This is my revamped desk setup: the keyboard is a flatter Dell one that fits in the slideout tray under the top. The Microsoft Natural one is too high to fit unless bad things happen to the underhang with a power tool. Note “Wait, Wait! Don’t Tell Me!” pledge swag mug to the right. Oh boy! the WWDTM folks are in Boston, and their guest is Barney Franks. He got a huge welcome from his socialist-partisan fans. Aw, he’s telling a cute story about his boyfriend, Jimmy. And how it somehow relates to Bush, Palin, and Franks’ Secret Service nickname,…
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Now listening to the beginning of WWDTM, and later on the celebrity guest is Leonard Nimoy. Can I get a W00t?!?!?! Apparently, Mr Nimoy did our favorite news quiz the honor of showing up in person, causing the staff much joy and making the dreams of at least one total dork come true (that would be host Peter Sagal). There’s an entire set of photos at Flickr, but this is the one that makes me go “AWWWWWWwwww!” As Peter noted just seconds ago, if you don’t know who Nimoy is or why Sagal is so absurdly pleased about his appearance…
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Yesterday on my way in, there were few signs in my area of the weekend’s floods, although I never made it to church and we had trouble finding a way through flooded Des Plaines intersections after leaving Steve’s house. WXRT was playing “Here Comes The Sun.” Obvious choice. Then there was a short clip from The Truman Show. The godlike Director said, “Cue the Sun.” And then they played Radiohead; I think it was “climbing the walls House Of Cards.” An unsettling, crashing, creepily apocalyptic choice, just as I crossed the bridge over Salt Creek, which flooded farther to the…
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Remembering ‘The Heart Of NPR,’ Gary Smith : NPR Longtime NPR Greeter and Client Services Coordinator Gary Smith passed away this week. For years, he sat at the reception desk at NPR’s Washington headquarters. Smith was a force field of good cheer; he was a big man who became the heart of NPR. As I drove home, listening to Michele Norris talk about Gary Smith, I was moved by her description of a man who made greeting the often jetlagged or on-deadline visitors to the NPR building his number-one job. It seems that every week, Mr Smith always began his…
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Father Paul pulled out a very beautiful old Pete Seeger Custom banjo and sang a few lines of “Plastic Jesus” today in church; he’d have had a sing-along going if he’d thought to print out the lyrics, and as it was a lot of people at the early service knew the song and helped him remember the middle section. I told him about a terrific interview my husband David and I heard on Bob Edwards Weekend, which airs on Sundays on WBEZ. I’m tracking down all the related links I can for it to send to Fr. Paul by email.…
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I’m listening to Wait, Wait! Don’t Tell Me!, and their celebrity guest is Dana Perino, the White House press secretary. They’ve made her laugh and feel more comfortable, as they know she’s had a tough week. First, her boss was unwavering in his position, even when it was eroding out from under him like the sands of time at high tide. Someone told him last summer they had “news for him” regarding Iran, and he accepted the news that there was news with gravity, but didn’t actually inquire as to what the new news was. Because he’s not that kind…
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Peter Sagal, host of news quiz show NPR : Wait Wait… Dont Tell Me has written a new book that’s being offered as a premium on pledges of $120.00 per month. Sagal is hosting this morning’s pledge drive, and with his quick wit, it actually is fun listening to WBEZ begging for fundage. Actually, as stations go, BEZ does a pretty good job of making pledge drives endurable; they shorten them by a day or so by running a promotional drive at the beginning with crazy big goals – if they reach the goals, they cut the length of the…
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NPR’s man in Basra sometimes emails the Washington-based news bureau funny details about life in his crazy city along with his stories about bombs, insurgents, and tragedy. His English is wobbly but energetic, and as commentator Corey Flintof notes, the multiple exclamation points are the Iraqi equivalent to “Ba-dum-pum! Laff nao plzzzz!” NPR : Real Funny Stories from My Crazy City (Part 2) Eating chickens against Islamic Sharia (instruction)After 2003, the Islamic instructions (Sharia) spread in bad methods and one of the Fatwas (decrees) was, “it is forbidden to eat imported chickens,” and most of radical extreme muslims believe on…
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The back-and-forth between people of different political views in this country could stand some improvement, as currently it’s on the level of ad hominem “yer a wingnut/yer a moonbat” attacks. NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!” news quiz consistently brings the funny LOLs when discussing political figures – sometimes with those actual politcal figures’ participation! Today’s show included a short segment to follow up on an important fact that came up in the wake of Karl Rove’s departure this week – Barney, the White House Scottish terrier, is not terribly well liked by staffers, who characterized him recently as “aloof…
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I heard this on my way to church, and it really… resonated much like the “sounding brass” (bronze vessels that amplified actors’ voices in the ancient theater of Corinth) mentioned in the reference link near the bottom. NPR : The Holy Life of the Intellect I believe that the human intellect is the closest thing we have to the divine. It is the way we can join one another in spirit. … If we can experience another’s mind in our own, we know that love is possible. We understand why the great poet Shelley wrote a poem to what he…