Silflay Hraka

Where’s Michael Jackson?

Via Dustbury

Sewage spill between Seagull and Don-Lee.

MINNESOTT BEACH — A sewage spill Monday forced a swimming advisory and shellfish closure Tuesday for an area of the Neuse River near Camp Sea Gull.

A lift station malfunction resulted in the discharge of about 6,700 gallons of raw sewage, according to the state Division of Water Quality.

Wayne Bryant, DWQ environmental specialist, said a blown fuse created an electrical short. He said camp officials discovered the problem about 8:30 a.m. Monday and made repairs in about an hour.
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The spill involved a small creek between Wilkinson Point and Gatlin Creek, according to the state Division of Environmental Health in Morehead City.

I believe that area was known as “Alligator Creek” during my Don-Lee years.

Postscript: Here’s the official press release regarding the advisory. I called JD Potts. He confirmed it was the Seagull facility that was the origin of the spill, not Don-Lee’s.

Tall ship on the Cape Fear. It’s the Prince William, and it needs more crew, if by “crew” one means “people who pay to work on the ship,” rather than “people who are paid to work on the ship.”

RFID-enabled fish.

Aquarium workers placed RFID readers on the front of a “Living Fossils” exhibition tank. When the fish move within range of RFID readers, information about the fish pops up on a touch-screen display. Visitors can use the touch-screen computers to find out about each species’ name, diet and characteristics
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RFID has been used for fish in natural environments around the globe. Scientists use RFID tags to study underwater ecosystems and understand fish behavior and migratory patterns. The technology is popular in river monitoring systems, where it has been used for about 20 years. It’s also used in streams, dams, hatcheries, and in livestock. While most companies are still using tags, one company announced earlier this year that it had created an invisible RFID ink that is safe for livestock and people.

Cindy Sheehan resigns from the Democratic party.

So, Democratic Congress, with the current daily death toll of 3.72 troops per day, you have condemned 473 more to these early graves. 473 more lives wasted for your political greed: Thousands of broken hearts because of your cowardice and avarice. How can you even go to sleep at night or look at yourselves in a mirror? How do you put behind you the screaming mothers on both sides of the conflict? How does the agony you have created escape you? It will never escape me…I can’t run far enough or hide well enough to get away from it.

I don’t really understand the anti-war obsession with American casualty rates. Publicizing them seems counterproductiveto the goal of ending the American presence in Iraq, in that drawing attention to the casualty rate only heightens the chance that people will realize how low it really is. Unless one is relying on the innumeracy of the American public to carry the day for one’s cause–a risky gambit, as Lincoln pointed out–it seems rather a Sisyphean task to me.

Last year, on average 117 people a day died on America’s highways. That’s…….quite a bit more than the daily toll in Iraq, and it does not impinge on the public consciousness at all. I don’t wish to sound callous, since, as Wretchard puts it

“For a relative who answers a notification knock at the door, it is absolute numbers that matter. ‘Is my son alright’ and not ‘how many deaths per hundred thousand” are what concern him then.’”,

but casualty rates now are not that much higher now than they have been over the last 30 years, when they, like the highway fatality rates, mattered not at all to the American public. Why should that rate mean more now than it has in the past?

Summing up my feelings about the new soccer season.

Zod: There’s a new soccer season?

I have no idea. But, given my extreme level of support for the sport, here’s my suggestions for improving it; 5 guys to a side, unlimited substitutions, no yellow cards.

Zod: Then you would watch?

Meh.

Close encounters.

In Florida five years ago, while wadefishing for snook a couple of miles from where the Indian River meets the Atlantic Ocean, I noticed an extremely tall dorsal fin followed not so closely by an equally impressive tail. The fish was about 200 yards away.

Chuck Uzzle and I were waist-deep in Sabine Lake one summer, surrounded by active baitfish and speckled trout, when 100 acres of water around us went suddenly still. Seconds later, a big shark killed and ate something about a cast and a half in front of us.

Compiled with the assistance of Rogue’s Issaquah Brewery Menage A Frog
Belgian Style Tripel using same Abbey Yeast. Monster aromas and sweet flavors coming from the yeast and a huge amount of Belgian Candi Sugar. Ingredients: Weyermann Pilsner Malt, Belgian Candi Sugar, Saaz Hops.

20 Degrees Plato, 9% ABV, 30 IBU

Brew Reviews: BridgePort Haymaker Extra Pale Ale, SweetWater Blue, Cave Creek Chili Beer, Störtebeker Schwarzbier, BeerAdvovate Magazine, Hennepin Farmhouse Saison, The Heineken Mini-Keg

If you’re a beer drinker in Zimbabwe…well, you’re screwed
The price of opaque beer or ‘SCUD’ raced to $25,000 up from about $10,000. A pint of beer, Castle, Lion and Black Label is now going for $20,000 (contents only) up from $9,000. The returnable empty, commonly known as ‘deposit’ in Zimbabwe, is now worth $7,000.

It’s a Big Ad

News From Mordor

While imports and craft brews – along with wines and spirits – are growing at a good clip, mass-market brews from Miller and competitors, including Molson Coors are stagnant at best and in seeming inexorable decline at worst. While some brands such as Bud Light managed to eke out modest volume gains last year, its market share grew less than one-half of one percent while Miller Lite’s actually declined slightly, according to figures from Beverage Marketing Corp.

I went and licked the bacon just on general principle; Vegan Beer, Wine and Liquor. A somewhat related article on organic beers here.

If you’re a beer drinker in Ontario…well, you’re screwed
The renaissance in craft beer making that is taking place throughout the United States and in some Canadian provinces — British Columbia and Quebec, in particular — has been virtually ignored in Ontario. In fact, for beer aficionados, Ontario may sport the dubious distinction of having the largest selection of bland beer in North America.

Brew Debuts: Maclachlan’s, a Grolsch Wheat, and something called C2. I think they are not long for this world.

Podcasts: A Beer Dinner – With the scallops wrapped with bacon we paired Allagash White. Next we paired the cheese quesadillas with Chimay Cing Cent. For the salmon wrapped in phyllo dough we had Flying Dog’s Old Scratch. We paired Einbecker Mai-Urbock with pickled shrimp with a Thai sauce glaze. We finished the evening with chocolate mousse on espresso infused lady fingers paired with Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout (easily the best combination of the evening).

Drink it quick, while it’s still good for you.
What if your doctor prescribed you a medicine that could reduce strokes, heart and vascular disease, and the incidence of cataracts and breast cancer cells? You would take it every day, right? Well, you won’t have to see your doctor for this remedy, but you may want to visit your favorite bartender.

It’s fairly common knowledge that beer has a relaxing effect on the body and can reduce stress, but there are a myriad of other health benefits of this potent potable that are not as apparent at your local happy hour. There has never been better reasons to enjoy a cold one.

A six-pack of historic beers.

Ethanol is evil.
Like most Germans, brewer Helmut Erdmann is all for the fight against global warming. Unless, that is, it drives up the price of his beer.

As a result, the price for the key ingredient in beer — barley malt, or barley that has been allowed to germinate — has soared by more than 40 percent, to around euro385 (US$522) per ton from around euro270 a ton two years ago, according to the Bavarian Brewers’ Association.

Worth Waiting For

The cruel heartbreak of beer oxidation.
Beer oxidation, generally resulting from poorly handled base wort during brewing, is the most common affliction homebrewers face. As the name implies, excessive oxygen introduced during the process, often through unsealed brewing vessels, can lead to this unpleasant, “stale” condition. Other common oxidizers include nitric acid and chlorine bleach.
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Oxidation is characterized by aromas and flavors reminiscent of wet cardboard or lipstick in lighter beers, and sherry-like characteristics in darker ones. The fact that the wet cardboard smell, reflected again on the palate, appeared in what should have been among the darkest of the dark-beer categories, indicated a multitude of sins in this particular entry.

Who will buy my Budejovicky Budvar?

The previous carnival of Beer may be seen here.

Wife and I were sitting on the couch late this afternoon when the doorbell rang. It was Ngnat’s babysitter, a high-schooler from a couple doors down. She was on the way to the pool, and her dad, a homebrewer, had sent her over with a six-pack of his latest.

I let her in, turned to the wife and announced. “Honey, a teenager in a bikini just brought me beer.”

Everyone in the room flushed crimson but me.

It was a good day.

The Second Mizuwari Death Match. I like the hat.