Whisky - the story in links. Net notes: There's trouble in the glens over one company's plans for a 'new' kind of whisky. [Guardian Unlimited]

Trouble in Scotland over mother's milk for grownups:

1. British distillers Diageo have sent shockwaves through the austere world of scotch whisky distillers by announcing that they are to relaunch their Cardhu single malt as - heaven forbid - a pure malt. A semantic argument of little significance, you may think, but this is no trifling matter for the Scotch Whisky Association, which today met amid concerns that the move could confuse consumers and undermine public confidence in the entire industry.

Oh, but that's not all! The government of the United States has some, uh, questions:

One small distillery - Bruichladdich, on the island of Islay - was recently under surveillance on suspicion of producing WMD. Whiskies of mass destruction? Not quite. The distillery managers decided to install webcams at their site to show internet surfers their traditional production processes. The US defence threat reduction agency took a peek and thought the whole thing looked dodgy - and suddenly Islay was on Washington's list as a potential terrorist threat. The Scotsman has the full story.

Between this and the FDA ban on real camembert cheese, I weep, weep, weep for my country.

4:22:11 PM     leave/read comments []

'Tis the Season for RIAA Lawsuits. The recording industry sues more people for sharing copyright music on the Internet. The third round of lawsuits names 41 music fans; another 90 are being warned. By Katie Dean. [Wired News]

Nothing says "Happy Holidays" like a lawsuit from a trade group of Megacorporations.

"There's been no indication that the campaign has led to any decrease in file sharing, so if that's the goal of the RIAA, then they don't appear to be having the effect they want," said Jason Schultz, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "In the meantime, more American families have to deal with lawsuits invading their lives.

"I'm sure this is not the Christmas gift that any of these 41 people expected."

Now, who was it that stole Christmas?

2:44:04 PM     leave/read comments []

Alien Sex! Bombs! Robots! Pathos!. The Sci Fi Channel's new Battlestar Galactica miniseries blasts the cheese from the classic '70s TV show. Remember those chrome-domed Cylons? They've been reborn as hot babes bent on wiping out humanity. Xeni Jardin reports from Los Angeles. [Wired News]

Sounds cool.

The original Cylons aren't too happy, tho'.

2:17:40 PM     leave/read comments []

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993):

FAITH, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel.

Crop circles called out of teens' league Paranormal SWAT team won't rule out alien authorship

Two weeks -- and hundreds of souvenir T-shirts -- later, four unnamed teenage boys 'fessed up, saying they cut the circles as a hoax because, well, it's boring in Fairfield and "there's nothing else to do around here," as one put it. Even though the Solano County district attorney didn't buy their confession, the story disappeared with the harvest.

On Wednesday the crop circle mystery reignited, as a team of paranormal investigators concluded after conducting a five-month investigation that the "hoax is a hoax."

Though none of the investigators would attribute the wheat craftwork to aliens, they didn't rule them out as suspects.

"Crop circles are a genuine mystery that cannot be explained by hoaxers," said Michael Miley, a contributing editor with UFO Magazine (and several high-tech publications), who was part of the investigation team.

Who are these "experts?"

Led and funded by Fairfield resident Steve Moreno, a kitchen contractor who became devoted to exploring the paranormal after a near-death car wreck 20 years ago...

Two words for ya Steve:

Brain. Damage.

Two more words:

Occam's Razor.

12:57:21 PM     leave/read comments []

There is only one turkey in this photo. Hint- it's not on the platter. [Washington Post]

President Bush's Baghdad turkey was for looking, not for eating.

In the most widely published image from his Thanksgiving day trip to Baghdad, the beaming president is wearing an Army workout jacket and surrounded by soldiers as he cradles a huge platter laden with a golden-brown turkey.

The bird is so perfect it looks as if it came from a food magazine, with bunches of grapes and other trimmings completing a Norman Rockwell image that evokes bounty and security in one of the most dangerous parts of the world.

But as a small sign of the many ways the White House maximized the impact of the 21/2-hour stop at the Baghdad airport, administration officials said yesterday that Bush picked up a decoration, not a serving plate.

What a perfect metaphor for his entire administration. "I offer you.....NOTHING BUT EMPTY GESTURES!"

He then waved them on to their senseless deaths.

12:35:34 PM     leave/read comments []

I am jealous.

Jealous of Jim.

He got to see Jandek On Corwood last night. The lucky gus.

Jealous. Jealous. Jealous.

Everything there is to know about Jandek can be found here.

11:51:56 AM     leave/read comments []

Quick!

Go to Google and put "miserable failure" in the text box and then click on "I'm feeling lucky."

The oracle does not lie.

11:15:45 AM     leave/read comments []

Ugh. December in Nebraska.

It doesn't even have the decency to snow.

11:10:30 AM     leave/read comments []