The New York Times ran a good article by Patricia Cohen on rats in cars with the headline “Under the Hood, a Cozy Rat Retreat“. The article mentions someone who had a problem with rats chewing on the knock-sensor wire on his Honda Accord. Looking on the Web, he found other Honda owners complaining about… Read More »
Banned since 1912, absinthe made a triumphant return to legality recently in the US. Absinthe has an undeserved reputation for causing hallucinations, dementia, renal failure, convulsions, homicidal mania, ear-ectomies (see van Gogh, Vincent), and a nasty aftertaste of black licorice. Okay, the last one is true. Think Good n Plenties and anise blended with Ouzo… Read More »
I went to a friend’s birthday party this weekend (Hi, Eric!) at which he roasted a seventy pound pig. He and a friend built a big fire during the night that they let burn down to hot coals. The pig was wrapped in banana leaves and stuffed with river rocks that had been heated by… Read More »
The KALX double 7″ arrived this week. The two records are colored vinyl, one blue and one red. The sleeve and label art by Chris Hall is fantastic. The record release got great coverage on Pitchfork and other sites. The recordings on the two discs are: Talking Heads – “Stay Hungry” (recorded 4/18/1978 at Lower… Read More »
As previously promised, here’s the review of the most expensive beer, by nearly an order of magnitude, that I’ve ever tasted. It’s very important when trying something like this not to get your expectations up too high. It’s a bit much to expect any beer to be 10 times better than any other beer you’ve… Read More »
What kind of lunatic would pay $160 for a bottle of beer? Apparently, me, since I just bought a bottle of 2007 Samuel Adams Utopias, which my wife and I will be splitting with my sister-in-law and her husband. A bottle of the 2003 release recently went for nearly $250 on eBay. The highest bid… Read More »
I picked up a pair of Shure E2C earphones recently because I had read good reviews about them and they were super cheap during a sale at Amazon. I think I paid only about $40. So far, I’m very happy with them. Shure discontinued the E2C and E3C after coming out with a new line… Read More »
I’m in the middle of a trip to Austin and San Antonio to visit relatives and get up close and personal with some BBQ. And Mexican food. And chili and chiles. A short version of all this is on my wombatnation page at Pownce. First up was a trip to the Texas Chili Parlor for… Read More »
Are you surprised that a company in Texas offers a gun rack for a bike? While advertised as a “favorite of outdoorsmen and hunters”, I wonder how many bicyclists buy these to deter the drivers that might otherwise harass them. While I generally didn’t have too much trouble when I lived and biked in Austin,… Read More »
My favorite real conversation from tonight: Child: Do you kave Kit-Kats? Me: No Child: Then I’ll take a handful of whatever. She’s lucky the broccoli was in the kitchen and not close at hand. Instead, I gave her more candy than anyone else.