Author: Alan

Oh, To Be In England With All The Cameras There

Oh, to be a automated camera salesman, too. Sounds like the nation has gone mad what with the checking up upon itself:

It was at one of these protests that Sussex police put a “marker” on his car. That meant he was added to a “hotlist”. This is a system meant for criminals but John Catt has not been convicted of anything and on a trip to London, the pensioner found himself pulled over by an anti-terror unit. “I was threatened under the Terrorist Act. I had to answer every question they put to me, and if there were any questions I would refuse to answer, I would be arrested. I thought to myself, what kind of world are we living in?” Sussex police would not talk about the case.

And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware, that the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf round the elm-tree bole are with tiny lens, while the police view from the orchard in England – now!

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But Isn’t Taxing Beer The Third Oldest Profession?

It is interesting to follow beer fans in different jurisdictions in the US and the UK react to various plans to use beer as one way to cope with the global economic crisis. The British Beer and Pub Association backed by CAMRA and many brewers is running the Axe the Beer Tax campaign. States like Illinois are thinking about making changes while others like Wisconsin may leave them where they have been for forty years. Jay points out that the US Federal tax might be tripled from 18 to 45 bucks a barrel but is that really stupid or just reality in an economic collapse? Just as it makes no sense when a certain sort of politician advocates for lower tax on business income to get small businesses started – no sense because they have no profits to call income at that stage – similarly, in a downturn, you can’t raise taxes on the limp sectors of the economy economic activity. So, if there are going to be taxes – and, yes, there are going to be taxes – why should beer be exempt?

Amy Mittleman in Brewing Battles points out that modern taxation policy was largely created in the mid-1860s to react to the nation’s financial need to pay for the Civil War. Beer and brewing was the chosen conduit for the taxation as was follow existing European models with the aim of creating the greatest level of consumption and therefore the greatest revenue stream. She also points out that the Federal beer excise tax on beer was set at 9 dollars a barrel almost six decades ago under the Truman administration. The tax level now in after inflation dollars has simply not kept up given $100 in 1952 is now worth $798.87. Fully adjusted taxes would make for about $72 per barrel of Federal excise today at Truman’s rates. Obama’s Senate pals are considering $45. Jay quotes Jeff Becker of the Beer Institute as part of his argument:

In 2008, members of the beer industry paid more than $41 billion in taxes at all levels of government and provided jobs to 1.9 million Americans. Any proposed tax increase would severely offset this important economic contribution.’”

Really? Any tax will threaten it? Will “wipe out an industry”? Seems like the socialists do pretty well on the beer consumption scale. Look at it this way. In these tough economic times there are two western economies which are sort of standing out. Norway is booming and the Obama administration is looking to dull old Canada for banking regulatory lessons. Despite cursing it as we do, both Norway and Canada beer fans live in cultures with a pay-as-you-go mentality with high beer taxation. When I was a kid in Nova Scotia the beer cases even had “includes health tax” written on them right next to “union made” right on top. We paid the tax and were quite happy when the ER visit didn’t turn into a question about could we afford it. We also had no choice. Unlike today in the UK, there was no cheap booze alternative undermining the marketplace in the Maritimes. Well, except in PEI… but that is another matter.

Look, I am not going to say “oh, goodie goodie goodie, a new tax” but at the end of the day isn’t there an effort going on to somehow roll back the clock to about 1857 when shock and dismay is expressed over taxes on beer even in a time of economic recession?

My Week In Beer… Or “I Travelled For No Beer”

Well, at least I did have a beer today – a Sacket’s Harbor IPA at the brewpub with lunch. I was at a thinking session so I won’t get into it but suffice it to say that Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. on a warm spring day is one of the nicest spots to have a beer I have ever come across. But the weird thing was that I came back across the border with not one bottle in the van. Mad? No, I am just planning to spend Victoria Day Monday in New York State’s 48th senatorial district inspecting the Crown’s former territories and I expect to hit Oswego’s C’s Farm Market with gusto. I did stare at a six pack of Sierra Nevada IPA for $9.49 at the gas station just before I crossed back across the border but I really have a lot of beer from the recent trip to Quebec as well as kind travelers to Michigan and Wisconsin. Do I need more?

I don’t know what is weirder – coming back from the USA with no beer or what Greg Koch wrote in the comments on Wednesday. But what is weirder is that my post about “Hooray for Everything” rates #5 on Google right now for “American Craft Beer Week” so I suppose some pip squeek like me being less than wholehearted about one’s PR campaign might be the cause of some unhappiness – though others seem to have the same questions. But these things pass – Google rankings, PR campaigns, internet squabbles. Greg makes very good beer and that is the main thing.

I don’t know if I could sustain a “My Week in Beer Series” – I live in such a bubble and don’t get out much. What would it be like to live like Knut who nips south to Rome’s Football Pub, where a bar stool calls for me, when the slightest whim moves him. What would it be like to be Jeff, who runs the other greatest pub in Europe – grabbing a cask, conditioning it brilliantly and making a living from it. Such dreams. Jay still has the news, Stan is still on the trip and Lew has the blues. Such lives.

Me, I have a 3 Monts, a favorite pale ale, and spend Friday night watching Doctor Who with the kids. Beer in the rec room. A great end to the week.

Come Along – Let Google Do The Thinking For You

Remember when there was the whole “calculators in class” argybargy back when wideleg jeans were out before they were in again but after the second time they were out? Well, Lord Goog may be setting up a similar non-mathematical quandary:

One of the more experimental products was called Google Squared, which will go public in the next month or so. It takes information from the web and displays it in a spreadsheet in “split seconds”, something Ms Mayer said would normally take someone half a day to do. During the demonstration, a query for “small dog” was typed into the search box. Seconds later a table popped up showing photographs of various dogs, their origin, weight and height in a clear and simple layout.

Sounds like homework done in a snap to me. Of course, on one level this is good and really just a tabular representation of a results sheet that drags information from Google images, news and general web searches. And it will demonstrate the importance of gathering and sorting different classes of data into useful format. But it will also carry the air of authority so that there will be tension with the idea of improving on Google’s presentation as well as the problem of knowing to what degree the analysis presented is purely based on Google and what is the individuals.

Should we care? Should figuring stuff out and digging for information be valued even if the results are a bit like a nine year old’s take on a pancake breakfast, messy and less than appetizing?

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American Craft Beer Week = Hooray for Everything?

beerisbestNot being American in the national constitutional sense, though somewhat in the continental Vespucci sense, sometimes I find things like American Craft Beer Week and a Declaration of Beer Independence all seem a bit too hooray for everything for me. You remember “Hooray for Everything” don’tca? They were in one episode for about 17 seconds of the Simpsons fifteen years ago, a youth musical group of “clean-cut youngsters” who sing about “the dancingest hemisphere, the Western Hemisphere.” In this case, however, it’s apparently about the greatest “beverage of moderation” instead. And keep tea out of this, wiseguy!

Andy was wondering a bit about the promotion as well, especially the part in the Brewer’s Association material that states their members “want the week to inspire beer enthusiasts to declare their independence by supporting breweries that produce fewer than 2 million barrels of beer a year and are independently owned.” I don’t know about you but I would expect that beer made by an operation making 2.5 million barrels a year has a lot in common with those making say 1.25 million a year. Hardly a reason to distinguish one from another and, frankly, hardly the hallmark of “an artistic creation of living liquid history made from passionate innovators.”¹ But, to be fair, this is a PR effort that, like the recent craft brewer pep rally video, is really aimed at someone other than me. It seems to me that it’s aimed at the brewers themselves and the clients that have yet to commit to a relationship. Me, I just want a tasty beer. It could come from anywhere for all I care… or could it:

During the discussion portion of Beer Wars Live Greg Koch pointed out that Stone Brewing’s Arrogant Bastard Ale is the nation’s top-selling craft 22-ounce package. How’s that for a target? If Anheuser-Busch could brew that beer for less wouldn’t they? So to the line I’ve heard so often: “The big brewers could brew whatever they want if they chose to” I say “Poppycock.” I’m of the opinion they can’t brew the beer at any price. It’s not in their DNA.

beeril² I don’t know if it is about DNA but I get Stan’s point – it may be within their technical capacity but it is not in their business model. But is it really in the business model of the brewer that makes 1,999,999 barrels either? Does the recently released lists of both the top 50 brewers and top 50 craft brewers really provide that much of a distinction? And what about Yuengling anyway?

So, if you don’t buy into brewers as celebrity… or brewing as nationalistic jigno… or can see “not quite mass industrial” as being fundamentally different from “mass industrial”… well, it all makes for a yearning for the simpler approach to ads in the England of the 1930s like “Beer. It’s Lovely” or “Beer is Best.” Such short simple sentences. All the everything with a bit less of the hooray.

¹[Ed.: that’s rather plummy… a bit ripe… where is my cravat anyway?]
²[Ed.: image brazenly nicked from Pete’s blog. Buy his books. Now I feel better.]

Can You Make A Map About Nothing?

Ruk is a helpful person. Far more helpful than I ever am. This weekend he posted about how you can create a Google map to collaboratively and graphically and geographically display information about something. Trouble is… I write on a blog and have been writing on this blog for six years and about two weeks but I don’t really think it is about anything. So, I am creating a map to see what would go on a map collaboratively and graphically and geographically to display information about nothing.

It will take time to either fill or be forgotten. I have invited a number of people to try to play with this but also have made collaboration public, too. Click here to get to the map if you care to watch or play amateur cartographer. And read Ruk’s instructions for how to participate. Remember at step 5 to press “edit” to make that blue water droplet icon for creating new information.

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Kingston St. Lawrence Base Ball Stats 1874

The big news at the outset of the third season for the Kingston St. Lawrence Base Ball Club in 1874 is that they settle their unhappy relations with the local cricket club to a certain degree. An announcement in the Daily News on 20 May 1874 declares:

The base ball club have changed their ground to the end of the town nearest the town. This change will prevent any re-occurance of the quarrels with the cricketers, will give both parties plenty of room and will utilize the whole of the Cricket Field.

A couple of interesting notes including the base ball club didn’t need naming in the article. Also it pretty clearly identifies the location of the baseball field as the Cricket Ground still exists, as clickably illustrated. It may be that the baseball was played facing westish while the cricket ran north south. In the 9 June 1874 edition of the British Whig, an article appears that states that the “portion of the Cricket Field apportioned to the Base Ball Club is very rough still, not withstanding the work bestowed on it this spring. It has a monster hollow in it which will ever make it a poor field for playing on.” The paper makes a plea for the sending of the street scrapings to fill in the hole for the good of the “base ballers”

On June 10th, 1874 the Daily News reports on a grand base ball tournament to be played at Watertown NY on the 29th. It is to be held under the auspices of the Base Ball Association, the members of which are among the leading citizens of Watertown. A little more detail is in the notice in the British Whig on the same date. Apparently Watertown had a smaller tournament in 1873 and that the best games were being reserved for the Fourth of July. In the Daily News on 6 July, 1874, it is stated that the Guelph Maple Leaf were coming to play KSL at the Cricket Ground on the next day after traveling from the Watertown contest. As the 10 June article stated that the tournament was expected to last a couple of weeks, it may well be a reference to that event. In the 30 June 1874 edition of the British Whig it states that both the Maple Leaf club of Guelph and the Kingston St. Lawrence were leaving at 7 am for Watertown. “The great base ball tournament at Watertown is drawing large numbers from Kingston and the surrounding country to witness the match between the Canada and United States Clubs.” The Maud was also sailing in the afternoon for Cape Vincent NY with spectators. A notice is posted in the Whig dated 7 July 1874 with the headline “The Base Ball Tournament – Guelph Wins The $500 Prize” states that the Maple Leaf of Guelph won the Watertown tournament beating the Eastons of Philadelphia this forenoon by a score of 13 to 10.

Here is a listing of the games played by the St.L BBC in 1874:

3A: KSL v. Maple Leaf club. Report in the 20 June 1874 British Whig has no box score and it a little fuzzy on whether it is Picton or not playing but KSL wins 26 to 15 in a game played on the Picton fair grounds. 250 travelled from Kingston on the ship Maud, leaving in the morning, arriving at one pm, leaving for the return trip at 7 pm arriving in Kingston at 11:30 pm. Mr. J McCammon “retained the medal for base hits after a close close struggle.” The Whig‘s article on the 23rd of June has a box score and says the recent match was between the leading Kingston clubs, the Maple Leaf and St. Lawrence, but it was played in Picton. Umpire was W. H. Smith. McCammon had four base hits while six other players in the game had three.
3B: Tuesday, June 23, 1874. KSL v. Newcastle Beavers. The Daily News reported on 24 June 1874 hat it was not really a game as ‘ the game was stopped and declared “no game” “owing to the many mishaps which occurred to the Beaver Club of Newcastle.” It was to be made up. Interestingly, when the game was canceled, the score was 14 to 10 for Newcastle over the St. Lawrence. The identity of the umpire was not noted. As the Beavers had 9 outs and the St. Lawrence 12, it looks like it was called after 3 1/2 innings. But that would mean that the visitors were batting in the bottom of the innings. No indication it was a game with Kingston on tour. The report of the same day in the Whig confirms it was played in Kingston but that Newcastle batted first. The mystery of the mishaps is explained as “as one of the Beavers was going to the bat in the fifth inning he fell a fainting fit, and have to be carried off as much dead as alive”. That was after their catcher got a “bad hit” from the ball in the face. The Beavers were on a tour and had to go on to play Ogdensburg the next day then on to Prescott and Ottawa.
3C: KSL v. Guelph Maple Leaf, 7 July 1874. Referenced in previous day’s Daily News.
3D: KSL, First Nine v. KSL, Second Nine, Friday 17 July 1874. Score is 15 to 8 for the First Nine with the Second Nine scoring five in the eighth inning. Umpire was P. Nolan. Game took 1 hour and 50 minutes.
3E: KSL v. Napanee, Monday 20 July 1874. Reference in the 18 July 1874 edition of the Whig. Also referenced as having been played in the 25 July 1874 edition of the Whig with Eilbeck winning the medal for most base hits. As it is referenced again in the following Ogdensburg game as being retained by Eilbeck, it must have been a medal that was for the KSL player with the most hits, a club prize.
3F: KSL v. Ogdensburg, 24 July 1874. 29 to 24 for Ogdensburg. Note is made of two things in the Daily News article. Kingston was stated to have no professionals and this seems to result in “the members playing much better themselves than they used to and “whatever success may attend their efforts, they can claim it fairly as their own.” The other thing is that the KSL complained about the American umpire who was not at all the impartial individual that an umpire should be.” He was replaced in the seventh inning but only one umpire, P. Nolan, is named by both players. We see that Nolan umped the 17 July club game so he must be the replacement as it is unlikely an American would be brought in to umpire a game between KSL 1 v. KSL 2. Oddly, Ogdensburg got 14 of their runs in the eighth and ninth innings which the Whig on 25 July 1874 described as they “went up in lemons in the last innings, ran up live high figures and squeezed out a victory.” Ogdensburg is also not called the Pastimes as it was in 1873. Game took 2 hours and 40 minutes.
3G: KSL, second team v. The Beaver Club of Kingston, Monday July 27, 1874. The score was 22 to 16 for the second team of KSL. The Beaver Club is said in the Daily News to be a new club, recently organized. The game is referenced as upcoming in the 25 July 1874 edition of the Whig.
3H: KSL, second team v. the Stars, Wednesday, 27 July 1874. Score was 35 to 17 for the KSL2 as reported in the Whig, 30 July. Not sure why the team is called the “second nine” for KSL as Elibeck and most others who were in 3F against Ogdensburg played.
3I: KSL v. Ogdensburg Dauntless. Played Friday 8 August 1874 in Ogdensburg. Referenced in the 28 July 1874 edition of the British Whig. The team is well off enough to have chartered the tug Falcon and anyone who wished “to join them were to send their names to the Secretary, Mr. Eilback.”
3J:KSL v. Montreal Caledonia Base Ball Club, Friday 22 August 1874. Referenced in Whig of 19 August 1874. Played in Kingston. KSL wins 69 to 17.
3K:KSL v. Cobourg Travellers, Saturday 23 August 1874. for “the championship game”. KSL won 25 to 18. Played in Kingston starting at 4 pm “giving everybody a chance to witness it. Referenced in Whig of 19 August 1874. Played in Kingston. The Whig of 5 August stated the date of the game to be Monday August 24th so I have to check all these dates. Also, it stated the game was for the championship of eastern Ontario and that the winner would win a flag. The results are reported in the Whig of Tuesday August 25th and the game was played on the previous day, a Monday civic holiday. Kingston was behind until they switched pitchers and put in Wilson, a leftie. The crowd apparently was large and rude. Game called at 7 pm in the ninth.
3L:KSL v. Bowmanville Live Oaks, Friday, 18 September 1875. KSL loses 4 to 7. Bowmanville is also referred to as the “Royal Oaks” in the article in the Whig. Nolan was the umpire. Game was called early so Bowmanville could catch the boat so Kingston retains championship.

Here are the stats for 1872 and 1873.

Vintage Base Ball At The Royal Military College


What a day! A squeaker in the first game at 14 to 13 for RMC over the St. Lawrence after RMC entered the bottom of the ninth down 10 to 13. In the second game a more reasonable 12- 5 by the Canadian military elite over the slothful loutish lumps. Each game was roughly an hour and a half. Great fun and a wonderful reason to retire to the Kingston Brewing Company for a great variety of interpretations on what exactly happened. Oatmeal stout is such a tonic. No word of a lie when I tell you there was TV, radio and newspaper coverage from two nations present. A great way to welcome in the warmer months.

Friday Bullets For Tra-la It’s May!

I was not so much in a production of Camelot as I was part of the production. OK, I raised curtains. I sat in a closet for a week’s worth of evenings when I was 14 and raised curtains. But I heard the “tra-la, it’s may song” more than most humans have and I really don’t mind it that much. I bet Iggy is saying tra-la this weekend. It is sort of like listening to Robert Goulet, so manly and mapled. By the way, when preparing for a conference I spoke at this week, I was quite pleased to learn that, no, I did not have a head shot for the materials. Why do people lean at a 17% angle for promotional head shots?

  • I am not sure whether buying a bit of Chrysler is a good idea for us all. I mean, I have not been in one since the old Dodge Diplomat died around 1993 – no, not true – I drive an inherited van here in 2003 before trading that in at Ford.
  • How to deal with invasive species – eat them. Shows them who’s top of the food chain.
  • I had no idea that the Edwards Opera House was so close. Now that I have a passport I may nip over for a bluegrass Saturday night sometime. Which reminds me – we are weeks away from the Watertown Wizards.
  • Stephen Fry on something other than Twitter – thinking about himself at 16.
  • Ted Reynolds, CBC 70s and 80s sports reporter and part of my youth passes away.
  • Why isn’t PEI just a column in the paper every day like “your daily smile” except it would be “look what happened in PEI today!” and it would have a story like this one about the Environment Minister telling everyone how great it was when he was a kid and dynamited beaver dams. And they sell citizenships for profit, too!
  • The season finale of Private Practice last night was the worst hour of TV ever but it was like watching a shopping mall burn – can’t stop staring as careers are destroyed.

That is it. Vintage base ball tomorrow. A three team event, too. We even have hats this year. And I will be sporting a hurlihee and a part well to the side. Huzzah.

Friday For The First Stinking Hot Weekend

It’s the meteorological chitchat that keeps you coming back. I know it. We spend so much time looking forward to a bright hot day that you would think we would record them in binders like family albums, categorized by how nice the breezes were or how long the evening seemed to last. Tomorrow bodes very well. Perhaps 80F in April on a sunny Saturday. 70F this Friday evening. This very day. It’s the anti-blizzard weekend. The one you wanted on a Tuesday in late January.

  • I sure love it when people who accuse others of having no moral compass then have to admit that the guy was pretty much right. Oh, what a giggle we will have in the next era when we look back on these times.
  • I would have thought the whole “eating a replica of our bodies” might have been a bigger issue than the name.
  • SPACE BLOB!!!
  • I thought this was pretty funny. When to worry about the IT geeks planning to control your lives? When they say “…people are passionate about your product…” or “IZ: You mean enhance civilization, make it even better?” you know someone is quite enraptured by an impending cash-in.
  • In the same vein, when someone says “Can we just retire this stupid line of questioning once and for all?” after referring to “the straw man” you may need to realize they are facing an argument they don’t want to admit is lost due to the weight it places on the possibility of being enraptured by an impending cash-in.
  • Sometimes the things that got cashed-in die and, quite surprisingly, take 675 employees. Can you believe GeoCIties was bought for 2.9 billion ten years ago?
  • Not necessarily my deepest love with a french fry van – I reserve that for Colburne’s of Pembroke, Ontario – but certainly my first. Sitting on the wall at the Halifax central library having a Bud the Spud was a big part of my youth.
  • Why are we not hearing news item after news item about how Ford saw this coming, may well never ask for a penny of public money, is about to crush its competition through sheer prudence and actually makes cars people buy?

And you may ask yourself how do I work this BBQ? You may ask yourself where is my suntan lotion? And you may ask yourself where does that garden path go? Is this my beautiful yard?

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