Unread Bits

Ten Ren Tea Organic Genmaicha Tea Review

2011-08-07T21:23:00.001-05:00

Ten Ren Tea's Organic Genmaicha tea is a fantastic tea. The genmaicha tea combines green sencha tea with roasted brown rice. The tea brews to a pale yellow color, and has a prominent roasted rice aroma. The tea leaves are slender and mostly broken in some way, with a few stems included. The flavor is very smooth with no bitterness at all. The flavor is prominent with roasted rice, with a light green tea flavor in the background. The tea is excellent by itself or with food, particularly East Asian food (I prefer to drink the tea while eating). The tea was good for two steepings. Some people may not appreciate the roasted rice flavor being more prominent than the green tea flavor, but I love it. Keep in mind that this is not a fancy and expensive tea with a host of complex flavors, but it's more akin to simple Asian comfort food.

Rating: **** ½

Here's an excerpt from Ten Ren's website.

Ten Ren's Organic Genmaicha tea is comprised of organic sencha green tea blended with organic roasted brown rice. A third party European agency has certified that this tea has been grown with organic farming methods with no chemical pesticides used in cultivation. The steeped tea has a light yellow hue with a roasted rice aroma and fresh undertones. The taste is pleasantly smooth with a hint of roasted rice and a mild aftertaste. This tea is often consumed in Japan and Japanese restaurants with green tea powder added. Genmaicha may be enjoyed hot or chilled, with or without green tea powder added.

The water used to steep this tea should be about 160-180°F or 70-80°C. Use about 1.5 teaspoons (3 grams) of tea leaves for about every 5 ounces (150 ml) of water. A steeping time of about 3-5 minutes is recommended with more or less time depending on the desired concentration. As a rough guide, the higher the temperature of the water or the greater the amount of leaves used, the shorter the steeping time should be. The use of a covered glass or ceramic cup is recommended for steeping in order to appreciate the tea leaves.

Ten Ren Tea Tung Ting Supreme Oolong Tea Review

2011-07-22T20:16:00.000-05:00

Ten Ren Tea's Tung Ting Supreme Oolong tea is a good green oolong tea. The tea (sometimes rendered as dong ding tea) is composed of tightly rolled whole tea leaves, many of which were still attached to the stem. The tea is pale gold in color, and has a slight vegetal aroma. The flavor is a bit on the mild side, but gets a bit stronger at the back and sides of the mouth as you swallow. The tea was good for about three steepings, and I found the second steeping to be the best (consistent mellow flavor).

Rating: *** ½

Here's an excerpt from Ten Ren's website.

The leaves of Tung Ting Supreme Oolong are grown in the Tung Ting region of Taiwan at the specific elevation of 2500 feet/740 meters. At this elevation, the leaves absorb moisture from the surrounding fog and clouds every morning and every afternoon which is ideal for Oolong plants. Due to the unique geographic location and stringent selection of leaves, this is the finest Tung Ting Oolong from the Tung Ting estate.

Volpi Sopressata Salame Review

2011-07-19T21:55:00.001-05:00

Volpi Foods' Sopressata Salame is an enjoyable sausage that I purchased at Trader Joe's. I bought it because it's made with all natural ingredients without any nitrates or nitrites, and because I love soppressata. The 8 oz. salami is encased in a collagen casing that's to be removed before eating. The soppressata was surprisingly milder in flavor and much less salty than I was expecting. Although mild, the salami had a nice savory flavor. I tend to prefer stronger flavors, so I thought the soppressata would have been better if it had a bit more bold and complex character (and were a bit saltier and tangier), but nevertheless I quite enjoyed the salami. Rather than the whole black peppercorns one would often see in store bought soppressata, Volpi's had what looked like specks of ground black pepper in it. A lot of store bought soppressata also tends to have larger nodules of fat, but Volpi's is finer in texture. Overall, a good and enjoyable soppressata, and a soppressata of choice due to no nitrites and relatively low cost.

Rating: *** ½

Here's an except from Volpi's website.

This salame originates in the Veneto Region. A delicate sophistication exudes throughout this region, its people and its cuisine. Our Sopressata mirrors this refined lifestyle.

Recommended Storage Temperature: Keep Refrigerated (less than or equal to 72° F)
Shelf Life from production: 180 days
Serving Suggestions: Stands alone for a classic antipasto or adds spice to any sandwich, grilled or cold.

Packaging a bit different (sold at Trader Joe's)

Sliced, with the collagen casing removed

Ten Ren Tea King's 509 Dark Super Fine Oolong Tea Review

2011-07-17T20:46:00.002-05:00

Ten Ren Tea's King's 509 Dark Super Fine Oolong tea is a unique, but quite good black oolong tea. It's unique in that it has ginseng added to the tea and has a very smooth roasted flavor. King's 509 tea leaves are dark and rolled up with a few stems dispersed throughout the tea. The tea has a roasted aroma, and the tea is amber in color. The flavor is interesting, as it is very reminiscent of roasted barley tea, with some black tea notes. This oolong doesn't have the characteristic vegetal taste as green oolongs. It has a much bolder roasted flavor, but is still very smooth and is not as strong as a black tea. I cannot discern any ginseng flavor, but after drinking the tea I do feel more alert and energetic. The tea is good for at least three steepings, maybe more. King's 509 is a great tea to drink that's soothing, yet gives you a boost.

Rating: ****

Here's an excerpt from Ten Ren's website.

TenRen's King's Dark Oolong Super Fine consists of the finest oolong harvested during the premium seasons, spring and winter, and from the best area to grow oolong, the mountains of central Taiwan. Each tea leaf is handpicked to ensure harvests of young terminal buds. The steeped tea has a light golden brown hue, prominent roasted aroma with sweet undertones, the initial flavor of roasted chestnuts, and a strong lasting, sweet and roasted aftertaste which lingers at the back of the throat.

The water used to steep this tea should be about 185-195°F or 85-90°C. Use about 2 teaspoons (3 g) of tea leaves for about every 5 ounces (150 mL) of water. A steeping time of about 3-5 minutes with more or less time is recommended depending on the desired concentration. As a rough guide, the higher the temperature of the water or the greater the amount of leaves used, the shorter the steeping time should be. For the ultimate enjoyment, a traditional Chinese Yixing teapot is recommended for loose oolong tea. The teapot should be half filled with leaves and initially steeped for 45 seconds to 1 minute with the steeping time increased by an additional 15 seconds for each successive steeping. The leaves may be steeped multiple times.

Ten Ren's website also gives an overview of their King's oolong tea line.

King's Tea, a TenRen exclusive, is made of high quality oolong tea blended with a touch of ginseng to create an incredible aftertaste. The tea has the rich smooth taste of oolong with an aftertaste which is sweeter and longer lasting than the traditional oolong tea. The bitter tartness associated with ginseng can not be tasted in this tea. King's Tea is offered in two varieties, Green and Dark, each in several different grades. The Green and Dark King's Teas are determined by how long the base oolong is baked, with Dark ones baked longer than Green ones. The different grades depend on the quality of the oolong leaves. Try this unique tea and taste why it is popular in southern Asia.

Ten Ren Tea 2011 First Flush Dragon Well Tea Review

2011-07-05T09:51:00.002-05:00

Ten Ren Tea's 2011 First Flush Dragon Well is a very nice Dragon Well green tea. This tea is composed of young buds and unbroken tea leaves, with a few stems. The aroma is very vegetal, and so is the taste. The flavor is very good and savory, and has an almost seaweed-like quality. The tea has very little bitterness or astringency, and has a smooth clean taste. The big negative aspect is that, as it is a first flush tea, the tea is expensive. I can't help but think that one could get a slightly lower grade Dragon Well at a lower price that has a comparable experience, but my experience with Dragon Well is very limited. Still, over all a very good tea.

Rating: ****

Here's an excerpt from Ten Ren's website.

The 2011 First Flush Dragon Well is the finest and freshest Dragon Well available. Harvested at the very beginning of the Spring harvest and before the Ming festival, this Dragon Well is in very limited quantities. The First Flush Dragon Well is also know as "Head" tea as it is the first and best of the season.

The tea leaves are a bright spring green color and the tea has a pale green color, fresh taste with roasted undertones, and a clean aftertaste.

A steeping time of 1 to 2 minutes with about 70°C/160°F water is recommended, with an additional 15 seconds for each successive infusion. Use about 1 tablespoon (3 grams) of tea leaves for about every 5 ounces (150 ml) of water. This tea may be infused 3 or more times. The use of a covered glass or ceramic cup is recommended for steeping in order to fully appreciate the tea leaves.

Slightly dilute

Ten Ren Tea Supreme Chinese High Mountain Oolong Tea Review

2011-07-04T15:04:00.000-05:00

Ten Ren Tea's Supreme Chinese High Mountain Oolong tea is a good and enjoyable green oolong tea. The tea was tightly rolled, with a few stems and very few broken leaves. The tea's aroma is vegetal, and when steeped the color is a pale yellow. The tea has a good vegetal oolong tea flavor, but is not as bold or complex as some Taiwanese oolong teas. The tea was good for about two steepings. Nevertheless, this is still a solid and enjoyable tea.

Rating: *** ½

Here's an excerpt from Ten Ren's website.

Ten Ren Tea's Supreme Chinese High Mountain Oolong consists of the finest oolong harvested during the spring season. This tea is grown in the high mountains of China. Each tea leaf is handpicked to ensure the best quality. When brewed, it produces a light yellow hue, a strong smooth floral taste, a fresh scent, and a pleasant lasting aftertaste.

The water used to steep this tea should be about 185-195°F or 85-90°C. Use about 2 teaspoons (3 grams) of tea leaves for about every 5 ounces (150 milliliters) of water. A steeping time of about 3-5 minutes is recommended with more or less time depending on the desired concentration. As a rough guide, the higher the temperature of the water or the greater the amount of leaves used, the shorter the steeping time should be.

Ten Ren Tea Ten Li (Tianli) Tea Review

2011-07-03T21:55:00.003-05:00

Ten Ren's Ten Li (Tianli) tea is an excellent Taiwanese green oolong tea. The tea leaves are tightly rolled, and are unbroken with no stems. The aroma is fragrant with a vegetal character. The color of the steeped tea is a pale golden yellow-green. The taste of the tea is vegetal and very smooth, with the slightest astringent character. It has a very good and complex oolong tea flavor, and even seems to have a mouth watering savory taste. The tea was good for about three steepings. I tried a 0.32 oz. sampler, and I think the only negative thing there is to say about this tea is that it does carry a high price. Other than that, Ten Li is an excellent oolong tea.

Rating: **** ½

Here's an excerpt from Ten Ren's website.

Tianli is TenRen's most unique and highest quality Oolong. Grown in the Li Mountains of Taiwan, this tea is harvested at the highest elevation of 1200 meters in an isolated area. Due to the cold weather and relatively harsh environment, the plants grow at a very slow rate and in small quantities. The tea is either harvested during the winter or summer and sometimes only once during the entire year. After the harvest, the leaves are carefully handled and aerated during the long ride to the nearest tea master. Despite the difficult growing conditions, the leaves are selected as the highest quality of Oolong. This casnister comes in a satin lined green gift box. The steeped tea has a pale yellow-green color matching its faint fresh scent. Once tasted, the tea presents itself with a fresh taste followed by a sweet smooth aftertaste.

The water used to steep this tea should be about 185-195°F or 85-90°C. Use about 2 teaspoons (3 grams) of tea leaves for about every 5 ounces (150 milliliters) of water. A steeping time of about 3-5 minutes is recommended with more or less time depending on the desired concentration. As a rough guide, the higher the temperature of the water or the greater the amount of leaves used, the shorter the steeping time should be. The tea leaves should uncurl for full flavor. For the ultimate enjoyment, a traditional Chinese Yixing teapot is recommended for loose oolong tea. The teapot should be half filled with leaves and initially steeped for 45 seconds to 1 minute with the steeping time increased by an additional 15 seconds for each successive steeping. The leaves may be steeped multiple times.

Thanh Son Tofu Review

2011-07-02T14:30:00.001-05:00

Thanh Son Tofu is always packed on the weekends

Thanh Son Tofu at the Eden Center in Falls Church, VA is a great little hole in the wall with just a couple of small tables that serves all kinds of tofu products, tapioca drinks, puddings, and other rice/soy/tofu-based desserts. However, the only thing I ever get there is the fried tofu to go. Their fried tofu is an excellent bargain, and is delicious as well. For just $1, you can get 7 pieces of plain fried tofu, 5 pieces of mushroom and onion, or 3 pieces of lemongrass and chili fried tofu. The plain tofu is a little too plain, so I stick with the mushroom and lemongrass tofu. The mushroom tofu has a nice fried exterior with savory mushroom and onion bits interspersed in the tofu. The lemongrass tofu has a nice citrus and onion flavor and has chili in it but is not spicy. The fried tofu is a perfect accompaniment to a bánh mì sandwich that you can pick up in the many cafes at the Eden Center.

Rating: ****

Lemongrass/chili (left) and mushroom/onion fried tofu

Thanh Son Tofu
6793-A Wilson Blvd.
Falls Church, VA 22044
703-534-1202

Iceberry Review

2011-07-01T23:00:00.003-05:00

Iceberry is a frozen yogurt chain with a location in Reston Town Center (Iceberry's website lists other locations). Like Pinkberry and its many clones, Iceberry serves tart frozen yogurt with a choice of toppings such as fresh fruit, nuts, cookies, mochi, etc. Iceberry's selection of original, honeydew, green tea, and chocolate flavors aren't as tart as Pinkberry, and generally the flavor falls a little short of the Pinkberry gold standard. The quality and freshness of the fruit toppings can also sometimes be a little spotty (particularly in the winter), and the yogurt itself can't exactly be considered a bargain. However, what makes Iceberry worth going to is the honeydew flavor yogurt. Iceberry's honeydew flavor yogurt is a fantastic dessert that combines the flavor of tart frozen yogurt with that of a Melona bar. If you've ever enjoyed Pinkberry yogurt and melon bars, you'll love Iceberry's hondeydew frozen yogurt. A medium three topping serving makes a perfect dessert for two on a hot day.

Pro

Honeydew flavor is fantastic

Con

Pricey, especially compared to newer frozen yogurt places that charge by the ounce
Occasional issues with fruit freshness/ripeness, particularly in the wintertime

Rating: ****

Medium Honeydew

Toppings

Iceberry
11990 Market St. #C
Reston, VA 20190

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

2011-06-30T19:54:00.002-05:00

I've never eaten real Italian Pasta alla Carbonara, but this video makes it look insanely good with loads of parmigiano and pecorino cheese "amalgamated" with pasta starch water and egg. The closest I've had is a creamy version from a take out place on the island of Santorini that was, while not authentically Italian, still an outstanding dish. After watching this, I've just got to try the real thing! The video was taken from the kitchen of Giancarlone in Rome. It doesn't look like I can embed the video (it was taken down from Youtube), so here's the link to the video from italianfoodnet.com.

Buon appetito!

In case the video gets taken down again, here's the text recipe from italianfoodnet.com that I've slightly edited.

Spaghetti Carbonara (Spaghetti alla Carbonara)
Ingredients for 4 persons

360 gr. (12.69 oz.) Spaghetti
60 gr. (2.11 oz.) Guanciale (Pork cheek)
80 gr. (2.82 oz.) Parmesan cheese
80 gr. (2.82 oz.) Pecorino cheese
4 Eggs
1 Teaspoon black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Pour the extra virgin olive oil into the frying pan, add a handful of diced guanciale* (per person) and 1 teaspoon of black pepper which seasons the sauce, and put the pan on a low heat [note: it looks from the video that 1 tsp. of black pepper is added per person]
Meanwhile crack the whole egg (1 per person) into a dish, beat it with a fork, and add a pinch of black pepper, 1 tablespoon of fresh grated pecorino (ewe's cheese), and a half tablespoon of parmesan and beat it again amalgamating all ingredients
Now put the spaghetti into a pot of boiling salted water, 90-110 Gr. (3.17-3.88 Oz.) per person
Continue to cook the guanciale on low heat until becomes crispy
Once guanciale is crispy, to make a tender pasta, add a little pasta cooking water into the pan (in this way the starch of the water helps to amalgamate all ingredients), turn off the heat and wait for the end of the pasta cooking time
Once Spaghetti are cooked "al dente", before draining, place the pan on the stove and heat the sauce
At this point drain the pasta and put it into the pan, add a little more pasta cooking water, take the cheese/egg mixture, beat it again and pour into the pan
Stir slowly, sautè, add a little pecorino cheese, a little parmesan cheese, and a little more pasta cooking water
Stir again over low heat, and if the pan is too hot remove it from heat
Transfer the pasta to a serving dish garnished with a little pecorino and a parmesan, add the sauce all over spaghetti and serve
*Guanciale is traditionally used to make the real and classic Carbonara recipe, if you don't find guanciale use a good quality bacon or pancetta.

Please, try it without cream or other ingredients and you'll taste the difference, enjoy your meal!

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout Review

2011-06-29T23:00:00.004-05:00

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout is simply an outstanding beer. The beer is pitch black in color, and has a malty aroma. The beer has a long lasting creamy head, is low in carbonation, and has moderate lacing. Due to the oatmeal, the beer is unbelievably smooth for a stout, and is thick and full-bodied. The taste is bittersweet, and is of roasted malt, coffee, and dark chocolate. I not to prefer bitter beers, and this beer only has the slightest bitterness, which is well balanced by the beer's sweetness. The only negative thing I can say about the stout is that there isn't an expiration date printed on the bottle. Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout is truly a great beer and is highly recommended.

Rating: **** ½

Here's an excerpt from Samuel Smith's website.

Brewed with well water (the original well at the Old Brewery, sunk in 1758, is still in use, with the hard well water being drawn from 85 feet underground); fermented in ‘stone Yorkshire squares’ to create an almost opaque, wonderfully silky and smooth textured ale with a complex medium dry palate and bittersweet finish.

Best served at about 55°F (13°C).

Ingredients • Water, malted barley, cane sugar, roasted malt, yeast, hops, oatmeal, seaweed finings, carbon dioxide.

And here's another excerpt from the importer's website (Merchant du Vin).

At one time promoted as a drink for lactating mothers, oatmeal stout was described as nutritional on early labels. Oats are in the same family as barley, and a small addition yields great flavor and adds smooth body. Popular in the late 1800's, the last oatmeal stout was brewed before the First World War until Samuel Smith reintroduced this style in 1980.

Almost opaque, with an unusually silky texture and complex, medium-dry velvet palate. Bittersweet finish.

ABV: 5.0% - OG: 1.050 - IBU: 32

Twinings Green Tea Review

2011-06-28T23:00:00.002-05:00

Twinings Green Tea is a sencha style tea. I was able to try a single tea bag, and I wasn't impressed. The tea had a slightly vegetal, astringent, and bitter flavor. Perhaps I just prefer Chinese green teas to Japanese sencha, but I won't be purchasing this tea in the future.

Rating: **

Here's an excerpt from the Twinings website.

Pure and Natural green tea; smooth in flavor and refreshing taste.

Green tea is known for its smooth flavor and refreshing taste. Green teas are made from leaves of the Camellia Sinensis plant, the same leaves as black tea. Green teas go through a process where the leaves are heated to prevent oxidation while black teas are oxidized for additional color and flavor. The result is a delicious tea that brews to a light golden color and unique flavor. Twinings Green Tea is a style called "Sencha", known for its smooth, mild characteristics.

Light Flavour Strength

Twinings China Oolong Tea Review

2011-06-27T23:00:00.006-05:00

Twinings China Oolong Tea is a tea that I purchased after enjoying Twinings' black teas. I do love oolong teas, and I thought I'd give Twinings' oolong tea bags a try. Twinings China Oolong Tea is a completely unremarkable tea, with only the faintest hint that it is an oolong tea at all. I was very disappointed, and will be sticking to premium loose leaf oolong teas in the future.

Rating: * ½

Here's an excerpt from the Twinings website.

Oolong teas, hybrid between black and green tea. A slightly sweet and delicate tea with a reddish color.

Oolong teas are principally sourced from China and mainly from the Fujian Province. It is said that Oolong tea first began to be produced at Mount Wu Yi Shan in Fujian Province at the end of the Ming Dynasty about 400 years ago. Oolong teas are partially oxidized or semi fermented which occurs when the leaves are gently shaken. It is this process which gives Oolong teas their reddish appearance and slightly sweet flavor. Great to drink with lunch or in the afternoon, this tea is best served with milk and sweetened to taste.

Light Flavour Strength

Clipdraw Review

2011-06-22T15:30:00.007-05:00

Over the years I've bought a number of IWB holsters, but I've never been satisfied with them and they're all sitting in storage unused. The chief complaint I had with them is that they are just too thick and uncomfortable to wear. I've tried nylon, Kydex, and leather holsters to no avail. I prefer concealed carry over open carry so I tried the Clipdraw, and it's my preferred mode of concealed carry along with the Thunderwear.

I first tried the 1911 Clipdraw (#1911-B) with my Les Baer SRP. Installation was simply a matter of removing the right side grip panel, placing the Clipdraw on the grip, and then screwing the grip panel on top of the Clipdraw. Unfortunately, the 1911 Clipdraw does not work with some ambidextrous safeties, so I had to cut a notch in the Clipdraw with a Dremel tool in order to clear the ambi safety. Not having the width of a holster made carrying very comfortable. I only carry with the Clipdraw with an untucked shirt or sweater, and carry on my strong side hip slightly to the rear. When I'm not wearing a sweater or need to tuck my shirt in, I use the Thunderwear instead. Using the Clipdraw conceals the gun very well, and is comfortable to use.

The Universal Clipdaw model for semi-automatics sticks on the slide with a special tape, and works perfectly as advertised. I have the nickle plated model (#SA-S) on my Kahr TP9. The clip can be removed while leaving the leaving the tape and mounting plate in place if you want to temporarily put the gun in a holster. I like the Universal model because it's small, versatile (you can choose how high or low to mount the gun on your waist), and has a lot of clip tension for better retention. I would even use it for a 1911 instead of the dedicated 1911 Clipdraw due to the Universal model having more clip tension as well as being able to be used with any ambidextrous safety without modification (although you can always increase or decrease clip tension by manually bending the clip).

Pro

Conceals very well under an untucked shirt or sweater
Comfortable to use due to no added thickness from a holster
Can be quickly drawn by pulling up untucked shirt first
Can switch to using a holster with little effort

Remove the clip on the Universal model
Undo the right grip panel and remove the Clipdraw for the 1911 model

Con

Must wear an untucked shirt or sweater, or a jacket that you do not plan on taking off
Retention is a potential problem depending on how a number of factors

The Semi-Auto Universal Clipdraw has more tension in the clip than the 1911 model (though you can increase tension on the 1911 model by bending the clip)
Clipping over a belt helps by creating more clip tension if too loose, but also works well clipped under a belt
Loose pants at the waistband coupled with insufficient clip tension is detrimental to retention

I like my guns canted forward a bit and the Clipdraw will allow this, but after a long day the gun sometimes end up vertical as depicted in the pictures above

Depends on clip tension and/or tightness of pants waistband

Trigger is theoretically not as well protected as having tougher holster material covering trigger

I would only use on guns with a manual safety or a with a long or heavy trigger pull just to be on the safe side

Saf-T-Blok

The manufacturer does not recommend using the Clipdraw with a Glock that has a round in the chamber due to its light short trigger pull with no manual safety, though they do have a safe workaround with their Saf-T-Blok trigger safety for Glocks

Because the Clipdraw puts the gun right up against your body, wide protuberance like a wide safety/decocker or slidestop may dig into or abrade your skin

The Clipdraw, particularly the Semi-Auto Universal model, is a great product for concealed carry while wearing a jacket or untucked shirt. I recommend it highly. Although I listed more Cons than Pros, none of the potential downsides significantly affect or bother me except that the Clipdraw doesn't allow for a tucked in shirt without a jacket (I use a Thunderwear when I need a tucked in shirt with no jacket). I haven't tried these, but there's also dedicated Clipdraw models for the Glock and J-frame S&W revolvers, as well as a Universal revolver model. There's many more details to note about this product, and Clipdraw has a great and comprehensive review from Combat Handguns posted on their website. Average Joe also has a good review.

Rating: **** ½

Twinings Lady Grey Tea Review

2011-06-20T23:00:00.003-05:00

Twinings Lady Grey Tea is a nice light tea that I bought as part of the Twinings Black Tea Variety Pack. Twinings Lady Grey takes the classic taste of Earl Grey and tweaks it by augmenting the bergamot flavoring with the taste of oranges and a hint of lemon. The tea is smooth, light, and has a refreshingly bright orange citrus flavor.

Rating: *** ½

Here's an excerpt from the Twinings website.

A refreshing, light black tea with the distinctive citrus fruit flavor of bergamot to deliver an uplifting tea with vibrant aroma and zesty flavors of orange and lemon.

Lady Grey Tea is a unique blend from Twinings. This delicious black tea has a light and gentle citrus flavour that is both relaxing and refreshing. Lady Grey is perfect in the morning with breakfast or for afternoon tea. Enjoy it with a little milk, or with sweetener, or to your liking.

Ingredients: Black Tea, Orange Peel, Lemon Peel, Citrus Flavouring

Light Flavour Strength

Twinings Earl Grey Tea Review

2011-06-19T23:00:00.002-05:00

Twinings Earl Grey Tea is a terrific tea that I bought as part of the Twinings Black Tea Variety Pack, and I'd expect no less from the inventors of Earl Grey tea. The flavor can best be described as being balanced, with the perfect mix of quality black tea and bergamot flavoring. Other Earl Greys I've tried were either lacking in bergamot flavor, or were too tart. Twinings' tea seems to have the blend just right. The tea is smooth and mild, and is great any time of day.

Rating: ****

Here's an except from the Twinings website.

Fine black tea expertly blended with the citrus fruit flavor of bergamot, to deliver an uplifting tea with a unique floral aroma and refreshing taste.

Twinings has been blending my family tea for years. Today, I am proud to continue this tradition with the tea celebrated throughout the world known as Twinings Earl Grey. Legend has it, that my ancestor, the second Earl Grey, was presented with this exquisite recipe by an envoy on his return from China.

Light Flavour Strength

Twinings Irish Breakfast Tea Review

2011-06-18T23:00:00.002-05:00

Twinings Irish Breakfast Tea is a nice tea that I bought as part of the Twinings Black Tea Variety Pack. The Irish Breakfast tea is quite smooth, not at all bitter, and has a nice black tea flavor. I've only had it black without milk or sugar, as I prefer my tea unsweetened and without milk. I was expecting the tea to be quite strong, but found it to be smooth and mellow. All in all a good, solid tea.

Rating: *** ½

Here's an except from the Twinings website.

A strong, full-bodied black tea from the regions of Ceylon and Assam expertly blended with a hearty flavor and delightful aroma.

The Irish really love their tea and are amongst the most frequent drinkers of tea around the world. In celebration of this tea drinking tradition, Twinings blended a special Irish Breakfast Blend. This tea is best taken with milk and sweetened to taste to bring out the best flavour.

Robust Flavour Strength

Twinings English Breakfast Tea Review

2011-06-17T23:00:00.003-05:00

Twinings English Breakfast Tea is a decent tea that I bought as part of the Twinings Black Tea Variety Pack. The tea is smooth, and has a bit of an astringent characteristic. It's got a prominent black tea flavor and aftertaste, which to me is a bit stronger than Twinings Irish Breakfast Tea, although Twinings lists the English Breakfast Tea as Medium and the Irish Breakfast Tea as Robust in flavor. I also tried the tea sweetened and with half and half, but much prefer the tea black.

Rating: ***

Here's an except from the Twinings website.

A rich & satisfying robust black tea. The robust, malty character of this tea comes from pure Assam and Kenyan tea leaves grown in India.

Twinings English Breakfast Tea was originally blended to complement the traditional, hearty English Breakfast, from which its name derives. The refreshing and invigorating flavour makes English Breakfast one of the of the most popular black teas to drink at any time or occasion - not just for breakfast. English Breakfast can be enjoyed with or without milk, sweetened or unsweetened - the choice is yours.

Medium Flavour Strength

Twinings Black Tea Variety Pack Review

2011-06-16T23:00:00.001-05:00

Twinings Black Tea Variety Pack has a good mix of Twinings' popular black teas.

Here are links to my individual reviews of the teas in the pack.

English Breakfast
Earl Grey
Lady Grey
Irish Breakfast

Rating: *** ½

Here's an excerpt from the Twinings website.

A selection of our finest four black teas: English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Irish Breakfast

I Like Guns

2011-06-15T21:02:00.000-05:00

Kennebunkport Brewing Company Wheat Beer Review

2009-06-08T21:22:00.002-05:00

Kennebunkport Brewing Company Wheat Beer is a beer I picked up at Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's allows you to make your own six pack by selecting individual beers out of their stocked six pack packages and making your own combination. Not knowing anything about Kennebunkport Brewing Company (associated with Federal Jack's Brewpub), I was pleased to see a freshness date printed on the bottle and I selected a bottle of their wheat beer to give it a try. The beer poured clear, without any of the cloudiness one would typically see in a wheat beer. The first thing I noticed was the smell, which was harsh and acrid. It smelled like vinegar mixed with industrial solvents. The beer was overly carbonated, and there was no wheat taste that I could detect. The beer was thin, a bit bitter, and without any appealing flavor or redeeming attributes. I could not finish it.

Rating: *

Amazing Fishing Video

2009-05-05T22:12:00.000-05:00

I once caught around seventy fish (croaker and white trout) in less than two hours off of a pier at midnight in Grand Isle, Louisiana. I used shrimp and squid as bait. Instead of casting the bait away from me, I just dropped it directly into the water underneath me where the pier lights were shining, and I would immediately catch a fish. I think they were attracted to the pier lights at night, and as soon as I dropped in the bait I'd get a bite. I was pretty impressed with my accomplishment then, but this fishing video is amazing.

Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru Review

2009-05-04T20:52:00.026-05:00

Academia Barilla's Pecorino Gran Cru is the best cheese I have ever tasted. Granted, I have very limited experience tasting fine cheeses, but the taste of Pecorino Gran Cru is a heavenly experience to me. This pecorino sardo tastes salty, strong, sharp, aged, rich, extremely savory, and is swimming in glutamates. My mouth waters just thinking about it. I like to eat small chunks of the cheese with a beer, or grated on pasta or a salad. Other pecorino cheeses I have tried (which are aged for far less time) pale in comparison. I had bought some at Costco, but they no longer seem to stock it anymore. It isn't cheap online ($15 - $20 a pound plus shipping), but it's worth it. Di Bruni Bros. has a review.

Rating: *****

Here's an excerpt from the Academia Barilla website.

Pecorino Gran Cru

Produced in Sassari, an area of Sardinia famous for its pecorino, our Pecorino Gran Cru is made with 100% sheep’s milk. The cheese is aged 20 months using techniques normally applied to Parmigiano Reggiano, which makes this an innovative product that can be found exclusively at Academia Barilla.

Characteristics

Aroma: an incredible balance of the sophisticated notes from the long agiging and the sweetness of fresh milk.
Flavor: sweet and well balances, with a intense bouquet of flavors, including long lasting milk aromas – rarely found in aged cheeses.
Texture: medium-firm. Melts nicely in your mouth.

Serving Suggestions

Great eaten alone, or with a drop of honey, marmalade or mostarda. To bring out the flavor even more, we suggest pairing the cheese with a full bodied red wine like Sardinian Cannonau.

Government Witticisms

2009-04-25T07:07:00.001-05:00

Here are some great quotes about the government provided by Mr. Completely, who has the full list.

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle. -Winston Churchill

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. - George Bernard Shaw

A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man ....which debt he proposes to pay off with your money. - G Gordon Liddy

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. - James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. - Douglas Casey, Classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University

Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. - P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. - Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. - Ronald Reagan (1986)

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. - Will Rogers

If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free! - P.J. O'Rourke

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other. - Voltaire (1764)

No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session. - Mark Twain (1866)

Talk is cheap...except when Congress does it. - Unknown

The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. - Ronald Reagan

The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. - Winston Churchill

What this country needs are more unemployed politicians. - Edward Langley, Artist (1928 - 1995)

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. - Thomas Jefferson

Trader Joe's Savory Thin Mini Crackers Review

2009-04-24T07:23:00.004-05:00

I first tried a Trader Joe's Savory Thin Mini Cracker during a church communion service. The cracker was so savory and delicious that I was thrilled to find out they were available at Trader Joe's. Major ingredients in the crackers are rice and sesame flour, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and garlic powder. The crackers are very savory from the soy sauce powder, and the sesame flavor is also prominent. Trader Joe's tends to keep the crackers in frozen section above the frozen food. These thin, crispy, round crackers are absolutely delicious, and are great just by themselves. It's almost impossible to eat just one and not gobble a bunch up, except when you're compelled to do so such as during the Lord's Supper.

Rating: ****

Here's a closeup of the crackers

10 Reasons Why I Am a Calvinist

2009-04-23T17:43:00.000-05:00

Here's another humorous, tongue in cheek e-mail I dug up. It's also posted all over the web, but I thought I'd post it here for posterity.

10 REASONS WHY I AM A CALVINIST

1. Calvinists tend to wear wool and cotton. Dispensationalists tend to wear lime-green polyester leisure suits.

2. John Calvin was French...being French is very chic.

3. Calvin sounds like Calvin Klein...and his clothes are very chic.

4. Calvinists can drink.

5. Calvinists can smoke.

6. Dispensationalists are into prophecy conferences where they talk about Star-Trek eschatology and the mark of the Beast. Calvinists have conferences on "life and culture", art, social justice, and other high- brow things like that. Afterwards, we go to the local pub and talk about philosophy over a pint of Bass ale.

7. Calvinists have close ties with Scotland and Scotland is very cool: you know --Sean Connery, the movie Highlander, Bagpipes, the Loch Ness Monster, Glenlivet 18 year old Scotch, the movie Train Spotting, Brave Heart, etc.

8. Calvinists think we are smarter than anybody else.

9. It is more socially acceptable to say, "I go to Grace Presbyterian Church" than to say, "I go to Washed In The Blood Worship Center", "I go to Sonlife Charismatic Believers Assembly", or to say "I go to Boston Berean Bible Believing Baptist Bethel", or to say "I go to the Latter-Day- Rain Deliverance Tabernacle Prophecy Center, Inc.", or to say "I go to the Philadelphia Church of the Majority Text", or to say "I go to the Lithuanian Apostolic Orthodox Autocephalic Church of the Baltic union of 1838".

10. Ultimately, I am a Calvinist because I had no choice in the matter.

I Know How Reformed I Am, But How Reformed Are YOU?

2009-04-23T17:31:00.000-05:00

Here's a facetious e-mail posted to a reformed mailing list many moons ago. Unfortunately I don't have the original e-mail so I can't credit the author. For a variation on this theme, check out You Might Be a Presbyterian If . . .

You might be a TR (Truly Reformed) if...

1. You first quote the Westminster Confession and then say, "Oh yeah, the Bible says this somewhere, too."
2. You refuse to vote for Jesus as Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" because you don't want an image of Christ on the front cover.
3. You secretly believe that you have to believe in election to be saved.
4. You think Puritans are really, really, really, REALLY cool.
5. While not being a theonomist, you completely understand them.
6. While officially affirming the "priesthood of all believers," the only people you really trust to interpret Scripture are Calvin and yourself, and you only trust yourself on Thursdays before noon.
7. For you, a Baptist and stupid are the same word.
8. A "Reformed Baptist" and a "square circle" are equally as difficult for you to imagine.
9. You wonder what the Holy Spirit was up to between the times of Paul and Calvin.
10. You think women belong in the home and not in any pulpit, much less a staff position in large churches.
11. At some point in your life, you honestly believed that the only people who are saved are you and your buddy who thinks just like you, and then you kind of have to wonder about him because he DOES think just like you.
12. You think any church that has more than 200 people is probably apostate.
13. You are personally repulsed by Campus Crusade for Christ.
14. It is harder for you to keep the Sabbath than it is to fill out your taxes.
15. You keep telling yourself that Willow Creek has to be a really bad dream.
16. You've considered stoning someone.
17. You've seriously thought about lighting up a cigarette in church.
18. You think "that Pope as the Antichrist thing" should never have been taken out of the Confession.
19. Saying a blessing before the first round of drinks doesn't seem strange to you at all.
20. Your favorite Bible is your "Authorized Bahnsen Version."
21. You're convinced that everyone in your Presbytery is secretly a 33rd degree Mason.
22. You know that the Apocrypha doesn't belong in the canon, but you wonder sometimes whether we should add Van Til's, "The Defense of the Faith."
23. You pray daily for God to release His judgement on para-church ministries.
24. You think no true evangelism has been done without at least 3 lengthy quotes from the Confession.
25. You can't figure out why God didn't take Van Til like He did Enoch.
26. For you, tobacco is its own major food group.
27. You like Sproul Jr. a whole lot better than his father.
28. You think John Gerstner was an Arminian who knows better now.
29. You think the "Concerned Presbyterians" are way too moderate.
30. The only reason you haven't condemned Covenant Seminary is because you went there and you don't want to invalidate your entire theological training.
31. You have no idea what personality type you are, which explains why you are a TR.

You might be a BR (Barely Reformed) if...

1. You changed the name of your church from "Knox Reformed Presbyterian" to "Grace Community Fellowship."
2. You've ever seriously considered going to Pensacola or Toronto to bring back the fire.
3. You think what the church needs is another revival, not another reformation.
4. You've ever done an "infant dedication" service.
5. You own more than one book by C. Peter Wagner, David Wilkerson, James Dobson, or Gary Smalley
6. You don't own anything by Charles Hodge, Archibald Alexander, or B.B. Warfield.
7. You think it's a good thing that many of your members don't know the church is Presbyterian.
8. The words "relevant, contemporary, and cutting edge" cause you to salivate excessively.
9. You don't trust anyone who doesn't have exceptions to the Confession.
10. You consider it to be in bad taste to ask theological questions of a candidate on the floor of Presbytery.
11. You've ever cut a service short because of "Super Bowl Sunday."
12. You constantly use the word "just" while praying (i.e. We "just" really want to thank you).
13. You switched to using overheads so people would have their hands free to "just really worship God."
14. You believe the greatest work on Apologetics ever written was "More than a Carpenter."
15. You wish there was some way of incorporating an altar call into your service.
16. You have a "worship team."
17. You believe that Republican and Christian are synonyms.
18. The most common logo on your casual clothing is "PK."
19. You nod your head when someone says, "Doctrine divides."
20. You could sell your copy of the Confession in "like new" condition.
21. You think that the PCUSA went Liberal because people just really stopped loving Jesus.

The Perfect Tax Funded Diet

2009-04-22T21:38:00.001-05:00

New conscripts do sit-ups at a Nonsan recruitment center on Monday. They are members of so-called "health platoon" consisting of volunteers trying to slim down. Previous members of the platoon on average lost over 7.5 kg on duty./Yonhap

This South Korean training platoon is just what I need... except for the beatings, bad food, and the threat of nuclear annihilation. What this platoon needs is R. Lee Ermey!

Humorous Exegesis

2009-04-21T19:32:00.004-05:00

From Xavier Thoughts.

Set Phasers to ROCK!

2006-10-25T22:03:00.002-05:00

Star Trek and Wayne's World fans unite (from 45-Caliber Justice)!

Zucker's Taxman

2006-10-24T08:58:00.019-05:00

Ever feel like the government literally has it's hand in your pocket every step you make? Jerry Zucker does in his latest video.

Korean Archery

2006-09-29T17:56:00.003-05:00

South Korea has dominated the Olympic medal count in archery ever since modern archery was introduced in 1972. Here's an amazing video showing off Korean archery prowess.

Free to Choose

2006-08-13T13:28:00.000-05:00

Update: The Google Video links listed below have been taken down, but you can watch the series on IdeaChannel.tv.

Greg Mankiw has provided Google Video links to Milton Friedman's excellent Free to Choose series from 1980. Link provided by Club for Growth.

Here are the links to the 1980 Freedom to Choose series.

Volume 1: Power of the Market
Volume 2: The Tyranny of Control
Volume 3: Anatomy of a Crisis
Volume 4: From Cradle to Grave
Volume 5: Created Equal
Volume 6: What's Wrong With Our Schools?
Volume 7: Who Protects the Consumer?
Volume 8: Who Protects the Worker?
Volume 9: How to Cure Inflation
Volume 10: How to Stay Free

Here are Google Video links for the 1990 update to the series, with an introduction by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Introduction by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Volume 1: The Power of the Market
Volume 2: The Tyranny of Control
Volume 3: The Failure of Socialism
Volume 4: What's Wrong With Our Schools?
Volume 5: Created Equal

Poetic Justice?

2006-07-10T08:44:00.001-05:00

Ever feel demotivated at work?

...from Texican Tattler.

Perfect Pasta

2006-06-16T14:23:00.002-05:00

The secret to great pasta is obtaining a balanced ratio of sauce to pasta. Too much sauce sticking to the pasta will overpower the pasta, and too little sauce sticking to the pasta will make for a bland and "doughy" dish. I've found that linguine provides the best sauce to pasta ratio. The flat linguine provides the right amount of surface area to which the right amount of sauce can stick. Spaghettini (thin spaghetti) is also comparable in its noodle mass to surface area ratio.

Regular round spaghetti has less surface area for a given mass of noodles, and so not enough sauce is able to stick to the noodles, giving it a slightly doughy flavor. Other pastas susceptible to this are fettuccine, penne, and rigatoni. The exception would be when making a baked casserole, where the sauce and flavor would have an opportunity to be baked into the pasta, thus overcoming the smaller outer surface area. Undercooking the pasta and then sautéing it briefly with sauce also help the sauce cling to the pasta (sautéing with a bit of water used to boil the pasta helps too). Pastas such as angel hair and capellini have too much surface area, and are overpowered when using thicker sauces, but do better with lighter sauces.

The linguini that I like best is DeBoles Linguini, which is made of durum semolina and Jerusalem artichoke flour.

Pro-Gun TIME article?

2006-05-16T15:32:00.000-05:00

Here's a great pro-gun article from an unexpected source: Time Magazine (well, the Pacific edition anyways). Here are some choice bits.

Three months after I joined a shooting club, I've learned not to jump when the gun does. But I'm still being surprised, and not just by the bang or the occasional bullseye. When I tell friends about my new interest (O.K., obsession), the conversation chills. It's as if I've taken up voodoo: they'll still talk to me, just not about It. "I just don't like guns," says one. "Don't like the idea of them." In the days when the only unholstered guns I'd seen were in the movies, I might have said the same. Guns for me equaled danger and crime. Even after I started shooting, I had a lingering sense that the rifle or pistol, even the brass rounds I was pressing into its magazine, might explode at any moment. I still handle guns with caution—the first rule of firearms safety is to treat every gun as if it's loaded. But I now know that to call them evil, as Australian Prime Minister John Howard recently did, is a statement of good-hearted ignorance.

Guns aren't moral agents, they're machines—elegant, superbly efficient, made to fit the human hand. I now think it entirely possible that the American gunsmith John Moses Browning "sitteth," as his admirers say, "at the right hand of God." Shooting for sport isn't, as I once thought, the desperate outlet of sad Hemingway types, but a fiendishly difficult art. As Peter, a former naval officer, says, "It's got all the Zen you could want." Trying to hit a bullseye smaller than a saucer from a distance of 100 m or more—and do it over and over again—demands things of you, and gives things to you. You have to align yourself not just with the gun and the target but with your surroundings: light must be taken into account (people tend to aim lower in dim light), temperature (on a hot day the bullet flies faster and higher), and wind. "Three minutes," says Ian, an Army weapons instructor turned lawyer. He means that to counter today's stiff easterly, he'll move his horizontal sight three-60ths of a degree to the left. Shooting is all about precision, he says. And consistency. And tenacity, says David, an engineer who won a U.S. sniper-rifle championship last year. "Don't let anything faze you. Breathe. Relax. If you do a bad shot, forget it. Put everything you've got into the next one." The reward of total concentration: total relaxation. Even when I score poorly, shooting makes me forget everything else in the world.

It was seeing civilians targeted en masse that made Grant take up shooting. "9/11 was a defining moment for me," says the computer consultant. "I thought, if things are going to get this crazy, I'd rather know how to use a gun than not." David regrets the passing of an Australia that, in time of war, could draw on a huge pool of citizen marksmen. "We lost that after Vietnam," he says. With it went not just skills but a cast of mind. "Given the choice," says Ian, "I would always employ a shooter over a non-shooter. A good shooter is responsible, he's careful. He thinks about what he's doing, and when it's over he thinks about how to do it better." Says Alan, a teacher: "The art on the range, on the job, in life, is to aim and to hit exactly the target, the one target, the only target, dead center, with one round." Clearly, I have a lot of practicing to do. But shooting has taught me that while to err may be human, to aim true is almost divine.

The UAW Must Be Destroyed

2006-04-20T15:12:00.000-05:00

Is there any wonder why GM and Ford are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy? Here are a couple of articles that highlight how the UAW's welfare entitlement mentality is hurting the competitiveness of US auto manufacturing, as well as the entire American public. Here are some choice bits from an article (thanks to Karthik) by George Will.

Under contracts negotiated, beginning in 1984, with the United Auto Workers (UAW), there are about 14,700 laid-off autoworkers in the "Jobs Bank." About 7,500 of them are from GM. They get paid most of their wages and benefits -- between $100,000 and $130,000 a year, for an annual cost to GM of $750 million to $900 million.

The former workers -- expected to be 17,000 by next year -- are required to do nothing that adds value to the auto companies. Some attend classes given by GM. The Wall Street Journal reports that one worker took a class in which he learned how to play Trivial Pursuit.

Detroit's Jobs Bank, which was GM's idea, is a product of an oligopoly's -- the Big Three domestic automakers still were such in 1984 -- misplaced sense of permanent abundance: They assumed that layoffs, if any, would be brief because expansion of demand for their products would generally be automatic. This mentality was self-defeating. It caused management to focus not on producing desirable products but on running private-sector welfare states, allocating much of the supposedly ensured cash flow to fund employees' benefits. And labor's myopic focus was on extracting benefits from the corporation-as-welfare-state, not on the long-term vitality of the corporate employer.

The crisis engulfing the UAW and the companies entered a new stage with last year's bankruptcy of Delphi, the nation's largest manufacturer of automobile parts. That was the pebble that presaged an avalanche.

The avalanche may mean two large things; it certainly means one. Perhaps it means the bankruptcy of GM. Certainly it means, for the UAW and for organized labor generally, the worst crisis since the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 enabled private-sector unionization. In 1969 the UAW's active membership peaked at 1.53 million. Today it is 640,000 and, depending on the success of the buyout incentives and continuing failure to stabilize the domestic automakers' market share, might dip below 600,000.

Here's another article (thanks to Al) highlighting the UAW's antics at a Ford plant in Virginia.

One provision that may be in Ford’s sights is the Guaranteed Employment Number program, or the Jobs Bank. It is a two-decade-old program that pays workers their full wages and benefits when they are laid off, even if they do not transfer to other plants. Workers have the right to refuse work at plants more than 50 miles from their home base.

The Jobs Bank has paid workers to idle away hours reading or to attend classes on subjects such as dealing blackjack. There is no limit on how long a worker can stay in the program, which includes an estimated 1,100 Ford employees and could cost U.S. auto companies up to $2 billion this year.

“The fact that they can stay in a room and play checkers for the rest of their life is an unbearable burden,” said Peter Morici, a professor of international business at the University of Maryland. “The fact that the UAW has not conveyed to the workers that this is unsustainable … is irresponsible.”

It's one thing for a company and union to lavish exorbitant benefits to its members, and quite another when the public is forced to bail out a company that bankrupts itself (and the union that compels it) for trying to provide a welfare state (particularly made worse since the UAW consistently lobbies to force all Americans to live in a socialist welfare state via its support of "liberal" politicians/policies). A bailout of GM or Ford would be very costly for taxpayers, but hopefully more bankruptcies of UAW affiliated companies will reduce the already dwindling influence the UAW has over public policy.

Noam Chomsky: Liberal Hypocrite

2006-03-22T22:34:00.000-05:00

Here's a great article exposing the hypocrisy of yet another rich liberal, Noam Chomsky.

One of the most persistent themes in Noam Chomsky's work has been class warfare. The iconic MIT linguist and left-wing activist frequently has lashed out against the "massive use of tax havens to shift the burden to the general population and away from the rich," and criticized the concentration of wealth in "trusts" by the wealthiest 1%. He says the U.S. tax code is rigged with "complicated devices for ensuring that the poor -- like 80% of the population -- pay off the rich."

But trusts can't be all bad. After all, Chomsky, with a net worth north of US$2-million, decided to create one for himself. A few years back he went to Boston's venerable white-shoe law firm, Palmer and Dodge, and, with the help of a tax attorney specializing in "income-tax planning," set up an irrevocable trust to protect his assets from Uncle Sam. He named his tax attorney (every socialist radical needs one!) and a daughter as trustees. To the Diane Chomsky Irrevocable Trust (named for another daughter) he has assigned the copyright of several of his books, including multiple international editions.

Chomsky favours massive income redistribution -- just not the redistribution of his income. No reason to let radical politics get in the way of sound estate planning.

...

Corporate America is one of Chomsky's demons. It's hard to find anything positive he might say about American business. He paints an ominous vision of America suffering under the "unaccountable and deadly rule of corporations." He has called corporations "private tyrannies" and declared that they are "just as totalitarian as Bolshevism and fascism." Capitalism, in his words, is a "grotesque catastrophe."

But a funny thing happened on the way to the retirement portfolio.

Chomsky, for all of his moral dudgeon against American corporations, finds that they make a pretty good investment. When he made investment decisions for his retirement plan at MIT, he chose not to go with a money market fund or even a government bond fund. Instead, he threw the money into blue chips and invested in the TIAA-CREF stock fund. A look at the stock fund portfolio quickly reveals that it invests in all sorts of businesses that Chomsky says he finds abhorrent: oil companies, military contractors, pharmaceuticals, you name it.

When I asked Chomsky about his investment portfolio, he reverted to a "what else can I do?" defence: "Should I live in a cabin in Montana?" he asked. It was a clever rhetorical dodge. Chomsky was declaring that there is simply no way to avoid getting involved in the stock market short of complete withdrawal from the capitalist system. He certainly knows better. There are many alternative funds these days that allow you to invest your money in "green" or "socially responsible" enterprises.

They just don't yield the maximum available return.

Instead of opressing hard working citizens by advocating the infliction of crushing taxes to pay for his "liberal" ideals, Chomsky can always put his money where his mouth is by contributing towards the creation of his utopian state. But it seems that he'd rather maximize his returns in "evil capitalist" tax deferred accounts. That's the crux of liberalism: make other people pay for what you want.

4.2) How do you make a contribution to reduce the debt?
Please follow these important steps to make a contribution to reduce the debt. Make check payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt. In the memo section of the check, notate Gift to reduce Debt Held by the Public.
Mail check to -
ATTN DEPT G
BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT
PO BOX 2188
PARKERSBURG, WV 26106-2188

Kahr TP9 Review

2006-03-01T14:10:00.008-05:00

TP9-NOVAK

I purchased a Kahr TP9 with Novak night sights (TP9093-NOVAK) about a month ago, and after putting about 400 rounds through it, I have to say that this is a fantastic gun. NOTE (6/2011): Kahr has changed the TP9 since this review was published, so check the updates at the end to see changes.

Background
First some background information. I first got the idea of purchasing a TP9 after fiddling around with my Kahr P9 (KP9093). I bought the P9 about four years ago because I needed a concealable gun that I could carry for those occasions where I had to have my shirt tucked in without having a sweater or jacket on. The P9 seemed to be a good choice due to its combination of firepower and size, particularly its thinness of just 0.90" slide width.

Thunderwear

My method of carry was to use a Thunderwear holster in an unorthodox fashion. Instead of the normal method of placing the Thunderwear so that it hangs between your legs (which feels too uncomfortable with the gun resting on my private parts), I shift the Thunderwear so that it is in line with my left leg. I also position it a tiny bit lower on my leg so that I can sit comfortably. All I have to do to draw the gun is to suck in my gut, stick my hand in my pants and grab the P9. The only time drawing is problematic is when I am sitting up straight, but this is alleviated by shifting to a slouched sitting position. I think this is a small price to pay for the very good concealability the Thunderwear affords.

Ported Barrel

In order to mitigate felt recoil and muzzle flip from the lightweight P9, I installed a 4" ported barrel that Kahr sells, and a Harrt's recoil reducer (which is unfortunately no longer being produced). This helped a great deal when firing rapidly. The P9 shot well, but I began to want to replace the P9 with another Kahr due to the following reasons.

I wanted to get a Kahr with a longer sight radius in order to shoot better groups. I also wanted to squeeze some extra speed out of a longer barrel (the extra 0.5" on the ported barrel doesn't increase velocity).
There's a bit of horizontal play between the slide and the frame of the P9. I doubt this has any effect on accuracy at 7 yards, but it annoys me.
When I dry fire the P9, I can see the front sight jerk to the right a bit when the trigger is pulled fully to the rear. I never see this on any other handgun I own, so I know I'm not using improper technique. I think that this occurs due to the heaviness in the trigger prior to letoff, and then the very long overtravel after reaching the trigger letoff. This also does not affect accuracy, as my groups are not veering to the right at all. The bullets are probably exiting the barrel by the time the trigger fully reaches the rear. Still, this also annoys me.
Although I really like the bar-dot sights on the P9, I wanted to get tritium night sights.

My first thought was to send the P9 to Cylinder & Slide for a trigger job, night sight installation, and installation of a Bar-Sto barrel. However, I heard that they have a very long backorder, and that the wait could be up to a year. I didn't call C&S to verify this, because I had already just decided that it probably wasn't worth the cost. My second consideration was to get a T9 with Novak night sights (KT4043-NOVAK). I would have loved to get the heavier Kahr T9 to help with recoil and muzzle flip, but the longer grip and thicker grip panels would have adversely affected concealability in my Thunderwear setup. It was then that I saw a TP9 with Novak night sights in the counter at Shooter's Paradise (now closed) in Woodbridge, VA. Now, onto the review.

Review
I made sure first of all that the TP9 had minimal horizontal slide/frame movement, and that I didn't encounter the dry fire jerking that I described above. After I verified the TP9 was free of these conditions, I bought it for $650.

P9 with Clipdraw

IWB with Clipdraw

The TP9 is essentially the same as the P9, except that is has a 4" barrel as opposed to the 3.5" barrel on the P9. The thin grip (0.9") fits my smaller hands perfectly. The front sight is 0.140" wide and the rear sight notch is 0.150" wide according to my Lyman Dial Calipers. The white outlines around the tritium capsules look painted on. I prefer the white inserts that Meprolight uses, but the Novak sights are adequate. Using my Lyman Electronic Digital Trigger Pull Gauge, the trigger weight averages to 6.5 lbs. and is smoother that the P9 (the P9 gets very heavy right before letoff, whereas the TP9 is more uniform). The trigger overtravel is noticeably less than the P9, and the reset is somewhat long. As there are no manual safeties, the trigger pull is long, but smooth. The trigger pull feels similar to a double action revolver trigger, but lighter. The TP9 comes with one 7 round and one 8 round with extension magazine. I use the Thunderwear setup as described above, but have also attached a Universal Clipdraw on the TP9 for occasional IWB carry without the Thunderwear. Here's my review of the Clipdraw.

Shooting Impressions
After cleaning with Break-Free CLP, and then lubing with Wilson Combat Ultima-Lube oil and grease, I took the TP9 (along with the P9 for comparison) to the range to break it in. The Kahr manual recommends a 200 round break in period. I ended up shooting about 400 rounds through the TP9 using 115 gr. Winchester White Box (USA9MMVP), 115 gr. Federal American Eagle (AE9DP), 115 gr. +P Corbon DPX (DPX09115-20), and 127 gr. +P+ Winchester Ranger (RA9TA) ammo. I experienced one failure to feed on the second magazine (WWB), but then experienced no other problems whatsoever. I think this is typical, as my P9 had about a dozen FTFs during its 200 round break in period, but no other problems afterward. For the first 100 round or so I was a bit underwhelmed, as the recoil and muzzle flip were noticeably greater than my P9 with ported barrel and Harrt's recoil reducer (although still relatively low). I could definitely shoot a lot faster with the P9. However, I got better groups (< 1.5" @ 7 yards offhand) with the TP9 than on the P9. After the first 100 rounds, I got accustomed the feel of the TP9, and noticed that the front sight went right back into the rear sight notch exactly after each shot. I also learned to adjust my grip as high as possible so that the rearmost part of the frame is sticking into, and not over, the web of my hand. With practice and a higher grip, the TP9's recoil and muzzle flip became very controllable even for fast firing. I am now very pleased with my TP9 purchase and have lost the desire to continue shooting and carrying my P9 for the time being.

Further Observations
One thing I noticed was that after extensively firing the TP9, the horizontal slide/frame movement on the TP9 became even greater than on the P9, even though it had almost none when I bought it. Paradoxically, the accuracy does not seem to be degraded at all. I think that because the horizontal movement is located only in the front, this does not adversely affect lockup of the barrel to the slide. I think I might still purchase a T9 or K9 in the future. I really like the feel of heavy guns, and although they are a good deal thicker, I've never actually tried to place one in my Thunderwear to see how much can or can't be seen. The TP9 is now my go-to gun that I carry most often when carrying concealed. My TP9 made such a good impression on me that I definitely want more of what Kahr has to offer.

Pro

Very thin and concealable
4" barrel for more velocity than the P9
Smooth, long trigger
Lightweight but very controllable
Accurate

Con

Long trigger reset
Magazines do not drop free
Would be better with a bit less trigger overtravel

Rating: **** ½

Update 6/2011
Upon checking Kahr's website, I noticed that Kahr has changed the TP9 to now have a longer grip (similar in length to the T9) that only uses the 8 round magazines without the grip extension. The model number seems to be unchanged (TP9093-NOVAK). The dust cover is also longer than before. The TP9 that I have circa 2005 has a grip length that is identical to the P9 (4.5" height). The new TP9 has a listed height of 5.08", similar to the T9 height of 4.95". I'm not sure I like this change, as having a shorter grip is better for concealment, and you can still use the 8 round w/ extension magazines with a shorter grip.The only benefits I can think of for the longer grip is a cleaner look (you don't need to use the 8 round with extensions magazines) and maybe marginally less recoil and muzzle flip. Perhaps the extended dust cover helps keep the slide rails cleaner as well. Or perhaps this gun is geared towards people wearing thick gloves or those with giant hands. I think due the longer grip I would knock off ½ a star from my rating for this new model (due to less concealability), but can't say for sure without testing the new model. Here are some pictures that help illustrate the changes.

My TP9-NOVAK circa 2005 (notice the short P9 style grip and shorter dust cover)

New TP9-NOVAK (longer dust cover, and longer grip holds 8 rounds in mag with no extension)

T9-NOVAK

My TP9 came with one 7 round magazine and one 8 round magazine with extension. The new TP9 only uses an 8 round magazine with no extension.

7 round mag

8 rnd mag w/extension

New TP9 8 round mag

Cylinder & Slide is now reporting only a 1 - 2 month backlog with a turnaround of about 8 weeks on custom gunsmithing work. I'm now considering getting the barrel re-crowned with an 11° crown, modifying the frame to allow magazines to drop free, and getting a trigger job (although the trigger is pretty good as is). Robar also has some gunsmithing options for Kahrs as well.

Crimson Trace now has a trigger guard mounted laser sight (Laserguard LG-437) that fits the TP9. A limitation of this style of laser is that there's no way of selectively turning the laser off other than loosening the grip of your middle finger on the pressure pad (impractical when shooting) or removing the unit all together. Still, I might get one. I'm sure there are a bunch of arguments for and against use of lasers in various shooting situations, but at the very least it may be helpful as a training aid.

Sandwiches That You Will Like

2006-02-22T15:10:00.009-05:00

During PBS' fund raising drives, one show that is heavily broadcasted these days is a show called Sandwiches That You Will Like. Sandwiches That You Will Like is a WQED Pittsburgh production that basically showcases the best sandwiches in the country. Here are some of the outstanding sandwiches that are highlighted in the show.

1. Muffulettas from Central Grocery. One of the greatest sandwiches ever created.
2. Cheesesteak from Pat's. See my analysis.
3. Shrimp Po' boy. Lot's of good places. I like them from Mandina's with some Turtle Soup au Sherry.
4. Pastrami on Rye from Katz's Deli. I thought Koch's Deli was great, but Katz's is the gold standard.
5. Barbeque sandwiches. I prefer pulled pork or rib sandwiches in a vinegar based sauce myself, but all barbeque is good. The Rib Stand at Reading Terminal Market makes a fantastic rib sandwich.
6. Lobster Roll from Red's Eats. Lobster meat on a buttered roll drenched in clarified butter. One of my missions in life is to try out this sandwich before I die, although the cholesterol might kill me when I do.

Other sandwiches of note that were showcased included:
7. Italian hoagies from south Philadelphia. The Veggie from Chickie's Italian Deli is fantastic.
8. Italian beef with hot peppers and giardinara from Chicago
9. Falafel sandwiches
10. Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches
11. Beef on Weck from Schwabl's. I recently had a Beef on Weck sandwich from Jimmy's Old Town Tavern. It was pretty good (though beef was well done...I prefer rare), and the Kummelweck roll with caraway seeds and kosher salt was the highlight of the sandwich.
12. The Elvis from Peanut Butter and Company. A peanut butter sandwich containing bananas, bacon, and honey, that's then grilled in butter.

The show prominently features Holly Moore, one of my gastronomical heroes who has some good reviews of greasy dives on his website. Roadfood.com also has some informative reviews as well. I highly recommend watching this show for anyone who appreciates cheap, yet delicious food. Oh, and make sure you have plans to eat you watch it because you will be hungry.

Rating: *****

PBS Rant

2006-02-22T15:05:00.000-05:00

I rarely watch PBS these days. When I was a child, I watched PBS' excellent shows for children such as Sesame Street, The Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact, Reading Rainbow, and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. When I was a teen, I enjoyed watching NOVA, Scientific American Frontiers, and various cooking shows such as The Frugal Gourmet and Yan Can Cook. While in college, Bob Ross' soothing voice would melt away my stress. These days, I just tend to watch Frontline off of their website.

I'm generally annoyed by PBS' leftist bent, and the fact that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is funded by the federal government. When the question of federal funding comes up, PBS supporters love to harp on about how the majority of its funding comes from private and corporate donations, and that federal funding is minimal. Well then why accept federal money in the first place? I guess it's too hard to pass up "free" money. I refuse to contribute a single cent to PBS when I'm being forced to subsidize it, especially when Congress has not been given the power under the Constitution to fund such an organization. I am content to take advantage of PBS since I'm forced to pay for it anyways, while flipping the channel during their tedious fund raising drives, although sometimes I will watch them beg for money while letting out an evil conservative cackle. I wonder how much of the pledged money goes into hiring lobbyists to bilk more money from the feds.

Tim Kaine's Left Eyebrow is Possessed!

2006-01-31T22:56:00.019-05:00

In Tim Kaine's Democratic response to Bush's 2006 State of the Union address, his left eyebrow decided to rebel against his face by taking a life of its own. I don't mean to be uncharitable or to take cheap shots at anyone with facial tics, but did anyone else think it was bizarre how his left eyebrow kept jumping around everywhere? I could barely pay attention to what he was saying while being totally fixated on that crazy eyebrow! Here's a shorter clip, albeit with less eyebrow action.

Back in my day...

2006-01-31T11:20:00.000-05:00

The Gunn Nutt's got a great post about how all these young whippersnappers have got it so easy these days, and have no appreciation for the "hardships" that Generation Xers have had to go through. Despite all the conveniences we have today, I still miss the 80's.

How to Shake a Snapple

2006-01-18T14:59:00.000-05:00

I was recently in my office cafeteria, when I noticed a young whippersnapper buying a bottle of Snapple iced tea. Before opening it, he inverted the bottle about 160 degrees, and then proceeded to pound the bottom of the bottle with the palm of his hand several times. Each strike causes the depression in the cap to pop out with a popping sound, while presumably mixing the contents at the same time. I was so annoyed by this that I almost went into a crazed epileptic seizure.

Ok, before you start thinking I'm some kind of obsessive-compulsive psycho, I've always been annoyed by this since the height of Snapple's popularity in the 90's. I was in school in Philadelphia at the time, and noticed that all my classmates who hailed from the northeast would do this with their Snapples prior to opening them. Supposedly, this was the "cool" way to shake a Snapple. I had no end of northeastern "elites" to admonish for wasting motion on such an inefficient process in order to look hip.

Now, I'm no guru of fluid dynamics, but this method of shaking does not adequately or efficiently mix the settled gunk on the bottom of the Snapple to produce a uniform mixture of juicy goodness. The pounding on the bottle simply creates compression waves that do not displace particulate matter well enough to create a uniform mixture. Contrast this to the technique the other 99% of the world uses to shake a bottle, which is through rotating the bottle. Rotational shaking produces much more torque, which promotes the aeration of the liquid with bubbles and the creation of eddies, all of which contribute to better scraping the gunk from the bottom of the bottle and mixing it.

So, now that you have the facts at hand, please, please, for the love of efficiency shake your Snapple like a normal human being, and not like some Snapple fashionista, or you will one day face my wrath (or see me foaming at the mouth in a crazed epileptic seizure). OK, you may still think I'm an obsessive-compulsive psycho, but I had to get that off my chest. ;-)

Tales of the Philly PD

2005-11-29T01:08:00.000-05:00

Wyatt Earp wrote about an incompetent Philly cop that reminded me of my favorite Philly cop story that happened around 1997. I was driving two college kids back to church after picking up some groceries with them in Upper Darby. We were heading east on Market at about 50th street, and were stopped in the right lane when a bus stopped to pick up some passengers. Well, the car in front of us got impatient and tried to get past the bus. The driver must have been really impatient because he overshot the middle lane and slammed into the car driving in the far left lane. I was tempted to just leave, but with two impressionable kids in the car, I decided to do my civic duty and present myself as a witness to the crash.

So I got out of the car and went to the crash scene, and the guy who got hit was a Chinese guy who had almost no command of english. The perpetrators of the crash were two young guys who looked very nervous. They start arguing with the Chinese guy about whose fault it was (it was definitely not the Chinese guy's fault, as he was simply driving in his lane when the other guys rammed the rear corner of his car from two lanes away). Very soon, a police van rolls along, and so the Chinese guy and I approach it to explain what's going on. In it are two women officers who look like this is the last thing they want to deal with, and they stay in the van while speaking to us from the driver side window. Since they're getting angry because they can't understand what Chinese guy is saying, I take over and explain what happened. While I'm speaking, one of the guys who started the crash starts to walk quickly away, while the other starts to drive away in another direction. Seeing this, both the Chinese guy and I excitedly exclaim to the cops that they're making a run for it and that they (the cops) should catch them! Now, what happened next I'll never forget. Both the cops get really upset and with some major attitude say, "Uh uh, you don't speak to US that way! YOU don't tell US what to do!" I can see where this is leading, and since there's no time to lose, I quickly calm the Chinese guy down and say in a polite and calm manner, "Officers, the guys who rammed into this guy are leaving the scene..." I try to describe the car and what direction they went in, but as I was trying to do so they just drive off in mid-sentence!! Unbelievable!!

So now the Chinese guy is really distraught because of his wrecked car, and I'm upset at myself for not noting the license plate number of either the car that got away or the police van (I was too shocked). A few minutes later, another cop comes walking along and we explain the situation to him, and he is very sympathetic and courteous, but there is little he can do if we didn't get the license plate numbers. So I end up leaving dumbfounded. I had seen this kind of police apathy in New Orleans, but this was my first negative experience with Philly cops. Now, I have a lot of respect for hard working cops and think for the most part that they are grossly underpaid and under-appreciated, but can't FOP or the city do anything about these bad apples?! Anytime one has a pretty much guaranteed job, what incentive does one have not to act this way?

Weekend at the Nation's Gun Show

2005-11-21T16:52:00.000-05:00

I went to the Nation's Gun Show this last weekend, and I have to say that it was better than the last time I went. Although there was still a plethora of vendors selling useless junk, the selection and prices of guns were much better this time. In addition to buying a bunch of ammo and some mags, I also broke my "no new guns" commitment, and broke down and picked up a few goodies. I'll have full reviews once I hit the range.

I also observed that non-PC books are possibly making a comeback. After 9/11, it seemed that a lot of anti-government, tax avoidance, revenge, survival, lock picking, and how to make your own bomb/full auto/silencer books (such as the ones from Loompanics and Delta Press) started to disappear from the gun show scene. I presume this was due to the wave of patriotism that swept over the country after 9/11, as well as the lessening influence of the black helicopter conspiracy theorists and the feeling of less overall oppression with the end of the Clinton administration. I did, however, see a bunch of these books being sold at the show, albeit not at pre-9/11 volumes. At least two vendors were selling The Turner Diaries. Quite an interesting phenomena.

How to Write Unmaintainable Code to Ensure Job Security

2005-11-21T12:18:00.005-05:00

I once had to take over development and testing a very poorly written VB/Oracle client-server app that was developed in Honduras. Needless to say, all the comments were written in Spanish. After much wrangling, the original developers were hired on as consultants to help decipher the whole mess. Here's a tongue in cheek guide on how to write unmaintainable code in order to make yourself indispensable as the only person who can decipher it, therefore guaranteeing your job security for years to come, at least in theory (via Slashdot).

Tips for Evil Overlords

2005-11-16T11:58:00.000-05:00

In my quest to become an Evil Overlord, I've had numerous missteps. Peter Anspach has some tips that should aid me in my quest. Here are some that I've already taken to heart.

4. Shooting is not too good for my enemies.
7. When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought I'll shoot him then say "No."
24. I will maintain a realistic assessment of my strengths and weaknesses. Even though this takes some of the fun out of the job, at least I will never utter the line "No, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!!!" (After that, death is usually instantaneous.)
27. I will never build only one of anything important. All important systems will have redundant control panels and power supplies. For the same reason I will always carry at least two fully loaded weapons at all times.
43. I will maintain a healthy amount of skepticism when I capture the beautiful rebel and she claims she is attracted to my power and good looks and will gladly betray her companions if I just let her in on my plans.
44. I will only employ bounty hunters who work for money. Those who work for the pleasure of the hunt tend to do dumb things like even the odds to give the other guy a sporting chance.
46. If an advisor says to me "My liege, he is but one man. What can one man possibly do?", I will reply "This." and kill the advisor.
56. My Legions of Terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any who cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for target practice.
61. If my advisors ask "Why are you risking everything on such a mad scheme?", I will not proceed until I have a response that satisfies them.
81. If I am fighting with the hero atop a moving platform, have disarmed him, and am about to finish him off and he glances behind me and drops flat, I too will drop flat instead of quizzically turning around to find out what he saw.
88. If a group of henchmen fail miserably at a task, I will not berate them for incompetence then send the same group out to try the task again.
93. If I decide to hold a double execution of the hero and an underling who failed or betrayed me, I will see to it that the hero is scheduled to go first.
100. Finally, to keep my subjects permanently locked in a mindless trance, I will provide each of them with free unlimited Internet access.

Here are some other tips that didn't make the top 100 list.

117. No matter how much I want revenge, I will never order an underling "Leave him. He's mine!"
120. Since nothing is more irritating than a hero defeating you with basic math skills, all of my personal weapons will be modified to fire one more shot than the standard issue.
139. If I'm sitting in my camp, hear a twig snap, start to investigate, then encounter a small woodland creature, I will send out some scouts anyway just to be on the safe side. (If they disappear into the foliage, I will not send out another patrol; I will break out the napalm.)
144. I will order my guards to stand in a line when they shoot at the hero so he cannot duck and have them accidentally shoot each other. Also, I will order some to aim above, below, and to the sides so he cannot jump out of the way.
147. I will classify my lieutenants in three categories: untrusted, trusted, and completely trusted. Promotion to the third category will be awarded posthumously.
170. I will be an equal-opportunity despot and make sure that terror and oppression is distributed fairly, not just against one particular group that will form the core of a rebellion.
174. If I am dangling over a precipice and the hero reaches his hand down to me, I will not attempt to pull him down with me. I will allow him to rescue me, thank him properly, then return to the safety of my fortress and order his execution.
183. Before using any device which transfers energy directly into my body, I will install a surge suppressor.
189. I will never tell the hero "Yes I was the one who did it, but you'll never be able to prove it to that incompetent old fool." Chances are, that incompetant old fool is standing behind the curtain.
190. If my mad scientist/wizard tells me he has almost perfected my Superweapon but it still needs more testing, I will wait for him to complete the tests. No one ever conquered the world using a beta version.
197. I will explain to my Legions of Terror that guns are ranged weapons and swords are not. Anyone who attempts to throw a sword at the hero or club him with a gun will be summarily executed.

Calvinist Humor

2005-11-15T00:19:00.001-05:00

Here's a funny picture that's been circulating around some blogs (via TulipGirl). For those who don't get it, see here or here.

Cheesesteak Heaven

2005-11-13T13:30:00.003-05:00

Although it's practically heretical to even think about eating a cheesesteak outside of the Delaware Valley, The Best Philly Cheesesteaks provides reviews for cheesesteak joints all across the country for those who have the craving and just can't get to Philly.

Dirty Restaurant Secrets

2005-11-04T16:50:00.001-05:00

Here's the website for the Virginia Department of Health. You can see how your favorite restaurant did on their last inspection. The violations range from pretty trivial to really lawsuit-worthy. It's also a pretty handy guide to see a list of all the restaurants in each county.

Cheesesteak Construction

2005-11-03T23:30:00.026-05:00

Oh, how I miss eating a real Philly cheesesteak! Here's a page that delves into the perennial question of Pat's or Geno's. He goes into a pretty detailed analysis of each ingredient.

For me, Pat's wins hands down. It's less a matter of the individual ingredients than the overall construction. Here's how they order their ingredients when they build their steaks.

Pat's

Bread
Meat (greasier; to some, a negative, but for me a plus)
Onions
Cheese Whiz (slapped on top)

Geno's

(all ingredients taste fresher and seem to be of a higher quality)

Bread
Cheese Whiz (thinly spread)
Meat
Onions (coarser chopped, spicier, and less cooked)

Now Pat's is superior because since the meat is in contact with the bread, the juices get to seep into the bread and meld with it (the greasier beef helps). Also, the heat from the meat tends to rise, thus further melting the cheese on top and creating a deliciously messy slurry of cheese, onions, grease, and juicy bread.

Geno's, on the other hand, spreads their cheese on the bread first, and then slaps the meat on top. The thin layer of cheese acts as an insulating layer, so the juice from the meat can't penetrate into the bread. Also, the cheese doesn't melt any further all that much, as the heat is radiating mostly upwards and away from the insulating cheese. Then you've got your too spicy onions on top all alone (you've really got to cut the spiciness by mixing with cheese for optimum flavor). Sometimes the onions get put under the meat, but this depends on the preparer, and doesn't help much since there's not enough melted cheese to produce a slurry. This adds up to a steak where instead of all the flavor elements fusing together into a hot and greasy mess, the steak is more sterile with each flavor element being neatly separated from the others, and tends to be drier.

The bottom line is Pat's is the flavor champ due to its scientifically proven construction of melding all the flavors together. Geno's is just OK, but it's really popular for those who demand fresh quality ingredients, a clean decor, and a neater and easier to eat steak.

Oh, and ya gotta get a bunch of the free cherry peppers to go with your steak!! Mmmm...

Dead Man Eating

2005-10-19T12:47:00.000-05:00

It's no surprise that someone who daydreams about planning the perfect meal would be so fascinated with this site. Dead Man Eating chronicles the last meals and final words of executed murderers. More than just than morbid curiosity, this site is interesting because it shows what people would choose to eat when they know it's their last meal. Some just accept the standard prison meal, while others plan huge artery clogging feasts. Who would have thought that capital punishment and yummy food would be such an interesting combination?

Froggy Ruminations: A Warrior at Rest

2005-10-14T21:48:00.006-05:00

A tribute to a beloved brother.

Liberal Hypocrisy

2005-10-10T10:41:00.010-05:00

I keep hearing liberals talking about paying one's "fair share" of taxes. Of course that means that the more money you make, the higher rate you pay in taxes, offset by a mountain of potential deductions and exemptions that one can claim. I don't see how this is fair at all. If anything, everyone should be paying the same rate, without any deductions whatsoever. Pennsylvania's state tax is set up this way, and doesn't attract much protest from those seeking to steal from the "rich" to achieve "social justice".

However, on the federal level, any attempt to enact a flat tax is met with howls of protest. As per standard class warfare tactics, conservatives are characterized as being heartless, uncompassionate monsters who want to make bread with the blood of poor children. These protests are are loudly propagated by wealthy liberals. If rich liberals actually cared about the poor, then they should put their money where their mouths are and fork over their own money, rather than make other people pay. These rich liberals have the gall to say we're not being taxed enough while taking advantage of favorable tax laws to reduce their own tax liability. This is the crux of liberalism: make other people pay for what you want. Here's a couple ways for those who think we're not being taxed enough to rectify the situation, and prove they're not as heartless as "evil conservatives".

How do you make a contribution to reduce the debt?

There are two ways for you to make a contribution to reduce the debt:

You can make a contribution online either by credit card, checking or savings account at Pay.gov

You can write a check payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt, and in the memo section, notate that it's a Gift to reduce the Debt Held by the Public. Mail your check to:

Attn Dept G
Bureau of the Public Debt
P. O. Box 2188
Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188

How do I make a contribution to the U.S. government?

Citizens who wish to make a general donation to the U.S. government may send contributions to a specific account called "Gifts to the United States." This account was established in 1843 to accept gifts, such as bequests, from individuals wishing to express their patriotism to the United States. Money deposited into this account is for general use by the federal government and can be available for budget needs. These contributions are considered an unconditional gift to the government. Financial gifts can be made by check or money order payable to the United States Treasury and mailed to the address below.

Gifts to the United States
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Credit Accounting Branch
3700 East-West Highway, Room 622D
Hyattsville, MD 20782

The Dawn of an Uneventful Era

2005-10-09T16:48:00.010-05:00

I hate writing. As most of the posts here will be quite mundane in nature and probably poorly written, I expect that this blog will be the most unread in all the internet.