Giving Up Coffee Increases Concentration?

Let it never be said that I don't provide a fair and balanced look at the coffee world. Thanks to Boing Boing for this story on a guy who's concentration has gotten better since he's given up coffee.

Is Your Coffee Fresh?

Lifehacker and eHow give you some tips on how to test for coffee freshness.

Friday Book Review: Super Spy

Okay apparently Matt Kindt's book Super Spy came out back in 2007 to much fan fare and I missed it. Luckily as I was attending this years Windy City Comic Con I was introduced to Matt by Jeff Lemire. I had just recently heard about Matt's new book 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man but for some reason I was drawn to Super Spy instead.

This book is about the lives of spies in World War II. That alone should be enough to convince you to pick up this book. The narrative is interwoven through a number of non linear short stories each with their own protagonist. Each character has their own arc that occasionally crosses over with the other spies. Thankfully all of the concluding threads take place in the latter half of the book to tie everything together.

I absolutely could not put this book down once I started reading it. I was on my way back to the hotel on the day of the con taking the red line to Roosevelt where I needed to transfer over to the orange line. I was so engrossed in the book that I mistakenly got on the green line ending up in, literally and figuratively, the wrong part of town. This did cause me to miss the after con party but at least I did get to finish the book with all the extra time I spent on the train.

The one negative I will point out is that my books cover immediately fell off the book once I started reading it. It seems like the glue was too brittle. However this minor problem did not detract me from my enjoyment of the book.

With this review I'm borrowing a rating system from the Comic Geek Speak podcast. The buy, borrow, pants system to be exact. A buy rating means that I think the book is worth the money, a borrow rating means go get it from the library and a pants rating means leave it alone.

To that end I rate Matt Kindt's Super Spy a solid buy!

Sometimes the Internet is so Cool

Say what you will about the internet but sometimes it is so cool. Take today for instance. I woke up feeling pretty horrible with a migraine headache so I ended up working from home. Which is why I was able to answer the door to receive a comic book geeks care package from my friend Ryan in Austin, Texas.

In it were a plethora of delights for me including:

1) A signed limited edition Jeff Lemire print of The Nobody.
2) The first Irredeemable trade by Mark Waid.
3) A couple of Owly books that I will enjoy with Anna.
4) Ten issues of Tiny Titans that Anna and I will fight over :)
5) The Ambush Bug Year None limited series
6) Various issues of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps.
7) A giant plush toy of Fone Bone!

Now besides this being an extremely generous gift for one friend to send to another there is something extra special about it. Ryan and I have never met face to face or even talked on the phone. The extent of all of our conversations have been over emails, instant messages and blog posts. I just think it is amazing that the internet gives us the tools to allow friendships like this to become established.

That said I hope to get down to Austin some day to embarrass Ryan with my Canadianisms and check out Austin Books which seems to be a great comic book shop from what I've heard.

So thank you very much Ryan, you are a great friend and now the whole internet knows too!

WARNING: Coffee is Hot

This is sad. Another example of people not taking personal responsibility for themselves. Coffee shop owner must put up a warning sign so he won't get sued.

VIA Taste Test

Jason over at CoffeeCupNews.org does a blind taste test of Starbucks brewed coffee vs instant coffee.


Can you taste the difference?

Friday Book Review: The End of Overeating

I learned that fat, salt and sugar are engineered into everything we eat by reading The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. Actually I had a pretty good idea that was the case long before as I haven't had my head buried in the sand. Although this book does go into details just how engineered our food, or rather food like substances, are these days. The book was an entertaining read and it goes without saying that the best way to eat healthy is to stick to the food that are not packaged into colourful boxes.

For other good books on food I recommend:
1) The Omnivores Diet by Michael Pollan
2) In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
3) Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser