What's going On?

8.30.99

Lot's of work this week, getting things all squared away so I can take it easy while we're getting settled in with the new baby in a short time -- I hope! Anyway, I've been playing around with my new software, Flash 4. Take a look at some things I've done: LLI Homepage, my biz page.

If Jackson doesn't get here by this weekend, I'd like to take the bike on a long ride, maybe a couple of hours along the coast, or out to some little BBQ joint near Sealy -- my new front tire (from the guys at Ton Up Cycles) needs scrubbing in.

In Beer News:

COURT BANS 'SEXIST' BEER ADS
Venezuela's Supreme Court has ruled that a series of beer advertisements are sexist and encourage infidelity and ordered that they be withdrawn. The advertising campaign by Cerveceria Regional included television commercials and roadside billboards depicting a scantily-clad blonde woman who says "I'm the other one. If you try me, you'll stay with me." Regional calls its beer "the blonde" and "the other" in an effort to distinguish itself from market leader Polar, which controls about 80% of the Venezuelan beer market. "In the publicity messages of Regional, one can easily detect the continual reference to infidelity as something positive or at least amusing," the court ruled. The court said the advertisements were "offensive to public morals given the numerous psychological incitement to depersonalize women and transform them into a sex object."

CHRISTIAN GROUP SEEKS CONVERTS IN PUB
The English city of Bradford has a new group of publicans. A Christian
group has purchased a historic pub in the hopes that "good beer and talk
about sports" will help them convince patrons to convert. The Cock and
Bottle is a 170 year-old pub which will be staffed by unpaid volunteers
and will stay open on Sundays. "Some people are worried it will be like
church," said the Reverend Robin Gamble, "but it will be the same as a
normal pub, with football talk, good beer and all the normal things."

BEER: GOOD FOR YOU OR NOT?
Two recently released studies present different messages when it comes to
beer and its effects on health. One found that beer may reduce heart
disease as effectively as red wine. "It cannot be proven that there is
any health advantage in drinking red wine, for example, rather than
beer," the Danish Brewers Association reported, citing a study by the
Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine at the University of
Muenster.

In contrast, research from Scotland indicates there is no evidence of
health benefits from alcohol. The researchers found no difference in the
risk of any cause of death between moderate drinkers, who consumed up to
14 units of alcohol a week, and non-drinkers. But men who drank over 35
units of alcohol a week had double the risk of dying from a stroke than
the men who didn't drink. The study defined a unit of alcohol as the
equivalent of half a pint of beer (10 ounces), a glass of wine or a
single measure of liquor.