Author: Alan

One Killer App

Ian says that wikipedia and Google are the new killer apps. I say no way. I say email is the only killer app in that it does what it promises and is useful to anyone who comes into contact with it. The web, conversely, fails in many many ways…but even saying that is not getting it. Is there any other industry and activity which lacks any real critical analysis of its downside? The teflon effect of the Internet is likely its greatest success.

Who Believes This?

And by belief I mean belief…like model railroaders believe what they do is important. This is part of a Boingy announcement for a conference:

The Information Revolution has brought into question the wisdom of intellectual property regimes and their relationship to society, culture, jurisprudence, commerce, and government. Intellectual property law is built upon historical notions of tangible property ownership—with the basic premise of restricting access by others. By contrast, the Information Revolution is grounded in concepts of enhanced access and a more universal sense of ownership. Cultural, social, intellectual, and economic growth must be driven by creativity and innovation, and successful growth increasingly depends upon the dissemination of information and application of knowledge.

I would ask Craig to speak to this as it appears to be something that could be out of a really bad hippie movie circa 1968. Here is what I think when I read stuff like this:

  • Who says so? Who made up the rules of the revolution that isn’t, the era of captial and operational waste?

  • Was there a toaster revolution when pop-down pop-up technology came to be? Did it require a shift in the law of ownership.

  • What all else of my stuff is now considered by others to be partly theirs? Will I get a letter in the mail when I sell it with an invoice for their part of the proceeds? Is Winer going to share out the proceeds of his part of the “universal ownership”? Is Cory out of his guru fees?

When will this dumb idea go away so people can get on with making stuff that is cheap, just does what you want, doesn’t break and doesn’t have a stupid stupid 2.5 inch TV screen on it.

Update: the numbing continues with the toxic e-poisoning of the world with digital residual crap is, by golly, dislocated from the insatiable drive of demand.   If the new order is based on “a more universal sense of ownership” does it mean that someone else has to pay for cleaning up after, too?  It is odd how the new e-worlders are so similar to the 19th century industrialist.

Cheese Law

The hammer has fallen. There is no such thing as Yorkshire feta according to the braintrust at the EU:

A North Yorkshire food producer has revealed her disappointment after an EU ruling stopped her using the name “feta” on her locally-produced cheese. Judy Bell, who runs Shepherds Purse Cheeses near Thirsk, said she was not surprised by the ruling by the European Court of Justice. Mrs Bell’s business has been caught up in a five-year tussle within Europe over the feta name. But on Tuesday, judges ruled Greek feta had “Protected Designation of Origin”.

I want to be an EU “Protected Designation of Origin” cop. Right after I finish my career as a male model. Really, where do you sign up? I know I have been sullied by non-Greek feta my whole life and I know it is wrong. I want to change my ways. I want to slap down the Italian haggis cartel.

100 MPH

Fifteen minutes before game two of the World Series and all I could think about all day when I thought of the opener was 100 miles per hour. Jenks, the closer for the White Sox, threw three or four fastballs in a row all at 100 miles per hour in the ninth last night. Tonight, it’s overcast and 45°F or 7°C in Chicago. I wonder if the lads from Texas who play inside are going to be able to take seeing their breath again.

Vermont: Magic Hat Brewing, South Burlington

Magic Hat is one of those breweries whose stuff I like but when it comes around to doing a review folks come over and drink all the beers I have and there is nothing left to review. So I have only reviewed one to date – Revell porter out of the winter 12 pack. This time it will be different. I am going to defend the stash against perps and foist paper and pen upon them.

What I like about Magic Hat is that they do light ales well. Not thin – light. It is easier to make a big beer than a small one and in this biggie world there is a mad rush to bigosity. This summer 12 pack says no. It says I will not bow to loud Lord Big. There is the lightly fruity #9, the gentle wheat beer Hocus Pocus, their wit by name of Batch 370 and Fat Angel which is something of a rich malty ale…but an unbig one. All displaying a deft hand. Their website displays something of a daft hand, by the way. One of the guys who started it is now a baker of treats near a pal of mine’s place. I will have to interview him one fine day on the whole nuttiness thing.

      • #9: Effervescent orange ale spewing masses of tiny white bursting bubbles. Peach juice. Aroma and taste of peach juice. In the mouth it morphs into a bit of grainy wheat or pale ale maltiness and twiggy hop. Not too far off the idea of a dry Irn Bru, the Scottish soda pop. Light not too sweet, quaffable and refreshing…but lots of peach. If you are against it, as some 12% of advocates are, you are really against it.
      • Batch 370: White foam and rim fed again my a very active carbonation, this time in a Belgian wit…but the BAers say it is a version of a German hefe! Hmmm…no banana or clove to hand that hat on. How odd. Amber with a bit of orange. Cloudy with yeastie floaties. Dry and orange peely over lemon. Again, twiggy drying hops. There is lots of yeast tanginess and nice spice. Not a real corriander or other spice presence but the raw wheat gives a flour-dusty and creamy effect that sets it apart and is quite likeable. Is this an ok US version of a wit…or a hefe…or what? I dunno. It is a light summer ale and in itself it is not neither wicked or the other sort of wicked. I’ll have another if that is the way the guest grabbing plays out.
      • Hocus Pocus: again a highly active ale, this time light straw under white foam. A bit grassy nicely offset by a touch of twiggy and metallic hops. The center is somewhat vegetative – not fruit but faintly like the green of celery or broccoli. Underneath milky yeast but still a dry beer. I think of the four this is my favourite. I am surprised that 21% of BAers do not like this as I find it a simple but clean balanced summer wheat ale with true real flavours.
      • Fat Angel: Again light but the least of the four. A hint of crystal malt and maybe even a hint of smoke. Reddish amber with a white rim. Quite still unlike the other three. The same signiture grassy tang. Like the Hocus Pocus I would call the light touch on the hops twiggy and metallic. I don’t think I like this one that much though I have been far more offended by ales in my life. There is again that dry heart that I would think is wheat malt but it does not meet well with the sweeter notes. The advocates rate it positively but with a low average.

     

  • It may be unfair to have these the weekend of the beginning of the World Series when they are clearly hot weather brews. Ice cold of a humid day they may all be perfect. But they are similar in a way that makes you wonder about whether at least three are variations on a core recipe. So I am still with Magic Hat and I admire them trying to escape the standards but taking a separate path carries risk.