If you do not feel like spending a chunk of change on an expensive wine I would recommend you drink the shiraz (syrah) from Yellow Tail. It is smooth, full of flavor, and clean when it hits the roof of your mouth.
It is a bit spicy and goes well with blue cheese, lamb, beef, and pasta with red sauces.
I just love it and if I did not know it was Yellow Tail I could not tell the difference between it and Rosemount shiraz (which costs at least twice as much as Yellow Tail).
Today I bought 6 bottles of Yellow Tail shiraz at a local grocery store near my house and I found out that I can get $12 back from the distributor, which is amazing, considering that I only paid $34.20 for the 6 pack. Hence my 6 bottles will cost me $22.20 which is less than $3.75/bottle. Absolutely amazing, considering that a glass of house red wine at a relatively cheap restaurant is at least $5.
I toast to Yellow Tail and savor the shiraz for its intense flavors. Cheers!
Saturday, November 30, 2013
On Thermocouples, Pilot Burners, and Fireplaces
Our gas fireplace would just not work.
The pilot light was not staying on -unless I was keeping the ignition knob depressed- no matter what I was doing. I cleaned the oxygen sensor and I repositioned the logs. I was so mystified that I even called a gas fireplace expert who told me that I needed a new thermocouple (which he would 'love to install for me').
Well, I just did not believe the gas 'expert', even though I paid him $85 for 1 hour of his trials and tribulations.
Immediately after he left, I noticed that the pilot light was not touching the thermocouple shaft due to it being too low relative to where the pilot flame was hitting. It just occurred to me that the thermocouple could not engage the valve to keep the pilot on. (Without the pilot light on the fireplace cannot be lit, for safety.)
So, just as a last resort before buying a new thermocouple, I attached a flashlight to my head, took a Phillips screwdriver, stuck my head into the fireplace, and disconnected the small metal brace that keeps the thermocouple attached to the burner -it also keeps the piezo element close to the pilot gas tube- and repositioned the thermocouple so that its tip was about 1/2 inch above the pilot flame opening.
The interesting thing is that the thermocouple has a circular groove around the base that is supposed to indicate how is it to be 'seated' on the support and for some reason it slipped from its groove. (So I just repositioned the thermocouple on the proper groove.)
I reattached the plate -together with the piezo element next to the pilot burner- and, viola, the pilot flame stays on after just 6-8 seconds of keeping the ignition button depressed. It only took me a grand total of about 10 minutes of work -plus a few head bumps on the flue damper- and that includes the removal of the logs and their repositioning at the end.
When the pilot flame is on it hits the thermocouple at all times and now the fireplace works like a charm. I feel terribly sorry I did not spend the $85 I paid to the gas 'professional' on a few good bottles of Shiraz or Zinfandel.
Next time I will definitely do my homework before I call a pro...
As far as how much of the thermocouple should be in the pilot's flame path, have a look at the image to the left below. In my case, before I corrected the problem, the tip of the thermocouple was about 1/2 inch below the pilot burner flame axis. Go figure!
The pilot light was not staying on -unless I was keeping the ignition knob depressed- no matter what I was doing. I cleaned the oxygen sensor and I repositioned the logs. I was so mystified that I even called a gas fireplace expert who told me that I needed a new thermocouple (which he would 'love to install for me').
Well, I just did not believe the gas 'expert', even though I paid him $85 for 1 hour of his trials and tribulations.
Immediately after he left, I noticed that the pilot light was not touching the thermocouple shaft due to it being too low relative to where the pilot flame was hitting. It just occurred to me that the thermocouple could not engage the valve to keep the pilot on. (Without the pilot light on the fireplace cannot be lit, for safety.)
So, just as a last resort before buying a new thermocouple, I attached a flashlight to my head, took a Phillips screwdriver, stuck my head into the fireplace, and disconnected the small metal brace that keeps the thermocouple attached to the burner -it also keeps the piezo element close to the pilot gas tube- and repositioned the thermocouple so that its tip was about 1/2 inch above the pilot flame opening.
The interesting thing is that the thermocouple has a circular groove around the base that is supposed to indicate how is it to be 'seated' on the support and for some reason it slipped from its groove. (So I just repositioned the thermocouple on the proper groove.)
I reattached the plate -together with the piezo element next to the pilot burner- and, viola, the pilot flame stays on after just 6-8 seconds of keeping the ignition button depressed. It only took me a grand total of about 10 minutes of work -plus a few head bumps on the flue damper- and that includes the removal of the logs and their repositioning at the end.
When the pilot flame is on it hits the thermocouple at all times and now the fireplace works like a charm. I feel terribly sorry I did not spend the $85 I paid to the gas 'professional' on a few good bottles of Shiraz or Zinfandel.
Next time I will definitely do my homework before I call a pro...
As far as how much of the thermocouple should be in the pilot's flame path, have a look at the image to the left below. In my case, before I corrected the problem, the tip of the thermocouple was about 1/2 inch below the pilot burner flame axis. Go figure!
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Mr. Obama is The Most Incompetent President I Have Seen
Mr. Obama, the president of the US, is the most incompetent president I have seen. Even Mr. Bush was better than Obama, and I never thought I would say this.
Without a doubt, his signature legislative success, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, has been so poorly executed that Mr. Obama administration's has come to be known as a 'loser'. We would have been way better off with a universal healthcare system than the current mess.
Our healthcare system has gotten more complex and expensive due to Obama, although the reform does have its merits.
Without a doubt, his signature legislative success, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, has been so poorly executed that Mr. Obama administration's has come to be known as a 'loser'. We would have been way better off with a universal healthcare system than the current mess.
Our healthcare system has gotten more complex and expensive due to Obama, although the reform does have its merits.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
We are gradually becoming a true 100% police state
I am reading in bewilderment how the NSA spies indiscriminately and illegally not only on all of us (as Americans) but also on the entire world. It can do that since it is the hub of most -if not all- electronic communication on the planet. Servers, switches, hubs, gateways, databases, and all sorts of data communication equipment are or can be directly controlled by the US government since they are in the hands of American corporations.
We need to either stop using data communication networks or become truly rogue and flood the NSA monitoring networks with so much false positive messages that they will have to stop collecting the 'garbage'. I loathe the NSA, I really do.
Yesterday I read a story on how a California cop shot and killed a 13 year old boy because he was carrying a toy gun and the cop thought it was real. Mind you, the shooting happened within 10 seconds of reporting the boy's sighting to the dispatcher, so they did not even bother to give a chance to the kid to show that he was innocent. They shot first, and killed the boy, and now they need to answer questions about this crime. They put 7 bullets into a totally defenseless kid.
Cops in our cities have become true thugs and can -and do- get away with murder and extensive abusive behaviors. There must be hundreds of cases a year where cops have killed 'suspects' when alternative methods could have diffused the situations without any violence or abuse.
Today I am reading how plain clothed cops in New York are routinely stopping black shoppers who buy luxury items and detain them to inquire about the source of the funding and 'their ability to buy such luxury items'. Mind you, the cops stop shoppers after the shoppers have paid, left the store, and have started to walk away, outside of the stores. In some cases, black shoppers of luxury items were stopped blocks away from the location of the store they just visited.
If these examples are not outrageous I am not sure I know what outrageous is...
We need to either stop using data communication networks or become truly rogue and flood the NSA monitoring networks with so much false positive messages that they will have to stop collecting the 'garbage'. I loathe the NSA, I really do.
Yesterday I read a story on how a California cop shot and killed a 13 year old boy because he was carrying a toy gun and the cop thought it was real. Mind you, the shooting happened within 10 seconds of reporting the boy's sighting to the dispatcher, so they did not even bother to give a chance to the kid to show that he was innocent. They shot first, and killed the boy, and now they need to answer questions about this crime. They put 7 bullets into a totally defenseless kid.
Cops in our cities have become true thugs and can -and do- get away with murder and extensive abusive behaviors. There must be hundreds of cases a year where cops have killed 'suspects' when alternative methods could have diffused the situations without any violence or abuse.
Today I am reading how plain clothed cops in New York are routinely stopping black shoppers who buy luxury items and detain them to inquire about the source of the funding and 'their ability to buy such luxury items'. Mind you, the cops stop shoppers after the shoppers have paid, left the store, and have started to walk away, outside of the stores. In some cases, black shoppers of luxury items were stopped blocks away from the location of the store they just visited.
If these examples are not outrageous I am not sure I know what outrageous is...
Sunday, September 8, 2013
No, no, no! An American war in Syria would be based on lies, lies, and more lies.
Mr. Obama and his administration are beating the drums about the need for the US to defend Syrian population from chemical attacks launched -according to them- by the Syrian government.
US's military's intervention ins Syria would be erroneous and misguided. It would open up the doors for intervening in any country where civil war exists. It would create a precedent that would be difficult to not obey by.
In addition, we are being told that the 'intelligence' community knows with a 'high degree of precision' that the chemical attacks in August were 'directed' by the Assad's regime.
Can we trust the intelligence community anymore? Who can trust agencies that lie to our face and spy on us with impunity?
US's military's intervention ins Syria would be erroneous and misguided. It would open up the doors for intervening in any country where civil war exists. It would create a precedent that would be difficult to not obey by.
In addition, we are being told that the 'intelligence' community knows with a 'high degree of precision' that the chemical attacks in August were 'directed' by the Assad's regime.
Can we trust the intelligence community anymore? Who can trust agencies that lie to our face and spy on us with impunity?
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Purely Outrageous: David Miranda Got Detained for Almost 9 Hours in Britain
Today, David Miranda, the partner of the Guardian journalist (Glenn Greenwald) who has been writing about the illegal activities of the NSA -in cahoots with other government agencies and governments- has been detained for almost 9 hours by the British authorities while he was transiting through the London Heathrow airport.
Apparently, David's electronics (laptop, mobile phone, camera, memory sticks, DVDs, and game consoles) have been 'confiscated' by British authorities without any legal recourse.
If this is not an abusive act of a 'free' government I do not know what abusive acts are. How else can we describe these and other similar actions of the British government but dictatorial? It was not a random act and it was not a matter of miscommunication, that is for sure.
We have totally lost our democratic ways when journalists who expose government abuses get frisked, detained, and have their property stolen while transiting through 'friendly' countries (and serve as tacit crime partners).
Apparently, ANYTHING can be labeled as terrorism. Even writing against fragrant government illegalities can be seen as a terrorist act.
We urgently need an international agency or body to protect us from individual country abuses when they arbitrarily define what terrorist threats and acts are.
Note to self: Never, ever, go to Britain again.
Apparently, David's electronics (laptop, mobile phone, camera, memory sticks, DVDs, and game consoles) have been 'confiscated' by British authorities without any legal recourse.
If this is not an abusive act of a 'free' government I do not know what abusive acts are. How else can we describe these and other similar actions of the British government but dictatorial? It was not a random act and it was not a matter of miscommunication, that is for sure.
We have totally lost our democratic ways when journalists who expose government abuses get frisked, detained, and have their property stolen while transiting through 'friendly' countries (and serve as tacit crime partners).
Apparently, ANYTHING can be labeled as terrorism. Even writing against fragrant government illegalities can be seen as a terrorist act.
We urgently need an international agency or body to protect us from individual country abuses when they arbitrarily define what terrorist threats and acts are.
Note to self: Never, ever, go to Britain again.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Yeay! Snowden is Free in Russia
I am elated that Putin has allowed Edward Snowden to chill out in Russia for at least 1 year. Russia is not the one of the best of the countries in the world but in this case is the best outcome for Snowden.
The US government is over-reaching in this case, and behaves like a bully.
Russia shows maturity and strength while the US shows that it is just a crybaby when it cannot get what it 'demands'. Yes, the US actually demanded that Snowden be turned back and that has not happened... Thank you, Mr. Putin.
Deal with it, Mr. Obama. Democracy may not be symmetric but it is beautiful when it reaches all corners of the globe.
The US government is over-reaching in this case, and behaves like a bully.
Russia shows maturity and strength while the US shows that it is just a crybaby when it cannot get what it 'demands'. Yes, the US actually demanded that Snowden be turned back and that has not happened... Thank you, Mr. Putin.
Deal with it, Mr. Obama. Democracy may not be symmetric but it is beautiful when it reaches all corners of the globe.
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