Midge heads, midge heads
Roly poly midge heads
Midge heads, midge heads
Show that abrupt climate change is more common than previously thought
Yum.
Fossilized midges have helped scientists at the University of Liverpool identify two episodes of abrupt climate change that suggest the UK climate is not as stable as previously thought.
The episodes were discovered at a study in Hawes Water in Northern Lancashire, where the team used a unique combination of isotope studies and analysis of fossilized midge heads. Together they indicated where the climate shifts occurred and the temperature of the atmosphere at the time.
The first shift detected occurred around 9,000 years ago and the second around 8,000 years ago. Evidence suggests that these shifts were due to changes in the Gulf Stream, which normally keeps the UK climate warm and wet.
During each shift the North West climate cooled with an average summer temperature fall of 1.6 degrees — approximately three times the amount of temperature change currently attributed to global warming.
Cheap Oriental shrimp is bringing condos to Oriental.
In this small town at the southern edge of Pamlico Sound , second-generation fisherman Sherrill Styron is reluctantly planning to retire and convert the 2-acre hub for his business, Garland F. Fulcher Seafood Co. , into condominiums.
It is a dramatic shift for Styron, who just turned 65 and is the mayor of Oriental . Fifteen years ago, he said, it would have been “crazy” to think the waterfront property where he rose from crew member to business owner would become condos. “But there’s not any money to be made here anymore,” Styron said.
The trickle of imports from China exploded after Beijing joined the World Trade Organization in 2001 , a move that lifted most barriers to the US market. China has become the world’s leading seafood supplier, and last year was the third-largest seafood exporter to the United States, supplying $1.9 billion in fish and shellfish. Since cheaper imports began flooding the US market, many North Carolina fishermen have abandoned shrimp , a trend being replicated elsewhere across the nation.
There is no cloud so dark that it doesn’t have a silver lining. Harsh as it may be for the local shrimp industry, fewer shrimp trawlers in NC waters mean more shrimp in those same waters, and more of the fish that eat them. That’s a good thing for the recreational fishing industry, which already brings in more revenue than the commercial fishing industry does. In addition, I know from first hand experience that recreational fishermen are more than willing to pay $7 a pound for fresh shrimp. Commercial fisherman who cater to that need will flourish. It may be a boutique industry, but it will still exist.
Preach on, Brother Greg.
I once had abs so I know abs are pointless. The people who have abs only have them to let you know that they have them. It’s like a Porsche made of flesh. Except, unlike the car, abs don’t actually take you anywhere. Men who obsess over their abs offer nothing to society. I see them in the park and on the beach… always touching their stomachs, as if to remind themselves of their only indentifiable trait. Worse, these twerps always strip off to show off their prized possessions. Company picnic? Off comes the shirt. Bowling night? Why not? Dad’s funeral? He would have wanted it that way.
Men with abs aren’t really men, but women with penis’s. Did Winston Churchill have abs? Did Ronald Reagan have abs? Does Jack Nicholson have abs? No, no, and God no. Fact is, abs have become symbolic of what I call “reverse achievement.” The more there is of it, the less you’ve actually done with your life.*
Abs are no longer a mark of natural fitness – instead they are an ‘ass badge’. If you’re bearing abs, then you’re probably an ass. Men will see how vain you are and dismiss you. And while a woman may find your abs initially attractive, soon she’ll wonder if you care more about them than her.
* I have an outstanding achievement award in the field of achievement. I wear it just above my belt.
Compiled with the assistance of Peg Leg Imperial Stout ABV: approx. 8.0%
Malts: English Pale, Crystal, Chocolate and Black Barley
Hops: Fuggles and Styrian Goldings
A dry Imperial stout with rich black color and aromas of roasted coffee, molasses, dark chocolate, toffee and caramel. Rich, powerful, and lingering. Available year round.
Beers to beat the heat To tune a beer for summer, brewers can strip it down. Putting in less malt means less alcohol, so you can safely consume a bit more. It also means less of the unfermentable sugars that bulk up the beer’s body, so the drink is lighter going down. They can add zesty hops or spices to put a quenching edge on the beer, or intentionally sour it to give it a thirst-killing tang. Fizzing up the carbonation makes things snappier.
But if beer refreshment has a turbocharger, it’s wheat. “Wheat beats the heat” is a beer-writing cliché. Fluffy wheat-built beers rely on the lighter body that wheat gives, and on the faintly citric flavor that develops in a wheat beer.
Holiday boozing brews. Alcohol is huge part of the average British guy’s holiday. It’s the only thing we’ll consider doing on a night out and we’re more likely to figure into our budgets than we are food for Chris’sakes. So why, when we do go on holiday, do we subject ourselves to exactly the same warm, over-aerated piss that we do at home? There’s so much to the world of beer than the ubiquitus Stella or, God forbid, Carling…
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More on the Hopsicle …credit goes to Frank Morales, executive chef at Rustico Restaurant and Bar in Alexandria. Rustico stocks about 280 brands of beer, and since taking over the kitchen in February, Morales has been happily incorporating them into his cuisine.
A mental lapse — he left a bottle of beer in the freezer for three hours and it froze rock-hard — led him to experiment with beer on a stick.
Rustico is offering its Hopsicles in plum, cherry, raspberry, banana and grape flavors. As a base, Morales uses Belgian fruit beers that are low in alcohol and minimally hopped.
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India finally gets a reliable source of potable water.
—————– Reviews:
Deschutes Twilight Ale Twilight Ale is Deschutes Brewery’s summer seasonal, one that is a locals’ favorite that everybody seems to be drinking when it comes out. It’s a nice, light, drinkable 5% alcohol brew that is, according to their website, “best enjoyed when chilled and consumed outdoors.” I’ll drink to that.
Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale I have enjoyed anything that Stone could throw at me: Ruination, Double Bastard, the Anniversary Ales, that smoked porter. But I have never had the oaked one. Deep orange butterscotch ale under a fine tight foam froth not far off the colour of pine studs holding up the basement drywall. Some booze on the nose from the 7.2% strength. In the mouth, the oak barreling mellows the heat, hauls in the hops, adds a bit of something just a notch below vanilla. The green arugula blast is more of a nod to weediness now. This is still very much one of the bastardly bunch of big pale malt and heavy hopping but there is a richness out of which pops orange peel and maybe a hint of cloves. As it opens and warms there is a milk chocolate thing in there, too.
Hacker-Pschorr Weiss Dark Hacker-Pschorr has existed in one form or another since 1417, and its products have been available in America for many decades, long before the current specialty beer boom. But while I’ve had the lager and regular weiss, the dark wheat beer had escaped my notice.
The beer is a mixture of 60 percent malted wheat and 40 percent barley, which is typical for a weiss style. The brewery uses a combination of dark and light grains of wheat and barley to get its medium-brown color.
Leinenkugel’s Sunset Wheat It’s got an almost lemony aroma, and the taste is sweetly spiced. A bit cloying after swallowing but a decent variation on a wheat. I’d almost liken it to a Belgian Wit, it has that same orange sweet taste and aroma.
All in all, a good beer to have one or two of, definitely not a session beer. Or, if you have a friend that doesn’t like beer all that much, let them try it.
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Michael Jackson on Conan
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It’s Beer! It’s Queer! He’s slowly getting used to it.
—————– The Pub With No Beer is bad. The Brewery with no beer? Well, that’s good, as it turns out. John Allen wants to mark the 10th anniversary of his company with a party, but he can’t get any beer.
Which is a bit odd because Allen is the founder and president of Halifax’s Propeller Brewery.
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Connecticut unleashes its brewpubs.
Brewpubs in Connecticut have reason to celebrate.
Their handcrafted brews now can be sold beyond their pubs.
A new state law that took effect June 29 scraps a 77-year-old provision in state liquor regulations that has prevented Connecticut’s nine brewpubs from having their beers, ales and stouts bottled and distributed. The law now allows them to sell the brews to wholesalers for distribution.
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Words that one would not normally expect to find in association with one another. “Conservative Party Tax Hike.” Word that describe why said party is even less likely to be returned to power “on beer.”
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Home Brewing in Taiwan, by way of Ghana. “There were several German-owned breweries there,” Hsieh said. “It was like nothing I had ever had in Taiwan.”
Even after taking Duan’s workshop, problems continued to dog Hsieh’s quest to recreate the brews he remembered from his youthful stint abroad.
“We learned we had to swaddle the brewing container with a comforter in order to keep the yeast warm and active when it’s cold in winter,” Hsieh said. “And when it’s hot in summer, we would wake up to the sound of exploding glass bottles when too much carbon dioxide had built up in the bottles.”
—————– Australian for “G-damn Hippies don’t know how to run a concert.”
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Smoking bans are making beer gardens more popular–assuming you’re British enough to consider an umbrella on the sidewalk outside the bar a “beer garden.”
—————– The Great Beer Delivery
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New from Milton Bradley: Mystery Beer! Are you ready for your Mystery Beer?
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Another look at my Father’s Day present, the scientifically engineered beer glass.
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George Washington’s 1757 Beer Recipe
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Allegedly, there is no such thing as bad press. The Beer Activist will soon find out if this is true or not.
Back in May they invited me to be on the show to brew organic beer with the groom.
My great fear is that the beer we brewed sucked. There were all kinds of technical snafus. Of course it’s easy enough to edit that out of the brewing part of the episode, but what if the guests hated the beer and they show someone’s horrible reaction on the final show, “Wow, that’s terrible. You brewed this crap? I’ll never try an organic homebrew again. I hope you two get a divorce!”
You might think I’m being paranoid but let’s just say that brewing circumstances were less than ideal and I really have doubts about the final product. Gulp.
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Hop Talk on why the major brands are hemorrhaging market share.
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The previous Carnival of Beer may be seen here.
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The Carnival of Beer appears every Tuesday and Friday. If you’ve an item you like to see appear, let us know via bigwig AT nc.rr.com
More from our Iraqi warrior-correspondent, LTC Bob.
So yesterday, my inbox had a message from our systems admin – something like: “the blah-blah system will be tested from 0300-0330 10 July to determine blah, blah, blah. All personnel should be indoors during this period. The test will be announced on the Camp Victory Big Voice” (our PA system).
Didn’t pay much attention to the email. We went to bed as usual. I awoke when they made the Big Voice announcement at about 0248.
Then I kind of drifted off again.
Until the C-RAM went off for its calibration test.
Holy crap.
The C-RAM is the Army’s Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar System. It’s based off the Navy’s CIWS Phalanx system. It’s a radar controlled 20mm Gatling Gun that can fire something like 3000 rounds a minute and with its linked phased-array counter battery radars and fire control system can shoot down incoming mortars artilllery and rockets. The rounds it shoots detonate at a predetermined range/time, so only small pieces fall back to earth.
It’s really frickin’ loud. Makes you jump a bit at 0312 in the morning. Kind of sounds like the loudest fart you can imagine.
Well maybe it sounds something like that.
A modern Gatling gun makes a distinct noise, (not like the old ones that John Wayne hand cranked in the movies). New ones (electrically driven) fire so fast you can’t hear the individual rounds go off like a regular machine gun. The A-10 Thunderbolt II has a very similar gun in the nose for killing tanks. The Army’s old Vulcan anti-aircraft system also had one.
Found a box turtle digging a nest in the garden a week or so ago. Naturally I waited until she had finished her business, then dug up the eggs and relocated them to a nest in the garage I’d made for them. It was either that or let them take their chances with the local raccoon. I’ve estimated the hatch date to be sometime around August 20th. SW was not that enthused at the idea of incubating turtle eggs in the garage, but I suspect she decided that debating the idea wasn’t worth the trouble.
Turtles and other reptiles are reservoirs of Salmonella and have long been a recognized source of Salmonella infection in humans (1). Small turtles have posed a particular danger to young children because these turtles might not be perceived as health hazards and can be handled like toys. Salmonella infections in children can be severe and can result in hospitalization and occasionally in death (2). The association between Salmonella infection in children and exposure to turtles led to a 1975 law prohibiting the sale or distribution of small turtles (i.e., those with a carapace of <4 inches in length) in the United States (3). That prohibition led to a substantial decline in human salmonellosis cases associated with turtles (4). However, because the prohibition is not fully enforced and contains exceptions (e.g., sales for educational purposes), human turtle-associated cases continue to occur. This report describes several recent cases of turtle-associated salmonellosis reported to CDC by state and local health departments since September 2006, including a fatal case in an infant. These cases illustrate that small turtles remain a source of human Salmonella infections. Although ongoing public education measures aimed at preventing reptile-acquired Salmonella infections are helpful, prohibiting the sale of small turtles likely remains the most effective public health action to prevent turtle-associated salmonellosis.
Still, I’m not planning on tossing the eggs. In my defense, most of the cases cited in the study above came from aquarium-based turtles, water-dwelling sliders and the like, not box turtles. I figure the educational value of helping me take care of the eggs and watching the hatch far outweighs the risk of any infection. Second, I already let them handle any reptiles we happen across, assuming they want to. Sometimes I have to bribe them with promises of ice cream in order for them to “want” to, but that’s another story. They can avoid salmonella infection by washing their hands afterwards.
On Monday 2 July we began our trip by drawing weapons at 0900. After weighing in on the big scale at Pope AFB, we waited for our ride. It showed up at 1500, North American Airlines 767, #N760NA. I lucked out and got a 1st class seat. Takeoff time was 1630 for our first leg to Shannon, Ireland where we landed at 0300 local time. After a 3.5 hour layover, we departed at 0630, arriving at Kuwait City International at 1455 local on 3 July. Temp at KCIA was 116.
We moved by bus to Camp Beuhring, in the far northwest corner of Kuwait. One morning we went out to the range to test fire weapons, one of the “requirements” before heading north. It was actually pretty nice at 0530 when we got to the range.
Attached picture is of MAJ Mark Quander, me, SFC William Hui, CPT Matt Wagoner and SFC Steve Kelly at the range after shooting our 10 rounds.
On the 6th we flew from KCIA to Baghdad International via USAF C-130. Flight was full, 63 pax, and hot, but otherwise uneventful. We arrived in Baghdad on about 1700.
Since then we have been pretty much taking it easy, doing in processing and so forth. Minor dust storm today, not bad really, just dust and not much wind.
If you are looking for first hand reporting rather that the latest spin on “why we are failing” or “why we must leave Iraq”, I highly recommend you read the most recent article by Michael Yon.
Yon has covered the war from the beginning and is one of a very few reporters who actually stay in the field and report, rather than staying in the hotel and making up stories.
Oliver spent more than a year picking the right bottling line, getting it in place, designing a separate temperature-controlled warm room and running test batches. The whole project cost more than $300,000.
He knew going in that the bottles would be 750ml and finished with a cork and wire closure. He decided on the largest “still fill” bottler in the country, meaning sugar and yeast are added to beer that has virtually no C02 in it, then the beer is naturally carbonated in a warm room. Even in Belgium, most breweries add some C02 at bottling and before warm conditioning.
“We asked ourselves, ‘Are we going to do it old school or do it the modern way?’” Oliver said. “In the end, we thought we got more complexity (this way).”
The beer is excellent, but the website is absolute shite.
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Speaking of shite sites….If ya want ta roll wit da tea partay. I think i just threw up a little bit in my mouth….well, more than a little bit, to be honest.
I’m at a loss as to who Smirnoff thinks the traget audience for this drink is. As best as I can tell, it’s aimed at people who want to become ironic hipsters but aren’t sure how the whole process works.
via hail the ale
—————– Lagering Modern IPA brewers should perhaps pay attention to the purpose of lagering pale beers – smoothing out the rough hop flavour. Here’s a hint. If you want to brew an authentic 1842 Burton IPA, try maturing your beer for 4 months not just in wooden barrels, but also in a wooden sailing ship, making sure to vary the temperature between 5 and 50º C and to rock it around a lot. Then you have authentic. And fiddle around with the magnetic field. Maybe that doesn’t have any effect. I’d still do it just to be on the safe side.
—————– Where da Wiedemann?
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A guide to converting the ignorant. Saying that you don’t like beer is akin to saying that you don’t like any white food. There are simply so many types out there, there is without a doubt one that fits your taste. The “I don’t like beer” crowd can be roughly divided into two groups (I’ve met many members of both). There are the people who don’t like the bitterness of beer, and the people whose only contact with beer has been the beer flavored water cranked out by the likes of Coors and Budweiser.
—————– Memorabilia auction.
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One from Kehaar: The Search For Noble Hop Aroma Chemicals For years, scientists have been trying to identify the chemicals that give the best beers a noble hop aroma. Using sophisticated lab equipment, three researchers have identified several chemicals that may be responsible for a spicy scent. This is no small task since hops contain as many as a thousand different smelly chemicals and the ones that are most abundant are not responsible for the characteristic aroma. Some chemicals smell much stronger than others. The most potent chemicals are often responsible for the finer points of an aroma even if they are only present at very low levels.
—————– Don’t you hate it when your fingers start to freeze from holding an ice cold beer?!? THEN PUT IT IN A DAMN GLASS LIKE IT WAS MEANT TO BE!
—————– Pledge a Pint for John.
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The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!
Red Cuillin The beer pours a deepy orange chestnut with a fine cream tan clingy head. Definitely a Scots ale with nutty raisin malt cut with black malt for a smoky effect. Light in the mouth with semi-soft water. A light tea astringency in the end with a hint of red current fruit in the malt. While it may be a bit lighter than many of the tartan-ed ales you find in North America, it is right there in the middle of the BJCP style “9C. Scottish Export 80/-”, that last symbol being for “shilling” the traditional measure for the grades of Scots ales.
Black Cuillin The second in the series on the beers of the Isle of Skye Brewing Company, this 4.5% brew is described by the brewer simply as “the dark one, brewed with rolled roast oatmeal and honey.” It pours the greyish mahogany of cola under a quickly dissipating mocha head. In the mouth a nice chalky creamy mid-weight mouthfeel with burnt toast black malt roastiness sitting above plum and raisin malt. Tobacco in the finish. Hints of unsweetened cocoa and peat on the nose. Very nice.
Four Magic Hats Magic Hat uses the magic theme to promote its products, starting with the slogan, “Where ancient alchemy meets modern-day science,” and billing its summer seasonal 12-pack as “The Summer Variety Show — the greatest 12-pack on earth!”
You won’t be a P.T. Barnum sucker for buying into the hype.
Magic was not the only common theme to all four of the beers I tried — Circus Boy, No. 9, Hocus Pocus and the Mystery Beer — they all shared a golden color and a smooth, creamy, malty body with hints of grain and floral hop aromas. There were significant variations, however, in the individual beers.
Duck Rabbit Imperial Stout Insane! head. First taste like clean, tasty, spicy dirt (okay bad description). Reminds me of an excellent steak served with a spicy cocoa cabernet sauce (odd description but hey, it’s what I tasted!) Simply put, this beer is an awesome Imperial Stout for the price and if it’s available outside of North Carolina, get some.
Lagunitas Maximus IPA Ale It’s not often that one is born a possessed idiot, but such is my life. While shopping for books and beer glasses at the local Salvation Army I thought to myself, “I wonder where my Monday Night Brewery glasses are that I won.” Sure enough, they arrived today safe and sound and gleaming. I was going to drink a weak little Vanilla Cream Stout in them but I thought that their sheer brilliance deserved a heavy hitter, thus this beer. As far as IPAs go it is very good. I hate the overly-hopped variety and this falls well short of that and into a mildly robust hop with a great and aiding malt. Top notch flavor with mild citrus and the tempered grains. Quite brilliant on both accounts.
Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy The seeds for this beer were sown during the launch of Leinie’s Hefe-weizen nine years ago. The brewery suggested serving it as a shandy to customers, with lemonade instead of the standard lemon slice that comes with most weiss beers. this proved popular with people who like their beers on the sweeter side – those “hard lemonade” people. Summer Shandy is replacing Leinie’s Berry Weiss as its summer seasonal selection. It’s a bold move. We like the Berry Weiss, but this is a tasty beer. We actually enjoyed its prominent lemon flavor, which isn’t so powerful that it masks the flavor of the beer.
—————– Industry News: Greene King, Scottish & Newcastle
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Fosters: Australian for cheap bastards. The alcohol content of Victoria Bitter is to be cut as brewer Foster’s tries to slash millions of dollars from its tax bill.
Foster’s will also raise the wholesale price of all its packaged beers by about 2 per cent next month.
Industry experts say the VB alcohol content reduction – from 4.9 per cent to 4.8 per cent – could save Foster’s $20 million in beer tax a year.
—————– Recipes: Beer Can Chicken
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A philosopher visits the wasteland.
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Craft Beer Radio – Chain Smoking
—————– One man. One straw. It’s the law.
—————– Win a trip to the Great American Beer Festival.
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The other carnivalesque beer post collection: The Session.
—————– No one can tell the American macro-brews apart. Oh, sure, beer drinkers will swear they can taste the difference between the brand they’re loyal to and Bud and Miller and Coors and Michelob and Pabst and Rainier and a dozen more beer brands. They can’t — which accounts for the success of the craft brews and microbrews, as well as the imports.
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The previous Carnival of Beer may be seen here.
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The Carnival of Beer appears every Tuesday and Friday. If you’ve an item you like to see appear, let us know via bigwig AT nc.rr.com
Yellow journalism takes on a new hue.
Often as sensationalistic as its yellow predecessor, green journalism tends to appeal to our emotions, exploit our fears, and pander to our vanity. It places a political agenda in front of the quest for journalistic truth and in its most demagogic forms tolerates no criticism, branding all who question it as enemies of the people.
Not all green journalism harangues, but even the gentlest variety sermonizes, cuts logical corners, and substitutes good intentions for problem solving. For an example of creepy gentle green journalism, there’s no better example than the “Slate Green Challenge,” a series that Slate started publishing last fall in conjunction with TreeHugger.org.
I’ve got no fundamental quarrel with TreeHugger. They’re propagandists who are “dedicated to driving sustainability into the mainstream” and don’t really pretend to be journalists. My bitch is that Slate, which ought to know better, boarded the trendy greenwagon to publish the group’s flawed, if well-meaning, guide to reducing carbon dioxide from one’s “diet.”
As part of my own crusade to save the planet, I’ve stopped exhaling. Nothing but inhaling for me from now own.
