Thursday, August 23, 2018

What Is Whiskey | How Is it Different From Scotch, Bourbon, & Rye?

If you mash grain, ferment it, distill it, and age it in barrels, what do you get?  Depends on the details. The ratio of grains you use, the location of the distillery, and the barrels you use all influence what the final result tastes like, and what it’s called.
So if you’ve ever wondered about the difference between whiskey and whisky, or the defining elements of scotch, bourbon, or rye, read on.

What Is Whiskey/Whisky?

So, just what is whiskey/whisky? Well, whiskey and whisky are essentially the same drink in terms of basic ingredients and processing. But the devil’s in the details; here the deciding factor is location. Spelling usually indicates country of origin. The countries most famous for their whisky/whiskey are Scotland, Ireland, the United States, Canada, and Japan. If you have to make a guess, check if the countries name has an ‘e’ in it; if so, they probably use the ‘e’ in whiskey.
whisky: Scotland, Japan, Canada
whiskey: Ireland, United States

Image result for rye

What Is Scotch?

The key element that defines scotch whisky is similar – it has to be made in Scotland. Originally, scotch was made entirely from malted barley. Different blends involving other grains started being made in the late 18th century. Now scotch must contain some malted barley to earn the label, but it can involve corn, rye, and other grains. Scotch is also aged in oak barrels for at least 3 years.
The Scotch Whisky Association outlines regulations for labeling, including rules surrounding age, malt, and grain label markers. The phrase ‘single malt’ in particular is associated closely with scotch. If you’ve heard the phrase ‘single-malt’, that means the grain was mashed and processed entirely at one distillery and not blended. ‘Single malt scotch whisky’ will also be made entirely of malted barley.

What Is Bourbon?

Bourbon has some of the clearest legal requirements for labeling.
  • Produced in the United States
  • Made from a grain mixture that is at least 51% corn
  • Aged in new, charred oak containers
There are also a few requirements for the proof level at different distilling steps, but the average consumer isn’t likely to be worried about that distinction.
The definition of bourbon is particular. The history of the name bourbon is a little bit ambiguous. Typically, it’s considered to derive from Bourbon County, Kentucky. Alternately, it could also be inspired by Bourbon Street, New Orleans. New Orleans was one of the early markets for Kentucky distillers. Due to the high corn content, bourbon is generally fairly sweet compared to other whiskies.

What Is Rye?

Whiskey that is labeled “Rye”, confusingly, may or may not contain the grain rye. Canadian whisky in particular is sometimes called ‘rye whisky’ even if it doesn’t contain rye. Historically, the majority of Canadian whiskys did, and the name has held on even as the popular make-up of Canadian whisky has shifted. American rye, however, does contain rye. By law, it makes up at least 51% of the grain mash. Rye is known for adding a spicier flavor to the whiskey.

Summary

These four brown liquors are start from a similar base, but the details are the key to everything. Whiskey/whisky can be made from any grain, and the barrel aging doesn’t have many particular restrictions. Scotch involves malted barley and oak barrels. Bourbon involves corn and new charred oak barrels. Rye whiskey involves rye grain – unless it’s Canadian, and then all bets are off.

-Courtesy: https://www.sporcle.com/blog/2018/08/what-is-whiskey-how-is-it-different-from-scotch-bourbon-rye/

Monday, July 30, 2018

The Axe porridge (A Russian folk tale)

Once upon a time, in Russia, an old soldier was returning home from the wars. He had been walking all day. He was tired and hungry. Night was drawing close. He needed a meal, and somewhere to spend the night. Soon he came to a little village. He knocked on the door of the first hut.
A little old woman opened the door. ‘What do you want?’ she asked him.
‘I am looking for a place to stay the night,’ replied the soldier.
‘Come in then,’ said the old woman. She opened the door wide, and stepped aside to let him enter.
The soldier entered the hut and set down his belongings in a corner.
‘I am hungry, ma’am,’ said the soldier. ‘May I trouble you for something to eat?’
The old woman had plenty of food in the house. But she was mean and miserly and didn’t want to share. She pretended to be very poor and wept, ‘Oh poor old me! I have nothing in the house. I have eaten nothing myself all day!’
The soldier was a clever and observant man. He could see that the woman was not poor. He suspected she had plenty of food in the house. Noticing an axe lying in a corner, he said, ‘Well, then maybe I could make us some porridge out of that axe.’
‘Axe porridge? How is that possible?’ cried the old woman, astonished.
‘I’ll show you how to make it,’ replied the soldier. ‘Just give me a pot.’
The old woman was intrigued. She quickly ran and brought the soldier a pot. The soldier washed the axe and put it in the pot. He filled the pot with water and put it on the fire, and waited for it to boil. From time to time he would stir the water slowly with a ladle.
When the pot began to steam, he dipped a spoon into the water and tasted it. ‘It will soon be ready,’ he said. ‘It’s delicious, but would have been better for a bit of salt. Too bad that you have no salt.’
‘Oh, I do have salt,’ said the old woman, quickly handing him some.
The soldier added the salt and tasted the water again. ‘Hmmm. Even better. Now if only I could add some oats to it. Too bad you don’t have any oats.’
‘Oh, let me find some for you,’ cried the old woman. She rushed off to the pantry and came back with a bag of oats. ‘Here you are. Add whatever you need,’ she said.
The soldier added the oats. He went on with his cooking, stirring the pot from time to time. The old woman watched the soldier, fascinated. She had never seen axe porridge being cooked before.
The soldier tasted the porridge again, and said, ‘It’s coming along really well. Now if only there was a bit of milk to put into it. Milk does bring out the flavour. Too bad there is none.’
The old woman ran off and came back with a jugful of milk. ‘Here’s some milk,’ she cried, handing him the jug. ‘Use as much as you need.’
The soldier added the milk and stirred. After a while, he tasted the porridge again and said, ‘It is tasting wonderful! Now if only there was some butter, it would be perfect. Too bad there is none.’
The old woman rushed off to the pantry again, and came back with a dish of butter. ‘Here’s some butter,’ she cried. ‘Add as much as you want.’
The soldier added the butter and stirred the pot. He tasted the porridge and said, ‘It is done, ma’am. Now get us two bowls and a couple of spoons!’
The old woman bustled round for the bowls and spoons. The soldier ladled the porridge into the bowls, and set the bowls on the table. ‘Let us eat!’ he said.
The old woman and the soldier began to eat the porridge. It really was delicious.
The old woman was amazed. ‘I did not know that one could make porridge out of an axe, or that axe porridge could be so delicious,’ she declared.
The soldier said nothing, but ate his porridge and laughed silently to himself.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Sharaabi (1984) movie best dialouges..


Yeh insaan nahi hai ... yeh toh machine hai ... aaisi machine joh sirf note chaapti hai aur note khaati hai
Vaade aksar toot jaate hai ... koshishien kamyab ho jaati hai

Tofha dene waale ki neeyat dekhi jaati hai ... tofhe ki keemat nahi dekhi jaati

Sharaabi ko sharaabi nahi toh kya pujari kahoge ... gehun ko gehun nahi toh kya jwari kahoge

Sharaab ki botal pe agar main label ki tarah chipak gaya hoon ... toh is label ko chipkane waale aap hai

Samundar mein tairne waale ... kuon aur talaabon mein dupkiyan nahi lagaya karte

Mooche ho to Nathulalji jaise ho ... warna na ho
Main ek kalakar hoon ... makkar nahi

Kalakar sirf taarif ka bhooka hota hai ... paise ka nahi

Jisne pee nahi whiskey ... kismat phoot gayi uski
Jinka apna dil toota hota hai ... woh auron ka dil nahi todha karte
Jigar ka dard upar se kahin malum hota hai? ... ki jigar dard upar se nahin malum hota hai

Inki taarif kya karen ... yeh toh sarr se paun tak taarif hi taarif hai

Hamari zindagi ka tambu teen bambuon pe khada hua hai ... shayari, sharaab aur aap

Duniya ke samne haath nahi jodhte ... warna kaam nikal jaane ke baad duniya waale haath todh dete hai

Dar badar sarr patakne se bhala kya hoga ... wahi hoga joh taqdeer mein likha hoga

Aapne mujhe woh sab diya jise bazar se khareed ke ek ghar mein sajaya ja sakta hai ... magar woh sukh kabhi nahi diya jise ek dil mein sajaya ja sake
Aap bhi itna samajh le mujhko samjhane ke baad ... aadmi majboor ho jaata hai dil aane ke baad

Aaj ki duniya mein agar zinda rehna hai ... toh duniya ke button apne haath mein rakhne parte hai
Aaj kal ke daud mein hasi ki phasal ughti kahan hai

Aaj itni bhi maisir nahi mainkhane mein ... jitni hum chod diya karte the paimane mein



 

Friday, November 29, 2013

Conflicts in the team - Steps to deal with resentful peer


Conflict happens in all corners of the workplace. Disputes between employees are common and inevitable. The difficult decision is when to step in, says Joseph F. Byrnes, professor of management at Bentley College’s Graduate School in Waltham, Mass. “Give the warring parties a chance to resolve it on their own,” he says. “The time to take action is when things get out of hand, and the problems are affecting their work or disrupting other people’s work.”

 

Find out if the conflict is work-related and has a structural root, or whether it’s interpersonal and has no relationship to the job, Byrnes advises. An interpersonal conflict can happen on or off the job, whereas structural ones are inevitable in many organizations.

 

A Manager's approach should be in resolving the situation without offending or alienating either group. “Uppermost is not being seduced by the politics of one group over another,” says clinical psychologist William Knaus.

 

When politics get in the way, it’s time to step in cautiously. “You don’t want your boss to think that your division is riddled with divisive disputes,” Knaus says. “Your credibility is on the line if you can’t right the situation.”

 

Easing tensions between warring factions isn’t easy.

 

“A bad move on the manager’s part could create irreparable barriers, decrease productivity, as well as dampen morale,” Knaus says. “The situation must be carefully managed so that you’re not taking sides.”

 

A Manager's goal is to keep everyone focused on solving a problem and not be sidetracked by personal or political issues.

 

 

Following steps will help in resolving workplace conflict

 

  1. One can't begin to solve someone's problem until one understands them completely-  which means, understanding their motivations. Which is why, in fact, good people management can be a lot more like psychoanalysis than you'd think.

  1. Let people tell their story -  When people are deeply upset about something, they need to get their story out. This is a basic principle of mediation and one that’s important to remember. Allowing people to speak their minds can increase the level of conflict with which you must deal. You have to get through the conflict phase to find the solution.
  2. Bring a reality check to the table -  Often in a conflict, the parties are so focused on minutiae that they lose sight of the big picture and its implications. As the mediator, you need to bring people back to reality by wrenching their attention away from the grain of sand and having them focus on the whole beach. Doing so may help resolution arrive at a startling speed.
  3. Identify the true impediment -  In every conflict, ask yourself: What is the true motivating factor here? What is really keeping this person from agreeing to a solution?

  1. Meet with his peers and former managers.

  1. Have a conversation that tries to get to the heart of what his human/emotional problems are. Is he immature? Just generally unintelligent? Unhappy? Depressed? Insecure? Arrogant? Emotionally unintelligent? All of those are different diagnoses for the real cause of the problem and all of them have different prescriptions.

  1. Talk to him personally and privately, at length. Let him do most of the talking. Ask open questions. A good one is "How did that make you feel?" It uncovers a surprising amount of stuff. You would be shocked to learn how much better I got at managing human beings when I learned to ask people "How did that make you feel?"
  2. Form a hypothesis of the root causes of his issues. Pick a course of action based on what you think the core problem is.

  1. It may work. It may not. If it doesn't, that's too bad, but life is too short, and you're not paid to solve his problems, only the company's problems, so follow whatever advice you see elsewhere in this thread to get rid of him.

  1. Be sure to keep impeccable documentation.
  2. Avoid backing down as this boost in losing all credibility and authority with not only the problematic employee, but the rest of the team as well
  3. Don't consider him differently than the other team members. One of the biggest mistake is to consider him differently. This works particularly well with arrogant developers.
  4. When he makes you feel uncomfortable, angry, anxious, excited, remember that every thought you will have at that time will be biased by the emotion. It's better to wait for the emotion to disappear before analyzing and making decisions.

  1. When a conflict arises, try to take him in a face 2 face meeting. Don't do anything in front of the team.

  1. Listen to him actively, by asking many questions. Seek to understand him before trying to be understood.
  2. Ensure that decisions are made by the team with him included. His opinion should be as important as other team members opinion.
  3. When you are wrong, accept it. Sometimes, he will be right, like anybody.

  1. Be genuinely interested by him -This usually unlocks difficult people. He must understand that you are not a threat, but an ally.

 
 

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Christmas - Etymology and the fact behind

 

Matthew, an inspired apostle, explicitly states that Bethlehem is in “the land of Judah” (Matthew 2:6; cf. Luke 2:4). Judah is the “land”; Jerusalem is a “city” (cf. Zechariah 8:3; Matthew 5:35); and so is Bethlehem (Luke 2:4). Note the precision of Matthew’s descriptions elsewhere in the same chapter. Twice he refers to the “land of Israel” (2:20-21), and then to the “city of Nazareth” (v. 23).

First, Bethlehem and Jerusalem are never confused in the Bible, as if the former were a mere “suburb” of the latter. The fact is, both “Bethlehem” and “Jerusalem” are mentioned in the same text (Matthew 2:1), with not the slightest hint that the two, in reality, were the same.
The birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ is the most important event in history, next to the day of His resurrection.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was the ‘firstborn of the new creation’ (Luke 1:35; Col 1:15) and ‘firstborn of the dead’ (Col 1:18; Rev 1:5). Likewise, we are born of the flesh, then born of the Spirit (John 3:6-7; 2 Cor 5:17), and will be raised from the dead (Rom 8:11). This is the miraculous gospel of salvation

Christmas is not the day on which Yeshua (Jesus) was born.

There is a difference of 400 years between the Old and New Testament times, which is referred as dark or Macbeth’s period. No prophet/ priest raised in these years.

It's theorized that, given the tumultuous religious/political climate during this time, historical record keeping dropped off altogether; this is what accounts for the credibility of the new-testament as the sole account of what went on.
Because of other phenomena, like the loss of the great library in Alexandria, what many people don't realize is that this "lost period," between what we call BC and AD (or, as contemporary historians like to say, BCE and CE) actually extends longer than the purported life of Christ. Non-biblical record keeping drops off at about 420BC and picks back up again around 69AD.

Arch angel Gabriel told Virgin Mary on December 24, 0005 BC eve that she will beget a son, whom she must name as Immanuel. She immediately obeyed and responded to him saying "Be it unto me according your word."
A baby takes around 40 weeks to develop and to come into the world.

 A calculation from December 24, 0005 BC to the Yeshua's (Jesus) birth reveals that his birthdate falls in the month of September, during the days of Rosh Hashanah festival.  For reference, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah

Many years later descended a king (Herod perhaps) born on 24-Dec eve made an order that his birthday fell on the same day (years differ) Gabriel prophesized virgin Mary about the birth of Christ as mentioned above, to be celebrated as Christmas.
This order was later followed officially by the Romans who did this to honour the man of God whom they crucified.

While multitudes around the world celebrate “Christmas”, whether they focus on Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus) and/or the birth of Jesus Christ, all Christians know Jesus was not born on December 25th. This date was established by the Roman Catholic Church in approximately 360 AD, when they held a special mass to honour
Christ, while the pagan world celebrated Saturnalia, a feast honouring the birth of their sun god. This eventually became known as "Christ-Mass". Why would we willingly celebrate Christmas on December 25th, knowing its pagan origins? Does it attract those of the world to the true God when they confuse the birth of YHWH with the birth of the Roman sun god? Why not celebrate the birth of Christ on His true birthday? Is He pleased? That is the question.

You may be shocked to find out that 'Mass' actually means DEATH ~ quite the opposite of BIRTH! Christ-Mass is interpreted DEATH of CHRIST.

Proofs that Jesus was not born on 25-Dec:
Bethlehem is located well much above the sea level and the temperature is much colder in the month of December, unlike Mumbai. For reference, Please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem







 The scripture says that two kinds of people were awake when Jesus was born.

  1. Shepherds 
  2. Soldiers

Believe me; Shepherds were taking care of their sheep/ rams in open when Jesus was born and this cannot happen during December.

According to theologists, Jesus was born on September 29, 0004 BC during the days of Rosh Hashanah festival.  For reference, please refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah

He obeyed his parents, took well care of the family (not married of-course!) and worked as a carpenter till the age of 30 as per the scripture.

He was baptized by John the Baptist on Saturday, August 31 0026 AD, when his time begun.

He then roamed around doing good deeds, preaching the word of God, healing the sick, serving the needy, saving souls for the kingdom of God and performed other good deeds for about three and half-years.

Jesus was crucified on Thursday April, 6 0029 AD. He offered himself as a pleasing sacrifice on the cross of Calvary. 

Summary:

  • December 24, 5 BC – Arch-angel Gabriel told Virgin Mary that she will beget a son, whom she must name as Immanuel.
  • September 29, 4 BC during the festival days of Rosh Hashanah
  • Saturday, August 31 0026 AD – baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist
  • 1035 days - He roamed around doing good deeds.
  • Thursday, April 6 0029 AD – crucified for us on the cross at Mt. Golgotha.
  • Total days Jesus lived in the earth - 12294 days (~33 and 1/2 years)

Tuesday, July 02, 2013