The Bullseye on a Good Wine isn't it's Cost →

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I went to a friend's dinner party and as always, personal taste and manners have always prevented me from showing up empty handed. So, off to the local wine store I went. Upon entering, lost in a sea of labels, I asked for a pair of great $25 bottles of wine thinking that sum would quanitfy my being but also provide an adequate pairing. Yea I know what you're thinking. As if I could have told you the difference between them and a $5 bottle I was just going to get taken by the owner. But, just because I couldn't taste the difference, there could have been that one wino that would have been judging / eye glaring at the labels I showed up with.

Essentitally, I didn't want to feel cheap, nor look cheap. I entered the party holding my head mid-level knowing that I went half the distance towards a good bottle and contributed to the drinks' table. Then I stumble onto this Slate article back from 2011.

There are plenty of reasons to go back to our 1990s habits, and to start using 15 bucks to buy four or five bottles instead of just one. Ernest Gallo, who, along with his brother Julio, popularized wine among the American masses, understood the psychology of wine better than anyone. He used to pour two glasses of wine for potential buyers, telling them that one sold for 5 cents, and the other for 10. According to Gallo, his guinea pigs invariably chose the more expensive option. What they didn’t know was that the two wines were exactly the same. Researchers have recently reproduced Gallo’s results, proving that our appreciation of a wine depends on how much we think it costs. If you can break yourself of this psychological quirk—or have your spouse lie to you about the cost of your wine—you’ll save a small fortune.

If hints of cassis, subtle earthiness, and jammy notes don’t interest you, you are not a lesser person. Wine is not art. There’s no reason to believe that aligning your tastes with those of a self-appointed elite will enrich your life, or make you more insightful or sensitive. If wine critics want to spend lavishly on the wine they like, that’s great. Leave them to their fun. Be grateful that you can gain just as much pleasure, if not more, without bankrupting yourself.

Hello $3 bottles!!! Now I know why my crashpad consistently stocks Charles Shaw! ^_^

Amazon Same-Day Delivery in San Diego!

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Including my native San Diego and 14 other metro areas, Amazon Same-Day Delivery is launching FREE as part of Amazon's ongoing expansion of their Prime Services. Order by noon, and get your package (as long as it's over $35.00) by 9pm local! I'm already reaping the rewards of being a Prime Member with binge watching their shows and free 2-day shipping so do it and take advantage of it too!

Touring Paris at $100 a Day →

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I love the New York Times 36 hours in [insert city] articles and definitely use them as reference for when I travel1. Just today, there's a great post by Seth Kugel that gives you insight on how to make an extravagant, concierge curated Paris day turn into a feel good, money savvy boasting trip. This alone makes me want to visit ASAP and see how much I can save / spend.

Mr. Ilisca was formulating a perfect Paris day for a fictional well-heeled guest. Cost: about 1,000 euros (or a little more than $1,100). I was sipping espresso, taking notes for the task ahead — creating the most similar day I could for one-tenth of the price.

Further reading into the comments and one reader's suggestion goes even as so far as staying at a breakfast provided hostel, taking meats from the buffet, and getting wasted on grocery store bought beer. Sounds perfect!

  • Haven't been traveling much since the birth of our youngest son, but 36 hours in Brisbane was a pretty handy guide when we took our second babymoon last August.

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    • "When Marnie Was There" Out Today! [Official Trailer]

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    Studio Ghibli use to keep on releasing awesomeness and today is no exception. "When Marnie Was There" is set to be the last film from the studio after the retirement of Hayao Miyazaki and it's reviews are nothing less than stellar. Hitting select theaters today, check out the official trailer below or better yet, go watch it!

    If you want to read plot spoilers and reviews, I'd recommend NPR's take.

    A MacBook Letdown →

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    The MacBook just looks and feels like the obvious, no-brainer choice for a small Mac. That’s why people buy it. That’s why I bought it. I loved it before I bought it. I love looking at it and picking it up.

    I just hate using it.

    I hate typing on it, I hate the trackpad, it’s slower than I expected, the screen is noticeably blurry from non-native scaling to get reasonable screen space, and I don’t even find it very comfortable to use in my lap because it’s too small.

    I hate returning things, but I’m returning this.

    Some really strong words by Marco Arment about Apple's latest Macbook. I'll agree whole heartedly with all his conclusions and unfortunately, after waiting years for an upgrade to the latest MacBook Pro Retina Display, might take his suggestion in buying yesterday’s model on the cheap and saving some money.

    I sold my late 2008 MacBook Pro two years ago and have since been using a late 2010 MacBook Air, but it’s time that I give this laptop back to the wife and grab my own. I’m just sad that the latest MacBook Pro’s released just yesterday are still running Haswell instead of Broadwell and with Intel’s Skylake around the corner, who knows what Apple might do. Not to mention Marco’s disdain for Apple’s new Force Touch Trackpad.

    The one thing that I do like with the latest $2,499 MacBook Pro is the new AMD Radeon R9 M370X video card. Clocking in at 70% faster1 than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M, it’s quite remarkable but the price is a little much. You’re essentially paying $700 for the Force Touch Trackpad and discrete graphics which end up making it TOO HARD to justify. Going with the pre Force Touch Trackpad MacBook Pro and without discrete graphics at $1799 is too hard to pass up.

  • Footnote #4 under the the MacBook Pro Performance Retina Page: Testing conducted by Apple in April 2015 using preproduction 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-based 15-inch MacBook Pro systems with AMD Radeon R9 M370X and 2GB graphics memory, and shipping 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-based 15-inch MacBook Pro systems with NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M and 2GB graphics memory, all configured with 16GB RAM. Resolution used: 1440x900. Tomb Raider tested using the built-in benchmark, with anti-aliasing turned off and low graphics quality. Formula 1 2013 tested using the built-in benchmark, with 2x anti-aliasing and default graphics settings. Batman: Arkham City GOTY tested using the built-in benchmark, with 4x anti-aliasing and high quality setting. MacBook Pro continuously monitors system thermal and power conditions, and may adjust processor speed as needed to maintain optimal system operation↩

    • Google Hangouts Prone to Wiretapping

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    Apple has long maintained that conversations over iMessage and FaceTime use end-to-end encryption, meaning “no one but the sender and receiver can see or read them,” as the company said after the PRISM revelations. That claim has turned out to be partly true: normally, Apple can’t read your iMessages, but they can if they really want to.

    Google, on the other hand, has been mostly silent—there have been no boastful public statements—about the security of its popular Hangouts service, which can be used for both text-based as well as audio-video conversations. In its support documentation, Google simply says that “when you message or talk with someone on Hangouts, your information will be encrypted so that it’s secure,” but there’s no mention of end-to-end encryption.

    via Motherboard

    So...just to summarize, Google confirms that cops can and are wiretapping your hangouts. *delete* But I guess Facebook isn't necessarily safe either.

    If you want to expand you knowledge on all the various illicit activities that the US Government has been doing, check out the blocked Snowden interview that the US Media failed to air and it still trying to block. Click here for the Axis of Logic.

    “Every time you pick up a phone, dial a number, write an email, make a purchase, travel on the bus carrying a cell phone, swipe a card somewhere, you leave a trace, and the government has decided that it’s a good idea to collect it all, everything, even if you’ve never been suspected of a crime.”

    via San Diego City Times

    "Discard Any Clothing That No Longer Sparks Joy"

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    From The New Yorkers' "Shopping at Anthropologies with Marie Kondo.

    Discard any clothing that no longer sparks joy.

    Passing a display of denim jeans and dark-blue chambray shirts, Kondo touched almost nothing. She said that she rarely wears pants because several years ago they stopped bringing her joy.

    Maybe we’ll start seeing a decline in the shopping habits of women? Ya… right… A husband can wish ^_^

    I'm currently finishing up her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing on my Kindle and I'll admit, I'm SUPER inspiried. Only 50% in, I'm giving this book a 10 our of 10! Go grab yourself a copy and tell me what you think.

     
     

    Did you know your Ziploc Bag was this Complicated!

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    Concepts are tested with CAD models, which are used to make zipper molds on steel plates. The zipper features microscopic J-shaped grooves (“hooks”) and arrowhead-like stems that interlock. Look closely at a double zipper bag and you’ll see this line of tiny teeth on the upper row, toward the lips of the bag. Running your thumb and forefinger along the track clasps the hooks around the stems. The zipper clicks at about 50 decibels to let you know you’re doing it right. But misalignment due to your clumsiness can create gaps.

    Research and Development at it's best! Who would have thunk it. (Bold is my emphasis)

    via Wired