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Myth #1 – Dark Beer is Heavy
Couldn’t be further from the truth, folks. Colour in beer comes purely from the grain used in its creation, with darker beers containing more toasted or roasted barley malt and paler beers containing less or no darker malts. And roasting malt doesn’t make it heavier or more caloric.
Myth #2 – Ale is Stronger than Lager
The funny thing about this popular North American myth is that Brits think the exact opposite, with the perception in the U.K. being that way because best bitters normally sit around 4% alcohol by volume and lagers generally come in around 5%. The truth is that alcohol comes from the amount of sugars provided for fermentation and has nothing to do with whether that fermentation takes place at warmer (ale) or cooler (lager) temperatures.
Myth #3 – Beer Makes You Fat
Inactivity and bad diet make you fat. Beer, when enjoyed in moderation and as part of balanced lifestyle, doesn’t.
Myth #4 – Stout is a “Meal in a Glass”
Most stouts are no more caloric or filling than the yellow lager many people knock back by the pint on a Saturday night. The reason we think otherwise is because we expect something that has a very dark colour to be richer than something that’s pale. See Myth #1.
Myth #5 – Bock is Brewed Each Spring After the Brewing Tanks are Cleaned
This one is so prevalent that it even made it into the pages of the landmark Time-Life book series, “Foods of the World,” in the “Wine and Spirits” volume. The idea is that the brewer cleans his or her tanks once a year and ferments the gunk scraped off the sides into a beer called bock. Suffice to say that any brewer who did this once wouldn’t be in business long enough to do it again. (Bock is simply a Germanic style of strong lager, likely originating in the town of Einbeck, from which the corruption “bock” was formed.)
Myth #6 – Cold-Filtering
Here’s one from the marketing geniuses behind the big breweries. Simply, all beer is cold-filtered, since only a fool would run their beer through a “hot filter,” even if such a thing did exist in a brewery. What the use of this phrase is really saying, usually, is that the beer is not pasteurized, as are many of the world’s biggest selling brands.
Myth #7 – Draught Gets You Drunk Faster than Bottled Beer (or Vice Versa)
Here’s what gets you drunk: Alcohol. Whether it comes from bottled or draught beer, wine, cocktails or straight spirits doesn’t matter.
Myth #8 – Imported Beer is Better than Domestic Beer
Almost every brewer exporting his or her beer to a foreign destination exploits this myth at one time or another, whether implicitly or explicitly. But that fact remains that beer from any given country is not necessarily going to be better than that from another, as witnessed by some of the great beers I’ve tasted from non-traditional brewing countries like Italy and Brazil, or some of the poor ones I’ve had from brewing powers like England and Belgium.
Myth #9 – Wine is More Complex Than Beer
Give me a break! I enjoy wine as much as the next drinker, and I appreciate the complexities and nuances of a truly fine zinfandel or sauvignon blanc, but how can a drink made from a single ingredient, grapes, be necessarily more complex in flavour than one made from a minimum of water, malt and hops and an almost limitless diversity of other ingredients? Ever find coriander or cumin notes in a wine? No? Well, you can in a beer.
Myth #10 – “That Beer I Had last Night Made Me Sick”
Maybe the scallops you ate at dinner made you sick, or perhaps you picked up a contaminant from somewhere else or simply drank too much. But being a boiled and fermented alcoholic beverage, the chances of a beer causing illness is very, very, very slight.
Myth #11 – Fruit Beers Are “Girly Beers”
Get it straight: Hops only started being used in brewing about 1,000 to 1,200 years ago. Up until then, for at least five millennia, beer was flavoured with a wide variety of spices, herbs and, yes, fruits. In fact, archeological research has shown that King Tut drank fruit beer, and he was one dude you could hardly consider “girly.”
Myth #12 – Ales Are Necessarily Better Than Lagers
This common though misguided beer aficionado myth stems largely from the fact that most major brewery brands are lagers, and the vast majority of those lie low on the flavour meter. But as many excellent lager brewers show, cold-fermented beers like Ontario’s King Pilsner, Live Oak Pilz from Texas and the classic Budweiser Budvar from the Czech Republic, sold in North America as Czechvar, can be every bit as flavourful, complex and rewarding as any ale.
Myth #13 – Canadian Beer is Stronger Than American Beer
A popular perception from the bad old days of major brewery domination, this one stemmed from the fact that, until recently, American breweries measured their alcohol contents by weight while Canadians used volume measures. Since 4% alcohol by weight is equal to 5% by volume, north-of-the-border brews were thought to be more potent than their southern cousins. Today, with 1,400 breweries in the States and another couple of hundred in Canada, this shouldn’t even be remotely considered as valid.
Myth #14 – German Wheat Beers Are Flavoured With Bananas and Cloves
The Bavarian Purity Law of 1516, called the Reinheitsgebot, mandates that beer be made from only malted grain, hops and water, with yeast as a given. So no, there are no fruits or spices in the Bavarian style of wheat beer variously known as hefeweizen, weissbier or hefeweissbier. What causes the banana and clove flavours and aromas normally associated with these brews are the particular yeasts used to ferment them.
Myth #15 – Beer and Fine Dining Don’t Mix
With its wealth of flavours and finely nuanced characters, the world of beer has a style to pair with any food, from the commonplace to the extravagant. (See Myth #9 for more on this.) The reason we tend to place wine at the table rather than beer is because that’s what the French do, and the western world learned much of what it knows about fine dining from the French.
[Via - MadConomist.Com]
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Mitchell Lee Hedberg (February 24, 1968 – March 29, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and unconventional comedic delivery. Hedberg’s comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-liners, and observational comedy, mixed with absurd and cool elements as well as non sequiturs. Hedberg’s comedy and on-stage persona gained him a cult following, with audience members sometimes shouting out the punchlines to his jokes before he could finish them.
Do You Believe in Gosh? by Mitch Hedberg
Link of the day - Free $50 Kmart card.
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This six part series on philosophy is presented by popular British philosopher Alain de Botton, featuring six thinkers who have influenced history, and their ideas about the pursuit of the happy life.
Episode 1: Socrates on Self-Confidence - Why do so many people go along with the crowd and fail to stand up for what they truly believe? Partly because they are too easily swayed by other people’s opinions and partly because they don’t know when to have confidence in their own.
Episode 2: Epicurus on Happiness - British philosopher Alain De Botton discusses the personal implications of the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270BCE) who was no epicurean glutton or wanton consumerist,but an advocate of “friends, freedom and thought” as the path to happiness.
Episode 3: Seneca on Anger Roman philosopher Lucious Annaeus Seneca (4BCE-65CE), the most famous and popular philosopher of his day, took the subject of anger seriously enough to dedicate a whole book to the subject. Seneca refused to see anger as an irrational outburst over which we have no control. Instead he saw it as a philosophical problem and amenable to treatment by philosophical argument. He thought anger arose from certain rationally held ideas about the world, and the problem with these ideas is that they are far too optimistic. Certain things are a predictable feature of life, and to get angry about them is to have unrealistic expectations.
Episode 4: Montaigne on Self-Esteem looks at the problem of self-esteem from the perspective of Michel de Montaigne (16th Century), the French philosopher who singled out three main reasons for feeling bad about oneself - sexual inadequecy, failure to live up to social norms, and intellectual inferiority - and then offered practical solutions for overcoming them.
Episode 5: Schopenhauer on Love - Alain De Botton surveys the 19th Century German thinker Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) who believed that love was the most important thing in life because of its powerful impulse towards ‘the will-to-life’.
Episode 6: Nietzsche on Hardship - British philosopher Alain De Botton explores Friedrich Nietzsche’s (1844-1900) dictum that any worthwhile achievements in life come from the experience of overcoming hardship. For him, any existence that is too comfortable is worthless, as are the twin refugees of drink or religion.
The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World
Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
Link of the day - Free $50 Kmart card.1. Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
Why is it so difficult to sell a plummeting stock or end a doomed relationship? Why do we listen to advice just because it came from someone “important”? Why are we more likely to fall in love when there’s danger involved? In Sway, renowned organizational thinker Ori Brafman and his brother, psychologist Rom Brafman, answer all these questions and more.
Sway introduces us to the Harvard Business School professor who got his students to pay $204 for a $20 bill, the head of airline safety whose disregard for his years of training led to the transformation of an entire industry, and the football coach who turned conventional strategy on its head to lead his team to victory. We also learn the curse of the NBA draft, discover why interviews are a terrible way to gauge future job performance, and go inside a session with the Supreme Court to see how the world’s most powerful justices avoid the dangers of group dynamics.
2. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
What Ariely has done here is shift a lot of the thinking developed by such pioneers as Kahneman & Tversky who worked in behavioural economics, and moved it into the everyday sphere. And he’s done a great, insightful job. Where the behavioural economists are focused on financial decisions (why we buy high and sell low - and confound the assumptions of the classic economists who assume ‘the rational man,) Ariely eschews the technical language and walks us through everyday examples of our often fuzzy and quite irrational decision-making.
3. The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
I think “Paradox of Choice” does bring insight into shopping, but its range is actually much wider than that. Schwartz discusses people making difficult decisions about jobs, families, where to live, whether to have children, how to spend recreational time, choosing colleges, etc. He talks about why making these decisions today is much harder than it was 30 years ago, and he offers many practical suggestions for how to address decision-making so that it creates less stress and more happiness. He even discusses how so much additional choice affects children, and how parents can help make childhood (particularly young childhood) less stressful.
4. Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
“Buy on apples, sell on cheese” is an old proverb among wine merchants. Taking a bite of an apple before tasting wine makes it easier to detect flaws in the wine, and the buyer who does so will not as easily make the mistake of paying more than the wine is worth. Cheese, on the other hand, pairs well with wine and enhances its flavor, so a seller who offers cheese may command a higher price for the wine (and may even deserve it, if the wine is intended to be drunk with cheese). The proverb captures important psychological nuances of choice. The same product - a bottle of wine or a risky medical procedure - may be perceived differently depending on its context, and it is often possible to arrange the context to influence a choice while still maintaining the decision maker’s autonomy.
5. Quirkology: How We Discover the Big Truths in Small Things
Richard Wiseman is an experimental psychologist and professor of “public understanding of psychology.” In this book, he discusses dozens of experiments performed by himself and other psychologists around the world over the course of the last hundred years. All these experiments have in common is unusual research methodology or amusing results.
Topics include studies of personal ads and pickup lines, determining which are most effective, how to detect liars, manifestations of prejudice and hypocrisy (are religious people or priests more honest or generous than others? it has been tested). Wiseman even ran tests to see which experiments in the book are the most interesting, to help the reader know what would be the best conversation starters at parties.
6. Blind Spots: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things
Clinical psychologist Van Hecke has compiled a list of 10 mental glitches that have infiltrated contemporary society, afflicting even the smartest among us, limiting thought, success and relationships. Van Hecke devotes a chapter to each blind spot, including “Not stopping to think,” “Not noticing,” “Jumping to conclusions” and “Missing the big picture.” Examining each in detail, Van Hecke details the root causes of these unconscious habits (”information overload,” “our tendency to habituate”) and tactics for overcoming them, using humorous anecdotes and other real-life examples to drive her points; the key is remaining open to new ideas and taking a step back from our busy lives in order to process information, situations and people. Filling in “the big picture” herself, Van Hecke demonstrates how embracing and understanding our weaknesses can not only improve personal and professional relationships, but also entire communities; this self-help is a welcome, highly readable first step.
7. Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind
In “Kluge,” psychologist Gary Marcus looks to the many and varied foibles, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies of the human mind and concludes that our brains are not, in fact, models of brilliance and efficiency, but are rather cobbled-together systems, designed for one purpose and pressed into action for another - the classic definition of a kluge.
The most famous kluge is probably the case of the carbon scrubbers on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission. Crunched for time, engineers managed to create a system out of duct tape and socks (seriously) that worked adequately enough to clean the air on the space module- even though none of the materials they used were designed for, or optimal for, the job at hand. The result was ugly and inefficient - but it kept the astronauts alive. Likewise, Marcus argues, evolution has endowed humans with a hodgepodge of genetic material - the DNA equivalent of duct tape - with which to build all the sophisticated systems that supposedly set us apart from other creatures, like language, memory, and reason. The result is, for example in the case of language, “a vocal apparatus more byzantine than a bagpipe made up entirely of pipe cleaners and cardboard dowels.”
8. The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
The author writes to the layman, making the language of statistics, probability, randomness a fascinating read. It’s clear that he’s well aware of the fallacies and delusions (and consequent harm) to which most of us are easy prey. But he leaves it to the reader to draw any philosophical-theological inferences about the need for greater humility. His immediate goal is to help the reader understand the distinction between 1. the “common-sense” logic employed by self-serving finite beings coping with problems in the material world and 2. a “scientific method” that takes nothing for granted in a universe of perpetual flux. More miraculous than either the accomplishments of the romantic hero or the intercessions of a supreme being (everyday stuff for most of us) is the rare discovery that two things (or “events” in the spatial-temporal order) suspected of being connected (a hypothesis) in fact cannot be shown “not” to have such a relationship (the proof).
9. Guesstimation: Solving the World’s Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin
Somehow, guessing at numbers is unsettling, even though I’ve done it all my life. John Adam is a professor of applied mathematics, with a degree in physics. Larry Weinstein is a nuclear physicist. Their book is devoted to proving that intelligent guessing is useful and fun. The book lays out some general principles but its great strength lies in the interesting problems, a series of hints to help you solve each problem, and an interesting discussion of the pitfalls and triumphs involved.
10. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Cialdini believes that influence is a science. This idea attracted me. As a rhetorician, I have always thought of persuasion as more of an art. Cialdini, however, makes a first-rate case for the science point of view. But maybe most importantly, he makes his case in a well-written, intelligent, and entertaining manner. Not only is this an important book to read, it is a fun book to read too.
He introduces you to six principles of ethical persuasion: reciprocity, scarcity, liking, authority, social proof, and commitment/consistency. A chapter is devoted to each and you quickly see why Cialdini looks at influence as a science. Each principle is backed by social scientific testing and restesting. Each chapter is also filled with interesting examples that help you see how each principle can be applied. By the end of the book, I had little doubt that these are six important dimensions of human interaction.
Fart Gene Isolated. Now, That’s A Breakthough!
Mariage Annulled, After Bride Turns Out To Be Not A Virgin.
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Exeter, RI Click here to vote Squiggy is a mix of hairless Chinese Crested and Japanese Chin. Squig was adopted through a rescue at 6 weeks of age. He draws lots of attention as he strolls along on his daily walks - then again, how often do you see a dog sporting a tall, spikey mohawk? Besides the rather dramatic coiffure, his tongue hangs out sort of lopsided due to lack of teeth. As much as he enjoys lazing in a sunny window… |
Sunnyvale, CA Click here to vote Rascal as a past winner and holder of the coveted “Ring of Champions” title which makes him, as you can see, one of “The World’s Ugliest Dogs”. Rascal is a healthy 7.lb 9-year old pure bred Chinese Crested. No we do NOT shave him, he is naturally and completely hairless except for his Mohawk and a little hair on his tail and feet. He is complete with ugly dog warts, freckles and a lack of… |
Millbrae, CA Click here to vote Hairless Tea Cup Chihuahua, lives in Millbrae, Ca. Best friends with a 75 lb.. pit bull. Buster enjoys sun bathing, short walks and eating mocha frapachinos. Buster weighs 1.5 lb.. Likes to fight with Spooky the cat and any person that tries to steal her bones. Buster loves laying on her heating pad all day long. Buster has 7 teeth and uses all of them to protect her mama. Buster may not be the prettiest dog but… |
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Tennessee Click here to vote Miss Ellie is a pure breed chinese crested hairless. She is around 14 years old, has only a couple back teeth, cataracts in her eyes, several moles and pimples and limited hair. All this makes her a very “unique” looking dog. She is a rescue from someone that saw no purpose for her and kept her in a kennel area for much of her life. When I adopted her she wasn’t housebroken and at 7 years old… |
Newton, MA Click here to vote Listen here guys. This competition that my mom has me in, i just feel like it’s not for me. First off, Ugliest dog? I might be shorter than the other hairless beings that live in my house, but i am no dog. I’m not a lizard, cat, monkey, or a miniature elephant-rat (contrary to what I hear from my neighbors when i am out walking my humans) I’m also not a… |
St. Petersburg, FL Click here to vote Every beauty contestant needs a platform, and Gus’ is to bring awareness and hope to people with pets that have been diagnosed with cancer. He is trying very hard to make it to California this year for the contest. Last year he couldn’t attend because his immune system was weakened by chemotherapy. He had a wonderful year (or should I say 7 years,) but… |
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Click here to vote Bio coming soon… |
Phoenix, AZ Click here to vote Hey Kids! It’s Archie! Yes, he’s back. The ugliest dog of 2006 was about ready to throw in the towel after his devastating loss in 2007. He pondered could he possibly be becoming *gasp* too handsome for the contest? He watched himself on Animal Planet. He sighed admiring his homely image from all angles. He consulted surgeons for wart grafts and … |
Phoenix, AZ Click here to vote The one word you could use to describe Reggie is Frankendog. People routinely ask “What is he?” not what “What kind of dog is he?” or “What breed of dog is he?” nope just flat out “What is he?” I tell them “He’s a dog.” because beyond that I am not sure. There might be some Xolo in there … |
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Sewell, NJ Click here to vote Elwood is the reigning Champ and holds the title of 2007 World’s Ugliest Dog. But Elwood is much more than that; he is a dog on a mission. And his mission is to help homeless animals everywhere. Since being crowned Elwood has spent the year spreading some important messages. |
Strathmore, CA Click here to vote To me my Sally girl is the cutest dog in the world. Others somtimes disagree. With the picture that I provided I hope that people are able to see ugly also comes internally as well. Thank you for your votes! |
Porterville, CA Click here to vote Barracuda is extremely bald except for his little flaming red military flat top hair (all natural) on his head. He has a little sprig of hairs on his toes and just enough hair on his tail to make it look a lot like a rats tail. Along with the red hair he also is blessed with green eyes… |
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Strathmore, CA Click here to vote Bio coming soon… |
Alexandria, VA Click here to vote Whenever I mention Oscar, the first thing people say is usually “That dog’s not dead yet?” This 16 year old yorkie/lhasa mix, was picked off the mean streets of Silver Spring MD in 1994. He was named “Oscar” (after Oscar the grouch) because already at the tender age of 3, his face, his breath, his demeanor… |
Plano, TX Click here to vote Willie is a 9 year old mutt we rescued from the pound when he was 6 weeks old. His standout feature is his hair lip smile, which he proudly displays whenever anyone enters the room. This usually results in a double take and then, “That is the ugliest dog I’ve ever seen.”… |
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Fairfield, CA Click here to vote Princess Chelsea Nicole is an 8 year-old AKC registered Chinese Crested. My father stumbled across this breed when looking for a puppy that had low shedding due to my allergy to pet dander. We found this breed rather odd looking at first, but we thought we would give it a look… |
Click here to vote MY NAME lS GROVER “GROVIE” (AFTER NANNY DIARIES AND SESAME STREET). I AM A 5 YEAR OLD CHINESE PUG. MY MOM EDIE PICKED ME OUT AS THIS FURRY LITTLE BALL OF JOY. SHE CALLS ME “BOO BOO” … |