Dawn Of A New Day

Filed under: City Living, Personal/Private, Too Beautiful to Live

Looks even better from a bike.

 

There's a certain Zen to the pre-dawn commute. Empty streets, birds chirping, a sense of victory at having beat the masses.

I'm a lifelong New Yorker (translation: jaded curmudgeon) but in these early-morning moments, the city often wins me back.

A shorter BPP means a later start time. I got to leave my house when it was light out and rode my bike up the spine of Sixth Avenue, past the sites of chance encounters and old jobs.

Continue reading "Dawn Of A New Day" »

Laura Silver

7:47 AM ET | 07-15-2008 | permalink | comments (18) | e-mail post

Look, Ma! I'm In The Paper!

Filed under: Personal/Private

That's me, right behind the taxi.

From the New York Times

 

On Thursday, I tried to pedal home by heading toward the West Side bike path. Traffic was so lousy that I ended up turning south down Broadway, taking the direct route.

This was not the easiest choice. I'd just been interviewing a guy who takes care of a memorial Ghost Bike around the corner. It was full rush hour, and Broadway's rarely a pleasant go. But the city has been up to something major there, reworking the road surface in a project that has seemed endless, mysterious and promising.

So there I was, pedaling along behind a taxi, when I heard the distinct click of a shutter. It turns out I wasn't the only one curious about what the city's up to. A New York Times photographer was taking pictures for a story about the rehab of Broadway -- a whole lane for cyclists! another for people to hang out on! -- and now I was part of it. That smudge up there, behind the yellow cab, is me.

Laura Conaway

2:41 PM ET | 07-11-2008 | permalink | comments (9) | e-mail post

Complaining 101

Filed under: Personal/Private

Today on the show I talked about how I learned to write an effective letter of complaint. And I got the tips from my Aunt Mo. Aunt Mo is not a professional writer of complaint letters, but she has been known to lend her pen to friends who need help. I once appealed to her for advice and here's what she told me:

1. Go straight to the top. My Aunt Mo believes in writing to the CEO of a company with her complaint. She doesn't really believe that the CEO him or herself actually reads the letter, but she is pretty sure someone at the management level will be designated to handle it. Aunt Mo wants her complaints to reach the eyes of someone with the power to help her.

2. Send the letter return-receipt. This costs more, but Aunt Mo thinks that if someone has to sign for your letter, it increases the chances that someone will read it.

3. Write a catchy opening line. Aunt Mo's firm rule of thumb is that the first paragraph should consist of one sentence only. Make it an attention-grabber. A couple of her examples are: "I just had the trip from hell on your airline," "Until today I've been very interested in purchasing your product," and the more general, "I'm a very dissatisfied customer."

4. Keep it short. Don't write a novel. Aunt Mo tries to keep her letters to one page.

5. Make reference to company policy. Aunt Mo knows that customer service is a big deal to most companies, so she believes in reminding the CEO (and his/her underlings) that customer service is one of their core values.

I actually used Aunt Mo's tips once when I just couldn't get a company's customer service department to listen to me. Within a week of sending the letter, I got an apologetic phone call and the DVD player I was complaining about. My letter is after the jump. How many of Aunt Mo's tips can YOU spot?

Continue reading "Complaining 101" »

Tricia McKinney

1:43 PM ET | 07- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

Yes, They Do!

Filed under: Personal/Private

Courtesy of the Oregonian

 

I'm basically terrified of flying. A couple of summers ago I was in Portland, Ore., freaking out about getting on a red-eye back to D.C. So I called my Mom. One of the rational, reassuring things she said was: "Lauren, planes don't just fall out of the sky."

So I was feeling pretty good about that until I opened my hotel room door and found the Oregonian on the floor with this headline: "It just fell out of the sky."

The Oregonian was nice enough to send us the image of that front page. If you care about airline safety obsessively like I do, check out this morning's interview with Wall Street Journal reporter Andy Pasztor.

Lauren Spohrer

11:48 AM ET | 07- 3-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

A Ghost Bike Flies Its Colors

Filed under: City Living, Personal/Private

The "ghost bike" at 36th Street and Sixth Avenue in New York City.

You never really get used to seeing them, or at least I don't: ghost bikes, junkers painted white and chained to a street sign or bridge railing. They record the spots where cyclists have been killed by cars. Two of them mark a popular car-free bike path in Manhattan -- a reminder that there may be safest and safer, but there's no such thing as perfectly safe.

I've been wondering for a while now whether the ghost bike above commemorates David Smith. He was killed in December 2007, at the age of 65, while riding the same bike lane I take to work. The white cycle sits on the northwest corner of 36th Street and Sixth Avenue. It catches my eye in the last three minutes of my ride.

Smith was knocked out of the lane when a passenger in an illegally parked truck opened the door. A second truck hit him. I remember reading that his partner of 36 years was a man. I remember thinking, Hit the door. Fall toward the curb. Stay out of traffic.

As if, in the moment, a cyclist really has much choice about what happens.

This morning, I zipped up a very quiet Sixth Avenue -- it's amazing what 5:30 a.m. does to traffic -- dodging takeout containers and bottles left over from the city's Gay Pride celebration. And there was the ghost bike, newly decorated with flowers and a rainbow flag. Happy Pride, David Smith. Wish you were here.

Laura Conaway

2:23 PM ET | 06-30-2008 | permalink | comments (16) | e-mail post

Just Do It.

Filed under: Personal/Private

Pride cometh before the heartburn.

On Friday's show, I announced my mission to do everything advertising and packaging tells me to do for one week. As long as no one gets hurt, and as long as it costs me less than $10 a day, I will do all that marketers command. The GF Nora and I took a road trip up to Ithaca, N.Y., this weekend, and we did enjoy the ride as Avis told us to do. We stopped at an Arby's, not something I would otherwise be proud of, but as soon as I unwrapped the medium roast beef, it became clear I had no choice.

Ian Chillag

9:06 AM ET | 06- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

BPPdian Rhythm: Sleep Struggles in Morning Radio

Filed under: City Living, Personal/Private

This morning we talked to Dr. Ana Krieger about sleepwalking. It was an interesting conversation, especially for BPPers, who spend an enormous amount of time thinking and plotting about when to sleep and how to get more of it. No one who has ever worked an a.m. shift for more than a week will find this surprising.

Our day starts before 5 a.m. Getting the fabled eight hours a night is attainable. But the real challenge is getting a decent night's sleep AND having a normal life, as in going out to dinner, seeing your friends' new band play, generally having face-to-face contact with people you like. It is not mathematically impossible, but it's pretty tough.

The math? Assume it takes you 90 minutes to get ready and get to work. (This sub-assumes you aren't too vain and don't live too far. More primp time and longer commutes make it even worse.) That means to get in by 4:30, you need to be up at 3 a.m. To get eight hours, you need to be asleep at 7 p.m. Not a lot of time for fun with friends, unless your entire social circle consists of teachers, pastry chefs, the unemployed or others with consistently free afternoons. But, there is a way out. . .

Continue reading "BPPdian Rhythm: Sleep Struggles in Morning Radio" »

Mark Garrison

12:57 PM ET | 05-13-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

My War-Cursed Country

Filed under: News, Personal/Private

BPP video producer Zena Barakat as a four-year-old.

 

I was born in Lebanon in 1980, in the midst of the civil war, and my family moved to Nashville when I was six years old.

From time to time, I remember flashes of my childhood in Beirut, and this morning, they came back to me as I read the Washington Post article about the street fighting in Beirut.

"Hezbollah militants, some carrying assault rifles or rocket-propelled grenade launchers, patrolled outside Starbucks and other shops in the mostly deserted commercial strips of neighborhoods normally controlled by Sunnis loyal to the U.S.-backed Lebanese government. Masked armed men in civilian clothes set up checkpoints and asked passersby for their identity cards..."

It's a different time -- but it's a disturbingly familiar scene. That mention of Starbucks tells the story of the brief period in last few years when things seemed hopeful, open, and safe in Lebanon. No more.

Continue reading "My War-Cursed Country" »

Zena Barakat

9:02 AM ET | 05- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Feet -- and Not Just Ours -- Are Big on NPR

Filed under: Media, Personal/Private

I always thought the secret to Internet success was food.

Then Yahoo picked up a story we did Tuesday with Adam Sternbergh of New York magazine, author of "You Walk Wrong." Ours was called "Feet Hurt? Stop Wearing Shoes."

The Yahoo link sent us to the top of NPR's Most E-Mailed list (still love ya, Pashman). Our colleagues at NPR headquarters noticed that yesterday's list had a theme. Which I take to heart. And sole.

Continue reading "Feet -- and Not Just Ours -- Are Big on NPR" »

Laura Conaway

8:27 AM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

26 Miles and 140 Characters of Pain

Filed under: Personal/Private

On Monday morning at 10:00 AM, the gun will fire on the 112th Boston Marathon. I'll be there running with friend and friend of the BPP Amby Burfoot, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his Boston win in 1968.

Marathons are 26.2 Miles. My longest run in five months is 12 miles. It's going to be ugly. I'm going to try and Twitter my misery every mile, so keep an eye on our Twitter feed on the right hand side of this page.

Ian Chillag

1:30 PM ET | 04-18-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Waking Up with the BPP, Whether You Like or Not

Filed under: Personal/Private

BPPsucks. (Does not.)

From twitter.com/bppsucks

 

We picked up a hater yesterday, in the form of twitter.com/bppsucks. The hater hates us out of Salt Lake City, where the Bryant Park Project airs in the morning on KCPW. The Twitter account's bio reads, "God, I hate the Bryant Park Project." See what I mean?

Stunned, perhaps reeling and certainly stung, I reached out. Would BPPsucks talk to us? "Oh my, I'm much too shy for that," the person replied. "It's much easier to hurl snarky remarks from the shelter of a provocative user name."

Is it just me or does BPPsucks have a sense of humor?

Laura Conaway

8:32 AM ET | 04-17-2008 | permalink | comments (11) | e-mail post

The BPP 'Tweet Cloud'

Filed under: Personal/Private

Because everyone wants to see their name in BIG letters, even if it's near Pashman's cockroach picture, I'm going to go ahead and blog our "Tweet Cloud." The script scans all our posts on Twitter and reports back on what's big.

And as you can see, what's big is me (but only because I have to sign every darned thing).

Laura Conaway

11:48 AM ET | 04- 9-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Goodbye, Chuck

Filed under: News, Personal/Private

I once had a chance to meet Charlton Heston, who died this weekend at age 84.

Mr. Heston was a guest on "The View," where I worked back in 2000 - 2001, and I was seriously excited to meet him because he starred in some of my favorite films: "The Greatest Show on Earth," "The Omega Man," "Airport 75," and of course "Planet of the Apes." So I wanted to get his autograph for my husband, who loved his movies even more.

Part of our enjoyment of Charlton Heston's movies was his over-the-top acting style. We simultaneously made fun of his performances while still enjoying the rides he took us on. I want to emphasize the latter part of that -- we thoroughly enjoyed his movies. I don't know how or when he chose to go for movies like Omega Man or Soylent Green, but he had amazing taste for films that transcend their B-movie status. Or maybe he made them transcendent. I leave it to real critics to explain him. I just enjoyed the hell out of him.

Back to the autograph. I didn't normally have anything to do with celebrity interviews, but I made sure to be up on the dressing-room floor before show time, and I hung around waiting for him to have a free moment. While I was hanging around, somebody asked me to escort him to the restroom. I walked ahead of him and tried to be nonchalant. I remember thinking, "I'm taking Charlton Heston to the men's room! I'm taking Charlton Heston to the men's room!"

He had a lot of trouble getting around, which surprised me. He shuffled slowly and I realized for the first time just how old he was. I was very polite, calling him "sir" and "Mr. Heston," which would be my normal instinct anyway, but triply so for the guy who played Moses and Judah Ben-Hur.

I waited until after the show to ask him for an autograph. He was on the show to promote the DVD of one of his movies -- it might have been Planet of the Apes. I proffered a piece of paper and asked him to sign it. He said I should buy one of the DVDs and have him sign that. I explained that I would love to buy the DVD but I didn't have a DVD player. He said I should buy a DVD player and his DVD. I thought, "Wow, that's a hard sell. No wonder this guy has been so successful." But I prevailed. He signed the piece of paper. Here it is:

Tricia McKinney

1:11 PM ET | 04- 6-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

What's It Like to Grow Up in a Big City?

Filed under: City Living, Personal/Private

On the way to a sixth birthday party.

Sarah Goodyear

 

Back home in Mississippi, people often ask me what it's like to raise a kid in New York City. That's not really an answerable question, I think, except maybe with one example after another.

The other day our son, Nathaniel, turned six. A few people still hold birthday parties at home, but by this point the kids are getting big enough that 15 of them can't fit all that well into a New York City house.

Instead, we loaded the cake and balloons and party favors (a flower in a pot for each kid) into the wagon that we use instead of a car. Nathaniel wanted to haul it himself, and he did. He pulled that wagon (most of) the mile to the tumbling studio where he takes a class each week. The weather was wet and windy, and the balloons were uncooperative. But he did it.

Laura Conaway

11:17 AM ET | 03-24-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Spelling BeePP

Filed under: Personal/Private

Yesterday, I was working on a segment about botnets. Several times in my notes I wrote the phrase "malicious botnets." Except it was late in the day, my brain was broken and I could not, for the life of me, remember how to spell "malicious." I wasn't off by one letter, or two. I tried looking it up. Nothing.

I was so far off that typing a word into Google and getting back "Did you mean: blank" didn't work.

People, I was spelling it "militious." As if it meant "of a militia," or something. I did it over and over. I knew it was wrong but I couldn't figure out why. It got me thinking. I judge others silently and harshly for their bad spelling, but I do have a couple words I just can't spell. I never get "weird" right, for instance. Do you have words you can't spell?

Ian Chillag

9:05 AM ET | 03-20-2008 | permalink | comments (11) | e-mail post

Thinking of Going Vegetarian? Today's Your Day!

Filed under: Links From the Show, Personal/Private

Since 1985, an animal rights group called FARM has declared the first day of spring the Great American Meatout. They want you to give up meat today...and they're hoping once you're off it, you'll stay off.

I'm one of those people who thinks, "Yeah, someday I should give up meat," but then I just stick with it out of inertia and, let's be real, laziness. So I reached out to someone who's currently giving up meat to find out how hard it is. Rod Dreher may only be giving up meat temporarily and for religious reasons (Lent), but he's still working through the practical aspects of a meat-free life. He's also blogging about it for the Dallas Morning News' religion blog.

His most helpful (to me) tip? Hot sauce.

I also found a great website called the Savvy Vegetarian. I'm thinking of maybe actually trying this for myself. One day. Sometime. Possibly? (We'll see).

Tricia McKinney

7:35 AM ET | 03-20-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

Mmmmm...Brillo Pads

Filed under: Personal/Private

My Shih Tzu Cosby has developed a taste for Brillo pads, apparently. I freaked out yesterday morning when I discovered that the little troublemaker had consumed a small portion of the stuff after digging around under the sink. I hurried him over to the vet, who determined that Cosby hadn't eaten enough to really cause great alarm, but that I would need to monitor his...er...output to make sure the steel wool wasn't going to stick in his digestive tract.

Cosby, Hungry For Cleaning Products

To spare you the gory details, suffice it to say that everything came out OK. But still, this freaks me out. What else should I be protecting him from? I mean, for Pete's sake, that's metal! Why on earth would he even want to eat that?

My "pet" theory is that it had something to do with texture, and director Jacob postulates (rather unscientifically) that maybe Cosby has an iron deficiency and was motivated by the smell of something ferrous. Engineer Manoli rather Socratically asks: "Why do people chew gum?"

Any other thoughts out there? Does anybody else have a similar horror story?

Win Rosenfeld

9:21 AM ET | 03-19-2008 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post

What I'm Making for Dinner, 3/17/08

Filed under: Personal/Private, What I Made for Dinner

I normally write about what I made for my family's dinner, but I'm actually working ahead today in preparation for tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day meal of corned beef and cabbage. I don't usually work ahead, but I happened to glance at the package of corned beef I bought and found out it takes 3 hours to cook. So I'm boiling it today and we'll finish 'er off tomorrow.

Here's what you do (super complicated!):

Buy a package of corned beef (what makes it corned? I don't really want to know, do I?)
Open the package
Dump the meat into a pot of water. Make sure the water covers the meat
Turn the heat on
Bring the water to a boil
After it boils, turn the heat down to a simmer
Simmer for 3 hours

The cabbage:
No idea. I guess I'll wash it, and throw it in a pot of water and boil it to death. Maybe an hour?

The potatoes:
Gotta buy some of those. Then boil them unpeeled for about 1/2 hour

Serve the whole mess up with mustard. Wash it down with Guinness (the kind in a can with the little gas charge that activates when you open it, not the best, not bad).

Tricia McKinney

6:19 PM ET | 03-16-2008 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

Can This MacBook Be Saved?

Filed under: Personal/Private

Ouch.

Josh Rogosin/NPR

 

NPR engineer Josh Rogosin sends this:

My friend Maurice lost everything recently when his apartment burned down -- including this brand new MacBook. And no, Applecare wouldn't cover its replacement. Any suggestions for repairs or spare-part potential would be greatly appreciated.

Laura Conaway

2:49 PM ET | 03-14-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

Astrophysicist Makes House Call

Filed under: City Living, Personal/Private, The Dagobah System

"Je quitte ma planete."

From "The Little Prince"

Sometimes you need help from an astrophysicist, and that's when you're glad for Summer Ash (aka).

Summer came to my emotional rescue this week after I read this headline in the New York Times: "Kissing the Earth Goodbye in About 7.59 Billion Years."

Maybe it was the part about how, in the end, "there won't even be fragments." Maybe it was the part where the scientists say never mind the Himalayas. Maybe it was that I'd just read Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel, The Road. Or maybe it's that we're reading The Little Prince at my house -- and no matter what he says, you can't just up and quit your planet.

Whatever caused it, I had a case of existential suffocation. And I called on Summer Ash, who's used to dealing with our universe's cold infinities, to pull me out.

Laura Conaway

9:46 AM ET | 03-14-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

It's the End of the World, and They Know It

Filed under: City Living, Personal/Private, The Best Song In The World Today

Solar flares: I suppose you could say they're pretty.

Call me Vic Chestnutt, but I'm kind of about to choke.

The New York Times reports on a new theory that the Earth will meet its demise by getting sucked into the sun. "Kissing the Earth Goodbye in About 7.59 Billion Years," the paper warns. As it renders the theory: "Earth will be dragged from its orbit by an engorged red Sun and spiral to a rapid vaporous death."

A few weeks back, I read Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road, a post-apocalyptic tale peopled by cannibals and a few desperate moral souls. The book's protagonist is a dying father trying to save his son. Never mind the movie rights -- this thing already plays behind my closed eyelids. The last thing I needed was for actual science to pile on.

Riding to my rescue in half an hour is astrophysicist to the (radio) stars Summer Ash. She promises the news is not so bad. I'm aiming to share the interview on Thursday's show. (UPDATE: Have to hold this until Friday's show.)

Laura Conaway

1:22 PM ET | 03-12-2008 | permalink | comments (7) | e-mail post

Watching Chemical Ali Get the Death Penalty

Filed under: News, Personal/Private

Ali Hassan al Majid, aka Chemical Ali

Darko Vojinovic-Pool/Getty Images

After months of delay, there is news today that the Iraqi government finally gave the go ahead for the execution of the man known as Chemical Ali.

He is Saddam Hussein's cousin and he was one of his most trusted advisers. His real name is Ali Hassan al Majid and he got his nickname because of the role he played in the Kurdish genocide of the 1980s. At Saddam's order, al Majid spearheaded a campaign against Iraqi Kurds, killing 200,000 civilians and militants. Last summer, al Majid and two others were convicted of crimes against humanity.

I was in Baghdad last summer reporting for NPR and I covered that case. I was in the courtroom the day that al Majid was sentenced. Today's news provoked me to go back and dig up what I wrote about that day. I'll post it after the jump.

Continue reading "Watching Chemical Ali Get the Death Penalty" »

Rachel Martin

12:20 PM ET | 02-29-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Kid Brother Still Riding Boxcars

Filed under: Personal/Private

Go ahead and dream.

A couple of weeks back I did segment about how much I love riding freight trains and how little I've done it compared to my kid brother. Brian just checked in from Mississippi, where he's been visiting our family. He writes:

Just rode down to brookhaven yesterday. You were right about there being a lot of train traffic around here. I was at the eudora welty library yesterday when i decided to go on an adventure. walking right down around the corner from the amtrak station there was a train creeping by. Very pleasant boxcar ride down to brookhaven (seventy mph easily). nice town, cheap to live there.

Color me still jealous.

Laura Conaway

1:31 PM ET | 02-28-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

MSNBC Makes Me Click Headline About 'Orgasmic Birth'

Filed under: Personal/Private

Definitely not the kind of birth described in the headline

Tricia McKinney, NPR

 

So a headline on MSNBC.com caught my eye this morning: Pioneering midwife touts 'orgasmic birth.'
It's a story about a 69-year-old midwife from Tennessee who is trying to revitalize the art of midwifery. The bulk of the article is about stuff like statistics about the safety of home births. The bit that led to the headline doesn't come up until the very end of the story. Here's a quote, "Gaskin says that under the right circumstances women experience a sort of birth ectasy."

As the attached picture attests, I did not experience that kind of childbirth.

Tricia McKinney

11:32 AM ET | 02-25-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Mama Said Blog This: All About Trains

Filed under: Personal/Private, The Best Song In The World Today

Click to watch: "Catching Out with William T. Vollmann"

From Vollman's Riding Toward Everywhere

 

We kinda went nuts for trains this week. Author William T. Vollmann stopped by to talk about his time hopping freights, and then someone from Alabama Mississippi (sorry, Mama) tacked on a Most Wonderful Song in the World Today -- Robyn Hitchcock's "I Often Dream of Trains."

Dear listener, we're always shopping for Best Songs in the World Today. You just need a story -- or at least a rationale -- and a song.

Full read:
William T. Vollman Hops Trains, Lives to Tell All
Hobo, Interrupted, Still Dreams of Trains

Laura Conaway

6:32 AM ET | 02-15-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Chinese Food on Christmas

Filed under: City Living, Personal/Private

We've done a couple of segments with Rob Tannenbaum and David Fagen, who together form a hilarious musical act called Good For the Jews. Today we played their song "It's Good To Be a Jew At Christmas," and there's a great line about Jews eating at Chinese restaurants on Christmas Day. How perfect is it that my good friend Lai Ling (a Chinese woman whose last name just happens to be Jew) sent me this video last night?

Angela Ellis

8:14 AM ET | 12-12-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

Call Me McSickey

Filed under: Personal/Private

I came to work today, even though I'm sick. Apparently I'm not the only one. As Rachel Martin reported in today's "Ramble," about 80% of sick workers show up on the job. But here's my question: how long should I stay home? I have no idea how long this thing is going to last, so when am I not a danger to my coworkers? I called my mom, an R.N. who has worked in hospitals, doctors offices, and as a school nurse to find out if I should have stayed home. Here's the thing, when I was a kid, she never had a ton of sympathy for my sniffles. In my family, you toughed it out and got on with things. So, predictably, mom told me as long as I wash my hands a lot and cover my mouth and keep my work area clean and take medicine for my symptoms, I should come to work.

So, I googled around for more advice--preferably not from people of a certain generation who were raised by German immigrants. Click here for some guidelines for when the sniffles are bearable and when you should stay home.

Thanks, mom!

Tricia McKinney

12:30 PM ET | 12- 7-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Old English Bulldog Learns Lesson Well

Filed under: Personal/Private

It wasn't me.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Our beloved editor, Tricia McKinney, stepped up to the mic today with the story of a British social club that's trying to stop one of its members from, you know, passing gas. Loudly. Perhaps stinkily. On the premises.

My family used to have an old English bulldog who was a legendary breaker of wind -- he did it quietly. Stinkily. And often -- enough that it became a real nuisance. The family was crammed into a quite small wood-frame house on the Old Saltillo Road in East Tupelo, Miss. (If you're wondering, yes, Elvis Presley was born a stone's throw away and -- bonus -- my grandfather helped to feed baby Elvis and his mama that first winter while his daddy was away in prison.)

Anyway. The old English bulldog. My great-grandfather Murray took a mind to teach the dog to pass his wind outdoors only. He figured it would be like ordinary house training. Each time the dog offended, he'd yell, "No! No!" and set the critter outside on the porch. And his plan worked, in a way. For after a few lessons . . .

Whenever the dog passed it wind, it would then run to the door. And stand there. Quietly. Stinkily.

Laura Conaway

1:09 PM ET | 12- 6-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Classic NPR: Give Up the Toad, Rover

Filed under: Personal/Private

This is your brain on toad.

Ian Waldie/Getty Images

 

As we reported on the Most today, an increasing number of folks are smoking toad venom to get high. The Associated Press explains, "The toad's venom--which is secreted when the toad gets angry or scared--contains a hallucinogen...that can be dried and smoked to produce a buzz." Who has the time? And as Luke said, "Whatever happened to drinking hairspray?"

Of course, while smoking toad venom may be new, licking toads is not. In fact, Laura Mirsch did a classic NPR piece last year about her dog's addiction to toad. Enjoy.

Dan Pashman

8:36 AM ET | 12- 6-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

How Was Your Weekend?

Filed under: Personal/Private

Mine was great, thank you very much. BPP video man Win and I went on down to Atlantic City. After a lot of poker, and blackjack and "victory whiskey," I conked out at around 3 a.m. on Saturday. When I woke up, this note was on the nightstand. Any successful weekend in A.C. should involve a note like this.

Luke Burbank

6:47 AM ET | 12- 3-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

Reality Check: World AIDS Day, Every Day

Filed under: Personal/Private

This past Saturday was World Aids Day. I was out that night with some girlfriends and talked about Friday's segment on how living with HIV affects your daily routine, your outlook on life and your interaction with other people. We interviewed Regan Hofmann, editor-in-chief of Poz Magazine, who's been living with HIV for the last 11 years.

I told my friends about Regan's story and how she got HIV from a boyfriend after having unprotected sex twice (he unknowingly had the virus). There was a bit of silence, as everyone's mind started racing to tally the number of times "just this once" was rationalized in the name of true love . . . or just plain stupidity.

Continue reading "Reality Check: World AIDS Day, Every Day" »

Angela Ellis

3:45 PM ET | 12- 2-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post