Today's awesome amazing fact

I've often wondered why 100 proof was 50% alcohol. The Bourbon FAQ explains why:

Before the hydrometer became a common instrument of the distiller there existed a method of proofing known as "gunpowder proof". It was a simple procedure and took advantage of readily available "tools". Bourbon and gunpowder were mixed in equal proportions in a small fireproof vessel and ignited. If the flame burned yellow the liquor was too strong, if it burned blue the proof was true. A yellow proofed liquor was mellowed with spring water until it burned blue. The proof of a blue flame spirit was about 100, or 50 per cent.

I have to think there is probably nothing more awesome than taking gunpowder and spirit, mixing it together, and setting it on fire...

Jack in the box

This is old, but I just saw my first Jack in the Box stoner commercial. Apparently this is a series...

Vacation!

Ignorance runs rampant...

Egypt orders slaughter of all pigs over swine flu

Swine flu is blamed for more than 150 deaths in Mexico and U.S. health officials reported on Wednesday the first known death outside Mexico — a 23-month-old Mexican boy in Texas. It has spread to Europe, Asia and Israel, which shares a border with Egypt.

"It is unfortunate," the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Chief Veterinary Officer Joseph Domenech said of Egypt's decision. "The crisis today is in transmission from human to human. It has nothing to do with pigs," he told The Associated Press

human nature

Chiwetel Ejiofor on human nature:

One of the things he's gleaned from his empathetic studies is that, contrary to thespian myth, human beings transform themselves very little. "I think there's an obsession with arc," he says, "the arc of a character, the character's journey - but I don't think people change all that much in the end. I think people have a very primal, immediate nature, and they spend most of their time struggling against it or trying to reconnect with it."

Political gotcha

The Republicans responsible for stripping pandemic flu preparedness from the stimulus package.

I shit you not.

What tortured logic

Unprofessional behavior

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jermaine Jenas has slammed referee Howard Webb after his controversial penalty award in favour of Manchester United on Saturday.

It was a questionable penalty, but a referee must make his decisions based on what he (and his assistants) sees. While the penalty decision was an important moment in the game, Tottenham only have themselves to blame for losing this game (they were still 2-1 up after Ronaldo scored the penalty kick). Looking to blame the referee in this instance is genuinely unsporting.

Equality matters

In Massachusetts, a husband's death shows how important marriage is -- and how absolutely ordinary and accepted same-sex marriage has become

Insomnia and movies

I saw Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels on Hulu last night. Not for the first time. An elegantly constructed crime caper with lots of clever word play and men behaving badly.

I then pulled out Snatch and watched it again for the first time in years. Snatch has more humor, actually. But the denouement is not as satisfying -- one of the charms of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was the unexpected "wtf" factor. For example, when the protagonists discover the knocked out traffic warden in the van they've just nicked.

One of the greatest penalty shoot-outs ever

What an amazing drama.

Texas secession

When Rick Perry talks about Texas seceding from the union we all know what he's talking about, right? After all, the previous two times Texas seceded, it was over slavery.

Racism and Juve

Juventus will be harshly punished following a series of racist taunts launched by Juve fans at Balotelli in this past weekend's Juventus-Internazionale game.

Balotelli is a promising young striker at Inter who has improved and matured quite a bit this season. Next season could be his break-out season (just in time for the World Cup).

Notable managers in the English Premier League

Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United): Considered by many to be the best, however his primary flaw as a manager showed again this year with the expensive purchase of Berbatov. Ferguson has a history of expensive purchases of great players who either do not fit into his tactical schemes or upset team balance. Perhaps next year, with the eventual resolution of the Tevez affair, the Berbatov situation will be resolved. But, Tevez would normally be a better fit for United and has gotten far less playing time than Berbatov.

Rafael Benitez (Liverpool): A tactical master, whose major flaw has been player development. Liverpool has the team depth to sustain a long campaign and yet has played as if it were a much smaller team.

Arsene Wenger (Arsenal): Derided for dumping all of his established players for younger and inexperienced replacements, and strenuously hampered by injury problems, Wenger has fashioned one of the most formidable teams in the English League, several months too late. Wenger is smart, exceptionally shrewd on the transfer market. His flaw is that he does not exert enough discipline on his players. Look for Arsenal to be formidable indeed next season.

David Moyes (Everton): Impressive indeed. A manager who consistently looks to the future and builds for it. Tactically he may be too much of a traditionalist, since their best period of the season was when all of their strikers were injured -- forcing him to adopt a novel attacking strategy. When his strikers returned, Moyes switched to a more traditional attacking model and Everton's fortunes slumped.

Gianfranco Zola (West Ham): His first season at West Ham has succeeded beyond anyone's expectations. Too soon to see what his flaws are, since most of his problems are out of his control.

Martin O'Neill (Aston Villa): A seriously over-rated manager at a club that is desperate for success. Aston Villa's major problem has been lack of depth -- a problem exacerbated by O'Neill's reluctance to rotate players and develop reserves. Given that he pissed away Aston Villa's UEFA cup campaign in order to secure a top four finish and failed miserably to stay in the top four this is a seriously disappointing year for Aston Villa, given the amount of money they spent on the transfer market over the summer.

Roy Hodgson (Fulham): Hodgson has been rebuilding a club that still plays inconsistently and which only last year barely escaped relegation. Hodgson is consistently underrated.

Harry Redknapp (Tottenham Hotspur): I cannot take Redknapp seriously. He left Portsmouth a shambles. Nine-tenths of his success at Tottenham this season has been the departure of Juande Ramos. While smart enough to recognize how good Modric is, why the hell isn't Pavlyuchenko playing more often?

Terry Polis (Stoke City): Stoke City have been playing consistently all season and have had a comfortable year in the Premier League. Next year will determine if they will suffer from second season syndrome, or will be able to build a long term campaign towards glory in the premier league.

Phil Brown (Hull City): If Hull stay up it will be only due to a run of good form at the very beginning of the season. I expect them to go down next year.

Gianfranco to turn West Ham into a monster?

If anyone can do it, it will be Gianfranco, who has proved himself as a manager with vision.

However, his ability to succeed will depend more on the backroom than the field, with West Ham in serious financial difficulty.

Ancelloti to Chelsea?

This looks like a done deal.

An agreement has now been reached with the AC Milan coach, who is understood to have finally made a commitment to leave the San Siro and join Chelsea on a three-year contract.

As part of the negotiations the Italian has been promised the funds to land four high-profile players. The significant spending spree will, also, reaffirm owner Roman Abramovich's commitment after another season of upheaval.

Sir Clement Freud dies

Obviously the man was well-loved, but this paragraph had me laughing:

In 1978 he was in China with the more junior MP, Winston Churchill, the grandson of the former prime minister. When Churchill was given the best room in a hotel because of his family, Freud said it was the first time in his life that he had been "out-grandfathered".

Follow-up

Follow-up to yesterday's post about lung cancer and smoking, if the government was really serious about reducing cancer risk in smokers, it would subsidize nicotine patches (or gum) and push for them to replace cigarettes as a drug delivery system.

The future of the military

Gates is taking advantage of the piracy situation in Somalia (hug your mother, everyone) to change the future direction of the US military. This is another step in a push that started with the budget unveiling to radically alter the future of the United States as a global power.

Right now, it is looking like Obama knew exactly what he was doing when he asked Gates to stay on as Secretary of Defense.

A tough call?

"It must have been a tough call for Rush, deciding what he loves more: guns or CEOs. But I guess we now have our answer."