Last night we had a great time at the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco where we were to see Pearl & Scott Ian and members of the Rollins Band perform some great kick-ass rock. It was an amazing performance and it was great to meet with Pearl and husband Scott Ian. Or, as Sallie put it, “she’s such a sweet girl”, and I happen to agree. One that rocks the wood panels off any stage, that is. This is not the first time Pearl gets two thumbs up from me, though. It’s been great to see her go from the “Broken Thorny Crown” album to the improved debut album, “Little Immaculate White Fox”. But instead of writing up a lengthy blog post I’m going to let you decide for yourself instead.

The guys at the Red Devil Lounge were also very accommodating. If you ever find yourself going there and want a guaranteed table, great seats, or bottle service, please do inquire about their VIP upgrades. Trust me, you really should.

Here are a few more videos made by the guy who has his tripod right Kim B’s sweetie who was near our table from the vantage point in the above video; Nobody, Mama, Nutbush, Checkout Charlie.

By 1850, the Sazerac Cocktail, made with Sazerac French brandy and Peychaud’s Bitters, was immensely popular, and became the first “branded” cocktail. In 1873, the recipe for the Sazerac Cocktail was altered to replace the French brandy with American Rye whiskey, and a dash of absinthe was added.

In 1933, the Sazerac Cocktail was bottled and marketed by the Sazerac Company of New Orleans. That same year, “Herbsaint,” a pastis, was made according to a French recipe; “Herbsaint” was so named for the New Orleans term for wormwood – “Herb Sainte.” In 1940, the Official Sazerac Cocktail recipe was modified to use Herbsaint as the absinthe. Finally, in 2000, the Official Sazerac Cocktail recipe was modified to use Sazerac Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey.

In 2009 I had to change a few things because it was impossible to get hold of a bottle of 18yr old Sazerac Rye Whiskey. Instead I substituted Rittenhouse Rhy andOld Overholt Rye. While not as smooth as the Sazerac Rye it gets the job done and done well! If you need bar supplies and some of the finest ingredients and liquors you could find, you definitely have to try Cask in San Francisco. Also, view the video by Robert Hess on the creation of a classic Sazerac.

My slightly altered version is:

• 2 Glasses, 1 chilled with ice, 1 empty
• 1 sugar cube
• Place sugar cube over strainer and add 3 dashes of Peychaud Bitters.
• Drop sugar cube in glass
• Add 3 oz of Rhy Whiskey to the mix
• Add a few ice cubes and stir.
• Take chilled glass with ice and discard ice.
• Add a dash of absinthe and lace the glass.
• Discard excess absinthe from it.
• Pour the mix from the first glass into the second with the absinthe.
• Do not include the ice cubes!
• Take a lemon peel, twist, press, and drop into the mix.
• And ready you are!

Everyone from a certain age group and have been involved with computers from the early days will no doubt know of, have heard of, or has experienced, the phenomena known as the OS zealot. You know, those people who consider the brand they like to be similar to how certain other individuals find themselves immersed in various forms of religious fundamentalism.

Back in the day there were the PC zealots, a common creature often found bashing and insulting hardware by manufacturers who believed in proprietary hardware designs. And of course there were the Amiga and Atari fanatics that represented two other groups where certain sections of these different groups were always at each other’s throats about who had the better hardware. And, let’s not forget the Apple zealots. Most of these fundamentalist fanatics died out and faded into the background during the late 80’s and early 90’s as their religious sacraments that came in the form of material objects found their way into obsoleteness (or a museum, in many cases). And who can forget about Linux zealots, though that is a group that is still very much alive and out there, sometimes a bit TOO FAR OUT there.

You might understand my surprise that I recently discovered a real live one. An Apple fundamentalist. You know, Apple, the company that didn’t bring you the Lisa but did give us the Macintosh, the iPod and iPhone, and of course people who prefer to work with computers that do not require a full understanding of everything inside and outside the box. Out of the blue I received this funny e-mail from Terry C Mele. Or, Terry Cillian Mele a.k.a. “ovomac” which said;

Wow, that’s a shame. I don’t see an Apple logo.
Thus, your computer is nothing fascinating.

Not that I ever considered any of my fleet of computers to be fascinating, even though many other do, but of course, because the religious fundamentalists with a preference for any particular hardware or operating system had died out so long ago it could only be either someone with a sense of humor or someone very ignorant. I figured I’d check it out first and responded by saying the only logical thing (well, logical to those who have the power of critical thinking, considering I don’t develop for Apple’s OS) there was to say;

I’m quite pleased there are no Apple logos around here.
I wouldn’t be able to do my job if they did!

The response I got to that really says it all. Though, after a quick check it seems Terry Cillian Mele is not joking about his fanaticism that leads to such subsequent behavior. Especially considering that his response to my obvious remark was this;

Well then your job must not consist of anything very fascinating.
No high-end graphics, no music editing, no video production.

All of that is not possible on your Machine.
Can’t be done correctly. Just get a Mac, and get a brain.
Quit embarrassing yourself. That computer is just a big calculator.
Nothing to be proud of.
It does, however, make a wonderful Solitaire opponent.

It’s amazing to see that so many years after the various zealot groups have faded into the void that you can still run into a real live one. It boggles the mind. Then again, I don’t have any Apples to unboggle it so maybe Terry Mele has a point. It might be very difficult for these misguided fundamentalists to understand that in the normal day to day world, people of different technical backgrounds and product/system preferences get along just fine. Then again, that would be the real world, not the Matrix in which zealots have an alternative perception based on a personal blinding rage of having to feel in some sense superior.

But what’s absolutely fascinating is that the same quick check shows that Terry Mele is just a kid. Now, normally zealots who haven’t shaken their bad behavior and habits are in an age range that is normally twice the age of Terry. Maybe these things have a tendency to “run in the family”, I don’t know. Are there any technological anthropologists out there who studied this? Is this what schools teach kids these days or is this just some random permutation that occurred due to an excessive combination of butterfly effects? Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to be overly pervasive.

All in all, I think we should all take a moment to remember the zealots of yesteryears, the arguments on Usenet back when it was still a discussion platform, bitnet, relaynet, IRC, and what not. Back when tech savages and scientists went toe to toe. For all those zealots that have faded or discovered that their sense of ideology and behavior was unfitting. Others notice too (see comments).

Then again, seeing in Terry’s own words, “I can often be found at the bar, getting drunk”, I might be led to believe that poor Terry should perhaps not try interacting with others who do not share the same fundamentalist feelings, especially if Terry is intoxicated. I can only hope for Terry Cillian Mele’s sake he too will grow up and realize the foolishness of his embarrassing behavior. Especially since we all know how employers these days search the net to check up on their job applicants.

An Apple a day keeps… well, just what does it keep away?

The best part is when SniperX writes about his reason for posting images of my office, in his own words “people did not believe me when i told them my make and model of machine, so i posted it”.

OK, that’s enough entertainment for me today.

Besides the high definition video, make sure you check out some of the visual effects wizardry performed by Ruairi by checking out the before and after shots. And while you’re at it, check out the humorous FAQ that is featured on his website. A little word of warning… graphic detail not suitable for children and strong language will be found anywhere in the vicinity of anything remotely related to Ruairi. But that’s the way we know and like Ruairi and we hope he never changes that edge.

So, Ruairi, you f*&$#$*#!, I see you *&*^#&^@ still haven’t learned s&^#* at all and you still haven’t adjusted your *&@**#&# and *&@*(%#. Here I thought that you might have drank yourself to death in the past years. Keep up the fun work!

Update 19th Jan 2010: The actual debut album, “Little Immaculate White Fox” is out now. You can check it out at the iTunes store or on amazon.com.