I got a six-pack of Sweetwater Brewery 420 Extra Pale Ale on the weekend, much to my chagrin. I am choking them down one day at a time. The label says the beer is a West Coast style pale ale with a strong hoppy finish. I beg to differ. This is one of the blandest pale ales I have ever had. In fact I might refer to it as the Coors Light of micro-brews. How appropriate that it is brewed in Georgia…redneck central.
Category: Maybe Rant
Letter to My Virginia Legislators
Legislation, proposed by Virginia’s right-wing nut bag governor and passed by Virginia’s apparently right-wing nut bag Assembly, that includes removing our 17.5% gas tax, not changed for 25 years, and replacing it with a 0.8% sales tax increase makes no sense to me, probably because I am not a right-wing nut bag. This is just redistribution of wealth to the wealthy and cannot help with Virginia’s transportation infrastructure problems nor can it help to reduce consumption of gas or vehicle created pollutants.
Read more here about the current state of the legislation:
Va. lawmakers give McDonnell partial win on transportation at session midpoint
Below is my letter to my representatives asking them please to not let this legislation pass:
Please don’t let this legislation pass. I think about all the poor people who ride buses because they can’t afford cars. Their environmental and consumptive impact is minimal thereby reducing long term costs to our environment and infrastructure. They are the least likely to benefit from no gas tax and most likely to be negatively impacted by an increase in the sales tax.
On the flip side, those in the upper middle class and higher who can afford to and are more likely to buy and drive unneeded gas hogs including SUV’s and sports cars will certainly benefit from no gas tax. They will then contribute less to minimizing the economic impact of pollutant spewing gas hogs and the degradation of our transportation infrastructure. Lastly, since they have more disposable income, the impact of a 0.8% increase in the sales taxes is much less likely to impact their personal finances.
Bibimbap..What Is It…Really?
In the Washington Post article, “Eating Well on Singapore’s Seedy Side,” dated 09/27/2009, a particular Chinese dish, no name, is said to be tossed “bibimbap style.” There is absolutely no indication of what “bibimbap” is in the article. I know, only after having spent the greater part of ten years learning Korean and living in Korea for seven of those years, what bibimbap is…a Korean rice dish.
Certainly, 98% of the Washington Posts readers won’t have a clue though. The only similarity to bibimbap that the Chinese dish has is that they are both served in hot clay pots filled with rice. In Korea, vegetables, sometimes fresh, sometimes slightly marinated, including seaweed, kimchi (do I need to clarify that one?), bean sprouts, shredded Korean radish, perhaps some meat, etc, are placed on top of the rice. Oft times, a fried egg will top the whole concoction and always a side of kochujang, red pepper paste, will be included.
One then adds the desired amount of kochujang and mixes up the whole deal and noshes away. It is more of a summertime dish but really can be served year round. My well thumbed Korean to English dictionary defines bibimbap as a “rice hash, boiled rice mixed with subsidiary articles of diet. Bibim means “hash” or mixture. Bap refers to a dish based on rice. Bibim Naeng Myun, for example, is a cold noodle dished with assorted mixed vegetables.
It’s a shame that the Washington Post could put such an obscure reference in an article and then never elaborate on it. I assume that the writer felt confident that the reference was common knowledge and that the editor didn’t have a clue otherwise.