Shazzer Surfing...

I want my BPP! redux

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:53:00 +0200

Okay…maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part, but the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail is running an article that specifically mentions the rumours that NPR is now reconsidering it’s crappy decision to cancel my beloved Bryant Park Project.

This is supposedly because of the outpouring of disappointment from fans, most of whom listen online or via podcast (like me), rather than on one of the five (yes, you read that right) local NPR affiliates that carry it live during morning drive.

All this reinforces the fact that the BPP is clearly a huge hit with exactly the “new media consumers” that NPR was hoping to attract when it was launched a scant nine months ago as a morning radio program with an integrated web presence (streaming audio, multi-media blog, twitter feed, facebook group, etc.)

The reprieve rumours seem to focus on the BPP continuing as a scaled-down, web-only program that would be slightly “less-polished” (fine by me) than NPR’s usual over-the-air offerings. This makes SO much sense that I don’t understand why it wasn’t the original game plan when NPR cited the “downturning economy” as the reason for the BPP’s demise.

Here’s hoping that this particular rumour happens to be true, in which case I stand ready to make a financial pledge to support the venture.

The George W. Bush Sewage Plant is one step closer to reality!

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:24:00 +0200

The George W. Bush Sewage Plant is one step closer to reality!

To hell with luggage limits!

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:33:12 +0200

Where do sign-up for THIS flight?!!!

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"God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States — a total failure, losing all..."

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:43:00 +0200

“God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States — a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject.”

- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Pelosi: Bush ‘a total failure’ - CNN.com

Sometimes, it's the little things...

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:24:00 +0200

This morning, I cracked open a specially-imported original scent Sure Solid anti-perspirant/deodorant stick, which means:

Today I smell like an American!

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Holy crap! The Queen is ripped!

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:58:33 +0200

Holy crap! The Queen is ripped!

If the rest of the world had a vote...

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:13:09 +0200

Obama would win in a landslide. So says an article currently posted at Alternet.

This issue has extra resonance for me as an ex-pat:

If Americans want to improve their country’s image abroad, there is a clear choice between candidates.

There’s been a lull of late in the frequency of state polls of the Obama-McCain race to examine. So, in advance of Barack Obama’s international travel, I took a look at public opinion in other countries. In short, most countries would give Obama a landslide victory over McCain:

Belgium: Obama 74%, McCain 12%

Britain: Obama 53%, McCain 11%

France: Obama 65%, McCain 8%

Germany: Obama 72%, McCain 11%

(Click on the link above to read the full article at Alternet.)

I want my BPP!

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:47:52 +0200

I want my BPP!

It's a hard Knox life...

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:43:00 +0200

Actress Angelina Jolie has given birth to twins at a hospital in France.

The Lenval hospital in Nice told a local newspaper that a healthy boy and girl were delivered by Caesarian section on Saturday evening.

Nice Matin reported that Jolie and her partner, actor Brad Pitt, have named the boy Knox Leon and the girl, Vivienne Marcheline.

Actually, I think the name Knox is quite cool…but why on earth would they saddle the kid with the middle name Leon? I’m not sure even Brad Pitt’s son can overcome that moniker.

I’m totally envious of this iPhone3G camp-out in...

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:37:24 +0200

I’m totally envious of this iPhone3G camp-out in Copenhagen!

The chorus demanding Bush be prosecuted for constitutional abuses is getting louder

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:50:00 +0200

From an article in the UK newspaper The Guardian:

“…the idea of holding our leaders accountable for the crimes and constitutional violations of the past seven and a half years isn’t ridiculous in the least.

We are less than a decade removed from impeaching a president and nearly relieving him of office because of a lie in a civil deposition about blowjobs. Yet when congressman Dennis Kucinich recently attempted to impeach Bush over torture, extraordinary rendition and other grotesque constitutional abuses, Kucinich’s embarrassed fellow Democrats couldn’t kill the measure quickly enough.

Why? Top Democrats are so complicit in what has happened since 9/11 that my guess is they dare not travel down that road.”

The full piece can be read here:

Dan Kennedy: Should Bush be tried for war crimes?

So how are YOU spending your economic stimulus check?

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:39:00 +0200

I’d heard some rumblings about this a couple days ago, but thought it was just a joke.

Turns out that there has been a measurable upswing in paid subscriptions to internet porn sites since the checks started arriving Americans’ mailboxes in May.

I’m sure that’s just what the Bush Administration had in mind!

Jezenomics: Stimulate This!

Spain is having one hell of a summer!

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:55:28 +0200

Spain is having one hell of a summer!

"Some days you’re not so much “the wind beneath my wings” as you are the vacuum..."

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:04:53 +0200

“Some days you’re not so much “the wind beneath my wings” as you are the vacuum that sucks it right out of my sails.”

- Me, to Dr. Darling, who didn’t really “get” the reference.

Bush tours America to survey the damage of his disastrous...

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:14:39 +0200

Bush tours America to survey the damage of his disastrous presidency

(Another classic from The Onion.)

Drunken Swede tries to row home from Denmark To be honest,...

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:14:00 +0200

Drunken Swede tries to row home from Denmark

To be honest, I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often!

Salad wars

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:42:00 +0200

Shazzer (viewing a TV ad for canned corn): Who the hell puts corn in a salad?
Dr. Darling: Oh I think it's fairly common.
Shazzer: I NEVER put corn in a salad.
Dr. Darling: I've noticed.
Shazzer: Are you saying that you've spent the last six years eating my salads and thinking that the corn was missing?
Dr. Darling: Pretty much.
Shazzer: Maybe you'd like to take over the salad-making for the next six, then?
Dr. Darling: I don't miss the corn THAT much.

Why haven't CA gay marriages destroyed society yet?

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:40:56 +0200

There’s a great column posted to the CBS News website yesterday that asks, among other things:

What is going on here? I was promised calamity and catastrophe and the end of all things good and decent.

California was supposed to drop into the sea while all those who dared look back were turned into pillars of salt.

Why hasn’t this happened? Why is the world more or less going on with its business?

Is it possible that gay men and women getting married is not an extraordinary moral and social disaster? Is it possible that after all this time its really just not a big deal at all?

Column: Why Haven’t Calif. Gay Marriages Destroyed Society Yet?, - CBS News

The pause that refreshes...

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:19:21 +0200

Finally, a Swedish server that understands the meaning of the phrase, “with lots of ice”!

We dined “al fresco” in Lillatorg (Malmö’s “little square”) tonight. And while my companions, including Dr. Darling, went with traditional pub brews, I decided an ice cold Coca-Cola Light would be ideal for washing down my Moose Burger. (Okay, it was actually elk, but the restaurant is called Moosehead and this is their “signature dish”.) The trick would be getting our waitress to cooperate.

But as it’s now high season and our party was speaking English for the most part, she reasonably assumed we were American tourists and therefore inclined to tip. (It’s not a regular custom here and locals rarely do it.)

So I probably shouldn’t have been surprised when my glass arrived at the table filled with ice above the rim, but I was. And in what was certainly a case of my American-ness trumping my local-ness, I tipped her, too.

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Obama holds 12-point lead over McCain, poll finds

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:06:18 +0200

Obama holds 12-point lead over McCain, poll finds: I know it’s early yet, but this is still really encouraging.