June 2007


Englishman in New York in Texas30 Jun 2007 06:05 pm

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After a day shooting guns, what better way to unwind than with a little two step at The Broken Spoke, one of Austin’s most popular dance halls. Here I am with Broken Spoke owner James White and his son-in-law…from Manchester, England. I don’t think I need to explain who’s who.

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I was trying to shoot this picture without being obvious. I’m gutted it came out blurry. But I think you get the idea.


I call this one: “The Gibson Bus.” Excuse the titles, I’m still learning. The singer, in case you’re wondering, is Jesse Dayton.

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Englishman in New York in Texas28 Jun 2007 07:43 pm

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I couldn’t resist.

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Englishman in New York in Texas28 Jun 2007 10:46 am

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Photo: The Texas State Capitol building, Austin.

It’s rained every day since I arrived in Austin. The TV and radio are full of stories of flooding, rooftop rescues, and rising streams, rivers and lakes. Some parts of Texas nearby are being pelted with the same amount of rainfall in 24 hours—about 18 ins—as they would normally expect in one year. And yet I am in that strange situation where the only evidence I see of the flooding is on the news. In Austin itself, all I see is a gray sky and intermittent bursts of sunshine:

Central Texas is getting hit by more storms this morning, and the National Weather Service has put a large portion of Central Texas, including Travis, Hays and Williamson counties, under a flash flood warning until 11:15 a.m. The storms, which are moving in from the southwest, are expected to cause flash flooding and spread north throughout the morning. There’s another line of storms coming into the area from the northwest through the Hill Country.

[…]As of 6:45 this morning, Lake Travis was at 693.6 feet above sea level, which is 12 feet above what is considered full. The Lower Colorado River Authority, which regulates the flow of water through a series of dams on the Colorado River, says four floodgates are open at Mansfield Dam, which regulates Lake Travis. Three floodgates are open at Tom Miller Dam, which holds in Lake Austin.

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Englishman in New York in Texas25 Jun 2007 01:09 pm

One of the more unusual intros to a story:

First you get phone calls that seem kind of strange. Mom is quitting her bridge club because “they think I’m stealing from them.”

A week later, she mentions an old boyfriend from the war who’s coming to take her to dinner. You think, OK, it could be true.

Then the police call from her house. “Your mom thinks there’s someone hiding under her bed.”

Now you know. The forgetfulness, the fantasies, are dementia, Alzheimer’s, something like that. Your sister suspects the worst.

This isn’t just the story of one petite brunette with terrific legs who was called “Shorty” by her husband, granddaughters and daughters, including me.

This is the story of millions of Americans caring for elderly parents and maneuvering in the murky worlds of medicine, law, hospitals, nursing homes, guilt, fear and family ties.

Spotted in USA Today.

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Englishman in New York in Texas25 Jun 2007 12:00 am

A song on the radio with the lyrics “Oh Lord I wish John Stetson made a heart instead of a hat.”

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Englishman in New York in Texas23 Jun 2007 08:48 pm

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On the road again. This time headed for Austin, Texas, on another work project.

I’m really looking forward to seeing Texas again after our roadtrip from Houston to Big Bend to Marfa last year. I’m expecting tasty barbecue, great live music and lots of big hats.

If this work assignment is similar to the last one in England there won’t be too much spare time. But I do intend to make the most of it, and to find out why the city’s unofficial motto is “Keep Austin Weird.”

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Englishman in New York22 Jun 2007 12:47 am

I always swore never to blog while drunk. But I have a very busy day ahead tomorrow. And if not now, when?

Tonight, thanks to my friend Jen, I attended the farewell party for the New York Times building at 229 West 43rd Street. The Times has occupied the building for almost 100 years. And it was a delight to watch the staff partying among the desks in the now vacant newsroom.

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it was a little sad too. I only got to visit the building a few times since I arrived in New York. But the rooms definitely had a certain aura about them. The place just oozed news. In a hundred years will the new building feel the same? Probably.

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It was also great to see my friend Nick (left) who splits his time between the Times’ research and development department and the news department. I knew Nick growing up in Leeds. But we hadn’t seen each other for about 15 years until we met up the other week via Facebook. Nick and his colleague Michael (pictured with Michael’s wife Kim) flew to England last week where they competed in Hack Day London.

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Nick and Michael took on hundreds of developers from companies such as IBM and Google to design a new web mashup in just a couple of days. Apparently they were up until four in the morning putting the finishing touches to their application called Shifd, which syncs a computer and a cell phone. Not only is Shifd a brilliant idea. It also won first place.

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Englishman in New York21 Jun 2007 10:23 am

A Brooklyn Lad is basking in the rays of a little schadenfreude. (I suppose by posting this, I am too.)

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Englishman in New York20 Jun 2007 11:11 pm

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If New York’s mayor was in the Sopranos he’d probably be called Mikey “Deadpan” Bloomberg. Today, when a reporter asked under what conditions he might run for president, Bloomberg replied:

If everyone in the world was dead and I was the only one alive? Sure.

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Englishman in New York20 Jun 2007 01:54 pm

Is Labour peer Lord Ahmed potty? In what way has Salman Rushdie got blood on his hands for writing the Satanic Verses? If he bothered to look at it from a different angle, perhaps Lord Ahmed should be asking questions of the lunatics who react with violence at the publication of a book (or a cartoon for that matter):

Labour’s Lord Ahmed expressed surprise at the decision to give a knighthood to Rushdie, who was placed under a fatwa, or death sentence, by Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini 18 years ago after the publication of the allegedly blasphemous The Satanic Verses.

“I was appalled to hear Salman Rushdie had been given a knighthood,” Lord Ahmed said.

“Two weeks ago the Prime Minister was calling for building relations between the Muslim world and Britain, then suddenly this knighthood is given to a man who has not only been abusive to Muslims, but also to Christians - because he used abusive language towards Jesus Christ.”

He said whoever had made the decision had made Gordon Brown’s job very difficult as he takes over as Prime Minister.

“The confidence that was being built within Britain with inter-faith work and community cohesion work has once again been damaged because of this provocative decision.

“This man not only provoked violence around the world because of his writings, but there were many people who were killed around the world.

“Forgiving and forgetting is one thing, but honouring the man who has blood on his hands, sort of, because of what he did, I think is going a bit too far.”

Meanwhile, in Tehran, the thoroughly reasonable members of the Iranian parliament reacted with typical calm and restraint:

…officials of a group called The Organisation to Commemorate the Martyrs of the Muslim World said a £80,000 reward should be paid to anyone ‘who was able to execute the apostate Salman Rushdie’.

Forouz Rajaefar, the general secretary, said that the decision to honour Rushdie with a knight-hood demonstrated the animosity of Britain towards Islam.

He added: “The British and the supporters of the anti-Islam Salman Rushdie could rest assured that the writer’s nightmare will not end until the moment of his death and we will bestow kisses on the hands of whomsoever is able to execute this apostate.”

Iranian MP Mehdi Kuchakzadeh declared: “Rushdie died the moment the late Imam (Khomeini) issued the fatwa.

“It would be a hollow dream for the Queen of England to think that with such a move she could revive one of her mercenaries to oppose Islam. Granting a knighthood to Salman Rushdie will only lead to further hatred towards Britain.”

Just when you thought they couldn’t hate you any more..

If we tickle them back, do you think they’ll forgive us?

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Englishman in New York20 Jun 2007 09:48 am

I’ve only had time for a very quick look around the New York Times’ newly launched City Room but it looks absolutely amazing. The site combines the resources of one of the world’s largest and best news-gathering organizations with new technology to provide just the kind of local news and reporting that people are crying out for. How long before other newspapers follow?

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