Bartender GeekBartender Geek - LiveJournal.comNine years ago today:- June 13, 2008 I stood under a chuppa, and I said the following things to Lis:I pledge myself to you -- body, mind, and spirit. I promise to respect, honor, and cherish you. I promise to listen to you and be trustworthy towards you. I promise to be honest with you. I promise to support you physically, emotionally, and spiritually.I promise to stand by you and to back you up. I promise never to shame you. When we fight, I promise to fight fair.I pledge that, as of this day, I shall put us as a couple, and any..http://xiphias.livejournal.com/476509.html On why ONG-BAK: THE THAI WARRIOR worked in every way that TRANSFORMERS didn't.- June 13, 2008 Ong-Bak was a 2003 film that I'd intended to see in the theaters, but never got around to. It was on sale for pretty cheap, so I picked it up, and I'm glad I did.I was thinking about what makes a good movie, or, really, a good story for me. For me, I need at least one protagonist who I respect -- someone who has something noble in him or her or itself. I need people to not be overtly stupid in ways that are TOO out of character for them. I need actions to have consequences -- if you're...http://xiphias.livejournal.com/476401.html I've just started reading Harold McGee's On Food And Cooking- June 13, 2008 I am loving this book, and I'm also frustrated by it. I'm only on the first part of the first chapter -- milk and cream; I've not even gotten to yogurt let alone cheese -- and there have already been several places where McGee is saying that the mechanism behind basic things is yet unknown -- like what exactly it is that keeps casein in separate micelles, and which is removed by rennet allowing the casein to coagulate into curds. Or exactly how butter forms.The thing is -- this is a book from.http://xiphias.livejournal.com/476111.html . . . I guess, technically, that was a success. . . .- June 13, 2008 Note to self: when brewing yeast-fermented sodas, that method of jump-starting the yeast Actually works.Wipes homemade ginger ale off of face, hands, shirt, counter, and sink.http://xiphias.livejournal.com/475854.html I just finally saw TRANSFORMERS on DVD- June 11, 2008 Can someone explain something to meOkay, so an Air Force Combat Controller team has the All Spark, the MacGuffin that the Decepticons and Autobots are fighting over.The team knows that giant robots are coming to fight over it. They've even fought against the bad guys.So, they say, "Mission City is 22 miles away. We'll take the All Spark there, and hide it while we wait for Air Force backup."Okay.Got that A USAF Special Ops team decides that the best thing to do is to draw the giant robots...http://xiphias.livejournal.com/475505.html "Jacking" vs "Distilling"- June 10, 2008 It is illegal in the United States to operate a private still for the manufacture of distilled spirits. In order to operate a still, you need to have a permit, a bond, a separate building that is not a house in order to do it in, to pay excise tax (separate from any taxes on SELLING the stuff) and all sorts of other things.The Department of the Treasury is responsible for the enforcement of this, which is why "revinooers" are the natural enemy of "moonshiners". The collection of taxes on the.http://xiphias.livejournal.com/475148.html The easiest soft drink that I make- June 10, 2008 So, I brew soft drinks sometimes. Well, I guess technically, they're "small beers" -- beer-like beverages with only trivial amounts of alcohol, too little to get you drunk in any practical way. The carbonation, though, is from fermentation, rather than whatever the thing is that they do to most soft drinks and seltzer.So, I've got this one recipe which doesn't even deserve the name "recipe" it's so easy.Costco sells these bottles of ruby red grapefruit juice -- "Apple and Eve" brand, "Made in.http://xiphias.livejournal.com/475042.html The "Zombies In The Mall" meme.- June 10, 2008 So: you are in the mall when the zombies attack.You get:One weaponOne song blasting from the speakersOne famous person to fight beside youWhat do you chooseWeapon: Clearly, I need something that will be very effective at wiping out zombies, which requires only minimal skill from me, and which will NOT harm bystanders and things that AREN'T zombies.I choose . . . SWARMS AND SWARMS OF GENETICALLY- MODIFIED SUPER-BLOWFLY-MAGGOTS!!!! And maybe other decay-eating organisms, too!See, this weapon...http://xiphias.livejournal.com/474732.html Things which I say that might be confusing to others- June 9, 2008 I was just thinking -- I communicate a lot in ways that assume cultural knowledge. This works great among people who share that same cultural knowledge, and less well among people who don't. There was a time in my LJ, a while back, when we were discussing the mental effects that poverty has on people, and someone else, also an American Jew of Ashkenazic descent, made the comment, "There's no shame in being poor . . . "Another friend, who hangs out a lot with Ashkenazic Jews, but who is,...http://xiphias.livejournal.com/474614.html Oh how cool English is as a language- June 6, 2008 A sentence one of my fellow bartenders uttered last night while we were breaking down the bars, and packing up all the stuff to take back to the MIT Faculty club where it goes:"I think I can MacGyver the rest of the liquor onto the Queen Mary."A "Queen Mary", by the way, is a big wire-rack rolling cart. Imagine a set of aluminum-tube-and wire-rack shelves, and put wheels on it. That's all it is, and you stack everything on it, and then wrap it all in pallet wrap, which is just...http://xiphias.livejournal.com/474315.html |