I’ve heard of wine tasting but an article over on Serious Eats has me thinking my wine drinking friends might enjoy a glass tasting party …

I knew in a vague way that serving wine in proper glasses mattered. But I had no idea how much … In a plastic cup, this [2005 E. Guigal Saint Joseph Syrah] $26 bottle of wine tasted like Welch’s grape juice. In a glass specially shaped to accentuate Pinot Noir’s aromas and flavors, it tasted very alcoholic and acidic, with a roughness in the mouth that was unpleasant. In a glass made for Syrah, however, the wine smelled of red and black fruits and chocolate, and was as smooth as satin in your mouth.

… read the whole story at Serious Eats

So, how might you go about having a glass tasting party ? Unless you have 8 of each type of glass – and where would you store all of them – here is a suggestion –

• pick a wine (or two) you would like to serve
• do a little research on what is the right glass
• pick a few other glasses that are significantly different that "the right glass"
• if you don’t have the glasses you have chosen, don’t go out and buy them, just ask your friends – between all of the guests, you will probably find what you need
• plan your evening and enjoy !

For a group of people who fancy themselves as wine drinkers, a glass tasting party may be just the thing to break out of that "workin’ your way through that case" rut.

I have never been good at memorization. I have tried lots of methods and most of them work enough to get me through what ever the current crisis. So my hat is off to Miss Ryan who pulled up her bootstraps and did what her daddy asked, “memorize the order of the Presidents of the United States for Father’s Day”.

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTS
Genevieve Madeline Ryan
click for mp3, video, and lyrics

America’s president number one, Founding Father Washington.
John Adams, second president,The very first White House resident.
Thomas Jefferson, number three, Doubled the size of our country.
Then James Madison, number four,Led us through the English war.
James Monroe is number five, His Monroe Doctrine still survives.
Another Adams, John Quincy,Rose to the sixth presidency.
Seven, Andrew Jackson, Was a frontier common man.
Number eight, Van Buren, First president born an “American.”
Harrison, nine, passed away,One month after Inaugural Day.
President Tyler, number ten, Ended the war with the Indians.
James K. Polk, eleven,Looked to western expansion.
Taylor, twelve, of the army,Nicknamed “Rough and Ready.”
Thirteen, Fillmore, in his eyes, Best for all was a compromise.
Fourteen, Franklin Pierce is here, The Civil War is drawing near.
James Buchanan, fifteen, The one bach’lor we’ve ever seen.
Sixteen, Lincoln, “Honest Abe,”Signed the law that freed the slaves.
Seventeen, Andrew Johnson,Started Reconstruction.
Eighteen, Union General Grant, Had led his troops with good judgment.
Nineteen, President R.B. Hayes,Pursued the South in many ways.
Garfield, number twenty, Killed while in his presidency.
Chester Arthur, twenty one,Sought reform and got it done.
Grover Cleveland, twenty two,Remember him ‘cause he’s not through.
Twenty three, Harrison, comes again,It’s William’s grandson, Benjamin.
Grover Cleveland, twenty four, Ran for the White House, elected once more.
Here’s McKinley, twenty five,The Twentieth Century had arrived.
Teddy Roosevelt, twenty six, “Speak softly and carry a big stick!”
Twenty seven, Taft we see,Biggest man in the presidency.
Woodrow Wilson, twenty eight, Thought a League of Nations was great.
Twenty nine, Harding, Post-World War One,“Normalcy” promised to everyone.
Calvin Coolidge, thirty,Taught one and all frugality.
Herbert Hoover, thirty one,Oh no! The Depression had begun.
Franklin Roosevelt, thirty two,With his “New Deal” the country grew.
Harry Truman, thirty three,Won with atomic energy.
Eisenhower, thirty four,Commanded in the Second World War.
Thirty fve, John Kennedy, Assassinated in sixty three.
Thirty six, Johnson, Lyndon B., He declared a “War on Poverty.”
Thirty seven, Nixon went far, Opening China and the U.S.S.R.
Gerald R. Ford, thirty eight, Moved the nation forward past Watergate.
Thirty nine, with all his might, Carter fought for human rights.
Reagan, forty, from the West,Taught the world that freedom’s best.
Bush, forty one, showed solid form,Freed a nation in “Desert Storm.”
Forty two, Bill Clinton, President through the Millennium.
George W. Bush, number forty three, Strengthened Homeland Security.
First to be elected of African descent,Obama our Forty-Fourth President.

On the campaign trail, politicians can’t bve expected to be “on their game” all the time. Even in the best of times, they should not be expected to know everything, always, instantly. But, should they know what their marketing department is publishing and spending serious money to say ? A recent interview answers with “no” …

Couric: “Are you disappointed with the tone of the campaign? The ‘lipstick on the pig’ stuff, and some of the ads – you guys haven’t been completely guilt-free making fun of John McCain’s inability to use a computer.”

Biden: “I thought that was terrible by the way”

Couric: “Why did you do it then?”

Biden: “I didn’t know we did it and if I had anything to do with it, we would have never done it. And I don’t think Barack, you know. I just think that was …”

Couric: “Did Obama approve that ad?”

Biden: “The answer is I don’t think there was anything intentional about that. They were trying to make another point. That’s very different than deliberately taking a vote [quote] Barack Obama had to teach children about how to deal with child-predators and saying he was teaching them sex education in kindergarten. Very different in degree.”

Update: Late Monday, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton released the following statement

Biden: “I was asked about an ad I’d never seen, reacting merely to press reports. As I said right then, I knew there was nothing intentionally personal in the criticism of Senator McCain’s views which look backwards not forwards and are out of touch with the new economic challenges we face today. Having now reviewed the ad, it is even more clear to me that given the disgraceful tenor of Senator McCain’s ads and their persistent falsehoods, his campaign is in no position to criticize, especially when they continue to distort Barack’s votes on an issue as personal as keeping kids safe from sexual predators.”

I can’t say as I follow his train of thought. Perhaps it derailed in the yard before leaving the station. It proves that coherent thoughts must be in short supply.

To his credit, on at least one ocassion, Biden made his point with a “coherent thought” …

Williams: Senator Biden, words have, in the past, gotten you in trouble, words that were borrowed and words that some found hateful.An editorial in the Los Angeles Times said, “In addition to his uncontrolled verbosity, Biden is a gaff machine.”Can you reassure voters in this country that you would have the discipline you would need on the world stage, Senator?

Biden: Yes.

(Laughter)

Williams: Thank you, Senator Biden.

I was reading a transcript (or what appears to be a transcript) between Katie Couric and Senator Sarah Palin. My take away from the short read is that our education system has failed us – completely. There are times I think absolutely no coherency exists in what the interviewee is expressing.

Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

Palin: I’ve read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where it’s kind of suggested, “Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?” Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

If I were asked what news papers I read, I would have no trouble explaining I read very few papers in paper form. I read posts from the BBC, NYT, CNN, MSNBC, and others as well as blogs and links to on-line content such as CNET, AP, etc. Is that overly difficult ?

Another exchange took place around “the morning after pill”. I don’t wish to stir up a debate about pro-life and pro-choice, but someone missed an important bit of timing – which I will get to shortly. First, here is the exchange …

Couric: Some people have credited the morning-after pill for decreasing the number of abortions. How do you feel about the morning-after pill?

Palin: Well, I am all for contraception. And I am all for preventative measures that are legal and save, and should be taken, but Katie, again, I am one to believe that life starts at the moment of conception. And I would like to see …

Couric: And so you don’t believe in the morning-after pill?

Palin: … I would like to see fewer and fewer abortions in this world. And again, I haven’t spoken with anyone who disagrees with my position on that.

Couric: I’m sorry, I just want to ask you again. Do you not support or do you condone or condemn the morning-after pill.

Palin: Personally, and this isn’t McCain-Palin policy …

Couric: No, that’s OK, I’m just asking you.

Palin: But personally, I would not choose to participate in that kind of contraception.

So, a strait forward question took multiple attempts to get a less than strait forward answer. Now, to that bit about “timing”. It may be inconsequential to most (unless it directly effect you) but “conception” does not start at orgasm and the natural introduction of the male sperm into the female. There is some debate as to how long it takes for fertilization and it could be as short as a few hours and as long as a couple of days. It is not, however, instantaneous so by definition, there is a window of time for the morning after pill which does not contradict the statement; “life starts at conception”.

You can read the rest of the transcript, just don’t expect too many strait answers. Of, if I were to channel ambiguity of the likes in the interview, here is what might happen …

Journalist: I want to be sure you have a chance to answer my question directly – do you agree with congress’s actions ?

Polititian: You want a strait answer ? Well, I do not judge people as strait or I mean I know a homosexual and I don’t think of them as “not strait” and they are just people I have met so they are no less important. I answer as my own person and with my running mate. Congress is a collection of many different people all who represent America and they are many different people and some are homosexual and I do not think that is important for what we are talking about now. So, yes, I agree with my running mate and the change he is trying to accomplish. He is not one of them, congress, he is here to change the established partisan ways. He has the experience to accomplish change.

See? Clear as mud. Any can answer a question like a politician. Go ahead, try it for your self.

I just saw the news that Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch lost his battle with Pancreatic Cancer. I lost count how many times I showed his “Last Lecture” video to friends and family and recommended or sent the link out.

It’s also sad, to a great extent because, today’s logo was created on March 31st. Sad because the fatality rate for pancreatic cancer is so high and so quick, the logo was nearly destined to get used. I had planned for it to appear on September 18th, the 1-year anniversary of his lecture with the hope he would still be talking about the illness and bringing his own form of inspiration to the cause.

I have never met the man. I did start using Alice as a direct result of seeing his lecture. I am also trying to get the local college to adopt it to promote more technical education opportunities and exposure. It proves one again that with the right exposure people can make a difference quickly and one that lasts.

Caregie Mellon has a page highlighting his “Enduring Legacy“.