I came across this great idea while reading through some new blogs. It’s an advertisement on the sides of buses that promotes the bus as an attack vehicle against global warming. It’s a no brainer really. A full bus, or even a train or streetcar, is using less energy per rider than a car, even if the car was a carpool of 4 people. This means less emissions, less greenhouse gases, less cars on the road, and less noise pollution. More people using public transit will also likely lead to governments (local, state, and federal) giving more funding for transit systems. This would lead to better urban development and less suburban sprawl. It would reduce our dependence on oil. There are a ton of reasons why people should get out of their cars and onto the bus/train/streetcar.
Archive for July, 2008
The schedule was posted for the Newport Folk Festival. I now have to figure out who I want to see. Perhaps some of you readers know some of the acts and can point me in the right direction.
I plan on seeing the Cowboy Junkies, Trey (if he plays Runaway Jim, I will cream in my pants), and the Black Crowes on the first day. I want to see both Richie Havens and Jakob Dylan, so I’ll likely watch half of each.
The second day is more confusing… I know I’m going to check out Levon Helm (The Band is probably my favorite group ever, aside from Phish, of course), though I will check out the first half of the Son Volt set, and I know we’ll end up at the Buffett set, completely skipping the Avett Brothers to hopefully scout out a good seat for Jimmy (pun intended).
This is my first music festival ever. I wish they had set times the same for each stage, and no overlapping sets (though I guess that’s so they don’t end up with set breaks on all 3 stages at the same times). If any of you readers wouldn’t mind taking a look at the schedule and give your suggestions in the comments, I’d greatly appreciate it. When I have the time, I plan on looking up each of the artists and figuring out who sounds the most interesting.
I suppose I should also print out a copy of the schedule to bring with me so I know who it is I’m watching. Anyway, thanks in advance for the suggestions (Jenny, I’m hoping you actually read this and make some suggestions).
Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank introduced a bill today that would allow possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana. He obviously met with some opposition, mostly from Republicans and the DEA (who would lose a big part of their job). This is a step in the right direction. Many more people are arrested for marijuana possession than are for violent crimes. The taxpayers have spent too much money fighting a losing battle in this war on drugs, especially when it comes to marijuana. The laws against marijuana are some of the most destructive laws on the books today. If someone is arrested for simple possession, even if he serves no jail time, he can lose his job, his affordable housing, his welfare benefits, or financial aid for college. The Republicans, who fight for smaller government, want more government oversight on this. How ironic. They choose their stances only when it suits them.
Anyway, the time is now. This is an important bill. Call, write, contact your representatives in the House and urge them to support HR 5843.
More information at CNN and NORML.
As a kid, I used to watch Mr. Rogers religiously. I loved the show. In fact, I still think it’s a great show. Mental Floss (via CNN) has a nice article with 15 reason why he was the best neighbor. Among the reasons are his unwavering tolerance, his genuine interest in people, and his sweaters (which apparently were all hand-knitted by his mother… my grandfather, whom I loved dearly, had a thing for cardigan sweaters as well). The article is a great read. I grew up watching his show and, if it’s on DVD, will likely share it with my kids (if I ever have any). Today’s children’s television just isn’t the same as what used to be on PBS when I was young.
Friday night, it was hot and I wanted something refreshing. I cracked open my bottle of Rock Art’s Sunny and 75. It’s classified by BeerAdvocate as a Saison, and that’s exactly what it was (the label said “ale brewed with spices”). The beer pours a fairly clear grassy yellow/amber color. It smells of spices and malts with a little yeast. The taste is crisp and refreshing. It’s got a nice crisp spiciness to it with a little malty sweetness to balance it out. It’s got a slight bready flavor, though I didn’t pour any of the yeast into the glass. It’s a perfect beer for a hot summer afternoon.
This afternoon (since I’m not going anywhere), I cracked open Rock Art’s IPA (II) Double IPA. I didn’t have high hopes for it as their regular IPA is pretty lackluster, but I was surprised. It pours a dark cloudy amber with a nice white head. It smells of hops and nothing but hops. The hops dominate the flavor as well, but it’s got a nice malt balance to it. The hops seem to be a mix of pine and grapefruit. It’s got a nice thick oily mouthfeel, yet it’s quite drinkable. I’m impressed.
One last note, and this is nothing in depth. Susan had her bottle of Arcadia’s Scotch Ale on Friday. I took 1 sip and enjoyed that sip. I can’t really say much else other than that it’s worth a try.
The title should be “What is up with music sites and lack of RSS?” I’m in the process of extending my regular web reading material outside the beer/Providence world and since I do have a thing for music, I was hoping to add some feeds to Google Reader. I started with phish.com and clicked the RSS link they have on their news page. It brings up a blank page. I wrote to the webmaster to have it fixed because I want to be kept updated on any new developments in the Phish reunion thing. I then went to Jambands.com as there are a couple columns there that I enjoy reading. No sign of RSS at all. To continue down the Phish reunion thing, I checked the Phantasy Tour Phish page for the news and rumors links and again, no sign of RSS. Finally, I went to Relix (knowing they do have feeds) and subscribed to their daily news and rumors feeds (the others just point to articles that are actually in the magazine, which I get at home).
Why is it, in this day and age of information flying at people, that some websites, posting constant updates, don’t have (working) RSS feeds? Can someone answer this for me?
Are there any music feeds that I should start reading? Things I enjoy… Phish, new bands, Providence/RI area bands, or just about anything (see my music links on my Links page for a good idea of the type of music I like).
Susan and I decided to check out Doherty’s East Ave. Irish Pub last night after hearing about it from some our beer buddies and reading some of the reviews on BA. All I have to say is “Wow!” The place is very unassuming… well, not true. It’s very assuming. It looks like a dive sports bar that serves nothing but light beer (though the big “Firkin Wednesdays” sign on the back of the building kind of gives it away). The inside has all sorts of random stuff on the walls from sports stuff (lots of Red Sox crap) to beer stuff to music stuff, as well as a bunch of local stuff. In front is the bar area, which was packed with people. The back has a bunch of tables and is more like a restaurant (and quieter), though there was a projector showing the Mets game last night.
The beer menu is the placemat. The front has a list of what’s on tap (looked to be 30-40 taps), along with their firkin tapping schedule. On either side is the new stuff (bottles and draft) and the stuff that’s almost gone (again, bottles and draft). I thought that was a nice touch. The back had the bottle list, which I would put at over 100. The majority of the beer was craft beer. In fact, aside from a few bigger imports (like Guinness), the draft beer was all craft beer. I ordered a Rogue Imperial IPA and Susan got the summer Odd Notion from Magic Hat (the grapefruit sour ale we tried at the brewery).
The food menu was impressive and had a wide range of stuff from traditional pub fare to some interesting pasta dishes and a bunch of wraps. I ordered the Rasta Pasta, which was basically a Caribbean-style pasta dish with jerk chicken and a chipotle sauce. It had quite the kick. Susan got the Pasta Jordan, which was basically a Bolognese style pasta dish. Both came with garlic bread. The portions were huge, but the food was excellent. While we were waiting for the food, the waitress brought us some corn muffins, which were also really good.
If you’re in the Providence-Pawtucket area, check out Doherty’s. It’s worth a stop and, in my opinion, the best beer bar in the state. Even if they don’t have all the Belgian beers that Track 84 does, they got the food (and I’m biased towards the crazy American beers anyway).
The past 3 nights I had a bomber. I shared most of them with Susan (though tonight was all me, which could lead to some typos).
Two nights ago, I had Infusco from Rock Art, one of the bombers I brought back from Vermont. It’s a Belgian-style dark ale (or strong dark ale, I’m not looking it up right now). It was quite different. It was good, just different. It had a flavor to it that I couldn’t place and have never had in a Belgian dark or strong dark before. It was a malty beer with a nice mouthfeel and brown in color. I liked it. Susan liked it. It was 2 nights ago and I just finished a whole bomber of YuleSmith, making it hard to recall. If you see it, try it. It’s worth at least a try.
Last night, we split the bottle of Old Rusty’s Red Rye Ale, the latest in Harpoon’s 100 Barrel Series. I wasn’t impressed. It had a slight spiciness from the rye, but nothing overwhelming. It lacked a hops character and even the malt was kind of weak. It was a fairly weak beer all around. I had tried this on tap on our honeymoon at Mr. Pickwick’s. The bartender was nice enough to give me a sample. It was much better on tap than in the bottle. It’s still worth a try, mainly because it’s local and something a bit different than the norm.
Tonight, I had (as I said before), YuleSmith from AleSmith. This is their winter version that came out around Christmas. I picked it up at Julio’s last Friday. The beer is absolutely wonderful. It’s a Double IPA, and a really good one at that. It pours a nice deep amber color with a nice head (my head was huge on this one and I poured slow, even after pouring my second glass almost an hour later, it was a good sized head). The aroma was of nothing but pure unadulterated hops. It was bliss. The beer was perfectly balanced with a lot of hops character. It had a nice oily mouthfeel, but was very drinkable. I’m pretty buzzed, but I wouldn’t have known I would be this way while I was drinking it (had I not looked at the bottle to see the alcohol content). AleSmith is one of those breweries I need to try more often. I have 2 of their beers in my cellar right now. I should open them. Perhaps I can talk Susan into splitting a barleywine with me soon (I have Old Numbskull waiting to be cracked).
I need to read more. I have a bunch of blogs and other feeds that I read daily through Google Reader (I use that because it’s nicely incorporated into my iGoogle and I get my feeds at any computer). I’m looking to expand. What do you read and why? What should I be reading and why? Post your answers in the comments.
To avoid duplicates, here’s the list of my subscriptions:
- Andy Crouch’s Beer Scribe
- beernews.org
- Seen Through a Glass (Lew Bryson)
- The Beer Brotha
- The Brew Basement
- I Can Has Cheezburger?
- I Has a Hot Dog
- Pundit Kitchen
- a singing smile
- Boing Boing
- Boing Boing Gadgets
- Consumerist
- GC:PVD
- George Krueger
- Lifehacker
- Projo Subterranean Homepage News
- Providence Daily Dose
- RI Nexus Blog
- Sean-Ward.com
- simplehuman|blog
- Slashdot
- Spin Cookie
- xkcd.com
In addition to those, I regularly read Sluggy Freelance, User Friendly, and Sinfest. As you can see, they fall into various categories. I have my beer reading, my Providence stuff, my tech stuff, my random stuff, some friends, some fun stuff, and some life stuff. Post what you read, any topic, doesn’t matter. I’ll likely check it out and it might make it to my daily reading.
Last night I had one of the two beers from Great Divide that I have yet to try, St. Bridget’s Porter. It’s one of those that I thought was only available at the brewery or in Colorado. However, after stopping at Julio’s, and seeing they had some, I picked up a bottle. It pours a thick (for a porter) dark mahogany color with a small tan head. It smells of nice roasted malts with a slight hint of coffee. From the first sip, I knew this would be a good one. It’s more of those roasted malts with a nice coffee bitterness and a hint of chocolate in the back. It’s a bit heavy for a porter, but that doesn’t ruin it. It’s an awesome porter, one that I told Mike at Nikki’s that he needs to carry.
Tonight, I had a bottle of Flying Dog Double Dog Pale Ale. It’s a high intensity version of their Doggie Style Pale Ale, though it’s actually a double IPA. It pours a dark amber (and unfortunately, I got some chunks). It smells of malty sweetness, some fruitiness and a hint of hops. This DIPA is all about the malts, but it does a good job with it. It’s a bit fuller bodied than most in its class and it’s got just enough hops to balance the malts. It has a nice sweet fruity flavor with grapefruity hops. It’s nice and oily in the mouth and absolutely wonderful. This is a great DIPA.
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