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Cognition enhancers just make your life more complicated. I'm currently engaged in cognition dehancer research. It's much tastier, too.

Now if only I could get funding for it...

In case it hasn't already been mentioned...

If you have any sort of interest in unique local versus standardized global products the documentary film Monovino will be of interest.

The documentary film interviews both small and large wine vinters regarding the art and/or business of making wine. As a geek, the interviews with the individuals and families of independent producers who took personal pride in their product were of interest. (As a side note, the extras on the USA DVDs were great.)

The film actually made me curious enough to want to discuss the wine biz (looking for a slashdot for wine), but the only decent wine geek discussions I found were on the wine spectator's web site. Which is ironic since the wine spectator is a key player in the globalization of wine by providing a standard rating scale.

My question, what will happen to the Robert Parker's and the Wine Spectators and every other player in the global wine industry once a 100 point wine can be bought at WalMart for $2. On npr.org, there is an article covering a recent tasting where a wine, nicknamed 2 Buck Chuck, won the top prize. From the article:

When it comes to wine, some consumers still equate quality with price. But at the 28th Annual International Eastern Wine Competition, a $1.99 bottle of California Wine, the 2002 Charles Shaw Shiraz, beat out 2,300 wines to win a prestigious double gold medal. Hear NPR's Steve Inkseep.

That "smell" device mentioned in the article that's supposed to hook up to a computer has been done. I recall hearing about devices like it more than once over the past few years. Here is one example and here is another. It's a lame idea.

The Bordeaux 2000 vintage is acutally one of the top vintages in the last 50 years (if you believe the critics) and is being compared to the '82 and '61 vintages in regards to quality and longevity.

Overall, Bordeaux 2000 will probably be better only because the breadth of wines that will be very good (a rising tide lifts all boats). I haven't had a chance to try many of them, but what I've tasted has been very good. Of course, many consider wine drinkers to be pretentious in their use of language and rabid critiquing, but I think you'll find that common in any facet of life that people are intensely interested in or receive income from. Francis Coppola makes very good wines, from his sub-$10 Rosso to his flagship Rubicon, so Spielberg is, at the least, in good company.

Here's Wine Spectator's look at Bordeaux 2000

The system makes a lot of sense from the standpoint of the company going public as well as for the individual investor. It works like this: A deadline for offers is set, along with a target price. Investors bid a number of shares they wish to purchase, along with the highest price they are willing to pay. When all the bids are in, the banker starts filling orders beginning with the highest bid. Everyone who bid at that level gets all the shares they ordered, then the banker goes down to the next highest bid, fills all the orders at that bid, and so on until all the shares are distributed.

The bid price where the shares run out is the price everybody pays, even if they bid higher. So in the case of Ravenswood, I bid 12, and got my shares at 10 1/2. (**)

Everyone bids once, so you don't get the bidding frenzy of a typical auction and everyone gets an equal opportunity to buy (unlike eBay).
The company selling the shares leaves less money on the table, because the price they get is set by the auction and not by an investment banker who underwrites the IPO (and makes windfall profits if it can sell the IPO shares for more than they paid they company for them)
And since the market sets the initial price, you don't get those huge first-day runups and subsequent collapses that marked many IPOs in the stock market bubble.
It's even more efficient to do since most of the deal can be done online, and you don't have to pay brokers for schmoozing big institutional investors.

*--I'm enough of a zinfandel fan that my office is decorated with posters signed by winemakers like Joel Peterson ( Ravenswood ), Kent Rosenblum (Rosenblum Cellars), and Matt Cline (Cline Cellars), so I was familiar with the Ravenswood business plan (***) and knew the shares would be a good investment.

**--It indeed turned out to be a very good investment. A coupla years later, Canandaigua Brands (Almaden, Paul Masson) bought out Ravenswood for $29.50 a share, so I nearly tripled my money.

***--They used the proceeds of the IPO to construct a second winemaking facility, so they could expand production of their County series zins, and start making merlot too.

This guy, who if he's really an expert has no doubt heard a TON of equipment that cost more than you can BELIEVE, is saying the unit ACTUALLY HAS high frequency response, low harmonic distortion and high sensitivity for a unit of its size and cost. And that information is much more useful than just numbers.

That doesn't mean that audiophiles couldn't make their results more quantitative. Has he tried a double-blind listening test? Or even a blind listening test? All he'd need is a friend to mix up the equipment while he's closing his eyes, to see if he can REALLY tell the difference. It's not that I don't believe him when he says that the iPod sounds good, but I do wonder if he could tell the difference between a 256 kb MP3 and an AIFF.

It reminds me of a recent article suggesting that wine connoisseurs can't even tell the difference between red and white wine! The truth may be that of course anyone can tell the difference, but only if you know that you're trying to tell them apart. But if someone served you white wine, dyed red and served at room temperature with a steak, you might never realize it.

Why does it have to be too late for saying you are opposed to this war? I see this type of thinking everywhere. I don't understand why people think that now that the fighting has started, those of us that are opposed have to shut up. I don't want ANYBODY to die for no reason at all, not just *our* troops. So, I will continue to speak in opposition to this unjust war/conflict/police action.

To the inevitable flame that will come my way:

No, the troops aren't fighting for my freedom of speech. They are fighting because Dubya doesn't understand what diplomacy is for.

No, Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th. In fact, Saddam Hussein is a socialist and Islamic freaks don't like the guy.

No, Iraq is not an immediate threat to anybody. Not even it's next door neighbors.

Saddam is not the only *evil* dictator in the world. Who is next? Uzbekistan? Zimbabwe? North Korea? Saudi Arabia? Pakistan? This tyrant argument should be applied evenly, not just in this case.

Yes, in fact, I do love French wine. Burgundy actually has some pretty good Chardonnays. And Wine Spectator just said that the 2000 Bordeaux's are the best in 39 years. If I had the cash, I'd buy a few bottles today.

Whew, I feel better. Now if this war would just end....