Eric Back on October 20th, 2007

Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson will release both cd and dvd versions of ”Dreamboat Annie Live,” on October 23rd.  The show was recorded in April of this year during the ”Love Rules,” tour.  Also of note, Ann Wilson released her first solo album on September 11th this year.  Check out the news at heart-music.com

A new [...]

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Eric Back on August 30th, 2007

In searching for a definition of ”särskrivning,” I came upon this anonymous post below which gave form to my observations that the Swedish language uses compound words quite freely and creatively.
”The concept of what in Swedish is called ”särskrivning” is becoming a very large problem in Sweden. Combined words are in general not written as [...]

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Eric Back on August 18th, 2007

This poem, bogland, has been published elsewhere on the internet.  Seamus Heaney, the author, is another great Irish writer in a long tradition of Irish writers.  He received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995.  Here’s a link to his biography at the Nobel site. Enjoy!

Bogland

Â

for T. P. Flanagan

We have no prairies
To slice a big [...]

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Eric Back on June 13th, 2007

Pepsi, with only 15% of the Japanese cola market, has released ”Pepsi Ice Cucumber,” a product that sells the image of the favored, summer, salad gourd though containing no actual cucumber essence.  It is artificially flavored to simulate ”the refreshing taste of a fresh cucumber,” according to Aya Takemoto, spokeswoman of Japan’s Pepsi distributor, Suntory Ltd. [...]

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Eric Back on April 14th, 2007

Hailed by media hounds as the ”new Diana,” Kate Middleton, and Prince William have officially called it quits.
After ”much soul-searching,” according to a BBC correspondent, Prince William and Kate Middleton have decided to end their relationship which began at St. Andrews University where they were both students in 2001. Sunday Newspapers are rife with speculations [...]

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Eric Back on April 14th, 2007

Don Ho, the legendary Hawaiian icon has died of a heart attach at age 76. Donald Tai Loy Ho, who was Hawaiian, Chinese,
Troubled by heart problems for a few years, he had a pacemaker implanted last fall. In 2005 he underwent an experimental stem cell operation in Thailand. Though maintaining a paired down schedule in [...]

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David Bowie is reissuing the classic 1974 album, ”Young Americans” with Virgin/EMI on June 5. During the preceding ”Diamond Dogs” tour he had dropped hints that he was moving in the direction of R&B and this album nailed it. Notables brought in for the original recording included John Lennon on guitar and backing vocals as [...]

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Swedish Professor Hans Rosling presents an engaging Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) lecture on world development statistics and the need for free, publicly searchable, public databases. One need not agree with this man’s conclusions to be impressed with his skillful use of quantitative methods and data presentation. As a part time MBA student [...]

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Eric Back on March 11th, 2007

Gingrich volunteers now sport white T-Shirts bearing the portentous slogan.
From now to September 27th, is how long Newt Gingrich is giving other Republican candidates to begin talking the talk. What talk? Newt Gingrich talk of course.
The Wall street Journal says, ”If the other candidates have picked up his ideas and have launched what he calls [...]

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Eric Back on March 3rd, 2007

Sharon Naismith, 45, was sentenced Friday to nine months of community service for smuggling fish into the country… under her skirt. Above is the frequently posted photo of the specially made apron that was seized by Australian authorities.
Australian, newspaper, the Herald Sun, reports that the woman was obsessed with tropical fish and was spotted slipping [...]

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