Hey Dan

I am not a democrat as such but I like what Clinton said last night. He is a very good public speaker with an accessible way of framing issues.

“The president had a great opportunity to bring us together under his slogan of compassionate conservatism and to unite the world in common cause against terror.

Instead, he and his congressional allies made a very different choice: to use the moment of unity to push America too far to the right and to walk away from our allies, not only in attacking Iraq before the weapons inspectors finished their jobs, but in withdrawing American support for the Climate Change Treaty, the International Court for war criminals, the ABM treaty, and even the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. “ – Bill Clinton

“Twenty-eight months have passed since September 11th, 2001 -- over two years without an attack on American soil. And it is tempting to believe that the danger is behind us. That hope is understandable, comforting -- and false. The killing has continued in Bali, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Mombasa, Jerusalem, Istanbul, and Baghdad. The terrorists continue to plot against America and the civilized world. And by our will and courage, this danger will be defeated.” – George Bush

These two statements sum up my feelings about the two men. Bush’s way of framing the issue is vague and a little paranoid. Clinton is direct. This is what made Clinton a good politician. I think the current Democratic party could learn a great deal from him about that.

Now I know he did that lying thing, but he lied about sex. Bush lied about being in the Air National Guard and doing cocaine. More important I think he miss lead us as to his intentions.

George W. Bush sharply attacked Vice President Al Gore today as a Democratic throwback to an old era who would bring the nation "spending without discipline, spending without priorities and spending without an end." New York Times - November 2, 1999

Now I do not think anyone can say Bush has spent with discipline.

Funniest Web site from the convention:
billionaires for bush

Best joke:
.... If bush get elected this time does Gore get to be president?

Posted by Dan at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A couple of weeks ago we had this dinner For Wine shark’s birthday. It was amazing, five courses and a bottle of wine that went with each course. The two of use were talking on Saturday about doing it again. We had gone to a wine tasting and while talking about what we thought of each wine we kept mentioning what food it would go with.

Wine and food do this thing, Wine Shark calls it ‘magic,’ it is when the taste of a wine and the taste of the food combine to make a completely new taste. For the dinner, a wine was selected that complimented each of the courses.

I played this trick on the Carbonated Girl on Friday night. She and the Dark Side girl were over and she was eating an espresso brownie. I gave her a drink of the Warren’s LBV I was drinking. It is a smooth sweet port type wine that played off the chocolate. This is part of the fun of wine.

So on Sunday K and I went cookbook shopping. A good cookbook is a great thing. Nevertheless, unfortunately there are many bad ones. A few rules for a good cookbook:
1) Pictures are good. I want to see how it should look. This both helps me get an image of what I am trying to do and how I will present it on a plate.
2) Talk about the technique of what you are doing. I do not need to have sauté define for me, however I would like to know how much crunch you leave. In the end, I will find my own way to make this dish, but teach me a new technique for doing some thing and it may show up in many dishes.
3) Write clearly. This is not poetry. I am going to be reading this in my kitchen while trying to create something new. More often then not, while running late to make dinner for some special occasion. Remember I not Martha, you are lucky if read the recipe before hand.
4) Avoid lumping ingredient together, for example dry goods. Say Flower, Salt, Baking Soda blah blah. You can see where I am going with this….
5) Give alterative for hard to find ingredients. The local grocery stores my not carry leaks, shallots, or even five-spice powder. Knowing what could be used as a substitute will make this recipe more accessible.

Wine and food are the stuff of life. I learn this at a very young age from my both my parents and my godparents. My father started my love of cooking, Mom taught me how to do the basics, and my godparents showed me how good wine, food and people make life rich.

Posted by Dan at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I had a nice birthday. Pat, Allen and Novie took me out for barbecue and video games. First, we went to Papa’s for the beef ribs of wow, then to Dave and Busters for video game fun. They have some games that confuse me. Like the golf game, why would you play a golf game? Will they not let you play golf? They will not let me race Ferraris, shot aliens, or use sniper rifles. Therefore, those video games make sense. Anyway, I had a fun..

Posted by Dan at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was asked for a list of things I want. Here is what I came up with.

Surf Punk “My Beach” - Audio CD
Tumbler Glasses - Clear glass with a thick bottom
Nice Set Poker Chips - Clay 9 gram 150 white, 100 blue, 100 red, 50 black
Tetris – for the PS2

I think I just sum'd up my life... wow.

Posted by Dan at 02:54 PM | Permalink

Today I am 36 years old. I have never been big on birthdays. I can count on one hand the number of times I remember doing something for my birthday.

Other this happened on this day. I started at the Fort Worth Zoo on this day thirteen years ago. That was the same day Jeffery Dahmer was caught. A year before that I went bowling with the person who would become my best friend. In 1934 outside Chicago's Biograph Theatre, notorious criminal John Dillinger--America's "Public Enemy No. 1"--is killed in a hail of bullets. 1376 - The legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin leading rats out of town is said to have occurred on this date. Then last year Saddam Hussein's sons Odai and Qusai died after a gunfight with U.S. forces and a fire broke out near the top of the Eiffel Tower.

So all of that and I was born. So what has happened to you today?

Posted by Dan at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

K is still in Germany. I miss her a lot. It is weird not having her around; I seem to have so much time. It does not seem that we spend that much time around each other. When I think back it seems like we spend one or two nights a week together. This week, it seems that every night I have been waiting for her to get back. I have been doing quite a bit of stuff, but I spend a lot of time missing her…. sigh

Posted by Dan at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today is humble day. I set my alarm last night so that I could get to work early today. Instead got up late and spent the majority of this morning talking about very impressive subjects with my shirt inside out. Sigh… apparently I need a dose of humility.

Posted by Dan at 09:17 AM | Permalink

They say it offends God. The Rev. Scott Breedlove (no, I not making fun of his name) and the congregation of the Jesus Church of Cedar Rapids Iowa want to have a book burning. Yes, an old fashion book burning. Fortunately, the fire department put the kibosh on it.

I am in favor of free speech and this is free speech. Therefore, I am in favor of it. I am not going to point out that the idea of burning book brings up Germany in the 30�s visions. As long as it is not the government burning books. If a private citizen wants to burn book in the privacy of their own home or even on TV, I am willing to allow them to make this statement.

Now, I could bring up the issue of what affect it could have on our children. Teaching them that destroying a work of thought and creativity that does not conform to your ideas is fine. That is as long as God says it is all right. I will not argue that for many people the image of this ceremony preludes the act of being rounded up and killed. Naturally, it offends the values my family taught me. Nevertheless, this is America and here you are free to speak your mind.

After all, it is only right to destroy what offends God. The fact that most everyone can be said to offend someone�s version of God should not get in the way of this good old fashion symbol of ignorance and hate. I mean God is a big omnipotent being with plenty of patients for this kind of thing. People have been destroying, stealing and killing in his name for some time. One more random act of misplaced faith will be sure to cheer him right up.

Since I am being so tolerant about their book burning, I am sure they will not mind me taking advantage of some of my fist amendment rights. Say by using the F*** word on TV? What do you say? It was the Church that made up the word, surly God could not be offended by anything the Church made up. Or how about showing naked bodies� God made those; they could not offend, could they?

Instead, maybe we could use our freedom to talk to each other. Talk about what is in those books and CD�s. We could talk about why words of hate and intolerance are not that best way to change minds. How we care about what each other really think and feel. How those things are the real nature of faith in all of its forms. You put your matches away and I invite you to break bread and talk. What do you say Rev. Scott?

Posted by Dan at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

On this day 1793 Charlotte Corday assassinates Marat. Jean Paul Marat, one of the most outspoken leaders of the French Revolution, is stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday, a Royalist sympathizer.

Much latter in history my good friend Allen was born on the same day. hmmmm...

Here is to you Allen.

Posted by Dan at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I know I am beating a dead horse here but... There is new viruses written every day or more to the point hacked versions of old ones. Remember to keep up with your security patches and do not open suspicious email attachments. Why am I bringing this up? Well one of the people who have my email in their address book has WORM_BAGLE.AD.

This afternoon, I got a bounced email from someone I did not send an email too. The bounce was due to an “Attachment type not allowed.” It was to an Alberto. I have no idea who he is. Therefore, I checked it out. The email format matches the WORM_BAGLE.AD (subject line and SMTP parameters). That is probably what happened.

So take a moment and make sure you are up to date with security updates and do a virus scan.

Free Virus Scan from Trend Micro

Posted by Dan at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

MSN this morning has a most romantic couples list. Looking it over I was freaked out by our vision of love. Half of the couples end up apart or dead. Four have infidelity issues. Of the men, only three have not attacked or killed some on in anger. The women are not much better, five of them lied about their relationship, four of those too the man in the relationship.

1. Rick Blaine & Ilsa Lund from Casablanca
2. Romeo Montague & Juliet Capulet from Romeo & Juliet
3. Westley and Buttercup from The Princess Bride
4. Lloyd Dobler & Diane Court in Say Anything
5. Harry Burns & Sally Albright from When Harry Met Sally
6. Charles & Carrie from Four Weddings and a Funeral
7. Laszlo de Almasy & Katharine Clifton from The English Patient
8. William Shakespeare & Viola De Lesseps from Shakespeare in Love leaves
9. Christian & Satine from Moulin Rouge

Posted by Dan at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

My faithful readers, friends, and compatriots the world is once again in peril. I was having dinner with some friends last night and an interesting subject came up. The subject is very near and dear to my heart. The subject was romance, more specifically the romance of wine corks. The noble wine cork is in danger.

Wine is a growing industry with 30% sales increase over the last decade. In the wine industry, wine taint will effect between 5-10% of wines over a period of time. Wine taint is the musty or moldy odor that can spoil an otherwise fine wine. In natural cork, TCA is the problem. TCA is 2,4,6-trichloroanisole a fungus-produced compound that grows in cork fiber. Now if this does not seem like a lot, imagine Coke or Pepsi letting 10% of their product spoil before opening. The other problem is oxidation; the natural process that turns wine to vinegar; corks letting oxygen into a bottle can case this.

Kendall-Jackson plans to bottle the 2004 vintage of its Pepi brand with a Stelvin closure, also know as a screw top. Screw top closures are superior in keeping and aging wine. Now there is some debate on this subject, but most agree, screw top wine last better over long periods of time.

Therefore, corks are bad. Not really, most Americans drink wine within a shortly after purchasing it. Wine taint for these consumers is not a big problem for most consumers the numbers are 1-2%. Synthetic cork and better quality control of natural wood corks show real promise in both TCA and oxidation.

If you get a bottle that has gone bad, you know it right off. Yes, you may lose the amount of money you spent of that bottle of wine. But, for that price you get the pop of a cork in 99 other bottles of wine.

Opening a bottle of wine is an art. It is hard to get right and sometimes it goes wrong. The things that go wrong are all part of the character of wine. Yes the romance. It has little value to the product of wine, but life is not about value. Wine is a wonderful world of mystery and romance. Pulling a cork is part of that romance and opening a screw cap is not the same.

Now there is a compromise. The Saint Frances winery uses synthetic corks. It does not solve all the problems. In addition, it has not been tested for wines that need to be laid down over many years. This is a compromise solution. Use synthetic corks in wines that are meant to be dunk shortly after bottling and use natural corks in cellar wine. Screw cap can still be used on all ketchup bottles.

Long time readers may remember the long rant I did about naming ship after women. This is another one of those things. I believe that my desire to retain the romance of opening a bottle of wine is more important then being a ‘smart’ shopper.

More information soon on Glen's Wineshark.com site.

Posted by Dan at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Hey Gang,

A really good friend of mine you may or may not know would like to invite you to the opening of WineShark.com. This is his web site devoted to his favorite things, namely wine, food, computer games, and sharks.

Wine Shark

So stop by and show him some love. I live and die by his wine picks.

Posted by Dan at 04:14 PM | Permalink

A million pennies saved, nothing earned -CNN

This CNN story highlights something I believe is a principle of our economic system. That government issued currency is legal tender for all debts public and private. What this means is if I owe you a Diet Coke I can pay you in the $.50 it would cost to buy one. The principle is that government issued money cannot be declined as a form of payment.

This brings up a couple of legal questions. One is the one from the story. How can 10,000 of US currency be worth less the 10,000? These are legal tendered coin of the US; you should be able to buy a car with them without being charged extra for not paying in $100 bills. I know it cost more to make transactions in pennies, but what happens when dimes, quarters, or even dollars reach this point? The principle is same…in our treasury system a penny is worth 1/100th of a dollar, no more, no less. The US mint not accepting that fact is disturbing.

The second question it these signs “No bill over $20 Accepted” and “No pennies.” How can one currency be accepted and not another? The idea of all debts public and private is that I have assurance that if I have a $50 bill in my pocket I know I can us it any where US currency is accepted and by law that is at least anywhere in the US. This sign says that not only is my $50 bill not worth the same as two $20 bills and a $10, but it is in fact worthless. This idea comes to a head at vending machines. Have you ever faced a vending machine that wants $.50 for a Diet Coke and you are standing there with a billfold full of $20 bills it will not accept. This is when I think our monetary system has really lost touch.

I understand accepting 3.6 tons of pennies for a $10,000 debt is a pain, but that is a principle of out monetary system. If the penny is out of date, retire it. Lincoln is still on the $5, he will not mind. Even the IRS is rounding things to the nearest whole dollar for federal taxes. Now I am not anti penny, I just think that if it is 1/100th of a dollar then 50 of them should be able to buy a Diet Coke.

--- What the law says ---

The pertinent portion of law that applies to this question is the Coinage Act of 1965 Section 102. It can also be found in section 392 of Title 31 of the United States Code.

The law says:

"All coins and currencies of the United States, regardless of when coined or issued, shall be legal-tender for all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, duties and dues."

What this statute means is all United States money is a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. The Diet Coke vending machine is getting this loophole though.

Posted by Dan at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)