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Having just walked by a mirror for the first time today, it seems that I’ve been wearing a v-neck sweater backward all morning. And I’ve been out and about! I’ve never felt more professorial than I do at this very moment. Come to think of it, I may leave it like this and see how long it takes for someone to say something.
Via feministphilosophers, an intriguing collection of summaries of articles, accompanied by intelligent commentary, on the psychology of beauty. So often journalistic science writing on these kinds of topics can be parodied very quickly, but not unfairly as, “back on the veldt, men had to hunt down the wild jungle tigers while the women stayed home to tend the children and weave the straps of those cave girl bikinis, and this explains why I am attracted to interns”, but this blog strikes me as very good, as it notes the implications, strengths, and offers a word of caution about most of the studies. So I thought you might find it of interest.
Plus, this is just cool.
December was “first month since the beginning of the Iraq war in which there were no U.S. combat deaths, the U.S. military reported.” Three Americans died of non-combat causes.
As I highlighted earlier, counterinsurgencies rarely end cleanly and clearly, with a single moment identified as the day of victory. But they do end, and Iraq is ending now. That’s not to say the victory is one to be particularly happy with, that Iraq is a fully-functioning democracy without corruption, or that the potential for unraveling doesn’t exist. But it is to say that the United States has likely done as much as it could politically and militarily, given all the circumstances. Despite the result, I suspect that the memorials to Iraq, when they come, will be closer to the muted mourning of the Vietnam Wall than they will to the triumphalism of the World War II memorial. It seems unlikely that Iraq will ever be remembered as a “good war.”
Over Thanksgiving, while visiting family out of town, I went looking for Angostura bitters. There were none at the local liquor store, so I settled for Peychaud’s, thinking nothing of it. Then, over Christmas, I went looking for Angostura bitters here. There were none in the shop, and upon inquiring I was informed that there are none to be found anywhere locally, because none had been manufactured for months. It seems the financial crisis took down the company behind the little bottles.
The proudly Trinidadian firm was supposed to have been rescued in October, and supplies were supposed to hit the Northeast back in the fall. But there are still none hereabouts and as of even date they are reportedly out in the UK.
Even if the works are up and running, it will take a while for bitters to return to shelves everywhere: “You can’t just turn on and off supply of bitters. It’s not like producing bottled water – it’s a very delicate, intricate process.”
No word as to whether the Angostura Christmas bash featured supplies of bitters.
Tragic as it all is, it’s hard not to feel there’s something quaint about a cocktail crisis owing to a crimp in the Caribbean cash flow. Cole Porter would have seen this.
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