PTBee's New Writeups

Nordic Lodge (place)

2005-10-13T06:17:13Z

If one of your fantasies is being at a table with never ending lobster, prime rib, filet mignon and crab legs...well you need to get better fantasies. But the Nordic Lodge located in Charlestown, Rhode Island, offers these things and more.

The price is steep at 65.00 USD per person (circa late 2005), but it is all you can eat, and includes tips and soft drinks. Along with the aformentioned items there is a salad bar, a variety of fresh fruit, some chicken selections, some pasta dishes and a wide variety of desserts.

The dining rooms are deceptively large, as the resturant often serves several busloads of people at a time, along with the regular clientele. The decor is like you might expect, it looks like a ski lodge circa 1975. There are always people in line for some items, but the line moves pretty fast. The service is very good. They clear plates as fast as you are done with them and they don't look at you funny when you are on your fourth lobster.

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raison d'être (thing)

2005-10-10T04:08:12Z

Raison D'Etre is also a beer brewed by the Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. I discovered Dogfish Head in 2005, and have been very impressed so far, they brew with quality ingredients, and many of their beers taste great, so it was with great anticipation that I picked up a six pack of Raison D'etre.

The description on a bottle of Raison D'etre reads:

A deep mahogany ale brewed with Belgian beet sugars, green raisins and a sense of purpose.

Well, mahogany is a good descriptor for this beer, it has a deep brown color, a bit darker than Newcastle Brown Ale. As far as taste goes, it starts with a short tangy note (perhaps that was the raisins I detected), but that soon gives way to a overpowering bitterness. It is a very smooth ale, almost too smooth, it was almost like drinking syrup. Sometimes Dogfish Head beers take some time to get used like the 90 minute IPA did, but this one never grew on me. It does have some redeeming value, It…

movie (thing)

2005-10-08T17:52:43Z

Movie...short for motion picture.

A motion picture is simply a series of still pictures shown quickly so they simulate motion. While that can include something as simple as pieces of paper with crudely drawn pictures on them, this writeup is more geared to movies as we know them today, movies on film.

A Technical History

Movies took off in the late 19th century with the invention of the motion picture camera. Louis Lumiere is credited with this invention, called the Cinematographe in 1895, but he really was not the first. Thomas Edison had created a device called the Kinetoscope in 1891, but the Kinetoscope could only show a movie to one person at at time. Lumiere's invention was the first to combine a portable motion-picture camera, film processing unit and projector, and it was his camera that showed the first movie in a theater with more than one paying person. It was exciting stuff, they showed workers leaving a local factory at their test…

Dogfish Head (thing)

2005-10-06T03:55:00Z

I am by no means a beer snob. However some microbreweries in America can put out a array of superlative beers. Here is a brief history of one of those breweries.

History

Dogfish Head is a microbrewery based in Milton, Delaware. Dogfish Head had humble beginnings, starting off as a brewpub called Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats in Rehoboth, Deleware in 1995.

It seems Dogfish Head liked extremes, it was the first brewpub in Delaware, and when it opened, it was also the smallest commercial brewery in America. They started off making 12 gallon batches (the first ever batch was Shelter Pale Ale) 3 times a day, which even for one restaurant, was not nearly enough, there was another obvious reason they were always short of beer, the beer was great!

Due to many factors, (good beer, good food, live music and a good location), Dogfish Head Brewings and Eats became (and still is) very popular, and demand for their beer was insatiable. So…

Dogfish Head Chicory Stout (thing)

2005-10-05T04:54:34Z

Being a fan of various stout beers and also being a fan of almost everything that the Dogfish Head brewery makes, their Chicory Stout was a must try.

Like all Dogfish Head beers, you can taste the quality in their Chicory Stout. It has a regular stout beginning, but a slight coffee/licorice aftertaste. As far as stout goes, this beer is slightly watery, but has a rich, dark color. I expected a stronger taste, but for some reason the lightness made this particular beer that much more refreshing. This is a American beer brewed in Delaware, outside of the eastern part of the U.S, this beer may be hard to come by.

Vital statistics:

Calories: 193

ABV: 5.2%

Carbohydrates: 22g

Cost: around $9.00 USD per 6 pack

From http://www.dogfish.com/beer/chicorystout.cfm

A dark beer made with a touch of roasted chicory, organic Mexican coffee, St. John's Wort, and licorice root. Brewed with…

Brutalism (thing)

2005-06-08T05:37:08Z

Brutalism is a architectural movment that was popular in the 1960's and 70's. Brutalism is characterized by the use of heavy, rough, unadorned concrete,(One term coined for it was béton brut ,French for "raw concrete"). Brutalist designs tend to be large, imposing and intimidating. The style is also known for its lack of adornment, either exterior or interior. Brutalist buildings differ from Modernist, Minimalist and Internationalist styles of architecture, due to Brutalism's use of abstract shapes. Brutalist buildings were built when energy was cheap, so they are usually completely climate controlled. In fact Brutalism buildings generally have few windows, and some buildings have windows that were not designed to open.

Brutalism was first employed in Marseilles, France with the erection of the Unité d'Habitation building in 1954, but it had its greatest impact in England and North America. For whatever reason, goverments, universites,…