He's not a murderous fruitcake! He's "eccentric." That's the word NPR used!
We need a chart that explains how much wealth you need to get away with which crazy behaviors and still be called "eccentric."
I believe you can also be eccentric while penurious so long as your family has historically been wealthy.
My favorite quote in the whole thing (from before the murder):
It's not too unusual for eccentric gringos to wind up in Central America and slowly turn stranger--"Rich white men who come to Belize and act strangely are kind of a type," one local journalist told me.
I admit that I have an ambition to be a rich white man acting strangely in Belize.
4 -- me too. I've got to say that my main emotional reaction is "wouldn't it be awesome to make tens of millions, build a compound in the jungle, and just go loco."
If 5 had been left presidentially and I had to guess who wrote it, I would have guessed Halford. (Had it said "desert" in lieu of "jungle", I might have guessed Sifu.)
Mistah Kurtz--he fruitcake...
Have to admire his commitment to the blogger ethos though.
Have we discussed here yet what a murderous fruitcake he is?
And that's just on the strength of his software.
1.last - Was it a Dupont heir who dismembered his neighbor, went on the run in drag, and was later acquitted despite his involvement in two additional killings? Good times.
Ah, no, it's a Dupont heir who murdered an Olympic gold medalist then barricading himself in his mansion. The neighbor-dismemberer was a New York real estate scion.
There was a duPont who was convicted of murder.
9-11: Given that the eponymous chemical company began as a gunpowder manufacturer, you might conclude that it runs in the family.
me too. I've got to say that my main emotional reaction is "wouldn't it be awesome to make tens of millions, build a compound in the jungle, and just go loco."
I thought your ultimate ambition involved a personal nuclear submarine crewed by beautiful female ninjas.
Or maybe having one of those goes without saying when you're a rich white guy in Belize.
There's ultimate ambition, and then just ambition.
Are there any real life examples of some billionaire with a highly trained security team of super-hot women? I realize that requiring the women to specifically be "ninjas" may be unrealistic.
Didn't Khaddafi have attractive female bodyguards?
Khaddafi also got shot in a ditch.
Oh yeah, here we go. That would be pretty sweet. I also don't need to brutally repress my people quite as much as Khaddafi, but to be clear they must fear me.
I suppose by that point, his security needs were parabodyguard.
I remember when I saw the link in 19 that I thought they all looked like members of the New Power Generation.
To the OP, I see the Guatemalteco authorities have told McAfee that his asylum application is for to laugh and are going to hand him back to Belize.
19: Are you going to insist that your guards be virgins as well? Because that cuts down a bit on the job-applicant pool.
16: Coxinga!
Not quite, but more and better besides.
The ninjas would take over like the Mamluks did. Getting rid of people is what they are for, after all.
23: The virgin thing was stupid, and shows that for all his fashion sense, Khaddafi didn't have what it takes to a truly great power-mad dictator.
Me, I'm putting my castle on the Moon. The Moon! I'm going to built it in the side of a crater facing so that Earth is perpetually on the horizon. (Is there an Earth illusion on the Moon?) I just need to spend more time on Google Moon picking out a crater.
26: That spot is already taken by Dracula.
My Dad was in Belize, I think, during some coup attempt or flare up in tensions with Guatemala in the early 70s. He was there as part of a small army group testing jungle radios, and was suddenly expected to be ready for actual shooting and was sent off to help hold the airport while waiting for Marines to fly in from Ascension. It didn't happen, though, and after a few days he flew back out on a commercial flight.*
* actual details somewhat vague as it's years since I heard the story. I can't remember which year he was there. Some time between 68 and 71, I'd guess.
I realize that requiring the women to specifically be "ninjas" may be unrealistic.
Especially considering that some people believe that ninjas never really existed.
29: They live under the earth, ttaM, and tunnel out as needed. Halford can show you a map.
(Anyone who hasn't read a biography of Zheng Chenggong/ 鄭成功 /Coxinga should. Pirate rebel prince semi-deified by his historical enemies, married a high-ranking samurai woman (we can assume she was a ninja princess), lots of multicultural allies, troops, enemies.)
Some friends of friends moved to Belize because it is located such that a beachcomber could hope to find a fairly regular supply of nicely-wrapped cocaine dumped from interdicted speedboats en route to the Gulf.
Ironically, ninjas don't believe that Scotland is real.
32: Also the entire basis for the economy of Bluefields, Nicaragua.
31: Was it here someone (ajay?) mentioned Moses Cohen Henriques?
Are there any real life examples of some billionaire with a highly trained security team of super-hot women?
I don't know about that, but we just watched Diamonds Are Forever and the "fight" scene between Sean Connery and Blofeld's two incredibly slow-moving female bodyguards is hilariously awful. (We're on an old-school Bond kick.)
19:
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User/Machine: IP: 10.20.7.233
Category: Pornography/Adult Content
Fuck compounds in the jungle with female ninja bodyguards. I'd be satisfied with a modest timberframe cabin in the Adirondacks and the female staff of the NYT Economix blog.
...though, if I'm realistic about it, I might need a few ninjas on hand to dispatch Ezra.
38: It's easy to block non-novel sexual acts.
OT: A Rusty Nail is apparently a delicate proposition. Or it seems that way because I can tell the difference between the new guy's and the senior guy. Only the first guy measured.
Maybe it just needed mixed better. All the not-scotch was at the bottom.
Anyone who hasn't read a biography of Zheng Chenggong/ 鄭成功 /Coxinga should
Any recommendations on a good one?
31: Was it here someone (ajay?) mentioned Moses Cohen Henriques?
No, but I'm happy to mention him now.
The forum thread where he was discussing the recipe for manufacturing his super perv powder is quite the thing. Then you go on to read the accompanying general discussion on MDPV, and that's quite the thing as well.
He's still got it, too - viz the amateurs from Vice who leaked their location in photo EXIF tags. he immediately put it about that he hacked their web server, munged the exif tags to spoof his location. cue Vice freaking the fuck out.
now, I don't think he did exploit their web server, but flipping your target right into Angleton's wilderness of mirrors without actually touching a damn thing...
Is there an Earth illusion on the Moon?
Presumably not, given that there are no buildings and such on the horizon. But then, we don't really have an intuitive baseline notion of how the earth should look from the moon.
29. Apparently there are two ninjas left, but they're not training any successors and they're a bit old to be bodyguards any more.
Especially considering that some people believe that ninjas never really existed.
That's just what they want you to think.
Also, while we're on the subject of ninjas, you guys do know about Dr McNinja, right?
Presumably not, given that there are no buildings and such on the horizon.
Well, that's exactly what Rob wants to change.
re: 47
Yeah, but even those guys are surrounded by falsehood and exaggerated claims. e.g. Hatsumi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schools_of_Ninjutsu#Hatsumi
Even if some of the ryu are real and part of a historical tradition, 99% of the surrounding guff is largely a product of later dramatisations (e.g. in Japanese theatre) and outright fabrication.
e.g. (from wiki)
While the image of a ninja clad in black garb (shinobi shōzoku) is prevalent in popular media, there is no written evidence for such a costume...The popular notion of black clothing is likely rooted in artistic convention. Early drawings of ninja were shown to be dressed in black in order to portray a sense of invisibility. This convention was an idea borrowed from the puppet handlers of bunraku theater, who dressed in total black in an effort to simulate props moving independently of their controls
39: You want to spend time in a cabin in the woods with economists?
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2 days okay here **SPOILERS**
Although the film does not emphasize this, it is interesting that Kiki's loss of power/confidence occurs during puberty, a period when many young girls question their innate competence. Even thoughMiyazaki isn't terrible, but he still isn't quite there. Girl = nature = nurture = self sacrifice = magic.
Technology a little or lot dangerous. In Nausicaa and Totoro, girls grow
things, boys build gentle-tech flying machines. MJ doesn't hate tech, he just wants a 19th century, green, very limited tech.
Hell, it's still all The Secret Garden really. Sexist and reactionary.
Chobits. The Shojo is the computer that programs the otaku.
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Sorry. Html fail
2 days okay here **SPOILERS**
The film is thus an allegory of maturation in which belief in the self is the key to genuine development. In the film's action climax Kiki's powers are restored to her at the moment she needs them most, when trying to rescue her young friend Tombo, who is clinging to a rope dangling from a damaged airship. No longer thinking of herself and her own worries, Kiki is free to call on her old powers. The film ends on a note of satisfaction as Kiki writes home to her parents saying how much she likes life in her new community.Although the film does not emphasize this, it is interesting that Kiki's loss of power/confidence occurs during puberty, a period when many young girls question their innate competence. Even though
Kiki's sexuality is kept deliberately low-key, it is significant that the return of her powers comes about through her involvement with a boy.
Miyazaki isn't terrible, but he still isn't quite there. Girl = nature = nurture = self sacrifice = magic.
Technology a little or lot dangerous. In Nausicaa and Totoro, girls grow
things, boys build gentle-tech flying machines. MJ doesn't hate tech, he just wants a 19th century, green, very limited tech.
Hell, it's still all The Secret Garden really. Sexist and reactionary.
Chobits. The Shojo is the computer that programs the otaku.
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And I meant Laputa above not Nausicaa which has its own set of problems.
The apocalypse is masculinist.
In a hole in the ground lived a chobit.
Meanwhile, in other weird Caribbean arrests news...