Month / September 2003

by tom

Adding Spice to the Gin Market

Fortune had an article last week about making gin a little more popular with the younger crowd… Some descriptions of new gin brands are included, such as Beefeater’s new “Wet” brand (site can be found here, though not yet running).

As alcohols are ending up with flavors abound recent, and brands like Grey Goose even stepping in the mix with Vanilla and Orange flavors, can the old standby gin play alongside them? We’ll see as the new brands show up and your bartenders start coming up with new gin-based drinks.

by tom

Moussaoui Charges to be Dropped???

I don’t know how I hadn’t heard that charges were to be dropped against Zacharias Moussaoui, the alleged “20th terrorist” as related to the 9/11 attacks… Thanks to Mitch Ratcliffe over at correspondences.org for posting about it yesterday… He links to this release (no pun intended) over at the Department of Justice. So it looks like they’ll drop the charges, then they THINK they’ll be able to have another shot at Moussaoui through a valid appeal process against him having access to the folks down at Guantanamo Bay’s Camp X-Ray.

That is, unless one of these unconstitutional-ass judges who just deuced the Do Not Call registry gets a hold of the case. Sorry, but my optimism falls out the window when it reaches certain individuals in the legal system – probably too many episodes of Law & Order or something… And yes, I’m using “deuced” to mean “ditched, got rid of, threw out” or whatever you want to use it as. Write it down, perhaps it’ll make the dictionary one day.

by tom

No Cheese, dammit!

Peter Shaplen over at correspondences.org has an article from yesterday about “noise,” and the apparent increase in it, and its effects. He uses a perfect example which we can all relate to – you talk and people answer with another question, which completely contradicts what you said. Less is More is the theme of the article, and his first ponderance is my favorite thing to rant on – that cheese is the default.

Fine – a lot of people like cheese – maybe most people like cheese. I don’t really care. Why is it the default? I don’t like it on my burgers, I don’t like it on my sandwiches, I don’t like it on anything, really – I take it off my pizza a lot. Part of it is that I’m a bit lactose intolerant, part of it is that it’s nasty. To me, at least. Probably because I know what it is, partially because the consistency of it skeeves me out. Like Mayo. Who thought that was a good idea?

If I order a HAMBURGER, I want a HAMBURGER. You have an option for cheeseburger. It shouldn’t take longer to get a hamburger than a cheeseburger, because you made more with cheese. You made more with cheese because you want to drive more revenues, and since cheeseburgers are more expensive, look what you did. People don’t listen, I firmly believe this. When you order something, and explicitly state what you want on your meal, i.e no onions, or that you’re allergic to nuts or something, and then it comes out the opposite way – they either wrote down that you DID want that thing, because they’re in the habit of doing so – or they weren’t listening at all. Who konws. All that’s important is, someone needs to either a> shut up and listen or b> change the way that people are taught to listen in general. Perhaps they’re the same solution – who cares – all I’d really like is some reality in this world, and maybe this is a good first step. Upselling is one thing – not hearing is another.

by tom

Segways Get the Boot?

Looks like ginger, which we all know and love as the Segway, has been sent back to its maker by the U.S. Government after some reports of folks falling off of them. The MSNBC article here has a photo of George W. Bush falling off of one, which a lot of folks caught on the Internet. If you happen to have a Segway (because you know everyone has one), you’re instructed to give them a call and a software upgrade can fix the problem. How do you think that works? Do you ship it back to them and front the money, or does the Segway Repair man come out and take care of it? I mean, shouldn’t Segway be calling you? How many could be out there, seriously? JMHO.

[update: some quality comments at MetaFilter, and a different article link than MSNBC…]

by tom

Bring us your souls!

Looks like getting rid of your soul has finally come to fruition. With the release of WWYS corporation’s wewantyoursoul.com website. Here, you get run some calculations to find out your soul’s worth, and even compare to your friend’s souls. Make sure to read the terms and conditions, as it looks like retirement might be out of the question, as the monthly payments would come to and end… Bummer. [via The Agitator]

by tom

Simply Unbelievable

Singer Robert Palmer, 54, has died of a heart attack in Paris today. Palmer, famous for his identically dressed girls playing in his “band” in his music videos, had hits with “Addicted to Love”, and “Simply Irresistable”, among others. Just heard this over the radio a few minutes ago. Sometimes these things really do seem to happen in threes, don’t they – with Johnny Cash, John Ritter, and now Palmer within weeks of one another.