Citadel of the Blogs The Inbox of the Internet (really)

remarkable shot of reflected citrus fruit in water droplets

author claims this is not photo-shopped.

continuously clickable world atlas of maps flags and geography facts.

I wouldn’t use this to replace BBC Country Profiles (which I prefer to the CIA - The World Factbook). But it does complement these others by allowing you to explore regions and adjacent areas, typically unavailable from standard encyclopedic entries.

my mother stayed with us for the holidays and I believe a good time was had by all. among the many conversations was one about my first-cousin once removed. [heh. just wanted to throw that in there: my cousin’s daughter. ]

apparently she was eeked that my mother didn’t refrigerate a bottle of red wine after having opened it. funny how conversations never come up. but i honestly think that was the first time I heard the point raised: i routinely do not finish red wine by myself (how could I?) so I always leave the leftover bottle out.

after a very quick google check it appears that this problem does not come up since most folks drink the whole bottle in one sitting. I have to say, though, that it should just come down to taste: there are no more rules about wine than what tastes right. so it seems that leaving reds at room temperature allows their full flavor to come out. but chilling a cheap red wine might help by killing any icky flavor. the question then becomes whether to serve it a room temperature or not. as for an already-open bottle, however, the answer is: does it taste bad or not? chilling might prolong its life. and I don’t wanna crush your richly-polished worlds, folks (yeah, right!) but in my experience an open red wine does not go bad at room temperature over a week. it gets weaker, sure. but those are two different things. on a slightly other note, this article asks whether it is better to chill red wine when it is really hot or not.

also, it appears that simply opening a bottle does not let the wine breathe. there is just not enough surface air from the small hole. better to use a decanter which, apparently, i need to buy.

sigh.

i never drive while talking on the phone. in fact, i don’t bother with cell phones at all. had one in japan but only because of an excruciating argument with my then-girlfriend/now-wife because we couldn’t meet one night. but even then I didn’t drive while talking on it–i didn’t have a car in japan!

so here is an innovative simulation to test your ability to stay focussed on the road amid a multitude of today’s distractions (cell phones, mainly, but the first one I saw was also interesting from a guy’s perspective): the Insurance Bureau of Canada’s driving distraction test

This is a remarkable, if inane, video documenting the World Freehand Circle Drawing Champion. sere’sly: it is a good circle.