Editors asleep, the New York Times misquotes Ian Fleming

November 26, 2006• (0) Comments

Weighing in on the use of fruit and other substitutes in the manufacture of vodka, NY TIMES correspondent Dan Bilefsky invokes no less an authority than fiction’s James Bond in Vodka World Shaken, and Stirred, by Fruit Spirits (NYT Nov. 26), but he needs to brush up on his 007 canon. 

Bond most certainly did favor the cleaner distillation of grains in his vodka and purported to taste the difference. The famous martini and the spy who loved it first appeared in Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale in 1953 and was introduced thusly:

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First skateboard ride in Antarctica

July 23, 2006• (0) Comments

In a few days, my brother Mike plans to announce his candidacy for the City Council of his hometown, Beaufort, South Carolina. In support of his candidacy, some recognition of his early achievements seems apropos here.

It is little-known but true that my brother was the first human being to ride a skateboard on the continent of Antarctica.

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