- I got old.
- The music in the last 25 years is really bad.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Cream rises to the top, but so, too, do dead fish
A glance at Casey Kasem's top-10 lists for the past 39 years shows that the most recent songs that I own are from 1984, suggesting one or more of the following:
Friday, July 17, 2009
Cheap eats and currency exchange
For quite a few years, The Economist has published its Big Mac Index, a metric that gives us Americans a better understanding of the values of various currencies around the world. By comparing the relative prices of a Big Mac, we can see how the other 94% live.
So, if you want to get a cheap meal, go to China or Hong Kong. You might, however, have to fly standing up.
Here's this year's edition of the Big Mac Index:
From Value meal
So, if you want to get a cheap meal, go to China or Hong Kong. You might, however, have to fly standing up.
Here's this year's edition of the Big Mac Index:
From Value meal
The most difficult and the least
“God did not reveal the reward for the precepts except in two cases: the most difficult and the least.” -- Mekor Chaim: Ki Tetze
Honoring of parents is one of the most difficult of all Biblical commandments to properly fulfill.
Crime in suburbia
From The Landmark (subscription required):
Monday, July 6
12:21 a.m. Suspicious motor vehicle, Fox Hill Dr.
12:41 a.m. Loose dog, Parker Rd.
7:51 a.m. Walk-in reports someone is passed out in vehicle by side of Bond Rd.
11:37 a.m. Suspicious vehicle on Timber Ln.; gone now
12:21 p.m. Fedex truck pulled down service wire, Stoneleigh Rd.
4:56 p.m. Disabled logging truck, Reservoir St.
6:01 p.m. Dog barking for six hours on Village Way
7:39 p.m. Fireworks reported near Gail Dr.
3:04 p.m. Power outage on Union St., possible lightning strike
4:00 p.m. 911 hang-up from pharmacy
5:56 p.m. Lost dog; found at 6:37 p.m.
8:53 p.m. Fireworks in Colonial Dr. area
9:28 p.m. Sewer pump flashing, Mark Bradford Dr.
11:15 p.m. Two youngsters walking around neighborhood, Pine Tree Rd.
8:35 a.m. Minor motor vehicle accident, Main St.
9:25 a.m. Female appears to be distressed, Main St.; OK
10:01 a.m. 911 Child reports seeing men burying live dog; incident misinterpreted, folks attempting to trap or stop a fox
10:41 a.m. Walk-in reports brother trying to sell equipment that doesn't belong to him
11:31 a.m. Two lost dogs reported
2:16 p.m. Excavator in ditch and employees arguing, Steele St.
4:16 p.m. Kids on bikes riding on Princeton St.
11:21 p.m. Doorbell rang at residence on Cedar Rd. and resident heard scream; investigated, all quiet
1:23 a.m. Traffic barrels overturned and multiple smashed watermelons, Salisbury St.; Howe's Farm in Paxton has empty watermelon bin
8:45 a.m. Caller awakened around 4 a.m. by someone pounding on her door
12:40 p.m. Youths skateboarding in Subway parking lot
12:45 p.m. People playing in cemetery
4:01 p.m. 911 Teen reports dog missing, Orchard Rd.
6:20 p.m. Man selling meat and chicken from truck, High St.
7:55 p.m. Wife reports husband bitten by dog while on his bicycle; owner refusing to give info, Mill St.
3:46 p.m. Half dozen teens on Woodland Rd.; caller would like them to move
6:26 p.m. Call regarding dog bite; was supposed to hear status of dog's vaccinations
7:21 p.m. Three juveniles, two on bikes, one on skateboard, at church on Main St.
7:27 p.m. 911 abandoned call; child playing with phone
8:31 p.m. Strong odor of natural gas, Shrewsbury St. area
8:42 p.m. Large cloud of smoke near Shrewsbury St. reported
11:05 p.m. Large number of youths reported on Oregon Trl.
5:52 a.m. Winfield Dr. resident believes vehicle part of string of burglaries; also, wife saw mountain lion by mailbox two weeks ago
9:55 a.m. Two lost dogs, Bailey Rd.
11:09 a.m. Vehicle parked sideways in street, Bull Run
11:23 a.m. Walk-in inquiring about Holden Fire Department Explorers can drive, lost keys, and civilian police academy
12:20 p.m. Third call regarding power, North St.
1:30 p.m. Two teens with buckets collecting change, Shrewsbury St.; removed from intersection, then called about soliciting regulations
2:14 p.m. Child and father assisted back to vehicle from Rail Trail
3:05 p.m. Suspicious motorcycle parked in driveway, Broad St., driver returned, ran out of gas
3:08 p.m. Gun shots, Chapel St.
8:24 p.m. Fireworks reported, Mayflower Cir.
10:03 p.m. Power outage, North St.
5:09 a.m. 911 silent call, Dawson Cir.; possible phone line problem
3:10 p.m. Loud music from Nelson St. residence
3:51 p.m. Large tree limb fell across neighbor's yard, making power lines hang low, Brennan Way
7:48 p.m. Truck almost hit cyclists, River St.
9:28 p.m. Check on bike rider with dark clothing and no reflectors
5:33 p.m. Request that police speak to people regarding possible illegal burn on Knollwood Rd. Advised it is a cooking fire
11:30 a.m. Request for animal control officer, Ralph Rd.
11:47 a.m. Property found, Rocky Pond Rd.
11:53 a.m. Public service, Mirick Rd.
4:12 p.m. Request for animal control officer, Westminster Rd.
4:30 p.m. Public service, Miles Ave., Westminster
5:30 p.m. Request for light department, Grow Ln.
5:55 p.m. Request for animal control officer, Esty Rd.
6:45 p.m. Traffic safety hazard, East Princeton Rd.
11:25 p.m. Officer investigation, Main St.
11:01 a.m. Assist other PD, Sterling Rd.
6:50 p.m. Lost/missing person, Ball Hill Rd.
8:23 p.m. Assist fire department, Calamint Hill Rd. S
5:56 p.m. Property found, Mountain Rd.
8:24 a.m. Person lost bucket of tools from back of truck earlier in morning, Inwood Rd./Maple Ave. area
8:30 a.m. Request to speak with dog officer about dog that died during the night, Turkey Hill Rd.
8:30 a.m. Request to speak with officer regarding traffic issues at Kenwood Dr./Walnut St.
10:17 p.m. Report of people screaming, Kalloch Dr.
4:27 p.m. Utility pole hit by lightning, Welsh Ave.
7:00 p.m. Person riding bike yelled at by truck load of young men, Main St.
4:25 p.m. Keys locked in car, Peters Ave.
9:08 p.m. Keys locked in car at Mobil Station
6:47 p.m. Person at station reporting two boys misbehaving at Memorial Field
8:51 a.m. Female out running encountered aggressive fox with kits, Johanna/Linwood
12:38 p.m. Suspicious males trying to get tree work, Cameron Dr.
5:49 p.m. Complaint about barking dog, Watson Ln.
7:27 p.m. Person locked herself out of car, Miles Rd.
10:06 a.m. Person wants to know rules about operating mini-bike, Main St.
10:31 a.m. Several bales of hay in East County/River Rds.
10:39 a.m. Officer left message at Kenwood Dr. home for owner to call station
2:15 p.m. Person wants to speak with animal control officer about cats in neighborhood, Sunnyside Ave.
3:18 p.m. Person at station to talk about problems with neighbor, Sunnyside Ave.
5:54 p.m. Disabled bus on I-190 on off ramp to Rte. 12
3:06 p.m. Report of vehicle off roadway, deep into woods, I-190
10:25 p.m. Injured deer beside the road, Chace Hill Rd.
11:16 p.m. Officer investigating injured deer, Chace Hill Rd.
11:41 p.m. Vehicle going wrong way at Crazy Corners, escorting party to Chocksett Inn
9:39 a.m. Caller wants to speak with officer regarding neighbor issue, Heywood Rd.
11:44 a.m. Disorderly conduct, youths yelling profanities from vehicle on Boutelle Rd.
1:06 p.m. Kitten found, Riverview Rd.
5:00 p.m. Report of dog bitten by coyote in yard, dog will be quarantined, Kendall Hill Rd.
12:56 p.m. Vehicle blocking view of cars, Leominster Rd.
3:18 p.m. Officer wanted, female expressing concern regarding person sleeping on bench at children's playground, Griffin Rd.
6:20 p.m. Officer requested for tree removal crew causing damage to home, Tuttle Rd.
8:57 p.m. Caller wants officer to respond for unruly child, Bean Rd.
11:26 a.m. People sitting in lawn chairs in Griffin Rd., vehicles have to go around them
3:47 p.m. Report of speeding boat on the lake on Hall Ave.
8:19 p.m. Person at station to report an older dog loose on golf course
Monday, July 6
12:21 a.m. Suspicious motor vehicle, Fox Hill Dr. 12:41 a.m. Loose dog, Parker Rd.
7:51 a.m. Walk-in reports someone is passed out in vehicle by side of Bond Rd.
11:37 a.m. Suspicious vehicle on Timber Ln.; gone now
12:21 p.m. Fedex truck pulled down service wire, Stoneleigh Rd.
4:56 p.m. Disabled logging truck, Reservoir St.
6:01 p.m. Dog barking for six hours on Village Way
7:39 p.m. Fireworks reported near Gail Dr.
Tuesday, July 7
10:31 a.m. Teen out of control, Wachusett St.3:04 p.m. Power outage on Union St., possible lightning strike
4:00 p.m. 911 hang-up from pharmacy
5:56 p.m. Lost dog; found at 6:37 p.m.
8:53 p.m. Fireworks in Colonial Dr. area
9:28 p.m. Sewer pump flashing, Mark Bradford Dr.
11:15 p.m. Two youngsters walking around neighborhood, Pine Tree Rd.
Wednesday, July 8
7:46 a.m. Parent concerned about teenage son who ran out of gas, could have been in the Brookfields8:35 a.m. Minor motor vehicle accident, Main St.
9:25 a.m. Female appears to be distressed, Main St.; OK
10:01 a.m. 911 Child reports seeing men burying live dog; incident misinterpreted, folks attempting to trap or stop a fox
10:41 a.m. Walk-in reports brother trying to sell equipment that doesn't belong to him
11:31 a.m. Two lost dogs reported
2:16 p.m. Excavator in ditch and employees arguing, Steele St.
4:16 p.m. Kids on bikes riding on Princeton St.
11:21 p.m. Doorbell rang at residence on Cedar Rd. and resident heard scream; investigated, all quiet
Thursday, July 9
12:57 a.m. Suspicious vehicle, Main St.1:23 a.m. Traffic barrels overturned and multiple smashed watermelons, Salisbury St.; Howe's Farm in Paxton has empty watermelon bin
8:45 a.m. Caller awakened around 4 a.m. by someone pounding on her door
12:40 p.m. Youths skateboarding in Subway parking lot
12:45 p.m. People playing in cemetery
4:01 p.m. 911 Teen reports dog missing, Orchard Rd.
6:20 p.m. Man selling meat and chicken from truck, High St.
7:55 p.m. Wife reports husband bitten by dog while on his bicycle; owner refusing to give info, Mill St.
Friday, July 10
12:44 a.m. Suspicious motor vehicle, Main St.; individual lost; escorted to Worcester line3:46 p.m. Half dozen teens on Woodland Rd.; caller would like them to move
6:26 p.m. Call regarding dog bite; was supposed to hear status of dog's vaccinations
7:21 p.m. Three juveniles, two on bikes, one on skateboard, at church on Main St.
7:27 p.m. 911 abandoned call; child playing with phone
8:31 p.m. Strong odor of natural gas, Shrewsbury St. area
8:42 p.m. Large cloud of smoke near Shrewsbury St. reported
11:05 p.m. Large number of youths reported on Oregon Trl.
Saturday, July 11
12:46 a.m. Strong odor of natural gas reported at Shrewsbury St./Woodridge Rd.5:52 a.m. Winfield Dr. resident believes vehicle part of string of burglaries; also, wife saw mountain lion by mailbox two weeks ago
9:55 a.m. Two lost dogs, Bailey Rd.
11:09 a.m. Vehicle parked sideways in street, Bull Run
11:23 a.m. Walk-in inquiring about Holden Fire Department Explorers can drive, lost keys, and civilian police academy
12:20 p.m. Third call regarding power, North St.
1:30 p.m. Two teens with buckets collecting change, Shrewsbury St.; removed from intersection, then called about soliciting regulations
2:14 p.m. Child and father assisted back to vehicle from Rail Trail
3:05 p.m. Suspicious motorcycle parked in driveway, Broad St., driver returned, ran out of gas
3:08 p.m. Gun shots, Chapel St.
8:24 p.m. Fireworks reported, Mayflower Cir.
10:03 p.m. Power outage, North St.
Sunday, July 12
5:09 a.m. 911 silent call, Dawson Cir.; possible phone line problem
3:10 p.m. Loud music from Nelson St. residence
3:51 p.m. Large tree limb fell across neighbor's yard, making power lines hang low, Brennan Way
7:48 p.m. Truck almost hit cyclists, River St.
9:28 p.m. Check on bike rider with dark clothing and no reflectors
Paxton
Monday, July 6
2:47 p.m. Loose dog walking on West St.5:33 p.m. Request that police speak to people regarding possible illegal burn on Knollwood Rd. Advised it is a cooking fire
Tuesday, July 7
5:57 a.m. Homeowner reports popping noise outside, then loss of power, Squantum Rd.Wednesday, July 8
4:18 p.m. Possible illegal dumping at Boynton Park, Boynton Pkwy. areaThursday, July 9
9:30 p.m. Missing black Labrador, Grove St.Friday, July 10
2:23 p.m. Someone threw four bags of trash into Dumpster rented by homeowner, Streeter Rd.Saturday, July 11
11:52 p.m. Report that someone is trying to break into house, Meadowbrook Dr. Friends playing practical jokeSunday, July 12
4:41 p.m. Someone is riding dirt bike in roadway, Camp St.Princeton
Monday, July 6
8:39 a.m. Request for animal control officer, Willson Rd.Tuesday, July 7
11:30 a.m. Request for animal control officer, Ralph Rd.
11:47 a.m. Property found, Rocky Pond Rd.
11:53 a.m. Public service, Mirick Rd.
4:12 p.m. Request for animal control officer, Westminster Rd.
4:30 p.m. Public service, Miles Ave., Westminster
5:30 p.m. Request for light department, Grow Ln.
5:55 p.m. Request for animal control officer, Esty Rd.
6:45 p.m. Traffic safety hazard, East Princeton Rd.
11:25 p.m. Officer investigation, Main St.
Wednesday, July 8
2:53 p.m. Public service, Town Hall Dr.Thursday, July 9
10:54 a.m. Disturbance, Ball Hill Rd.11:01 a.m. Assist other PD, Sterling Rd.
6:50 p.m. Lost/missing person, Ball Hill Rd.
8:23 p.m. Assist fire department, Calamint Hill Rd. S
Friday, July 10
4:02 p.m. Assist fire department, Clearings WaySaturday, July 11
10:54 p.m. Suspicious person, Hickory Dr.Sunday, July 12
4:53 p.m. Narcotics, Fitchburg Rd. Citation issued5:56 p.m. Property found, Mountain Rd.
Rutland
Monday, July 6
8:01 a.m. Assist other PD, Bond Rd., Holden8:24 a.m. Person lost bucket of tools from back of truck earlier in morning, Inwood Rd./Maple Ave. area
8:30 a.m. Request to speak with dog officer about dog that died during the night, Turkey Hill Rd.
8:30 a.m. Request to speak with officer regarding traffic issues at Kenwood Dr./Walnut St.
10:17 p.m. Report of people screaming, Kalloch Dr.
Tuesday, July 7
10:48 a.m. Vehicle has been parked on street for a few days, Main St.4:27 p.m. Utility pole hit by lightning, Welsh Ave.
7:00 p.m. Person riding bike yelled at by truck load of young men, Main St.
Wednesday, July 8
8:11 a.m. Coyote dead beside road, coyote pups nearby, E. County Rd.4:25 p.m. Keys locked in car, Peters Ave.
9:08 p.m. Keys locked in car at Mobil Station
Thursday, July 9
5:42 a.m. Notify person on Glenwood Rd. that relative needs to be picked up at Shrewsbury Station6:47 p.m. Person at station reporting two boys misbehaving at Memorial Field
Friday, July 10
8:35 a.m. Dead bobcat, Pommogussett Rd.8:51 a.m. Female out running encountered aggressive fox with kits, Johanna/Linwood
12:38 p.m. Suspicious males trying to get tree work, Cameron Dr.
5:49 p.m. Complaint about barking dog, Watson Ln.
7:27 p.m. Person locked herself out of car, Miles Rd.
Saturday, July 11
8:59 a.m. Person having trouble with someone on Craig's List, Main St.10:06 a.m. Person wants to know rules about operating mini-bike, Main St.
10:31 a.m. Several bales of hay in East County/River Rds.
10:39 a.m. Officer left message at Kenwood Dr. home for owner to call station
2:15 p.m. Person wants to speak with animal control officer about cats in neighborhood, Sunnyside Ave.
3:18 p.m. Person at station to talk about problems with neighbor, Sunnyside Ave.
Sunday, July 12
5:01 p.m. Report of disturbance during the night, Laurelwood Rd.Sterling
Monday, July 6
11:08 a.m. Report of bobcat and cubs, Redstone Hill Rd.5:54 p.m. Disabled bus on I-190 on off ramp to Rte. 12
Tuesday, July 7
10:04 a.m. Caller requesting to speak with animal control office regarding notice received, Leominster Rd.3:06 p.m. Report of vehicle off roadway, deep into woods, I-190
10:25 p.m. Injured deer beside the road, Chace Hill Rd.
11:16 p.m. Officer investigating injured deer, Chace Hill Rd.
11:41 p.m. Vehicle going wrong way at Crazy Corners, escorting party to Chocksett Inn
Wednesday, July 8
2:21 a.m. Car abandoned in middle of Osgood Rd.9:39 a.m. Caller wants to speak with officer regarding neighbor issue, Heywood Rd.
11:44 a.m. Disorderly conduct, youths yelling profanities from vehicle on Boutelle Rd.
1:06 p.m. Kitten found, Riverview Rd.
5:00 p.m. Report of dog bitten by coyote in yard, dog will be quarantined, Kendall Hill Rd.
Thursday, July 9
9:58 a.m. Request to speak with officer regarding ongoing neighbor issue, Leominster Rd.12:56 p.m. Vehicle blocking view of cars, Leominster Rd.
3:18 p.m. Officer wanted, female expressing concern regarding person sleeping on bench at children's playground, Griffin Rd.
6:20 p.m. Officer requested for tree removal crew causing damage to home, Tuttle Rd.
Friday, July 10
3:56 p.m. Caller can't get home due to road-closed signs, Justice Hill/Elliott Rds.8:57 p.m. Caller wants officer to respond for unruly child, Bean Rd.
Saturday, July 11
8:18 a.m. Dog found in kennel with other dogs that doesn't belong there, John Dee Rd.11:26 a.m. People sitting in lawn chairs in Griffin Rd., vehicles have to go around them
3:47 p.m. Report of speeding boat on the lake on Hall Ave.
Sunday, July 12
3:02 a.m. Loud party in area of Shady Ln.8:19 p.m. Person at station to report an older dog loose on golf course
What Amazon thinks I want
I've been shopping at Amazon for 10 or so years (thanks to panklam). I find their recommendation system useful, intriguing, and, on occasion, three-alarm bizarre. Based on something I bought sometime, here's what they think I might be interested in purchasing now:
I'm gonna guess that lumpfish caviar tastes pretty much like it sounds.
I think I'm gonna have to order Spam® and Cheez Whiz® so that they'll get a clearer picture of my culinary preferences.
I think I'm gonna have to order Spam® and Cheez Whiz® so that they'll get a clearer picture of my culinary preferences.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
On the future of print journalism
The afternoon edition of The Gardner News carried just a small wire service story, below the fold, with a Dallas dateline, that said that President Kennedy had been shot. By the time that I read that paper, on November 22nd, 1963, we'd already heard the news on the school's PA system and we were sent home early.
For the next bunch of days, the TV stayed on, mostly tuned to CBS where we watched Walter Cronkite as he guided us through that wrenching time.
As important as newspapers were at the time, their ability to deliver timely news had been eclipsed by radio and then television.
The decline in the number of newspapers began long before the World-Wide Web. "The United States had 267 fewer newspapers in 1990 than it had in 1940." More importantly, readership of printed newspapers has similarly declined. "...fewer than 18 out of 100 Americans today buy a daily or Sunday newspaper. Back in 1946, 36% of the population bought a daily paper and 31% took a Sunday edition"
In this context, about 20 people gathered last night at the Northboro library for a conversation about the future of print journalism. The speaker and discussion leader was George French, former editorial page editor of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. French brough his 38 years of experience and a folder full of clippings to help the group explore the past, present, and future of print journalism.
The discussion began with a clip from a Charlie Rose show on Future of Newspapers. In the show, three newspaper publishers discuss how they are dealing with the varied challenges to the newspaper industry. Robert Thomson of the Wall Street Journal observed that, from an advertiser's perspective, "Google devalues everything that it touches."
This point became a common theme throughout the evening as the participants talked with eagerness and anxiety about what would become of newspapers and, more importantly, journalism. The founders knew that we needed journalism, French noted, to keep our institutions open to all citizens.
The Telegram and Gazette's daily circulation is about 78,000. French described how the print edition promotes telegram.com with additional stories and features, all in an effort to strength the Telegram brand. The strategy appears to be working. Online readership contributed more than 600,000 unique visitors per month.
Subscription and advertising revenues continue to be hammered, however, by services such as Google and Craigslist, the latter siphoning off the lucrative classified advertising market. As a result, newspapers are considering a variety of subscription models. The Wall Street Journal has been able to attract subscribers for their strong business content, but the general population seems to be resistant to paying for web news. Alternate modes of payments, such as electronic micro-payments for selected content, led to a discussion thread about the particulars of how online payments would work. While many people are quite comfortable with regular online commerce, a good bit of resistance and fear remains. The division ran rather jaggedly across generational lines.
This, in turn, brought the group to another key theme: whatever newspapers, print or otherwise, do to survive in the next 5-10 years may only keep the current subscriber base, a group that is typically older than the general population. "People under 30 don't read newspapers," said one participant.
"The future of print journalism," French concluded, "is uncertain," referring to this New Yorker cartoon.
Amid all of the comments that addressed technical, political, policy, cultural, and aesthetic issues, French noted and the group agreed that people would pay for value, but that what they valued changed over times and across generational boundaries. People want good content and, for that reason, "The prognosis for journalism is very good."
Notes
As important as local news may be, we also have to point out that morning's Telegram has no stories written by TG staffers.
Editorial disclaimer
I have known George for more that 45 years, since his college days. I owe him a great debt for teaching me my first guitar chords back during the Great Folk Music Scare of the 1960s. I also owe him deep thanks for his friendship with my mother and with me over these many years. He's the real deal.
For the next bunch of days, the TV stayed on, mostly tuned to CBS where we watched Walter Cronkite as he guided us through that wrenching time.
As important as newspapers were at the time, their ability to deliver timely news had been eclipsed by radio and then television.
The decline in the number of newspapers began long before the World-Wide Web. "The United States had 267 fewer newspapers in 1990 than it had in 1940." More importantly, readership of printed newspapers has similarly declined. "...fewer than 18 out of 100 Americans today buy a daily or Sunday newspaper. Back in 1946, 36% of the population bought a daily paper and 31% took a Sunday edition"
The discussion began with a clip from a Charlie Rose show on Future of Newspapers. In the show, three newspaper publishers discuss how they are dealing with the varied challenges to the newspaper industry. Robert Thomson of the Wall Street Journal observed that, from an advertiser's perspective, "Google devalues everything that it touches."
This point became a common theme throughout the evening as the participants talked with eagerness and anxiety about what would become of newspapers and, more importantly, journalism. The founders knew that we needed journalism, French noted, to keep our institutions open to all citizens.
The Telegram and Gazette's daily circulation is about 78,000. French described how the print edition promotes telegram.com with additional stories and features, all in an effort to strength the Telegram brand. The strategy appears to be working. Online readership contributed more than 600,000 unique visitors per month.
Subscription and advertising revenues continue to be hammered, however, by services such as Google and Craigslist, the latter siphoning off the lucrative classified advertising market. As a result, newspapers are considering a variety of subscription models. The Wall Street Journal has been able to attract subscribers for their strong business content, but the general population seems to be resistant to paying for web news. Alternate modes of payments, such as electronic micro-payments for selected content, led to a discussion thread about the particulars of how online payments would work. While many people are quite comfortable with regular online commerce, a good bit of resistance and fear remains. The division ran rather jaggedly across generational lines.
This, in turn, brought the group to another key theme: whatever newspapers, print or otherwise, do to survive in the next 5-10 years may only keep the current subscriber base, a group that is typically older than the general population. "People under 30 don't read newspapers," said one participant.
Amid all of the comments that addressed technical, political, policy, cultural, and aesthetic issues, French noted and the group agreed that people would pay for value, but that what they valued changed over times and across generational boundaries. People want good content and, for that reason, "The prognosis for journalism is very good."
Notes
Editorial disclaimer
I have known George for more that 45 years, since his college days. I owe him a great debt for teaching me my first guitar chords back during the Great Folk Music Scare of the 1960s. I also owe him deep thanks for his friendship with my mother and with me over these many years. He's the real deal.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
That's another way of describing what Mass Highway does
I have no opinion about the appropriateness of the governor or any official claiming credit.
I would, however, suggest that the folks who create these signs be a bit more careful about their choice of words. In some contexts, the phrase "On the job" has meanings that are different from what I think they're intending.
Queen Lake Association 2009 Annual Meeting
It's the Saturday after Independence Day and so it's the day for the annual meeting of the Queen Lake Association....From OnTheCommon.com
If you're looking for summer in Canada, you're looking in the wrong place.
One night in April 1968
The next song, East-West from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, was, and I don't fear exaggeration here, life-changing. (That song and that band is within three degrees of separation of all of the music that was and is important to me.)
The disc jockey was Mississippi Harold Wilson. The station was WBCN. I listened as urgently as a thirsty man would go face-first into a river. For all I know, that old tuner is in the Westminster dump, set on 104.1.
More than 40 years later, 'bcn is still on one of the buttons on my car radio, but it's been quite a while since I listened regularly. We all got older and all tried to stay young, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. Around the time of Nirvana or maybe it was Green Day, the music was, well, boring, and the disc jockeys sounded like frat boys. Howard Stern came in and brought some new energy, but the music still wasn't getting it done.
They probably should have hung it up a while ago, but they stayed on, like Willie Mays finishing his glorious career with a pitiful stint with the Mets. (Mays later said "growing old is just a helpless hurt.")
Sam Kopper, the morning dj, used to close out his show with 2120 South Michigan Avenue by The Rolling Stones. The song title comes from the address of the old Chess Records studio in Chicago. Let's play that one and say good-bye.
You can read more here:
- Laughing Goose the Weatherman's blog - (sniff) (sniff)
- Dan Kennedy's blog - Forgotten but not gone — until now
- Memorable moments in ’BCN history
- WBCN signs off air in CBS Boston radio shakeup
- Rocking no more Its eye on sports, CBS pulls plug on legendary WBCN
- FM start-up muscling into sports talk A CBS-launched rival to WEEI emerges in post-WBCN shakeup
Roasterboy's notebook
The following are a few items that wound up in my notebook during our travels through Finland and Iceland.
Similarly, my mother was curious about a person's ethnic heritage, occupation, education, hometown, and other bits of background information. These attributes never fully defined a person, but always told something important. She wanted to know these things not out of prejudice, but from a desire to understand.
In 2000, Sandra, my mother, and I took a tour of England and Scotland, the lands of Sandra's heritage. We visited Skye, the place where Sandra's ancestors left in the 19th century.
My grandparents on both sides emigrated 100 or so years ago. They left a land that was a Russian duchy in the last decade of czarist rule. They brought their language and culture, but little else.
Why did they leave Finland, not to return? Dunno. Maybe they had dreams of better futures for themselves, their children, and grandchildren. Maybe their parents said the wrong thing at the wrong time and they said, "I'm out of here." I can speculate about what they thought they were going from and going to, but, finally, I don't and can't ever know.
And, it's in that spirit, that we went to Finland.
Another show, from England's Channel 4, was titled How to Look Good Naked. It was kind of a Queer Eye for the Dove Gal, where a stylist named Gok Wan helps ordinary women look and feel beautiful, even to the point of posing naked for a photo shoot.
We relied on CNN International and the BBC for news. (CNN International is, in my opinion, a much better news source than the domestic CNN.)
When those weren't available or when we couldn't watch the same cellphone video clips from the Iranian protests one more time, we watched Finnish channels. Although modern television technology can make even the simplest station look pretty good, Boston TV stations have much higher production quality than the Helsinki stations. There were few live reports, Doppler radar weather forecasts, or headlines crawling along the bottom of the screen. The news shows were comparable to the talking heads of the 1970s.
I couldn't get a sense of how much cigarettes cost in Finland, but expect that, like everything else, they are expensive. European warning labels are much more serious, as we saw at the duty-free shop in the Helsinki airport.
We relied on maps and printed tour guides. The maps were pretty good, but with a few annoying characteristics. Finnish street names are long and so the print gets quite small on the maps. In addition, in an effort to be helpful, the map makers put numbers on the map to identify items of interest. Those items might be museums, historic buildings, or a paid advertiser's restaurant. Those numbers often obscured the street names.
Finnish-language newspapers were freely available in the hotels. Newspapers in English were harder to locate and often out of date. Also, because of the time difference (Finland is seven hours ahead of the U.S. east coast and 10 ahead of California.), news from the States was typically a day late. All of the European newspapers had been printed and distributed when, for example, news of Michael Jackson's death hit the wires.
Languages
We would have been paahtoleipä (toast) if the Finnish school systems didn't do such a good job teaching languages. Most people are able to speak three languages (Finnish, Swedish, and English) and often more (German, French, or Russian). Menus typically included English translations. Announcements at train stations and airports always included English.
Icelanders' command of English wasn't quite as crisp, but we fared quite well.
The word bacon is pekoni in Finnish and beikoni in Icelandic.
Small bits of Finnish became suddenly familiar to me as we traveled. Words and phrases that I'd spoken for a lifetime, such as kiitoksia (a casual form of "thank you") looked odd when I first saw them in print.
One restaurant offered reindeer fawn liver.
Sandra sampled the local beers and found them good. Wines came from Argentina and California, but rarely from Europe.
Finns drink a lot of coffee. (Various studies indicate that they drink the most per capita of any country in the world.) The coffee is strong and, in my opinion, not very good. I'm kinda fussy about coffee and find that few places on either side of the pond put a lot of care into the selection or preparation of their coffees. (I should note that I grew up on my grandmother's boiled coffee and learned from my father how to reuse coffee grounds for many days in a row. Anything that can be done to coffee, we've done it.)
Friend Jenny spent her junior year of high school in Denmark. One of the first phrases that she learned in Danish was "I'll have what she's having."
In Finland and Iceland, that is too risky. Because of some medication, I have to be very vigilant about certain foods. Most of the time, it was easy to know what not to order. In a couple of instances, however, I couldn't figure out the ingredients and opted to have yogurt instead.
When family members returned from Finland back when I was a kid, they'd invariably bring back Salmiakki, a candy that looks and, at first, tastes like licorice, but then lurches onto your taste buds with a dose of its key ingredient, ammonium chloride. Finns say that they love it.
The error message 404 means that the page that you're looking for can't be found. Most web sites have a simple message, saying that the link is broken and the page is missing, most likely deleted in reorganization of the web site. The Finnish rail company, VR, has a 404 page. It has a picutre of this guy. Dunno why.
Notes from our bus tour of Helsinki:
Why we went
In his book about Red Auerbach, Red and Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend, Bill Russell talks a lot about tribes. He and Red came from different tribes, saw the world filtered through those tribal heritages, and yet came to respect and love each other.Similarly, my mother was curious about a person's ethnic heritage, occupation, education, hometown, and other bits of background information. These attributes never fully defined a person, but always told something important. She wanted to know these things not out of prejudice, but from a desire to understand.
In 2000, Sandra, my mother, and I took a tour of England and Scotland, the lands of Sandra's heritage. We visited Skye, the place where Sandra's ancestors left in the 19th century.
My grandparents on both sides emigrated 100 or so years ago. They left a land that was a Russian duchy in the last decade of czarist rule. They brought their language and culture, but little else.
Why did they leave Finland, not to return? Dunno. Maybe they had dreams of better futures for themselves, their children, and grandchildren. Maybe their parents said the wrong thing at the wrong time and they said, "I'm out of here." I can speculate about what they thought they were going from and going to, but, finally, I don't and can't ever know.
And, it's in that spirit, that we went to Finland.
General observations
- Travel teaches us that we'll make mistakes, get lost, spend too much, or miss something important and we'll still have a good time.
- It's hard not to take someone else's trip. Well-meaning people at home and on the road will offer advice on places to go, things to do, foods to eat. We take all suggestions seriously and apply what we can. We are, however, who we are with our habits, comforts, and energy levels. We travel to stretch ourselves, but might only try something as exotic as licorice ice cream.
- When traveling, you have to remember a few very important details, such as the hotel location and room number and the next train or plane departure time, only to forget them so that you can remember the next bits of important information.
Meanwhile, there are other things that you want to remember for a long time, but don't know what they are. Is this statue, that view, last night's meal important? Why didn't we get the names of those nice people on the train, that helpful taxi driver?
I found myself often saying, "I want to remember this."
What things were those? you might ask.
You know the answer, don't you?
Television
Travelers know that nudity is more common on European television shows. We watched one show, a British show, if I recall correctly, with Finnish subtitles, about the sauna. When Mummu ja Vaari (grandmother and grandfather) go off to sauna, you're see a lot of skin and it was not taut, youthful skin.Another show, from England's Channel 4, was titled How to Look Good Naked. It was kind of a Queer Eye for the Dove Gal, where a stylist named Gok Wan helps ordinary women look and feel beautiful, even to the point of posing naked for a photo shoot.
We relied on CNN International and the BBC for news. (CNN International is, in my opinion, a much better news source than the domestic CNN.)
When those weren't available or when we couldn't watch the same cellphone video clips from the Iranian protests one more time, we watched Finnish channels. Although modern television technology can make even the simplest station look pretty good, Boston TV stations have much higher production quality than the Helsinki stations. There were few live reports, Doppler radar weather forecasts, or headlines crawling along the bottom of the screen. The news shows were comparable to the talking heads of the 1970s.
Smoking
Smoking is not permitted in any public building, so smokers used every opportunity to smoke outside. On a few occasions, we ate indoors to get away from the smoke.
Continental breakfasts
Continental breakfasts, as presented in American hotels, typically include some stale donuts, little boxes of cereal, and maybe a toaster so you can make your own toast. Continental breakfasts on the continent, by comparisons, are massive. You can have eggs, porridge, baby bratwursts, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, various yogurts, fruit, a half dozen types of muesli, coffees, juices, many types of breads, rolls, and rye crisps. Breakfast was typically our largest meal of the day. The meal is included in the price of the hotel room.Maps, newspapers, and the unwired life
We found Internet access in the business centers of the hotels, but otherwise lived through a disconnected time. Our cellphones aren't the type that work elsewhere in the world.We relied on maps and printed tour guides. The maps were pretty good, but with a few annoying characteristics. Finnish street names are long and so the print gets quite small on the maps. In addition, in an effort to be helpful, the map makers put numbers on the map to identify items of interest. Those items might be museums, historic buildings, or a paid advertiser's restaurant. Those numbers often obscured the street names.
Finnish-language newspapers were freely available in the hotels. Newspapers in English were harder to locate and often out of date. Also, because of the time difference (Finland is seven hours ahead of the U.S. east coast and 10 ahead of California.), news from the States was typically a day late. All of the European newspapers had been printed and distributed when, for example, news of Michael Jackson's death hit the wires.
Cellphones
People on cell phones are, for the most, annoying in any language, but the Finns didn't seem as loud. I don't know if it was a sense of courtesy, the much-noted Silent Finn, or if the Nokia cellphones are better at giving aural feedback so that you know how loud you are.Languages
We would have been paahtoleipä (toast) if the Finnish school systems didn't do such a good job teaching languages. Most people are able to speak three languages (Finnish, Swedish, and English) and often more (German, French, or Russian). Menus typically included English translations. Announcements at train stations and airports always included English.Icelanders' command of English wasn't quite as crisp, but we fared quite well.
The word bacon is pekoni in Finnish and beikoni in Icelandic.
Small bits of Finnish became suddenly familiar to me as we traveled. Words and phrases that I'd spoken for a lifetime, such as kiitoksia (a casual form of "thank you") looked odd when I first saw them in print.
Food
We had good meals, several that were quite good, some that were utilitarian. We had fish often, red meat a few times, and the wonderful array of goodies that came with the breakfast buffets.One restaurant offered reindeer fawn liver.
Sandra sampled the local beers and found them good. Wines came from Argentina and California, but rarely from Europe.
Finns drink a lot of coffee. (Various studies indicate that they drink the most per capita of any country in the world.) The coffee is strong and, in my opinion, not very good. I'm kinda fussy about coffee and find that few places on either side of the pond put a lot of care into the selection or preparation of their coffees. (I should note that I grew up on my grandmother's boiled coffee and learned from my father how to reuse coffee grounds for many days in a row. Anything that can be done to coffee, we've done it.)
Friend Jenny spent her junior year of high school in Denmark. One of the first phrases that she learned in Danish was "I'll have what she's having."
In Finland and Iceland, that is too risky. Because of some medication, I have to be very vigilant about certain foods. Most of the time, it was easy to know what not to order. In a couple of instances, however, I couldn't figure out the ingredients and opted to have yogurt instead.
Cars
Small cars dominated the scene in both countries. Somewhat surprisingly, Toyota is the top-selling brand in Finland. VW, Ford, Opel (GM), Volvo, Fiat, Nissan, other Japanese, Korean, French, and German nameplates round out the crowd. We saw just a few Range Rovers, one Hummer, a couple of American sedans, and several that I couldn't recognize. Some reports says that the Russian Skoda (now manufactured in the Czech Republic) is popular, but I didn't see any in Finland and just one in Iceland. We saw a few Chinese small trucks and more larger American cars/SUVs, Land Rovers, and other off-road vehicles in Reykjavik.Other stuff
Notes from our bus tour of Helsinki:
- Audio tour of Helsinki offered in Finnish (including colloquial Helsinki dialect), Swedish, German, English, French, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, and Latin.
- Tour guide said, "Helsinki has as many as three symphonies." "Many Finnish men say that nothing beats a good sausage."
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Roasterboy, unwired
More than 10 years ago, a friend remarked that it took less than a generation to go from over-the-air television and wired phones to TV with wires and phones without.
It took another decade, but we've abandoned our land-line phone. It was easy to have our home phone number transferred to my cellphone. (I puzzled over this for a while. I've had the same cellphone number for 16 years, but we've had the home number for nearly a dozen more.)
For a couple of weeks, we've been taking a trial run on a cellphone-only life. I forwarded calls from home to my phone. No big surprises. There have been a few times when the call quality wasn't great, but a lot of calls go to other people's cellphones, so we can't always tell where the problem rests.
A habit that we've developed over the last quarter-century is to come home and immediately glance at the answering machine to see if there are messages waiting for us. Not only are there no messages, but there's no machine. There's a flicker of an empty feeling, but it passes quickly.
Talking for a long time on a small cellphone is often uncomfortable. Bluetooth headsets are, for some, a cool and workable solution. For others, however, a more traditional approach is in order -- ThinkGeek :: Retro Phone Handset
It took another decade, but we've abandoned our land-line phone. It was easy to have our home phone number transferred to my cellphone. (I puzzled over this for a while. I've had the same cellphone number for 16 years, but we've had the home number for nearly a dozen more.)
For a couple of weeks, we've been taking a trial run on a cellphone-only life. I forwarded calls from home to my phone. No big surprises. There have been a few times when the call quality wasn't great, but a lot of calls go to other people's cellphones, so we can't always tell where the problem rests.
A habit that we've developed over the last quarter-century is to come home and immediately glance at the answering machine to see if there are messages waiting for us. Not only are there no messages, but there's no machine. There's a flicker of an empty feeling, but it passes quickly.
Iceland is an island named Island.
We grew up in a time when thermonuclear was imminent. We'd seen pictures of mushroom clouds. We'd hear of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) as the operating principle that kept us safe. (As long as the Soviet Union knew that we weren't afraid to destroy the world, they'd not launch an attack. And this is what we'd imagine the world would look like after such a war, a time when, we were told, the living would envy the dead.We found this apocalyptic landscape on the southwestern tip of Iceland where we spent the last two days of our travels. We went to the Blue Lagoon.
Both a day spa and a hotel (called The Clinic), the Blue Lagoon (in Icelandic, Bláa lónið) provides warm (40C), rich blue water, supersaturated with silica salts.People come to the waters to relax and to be healed. It's not uncommon for people flying to or from Europe to arrange a stop-over in Iceland. They get off the plane, get on a bus, travel to the Blue Lagoon, spend a few hours and quite a few krónur (Iceland's currency), get back on a bus, return to the airport, and continue their journey.
Let me quote from the Blue Lagoon'sofficial story:
The seawater originates 2000 meter/6562 ft beneath the ground where it is heated by earth’s natural forces. At this depth the temperature is 240°C/464°F and the pressure is 36 times the pressure on the earth’s surface. The geothermal seawater comes into contact with cooling magmatic intrusions and captures the earth’s minerals, resulting in
this unique natural source known for its healing power and actives.
...
The Lava surrounding the Blue Lagoon was formed in 1226 and is called Evil Lava because it is rough and difficult to cross due to its porous surface.
Evil Lava, indeed. The landscape is fierce. Hardy moss and lichens manage to find nutrients in the lava rock and endure the harsh winters. This picture is a view from our room. A nearby geothermal power station produces electricity from the superheated waters. Steam rises in the chilly air. (We were promised a warm day of 18C, but the low clouds hung around most of the time, keeping the temps in the low teens.)In addition to electricity, the power plant produces steam that runs in large pipes across the lava fields. It's too difficul to dig into the rock to bury the pipes.
We arrived in early evening and missed dinner at the Clinic. It was a short and pleasant walk to the main spa. The path curls around several blue pools and between massive piles of lava rock that had been pushed aside by the ambitious developers.Dinner was very nice. Sandra had arctic char. I had trout. Both looked and tasted like salmon. With dessert and coffee, the meal came to 12,500 ISK. about 100 bucks 'merican. (The Icelandic krónur is worth $0.0078.) After a leisurely stroll back to our digs, we went into the water.
Of course, the first thing that you notice is the warmth, followed quickly by the rich smell of the silica salt. The water is about four feet deep. The bottom of the pool is smoothed lava rock covered with a slippery layer of silica salt that's anywhere from just a coating to several inches. They call it mud, so we'll go with that term. It's very slick and yet will stay on your skin easily. It's not always the kindest material to hair and can stay in your ears for several days if you're foolish enough to put it in there in the first place.
We had the pool to ourselves for an hour. We could float around, feeling the warmth of the water, the chill of the air, the weightlessness. With low clouds, the light was diffuse. There was no sense of time or direction.In the soft sensual bath, we drifted. Troubles floated away. Thoughts became quiet.
We couldn't wait to get out there.
Doesn't make much sense, does it? With all the turbulence back home, why would we want to cut short a serene time in an exotic location. As best as I can figure, we'd had such a good time in Finland, good times with each other, thinking and not thinking about our lives past and future, sketching out several next steps that might refocused us and bring a renewed balance and direction. We have a life of many blessings and were eager to re-engage.
But not quite yet. We'd bought low-cost tickets and we learned from the airline that it would be prohibitively expensive to change our flight.
Instead, we enjoyed our breakfast at the breakfast table and then took a bus in to Reykavik.
As we traveled east toward the capital, we saw more plants and, eventually, more houses and people. By the time we reached the city, there were trees.
The bus station was on the outer edge of the city. We walked first to Hallgrimskirkja, a featured church that was undergoing repairs and covered with scaffolding and plastic. It was a five-minute walk to downtown, a busy and energic weave of small streets packed with artist shops, restaurants, and upscale stores selling furs and Rolex watches. We had a nice lunch seated with an unhappy American couple on one side and an unhappy Icelandic couple on the other. These weren't typical. The locals were pleasant, eager to help, and the tourists, mostly young and healthy, seemed either to be on their way to or from backpacking on the glaciers.
We had a nice walk back to the bus station where I learned that I'd goofed and picked up a bus schedule from a different bus company. It would be another three hours before our bus would take us back to the Blue Lagoon. We grumbled for a bit and then found a tour bus that would show us the sights of the city. It's a beautiful city, one that works hard.
On the bus ride back, I overhead a child talking with his parents. It sounded as though they were speaking Finnish.
"Soumalainen?"
I asked. The father nodded. Before he could speak much more, however, I explained that I only spoke a few words of Finnish. We chatted the rest of the way in English.
Back at the clinic, we had a light dinner and another dip in the pool. The clouds briefly lifted from the horizon around 11PM, letting sunshine stream across the Evil Lava.
Our bus would pick us up shortly in the early afternoon on Sunday. I concluded our European dining experience with a lunch of a hot dog, Pringles®, and a Coke®. Icelanders say with some pride that they make good hot dogs. I agree. Hot Dog Annie's doesn't have to worry, but it was a good hot dog.
Our plane's departure was delayed because they were waiting for a tourist group from Denmark; this was the last flight to Boston for the day and I presume that the airline didn't want to have to put the tourists in a hotel unti the next day.
The plane was full. We carefully put our package of Iittala glassware in the overhead bin. We were seated near a family with many children, all of whom were happy, eager to talk with their parents about this thing or that. Meanwhile, the woman behind Sandra was kicking the seatback.
We were about 20 minutes late getting to Boston. The signs said that the city of Boston was glad to have us here, but the customs officials were bored and humorless, mall cops with guns. We knew that we were back in the States when, after we'd wove our way through the rope lines from baggage claim to the final customs station, we had to wait for one official to tell us which line was empty. "OK, you can go to line six now," he said.
Outside the terminal, we watched with amazement as an airport worker gathered up the luggage carts, tied them with bungee cords, and drove this long train back into the building. There wasreal talent at work back here in the U. S.of A.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Wait. What?
Two NPR staffers — All Things Considered producer Graham Smith and staff photographer David Gilkey — are traveling with Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment.
At last check, the initials NPR represent National Public Radio. As in, radio. Sound. No pictures. Radio.
I'm gonna get me a job as the official sniffer for PBS.
At last check, the initials NPR represent National Public Radio. As in, radio. Sound. No pictures. Radio.
I'm gonna get me a job as the official sniffer for PBS.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Return to Helsinki
We were met at the Helsinki train station by the taxi driver who'd brought us to the station the week before. We talked about our travels to the north and about his upcoming trip to New York and Washington.
About Helsinki. Not surprisingly, Helsinki is a very white city, whiter even than Holden. Finns are not the stereotypical Nordic types, however, with blond hair and pale-to-pink skin. Brown and even black hair, such as my mother's, is common, as are some oriental features (high cheekbones, skin several shades from pale) as the result of mixing with the Sami people of Lapland.
That said, people of color are noticeable for both their rarity and purity. In the 90s, Finland accepted many refugees from the Somali civil war, with the result that you have African teenagers hanging out, speaking what this ear believes is perfect Finnish.
There are also immigrants from other parts of the world - southern Europe, Turkey, south Asia, and a few from the Pacific Rim. Tourists, too, come from all over. The breakfast buffet included sushi and rice. The dining cars on the trains served a decent curry.
We had an early dinner at a Nepalese restaurant a couple of blocks from our hotel. We had the best nan we've ever had. Our meals, with lamb, rice, and yogurt sauce, were very tasty, although mine was, and this was a surprise to me, too spicy to enjoy full. I'm usually pretty good about being able to take the heat, but I needed help from the yogurt quite often.
A couple of hours later, we had sauna at the hotel and then settled in for some Finnish television. One show was a three-hour accordion talent show. An intense girl of nine or so played a creditable version of Take Five.
On Thursday, we were scheduled for an early-afternoon narrated bus tour of the city, giving us time for a leisurely breakfast and a walk to the Olympic Stadium.
Our hotel offered a couple of English-language newspapers, the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times. At home, I get nearly all of my news online and generally read the newspaper only on Sunday. Here, with time and a hunger for words I could recognize, I savored the experience, particularly the IHT.
The Olympic facilities were a couple kilometers from our hotel. Finland had been given the rights to the 1940 Olympics and had built the stadium and related complex through the 30s. Those Olympics were, um, overcome by events. As a result, the Helsinki hosted the 1952 games.
We took the elevator to the top of the Olympic tower and had a magnificent view of the city and beyond. We were told that, on a clear day, we could see Tallin, the Estonian capital across the Baltic. The day was clear so we believed that we saw it.
The afternoon went quickly. We had our dessert first at a small ice cream stand, under an umbrella because we were told that the seagulls would attack us, toured the city by bus, and had lunch at a nice restaurant on the Esplanade. As I've mentioned, businesses often play American jazz as background music. This nice restaurant, however, wasn't paying close attention to the lyrics, I guess. Nina Simone's Mississippi Goddam is not your typical lunchtime tune
After lunch, we went shopping, finding some nifty things at the Iittala and Marimekko stores. We were delighted with our purchases, but we now had to travel with a bag of fragile glasses. It was agreed that Sandra would carry the Iittala bag and I'd tote the other stuff for the rest of the trip.
We were tired. We'd walked a lot, seen a lot, but decided to take one last tour around the big plaza between the train station and our hotel. We saw people enjoying the fine weather with a late-afternoon beer (not to be confused with the mid-morning, lunch-time, mid-afternoon, after-dinner, or late-night beer). Kids were on skateboards. Bicyclists zipped through the crowds of people. It was a fine place to be and also time to get ready to move on.
I picked up a few things at a corner grocery store for our supper. I neglected to get a spoon for our yogurt, so we ate using the coffee stirrers in the room. (In our visit to Iceland, we saw a clever feature, a folding plastic spoon that fits inside of the cover of the yogurt container. I saved a couple of them for future travels.)
The next morning, we walked around a bit, had mid-morning coffee and a Napoleon at Cafe Ekberg. Our taxi-driver friend picked us up again and so we had another chance to talk about his trip. He'd heard that the Statue of Liberty crown was reopening, but we agreed that the crowds would be massive. He'd take a boat ride around Lady Liberty and visit the Empire State Building and the Guggenheim in New York. His plans for Washington were still open.
Finnair flew us to Iceland. With the time difference, the four-and-a-half hour flight only took a half-hour. We landed in Keflavik Airport, got some strange money from the ATM, and took a bus to the strangest place on the planet.
About Helsinki. Not surprisingly, Helsinki is a very white city, whiter even than Holden. Finns are not the stereotypical Nordic types, however, with blond hair and pale-to-pink skin. Brown and even black hair, such as my mother's, is common, as are some oriental features (high cheekbones, skin several shades from pale) as the result of mixing with the Sami people of Lapland.
That said, people of color are noticeable for both their rarity and purity. In the 90s, Finland accepted many refugees from the Somali civil war, with the result that you have African teenagers hanging out, speaking what this ear believes is perfect Finnish.
There are also immigrants from other parts of the world - southern Europe, Turkey, south Asia, and a few from the Pacific Rim. Tourists, too, come from all over. The breakfast buffet included sushi and rice. The dining cars on the trains served a decent curry.
We had an early dinner at a Nepalese restaurant a couple of blocks from our hotel. We had the best nan we've ever had. Our meals, with lamb, rice, and yogurt sauce, were very tasty, although mine was, and this was a surprise to me, too spicy to enjoy full. I'm usually pretty good about being able to take the heat, but I needed help from the yogurt quite often.
On Thursday, we were scheduled for an early-afternoon narrated bus tour of the city, giving us time for a leisurely breakfast and a walk to the Olympic Stadium.
Our hotel offered a couple of English-language newspapers, the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times. At home, I get nearly all of my news online and generally read the newspaper only on Sunday. Here, with time and a hunger for words I could recognize, I savored the experience, particularly the IHT.
The Olympic facilities were a couple kilometers from our hotel. Finland had been given the rights to the 1940 Olympics and had built the stadium and related complex through the 30s. Those Olympics were, um, overcome by events. As a result, the Helsinki hosted the 1952 games.We took the elevator to the top of the Olympic tower and had a magnificent view of the city and beyond. We were told that, on a clear day, we could see Tallin, the Estonian capital across the Baltic. The day was clear so we believed that we saw it.
After lunch, we went shopping, finding some nifty things at the Iittala and Marimekko stores. We were delighted with our purchases, but we now had to travel with a bag of fragile glasses. It was agreed that Sandra would carry the Iittala bag and I'd tote the other stuff for the rest of the trip.
I picked up a few things at a corner grocery store for our supper. I neglected to get a spoon for our yogurt, so we ate using the coffee stirrers in the room. (In our visit to Iceland, we saw a clever feature, a folding plastic spoon that fits inside of the cover of the yogurt container. I saved a couple of them for future travels.)
The next morning, we walked around a bit, had mid-morning coffee and a Napoleon at Cafe Ekberg. Our taxi-driver friend picked us up again and so we had another chance to talk about his trip. He'd heard that the Statue of Liberty crown was reopening, but we agreed that the crowds would be massive. He'd take a boat ride around Lady Liberty and visit the Empire State Building and the Guggenheim in New York. His plans for Washington were still open.
Finnair flew us to Iceland. With the time difference, the four-and-a-half hour flight only took a half-hour. We landed in Keflavik Airport, got some strange money from the ATM, and took a bus to the strangest place on the planet.
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