TCP/IPA

I finally got around to bottling my IPA. I expected a final gravity around 1.022 and it turns out that I got 1.018! Which means my TCP/IPA is going to have an ABV of 8.1% Whoa. It tastes excellent too.

Coexist Campaign

I just heard about Coexist... As Doug Pagitt says in his post Bono My Man it seems to be nothing more than a marketing campaign. It's interesting though. I know it's gonna ruffle lots of evangelical feathers....

Trying

Erik Benson wrote a very insightful post about trying.

I was reminded of it when I visited a nativity that the local church puts on every Christmas. It's quite a production. You walk along a path outside stopping at several scenes along the way and the narrator tells the story of Christmas. When you're finished you end up in a marketplace with people tossing pottery, carving wood spoons, weaving, serving up period food, etc. It's very well done.

But I wanted to note the beginning. It draws enough visitors such that you have to wait once you enter. You sit in the sanctuary of the church until your guide/narrator calls your number to take the tour. While we were waiting we listened to 5-6 middle-age black men, a young boy (under 13) and a black woman sing Christmas carols and traditional hymns. If you saw them purely through a talent lense they were pretty mediocre. But it you saw them a people who were TRYING, people who cared, and wanted to serve; they were WONDERFUL, and you wanted to hear them more. Definitely a highlight of the evening. You've missed it this year, but I recommend you stop by the Mount Pleasant Church of the Brethern.

One more thing... The singers were from Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Elkton. I really appreciated the inter-denominational cooperation/unity.

Speechless

I took a den of Cub Scouts to visit the national D-Day Memorial. It’s located in Bedford VA because per-capita Beford lost more men at D-Day than any other city in America.

The monument itself is beautiful and is located on the top of a hill in the Shenandoah Valley. It’s shaped in such a way that you walk the path of the battle, from the planning in England, to the landing on the beaches, to climbing the cliffs, to victory. There’s lot of plaques telling the story of D-Day or commemorating the men who lost their lives. If you take the guided tour, at one spot they play an audio clip of Eisenhower giving the battle orders to the men. It’s a pretty humbling speech. Probably the most interesting part was the section where they’re storming the beach. Several bronze soliders are coming out of the Higgins boats, several have paid the ultimate price on the beach and several are pushing onwards in some cases carrying wounded. All around the beach there are air guns that blast up through the pools of water. It looks like bullets hitting the water and sounds as you might imagine it too (apparently veterans testify to the accuracy of the sound… though not NEARLY as loud)

I’ve seen all of the other monuments in D.C. (Vietnam, Korean, WWII, Lincoln, etc.) and this one is hands down better.

If you visit, consider stopping at Peaks of Otter too. It’s only 20 minutes away and would be a great place to stop for a picnic or spend the night.

See more progress on: D-Day Memorial

New IPA in the works

I just finished another round of IPA. Randy thinks it should be named TCP/IPA. You gotta admit it's a stinkin' good name.

Details...

14 lbs. grain, the only ones I remember that are likely to be there are 8lbs Maris Otter Pale Malt, 1lbs Rye Malt, 1lbs Caramalt (Raph at Cellar Homebrew does my recipes).

Hopping schedule:
60min. 2oz. Fuggles, and 1oz. Amarillo
30min. 1oz. Amarillo
10min 1oz. Chinook, 1oz. Amarillo

Dryhop:
1oz. Amarillo
1oz. Chinook

and I might get some Columbus too...

Yeast:
Wyeast London Ale Yeast 1028

My original gravity came in at 1.080 which means that if I get the expected attenuation of 73-77% (attenuation is calculated as [(OG-FG)/(OG-1)] x 100) then my final gravity should come in around 1.022 and my beer will have an alcohol by volume of 7.6%, (1.080 - 1.022) * 131. A VERY respectible IPA.

Male friendship

DISCLAIMER: Just to be clear, this post addresses the difficult subject of homosexuality, and the article specifically focuses on the result for men who are not homosexual. The article is from a Christian point of view, but doesn't grandstand about the moral nature of the issue. My intent is not to get into a moral debate about homosexuality. I hate that it's such a divisive issue, and I strongly feel that homosexuals should be treated with the same love, charity, and fairness with which we are to treat any other human. It is simply an interesting and challenging article. I hope we can agree on that.

I just read an article called A Requiem For Friendship. It makes some challenging observations about how the mainstream acceptance of homosexuality has basically eradicated intimate male relationships. The consequence of our new social reality; men no longer are able to express love for another man, which was common in the past (the article lists examples from Lincoln, to David, to Gilgamesh, to Tolkien), without it being sexualized.

Alito

I ate lunch today at Padow's which is quickly becoming my lunch joint of choice (mmm Turkey Pastrami). They had on Fox News and I watched for a while as I ate. One thing stuck out was an advertisement from a political interest group advocating a "fair up or down vote on Alito." I don't know anything about Alito except that conservatives are much happier about him than Miers. However that commercial worries me... I never saw commercials like that for Roberts, or Miers. Clearly some group is worried that Mr. Alito won't get a fair hearing (or won't get a hearing at all) and now I wonder if there's a reason.

Perhaps more generally, is vehement advocacy for polarizing candidates always a red-flag? This isn't just a conservative/liberal issue. The same thing would happen in reverse if it were the other way around (in fact if I had a better memory I'd recall if it happened with Ginsberg). Maybe it's good to have a bench of idealogues on both sides?