Random Musings

1. If you tasted a Spaniard how do you think he would taste? (Male for sure, I would like to taste Penelope Cruz...but I digress) This may sound like a strange question, and I assure you, it is, but I'm leading somewhere. Let me introduce you to San Miguel (Saint Michael for the anglophones) Beer. It's bottled Spaniard. God this beer tastes like dirt, sweat and has a grating effect on one's throat. Of course being beer I will drink it, but I want to make the world know, this is not your average lager.

San Miguel: A Spaniard in Every Bottle

2. Jeff and I must be from the same planet or something (or at least cruise the same websites). Things that I see and think about posting, he see and posts. The Wired story about the weird (Lisa, I'm reading the new issue of 'Weird' magazine) stuff that has shown up in sat. photos was seen by me, and I was going to post it, but I, like many many things in this world, left it for later (later being a euphemism for never). This happened before with Ron Mexico/Mike Vick story. It's getting strange.

3. French politics: The French are looking to completely render France irrelevant by voting "Non" on the European Constitution at the end of May. The big news right now - and it makes me think that the media is firmly in the no camp - is the expiration of the quota on textile imports from China (this also happened in the US, but I'm not sure if anyone cared - Nike shoes and Replithentic jerseys are now $2 or $3 cheaper and no one is complaining). Anyway, this is huge news on all of the main French TV stations because apparently before it was economically profitable to make textiles in France (because let's face it, I'm willing to pay $40 for a piece of cotton - oh wait, no I am not). Somehow the European constitution is responsible for this - don't ask how, it can't be explained. The French requested that the EU reinitiate quotas on Chinese textiles - we're waiting this outcome, but somehow the textile business thinks everything is going to be peachy and they can continue to work 35 hours and earn 20 euros per hour (pay based on a 40 hour work week, of course). The politicians (left and right) are going to right this wrong (free trade of course being the wrong). However, Monsieur Jean-Marie Le-Pen (extreme right, made comments to the effect that the Nazis did worse things in other countries), came out today on TV and said - 'The French textile industry must die.' This was more of a statement of forgone conclusion, based on the same type data that I quoted above. I really dislike LePen (who is unequivocally 'no'), economically he may be ok, but racially he is worse than David Duke. Anyway, my point (and I did have one when I started) is that it takes a fringe politician to tell anything that resembles the truth in France.