For American Distillers, a Whi... (theatlantic.com)

For American Distillers, a Whiskey Crisis Looms on the Horizon
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/07/for-american-distillers-a-whiskey-crisis-looms-on-the-horizon/242699/

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Mavi

Mavi
Originally uploaded by pamramsey

Per a suggestion from my good friend Eneida, Pam and I tried Mavi when we were in San Juan, PR. I asked the waiter at the restaurant if they had it and unfortunately he said no, but he did confirm that it was a local drink and that I could probably find some at one of the restaurants down near the port.

Well, while we did see it elsewhere before getting back on our cruise ship, the stand in this picture is the first place we saw it. Pam didn't like it so much, so as it turned out, I drank hers and mine.

For those out of the know: Mavi is a tree bark-based beverage grown, and widely consumed, in the Caribbean. It is made with sugar and the bark and/or fruit of certain species in the Colubrina genus including Colubrina elliptica (also called behuco indio) and Colubrina arborescens, a small tree native to the northern Caribbean and south Florida. Its taste is initially sweet, somewhat like root beer, but changes to a prolonged, but not astringent bitter aftertaste.

What Sweetens Toothpaste?

Today, I called to reschedule a dentist appointment that I would have had to miss for being on vacation. Oddly, the office had had two cancellations today and so they were able to fit me in today (within 2 hours of my call). That's Frederick for you. We have lots of medical professionals and - I guess - not as many patients to go around. It is much easier to get into see a doctor in Frederick than it was when I lived in Alexandria, VA.


Anyway ... I was sitting in the chair and I asked the dentist something that I had personally been curious about for a while. What do the toothpaste companies use to sweeten their product? Surely, it must not be sugar, since dentists have always said how bad it is for your teeth. I have looked on toothpaste tubes at home for the ingredients, but I guess since it is not a food product, there is no requirement to reveal the ingredients. They do often go out of their way to tell you that it contains fluoride, however.

The dentist had no answer for me, though she was reasonably sure that they use some form of artificial sweetener. It seems to me that this should be disclosed. What if you are allergic to whatever they are using?

It turns out there is quite a lot in toothpaste. Wikipedia lists toothpaste as potentially having: Abrasives, Fluorides, Surfactants, Antibacterial agents, Flavorants, Remineralizers and Miscellaneous components (which can include: glycerol, sorbitol, xylitol, or related derivatives, such as 1,2-propylene glycol and polyethyleneglycol). I would assume from the names of those last ingredients that those are the sweeteners.

So there you have it. Maybe it's possible that the reason they don't list the ingredients is because there is no room on the tube!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Trying to blog from my iPad

You may have noticed that I don't blog very much. This is mostly due to the fact that when I get home at night I feel more like playing games or doing some other leisurely activity then anything serious. Writing falls into that "serious" category. So ... I thought I would give this a shot. I downloaded this cool app for my iPad that allows me to compose a blog - say, while my computer is processing or when I have more energy at lunch. I can save drafts to work on it later, post pictures from my iPad photo gallery and do special formatting, things I could not do as easily through an email post.

So, here ya go. Here's a picture from my iPad that I downloaded from a science article I read elsewhere (credit goes to ElectronCafe). I liked it so much, I made it my main page on my iPad.






It illustrates the true nature of science versus the public perception of science as seen through for example MythBusters.

So long for now.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Pioneer Woman and Me

Last Tuesday I did something very unusual for myself. I took off work early and went somewhere where I knew there would be a crowd and general pan-delirium....a book signing! The Pioneer Woman (she's the one who is not me in the photo) is a wildly popular blogger - http://thepioneerwoman.com/ - that I've been following for quite some time. She's the only blogger I follow with any regularity besides my wonderful brother-in-law, David, of course. I apologize for the blurriness of the photo but I clearly did not take it and I thought I had it set correctly for the lady that did but apparently not. I intentionally made the background black & white because otherwise it was a riot of color that I found difficult on the eyes. Anyway, back to the signing, it was indeed pan-delirium but luckily I got there early enough to get a ticket in the third group of 50 (turned out to have 9 groups by the time they were done) to get my book signed. I sat for a couple of hours waiting for it to start and stood in line for a couple more...very not like me. But she is just infectiously adorable and a fun and fabulous writer so I couldn't pass up the opportunity that she'd be in Virginia for a signing (she lives in Oklahoma on a cattle ranch normally). I met some very nice ladies in line and that made it much more fun to stand for hours. So that's my brush with fame.

Driftwood --- Trash --- CDs (???)

Pam, Lynda and I stopped by the tidal basin in DC today to see the cherry blossoms. The festival opened yesterday. The city event planners, in their ultimate wisdom decided to direct traffic for parking away from the event and down Ohio Ave SW, toward Hains Point, which is where we parked.

It was a short walk up to the tidal basin and Pam and I decided to walk down near the water (the Potomac River, for those of you who are asking). A couple of weeks ago this section of the waterfront was underwater due to the massive amounts of rain we got coupled with all the melting snow up north.

Anyway ... there was a lot of debris left from the flooding, much of which was driftwood and trash. Then Pam spotted this thing that looked like a day planner and, me being a scavenger, I thought I would take a look. To my surprise it was not a day planner at all, but a case of CDs. So I thought to myself: These should be salvageable ... All I would have to do is wash them off and then they should play just fine. I have yet to try it but it's worth a try. Right?

Then I started thinking some more:
+ How did these CDs come to be in a flood?
+ Did the flood rip them out of someone's hand?
+ Maybe someone threw them in to the flood, maybe to see if they would float.
+ Maybe they came from a house that was flooded up river.

Kinda weird really.