The Classy Geek

Stop SOPA and PIPA

By Alan Henry Wednesday January 18, 2012

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Today we stand with the rest of the internet to raise our voice and note that the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) And the Protect-IP Act (PIPA) are both extremely flawed legislation that would cripple, censor, and diminish the internet as we know it.

Make your voice heard, speak up, call your congressional representatives, and let them know they must not support these bills.

For more information on SOPA and PIPA, head over to Lifehacker here:

[ Lifehacker :: All About PIPA and SOPA, the Bills That Want to Censor Your Internet ]

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

How to Talk to a Sommelier

By Alan Henry Sunday December 4, 2011

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If you’ve never been out to a fancy dinner, one with wine service or table service and the whole white glove treatment, you’re not really missing much aside from the food and wine that’s usually served. I know it’s an ironic statement – “you’re not missing anything…aside from the food,” but it’s true. A lot of the pomp and circumstance and ritual that go around fancy dinners and meals are pretty silly, and often pointless aside from being an invisible rulebook to serve as an indicator of a so-called “cultured” person.

That all said, one thing that I do enjoy at one of those fancy meals is the opportunity to talk to a sommelier about the wine being served that night, or what would go best with the meal that we’re about to have. I’ve been lucky enough to have a sommelier save me from a less-than-stellar wine pairing with a meal more than once, and while in some cases I stumbled into it, in others it all came from knowing how to speak to him in an intelligent fashion. Here are a few suggestions.

Classy Quickie :: Brian Greene’s Desktop

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I’m a huge fan of both people’s desktops and of Brian Greene, both as a thought leader and as a physicist, and I’m always impressed to see how other people get their jobs done, how they work, what environments inspire them, and what surroundings they think their great thoughts in and dream their big dreams [...]

Think Different

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It’s been a few weeks since Steve Jobs passed, and the swirl of attention has started to fade just a bit, which to me means that it’s the perfect time to hop back on the wagon here and share what I like to think of as a very classy memoir of a man that both [...]

4 (or 5) New and Different Gins to Try Before the Summer is Over

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I love a good gin – I’ll make no bones about it, and I won’t hide the fact by any means. A good, solid gin and tonic at the end of a long day is perfect for helping your troubles melt away, and a good gin straight is a perfect nightcap: you hardly need anything [...]

Make Your Own Bacon-Infused Old Fashioned

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I know you love bacon, and I know you love alcohol. This delicious tip will let you put the two together into something that’s absolutely amazing. Seriously, we’re talking about bacon-infused bourbon, which immediately leads to something glorious. The first of which? Bacon-infused bourbon. Not only will it add a touch of salty/savory to your [...]