Stop By and Learn All About the ‘Green Fairy’ Today

 Good Day World!

 Have you ever danced with the “Green Fairy?”

I had the opportunity once. It was in 1970, and I was in Japan, a stop-over to my eventual destination - Vietnam.

Wow!

Here’s a wealth of information on Absinthe, aka the “Green Fairy”:

"QUANTUM SHOT" #824
Link - article by Simon Rose and Avi Abrams
The Bohemian Realm of Absinthiana
Absinthiana are the trappings and accessories associated with the drinking of absinthe.

This anise-flavored spirit is made from the flowers and leaves of wormwood, green anise, sweet fennel and other herbs.

Absinthe has a natural green color and was referred to as the Green Fairy, although it can also be colorless. Absinthe has a high alcohol level and is normally diluted with water for drinking. It’s also very bitter and was often poured into a glass of water over sugar on a perforated spoon.

Absinthe was invented in 1797 and by the 1850’s it had become a firm favorite with the upper classes. It was originally a wine-based drink, but the Great French Wine Blight of the mid-19th century destroyed many of the French vineyards. Absinthe was based instead on grain alcohol.

This made it more affordable and the Green Fairy became very popular as an alcoholic drink in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the early eighteenth century, absinthe would be served in an ordinary glass, with water added from a standard jug or similar container. With the increasing popularity of absinthe, specialty glassware, elaborate spoons, carafes and fountains made their appearance.

(images via 1, 2)
Absinthe was said to be both a narcotic and an aphrodisiac. It was adopted by the bohemian culture and Parisian authors and artists claimed that absinthe stimulated creativity. Well-known absinthe drinkers include Vincent van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Baudelaire and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Green Muse by Albert Maignan from 1895 shows a poet succumbing to the dubious charms of the green fairy.

(left: painting by Albert Maignan Pyushhiy "The Green Muse" from 1895; - right: "The Absinthe Drinker" by Edouard Manet, c.1859)

Absinthiana refers to the tools related to absinthe, along with the preparation and drinking of the beverage. At first, absinthe was served in perfectly ordinary glasses, with water was added to the drink using a straightforward jug or carafe.

As absinthe grew in popularity, more accessories appeared, including spoons, carafes and specialty glassware. Original copies can today command high prices in the antique market.

Time for me to walk on down the road…unsteadily

Tattoo fails and the price you’ll pay to make them go away

Good Day World!

Seems like everyone has a tattoo these days.

Everyone but me.

Nearly every member of my family has a ‘tat’ somewhere on their bodies. But all tattoos are not created equally.

By that I mean some tattoos are simply awful, the result of shoddy workmanship or getting one at an early age – like a picture of Ozzy Ozbourne eating a live bird on their chest.

Still other tattoos happen when a person is drunk, or drugged, when they get one on the spur of the moment (which they usually regret).

There’s hope however for the tatted masses who want to come clean and reclaim their flesh. Check out this article:

“Life doesn’t offer a lot of do-overs; the choice you made is often the choice you’re stuck with. But a terrible tattoo — that’s something we can work with. More than a third of younger Americans now have at least one tattoo, and a lot of them are regrettable, apparently.

According to the latest figures from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 45,224 tattoo removal procedures were done in 2013, up from 40,801 in 2011. That means that, for many estheticians and medi-spas, tattoo removal accounts for a big chunk of their business. 

There are two main types of laser, Q-switch and PicoSure. PicoSure is a newer, faster technology, zapping away a fist-sized tattoo in about five treatments, compared to 10 or 20 treatments in the past.

It can cost up to $1,000 per treatment for larger tattoos, like something taking up most of the back. For smaller tattoos — like, smaller than a business card — it’s about $200 per treatment. Full Story here

Time for me to walk on down the road…

The World’s Most Expensive Dog: Puppy Love Equates to $2 Million

 Good Day World!

 I’m a dog lover.

I love my pug, Molly. But there are limits.

But not for everyone.

I guess if someone is rich enough to pay $2 million for a much-coveted Tibetan mastiff, then it’s not for me to judge. just seems like a lot for a big shaggy dog.

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(An unidentified man poses for a photo with two Tibetan mastiffs after they were sold at a "luxury pet" fair in Hangzhou, eastern China. One of the Tibetan mastiff puppies, left, was sold for almost two million U.S. dollars, in what could be the most expensive dog sale ever.)

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Did you know that Tibetan mastiffs – an ancient breed of dog, with long coats - have become a status symbol among China's growing wealthy classes? You don’t hear that much about rich Chinese, unless it’s about how much one paid for some rare animal/object. Not sure why that is.

Can you imagine feeding one of these 200 pound puppies? The pricey things pet owners do worldwide, eh? In America, the Pet Industry profits run in the billions annually. Just saying.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

U.S. doctors concerned over generic drug quality from India

Good Day World!

I’m wondering how many generic drugs I take (or have taken) that came from Indian manufacturers.

The reason I bring this up is some U.S. doctors are becoming concerned about the quality of generic drugs supplied by Indian manufacturers following a flurry of recalls and import bans by the Food and Drug Administration.

India supplies about 40 percent of generic and over-the-counter drugs used in the United States, making it the second-biggest supplier after Canada.

In recent months, the FDA, citing quality control problems ranging from data manipulation to sanitation, has banned the importation of products from Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, Wockhardt Ltd and, most recently, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, who recently returned from her first official visit to India, is urging greater collaboration between the two countries. During her visit, the FDA and India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare signed a statement of intent to cooperate to prevent the distribution of unsafe drugs.

Shortly afterwards, India's drug controller general, G.N. Singh, said in an interview that the country will follow its own quality standards. "The FDA may regulate its country, but it can't regulate India on how India has to behave or how to deliver."

I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t sound like things are really going to be changing soon to me. India flipped us the bird and basically said, “Take it or leave it buddy!”

Excuse me…I’ve got to find my meds and see if I can’t start getting the “real” thing from here on out.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

An empirical window on the universe at almost the beginning of time?

Good Day World!

A snapshot of the Big Bang?

Nobel Prize Discovery?

According to scientists the evidence comes from the BICEP2 experiment at the South Pole, which captures and analyzes the faint glow left over from the Big Bang.

BICEP2's researchers found a subtle twisty pattern in the polarization of that light, which would be characteristic of primordial gravitational waves.

The results support a concept known as inflationary Big Bang theory, and they can be further analyzed to reconstruct how the Big Bang blew up 13.8 billion years ago.

MIT cosmologist Max Tegmark wrote that "before long, it will lead to at least one Nobel Prize."

"These results are a smoking gun for inflation, because alternative theories do not predict such a signal," Linde said in a news release.

MIT physicist Alan Guth, who is credited with articulating the inflation concept in 1980, told The New York Times that he was "bowled over" by the results.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Don’t make your March Madness picks until you read this

Good Day World!

 Well it’s that time again.

 No…not St. Paddy’s Day! Although it is, and I wish you the best luck in all things.

Including your March Madness picks!

I’ve gathered some links for you that will give you an edge in selecting this year’s winners. Here they are:

 East Region Preview: Are Michigan State and Iowa State the two best teams?

West Region Preview: Arizona rules, but chaos could reign

Midwest Region Preview: Is 4-seed Louisville the favorite?

Eight teams that can win it all in 2014

2014 NCAA Tournament Printable Bracket

SMU headlines the list of bubble teams that got snubbed

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Start Your ‘Sunday Morning’ with the Maroon 5

Good Day World!

A change of pace today.

I don’t have anything to say.

I do have something positive to send your way.

I hope this song by Maroon 5 will make your day!

(Verse 1)
Sunday morning rain is falling
Steal some covers share some skin
Clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable
You twist to fit the mold that I am in
But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do
And I would gladly hit the road get up and go if I knew
That someday it would lead me back to you
That someday it would lead me back to you

(Chorus)
That may be all I need
In darkness she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning
And I never want to leave

(Verse 2)
Fingers trace your every outline
Paint a picture with my hands
Back and forth we sway like branches in a storm
Change the weather still together when it ends

(Chorus)
That may be all I need
In darkness she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning
And I never want to leave

(Bridge)
But things just get so crazy living life gets hard to do
Sunday morning rain is falling and I'm calling out to you
Singing Sunday it'll bring me back to you
Find a way to bring myself back home to you
And you may not know

(Chorus)
That may be all I need
In darkness she is all I see
Come and rest your bones with me
Driving slow on Sunday morning and I sometimes want to leave.
Yeah, yeah,... flower in your hair...
[Fade out]

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Beware the Ides of March – Julius Caesar didn’t and look what happened to him!

 Good Day World!

 Just saying.

 Some people consider March 15 as a bad luck day. It sure was for Julius Caesar. It’s just another day to me. Here’s what happened this day in history:

 The Ides of March is a day on the Roman calendar that corresponds to 15 March. It was marked by several religious observances, and became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. The death of Caesar made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history, as one of the events that marked the transition from the historical period known as the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.

As many as 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, were involved. According to Plutarch, a seer had warned that harm would come to Caesar no later than the Ides of March. On his way to the Theatre of Pompey, where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, "The ides of March have come," meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied "Aye, Caesar; but not gone."

This meeting is famously dramatized in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is warned by the soothsayer to "beware the Ides of March." The Roman biographer Suetonius identifies the "seer" as a haruspex named Spurinna. (via Wikipedia)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Chocolate Chicken is Coming Your Way Soon

Good Day World!

Here’s some food for thought on this TGIF…

Someone has come up with a recipe that even chocoholics may find a bit too far out. Chicken lovers will be stunned because NO ONE has thought to cover their clucker up with chocolate yet!

I can just see it now: it’ll be “death by chocolate” for the chickens, who will be drown in large vats of dark chocolate. There’s worse ways to go. Actually, that’s not quite how it goes. Check out ChocoChicken and you’ll get the real scoop on this new taste sensation.

I can’t imagine how it would taste. According to the man who is marketing this breakthrough culinary concoction, “It tastes like happiness.”

Umami Burger mastermind Adam Fleischman is prepared for people’s reaction when they find out about his latest culinary adventure, a not-entirely-appealing-sounding fast-casual outlet called ChocoChicken that's set to open its first outpost in L.A. in April (an exact date has yet to be set).

First, a little background. Fleischman is best known for his hamburger restaurants, which have transformed the beef patty into a precision-engineered delivery system for umami (the Japanese term for a certain sort of savoriness--think soy sauce or mushrooms)

ChocoChicken grew out of a cold pitch from two people Fleischman had never met.

Fleischman tweaked the formula a bit ("I added a few key umami ingredients that really brought it to another level," he says), and the menu will also include appropriately off-kilter sides like white-chocolate mashed potatoes and bacon biscuits served with sauces that include, a bit worryingly, something dubbed ChocoKetchup.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

 

Throwback Thursday: Do you really need a special day to go retro?

Good Day World!

For those of you who are still resisting entry into the computer age, I should explain what Throwback Thursday is.

Basically, social media users (Bloggers, Twitterers, Instagramers, etc) like to have weekly posts with themes. Whoever thought of Throwback Thursday doesn’t really matter.

All that matters is posting something retro. Like an old picture of yourself in diapers and chocolate cake smeared on your mug.

People seem to enjoy this activity. From all reports social media participation in this weekly event is growing. Will we start seeing mainstream news with special segments called: Throwback Thursday soon?

Because I’m not a regular boob tube watcher, there may well already be special slots on news programs where the anchorman has to share old photos of himself doing odd things like frowning into the camera when he was six-years-old displaying two teeth in a gummy mouth.

I wouldn’t be surprised. There’s a certain lemming effect when it comes to entertainment venues crossing over to the other side. If it’s good for getting views (lot’s of interest) on your blog, Twitter and so on, then it’s capable of crossing over to cable.

As far as going retro on a regular basis, it seems like a rather redundant way to reel in new viewers or get comments. I suspect it’ll be like a fad and have a shelf life someday. Just not soon!

Time for me to walk on down the road…