More Haplo Blogging
This is why I'm excited about Haplo blogging:
September 2005 Archives
Obama Engages the Blogosphere
I think it was Ryan, who asked me last week, was there any Democrat that could run for President who would actually be inspiring as opposed to our recent offerings. While he isn't running in 2008 (at least I don't think he is or should for that matter) Barack Obama is just the sort of figure that could in a few cycles be that inspiring candidate.
I remember the first time I heard him speak, I was watching the Democratic Convention in 2004, and he was giving the keynote speech. The more and more I listened to him, the more impressed I was with what he was saying. Then the phone rang. Mensch called to tell me "Dude, you gotta listen to this guy." I screamed up to Janice, "You gotta see this guy." And we were all glued to the TV.
Flash forward to today - the reason he popped back into my head, is because he (or lets face it, his staff) posted a response to some DailyKos community members today. Long story short, some interest groups were critical of another Democratic Senator (Leahy) who didn't vote "no" on the Roberts confirmation. So Obama said something about it on the senate floor, the DailyKos Community reacted(1, 2, 3), and Obama responded. So in addition to saying some cool shit, he is also actively engaging the blogosphere, which agree or disagree with his positions, is the absolute right thing to do for Democratic office holders/seekers.
Continue reading "Obama Engages the Blogosphere"
Haplo is Blogging!
That's right. Haplo is blogging. That's really exciting for me and a couple people who read this. The rest of you don't know it's exciting yet. But you will.
Mark my words you will.
Lurkers?
Last week Matt from Tattered Coat posted a thread encouraging lurkers to say hi. I'm so totally copying off of him. Not just because I wanted to be cool and copy off him, but because I got introduced to someone today, who said "Oh yeah, I 've read your blog." So I'm curious.
I know a bunch of you, especially the ones that comment a lot (Scott, Dan, Becky, Ryan, obviously Janice ) But who are the rest of my readers?
After subtracting all the search engines. I average about 200-250 visitors a day. Many of them are people searching for pictures of wisdom teeth, pictures of Eeyore, or pictures of hair cut before and after shots. They are a bit creepy. However, I really hope the sum total of my readership does not consist of wisom teeth fetishists.
So drop a comment, and let me know who you are.
What is Epicaricacy?
n. Taking joy in the misery of others. It is the English equivalent of Schadenfreude.
OR
The feeling I have at the news that Tom Delay is being indicted.
Me in South Park
Ryan pointed out this really cool South Park Character creator. So I've made a likeness of me in South Park.
Congrats, Ryan, you started a mini-meme.
Philadelphia Blogs vs. Philly Mag
Noel Weyrich has an article about Philly bloggers and the whole LaToyia Figueroa case. Summary: He's not impressed. Will Bunch of attytood does a great job of arguing against him. However I'd like to add an addendum to the argument.
This was about something larger that Weyrich seems to miss. A larger group of people than the circle of traditional media editors decided this story was important. They then advocated it, and brought it to mass consciousness. Weyrich is somehow attacking the story as not important as the blogosphere made it out to be. It's his right to say that, but then again, his magazine recently did an expose on the nuances of the Philadelphia accent. So I don't get where he thinks he's got the grivitas to decry our issue as trivial.
Punch Double Corona
This is another free cigar I picked up when I bought a box of Punch London Club's at Holt's. It's been in my humidor for a long time. But for the most part it seemed fine when I inspected it.
Construction: The cigar burned very evenly, and the ash was extremely dense which tends to indicate good construction. However, the draw was terrible, it seemed like I was sucking through a coffee stirrer. For a cigar of it's ring guage that's inexcusable. It did loosen up after about a third of the cigar.Shortly after being lit up cracking started around the burning end and the cut end, this indicates improper handling. This is very possibly due to the time it spent in my humidor before I refurbished it. However, the rest of the tobacco in the filler and on the rest of the wrapper seemed fine.
Taste: It was tasty. It has pretty much the same flavor as the London Club, but with a thicker ring guage, the flavors were a little more pronounced, and oddly enough more mild. I even detected a little bit of coffee flavor.
Stats: It's 6 3/4 inches by 48 ring gauge. It's quite the hodgepodge of nationalities, with a Connecticut seed grown in Ecuador for a wrapper, binder from Honduras, and filler from Nicaragua, Honduras and the Domincan Republic. Holt's sells them for $4.50 a pop.
Overall: I wouldn't pay for these cigars. However, I'm willing to concede that it might have been improperly handled by me. Hopefully, I'll pick up some free ones the next time I run out, and I can reevaluate.
Cigar Wrappers
I found this really cool article on cigar wrappers at Blogcritics.org linked from MyCigarBlog.com. Wrappers, for those who read this but aren't into cigars, are the outer layer of tobacco on a cigar.
Job Opening
Once again I am hiring for an open position. Here's the description I put on Forta.com:
Wharton Computing at the University of Pennsylvania is looking for a full time ColdFusion/ Flex developer in Philadelphia, PA. Duties primarily involve application development, though some server maintenance is involved. Contact: tpryan@wharton.upenn.edu.
Just so you know, knowledge of ColdFusion and Flex are not mandatory for being hired, though they are primarily what you'd be doing. I see three ways that someone could come at this job.
- Applicant with ColdFusion and Flex experience already.
- Applicant with a solid foundation in programming, who is willing to learn ColdFusion and Webstandards based web design.
- Applicant with design background, familiar with Webstandards based web design who is willing to learn programming, through ColdFusion.
It's a great place to work, with a distinct workplace culture. So drop me a line if your interested: tpryan@wharton.upenn.edu.
The Church Does it Again
I'm a Catholic living in Philadelphia. I can't help but have an opinion on the new revelations of Church involvement with sex scandals. Let's get the disclaimers out of the way. I have never been abused. I have met one abusive priest. (Long before the allegations came to light.) I know many more priests who are or were decent, true, and noble men. I am going to explore the reasons behind the coverup in this post. While I am seeking an understanding of the cover-up, I'm not looking for anything to condone it, because I don't. I just want to understand why the cover up happened in so many places. Finally, let me make it clear, I may discuss the nature of pederasty as a sin, how it fits into the Catholic understanding of sin, but there are two things that are not question for me, that pederasty is indeed a sin, and further that except under certain impossible to fathom-by-me hypothetical situations, it is a mortal sin.
Continue reading "The Church Does it Again"
Arturo Fuente Opus X Fuente Fuente
Once again Dan, Ryan, and I journeyed to Center City, Philadelphia for a stop at Holt's and Mahogany on Walnut. It's becoming a regular event for us. We find ourselves wanting to go back again and again. I think there is only reasonable explanation: someone is slipping opium into our cigars.
A weird thing happened tonight. Not Andy Dick in a car commercial weird, but never happened before weird. Dan and Ryan ordered the Dalmore Cigar Malt and the bartender brought over a small cup of dark chocolate shavings. He said that the tastes tend to blend well, and they must of because Dan had some sort of flavorgasm. Which explains why he suddenly got really tired.
Anyway, no more stalling on to this disappointment of a cigar.
Construction: For such a highly touted cigar I have to say that this cigar was not well constructed at all. the draw was too loose. It didn't light well. To get it to light I had pull on it pretty hard which of course made it burn hotter. It went out a bunch of times. It thought it was just me, but Dan had similar problems.
Taste: It started a little spicy, but that toned down as the cigar cooled. It was very mild, but it did have a complex flavor. I would have to say that the taste was good when all was said and done.
Stats: It's 5 5/8 inches by 46 ring gauge. It's entirely made of Dominican tobacco, even the wrapper. Holt's sells them in store for $9.00 a piece, but they are a behind the counter cigar and you are limited to 2 per customer.
Overall: This was supposed to be Jesus tobacco. C'mon multiple sites referred to it as the Holy Grail of cigars (Luxist, Just for Him). For $9 it should be perfectly constructed, which it clearly wasn't. The taste was good, but not exceptional. This was not a good use of cigar money. Sorry, Arturo Fuente, I love all of your other cigars, (and I've heard that you manufacture my beloved Ashtons) but these feel short of the mark.
Windows Treo?
There's a Windows Mobile Treo coming out? I want one! I might like this better than the Motorola Q that Scott wrote about.
Andy Dick
Andy Dick
There's no irony in this choice, despite his name.
I'm watching the Tonight Show (Jodie Foster is on) and Chevy has bought up the entire commercial block for the show nothing but ads for it's new car, the HHR. Then they build an entire series of increasingly more inane spots anchored by Andy Dick. Andy Dick! What target demographic are they trying to hit here: "This car is perfect for people who enjoy chewing on nail files, listening to white noise, and experiencing brain freezes!"
Take Andy Dick's annoyingness and filter through the banality of a car commercial, and you have the recipe for a cock punchin'.
Tastykake Pumpkin Pies!
I've spotted the first Tastykake Pumpkin Pie of the season today, at Wawa. Life is beautiful.
Punch Gran Puro Sierra
I was lamenting the other day in comments here that I needed to get my hands on more free cigars. Then I remembered that I already had. Holt's had a special that when you bought any box of Punch, you would get two of these for free. Even if you only buy a lowly box of Punch London Clubs. I don't know where it fits in but Janice reports that these cigars made me especially "stinky" so consider your self warned. (I had to trim my goatee to get it all out.)
Construction: It was constructed a lot better than I remember, but it could be my previous tries of them had been before I redid my humidor. (I replaced the humidifier.) It burned evenly with a good draw. It got really hot during the last half, and I had to really pace myself to get it to cool down.
Taste: It's was a pretty mild cigar for a Punch. Frankly that was pretty much the downside. It was shockingly mild. It won't offend anyone, but it's not that exciting.
Stats: It's 6.5 inches by 48 ring gauge. It's comprised of nothing but Honduran tobacco. It was free for me, but Holt's has them for $2.88 a piece. It took me an hour to smoke 2/3's of it.
Overall: For free, this cigar is a fantastic value. (I've said before that some free cigars aren't worth it.) However at $3 a pop, I'm not so convinced. It was too bland for me. I guess Ryan would like it.
Daily Show back with a Vengence
Back from winning more Emmys, Jon Stewart and crew are punching hard. They had on Alan Alda, but that was just a book push.
However, the real meat was in Dan Bakkedahl's piece on Bumvertizing. He's got a little bit of the Rob Corddry, turn-into-the-skid style. He interviews a guy who runs a service that pays the homeless for placing spam ads on their "work for food" signs. He calls him unscrupulous to his face, of course ironically, but don't you wish the real media did this kind of reporting? Here's a sample:
There's a new generation who aren't squeemish about feasting on the blood of the poor.
Who would have guessed that real advocacy journalism is alive today, on Comedy Central? Unfortunately, I'm sure the douchebag's who started the website that uses Bumvertizing will get more hits as a result of it, but I think it's good that someone is turning over the rock that these people live under.
Max Raabe
Becky explained who Max Raabe was few weeks back. Even though I intellectually understood what she was telling me, I didn't truly appreciate it until I listened to it.
I can only describe as this: Imagine that they dug up Tom Lehrer and forced him at gun point to cover today's over produced pop hits, with The Whiffenpoofs as back up singers, and a Big Band as accompanyment.
I can't say you'll like it, but you should give it a try. Go to Becky's site and down the "Mix of the Week." The covers are funny in an ironic way. But I love his sound and it makes me really want to listen to his original stuff.
More of that Blog Article
The Blog Article from the Philadelphia Inquirer is realling making the rounds. Scott has it that it now appears in:
This in addition to the three other spots I listed earlier, and in addition to the original article.
All in all this has taught me one thing: If I ever start a newspaper, I will eschew "Inquirer," "Times," or "Post." Instead I will start the "Philadelphia American-Statesman!"
Mahogony on Walnut
Mahogany on Walnut opened in Philly just after the apex of the cigar boom. It was probably fueled by the success of Holt's at the same time. Holt's has in the back of it's walk in humidor a little lounge for cigar smoking. A sweet little old lady sells coffee and bottled water. However, the hours were limited to the store hours, and there was no alcohol. Enter Mahogany, located one story up from Holt's.
Mahogany is very upscale with rich leather chairs and sofas, beautiful wood paneling, and a fine spirits menu thicker than the food menu. They have a decent supply of higher end cigars, at an inflated price. Additionally the literal atmosphere is highlight by a great air handling system that clears up smoke faster than you can produce it.
The one thing that always shocked me was the lack of pretension. The staff are all very decent to you whether you're in a business suit or shorts. Sure they have Fox News on, but I think that's more for the clientele than the staff. I always try to face away from the TV as to avoid that unpleasantness.
The bill will hit you. I can't sugar coat that, but I'd contend that you're not there to get drunk, you're there to enjoy your cigar and company. They do have a good range of drinks too, so you're not stuck buying a $12 glass of water. Prices start at $4 for a beer and up to the mid hundreds for Cognac touched by Jesus or something.
By all means I highly recommend this place. Grab some friends. Time it right to hit Holt's before it closes, and grab a good cigar there at a good price. Bring them up to Mahogany at Walnut, and stay there until your cigar is done. Then go drink somewhere else. You won't be sorry.
Bars in Which to Have Cigars
Cigars on my porch are fine but nothing is quite as good as sitting on a comfortable couch and having cigars in well-ventilated room. Since I graduated from Penn, and no longer could justify spending large amounts of time in the Pine Room at the KA lodge, I been looking for a good place indoors to smoke a cigar. The search intensified when I moved in with Janice. Occasionally I used to smoke in my apartment, but that's a non starter in our house. For all these reasons, I've looked to bars where I could smoke.
Consequently I'll be highlighting a couple of my favorite places to grab a smoke in Philly over the few weeks. I say "Bars in Which to Have Cigars" instead of "Cigar Bars," because most of the bars are just places that happen to let you smoke cigars, not full fledged cigar bars. The first bar I chose to highlight is perhaps the highest quality place to go (and the only real cigar bar on the list). It might not be a great value, but I will get to good values in later entries.
If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know.
Ahhh, The Art Museum
I never get tired of looking at this city. Yeah, I know it's a rather cliche shot, but I love this view of the skyline, and there are so many stories in this shot.
Janice and I took a stroll around the Art Museum and we stopped at the entrance. Once there we saw a beautiful old Labrador Retriever who didn't want to stop jumping in the fountain. We also met a friendly older African-American Man who had this great t-shirt about Civil War reenactors. Finally, we saw a wedding party breaking the rule against taking pictures at the Art Museum. They're all somewhere in this picture.
Avo Robusto Tubo
I tried an Avo for the last time when I was 18. My brother was graduating from Penn, and my mother wanted to celebrate with a cigar. My parents stayed at the Four Seasons the night before the graduation, and these were the only cigars in the hotel gift shop. At the time I thought they were okay but overpriced, even though I didn't pay for them. They were nothing special, and there were plenty of other cigars of similar taste that weren't as expensive. But the other night I figured I would give them another shot.
Construction: Since the last time I went through a sampling phase, cigars seem to be better constructed all around. In the mid 90's there were at least dozens of companies that never existing before trying to capitalize on the boom, and therefore rushing product to shelves. This is all a way to preface yet another report that this was a well constructed cigar with an even burn, and a great draw.
Taste: It's a mild complex flavored cigar. It's got a bit of spicy bite to it. It was definitely not as lack luster as I remembered it, but it wasn't extraordinary.
Stats: It's 5 inches by 50 ring gauge. It's Dominican tobacco throughout with the exception of the wrapper which is Connecticut Shade from the US. I got this one at The Fox and The Hound and paid $8 something for it, whereas at Holt's it can be found for the more reasonable $5.65 or there abouts.
Overall: This is a decent cigar, and worth trying especially if you like Ashtons, Griffins, or Davidoffs it's another one to try. If you're at The Fox and the Hound and are drunk, then the $8 is well worth it. If you're sober, then get down to Holt's and pick it up at the better price.
Wedding in North Jersey
Two Paths Diverged on Drew's Campus and I chose the less depressing choice by far.
Negative One Anniversary
One year from today, I will be marrying Janice Lee. Despite the trials and tribulations of the process of wedding planning, I cannot wait. I don't really care about centerpieces and invitations, but I do care about spending the rest of my life with her.
I just wish I knew what the gift was for a -1 year anniversary. I imagine since the 1 year is paper, the -1 is like email or a webpage, or a blog post.
So happy -1st anniversary, honey!
Film Fodder Progress
I'm coming up on the end of my first full week posting at FilmFodder.com. I'm happy to say that getting the hang of it. I'm writing faster, and I'm going to hit the lower threshold of my weekly target (10-15 posts a week.) Here are the posts I'm happiest with:
Addtionally this guy lifted one of my articles, which is kinda cool cause he kept my credit in it.
Great Democratic Politics
Democrats led by Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama are proposing a tax cut for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. This is one of those situations where the common good can be achieved while people are playing devious political games.
If the Republicans oppose it because they can't politically give the Democrats a win, they get slammed as opposing tax relief, and opposing help directed at the community of Katrina victims, who an overwhelming majority of Americans support.
If the Republicans allow it through they hand a major victory to the Democrats which is just not something hey are ever prepared to do.
I don't know what will ultimately happen here, but I imagine that the bill will get laden down with corporate pork, or that the Republicans will float an extremely similar sounding bill down the pike. I say "similar sounding" as it won't be intended to have the same positive impact.
The Legend of Blankbaby Grows!
Scott has it that the article that he did for the Philadelphia Inquirer (in which I am mentioned) is being syndicated to a couple of new places.
The article is being syndicated to:
Very cool. I hope the list grows, and "to be Blankbabied" evolves into an internet meme.
Casa Blanca Deluxe
This is the third and final cigar in the Holt's grab bag from the other week. Little bit of trivia, the name means "white house." Actually it refers to "The White House," and was made for the Republican National Convention during the Reagan years. My feeling towards Republicans being what they are, I burned the cigar in protest.
Construction: As seems common from Holt's, the construction was fine. The draw was good, the burn perfectly even. The wrapper was nice and oily.
Taste: I thought I was going to hate this cigar from the smell of the wrapper, however I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it did not taste like suffering. It's definitely the first cigar I can remember tasting leather when smoking, but it wasn't overwhelming. I can see someone liking the taste of this cigar, but that person wasn't me.
Stats: It's 6 inches by 50 ring gauge. Its wrapper comes from Ecuador, the binder from Mexico and the filler is from the Domincan Republic. Holt's sells them for $2.40 a pop.
Overall: The taste wasn't to my liking, but it wasn't objectively bad. At $2.40 for a cigar of this quality, I would say that it's a great value, and if you like leathery cigars grab yourself a bunch.
Google Site Map Creator
Dan posted yesterday about Google Sitemaps. I wanted to fool around with them, but the kit that automatically creates them uses Python, which I don't have access to. So I decided to build my own out of CFML. If anyone else could use it, or pieces of it, feel free.
Arturo Fuente Anejo No. 48
I stopped into Holt's after work today and picked up yet another cigar behind the counter. I was intending to try and an Opus X, but was told by a clerk that the Anejo is the made with the same binder and filler as the Opux X but with a maduro wrapper. If I had been thinking, I would have stuck with the Opus X, as the whole point behind it was that it was the first quality cigar using Dominican wrapper. Not that this was a bad cigar because of the wrapper but I wanted to try the entirely Dominican cigar.
I went up to Mahogany on Walnut with Dan and Ryan. Soon, I will record my true feeling about the place, but suffice it to say, we're thinking of making it a regular event. But on to the cigar...
Construction: As should be expected for a behind the counter cigar, the construction was mostly excellent. This particular size is not that thick for it's length, which I think tends to screw up the draw a little. Consequently it was not my favorite draw, but it could have been much worse; it didn't need to be relit. It burned pretty evenly.
Taste: I have to admit, there wasn't that much going on with this cigar tastewise. It wasn't bad, it just didn't light me up. Like a whole bunch of other cigars, it tasted like a cigar.
Stats: It's 7 inches by 48 ring gauge. The binder and filler are Domincan, while the wrapper is Connecticut shade that's been aged in Cognac barrels. That sounds really cool, but I didn't notice the difference. They cost $8 at Holt's but you can't buy more than a couple at time, cause they are limited release cigars.
Overall: They're okay. I wasn't a huge fan of the taste. Couple that taste with an $8 price tag, and I felt they weren't a good value. However, when I was researching this article, I discovered that almost every other place sells this cigar for about $26 a pop. Not that it makes the $8 price a value now, but I have to say I was shocked.
Sunk Cost Fallacy
There's an article in Slate about the Sunk Cost Fallacy. It's one of my favorite logical fallacies, and frankly, the coolest one without a Latin title. The article explains it better, but, in a nutshell, Sunk Cost Fallacy occurs when decision makers continue down a path because for no other reason than that they've already spent a lot of resources on the path. Ex:
We've already spent $80 million on Gigli if we were to abandon it, burn the negatives and never mention it again, we would have wasted all that money. Now get me another $20 million in ad buys in every market!
What's even cooler is that it's by a Barry Schwartz, a professor at Swarthmore.
Montecristo Platinum Series Toro
This is the second of three that I picked up in a grab bag at Holt's last week. Of course this is a Dominican Montecristo and not the Cuban kind. I didn't know until I looked up the stats on it that Cigar Aficionado rated it a solid 90 (at least according to Montecristo's site.)
I'm enjoying it on my porch while I write this, killing two birds with one stone. So if I talk about it in the present tense, that's because it is in the present tense. The joy that is 802.11G.
Construction: The draw is pretty good, and the cigar is still perfectly moist despite being sealed in plastic for God knows how long (in the grab bag that is, I know how long it's been here.) The burns kinda uneven but it's not tunneling or anything.
Taste: It's very mild, but not bland. Not as tasty as my beloved Ashtons, but still good. I'm picking up some chocolate. It's going very nicely with my Diet Vanilla Coke. Yes, you heard me Diet Vanilla Coke. It's can't be scotch and port every night.
Stats: It's 6 inches by 50 ring gauge. It's a pretty diverse cigar with a Mexican Cubano wrapper (milder than normal Mexican,) binder from Nicaragua, and filler from the Domincan Republic, Nicaragua and Peru. This is the first time I've ever had Peruvian tobacco. At $7.20 a pop, I can't say it's a good value.
Overall: The cost is way too much to really recommend this cigar. It tastes great, and is of decent quality, but if you want something this mild but flavorful there are better cigars to pick.
Punditry Here I Come!
As of today, I'm a professional blogger (sort of.)
I'm writng for filmfodder.com, and getting paid for it.
Here's my first article: Ferrell Starts Production on NASCAR Film.
Movable Type 3.2 Finally!
Finally, Six Apart got back to me with a fix. Under their new fix, I did not have to involve my hosting provider. They gave me a customized Bootstrap.pm, and required me to create an IIS virtual directory. It was a much more elegant solution than the one they gave me on the first try, and it actualy worked, so that was pretty cool. It has something to do with IIS not setting the working directory for cgi correctly.
So onward with Movable Type 3.2!
Philly Accent Fetish
Philadelphia Magazine has an article in the month's copy dedicated to exploring the Philadelphia accent. Accompaning that article is this collection of Phildelphia accent samples.
As someone who has been a lifelong "wooder" speaker, I was happy to see this exploration of my accent, even if it was in Philadelphia Magazine.
Zatarain's
I'm a huge fan of Zatarain's products and figured I should horde them while they were still available. Janice - my enabler, and I went down to Superfresh and stocked up.
It got me to thinking though, I wonder what they are doing through all this. According to their website, they are asking for customers to continue to support them, and they are going to pay their employees until the September 15th at which time the company will have a better idea of what's going to happen going forward.
As soon as they start shipping product again, I will be purchasing it. Until then I wil guard my hoard and pray for the employees.
I'm Okay with Politizing Katrina
Scott expresses scorn for those that are politicizing Katrina. Demonstrating his admirable moral consistency he does cut at both sides. However, as I disgree with him, I am going to play apologist for those on the left that are politicizing it.
I remember a time in this country when in the aftermath of a tragedy, both sides publicly agreed to put partisan politics aside in order to combat the challenges that we were faced with. That time was in the days and months following 9/11. The majority of the population made it clear to our Democratic representatives that we wanted the leadership to be unopposed in pursuit of our defense. This yielded us the Patriot Act. This yielded us Iraq. This yielded us the very government that failed us in the aftermath of Katrina.
I, for one, will not be tricked by compassion and fear into submitting to my government again. I donated to the Red Cross. I'm looking into volunteer opportunities. I've got nothing else to do right now. So I will question why this happened. I will not place the blame on the administration for the hurricane. I will not place the blame on the administration for all of the poverty. I will, however, place the blame on the administration that filled the leadership positions of FEMA with political hacks. I will place the blame on the Department of Homeland Security which had 2 1/2 years to prepare for this, then had a week of weather reports charting Katrina's direction, and then flailed helplessly when it hit. I will place the blame on the vacation president who didn't flex his supposed leadership skills and declare red tape illegal, who instead when he could be bothered to react, chose to tell "looters" that stealing was not the right way, despite the fact that these looters were often stealing food, clothing, water and clothing.
This administration failed, that I already dislike the administration does not change that. 9/11 taught me that this administration will politicize disaster, this time I, and I believe many others, won't turn the other cheek.
This Guy Hates the PPA
It's a good thing I started blogging after I got a parking space, or these pages would be filled with diatribes and cockpunches against the Philadelphia Parking Authority. Despite this however, I will never forgive, and never forget, and according to this picture, neither will others.
I have to say, I'm not sure though what's going on. It looks like to me that someone inconvienced by the van (which is blocking a driveway) is the author of the note. However, it could be just a ballsy van owner. Either way, the Philadelphia Parking Authority is causing angst.
This to Janice who took the pictures knowing how much I would like them.
Cuesta-Rey Centennial Dominican No. 5
This is the first cigar from the grab bag I bought from Holt's early this week. I expected that the grab bag would give me the opportunity to show that there are cigars I don't like. My expectations have been exceeded.
Construction: The cigar burned evenly. That's where the goodness ends. The draw was awful. This made the cigar go out often, this made me puff faster, this made the cigar burn hotter, this made me burn my tongue. This made Terry angry! Angry! Fire bad! Well you get the idea.
Taste: It started strong in a bad way, but then the taste grew more mild, then it disappeared. However as the taste waned the aftertaste waxed, and the aftertaste was craptastic. It wasn't quite fecal, but I'm not sure that it was better than fecal.
Stats: It's 5 1/2 inches by 43 ring gauge. It's a mostly Dominican cigar, with a Cameroon wrapper. Holt's price for them seems to be about $3.20. I don't know how long it would take to smoke, like the owl in the Tootsie Roll commercial, I took a shortcut. I hope sewer rats enjoy crappy cigars.
Overall: I would not recommend them to anybody. Even if you get one for free. Turn it down, then realize the person trying to give it to you hates you.
Oh, Here's the Noise
Amazon, Yahoo and Google have donations links up.
CNN has a ongoing account of the chaos in New Orleans.
The New York Times has an article reporting the reactions of the survivors.
Technorati reports that the blogosphere is charged.
Slate has a devestaing critique of the Department of Homeland Security.
So I was wrong, there is noise.
El Rey Del Mundo Robusto
Yet another cigar taken from top25cigars.com, this one is number 10. I have tried the brand before, but not this particular size. The brand does have a unique touch; a lot of the sizes come wrapped individually in tissue paper. I'm not sure what that does to the taste of the cigar, but I can say that it doesn't have as tasty an effect as cedar.
Construction: The cigar burned unevenly, but not terribly so. It did have to be re-lit once. The draw was nearly perfect however. All in all the construction was pretty good, but not great.
Taste: This was another full bodied cigars, but it was a much simpler combination of tastes than the Padron I had yesterday. Oddly enough, I think this made me like it more, because I could focus on it more, and really enjoy it. Again, the maduro wrapper didn't really make a note of difference to me, (maybe I will go back to natural for awhile just to see a difference.) Overall the taste was very good.
Stats: It's 5 inches by 54 ring gauge. It's a quite the Banana Republic tour, as the company is based in Honduras, the wrappers come from Ecuador, the binder and some of the filler come from Honduras, with some Domincan filler thrown in. Holt's sells them for $3.75. It took me about an hour to smoke, but I slowed down to enjoy it, and sipped a glass of scotch with it.
Overall: Although the construction wasn't great, the taste was very good. The clincher was the price. At $3.75 a pop, these cigars are a great value. Pick them up, or buy them for a cigar lover you know.
Embedded Cfdocument
I meant to blog this a while back. One of the things I think is really cool about Cold Fusion 7 is the fact that it can dynamically create Flashpaper by way of <cfdocument>. I think there are two big advantages to using Flashpaper over PDF's in web applications: 1. Since they're just .swf files, they load much faster; 2. Since they load faster you can embed them in pages. However when you use <cfdocument> the existing website interface is completely replaced by Flashpaper's interface. I believe there are some cases when you wouldn't want that. According, I have written a cfc that will allow you to pass content in and embed <cfdocument> created Flashpaper in line.
Check it out: Flashpaper Embedder.
