Linguistic evidence for Japanese domination, with several field reports of a more general nature.

Xavier Caballé quotes a bit where the notoriously unreliable Catalan historian Josep Benet overstates post-war executions in what he calls “the Valencian Country” by factor 10. (I could have sworn that my comment appeared before footnote 2 did, but it’s been a confusing day.) The actual figure, taken over the period in question (1939-1953), is, [...]

Estacions fantasmes del metro de Barcelona (via Dani@Altres Barcelones) has got some great contemporary photos, digital reconstructions and historical material.
The one thing I find curious is that, as with lots of Spanish websites, sourcing is vague and intellectual property appear not to be an issue. While one part of the Spanish blogosphere suffers periodic attacks [...]

Spain’s up at no 52 on the UN parking ticket corruption index, so that’s between the Ukraine and the Philippines, with average 12.7 unpaid violations per diplomat. The UK averages 0.0. Other crime news: Either the Azerbaijanis or the UAEers have stolen an “r” from Australia.
The data’s pretty old, so perhaps Spanish councils’ new [...]

I know something of Belgian military bicycling bands. Here from 1909 is another photogenic but doomed military enterprise:

Keep taking the drugs, Riccardo. The photo is from the November 1909 edition of Por esos mundos, which concluded that the French could beat the Germans, that the British had successively reformed their military following lessons learned in [...]

Lenox has a sighting of a man living inside a bin in Valencia. Is this the same one I saw? I suppose you could see it as an eco-version of a camper van. With a couple of donkeys you could probably get up and down the Levant without too much difficulty.

A popular photography course, copied from a neighbourhood magazine produced by Alejandro Pérez, an enterprising Nou Barris estate agent, encountered on this walk:

I imagine the Bayeux Tapestry was planned in similar fashion.

Here.
The film is by the Barcelona film-maker, Ricardo de Baños, whose oeuvre, produced for an audience including Alfonso XIII, combined Barcelona storm scenes with early flamenco, as well as porn flicks like Consultorio de señoras and anti-Protestant erotica like El confesor. (BTW I wonder whether the otherwise excellent Ferdinand von Galitzien is not mistaken [...]

The marvellous world of almost, or what a difference a letter makes:

(Click thru to post page to see text)

“Coal and iron in Spain”, 16/11/1877: “From Vich, the present terminal point, to the coal mines of San Juan de Abadesas of the railroad which some day in the future will be the grand trunk line to Paris, the Government has built a good substantial stage-road to Ripoll.” The railway arrived in Sant Joan de [...]

Taking the centre line is the modern, motoring equivalent of taking the wall:
Archie’s driving habit was unique, He drove 35 mph an hour, whether on a gravel road, or the highway, keeping the left tire on the center line. Your brother John was riding with him, and said, “Grandpa Archie, what if you meet a [...]

A malfunction of the public address system produces a rather pleasing strobe:

At the end of this clip, a crude example of the wagon wheel effect, caused by what the brain, fooled by the camera, takes to be a succession of evenly spaced, identical Quercus ilex:

More educational train journeys here.

Being Barcelona Council’s corporativist scheme to marginalise private bike ownership and bike shops:

59euros is going round chaining random stuff to lampposts in protest at the council’s policy minimising facilities for non-council bikes and then removing perfectly roadworthy examples from the streets to make way for yet more council bikes and illegally parked motorbikes. Saltada Popular [...]

Shite so cheesy it’s amazing the BBC didn’t beat PBS to it:

(Yes, head cheese, but shite cheese or cheese shite, probably not.)

–¡Alfonso primero!
–¡Alfonso XIII!
Probably one of those time-space-specific things. Alfonso XIII strikes me as an infinitely superior as far as witless losers go, but I wasn’t there at the time.

I humbly draw your attention to a new minisite–fear of public shame may help me get round to doing it. Meanwhile the Barcelona historical almanac continues to progress, although the timeline and feed and various other stuff need fixing.

Expedición de Catalanes y Aragoneses al Oriente:
Fué batalla muy terrible y sangrienta, y duró mas el alcance y el matar, que el vencimiento; porque en siendo muerto el Duque, y empantanadas las primeras tropas de la caballería, hubo gran desorden en lo restante del exército enemigo, con que fué facil el rompelle. Ganada tan señalada [...]

Actually Ludwig Hilberseimer, Entwurf für eine Hochhausstadt/Design for a high-rise city (1924). Hitler exported idealistic architects rather than bombs to the US. Hilberseimer ran the Chicago planning department for a while, and they and other public institutions have spent the last ten years tearing down projects built by him and other Bauhaus luminaries.
Enthusiasm in [...]

Mr Driver emerges from his lair and, after a brief conversation re our respective employment, says, “There’s half an hour to go before we leave, so why don’t I show you round town?” A rather attractive blonde is left standing, but 50 yards later Mr Driver’s antennae tell him that a slightly less attractive blonde/brunette [...]

Whirling brooms sweep bits of newspaper into a vacuum zone under the truck, whence they are pumped to the bin:

Driving lesson: