talbotlucas.org: a word to the wise is sufficient

more on hunter s. thompson

Obits and memories from the New York Times, the Aspen Daily Journal (gotta love a paper with the motto: "If you don't want it printed, don't let it happen."), and the SFGate. Gawker.com also has a piece.

And the Doonesbury segment of slate.com features a dancing Uncle Duke (with audio)! A little eeery, since Duke was supposedly loosely modeled on Thompson.

hunter s. thompson, r.i.p.

Jeez...just read the news that Hunter Thompson killed himself. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas features one of my favorite opening passages, one that I liked long before I ever made the drive between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. It starts:

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like ‘I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive. . . .'

When I finally found myself on Highway 15 driving toward Vegas for the first time (sans drugs, I hasten to add) I couldn't help but think how much the landscape had changed since 1971, when Fear and Loathing was first published. So much has changed that the drive from the coast to Vegas doesn't really feel like the desert trek it once was. And in some spots the highway is being widened, so the sense of winding one's way through the joshua trees is fading fast.

The sad thing is that all the news I heard recently has suggested that this was not a happy man. For example, a defamer.com report of a book signing gives you a sense of what I mean. (For those who haven't seen the movie version of Fear and Loathing with Johnny Depp, Benecio Del Toro, mentioned in the defamer piece, plays Thompson's lawyer/traveling companion/partner in over-consumption. Thompson's real-life attorney, Oscar Zeta Acosta, supposedly died under suspicious--and drug-laden--circumstances).

What do all these thoughts add up to? Not much, I suppose, but I was sorry to hear of his passing. Whether or not you liked his work, we've lost a unique voice.

the new selfishness

I don't think it's so new--it seems to have been building for quite some time--but I have to agree with Seth Godin. He writes about his experience at jury duty, an experience and observations that are, I think, fairly common. I know I've witnessed these same things each time I've gone for jury duty.

The last time I went for jury duty, the judge listened to excuse after excuse as those being questioned explained why they couldn't participate, or didn't want to, or shouldn't be selected. He finally reminded those in the jury pool that as Americans, they really only have three opportunities (or obligations, depending on the perspective) as citizens: to vote, to pay taxes, and to participate in the jury system. Only three, and for some that's too much of a burden, which is really sad.

harold arlen centennial

Harold Arlen, the somewhat shy composer responsible for some of the 20th century's greatest songs, is profiled on NPR. Today would have been his centennial birthday.

Many other publicity-savvy composers got more public notice than Mr. Arlen, but there's no question that he belongs in the pantheon of American composers of popular music. NPR's done a really nice job of putting together all sorts of snippets to give you a sense of the scope of his contribution.

corgis in the news

Elvis, recipient of an honorary degree and confounder of mathematicians, is profiled in the Wisconsin State Journal. Some of you may remember reading about Elvis in the Chicago papers a year or so ago--he and his master have gained some notoriety for their experiments in what I would call natural calculus. Great photo.

The Boston Globe profiles Anne Bowes and Betsy, her Pembroke who is competing in the Westminster show this week. Betsy's a gorgeous girl, and the article talks about Ms. Bowes preparations for the show.

i've been chasing two rabbits

Among his end-of-the-week wrap-up of time and technology management tidbits, Merlin Mann of 43 Folders recalled "...what purports to be a Chinese proverb: 'If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.'"

That really sums up how I feel about the last few years. I've been chasing two rabbits. Maybe more. It's time to narrow the chase. Stay tuned.

the influence of wholesalers

For those of you interested in the direct shipping battle, Jennifer Dixon of the Detroit Free Press has written a series of articles on the influence exerted by Michigan liquor wholesalers. The liquor business is a lucrative one, and wholesaler associations have been very protective of their tier in the three-tier system adopted by most states as a means to regulate the shipment and sale of alcoholic beverages. While we're waiting to hear what the Court has to say about the Michigan restriction on direct shipment of wine from out-of-state sources to Michigan residents, here's a link to the first in Ms. Dixon's series of articles.

"open that bottle night" approaches

This is the sixth year that the Wall Street Journal's wine couple, Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, are encouraging readers to take one of the bottles of wine they've been saving for a special occasion and open it. "Open That Bottle Night" this year will be Saturday, 26 February 2005 (seems the last Saturday in February is the usual date) but if that doesn't work for you, then pick your own date--the day itself doesn't matter as much as the experience. As Gaiter and Brecher note:

We believe any night can be Open That Bottle Night. Cherished wines should be opened for no reason at all. One of our favorite scenes in the movie "Sideways" is when wine-loving Miles tells the more-romantic Maya that he is saving a 1961 Chateau Cheval Blanc for a special occasion. She replies: "The day you open a '61 Cheval Blanc, that's the special occasion."

I think anyone who's been buying wine for more than a few years finds themselves with bottles that seem so special that they should be a part of a celebration and then...that day doesn't seem to come. It's sad to open a bottle after years of waiting and be disappointed, so rather than let one of those goodies go to waste, and for those of you who don't read the Journal regularly, here are Gaiter and Brecher's suggestions for an OTBN of your own:

1. Stand the wine up (away from light and heat, of course) for a few days before you plan to open it--say, on Wednesday, Feb. 23. This will allow the sediment, if there is some, to sink to the bottom.

2. Both reds and whites are often better closer to cellar temperature (around 55 degrees). Don't overchill the white, and think about putting the red in the refrigerator for an hour or two if you've been keeping it in a 70-degree house.

3. With an old bottle, the cork may break easily. The best opener for a cork like that is the one with two prongs, but it requires some skill. You have three weeks to practice using one. Be prepared for the possibility that the cork will fall apart with a regular corkscrew. If that happens, have a carafe and a coffee filter handy. Just pour enough through the coffee filter to catch the cork.

4. Otherwise, do not decant. We're assuming these are old and fragile wines. Air could quickly dispel what's left of them.

5. Have a backup wine ready for your special meal, in case your old wine really has gone bad.

6. Serve dinner. Then open the wine and immediately take a sip. If it's truly bad--we mean vinegar--you will know it right away. But even if the wine doesn't taste good at first, don't rush to the sink to pour it out. You never know what might happen, as Bruce Ahler of Viburnum, Mo., discovered recently when visiting some friends in South Africa. "They had a small party one evening and the wine was flowing freely. My friend Jim mentioned a bottle of wine that he had been saving for a 'special occasion' for years and years. I told him of reading your story of how these old wines should be opened and enjoyed rather than sitting in the cellar until they are forgotten. So this special bottle is produced: a 1976 Simonsig Pinotage. The wine had sort of a murky color and a little sediment. It was tasted almost immediately after pouring and it had a very flat, smoky taste -- not undrinkable, but certainly not a good wine. I set the glass aside and after about 15 minutes or so I decided to take another taste. And WOW! The smoky taste was still there, but it had developed into a wonderful, deep and complex, grapey taste. I can honestly say that it was like no wine I have ever tasted."

7. Talk about the person who gave you the wine, or the circumstances under which you received it. This makes the wine resonate in a very sweet and personal way.

8. Enjoy the wine for what it is, not what it might be or might once have been.

9. Save one last glass in the bottle.

10. After the dishes are done, pour the remainder of the wine into your glasses (you might pour it through the coffee filter if there's a great deal of sediment, though, personally, we often like the gutsy taste of the wine with the sediment). Then drink up, and enjoy those very last moments of a special night.

walnut-size octopus

This isn't exactly news, but it was news to me: Mr. Miller shared with me an National Geographic online piece about a very small male octopus that mates with a female octopus of the same species. No big deal? It is when the female is 40,000 times heavier and 100 times larger than the male. Fascinating stuff. I can't stop thinking about these little guys.

karl haas, r.i.p.

Who is this happy man? For decades he was the host of "Adventures in Good Music" and hearing the opening of his show (always the same: a one-minute selection from Beethoven's Pathetique followed by "Hello, Everyone") always signaled the start of the evening. When I was listenting at work, I knew the clock was spinning; when listening at home, it said that it was time to slow down and relax. Mr. Haas died last weekend. The Times' obit is here.

Unrelated to Mr. Haas's death but of note to me was the passing of E. Allan Farnsworth, author of what may be the reference book on contract law. Farnsworth was a student of Karl Llewellyn and later a professor at Columbia, and his treatise is one of those books that really does belong on every lawyer's shelves and should be a must-read for 1L students taking their basic Contracts course. (For my class it was an optional reference, I think out of concern that our book bill was already quite high, but now that Aspen has made it available in a paperback edition, I don't think cost is really a barrier.) Terrence's copy of the Second Edition is nestled on our shelves downstairs; the updated Third Edition is next to me as I type (literally: I turn my head and it's on the shelf to my immediate left). Perhaps we'll light a fire, put on one of Mr. Haas's archived radio shows, and have a reading tonight.