Archive for January 2nd, 2013

Blood for the blood god!

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

The man who TMQ would describe as “the tastefully named Gregg Williams” is apparently out as defensive coordinator in St. Louis, according to ESPN.

This is kind of an interesting situation: Williams worked for the Saints, took the job with the Rams in the off-season, and was then suspended indefinitely by the NFL for his part in the bounty scandal. He didn’t coach at all this season, and has not been reinstated by the NFL. So I’m not sure why they’re letting him go now; couldn’t they have just as easily fired him before the season started?

Both ESPN and ProFootballTalk are reporting that Blake Williams, Gregg’s son and the linebackers coach, has also been fired. Blake actually coached this season: PFT states “After Gregg was suspended, [Rams coach Jeff] Fisher gave many of Gregg’s responsibilities to the 27-year-old Blake, making him one of the youngest assistant coaches ever to handle play calling in the NFL.

Beats me, but I just report ’em.

Random notes: January 2, 2013.

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

“It is my belief that any commander that orders pilots out for combat in a F2A-3 should consider the pilot as lost before leaving the ground,” wrote Capt. P. R. White of the Marines.

Would you like to make great coffee and espresso? Well, you could get the NYT to pay for you to take classes from people with names like “Ant”. And you could pay anywhere from $100 to $600 for a burr grinder.

Or instead you could read this rant by Stingray, which pretty much tells you everything important about making good coffee. (Language warning on that link, just FYI.)

I do think there’s something to be said for the NYT piece:

The essence of good espresso, of good coffee in general, revolves around three numbers: the amount of quality dry coffee used, the amount of time water flows through it and the amount of coffee that comes out the other end. When the ratio is right, the process extracts the best flavor. If it is wrong, the good flavor never surfaces or is watered down. A mistake in seconds or grams, I am coming to learn, is the difference between something wonderful and awful.

It seems like the important thing is to use good coffee, use enough of it, and don’t let it sit and burn. Unless you’re a supertaster (which I am not), I doubt you can tell the difference between a $250 burr grinder and a $10 blade grinder, or an AeroPress versus a Chemex.

It isn’t rocket surgery, folks. It’s just coffee.