Tag: linked news

I want me some of that!

February 28, 2006 admin 1 Comment

Distillery to Revive 184-Proof Whisky

LONDON (AP) — A Scottish distillery said Monday it was reviving a centuries-old recipe for whisky so strong that one 17th-century writer feared more than two spoonfuls could be lethal. Risk-taking whisky connoisseurs will have to wait, however – the spirit will not be ready for at least 10 years.

The Bruichladdich distillery on the Isle of Islay, off Scotland's west coast, is producing the quadruple-distilled 184-proof – or 92 percent alcohol – spirit “purely for fun,” managing director Mark Reynier said. Whisky usually is distilled twice and has an alcohol content of between 40 and 63.5 per cent.

Bruichladdich is using a recipe for a spirit known in the Gaelic language as usquebaugh-baul, “perilous water of life.” In 1695, travel writer Martin Martin described it as powerful enough to affect “all members of the body.”

“Two spoonfuls of this last liquor is a sufficient dose; if any man should exceed this, it would presently stop his breath, and endanger his life,” Martin wrote. Reynier put Martin's test to the claim and consumed three spoonfuls. “I can tell you, I had some and it indeed did take my breath away,” Reynier said.

Bruichladdich, a small privately owned distillery founded in 1881, plans to make about 5,000 bottles of the whisky, which Reynier estimated would sell for about 400 pounds (US$695, euro590) per case of 12 bottles. Although whisky lovers can place their orders now, the actual spirit will not be delivered for about 10 years. “You get a better drink if you wait because of the basic oxygenation through the oak barrels,” Reynier said.

In the meantime, customers will be able to watch the whisky's progress on the distillery's webcams.

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An interesting op-ed piece about the recent cartoon craziness

February 6, 2006 admin

Hindus consider it sacrilegious to eat meat from cows, so when a Danish supermarket ran a sale on beef and veal last fall, Hindus everywhere reacted with outrage. India recalled its ambassador to Copenhagen, and Danish flags were burned in Calcutta, Bombay, and Delhi. A Hindu mob in Sri Lanka severely beat two employees of a Danish-owned firm, and demonstrators in Nepal chanted: ''War on Denmark! Death to Denmark!”In many places, shops selling Dansk china or Lego toys were attacked by rioters, and two Danish embassies were firebombed.

It didn't happen, of course. Hindus may consider it odious to use cows as food, but they do not resort to boycotts, threats, and violence when non-Hindus eat hamburger or steak. They do not demand that everyone abide by the strictures of Hinduism and avoid words and deeds that Hindus might find upsetting. The same is true of Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Mormons: They don't lash out in violence when their religious sensibilities are offended. They certainly don't expect their beliefs to be immune from criticism, mockery, or dissent.

But radical Muslims do.

The current uproar over cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper illustrates yet again the fascist intolerance that is at the heart of radical Islam. Jyllands-Posten, Denmark's largest daily, commissioned the cartoons to make a point about freedom of speech. It was protesting the climate of intimidation that had made it impossible for a Danish author to find an illustrator for his children's book about Mohammed. No artist would agree to illustrate the book for fear of being harmed by Muslim extremists. Appalled by this self-censorship, Jyllands-Posten invited Danish artists to submit drawings of Mohammed, and published the 12 it received.

Most of the pictures are tame to the point of dullness, especially compared to the biting editorial cartoons that routinely appear in US and European newspapers. A few of them link Mohammed to Islamist terrorism — one depicts him with a bomb in his turban, while a second shows him in Heaven, pleading with newly arrived suicide terrorists: ''Stop, stop! We have run out of virgins!” Others focus on the threat to free speech: In one, a sweating artist sits at his drawing board, nervously sketching Mohammed, while glancing over his shoulder to make sure he's not being watched.

That anything so mild could trigger a reaction so crazed — riots, death threats, kidnappings, flag-burnings — speaks volumes about the chasm that separates the values of the civilized world from those in too much of the Islamic world. Freedom of the press, the marketplace of ideas, the right to skewer sacred cows: Militant Islam knows none of this. And if the jihadis get their way, it will be swept aside everywhere by the censorship and intolerance of sharia.

Here and there, some brave Muslim voices have cried out against the book-burners. The Jordanian newspaper Shihan published three of the cartoons. ''Muslims of the world, be reasonable,” implored Shihan's editor, Jihad al-Momani, in an editorial. ''What brings more prejudice against Islam — these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras?” But within hours Momani was out of a job, fired by the paper's owners after the Jordanian government threatened legal action.

He wasn't the only editor sacked last week. In Paris, Jacques LeFranc of the daily France Soir was also fired after running the Mohammed cartoons. The paper's owner, an Egyptian Copt named Raymond Lakah, issued a craven and Orwellian statement offering LeFranc's head as a gesture of ''respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual.” But the France Soir staff defended their decision to publish the drawings in a stalwart editorial. ''The best way to fight against censorship is to prevent censorship from happening,” they wrote. ''A fundamental principle guaranteeing democracy and secular society is under threat. To say nothing is to retreat.”

Across the continent, nearly two dozen other newspapers have joined in defending that principle. While Islamist clerics proclaim an ''international day of anger” or declare that ''the war has begun,” leading publications in Norway, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic have reprinted the Danish cartoons. But there has been no comparable show of backbone in America, where (as of Friday) only the New York Sun has had the fortitude to the run some of the drawings.

Make no mistake: This story is not going away, and neither is the Islamofascist threat. The freedom of speech we take for granted is under attack, and it will vanish if it is not bravely defended. Today the censors may be coming for some unfunny Mohammed cartoons, but tomorrow it is your words and ideas they will silence. Like it or not, we are all Danes now.

It's an interesting read. I disagree with some points though. There are radicals in every religion. Think about the cruisades, the current silliness in the states regarding evolution. It is quite heavy handed at times, especially saying that it's the “civilized world vs muslim fundies” and talking about “islamofascism”… Anyway. The full text is below the cut.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/02/05/we_are_all_danes_now/

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People will object but I think it's a good idea

January 26, 2006 admin 1 Comment

Canadian prison inmate Mark Hewitt was two years into an eight-year sentence for various property offenses when he sat for a “dirty tattoo” session that left him with a black scorpion on his forearm and hepatitis C in his bloodstream.

As Hewitt nears his March 2006 release date, he finds himself on the other side of the needle. Hewitt is one of two tattoo artists in Ontario's Bath Institution who have been professionally trained in tattoo-shop maintenance and disease prevention as part of a tattoo pilot project operated by Correctional Service Canada.

The agency has opened six tattooing sites in prisons of all security levels across Canada as part of a measure to prevent the spread of blood-borne diseases in the prison population, where the incidence of HIV is 10 times higher than in the general population, and the rate of hepatitis C is nearly 30 times higher.

Hewitt, who has acquired 10 illicit tattoos during his time in prison, says the prospect of safe tattooing is drawing a positive response.

“People are actually waiting to get the tattoos,” said Hewitt in a phone interview with Courttv.com. “Usually, when guys want something, they don't wait around to get it, but here, they're waiting a month for a session.”

At Bath Institution, 35 inmates have sat for a two-hour session with Hewitt or his colleague, resulting in 28 new tattoos and 12 cover-ups of previous tattoos, all sanctioned by the Canadian government.

Rick Evans, who is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder at Bath Institution, has had three sessions so far in an effort to fill in the black lines etched all over his body with colors, an option he was not able to consider with illicit tattooing.

“This way, you can relax knowing that the artist is working with clean equipment and you won't get in trouble for having it done,” said Evans, who also contacted hepatitis C in a “dirty tattoo” session in 2000.

“In prison, tattoos are a way to align yourself with the subculture … You can't stop it from happening. You can only try to control it,” said Evans, who was among a group of inmates to push for safe-tattooing initiatives in order to reduce the rate of infection.

The inmates pay $5 a session for the work, which also includes ointments and bandages for post-session care. The Bath Institution inmates get approval for their designs from Dave Carmody, coordinator for the Bath Institution tattoo pilot project.

“The whole purpose behind their time here is re-integration into society,” said Carmody, explaining why hate symbols or designs above the neck, below the ankles or on hands are unacceptable.

“If they're walking around with tears tattooed near their eye, that makes them pretty identifiable as an offender the average person is not walking around with tears tattooed in his eyes,” he said.

Carmody rejected the suggestion that inmates may try to steal equipment from the tattoo shop. “There's always the risk that guards will find needles in the cells, but now that they see how secure the site is and that nothing is leaving the shop, there has not been opposition,” he said.

Correctional Service Canada also disputes the claim from opponents of the project that the project, which cost about $700,000 to start, puts pressure on taxpayers to fund inmates' tattoos.

“The Center for Disease Control invests 10 times as much as the pilot program costs to treat offenders affected by HIV and hepatitis C,” said Mich? Pilon-Santilli, spokesperson for Correctional Service Canada. “For us, it is a public health issue.”

Though the program is still in an experimental phase and its ongoing progress is contingent upon a review in March 2006, for people like Hewitt, the program offers inmates a chance to learn a new trade.

“It's a good-paying job on the outside,” said Hewitt, who makes $5 a day as a prison tattoo artist. “It's getting so popular, there's going to be a lot of business.”

Source: http://www.courttv.com/people/2005/1122/prisontattoos_ctv.html

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Funny, yet so wrong at the same time

January 9, 2006 admin 2 Comments

Der Spiegel reports that, in many German cities, IKEA is giving “corporate welfare” a whole new definition. The Swedish furniture retailer's cheap cafeteria food and complimentary child-care services, intended to be perks for shoppers, have caught on with a much wider audience:

From Munich in the south to Kiel in the north, Ikea is increasingly turning into a welfare center for pensioners, young moms, low-earners and the unemployed.

Many low-earners prefer eating in the familiar atmosphere of this temple to consumption to standing in line at the soup kitchen. Indeed, the stigma of poverty is hidden behind the company's cheap and cheerful designs. What started out as an extra service to improve customer loyalty, has developed a life of its own, separate from the shaky wooden furniture and fold-out sofas. Many people feel that they belong when they mingle among well-off customers — even if all they can afford is a hot dog. …

More than food-scroungers, though, IKEA workers fear lazy parents. Around 150 three- to 10-year-olds are deposited daily at the Hamburg-Schnelsen store's play area — a complimentary offer to allow mom and dad to wander in peace through the showrooms. But many people misuse the service as a free babysitting service. Sometimes moms just set their loved ones down among the colorful balls, with the nursery girl watching — and hurry to the hairstylist or the tennis court. The desperate store announcements asking the mother to please pick up her screeching child then go unheeded.

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I heart Michael Moore

September 12, 2005 admin 1 Comment

To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:

On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?

How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?

That's right. Horse shows.

I really want to know — and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect — how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.

I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.

Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?

When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?

When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?

Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?

Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?

With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?

Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.

That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.

It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the widow at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read “My Pet Goat” to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying “Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!”

My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?

And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?

Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.

Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?

I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?

I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.

Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com

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Sign me up!

September 7, 2005 admin

A DIET recommending you eat 100g of chocolate a day and drink red wine, which will add six years to your life. Scientists in Australia and The Netherlands have come up with a diet they claim will cut a person's risk of heart disease by 78 per cent. And the good news is, you'll want to be on it.

The diet focuses on seven foods that have been proven to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure. It involves daily consumption of 150ml of red wine, which has been found to cut heart disease risk by 32 per cent. Chocaholics line up, because you have to consume 100g of dark chocolate per day, an amount the scientists calculate will reduce blood pressure.

You have to eat four meals of fish each week (each 114g), which is said to reduce your heart disease risk by 14 per cent. The diet also includes a daily total of 400g of fruit and vegetables, also proven to cut blood pressure, and 68g of almonds to cut cholesterol. You also have to consume 2.7g of garlic per day to reduce your cholesterol levels.

In a paper published in the British Medical Journal, scientists claim that if all these foods are combined in a diet they will lower the risk of heart disease by 78 per cent. The research shows men who stuck to this diet would gain an extra .6 years of life and have an extra nine years free from heart disease. Women would gain an extra 4.8 years of life and have an extra eight years without heart disease.

The proponents, including Anna Peeters from Monash University, claim the only adverse effects from the diet would be body odour from the garlic and raised mercury levels if more than the recommended amount of fish was eaten each week. But they don't calculate whether it will help you lose weight. And they warn that extra alcohol above that prescribed by the diet could reduce the effectiveness of the diet.

They say you can add extra ingredients to the diet to boost its effectiveness, including olive oil, soy beans, tomatoes, oat bran, cereals, nuts, tea and chickpeas.

Link: http://www.news.com.au/story/print/0,10119,16514149,00.html

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NoOOoOOoooOOOO!

June 29, 2005 admin 4 Comments

On the rocks
Single-malt scotch shortage is double trouble for distillers, consumers
– Richard Carleton Hacker, Special to The Chronicle
Thursday, June 23, 2005

Anyone perusing the shelves of the Bay Area's liquor emporiums or the back bars of watering holes like the Ritz Bar at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco, with its more than 80 malt whiskies, might have a hard time believing there is a shortage of single-malt scotch.

But that is the problem facing many scotch distilleries, due to a lack of foresight in laying down sufficient vintages in the past, coupled with increasing demand for older single malts. So, while you may be able to find the heavily peated Ardbeg 10-year-old, you can pretty much forget about snagging a bottle of the more subtly smoked Ardbeg 17-year-old scotch — the distillery ran out of it a few years ago.

“Right now, everything over 14 years old is in jeopardy,” says Howard Meister, owner of the Wine & Liquor Depot in Van Nuys. With close to 700 brands, Meister's store is the largest retail source for single-malt whisky in the United States.

“I started building my stocks of single malts years ago,” he says, “before they started really taking off . . . I remember being the laughingstock of the other retailers. Now, many of them are calling me searching for certain aged whiskies for their customers. But there just isn't that much to go around anymore.”

Not since Scotland's first illicit stills began trickling out spirits in the 18th century has demand been higher and supplies scarcer. Although Scotland's approximately 100 distilleries produce more than 10 million cases of scotch a year, most are blends; only about 2 percent ends up in the much smaller — but more profitable — category of single malts. According to the Scotch Whisky Association, blended scotch sales have been relatively flat for the past five years while single-malt sales worldwide have soared an average of 9 percent annually during that same period, with a notable surge of 15 percent in 2004. That means growing demand for a product that was relatively scarce in the first place.

Blends cut into stocks

Compounding the problem is the fact that blends are made by combining a number of single malts with grain alcohol to produce a “blended scotch,” such as Johnnie Walker Red Label, which uses 35 different single malts, or Cutty Sark, which gets its smooth heather texture in part from Glenrothes, one of the primary single malts in its recipe.

A single malt, by comparison, is a single, unblended whisky made in only one distillery. For many, a single malt is the very essence of a distillery's character, reflecting its water, barley and barrels. Distilleries get higher prices for single malts, compared with blends, but the downside is, they have to age them for lengthy periods of time, thus tying up inventory — and money.

“A lot of independent bottlers — those who buy whisky from distilleries and then bottle it under their own labels, like Cadenhead — are having problems because they're running out of product,” says Meister. “Cadenhead is keeping what little older stocks they have for their own stores in England and Scotland.”

By law, single-malt scotch must be at least 3 years old, but no distiller in his/her right mind releases a spirit that young. Malt whiskies don't reach perfection until they are, on average, 10 to 18 years old. Some, like Laphroaig's 30-year-old and the Macallan Millennium 50-year-old, push the distiller's skills to the limit. As with wine, whiskies can be barrel-aged past their peak. But the older the spirit is, the more money it brings.

Although we live in a high-tech age, it still takes 30 years to make the Dalmore 30-year-old the Stillman's Dram.

This obvious fact was relatively ignored until a few years ago, when the Lagavulin distillery on Islay suddenly discovered it was running out of its slightly sweet and immensely smoky 16-year-old single malt, because too much had been sold over the years for blends, primarily for JohnnieWalker Black and J&B. As a quick fix, the distillery introduced Lagavulin 12-year-old Cask Strength, a 115.6 proof, right-from-the-barrel powerhouse that shaved four years off the waiting time. Currently warehoused barrels will reach their 16- year goal and once again be bottled, but that does nothing for the shortage of 16-year-old Lagavulin today.

Distillers caught sleeping

The scarcity of older whiskies and accompanying higher prices are apparent in rich, resinous the Macallan 18-year-old, which — even at discounted prices — has risen from $76 to $110 within the last year, while the Macallan 30-year-old has jumped from $349 to $560 in that same period.

“Single malts are the only sector within the Scotch whisky category that has this shortage problem,” says Ronnie Cox, director for Glenrothes International. “It is totally unprecedented and unforeseen. Neither past sales nor current projections had prepared us for this situation. Simply put, the industry — Glenrothes included — did not prepare for the proper amount of whisky stocks to be laid down for this type of boom.”

Cox is acutely aware of whisky shortages. By law, only the youngest year can be put on whisky labels, even though older spirits from the same distillery may be added to maintain a taste profile. In other words, a 12-year- old may also contain some 14- and 16-year-old single malts.

Glenrothes only releases single malts that are vintage-dated, rather than by years of barrel aging. Thus, the Glenrothes 1992 (a 12-year-old bottled in 2004) and the 16-year-old Glenrothes 1987 (bottled in 2003) must be distilled in those specific years.

“Unlike blended whiskies,” Cox says, “where one can draw from other distilleries to replace or replenish stocks, a single malt bottled from a single distillery is not instantly replaceable. It is, by its very nature, a limited-edition item.”

This has led to the Macallan's recent introduction of the Macallan Fine Oak 10-, 15- and 21-year-old single malts. These are “vattings” — combinations of single malts from the same distillery and not to be confused with blends, which use single malts from different distilleries — of single malts aged in both used sherry and used American bourbon barrels. They represent a major departure from Macallan's legendary 100 percent sherry- barrel-aged whiskies.

The Macallan Fine Oak contains 50 percent whisky that has been aged in white oak barrels previously used to age bourbon. This produces lighter whiskies of varying degrees, depending on their ages, which Macallan hopes will appeal to those who might shy away from its heavier, sherried single malts. Another impetus for the Fine Oak finish is that it stretches Macallan's dwindling supply of older sherry-barrel-aged whiskies by vatting them with their bourbon-barrel counterparts.

Springbank, a distillery that — like Macallan — never sold its single malts for blends, is noted for its wonderfully complex and elegant aged whiskies. Many of its 25- to 50-year-old single malts have become collector's items. But last year, a bottling of Springbank 15-year-old represented the last of the oldest whisky left in its Campbeltown warehouse. That significance was made even clearer a few months ago, when Springbank introduced a 10-year- old.

“For years we were quite successful with aged single malts,” says Henry Preiss, president of Springbank's importer, Preiss Imports in Ramona (San Diego County). “Now there isn't that much around. Now they have to buy back some of their 30- and 21-year-old whiskies from individual wholesalers. Like many distilleries, they were selling too much without planning for the future.”

Whisky shortages have reached such extremes that one distillery began vatting its 12-year-old single malt with whiskies from other distilleries. This caused such turmoil within the industry that the offending party was forced to relabel its product as “pure malt” rather than single malt.

Another factor contributing to the shortage of single malts is their recent discovery by the under-40 crowd in China. Forget the fact that young Chinese might mix it with green tea; it is common for groups at karaoke bars to go through a bottle of scotch in an hour. Even though they may be sipping blends, it taps into the shrinking supply of single malts.

A glimmer of hope

But there is hope. Glenlivet, the best-selling single malt in America, still has stocks for its limited Cellar Collection, which is comprised of the best and oldest whiskies in its warehouse. The Glenlivet 40-year-old 1964 bottling was released last year. Caol Ila launched a 118.8-proof, cask- strength 25-year-old powerhouse. Talisker, famous for its 10-year-old semi- peaty single malt, has introduced a gently muscular, slightly floral 18-year- old. And Preiss Imports has acquired a supply of Benriach 12-, 16- and 20-year- old single malts, and is also importing cask-strength whiskies from independent bottler Duncan Taylor, who, according to Preiss, “won't touch anything less than 21 years old.”

There is evidence that distilleries have learned from their mistakes. When an appropriately named 6-year-old Very Young was bottled for Ardbeg's board of directors, it met with such acclaim that a decision was made to sell it in the United Kingdom, but not in the United States. The fear was that America's larger market would deplete remaining barrels that would otherwise mature into older whiskies.

And because of whisky shortages, at least half a dozen dormant distilleries have been revived, including Bruichladdich, Tullibardine, Glengyle and Tormore.

“People have been enjoying the really good stuff for years, with no thought to the future,” Preiss says. “Now the time has come to take stock of the situation.”

Richard Carleton Hacker is a wine and spirits writer for numerous magazines, including the Robb Report and Playboy. E-mail him at wine@sfchronicle.com.

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/06/23/WIGO6D97QU1.DTL

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