EclectEcon

Let's Get Everything Digitized...Soon!

With the burning of books and the destruction of so many historical items, it is important that archivists digitize everything they can, especially rare books and manuscripts.

A month ago, a fire ravaged a Moscow library. Most recently, in Mosul, ISIS burned 8000 rare books and manuscripts at the local library (h/t Jack):

While the world was watching the Academy Awards ceremony, the people of Mosul were watching a different show. They were horrified to see ISIS members burn the Mosul public library. Among the many thousands of books it housed, more than 8,000 rare old books and manuscripts were burned.

“ISIS militants bombed the Mosul Public Library. They used improvised explosive devices,” said Ghanim al-Ta'an, the director of the library. Notables in Mosul tried to persuade ISIS members to spare the library, but they failed.

The former assistant director of the library Qusai All Faraj said that the Mosul Public Library was established in 1921, the same year that saw the birth of the modern Iraq. Among its lost collections were manuscripts from the eighteenth century, Syriac books printed in Iraq's first printing house in the nineteenth century, books from the Ottoman era, Iraqi newspapers from the early twentieth century and some old antiques like an astrolabe and sand glass used by ancient Arabs. The library had hosted the personal libraries of more than 100 notable families from Mosul over the last century.

Taking high-quality jpeg photos of each page is a quick and easy way to preserve old texts. I've been doing this with my mother's letters written back in the 1930s. Here's hoping libraries will digitize their rare collections and store the digitized files in several locations.

Meet the Artist -- tonight

My photo exhibition, "It's Only the Beginning..." is on now at The Arts Project (226 Dundas, Downtown London).

Tonight we are holding a Meet-the-Artist reception from 5-7pm. Here are a few more of the 81 photos that will be on display.

 

Lightning in a Jar

 

Kaleidoscope

 

University Fireworks

Related articles

It's Only the Beginning...

Busy Day

Cheese Spread Recommendation

A month or two ago, we randomly tried a cheese spread made by Agropur in Canada. It is amazing stuff. It comes in three varieties: Brie, Cheddar, and Oka. It is smooth as silk and great as a dip or spread for crackers or celery or what have you. Yes, it is so smooth, we can use it as a dip

Just so you know: this stuff is NOT inexpensive. These containers are small (only 100g), and the price is about $5 each [Canadian. That's what? 23 cents US?]. We have found them at the London Market and sometimes at SuperStore.

They are wonderful. We think they are more than worth the price.

Steve Reich

I'm in the office at The University of Western Ontario today*. For some reason, I decided to listen to the music of Steve Reich. Fascinating and intriguing.

I first heard the music of Steve Reich while I was wandering the streets of Copenhagen in July, 2006, during a major jazz festival. There was a group performing at one of the venues, and the music was captivating. I rushed up to the group afterward and asked if they had CDs (they didn't) and asked about the music. It was then that I learned I had been enjoying the music of Steve Reich. It still suits me and my moods sometimes. For my earlier piece on Steve Reich's music, see this.

*It's a small office shared by nine Emeriti, but the other eight don't show up very often, so it's essentially a nice private get-away that I retreat to about once a week. The department staff have named the office "Jurassic Park".

Electric Cars: The Social Costs Dramatically Outweigh the Social Benefits

Electric cars sounds as if they might be the answer to big-city smog, air pollution, and the contribution to CO2 emissions and whatever those emissions might add to global warming. However electric cars are not now generating net social benefits,  and won't be for many years to come. From the very sensible Bjørn Lomborg,

The electric car seems great. Except, it isn't yet.

The social costs of the electric car: $223 billion.
The social benefits: about $0.5 billion.
Not a good deal. [EE: the details are set out in the link above]

25 million electric cars would over their lifetimes cut CO₂ worth $0.5 billion. Great. But they would cost $188 billion in direct subsidies, and more air pollution from power plants would kill more than 700 people each year, costing society over their lifetimes about $35 billion in damages....

It is advertised as a zero-emissions car, but in reality it only shifts emissions to electricity production, with most coming from fossil fuels. As green venture capitalist Vinod Khosla likes to point out, "Electric cars are coal-powered cars."...

For now, focus on much cleaner hybrids, clean up coal fired power and then innovate green energy and batteries until the electric car is worthwhile in a couple of decades.

Do These GIFs Help with Understanding Geometry and Analytical Calculus?

A few weeks ago, a classmate from gradskool posted a link on Facebook to a site with a number of GIFs that illustrate mathematical principles underlying many concepts from geometry, trigonometry, and calculus.

I thought the constructs on the page were fascinating. Some required quite a bit of concentration, and with some I really had to dredge up hazy memories from my math courses even to get a rough idea what they were talking about.

The GIFs are fun to study, but I really don't think they necessarily do a better job of teaching the concepts than my various instructors did. Here's one that made a lot of sense once I looked at it for a minute. It really might have helped me in high school math.

If you’re studying trig, you better get pretty comfortable with circles. Check out this visualization that shows what you’re really looking at when you deal with pi:

You might enjoy the others, too.

It's Only the Beginning...

Today I'll be transporting 80 photographs to The Arts Project to set up my exhibit, "It's Only the Beginning..." 

From their web page,

It’s Only the Beginning….
An Exhibition of Photography by John Palmer

February 24 – March 7
Opening Reception
Friday February 27, 5-7pm

After exhibiting and winning prizes for his photography throughout Southwestern Ontario, John Palmer didn’t exhibit his work for several years. With this exhibit, he returns with a large showing of his photography, filling the entire gallery of The ARTS Project.

His recent work involves considerable macro-work enlarged to show new perspectives. The feature piece for which the exhibit is named shows the transition from death to life as the seeds of a flower mature to create new lives just as the flower itself dies.

Artist’s Statement:

The theme of new beginnings runs through life. We think, we study, and we phenomenologize about our existence. We strive to look forward in learning as well as emotionally , as we continue to grow. It is seen in our careers and career changes, our families and other relationships, and as we die but leave a legacy for others who carry on.

Or, to put it differently, as all good economists would say,

• Sunk costs are sunk.
• Costs emerge because we must make choices, and
• All costs are future costs

Here is another of the photos I'll be exhibiting, but not quite like this:

"Pinocchio"

Busy Day

This afternoon I'm playing in a concert with Encore: The Concert Band [2pm, Central Secondary School] in which we're playing a number of really fun pieces.

This evening I'm doing a knock-off of Sean Connery for an event at The London Club.

Tomorrow I begin to hang my photo show at The Arts Project. I've been coasting up 'til now, but life will be hectic for the next three months.

"Tongue of the Dragon"

Crusades and the Jews

Most of us knew that the Crusades were undertaken to capture Jerusalem and Israel from the Muslims and that many, many Muslims were killed during those wars. What is less well-known is that the first major victims of the first Crusade were Europe's Jews.

This history is told eloquently here in the New York Times Sunday Review.

THE first victims of the First Crusade, inspired in 1096 by the supposedly sacred mission of retaking Jerusalem from Muslims, were European Jews. Anyone who considers it religiously and politically transgressive to compare the behavior of medieval Christian soldiers to modern Islamic terrorism might find it enlightening to read this bloody story, as told in both Hebrew and Christian chronicles. ...

Just as the Crusades were integrally linked to Roman Catholicism in the Middle Ages, terrorist movements today are immersed in a particular anti-modern interpretation of Islam. This does not imply that a majority of Muslims agree with violent religious ideology. It does mean that the terrorists’ brand of belief plays a critical role in their savage assault on human rights.

Cultural ignoramuses portrayed President Obama’s references to the Crusades and the Inquisition at the recent National Prayer Breakfast as an excuse for Islamic terrorism, but the president’s allusions could and should have been used as an opportunity to reflect on the special damage inflicted in many historical contexts by warriors seeking conquest in the name of their god.

The details set out there are appalling: Jews were forced to pay protection money, forcibly converted to Christianity, or exiled. Thousands were killed even after having paid extortionate protection money.

A similar account appears here.

The Crusades turned into campaigns of slaughter, rape, and pillage, and woe to the poor Jews in the way. Indeed, the Crusades mark the first large-scale European mob violence directed against Jews which is going to become, unfortunately, the pattern for the next hundreds of years. The later pogroms are just going to be a repeat of this idea.

The Jews were not the only ― and in fact, not the primary ― victims of the Crusaders. Muslims were.  ...

[A]bout 30%-50% of the Jewish community of Europe met its end. Some 10,000 Jews of an estimated population of about 20,000-30,000 were slaughtered by Crusaders mobs.

And the conclusion from the Sunday Review article:

What we actually see today is a standard of medieval behavior upheld by modern fanatics who, like the crusaders, seek both religious and political power through violent means. They offer a ghastly and ghostly reminder of what the Western world might look like had there never been religious reformations, the Enlightenment and, above all, the separation of church and state.

A Geography Lesson?

I just bought some Atlantic salmon, a product of Chile:

I thought, "Huh?" Chile is on the Pacific Ocean side of South America. But then I checked, and indeed down near Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, Chile does appear to reach over to the Atlantic Ocean.

But that is likely irrelevant when it comes to Atlantic salmon.  These salmon filets are almost surely from salmon farms in Chile. From Wikipaedia,

Aquaculture is a major economical activity in Chile. Among the diverse aquacultures practised in Chile Atlantic salmon aquaculture is the overwhelmingly largest sector. Until 2007 Chile experienced over 15 years a huge growth in its salmon aquaculture becoming the second largest salmon and trout producer after Norway.^[1][2] By 2006 Chile contributed with 38% of the worlds salmon volume just behind Norway that produced 39% of it.^[1] In 2006 salmon from Chilean aquacultures was the third largest export product in terms value, representing 3,9 of Chilean exports...

More on Gratitude

Remember my earlier posts about happiness and gratitude?

I recently ran across this cartoon:

My answer: Better than I ever imagined! (but then I'm not sure I have grown up yet).

Another item from Facebook that is related:

And yesterday, this very touching piece by Oliver Sacks appeared in the NYTimes, written after he learned he has terminal cancer. Some excerpts:

I feel grateful that I have been granted nine years of good health and productivity since the original diagnosis, but now I am face to face with dying....

I feel intensely alive, and I want and hope in the time that remains to deepen my friendships, to say farewell to those I love, to write more, to travel if I have the strength, to achieve new levels of understanding and insight.

This will involve audacity, clarity and plain speaking; trying to straighten my accounts with the world. But there will be time, too, for some fun (and even some silliness, as well). ...

[M]y predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and I have given something in return; I have read and traveled and thought and written. I have had an intercourse with the world, the special intercourse of writers and readers.

Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.

Wow. Just, wow.

[emphasis added]

Playwright David Mamet on the Role of Gubmnt

An insightful comment posted today by Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek:

…from page 188 of David Mamet’s 2011 book, The Secret Knowledge (original emphasis):

Government is only a business.  Past the roads, defense, and sewers, it sells excitement and self-satisfaction to the masses, and charges them an entertainment tax, exacted in wealth and misery.  It cannot make cars, or develop medicines.  How can it “abolish poverty” (at home or abroad), or Bring About an End to Greed or Exploitation?  It can only sell the illusion, and put itself in a position where it is free from judgment of its efforts.  It does this, first of all, by stating inchoate goals, “change, hope, fairness, peace,” and then indicting those who question them as traitors or ogres; finally, it explains its lack of success by reference to persistent if magical forces put in play by its predecessors and yet uneradicated because of insufficient funding.

How Long Before Ontario Gubmnt Bonds are "Junk"?

Yesterday Fitch, one of the major credit/bond rating firms, downgraded their rating of Ontario bonds from AA to AA-. From HuffPost,

"Budget options are likely to prove more limited given the extent of actions taken to date and use of one-time actions to achieve targets, in Fitch's opinion," the agency said.

"The downgrade to AA- reflects Fitch's concern that risks remain to achieving its goals and both debt burden and the accumulated deficit will remain significantly elevated."

 But really, just about everyone saw this coming. From the same article,

Moody's credit rating agency changed Ontario's debt rating in July to negative from stable, citing concerns about the province's ability to eliminate the deficit as scheduled.

And also,

Ontario's auditor general issued a similar warning last week, cautioning that despite Ontario's work to eliminate its deficit, the province's rising net debt — the difference between its liabilities and its total assets — could have a number of negative implications for its finances in the future.

By 2017-18 the province's net debt will have soared to $325 billion, more than double the $156.6 billion a decade ago, the report estimated.

Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk's report noted that the government now spends more on debt interest than it does on post-secondary education, and those interest costs are growing.

What surprises me is that, given all these budgetary concerns, Ontario's credit rating is as high as it is. Yes, the gubmnt has the power to tax, but that is a limited option. And while the gubmnt can also reduce the outflow of funds, the current gubmnt has shown no inclination to do so.

To put things differently, see this study released last week by The Fraser Institute, which presciently said:

Ontario’s provincial debt has grown by $117 billion since the recession, largely because of government borrowing to fund day-to-day expenses — not investments in infrastructure  ...

“Governments typically borrow money as a means to finance long-lived assets such as roads, schools or hospitals. In Ontario’s case, the province has gone deeper into debt to pay for day-to-day expenses such as the salaries and pensions of government employees and is passing the bill on to future generations,” ...

The study concludes that the growth in debt is unsustainable and will require a change in fiscal direction including a marked reduction in spending.

“If the Ontario government fails to change course, its unsustainable fiscal policies could provoke further credit rating downgrades, higher borrowing costs and spiralling interest payments,” said Charles Lammam, Fraser Institute associate director of tax and fiscal policy.

Understanding ISIS

Several friends have highly recommended this piece on ISIS in The Atlantic. I haven't finished it yet. It is about 10K words, a very  lengthy essay.

For those who don't even want to start it, let me recommend this summary blog post by the Elder of Ziyon. It is lengthy for a blog post, but it's really the equivalent of only a page or two. Some highlights:

[A]s you read it, you see that outside of military annihilation, there is no way to defeat it anyway (although Wood thinks that containment can work over time, causing new recruits to become disillusioned at the failure of the caliphate to continuously expand.)

One major point is that their leaders are not crazy. Their beliefs are consistent and if you are willing to listen to them, they will tell you their strategy and tactics. ...

IS cannot be stopped by religious arguments - because their entire point is to bring Islam back to the 7th century, back to Mohammed's own practices. And any Muslim who argues that Mohammed's methods don't apply nowadays cannot win an argument against IS... [emphasis in the original]...

The author underplays the appeal of a non-hypocritical Islam, when Islam itself has no theological alternative to believing that Mohammed was the perfect prophet and example to mankind. Young people who embrace Islam will be far more likely to choose the strain that is the most internally consistent, and as it stands, that is IS.

In other words, neither arguments nor diplomacy nor military strength will defeat ISIS. It is difficult to pray for world peace under these circumstances, other than as a wonderful dream and hope. To follow this thought, read the Elder's post even if you don't read the more lengthy piece in The Atlantic.

Frequency of Masturbation, by Sex and Age

FYI:

The economist in me cannot help but think about relative prices and the "substitution effect" [see this].

Has the New York Times Been Intimidated by Islamists?

In today's story about the Danish shootings, the New York Times headline reads,

Terror Attacks by a Native Son Rock Denmark

One might reasonably be led to believe that the most important characteristic of the shooter was that it was a Dane who shot up the free-speech meeting and the synagogue.

It is not until the 6th and 7th paragraphs that we read,

Though the gunman’s name and basic biographical details were still unclear late Sunday, he appears to have shared some traits with at least two of the militants responsible for the Paris violence, notably a criminal record and an abrupt transition from street crime to Islamic militancy.

The Danish news media identified him as Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein, but the Copenhagen police did not confirm his name. [emphasis added]

A native son, maybe, but also an Islamic militant.

Shoe Repairs: a lesson in sunk costs and opportunity costs

Over 30 years ago, I bought a very well-made pair of Timberland loafers. I didn't take great care of them, but I did oil them now and then. They held up despite my lackadaisical care and rough treatment.

Slowly they became my slip-on shoes for going out to work in the yard (when we had one) or for short walks to the store or the market.

Finally last fall, I realized they needed new soles, so I took them to the shoe repair shop in Covent Garden Market. I was a bit leery of taking them to that outlet because I hadn't been completely pleased with their service previously, but it's a convenient location.

Two days after the shoes were returned to me, the soles started falling off. So I took them back and had them reglued.

Sure as shootin', a couple of months later, the soles were falling off again, and it looked as if the midsoles were in trouble, too. No way was I going to take them back to the place that tried to fix them initially. 

Instead I took them to a new shoe-repair outlet conveniently located near the LCBO that is only two blocks away, Coakley's. I am delighted with the results! (I know, this is early, but the work looks mighty good!)

He restitched and patched and cleaned and redyed and reglued and polished the shoes, and all for a less-than-reasonable price. He will surely get my repeat business.

Here is his final product in this photo. I think the shoes will likely last another 30 years...

 

Note the valuable economic lesson about sunk costs in this story.

It didn't matter what I had paid for the shoes 30 years ago, and it didn't matter what I had paid only a few months ago for the shoddy repair job.

All that mattered was whether paying to have the shoes repaired would give me a pair of shoes that was worth what I would have to pay at Coakley's. The previous costs were sunk costs. But in economics (and life) costs are forward-looking.

Before taking the shoes in for repair this last time, I had to ask myself,
"Do I want to spend $X to have these shoes repaired for the future, or would I rather use those $X for something else?"

What I spent in the past was irrelevant to making this decision.

Despicable. Growing Indications of the Anti-Semitism in Europe

Shootings in Denmark and now this:

France’s interior minister said Sunday several hundred tombs had been defaced at a Jewish cemetery in the east of the country, in what he called “a despicable act.”

Happy Half-Price Chocolate Day!

I love the days after major candy-buying holidays: Hallowe'en, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and the best of all is usually Easter. All that half-price (or sometimes even cheaper) candy! #carbsbedamned 

Posted by several Facebook friends:

Related articles

Valentine's Day Celebrations

Candlestick Salad

50 Shades of .... well, what?

I had very little idea what the book was about until I read a few reviews. They all seem to agree it is turgid writing with very little romance and some shades (!) of S&M thrown in.

I've seen other fun on Facebook, such as "Fifty Shades of Black" and "Fifty Shades of Earl Grey" (photos of tea, of course).

Dave Barry:

[H]ere’s one tiny sample of the writing style:

“Did you give him our address?”
“No, but stalking is one of his specialties,” I muse matter-of-factly.
Kate’s brow knits further.

That’s right: This is the kind of a book where, instead of saying things, characters muse them, and they are somehow able to muse them matter-of-factly. And these matter-of-fact musings cause other characters’ brows—which of course were already knitted—to knit still further. The book is over five hundred pages long and the whole thing is written like that. If Jane Austen (another bestselling female British author) came back to life and read this book, she would kill herself. ...

So the plot is: They have sex, she wants to smooch, he wants to flog, there’s a bunch of talking about this, they have sex again, she again wants to smooch, he again wants to flog, there’s a bunch more talking about this, and so on for several hundred word-filled pages.

Finally, Anastasia decides to let Christian flog her, to see what it would be like. So he takes a belt and flogs her on the butt. Then, in the dramatic climax to the story, the moment we have been building up to, Anastasia comes to a shocking, life-changing realization, which nobody could have foreseen in a million years: Getting flogged on the butt hurts.

Stephanie Merry (contrasting the movie with the novel):

After all, the erotic romance novel, based on saucy “Twilight” fan-fiction, did great business, despite being a 500-page lesson in how not to use a thesaurus. Millions of readers paid their dues, skimming countless boring scenes with a narrator who says nothing more profound than “holy cow!” and “double crap!” so they could get to the good stuff: bondage-laced sex scenes between the story’s innocent protagonist and her impossibly hot, impossibly rich damaged-goods love interest. ...

Of course, the tedium of doing business is broken up by about 15 minutes of sexcapades. Compared to the book, which features a much-discussed scene involving a tampon, the movie is a model of moderation. Every sexual encounter plays out to the soothing strains of some lovely vocalist (Sia, Beyoncé), and careful framing means we see plenty of skin, but not as much as you might expect for a chronicle of fringy sexual habits. Dornan doesn’t even get totally naked for the camera.

Taylor-Johnson clearly was going for an R rating, and even with what the MPAA deemed “unusual behavior” — including one difficult-to-watch whipping — no scene comes close to earning an NC-17 designation.

In the end, there’s nothing here we haven’t seen before. But there’s also nothing as agonizingly awkward as James’s prose.

 Anthony Lane (rivaling Dave Barry for put-downs):

If the figures are correct, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” by E. L. James, has been bought by more than a hundred million people, of whom only twenty million were under the impression that it was a paint catalogue. That leaves a solid eighty million or so who, upon reading sentences such as “He strokes his chin thoughtfully with his long, skilled fingers,” had to lie down for a while and let the creamy waves of ecstasy subside. Now, after an enticing buildup, which took to extreme lengths the art of the peekaboo, the film of the book is here....

“Fifty Shades of Grey” is being released in time for Valentine’s Day. That’s a bold move, since the film is not just unromantic but specifically anti-romantic; take your valentine along, by all means, but, be warned, it’ll be like watching “Rosemary’s Baby” at Christmas. Try holding hands as the hero taunts the rituals of sentiment, such as going out for dinner and a movie: “That’s not really my thing.” What his thing actually is, Lord knows, although, to judge by the importance that he attaches to grooming, regular feeding, and nicely buffed leather goods, my suspicion is that he doesn’t want a girlfriend at all. I know Mr. Grey’s whopping-big secret. He wants a pony.

Honestly? Is that really what the book and movie are like? I must be way out to lunch, but why on earth was the book ever popular?

 

Inexplicable Gratitude: I Am Not Ready for This Caper to End

Toward the end of today's NYTimes obituary for David Carr is this [h/t Ms Eclectic]:

“I now inhabit a life I don’t deserve,” Mr. Carr wrote ... “but we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn’t end any time soon.”

That is so pithy, so true. I'm grateful for having taken the journey and for the life I have. [See my recent post on happiness.] I never imagined having a life so full and rich; I too feel as if "I now inhabit a life I don't deserve." Fortunately some years ago I began to understand this and accept the feelings of gratitude that inundate me every day.

Also, like Carr, I "... hope the caper doesn't end any time soon."

I recall so many of my friends from the intelligentsia over the years saying they had led full lives and could accept death whenever it comes. Not me! Despite the physical deterioration that comes with age, I am loving life, and I want to keep enjoying it.

I am not ready for this caper to end.

 

More on Confidence Intervals

A week or so ago, I posted this about confidence intervals and weather forecasts. Other posts about them are here and here. And here is a post nearly a decade old about confidence intervals and standards of proof in the legal system.

The other day, though, JR (my favourite drug dealer) sent me this brilliant statement:

There are exceptions which don't prove the rule, they prove the confidence interval.

Who Goes to These Concerts?

Yesterday my daughter suggested we go to see "Jersey Boys" which is playing in town this weekend. "Jersey Boys" comprises a story about Franky Valli and The Four Seasons along with songs from that era. I listened to a lot their music in my younger days and was interested in see the show, but I told her I didn't really want to shell out $75 or $100  for a ticket.

So I looked online just to see what the prices were.

HOLY CRAP! The tickets are $174 - $223 EACH.

• I can get two tickets at The Grand Theatre [live, professional theatre in London, Ontario] and have dinner for two people for the price of  just one of these tickets.
• Or I can pay full price for the best seat to see a play in Stratford AND have a nice dinner for the price of one of these tickets.
• Or I can donate that money to some charity.
• Or I can put it into savings accounts for our grandchildren.
• Or.... you get the idea.

I'd sort of like to see the show, but not enough to give up whatever else I might use that money for. [the fundamentals of "opportunity costs"]

I simply cannot imagine spending that kind of money to see a live show, but all the performances are sold out or nearly so, and I know I have friends who have seen the show.

Ms Eclectic says I am out of touch with how much people pay to see live musical groups on tour. I'm afraid she is right.

Update and correction: Leigh pointed out those were dinner-and-theatre ticket prices. The tickets for the show only range from about $80 - $125 or so. [expensive dinners, eh?]

Toast for Sandwiches?? A Different Technique

I don't eat much bread anymore, and even if I did eat bread in sandwiches, I'm not sure I'd think this technique was the greatest thing since .... well, never mind [via Jack].

The argument behind the technique is that toast for sandwiches would be ideal if only it were crisp on the outside of the sandwich and soft on the inside of the sandwich. I don't see that, but if you do, you might want to try this technique.

With most toasters, the slots are quite wide now to accommodate thick items like bagels, crumpets, English muffins, etc. So if you want a sandwich with bread that is crisp on one side and soft on the other side, put two slices in one slot, like this:

Seems like a good idea.... if that's what you really want.

Addendum: Marilyn just noted on FB that most toasters with wide slots also have a bagel setting that toasts only one side.... if that's what your really want.

 

Oh Happy Day! 12 Bottles of Ledaig!

Several times recently I have posted about how much I liked my first bottle of Ledaig 10-year-old whisky from the Isle of Mull [see here, for example]. As I wrote then, I ordered two six-bottle cases of Ledaig last week.

This morning I received the twelve bottles!

Oh Happy Day! Here they are:

What a wonderful way to shop for scotch whisky!

Addendum: This post has been edited several times.

Related articles

10-year-old Ledaig

Valentine's Day Celebrations

Between April 6-11, I am playing Theseus in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream". The play is set in spring, but there is a fun line about Valentine's Day:

Good morrow, friends. Saint Valentine is past: 
Begin these wood-birds but to couple now?

which I read as saying, "Okay the wooing is done; the only thing left for young folks is to 'couple'."

Interestingly, lots of people wooing or already wooed seem to spend LOTS of money at Valentine's Day. From WaPo,

My husband and I have what I think is a romantic routine for celebrating Valentine’s Day.

On Valentine’s Day morning, I’ll turn to him and say, “Honey, do you love me?”

To which he replies, “Sure, I love you.”

“Great,” I say to him. “We just saved about $8 because we don’t have to buy any greeting cards for each other.”

We laugh and go about our day. We don’t need stuff to show our love. I don’t expect flowers (they die). I love chocolate, but neither of us wants any since we are both trying to lose weight. It’s too crowded at restaurants. ...

The average person will spend $142.31 on candy, flowers, apparel and more this Valentine’s Day, up from $133.91 last year, according to the National Retail Federation. The group says total spending is expected to reach $18.9 billion.

Really? That's the average? Not us. We love to eat out, so we do dine out for Valentine's Day (and many other special occasions, such as "Would-you-like-to-go-out-to-eat? Day").

This year, though, we're going out for lunch on Friday rather than buck the crowds on Saturday. And lunch is almost always less expensive than dinner.

But $142 [US! These days that's the equivalent of, what? $7000 Cdn???]! We try to keep flowers or flowering plants around most of the time, so we make no big, special expenditure there for Valentine's Day. And if we have any chocolate for Valentine's Day, it will likely be purchased on sale after Valentine's Day.

Nutrionists Have SO Much to Answer for

Beginning well over a decade ago, Ms Eclectic and I were starting to see articles that questioned the standard dietician advice: avoid foods high in fat and avoid foods containing cholesterol.

Up until then, we had tried the standard diets: count calories, cut down on fats, eat fewer eggs and less meat. We were successful on those diets, but we were also miserable and hungry, and we slowly regained the weight we had lost.

Two and a half years ago, we finally gave up on the standard diets and embarked on low-carb diets. We had read compelling evidence that the body works harder to process calories from fat than from carbs, and so we embarked on a slightly modified version of the Atkins diet [see here]. We have had sustained (sort of) weight losses, and we are rarely hungry.

Finally. Finally nutritionists are recognizing that fats are good and cholesterol is not bad.

Fats vs. carbs: We haven't completely cut carbs out of the diet, but we have severely reduced the amounts refined wheat and refined sugar that we eat. Here is a recent article dealing with carbs. At the same time, we eat meat and eggs, and we snack on cheese. It's wonderful! [more here]

And now, all the major news media are reporting that the US gubmnt has changed it's mind about cholesterol. From WaPo,

The nation's top nutrition advisory panel has decided to drop its caution about eating cholesterol-laden food, a move that could undo almost 40 years of government warnings about its consumption.

The group's finding that cholesterol in the diet need no longer be considered a “nutrient of concern” stands in contrast to the committee's findings five years ago, the last time it convened. During those proceedings, as in previous years, the panel deemed the issue of "excess dietary cholesterol" a public health concern.

[T]he finding, which may offer a measure of relief to breakfast diners who prefer eggs, follows an evolution of thinking among many nutritionists who now believe that for a healthy adult cholesterol intake may not significantly affect the level of cholesterol in the blood or increase the risk of heart disease.

 This stuff has been around for nearly two decades. There's little-to-no excuse for not revising the food guidelines sooner.

Nutritionists, especially those making pronouncements on behalf of the gubmnt, have SO much to answer for.

Blondie at the Castle

I first taught at what is now known as the Bader International Study Centre at Herstmonceux Castle in SE England nearly nine years ago. During that first year I was teaching there, several ducks hatched enormous broods of ducklings in the castle courtyard, including the initial set of thirteen ducklings. The ducklings were well-looked-after by their mother and were well-fed by many different members of the castle staff. Eleven of those ducklings survived the first few months.

One of those survivors was considerably lighter in colour than the others. Soon everyone took to calling her "Blondie".

Andy, who works on castle security, says she is still alive and doing well. He sent this photo with the note that this appears to be her new boyfriend/partner.

 

Have the Global-Warming Data Been Cooked?

There's a good reason to be a climate skeptic, especially if the reported data are unreliable (from the Telegraph). According to this article, there have been systematic adjustments upward  of the temperature data from weather stations all around the world.

Following my last article, Homewood checked a swathe of other South American weather stations around the original three. In each case he found the same suspicious one-way “adjustments”. First these were made by the US government’s Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN). They were then amplified by two of the main official surface records, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Giss) and the National Climate Data Center (NCDC), which use the warming trends to estimate temperatures across the vast regions of the Earth where no measurements are taken. Yet these are the very records on which scientists and politicians rely for their belief in “global warming”.

He adds,

Homewood has now turned his attention to the weather stations across much of the Arctic, between Canada (51 degrees W) and the heart of Siberia (87 degrees E). Again, in nearly every case, the same one-way adjustments have been made, to show warming up to 1 degree C or more higher than was indicated by the data that was actually recorded.

I'm not a global-warming denier, but I certainly am skeptical, and stories like these just add to my skepticism.

As Bjorn Lomborg has written so often, basic air pollution is a much more serious problem in developing economies.

 

10-year-old Ledaig

Last month, on the recommendation of a Facebook friend, I managed to locate and try a bottle of 10-year-old Ledaig scotch whisky. She claimed it was even better than my usual favourites, Lagavulin and Caol Ila.

Based on my experience with that one bottle, I can say she is almost surely right. If it isn't better, it certainly is at least as good as the best of the other peated/smoky scotches that I like. Further, I did think it was better, although this assessment was based on just that one bottle.

So I set myself out on a mission to buy some more Ledaig. The Ontario liquor monopoly [LCBO] no longer has any Ledaig in stock in ANY of its stores or warehouses anywhere in the entire province, and for now it has no plans to stock Ledaig on a regular basis. After some discussion with the representatives at the local monopoly outlet, I was given the phone number of the Canadian agent for Burn & Stewart, owners of the distillery in Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland, where this whisky is produced.*

To my great delight, last week I was able to order two 6-bottle cases. It is only slightly more than half the price of Lagavulin and about $10/bottle less expensive than Caol Ila.

If I had a speed dialer (or knew how to use one on my iPhone), this agent would be on it. I'm eagrely awaiting the delivery.... to our door, yet!

From their website:

For ten full years, oak wood casks lie in rest in ancient vaults.
Within them, the aromatic Lochan waters commune with the peated malted barley to create a deep golden treasure that is both floral and smoky.
Ledaig is one of our exquisite peated single malts, an integral part of the Tobermory family, and sits beautifully alongside our signature malts.
Unchill-filtered @ 46.3% ABV.

Hmmm. I wonder if maybe the 46.3% alcohol is one of the reasons I like it. It has a bit more bite than other whiskies with only 40% or 43% alcohol.

Interestingly, this scotch is readily available in Alberta, which is where my order is being shipped from; I gather from another Facebook friend it is readily available in Newfoundland as well.

This is just another example of the service provided in a competitive market: different outlets offer a much better range of choices than monopolists.

-----

*I have probably mentioned this before, but 5 years ago I spent several days in Oban where I toured the local distillery. During one of those days, I took a day-trip to th nearby islands of Mull, Iona, and Staffa. I had no idea the Tobermory distillery on Mull even existed. If I had, I might have arranged my travels quite differently.

Here are some of my favourite photos from that trip:

Oban, with Kerrara and Mull in the distance.

 

Kite-flying on Kerrara.

Fingal's Cave, Staffa