Newley Purnell

I’m still sifting through emails that piled up last week; while I find my footing, here’re a few items of interest:

–Be sure to check out Dana’s re-vamped Number One Hit Song.

–CJR: “A Technical Guide for Editing Gonzo: Hunter S. Thompson from the other end of the Mojo Wire”

–ClickZ: “Study Bolsters Blog-Related PR Practices”

The trend toward PR agencies setting up blog-specific practices got a boost this week, as a new study found that more than half of journalists use blogs in the course of their work.

–Taiwan Tiger:

In the neverending attempt to conserve and save money here in Taiwan (not like anyplace is exempt from that, of course….), comes this gem. My school, instead of placing separate toilet paper dispensers in each stall of the faculty bathrooms, has a central dispenser…

–The writing process simplified: “Sniff. Explore. Collect. Focus. Select. Order. Draft. Revise.”

I’ll write more soon, but wanted to say, briefly, that:

1. I’m back in DC. Had a great time in St. John.

2. More important, Ranz, the Napoleon-Dynamite-quoting National Spelling Bee badass, left a comment here regarding the post I wrote about his performance. He says:

Thanks very much for the kind words; actually, I go by Ranz, although ‘Dom’ is an interesting moniker. And on Lego robotics… it was a Lego Robolab thing with wires and electronic bricks and whatnot. I was mainly on research for that… well, whatever. Thanks again.

No, Ranz, thank you.

I’m leaving early tomorrow morning for a week-long vacation in St. John, USVI.

It’ll be the first family sojourn in five years at which all of the far-flung siblings (on my mom’s side) will be in attendance. (That’d be me; kid brother #1, Mechum, who’s making the trek from Bolivia; and kid brother #2, Colin, who’s in college in Charleston, SC).

I’ll be back and blogging on Monday, the 20th. Have fun and visit some of the excellent blogs on the lower-left side of this page while I’m gone.

Whoa. This is meant to be cool but is really really REALLY weird. I feel like I need to go take a shower.

The NY Times reports that, just as analysts had begun discussing the possibility of civil war, the situaion in Bolivia seems to have been resolved—for now:

Bolivia’s Congress accepted the resignation of President Carlos Mesa late on Thursday night and swore in the head of the Supreme Court as the new president, an appointment expected to defuse more than three weeks of protests that have paralyzed the nation.

The “solution”: a new head of state and new presidential elections to follow. We’ll see how that goes. Will the indigenous narco-politician Evo Morales take office, which would delight the protesters? (If you think Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez is scary, check out Morales’s resume.)

Here’s the problem with the current prez, Eduardo Rodríguez. Look at the color of his skin. The guy’s white, he wears Armani specs, and he sports a power tie straight outta the Brooks Brothers Summer catalog:

Now take a gander at your average protesters. Notice the color of their skin. Notice the way they dress:

That, kind readers, is what this conflagration is all about: Race. And Money. The white, European-descended, wealthy Bolivian oligarchs who run the country vs. the impoverished Indian majority. No way around that fact.

Next Andean country to dissolve into chaos: Peru. Seriously.

Tons of people are coming to newley.com looking for the “Do the Chickens Have Large Talons?” audio clip (mp3 file) from the recent National Spelling Bee.

Here’s some more info: the guy who uttered the phrase, which is one of the many great quotes from the exceptionally funny high-school-loser flick “Napoleon Dynamite,” is the unbelievably-named Dominic Ranz Ebarle Errazo. The kid, I’m proud to say, hails from my home state of South Carolina. (Check out his bio: “He has competed in Lego robotics events and in the South Carolina Geographic Bee.” Lego robotics events?!??!) Not only was Dom’s rendition of the phrase spot-on, but he did it on live national television, a propos of nothing, just before spelling “chinook.”

Here’s a video of the incident (in .mpg format). Watch it. It’s great. And if you haven’t seen “Napoleon Dynamite,” do yourself a favor and check it out.

A house made out of books!

Things’re spiraling out of control in Bolivia.

IHT: “Protesters in Bolivia take over 7 oil fields”

NY Times: “No. 1 Quits in Bolivia, and Protesters Scorn Nos. 2 and 3″

CSM: “Bolivia: Tiny Nation, Big Troubles”

And the Best Headline Award goes to The Motley Fool: “Bolivia’s Gas Pains” (which is actually a decent overview of the natural gas issue)

Reason Online: “Legalize Now! War-weary Colombia—and its Conservative Party—consider ending the drug war.”

Many Colombians and foreign observers feel fumigations treat the symptom rather than the underlying illness. While the poverty that propels farmers to plant coca remains, any attempt to stop them from doing so will in all likelihood be futile. “At the moment, we’re spending around $5,000 per hectare fumigated,” says the U.N.’s Sergio Calvani. “If that money could be distributed among the peasants, then Colombia would be like Switzerland.”

(Via Rock Creek Rambler.)

Reuters: “MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian woman was found to be carrying 51 live tropical fish after custom officials were alerted by “flipping” noises coming from beneath her skirt as she arrived at Melbourne airport.”

A National Spelling Bee contestant + a “Napoleon Dynamite” quote on live TV = hilarity.

Goalsetting 101: A little touchy-feely for me but jam-packed with useful ideas.

Guardian:

The Bolivian president, Carlos Mesa, yesterday submitted his resignation in an attempt to bring weeks of crippling protests over the management of the country’s natural resources to an end.

Mr Mesa - whose 19 months in office have been beset with political crises - had struggled to stay in power in the face of demands for greater state control of Latin America’s second largest natural gas reserves. He also faced calls for more independence from some of the country’s wealthier provinces.

Mesa’s offered to quit before, but it looks like this time he means business.

AP:

Mesa tried to step down three months ago over protests against his hydrocarbons policy, but Congress rejected his resignation, giving Mesa crucial support after he had said the country was becoming ungovernable. Mesa was counting on foreign investment to tap Bolivia’s 28.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, Latin America’s second-largest reserves after Venezuela, to drive economic growth and create jobs.

This time, however, analysts said lawmakers frustrated over Mesa’s inability to persuade leftist popular forces to accept a law to increase gas taxes would probably accept his resignation and hope a transitional leader would be able to reconcile the country’s polarized political forces.

”Is this a serious resignation? It looks like it is, though it’s not irrevocable,” said Eduardo Gamarra, a Bolivia specialist at Florida International University interviewed by telephone last night.

The departure of Mesa, an independent politician who has been assailed by all sides, would leave a void, Gamarra said, that ”in a worst-case scenario, could lead to civil war, laced with all kinds of serious racial overtones. Quite possibly, in a best case, we’re looking at six months of serious uncertainty and political turmoil. The situation is very severe.” It was not clear when lawmakers would meet to accept or reject his resignation. If he is permitted to step down, he would be replaced by the president of the Senate.

I’m back from SoBe (that’s South Beach, Miami, to you). Lots of fun. Stayed here. Ate here. And here. And here (twice, very late at night). Got denied entry here. Got in here (more than once) with no problem. Got rained while enjoying the roof deck here.

UPDATE: Miles B. suggests I add the following: I temporarily lost my sanity and bought these shoes (in grey and red); I also came within a whisker of purchasing these absurd $100 sunglasses (in white).