Today's something or other #62

Why did Fanta* go away in the 80s? The Minute Maid replacement just didn't pack the same je ne sais quoi?

Why did Fanta return?

What is with the new, whacked out flavours?

Fanta and booze, you ask? Well, check this out: Vino Tinto con Fanta Limon. This unlikely combination forms a refreshing Cooler, perfect for kicking back with on a summer day. It's a modern variation on a classic that's popular in Andalucia, where Red Wine is combined with the Spanish mixer, Cacera [ed's note: I love Tinto de Verano!]. Make sure the glass is filled with ice before adding the ingredients, and if possible chill the Fanta prior to mixing. 

* Brand Overview: A favorite in Europe since the 1940s, Fanta was acquired by The Coca-Cola Company in 1960. Fanta Orange is the core flavor, representing about 70% of sales, but other citrus and fruit flavors have their own solid fan base. Fanta sells best in Brazil, Germany, Spain, Japan, Italy and Argentina. Fanta is still a Coca-Cola product, and today it comes in seventy different flavors (though some are only available within the country of manufacture, one of 188 countries it is sold in).

Today's Something or Other

From the Harvard Business Review's The Daily Stat:

Swimming Pool? What Swimming Pool?

Just 324 residents of Athens's wealthy northern suburbs reported in their recent tax returns that they owned swimming pools. That's less than 2% of the 16,974 pools found when tax investigators examined satellite photos, according to a New York Times report on the pervasiveness of tax dodging in Greece and its impact on the country's debt crisis.

Source: The New York Times

Morning drinking during the World Cup?

There might be decisions to be made between lager and ale with your bagel and cream cheese this June if Deputy Mayor and mayoral candidate Joe Pantalone has his way.

Pantalone may earn a few extra votes in the fall election if he gets his wish and persuades the province to bend liquor laws during the FIFA World Cup in June. By law, bars are allowed to start serving booze at 11 a.m., but with the time difference (South Africa is six hours ahead), games will be starting at 7:30 a.m., 10 a.m., and 1:30 p.m. Toronto time. It would be good for bar business and for eager patrons' cheer to be able to have a morning brewskie when the midday games kick off.

Might be time to check out some German breakfast beer.

Put de lime in de coconut, and drink 'em all up

From Fast Company:

Bolivia Slips Coke Back Into "Coca-Colla" 

Any self-respecting Coke addict knows that the sugary soft drink once contained trace amounts of cocaine. Now Bolivia is putting coca leaves in a suspiciously similar-sounding fizzy drink: Coca-Colla. That's not a typo, the drink is named after the Colla people of Bolivia's highlands. A batch of half-liter 12,000 bottles was recently sold for $1.50 a pop in La Paz, Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba, according to the UK Guardian.

In the past, Bolivia has tried to banish the coca leaf--a mild stimulant--from production. But now that coca grower Evo Morales is president, the government has changed its stance. Morales' administration backs the coca leaf for legitimate uses, including teas, liqueurs, toothpaste, and now Coca-Colla. At the same time, the government has booted drug enforcement officials out of the country.

Regardless of whether or not it's fair to crack down on Bolivian coca use, Coca-Cola probably isn't too happy about the potential copyright infringement here.

They advertise differently in Asia

Here’s a Taiwanese Yahoo! ad. It sort of speaks for itself.

Is something rotten in the state of Denmark?

Carlsberg staff strike over lunchtime beer rules

From People Management:  Brewery workers defend right to drink during working day

Over one thousand Carlsberg workers have gone on strike after their access to limitless beer was cut off at the Danish brewery this week.

Warehouse and production staff at the firm’s Copenhagen headquarters are now only permitted to drink beer in the canteen at lunchtimes, after the company removed work-site coolers from which employees could help themselves to a Carlsberg throughout the day.

Eight hundred workers walked out in protest at the move on Wednesday, and a further 250 downed tools on Thursday. Truck drivers at the Danish-owned brewer have also joined the strike in sympathy – although they are still allowed to take three beers from the canteen at lunchtime to drink on the road.

Carlsberg shipments from Copenhagen were cancelled on Thursday, and the company warned that the rest of the country would face beer delivery delays as transportation was disrupted.

Carlsberg spokesman Jens Bekke said the firm had been considering the new alcohol policy for some time, but pointed out that it had always been forbidden for workers to be drunk on the job despite the unlimited beer available. He added that delivery trucks had alcohol ignition locks preventing employees from driving when over the limit.

A class well worth attending - why universities are teaching 'The Wire'

From Slate (via the National Post):

Not content to write about it and discuss it among themselves, academics are starting to teach The Wire, as well. Professors at Harvard, U.C. Berkeley, Duke and Middlebury are now offering courses on the show.

Interestingly, the classes aren't just in film studies or media studies departments; they're turning up in social science disciplines as well, places where the preferred method of inquiry is the field study or the survey, not the HBO series, even one that is routinely called the best television show ever. Some sociologists and social anthropologists, it turns out, believe The Wire has something to teach their students about poverty, class, bureaucracy and the social ramifications of economic change.

Two of the first courses on The Wire were offered last spring. One was taught by Jason Mittell, a media scholar at Middlebury, the other by Linda Williams, a film studies scholar in Berkeley's rhetoric department. What interests Mittell and Williams is the fact that The Wire works despite its subject matter.

To read the full article click here.

Some love for Toronto's coffee culture

From The Expeditioner:

This week the NY Times hailed London, England, as the next city for the coffee craze. Although the major corporations, like Starbucks, are pervasive in this international city, there seems to be a movement towards the smaller, independent shops that see coffee as an art.

The NYT listed 4 or 5 places where you can buy haute-espresso in London, but I would like to give some Toronto recommendations. I am going to stay away from where to buy beans as most of these espresso bars have the option of purchasing high-grade, ethically-sound, freshly-roasted buds of deliciousness. 

Click here for The Expeditioner's list of Toronto's best, indie coffee houses ("shop" doesn't feel right).

Books you don't need in a place you can't find

Today's lesson: Play to your strengths. 

From Seth Godin's blog:

David points us to the Montague Bookmill. This is the bookstore of the future, because it's not a business trying to maximize growth and ROI. No, it's a place, an attitude, an approach to an afternoon. They don't sell every book, they don't even pretend to.

Just as vinyl records persist, an object of joy for some listeners and a profitable cottage business for some sellers, bookstores are going to become like gift stores. The goal isn't a commodity transaction with maximum selection at minimum price, the goal is an experience worth seeking out and paying for.

We're going to see more and more of these newly archaic industries turn into lifestyle businesses, which is what they used to be before Wall Street showed up.

Not exactly Tupac vs. Biggie

East vs. West in the Big Smoke for ultimate downtown bragging rights? NOW Magazine says let's get ready to rumble.... Anyway, a decent read, and Toronto Life gets a chance to make fun of NOW for the feature. And, apparently, EYE is weighing in at the same time with a North vs. South cage match? [note:  East vs. West I get, but North vs. South in Toronto... not so much?].

Grandiose Decay in Detroit (or, more than slightly worn around the edges)

Detroit is four hours from Toronto and four hours from Chicago. Based on all the news coming out of there and seeing multiple photo essays like this one, it might as well be on the other side of the world. Detroit's decay isn't new, but it is hard to believe this has happened to a once proud city in a rich country.

The Grandiose Decay of Abandoned Detroit [Modern Ruins]:

Nearly a third of Detroit's homes are vacant, and along with the residences, the city's stately hotels and cultural centers have been abandoned as well, falling into dramatic disrepair, their grand ruins still showing the promises of a once-booming city.

Ruins of Detroit [Yves Marchand & Romain Meffre Photography via Twitter]

United Artists Theater

Michigan Central Station

Farwell Building

Broderick Tower

Whitney Building

Bank Vault

Ballroom, Fort Wayne Hotel

East Methodist Church

Library

Fisher Body 21 Plant

Ballroom, Lee Plaza Hotel

Source:  io9

An even catchier catchphrase?

Another new 2010 catchphrase [being started be me and inspired by Pat Burns’ (!?) comments to the media about the Tiger Woods situation*] to be used when something catches you unawares, blindsides you, floors you, or any time you think of it is, “that hit me like a 9-iron to the face.” Use it in meetings to impress your co-workers with your witty knowledge of current pop culture events or at parties to charm the ladies. You're welcome.

* Note:  If you didn’t read the full Burns thing in The Star…. Burns, a former cop, is friends with one of the police officers who responded to the initial 911 call. What a tangled web blah, blah, blah.

2010's first catchphrase?

Could "bad judgment" be the first catchphrase of the new year?

Washington Wizard's guard Gilbert Arenas apologized for exercising "bad judgment" in a dispute with a teammate where they allegedly pulled guns on each other (supposedly in the locker room, if some reports are to be believed). Arenas disputes the claims but won't say what happened. Here's his statement as reported on ESPN.com.

Gilbert Arenas continued to dispute media accounts of his recent locker-room confrontation with teammate Javaris Crittenton but conceded Saturday night that he used "bad judgment" just by having three firearms on Washington Wizards property.

Speaking to a group of reporters after the Wizards' 97-86 loss to San Antonio, Arenas also revealed that he is scheduled to discuss the case Monday with authorities. Yet Arenas described himself as "not nervous at all" about the fact that the circumstances of his gun possession and his Dec. 21 encounter with Crittenton at the Verizon Center are at the center of a local and federation investigation.

ESPN.com reported Friday that a dispute that began on the team plane and resumed more than 24 hours later in the team's locker room between Arenas and Crittenton was at the crux of an investigation by local and federal authorities.

Multiple sources told ESPN.com that an argument commenced during a card game on the team's overnight flight back to Washington from Phoenix on Dec. 19 and escalated into a heated exchange between Arenas and Crittenton. The Wizards had Dec. 20 off, but sources say hostilities between the two Wizards guards resumed Dec. 21 in the locker room on a practice day.

Sources say that Arenas, in response to what was said on the flight, placed the three guns on a chair near Crittenton's locker stall and invited him to pick one before practice on Dec. 21. Sources said that Crittenton subsequently let Arenas know that he had his own gun.

Food for thought as the decade winds down....

On this day in 1999.... From ForeignPolicy.comblog:

• Lou Dobbs was a respected, middle-of-the-road journalist.
• The prospect of achieving Middle East peace seemed imminent.
• Beltway pundits believed Al Gore and George W. Bush were centrists who would govern similarly.
• You could meet your loved ones at their arrival gate.

Read the rest of the Foreign Policy post here

Does having kids stupid make you?

A guest post from my lovely and talented wife.

I am the hippo, goo goo goo-joob. From Salon.com:

Is my kids making me not smart?
Stay-at-home fatherhood dulls my intellect to a nub. Excuse me while I ponder the subtext of "Hippos Go Berserk"

I don't know if parenting makes you chronically stupid or just temporarily slow, but after nearly four years of child rearing, most of them spent as a stay-at-home dad, my intellect has been dulled to a nub. Women have known this for generations. Maybe that's why the "stay at home vs. get out and work" debate is so contentious. Of course, I've never heard anyone talk about it. But maybe I just wasn't paying attention until now. All I know is, while my wit may never have cut with the precision of a Ginsu blade, my mind was a bit sharper than the rusty pair of kindergarten safety scissors I'm working with these days.  

How often have you been at a fancy dinner party, or a rocking kegger, and overheard someone lamenting the fact that their friends with children have suddenly been rendered incapable of discussing anything except the contents of the baby's diapers or the adorable thing little Cullen did to the dog? There are Facebook groups for venting frustration with parents who constantly yammer about their offspring and the business of raising them. I understand where these people are coming from. But it is hard for me to understand why they are so annoyed — after all, those people are free.

Click here to read the full article.

Less tasty than even Steamwhistle?

Beers from around the world are usually designed for their local markets. Some find fame and fortune overseas owing to their superiority over all other beverages (Guinness) or their immense marketing power (Budweiser, Heineken). For many, it is hard to see how they could become popular in foreign markets. Take Chibuku from SABMiller, for example... 

Thanks to Coxy for the find.

The Town That Chorizo Built

Mmmm... cured sausage.


From The Atlantic

This weekend I was in Candelario, a village at the windblown foot of the Sierra de Béjar in Salamanca. Candelario enjoys certain renown for its beautiful location and its extraordinary degree of historic preservation: narrow cobbled streets lined with a peculiar style of 18th century construcion, handsome and impeccably maintained.

But what makes Candelario extraordinary, nay, perhaps worthy of pilgrimage, is its proud claim to be the birthplace of chorizo, that object of unstinting devotion in Spanish gastronomy. Granted, people have been making cured sausages with pig guts since time immemorial. But for chorizo to be chorizo, it had to wait for pimentón to arrive from the Americas, for it to be refined--along with other products from the New World--by early agricultural researchers at the monastery of Yuste, and for it to be planted throughout the balmy valley of La Vera. [click here for the rest of the article]

20 years later....

Here's a pretty cool video of the dominoes falling today in Berlin. Hard to believe it was 20 years ago that the Wall came down (and rendered most of what I learned in high school about how the world worked obsolete).

The CBC also has some interesting photos in their in-depth Berlin Wall section:

• 20 years after the fall
• Checkpoint Charlie: Then and Now

The Iconic Photo of the Berlin Wall

Toronto stuff from the web

A bunch of random Toronto stuff found on the web this week:

The Sorauren Park Pumpkin Parade was the biggest ever this year, with organizers counting an amazing 1,620 Jack-O-Lanterns. Read more and see the pictures here.

Tourism Toronto Getting its Butt Kicked by the Canadian Tourism Commission on YouTube. The Canadian Tourism Commission has done a great job putting together what I think are rather honest and compelling depictions of some of the finer aspects of life in Toronto. Two dozen high quality YouTube videos of decent production value and great content are a lot more than Tourism Toronto can say they've done in this realm (they have zero videos to share on their YouTube channel). [Note: The Canadian  Tourism Commission's You Tube channel is definitely worth checking out, and I love that they feature Mercury Espresso Bar in the Leslieville segment. Best coffee shop in town.]

The Samovar Room - a Russian-themed bar - takes over the beautiful space in the Winchester Hotel that was formerly the Laurentian Room. The place looks really cool. What is it with Russian-themed bars when you go east of Yonge?

Bored with wine tasting? Try coffee tasting at Te Aro.

See Toronto Fall colours captured in all their glory at blogTO.