What Do You Care What Other People Think
Richard P. Feynman

“That story was probably incorrect in detail, but what he was telling me was right in principle.”
pg. 15

“Your situation is just an accident of life.”
pg. 51

“They got all excited and began to describe the problem to me. I’m sure they were delighted, because technical people love to discuss technical problems with technical people who might have an opinion or suggestion that could be useful.”
pg. 185

Absolutely American
David Lipsky

“Cadet sex is like a gass, cadet Ryan Southerland explains. And you know how a gass will expand to fill any space? Well, any space that is possible, cadets will try and have sex in it.”
pg. 86

“Dads hoist video cameras to their eyes, the one-armed salute people pay to the future: this meets the memory criteria, this is souvenir-worthy.”
pg. 143

“The corporation is composed of the patient cadets who understand that every chapter of life is also groundwork for the next chapter, that cow year is really and audition for firs tie year - that all the good striper leadership positions will be handed out on the basis of their performance now.”
pg. 186

The Innovator’s Dilemma
Clayton M. Christensen

“For instance, is a notebook better than a mainframe? This is an ambiguous question because the notebook computer established a completely new performance trajectory, with a definition of performance that differs substantially from the way mainframe performance is measured.”
pg. 9

“Three factors - the promise of upmarket margins, the simultaneous upmarket movement of many of a company’s customers, and the difficulty of cutting costs to move downmarket profitably - together create powerful barriers to downward mobility.”
pg. 87

It has been the month of auctions. First a couple of good points from others:

• Great comment from sku on John Hansell’s blog about how general collecting works

• Great blog post by David Driscoll extending the analogy to pop culture

• Would have rather been known as a “Whisky Fan” not a “Whisky Collector” in story board from the Whisky Cast HD

• I recall a point Ralfy’s made about buying whiskey now and saving it for later when it will no longer be available. I think it was in episode 137A or 137B

Was going to title this “Three times, Sold!” as I won the auction for the Woodford Reserve Four Grain. However, seeing as Mark Gillespie was kind enough to include me in the latest WhiskyCast HD and WhiskyCast, I thought this title was better.

I paid a little more that I wanted for the Lot of two bottles of Four Grain and one of the Sonoma Cutter. I was surprised that the internet bids ran it up to over $300 to start. But at the end I figured $10 more than my limit was worth it! I still have to complete the transaction so I’ll report back on that process. Overalla fun experience that I would do again.

At first I was shocked when I found out that Whisky Fest (WF) NY would be two days over a weekend in 2012. Even though I went to Whisky Live NY this year WF is the singular event I attend to expand my whisky knowledge and palette. On one hand this scheduling change is a great sign. Two years ago the venue was packed. To their credit the WF team made the choice to sell less tickets while expanding the venue to make the event more comfortable for the attendees. By switching to two days they are able to sell more tickets while keeping the crowding down. On the other hand this does exclude a number (some would argue a large number) of attendees. I’ve heard people suggest numbers as large as 20% - 30% of attendees are orthodox jews. I think this number is inflated and put it around 10%.

Part 3 (Parts 1, 2

Quick Hits

• Koval liquors were good. They suggested the ginger one would go well in a dark and stormy. Added to the wish list
• I tried the Catdaddy Moonshine. Not sure why that isn’t Gin but with corn as they were all heavily flavored. If a liquor is a distilled fruit juice then this was Gin but with distilled corn rather than distilled grain. I liked it but it tasted like I was drinking a flavored drink. I’d rather have that then the pre-made malt drinks.

People
Chris Morris wasn’t there. I think this is two out of three years he hasn’t made it up. I had hoped to follow up with him on a comment he made on Whisky Cast regarding the ABV of a spirit as it went into the barrel. It seems that when they put the spirit in the used barrels they lowered the ABV. This is the first I had heard of such a technique. I did ask Parker Beam this question and he said that they had tried multiple ABV and hadn’t noticed it have any impact.

Part 2 (Part 1)

One of the first timers was Breckenridge Colorado Whiskey. Sweet nose and very smooth. They said it was 3.5 years old but it tasted much older. Not from the wood character which wasn’t there but it was much smoother than I would have expected. It didn’t have the rough edges that you expect from a young whiskey. I didn’t note the ABV but it must not have been that high. I was impressed by the quality and this became the first bottle to make the wish list (I had already ordered the PH so that didn’t count).

Part 1

Once again I’ve confirmed that paying for the VIP ticket is worth the money. I didn’t purchase a VIP ticket as I was in between jobs. Waiting for the doors to open I realize that there are definitely people who show up thinking it is a great way to get drunk. Because I didn’t have VIP I had to make sure I hit the right booths to make sure I got the dregs of the VIP only pours.

Dealers of Lightning

Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
Michael Hiltzik

(Alan) Kay observed, “Everybody has to be able to play the whole game. Each person should have certain things they’re better at than the others, but everyone should be pretty good at everything.”
pg. 116

“In the course of one frustrating encounter (Alan) Kay blurted out the line destined to become his (and PARC’s) unofficial credo. “Look,” he said, “the best way to predict the future is to invent it!”
pg. 122