I'm just not in much of a writing mood. I'm enjoying Stockholm (on to Lund/Malmo tomorrow, before crossing the border to Copenhagen), but interviewing all these people is kinda running me down.

Took some pix this morning, but they didn't come out great. So I put some jokes together instead.

I guess the problem is, the big picture of Stockholm is sorta old-countryish, but the beauty of it is in the little touches, in the way that crazy design sense plays itself out all over the darn place. Like in this lamp on my night-stand, which I thought was askew first, but turned out to make a perfect cone of light on my book. I wish I was here on vacation, because I'd ramble on for hours.

Anyway, here are some other pix:

The university building that houses the bioprocessing group that I interviewed this morning.

An intersection.

Didn't Tim Duncan foul out of the Olympics because of one of these?

With Sly & Robbie?

I was very disappointed not to find a Randy Moss jersey in here.

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posted by Gil at 3:55 PM

Go ape, part 753,215

Dinner at Erik's Gondolen with the Life Science project maanger from Business Arena Stockholm (hey, Ylva!). Here's the view from the restaurant. And here's the menu:

Dill marinated salmon with crayfish tails in mustard

Breast of duck with chantarelles and potato muffin, herb and garlic bouillon

Apple parfait with cinnamon and sweet-pickled cherries.

I violated my "don't mix your drinks, you idiot!" rule by drinking the following in 5 hours: G&T, beer, fruity-tasting vanilla vodka concoction, red wine, two capuccinos, beer, and 4 cigarettes.

But I had a nice evening, with good conversation, and I didn't smoke NEARLY as much as this guy.

Here are some pix from the first two evenings. I haven't taken a ton of pix, and I haven't written much about the city (I DO keep a notebook, okay?), but I'll try to work on that tomorrow.

The view outside my hotel.

Down the block.

The sculpture outside an academy.

One of the locals.

Pedestrian walk, on the way to dinner tonight.

Take it to the bridge.

Look, kids! Parliament!

Another view from the restaurant.

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posted by Gil at 4:34 PM

Taking Stock(holm)

Sure, the flight across the Atlantic was turbulent throughout, so I couldn't sleep.

Sure, a 200-lb. guy passed out while walking down the aisle and collapsed into my seat, where I happened to be sitting (I caught him and got him (somewhat gently) onto the floor; he just fainted from a combo of nerves and getting up quick after sitting for a few hours. He was fine, and came by to apologize to me for any problem he caused).

Sure, Paris' passport control setup is so bad that I got onto my connecting flight with 10 minutes to spare.

Sure, the seal on my hair gel wasn't tight enough, so there's now a "medium-hold" film over many of my toiletries.

Sure, the hotel didn't have a clean room for me, so I had to walk around the city with my PR contact for a few hours, insuring that I would reach the crucial 24-hours-awake mark that always bodes so well. (The lack of sleep kept me from remembering to take my camera on that walk, which is a problem since it was a beautiful meander around the city.)

But now I'm chilling out in a nice hotel room in Stockholm. The Airport Express adaptor's working like a charm, so's I can type away here in bed.

I'm gonna go find some eats, and maybe finish reading Irvine Welsh's Porno, the sequel to Trainspotting.

Despite any inconveniences, it remains a beautiful life. (Sure wish I didn't have to iron my shirts, though . . .)

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posted by Gil at 11:33 AM

Travelin' Man

Off to Sweden, where I'll be meeting up with execs from Biovitrum, Pfizer, Recip, BioTech Valley, the Swedish Center for Bioprocess Technology, Sweden Bio, Galenica, Novozymes Biopharma, and BioInvent, over the course of three days.

I'll try to write and post pix from there. Till then, here's a pic from my backyard last Sunday:

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posted by Gil at 9:08 AM

Let's just hope it orbits a red sun

Astronomers claim to have discovered a "super earth" about 50 lights years away.

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posted by Gil at 4:11 PM

Help out

Today's been designated a "Day of Conscience" by people who are trying to stop the genocide in Sudan. If you're interested in helping save the citizens of Darfur, there are plenty of regional events today that you can participate in.

For more information on the on the genocide in Sudan, you need to go here.

Also: Salim Mansur, a columnist for the London Free Press, discusses the genocide and how it demonstrates the racism of the Arab Muslim world:

This silence is also revealing of culturally entrenched bigotry among Arabs, and Muslims from adjoining areas of the Middle East.

Blacks are viewed by Arabs as racially inferior, and Arab violence against blacks has a long, turbulent record. The Arabic word for blacks ('abed) is a derivative of the word slave ('abd), and the role of Arabs in the history of slavery is a subject rarely discussed publicly.

Here, the contrast between the Arab treatment of blacks, irrespective of whether they are Muslims or not, and the Israeli assimilation of black Jews of Ethiopia, known as Falashas, cannot go unnoticed.

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posted by Gil at 5:30 AM

I was seriously thinking about hiding the receiver . . .

Article in Forbes about the artificial hurdles that satellite radio faces. Seems that the National Association of Broadcasters actually argues, in front of Congress, that competition would be bad for radio. The NAB also has a history of messing with innovation and stifling consumer choice:

In 1945 many AM incumbents, ostensibly concerned that interference related to sunspots might endanger their rivals in FM, encouraged the feds to uproot the FM dial and move it to a higher frequency band. This rendered half a million FM radios useless and forced the nation's FM stations to start over. A congressional investigation in 1948 found that the interference fears were bogus and that a Federal Communications Commission report had been conveniently altered to disguise that fact. Too late--the shift helped inferior AM technology remain dominant for the next 25 years. The coda: In 1954 the inventor of FM radio, Edwin Armstrong, frustrated by repeated setbacks and all but bankrupt, penned a suicide note to his wife and leapt out the window of his 13th-floor apartment.

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posted by Gil at 7:21 AM

The Rest Wing

Perhaps the need for clean public toilets will lead to an Iranian counter-revolution. As the Brooding Persian sez:

"A country, I keep telling everyone, which finds it practically impossible to keep its public restrooms clean has no business pursuing nuclear power."

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posted by Gil at 3:06 PM

Fighting for Des Moines

A Marine helicopter pilot in Najaf wrote an opinion piece in the NYTimes today. Read it.

Norman Podhoretz writes a long neocon interpretation of modern history and World War IV in Commentary. Read that, too.

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posted by Gil at 2:19 PM

Hurm


Watchmen remixes, link courtesy of Bookslut.

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posted by Gil at 8:12 AM

Do they pledge black bears?

Pity this guy didn't get wasted up at SUNY Albany. He probably could've rushed a couple of frats during his visit.

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posted by Gil at 10:15 PM

Shut out

Looks like that ring of Jesus fire didn't follow Andy Pettitte down to Houston, huh?

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posted by Gil at 8:17 PM

In threes

Rick James, Fay Wray and now Julia Child. I used to love her show, as well as Dan Ackroyd's great impression of her on SNL.

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posted by Gil at 11:37 AM

Oil for Money

Great piece in the NYTimes today about the scandal of the UN's Iraqi oil-for-food program. Claudia Rosett at the Wall Street Journal has been way out in front on this story, so it's good to see it get front-page treatment from the Times.

Because, y'know, it shows that a lot of people had a vested and venal interest in not seeing any sorta change in Iraq. Which is to say, they were making boatloads of money by supporting the regime of a brutal dictator (or a "racketeering crime family," as Hitchens has put it).

Note: One of the writers of the Times story is getting subpoenaed in the probe of the CIA leak.

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posted by Gil at 8:33 AM

Let me get this straight . . .

So, if I vote for a gay man for governor, does that make me gay?

Bonus question: If I buy that TV stand I was looking at over at Crate & Barrel, does THAT make me gay?

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posted by Gil at 6:16 PM

Jean therapy

Evidently, we're supposed to wear jeans to battle breast cancer. Charlie Sheen says so. Why do I link to this item? Solely because of the opening clause about Mr. Sheen: "One of the most prolific actors in Hollywood . . . "

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posted by Gil at 9:52 AM

That couch really becomes you

The most messed-up story I've read in a long time, courtesy of Drudge.

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posted by Gil at 7:38 PM

The House of Atreus is in Manila?

Anyone know how to say, "Eumenides," in Tagalog?

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posted by Gil at 10:19 PM

"No plan for the peace"?

Vodkapundit writes pretty well about the war on terror, and how ideologies fight.

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posted by Gil at 4:13 PM

Gone Ape

Fay Wray died today.

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posted by Gil at 4:40 PM

Guest column: If loving bacon is wrong, I don't want to be right

From time to time, I let other people get in on my Virtual Memories. Today, official VM girlfriend Amy has something to say:

I'm not naming names, but a certain scrawny-ass blogger accuses me of chubby-chasing because of my laissez-faire attitude toward (or encouragement of) unhealthy eating habits. It's true; I don't care about a few pounds here and there (keep in mind that she's 5'4" and about 110—ed.). A low-pitched fatty grunt doesn't necessarily put me off. And perhaps I do find voracity appealing, as it indicates an expansive passion for life, a juiciness I gravitate to in other people.

But honestly, it's an unfair accusation! I realized today that, as I come from a typically wide-bodied south Louisiana family, nature AND nurture are conspiring against me. Check out this article.

I really shouldn't be surprised by the stuffed deep-fried burger, I guess. My people start spaghetti sauce with a roux, fry turkey, and bacon up everything short of dessert while dishing recipes the way others discuss Michael Moore's shading or all things Olsen.

I've gotten wonderful cooking tips from the men at the gun range and even once kept an ex-boyfriend around long enough after breaking up to coax a secret family recipe from him. Heartless? Sure. Proud of it? Not especially. But it's the best steak marinade YOU'LL ever try. (Holymotherofgod . . . A STUFFED DEEP-FRIED BURGER?!)

Ahem.

Sure, I understand the perils of an immoderate lifestyle: diabetes, heart disease, celibacy. But you know what? This still sounds like a good idea to me.

—Amy

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posted by Gil at 3:11 PM

Microsoft's new ad campaign?

X-Box: So good, you'll organize a death squad to brutally murder 6 people and a dog for it!

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posted by Gil at 1:56 PM

Sudan's Osama

Lee Smith, besides being the all-time MLB saves leader and a novelist who writes about southern women, also discusses the Arab world on Slate. Last week, he wrote a pretty neat piece about Sudan, discussing the "palace intrigues" and motivations for the genocide, while also trying to put the current atrocity in its context in the War on Terror.

Check it out.

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posted by Gil at 11:53 AM

The Blum is off the Ros

James Lileks on Ikea:

And we'll have to shift around a lot because this sofa feels like a washcloth draped over some two-by-fours, but it's a hip washcloth.

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posted by Gil at 10:27 AM

The Meritocracy of Blogging?

Article over at BusinessWeek about executive blogging. It's kinda neat (I think they're REALLY wrong with their comment about the current number of blogs in existence), but there's a typically impenetrable comment from FCC chairman Michael Powell in it:

Blogs also give readers the chance to respond. Powell wrote in his first entry that he turned to blogging "to try to get beyond the traditional inside-the-Beltway Washington world where lobbyists filter the techies. I'm looking forward to an open, transparent, and meritocracy-based communication."

As ever: Huh?

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posted by Gil at 9:21 AM

"She says I'm her all-time favorite . . ."

Rick James died yesterday in his sleep. Fortunately, I still have that Dave Chappelle episode about him and Charlie Murphy on my TiVo. The official VM girlfriend and I derailed our plans to watch Into the Night and replayed that priceless bit of programming instead, in tribute to the old boy.

Here's a little bio.



Update Aug. 11: Nice obit on Slate, by some guy who's evidently a 7th grade music teacher. MY 7th grade music teacher was obsessed with the "Paul-is-dead" theory, and swore that he was shown for a moment in the crowd in the film of the Beatles' Shea Stadium concert. Thanks, Mr. Reiner!

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posted by Gil at 8:10 AM

Sudan Update

I haven't written much about the genocide in Sudan lately, except for a brief rant during my Budapest dispatches. Partly that's because there's been so much (belated) coverage by the world media. Also, it's because Passion of the Present has been doing such a great job of coverage. I sorta figure my interested readers will click the Sudan Crisis link on the top of the Blogroll (left side of the page). If you are interested in learning more about what's going on there, and what you can do to help save the lives of these people, check out that site first.

The news isn't particularly heartening. The African Union has committed 2,000 troops to monitor the ceasefire and provide security for refugees, but Sudan is balking at their entry. There was a mass protest of the UN's authority in the capital, Khartoum. Given the toothlessness of the UN resolution ("Think about stopping or we'll start having cluster-fuck conversations about sanctions"), I guess this is more a way of protesting the possibility of U.S./UK military intervention.

Stanley Crouch wrote pretty disingenuously about the genocide in the Daily News this week. I don't mean to say that his desire to see an end to the genocide in Darfur isn't as strong as mine. But when he called for the U.S. to get involved, he wrote

The Bush administration is also punking out. It is going along with the cowardice and immorality of the world at large because those advising it fail to understand that this is the time to take chances. Had President Bush gone into Sudan with the Army's new OTW (Operations Other Than War) unit last month, the world would have been caught off guard - and the Democratic convention would have been overshadowed.

There would, of course, be those screaming about infringing on Sudan's sovereignty. They would make it a matter of pride and unity for Muslims to stand behind that racist regime. That would be to the good, because it might push Muslims into reconsidering the shortcomings of Islamic tradition.

I think his disingenuousness is revealed in the part about "overshadowing the DNC." He seems to be glossing over the fact that we live in a country so polarized that major media sources snigger about the out-of-date nature of terror warnings and imply that they're politically motivated, months after complaining that the government didn't pay attention to years-old info that would've "connected the dots" about 9/11. So to imply that the President is simply "punking out" on Sudan is pretty bullshit.

American politics has made this situation far more complicated than it should be. I'm pretty convinced that a mission into Sudan (even one limited to providing humanitarian aid) would be contorted by the left-wing of our media into another example of Bush's American Empire or somesuch. American deaths in Sudan would somehow be tied into that country's oil reserves, and at least one Halliburton subsidiary would get involved in construction or logistics of military facilities, bringing the rage of Michael Moore down on the Administration.

(I'm only hoping, in the event that Bush loses the election in November, that he doesn't follow his dad's example and commit troops to Sudan after being voted out of office. Sure, Clinton allowed 'scope creep' to set in with the Somalia mission, but it was pretty bullshit of Bush Sr. to send armed forces to a third world African country on a vaguely defined humanitarian mission less than a month before Clinton was to be sworn in.)

Don't get me wrong: I've been calling for a military force to invade Sudan since I first learned the details of what's going on. Sudan's a failed state, it harbored the biggest name in international terrorism, and it's supporting a program to kill off a million of its own inhabitants. Sure, we need to force immediate aid and security into the Darfur region, as well as the refugee camps in Chad (and our new non-enemy Libya might be able to help provide a base to do that), but I don't know where that leaves us in the long term.

I suppose Stanley's right in that we need to build a situation where the Muslim world can stop supporting this regime as a sign of protest against "American hegemony," which my leftist friends tell me is the biggest threat to world security.

(As opposed to, say, the government of a totalitarian state of more than a billion people trying to suppress information about a wildly virulent, fatal respiratory disorder. I am, of course, just venting over here. Don't mind me.)

I'm gonna get me some coffee, and maybe I can clean up this rant a little so it actually makes some sense.

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posted by Gil at 7:16 AM

Swoopin' and Hoopin'

The U.S. Olympic basketball team got drilled by Italy in a tune-up game yesterday. The Italians managed to drop 15 3-pointers on a team composed of NBA stars. A lot of big names dropped out of the Olympic squad (or turned down invites) because of security concerns, exhaustion, injury, and/or marriage plans. I think one actually said he couldn't go because he was washing his hair.

Anyway, the era of American dominance in hoops has been over since the World Championships in 2002, when Argentina beat the U.S. pretty badly (I bought an Argentina basketball jersey from Ebay the next day: Go, Origenes!). The American team went into a spiral, and came in 6th at that tournament, an absolute embarrassment for a squad comprised of NBA veterans.

This year's squad may repeat that performance, on a much bigger stage. Sports Guy (Tyler Durden to my Narrator) explains why this is going to happen, and how USA Basketball can fix it.

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posted by Gil at 12:55 PM

Phase 0

Neat article in today's NYTimes about changes in preclinical drug testing. That subject matter may not interest you too much, but it's part of my day job, and I have a vested interest in seeing the pharma/biopharma industry come up with better methods of drug discovery & development.

The best part of the article is that it doesn't politicize, mention Medicare reform or Canadian reimportation, or imply that the drug companies are venal corporations out to suck the life from the American populace. It just talks about the new developments, some of their ethical questions, and the necessity of improving the R&D return-on-investment.

This is a pleasant change from the last days of Howell Raines, when the paper actually ran an opinion piece by a man who complained that Iressa added several months to the life of his wife, who suffered from brain tumors. No, really.

(Speaking of my day job, if you follow through that link, you'll see my magazine's annual Top Companies report, in which my associate editor and I profiled the top 20 pharma companies and top 10 biopharmas. Y'know: if that sorta thing interests you.)

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posted by Gil at 7:43 AM

Uuuuuunity

Dave Chappelle just renewed with Comedy Central for as much as $50 million (with incentives). His "Charlie Murphy vs. Rick James" episode remains one of the funniest things ever seen on television.

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posted by Gil at 10:00 AM

The Real Macaque

Haven't had a gorilla rampage story here on VM for a while, so we'll have to make do with this tale of a monkey attack in Brooklyn.

"What's a monkey doing in Key Food?" indeed.

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posted by Gil at 6:48 AM