August 2021

History of the iPhone

Good Clean Fun, Music / By

On August 31st, 1897, Thomas Edison was granted a patent for his Kintograph… the first movie camera.  He also developed the first phonograph using a wax cylinder to play back recorded music.  What most people don’t know is that he also invented the iPhone which combined a movie camera and music playback capabilities, and a bright light (he called it a light bulb)  but he told no one fearing that citizens would be bombarded with stupid ads over and over and over.  Ultimately, his invention was discovered after his death and others received the credit.

  • Old Man Wrong and Jet Cannon 
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‘Cause Every Girl Crazy ‘Bout A Sharp-Dressed Man!

Fashion / By


I’m at home at 2:35 pm, in slippers. Even before The Rona, I saw cutoffs at steakhouses and T-shirts in courtrooms. How did we get here and are we ok? By bits and miles and yeah, mostly. 
Those Greatest Gen’ers got through the Depression and won the War – Thanks!! – but in 1945, the culture had a long way to go, baby. My dad ran into a little unexpected dough right after Coming Home and what did he blow it on? A nice pair of cordovans (google it, kids). Clothes made the wo/man back then. Hats and suits and below-the-knee dresses were what respectable people wore. 
First day of second grade, 1969, this Late Boomer had on long ‘slacks’ with no holes and brown leather shoes that even then were on the way out, forever. After Brown v Board, the Civil Rights Act, on and on, my brother’s Senior HS yearbook picture that year showed an earnest, clean-cut young man in a blue blazer and striped tie (who a year later would be marching on Washington, in a pony tail). 
Even through the 80’s and 90’s and beyond, clothes defined…Izod labels, the right loafers and khakis – it still mattered. But more and more cracks appeared. 
In 2000, I landed a job at a law firm in a tall (for DC) building. Lawyers were not then and still aren’t leading edge types, but there was already ‘causal Friday’, i.e., no suits unless clients/court. Then in 2004, still smoldering from 9/11, the firm went ‘casual summer; the de rigeur suit was dead. 
On it went, in bits and leaps. More and more variety, less and less uniforms. Along came the virus and Boom! Not only can you dispense with ‘business casual’ dress – whatever that ever was – you don’t even need to come and present yourself to anybody. Stay home! Relax! Keep your jammies out of sight on Zoom and you’re good!!
It’s all good, mostly. Clothes don’t define anybody. No judgments on that surface stuff. Let it fly – or not! But get off my lawn a little. I took my oldest to be fitted for a pre-college suit last year. My younger son in a T-shirt at his (remote) piano recital stung a little. Alas, not a collar in sight, the whole program. And the barefoot young man on the plane…come the hell ON.

  • Old Man Wrong

 

Caffeine, Food and Drink, Recipes, Travel / By

Roving Correspondent Mazerati Mike recently stopped by the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco for their famous Irish coffee.  Here is their story.

“The historic venture started on the night of November the 10th in 1952. Jack Koeppler, then-owner of the Buena Vista, challenged international travel writer Stanton Delaplane to help re-create a highly touted “Irish Coffee” served at Shannon Airport in Ireland. Intrigued, Stan Accepted Jack’s invitation, and the pair began to experiment immediately.

Throughout the night the two of them stirred and sipped judiciously and eventually acknowledged two recurring problems. The taste was “not quite right,” and the cream would not float. Stan’s hopes sank like the cream, but Jack was undaunted. The restaurateur pursued the elusive elixir with religious fervor, even making a pilgrimage overseas to Shannon Airport.

Upon Jack’s return, the experimentation continued. Finally, the perfect-tasting Irish whiskey was selected. Then the problem of the bottom-bent cream was taken to San Francisco’s mayor, a prominent dairy owner. It was discovered that when the cream was aged for 48 hours and frothed to a precise consistency, it would float as delicately as a swan on the surface of Jack’s and Stan’s special nectar.

Success was theirs! With the recipe now mastered, a sparkling clear, six-ounce, heat-treated goblet was chosen as a suitable chalice.

Soon the fame of the Buena Vista’s Irish Coffee spread throughout the land. Today, it’s still the same delicious mixture, and it’s still the same clamorous, cosmopolitan Buena Vista. Both…delightful experiences.”

Website onbetterliving.com notes that since 1952, The Buena Vista has sold millions of glasses of their delicious original Irish Coffees over the years. On a busy day, they can sell over 2000 glasses and they report that they sell more Irish whiskey than anywhere else in the world.

Not making a trip to San Fran but want to up your Irish Coffee game?

  • Warm a 6-oz. heatproof glass with hot water then pour it out
  • Fill  a glass three-quarters full (about ⅔ cup) with coffee.  Buena Vista uses Peerless available on Amazon. Add two sugar cubes; stir until they dissolve
  • Stir in an 1 1/2 oz (or maybe two) of Tullamore D.E.W whiskey; top with whipped heavy cream by gently pouring over a spoon

For more, see their website http://www.thebuenavista.com/home/irishcoffee.html

– Jet Cannon for Maserati Mike

Terry Kath Remembered

Music / By

Terry Kath was born in 1946, the first year of the Baby Boomer generation.  Sadly, he passed away at a young 31 years old.  Jimi Hendrix admired Terry as a better guitarist than Jimi himself.  Fortunately, Terry’s music and live footage lives on. 

His daughter put together Chicago: The Terry Kath Experience which showcases his musicianship, shares some of the stories behind the band, and followed her search for some of Terry’s long-lost guitars.  He is remembered by Joe Walsh, Steve Lukather and many others including his Chicago bandmates.  

We recently found the rockumentary on IMDb TV. The DVD is also available at Amazon.  It’s worth watching.

– Jet Cannon

Photo: Rollingstone.com

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Disneyland Bar Crawl

Food and Drink, Good Clean Fun, Travel / By

Disney World just turned 50.  Not old enough for Baby Boomer status.  But Disneyland was “born” in 1955 and qualifies.  

Want to catch a Buzz at Disneyland?  Disneytouristblog.com has created a lovely guide to all the watering holes and their special drinks.  If you thought admission was expensive, wait until the credit card bill comes for your Buzz excursion through the park.  Be worth it though!

– Jet Cannon

 

boomer Paralympians

Endorphins, Fitness, Travel, Trending / By

Paralympians compete in their 50’s and sometimes, in past Games, into their 70’s.  Among the 240-member Team USA per AARP, the incredibly impressive over-50 Paralympians include archers Lia Coryell (56) and Andre Shelby (52); cyclists Alicia Dana (52), Freddie De Los Santos (51), Aaron Keith (50), Monica Sereda (54), Jill Walsh (58) and Joe Berenyi (52); rower Russell Gernaat (55); table tennis player Michael Godfrey (57); shot put thrower Scot Severn (53); and wheelchair fencer Terry Hayes (63).

Go USA!

Sour Power!

Food and Drink / By

Thanks to National Calendar Day, we now know that each year on August 25th, people across the United States observe National Whiskey Sour Day.

Traditionally garnished with half an orange slice and a maraschino cherry, a whiskey sour is a mixed drink containing whiskey (often bourbon), lemon juice and sugar. Whiskey sours are shaken then either served straight or over ice.

Per previous posts, we suggest insisting on Luxardo “The Original Maraschino Cherries”. BTW, Buzzed Boomer receives no promotional consideration for recommending Luxardo cherries. Yet.

Let’s leave you with this quote and, again, our thanks to National Calendar Day.

“Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough.” – Mark Twain

  • Jet Cannon

Gin to win

Food and Drink / By

Captain Tony just dropped off a bottle of Hendrick’s Gin.  Out of the blue.  But that’s Captain Tony!

So that prompted us to do a comparison with Bombay, our go-to house gin in the Buzzed Boomer Research Center.  Should we pick a winner?  Or why not just enjoy them both and everybody gets a trophy?

Hendrick’s is interesting for a number of reasons.  First, it’s made in Scotland where you normally find Scotch.   Also interesting is their technique of blending gin from two different stills; one being a Carter Head.  Only the still master knows the ratio.  (Still Master.  Curious as to what it pays, hours, benefit package, perks, etc.)  They claim that their small batches make for a better product.  Plus, they infuse cucumber and also recommend cucumber as a garnish.

Bombay is owned by Bacardi.  We wish distilleries would not get gobbled up by giant corporations.  That’s depressing and that’s one of the reasons why we drink.  But apparently the gin is still made in England and not in the Caribbean somewhere.  Bombay also uses a Carter Head still but they don’t blend.

While our Buzzed Boomer tasting methods are imprecise they are also very subjective.  Mostly, we wing it.

We didn’t want there to be a winner.  We wanted to sing the praises of two of our favorite gins.  But there was a favorite.  Hendrick’s was just more pleasant.  No big flavor differences jumped out to our unsophisticated palettes but the Hendrick’s was smoother and more enjoyable.  The winner was given an ultra-dry Martini sampling in a proper glass after a proper shaking.  No cucumber garnish or any other distractions.  Clean and smooth.  Yum.  

We love this job.  Now where do we get KISS Gin?

– Jet Cannon

Quest for the world’s Best

Food and Drink / By

Buzzed Boomer researchers are on a constant quest to find the world’s best because, whatever it is, it’s likely to be great.  We live in a big world so to be at the very top of the heap, well, we want some of that!  

John Selby shared his recipe for the world’s best Old Fashioned in a recent post and so far no one has challenged him.  And we thought it was a great Old Fashioned.  So when we read that Avion Silver tequila is self-proclaimed as World’s Best Tasting Tequila, and has a 2019 Double Gold SIP Award as evidence, we wanted to do our own sipping.  Our current favorite is the honey-smooth Clasa Azul.  Tough competition.

“The Avion story begins in the small town of Jesus Maria, Mexico — a town and culture the Lopez family has cherished for generations. Here, single origin, rare blue agave is grown at the highest elevations and takes 7 to 10 years to reach maturity.  After harvesting by hand, our agave is slow roasted in brick ovens from three days to perfectly caramelize and really the natural sweetness and rich flavors.  Avion uses up to 30% more agave in each bottle, making us proudly inefficient as a tequila producer.  This is the meticulous process that goes into creating the World’s Best Tasking  Tequila.”

On to the tasting.  We started with a chilled Avion in a chilled glass.  It’s very good.  We’re not able to distinguish “citrus-forward” and all that.  We just noted that it was tasty.  So we tried some on the rocks.  Then another one on the rocks.  Just to be sure, one more on the rocks.  Yeah, it’s really good!

The Consejo Regulator del Tequila counted 1377 registered domestic bottled brands from 150 producers.  And that count was awhile back.  There may be more now.  And that doesn’t count some 285 brands bottled internationally.  To further validate the World’s Best Tasting Tequila claim we should probably sample the top 50 brands or so.  As they say, back to the salt mines.

– Jet Cannon

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CBD for You and Me

Fitness / By

Megan Rapinoe, soccer superstar, is a vocal proponent of CBD products as a topical pain reliever.  Cool.  Except she owns a company that sells those products.  Hmmmm.  So…. When our friend Jean, who had never touched a marijuana-related product in her life and has no financial interest in same, shared that her CBD cream really works to relieve mild arthritis and other muscle and joint pains, we listened.  If Jean says it works, it works. 

I’m getting some. It’s not cheap but I want to believe it and try it.  Generally, I can come up with a new muscle pain just getting out of bed in the morning.  Stand by for updates on our perceived effectiveness.

– Jet Cannon

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Baby Boomer fitness buzz

Caffeine, Cannabis, Endorphins, Fitness / By

Here’s the good news about exercising.  Vigorous exercise can release euphoric endorphins.  “Runner’s high”.  All natural!  So that’s great news if you’re physically able to safely get the heart rate going.  (Consult your doctor blah blah blah and before getting out of bed in the morning.)  

But that’s not all the good news about exercising!  Staying in shape as we age allows up to enjoy responsible amounts of alcohol, caffeine, and weed… which you may not even want so much if you’re able to work in two or three hours of exercise a week.  

Walking is good.  So is swimming, cycling and rowing.  Or online aerobic workouts.  All good.  A little bit, like 15 minutes, a couple times a day adds up and also helps keep the weight down.  And summertime opens up more of those exercise options.

Healthline.com offers lots of good information about health and fitness including tips for us older, but better, Baby Boomers.  See you at the next Olympic Trials!

– Jet Cannon

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