TBWAIN - AKA Jeff Svare's Blog

Lock Edward Liddy in a room with Chuck Norris .

... and I've thought of lots of witty things to say, but never had the chance to put them down in print. Or what passes for print in this electronic medium. But right now, I'm tired. And I think I'll go to bed and dream of the upcoming baseball season. But I discovered today that Google Books has issues of Baseball Digest online!

Cnet news has a photostory on the new Porsche museum that's scheduled to open 31 January 2009. The museum's website is not to be missed. If you want to see what the site looked like while it was under construction, Google maps can help you here.

I was reading an AP story by Terence Hunt this morning about the historic election of Barack Hussein Obama. As I was reading it, I couldn't help but read between the lines of what was being said by others about this. Barack Obama : "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep." The read: It's harder to effect change than simply going around and saying, "It's time for a change!" Reality bites, don't it? Barack Obama : "We may not get there in one year or even in one term ... But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there." The read: OK, so where exactly are we going? Afghan President Hamid Karzai : "This is my first demand of the new president of the United States _ to put an end to civilian casualties." The read: OK, keep your promise, pull the troops out. That was easy. Let's see Karzai stay in power without the US to back hi...

I have, this night, exercised my constitutional right to franchise and voted. I stood in line for 20 minutes to do it, and counted it time well spent. So, if you want a right to complain about the election results, make sure you vote. And to the person who said, " For the first time in years, I'm voting with hope. " I say, don't worry, you'll get over it. No matter how partisan the politicians are, I am always amazed at how much more partisan the electorate can be. God bless America!

From Reuters News Service : Ex-president Carter slams Bush on market crisis "Former President Jimmy Carter said on Friday the "atrocious economic policies" of the Bush administration had caused the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s." And Jimmy would know. He was President during a period of double-digit inflation, an unstable housing market, a foreclosure rate that approached that of the great depression, the spectre of war with Russia and Iran, and what was lovingly referred to as "the malaise" even though he never used that word in his speech. "Carter told reporters on a stopover in Brussels that "profligate spending," massive borrowing and dramatic tax cuts since President George W. Bush took office in 2001 were behind the market turmoil and economic crisis. "I think it's because of the atrocious economic policies of the Bush administration," said the 84-year-old Democrat, who served in t...

On 15 September 2008 Rick Wright, keyboardist for Pink Floyd, passed away due to cancer. His influence on Pink Floyd's style was considerable, if not underappreciated. The BBC News report can be found here . Wish you were here .

Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series, has been commissioned to write the sixth (and maybe final) book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Doug Adams, who died in 2001, stated once that he thought there should be a sixth book written, because "Five seems to be a wrong kind of number, six is a better kind of number." The book, entitled And Another Thing... is scheduled for publication in October 2009.

Or, how to make the people think they have a choice, without letting them know they don't. London's mayor, Boris Johnson, has been asking people their opinion on a pressing issue. When one woman responded with her choice, he responded, "me too!". Sir Antony Jay , CVO , creator of Yes, Minister , thinks its all for show. And he's right, I'm sure. Read about it here .

After three flights (Helsinki to Copenhagen, Copenhagen to Reykjavik, and Reykjavik to Minneapolis), I'm finally back where it feels like home! I love Minnesota ! Tomorrow I'll be home in Utah, where it's going to be much warmer than the places I have been.

Aargh. Three countries today! Sweden, Denmark, and finally Finland. Short trips, yes, but three currencies is going to play hob with my expense report. And it's raining here in Helsinki .

During the past few days I've had the chance to view events back home through different eyes. Here's some of my conclusions: If a person who speaks two languages is bi-lingual, and a person who speaks three or more is multi-lingual, what do you call a person who only speaks one language? An American. Or British, or Canadian. :-) Many people who watch American television shows think it's an accurate representation of life in America. That's really scary. The Democratic National Convention has attracted a lot of attention. Mostly because they think both parties are out to lunch/up in the night/out of touch/totally whacked. Pick one. It's providing a great source of humor over here. Madonna's statement comparing John McCain to Adolph Hitler has also caught a lot of people's attention. Mostly because they think Madonna's probably not sure who Hitler was, much less how he can accurately be compared to John McCain. A someone here observed, "Just ...

Another day, another city. Well, not exactly. It's Thursday afternoon for me, and I'm in Malm&#248 , Sweden. The last time I was here it was pouring rain. Today it's cloudy, cool, and mostly dry.

According to the clock on the wall it's 1:30 PM in Copenhagen , so it must be 6:30 at home.

It's 12:30 AM at home right now, so I must be in Reykjavik .

I'm in the lobby of the Best Western Dakota Ridge using their electricity to work on my laptop. There's a really nice restaurant next door, Al Baker's . The Chicken Gumbo soup is really good. And the staff is very friendly. I'm gonna have to try the walleye. Seven hours and 45 minutes until my flight leaves. :sigh:

Well, almost. I'm still in the US. I'm experiencing a return to insomnia absent my regular habits, and stressing over what was left undone when I left home. But, everything there will be fine. Won't it? Ja, it will. The good things. The wireless is working great on my Ubuntu 7.10 laptop. Which is more than I can say for the WindowsXP partition. It won't find any signal at all. Now I just need to get some work done.

Anyone can screw up. But to make a totally colossal mistake in a new an innovative way--that requires true genius. I am so smart I scare myself.

Hurra for Syttende Mai! Or maybe this year, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" Click on the picture to see the Aftenposten article.

I was riding the train into town on Tuesday and had the great misfortune to sit behind a young college student who was obviously majoring in communications. I almost went mad. Driven into a murderous rage by this man's language. I can only imagine what was happening to the person on the other end of the phone. Most likely he was equally articulate. No, it wasn't vulgar or foul--it was.... I don't know how to describe it. It was agonizing to listen to. Every third word was "ya'know." Literally. I sat there for ten minutes so obsessed by his inarticulate conversation that I actually began counting how many word he would say before he said "ya'know" again. He averaged three words before he said "ya'know" again. The most words he was able to say before repeating himself was eight. Here's a verbatim transcript of part of his conversation: "Well, ya'know, it's like, ya'know, we ya'know, really should, ya...