Oct 27, 2005
Conspicuous consumption has always been a hallmark of the very rich. We of the "not quite rich" set have always been fascinated by what the our fiscal betters choose to indulge in. The wine industry has always attracted the very rich who like rich boys in blue britches roaming through a toy store, have tended to buy the biggest and best wineries or spent marvelous sums on creating something that might be the biggest or best. Then there are those…
Oct 20, 2005
It’s a BIG Idea; the kind that is beyond one person and demands the attention of many. But it’s an idea that’s time has come. I’ve been thinking about the recent fire at the wine warehouse in Vallejo, California. In doing so I’ve been unable to get one thing out of my mind: something very important besides bottles of wine were lost and destroyed. History…and its critical artifacts are what were lost. I’m not denigrating the importance of losing current…
Oct 12, 2005
"If you get behind the wheel of a car with any measurable amount of alcohol, you will be dealt with in D.C. We have zero tolerance. . . . Anything above .01, we can arrest." So says Dennis Fair, police officer in the District of Columbia quoting Department policy. .01 Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) Debra Bolton, a DC lobbyist, found about this ludicrous, time wasting, money wasting and resource wasting policy when she was arrested for being way over the…
Oct 12, 2005
"They pour freshly squeezed grape juice into clay pots, which are then placed in freshly dug ditches before being covered with sheep droppings to aid fermentation." It was not always this way. In this place, Khollar, they once grew an abundance of grapes that were harvested and taken to the town of….Shiraz…..where they were turned into wine that carried a reputation throughout the Middle East. Now, this Iranian town supports a mere 250 residents who furtively bury crushed grapes under…
Oct 3, 2005
It’s hard to ignore the impact of search engine technology. Without it the Internet doesn’t exist and without great search technology the Internet’s vast resources are fairly useless. Needless to say, everyone who used the Internet as a utility spends a great deal of time with the likes of Google, Yahoo and MSN. This bestows GREAT influence on the top search engines. The ten links they return for any given search will be exposed to large numbers of people. What…