Everyone is agog over … absinthe?

The title of this post is a reference to an old Bloom County strip in which Opus, promoted to the “Lifestyles” section (then a new concept) of the local newspaper, does an article on eggnog (“Everyone’s agog over eggnog!”), inadvertently starts a trend, and picks up a check for a couple thou from the U.S. Eggnog Association. He closes in the last panel with an aside to the audience: “I knew this was a racket!”

The thought crossed my mind after seeing articles about absinthe in the Boston Globe and the New York Times today (the latter owns the former). Hmm. If one were to follow the money, would one find a big absinthe concern behind the apparent coincidence?

I’m encouraged by the honest discussion in the latter article about the quality of modern absinthe prior to this latest revival. I tasted the stuff in the late 1990s—a former Cheeselord brought back a bottle from Europe. I thought it was interesting, but ultimately not something I would want to drink much of, thanks to the overwhelming licorice-like flavors. But I knew the drink’s reputation and was curious about how it might have been better in its heyday. Looks like I won’t have to wait long to find out.

(Oh: and regarding “agog over eggnog”: if you are a lifestyles editor yourself, don’t use this phrase in a headline. It’s been done.)

iPhone Market Share; doing my part

Interesting report (via Fake Steve Jobs, of course) that the iPhone has a higher market share (as measured through browser usage) than Windows Mobile. Of course there are lots of caveats with such a study, such as whether browser usage is the right metric to measure smartphone penetration (hint: how often do you browse the web on your phone?). But it’s still broadly suggestive of one thing: Apple got the mobile browser experience right.

And starting tonight, I will be doing my part to grow that market share. I picked up my iPhone this morning and will be activating it tonight (when I get to my home computer). It’s very cool, even turned off sideways smiley.

URL enabled Leopard Mail

Apparently, as of Mac OS X 10.5, Apple’s Mail client provides a new URL protocol: message:. Good article at Daring Fireball that explains the message: protocol and how to get the information from it. What use is it? Well, any third party app that wants to index and point into the mail store can simply use a URL, which really opens up the types of development environments you can write those things in and the portability of the data.

Bottom line: the format is message:%3cmessage-id%3e, where %3c and %3e are the encoded values of < and > respectively, and the message-id is gotten from the Message-ID header and can be viewed by dragging the mail message to TextPad or another drag-compatible client, or by using AppleScript.

Cool stuff.

Presidential

No, not the actual candidates; more the realization that today I am of the age where nothing could stop me if I were to decide to run for the highest office in the land.

No, not American Idol judge.

A nice day—got a fair amount of house cleaning done. Amazing how being a little domestic feels really good from time to time. Also had Niall and his fiancée Julia over along with our next-door neighbors Ross and Heide, which was fun.

The big news, of course, is that I’m now within striking distance of getting an iPhone. And at this point I have to be honest: I’m more excited about getting rid of the old Sony Ericsson right now, which is a total boat anchor.

Calling out the Shadows

An editorial in the Cavalier Daily, UVA’s student newspaper, yesterday called one of the University’s secret societies on the carpet over past actions. The outcries are getting louder over this society, ranging from allegations of racism to statements that the Shadows were formed to “stop the integration of women into the University, to uphold a dress code, and to maintain the honor system’s single sanction.” It’s hard to prove the first two, though I’m anxiously awaiting more Cavalier Daily back issues coming into the UVA Library’s CD archive so I can check out some of the formative stuff that happened from 1963 when they were founded through 1967 when the current archive starts.

But based on reports of interactions between the society and students (and administrators) over the years, the society’s intentions don’t seem particularly benign. The two episodes of failed attempts to call the group to justice through UJC cited in a recent editorial are particularly egregious, especially since one cites breaking and entering on the part of the society (back in 1982). So is the tying shut of the door of the University’s first female Assistant Dean of Students back in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

I think the Purple Shadows aren’t doing themselves any favors by dressing up in Klan robes, either.

I think, like the writer of yesterday’s editorial, that calling on the Shadows to explain themselves and step out of the … erm, shadows is called for at this point.

Lou Bloomfield, TV star

A quickie for tonight: just saw in my alumni newsletter that Lou Bloomfield, UVA Physics professor famous for his “How Things Work” class and textbook (as well as for developing algorithms to bust plagiarized term papers) is going to be co-hosting the TV show “Some Assembly Required” on the Discovery Channel. Some star professors are born famous, some achieve fame, and some have fame thrust upon them, I suppose. Or thrust themselves upon fame.

Shades of Soering: UVA undergrads arrested for kidnapping

As if the loss to Va Tech wasn’t bad enough, now this: University students charged with abduction (see also WaPo article). This is the definitive proof that curriculum standards at UVA are relaxing; back in my day toolies wouldn’t have had time to go to Northern Virginia, much less to kidnap someone and hold them for ransom!

I note also, with some amusement, that the students managed to find the one sketchy motel in Falls Church in which to keep their victim. The Stratford was just across Rt 7 and a little down the street from the apartments my wife lived in before we got married, so I know the area pretty well. It’s totally the sort of place you’d expect to show up in an episode of Law & Order.

Hat tip to Greg Greene for the initial email alerting me to this development, which also provided the Jens Soering connection (Google him, but make sure to look at some of the results that aren’t actually written by him).

Boston Globe Good Will Hunting retrospective omits Elliott Smith

Which, you know, kinda sucks, since Elliott’s music was pretty pivotal to the whole movie, and it really launched him past hipster obscurity to a wider audience. So let’s do the retrospective:

  1. Elliott Smith left the band Heatmiser in 1994 because he was tired of having all his songs played like big rock songs, and went on to become a solo act specializing in whispered lyrics and acoustic arrangements as harrowing as anything Heatmiser ever did.
  2. Gus Van Sant tapped Elliott for the soundtrack, presumably based on familiarity with his work from their joint residence in Portland.
  3. The movie was a surprise hit and Elliott ended up playing “Miss Misery” at the Oscars.
  4. Elliott released two albums on Dreamworks.
  5. Elliott got addicted (or his addiction worsened) to alcohol and other hard drugs (heroin, crack, you name it). He went into a downward spiral, and ultimately was found dead stabbed through the heart. The death was ruled a suicide.

Not as cheery as talking about Matt Damon, but just as significant a follow-up to the movie. I don’t know if Elliott would have burned up as fast as he did without the sudden fame the movie brought, but it seems pretty clear that it contributed to his issues.

Wonderfulness

There were two spectacularly wonderful things that I found online yesterday:

The return of Onalaska

It’s been a while since I checked in with many of my Seattle friends, so I received a positive surprise when I checked Tom Harpel’s Flickr site and found information about the new Onalaska album, You and the Fishermen. Released something like five years after To Sing for Nights, the new release came out in October and features final versions of some songs that have kicked around in demo form for years, plus some brand new stuff. I can’t wait to check it out.

Fun while it lasted

Well fought, Virginia, but in the end we were outmatched. Someday I want to play against Virginia Tech and have enough TDs to post the rest of the tracks from that 1947 album, but not this year.

Now what I want is for Virginia Tech to steamroller Boston College. Why? Because it’ll make a whole lot of people here a lot less smug, and because it would be nice to have an ACC champion in Virginia—even if it’s not in Charlottesville.

Back in reach, 23-21 in the third quarter: “From Rugby Road to Vinegar Hill”

Well, that took a while, but what a series of plays by Virginia! And that was one time that “run it up the middle,” that old George Welsh standby, paid off for the team.

The song for this touchdown is a colorful one, and the 1947 Glee Club omits most of the colorful verses, but you can Google for some of the more fun ones. Can you imagine a student group today cutting a record with the chorus, “I think we need another drink”?

From Rugby Road to Vinegar Hill, Virginia Glee Club and the UVA Band – Download 4.6 MB MP3