Q1 - Next Tuesday: Instead of going to work next Tuesday, if you could spend the entire day doing something else--any one or two things that you absolutely love doing--what would you do?
Q2 - Telecommunications & Privacy: Earlier this week, San Jose, California-based Pudding Media announced the availability of a new service that allows anyone to place free telephone calls from the Web or a cell phone. However, as many "free" offers turn out to be, there is a catch. Pudding Media uses voice recognition software to monitor your calls, and when certain keywords are spoken, timely news, entertainment, and other offers are displayed on your computer or cell phone screen. For example, if you were talking with a friend about an upcoming movie, you may see links to trailers, reviews and show times for nearby theaters. A sports fan talking about her favorite team may see commentary and game statistics on a computer or handset screen. How likely are you to use this service? Does the ability to make free telephone calls entice you enough to open up your conversations to a computer generated voice recognition software program, or does privacy dictate that you would never use such a service?
Q3 - Architecture: Back in the late-1960s, construction began on a six-building structure at the Coronado Naval Amphibious Base near San Diego, California. Designed by a respected architect, the original blueprint consisted of two central buildings and a single L-shaped 3-story barracks. Eventually, the plan called for the L-shaped building to be repeated three times at 90-degree angles from the central buildings. That's right, the United States Navy constructed a series of buildings that when viewed from above, appears to look like a giant swastika--the official emblem of the Nazi party and the Third Reich. (Don't believe me on this one? Fair enough. Google the words "Coronado" and "swastika" and see for yourself. Trust me, I could not make this stuff up even if I tried.) Now, some 40 years later, after fielding requests from the Anti-Defamation League and at least one member of Congress, the Navy plans to spend nearly $600,000 for landscaping and architectural modifications to obscure the fact that the complex looks like a swastika when viewed from above. How do you feel about this? Is the $600,000 expenditure an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars or is this not an issue that deserves our time and money?
Q4 - Magna Carta: Later this year, Sothebyís auction house in New York will present for sale The Magna Carta, the royal document revered as the birth certificate of freedom. This iconic manuscript, dated 1297, is the original charter that enshrined the rights of man into English law, and inspired the passion for liberty that flowered in America in the 18th century and continues around the world today. Quite simply, The Magna Carta is widely considered to be the most famous single document in existence. According to Sotheby's, it is estimated to sell for between $20 and $30 million. How do you feel about items such as The Magna Carta being sold? Do you think historical documents of such significance should be banned from ever being bought and sold? If your knee jerk reaction is that there is nothing wrong with the practice, would you change your mind if oh, I don't know, it was the original version of the Declaration of Independence that was up for sale?
Background: A friend and I just wrapped up an Instant Message conversation that he said I could post here on my blog. Feel free to comment.
My friend (for the sake of anonymity, I'm going to refer to him as Joseph): Being laid off is never a bad thing!
Me (Mikal): Huh, are you serious?
Joseph: I am. It does nothing but push the person to newer heights.
Me: So says you.
Joseph: I am saying this from many times of going through it.
Me: At your level with your skills, perhaps. However, what you say is not true for everyone.
Joseph: It's good for companies to lay people off and it's good for the person (in the long run). If they are having trouble finding a job then they need to fix something in their life, and the layoff is the thing to push them to do it.
Me: Must be nice to be you.
Joseph: Why, to have been laid off so many times?
Me: No, that is not what I meant. What I mean is thisÖ I am at your level (professionally), so for me, what you say rings true. However, not everyone has our skills, vision, and wherewithal.
Joseph: The first time I was laid off was very hard for me, but in the end I was much better off. I was inexperienced, and it was my first real job.
Me: Again, I hear what you are saying, but I think it's awfully foolish and shortsighted to gross generalize on this one, which is what I sense you are doing.
Joseph: Yes I am, you are right. Because I believe it benefits EVERYONE. You cannot blame your life's problems on others.
Me: No one is blaming anyone here! Tell that to someone who is laid off in an economy that is different from ours here in Utah, like in Detroit, Michigan... a front line worker who lives check-to-check and cannot afford the time off to look for something else. Some one who does not have transportation of their own and has to take a bus for three hours a day just to get to work. I am just saying that being laid off is not as easy on everyone or as good thing as you are making it out to be.
Joseph: That person is learning to NOT depend on others for their livelihood . Maybe their lesson is to SAVE money, stay mentally keen and prepared for what the future brings... that is just a fraction of the lessons they will learn--then they get laid off. The bottom line is that everything that happens in life is for our good.
Me: Really, so when a family member dies at the hands of an arsonist, that is for our own good?
Joseph: In the grand scheme of things, yes.
Me: Gross generalizations are bad my friend!
Joseph: God only deals things to his children that he knows we can handle and grow from.
Me: Ahh, now we are getting somewhere. Everything you say is based on faith, not fact.
Joseph: Of course it's faith... and my little experience in life.
Me: There's no possible end to the conversation
Joseph: The only end is... faith in God
Me: It is the "little of life's experiences" that I am challenging you on, yet you have "faith" to back you up when your own experiences do not ring true for every possible situation.
Joseph: Sure it does. Every possible situation that you could encounter in this life is part of what God intended for you, and will do nothing but bring you closer to him if you make the correct decisions.
Me: Again, in this conversation, logic does not apply. I cold say "ABC" and you would reply with something based on faith, and for that I have no answer other than, "you do not know for sure what you speak of," to which you would likely reply, "My faith tells me so."
Q1 - Books and Movies: When a movie that is based on a book is about to be released--like "Into the Wild," which is scheduled to open nationwide in early-October--do you try to read the book first or do you believe in the separation of books and movies?
Q2 - Dancing: Do you feel comfortable dancing in public, like at weddings or holiday parties? If not, would you be willing to take lessons and then try dancing in public, or is the thought of dancing in public just so unappealing that lessons aren't even a possibility?
Q3 - I Want That: If you were able to own or have one thing that a friend, colleague, or neighbor has, what would it be?
Q4 - Public Funds: The senior pastor at an Indianapolis-based Baptist church is publicly objecting the placement of special sinks that would aid Muslims (at the Indianapolis airport) in preparing for prayer because he opposes what he calls "the fraternization with our open enemies during a time of war." The sinks, which are set to be installed near a parking lot where Muslim taxi drivers wait between runs, would aid Muslims in washing their feet in preparation for ritual prayers. Despite what the pastor thinks, do you feel it is appropriate to use taxpayer funds for the support of a single religion?
Q1 - What was I thinking?: What is your most regretted impulse purchase of all time?
Q2 - Staying ahead of the curve: DNA mapping has advanced to the point where it now offers strong clues as to the medical conditions you may develop later in life. Given your current age, would you want to know what the DNA map has in store for you? If you have young children, would you want to know what a DNA test reveals about their future health?
Q3 - Pricing: As a consumer, which item that you purchase and use on a regular basis--aside from gasoline--do you find to be the most ridiculously overpriced?
Q4 - Hourly wages: On this day in 1966, the U.S. federal government raised the minimum wage to $1.40 an hour. Today, the federal minimum wage is $5,85 an hour, with the state of Washington registering the highest minimum wage rate for any of the 50 states ($7.93 an hour). Do you think the current federal minimum wage is too low, just right, or too high? If you think it is too low or high, how much do you think it should it be?
I wonder how many people have seen this (kudos to Byrne at Majordojo for making this available):
From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest, but for us it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.
The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance; the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.
In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994
Carl Sagan (1934 ñ 1996) was an astronomer who truly championed astronomy, astrophysics, and other natural sciences. He also promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and gained world-fame for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which is said to have been seen seen by a half-a-billion, making it the most widely watched PBS television program in history.
MONDAY'S BIG INTERVIEW (#1) -- 10 QUESTIONS FOR THE ROOT BEER GUY
Welcome to Monday's Big Interview (MBI), the first of what I hope will be many interviews exclusive to the BeliBlog. Here, I intend to leverage my curiosity and expand on my passion for the Q&A format by interviewing normal everyday people--and maybe a few well-known people too--who have compelling and extraordinary stories, experiences, and knowledge that demand to be shared.
This week, the inaugural MBI features Scott, "The Root Beer Guy" (sorry, but Scott preferred that I not use his last name). Scott and I met last Wednesday evening at the Timpanogos Table Tennis Club's open play event at the Pleasant Grove Community Center in Pleasant Grove, Utah. After chatting for a few minutes while waiting our turn for a table, Scott and I arrived at that point in the conversation where one (that'd be me) naturally says to the other, "So, do you have a blog?" -- to which Scott replied that he did but, that on account it focuses on the mundane, he didn't feel comfortable sharing it. When pressed to reveal the focus of his blog, Scott offered up that among other things, he blogs about his passion and knowledge for all things related to Root Beer.
Bingo!
Here then is the first MBI... Scott LastNameWithheld answering a few random questions from yours truly about Root Beer. Drink up!
Let's start at beginning. What led to your fascination with Root Beer?
Scott, The Root Beer Guy: 'Fascination' is such a harmless word. I'd prefer something a bit more accurate, like 'psychotic obsession.' I think it was my grandfather who got me started. I want to believe that he was a bootlegger during the Prohibition era, but sadly, he came from average Utah pioneer farming stock. Anyway, he always had root beer at his house. Maybe he slipped a little root-hooch into my bottles when I was an infant. He died several years ago and I have no way of confirming or denying his involvement during the Prohibition.
What ingredients are generally found in Root Beer, and are any of them necessarily bad for us?
Scott, The Root Beer Guy: Root beer used to be made with actual sassafras root, but that was found to cause cancer in rats (like everything else--I think all rats probably get cancer when given anything out of their ordinary diet of garbage). Today, root beers are flavored with some of the same things I listed above (vanilla, honey, wintergreen, anise). I've seen some with a bit of clove and other botanicals. It's a wide-open field for beverage makers, which is great for us drinkers--lots of variety. Some makers are putting sassafras back into their list of ingredients again, which I think is a good sign.
Count 'em down for us, 1 through 10... who makes the best Root Beer in the land?
Scott, The Root Beer Guy: Now we get to the part where my opinion reigns supreme! I have an extremely high opinion of my root beer preferences, if I may say so. However, in the interest of interest, I'm going to give you my top 6 and bottom 4:
Top 6 (first the best):
1. Americana
2. Sprecher
3. Bulldog
4. Howie's (made locally)
5. Ruby River (brewed in-house)
6. IBC
While I consider myself a connoisseur of root beers, I don't have nearly the breadth of exposure as people like Luke (there are many others like Luke out there who: A. Have an unlimited amount of money with which to buy root beer; and B. Have an unlimited amount of time to write about the root beers they try).
I do try to make my comparisons fairly objectively (as objective as one's tastes can be). When trying a new root beer, I'll have a bottle of one that I know fairly well and compare the two sip by sip. This at least gives me the opportunity to say "A is better than B" and list a few reasons why.
The top 6 are just great all-around root beers. Bulldog is a beautifully flavored root beer. It has good honey and its nose feels flowery and warm, and the aftertaste is calming. Howie's is the only local brew in there--it is very sweet and mellow. IBC has a very interesting "peppery" component to it. I like it because it's unique among national brands.
The bottom 4 are likely to be a bit touchy for people. I list them partly because they truly are at the bottom of my list (i.e., I never buy these unless I have no other choices) and partly because they are so prevalent that listing them would make people take notice. People, hear me! There are better root beers out there than the stores are supplying you with--rise up! Fill out the suggestion cards at the front of the store and demand better root beers! (It actually works; several Macey's in Utah Valley are now carrying Sprecher--my "everyday" root beer--after months of suggestion cards by me and other of my ilk.)
Barrel Brothers is made by the same folks who make the fantastic Apple Beer. I don't know how they can make one great drink like Apple Beer, and then one of the worst root beers on the planet. The label is cute and all, but the brew is bad bad bad. Briars tastes like sugar water and wintergreen--no subtlety at all. Very nearly a birch beer, more than a root beer. Henry Weinhards? Let me put it like this: Bulldog is what Henry Weinhards wants to be when it grows up (and gets rid of its urine-like aftertaste--yuck!). A&W can be summarized thus: yet another bland national brand root beer.
If you take any of the bottom 4 and drink them head-to-head with any of the top 6, you'll see what I'm talking about. Really.
Do you ever make your own Root Beer? If so, what do you call it?
Scott, The Root Beer Guy: I sometimes make my own root beer. I've never made it the same way twice, though. I think my best batch was two years ago on the 4th of July. I'd added a little vanilla extract (the real stuff), a little anise, a little honey, a little salicylic acid maybe (that's the wintergreen flavor, for you non-chemists). Maybe not. Anyway, it turned out great, but subsequent attempts haven't all been as good. For example, once I tried a new recipe that used yeast to carbonate. Well, let's just say I put the "beer" in root beer. It was horrible and I've stuck to dry-ice carbonation methods ever since. I'm not a hard-core brewer as I'd like to be.
Regardless of taste, whose root beer is branded better than anyone else's (please don't say "Rootie Tootie Root Beer")?
Scott, The Root Beer Guy: Without question, A&W. Everyone knows it and nobody has ever lost their job for buying it. It's the Microsoft of root beers. If A&W is made fresh (and it's been a long time since I've had it fresh), it's a pretty good root beer. However, the stuff you get at the grocery store in plastic bottles is bland and lacks personality. That said, my Dad prefers it to any of my favorites. I can't explain this discrepancy without causing hurt feelings.
Wine experts all agree: Roasted chicken goes really well with a good cru Beaujolais, like the CÙte de Brouilly from Ch‚teau Thivin. Does the same apply for Root Beer, and if so, what are some of the more remarkable Root Beer and food pairings?
Scott, The Root Beer Guy: Actually, yes. Americana, for example, has a fruity nose (a sharp and sweet hit right when enters your palate). It has a stronger taste that goes well with chicken dishes. However, its stronger taste doesn't work well when eating, say, a beef Szechwan or a curry dish. For those, I like Sprecher, which is mellower and has a soothing effect. It really complements the dish. As a rule, you don't want a root beer to compete with the food, so if you're having a flavorful dish, choose a milder root beer. If you're having something like chicken or pork, go ahead and get a root beer that will take control of the meal.
I'm going to assume that since you live in the Salt Lake City area, you know where to go to get the best frosty mug of Root Beer. Do tell!
Scott, The Root Beer Guy: If I have the craving bad, I go to Ruby River. The food there is unfortunately going the direction of all food chains (all supplied by Sysco or other large food suppliers), but their root beer is fresh and wonderful. Lots of anise (my tastes are changing as I age--I didn't used to like anise that much). Children probably wouldn't like their root beer much because of its stronger flavor.
If you're down in Moab, go to the Moab Brewery and get a half-gallon (just walk to the back of the bar on the left side, where the tap is, and ask for a "growler" of their root beer). The root beer is a bit above average, but you can't beat the freshness and sincerity of it.
Assuming vanilla is the first, what is the second best flavor of ice cream for a Root Beer Float?
Scott, The Root Beer Guy: I'm not a big float person. Sorry! I'll drink them, but that's a ton of sweetness floating in a ton of sweetness--too sweet for me usually.
When I was a kid, someone brought a slice of Root Beer Cake to school. Aside from cake, what else can be made using Root Beer as a primary or secondary ingredient?
Scott, The Root Beer Guy: Boy, you've stumped me again! I'm sure there are some "fascinating" things out there, but I stick strictly to the beverages. Want to talk about ginger ales?
Final Question: How much money would it take for you agree to bathe in a tub of Root Beer?
Scott, The Root Beer Guy: I assume you meant to ask, "How much money would you pay to bathe in a tub of root beer?" I think I'd pay $10 for the experience. I'd even bring my own towel.
Please feel free to comment on today's MBI by clicking on the "Comments" button below. While he may not reveal the name or address of his Blog, I'm sure Scott would be willing to answer your follow up questions. Additionally, the "Comment" feature below allows me to track what you think about the MBI. Feel free to leave suggestions for who should be interviewed next and why.
Q1 - Lying: Are there any circumstances under which you can see yourself lying to law enforcement officials at either the local or national levels?
Q2 - Terrorism: Terrorist monitoring groups here in the U.S. say the al-Qaida terrorist network intends to release a new video recording of Osama bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Laden on or before next week's sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks the Pentagon and World Trade Center. If in fact a recording of bin Laden were made available, would you take the time to watch it?
Q3 - Carded: A few years ago, the state of Maine's Legislature passed a law that requires store clerks to verify the identification of anyone who appears to be under the age of 27 when attempting to purchase tobacco or alcohol. Earlier this week, a 65-year-old woman who went into a Farmington, Maine supermarket to buy wine was turned away because she did not have any ID with her. When the woman asked if her elderly friend could buy the wine for her, she was told no because that would be considered "third-party" purchasing, which is illegal in Maine. If you were working the checkout line when the 65-year-old woman attempted to purchase a bottle of wine, would you have turned her away?
Q4 - Cars: If you could modify one thing about your current car (and no, junking it and starting over would not be an option), how would you make it be different?
