American Madness

Following up on both Joel’s post about oil and Eric’s post about Flocke I’ve got two things for you. Admittedly these items are only tangentially related to Joel & Eric’s posts, but as far as I am concerned they are close enough.

First up we’ve got images of Darvaza (The Burning Gates), Darvaza is a village in Turkmenistan where, in 1971 a drilling rig found an underground cavern and then promptly fell inside creating a crater about 75 meters across.

As the underground cavern was filled with natural gas (relatively close to oil, right?) it would have killed virtually everything around had someone not had the idea to ignite the gas and let it burn off instead of polluting the surrounding area.

37 years later and the Gates of Hell (another name for the site) are still ablaze. John H. Bradley has posted some incredible pictures of the Gates.

Next we’ve got the animals: The BBC has made a three-part series called “Tiger- Spy in the Jungle.”

Using a whole bunch fo different types of cameras (and some elephants in place of traditional cameramen) they caught some incredible (and adorable) images of life in the jungle, well, at least life in the jungle when the animals are posing for pictures. You can check out some of the pictures that the Daily Mail posted here, or some others that the BBC posted here (plus some videos).

Part one apparently aired yesterday (int he UK) so keep an eye on the Discovery Channel in the next few months to re-air the program.

Times are tough and we here at AmericanMadness want to help our loyal readers. Continuing on the theme of “Recession Proof Your Wine Portfolio,” I present to you my latest discount find. Chateau Lafayette has produced a crisp, tight white wine with lots of pear and apple flavors. This Finger Lakes wine bring together the best parts of Chardonnay and the best parts of a Seyval blanc to give a well rounded white for $8. A must buy, particularly as the temperature starts to rise.

Winery: Chateau Lafayette Reneau
Grape: Seyval Blanc & Chardonnay
Region: Finger Lakes, New York
Year: Undetermined

Source: FreshDirect.com
Price: $8

Color: Light yellow

Nose: Melon, grass and butter scents right out of the bottle. With a swirl, strong bubblegum notes join pear and vanilla in the bouquet.

Taste: Crisp and controlled, the seyval, chardonnary blend enters with big pear and apple. The medium-bodied wine has a nice mineral balance, giving a slight fizziness to the tasting, particularly when you spend some time slurping it through the mouth, enhancing the grass, celery, pear and apple flavors mid-palate. At the finish, more of the chardonnay’s characteristics come forth, giving a mango flavor, with kiwi, before a nice, crisp lingering finish of pear and watermelon. (more…)

The idea is simple: You need help now. You don’t want to wait to receive a call back. You don’t want to wait for an email response. You don’t want to create an account or provide demographic data. You want to talk to a service provider in your area right NOW!

That is the concept behind ServiceGuy, it is essentially a referral website, you plug in your needs and are giving a phone number. Let’s say you need a painter. You are given a number by ServiceGuy and when you dial it as you listen to a message, the system rings up to 25 different painters simultaneously for you. The first one to answer their phone and say they are available gets connected to you. Pretty convenient if you don’t have a whole lot of time on your hand to find a painter or a personal assistant to find one for you.

On the flip side there is no evaluation of who you are being connected to, though they are working on it (”We plan to ‘call back’ consumers who successfully connect to service providers and ask for feedback. Check back soon for more information on our rating system.”). You have no idea if Big Al’s Painting is a reputable painter or some guy operating out of his mom’s basement who used to be really good with his paint-by-numbers sets. While it might save you some time, keep in mind it is a crap shoot of the type of service you might get.

Christiania Vodka is pretty good stuff. A Norwegian vodka made from organic Trondelag potatoes and Norwegian arctic spring water, Christiania is an ultra-premium vodka that bills itself as “The World’s Smoothest Vodka.”

Now, I liked this vodka, it is really good stuff, however, if you are going to make a claim in advertising like “The World’s Smoothest Vodka” you better have some seriously incredible vodka on your hands. While I really enjoyed Christiania I’ve got to say, I have had smoother vodkas. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t really a dig at Christiania itself, but rather directed towards their trademarked tagline. In fact the US Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) apparently even approved them to be labeled as such… Though there is no indication as to when they did this.

Besides, in my opinion, not being the world’s smoothest, it is a really good vodka, an ultra-premium if you will. That means it is going to be sitting on the topshelf at the bar, right next to Grey Goose and the likes. A little background- (more…)

Matt introduced the AmericanMadness world to Flocke back in January. Back in those early days, she was just a squirming ball of fluff, but like all baby polar bears she captured the world’s heart.

Today, she is growing up fast and taking the star from Germany’s other world famous polar bear cub Knut. Of course, how can we forget Knut? When he took those first shaky steps last March in Berlin, he ignited a baby polar bear frenzy, and in the process becoming the spokesbear for the environmental movement (he starred next to Leonardo DiCaprio on the cover of Vanity Fair). The Berlin Zoo actually saw its stock price increase as a result of higher gate revenues from all the folks wanting to get a glimpse of the little bear.

Not to be outdone, the Nueremberg Zoo has plans to roll out its star to the public this coming month. In anticipation of Flocke’s big day, the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region has unveiled posters utilizing the star power of Flocke’s black button eyes and large bears’ paws.

Translated, “Knut war gestern,” is roughly, “Knut is yesterday’s bear.” The poster expresses some of the self-confidence of the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region, which knows its infrastructure will soon be strained with Germany looking to get a glimpse of Flocke on her first days out. (more…)

Response to “Pain at the Pump and Beyond” in the NYTimes:

I am sure that others will make this point as well, but let me bring it up because it is not in the essay: the price of oil is also increasing rapidly because of the speculation of the market.

The Saudis pointed this out last month when they refused to increase their production. They are getting $40 or so dollars for a barrel, according to what they said, and the rest of the increase is due to gambling in the markets. Much of that gambling is in the United States.

Since oil is vital to the United States both domestically and militarily it would make sense for the President to issue an Executive Order forbidding the speculation in oil. Such an order, highly unlikely from a “free trader” like the president and his crew of pirates, would in all likelihood cause a drop in the cost of oil at the pump. (more…)

…had a crazy preacher man.

While Hillary proved in no uncertain terms that she’s capable of telling huge and easily verifiable lies, the Obama preacher issue continues to fester in the back of my mind. Here we reprint a dialogue between two family members (one pro-Clinton / one pro-Obama) as they debate the issue. We join in mid-discussion:

You are so blinded by Obama’s ability to talk bullshit you can’t see the reason his affiliation with that pastor and church is troublesome. Of course black people have negative feelings about whites, duh. The problem is Obama’s 20 years of sitting in that nasty church, hearing those sermons and now saying he personally never heard anything but a call to Jesus.

Well, I would separate out Obama’s explanation from the political content of the sermons. If he said he never heard anything but a call to Jesus, he’s bullshitting.

(more…)

It almost sounds like a dream meal set-up, The New York Times gave Eric Ripert and his pastry chef no budget and let them loose in a store to buy ingredients to cook a fabulous meal. You know of course there is a catch in there, otherwise would this be worth writing about? (well, maybe, but only if I had been invited to the meal).

So the catch that you were all waiting for was that Ripert was let loose in a $0.99 store. Albeit, it was Jack’s which is a pretty impressive 99-cent store, but still.

Although he was asked to prepare 3 dishes they made 5 total. Though as they only tossed the pigs in a blanket in the oven I am not sure that you can really claim he “made” them. Although Ripert was impressed by $.99 wild salmon, some of the prepared dishes did not live up to his hopes and expectations (see: pigs in a blanket). The dishes ranged from bad, to “a little bit Olive Garden” to successfull. Dishes, like his canned tuna rillettes and his wild salmon over jasmine rice with tomato & coconut sauce were on the success side of things. And as the article says “Who knows? The recipe might even work with fresh fish.”

Okay, besides Legos, and Indiana Jones (and what would seem like the ultimate linking of the two) you can add Star Wars to the list of nostalgia I like to write about.

I came across this article written by a toy designer who was contacted in 1998 to produce a line of toys for the Pepsi to use in coordination with the release of Episode 1.

The article gives a brief back-story about getting the contract and all that jazz, but also has concept art for a lot of Star Wars toys that never were. Some of the concepts are kind of bad, others sound like they would have been a Star Wars geeks wet dream. My persona favorite is the Han in Carbonite fridge. Other ideas seem to be stuck in the 80s (although I like the concept, does anyone still use sun shades in their cars anymore and when was the last time some one broke out a slide projector?).

If you are a Star Wars fan, it is just a little fun post to check out.

I think the good folks in New Hampshire could use a little global warming right about now.

From USA Today: N.H. snowfall now 3rd in all-time list

With the latest flakes to fall, New Hampshire’s capital, Concord, has recorded the third highest snowfall of all time. In fact, it marks the most snow the Granite State has seen since the winter of 1873-74. With just 1.6 more inches, New Hampshire will see its second snowiest winter ever. Further, 8.6 more inches of snow between now and the warmer months would mark the snowiest winter ever in New Hampshire.

Isn’t it about time we put the anthropogenic global warming claims aside, and actually do scientific studies about what causes our climate to warm and cool? Could it be that a relatively mild winter in New York, but a snowy one a few hundred miles north, could have more to do with natural shifts in the jet stream rather than some “irreparable” harm we have done supposedly increasing a gas that makes up only 0.003% of our atmosphere (carbon dioxide) and accounts for less than 10% of the so-called greenhouse effect on the planet? New Hampshire has as long a history as a state can have in the US, since 1788, but isn’t safe to assume there were greater snowfall totals 10,000 years ago when glaciers were carving up the granite mountain faces?

Just a few questions to start the dialogue.