May 31, 2024

BYCU

A Newcomer in the Grape Industry

It's Vermentino. It resists drought and is cheap and California growers are lovin' it. It currently costs $4,000 a ton (whereas Napa Cabernet costs over $8,000), but as more use it, the cost will go up and the cost of Cab might come down.

May 30, 2024

My Infatuation with Substack Grows

One of my old editors asked me awhile back why I wasn't publishing on Substack. He said my material is a natural fit for the platform.

I said, "I started a Substack, but then admitted to myself, 'I wouldn't pay $50 a year to read this,' so figured I should suspend work on it."

His response was, "But you don't need the money. Your stuff is interesting. You just need to get it out there, and Substack will do that for you."

I considered his advice for a few days, concluded he's 100% right, and kicked myself for not realizing it a few years ago. I've since been spending a lot of time on Substack, trying to learn its features (it's black-holish). In the process, I'm finding a lot of great writers, like Gurwinder, who is featured today.

May 29, 2024

Psychedelia

I didn't realize the City of San Francisco canceled its 4/20 celebration this year due to lack of funding (its budget blown on free booze and needles for the homeless, I suppose) and a lack of corporate sponsorships.

Corporate sponsorships? In the heart of the Haight?

Nonetheless, the Church of Ambrosia rescued the celebration. Ambrosia is inevitably nondenominational and promotes “all entheogenic plants, with a focus on Cannabis and Magic Mushrooms."

That's from the introduction to this delightful piece in the June edition of Spectator World that focuses on the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and psychedelic art.

Here's one excerpt, which tells me pretty much everything I've ever cared to know about psychedelic art.

[M]ost psychedelic artists didn’t seek to profit from their creations. The major poster artists of the period — Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoso, Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse and Wes Wilson, known colloquially as the “Big Five” — created their elaborate visuals predominantly for events: concerts, sit-ins and parties where one might be subject to an electric-Kool-Aid-acid test (which is a fun way of saying LSD spiking). People would rip the posters off the wall and take them home with them simply because they looked cool, with Wes Wilson popularizing the hallucinogenic font which gave the appearance of melting in real time.

May 28, 2024

Monday Column

Well, it's not Monday (but it is the first day of the work week) and it's not really a column. It's more of a set of notes, but they're interesting.

May 26, 2024

Much Appreciated, but

. . . why didn't he pardon Ross during his first term?

"Pirate Wires" says it's one of many "no-lose" promises Trump is making and will make. They're a great gambit: The promises have virtually no opposition but are supported by a large block of voters (here, the libertarians).

May 25, 2024

Day Drinking

This NYT piece had great potential, none of it actualized. It was just the same palaver: empty stomach increases effect of alcohol, the sun further dehydrates you, yada and yads.

I think the cue ("Why do we like to drink in the afternoon?") could've led to a nice reflection on our need to shift our customary attitudes, to remove cares, to buck against the left hemisphere's relentless (and merciless) driving tendencies . . . and thereby to open oneself to the Tao.

Those, anyway, are themes I think I would've pursued.

But no, the article opted for the neanderthal route: quote a few doctors to come up with a material cause for the sensation. If you're not a NYT subscriber, I wouldn't burn one of your free articles on this one.

May 24, 2024

Welcome to Summer

I love the way summer rolls out in stages: last day of school, Memorial Day, June 21st. Now that my kids are out of high school, I'm scarcely aware of the first one anymore, though I enjoyed listening to the graduation ceremony at my neighboring stadium last night while I planted the last of my garden.

And yes, my garden is now "in." I'm at that blessed stage of gardening: an hour after dinner of patrolling with weeding hoe and neem oil bottle in hand should keep things under control. The hour is pleasant Zone 2 exercise, it's relaxing, and I get two audiobooks "read" every month.

I celebrate the start of summer, and the end of arduous gardening, tonight with a few gins . . . or maybe mojitos, made with the piles of cilantro that have volunteered this year, as well as the mint that relentlessly expands in my garden and gives a great aroma when I flame weed it back to its proper boundaries.

Every great drink starts with a plant. If you’re a gardener, I hope this book inspires a cocktail party. If you’re a bartender, I hope you’re persuaded to put up a greenhouse or at least plant a window box. I want everyone who walks through a botanical garden or hikes a mountain ridge to see not just greenery but the very elixir of life—the aqua vitae—that the plant world has given us. I’ve always found horticulture to be an agreeably intoxicating subject; I hope you will, too. Cheers! Amy Stewart, The Drunken Botanist.

Why French Wine Barrels Cost So Much

A foudre is a massive wooden vat that impacts and preserves the overall taste of the wine. Making a foudre starts with French oak, a tightly grained wood that adds unique flavoring to the wine. . . The wood is so precious — and so expensive — that the French government heavily regulates its sales through annual auctions of oak forest plots.

May 23, 2024

Front Porch Republic Continues to Run the Greatest Essays Since Mencken!

The left hemisphere plans, incidentally. The right hemisphere flows.

Carol Deppe draws an autobiographical distinction in The Tao of Vegetable Gardening between "Planning Carol" and "Doing Carol." PC lays out elaborate plans that DC later disregards as she gardens. I can relate . . . big-time. Deppe's solution is to plan in ways that she won't disregard when the time comes for gardening. It strikes me as a reasonable approach to respect the different ways the hemispheres operate, but of course, I think gardening itself is the best way to bring the hemispheres together harmoniously.

My approach? I try not to plan at all, even though it's not possible. I look at garden planning like a look at eating: it's nearly impossible to fast too much. In the modern world, we can eat all the time and are programmed to do so. Likewise, in the modern world (since it's dominated by our left hemispheres), we are programmed to plan all the time.

But when my brain won't turn off and stop planning (i.e., 24/7 at the height of gardening season)? I keep a 3"x5" notecard and just jot down the things I need to do that day: the absolute minimums, then I try to focus on more important things, like gin.

May 21, 2024

Apparitions

The guidelines are short and interesting. I have no opinion, either on the guidelines nor apparitions in general. Diana Pasulka has me questioning all sorts of things in this realm, though. I can't say I recommend her books, but I kinda do, at least American Cosmic. She's trying to make sense of Catholic religious phenomena, UFOs, and a new way of knowing. The books are kind of a jumble, but not a jumbled mess. Just "jumbled": stories and facts tossed out there, without a driving narrative. It's more like they have a "driving curiosity."

Pasulka is a Catholic convert, incidentally, and her protagonist in American Cosmic converts at the end (sorry for the spoiler alert).

Russell

If someone wrote a biography of Russell Brand, I'd buy it (I'll read this 2018 Guardian biopic later). I thought he was silly but funny in the aughts, clever a year ago, and now, brilliant. I was struck by the clown-genius juxtaposition that is Russell Brand while listening to this interview with Bret Weinstein.

May 20, 2024

Freedom Month

I have started 33 days without any travel obligations. It feels great, but it'll take a bit to get the writing machine up and running again. Today, just this great essay from Substack about Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy (which I've just started).

Gardening and Sleeping

May 18, 2024

Overcoming Cell Phone Addiction, Episode 1,989,021

American Tipping Culture is Out of Control

A Brit takes it apart

If you’re still not convinced that the rest of the world should resist the spread of American tipping culture (which polls show is massively unpopular in America) then let me give you one last argument: the roots of this lunacy.

Like so many ills of American society, it comes from slavery: the original sin of the western superpower. When slaves were emancipated by Lincoln, a lot came North. But the only jobs they could get were in hotels, bars and restaurants, and the racist owners said: “I’m not giving you a decent wage, you’ll have to make it up with tips.”

Thus the Great American Tipping Madness was born. Tipping is yet another toxic byproduct of America’s tragic past and we should therefore treat it like any other nasty invasive species: whenever you see an example of silly tipping, crush it. Just say No. If you’re in a pub, click the 0 percent and do it with a smile.

May 17, 2024

Ode to Vegas

I used to sniff, "Vegas takes an IQ point for every day you spend there." That was before I visited it. Now that I've spent a few weeks there (cumulatively)? I've changed my mind. I think it's a fascinating place, even though I've had a hard time articulating why. My hunch is, it's a testament to human endeavor, which is a beautiful and noble thing, albeit a thing that creates a lot of problems (like water shortages, in Vegas' case).

Anyway, a recent piece at The Specatator captures a few of my sentiments in this passage:

Vegas is a mirror, or prism, that changes depending on what you want from it. It’s a jackpot for gamblers, a theater for couples, a theme park for families, a watering hole for boozers, an endless buffet for foodies. Writing about it is like trying to summarize Instagram by reviewing your own feed. As a local put it, “Everyone who visits Vegas is the protagonist.” I ended that first night sipping Champagne on the Circa’s rooftop bar. There’s an astonishing view through the glass railing. Fremont Street, or Glitter Gulch, the birthplace of Vegas neon, glows below. Trailing headlights snake along Interstate 15. Surrounding us is a sea of orange and blue lights; ahead is the bold, strange outline of the Strip.

Captain Morgan

In the late seventeenth century, the British and Spanish empires traded blows frequently in the Caribbean, in no small part because of constant British privateering of Spanish merchantmen. In one of the more celebrated episodes, Thomas Modyford, the British governor of Jamaica, commissioned the Welsh pirate Captain Henry Morgan in March 1670 “to do and perform all manner of exploits” to ensure the preservation of British interests in the Caribbean. By December, Morgan had amassed the greatest pirate armada ever seen in the Caribbean. His prize was Panamá City, the second-largest city in the Western Hemisphere, and a critical entrepôt for Spain. Though Morgan knew that the two European kingdoms had reached a peace agreement months before, he and his buccaneers invaded Panamá anyway, and by late January the notorious pirate and about twelve hundred men had reached the city.

May 16, 2024

Francis de Sales said something like, "The commitments of everyday life are a continuing martyrdom." Amen to that . . . I'm dying here. Family out-of-town travel all last week; medical out-of-town Monday; business out-of-town now. Whew. On top of that, TDE's website host partially crashed yesterday, killing my ability to update this (oh so) esteemed blog. Life rolls on!

And thankfully, the talented Joe Serwach has provided this essay about a singer that, quite frankly, I doubt I'd enjoy but am now going to try.

May 14, 2024

Another Great Mike Benz Interview

I checked out recent Russell Brand shows, hoping to hear about his baptism, but instead, I found yesterday's interview with Michael Benz. The story he tells is remarkable: lucid, believable, concise. And scary. I enjoyed his interview on Tucker Carlson so much, I summarized it here. His interview on Brand's show is just as good, and it addresses entire other areas (the rise of Google, Soros, etc.).

If you want to understand why we're in our current fixes, it appears Benz is the man.

Dalrymple on Replication

He just looks at one problem with scientific research: the results are very hard to replicate. The scientific community is jammed with competition and the need to produce papers and studies . . . results. Scientists can't take the time to replicate to confirm what others have done.

And that's just one problem.

I'd add that, in the medical industry, scientists are bought by the pharmaceutical companies to produce results that promote sales of their drugs, then tell their PR departments (a/k/a "the legacy media," like NYT, WaPo, USA Today, etc.) to promote the results. I have little proof, but little doubt, that's what happened when a study earlier this year said people who fast intermittently have a 91% increased chance of heart disease. Google searches for "intermittent fasting" brought pages of stories, blaring the results . . . and then we learned that the study hadn't even been released, but rather, only a synopsis was available, almost as though the folks who published the paper didn't want the details to emerge. An identical Google search this morning brought up none of the stories on the first page. It's like the pharmaceutical companies said, "Let's make a big splash with this synopsis, then let the story disappear because it's all bulls***." But the heck if I know.

I wish I could trust the medical establishment. I like my doctor. I think he's an honest guy who keeps up with the professional literature. The problem is, the literature is filled with bulls***, so even though I think he's trying his best, I never take his advice "straight." I put it in a blender with other factors and try to decide what's best for me . . . a dubious proposition, I'm afraid, but the only one available.

Aside: GLP-1

Ozepic appears to use GLP-1, a peptide found in Yerba Matte tea. Huberman for years has been promoting Yerba Matte for this reason. I drink it, though not as often as I should. I have found that it helps suppress my appetite. The first time I drank it, I was stunned at how much my appetite that day shrank. I haven't been able to, ahem, replicate the robust results of that first use, but overall, it definitely seems to help.

Don't, incidentally, get the smoked Yerba Matte. I guess it's carcinogenic.

Here's the kind I use (Amazon).

May 13, 2024

Russell Brand Becoming Catholic?

He, and quite a few others. A lot of "unorthodox folks" are converting to Christianity and many specifically to Catholicism. They're realizing that Christianity is the only thing keeping western civilization from falling into the abyss.

I hate to brag, but I came to that conclusion about Catholicism back in 1991, following a conversation with my highly intelligent, erudite, and conservative Lutheran father, who pretty much conceded that Protestantism played a huge role in the devolution of our civilization.

What I found especially charming about this piece: It's a paean to Mary (maybe it's no coincidence that the piece appeared in May, the month of Mary). From the conclusion:

"[I]n turning away from Catholicism, freethinkers and reformers together cut western culture off from the life-giving inspiration of the Blessed Virgin. And we’re surprised our civilization is running out of steam? The only surprise is that it’s lasted so long."

Aside: According to the article, St. Bartholomew the Great is "the only place in London where the Blessed Virgin is said to have appeared."

A Few Notes about the Discontent that Helps Fuel Gnosticism

"Member's Only" because it scarcely rises above the level of a notebook entry.

May 11, 2024

Iain has called this list of 30 books, “Works that were particularly important to me during the writing of my new book – some old friends and some new discoveries"

My essay at FPR generated a few comments and new TDE subscribers. It also generated a snarky comment, but I guess that's to be expected. The comment:

“Front Porch Republic is, in my opinion, the leading resistance movement on the web.”
Good grief, the average article here gets zero comments, let’s not lose our grip on reality.

I was picking up my daughter from Benedictine College and then touring the Ozarks, so my hands were cyber-tied for the week. I was finally able to respond this morning:

With respect to “leading.” Perhaps I should’ve used a different adjective, but I didn’t mean “biggest” or “most influential.” I meant that FPR is, by disposition, the leading resistance movement. I find its attitude, its approach, its worldview . . . whatever . . . to stand athwart everything our modern left-hemispheric culture pushes on us.

One slice of support for my belief: McGilchrist doesn’t make a lot of references to Wendell Berry, but he’s a fan. ‘Life is a Miracle” is included in “Iain’s Top 30 Books for ‘The Matter with Things.'” Given that The Matter with Things’ bibliography runs over 180 pages and contains over 4,000 entries, it’s a high honor. I’ve provided the link to the list below, but I’m afraid you must be a paid McGilchrist Channel subscriber to see the list.

https://members.channelmcgilchrist.com/iains-top-30-books/

Sweden Says, "Slow Down, Everyone!"

May 9, 2024

Man! Front Porch Republic is Publishing the Best Essays on the Internet These Days!

May 8, 2024

I'm Reminded that Borges Used to Re-Write Shakespeare as a Writing Exercise

Why Are Germans So Prone to Ideological Hell?

May 7, 2024

Slow blogging winds ahead.

May 6, 2024

First-Time College Student! First-Time College Student!

Two years ago, my daughter mentioned that a friend was excited about her sister's upcoming college graduation from the University of Michigan. It wasn't just an ordinary college graduation, the friend said (a few times). Her sister was a "first-time college student."

I then started hearing that drum getting pounded constantly.

I then realized it was just a ploy by the University of Michigan to get around the end of affirmative action.

Sure enough, it is, and other people are beginning to realize it.

The thing I hate the most about people getting giddy about a "first time college student"? They're just showing themselves to be pawns of propaganda.

Of course, propaganda only works on those who are pawns (if you're aware that it's propaganda, the propaganda isn't working, at least on you). Still, every person at least needs to be aware that they're susceptible to propaganda. The awareness ought to curb your enthusiasm at every turn, especially if large institutions share and promote your enthusiasm.

May 4, 2024

Saturday Morning BYCU

A different sort of brews you can use.

May 3, 2024

BYCU: Yuengling

I don't often drink beer, but when I do, I think I'll have to make it Yuengling. The company clings to tradition. Its workers were allowed to drink beer on shift until the 1990s. The oil lamps that lit the tunnels that led to the spring water needed to brew the beer weren't replaced with electricity until 2004. And the Yuengling family, despite being billionaires, try to stay humble

The business has always been family-owned and operated, and our tour guide tells us the billionaire Yuenglings are humble people. They all still live in Pottsville and Dick Yuengling Jr. (fifth generation), in particular, is known for trying to learn all his employees’ names and generally trying to make everyone feel welcome. It’s a testament to the company that their brewmaster has held his position for forty years . . .

May 2, 2024

Pieper Sighting

I always smile when I see someone appreciate the great German neo-Thomist.

May 1, 2024

Brawl at UCLA

I was pro-Palestinian a few months ago. I'm not now. If violent morons like this support 'em, I can't.

Leftists have a tendency to hijack the causes of other movements as a way to elevate their own agendas, and this is exactly what is happening in the west with the Gaza issue. It is rather revealing that these protesters aren't amassing on Joe Biden's doorstep or the halls of Congress. The people most directly responsible for the funding of Israel for some reason get a pass while US colleges with no power to change anything in the Middle East are overrun.