"Beer Wars" Is Now Available On DVD

The inimitable Anat Baron does it again. Months ahead of schedule, the dvd of "Beer Wars" is now on sale. (I don't think the woman ever sleeps.) To avoid the high cost of the middleman, she's distributing it herself, so it's only available for purchase at the "Beer Wars" website. Avoid the rush! Do your holiday shopping now.

Gone Fishing (Sort Of)

Obviously I should have, um, toned down my previous rant. Apologies. (I'd delete it, but hey, it is what it is.)

I was annoyed that the upgrade demolished so much of the blog itself, but I was even more annoyed that I lost three hours of my life trying to deal with it (including trying to figure out how to back up the blog before I upgraded, an effort which, ultimately got me nowhere.

Anyway, again I will attempt to repair the damage this weekend. Today, however, I've got to be away from the desk for most of the day and night. A

nd The Husband comes home tonight, and I'd rather spend the weekend with him than with a broken blog. So: the damage will get repaired.

Soon. Soon as I can work up the energy to tackle something I'd really rather not have to mess with.

Because I'd MUCH rather expend that energy finishing Chapter Three, which is on the verge of morphing into Chapter Four. Which means, hey!, I've written about a third of the new book. So at least something cheery is afoot.

Hmmmm. Election of Obama = New Life for Extremists?

Okay, that sounds obvious: Americans elect a partially black man as president and that event brings the extremists out of the woodwork? (Referring here to the murder of Dr. Tiller and today's shooting at the Holocaust Museum by, apparently, an avowed white supremacist.) (For the record, in case anyone is wondering, I support the right to choose, and I loathe white supremacists.)

Or is it that Obama is a Democrat, and the extremists dozed for a few years, resting easy while Cheney was in office?

Probably the only way to know is by statistics: How many "extremist" events took place during, say, the Clinton administrations? And how many during the Bush years?

Not sure if those statistics would prove a correlation one way or the other, but I'm guessing that chattering TV heads will latch on to the "Obama is black" connection, rather than the political party connection.

What the Heck Is It?

Today's "What's It Wednesday" from Dawn Farmer has me stumped! Take a look and see if you can figure it out.

Indulge Me, Please [Updated]

I just this moment --- 6:10 pm, central time --- realized that today is the 25th anniversary of the day I met the person to whom I am married. Aka The Husband.

We began living together about six months after we met (hey, I was 30; he was 43; we more or less knew what we were doing), but only got married ten years ago. S

o we've always celebrated the day we met rather than our wedding day. Now, why did I forget the day?No, not because I'm a bad wife. Indeed, I'm The Perfect Wife. (I'm kidding, I'm kidding, for god's sake!)

Because as is typically the case in early June, he's in Europe today. (Attending an annual conference which, yes, happens on/around June 9.) And he's been gone for fifteen days (first he went to Bilbao, than to London to see not the Queen but our kids), so, ya know, I've just been here at home, by myself, working away on my book, oblivious as to the world around me. Including oblivious to the day of the week.

Which is how I realized it was our anniversary: I wondered what day of the week it was.

Figured out it was Tuesday and then, out of curiosity, wondered what the date was --- and, whoops!, realized it was June 9.

Anyway: to my husband --- my dearest friend, most loyal companion and supporter, the one person who loves me just as I am --- I say: It's been a lovely ride. Here's hoping for twenty-five more go-rounds. (Although, ahem, given our age, I doubt we'll make it. So let's enjoy it while it lasts.) U

PDATE: I realized as I clicked "publish" that not only is this the day, but I wrote this post to the minute almost of meeting him. We'd "met" via the personals (which back then meant exchanging real letters), then on June 9, met for our first face-to-face, which consisted of: Hotel bar in downtown Des Moines (I had a gin and tonic; not sure what he drank), and then we went to see "Liquid Sky." (Short plot description: Aliens from outer space need endorphins released during orgasm.) (I can't make this stuff up.) (My candidate for prize for Wierdest First Date Ever.)

Dissection of A (Failed) Attempt at Digital Journalism

One quick, drive-by post (I want to get back my other job. Today: Explaining how Philip Armour made his zillions so I can get this chapter FINISHED.) A

nyway, wanted to pass along this  fascinating dissection of a failed attempt at "online" journalism. Stoltz does not present any hard evidence for his claims about the speed at which people read online (yes, I clicked over to his "source," but the source simply presents the date as fact, without any supporting evidence.)

But I think we agree that there is an inherent difference between reading paper and reading a screen, and so his basic argument --- that print journalism can't be a one-for-one transfer from paper to screen --- is true. Anyway, completely worth reading.

And once again, I curse Twitter: I learned of this piece via @boraZ while doing an "Okay, I'm just going to turn on the computer for fifteen minutes and do a quickie scan of Twitter" and of course found ten things I want to read. Sigh.

But back to Mr. Armour. And hey, some day I'll heed the experts' advice, apparently supported by fact, that blog entries need to be SHORT, damnit, SHORT. Because, ya know, no one wants to read these long rambling semi-disquisitions.