Wine & Warmongering

Thanksgiving is near at hand - do you have wine on hand to toast the blessings bestowed on you? Finger Lakes wine, specifically... God knows it would be bad form to toast heaven's bounty with the nonsense coming out of California that they have the nerve to label wine! ;0)

Eric & I were blessed to make one of our semi-annual pilgrimages out to wine country this last weekend to restock our wine rack. In case you haven't heard, 2010 was a stellar year for grapes, which means next year's wine will be off the charts amazing! Whoo hoo! I love our days in wine country - driving along the lakes, chatting with vintners who love their jobs and know their stuff and enjoying one of the few traditions our constantly-changing schedules accommodates every year.

Whether or not you're usually into wine, if you drink at all I highly recommend snagging yourself a bottle of Dr. Frank's semi-dry Gewurtz, dry Riesling or a bottle of the brand new Gruner if you haven't yet picked out wine for Thanksgiving. I guarantee it will be worth every penny!

On a completely opposite note, I am finding the news this week of great interest. [If you're not interested in apocalyptic talk, stop reading now please.]

I usually assume TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) will come as a zombie apocalypse, but recent headlines suggest we might just get our revolution in the streets after all.

First off, something fun: a bra holster for handguns. Completely unnoticeable under clothing. How awesome is that!?

Next up, the public outrage is finally swelling to critcal proportions in the face of TSA insanity at airport checkpoints and Texas Public Safety officials trying to get cameras and checkpoints instated on highways. A public opinion survey by Reuters found that 96% of travelers can and are making alternative plans to avoid airports because they refuse to be subjected to the full body scanners (which, by the way, have not been proven safe for use on humans) or intrusive pat-downs.

Also fun to listen to are the debates over the missile launched over California and explained away as an airplane contrail... apparently that's the newest version of the old "it was a weather balloon" line.

I find great reason to celebrate in the news that Ron Paul has been made "chairman of the House Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy", which means there's actually a chance of abolishing the insidious Federal Reserve! Keep on eye on this one... its going to be ugly, but possibly one of the most impressive and decisive battles of our era!

While you're keeping your eyes open, watch for both Smart Meters attached to your electricity meter or in new appliances (don't buy the marketing hype - these are a dangerous idea!) and facial recognition technology on vending machines (again, sounds novel but is a terrible idea in practice).

That about wraps up the major events of note. And people wonder why I so often just stop reading the news...