SCOTCH WHISKY: On top of the world.

Oban west highland single malt scotch whisky 1992
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In terms of export, Scotch whisky amasses approximately 90% of all export sales combined in England and is a principle export commodity. This income is in great part foreign currency.  This trend has been followed since the turn of the 19-century as the value of overseas marketing was discovered.

Between 15-20% of all scotch whisky consumed in Scotland is first purchased in Britain.   Although the reason for this is unknown, they do not dwell on it since their Scotch seems to be more popular in other countries.  This is proven by the fact that scotch whisky is within the top five export earners and makes a considerable profit while making very large contributions to Britain’s foreign exchange.

Approximately 200 markets are in the exchange for Scotch whisky with the European Union being in the forefront vying for top spot with the United States, Japan and other Asian markets following suit. The European Union is accountable for at least 50% of all Scotch whisky sales with the other countries rounding up another 40% or so.

A nine-year sales projection is in reserve of scotch stock maturing or already matured.  In 1996 the stock of matured scotch was sitting at 2,741 million liters up a tenfold from 1945 at 247 million liters.  The stock was higher in 1939 at 374 million liters.  Obviously the Scotch whiskey market is predicted to grow based on the amount of maturing stock.  

It is a difficult trade dealing in stocks with a scotch manufacturer as they sit and wait on maturing product, they cannot accurately gather information on what the market years down the road will be for their product.  This is a commercial problem.  The most significant undertaking is the capital investment of maturing stock.

There is a very small portion of fine scotch that actually makes it out of Scotland and into other countries.  Matured whiskies as well as fresh fillings are an enticing profit grabber; however the time it takes for this product to turn over and give way to said profit makes this a risky endeavor. It is very hard to determine whether or not the products value will hold in the future.

In closing the value of these company’s finely distilled products is not likely to lose appeal any time soon, although one never knows what the future will bring.  For Scotch lovers, another drink is always in their futures.

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Let There Be Light - FILMMAKING

Filmmaking is an orchestration of various elements that brings about the desired result, your story literally brought to life.  Screenplay, crew, actors, location, camera, lighting, sound, and editing are all working together to bring you the finished product.  One literally cannot do without the other.  Lighting however is what makes your production look professional and if you are looking to actually market your film you want it to be as professional as possible.  

Illustration of three-point lighting (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are many professional lights kits on the market and many of them are quite reasonable, but in many cases they are not necessarily needed.  You can make your own light kit with a few things that can be purchased at the local hardware store.  There are lights found at the hardware store used in garage repair shops that are metal and that have a high reflectance.  These come with clips at the end and can be clipped and moved wherever you might need them.  These are great to use and you can use a number of different bulbs that will give different wattage and color.

The next items you must have in great numbers are extension cords.  These will be used in every other part of your filmmaking, but you really need them with setting up your lights.  Another very useful tool would be old sheet music stands or something similar that has a 3 leg stand that can be raised and lowered.  These can either hold the clip-on lights or a light diffusion material of some sort.  You will also need white board for white balancing your camera before you shoot, also white boards can be used as bounce cards for bouncing light back on a subject.

The last thing in your light kit will be some sort of diffusing material.  That can be any gauzy white material that the light will pass through.  You can use your stands with binder clips on them to clip the material too.  Shine your light through the material and this in turn will diffuse the light on the subject keeping it from being to bright or "hot" as they say in the business.

A consideration that most people starting out with lighting don't consider is that light comes in different colors.  Only when you start using a camera do you find this out.  If you shoot in a room at night and you have only the interior lights to use, you may find the overall color of the light will be a little yellow.  This is because the bulb lights in your house are Tungsten light and these give off a yellowish cast.  Fluorescent lights give of a greenish cast that is quite unattractive, so if you film in an office building then that is a consideration as will.  Outside light is blue light and while you always want natural light, things may be a little too blue for you, especially when you shoot in the shade.

The absolute best time to shoot, to get that magical quality, is that time right before the sunset.  The sun is hanging low and directly on the faces of the subjects and gives everything a Carmel colored warm glow.  The only drawback here is that the sun sets quickly so have everything ready in anticipation of shooting the final minutes before the sun set.  Look at things at this time of day during late spring or in the summer and you will see what I am talking about.

The first thing to learn is the three-point lighting set up.  This is a standard lighting technique used by professional photographers, television taping, and shooting film.  This consists of three things: a key light to shine on the subject, a fill light to fill in the shadow created by the key light, and a backlight or kicker to use behind the subject to add dimension the subject.  You will use variations of the 3-point lighting set-up in most work you do.  I advise strongly that you practice this lighting set-up and shoot it to see how effectively it works.  You will have to move the lights a little here and there to get the desired effect but this is the must useful lighting strategy that there is.

It is always good to use natural lighting whenever possible.  Always remember that high noon is usually a harsh lighting situation and will cast unflattering shadows under the eyes and nose of the subject making them appear tired.  You will have to use a light low down on the ground to counter-act this effect.  Also anytime you light a subject from the ground as opposed to above the subject, you will get an eerie spooky effect that can be used in moments of suspense.  If you are not looking for this effect though it might be disturbing to viewers.

This is lighting in a nutshell and I would highly recommend that you take some production classes in order to practice and get some tips on lighting.

Heroes And Villains In COMIC BOOKS

Heroes and villains in comic books have made their mark in society. Not just in comic books but in literature throughout the ages. Essentially literature and comic books bring to life the drama associated between good and evil, and it is that premise that becomes an indispensable guide to understand human nature.

Terrific 01 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a nutshell, you will not know evil if you have never experience goodness. The antithesis holds true. If you never experienced good, you have never experienced evil. In comic books, the heroes and villains try to ante up the stakes by pitting their resources against one another for the sake of besting the other. The heroes usually come out victorious but criminals can be just as successful. If the heroes always won, it would make comic books dull and uninteresting. The villains have to be counted on to cause ruckus and mayhem otherwise; the storyline does not coincide with a balance that must be struck.

Today's comic books have smarter criminals, weaponry that is more sophisticated and more behavior that is aggressive. Does this make the hero more steadfast in his or hers reaction to the villains aggressiveness? It depends on the hero. You do not have to possess superhuman powers to outsmart a villain. In today's comic books, a hero can employ a great deal of cunning to outsmart a villain. The comic books of today offer a recipe for the balance of power.

A villain usually takes on a key role and if the hero does not thwart the diabolical plan, the hero may lose confidence. In that vein, the comic book looks at the human condition. Why was there failure? What could have prevented the villain from escaping? With the loss of self-belief, the hero of the comic book must take necessary steps to assure success or the villain, sensing something amiss with the good guy, can utilize plans that are even more ambitious. With the balance askew for the time being, the hero must reassert his or her authority to impede the villains plan. The hero does not have to be in the superhero genre. It could be any comic book that pertains to the right or wrong in making a decision. 

Heroes and villains in comic books enable the reader to make choices, and within that framework, can get a better understanding of what both the villain and the hero had to do to succeed. However, success is only a temporary distraction. It permits a continuation of the story. So then, who is really the victor and the loser? If both hero and the villain continually face off against one another, where and when will it end? Quite possibly nothing short of the demise of one or the both of them. Perhaps the villain may go to jail, but eventually he or she will be released and the comic books prevail. There is clearly no winner or loser. The only winner will be found out in the next installment. Moreover, the only loser is the person who does not read the next issue. 

History of TEXAS HOLD 'EM

Picture of hole cards in a game of texas hold 'em
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Even though not much is known about beginnings of the game of Hold ‘Em, or poker in general, it is said that it started at around 1900s. It has spread throughout the state of Texas and was embraced by many as their prime poker game for gambling. And it has been introduced to the bright lights of Las Vegas on 1967 by a group of Texan gamblers and card players, notably Crandell Addington, Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim.

Early Years

Its magic has enthralled many, with players ranging from crack-heads to more sophisticated players. But in the 50s, only a few casinos offered the game of Hold ‘Em, and they had shabby poker rooms for it. With that, many professional players tried valiantly to find a better location for their cash games, and they finally found it in the now-defunct Dunes Casino on the Las Vegas Strip and with its prominent location, Hold ‘Em’s popularity simply took off.

In the late 60s, poker tournaments for Hold ‘Em were now being held, notably by the Gambling Fraternity Convention and it helped the game gain more recognition. The Convention was then bought by Binion’s Horseshoe Casino and has taken up Hold ‘Em as the main event due its leanings on psychology rather than pure odds. The game simply rose to the top after that, with merely eight entrants in its nascent stages to 100 in 1982 and that has doubled a decade later.

With the surging popularity in place, one of the top No Limit players, Doyle Brunson, started the advent of Poker Literature with his book, Super System, which has revolutionized how people played poker. Also, it has brought the game to a wider audience and had put it into the mainstream. It even influenced more poker books to be published, notably by David Sklansky and his Theory of Poker and Dan Harrington’s Harrington on Hold ‘Em. This made the game’s learning curve a lot shorter and made every tournament more exciting and challenging.

A pair of aces is arguably the best hand to be dealt in Texas Hold'em Poker.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Explosion in the Nineties

This has carried on until the late 90s and the first decade of the 21st century, when the popularity of the game went into another level and went worldwide. It started with the film Rounders (1998), which starred Matt Damon and gave the Hold ‘Em a romantic feel.

One also has to take into account the influence of the internet and gave everyone on what was years of experience in a short amount of time. Online poker rooms like Partypoker.com and Pacificpoker.com paved the way for that. It is said that current stars like Phil Ivey and Gus Hansen fined tuned their game in the internet.

And from there, what was only 200+ 1991 WSOP grew to 800 in 2003 and an unbelievable 5000 in 2005.

Conclusion

Texas Hold ‘Em is definitely here to stay, given that it leans more on strategy and psychology rather than strict mathematical analysis and probability, which has been the case of other games like Blackjack. Its appeal stretches to far reaches, not only in terms of regions but also of social class. It has hit popular culture, with it being considered more and more as a sport rather than gambling. It has even changed how people think of the game, with works like the The Poker MBA sitting in bookshelves. Truly, Texas Hold ‘Em has grown to a new level.

Making Your BEER Crystal Clear

Beer is about a lot more than just a great tasting beverage.   The fact that a culture has grown up around the joy of making and enjoying fine beer testifies how much beer has become part of how our culture works. The drinking of the beverage is only partially about the taste of the brew itself and very much about where you have your beer, what you drink it out of, how the beer looks in the glass and who you are drinking it with.  And while you as a home made beer brewer cannot control many of those factors, you can control the quality and ambiance of the beer you make so it not only tastes great but is visually appealing as well.

Glas of German "Würzburger Hofbräu" beer, enjoy cold! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you pour a commercial beer from a bottle or a can, you may not be aware of how much those beer makers put into not just the taste but the affect of other senses have on the beer drinking experience.  The way the beer pours, the aroma as you pour it, the head that wells up in your mug and how the beer looks in the glass all are just as important as the taste itself.  The emphasis the big beer producers put on ascetics is so extreme that they even make the sound the can makes when you "pop a cold one" to be unique because they know that sound alone can prepare you to receive the taste of a great beer drinking experience.

The truth is none of that will change whether the beer itself is of high quality or is good to drink.  But visual appeal matters.  One area of visual appeal that you have some control over when making your own beer at home is clarity.  Clarity simply refers to how the beer looks in the glass.  If you can see through the beer and it is a consistent beige or amber color, that is visually appealing.  But if things are floating around in the beer, even if they are perfectly harmless byproducts of the brewing process, that can diminish how inviting your beer is to enjoy and even diminish how enjoyable the beer is to drink even if the beer itself is of high quality.

A lot of the "stuff" that floats around is beer comes from the yeast that is crucial to the fermentation process that makes beer beer.  Some yeasts are better than others about settling out of the beer during fermentation.  Another source of visible material in the beer comes from what is referred to as non-microbiological particles or NMPs which are a byproduct of the brewing process.  Again, none of these visible materials are harmful to consume nor do they reduce the value of the beer.  They just look bad and hurt the clarity of the beer which is one way beer is measured for quality.

Many of the NMPs are introduced during the initial creation of the wort which is phase one of any brewing operation.  The wort is boiled at a high temperature for a significant enough period of time to cause the proteins in the ingredients to break down and become part of the fluidity of the wort rather than remain in a substance state or a "floc" which remains visible in the finished product.  To avoid this make sure your boil sustains a temperature of 215F for 90 minutes to assure complete processing of the proteins. 

Another important brewing step that you can do to reduce visible agents in your beer is to cool the wort very quickly.  By bringing the temperature down rapidly, the clarity is vastly enhanced as is the flavor and overall quality of the beer.  The best way to accomplish such rapid cooling is to move the wort quickly from the brewing process to a very cool environment or using a specialized wort cooler to quickly bring that temperature down and eliminate many of the flocs that might be there if the cooling goes more slowly.

Seeking beer clarity can become a major passion of yours as a home brewer and there is a whole science to using clarifying agents such as Irish Moss to enhance beer clarity without diminishing beer quality or taste.  Learning good techniques for making your beer clear and appealing is just another step in your ongoing quest to become the best amateur beer making possible.  And that is a quest worth pursuing.

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BEER Culture

Social context

Many social traditions and activities are very associated with drinking beer, such as playing cards, darts, or other games.  The consumption of beer in isolation and excess may be associated with people drinking away their troubles, while drinking in excess with company may be associated with binge drinking.

A Kranz (wreath) of Kölsch beer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Around the world

All over the world, beer is consumed.  There are several breweries in the Middle East countries as well, such as Iraq and Syria.  There is also breweries in African countries and other remote countries such as Mongolia as well.

Glassware serving

Getting an appropriate beer glass is considered desirable by some drinkers.  There are some drinkers of beer that may sometimes drink out of the bottle or can, while others may choose to pour their beer into a glass.  Drinking from a bottle picks up aromas by the nose, so if a drinker wishes to appreciate the aroma of a beer, the beer is first poured into a mug, glass, or stein.

Similar to  wine, there is specialized styles of glasses for some types of beer, with some breweries producing glassware intended for their own styles of beer.  

Temperature

The conditions for serving beer have a big influence on a drinker's experiences.  An important factor when drinking is the temperature - as colder temperatures will start to inhibit the chemical senses of the tongue and throat, which will narrow down the flavor profile of beer, allow certain lagers to release their crispness.

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Pouring

The process of pouring will have an influence on the presentation of beer.  The flow rate from the tap, titling of the glass, and position of the pour into the glass will all affect the outcome, such as the size and longevity of the head and the turbulence of the bar as it begins to release the carbonation.

The more heavily carbonated beers such as German pilseners will need settling time before they are served, although many of them are served with the addition of the remaining yeast at the bottom to add extra color and flavor.

Beer rating

The rating of beer is a craze that combines the enjoyment of drinking beer with the hobby of collecting it.  Those that drink beer sometimes tend to record their scores and comments on various internet websites.  

This is a worldwide activity, as people in the United States will swap bottles of beer with those living in New Zealand and Russia.  The scores may then be tallied together to create lists of the most popular beers in each country as well as those throughout the world.

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The Scandalous Typhoid Mary

In 1907, Mary Mallon was working as a household cook when an inspector named George Soper knocked on her employer’s door. Soper explained to Mary that he represented the New York City Department of Health. He believed she was a carrier of typhoid and had caused many people to become sick; some had even died. Mallon retorted that she felt healthy. She cursed at this intrusive man, who insisted on collecting blood and urine and stool samples, and she advanced toward him with a carving knife. 

Typhoid Mary in a 1909 was a famous case of a subclinical infection of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi, the infectious agent of typhoid fever
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Soper fled the scene, but the epidemiologist soon pursued Mallon again with the aid of an assistant. The two men followed her to a friend’s tenement house. Again enraged, she frightened the men away. Their next strategy of sending a female doctor was also met with resistance. In the end, the doctor reappeared with police officers, more assistants, and an ambulance. Mallon lunged at her visitors with a kitchen fork and ran away, only to be discovered hours later when her dress poked through a closet door. The resistant Mary Mallon was carted off to a hospital with one aid sitting on her chest! 

At the hospital, suspicions of Mallon’s typhoid carrier status was confirmed. To avoid contaminating other people, health officials banished her to a cottage on a hospital island in New York’s East River. (The property had been designed years ago to quarantine smallpox patients.)

Had Mallon known that she was infecting people with typhoid? During her employment as a cook on Long Island that summer, eleven people in her household came down with typhoid fever. An investigator researching her employment history found that typhoid outbreaks coincided with most of her previous jobs. Between 1900 and 1907, she had taken seven jobs and apparently infected 22 people. Sufferers endured about a month of high fever, upset stomach, headache, and rash. One girl died of fever shortly after Mallon came to work her family. 

Still, Mallon claimed to believe she was unfairly accused. She said she didn’t understand how she could be related to all the sickness surrounding her when she herself seemed healthy. In 1909 – after spending two years on the island -- she sued the health department, saying that stool samples she’d sent to a private lab tested negative. However, the judge ruled in favor of the government, who countered her claim with a series of mostly positive tests. Mallon was returned to the quarantine island with only a dog for companionship. 

Better news came for Mary Mallon in 1910 when a new health commissioner reached a different decision: Mallon would be set free, provided that she did not work as a cook and promised to always take hygienic precautions. Mallon agreed and next found employment laundering clothing. The terms of her release required her reporting to health officials every three months.

Mary Mallon (foreground) in a hospital bed during her first quarantine
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For some reason, however, Mallon did not report to authorities as instructed. She eventually went back to working as a cook! Perhaps she could not survive on lower wages. Maybe she didn’t believe that a healthy person could really infect people, or maybe she had malicious intentions all along. 

In any case, five years after her release from the island, New York's Sloane Hospital for Women suffered a typhoid fever outbreak that resulted in two deaths. Co-workers joked that Typhoid Mary worked among them, but nobody suspected this was truly the case. Investigators turned to a newly-hired cook who called herself Mrs. Brown. Sure enough – Mrs. Brown was the infamous Mary Mallon! 

Mallon was sent once again to the North Brother Island cottage. There she lived for twenty-three more years. She did not live in total isolation; she helped around the hospital and by 1925 was assisting in the hospital’s lab. She was even allowed to visit friends off of the island. In 1932 she suffered a paralyzing stroke. Mallon was then transferred to a ward of the hospital and there remained until her death six years later.