Coffee, wonderful coffee

As I brewed the cup, the dork in me went “Seriously, who thought this up?  Genius.”

Of course, the interweb and all it’s tubes bring answers.  Near as anyone can tell, coffee was first used as a food, probably in Northern Africa where the fruit was crushed and mixed with fat.  The shrub is said to have originated in the Kaffa province of Ethiopia.  No one really knows how people started roasting the beans, grinding them up and filtering water through them.  If I live to see time travel, I’m definitely going back to thank that particular goat herder.

Somewhere near the 15th century, the beverage we know had been developed in Arabia and over the next 200 years spread through Europe.  As to why we Americans drink so much, tea fell out of favor in the Colonies after the Boston Tea party was publicized.  We needed our stimulants, so we turned to coffee, the trade of which was not controlled by England.

Fast-forward to today: Whenever you see “100% Arabica Beans” on a bag of coffee, you’re getting more flavor and less caffeine.  Almost all decent coffee today is arabica.  The other dominant strain of coffee plant is robusta, which generally doesn’t taste good unless given special processing, but contains twice as much caffeine.  Robusta shrubs grow in places arabica will not, so it hangs on.  It’s used primarily as a filler in blends, and a small amount of robusto is what gives espresso that foamy quality and bitter taste.  Instant coffee is often made with robusta, which is probably half the reason it tastes awful.  In the late 90’s, Vietnam started floodng the market with cheap robusto beans, resulting in a market crash in 2001.  Coffee went from $3.00/lb to $.043/lb.  How come I didn’t see any changes in prices at the store?  Thieving bastards.  ;) The market is recovering slowly, with demand for Arabica driving up prices (and quality).  Still haven’t broken a dollar a pound though.  Coffee used to be regulated by the International Coffee Organization, but now the markets in New York, London and Tokyo dictate price and quantity.

After writing that, it occurs to me; All blogs are written by dorks who actually liked doing book reports in school.  Excuse me while I go get a hooker and snort some H off her ass to try to regain some level of cool.

Posted by JimK at 12:15 PM on September 24, 2006
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Categories: Other
Tags: coffee

Misc. and Random

- I’ve been carrying like 4 cards, my ID and some cash wrapped in a thick hair tie for months now, and Donna bought me a monogrammed money clip with a little pocket for cards.  It’s the softest leather *ever*.  Thank you to the cow who died so that I could have somewhere to put my insurance card.  I hope that you were used well, and tasted great.

- I am absolutely, positively not interested in writing anything about Survivor: Racist Island except viscious snark.  Here’s my dilemma: The show deserves to be mocked, and mocked with great vigor and vitriol.  As I watch it, I get about 6 million ideas that usually involve racist jokes.  Not because *I* am feeling or being racist, but because the show is edited to be one huge stereotype-fest.  Unfortunately there are only so many ways you can say “Oh look, they’re making the darkies look stupid and lazy again.” or “Ching Chang Chinamen make great engineers!” before people stop laughing and start accusing you of hating black and Asian people, so I feel trapped before I even get started.  I just don’t have the energy to explain it week in and week out…

But.  I had some damn funny ideas, and it seems a shame to waste them.  Should I just write it up anyway?  If I did it no holds barred, I might find the inspiration to do it consistently...otherwise the show is, as the subject of the next item would say, complete shit and I can’t be arsed to do it.

- Ricky Gervais’ Extras is frigging hilarious and so, so painful to watch.  I kinda want to do his Scottish female friend there, I think it’s the accent.

- Subway is sometimes exactly what you want for dinner.

- CSI Vegas is going to piss me off this season if they keep doing these long, slow musical interludes with no dialogue.  Lazy frigging writers.

- iTunes 7 is possibly the worst upgrade to any software that has ever been created.  6 point whatever was pretty good.  Replacing 6 with 7 is like replacing Julie with a guy who punches women in the uterus as cruise director on the Love Boat.

Posted by JimK at 09:41 PM on September 22, 2006
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Categories: Entertainment,  Television,  Survivor_Cook_Islands,  Other,  Personal
Tags: CSI Extras Survivor cook islands Subway

Learn something new every day

I do...I learn at least one new little fact or how to do something every day.  Here’s one thing I learned today...Samuel Adams sucked at beer.  His father owned a malt shop but was not a brewer.  When Sammy inherited the shop, he neglected it in favor of arguing against British rule 24/7.  The business failed, but he helped to sow the seeds of revolution, and I’ll take that every day of the week.

Posted by JimK at 04:50 PM on March 04, 2006
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Tags: Samuel Adams history American Revolution

U.S. Geography for 100, Alex

Do you know where they go?  I got 42 perfect, 84% with an error of 31 miles in 241 seconds.

Posted by JimK at 01:08 AM on February 18, 2006
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Tags: geography United States

Be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed

I so so SO want this if I ever build a dedicated home theater.

Forged of metal and power, the Vader 6 oz. Popcorn Popper will satisfy the hunger needs of any sized squadron.

Or one me.  $1,099.  Worth every penny.

Posted by JimK at 04:32 AM on February 02, 2006
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Categories: Shopping,  Other
Tags: Star Wars Darth Vader Home Theater

Pseudo-intellectual knee-jerk liberalism results in stupidity

You want proof?  The left side of the political aisle is agog at something they discovered in Wal-Mart’s database.

The problem is that when one searched on a certain MLK bio or the film Dorothy Dandridge or the box set for Planet of the Apes, the other items were recommended.  The MLK stuff was bloviated over at Kos’, but I don’t link that cesspool.  You’ll have to trust me.  So what does this mean?

OH MY GOD CLEARLY WAL-MART IS SAYING BLACK PEOPLE ARE ALL MONKEYS.

Or…

All three items have the same theme: racism.  All three items are in fact relevant to one another.  If one was interested in seeing something about MLK’s work, one might also enjoy Dorothy Dandridge.  Any moron who doesn’t know that racism is the central premise behind Planet of the Apes deserves to get punched in the head.

This is pseudo-hippy faux outrage.  They want to get all worked up into a tizzy and prove how evil Wal-Mart is.  It’s complete and utter bullshit.  To a computer, those three things all have the same theme; racism.  It makes perfect reasonable sense that they’d be grouped as recommendations.  It’s not like Wal-Mart had a board meeting to declare all black people monkeys. 

In fact...who are the real racists here?  The computer algorithm that correctly identified all these items as having a central theme of racism, or the outraged lefties who immediately connected Dorothy Dandridge and MLK to apes?

It’s little things like this that show me that the “reality-based community” is anything but.

Wal-Mart is blaming this on a “random” glitch.  I doubt very much that it was random.  I think the computer program did exactly what it was supposed to do: recognized that these films dealt with racism and physical abuse (all three items in the linked article have both as thematic elements).  Wal-Mart should have told these people to frig off.  My corporate response would have been “We’re sorry you immediately connected media about African-Americans to apes, but the fact is our recommendations algorithm correctly identified racism as the central theme to all the items you are complaining about, with physical abuse as a sub-theme.  It is our sincere belief that you’re an idiot, and you should immediately kiss our collective asses.  Thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart.”

Posted by JimK at 09:54 AM on January 06, 2006
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Categories: Shopping,  Entertainment,  Other,  The Stupidity Of Man
Tags: Wal-Mart

Hell of a deal on Firefly DVDs

Found via Digg...Walmart is selling the Firefly box set for $19.86 plus shipping.  That’s much cheaper than anyone else.  I guess that whole evil thing Wal-Mart has going on really does translate to lower prices for us!  Go the Ghost of Sam Walton!

Posted by JimK at 01:00 AM on December 29, 2005
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Categories: Shopping,  Entertainment,  Other
Tags: Firefly

A bin Laden who wants to be found

Nice.

Osama bin Laden’s niece, in an interview with GQ magazine in which she appears scantily clad, says she has nothing in common with the al-Qaida leader and simply wants acceptance by Americans.

“Everyone relates me to that man, and I have nothing to do with him,” Wafah Dufour, the daughter of bin Laden’s half brother, Yeslam Binladin, says in the January edition of the magazine, referring to the al-Qaida leader.

“I want to be accepted here, but I feel that everybody’s judging me and rejecting me,” said the California-born Dufour, a law graduate who lives in New York. “Come on, where’s the American spirit? Accept me. I want to be embraced, because my values are like yours. And I’m here. I’m not hiding.”

(AP Photo/GQ Magazine,Jeff Riedel)

Sweety, I don’t know what kind of men you’re used to dealing with, but if you graduated law school and you look like that...call me.  I’ll embrace you.  I’ll embrace you so much that my wife will begin to question the innocence of our friendship, eventually to accept that the only way the three of us will ever be happy is in polyamory.

In all seriousness, that “the sins of the father” stuff doesn’t wash.  She shouldn’t have to take crap from people because her father’s half-brother is a murdering psychopath.  There is no label you could assign to any group that makes them all bad.

Excepting the French, of course.

More

Yowza.  GQ called her “the sexy bin Laden.” I say drop the bin Laden part.

Less

Posted by JimK at 08:02 PM on December 23, 2005
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Categories: News,  The Middle East,  Other,  War
Tags: Wafah Dufour Osama bin Laden

Merry Christmas to me

So, who wants to be Santa for me this year?  ;)

Posted by JimK at 09:01 PM on December 17, 2005
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Categories: Shopping,  Other,  Personal,  Blegging
Tags: Christmas gifts Amazon wishlist

Américain encore

I didn’t realize The Dunk was French-owned, not that it would have stopped me from going there.

Canton-based Dunkin’ Donuts looks poised for aggressive expansion following its French owner’s megadeal, unveiled yesterday, to sell the chain to an investment group for $2.43 billion in cash.

Coffee is lucrative!

I like Dunkin Donuts much better than any other place for a quick cup. I’m a snob at home, I buy beans that are too expensive, filter the water, etc., but when you want a consistently decent cup for a decent price, you ain’t goin’ to starbucks or one of the non-chain shops that always have named like “Daily Grind” or “Cuppa’s.” I hit The Dunk when I need coffee to go.  I love the fact that I can get a vat of hot, good-tasting coffee for $2.25 without learning a new vocabulary. 

“X-large, light & sweet please.”
“$2.25.”
“Here you go.”
“Thank you, have a great day!”
“You too!”

Takes less words to complete the transaction than it does just to figure out what a venti half-this double that whatever-cino actually contains and if it will taste like, you know...coffee.  And cost less than 6 bucks.  Long live The Dunk.

Hat Tip: Wizbang

Posted by JimK at 11:11 PM on December 13, 2005
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Tags: Dunkin Donuts coffee