Ed’s corner of the web

Let me set the record straight first: I’m a huge NPR fan.  I think I first got hooked around 9/11, and I’ve been an avid listener ever since.  Of the six preset stations on the car radio, the other five combined don’t get half as much playtime as NPR, which in my neck of the woods is 90.9 WBUR.  I enjoy the high-quality reporting, the engaging interviews, and even the fun weekend shows like Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.  I enjoy the whole affair so much that a couple years ago, I felt bad being a freeloader and started making yearly contributions.  And beyond simple enjoyment, I also find myself learning a lot from listening.  It’s become a significant and trusted source of information for me.

You can imagine my consternation, then, when a couple weeks ago my morning commute with WBUR was interrupted by an ad for a company providing ”detoxifying” services with “ionic energy fields”, oxygen supplementation, and nutrient supplementation.  I won’t give the name here for fear of upping the company’s notoriety somehow.  It was a rude, jarring, pseudoscientific intrusion into what was typically a very informative drive.  How could WBUR advertise this crap?  I knew they needed sponsors, as any public radio station does, but surely this was bending too low.

I almost blogged about my dismay that day, but work soon had me running around enough to forget that morning’s insult.  My wedding and honeymoon came and went shortly thereafter, and I returned to my happy NPR listening habits, past injuries forgotten.

Until today.

I’m driving up Route 2 towards Concord, enjoying ”Only a Game”.  The usual WBUR sponsor bit comes on, but this time instead of Landry and Arcari or the MFA, the nice female radio voice spits out the name of a school of homeopathy!  Let me say that again - homeopathy.  You have got to be kidding me.  What’s next - sponsorship from a Boston psychics organization?  Noni juice manufacturers?  WBUR already broadcasts Science Friday.  Maybe they should add Woo Wednesday to attract more sponsors.

So I’m calling out WBUR on this one, and I hope others do, as well.  And remember, WBUR, it’s only because I love you.  I know public radio money is not exactly overflowing, but there have to be some standards on who it’s ok to take money from.  Those who make their living duping their customers with potentially harmful pseudoscience should not be given the opportunity to spread their message on stations such as WBUR, stations that exist to educate and provide information.

In preparation for our honeymoon trip to Australia, Carisa wanted to get me scuba-certified. I admit to having been a little apprehensive about the whole thing, as I am - at best - a poor swimmer. Still, I’m a confident and strong snorkeler, and scuba seemed the next step if I was going to scratch my underwater photography itch. So, we did our course work and pool work through Mass Diving (highly recommended), and we booked a trip to Turks and Caicos to do our checkout dives.

Our destination in Turks and Caicos was Salt Cay (pronounced “key”), a remote little blip of an island measuring about 2 miles long and having a little over 60 year-round inhabitants. To get there, we flew from Boston to Miami, then Miami to Providenciales, then Providenciales to Grand Turk, and then finally Grand Turk to Salt Cay. If you can imagine in your mind a quiet, tropical backwater where time and worries blow away on gentle ocean breezes, then you pretty much have a good idea of what this place is all about. Well that and really great diving.

Can you believe it? Me!

Of course, having only dove in a YMCA pool prior to this, I didn’t have much to compare it to. But still, I thought it was really great regardless, and Carisa - who has a little experience diving elsewhere - also gave it high marks.

The birding was fun, too, as you can see from the rest of the photo library. But I think coolest of all (along with the diving) were the people on the island. Comprising a mixture of native Belongers, immigrants from other Caribbean countries, and ex-pats from the States and the UK, the unifying traits among the island’s inhabitants were openness and friendliness. Everyone waves at everyone as they pass. People stop and chat with complete strangers. Even the dogs are super friendly.

We also ate surprisingly well for being so far off the beaten path. Special thanks here go to Porter Williams and Miss Nettie.

So bottom line is we had a truly wonderful and restful time while we were there. We felt like we had slipped a little off the map and out of the normal flow of time. It was a very nice feeling.

After an almost two-month hiatus, I’m taking another plunge with the blog.  I’ll admit, I was this close to giving up on it entirely.  It wasn’t the writing requirements, it was the incessant blog spam.  Tramadol.  Soma.  Phentermine.  It got to be too much to keep up with in late March/early April, so I stopped blogging entirely to see if anything changed.  The spam still kept flowing into my moderation list for a couple weeks, but then it seemed to taper off a bit.  A couple days ago, I returned from being out of the country for two weeks (more on that later), and what am I greeted by but - amazingly - no additional spam!  So I have a little hope now that maybe this little blog has fallen off the radar of the zombie comment spam engines.  Anyone know how to avoid this crap?  I enjoy blogging and would like to continue doing it, but if it means sifting daily through the mountain of spam I was getting before, then I honestly won’t be able to justify the time.  So anyway, here goes again…