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Wednesday, March 17, 2004 |
Whisk(e)y's Kingdom
Not just plain, but there's always whiskey,
whehter it's Scotch, Irish, Rye, Bourbon or what have you. R. W. Apple
writes today about the product of Lynchburg, Tennessee, among others.
Jack Daniel's is made from a
recipe not very different from those used in most bourbons: 80 percent
corn, 12 percent malted barley, 8 percent rye. What sets it apart is a
special charcoal filtration method developed in the 19th century,
before Moore County existed. At that time, Lynchburg was in Lincoln
County, so the mellowing is called "the Lincoln County process."
Rye whiskey is different, in that it contains at least 51 percent
rye, usually with lesser amounts of corn and malted barley, which gives
it a delicacy, a spiciness and often a crisp, tart edge that bourbon
and Tennessee whiskey lack.
Old No. 7 is fantastic stuff, a good strong yet mellow taste that lasts
on the palette. It's really hard to beat. I've also been dippng into
some Jim Beam Mild & Mellow rye lately. A little harsh, but also
with a bold taste.
10:53:13 AM Permalink
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Redshift 10!. Evidence for a new farthest galaxy: "What's the farthest galaxy known? The answer keeps changing as astronomers compete to find galaxies that top the list. The new claimed record holder is now the faint smudge indicated in the above images by an 8.2-meter Very Large Telescope (VLT) operating in Chile. Detected light left this galaxy 13.2 billion of years ago, well before the Earth formed, when the universe was younger than 3 percent of its present age. Astronomers have estimated a redshift of 10 for this galaxy, the first double-digit claim for any galaxy. Young galaxies are of much interest to astronomers because many unanswered questions exist on when and how galaxies formed in the early universe. The distant redshift, if confirmed, would also give valuable information about galaxy surroundings at the end of the universe's dark age. Although this galaxy's distance exceeds that of even the farthest known quasar, it is still in front of the pervasive glowing gas that is now seen as the cosmic microwave background radiation." — Astronomy Picture of the Day [Follow Me Here...]
10:32:10 AM Permalink
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The Workman's Friend
When things go wrong and will not come right,
Though you do the best you can,
When life looks black as the hour of night -
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.
When money's tight and hard to get
And your horse has also ran,
When all you have is a heap of debt -
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.
When health is bad and your heart feels strange,
And your face is pale and wan,
When doctors say you need a change,
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.
When food is scarce and your larder bare
And no rashers grease your pan,
When hunger grows as your meals are rare -
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.
In time of trouble and lousey strife,
You have still got a darlint plan
You still can turn to a brighter life -
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.
The one, the only Flann O'Brien. Posted today thinking of Gary Gunderson.
9:32:19 AM Permalink
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The Ugliest Chapter in the History of the Republican Party
Well, there's a lot of competition for this one. It wasn't Watergate,
Nixon's enemies lists, the Clinton impeachment, Bush I's runs for
president, Florida vote counting, though they're all worth contenders.
The ugliest chapter is the red scare that followed Truman's 1948
election:
What followed the upset was the
ugliest chapter in the history of the Republican Party. Intensely
frustrated over being denied the White House for fifteen years, and
vowing to use any methods at their disposal, G.O.P. leaders employed
Cold War frustrations to their advantage and launched an assault upon
their political opponents that came to be known as the Second Red
Scare. While the roots of the Reds in high places campaign can be found
in the early Truman years, the full-scale attack upon the
administration and upon Democrats and liberals in general burst onto
the political scene after the election of 1948. It took Senator Joe
McCarthy a while to grasp what was happening and turn it to his
advantage. But in early 1950 his sweeping accusations and reckless
tactics, soon called "McCarthyism," achieved worldwide attention, and
the attack on Commiecrats became the major theme in American politics.
It helped the G.O.P. win in 1952. So powerful was the vicious slander,
however, that even the Eisenhower victory could not immediately stop
it. (Yes, there were Reds in high places, but McCarthy and his allies
were almost entirely unaware of the genuine articles.) Historians have
been arguing ever since about the overall impact of the Second Red
Scare, but few deny that it was considerable.
The author, very strangely, worries that if the Democrats lose this
year they'll start some sort of campaign that will rival the ugliness
of these times. Maybe so, but I'd just as soon worry the other way.
After Clinton beat Bush in 92, we got 8 years of personal slander
unlike anything the Dems have unleashed on Bush II. If we can make Bush
II another one-timer, an unleashing of ugliness from the right
certainly seems as likely to me. And it's hard to find instances of
Democratic ugliness to rival those I mentioned; Johnson's ads against
Goldwater in '64 come to mind, as does voting corruption of 1960, but I
can't think of any poisoning of the wells like we've had from the
Republicans.
9:23:05 AM Permalink
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© Copyright 2004 Steve Michel.
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