Radio waves

Has anyone noticed that the radio has been coming in really poorly today? Anyone?

Well, it has. And I've spoken with other people who confirm my observation.

I spoke with a hippie once who said it must be because Mercury was in retrograde. That, in the world of astrology anyways, will make electronics malfunction.

I need to go home and make myself a tin foil helmet now. Sorry, gotta go.

San Francisco Homicide Map

From our friends at www.sfgate.com comes a homicide map fo 2007/2008 in San Francisco.

Enjoy.

Winter Beer Tasting at the Jug Shop

I like beer. Beer is good.

I subscribe to the email newsletter for www.thejugshop.com in San Francisco. They do wine and beer tastings regularly which is great because I think the beverage needs to be paired well with a meal. After all, the beverage is half of getting it right.

They do a great job. Their people are knowledgeable, friendly, and they don't skimp on the pours. They have open my up to some great things.

I met a guy here who wrote a book "Red, White, and Brew" named Brian who I was able to geek out with about the beer. His website is www.beerodyssey.com and you should check it out.

Yelp's Holiday Party

The Yelp holiday party at San Francisco's Exploratorium was off the hook! This was the lighted signage that illuminated the entrance.

They had live bands in the front, a DJ in the back, and two open bars... What more do you want?

Cheer SF? Well, Cheer SF was there too!

Ass Monkey

What an ass-monkey here, in Oakland, shining in all his element. Doesn't he know that you can't take two parking places unless you drive the CL "63"?

Fat Americans - again

Just in time to make us even more fat and lazy, in a promotion between TiVo and Domino's Pizza, broadband subscribers will no longer need to put down the remote control to order their pie.  To add annoying to fattening, the Wall Street Journal reports here that, "When a customer forwards through a commercial for Domino's, TiVo will flash a pop-up advertisement that asks the customer if she would like to order a pizza, then direct her to a Domino's ordering screen."

Yeesh.

Plastic, it's the future

I was listening to NPR this morning and heard some scary facts about our current economic system as a nation. With a savings rate of only 1-2 percent, Americans owe an average of $8000-9000 on their credit cards.   This is all on a country where Nabisco's Easy Cheese needs instructions that read: "For best results, remove cap." - good luck.

Unusually enough though, credit cards seem to be the only product where the terms and conditions can be modified for any reason and at any time by lender.  Raising variable interest rates for sometimes arbitrary reasons.  One of the strangest reasons I've heard yet is raising your rates for becomming past due on some other bank's loan.

Ugly Stairwells

I see Americans waiting for the elevator to go up only one or two floors all the time. Maybe that's why we're so fat. But maybe we take the elevator because the stairways look like THIS. And don't even ask me what this one smelled like.

Let's beautify our stairways. Put some carpet in there. Hang some art on the walls. Wash them once in a while. Get some exercise, save time, save some energy on the electricity bill. Maybe we'll all start taking the stairs instead.

Expense Reports Suck

G.T. Dave's Kombucha

If you haven't had Kombucha, it's worth trying. Some people make bold claims about Kombucha's efficacy in preventing colds and the flu. I'm not completely sold but I think the theory is sound.

Kombucha has supposedly been around for hundreds of years, beginning in either China or Siberia. I gather it is a combination of yeasts and bacteria that transform sweetened tea.

I'm no biochemist but it sounds like the yeast eat the sugars, and produce ethanol and carbon dioxide (which is mostly released). The bacteria eat the alcohol and produce acetic acid, vinegar.
Kombucha ends up being slightly alcoholic (1-2%), slightly acidic (Ph of 4-5), and very slightly carbonated. Wine afficianados might call it "effervescent."

The idea is that these are natural, beneficial components of a healthy gastro intestinal (GI)tract. Replacing or bolstering these results in more efficient metabolization of what we eat, and prevents foreign germs from gaining ground.

There are many products on the market that follow the same reason. Yokult is one, and I've heard of doctors recommended some of these for chemotherapy patients.

After all, we seem to be a host for smaller organisms to team together and prolong their existence. Don't get me started on Toxoplasm, or worse yet, mitochondria.

Christmas Gift Cards

I received this email today and although I haven't checked my facts yet, my family tends to give a bunch of gift cards out during the holidays so I thought I'd post it:

"I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. (On the contrary, it is referred to as 'Bankruptcy Planning'). Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)

Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide

Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January

Cache will close all stores

Talbots closing down specialty stores

J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)

Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)

GAP closing 85 stores

Footlocker closing 140 stores,more to close after January

Wickes Furniture closing down

Levitz closing down remaining stores

Bombay closing remaining stores

Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January

Whitehall closing all stores

Piercing Pagoda closing all stores

Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.

Home Depot closing 15 stores

Macys to close 9 stores after January

Linens and Things closing all stores

Movie Galley Closing all stores

Pep Boys Closing 33 stores

Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores

JC Penney closing a number of stores after January

Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.

Wilson Leather closing down all stores

Sharper Image closing down all stores

K B Toys closing 356 stores

Lowes to close down some stores

Dillard's to close some stores

There's probably more--be careful or just avoid gift cards this year all together! "

American Cheese

Ahh, the French may have French toast, French fries, French bread, and my personal favorite (although not a food item) the French kiss. But right here in the US of A, we have the venerable "American cheese."

Apparantly, American cheese is not only the name of the product itself, but it's the name of the first ingredient in "American cheese." This kind of grosses me out but the ingredients list for American cheese is as follows:

"American cheese (milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes) water, dry cream, milkfat, sodium phosphate, salt, citric acid and scorbic acid as a preservative."

So there you have it in case you were wondering what was in American cheese. It's mostly made up of American cheese, water, dry cream and milkfat, with some additives.