A look at recent contagious disease outbreaks, as Ebola continues to rage

Posted on November 30, 2014 by theurbanllama

EbolaNearly 7,000 are dead from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). The report shows a jump of just over 1,200 dead since its previous report on Wednesday. More than 16,000 people are diagnosed with Ebola, with the majority coming from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Currently U.S. news cameras have shifted their fickle focus to visions of Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping, and the grand jury verdict in Ferguson, which is a travesty, yet the Ebola virus continues to rage unabated in West Africa. Regional reports place the official estimates of infection as low, as many in these remote locations and in urban city centers, withdraw with ill family members to care for them at home, as Ebola treatment centers remain full and lacking adequate resources, which often spreads the deadly disease among closed doors.

While this is the worst outbreak on record, it is interesting to take a look at some of the other outbreaks of infectious diseases that have occurred over the last couple years. It’s noticeable that there is a steady and persistent knocking at the door to the human world of opportunistic viruses seeking to mutate in order to jump from animal-to-human, then human-to-human, and transmit through an airborne mechanism.

The following is a listing of just some of the outbreaks I’ve noticed of infectious diseases and influenza over the past couple years that keep organizations like the WHO and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on edge:

07-18-14: Scientists knew it was coming, and now it’s here: The first U.S. cases of chikungunya, a virus carried by mosquitoes that can cause fever and joint pain, have surfaced in a Florida man and woman who have not traveled to any of the foreign countries where the disease is common, according to the CDC.

05-04-14: Health officials confirmed the first case of an American infected with a mysterious virus that has sickened hundreds in the Middle East. The man fell ill after flying to the U.S. late last week from Saudi Arabia where he was a health care worker. He is hospitalized in good condition in northwest Indiana with Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, according to the CDC.

11-27-13: Chinese health authorities have identified a brand-new type of bird flu that killed an elderly woman in November and infected at least one other person in January. That trend prompted the experts to call for stepped-up surveillance to track the new H10N8 influenza virus in poultry markets and in human patients. Genetic analysis of the H10N8 influenza virus revealed that it has two mutations that make flu viruses more virulent in mammals.

04-16-13:  A new strain of bird flu has been reported in China, and it has sickened 63 people and killed 14. The CDC was concerned that this virus, called H7N9, will spread further, affecting more people in China and beyond. Another fear is that the virus will mutate and develop the ability to spread easily from person to person. 04-24-13: As the death toll from China’s bird flu outbreak rose to 22, the WHO warned the H7N9 virus was one of the most lethal that doctors and medical investigators had faced in recent years.

They’ve already seen adaptations in this virus that makes it suitable to humans: It can attach to cell receptors in our respiratory tracts and grow at our body temperature. Another concern is that unlike previous strains of bird flu, this strain doesn’t seem to harm birds. It can spread among flocks silently, making its movement quite difficult to track. It’s a truly nasty virus. It’s been four years since the outbreak of the H1N1 virus, more commonly knows as swine flu.

Normally, influenza viruses infect only one species: bird viruses infect birds; human viruses infect humans; and so on. When viruses jump species you have to watch out, because the virus might learn to spread from person to person in a population that doesn’t have immunity.

Reports submitted by China’s farm ministry to the OIE last week showed that the first case of H7N9 in birds was found on April 4 on a pigeon destined for human consumption in a wholesale market in Shanghai. Authorities also discovered seven infected chickens in the same market, which lead to the culling of 20,536 poultry in total. The next day, one infected chicken was found at the Jingchuan market in Shanghai, and two chickens and two pigeons were discovered at the Fengzhuang market, also in Shanghai, reports showed.

04-11-13:  China found new cases of bird flu in five live bird markets in the eastern part of the country, a report posted on the website of the World Animal Health Organization OIE showed on Wednesday. China said the H7N9 avian influenza virus was found on Wednesday in three live bird markets in Jiangsu province, one in Anhui province and one in Zhejang province, the report said. Nine people have died out of 33 confirmed human cases of the virus.

04-04-13: The death toll from a new strain of bird flu rose to five in China, as Beijing said it was mobilizing resources nationwide to combat the virus. Japan and Hong Kong stepped up vigilance and Vietnam banned imports of Chinese poultry. The H7N9 bird flu strain does not appear to be transmitted from human-to-human but authorities in Hong Kong raised a preliminary alert and said they were taking precautions at the airports. At total of 14 people in China have been confirmed to have contracted H7N9, all in the east of the country. In 2003, authorities initially tried to cover up an epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in China and killed about 10 percent of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.

03-29-13: A decade after sever acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, swept through Hong Kong and then around the world, the city is among the first to become worried about the emergence and spread of another, genetically related virus in the Middle East. The WHO announced that the virus, known as a coronavirus, had killed 11 of the 17 people infected.

03-24-13: They’ve been called “nightmare bacteria” – deadly superbugs known as CRE that strike hospitalized patients and kill as many as half who get bloodstream infections. Experts say the problem is fueled by the overuse of antibiotics and gaps in infection control in hospitals and long-term care facilities – the same problems that give rise to other pernicious, healthcare-associated infections such as MRSA and C.difficile (commonly called C. diff).

02-18-13: Infectious disease experts say they wouldn’t be surprised if a new virus that sickened 12 people and killed five shows up in the United States. The first cases of the novel coronavirus, which is in the same family as SARS and the common cold, were found to have occurred in an Amman, Jordan, hospital in April 2013, according to CDC. People have also become infected in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The WHO announced Saturday a new case in the United Kingdom. The new virus, which WHO is calling NCoV, or novel coronavirus, has a range of effects. One patient in the United Kingdom had only mild symptoms, but others have suffered pneumonia and kidney failure.

02-15-13: Mexico’s animal health agency says a bird flu outbreak at seven farms in central Mexico has affected as many as 582,000 chickens. An outbreak of the H7N3 bird flu virus in western Mexico in 2012 led to the slaughter of more than 22 million hens and caused price increases in chicken and egg products.

02-13-13: A third patient in Britain has contracted a new SARS-like virus, becoming the second confirmed British case in a week and showing the deadly infection is being spread from person-to-person, health officials said. The latest case, in a man from the same family as another patient, brings the worldwide number of confirmed infections with the new virus – known as novel coronavirus, or NCoV – to 11.

02-11-13: A new virus from the same family as SARS that sparked a global alert last September has been found in another patient in Britain. The latest case of infection with the new virus known as a coronavirus brings the total number confirmed globally to 10, of whom five have died.

01-10-13: A new strain of the winter vomiting disease norovirus has spread to France, New Zealand and Japan from Australia and is overtaking all others to become the dominant strain in Britain. The norovirus variant is known as Sydney 2012. It does not carry worse symptoms than others, but like the other norovirus strains, it can cause violent and projectile comiting, diarrhea and sometimes fevers, headaches and stomach cramps.

01-10-13: The flu has been spreading fiercely across the United States, with more than half of states reporting widespread activity. The season has started earlier, and cases are more severe than last year. The latest CDC flu advisory report suggests that 41 states have widespread influenza activity, which was an increase of 31 states from the previous week. There have so far been 2,257 hospitalizations associated with laboratory-confirmed flu virus, the CDC report said. Among children, there have been 18 deaths reported during the season.

01-10-13:  With flu cases in Boston up tenfold from last year, the mayor declared a public health emergency on Wednesday as authorities around the United States scrambled to cope with a rising number of patients. U.S. health authorities say the flu arrived about a month earlier than usual this year, and the flu strain making most people sick – H3N2 – has a reputation for causing fairly severe illness, especially in the elderly. As a result, hospitals around the country have been forced to find additional space to treat the ill, and some have had to turn people away.

In Illinois last week, large numbers of sick people overwhelmed some hospitals , and 24 facilities had to turn away some sick people, more than triple the seven hospitals that turned patients away in the same week last year.

Lehigh Valley Hospital, outside Allentown, Penn., on Tuesday set up a large tent outside its emergency room, which it is using to see patients who arrive with less-severe flu cases.

In Maine, health authorities reported a “significantly higher” than normal number of flu cases and warned residents this week to expect flu activity to remain high for the next few weeks.

In North Carolina, flu activity has been recorded at the highest levels in a decade with 14 deaths. Many hospitals there have tightened restrictions on visitors. One company, Carolinas HealthCare System, said it would restrict most visitors under age 12 from Charlotte-area hospitals starting on Thursday after a spike in emergency department visits for flu-like symptoms.

In Weymouth, Mass., outside Boston, South Shore Hospital received approval from state regulators to move patents ahead of schedule into 10 rooms it was renovating to accommodate the influx.

11-01-12: The National Park Service has reported 10 confirmed cases of hantavirus infection at Yosemite National Park, with three of the confirmed cases being fatal.

10-10-12:  Brain-eating amoebas kill 10 in Pakistan. A waterborne, brain-destroying species of amoeba has killed 10 people in Karachi, Pakistan, this year, prompting local water officials to increase the amount of chlorine in the city’s water supply and advise residents to use sterilized water when performing a Muslim ritual which involves cleansing the nostrils.

The amoeba, known by the scientific name, Naegleria fowleri, is virtually impossible to detect in the water and its presence in humans is determined by spinal tests. According to the CDC, the Naegleria fowleri amoeba causes a severe brain infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis. The disease is usually fatal.

09-25-12: A case of human West Nile virus has been confirmed in Bourbon County, Kentucky. The infection was confirmed by Bourbon Community Hospital in Paris. Texas, and especially the Dallas area, has had the largest outbreak of West Nile in years. It has reported 1,225 cases and 50 deaths as of Sept. 18, according to the CDC. Nationwide there have been 3,142 cases of human infection and 134 deaths this year, the highest numbers reported since 2003.

09-24-12: The WHO said Monday it was too soon to say whether there could be an outbreak of a SARS-like killer respiratory disease after health officials in Britain announced they detected a related virus in a severely ill patient from the Middle East. The man in the new case was sickened by a coronavirus, from a family of viruses which causes most common colds but also includes the virus that causes SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. In 2003, SARS killed some 800 people, mostly in Asia.

09-15-12: A deadly germ untreatable by most antibiotics has killed a seventh person at the National Institutes of Health Center in Maryland. NIH officials said the Minnesota boy died Sept. 7. He arrived at the research hospital in Bethesda in April and was being treated for complications from a bone marrow transplant when he contracted the bug. He was the 19th patient at the hospital to contract an antibiotic-resistant strain of KPC, or Klebsiella pneumonia. The outbreak stemmed from a single patient carrying the superbug who arrived at the hospital last summer.

09-13-12: An outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo risks spreading to a major town if not brought under control soon after the death toll doubled within a week, the World Health Organization warned. The number of people killed by the contagious virus for which there is no known treatment rose to 31, including five health workers.

09-10-12: The death of a 61-year-old Ohio woman is the first in the nation associated with a new flu strain. The woman was from central Ohio’s Madison County and died this week following an illness she contracted after having contact with hogs at the Ross County Fair. The woman had underlying medical conditions, but the H3N2v influenza virus may have contributed to her death. The strain was found in U.S. pigs in 2010 and people in July 2011.

09-06-12: Health officials report record numbers of West Nile virus this year – 2,118 cases as of Wednesday, up 33 percent from last week. This year’s death toll also rose to 92, up from 66 last week. There have been human cases in 44 states. The mosquito-borne disease is hitting Texas hardest, 1,013 cases and 40 deaths.

Posted in News, Travel | 1 Comment

Buffalo Trace Scores 5 More Top Awards

Posted on October 26, 2014 by theurbanllama

Buffalo TraceFall is here and with it has come another arm-full of awards for Buffalo Trace Distillery, this time from the 2014 New York World Wine & Spirits Competition, where three double gold designations, a gold medal and a best in show were earned.

The excellent and often overlooked Eagle Rare Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey received double gold and was named Best in Show Spirit Sweepstakes Winner for “Best Bourbon, Best Whiskey & Best Brown Goods.” Also receiving double gold awards were Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and Blanton’s Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon. Sazerac Straight Kentucky Rye Whiskey received Gold.

Congratulations to Harlen Wheatley, master distiller, and to all the folks at Buffalo Trace. It’s great to see this Frankfort institution thrive in what has become a golden age for the Kentucky bourbon industry.

Posted in Liquor, News, Travel | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

…And The Evening Continued at Hammerheads

Posted on October 24, 2014 by theurbanllama

Hammerheads 3Coming out of Nach Bar we needed eats to offset our alcohol consumption. I had wanted to give Hammerheads a try for a while and was waiting for just this type of night and it paid off in a big way.

Located in Louisville’s Germantown neighborhood, you can categorize Hammerheads as a gastropub if you want to get all fussy, but really it’s a dive that does high-end comfort food, and they do it well at an economical price point. The cuisine here has a white tablecloth quality. The owners have smartly chosen to dress it down into edibles that discernible night crawlers crave and can afford, such as the crispy soft shell crab or smoked mac & cheese with truffle oil.

You may think your GPS is off its rocker when first approaching Hammerheads. It just pops up in the middle of a residential neighborhood with a large hammerhead shark perched above the entrance. Cross the patio area and take a few steps down to enter. It’s not a basement, but a downstairs residency with a low ceiling that makes everyone feel comfy inside. Hammerheads does not have a large seating capacity, so there easily can be a wait, but be patient, grab a drink and wait outside – the kitchen gets this food right and it’s worth the wait.

Yes it can be loud when full and certainly is a hipster hangout, but all are welcome. Orders arrive on thick wood planks, similar to cutting boards. It provides a natural texture and blank canvas on which to showcase the delicacy provided for each diners’ delight.

Beware those with decision-making issues, the menu is full of tasty treats difficult to resist, from duck sliders, to crispy catfish, BBQ lamb ribs, pork belly tacos, or perhaps an elk burger. My mind was already set before arriving. Hammerheads is known for its fries. They do come in sharable baskets, but I didn’t want to share. The truffle fries, cooked with duck fat and tossed with truffle oil is enough to silence a table upon arrival. I couldn’t stop eating them.

Shrimp & Grits at Hammerheads.

Shrimp & Grits at Hammerheads.

To go with these delightful tidbits I selected a house specialty of shrimp & grits. This deep South tradition has spread well beyond its intended environs and often not in a flattering way. Hammerheads makes this dish its own way with distinction. A plump, moist and sizeable grit cake sits below 4 crispy fried shrimp with drizzles of a flavorful sauce to give the grits some pop, and accent the dish’s natural flavors. It’s a substantial entrée, especially with the fries, but it was far too yummy to leave any behind. Since this meal had a New Orleans flavor I washed it down with a cold Abita Amber, in a can no less.

Come visit Hammerheads soon, and get your eat on, but bring a big appetite and try ordering several menu items to share, tapas style. If you like common fare with an exotic twist, you also should check out Game, the other restaurant run by this crew.

Hammerheads | 921 Swan Street | Louisville | 502-365-1112

Posted in Food, Reviews, Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Nach Bar in Louisville

Posted on October 24, 2014 by theurbanllama

Nach Bar 1To be perfectly honest we were originally headed over to the venerable dive, Check’s, on a recent evening out in Germantown, but they were still closed for remodeling. No worries, just down the way is the excellent neighborhood hipster joint, the Nach Bar.

It’s a drinking bar with a solid beer menu, scoring a 93 (outstanding) from the BeerAdvocate. Whether you are into hoppy IPAs, imports or Sterling, it is available and often on tap at the Nach Bar.

This joint gets full at night, especially on the weekends. Often there is a live music angle or DJs. There are a few tables and bench seating at times, along with a fantastic patio area.

It just seemed like a blue-collar kind of afternoon, so we went classic with a couple rounds of Boilermakers. Budweiser with a shot of Maker’s Mark to be exact. While hanging out two DJs showed up and started spinning metal tunes. It seemed perfectly bizarre yet normal.

I quickly realized that if we went for another round, which I really would have enjoyed, we would likely still be at the Nach Bar, and that is the beauty of this gem. It’s the kind of place where great ideas are hatched, world problems are solved and questionable decision making is on full display. Loved it as always – Cheers Nach Bar!

Nach Bar | 969 Charles Street | Louisville, KY | 502-637-4377

Posted in Liquor, Music, Reviews, Travel | Tagged | Leave a comment

McConnell “Rimracked” in Debate with Kentucky Senate Challenger

Posted on October 14, 2014 by theurbanllama

McConnell ChickenTonight the good people of Kentucky were given their one and only chance to see the two candidates running for the U.S. Senate seat in the Commonwealth square off against each other in a debate. Both Alison Lundergan Grimes and Sen. Mitch McConnell gave uneven performances, but for different reasons.

Grimes, the Democrat, hasn’t been in a race of this magnitude or had to provide answers off-the-cuff against a Washington veteran like the incumbent. She is not the smoothest public speaker, and it doesn’t help that she is running as a Democrat in a red state, where she must word her answers very carefully in order to not sound too left or right. It is a delicate balance, but she does seem genuine. Whereas McConnell has been at this for 30-years. The senator makes his answers difficult and deceptive on purpose.

Looking at the performance of both candidates objectively, I would give Grimes an easy victory tonight on points. Not a knockout by any means, but Grimes was the aggressor throughout the evening. She jabbed McConnell consistently, was prepared, never became rattled and counter-punched the senior senator whenever he did manage a good shot.

The problem for McConnell is he has an extensive public record and that is hard to escape. At this point there are enough statements made by the senator himself that no one has to guess what his intentions might be. Since President Obama took office McConnell has been the obstructionist-in-chief. He is the ringleader of partisan politics. That is a heavy crown to wear.

McConnell is on record stating it is not his job to find employment opportunities for Kentuckians. There is not a lot of wiggle room left for interpretation in that statement, and it made his declaration during the debate that “jobs” would be his top priority impossible to believe. In fact what stood out tonight was McConnell’s refusal to offer “anything” he currently supports or recommends that would be a game-changer in terms of improving life for those living in Kentucky. He talks about this war on coal, but let’s be honest, that industry is dying and it isn’t coming back.

Retraining former coal miners and getting them back in the labor force is the way to go, but supporting the continued flogging of a dead horse isn’t an enlightened thought. It’s also disingenuous to criticize the slow economic recovery in America, while being in office under a Republican Administration that ran the economy into the ground and not drawing the parallel. Lest we forget, as Grimes pointed out, it was the Republicans that designed and implemented two wars under Bush that were completely funded by deficit spending, along with tossing in a couple tax cuts that really added to the deficit. It’s an inconvenient truth for Republicans, but a fact, and their economic ponzi scheme came crumbling down by 2008.

McConnell is right, this race is about the next six years and who will do the best job for Kentucky. Of course McConnell is in position as Senate Minority Leader to have great influence, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he would wield it for Kentucky’s benefit. McConnell also is correct that the economy has been less than robust, but I heard not one solution from the man for how he would improve that situation.

I don’t see with McConnell’s obstructionist past, statement about it not being his job to bring employment opportunities to Kentucky, and zero suggestions for how he might improve anything, how he possibly deserves another term, regardless of his potential influence.

At least Grimes is trying. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why McConnell has no suggestions for how to fix any of our current problems – because he represents the top 1 percent of wage earners in American, and those are the only people who got richer during the last recession.

McConnell’s sponsors don’t want anything fixed. They’re positioned to continue growing their earnings if things don’t improve. So providing affordable health insurance to over 500,000 Kentuckians is not something that excites McConnell’s backers. His buddies in the insurance industry would prefer to still be able to exclude coverage from those with pre-existing conditions or charge them substantially more, because the old way of doing health care made them all wealthier – but here in Kentucky, kynect has made a huge difference in peoples’ lives. It has allowed sick people to go to the doctor and get better. There is nothing sinister about that, and Sen. McConnell still has no answer for how he would replace the coverage these people now have if the Affordable Care Act was repealed as McConnell suggests.

Question: How would you vote on a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act?
Alison Grimes: “Well I have said that this is a matter of standing up for 500,000 Kentuckians, over half a million Kentuckians. There’s work that we have to do to fix the Affordable Care Act, but we have to have a senator that actually realizes what the realities are here in Kentucky, and the fictional fantasyland that Mitch McConnell is in, it doesn’t show the statistics that are here in this state. We have over half a million Kentuckians who for the first time ever are filling prescriptions, they are going to the doctor, they’re getting checkups; I will not be a senator that rips that insurance from their hands.”

Sen. McConnell what do you think about increasing the minimum wage? Nope, it will cost jobs.
How about student loan reform? No need, it’s Obama’s fault the economy isn’t working.
Well what about equal pay for equal work? That was passed back in the 60s, women make pretty close to the same dollar as men do.
Climate change? Ridiculous, let’s fire up another antiquated coal plant.
Okay, health care reform, I mean we do have 40 million Americans that were lacking health insurance prior to the Affordable Care Act coming on line? They can keep the website up if they like but I’d pull the funding from the program that is covering the health care of over 500,000 Kentuckians. They don’t “really” need it.

There seems to be a trend building here. As Alison Grimes so eloquently stated to Sen. McConnell, “You are consistently against helping people here in Kentucky earn a living wage.” That is how the U.S. Senate debate went tonight in Kentucky. I’m not sure which alternate planet it is Mitch McConnell lives on, but he sure got “rimracked” this evening.

Posted in Events, News, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Elijah Craig 23-Year Old Bourbon Available

Posted on October 11, 2014 by theurbanllama

Elijah Craig 23For those with some serious discretionary income and a thirst for exquisitely priced spirits, the wait is over. Heaven Hill Distilleries, the country’s largest independent family-owned and operated spirits producer and marketer, has announced a new limited edition release of Elijah Craig 23-Year Old Single Barrel Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey.

Heaven Hill, which holds the world’s second-largest inventory of bourbon and the most “extra-aged” barrels of any distillery, began shipping this rarity in August at an eye-catching price tag of $199.99 for the 750ml bottle of 90 proof bourbon.

The new bottling follows up on the success of the sold-out Elijah Craig 20-Year Old Single Barrel, released in 2012 and named “American Whiskey of the Year” by Whisky Advocate magazine, and the Elijah Craig 21-Year Old, released last fall and designated “Excellent/Highly Recommended” at the 2013 Ultimate Spirits Challenge.

Elijah Craig 23 shares much of its packaging with its predecessor, including the familiar flask-shaped Elijah Craig Single Barrel bottle and cork closure. Setting it apart from previous special editions is the green label for the Elijah Craig 23, instead of the blue label found on the 21-year old.

Since bourbon, by law, must age in new charred white oak barrels, staying in a barrel for 23 years makes barrel selection quite important. There are extreme temperature fluctuations on the highest floors of a rickhouse, and bourbon aging this long can come out tasting too woody or tannic. The barrels for Elijah Craig 23 are drawn from the middle floors of rickhouses, where the effects of long aging are mitigated by the more moderate temperature fluctuations. This careful barrel selection, drawn from Heaven Hill’s inventory of over one million aging barrels, means the whiskey offers depth and complexity but still perfectly maintains the delicate balance between barrel and bourbon.

Posted in Liquor | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Drinking in America

Posted on October 11, 2014 by theurbanllama

You had me at the title. “Drinking in America” is a 1986 Eric Bogosian play, and was the season opener for The Balagula Theatre Company in its new space at the Farish Theater in Lexington. It was a one man show starring Adam Luckey, who deftly plays 12 individual characters in vignettes crossing a spectrum of circumstances.

This was a pleasure to attend, and a performance where I could sit back and allow Luckey’s animated renditions of various stoners, drunks and zealots to wash across me. In “Journal,” the plays opening monologue, Luckey portrays a young college student tripping on acid who is staying at his parent’s house. When the doorbell rings he opens it, naked, to find a beautiful woman standing there. He invites her in and they share a creepy interlude that ends badly, with the woman fleeing the house. Our tripping college student has a moment of psychedelic clarity, and auto-corrects what just happened by convincing himself that she wasn’t ready for the powerful attraction they shared, and that he is clearly irresistible. His solution, drop out of college and move to Portland, OR.

There was plenty of drinking, marijuana, cocaine, Quaaludes and heroin throughout the evening. While the activities portrayed are heightened through the use of alcohol and chemicals, there is a dark underside made obvious, that these are coping mechanisms and usually there is some kind of frightening behavior displayed that gets explained away at the moment, but the inference is clear that the incident will have serious implications later.

In “Our Gang” Luckey recounts a wild night of partying with friends that involved a toxic cocktail of chemicals, and while the “gang” thought they shared a bonding experience of overcoming obstacles in their nocturnal journey, the reality is they stole a car, physically assaulted three innocent people, and destroyed all manner of property.

Not every portrayal involved a controlled substance. In “Godhead” it was the pulpit of religious extremism that intoxicated the character. In “Melting Pot” it was work-work-work. That was the only thing that mattered, and the only way to reach the American Dream.

Luckey did an amazing job of shifting so quickly in and out of character, usually with only well-chosen snippets of music or other sound references to help exit the previous scene and open the next. Congrats to The Balagula Theatre Company and Adam Luckey for putting on such an entertaining performance.

Posted in Events, Reviews | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Buffalo Trace earns Whisky America Awards

Posted on October 11, 2014 by theurbanllama

Bourbon 4Buffalo Trace Distillery was named “Brand Innovator of the Year” by Whisky Magazine in their Icons of Whisky America Awards 2015. Buffalo Trace, located in Frankfort, KY, earned this prestigious award for its Experimental Collection and the building of its Warehouse X, the most advanced whiskey warehouse ever built.

The Experimental Collection is a journey this distillery is on in an attempt to find the perfect whiskey. Buffalo Trace began experimenting with recipes and barrel treatments more than two decades ago. Currently there are over 2,000 experimental barrels of whiskey aging in its warehouses. Each of the barrels has unique characteristics and experimental changes in the mash bill, types of wood, barrel toasts and more. Periodically, an experimental whiskey is bottled and sold on a limited basis.

Buffalo Trace Master Distiller Harlen Wheatley was also named “Distillery Manger of the Year.” The visitor center at Buffalo Trace was highly commended in the “Visitor Attraction of the Year” category, and Buffalo Trace itself was highly commended in the “Distiller of the Year” category.

Posted in Liquor, Travel | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The American Dream Takes A Dive

Posted on September 30, 2014 by theurbanllama

Optimism was previously one of the great gifts America offered the world. The idea that anyone, no matter where they came from, could find their way to America and through hard work, effort and accomplishment, make a grand life in the United States. There was boundless enthusiasm for what could be accomplished and wide-eyed grandeur at what the coming generations might accomplish. This previously was a limitless commodity, but that confidence in the American Dream has slipped.

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll asked a simple question that cuts to the core of where American life is right at this moment: Will life for our children’s generation be better than it has been for us?

The answer to that question up till now has been a defiant and unequivocal YES. The result of this latest poll shows that things neither are going well now, nor are they showing promise to improve for the next generation, as 76 percent of those polled no longer have the confidence that our children will live a better life.

In 2001, 49 percent were confident of things getting better and 42 percent were not.

There is no doubt that since 2000 the intensity and uncertainty surrounding American life has escalated. It’s like a terror threat level. We all live on heightened alert.

From 9/11, to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, devastating hurricanes and tornadoes, the unpredictability of climate change in general, the radical increase technology has brought to the speed of life, the massive financial collapse in 2007/2008 left many in ruins, stagnant wages for decades in the face of increases in the cost-of-living, depletion of natural energy reserves, pollution, lack of water reserves, disease, crime, drugs, guns, corporate greed, an across-the-board slippage in the quality of life, health care, infrastructure and education, and a dangerous partisan polarization among both political parties that has resulted in no solutions, only gridlock and smoldering hatred.

There is no getting around the fact that many of these issues deserved attention previously and dialing in could have helped to mitigate, prevent or at least decreased the current impact they may be having on society – but Americans are by nature a reactionary society. We tend to have to be hit over the head with a calamity before we pay any attention.

Previously residents in the U.S. could choose to not pay attention to hot-button issues of the day, stick their heads in the sand and go about their lives oblivious to the news, but it’s hard to miss the twin towers collapsing. People are trying to move on with their hectic, stress-filled lives, but the American fabric is torn. Climate change doesn’t care about your soccer schedule or impending conference call.

The gloom in this poll cut across gender, wealth, race, geographical region, age and ideology. The overwhelming conclusion is that consumer confidence in the American dream is failing. It’s really hard and hateful out there for folks these days, especially for older Americans on fixed incomes. We’re lacking the support structure, money and political will to care for people or be good stewards for our environment or country.

I find it amusing that Jimmy Carter tried to address energy conservation, reliance on foreign oil, terrorism and tending to our natural resources during his presidency in the 1970s, but was voted out of office. Nobody wanted to stop the American party train to discuss downer topics like conservation. Instead we went with Ronald Reagan’s masquerade of pick-up trucks, cowboys and American flags. Nothing wrong with imagery, but it has turned out to be rather hollow, as we have seen more recently with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

Our politicians don’t like acting on issues if they don’t have immediate resolutions that play well in 30-second commercials. Nor does anyone want to get serious about campaign finance reform, so we could have regular Americans, not just the wealthy, running for political office. This leaves us in a quandary. If there are no easy answers to the serous problems confronting our country, and the public and politicians don’t want to make the necessary sacrifices to create solutions, then we as a society can only sink further into the abyss.

We see this playing out in real-time with President Obama. He has delivered on many of the big issues he promised to address coming into office. The country is certainly on far better footing than where it was when he came into office in 2008. But between the color of his skin and complexity of issues at hand, Congress refuses to allow for level-headed compromise to find solutions and the public has no true will to push for action.

America remains a great country, it’s just a bit tarnished. This is a young country and it is going through growing pains. The simplistic version of what we need to do is get over being spoiled and selfish. This isn’t any huge surprise. The predominance of our society that presided over the rise in America’s power is either still alive or passed away relatively recently, within the last 30-40 years. Aside from the world wars that have been fought, these generations of Americans have never been told NO about much of anything. Life generally only improved, and things were supposed to keep getting better for the following generation(s).

That has always been the message emanating from America, so it’s not surprising we are having behavioral issues when it turns out everyone is not a winner. Our country’s response is childlike. Confronted with the reality that we can’t have what we want, in this case continued increasing prosperity, we pout and throw a fit. I’m not sure what happens if one of the older generations doesn’t first make the conscious decision to sacrifice some of what they have in terms of comfort in order to make changes to benefit future generations. I suppose the change in attitude could come from a younger age group, but they fail to vote, so they lack any political power. Millennials are chatty on social media, but not so great in terms of actually getting out there live and engaging, and certainly they have entitlement issues.

Admittedly this is a hard one to crack. Everything isn’t going to go to Hell at once, so it requires placing faith in trying to fix something proactively that we may personally never see the benefit from, but will help out our kids. Clearly folks feel things are not getting better or we wouldn’t see such a resounding negative result from this recent poll, yet we make no effort to change.

It’s like dealing with addicts; they know their behavior is wrong but they abuse themselves anyway. It’s a way to self-medicate and numb oneself from outside forces. That is what America is doing. We keep living a lifestyle we all know is not sustainable, but crave the lust. Like any major change in America, it requires a cataclysmic event. Sorry folks, you can’t keep your cake and eat it too. The cake is all gone.

Posted in News, Politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

Experimental Ebola Vaccine Developed in Kentucky Tobacco Country

Posted on August 31, 2014 by theurbanllama
Officials in Liberia remove a victim of Ebola.

Officials in Liberia remove a victim of Ebola.

The Ebola outbreak spreading through West Africa now is expected to take upwards of nine months to be brought under control and could result in the infection of an estimated 20,000 people, at a cost of $490 million, according to a new 27-page report from the World Health Organization, which outlines a “road map” to end the outbreak.

One possible hero in this grim situation potentially resides in Owensboro, KY, with the declining tobacco industry there. This area is more notable for its barbecue and bourbon, but Kentucky BioProcessing is suddenly playing a lead role in finding a cure for patients infected with the deadly Ebola virus.

The Owensboro-based company has produced an experimental serum known as ZMapp, using local tobacco, which assisted in the cure of two American aid workers infected overseas. The tobacco acts like a photocopier to mass produce proteins used to make the serum. It’s similar to antibodies being produced in the bodies of people or animals after an infection. The plants are used to make the antibodies, and then they purify the antibodies, which is a faster process than traditional methods.

ZMapp had never been tested on humans previously, but subsequently has been successful in curing non-human primates infected with the Ebola virus.

This week a fifth country in West Africa joined Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, in having a confirmed Ebola infection, as a man with Ebola symptoms showed up at a hospital in the Republic of Senegal. He is a 21-year old university student from Guinea, who concealed the fact that he had contact in Guinea with victims of Ebola. He has been quarantined in stable condition at a hospital in Dakar, Senegal’s capital.

The overall death rate for this outbreak of Ebola is 51 percent, with more than 40 percent of the cases having occurred in the past three weeks. To date there are 3,069 confirmed infections, resulting in 1,552 deaths. The troubling concern is that as disturbing as those numbers may be, officials worry that in areas where there is intense transmission the actual infection numbers could be two to three times as high as currently reported, due to families hiding infected members leading to all family members becoming contaminated.

Posted in News, Politics, Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a comment