A couple of years ago, you could get Caffrey’s Irish Ale down at Old Town liquors in a growler for about $10. Caffrey’s is a remarkably drinkable beer — like Budweiser, except creamier and far more pleasing. Well, after a while, they got Guinness on tap, and all of the sudden the Caffrey’s started tasting like hell! Well, as it was explained to us, it was because the Guinness keg system required forced nitrogen instead of carbon dioxide. What? Nitrogen? Carbon dioxide? I thought beer was carbonated! Well, yes, it is, but many beer makers (most notably Guiness) use nitrogen because it gives a much nicer head and makes for a more pleasant “mouthfeel” (as they say in the beer world).

So — I went on a googlfari and found a good explanation of nitro’ed vs. carbonated beers. As it turns out our feeling about the nitrogen having compromised the great taste of the beer are felt among many beer drinkers.

More Caffrey’s reviews (according to this site Coors bought the rights to Caffrey’s and stopped selling it here in the US!)

KYRenew.com is Kentucky’s Vehical Information System — one of the many things you can do here is see if a personal license plate has been registered or not AND view it if it hasn’t been.

Needless to say — fun could be had here, but only in the span of 6 letters and an optional dash or space.

update:
this is our new license plate:

Yeah — at first I thought “certainly that Teletubby-sun plate is some sort of vanity plate!”. NO. It’s not.

src="http://www.bbspot.com/Images/News_Features/2003/01/os_quiz/palm.jpg" width="300" height="90"
border="0" alt="Which OS are You?">
Which OS are You?

i was hoping for linux, but Palm will do :)

take the quiz yourself.

i just had a funny thought. here, in the world of the intarweb, there are sales folk, and design folk, and then the lowly developer. the developer actually produces a workable product — and when he/she does, or he fixes something, he/she is treated with great aplomb — because something REAL has finally been produced out of the great process. however, how real is what he/she has created? it’s just ones and zeroes.

Everyone is tensing for war over here. According to the liberal news media (heh — I just love saying that) anti-war sentiment is on the rise in the US, fueled by a lack of a credible argument from the Bush administration, and also possibly because much of the recent loss on the NYSE and NASDAQ are due to war fears. Well, tonight is the State of the Union address from President Bush. The proposed war and the economy (oh yeah! I forgot about the economy!) will be topics for sure.

There have been a good number of anti-war protests around the country (and the world), and no doubt the Bush administration will seek to ‘galvanize sentiment’ for the war. One thing that I personally have been clamoring for is some sort of proof from our own government that Iraq does indeed have these weapons of mass destruction (despite the lack of incriminating evidence from UN inspectors). Well — according to this CNN story — the US is to declassify intelligence on Iraq very soon.
{more}

This intelligence release is well-timed — with the State of the Union tonight and a full invasion force in the Gulf by the end of February — I am interested in seeing this intelligence, and also interested to know why we couldn’t know this earlier. A clearer argument for war would have certainly helped the administration a few months ago. I don’t claim to be an intelligence or public relations expert, but I know I don’t appreciate a government who threatens war without a clear purpose that a majority of its constituency (or allies) does not support.

I don’t ask for a whole lot — I just want to feel like my government acts according to the principles it claims to support. As Americans we are hold true the tenet of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ — and I try to hold myself to that as best I can. I cannot merely assume without knowing — especially if people that I know and love could die.

Does this make me seem anti-government or anti-military? I hope not. I am thankful that I grew up and live in a country where I can speak my mind and question my government without repercussion. I am of the belief that war only breeds war and that peaceful means lead to peaceful ends. Therefore, I believe we should be charged with attempting peaceful means at all costs. Yes — there are times when prevention will not work and fighting is the only resort — but I do not think this is one of those times. Rather than to be besieged by a handful of countries in war — Iraq is and would be surrounded by an allegiance of far more by peaceful means.

Sigh.

Back during the Great Vacation of 2001 I picked up a ridiculously cheap sampler from Fat Possum Records — Not The Same Old Blues Crap II. This is, hands down — one of the best various-artists albums I own, and all for $5. The blues I heard on there were so far removed from the Stevie Ray Vaughns , B. B. Kings and Claptons of the world. They were raw and rough and full of soul — with a good beat behind them. Well, since my new-years resolution of listening to more good music has come in-line, I’ve stumbled upon The Black Keys (Jackson mentioned them, methinks) — who are also on Fat Possum, and do not let down the rest of the FP roster! For being my age, these guys (there are just two) sound like they’ve been busting rocks for years, and when they do get out of the pokey all they’ve got to look forward to is sharecropping in the Mississippi Delta. Well, maybe that is a little overboard — but the soul and swagger these two put into their music is rarely heard among blues musicians today.

They’ve got a new album (“Thickfreakness”) due out the 8th of April, and they are touring with Sleater Kinney in the coming months. What, you want MP3s? Oh, I guess.

i think that if i had the choice, i’d actually suffer through the film Final Destination if i never had to see, much LESS mouse-over this ad for Final Destination 2 that is currently on the banner at Ain’t It Cool. Wanna know something? IT AIN’T COOL.

update: in my re-editing of the above link to the CORRECT ad, i in fact moused-over the ad no less than 6 times.

and while Gold Star chili IS important… I got an email from a “cincinattian” today who informed me that there’s more than a riot goin’ on in Cincinnati… ;-). she mentioned WNKU, the NPR-news havin’ roots-rockin’ alternative to 97X, CincyMusic – a good place to check out cinci bands and possibly book a show if you are a travelling band, and lastly the Midpoint Music Festival — a big music festival with bands from all over the US and otherwise.

you know — from the tone of the email i received from this Sarah Hawkins, I somehow figured she was in public relations in some fashion. not to say i wasn’t excited to get the email, but i wondered. well, as it turns out — my hunch was correct. :) no one expects the google inquisition!

So, somehow I had never heard of WOXY 97X FM in Cincinatti. WOXY bills itself as “Modern Rock”, but what they really play is a good slate of indie stuff — most of which I haven’t heard. Right now, I’m listening to a little Zwan, and earlier there was a little Cat Power (which I’d heard of, but never heard), and up soon — Rainer Maria! Yaay!

Oh yeah, they are family-owned, none of this WQMF-style sellout to ClearChannel here! Also, they have a great sounding MP3 stream (48kbps), as well as a couple other streaming formats.

m@: an actually good rock radio station?
BenCorvus: shocking, i know!

after seeing Bowling for Columbine a few months back, i felt something that i didn’t expect after seeing such a brutal indictment of the US’s violent culture — I felt patriotic. Not that I’m not normally patriotic (which is something that is very relative). I consider myself to be extremely patriotic in that I believe in the idea that a vast, vast majority of Americans are peace-loving individuals that can be spurred to do amazing things. “Bowling” paints a pretty decent picture of the Canadians (at least compared to our seemingly rampant gun-fatality numbers here in the states), and more and more I hear people around me (hence, meaning ‘close to my political leanings’) mentioning that Canada doesn’t sound like a bad place to live.

However, I refuse to give up on this country. I refuse to let a small group of people lead us down a path with Iraq that is clearly not respected by the rest of the world, and a good number of American citizens. Is it unpatriotic to seek peaceful means until the very end? I should hope not.

I just finished up watching the rest of Band of Brothers. You know, when I was a kid, I loved the thought of the Army — guns and tanks and blowing shit up! Though, today, in no doubt a large part due to extremely graphic (and what I assume to be realistic) movies such as Saving Private Ryan and the Band of Brothers series I take a more reserved approach. It’s hard for me, at times, to watch those scenes without becoming visible disturbed. I can watch the goriest of movies with monsters and chainsaw-wielding psychos — but to see someone horribly mangled or die in the defense of their country is another thing all together. In World War II, we had no choice but to aid in the defense against a madman. In the Gulf War, it was in defense of a smaller nation. If we go marching into Iraq without the full support of our Allies, what does that say about our American values? In the scope of the world, me must stand united with our Allies, else we fall — a tenet that stands at the base of our culture. I cringe of the thought of American servicemen and women dieing in defense of something that most Americans do not support.