Historian. Author. Ranter. Idea Junkie.
This a blog. Sort of. I rarely use it anymore.
I've been using a PC for 28 years, and about half of these shortcuts are new to me. (Although, hmmm, 28 years ago Windows and e-mice didn't exist. So, okay, now I don't feel quite so dumb.) Make sure to read past Pogue's blog entry to the reader comments. There are hundreds of them, all of them useful. Yes, okay, who has time? But maybe he will write the book!
Just for the record, and for what it's worth: Last night during the debate, Governor Palin appeared to credit Ronald Reagan for coining the phrase "shining city on a hill."
The phrase is not original to Reagan, as he himself noted when he used it during his "Farewell Address" of January 11, 1989. Indeed it's one of the most-quoted phrases in American literature and politics and rightly so.
The quotation originated in "A Model of Christian Charity," a sermon John Winthrop delivered in 1630 shortly before he and his fellow Puritans disembarked from their vessel Arabella and settled in North America.
It just dawned on me that a week from today, I'll be heading to Denver for the Great American Beer Festival. Good thing I remembered. I'll be signing copies of the book during each of the four sessions. Please stop by and say hello (and, ya know, buy copies of the book for everyone you know. It's a great, inexpensive gift.)
The Festival bookstore will be located in the middle of the hall near the Beer and Food Pavilion.
I'll be there: Thursday 6:00 - 8:00 Friday 6:00 - 7:00 Saturday Afternoon 3:00 - 4:00 Saturday night 6:00 - 7:00
The Brewers Association has lots of new attractions this year, and as always, there will be plenty of beer. (I'm hoping this time I'll even get to taste some of it.)
Election day is just a few weeks away, and in some states, early "satellite" and absentee voting have already begun. Regardless of your political beliefs, I hope you’ll vote. It’s one of your most important rights. Learn more about how and where to register to vote in your state here or here. Neither site is affiliated with a specific political party.
November 10, 1944: The Federal Trade Commission ruled that beer and bread are not the same thing.
This breathtaking announcement was aimed at the members of the Minnesota Brewers Association.(*1) They'd been running ads claiming that the "nutritional value" of beer was "comparable" or "equivalent" to that of bread.
The FTC ordered them to cease and desist. Why? Because the two weren't equivalent. Consumers would have to down 3.5 bottles of "ordinary" beer in order to gain the same carbohydrates found in four slices of "enriched white bread" (like Wonder bread). They'd have drink 4.5 bottles to obtain as much protein and B1 -- although they'd only have to drink one and a half bottles to get the same number of calories.
"Accordingly," explained the FTC announcement, a "working man" would have to "ingest relatively large amounts of beer to obtain the [same] nutrients and calories" contained in "a relatively small amount of white bread."
Moreover, the FTC added in case the brewers still didn't get it, beer and bread were fundamentally different: Bread contained fiber and fat; beer did not. Beer contained alcohol; bread did not.
American tax dollars at work, 1944.
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Source: "FTC Rules Bread Tops Beer As Food," New York Times, November 11, 1944, p. 16.
*1: The Minnesota Brewers Association included Duluth Brewing and Malting; Fitger Brewing; People's Brewing; Ernest Fleckenstein Brewing; Schutz & Hilgers Jordan Brewing; Kiewel Brewing; Mankato Brewing; Gluek Brewing; Minneapolis Brewing; John Hauenstein Company; August Schell Brewing; Theo. Hamm Brewing; and Jacob Schmidt Brewing.
Enough wit da doom and gloom already, says I to myself.
I'm a big fan of the liquids that roll out of Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, Oregon. You don't know the meaning of sublime until you've tasted its pear brandy. Swoon City.
Anyway, nice piece about Clear Creek written by the Wall Street Journal's "drinks" writer, Eric Felton. I've given up trying to figure out what's free and what's not at the WSJ website, so if the link doesn't work, take it up with Rupert Murdoch.
While you're there, take a detour from sublime to sad and read the Journal's obit of Bill Leinenkugel. Although maybe not sad? After all, Mr. Leinenkugel's was a life to celebrate.
Side note: the Journal's obits are few in number and run on Saturday in the "Remembrances" feature in the main section of the paper. The editor sticks to the offbeat, meaning the column features the lives of people who don't show up on the obit pages of the New York Times. (Indeed, according to the "Remembrances" editor, with whom I spoke on Thursday about Mr. Leinenkugel, the Journal's house rule is: It's gotta be someone who's not in the Times.)
Website of Maureen Ogle, author and historian. Books include Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer; In Meat We Trust: An Unexpected History of Carnivore America; and Key West: History of An Island of Dreams.
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