Friday is here, and so is screw-off time. A half-day at the office, and an easy half day at that. A partner wants me to try some 40-year-old scotch at lunch. I detest most hard liquor, but I'm in such a good mood, I just might try it . . . with a Labatt's chaser.
Need more Christmas cocktail talk fodder? Try this weird little piece at the Telegraph that says Christmas music used to be wilder. I'm not sure what to make of it, but it's kinda neat.
Great piece by Ross Douthat about nominating a Catholic for President. Excerpt:
Nominating a socially-conservative Catholic, if one is available, has seemed like a no-brainer for the GOP for some time, and I'm slightly baffled why there isn't more effort on the part of the party elders to find one to unite around. It's not just that there's clearly a large bloc of persuadable Catholics that swings back and forth between the GOP and the Democrats depending on the political winds (something that isn't true of, say, Mormons and Evangelicals), it's that Catholicism has been mainstreamed in American society to an extent that Evangelicalism hasn't, really - just compare the number of Catholics in the journalism business to the number of born-again Christians - and so a Catholic candidate is immune to a lot of the slings and arrows that the media has sent George W. Bush's way over the last six years. For the Democrats, of course, nominating a Catholic is a dicier proposition, as Kerry demonstrated, because you run into the whole abortion quagmire. But the GOP doesn't have that problem . . .
Brews You Can Use
Just log me straight into Chp. 7 bankruptcy: A pub is allowing drinkers to pull their own pints. Drinkers at the Tapped Bar in Otley, West Yorkshire, pre-pay using a computer and then help themselves.
For those who can't drink beer because they're allergic to wheat (I think I'd rather be allergic to to my own tongue): "Adults who experience wheat allergies or who choose a wheat-free or gluten-free diet, now have a beer that fits their lifestyle. Redbridge is the first nationally available sorghum beer. Beginning today, Redbridge will be sold in stores carrying organic products and restaurants."
That's it for now. Enjoy the Christmas weekend.
