Podcast #51 – We Drink and We Know Things

Weekly Flavor

• Mario: Moscow Mule made with Goslings Ginger Beer

  Vodka, Gosling’s Ginger Beer, Lime, served in a copper mug. Delicious, crisp, and light.

• Brian: Brian’s Mule made with ginger Kombucha

  Vodka added to ginger Kombucha. A different and healthier experience.

Ski News

• A Man-Made Powder Day at Jackson Hole Would Cost $59M

  In an age where snow guns sometimes make or break a season (here's looking at you, Mad River Glen), it's easy to forget that without Mother Nature, there'd be no first tracks, tree runs, or face shots. Let's face it, rising global temperatures are putting that precious powder into jeopardy.

  In honor of Earth Day 2016, our friends over at Teton Gravity Research (TGR) decided to embark on an interesting thought experiment: just how much is an epic powder day at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort actually worth? TGR teamed up with the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation to calculate how much money, energy, and water it would take to create a man-made powder day at Jackson.

  And guess what? It's a lot. To coat Jackson Hole Mountain Resort with 12 inches of goodness, it would require 2,723 snow guns to pump out 108,900,000 cubic feet of snow. All in all, that powder day is worth about $59 million.

• The London Marathon in ski boots

  36-year old Al Machell from Hertfordshire has done what no-one has done before – the marathon in a pair of ski boots. PlanetSKI has tracked him down.

  Al drew the attention of the TV cameras and others as he completed the 26-mile course in a pair of 15-year old salomon boots and his ski racing cat suit.

  It took him 8 hours and 1 minute to finish the route on Sunday and he is now applying for recognition in the Guiness Book of Records.

  “I went round in a series of lunges at walking speed. And I feel surprisingly fine today, though I'm looking forward to seeing my girlfriend later as she is a physio and will help me with some muscle aches,” he said to PlanetSKI on Monday.

• Jay Peak Could Be Forced to Close Due to Fraud Allegations

  Two weeks ago the Securities and Exchange Commission and the state of Vermont filed civil fraud charges against the owners of Jay Peak Ski Resort, accusing them of misusing more than $200 million from foreign investors intended for development projects.

  Now, a federal receiver appointed to oversee Jay Peak and Q Burke Mountain says that the two resorts may not be able to open without additional money. According to the SEC, more than $200 million was misappropriated by the owners of Jay Peak, Ariel Quiros and William Stenger, in a Ponzi-like fashion. The defendants allegedly diverted millions of EB-5 money into their own pockets instead of towards the facilities investors were told would be built. Then, money from investors in later projects was used to fund deficits in earlier projects.

  The Burlington Free Press first reported that receiver Michael Goldberg filed a court declaration Friday saying the entities named in the fraud case “have very little cash and numerous upcoming expenses,” and if more money is not obtained he will be forced to shut down the operations of Jay Peak and keep Q Burke closed.

• South America Already Starting to Get Hit

  Las Leñas, Argentina Second Big Snowfall

  Las Leñas, one of the most important ski resorts in Argentina and South America, is supposed to open June 18th.However, the resort was covered by snow once again this weekend.

  Big Snow at Nevados de Chillan, Chile

  South American ski resorts have been getting hammered by snow and it's early. Real early. This is the second big snowstorm of the season so far.

  Most South American ski resorts will generally open about June 18th this year. That means opening day is 7 weeks away and these ski resorts are already getting big snow. This would be like North America ski resorts getting buried in snow in September.

Topic: #51 – We Drink & We Know Things

We’re taking a page out of our friend Tyrion Lannister’s book on this one. One of the aspects of our show is that we have the Weekly Flavor, where we have a different drink every week and we do know things, which is what we love sharing with you on the podcast. Here’s some of the things that we have coming up that combine the two.

Around The Horn

• Brave's Bitcoin Browser 'Full Steam Ahead' Despite Publisher Uproar

  In less than a month, Brave Software plans to open a bitcoin wallet on behalf of major content creators around the world so those publishers can receive micropayments in exchange for viewing specially curated ads.

  Launched in 2015, Brave has raised $2.5m from private investors to build a browser that automatically blocks ads and gives users the option to replace some of those ads with those of Brave's partners as part of a revenue share program that pays both the content creator and the reader.

  The problem is, many of the biggest publishers in the US, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, want nothing to do with it.

  On 7th April, the Newspaper Association of America published a cease-and-desist letter on behalf of those companies addressed to Brave's CEO Brendan Eich, and threatened legal action if he continued to build his product.

  Representatives of 1,200 members Newspaper Association of America posted the 1,000-word letter directly to the site, describing Brave's business model as “indistinguishable from a plan to steal our content to publish on your own website”. The publishers threatened legal action if Eich continued his work.

• 35th America's Cup To Set Sail in New York City – First Time in 96 Years

  Official LV America's Cup Site

  
  The Bums will be watching with our buddies from Goslings Rum !!!! Thanks to Dan from Goslings which is one of the main sponsors of the America's Cup.
  
  We'll be over at Henry's on the Hudsonb> http://www.henrysnj.com/ on Saturday, May 7thb> to watch from the NJ side
  
  

  The America's Cup is often described as the Formula 1 of the seas thanks to the high-tech nature of the boats involved. And for a decade or so now it has also been a highly sought-after sponsoring arena for watch brands.

  The America's Cup series sponsored by Louis Vuitton heads to New York City's harbor to race next week, from May 6 through May 8. The winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup racing series will go against defending champion Oracle Team USA in 2017 in Bermuda to race for the Cup.

  The New York race village, located at Brookfield Place Waterfront Plaza, is free to enter and will feature a party-like atmosphere with entertainment, sponsor activities, and hospitality. Racing will take place on Saturday and Sunday on the lower Hudson River, off the Battery Park City Esplanade.

• In 2013 the Challenger Selection Series was re-branded to the America's Cup World Series.
  This year, USA's Team Oracle is the defender, but races in this series with the other challengers to decide who they will race for the 2017 America's Cup.
• The America's Cup is the oldest International sporting trophy in existence since 1851 and named after the initial winning schooner of the race, America, and was then donated to the New York Yacht Club along with the Deed Of Gift setting up the prepetual international competition.
• NYYC held the cup from 1870-1983 creating the longest win history of the cup and holds 25 titles. Cups are agreed upon between clubs and happen every 3-4 years.

• Astronaut runs marathon in space — but slower than on earth

  British astronaut Tim Peake became the first man to complete a marathon in space on Sunday, running the classic 26.2 mile distance while strapped to a treadmill aboard the International Space Station.

  As part of the London Marathon, Britain's biggest mass participation race, the 44-year-old spaceman saw London's roads under his feet in real time on an iPad as, 250 miles below him, more than 37,000 runners simultaneously pounded the streets.

  Peake covered the distance in three hours 35 minutes 21 seconds, which was a world away from the time recorded by the real race winner, Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge, whose 2:03:05 was the second fastest ever recorded.

  Peake's zero gravity effort, while out of this world, was still more than a quarter of an hour slower than the 3:18:50 he had clocked on earth as a keen, ultra-fit fun runner back in 1999.

• Camp Bacon

  Every spring bacon lovers, bacon makers, cooking school teachers, culinary historians, writers, statisticians, sociologists, chefs, roller derby professionals and other pork-driven people from all over the globe flock to Ann Arbor, Michigan (home of Zingerman's!) to talk, taste and toast the terrific flavors and cultural iconography of all things bacon-related. Every year's lineup seems to surpass the already excellent group of speakers from the previous season, and this spring's session promises to be another transcendent step in the rising profile of cured pork.

  As always, this year's Camp Bacon© is a fundraiser for two of our favorite non-profit organizations: The Southern Foodways Alliance and the 4H Club of Washtenaw County.