Got this beautiful 2 CD set in the mail from amazon.com last night, and am just finishing up listening to the second disc. Great concert. This album was recorded at a show in Holland. They seemed a bit more subdued than when I saw them in St. Louis, but the musicianship was great as usual.
I highly recommend this album.
I’m suffering a case of writer’s block today. I’ve no idea what to write about.
Coniston Brewing Co.’s Bluebird Bitter pours a lovely honey color with a small head and gorgeous lacing. It has a citrus-like fruity aroma with a hint of …something. The bottle says it’s geraniums, but I can’t quite tell. There’s a rich maltiness that provides a nice mouthfeel and contributes good things to the flavor, and the hops are somewhat understated for a pale ale. There’s a spicy note and a bit of a flavor of pine resins. When the beer warms up to the recommended serving temperature, that note is actually pleasant, but if you serve the beer cold - as in, directly from an American refrigerator - then it becomes a stumbling block to enjoying the beer. The low alcohol level allows this beer to be a nice session beer.
Do yourself a favor and let the beer warm up to cool, not cold, before you drink it.
To sum up: not bad, but nothing to get excited about.
Ed Morrissey has a good article about the future of the U.S. in Iraq at Hot Air entitled Iraqis aren’t stupid — and they’re watching us. Go read it.
I’ve added a link to Time’s Pictures of the Week feature to my blogroll. Many of the photos are quite stunning visually.
You won’t believe this:
Joe Six-pack will have to pay a lot more to get his buzz on if Assemblyman Jim Beall has his way.
The San Jose Democrat on Thursday proposed raising the beer tax by $1.80 per six-pack, or 30 cents per can or bottle. The current tax is 2 cents per can. That’s an increase of about 1,500 percent.
Gotta love California, huh?
Full story. H/T: Vodkapundit.
A teddy bear was the first toy commemorating Joseph Ratzinger’s election to the Chair of Peter:
Officers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives barged into a South Florida home Wednesday only to discover they had the wrong address.
The ATF agents were supposed to conduct a raid at a home in the 2600 block of Northwest 49th Terrace in northwest Miami-Dade County, but they were off by one block. They entered a house on Northwest 49th Street instead.
Philomaine Silvain and her 3-year-old son were among the innocent people inside the home when the agents came in.
Click here to find out more!Silvain pointed out damage to her front door.
“The door’s right here,” Silvain said. “There’s a hole right here. It’s broken.”
Her back window was also broken from where federal agents fired canisters into the apartment at about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The agents left the tear gas cans in the house, and Silvain kicked them out and into the street before dumping them into the garbage.
No one from the ATF would speak to NBC 6 on camera, but a representative said over the phone that it was an innocent mistake, agents apologized on the scene and ATF would repair any damages.
Silvain’s door has already been fixed. However, she said she plans on speaking with a lawyer.
The officers did arrest the man they actually were looking for one street away.
1. Wrong house, gestapo tactics.
2. The ATF exists.
Karl Marx? No*. Barack Obama:
And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
* Well, yes, but not recently.
In the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, the defense budget accounted, at its height, for about 13 percent of the economy. In the Reagan administration, the defense budget was about 6 percent of the economy. The 2009 defense budget coupled with projected spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan comes in at about 4 percent of overall spending.
Actually, dollar-for-dollar (i.e. adjusted for inflation) today’s military spending is bigger than in those two examples above. What this shows is that the economy has grown faster than military spending has. Which is good news, indeed.
What a cool toy! What little boy wouldn’t want one?
Sierra Nevada’s ESB (Early Spring Beer) pours a dark amber - nearly red - color with a small head and has a subtle floral aroma. This American take on a British ESB (Extra Special Bitter) is exactly what you would expect: the balance between the malts and hops is skewed in favor of the hops.
The maltiness is small but distinct, and there’s a bitter kick to the finish. But it’s a pretty good beer. This is what last night’s mild ale should have tasted like.
My local big box beer store carries Westmalle! Yay!
