h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Apparently the "Budweiser Creed" dates back to the 1870's.

As far as I can make out from a little quick research it first appeared on the label in the 1940s. There was probably more decent beer around then, but for the majority of the period between then and your time at college, Anchor and Shiner were one of only a handful of breweries that were producing anything other than the adjunct lager as the US brewing industry consolidated after prohibition. Within the past week I read a very good piece about the declining number of US breweries and how the larger ones merged and combined... but of course I didn't think to bookmark it, which is a dumb thing for someone who writes about beer and could really use the information

Relatedly...

The FA Cup with Budweiser
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live-scores/fa-cup

Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to have a day when people don't wear any trousers... in January? (weather forecast for London today: bloody cold)

And some people really shouldn't be allowed to do that Especially blokes
http://londonist.com/2013/01/in-pictures-no-pants-on-the-tube-day-2013.php?showpage=18#gallery-1

Pretty silly.

But hats off to the fellow with the tube map boxers.

Yeah, I'll give him ten out of ten for style on that one

Gun ownership is "A basic right of free people".
Our governor, Rick Perry.

No, gun ownership is a constitutional right of American people. In most other industrialised, first world, western, call it what you will, countries, hand guns are banned, rifles and shotguns are heavily regulated because they're dangerous

Well, Somalia must be the freest place on Earth. No government and lots of guns.

I spoke too soon. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21053071

So that means no more guns in Somalia, right?

If Lily Potter had an abortion who would stop Voldemort? http://cf.badassdigest.com/_uploads/images/original.jpg

indeed.

"This compact disc contains language that may be of an offensive nature & should not be played in the prescence of minors"
http://pixhost.me/avaxhome/7b/4c/000a4c7b.jpeg



And the original: http://www.suprapopmusic.com/up/images/1326069003.jpg

Oh dear Bob no
http://newwavebar.com/

I went to plenty of 80s themed bars and restaurants... in the 80s. Now I know just how awful those 50s themed places are. I will never go into one of those again.

But this won't be like those. This will be a concentrated form of the most banal and annoying aspects of the 80's.

And there were a lot of those. Two words: Thompson Twins. Three more: Flock of Seagulls. I'll give 'em credit for making a veggie burger called Meat is Murder though. I just hope they've cleared that with Morrisey's lawyers. He seems quite fond of litigation.

Seriously though, it's a banal and cookie cutter menu with a few clever names. Go to just about any American chain restaurant that doesn't have a specific cuisine or food theme and you'll see the same things: Jalapeño poppers, Mozzarella sticks, a variety of burgers, a chicken club sandwich, a nacho plate, wings, chicken strips with fries and a pasta dish. The only thing that's missing is a pizza, unless I missed that one somehow. Having worked in a place that had all those things on the menu I know why - they're cheap and can be fried quickly. What can't be fried gets slapped on the grill.

How many grocers' apostrophes did you count?

Bennigans'. The only thing on the menu even remotely Irish is the Guinness(R) Glazed Bacon Burger.

having been a teenager in the early 80s I feel no need to relive it. But it was a lot of fun. And I liked the Thompson Twins. - oh that's not one of the verboten ones, is it? )

No, of course not...

No, wait, I was thinking of the Cocteau Twins.

Yeah, toss the Thompson Twins on the dreck bin with Bananarama, KajaGooGoo, and T'Pau.

Kajagoogoo

Maybe I'm being biased about all this. I still think of the 80s as the best decade of my life for so many reasons. Yeah, there was plenty of crap music around, but there was a musical creativity going on underground, and sometimes not so underground - The Smiths - as vigorous as what went on in the 60s. A lot of people consider the years from 1977 to 1987 to be the golden period for the John Peel show. Sure some of the fashions were... questionable Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Haysi Fantayzee (with John Peel looking on, probably wondering how it could have gone so wrong so quickly) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXu8hd49ZZM