I admire from afar the world of fine dining and hate to muck up the page with my petty, pedestrian miseries but today coming off the roof to avoid torential rain I went to hide and dine at the neighborhood TacoBell and a notice on the door is giving me three days, Aug 13, to deal with the shutting down for renovation of my favorite eatery, I daresay, my shack of sustenance. Is there no end to the hardship? Speaking of hardship I contemplated the life of crime this morning at 6:20 walking the isles of a Save a Center grocery store, having already purchased my heat n' serve lunch (crawfish fettucine), I curiously wandered to the liquor isle to spy the single malt and this particular store had them all behind glass and key, and no wonder, with probably forty varieties, including beau coup Glenns, and a bottle of 18 year-old Macallan's, priced at $71. I became dizzy with desire and saw myself doing a bold smash and grab routine, but instead proceeded calmly to the checkout and paid for my banana, two glazed donuts, bag of peanuts, and the aforementioned fettucine.
Jim going out of town and asking us not to f things up, is he challenging us?
I know a few of you, like me, are on dial-up accounts through inch.com. Things haven't been going too well for the last few days. Some sites load fine, others are either painfully slow, or won't load at all. My traceroutes show lots of problems all over the map, but most notably in the bbnplanet.net system. This fits with the internet traffic report which is still reporting a bbn problem in Washington D.C. (100% packet loss washdc1-br1.bbnplanet.net.) However, inch isn't noting that as a problem. They say
"08/08/00 11:31 The slow connections problem continues to be a circuit between Chantilly, VA and Chicago and involves Sprint. This indicates that the circuit must be used for peering (exchanging traffic) between the 2 networks. We've been assured that they have been working on it constantly, as it is affecting numerous customers in the mid-atlantic region."Either they are missing something, or Sprint owns bbn? Is that right? I guess probably that is the case since VA seems to be about the right location. Man, if you are on the east coast, you really don't want to have a problem between you and MAE-east. Trust me. Arrrrgggghhhh. What about you non-inchers? Any noticable problems lately?
Apparently 60 Minutes did a piece on Echelon last night. Did anyone see it? (Is that show still really popular?)
Here's a mass email from Michael Moore about the upcoming election. I never know what to think about this guy. Basically I agree with him on most issues, but like I said, I'm never sure what to think about him. Maybe I've just been brainwashed by the anti-Moore publicity campaign. Still, I think he's on target here. I saw Nader on Meet the Press this morning and I thought he sounded very reasonable. Even electable, although I know the odds aren't too good on that one. If the internet does play any role in the election, I'd have to think it would be to Nadar's benefit. Are emails (political spam?) like this going to do any good?
6 de 8 de 2000--Visrestaurant Lucius--very very visre!!--
best mussel's ever
so far so good in amsterdam
great exotic fruit markets. fresh fish dinner (i say too much butter, lkb was pleased).
sipping 1996 chambolle musigny premier cru by vogue on the house boat deck, watching the gay pride celebration and water boat parade.
great exotic fruit markets. fresh fish dinner (i say too much butter, lkb was pleased).
sipping 1996 chambolle musigny premier cru by vogue on the house boat deck, watching the gay pride celebration and water boat parade.
buckle in. we visited this shop yesterday and there's more than the web site shows...
more later
more later
From the micro-informative television news watchers at the Tyndall Report comes this great political story (last story on this page.)
"DOUSE THE FLAMES In Dade County Fla municipal elections, a firefighter candidate stumbled across a rule that county workers cannot hold elective office. 'If he wins the election, he loses $200,000 in retirement benefits,' warned NBC’s Kerry Sanders. Too late to take his name off the ballot, what is a candidate to do? 'He is running the ultimate negative campaign. This candidate does not want to win. He hopes he will be able to say what few would ever want to say: I’m A Loser!'"I'll bet he wins.
Everything is running very slow this morning. The internet traffic report is picking up a few problems (like the completely dead router at washdc1-br1.bbnplanet.net - 100% packet loss - perfect score!) At first I thought our hosts at he.net might be suffering a DoS attack, but now it looks more widespread. Be patient.
Maybe this should go in sustenance, but the NY Post has it as an art review: the Jewish Museum 's ancient alcohol show, mentioned previously in these pages. Field trip, anyone?
wallse @ 344 west 11th st--super yummy--we ate every fish starter, some we asked for another right after finishing--i heard that the chef was so impressed that he came out to who we were, i missed that cause i was out in the other room bonding with the owner--the fish main's were even better--dessert were just ok but we didnt try enough--the meat dishes smelled and look good too and overall the dishes were light on the butter and very well flavored--worth every penny!!
Dave, I thought you were supposed to be blogger point man? I have to find out about new stuff on *riothero? What's the scoop on newsblogger?
Does this constitue a post? I sat next to Drew Barrymore last night (at El Teddy's.) She was drunk. Didn't look anything like her.</gossip>
if in need of a good glass of wine in brooklyn heights go to Tinto @ 60 henry st. lots of good wine by the glass!! food needs to move a notch or two up!! they need a sherry list asap!!
A big chemical company wants to sell you an "all natural" solution to clean the chemicals off of your produce. I think this is what they mean by "synergy".
Referring to the last paragraph of dratfink's 7/26, gobs of fyre, I'm a prude, I admit it, but even if I weren't wouldn't those be kinda strong words for a bestselling author of adolescent children's books? Ms. Rowling's suggestion that someday Jesus will suck the greasy cock of the devil seems, I don't know, at least a little inappropriate, a little bitter. Did her mum run off with the clergyman and leave her on the steps of the orphanage?
first museam of flourescent art
Ancient Wine Artifacts on Display at New York Museum
Posted: Thursday, July 27, 2000
By Jacob Gaffney
The Jewish Museum, on Manhattan's Upper East Side, is offering a look at the role of wine in the ancient world. Opening July 30, "Drink and Be Merry: Wine and Beer in Ancient Times" gives visitors a chance to gain insight into winemaking and drinking in early civilizations.
"We wanted to take us into the new millennium with a glass of wine," said Michal Dayagi-Mendels, the curator of the exhibit, which originally opened last summer at Jerusalem's Israel Museum, where she works. "When I first started the exhibition, I knew only white wine, red wine, rosé. But the Talmud talks of 60 different types of wine; Pliny, the Roman historian, mentions 80 types; another writer mentioned 130 types; and so I have learned."
The collection of wine-related artifacts shows that wine served an integral and complicated role in the lives of ancient men and women. The exhibit traces wine from its first appearance, about 8,000 years ago in the mountains of what is now Iran, to iron viticultural tools made in the 6th century B.C.E. (before the Common Era), around the time of the prophet Isaiah, up to Israeli mosaics, from 600 C.E.
A rare find on display is a three-foot-long leather wine flask from the first century, which was used by Jewish rebels fighting Roman occupants. The soldiers would pour the wine from the flask into their drinking water. The alcohol would kill any harmful bacteria in the possibly contaminated water -- making the wine a true lifesaver.
Even one of the Dead Sea scrolls has been rolled out for display, as the ancient Hebrew text describes the proper way to use wine in religious ceremonies.
One would expect to find artifacts such as wineskins used by Jewish rebels and Hebrew scriptures at the Jewish Museum. But what about the guilded silver containers used by the Roman aristocracy or the pottery beer jugs with built-in filters that were placed in the tombs of affluent Egyptians?
"Normally we don't have a statue of Dionysus in the museum," said Susan Braunstein, curator of the Jewish Museum. "But we believe the ancient period is the formative period of Jewish history. This exhibit gives us an opportunity to expand. Obviously, the use of wine is part of that importance."
"Drink and Be Merry" will be shown at the Jewish Museum until Sept. 30. Admission is $8 for adults and $5.50 for students and senior citizens; children under 12 are admitted for free.
# # #
The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Ave. (entrance on 92nd Street)
Hours: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., closed Friday and Saturday.
(212) 423-3200
www.thejewishmuseum.org
As Malaclypse the Younger stated: "Tis an ill wind that blows no minds." (Yes, that link was basically an excuse to post the aphorism.)
Now that the major party conventions have been reduced to media events, the media are no longer interested. I'm thinking there's a message in there, somewhere. Once upon a time, the three networks all provided gavel-to-gavel coverage, suggesting that these were important events, which everyone should watch. In fact, they didn't leave you much choice. Old timers wax nostalgic about smoke filled rooms, public floor fights, and the days when things were actually decided at the conventions. Now it's all scripted in advance, and the networks treat the conventions like unpaid advertising, which is pretty much what they are. I guess PBS and cable will give you more coverage, if you really want it, but the Arianna Huffington fronted Shadow Conventions look to provide a more promising podium.
