Mansinthe

A sleepy Swiss village with lovely farm houses, and . . . Marilyn Manson: yes, the two can coexist. Although Mr. Manson has never been to the town of Kallnach in Switzerland, he is tied to it because of his love for fine absinthe. In an arrangement between the brewer's distributor and Mr. Manson, a brewer in Kallnach now produces Mansinthe. I might have to try some of this, if I can afford it. It came out in 2006 selling for $65 for 24 ounces. I am guessing that it is pricier now.

Work, work, work. Hello, boys . . .

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Some of the latest news chooses to focus on the extremely popular rally held in the honor of the coming inauguration--that hasn't happened yet. The AP is reporting that Obama's popularity around the world is already starting fall. But really, is that a surprise?

"The idealism has diminished," said Samuel Solvit, who heads an Obama support network in France. "Everyone was dreaming a little. Now people are more realistic."

Well, that is expected with all the hype that was behind his election. I have to wonder, though, if the popularity is not going too far already. The AP writer worries about: "a deepening global recession, new hostilities in the Middle East, complications in closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan." And yes, most of it is worry, but with all this going on, the soon to be president is focusing on, "performers including Bono, Beyonce and James Taylor." And we cannot forget that Stevie Wonder and Shakira were there. Sometimes it seems that there needs to be all work and no play--who cares about being a dull boy.

Sex sells, and dresses too

I just came across a couple articles that I thought should be passed around. Viagra pills are becoming all the rage in Afghanistan, and now women may register their dresses online before parties in order to avoid that horribly embarrassing moment of wearing the same dress as someone else. And some people wonder what good technology is.

Romans vs. Germans

Okay, forget all the other stuff below. This is really cool. Think of the opening scene of Gladiator. My favorite quote from the article: "We will need to take a new look at the sources." Surprisingly this happens often. The Roman defenses in the Germanic area were sparse at best, and the Romans never established, as far as we know, a definitive and stable line of defense. Add this to the fact that the fortifications they were building were not built to last, and we end up with little knowledge of what actually took place and less knowledge about where it took place. This is a field that is open to much discovery, as we can see from this article.

Which came first, the Dinosaur or the Spider?

British scientists have found what is perhaps the oldest evidence of spiders--a web fixed into amber.

"Oxford University paleobiologist Martin Brasier said the 140-million-year-old webbing provides evidence that arachnids had been ensnaring their prey in silky nets since the dinosaur age. He also said the strands were linked to each other in the roughly circular pattern familiar to gardeners the world over."

Keeping Time

I hope you are all ready to grow a second older but not gain any real time. The clock watchers of the world have decided that we need to add a single second to the year in order to keep calendars in time with earth's motions. The earth is continuously slowing down, so time has to be added to the calendar. It's going to happen on December 31 at 6:59:59. Prepare yourself.

Scraping Plaque

Dirty teeth lead to preservation of history. From the AP:

"Dental plaque scraped from the teeth of people who lived as much as 9,200 years ago revealed traces of cultivated crops, including squash and beans . . . They studied 39 teeth from six to eight individuals. Found in northern Peru's Nanchoc Valley, the teeth were uncovered in the remains of round house structures in a settlement dated to 9,200 to 5,500 years ago. Some teeth were dirtier than others. We found starch grains on most of the teeth. About a third of the teeth contained large numbers of starch grains."

I have supported the preservation of historical record for a long time. I guess this means that next time I don't feel like brushing my teeth, I have a good excuse.