Corporate Hand Puppets

The thing I find strange about this is not that it happens but that it doesn’t happen all the time…or that we do not recognize it happening:

…John Mackey, the chief executive of Whole Foods Market…used a fictional identity on the Yahoo message boards for nearly eight years to assail competition and promote his supermarket chain’s stock, according to documents released last week by the Federal Trade Commission. Mr. Mackey used the online handle “Rahodeb” (an anagram of his wife’s name, Deborah). In one Internet posting sure to enter the annals of chief-executive vanity, Mr. Mackey wrote as Rahodeb, “I like Mackey’s haircut. I think he looks cute!” With all a chief executive has to do, the 14-hour days spent barking orders, digesting reports, motivating employees and courting Wall Street, why would they spend their time sparring with anonymous critics online? And what makes them think they won’t be revealed?

It is hard to say that is is not more common than is thought. Is it so different compared to me running a contest over at the beer blog sponsored by a brewery that sends trinkets or a blog that speaks on a political or public topic that gains the blogger access to people and events that he would never have otherwise? How is it that this is not manipulation? And do we care (and not in the Amiel sense of “care”) whether folks as insubstantial and sub-vermin (to borrow and Amielism) as bloggers are in a pocket of one size or another?

Post-Trial Blackness

This, of course, is the real question, the real angle on the Conrad Black trial – the Mrs.:

As the judge in Conrad M. Black’s fraud trial began reading through the verdict in the criminal fraud prosecution against him last Friday — finding Mr. Black guilty on four counts — Mr. Black’s wife, Barbara Amiel, was observed scribbling a note and passing it to her husband. It isn’t known what the note said, but someday it could be. Some Canadian publishing executives believe that Ms. Amiel might be willing to write a book dealing with the experience of being by her husband’s side during the unraveling of his storied career as a newspaper magnate.

The NYTs article does raise a couple of questions. First, why does the Globe call him “Lord Black” when that is not his name but a title given by another country? It’s not like you give up your name in the way that a nun does and it’s not like he was born to the title. Second, long before the criminal activity was in the news, when Black was a topic of gossip and CBC interviews of mutual contempt, Barbara Amiel was one of the bigger issues, apologist for the meanest of human causes though a few that were not, pal to the privileged that she, too, craved to join without any apparent entitlement – and something of a garbage mouth. And though she is now described as a journalist I can’t recall any reporting or news-breaking she took part in. And a columnist mainly for McLeans, playing the role the counter-point right-wing nut-bar.

The meanness in many of us watch to see what she will do should Conrad go to the Big House, should all the assets be seized in the end, the corporate veils pierced. Should we care? Or is that something of a corruption of the word “care”?

Book Review: The US Brewing Industry by Tremblay and Tremblay

tntLike any member of the bar, I think a lot of myself. I think there are not too many documents I cannot wade through and conquer. I think I have met my match, not because it is too complex or on a topic that I cannot grasp but that it is in a language I have never come across before – economic analysis. The book’s full title in fact is The U.S. Brewing Industry: Data and Economic Analysis so I should have know. It’s that last word that gets me. You are trucking along in a chapter and, whammo!, mathematical formulae. It’s never the gaant charts or the flow charts or the pie charts or the multi-coloured graphs that get me – it’s the algebra. I think that makes what is called beeronomics econometrics. Click in the picture below and you will see what I mean.

tnt1But of course it is more than math that escapes me. Conversely, both authors are professors of economics at Oregon State University [Ed.: Go State!] and they explain their book in this way:

Victor and Carol Tremblay have authored a book The U.S. Brewing Industry: Data and Economic Analysis, MIT Press, 2005. This represents the culmination of almost 25 years of research in which they analyze the important economic issues facing the brewing industry, 1950-2002. These include changes in demand and cost conditions, the causes and consequences of rising concentration, price, advertising, and other firm strategies, and the impact of advertising, excise taxes, and antitrust regulations on the economic performance of the industry. They focus on the macro or mass-producing brewers but also discuss the microbrewery and import sectors of the market. A unique feature of the book is that it provides a comprehensive dataset, including annual industry data on demand and cost variables (1950-2002), annual financial data from the 25 leading brewers (1950-2002), and annual production data from the leading 100 brewers (1947-2003).

For careful readers, you will appreciate this means the statistics pre-date the current craft brewing boom. Craft brewing is described but, as is concisely pointed out in the Introduction, we have to admit craft beer in 2001 accounted for 3% of total consumption – half a percent behind “ice beer”. No, this is not a book by boosters by boosters but the cold hearted results of 25 years of economic study brought together in one handy to describe the causes of industry concentration, basic cost issues, pricing and advertising strategies as well as public policy issues. That means it is a great over-view of the whole of the industry and could provide insight to craft brewers whose work now, by my reasonable guesstimate (not a concept in econometrics), now sits at about 4% to 5% of total beer consumption, eclipsing ice beer to stand maybe at half the importance of imports. I say guesstimate because I have not been able to find relative statistics in all the recent press about 31.5% growth in US craft beer sales over the three years ’04 to ’06. Nice to have access to a discussion of the economics of the industry that is made up of more than press releases.

So, am I glad I have this book? Definitely? Can I read it in one sitting? Not a chance. I think this is a book to get through gradually, to immerse myself in over a while – and also one to return to as a reference over and over. I expect it could serve anyone well, to give guidance both in relation to key elements of the industry as a base line for data…unless you happen to be an econometrician in which case you can zip through it during your next flight or maybe a lunch break.

Good Luck To Ya, Kid

Another three games in the books and the Red Sox are still holding on to twenty games over .500 and a double digits lead in the AL East. Last night’s game was very entertaining as have been the last two against the Jays. It was good to see Wakefield beat Halladay on Tuesday and even though Friday’s night was a loss, it was an entertaining one with Pedroia, Papi and Manny all getting a ninth inning chance to win the game. Coco is on fire.

Despite having to listen to the Jay’s announcer Jamie Campbell, king of calling the home runs the never were and general homey extraordinaire, I was caught finding myself momentarily saddened for Toronto’s Troy Glaus getting robbed by a bad call early in the game. He made a quite excellent sneaky slide – very Tim Raines circa 1983-84 – into second deeking out Pedroi…err, but not the ump somehow. But I have this recollection that Raines never hid his last minute move from the ump with his body, that he knew not to waste the moment. That’s when I stopped feeling bad for Glaus. To be fair, he was far from the goat that he was when we saw him play live in May though I still thank the Lord daily that things did not work out differently.

Today, as illustrated, All-Star game winning Beckett seems to be taking on the Jay’s surprise call up Howdy Doody in an afternoon game to close out the series. Good luck with that.

In other news, the Yanks have secured a weekend split with Tampa. They must be pleased.

Finally, An Honest Web 2.0 Commentary

What is it about the internet that brings out the prophets and the blind? There is some much that is so hard to swallow that you are amazed by the smallest acknowledgment of how things really are:

Social networks are enjoying their moment of ubiquity right now. A couple of years ago, it seemed the inevitable way of the future that every man, woman, and child would have their own blog. Later, we were all to be podcasting. But time wore on, and it became evident that not everyone was meant to blog, and, as it turned out, that almost nobody was meant to podcast.

Podcasting was sort of odd, wasn’t it.

Sour Beer Studies: Rose de Gambrinus, Cantillon, Belgium

The famous nude lady sketch beer that outraged Maine or at least some officious Mainers. I never thought such a human condition was possible. Just to make a statement, I bought this 2005 375 ml bottling in Maine at the ever excellent Tully’s at York for $8.50 USD. However will I hide the empty from prying eyes as it sits in the recycling box by the curb?

Pinked amber ale under a slightly blushed fine white head, no doubt aware of the circumstances it found itself in. In the mouth, mild vinegar sour over Granny Smith. Not that much barnyardy poo in this one thankfully. There is a bit there but it melds with the over-riding under-ripe gravenstein apple effect. There is raspberry in the way that there is raspberry in raspberry vinaigrette except that there is no sweetness. After, though, you are left with an echo of the raspberry.

Most BAers approve. Do I? I am certainly less shocked having now had a few Cantillons. And I do find this one has a cream or maybe even vanilla note within the sharpness that I can’t imagine leaning on before like I do now, seeking a reason to approve. I certainly could see poaching a fillet of sole in this but the butter in the pan would temper it yet I have to admit that it is still more acidic than any white wine or rose I might enjoy. If the same fluid were labeled blanc de blanc, would we care so?

More sour beer studies here.

 

Chatfest Friday Style With Bullets

Can there be 100 comments without ry? That was the question I asked myself last night. We have settled into a kind rapport even with our differences. Is this middle age? Yesterday at the beer blog, I cited a post that I wrote in October 2003. That’s a long time ago. When do blogs hit middle age?

  • Blackness Update: Connie found guilty on four counts…those being criminal counts…no pardon expected.
  • …nuttin’…sympatico is choppy this mornng…uh, oh…
  • Lunch is approaching Update: I caught this guy on one of the morning news shows and now believe that Jim Early’s work on North Carolina BBQ could be a key to understanding the culture of the Western World.
  • Global warming may be good news for Ontario as long as we all plant ash trees now!
  • I think this is the blog that sets the standards for all blogs of a certain class of blogs. Did people do this before there was a medium to record that they were doing it?
  • PEI is all a dither. What else is new? Well, I will tell you one thing that is new – apparently a rock band said “fuck” during a concert and the entire community is going last-scene-of-Frankenstein. Chris has the whole story. There is a law in PEI that sets out how to do a rock concert and this is the only way you are supposed to do it under the Rock Performances Act (Marine), RSPEI 1957, ss 87-213.

Bullets postponed until bandwith available.

Update: Why does my broadband cut out in thunder and lightning? Does it rely on AM radio at somepoint between here and there?

  • This is nuts:

    The Harper government has been told to stop referring to “fighting terrorism” and the Sept. 11 attacks, and to banish the phrase “cut and run” from its vocabulary if it is to persuade a skeptical public that the military mission in Afghanistan is worth pursuing.

    If we are going to ask our youth to fight, speak about what they are fighting for. If you disagree, speak about the nature of your disagreement strongly. I may not vote for you but I will respect your free expression of your view. But for God’s sake, leave the PR consultants out of this. And as for not connecting 9/11 to Afghanistan…are you crazy?!?! Has no one any memory of the BBC leading the charge into Kabul? That is the theatre where all the resources of the Iraq war should have been focused. Offer me war bonds.

Another Reason To Not Do Something

This never happened with a Sony Walkman:

Wearing the device that is said to put “1,000 songs in your pocket” during a thunderstorm may have sent millions of volts surging through the head of an unlucky Vancouver jogger. The man, who played in a church orchestra and was listening to religious music on an iPod while he ran, was injured when lightning struck a nearby tree, then snaked out to zap him as well.

His eardrums were ruptured, his jaw fractured and he suffered first- and second-degree burns from his chest — where the device was strapped — up into his ear channels, along the trail of the iPod’s trademark white earphones. He also had burns down his left leg and foot, where the electricity exited his body, blowing his sneaker to smithereens in the process.

I think the whole church orchestra is the angle on this one.

Ten-Penny: Another Maritime Canadian Beer Disappears

When I was in undergrad in the early 1980’s, just before New Brunswick’s Hans Haus sorta failed at lift-off and Nova Scotia’s Granite Brewery took off, I mainly drank beer made by two breweries that made beers that were pretty much like beers in the rest of Canada, except they were made by Moosehead’s Dartmouth brewery and Oland’s in Halifax’s north end. The brands we bought were local and we were loyal to the beers of our province like Old Scotia, Schooner, Keith’s and Oland’s Ex. One beer me and my pals did not have such fondness for was Moosehead’s Ten-penny ale but we no longer have to fear this beer as Halifax’s Daily News reports:

A Maritime brew is heading for extinction, but it won’t leave many drinkers crying in their beer. Ten-Penny Old Stock Ale is soon to be a memory in Nova Scotia. Bottled by New Brunswick-based Moosehead, Ten-Penny is already off the shelves at most Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation stores. But at what seems to be one of the last bars in HRM to sell Ten-Penny, it’s not exactly flying out of the cooler. “We have 26 left and we put it on our sign outside, so we’re trying to trick people into coming in and buying it before it’s gone,” said Kendall Burton, general manager of the Lion’s Head Tavern and Grill.

If you can’t sell Ten-Penny at the Lion’s Head, believe me, you have an issue…justsayin’. And don’t order the salad. Anyway, if old style Schooner was the beer your uncle drank (or at least he did before that day when it magically began to taste exactly like Labatt Blue) Ten-Penny was the beer your grandfather drank because it smelled like his shed. The professors at my small undergrad bought it, one suspects for the same reason that anyone did: so no one would steal one on you. It was musty and even musky stuff with a pale malt funk that has the power to catch on the gag reflex even as a 20 year old memory. While it is enjoying strong US sales, the Moosehead brewery in New Brunswick is the remaining rump of the east coast empire after the Dartmouth branch ceased operations in the 90s. The brewery describes the beer in this way:

Ten-Penny Old Stock Ale: Ten-Penny is a robust ale brewed using top fermenting ale yeast, more malt and hops for extra body and higher alcohol content (5.3% alcohol by volume). Its unique flavour has made it the choice of Maritime traditional ale drinkers for decades…

That description is almost as kind as the decision to cease production.And while the two whole reviewers at BeerAdvocate say it was not anything to look forward to in its last incarnation either I am sure there are those that will regret this decision and if you are one of them feel free to vent. I make no judgment. We are here to help.

The Most Wednesdayish Wednesday

Humid night. Bad sleep. What to write about. I write this to write every morning, you know. That is about it. Waking up habit. Things could be worse. If what the not-convicted two in Britain are right, the face another trial while they try to explain how they were tricked by the others into being bombers and quit as soon as they found out. What if that is true? Conrad may be facing a retrial as well. Being accused is drag enough but being possibly falsely accused and a jury not being able to make up its mind would be an uber-drag. Or is this most drag? Or this? Humidity makes everything draggly.

But thankfully we are protected by leaders with gut…not guts…gut. That is not dragg-ed at all.