16 years later – revisiting my very first Amazon purchase

Over lunch today, I dusted off my very first Amazon.com purchase:
Television at a Crossroads by Stefan Marzano et. al.

Television at a Crossroads, published in 1993 (nearly 20 years ago), is a huge enveloping book documenting Philips Design’s exploration of what television will be like in the future.

From television as “tele-lesson” delivery, as ambient information device (like a lamp or clock), as social entertainment device. Much of the exploration depict things we take for granted in 2012 – not from the television – but our banal internet experience.

While the specifics are as quaint and naïve as flying cars the underlying thinking holds up quite nicely. Oh sure – we’re not playing chess through our televisions – but we are playing games with players on the other side of some screen somewhere. Our guitar lessons may not be delivered over a device called a TV – but it’s still the ‘tube.

Marzano and team correctly predicted our lives would be increasingly filled with digital video displays large, small, and everywhere in-between.

Paging through TaaC, I’m reminded of two things:

  1. we can only describe the future with our current vocabulary and our vocabulary is continually evolving.
  2. despite their ultimate manifestation, the projected solutions and scenarios are realized.

The Road to BJCP Certification

A year and a half ago when I started formulating my own beer recipes – my friend Chris asked me if I had looked into hopville.com. Since then, Hopville has helped me understand and target the bounds of beer styles. By the numbers. But not by the ingredients. Even in the latest iteration Hopville warns of that discrepancy.

To get a better understanding of style-appropriate ingredients and tasting profiles – I declared one of my 2013 goals is to be BJCP certified.

This week, I start the process – an 11 week course leading to the BJCP exam.

Buy the Planet Kubb ‘Unite People – Create Peace’ T-Shirt $15

Planet Kubb’s first t-shirt is now available.

$15 + $5 shipping.



If you’d like a different size – email me

Just like the graphic above, the shirt will be red with kubb’s slogan – “Unite People and Create Peace” – in calm white letters.

Roggen Brett – Just Bottled

Tonight, I bottled my Roggen Brett, a 60% rye beer fermented with 100% Brettanomyces. I’ve been savoring it since. Easily the most delicious beer I’ve brewed to date – and it’s not even carbonated yet.

The beer is the color of leather. The nose – a mix of dark fruit and horse blanket. On the tongue, the medium body starts out both spicy and tart then finishes sweet. Hints of cherry and apricot can be picked up the entire way.