DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

The SF Weekly has a cover story on Fred Franzia, the founder of Bronco Wines and father of Charles Shaw (“Two Buck Chuck”) wines. It’s a fascinating peek under the soiled bedsheets of the somewhat incestuous wine industry.

One of the most interesting parts of the story describes Bronco’s purchase of winery names that have been grandfathered into the law regulating appellation labeling. In short, there’s a way to put a “Napa” label on Central Valley wine, and Bronco knows all about it.

Read the story: Discount Dynasty

An older story from the Napa Valley Register recounts much of the same history in many fewer words, and also describes why “Two Buck Chuck” actually costs $3 outside of California:
The voice of ‘Two Buck Chuck’

One of my favorite photos from a recent trip to the Rocky Mountain National Park shows a wide-angle view of the sky above the Bear Lake trailhead. Due to poor hygiene (I’m referring to the camera) the image is marred by spots and reflections.

Fortunately, stripping lens flare, dirt, and reflections with Photoshop is easy:

1. Select the Healing Brush.
2. Set the brush size to about half the size of the largest spot to be repaired.
3. Option-click a clear patch of sky to define the source of the “healing.” Or, make the canvas bigger and in this new space paint in a block of solid color (any color) and option-click that. The color is irrelevant; what’s important is that it has no texture or variation.
4. Paint over the lens flare, dust, streaks, reflections, etc. Photoshop seamlessly paints in the right color, removing whatever artifacts were present.

This technique works well and quickly on areas of solid color, such as blue sky. If you’re trying to preserve texture, this approach will not give good results.

You can see the repaired image here.

Colorado gets much nicer clouds than California. These appeared on the Old Ute Trail.

More clouds, looking east from the Continental Divide.


And these inocuous clouds, surrounding the Bear Lake trailhead, turned into a thunderstorm about an hour later, sending my hiking party scurrying for cover.

(If there are any meteorologists in the audience, I’d be curious to know what kind of clouds these are. I found some classification guides here and here but those Latin terms are all Greek to me.)

Hiking the Old Ute Trail in the Colorado Rockies, we ran into a family of elk. I had no idea at the time whether elk tend to be aggressive, and the rack of antlers didn’t look like it would feel too comfortable embedded in my abdomen, so I marched past quickly.

The upper trailhead sits at about 11,600 feet, just above the timber line. The panoramic views were breathtaking. Of course, hiking in the mountains with 20 lbs of baby strapped to my chest was also breathtaking.

On the return, I got a closer view.

Then, back at the car, we saw another beast with big horns.

Rawstock III - Raw Ecstasy Jamboree
August 26-29 at Macdonald Farm
5730 Ross Branch Road, Sebastopol, California

The world’s premier raw food lifestyle festival! The pure health empowerment weekend celebrating eco-regeneration, musical ecstasy & raw food delight.

Everyone is required to bring 5 lbs. of organic raw fruits or veggies PER DAY.

PLEASE DO NOT BRING APPLES OR CARROTS

Ahh, I so love west Sonoma county.

The apple/carrot restriction is funny — a lesson learned the hard way, I’m sure. This time of year, coming up with 5 lbs of apples is as easy as pulling to the side of the road and picking them. Everywhere you don’t see a vineyard, you’re probably looking at an apple orchard.

Carrots are only slightly more expensive and difficult to find: $3.79 for a 5-lb bag at every local supermarket.