Last night Alex and I got drunk at Pizzeria Rugatino with a local stringer. a classic old-school British hack whose been all over the world. Funny story: He befriended the BBC World's Lyce Doucet, one of our favorite on-air personalities, while they were both posted to South Asia. Apparently that strange accent of hers -- she's from New Brunswick -- used to be a whole lot worse. The Beeb actually had to send her to elocution camp so that people could understand what the hell she was saying.

Said stringer asked that I not mention his name. "I've seen the South Park movie. I know Canadians can be violent."