 DECEMBER 2014   NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW   MICHAEL SAINSBURY

BANGKOK -- Severe weather conditions in Southeast Asia have taken a heavy toll on lives and livelihoods in recent weeks, while also driving up prices for some of the region's key agricultural commodities.

... Yet the ongoing tempest has provided bittersweet news for farmers in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, Southeast Asia's three largest economies.
Even as storms play havoc with the harvesting and processing of commodities, palm oil and rubber prices have rebounded from recent five year lows as it becomes clear that there is a significant threat to supplies of both commodities. 

... The lift in commodity prices will bring some comfort to farmers not directly affected by the rains. But there appears to be little respite in store for many of those affected by the weather. Meteorological bureaux in Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia are all forecasting further downpours on New Year's Eve and into 2015. Read More

Vintage Hunt's Ketchup Spirit of 76 Decanter Bottle Collectible Glass
4 NOVEMBER 2013   ETSY   NOELLE

(TheNostalgiaTree) -- This ketchup decanter was produced in 1976 by Hunt's and it was a special commemorative bottle. It has the ORIGINAL LABEL still intact and in excellent vintage condition! It held 26 ounces of ketchup and has an American Eagle on the front of the bottle and General Washington on the back of the bottle. It stands 11 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter. The bottom of the bottle is marked with "A 70, 1A, 1B 1656." The bottle cap has a star on the top and stars around the perimeter of the cap. The glass itself has a very unique texture to it. It is in excellent vintage condition with no chips or cracks. Super find! Read More

Welcome to The New York Review of Video Games
A new way to talk about our most experimental, most alive, least respected art form.
15 DECEMBER 2014   MEDIUM   CHRIS SUELLENTROP

... Video games are almost a $100 billion industry, sure. But video games do not matter only because they are large. They are also a new popular art, the kind of thing that comes along once a century. Two intertwined forces, computers and interactivity, have changed the world radically over the past 50-odd years. What is a video game? It’s a creative work — a competition, a story, an experience — that exploits the intersection of those two forces.

... Video games are a permanent fixture of culture, and not just youth culture, one that these days competes for our attention with Netflix and Hulu, with HBO Go and Serial, with The Americans and Station Eleven and Birdman. That’s why it’s wrong to think of video games as a victory to be celebrated, or a curiosity to marvel over, or a threat that you ought to fear, or the organizing principle of a tribe with narrow interests and cloistered rituals. 

Still, just because video games are here to stay doesn’t mean that their trajectory is inevitable, or that we can’t help shape their future. The medium—our least respected, most misunderstood art form—deserves more from us... Read More