Leaderboard

Looks good to me... Klein Has Pickle Removed From Ass Government sources confirmed today that Alberta Premier Ralph Klein underwent surgery last weekend to have a five-inch dill pickle removed from his rectum. While the premier’s office originally reported Mr. Klein had left the Ottawa First Ministers' conference on health care last week to attend an oil show in Lloydminster, rumours emerged late Sunday that he had in fact been admitted to Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital for a cucumectomy. Dr. Bruce McGilliam, head of colorectal surgery at the Royal Alex, confirmed the surgery had been a success, and the premier was expected to make a full recovery. "It's a fairly routine procedure," said Dr. McGilliam. "He'll be back reading his poorly-written university term papers in the Legislative Assembly in no time." Mr. Klein, who last smiled in 1977, had been on a waiting list for a cucumectomy since the errant dill was discovered during a rectal examination last year. "He could have gone to a private pickle removal clinic and had this done more quickly and discreetly, but Premier Klein wanted to demonstrate his commitment to the public system by waiting his turn," insisted a spokesperson for Klein in Edmonton. Sources have speculated that the pickle may have become lodged in the premier's rectum as recently as 1995, when Klein received a 'Most Excellent International Fiscal Performance' Award from the Razor Institute, a conservative think tank. Manfred Twillsbottom III, head of Health Policy Research at the Institute, refused to comment on his organization’s involvement in the pickle insertion. "However, our data indicate that under a two-tier health care system, the Premier would likely have had the pickle removed 28.9% sooner, with a 36% faster recovery time, and 19.7% lower risk of complications," commented Twillsbottom. Many political analysts, pundits and wags were eager to attribute Klein's noted erratic behaviour to ‘the pickle.’ "Maybe that's why he threw a chair at me last month when I asked him a routine question about budget expenditures," surmised Calgary Sun political reporter Ken Bulbous."Who knows? Maybe Ralphie boy will be a little less...angry now." http://www.thehammer.ca/content/view.php?news=2004-09-21-klein-pickle

Where's Eddie? Can you spot the world's most wanted man? Speculation was rife yesterday that Snowden had left Hong Kong for Moscow on a plane … but when the plane landed in Russia he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Maybe he was still back in Hong Kong, cannily hiding himself among the crowds at a triathlon … If Snowden is en route to somewhere in South America – as was expected – then the opportunities for disguise are pretty good Joining forces with Pussy Riot in Moscow could be a bad option Here's the pic which the Independent ran yesterday, purportedly showing Snowden arriving in Moscow. For some reason they suggested he was the man at the centre of the frame, in red ... Too late for sycophancy? Pretty sure that won't work either http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2013/jun/24/wheres-edward-snowden-in-pictures#/?picture=411453984&index=6

Wine-tasting: it's junk scienceExperiments have shown that people can't tell plonk from grand cru. Now one US winemaker claims that even experts can't judge wine accurately. What's the science behind the taste? David Derbyshire The Observer, Saturday 22 June 2013 Some academics have cast doubt on the ability of professional tasters to judge wines consistently. Photograph: A G Holesch/Getty Images/Imagebroker RF Every year Robert Hodgson selects the finest wines from his small California winery and puts them into competitions around the state. And in most years, the results are surprisingly inconsistent: some whites rated as gold medallists in one contest do badly in another. Reds adored by some panels are dismissed by others. Over the decades Hodgson, a softly spoken retired oceanographer, became curious. Judging wines is by its nature subjective, but the awards appeared to be handed out at random. So drawing on his background in statistics, Hodgson approached the organisers of the California State Fair wine competition, the oldest contest of its kind in North America, and proposed an experiment for their annual June tasting sessions. Each panel of four judges would be presented with their usual "flight" of samples to sniff, sip and slurp. But some wines would be presented to the panel three times, poured from the same bottle each time. The results would be compiled and analysed to see whether wine testing really is scientific. The first experiment took place in 2005. The last was in Sacramento earlier this month. Hodgson's findings have stunned the wine industry. Over the years he has shown again and again that even trained, professional palates are terrible at judging wine. "The results are disturbing," says Hodgson from the Fieldbrook Winery in Humboldt County, described by its owner as a rural paradise. "Only about 10% of judges are consistent and those judges who were consistent one year were ordinary the next year. "Chance has a great deal to do with the awards that wines win." These judges are not amateurs either. They read like a who's who of the American wine industry from winemakers, sommeliers, critics and buyers to wine consultants and academics. In Hodgson's tests, judges rated wines on a scale running from 50 to 100. In practice, most wines scored in the 70s, 80s and low 90s. Results from the first four years of the experiment, published in the Journal of Wine Economics, showed a typical judge's scores varied by plus or minus four points over the three blind tastings. A wine deemed to be a good 90 would be rated as an acceptable 86 by the same judge minutes later and then an excellent 94. Some of the judges were far worse, others better – with around one in 10 varying their scores by just plus or minus two. A few points may not sound much but it is enough to swing a contest – and gold medals are worth a significant amount in extra sales for wineries. Hodgson went on to analyse the results of wine competitions across California, and found that their medals were distributed at random. "I think there are individual expert tasters with exceptional abilities sitting alone who have a good sense, but when you sit 100 wines in front of them the task is beyond human ability," he says. "We have won our fair share of gold medals but now I have to say we were lucky." Robert Parker, above is the world's leading wine critic and his score is key to determining the price of a new vintage. But Orley Ashenfelter, a Princeton economist, invented a simple mathematical formula based on weather data to predict the price of vintages, which mimicked the predictions of Parker’s system. Photograph: Shahar Azran/WireImage His studies have irritated many figures in the industry. "They say I'm full of bullshit but that's OK. I'm proud of what I do. It's part of my academic background to find the truth.'' Hodgson isn't alone in questioning the science of wine-tasting. French academic Frédéric Brochet tested the effect of labels in 2001. He presented the same Bordeaux superior wine to 57 volunteers a week apart and in two different bottles – one for a table wine, the other for a grand cru. The tasters were fooled. When tasting a supposedly superior wine, their language was more positive – describing it as complex, balanced, long and woody. When the same wine was presented as plonk, the critics were more likely to use negatives such as weak, light and flat. In 2008 a study of 6,000 blind tastings by Robin Goldstein in the Journal of Wine Economics found a positive link between the price of wine and the amount people enjoyed it. But the link only existed for people trained to detect the elements of wine that make them expensive. In 2011 Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist (and former professional magician) at Hertfordshire University invited 578 people to comment on a range of red and white wines, varying from £3.49 for a claret to £30 for champagne, and tasted blind. People could tell the difference between wines under £5 and those above £10 only 53% of the time for whites and only 47% of the time for reds. Overall they would have been just as a successful flipping a coin to guess. So why are ordinary drinkers and the experts so poor at tasting blind? Part of the answer lies in the sheer complexity of wine. For a drink made by fermenting fruit juice, wine is a remarkably sophisticated chemical cocktail. Dr Bryce Rankine, an Australian wine scientist, identified 27 distinct organic acids in wine, 23 varieties of alcohol in addition to the common ethanol, more than 80 esters and aldehydes, 16 sugars, plus a long list of assorted vitamins and minerals that wouldn't look out of place on the ingredients list of a cereal pack. There are even harmless traces of lead and arsenic that come from the soil. Three of wine's most basic qualities – sweetness, sourness and bitterness – are picked up by the tongue's taste buds. A good wine has the perfect balance of sweet from the sugar in grapes, sourness from the acids, particularly tartaric and malic acid, and bitterness from alcohol and polyphenols, including tannins. Many wines are more acidic than lemon juice and are only palatable because that acidity is balanced by sweetness and bitterness. "It's the holy trinity of the palate – sugar, acid and alcohol," says Dr James Hutchinson, a wine expert at the Royal Society of Chemistry. Professionals distinguish between the balance of these three basic elements and a wine's flavour. And here the chemistry gets more complicated. The flavour of wine – its aroma or bouquet – is detected not by the taste buds, but by millions of receptors in the olfactory bulb, a blob of nervous tissue where the brain meets the nasal passage. Chemists have identified at least 400 aroma compounds that work on their own and with others to create complex flavours – some appearing immediately on first sniffing, others emerging only as an aftertaste. Most of these are volatiles – aromatic compounds that tend to have a low boiling point and waft away from glasses and tongues towards the olfactory bulb. Some of these, the primary volatiles, are present in the grape. Others, the secondaries, are generated by yeast activity during fermentation. The rest, the tertiary volatiles, are formed as wine matures in barrels or bottles. More evidence that wine-tasting is influenced by context was provided by a 2008 study from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. The team found that different music could boost tasters’ wine scores by 60%. Researchers discovered that a blast of Jimi Hendrix enhanced cabernet sauvignon while Kylie Minogue went well with chardonnay. Over the last few decades, wine scientists have begun to identify the compounds responsible for some of the distinctive aromas in wine. The grassy, gooseberry quality of sauvignon blanc, for instance, comes from a class of chemicals called methoxypyrazines. These contain nitrogen and are byproducts of the metabolism of amino acids in the grape. Concentrations are higher in cooler climates, which is why New Zealand sauvignon blancs are often more herbaceous than Australian ones. The flowery aroma of muscat and gewürztraminer comes from a class of alcohol compounds called monoterpenes. These include linalool – a substance also used in perfumes and insecticide – and geraniol, a pale yellow liquid that doubles up as an effective mosquito repellent and gives geranium its distinctive smell. The spicy notes of chardonnay have been attributed to compounds called megastigmatrienones, also found in grapefruit juice. "People underestimate how clever the olfactory system is at detecting aromas and our brain is at interpreting them," says Hutchinson. "The olfactory system has the complexity in terms of its protein receptors to detect all the different aromas, but the brain response isn't always up to it. But I'm a believer that everyone has the same equipment and it comes down to learning how to interpret it." Within eight tastings, most people can learn to detect and name a reasonable range of aromas in wine, Hutchinson says. Detecting and finding the right vocabulary may be within everyone's grasp. But when it comes to ranking wines, Hutchinson shares Robert Hodgson's concerns. "There's a lot of nonsense and emperor's new clothes in the wine world," Hutchinson says. "I have had a number of wines costing hundreds of pounds that have disappointed me – and a number costing between £5 and £10 which have been absolutely surprising." People struggle with assessing wine because the brain's interpretation of aroma and bouquet is based on far more than the chemicals found in the drink. Temperature plays a big part. Volatiles in wine are more active when wine is warmer. Serve a New World chardonnay too cold and you'll only taste the overpowering oak. Serve a red too warm and the heady boozy qualities will be overpowering. Colour affects our perceptions too. In 2001 Frédérick Brochet of the University of Bordeaux asked 54 wine experts to test two glasses of wine – one red, one white. Using the typical language of tasters, the panel described the red as "jammy' and commented on its crushed red fruit. The critics failed to spot that both wines were from the same bottle. The only difference was that one had been coloured red with a flavourless dye. Other environmental factors play a role. A judge's palate is affected by what she or he had earlier, the time of day, their tiredness, their health – even the weather. For Hutchinson and Hodgson the unpredictability means that human scores of wines are of limited value. "It's very subjective and there's a lot of politics marring it," says Hutchinson. "People should use it as one indicator and not as an end-all. It would be a great sadness if people were only driven by what critics say." Is there a scientific basis for the belief that red wine does not go with seafood? Researchers from Japanese drinks firm Mercian tested 64 varieties of wine with scallops, and concluded that the iron content of red wine speeded up the decay of fish, resulting in an overly ‘fishy’ taste. Photograph: Alamy So if people cannot be relied on to judge wine, how about machines? "In terms of replicating what a human can do we are a long way off," Hutchinson says. "The one thing we can do well, though, is a lot of amazing analytical chemistry that allows us to detect a huge range of different compounds in a glass of wine. ''We can start to have an indication of how the acidity balances with the sweetness and different levels of flavour compounds. "But the step we haven't got to is how that raw chemical information can be crunched together and converted into something that reflects someone's emotional response. That might be something we can never achieve." Meanwhile the blind tasting contests go on. Robert Hodgson is determined to improve the quality of judging. He has developed a test that will determine whether a judge's assessment of a blind-tasted glass in a medal competition is better than chance. The research will be presented at a conference in Cape Town this year. But the early findings are not promising. "So far I've yet to find someone who passes," he says. PUNGENT OVERTONESIn 2007, Richard E Quandt, a Princeton economics professor, published a paper entitled "On Wine Bullshit: Some New Software?" The study sought to describe the "unholy union" of "bullshit and bullshit artists who are impelled to comment on it", in this case wine and wine critics. Quandt compiled a "vocabulary of wine descriptors" containing 123 terms from "angular" to "violets" via other nonsense descriptions such as "fireplace" and "tannins, fine-grained". Then, with the help of colleagues, he built an algorithm that generated wine reviews of hypothetical wines using his "vocabulary of bullshit". For instance: "Château L'Ordure Pomerol, 2004. Fine minerality, dried apricots and cedar characterise this sage-laden wine bursting with black fruit and toasty oak." He concluded that whether his reviews were "any more bullshit" than real ones was a "judgment call". Sadly, he didn't explore how long it would take a monkey to type a wine review. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis

A few mint julips or Mississippi muds in you and I bet you are the life of the party, lamp shade and all.

Everett prepares to diagram the sentence. He has requested a large piece of chalk, and a footstool.

Is this similar to drinking White Lightening after which a rattlesnake strike is just an annoyance (to the snake)? Best regards, RA1

Retirement cured that.

LOL. I have heard of many various things removed from one's posterior from Coke bottles on down but never a pickle, so now our lexicon goes from sour puss to sour ass? Best regards, RA1

Pity you are not under stress when you drink wine. It can be such a good stress reliever. Best regards, RA1

I haven't read the article and I have my own experience to go on. I suspect that many people may not be able to discern the flavors and aromas in wines. Many people do not even like dry wines and can't get past that. What I do know from experience is that I have tasted the following notes in many many (grape) dry wines that I have consumed over 40+ years -- not all in the same wine by any means and not every wine had least one. Some wines can portray little more than wetness and a mysterious taste if any, but those are mostly restricted the very low priced bins usually -- not to damn all low priced wines. choclolate cherry blackberry leather tobacco tar oak vanilla butter pineapple grape juice (rarely) pear gravel grass vinegar I have had wines with various floral and fruity bouquets, as well as oak, leather, tobacco and even barnyard bouquets. I demurred on the barnyard offering. Probably just a very bad cork and mold rather than a non-fruit fortification. (yikes) I have had others share these experiences as I often do not drink these types of wine alone but with a meal and family or friends. I'm not a wine snob as my usual fare is Paisano, a cheap delicious California jug wine that serves my everyday purposes. But in the past I have cellared as many as a dozen cases of wines at a time from around the world, more than a few rated 90+ (too often disappointing on maturity for such ratings). I have no doubt that some cannot discern these wine qualities and that they convince themselves they do. I also expect that even so-called experts may disagree on some wines. As for me, I've been drinking wine so long and from so many sources with so many disappointments that I have few expectations upon opening a wine, especially in the last ten years, especially based on price. One wine that surprised me just recently, enough to make me shell out for half a case, which I rarely do in retirement, is: Four Vines, Old Vine Cuvee, 2009, Zinfandel, California $12 - $14 dollars most places. If I were still drawing a regular paycheck I would have purchased at least two cases for the cellar. I'll let those who have an opportunity to try it determine for themselves the tastes and aromas this beauty offers. One more point, as far as telling plonk from grand cru, I do not disagree with that in general, but from the point of view that in many cases little separates the quality of wines. There are many formerly great vineyards trafficking on their reputation that just no longer deserve it. Definitely true in France and also true in California, Washington State and Australia, as some former greats have become so-so, but try to demand the money they got in the past. That is the nature of wine as a business, and distributors and many retailers aide and abet it because money is money. Finally, I expect the same type of article could be written for coffee or vodka or myriad of other products that rely on the senses to evaluate. Those article would be just as true and just as false as I suspect this one is. I know I said finally above but... I don't knock studies in general and I don't know anything about this study to knock it other than I don't share it's sweeping conclusion on the face of it. However, all studies are subject to some level of corruption no matter how much care is take to not corrupt the study. It all comes down to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, the very act of trying to measure something or observe a process effects the outcome producing some difference from that which takes place without measurement or observation. Take for example these experts who differ on their analysis. Putting them under a microscope induces a psychological stress which may even produce physical stress that might alter the sensitivity of their senses. They are putting their 'rep', their knowledge and expertise, on the line publicly for people to scrutinize. Most sports and entertainment stars, even business stars usually have to have their 'head in the zone' to succeed at the levels in which they compete. If they don't have their head in it, well... Just look at women's gymnastics as an example. As for me, I'm under no pressure when I drink wine. I have nothing on the line, no stress to send cortisol flowing through my system. I sit and drink and notice whatever my tongue and nose detect. I'm in a relaxed state. My results are unbiased by outside forces or measures. No one else told me what to expect or quizes me as to whether I pass or fail. I just taste what I taste, real or not. That leads to the question of what is reality where I will not go. The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is very real. We have to live with that and do the best we can because observations and measurements are very necessary. Just be aware that interpreting results may not always be as straightforward as it seems or should be.

I went back to Meio Mundo and there has been a general freshening and things seem to be operating better. Most everyone probably are interested in the quality of the boys. Some older ones, some newer ones and some fresh out of the Zonas Oeste and Norte/West and North Zones - meaning the area near Bangu through Campo Grande to Santa Cruz and the Baixada Fluminense which includes Caxias, Mage, Maua and Nova Iguacu. I haven't been in a while as I have been chasing a swimsuit/photographic model with the most incredible abdominals from 117. There was a number to chose from for the type that I like. I was very safado tonight. I suppose frustrated for little happiness from a few programas at 117. Quite blatant with lots of dick stroking, kissing and even me sticking my fingers up their butts out in the open for three of the guys. Not at all shy like many at 117. Quite refreshing! I was quite surprised they let me. Even more went on, in the relative darkness of the dry and wet saunas before I made my first selection. Going back to the house's refresh. The client's locker room has been repainted. Still no new sofas in the lower TV room. Both of the saunas working very well. The doors open and close nicely and STAY SHUT. Someone was smart enough to put in door closers. The one shower downstairs and two upstairs all had HOT water tonight. Also, new soap dispensers were installed and they had soap in them. Vincius was working the cashier station tonight. They have a new towel guy who was right on the ball and was getting clients towels and sandalias/filp-flops very quickly. When dressing to go him, he quickly took away our towels and sandlaias just as fast. I was quite impressed at how quickly he brought out the mop to dry up and drips after three of us got dressed quickly in succession. I rented a room(simple without the cavalhette - vinyl hobby-horse for screwing) at 15$Reais and it had new flooring installed as well as good hooks to hang up our keys and towels. Not the old broke ones. Nice light with a good dimmer. Less than 117 and for a longer time period. Having to go down the hall to the shower doesn't really bother me. Biggest news is that they have put a disco up on the fourth floor. They offer two packages with unlimited beverages. I cannot remember if it includes snacks. But entry is included for either 100$Reais or 135$Reais for the evening. If you want a boy as your date up there, the charge for each boy's unlimited tab is 50$Reais. I cannot wait to go back and scope the place out. Now if only Acyr and Jorge can keep reinvesting and improving, they can really gain and keep lots of new clients and boys Last year Jorge spent the winter in Italy. I can only imagine how much he pulled out of the business and what they could have done with that amount improving things a year ago instead of now.

Where in the world is Edward Snowden? A new TV reality show in the making....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozYg8vDTmkc

Agence France-Presse ✔ @AFP #BREAKING: Snowden has requested asylum in Ecuador: foreign minister 12:38 PM - 23 Jun 2013

I completely agree with the thrust of this article. Expectation can supersede virtually all else. I have played this little game several times with folks who can afford expensive wines and others who just like to drink wine. A well chosen $12 bottle of wine was enjoyed just as much as a $100 bottle of wine when no mention of price was made. We may as well revert to something similar to Robbie the robot sampling the "rotgut" provided by the cook (Forbidden Planet) and then produced gallons and gallons of the stuff. Best regards, RA1

I'm not going to bother opening another thread about a dead late afternoon/early evening at 117. It was pretty bad until maybe 5:45PM. Luckily, I ran into a neighbor of mine who usually visits Meio Mundo, but the free suites were the attraction. At least I had someone to chat with until some guys of interest arrived. He must have gotten there earlier but was raving about his programa. I arrived at 4:30PM. Maybe 10 clients and 10 boys. By 5:15PM, another 6-8 clients and 10 boys. At 6:20PM, when I cut out, there were at the most 25 clients and maybe 40 or so boys. And something very unusual for that time of night - no waiting list. For a free suite Tuesday, not to be believed. Without a doubt, the increase in entry for client and boy must be having an effect. I know that we are in the off-season and last weekend was heavy with "Festa Junina" parties. But still, the costumes people wear are really cheap and beers to drink aren't so expensive and even live forro entries are cheap. We're talking a trio playing something similar to crappy US hillbilly music. Only one new one. Christian. My friend swore that he fucked him at Meio Mundo. Tall, thinner, lighter skin, very cute and completo. But he denied the encounter had ever taken place. We surmised that he didn't want the other boys to know that he had started out selling it at MM before "movin' on up, to the eastside, to the deluxe whorehouse in the sky."

By the way, my comment about France and the French wasn't directed at PR2K. Far from it. The idiot at the counter who was spewing steam in a mixture of French and heavily-accented English. What are the employees to do? There are rules to follow and if they do not, they might lose their jobs. And because of the poor educational systeem here, a job that pays enough to live on comfortably is not so easy to find. There is still a socialist wage scale here. It definitely dampens personal initiative in the workplace. So I don't know about at 117, but at Meio Mundo the money for wrong charges comes out of the employees pocket when a client complains about their bill. Always around somewhere inside, besides the busty woman at the counter who has been there forever is Herivaldo, the tall thin guy. Any complaint would go to him. But you know, it is a whore house, they are there to make money and that is the way it is. If you don't want to play be their rules and pay them for the room and the condoms/lube, i.e. "the kit", pick someone up on the street. When I was walking out of Extra on Largo Do Machado Saturday at Noon before Mom's Day, I looked at a guy, he looked at me, I looked back, he followed out the door and maybe 10 meters away, I said he looked hot, and he responded that he was available and the cost would be 100Reais. Bam. And condoms and lube at the farmacias are not 3Reais each!

PR2K Read again. I never said that condoms and lube were included at 117 or the CABINES at Meio Mundo, only for the nicer rooms where they include a sheet and condoms/lube with the fee for the ROOM. The owner of 117, Monik, is an ex-whore. And as an ex-whore, she is always looking out for Number 1. Herself. When the boy gets the room, whoever is at the front desk asks if condoms and lube are needed. The boys want the protection. So they hand out 2 condoms and 2 lubes at 3Reais/each. Ka-Ching. Another 12Reais for Monik. IF and a big IF, the client doesn't need them, want them, use them, the desk will be very happy and credit the client's tab/balcao is the term they use for everything other than the room and entry. However, the client needs to know that they can be returned or be informed by the boy. When I was at 117 in March, there was an idiotic Frenchman who was making a big stink about the cost of condoms, lube and the rooms as it was a Thursday night. If you think about it is kind of hilarious. He spends 45 Reais entry to the sauna. He is probably going to pay the guy 70-100Reais for sex and he refuses to pay another 25Reais for the room. Okay. more or less10Euros. How much did he pay for the airfare? And wherever he is staying? Someone much more knowledgeable than myself had this to say about France and the French. France is a wonderful, beautiful country. It is just too bad that the French don't deserve it.

ihpguy thanks for the information. so the boys have been short timing me, i was told 30 min on free night, and 45min on the other nights at club 117 not that i want to be a clock watcher, but its good to know how long one has time to play T