Recent content by Joel Stewart

Thanks, Ian. I don't think I ever really left, just my seat in the bleachers is further from the field these days. And we have plenty of cormorants to observe locally...grebes and ouzels too, come to think of it.

True, other birds mentioned so far are bobbers, head-dunkers, plungers and dippers, but I would go with the Wiki list above that mentions a handful of other species which fit the bill (so to speak) for performing both feats fairly well.

It seems the term "swim" is fairly established regarding the cormorant's underwater behavior, and not just in this video, but in scientific extracts, etc. online, but B. Clinton might be tempted to parse this out a bit. I'll venture a guess that cormorants and some other swimming/diving birds...

Jeff touched on it...it's the cormorants that do both very well. I think most birds, and certainly the fish they prey on, would attest to this. Can't think of another runner up that comes close.

I like that sort of thing. So that's me, Jeff, you, your friend, G. Wasson, and possibly some shamans and some reindeer.

I'll second Mr. Lipton and add RLdH's bianco's as well. For me, both the rosado and the bianco often have umami in a very upfront/dominant way (as opposed to being a background note). Pretty unmistakable poster children for the genre, if one exists.

Well posted and well, that was my point. Some folks think electric guitars are less dependent on wood. Fenders don't suck, but each axe (as Eden would prob attest to) is different. Just like D-28's can suck or be great (said by an owner of a good selection of wood.)

and there are brilliant guitars made of crappy wood

Intent may help create beautiful things, but material can trump intent, is my feeling,

Funky Meters and Steve Earle would be where I'd head for the music. Maybe Chuck Leavell. Texas Tornadoes.

Well BJ is white after all.....but I got his meaning. The '04, to me, is a huge wine, if treated properly with air. That's "huge" in the literal as well as "phat" sense. It's bigger than it lets on. If you find the pairing that works with it, so much the better, but I put it more in the...

Im just so surprised to see so many human hands at work in the vids. One would think that sanding for example could be programmed into the construction. No matter though, one thing Fender, nor anyone making wooden instruments can control (so far at least) is the wood itself. I settled on the '83...

Weren't there murmurs of phatness in the '04 too? Or is the '05 much more so? Fwiw, I enjoyed watching the '04's I consumed bloom in size, scale and richness whenever I could manage to keep a bottle open a couple of days. (Not that they ever did it rudely.) They were always lovely in their...

Brian, it's a delightful memory to share....I clearly remember you and BJ and I digging on that bottle at the gallery. Time will tell, for those wise enough to stow a few away, but intuitively I felt it a gem with legs.

Dad would appreciate the humor here....though averse to the digital world he was. It's true, there was no post on FB that I made (nor that I know of) that killed him, AFAIK. Anyway, Bertrand's monologues are always great, and yes, Japan is refreshingly out of step with the civilized world...