Walking the beach in Bocagrande a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across some Colombian teenagers burying a male friend in the sand.

The Colombian kids, being exactly like kids everywhere, were giving the guy a large pair of sand breasts and giggling naughtily.  Like they were the first ones who ever thought of it.

Flashback: for longtime readers, this is exactly what a bunch of kids in Singapore were doing, too.  The only real difference was the weather.

All over the world, wars and languages and cultures may divide us, but humanity still seems united by one powerful force — teenagers get a big kick out of sand hooters.

It’s stuff like this that makes me think humanity almost has a shot.

For a teeny paperback  that came out over two months ago without any big-paper reviews even expected, a write-up in this week’s Sunday Boston Globe was certainly a pleasant surprise:

Holy crap.  Think she liked it much?

If you want a copy (or ten, heck, it’s the holidays!), here’s the Amazon link.

Or just click on the giant flashing animated gif of the book at the top of the page.  Subtle, I know.

Thanks!

Greeting you at the Cartagena airport:

Colombia,
the only risk is wanting to stay.

Um… I’m not sure that means exactly what they intended it to mean.

Still, fascinating place so far.

True story: I asked a guy on a plane what he did for a living here.  He said he was in agriculture, but he didn’t get into specifics.

A little later he said it was really more of an import/export business. 

That’s when I found stuff to ask besides what he did for a living.

I’m not completely convinced coming to Colombia by myself was the shrewdest move I’ve ever made.  But damn, beautiful country, friendly people.  Cartagena is like a living museum.  Put it on your life list.

Friend of the blog Paul Paquet runs a combination PR and trivia-question-writing company in Ottawa that actually does a pretty nifty business.  I had no idea the market for minutiae was so large.

His website hosts a weekly trivia quiz that Paul writes himself, and it’s always a fun way to knock a few minutes off while procrastinating online.  This week’s quiz is loosely based on Who Hates Whom, a recent book of mine you may have seen subtly mentioned elsewhere on this site.  Ahem.

I thank Paul for the thoughtful bit of pluggage.  If you’ve got ten minutes and want to play, click on over.

One key caveat: the quiz also contains material not drawn from the book, and there are several places where the quiz phrases things in a way I wouldn’t have chosen.  Consider the entire quiz Paul’s work, not mine.  He deserves full credit for all any fun, reward, or outrage you may experience.  Enjoy!

Actual current Adobe online ad, noticed on several pages of Salon.com:

Docomunents?