Articles
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Vintage 2-Buck Chuck
January 21, 2009
As an experiment some years back, I socked away a few bottles of Charles Shaw wine. This fine vintage, for those unaware, is sold by Trader Joe’s, initially for $2.00/bottle – hence the widely-used nickname, “2-Buck Chuck”.
It’s actually pretty good, for $2 wine… it costs a little more now, but it’s still a good value, and perfectly drinkable on such occasions as camping trips, boat voyages, and such adventures where more delicate or costly bottles might not fare well.
So. Last week I came across a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from 1999, and, having run out of everything better, I figured now was as good a time as any to try it out. Expectations were low, but one never knows… And now: just how good is a 9-year-old bottle of 2-Buck Chuck?
Well, not very. It hadn’t spoiled (e.g. wasn’t vinegar, yet) but it was clearly past its prime – which was, in all likelihood, in 1999. The bottle has been relegated to cooking tasks, and will make an excellent contribution to “Anna’s wine sludge”!
The next experiment: a blind tasting perhaps, of my carefully-hoarded flight of Charles Shaw Merlot, 1997-2003!
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The Wal-Mart Plague
January 7, 2009
I saw this first on Gizmodo, but I think it should be mandatory viewing for everyone in the entire flippin’ world:
http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/
Watch as the Green Plague of Mediocrity spreads from its roots in the heartland, slowly at first and then with exponential virulence…
On a broader, non-scary-as-hell note: this was my first visit to flowingdata, and it’s full of interesting stuff with a design sense informed by Tufte. Here is a tidbit to whet your interest. I also liked his “5 Best Data Visualization Projects of the Year” article.
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Stop-Motion meets Lego Millenium Falcon
December 22, 2008
OK, so I’m a geek… but this project pushes several of my geeky buttons simultaneously. No description can do it justice, you have to watch the clip.
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An astute observation
December 18, 2008
Found on Valleywag.com:
I take offense to calling Google an an “overgrown advertising agency”. It’s as crass a generalization as calling the US Government the Military Industrial Complex human resources office.
oh wait…the latter is not a crass generalization, it’s the truth.
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Why is my DSL so slooooooow?
December 11, 2008
Read moreOur house is a bit far from the switch, so the speed’s never been great, but lately it’s really bad:
http://www.dslreports.com/im/62755719/8689.png
] Curiously, Speakeasy.net’s own speed test gives very different results: http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/