Month: October 2003

Weather Report

I think of my friend Steven every time I look at The New York Times Weather Report – the paper version that is. That is because he is a big fan of the graphical representation of information [his love for this is pure]; and the Weather Report, found today on D8, the back of the sports section, contains more information on 3/4s of a newspaper page than any other I can think of.

There are 10 graphs, 7 tables, much text and 3 maps setting out, among other things, the state of the fall foliage peak throughout the Northeast US; the estimated normal NYC reservior level; the temperature tomorrow in Lima Peru; the highs and lows of humidity in Cental Park; the national departure of temperature from the norm; the high tides at Shinnecock Inlet; the setting and rise of Venus; the heating degree days so far this month; the range of low temperature forecast next Friday; the hour-by-hour temperature for the 24 hours preceding 4 pm the day before; the average daily departure from normal temperature this month and year; air pressure, high and low; phases of the moon; actual precipitation for the last 30 days in inches; trends of temperature and precipitation for the last 10, 30, 90 and 365 days; where the heat in Tuscon will be moving in from; the wind in knots from Montauk Point to Sandy Hook; and a daily Highlight which today is a map with graph and text explaining the exceptional national US trends in temperature [northern Maine was 2 to 3 degrees F warmer than normal last week]. Distinct from the Highlight is the Focus which today states under the title “Western Warmth”:

Daily high-temperature records were set last weekend at many spots from Rockies to the Plains. On Sunday, Bismarck, N.D., reached 89 degrees, the warmest day recorded there so late in the autumn. Strong, nearly stationary high pressure extending to 30,000 feet over the interior West has been diverting storms and promoting the unusual warmth. But the end of autumn warm spell is coming. During the next week, a series of potent disturbances will gradually erode the high pressure zone. By the end of the month, cold weather and mountain snow will envelop the West.

Simple lovely physical writing.

The corresponding webpage has none of the Times standard cool taupe, sage, sand and aqua tones or careful selection of fonts, tightly packed but each distinct – all separated using only two thin lines. Beautiful meteorology prepared by Pennsylvania State University and presented by a Times staff of unknown numbers every day of the year. Sadly, the lower right 1/8 of D8, the Information and Services Directory, does not, among its 27 telephone numbers and 26 email addresses, have one to contact and thank the people who give us the Weather Report.

[More about graphs you will want to hold close and tight here.]

Bagpipe Crime

Mike points out the following act of infamy:

…it is with great regret and a heavy heart that I announce the dark decision that has cast a terrible shadow over the 2003 World Cup of Rugby. In what can only be considered as a crime against rugby — nay, a crime against humanity — nay nay, a crime against life itself — World Cup organizers have banned the bagpipes from Scotland’s games!!

Scottish rugby fans are up in arms after learning that they will not be allowed to pipe their team on to the pitch for the Rugby World Cup match against the United States in Brisbane tonight.

The Courier-Mail reported that World Cup organisers had ruled that the din would give the Scots an unfair advantage in a game they are already hot favourites to win.

Boo hoo! I’d love to hear who was behind this decision. It’s not like the pipes are even playing during the game — they were to be played before the game! God, you might as well ban the Haka!

Nonplussed, the local Ipswich Thistle Pipe Band has decided to set up base camp outside Lang Park two hours before the evening kick-off and let rip.

Band member Joe McGhee said the skirl of the pipes would not necessarily have given the Scots a psychological advantage.

“The bagpipes is not really an offensive weapon … It depends who’s playing it,” he explained.

This is almost too much to bear. Before last week’s game against Japan, Scotland fans were barred from wearing the sgian dhu ceremonial dagger. What did they think the fans were gonna do, stab someone with … oh yeah.

The Haka indeed. New Zealand players in all sports are able to use a Moari dance for a pre-match taunt of the opposition anytime they want – it is great to see, respectful of that country’s tradition and sets the stage…exactly like the bagpipes!!! Big boos to rugby.

How Blogs Might Die

There is much talk amongst these things called blogs about their place. Dave Winer makes an interesting point about their utility being in the narrowness of blogging. Craig points us to some less optimistic opinions which reminded me of my posting five months ago comparing blogs and CB radio. I don’t know if I have changed my mind about the heights to which we can expect this format to reach – but confusing the role of blogs with the quality, resources and journalistic standards found in newspapers and other quality professional media with what are at best partially informed personal opinions has certainly inflated the idea of what can be achieved through a digital soapbox [being a two-foot tall block of wood that only places the speaker in a position of audibility to a slightly larger tiny crowd].

That being the case – and somewhat regardless of it – it appears to me that the sun always sets and that this form of discussion, too, will die. Here are some of the factors I think will kill off blogs:

– Spam – sooner or later the Nigerian investment set will realize that stripping out “reply to” buttons rather than email addresses will give them another automated means to spread the word. In addition to this, you are seeing more and more random manual acts of insipid replying such as this. At some point, either the bots or the tangential may overwhelm the reply to buttons and the patience of authors. This would merely be a repetition of what happened to usenet and is happening to email so it should be expected to expand;

– Aggregating reading apps – many readers of many blogs use applications that tell you that your favorites have updated. There may come a point that these apps become the means by which the vast majority of reading is done. This is somewhat anti-thetical to the authors point of view that this-space-and-content-as-my-space-and content – I expect you to take in the entire site as a whole. By decontextualizing my newest comments, a reader is having a different experience than intended by the writer. If I notice much misconstruing of my observations in replies and their linking on other blogs, I may just get turned off writing in this way;

– writers may just become bored – writers of blogs may tend to be optimistic, needy manics of some degree and the new is great fodder for that condition. Some dream that they are participating in an agenda, either politics or technology. If the return on the emotional investment in the dream is not there in the long term, authorship will simply die off; and

– the great catch all – a new unanticipated technology will arise which will draw off activity.

My point?   Dunno.

None

This Space is Reserved…

Hang on…Nomah in the park homah…Timlin perfect… Nixon upper deck…8:00 EST and the BoSox are now up 3 on the ninth at Yankee Stadium.

opleaseopleaseopleaseopleaseopleaseoplease…

Later: Well, either the double curse of all time is now on and Chicago and Boston have a goat and a baby to blame…or the planets are coming into alignment.

Ah, the Beauty
Ted Williams, the man who called my buddy JR “Little Bobby” every summer at his Dad’s pharmacy in northern NB, on opening day 1947.

Happy Man

Pip Pip! Nahw...where'd I leave the MG??
People who know me know I like beer. I like to brew it. I like to go to good pubs. I like to read about beer. I appear, however, to be but a babe in a nappy compared to this guy from Toronto who I came across on a Google search for the Rogues Roost in Halifax. Nice burns. Nice tie.

Book Review: Beer -The Story of the Pint by Martyn Cornell

Last July, I wrote a review of Pete Brown’s book Man Walks into a Pub. Over 7 weeks later, A reply was posted by Martyn Cornell:

I had better declare a massive interest before I begin, since I’m the author of Beer: The Story of the Pint, which came out two months after Pete Brown’s book. I’ve met Pete, he’s a nice guy, and his book contains, in its second half, an excellent analysis of where the brewing industry in Britain is today. It’s a pity the first half does not seem to have had as much research put into it, as it repeats all the old myths about the history of beer my own book attempts to correct – myths which add up to rather more than “a few” factual errors. I wouldn’t ask you to take my word for it – read both books, and let me know what you think.

Before I knew it I shelled out 18.92 Euros through amazon.co.uk and a few weeks ago the book arrived. Paying the $2.20 or so for GST [and the most cursed $5.00 more for the Canada Post GST collection charge – a money grab worthy of Aliant] I ran right home and started into the read.

Now, I have over 30 books about beer. Some are style guides about the history of and how to make, say, Stout or German Wheat Ale. Others are technical works like the ever popular The Biotechnology of Malting and Brewing by J.S Hough (1985, Cambridge)while others are layperson homebrewing guides like the classic 1970’s The Big Book of Brewing by David Line (12th ed, 1985, Amateur Winemaker). Some, like Beer: The Story of the Pint are histories of the phenomena of beer drinking and the brewing industry. I have three or four of these now which focus on the history of the English industry:

Beer and Britannia: An Inebriated History of Britain by Peter Haydon (2001, Sutton)
Beer: The Story of the Pint by Martyn Cornell (2003, Headline)
Man Walks into a Pub by Pete Brown (2003, MacMillan) and
The English Pub by Michael Jackson (1976, Harper & Row).

The latter text is the ish-ish one as it is largely a photo essay on the elements of the pub but it contains as much historical information as any so I include it here. So where does the most recent text fall in?

Let’s just say from the outset that I am biased myself as I will buy any book about beer and find something useful in it. In that sense I am speaking as a a collector more than as a book reviewer. Further, I was particularly pleased to be contacted by the author and even more pleased by a continuing email correspondence we have shared. At one point in my reading, I wrote to say that I was somewhat frustrated by the lack of footnoting, to which Mr Cornell replied:

Mmmmm – trouble is, the general feeling in the publishing world is that footnotes equal elitist-looking equals lost sales, except if they’re jokey asides as per Pete Brown’s book. This may be wrong, but it’s what publishers think. The aim of Beer: TSOTP was to try to appeal both to people, like yourself, who already knew a lot about beer and brewing, and also to people looking for a Christmas present for Uncle Ernie (since by getting them to buy the book, I and the publisher make more money …), hence no footnotes so as not to put off the Uncle Ernie crowd. However, to make up for this a little, I tried to make the bibliography as complete as possible, and also chapter-specific, to help people track references down.

Cheers, Martyn Cornell

He is, of course, right…and even knows I have an Uncle Ernie, who lives in the Scottish Borders (blessedly near Traquair House) and who would, indeed, like these books for Christmas. The bibliography provided by Mr. Cornell is extensive, running 14 pages, and wil add muchly to my hunt for more books to buy.

That all being said, it was the first half of the book I enjoyed the most – the history of brewing to very roughly 1850. The latter part I found became a recitation of corporate mergers in the English brewing industry. In the first part a compelling argument concerning the history of porter is set out, the meaning of the XX and KK system described and the pre-1500 story set out more clearly and supported by more extensive research than in any other book I have read. He is, however and for example, lighter on the place of mild from 1850 to 1950 than the others, yet does the best job in explaining Burton. They all, however, miss the best reference to that latter strong ale in Wind in the Willows when Rat and Mole in the chapter “Dulce Domum” discover it in Mole’s old pantry as they prepare a winter night’s feed:

The Rat, meanwhile, was busy examining the lable on one of the beer-bottles. “I perceive this to be Old Burton,’ he remarked approvingly. “Sensible Mole! The very thing! Now we shall be able to mull some ale! Get the things ready, Mole, while I draw the corks.”

Old Burton can be enjoyed in Ontario every winter with the supply of Samuel Smith’s “Winter Welcome” or Young’s “Winter Warmer”, the latter renamed as such in 1971 from the previous “Burton Ale”, as we learn on page 206 of Cornell.

When I compare Cornell’s work to that of Haydon, I find the latter has the better description of 1800 to 1950. Similarly when I add Brown to the mix, he has the best explanation of 1950 to now. What Haydon and Brown achieve is contextualizing the place of beer in English society during those periods, the former in terms of the political and regulatory overlay, the latter in terms of consumerism and marketing. Cornell’s success is setting the greater social context better than the others before 1800 and especially before 1500. My verdict? Buy all of them – and find an old coffee table sized copy of Jacksons The English Pub for more illustrations. Each will add to the others both in terms of the overall timeline and interpretation of particular facts.

Beer: The Story of the Pint

Last July, I wrote a review of Pete Brown’s book Man Walks into a Pub. Over 7 weeks later, A reply was posted by Martyn Cornell:

I had better declare a massive interest before I begin, since I’m the author of Beer: The Story of the Pint, which came out two months after Pete Brown’s book. I’ve met Pete, he’s a nice guy, and his book contains, in its second half, an excellent analysis of where the brewing industry in Britain is today. It’s a pity the first half does not seem to have had as much research put into it, as it repeats all the old myths about the history of beer my own book attempts to correct – myths which add up to rather more than “a few” factual errors. I wouldn’t ask you to take my word for it – read both books, and let me know what you think.

Before I knew it I shelled out 18.92 Euros through amazon.co.uk and a few weeks ago the book arrived. Paying the $2.20 or so for GST [and the most cursed $5.00 more for the Canada Post GST collection charge – a money grab worthy of Aliant] I ran right home and started into the read.

Now, I have over 30 books about beer. Some are style guides about the history of and how to make, say, Stout or German Wheat Ale. Others are technical works like the ever popular The Biotechnology of Malting and Brewing by J.S Hough (1985, Cambridge)while others are layperson homebrewing guides like the classic 1970’s The Big Book of Brewing by David Line (12th ed, 1985, Amateur Winemaker). Some, like Beer: The Story of the Pint are histories of the phenomena of beer drinking and the brewing industry. I have three or four of these now which focus on the history of the English industry:

Beer and Britannia: An Inebriated History of Britain by Peter Haydon (2001, Sutton)

Beer: The Story of the Pint by Martyn Cornell (2003, Headline)

Man Walks into a Pub by Pete Brown (2003, MacMillan) and

The English Pub by Michael Jackson (1976, Harper & Row).

The latter text is the ish-ish one as it is largely a photo essay on the elements of the pub but it contains as much historical information as any so I include it here. So where does the most recent text fall in?

Lets just say from the outset that I am biased myself as I will buy any book about beer and find something useful in it. In that sense I am speaking as a a collector more than as a book reviewer. Further, I was particularly pleased to be contacted by the author and even more pleased by a continuing email correspondence we have shared. At one point in my reading, I wrote to say that I was somewhat frustrated by the lack of footnoting, to which Mr Cornell replied:

Mmmmm – trouble is, the general feeling in the publishing world is that footnotes equal elitist-looking equals lost sales, except if they’re jokey asides as per Pete Brown’s book. This may be wrong, but it’s what publishers think. The aim of Beer: TSOTP was to try to appeal both to people, like yourself, who already knew a lot about beer and brewing, and also to people looking for a Christmas present for Uncle Ernie (since by getting them to buy the book, I and the publisher make more money …), hence no footnotes so as not to put off the Uncle Ernie crowd. However, to make up for this a little, I tried to make the bibliography as complete as possible, and also chapter-specific, to help people track references down.

Cheers, Martyn Cornell

He is, of course, right…and even knows I have an Uncle Ernie, who lives in the Scottish Borders (blessedly near Traquair House) and who would, indeed, like these books for Christmas. The bibliography provided by Mr. Cornell is extensive, running 14 pages, and wil add muchly to my hunt for more books to buy.

That all being said, it was the first half of the book I enjoyed the most – the history of brewing to very roughly 1850. The latter part I found became a recitation of corporate mergers in the English brewing industry. In the first part a compelling argument concerning the history of porter is set out, the meaning of the XX and KK system described and the pre-1500 story set out more clearly and supported by more extensive research than in any other book I have read. He is, however and for example, lighter on the place of mild from 1850 to 1950 than the others, yet does the best job in explaining Burton. They all, however, miss the best reference to that latter strong ale in Wind in the Willows when Rat and Mole in the chapter “Dulce Domum” discover it in Mole’s old pantry as they prepare a winter night’s feed:

The Rat, meanwhile, was busy examining the lable on one of the beer-bottles. “I perceive this to be Old Burton,’ he remarked approvingly. “Sensible Mole! The very thing! Now we shall be able to mull some ale! Get the things ready, Mole, while I draw the corks.”

Old Burton can be enjoyed in Ontario every winter with the supply of Samuel Smith’s “Winter Welcome” or  Young’s “Winter Warmer”, the latter renamed as such in 1971 from the previous “Burton Ale”, as we learn on page 206 of Cornell.

When I compare Cornell’s work to that of Haydon, I find the latter has the better description of 1800 to 1950. Similarly when I add Brown to the mix, he has the best explanation of 1950 to now. What Haydon and Brown achieve is contextualizing the place of beer in English society during those periods, the former in terms of the political and regulatory overlay, the latter in terms of consumerism and marketing. Cornell’s success is setting the greater social context better than the others before 1800 and especially before 1500.  My verdict? Buy all of them – and find an old coffee table sized copy of Jacksons The English Pub for more illustrations. Each will add to the others both in terms of the overall timeline and interpretation of particular facts.

The Walrus

While at Sam the Record Man on Yonge, I picked up a couple of magazines. I found a copy of Arsenal: The Official Magazine which is to When Saturday Comes what a 1979 issue of Teen Beat was to that year’s Rolling Stone. Ashley Cole and David Cassidy are both dreamy but I want a bit more than glossy pictures and bland positives.

The Walrus on the other hand, is a good read. A new literate current affairs type magazine – edited out of Toronto, printed out of Winnipeg – for starters it is 4 bucks cheaper than the $9.95 I wasted on A.:T.O.M. Despite the need to have an article by Margaret Atwood – one presumes they might have a mumbling loser Gordie Lightfoot song as their anthem – it has had some good luck getting actual topical essay writers Douglas Coupland and Lewis Lapham to provide for the first issue. Pegs actually just provides some book reviews so it is not too needy a move. [She does, though, write some odd sentences like her first few:

The literary map is like the geological one: It’s three-dimensional. Mountains are leveled, rifts open, volcanoes suddenly appear where before there were none. Not so long ago, books by émigrés from the Soviet Union or its satellites were almost guaranteed a hearing in the West. Now, ever since 9/11, a catastophe that is a ready a logo, the publishing hot spot has shifted to another incandescent region, the Middle East.

Now I am definitely stupider than Margaret Atwood and have been marked as a bad speller since grade three, but why is the “i” in “It’s” capitalized? Why is the word “geological” used – three-dimensional maps are topographical, not geological. The change in the tastes of publishing described is a swift change but geological shifts are very slow. And why “logo” with all the implications of the branding of falsehood Naomi Klien has brought to the word. Whatever 9/11 has become culturally, for whatever cause its remembrance is misused, the qualities of the event itself are not to the misuse what fast food is to the golden arch.]

Anyway, Atwood aside, The Walrus reminds me of the now longishly departed The Idler (which hung on until last year in its pub form) – but also more Harpers rather than, say, The New Yorker – with photo essays, topics chosen from throughout North American – including Canadian – and global current events and popular culture…and nice cartoons and incidental drawing. Next issue has Stephen Lewis writing about a truly great Canadian Romeo Dellaire, who led the shamefully unsupported UN protection force in Rwanda and who went a ways towards madness afterwards knowing what he saw and what could have been done. I already want to read that.

36 Hours

Had a very good 36 hours:

  • For the first time I spoke on privacy law to a group (about 400 senior provincial and MUSH officials) who actually got it.  At the MacDonald block of Queen’s Park down the hall from the Mines and Mineral Information Centre.  I got to publicly disagree with new Federal Privacy Commissioner on the scope of his powers (I was right but 4 hours later) and was asked to speak again to a couple of Canadian Bar Association and provincial government working groups. I hope they actually work. Sounds like they do. [“Working groups” can mean people who do not want the “pointlessness” stigma of “committee” or, on the other hand, it can mean the people involved don’t want to imply they are going to produce what a committee might be exected to produce.]
  • Tories whumped. In our riding about 3000 voted Green so I was not alone. If, say, 60,000 of the 78,000 or so who could vote did vote, that is 5% for the good.
  • Got bumped at the hotel. Book by web but the fine print was smoking. Always protest being given smoking. We got the Royal suite at the Fredericton Sheraton once. Literally the Royal suite. Two basketball courts large, dining table for 12 and a kitchen.
  • Got to walk up and down Yonge Street. There are some incredibly beautiful old buildings still among the towers, especially north of Queen Street. One empty stone bank, which only as as a sign Queen and Yonge branch, has a foot print of maybe 40 by 80 feet but has elegant columns and a dome. It faces the Eaton Centre.
  • Got to go to Sams. Sams on Yonge must be the last big record shop in Canada. I walk down one aisle and pick up handfuls. Bought an XTC singles CD 1977 to 1992 for Ian as well as best of Yaz, a Waif’s album, two third-gen ska records and one by The Henrys called Puerto Angel from 1996. Ellen is now immediately in love with The Waifs, aussie folk, and I with the Henrys which I’d call Toronto folk-jazz. Mary Margaret O’Hara, today’s greatest singer in the history of time, flits around a tune or two.
  • Had a Guiness at the Irish Embassy pub at 4 pm with TO guys in suits – ivory wall arched ceilings and dark oak wood panelling. Go. A block from Union Sation at Yonge and Front. The bartender was from Winnipeg and homebrewed. He said he visited PEI and went to the crappiest bar – the Gahan House (“the beer all sucked” – but we agreed the cholocate stout was acceptable) but his hopes were was entirely redeemed by visiting a hole in the wall called The Harp and Thistle for curry and Guiness. Had to laugh.
  • Best of all, I chose to VIA 1 it back home to get somehing to eat and drink and sat next to a guy who turned out to be in grade 9 with me at West Kings in the Annapolis Valley.

All good. Thanks for reading reruns while I was away.