Archive for the ‘Clippings’ Category

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Punch!

Friday, October 15th, 2010

One of the things I’ve noticed in my reading of cocktail history is the emphasis on “punch” during the 18th and 19th centuries. Historically, it seems that the communal drink served in a large bowl was much, much more popular during that time period, and then abruptly dropped off – probably, like many other aspects of 18th and 19th century cocktail culture, killed off by Prohibition.

Frank Bruni, in “The Tipsy Diaries” from today’s NYT, has a nifty profile of David Wondrich, the guy who wrote Imbibe! (a “biography”, for want of a better word, of the legendary early mixologist Jerry Thomas). Wondrich has a new book coming out: Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl, and Bruni’s piece ties into that.

There’s a couple of things in the Bruni article that I find interesting. One is that you can apparently still purchase ambergris (I love the description of it as “clotted whale cholesterol”). I was also delighted to read that Wonderich became interested in mixology after reading Barnaby Conrad’s Absinthe: History in a Bottle, which was also one of the books that got me interested in cocktail culture.

Posted in Books, Clippings, Mixology | 1 Comment »

War on Drugs watch.

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Today’s LAT has an interesting article about the “cult of indoor weed“. Basically, consumers have developed a preference for marijuana grown indoors; the result has been a large indoor pot industry, focused in the “Emerald Triangle” region (Mendocino, Trinity and Humboldt counties) of Northern California.

Meanwhile, CVS has been fined $75 million by the Federal government. Why? They weren’t aggressive enough in tracking people who bought cold medication. Meanwhile, since the “Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005” has been in effect, meth production has moved across the border into Mexico, where the cartels can buy pseudoephedrine in bulk.

Posted in California Über Alles, Clippings, Law, Politics | Comments Closed

Because I have a wicked slice.

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Another reason why I own guns.

Posted in Clippings, Guns | 2 Comments »

Below the limit, under arrest.

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

We haven’t checked in with our old friend, Austin police chief Art Acevedo, recently. What’s he been up to?

Oh, look, he’s been down at the Capitol, pushing for new legislation. What’s on Art’s mind?

…the idea behind a new offense of “driving while ability impaired” — DWAI — would cover drivers whose blood-alcohol content is between 0.05 and 0.07.

Yes. Our chief of police is unhappy that DWI arrests have dropped (6,963 in 2008 to 6,166 in 2009, according to the Statesman) even though enforcement has been stepped up, and wants to create a brand new offense that the APD can charge folks with.

In addition…

…Acevedo also supported mandatory blood samples for many repeat offenders, allowing police to operate DWI checkpoints and adding a new offense of aggravated DWI for drivers who are found to have a breath-alcohol reading of 0.18 or higher.

Question: is there any evidence that a large number of accidents are caused by people who are at or above a 0.05 BAC, but below a 0.08 BAC?

Data on how many of the drivers arrested in Austin were found with a 0.05 to 0.07 blood-alcohol level was not immediately available from Austin police.

Question: doesn’t Texas state law allow the police to arrest drivers who show evidence of impairment, no matter what their BAC is?

And here’s an interesting pull quote:

While enforcement is generally up over just a few years ago, police and prosecutors have increasingly complained that Texas’ system of punishing drunken drivers is overloaded — perhaps even broken.

The reason is that thousands of drivers arrested for DWI are being allowed to plead guilty to lesser crimes such as reckless driving or obstructing a roadway. Such plea deals allow them to escape alcohol counseling and driver’s license restrictions, according to testimony before the Senate panel in July by police officials, prosecutors and judges.

So, basically, we’re not even effectively prosecuting many of the people we do arrest, and the answer is to create a brand new category of offense that we can prosecute even more people for?

Posted in Clippings, Law | 1 Comment »

Art, damn it, art! watch (#17 in a series).

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

Because there’s nothing like a giant marble sculpture of a hand with an upraised middle finger.

Unless, of course, we’re talking about a statue of Pope John Paul II struck by a meteorite.

(Hattip: Lawrence.)

Posted in Art, Clippings | Comments Closed

Pop quiz, hotshot.

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

What figure recently in the news:

  • Took spinning classes?
  • Participated in a 5K run, and turned in a time several minutes below average?
  • Stated on an employment application filled out before taking his current job that he enjoyed skiing, and had participated in the Baker to Las Vegas relay race, which covers 120 miles?
  • And went out on patrol with his officers, impounding cars and writing traffic tickets?
  • While claiming a law enforcement disability pension?

Your answer is here.

(Previously.)

Posted in Clippings | 1 Comment »

On a stick watch.

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

“Top 10 New Foods at the 2010 State Fairs“, by way of No Silence Here.

I confess, the deep-fried cheddar-bacon mashed potatoes on a stick actually look pretty good to me.

On the other hand, the original tornado potato doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but this year’s modification sounds awful. When I think of great tastes that taste great together, my list does not include “potato” and “chocolate”.

And then, of course, there’s the number 1 item on the list, which you may remember from our previous coverage.

Breakdown of the list: two items from the Texas State Fair, three items from the Minnesota State Fair, two from the San Diego County Fair, one from the “San Diego State Fair” (could this be a typo? The link to “My Burning Kitchen” indicates yes), and one each from the Indiana and Wisconsin State Fairs.

Edited to add: Speaking of “My Burning Kitchen”, “deep-fried butter in both garlic and cinnamon sugar flavor“? So not only does deep-fried butter actually exist, it comes in flavors?

“What flavor is it?” “It’s butter, innit. It’s bloody butter, it’s not any bloody flavor!”

Posted in Clippings, Food, On a stick | Comments Closed

Random notes: October 4, 2010.

Monday, October 4th, 2010

Slate has an interesting article on the bizarre saga of Togo’s national soccer team, which apparently did not play in Bahrain last month, and did not lose 3-0.

I know that previous sentence probably doesn’t make any sense. It will once you read the article. Trust me.

I got a little distracted on Friday, and didn’t get a chance to note the passing of Stephen J. Cannell. Both Lee Goldberg and his brother Tod Goldberg have nice appreciations up at their respective blogs, though, and I did want to call attention to those. One thing stood out to me from Tod’s appreciation:

Every time I did a panel with him — and I must have done a dozen panels with him in the last five years alone — afterward he bought copies of every single other person’s book on the panel. This might seem like an insignificant thing in the larger scheme of life, but to see the looks on people’s faces when he walked up with their books afterward to get them signed confirmed for me the same thing I felt time and time again: he was just a class act.

Posted in Clippings, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

Blood in the streets!

Monday, October 4th, 2010

And now the Mets have fired executive vice president and general manager Omar Minaya, and officially announced that Jerry Manuel is not returning in 2011.

NYT coverage here.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Arrrrrrrrr!

Monday, October 4th, 2010

The Pittsburgh Pirates, who, as you may recall, went 57-105 this season, have fired manager John Russell.

Not since the mid-1950s have the Pirates been as bad as they were under Russell, who had records of 67-95 in 2008, 62-99 in 2009 and 57-105 this season. Only the 1952 Pirates, who went 42-112, lost more games in baseball’s modern era than Russell’s final team, which was the National League’s worst in batting, pitching and defense.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette coverage here.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Loser, Sports | Comments Closed

People try to put us down..

Sunday, October 3rd, 2010

..and they succeed, admirably.

“My Generation”, a show I’d never heard of until last night, and which was apparently on ABC, is the second cancellation of the season.

Posted in Clippings, TV | Comments Closed

Obit watch: September 30, 2010.

Thursday, September 30th, 2010

Tony Curtis, for the record.

The NYT has a fascinating obit for Jure Robic, a Slovenian endurance cyclist. Robic won the Race Across America (a 3000 mile race across the United States with no rest breaks) five times.

In 2005, Robic won the race and two weeks later won Le Tour Direct, a 2,500-mile European version with a course derived from Tour de France routes that included 140,000 feet of climbing — almost the equivalent of starting at sea level and ascending Mt. Everest five times. His time was 7 days 19 hours.

Edited to add: I totally forgot that Lawrence had blogged about Robic earlier this year.

Posted in Clippings, Obits | 1 Comment »

Obit watch.

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

Arthur Penn, director of many films, including “Bonnie and Clyde” and the unfortunate “Penn and Teller Get Killed”. (I bow to nobody in my admiration for Penn and Teller, but I hated that movie.)

Sally Menke, Quentin Tarantino’s editor. I think I speak for several readers of this blog (well, maybe just Mike the Musicologist) when I say, “Quentin Tarantino had an editor?”

Robert C. Truax, a for-real rocket scientist. At one point, he was building a sub-orbital rocket in his backyard; he also worked with Evel Knievel on the Snake River jump.

Posted in Clippings, Obits | Comments Closed

Obit watch.

Monday, September 27th, 2010

George Blanda, the man who led the Houston Oilers to two championships.

That’s the Houston Oilers of the AFL, by the way.

Posted in Clippings, NFL, Obits, Sports | Comments Closed

K-Geezer.

Sunday, September 26th, 2010

I wanted to link to this story about changes at Austin’s KGSR over the past year, and the payoff for those changes (more listeners). The story is somewhat buried on the Statesman‘s web site. I only discovered it because I was reading the Life and Arts section over breakfast this morning.

This story also represents something else that I’ve brought up before; the entitled attitude of so many people in Austin, who think that nothing (public or private) should ever change. Personally, I’m in favor of anything that decreases the chance I’ll hear Bob Schneider or Kasey Chambers on the radio.

Posted in Clippings, Media, Music, Radio | 1 Comment »

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