tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post5081890161903948848..comments2023-10-30T09:23:42.803-05:00Comments on Some Assembly Required: SAR #13061Charles Kingsley Michaelson, IIIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04364694465614330540noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-79226662641371251432013-03-02T14:18:07.299-06:002013-03-02T14:18:07.299-06:00Ways and Means Item:
"This column argues tha...Ways and Means Item:<br /><br />"This column argues that alleged experts repeatedly cannot tell a superstar wine from a cheaper bottle. Like many cultural commodities, it seems that the quality of wine is not an objective trait. Rather, these commodities become whatever we want them to become."<br /><br />That sounds alarmingly like the Ratings of Financial Products. "Thees Mortgage has an exotic fragrance of Santa Barbara."<br /><br />Also:<br /><br />"Look, wine is an alcohol delivery system." And so is beer and hard stuff. In the case of beer generally, it is a poor delivery system of the drug, alcohol, requiring many trips to the toilet to excrete the delivery vehicle, water. Wine is a bit better with hard stuff being an even better delivery system.<br /><br />The Best Alcohol Delivery System is one used by an alcoholic chemist who used pure ethanlo and an intravenous drip as the delivery vehicle. This chemist had ethanol available through his employment. Of course, one must be concerned about measuring the rate of drip properly. As the buzz comes on.................<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-24663129637327994612013-03-02T09:57:41.955-06:002013-03-02T09:57:41.955-06:00This is one of the first places I come for news an...<i>This is one of the first places I come for news and comment each morning. Thank you, CK, for all you do. In the past few months, I have also been reading Charlie Pierce's politics blog at Esquire - he was very good on the election, and his coverage of the tragicomedies of the sequestration and the papal succession seems excellent to me. And now for a tangential historical footnote.</i><br /><br /><b>Danny Kaye's Clandestine 'Kaplan' Character</b><br /><br />"Kaye had one character he never shared with the public; Kaplan, the owner of an Akron, Ohio rubber company, came to life only for family and friends. His wife Sylvia described the Kaplan character:<br /><br /> He doesn't have any first name. Even his wife calls him just Kaplan. He's an illiterate pompous character who advertises his philanthropies. Jack Benny or Dore Schary might say, 'Kaplan, why do you hate unions so?' If Danny feels like doing Kaplan that night, he might be off on Kaplan for two hours."<br /><br />[from the Wikipedia bio of Danny Kaye - not only a charming man, but a mensch, to the best of my knowledge.]<br /><br /><b>meta-footnote:</b> I got to Danny Kaye by a process of association from the Russian Jew who plays a pivotal role in Gurdjieff's story in <i>Meetings with Remarkable Men</i> of the resale of the barrels of herring - which the I was reminded of by the "house flipping" item. Briefly: if such large and quick profits are possible, the first price may have been too low. Gurdjieff's story can be seen at <br /><br />http://starvethematrix.com/index.php/esoterica/fourth-way/gurdjieff/277-gurdjieff-quotesmistah charley, ph.d.http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/noreply@blogger.com