Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:05 PM

Seems to be de rigeur to end the year by posting the first sentence of the first entry of every month.

Here were mine

• How tragic
• I just heard: Harry Potter Book 7 will be released on July 21st
• Following up to Monday's entry on tea strainers, several commenters spoke glowingly of the Teavana Perfect Tea Maker
• While I could look this up, I'm sure somebody among my readers already knows the answer
• I am a Daffodil
• No pictures, but read the thread over at the Nielsen Haydens'
• Takin' it easy in Trieste...
• But get a load of Wants For Sale
• The latest seasonal flavors at J.P. Licks ice cream are ones I tried and liked this time last year
• While walking along Newbury Street this weekend, I spotted 1154 Lill, a storefront advertising custom handbags
• While in Italy, I bought a wonderful soft-leather book cover at Rivoaltus (in Venice) which fits perfectly over the standard-sized steno pads in which I take all my notes
• So, I'm currently reading Becoming Shakespeare by Jack Lynch, yet another book about how Shakespeare became Shakespeare in the centuries after the man's death

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:42 PM

All the holiday fic exchanges tend to dominate my time for pleasure-reading, but Imbibe! isn't the only book I've been paging thru in the past few weeks.

I'm also currently in the middle of Plato and a platypus walk into a bar...: understanding philosophy through jokes by Thomas Cathcart & Daniel Klein. Interesting concept, but it's hampered by the fact that (a) I've heard most of these jokes before, and (b) I've generally heard them told better -- a definite flaw in what's partly a jokebook.

However, this passage, in the actual narrative did crack me up:

There's nothing like an argument from analogy. Well, maybe a duck.

Last weekend, I read Persepolis: the story of a childhood and Persepolis 2: the story of a return by Marjane Satrapi, in anticipation of the forthcoming film.

Good stories. Reminded me a bit of Riverbend's Baghdad burning : girl blog from Iraq, though less harrowing because it's historical, the worst periods of warfare are narrated from a child's perspective, the disasters weren't directly our (meaning the US)'s fault, and we know the author has survived the experience.

And just today, at the library, I picked up Armistead Maupin's latest, Michael Tolliver lives, a title which comes as welcome relief, given the case of AIDS with which Maupin left the character in the last Tales of the City so many years ago.

PS: As part of Yuletide, there's a new work of R-rated Kit Marlowe RPF...

I decided to save that one for later (in part, since it means updating my List).

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:05 PM

I'm currently reading the new book Imbibe! from absinthe cocktail to whiskey smash, a salute in stories and drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, pioneer of the American bar by David Wondrich.

In his section on ingredients, and modern equivalents, he states:

Old Tom [gin] is completely unavailable; about the best thing to do is take a good, fragrant London Dry and sweeten it. [followed by some advice on brands and amount of sweetener to use]

Well, guess what!

Three weeks ago, Hayman Distillers in the UK launched a brand new Old Tom to the market.

www.OldTomGin.co.uk

According to the press release:

It has been specially developed by Company Chairman Christopher Hayman, whose great grandfather James Burrough originally created Beefeater Gin. It is based on an 18th Century family recipe and recreates the lightly sweetened style of Gin that was particularly popular at that time.

[These are the same folks who manufacture Sir Walt's Original London Liqueur, which I blogged last month]

As a recent San Francisco Chronicle article pointed out:

Historically accurate cocktails are a growing trend extending from the classic cocktail craze

Regarding Wondrich's book, I'd describe it as a tasty blend of:

• one part history,
• one part biography, and
• several parts recipes.

Because it's a popular book, and probably being marketed as much for the recipes as for reading, the bibliography only mentions major sources and footnotes nonexistent. But much of this information comes from old newspapers, so there are a lot of vague references like "as the Brooklyn Eagle noted in 1873."

I am enjoying it, though almost every page makes me thirsty for something unavailable. And it doesn't quite seem worth buying a lot of expensive liquors, when all I really want is a taste. Nonetheless, I have begun compiling a list of the other modern beverages he mentions as being reasonable analogues to archaic ingredients.

As long as I'm on this topic, a few other books I've seen mentioned (or stumbled across) that I may want to pick up, listed by publication date:

• The Mint julep by Richard Barksdale Harwell
• Cosmopolitan: a bartender's life by Toby Cecchini
• A History of the world in 6 glasses by Tom Standage
• And a bottle of rum: a history of the New World in ten cocktails by Wayne Curtis
• The Joy of drinking by Barbara Holland
• The Joy of moonshine: recipes, knee slappers, tall tales, songs, how to make it, how to drink it, pleasin' the law, recoverin' the next day by Matthew B. Rowley
• Beachbum Berry's sippin' safari: in search of the great "lost" tropical drink recipes and the people behind them by Jeff Berry
• How's your drink? cocktails, culture, and the art of drinking well by Eric Felten
• The Dirt on clean: an unsanitized history by Katherine Ashenburg
• Taste: the story of Britain through its cooking by Kate Colquhoun

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:42 AM

A photo slideshow of The cats of Mount Washington

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:42 PM

In which Eric Henry channels Schoolhouse Rock for a lesson in civics:

More at PiratesAndEmperors.com, including lyrics, MP3 audio, credits, etcetera.

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:20 PM

It seems to be tradition for BMJ and CMAJ (medical journals from Britain and Canada, respectively) to conclude each year with a bit of whimsy.

The issues have just hit the stand web, and this year proves no exception.

Among the highlights:

Orthopaedic gorillas no more
Tony Delamothe
BMJ 2007; 335.

An analysis of past Christmas issue articles. [See graph, right]

Competing risks of mortality with marathons: retrospective analysis (PDF)
Donald A Redelmeier, J Ari Greenwald
BMJ 2007; 335:1275-1277.

Organised marathons are not associated with an increased risk of sudden death, despite the media attention they attract. In fact, marathons lower the risk of fatal motor vehicle crashes that might otherwise have taken place if the roads had not been closed.

Champagne: the safer choice for celebrations (PDF)
Robert J Douglas
BMJ 2007; 335:1281.

Excessive alcohol consumption as a celebratory consequence of high profile sporting victories is well known. Oesophageal obstruction from a bottle cap, however, is rarely seen in emergency departments. A comprehensive Medline search failed to elicit an example of oesophageal obstruction secondary to the ingestion of a champagne (or wine) cork. Since the 18th century, champagne has been the beverage of choice for celebrations and on current evidence should remain so.

Accuracy of comparing bone quality to chocolate bars for patient information purposes: observational study (PDF)
Phil Jones, Sarah Jones, Debbie Stone
BMJ 2007; 335:1285-1287.

Doctors often use the finely honeycombed structure of a Crunchie chocolate bar to illustrate healthy bone, and the coarser structure of an Aero chocolate bar to illustrate abnormal osteoporotic bone. Observational study shows that a Crunchie is more likely to fracture than an Aero. Using chocolate bars to explain bone structure to patients oversimplifies the situation.

Dissent of the testis (PDF)
Gareth Williams, Poonam Dharmaraj
BMJ 2007; 335:1287.

By changing the shape of Teasers and Truffles so they no longer resemble the 8 ml bead of the orchidometer, these chocolates cannot be used any more to stage puberty in boys. The chocolate industry is missing out on a rare opportunity to become palpably involved in public health promotion.

Origins of magic: review of genetic and epigenetic effects (PDF)
Sreeram V Ramagopalan, Marian Knight, George C Ebers, Julian C Knight
BMJ 2007; 335:1299-1301.

A literature review of the Harry Potter novels of J K Rowling suggests that magic shows strong evidence of heritability. Specific magical gifts, such as the ability to speak to snakes, predict the future, and change hair colour, all seem heritable.

Classically intoxicated: correlations between quantity of alcohol consumed and alcohol related problems in a classical Greek text (PDF)
Christopher C H Cook, Helen Tarbet, David Ball
BMJ 2007; 335:1302-1304.

The relation between alcohol consumption and alcohol related problems is described in a play attributed to Eubulus, a Greek comic poet of the 4th century BC. [See cover illustration, right]

Sex, aggression, and humour: responses to unicycling (PDF)
Sam Shuster
BMJ 2007; 335:1320-1322.

The response to the unexpected and novel stimulus of seeing a unicyclist was surprisingly consistent even to the words and gestures used, and these varied with age, sex, and stage of sexual development. In males the response moved from curiosity in childhood, to physical and verbal aggression in older boys; this became more verbal as the boys matured into men and evolved into the concealed aggression of a repetitive humorous verbal put-down, which was lost with age. In contrast, the female response was praise and concern for safety.

A cellular-telephone model of assessing frontal lobe function in physicians (PDF)
Kenneth Rockwood, MD and Howard Chertkow, MD
CMAJ 2007; 177:1533-1535.

As people age, they recognize that social conduct has become worse. This is not just a failing of the young but also a reflection of modern technology, notably the cellular telephone. We observed that the behaviour induced by the use of such devices is so egregious as to be medically informative. We offer a descriptive phenomenology and neuroanatomical classification of aberrant behaviour in relation to cellular telephone use by physicians at medical conferences. Although the cellular telephone is a scourge, its ability to add to the diagnostic armamentarium in cognitive neurology should not be overlooked, especially if a fee code can be attached.

One giant leap for mankind? A cost-utility analysis of abolishing the law of gravity (PDF)
Claude Cyr, MD and Luc Lanthier, MD
CMAJ 2007; 177:1536-1538.

Canada's Neo Rhino Party is planning a new regulation to repeal the law of gravity, which could have an important impact on diseases attributable to gravity on earth. We sought to estimate the number of quality-adjusted life-years that would be saved if the proposed regulation is passed and determine the cost-effectiveness of adapting Boris Volfson's antigravity machine for use on earth.

Exercising privacy rights in medical science (PDF)
Michael Hillmer, MSc and Donald A. Redelmeier, MD MS(HSR)
CMAJ 2007; 177:1542-1544.

Privacy laws are intended to preserve human well-being and improve medical outcomes. We used the Sportstats website, a repository of competitive athletic data, to test how easily these laws can be circumvented. We designed a haphazard, unrepresentative case-series analysis and applied unscientific methods based on an Internet connection and idle time. We found it both feasible and titillating to breach anonymity, stockpile personal information and generate misquotations. We extended our methods to snoop on celebrities, link to outside databases and uncover refusal to participate. Throughout our study, we evaded capture and public humiliation despite violating these 6 privacy fundamentals. We suggest that the legitimate principle of safeguarding personal privacy is undermined by the natural human tendency toward showing off.

The Goo Tolerance Index: a foolproof method for choosing a medical specialty (PDF)
Julie Curwin, MD
CMAJ 2007; 177:1545-1546.

An overview of the Goo Tolerance Index and Gooiness Reference of Selected Specialties Scale (GROSSS) designed to assist medical students facing the momentous decision of choosing a medical specialty.

More articles in BMJ Vol 335, No 7633 and CMAJ Vol. 177, Iss. 12.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:12 PM

In August 2003 (1,2), I blogged about a fun little game called Truck Dismount, where you try to crash a truck in the most spectacular way.

Well, via Gizmodo (1,2), I see that somebody missed the "Do Not Try This At Home" warnings.

On New Years Eve, Rhys Millen will attempt a full backflip in an off-road racing truck off a specially-built jump designed just for this task.

I won't give any publicity to the sponsor or network broadcasting it, but as one commenter predicted, however it turns out, it'll be on YouTube the next day.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:05 PM

February 2003, I wrote about:

[A] recent Long Bet: "In a Google search of five keywords or phrases representing the top five news stories of 2007, weblogs will rank higher than the New York Times' Web site."

Frankly, I don't think that will happen. There are some news stories, such as the recent protest marches in NYC and around the world, that are enhanced by first-person narratives. But for the most part, blogs are pointers to other news stories, sometimes on other blogs, but eventually to the major papers or networks. Often the blogs supplement these stories, pointing out items that are undercovered and occasionally doing further research that actually changes the story, but in the end, it all comes back to what's in the mainstream press.

Five years go by awfully quickly, and as media outlets release their "top stories of the year lists" Roger Cadenhead delivers the verdict:

Winer wins the bet 3-2, but his premise of blog triumphalism is challenged by the fact that on all five stories, a major U.S. media outlet ranks above the leading weblog in Google search. Also, the results for the top story of the year reflect poorly on both sides.

In the five years since the bet was made, a clear winner did emerge, but it was neither blogs nor the Times.

Wikipedia, which was only one year old in 2002, ranks higher today on four of the five news stories....

Winer predicted a news environment "changed so thoroughly that informed people will look to amateurs they trust for the information they want." Nisenholtz expected the professional media to remain the authoritative source for "unbiased, accurate, and coherent" information.

Instead, our most trusted source on the biggest news stories of 2007 is a horde of nameless, faceless amateurs who are not required to prove expertise in the subjects they cover.

Of course, that's not the whole story, either.

I've seen several articles which suggest that Google artificially inflates Wikipedia's rank, letting them dominate the top results disproportionately higher-ranked than other search engines [Research PDF]. Many have pointed out how irrelevant Wikipedia results score higher than more relevant articles on 3rd-party sites. Search Engine Journal went so far as to call Wikipedia: The Barry Bonds of Search Results.

Unlike Cadenhead, I don't believe this demonstrates Wikipedia is considered "our most trusted source."

Rather, victory goes to the scorekeeper -- Google's algorithm controlling the ordering of results.

Looking back at my 2002 comments, more blogs today are being used for actual reporting than I anticipated, but there's still a problem that the mainstream press remain primary gatekeepers. And if they don't cover a story, it doesn't get much traction.

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:33 PM

Seen just now on the New York Times homepage:

1:51 p.m. ET: Disappointing Sales During Holiday Season

American consumers, uneasy about the economy and unimpressed by the merchandise in stores, delivered the bleak holiday shopping season retailers had expected, if not feared, according to one early but influential projection.
Spending between Thanksgiving and Christmas rose just 3.6 percent over last year, the weakest performance in at least four years, according to MasterCard Advisors, a division of the credit card company. By comparison, sales grew 6.6 percent in 2006, and 8 percent in 2005.
"There was not a recipe for a pick up in sales growth," said Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis at MasterCard Advisors, citing higher gas prices, a slowing housing market and a tight credit market.

3:01 p.m. ET: U.S. Retailers' Holiday Sales Up

U.S. retailers' sales rose 3.6 percent in holiday shopping, at the lower end of expectations, helped by a late-season spending surge on some items, according to data released on Tuesday by SpendingPulse.
The figures, from the retail data service of MasterCard Advisors, offer a glimpse at the strength of the 2007 holiday shopping season, which was expected to grow at the slowest rate in five years, as U.S. consumers face a housing slump, a credit crunch and higher prices for food and fuel.
"It's more at the lower end of the expected range but more or less in line with the reduced expectations coming into the holiday season," said Michael McNamara, vice president of Research and Analysis for MasterCard Advisors.

Same statistics, same experts, and totally opposite spin.

Addendum: Kevin Drum finds a further flaw with these articles: They're not adjusted for inflation. Take inflation into account, and that 3.6% rise becomes a 0.7% decline.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:50 AM

In a Barnes & Noble the other night, I wandered past their Shakespeare display.

And something caught my eye.

The editor on the B&N Shakespeare Series Midsummer Night's Dream was Mario DiGangi.

I heard him speak at the Marlowe Symposium and not only liked what I heard, but wanted to hear more from him.

So, not only am I attracted to an edition of Shakespeare (which I don't need) by the editor's academic reputation and for his essays rather than the play, but I immediately jump to the back-of-the-book for his "Further Reading" appendix.

I am such a geek.

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:25 AM

Stopped in at the gaming store (Hobby Bunker in Malden) the other day, and saw signs for a Breast Cancer fundraiser held the previous weekend.

It was a wargaming tournament by the New England Privateers, with the following method of raising some extra cash:

we're going to let you break the rules for a little extra donation. Up to 4 times per turn, you may donate to re-roll one of your own die rolls (all dice in the roll) or force your opponent to do the same. The first re-roll costs $1, the second $2, the third $3, and the fourth $4.

Not something one would want in regular play, but here, the money is going to charity.

I'm just sharing the idea here for other charitable gamers and conrunners...

While we were there, I picked up a couple books by Osprey Publishing which were on sale.

And as I was browsing the selection, I thought of a way Osprey might repackage their content to expand their audience beyond the usual market for military histories.

I enjoy Shakespeare. Not only were there interesting battles taking place during Shakespeare's lifetime (the Spanish Armada), but Shakespeare often wrote about warfare. Wars of the Roses, Agincourt, the historic Macbeth, the Roman siege in Coriolanus, the wars of Caesar and Marc Antony, etcetera, etcetera.

Now I could (and have) started compiling a list of their titles which provide context to these events.

But this crosses multiple of their product lines, and would result in a lot of content not directly relevant.

So I'd love to see their editors produce some kind of compilation -- whether one omnibus volume or a new series -- focused the battles Shakespeare was writing about and and other events in Shakespeare's lifetime which shaped his writing.

And, of course, Shakespeare wasn't the only author to write about war. Could inspire a whole new product line.

After the holidays, I'll forward them my suggestion.