I can't believe that came from your mouth!
Archive for June, 2006
Mead Tasting
Jun 5th
The mead was finally ready today and I stuck it in the fridge for chilling. It still has a sweet taste, a hint of blueberry flavor, and a slight spice flavor. It has an apricot color, and is a bit cloudy.
I have to use a strainer to filter out floating spices, but the flavor is quite refreshing. I’m not too sure how much alcohol it contains, but an empty glass sure has that alcohol aroma. I think the next time I try this I will use a bit more water to keep it from being so cloudy and may experiment more with the spices.
Cheers!
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Loading ...Importance of Dissent
Jun 5th
There is a great article in the Denver Post today that says that Global Warming is likely just a bunch of hooey. I have been saying it here for a while that those scientists and scholars that disagree with the eco-religionists on this issue are branded as traitors, fascists and worse. But it seems that the idea that it is okay to publicly disagree on the issue is finally catching on.
An excerpt from David Harsanyi at DenPo:
You’ll often hear the left lecture about the importance of dissent in a free society.
Why not give it a whirl?
Start by challenging global warming hysteria next time you’re at a LoDo cocktail party and see what happens.
So next time you’re with some progressive friends, dissent. Tell ‘em you’re not sold on this global warming stuff.
Back away slowly. You’ll probably be called a fascist.
Don’t worry, you’re not. A true fascist is anyone who wants to take away my air conditioning or force me to ride a bike.
Which in many ways, is really the goal of eco-religionists. They want every man to be at one with nature, living on a farm somewhere, probably a communal farm in which the government gets a generous cut of everything grown. There will be no more livestock, as meat eating is a sin, and animals produce far too much methane and other environmentally unfriendly things. There will be no more motorized transportation for the common man, and no more corporate greed and excess such as fast food, shopping malls and anywhere else that needs to be air-conditioned.
Sorry, I like my food to be sanitary, my home cool in the summer, and I love to drive my gas-guzzling SSR with the top down. Loving those things is not a sin to any god, anywhere. But in an eco-religionist’s world, such views would earn me hard labor in a beet patch.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Who 0\/\/nz the WWW?
Jun 5th
I have written previously about the saga of BlueFrog, who took a legal product up against the world’s worst cyber criminals and lost.
I said at the time that the World Wide Web is inhabited by a criminal element, and it is more like the Wild Wild West in that rogue network operators are paid in cash to commit or assist in crimes against other internet sites.
In this instance, ThePirateBay.Org, a web site that facilitates the exchange of pirated media such as movies and songs, and likely running an illegal operation, was raided by the Swedish Police in an effort to put an end to illegal file sharing. You can read about all of the details at Wikipedia.
In retaliation, hackers launched a Distributed Denial of Service attack against the Swedish Government Website and the Swedish National Police Department. The Swedish Intelligence service has now waded into the cyber-fray, acting surprised that anyone would object to the removal of a criminal enterprise, and awed that criminals would perform a criminal act like a DDoS.
From Reuters here:
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency said it would probe why the government’s Web site crashed on Sunday amid reports hackers had sought revenge for a crackdown on alleged online piracy.
The government Web site went off line in the early hours of Sunday. The Internet home page of the national police crashed in similar fashion on Thursday.
The police Web site problem came a day after the Pirate Bay Internet page, which the recording industry calls a major source for downloading pirated music and films, was shut by police.
“They (the government) contacted us and wanted to make a police complaint that something has happened with their home page and it is now a question for us investigate if it is a crime or something else,” said Anders Thornberg, a spokesman for the Security Police intelligence agency.
Local media said hackers attacked both sites, now functioning again, after the clampdown on Pirate Bay. Pirate Bay is also up and running again.
Until cyber criminals and spammers are brought to justice, the WWW will continue to stand for wild wild west.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...I’ve Got Your Didgeridoo
Jun 5th
It was pitch black at the campground on Saturday night in Gore, VA, and you could really see the stars, which is something special for someone living in the DC Burbs. I left the concert area to go to the tent to get a beer from the cooler, and I used my portable lantern to illuminate ground hazards like holes, puddles, snakes and the like. I put the lantern on my table at my camp while I fished out the cold beer and I heard a faint call. It was a female’s voice.
“Hey! Yeah you with the light!”
I looked around with a little confusion because I couldnt see anything past the glow of my own lantern. The voice sounded like it was coming from a distant camp site that had a camp fire burning merrily. I took a sip of the beer and picked up the lantern and shone it in that direction with a puzzled look on my face. Was someone in trouble?
“Hey, over here,” came the voice again. I walked in the direction of the voice, and out of the darkness loped a scrawny malnourished woman in dirty coveralls, bare feet and the most hideous tangle of unkempt matted hair and dreadlocks I had seen since Jason and his Argonauts defeated the Medusa. Horrified at her appearance, I asked if she was okay or needed help.
She seemed very happy that I had heard her cries in the dark and she asked in an excited voice, “Do you have a didgeridoo?”
I was confused. This dirty waif of a woman called to me from over 100 yards away to ask if I was in possession of an Australian aboriginal musical instrument? Was she kidding me, I demanded to know.
“No, I’m serious, its very important,” she responded, almost hurt. I told her that I thought she was in some kind of trouble and that her request to provide said musical instrument was absurd. She thanked me anyways, and galloped back into the darkness, apparently on a quest for more rare musical instruments.
It struck me as ridiculous that anyone would completely forego modern luxuries such as showers or a hairbrush. Maybe she was living like an aborigine and she wanted the tribal musical instrument to complete her fantasy. But anyone that shuns the healthiest and simplest forms of modernity in the 21st century is more than a little kooky, especially if by doing so it is designed to give others the impression that they are living a special lifestyle. I guarantee that the wild stinky girl had a CD player and a CD collection. She can go to the store for batteries or can find an electrical outlet to play her songs. But she can’t find soap, a hairbrush or a mirror?
Didgeridoo? No, didgeri-don’t.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...SoundQuilt
Jun 4th
Camping
I hadn’t been camping since I was a teenager, and I faced this challenge with a bit of FUD, but everything went great. I spent the first day mostly setting up camp and trying to stay dry. We had a great setup, which included a nice portable shelter. The first day was a little light on the music, mostly due to intermittent rain and the occasional downpour. But we stayed mostly dry, had plenty to eat, and when there was music, we listened.
The Soundquilt Music Festival
The festival was located at the beautiful Campgrounds of The Cove in the mountains of Gore, Virginia. The festival is the brainchild of Walnut Grove Band’s Mark Stewart, and he rallies some really good bands from around Virginia, Maryland and the DC area. Walnut Grove Band played on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. I have a prior review of their music here, and they were even better at the show that they headlined.
Not all of the bands were to my liking, but I did enjoy all of the music. Below are some notes about some of the music that really stood out to me.
On Saturday was an authentic bluegrass ensemble, the Orchard Boys, which hail from Frederick, MD. They have a great sound, and do an incredible cover of Green Day’s music, except they do it with a banjo and an upright bass.
Family Tree also impressed me. They are a progressive rock band from the Norfolk, VA area, which features an electric violin as an accompanying instrument. They have a rich, mature sound and the music is vibrant and fun.
Laidback is a Reston, VA based band with an expert sound that is marked most vividly by its percussion section. They have the widest range of original music that is a blend of jazz, groove and funk.
Each of the bands, even those not mentioned,helped make for a great and fun weekend, and thanks go out to Mark and Becky for all of their hard work in pulling off a great event.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Princess Kitty From Planet Cuteness
Jun 1st
My wife loves to play this little game where she makes the cat wear something cute. For whatever reason the cat allows her to do this, and even seems to enjoy it a little bit. Well, we have pictures of Princess Kitty From Planet Cuteness modelling jewelry my wife made.
Im off for a few days to a music festival, Soundquilt. It will be my first time camping since I was in the Scouts, and I’m looking forward to it, but I really don’t know what to expect. Its either going to be fun or torture, or maybe somewhere in between.
When I get home my Mead should be finished with the fermentation process. Right now it has a thick yeasty crust on the top and lots of congealed spices on the bottom. It smells strongly of blueberries, and a tiny taste tonight revealed that it is still on the sweet side. It should be drier as the fermentation continues, so I expect that by Sunday afternoon it will be ready for straining and bottling.
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