Feb 13 2013
Wednesday News: Love in the library stacks; US bourbon maker commits heresy; First female baseball scout dies; eBook cards for authors
This summer, I will marry the girl of my dreams in a library. Here is our Save-The-Date. – This redditor posted a picture of his Save the Date wedding announcement. Adorbs, right?
Maker’s Mark waters down its bourbon to meet rising demand – I don’t like this and I don’t even drink bourbon. Maker’s Mark whiskey is in such high demand that they are watering down their existing stock to meet it. ”We’ve worked carefully to reduce the alcohol by volume (ABV) by just 3%,” the email sai.d Quartz
Edith Houghton, former baseball prodigy and MLB’s first female scout, dies at 100 – Edith Houghton was a phenom who played shortstop for an all girls professional team and became the first female pro baseball scout, a stint interrupted by military services during the Korean War. She died at age 100 last week. Her contributions to baseball were so tremendous that her uniform hangs in Cooperstown. As it should. Yahoo Sports
eBook Gift Card Startup Livrada Launches Now Sells to Authors – Nate at the Digital Reader reports that Livrada is now offering ebook cards taht publishers and authors can use to promote their books. I think this is a great idea for signings and real world events. Many authors print out postcards or other paper promotional material for their ebooks and this would allow readers to acquire a new book yet another way. The Digital Reader
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Feb 13, 2013 @ 04:15:47
42% alcohol is not weak for whiskey. It’s normal to dilute whiskey after aging to get the desired proof. It has to be at least 80 proof (40% alcohol). I suspect if Maker’s Mark had managed their press better, they’d have said they were reducing the alcohol content for a smoother taste or some such nonsense and no one would have thought it was watered down whiskey.
Interestingly enough, the issue is that they are a brand of Diageo, a big conglomerate and if they increased their price to meet demand, they’d disrupt the price points of their brand lines.
Feb 13, 2013 @ 05:50:08
Bill Samuels Sr. is one of my business heroes. The philosophy from the start of Maker’s Mark was “if there’s not enough supply to meet demand, let them wait and yearn to get a piece of the next batch because we will NOT compromise quality to increase production,” and that served them well for some 60 years.
Two years after Jr. takes over, “We’re watering it down.”
I hate successful people’s children.
Feb 13, 2013 @ 06:58:28
I bet that couple is into Japanese bondage ;-)
Feb 13, 2013 @ 09:46:06
As a librarian, that image did make my heart go pit-a-pat; but whatever you do, DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS AT REDDIT*. Not unless you want heart palpitations of an entirely different nature.
*Actually, “do not read the comments” is pretty much good advice for Teh Internet in general. Except here, of course, where they’re sometimes the best part!
Feb 13, 2013 @ 09:49:14
@hapax: Yes, the comments are a minefield over there but I felt I couldn’t post the image without linking to the actual site where I found the image.
Feb 13, 2013 @ 14:54:46
As a former librarian from an era when cards were actually used to check out books, I find the save-the-date card not only sweet but nostalgic. I wonder if their kids will even know what it’s supposed to look like if they find it in a scrapbook 20 years from now. The first time my son saw a typewriter he said “Why doesn’t that PC have a monitor?”
p.s. There is nothing more likely to make me read comments than someone warning me not to read the comments. :)
Feb 13, 2013 @ 18:14:25
@Ren:
Yeah, rich people’s kids are the ultimate examples of the “entitlement” mind-set so prevalent these days. Everything has been handed to them–to paraphrase Vonnegut in “Cat’s Cradle”, they were born on the banks of the money river and they’ve been taking slurping lessons ever since so they can drink more. The rest of us don’t even know where the river is!
Feb 16, 2013 @ 00:49:07
@Ren:
Thanks for that clarification/history. I always understood that Makers Mark is a premium brand of bourbon. Watering it down to meet demand, rather than ramping up capacity or price, just makes no sense to me. And then announcing that’s what you’re doing? Good luck with that.