Wednesday, December 07, 2005

NIPPER


My sis has been clearing out photos left behind by my parents when they went into a nursung home.

Donutboy was quite a cute one as a nipper. More from the collection to follow.

Motorists: respect the Zebra crossing!

If you are in the DC area, you might have missed a great looking gig at the Black Cat club last night. Search on "Bragg" at this site for an earlier Meredith Bragg gig. American Analog Set are pretty cool too.

Cure for Cow Flatulence Cooked up by UK Scientists

More news from Aland:

This Nordic version of Jersey does not formally belong to the EU. Thanks to this status they can still sell snus - chewing-style tobacco - on board the ferries that port in Mariehamn, the capital of Aland Islands, on their way between Helsinki and Stockholm.

Sweden negotiated an exception for snus when it joined the EU in 1995, snus for the Swedes being like whisky for the Scots - not enjoyed by everybody, but hotly defended by all. The snus opt-out makes snus legal in Sweden but illegal in Finland. But the stuff has been produced and enjoyed for more than 200 years in the archipelago and coastal areas of Finland, too. Thanks to the EU it has become a popular smuggler's item.

Denmark, too, continues to allow sales of snus, which it considers to be a traditional product.

Snus was originally banned within the Community by a 1992 directive, the argument being to prevent a new (!) tobacco product from entering the EC market. In 2001, in view of subsequent scientific studies, the EU replaced the Swedish warning label from "causes cancer" to a more general suggestion that "this product may damage your health and is addictive".

The Commission evidently does not approve of this turn of events, and wants to take Finland to the European Court of Justice for letting Aland-registered ferries still sell the stuff, setting itself on a collision course with the barely-surviving shipping industry; snus is a significant part of duty-free sales, worth €8 million a year. If the Commission wins, there will be a new trade barrier between Sweden and Finland. Perhaps Margot Wallström should wade in and fight this kind of stupidity as part of her "Smile - you are in the EU" campaign.

from European Voice (subscription required).

Lovely alt-country-ists Wheat have been gnawing at my brain for the last couple of days.

your love is a parking lot
with potholes and faded lines
and the kids don't hang because
the cops just chase them out

Slippers may be uncool, but they keep your feet warm. That's my point of view.

:: Posted by pete @ 22:51