The Broad Street Pump has moved to a more appropriate URL:
http://pumponbroadstreet.blogspot.com
Head on over to continue receiving the very best in mediocre and sporadic blogging.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Moving Day...
The Broad Street Pump has moved to a more appropriate URL:
http://pumponbroadstreet.blogspot.com
Head on over to continue receiving the very best in mediocre and sporadic blogging.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Broad Street Pump: Now Serving Beer!
Yes, that's right, the Broad Street Pump is back in action for the first time since 1854... only this time rather than serving up cholera-tainted water, it will be spewing forth amateur brew concocted in west Berkeley. With the help of my esteemed colleagues, brewmasters Rob and Paul, I am formally announcing the informal creation of not one, but two, lines of homebrew - straight from our over-sized storage closet.... Red Star Brewing and Constitution Beer Works
Why create two different brands of beer simultaneously? Because we're clever businessmen, that's why. With the political climate in this country being what it is, there's no better to way to make a profit than by blatantly marketing to the ardent supporters of the liberal left and the conservative right. No self-respecting tea-partier wants to be caught dead drinking the same brew as some deadbeat, Muslim-sympathizing socialist; and why should the educated elite have to suffer the same swill as those creationist simpletons?
No, if this country is going to be properly divided the lines must be drawn. The time for common ground and putting our differences aside is over. We can no longer share the same simple pleasures; they must be branded and marketed in a diametrically opposed fashion. We here at Red Star Brewing and Constitution Beer Works are happy to provide this long-overdue service to a nation of individuals that have too often been forced to commiserate with their polar opposites over the same delicious adult beverage. Enough is enough.
So tape off your half of the room you share with that yokel freshman, show your neighbor how easily his Prius can be destroyed by an F-350, and crack open a fresh beer far, far away from anyone who disagrees with you about anything.
Why create two different brands of beer simultaneously? Because we're clever businessmen, that's why. With the political climate in this country being what it is, there's no better to way to make a profit than by blatantly marketing to the ardent supporters of the liberal left and the conservative right. No self-respecting tea-partier wants to be caught dead drinking the same brew as some deadbeat, Muslim-sympathizing socialist; and why should the educated elite have to suffer the same swill as those creationist simpletons?
No, if this country is going to be properly divided the lines must be drawn. The time for common ground and putting our differences aside is over. We can no longer share the same simple pleasures; they must be branded and marketed in a diametrically opposed fashion. We here at Red Star Brewing and Constitution Beer Works are happy to provide this long-overdue service to a nation of individuals that have too often been forced to commiserate with their polar opposites over the same delicious adult beverage. Enough is enough.
So tape off your half of the room you share with that yokel freshman, show your neighbor how easily his Prius can be destroyed by an F-350, and crack open a fresh beer far, far away from anyone who disagrees with you about anything.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Found: One Slightly-Used Blog
We all lose things. I lose pens and lighters like its my job. I'm used to losing things, searching frantically for them for about 3 minutes, giving up, and having them return to me weeks later. I recently found a lost item while putting on a rarely-worn pair of shoes and noticing that it was, in fact, preventing my toes from reaching their destination. Moral of the story: check your shoes.
Despite being a pro at losing and recovery process, I was worried for most of this summer. For the first time I actually lost an intangible item, though I suppose if you want to count thoughts, ideas, and focus in that category then I lose intangibles all the time. I happened to misplace by blog back in June, shortly after my most recent (and utterly lame) post. My blogging had declined as last semester wore on and I'm fairly certain that my blog had simply set out to find greener pastures. At first I was hurt; I thought I had been a good provider for my blog... feeding it text, adding pictures, and providing it with ample visitors (albeit, all from my IP address). Apparently I was wrong.
I have, however, been given a second chance. My blog has come back to me and we're ready to give it another shot. I have an entire summer (and even some of last spring) to make up for.
At the moment The Woolsey Street Digest has been in a bit of an identity crisis: I no longer live on Woolsey Street. Should I have seen this coming? Probably. So what to do? Change the name but keep the same URL? Get a new blog altogether? Not change a thing? These are the life-altering decisions that I've been contemplating. I've chosen to take the incremental approach: New name, same address. I wouldn't want to confuse my readership that now numbers in the 0.005's... a migration might be in store later on.
So what's with the new name? The Broad Street Pump refers to the cholera outbreak that occurred in London in 1854. The outbreak was eventually controlled when John Snow removed the handle of the Broad Street water pump, which he had identified as the source of outbreak via its contaminated water. Along with the significant fact that Snow was the first to link cholera with contaminated water, the case study is also one of the more seminal pieces of epidemiologic investigation, and an inspiration to public health nerds such as myself.
I aspire to no such greatness with this blog. It will remain a cesspit filled with my scattered thoughts, half-hearted ambitions, and occasional ill-informed rants. Some things will never change.
Despite being a pro at losing and recovery process, I was worried for most of this summer. For the first time I actually lost an intangible item, though I suppose if you want to count thoughts, ideas, and focus in that category then I lose intangibles all the time. I happened to misplace by blog back in June, shortly after my most recent (and utterly lame) post. My blogging had declined as last semester wore on and I'm fairly certain that my blog had simply set out to find greener pastures. At first I was hurt; I thought I had been a good provider for my blog... feeding it text, adding pictures, and providing it with ample visitors (albeit, all from my IP address). Apparently I was wrong.
I have, however, been given a second chance. My blog has come back to me and we're ready to give it another shot. I have an entire summer (and even some of last spring) to make up for.
At the moment The Woolsey Street Digest has been in a bit of an identity crisis: I no longer live on Woolsey Street. Should I have seen this coming? Probably. So what to do? Change the name but keep the same URL? Get a new blog altogether? Not change a thing? These are the life-altering decisions that I've been contemplating. I've chosen to take the incremental approach: New name, same address. I wouldn't want to confuse my readership that now numbers in the 0.005's... a migration might be in store later on.
So what's with the new name? The Broad Street Pump refers to the cholera outbreak that occurred in London in 1854. The outbreak was eventually controlled when John Snow removed the handle of the Broad Street water pump, which he had identified as the source of outbreak via its contaminated water. Along with the significant fact that Snow was the first to link cholera with contaminated water, the case study is also one of the more seminal pieces of epidemiologic investigation, and an inspiration to public health nerds such as myself.
I aspire to no such greatness with this blog. It will remain a cesspit filled with my scattered thoughts, half-hearted ambitions, and occasional ill-informed rants. Some things will never change.
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