Because, you know, we wouldn’t want anyone to miss out on making an insane windfall profit or anything. Canada was built on a cornered marketplace and monopolies. Our current tidal wave of fantastic resource-based revenue continues that tradition. Why deny our anti-free-market heritage?
Beer And Philosophy: The Book Is Out!
It is either out or I have just received my copy but either way it is all quite exciting to have a book in my hand with a chapter written by me. So, of course, I read my chapter first and found myself thinking that I could have written most sentences better and that I hoped I didn’t lose all the legal footnotes…though I suspect the sensible editing was afoot on that one. Then it strikes me – I don’t know – can I do a proper book review when I wrote about one-fifteenth of the thing? I don’t have any percentages deals or anything. But I can be pure of heart with the best of them can’t I? So let’s see.
Price? Reasonable. This is a trade paperback meaning it’s going to cost you a decidedly reasonable $13.57 on an Amazon pre-order. The book covers a lot of ground, partitioned as it is into segments entitled “The Art of Beer”, “The Ethics of Beer”, “The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Beer” and “Beer in the History of Philosophy”. Fascinating stuff. And with chapters by Garrett Oliver and Sam Calagione (not to mention me) as well as a forward by the late Michael Jackson (no mention of me) there is plenty of familiar names for the average beer geek.
But it is when the book goes beyond the expected that it gets really interesting. Except for the crew named above, the rest is written by Phds (pronounced “fudds“, professors and a dean. Egads! I See Eggheads! Yet, they bring the egg down off the head and…and…OK, I can’t finish that analogy but rest assured this is interesting stuff. An example: in the chapter by Rex Welshon, Chair of a Philosophy Department in Colorado, explores Nietzsche’s relationship with the drink opening with the philosopher’s observation that a “single glass of…beer in one day is quite sufficient to turn my life into a vale of misery.” I recall my philosophy professor recounting his wife’s observation that she was not so much disappointed that Nietzsche thought all those things so much as that he wrote them down. Perhaps the same might be said about him having that beer. Another example? Neil Manson, a professor from Mississippi has his bio right next to mine (which falsely claims he can drink more than me and you. Lie – I simply choose not to), has provided a dialogue of the Socratic sort (I think) on “The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Beer” which seems to talk about God a lot as three characters drink. Neato. It’s like what you think your dinner parties were like the foggy-headed next morning. And there are about ten more of these sorts of chapters.
So…bottom line…get this book. I earn nothing more from saying so yet you will gain incalculably from the procurement.
Where Are The Lakes Going?
Good Oswego-based knowledge in the NYT this morning. Easlakia is more like Eas-scrapia these days.
The Red Sox Make My Life Better
Not that things are bad but if it weren’t for the Red Sox I wouldn’t have met the nice people from Albany attending a wedding at our hotel’s bar on Saturday night. I wouldn’t have been able to watch them checking the scores inning by inning as they dashed in, a little less stable from their free bar each time they popped around the corner and a little more happy when they were told how the lead was stretching over the Indians. Last night it was quieter, drifting in the dark, listening to Joe Castiglione‘s squeaky twang of a voice shout with excitement when Lofton was held up at third:
But Lugo was rescued by one of Cleveland’s mistakes, a mistake by Skinner. Franklin Gutiérrez slapped a grounder over third base and off the photographer’s box along the left-field line. The ball caromed into shallow left field, where Manny Ramírez ambled after it. Skinner waved Lofton around third, but after Lofton reached the base, Skinner put up his hands and stopped him. Ramírez was still a few steps away from the ball. Skinner actually tried to wave Lofton home again, but it was too late. Lofton, who stared at Skinner, was anchored to third.
So noting, The New York Times seems a little snarky this morning, implying somehow that such things are cheap, perhaps suggesting that to comeback in this way is not to come back against the Yankees. Tell that to the man from Albany who I suspect, again but a little hungover this time, pumped his fist and shouted “YES!!”
When Is It Right Not To Blog About Your Beer?
I took no notes. I had the camera but I took no pictures. The photo is from two years ago.
Even though you can blog about pretty much anything if you have a deft eye for the moment, I felt only a little guilty but blogging can get in the way of enjoying and I had such a day of craft beer and Americana yesterday I just had to exclude you for the most part. I didn’t mean to exclude Travis, though. I feel quite badly that I did such a poor job of planning that I didn’t realize the Syracuse football game started at 4 pm instead of the expected noon. As a result, the demands of others and the Sox game rammed into the end of the football squeezing out the chance anticipated visit with Travis to Clark’s Ale House. I am a bad beer blogger but he wins a prize…which I now need to figure out what it could be…
But, as I said, there was much good ale nonetheless. To my mind, Syracuse and its outlying neighbouring counties are one of the hot spots of craft beer in the USA. We ate at the picnic tables outside the Dinosaur BBQ, above, on a warm October afternoon after a good shopping spree at the ever wonderful Galeville Grocery where I snabbed a few new beers to me from Sly Fox, Wagner Valley, Wachusett, Southern Tier (Oats!), Bear Republic (Rye!!) and Rogue (Juniper?!?) as well as the 2007 vintage of Big A IPA from Smuttynose, a past winner of beer of the year around here. As much smoky pork was being eaten, we had fresh well-cellared draft from Middle Ages, Southern Tier, Ithaca, Sacket’s Harbor plus the Dino’s own house beer, Ape Hanger. Best of the day, however, were the samples had at our stop at the refurbished (and very cheery) tasting counter at Middle Ages where we visited last year with Gary’s shoe cam. I tried their new 9% Imperial Porter and was so happy came away with a growler. Their new batch of Winter Wizard was also very nice on tap – a Burton perhaps?
By the way, Southern Tier’s raspberry porter is a cheesecake in a bottle…but in a good way. Notes may follow as part of Porter Season if anyone in this house lets me near another bottle.
Travelling South With My Simmering Economic Rage
I am not really helping things. But you know I have been driving into the US on a regular basis for years. Yet still I intend to shop.
Canada’s loonie has been at or above par with the American dollar for weeks, which has sparked outrage among shoppers frustrated by the fact goods still cost substantially more in Canada than comparable items in the U.S. Fuelled by the strong currency, 3.5 million Canadians travelled to the U.S. in August, Statistics Canada said this week. The Canadian dollar closed at US$1.0355 on Friday, the highest level in 33 years.
If we have outrage, I think we also need a list of our demands. I want cheaper hamburger helper. I never buy it but it is one of those things that is 79 cents in the US and 2.29 here. And..ummm…better slow cooked meats, that goes without saying. Next – cheaper tees and hoodies. Have you seen a Steve and Barry’s or even a decent Champs? Cheaper hoodies with better stuff on them. I can’t find anything with a reference to CFL teams or, say, Saskatoon or even Moncton but if I drive into northern New York, plenty of cool stuff. And cheap furniture stores that sell stuff that looks like it wasn’t built with the crap they build rental apartment kitchen cupboards with. Did I mention slow cooked meat…ok…yup…
Friday Bullets For The Membership Drive
So by now I expect you all have given to the NCPR membership drive. I listen to the station in the car, at work and as my wake-up call. I own a banjo and a mandolin because of the show “String Fever” that plays bluegrass. What other station responds to requests for ska? You’d be more like me if you listened too. And isn’t that what it’s all about? Give to NCPR and get yourself pickin’.
- Apparently 55-70% of Canadians really can’t be bothered with anything anymore:
The Angus Reid Strategies poll, exclusive to the Star, found 42 per cent were dissatisfied with the Conservative government’s proposals on the environment, while 28 per cent said they were satisfied. The remainder had no opinion. When asked about the Tories’ proposal to stay in Afghanistan until 2011, 40 per cent said they were dissatisfied and 29 per cent said they were satisfied. And while 33 per cent were not happy with the government’s plans for federal-provincial relations – which include restricting federal spending in areas of provincial jurisdiction – the poll found 30 per cent were satisfied.
You know, if I were the guy who stands a very good chance of being Canada’s only repeat PM never to get a majority, I’d admit to myself that the polls are not going to get better and just go nutty, moving the secret plans for 2009 ahead…just to see. It’s not like things on the other side could get worse…could they?
- Friday. The day before the fall trip to Syracuse. Another opportunity to figure out how the heck to get from the part of town with the hotels to the part of town with the bit with Clark’s. Sadly, and like Glasgow oddly enough, Syracuse is chopped up by superhighways, interstates that you may notice in this photo. There appears to be a plan to make a better pedestrian route. The current way feels sorta like one of the darker scenes from Blade Runner right now. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how many Buffalonians travel the couple of hours east to take in the game. Last time we went, Wyoming was represented by a couple of guys with goofy bison hats.
- Science now has proven I am not a boomer.
- I mentioned in June that Major League Baseball was trying to claim copyright over players’ names and stats. They lost (or rather the companies that bought the rights from MLB) lost:
Last year the company won a decision by U.S. District Judge Mary Ann Medler, who held that Missouri state law on players’ publicity rights was trumped by a general national policy favoring the full and free exchange of ideas. The appeals court agreed, in an opinion by Judge Morris Arnold, saying the First Amendment right to free speech supersedes state law protecting celebrities’ right to control their likenesses – the “right of publicity.”
- I really hope that the end result is not that magic is phony.
- There is a good article in the New Yorker that John G. pointed me to which sets out the recent history of edgy pop music based on the premise that Arcade Fire is kinda dull. A good read but no mention of the impending fourth wave of ska.
Hooked On Salmon Oil?
I noticed I was somewhere less than bummed out and slightly to the right of bubbly the other day and I tried to think of all the things I have been doing or not been doing and I came to a very weird thought – I’d run out of salmon pills. So I look it up and…:
The brain is remarkably fatty: In fact, this organ is 60% fat and needs Omega-3s to function properly. Now researchers have discovered a link between mood disorders and the presence of low concentrations of Omega-3 fatty acids in the body. Apparently, Omega-3s help regulate mental health problems because they enhance the ability of brain-cell receptors to comprehend mood-related signals from other neurons in the brain. In other words, the Omega-3s are believed to help keep the brain’s entire traffic pattern of thoughts, reactions, and reflexes running smoothly and efficiently.
Am I addicted to a fish? If you are going to be addicted to something, is a fish so bad? I remember hearing that much of Germany was mildly stoned on St. Johns wort.
And what if they stopped making salmon oil pills – would I have to take up fishing to deal with my dirty little secret? Will it all come tumbling down one day when I am found on the job site with a couple of cans of sardines hidden in my desk as an emergency back up, thrown upon the trash heap of life, just another fiddiction statistic?
A Brewery, A Literary Tour And Another World All In One
Him: Me, too. How unlike us. Best to bottle it up. Pass me another.
An interesting combination of two of my interests may well come together in Nymburk, some 30 kilometers east of Prague, where a brewery, Postřižinský Pivovar, helps continue its story as a local brewery, how the brewery altered the life of an author – and how the brewery itself became a character in the life of the community through the author:
The brewery, operated by brewing firm Pivovar Nymburk, has strong historical and literary connections with Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal, who was raised in the brewery grounds and wrote “Postřižiny” (Cutting It Short) about his childhood encounters with the brewery workers. The book was made into a hugely successful film in 1981 by director Jiří Menzel, who recently adapted another Hrabal work, “Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále” (I Served the King of England). The brewery now uses the literary connection with Hrabal as a marketing tool, and the writer’s amused face stares out from the labels of most of the bottles of Postřižinské Pivo sold in the Czech Republic.
That speaks volumes for me…but sadly more over what is not than anything. We in the English speaking world are so concerned about avoiding making connections about beer and locality and community that we forget that our behavior must seem fairly bizarre to other cultures. Just from my own experience I can think of a bar owning pal who was barred by the local regulator from selling a drink he had come up with that referenced Anne of Green Gables. Recently we’ve seen some US states call out the lawyers and tribunals to keep Santa off beer bottles. Heck, in the chapter of the upcoming book Beer and Philosophy that I penned I noted that the law of New Brunswick barred representations of beer in family situations in advertising. We can’t make fun of fictional characters or even describe what actually is – because to do so we point out there is beer in our lives. Because that would be, I guess, dangerous.
And yet we do all this despite knowing we all have tales of our own how beer characterized the community. I can only speak to my Maritime Canadian youth but we all heard how Moosehead’s Dartmouth brewery had the free tap for those working on the floor and wondered why we didn’t all drop out of undergrad and apply for a job. We knew teetotaling farmers with the case in the barn. We knew the ties between Halifax’s Keith brewery and the VE Day riots when the youth of the town invaded the place and drank the brewery dry, likely some knowing relatives – maybe those above – who had some stories. We even watched ads just a few years ago for Alpine beer and how it was not worth making a career for yourself away from home because you might not be able to get your brew…and probably knew people who likely took the advice.
In many ways, beer frames (or at least colours one corner of) what you are and what you could be expected to be….but you really shouldn’t talk about it. Beer is such an interesting touchstone for our collective denial of what we are. Far better to focus on what we think we should be. Somehow it exemplifies all the danger in life we were warned of – even though we happily live it with anyway. Weird stuff.
Group Project: The Chretien Book And Its Timing
I am now seriously considering taking down the Paul Martin posters in the rec room:
On the eve of Parliament’s re-opening, former prime minister Jean Chrétien has driven a new wedge into the federal Liberal Party with his indictment of Paul Martin as having blood on his hands over the deployment of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Mr. Chrétien makes the charge in the just-published second volume of his memoirs, stating that because his successor “took too long to make up his mind” about what should be done with Canadian troops stationed in and around the Afghan capital of Kabul, “our soldiers were … sent south again to battle the Taliban in the killing fields around Kandahar.”
That is really odd but, given the recent Mulroney book, the sort of thing we have come to expect. On a more fun yet devious level, this is clearly another ploy by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to drive a wedge in Liberal ranks. While it is unclear exactly how a wedge can be driven in something [Ed.: insert your analogy here – I recommend something scattered like or soft a gooey like a lump of butter] the effect on tomorrow’s speech from the throne is going to be dramatic/non-existent. I really enjoy these acts of maneuvering for control…much more fun than actually governing and being governed. The more the merrier.
Your job: compare and contrast.