Um, how could they tell?

Drinkers sue Anheuser-Busch for 'watering down' beer, over at the BBC.  Oh really?  And someone noticed, or did it require a custom order to ORTEC for instrumentation sensitive enough to discern this minor difference?

OK, I'll stow the smartassery and go pour myself another Jefferson Stout.  Yes, pour myself one at home.  It now comes in a bottle.  Tastes about like it does on tap, maybe not quite as rich, but perfectly acceptable.  Good job, Lazy Mag!

Why can't we get a radio station like this?

Radio Hauriki, New Zealand.  Yes, they have a streaming webcast, just click on the "Listen" link.

Scan over at the last half-dozen or so songs played just now:
Rollover DJ - Jet
Are You In? - Incubus
Daughter - Pearl Jam
Handwritten - The Gaslight Anthem
I Remember You - Skid Row
Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Hold On - Alabama Shakes
Look, I'm not saying this is exactly 100% my music, or that it's perfectly new and innovative, or that it's All That.  It's just that it's not yet another oldies station, it's not yet another country-pop station, it's new-ish music, and their musical programming is not selected by cabal of angry 15 year olds.  (Yeah, on that last one I'm talkin' to you 97.9 WCPR.)  And as a bonus, their web site doesn't look or load like it was designed during the Clinton administration – "Optimized for Netscape!"

Well, I can stream'em at home, but I can't take'em on the road with me.  It would be a change for the better to have a listenable station around here that I don't have to stream, wait for nightime skywave, or pull out the antenna design book to receive.

Freekin' New Zealand, they've got everything.  Hell, they've even got Hobbiton these days.

Cool tool/toy: 3Doodler

Nothing more or less than a genuine 3-D pen.  That's pretty cool.

Caution: (1) Do not use 3Doodler while drinking tequila.  Attempting to operate 3Doodler while drinking tequila may result in four-dimensional perception, objects, and/or travel.  Advanced techniques such as this should be left to skilled professionals.  (2) Do not attempt to draw tesseracts in or near fault zones with 3Doodler.  Narrow but humorous escapes may result.

Told you it wasn't me.

No, the UFOs over Apalachicola last week turned out to be something else: fire balloons.  See?  All solved now.

Bird's Nest

I couldn't quite get the full bowl shape from any camera angle, but it's there.

Sep's doing alright, and thanks to the miracle of antihistamines so am I.

Reason #872 why Zimbabwe sucks.

Police bans distributing of shortwave radios.

Imagine, not only your freedom to openly speak gone, but even the freedom to listen wiped out.  As long as this crap goes on, that country's never getting anywhere.

Easy trick for anyone in elected office: whenever a tough decision comes around, check how Zimbabwe has managed a similar situation.  Then do the opposite.

ps: a quick caution to my numerous readers in Zimbabwe.  You might want to check this historical note.  Too bad this reputable suppler is currently out of stock, but I'm sure y'all can rig up something suitable.

At the corner of Punk and Country.

At the corner of Punk and Country, catty-corner to the Little Metal Shop of Horrors, there exists a genre known as hellbilly, with none other than Hank Williams III as its lead proponent.  You should give it a try, at least for a half-dozen freebie songs over at youtube.

What a wonderfully weird time we live in.