Author Archives: Niall Murphy

Last year, the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust discovered several crates of whiskey and brandy under the floorboards of the base-camp hut at Cape Royds from which the explorer Ernest Shackleton set out in his failed attempt to reach the South Pole in 1908.

On Monday, three bottles of Mackinlay’s whisky – for which the original recipe is long lost – were returned to the maker, White and Mackay in Scotland for analysis.

The whisky is believed to have been bottled in Scotland in 1896 or 1897, making it among the oldest in the world.

Richard Paterson, Whyte and Mackay’s master blender, said the analysis would be “for the benefit of the whisky industry”.

“Never in the history of our industry have we had a century-old bottle of whisky stored in a natural fridge and subjected to some of the harshest conditions on this planet,” he said.

“It is an absolute honour to be able to use my experience to analyse this amazing spirit.”

For the next six weeks, the whisky will be analysed, nosed, and tasted in full laboratory conditions.

Whisky Comes Home After A Century On Ice (Discovery News)

Evangelical church groups: now embracing their hipster brothers and sisters.

Nutshell: ‘They’re selling hippy wigs in Woolworths, man.’

The end is nigh.

Here’s a riddle: A young man walks into a building. From the outside, it looks like a nondescript, run-down, abandoned warehouse. Inside he finds mood lighting, music with throbbing bass, and young people wearing skinny jeans and superfluous scarves. A bar off to the side offers drinks of some sort, and a frenetically lit stage is shrouded in fog. Jumbo screens display what appear to be music videos. Everywhere people text on their iPhones.

Question: Is the man in a bar? Or is he in a church?

HipsterFaith (Christianity Today)

pic: PoorlyDrawnPeople

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Bad celebrities. Naughty celebrities.

Frank Sinatra (adultery and seduction [they used to be crimes, you know], 1938), Snoop Dogg (possession of a collapsible baton, 2006), Macauley Culkin (marijuana possession, 2004), David Crosby (drug and gun possession, 1982), Jane Fonda (assaulting a police officer, 1970), Lindsay Lohan (DUI, drug possession, 2007), Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson (dealing, possession of cocaine, heroin, 1994), Dudley Moore (domestic violence, 1994), David Bowie (felony pot possession, 1976), Dennis Hopper (reckless driving 1975), Jay-Z (alleged stabbing of record exec, 1999), Johnny Cash (possession of pills and tranquilizers, 1965), Keefer Sutherland, (misdemeanour assault, 2009), Jim Morrison (indecent exposure, 1970), Larry King (grand larceny, 1971), Li’l Wayne (felony drug possession, 2008), Matt Dillon (speeding, 2009), Keanu Reeves (DUI, 1993), Heather Locklear (hit and run, 2010), Jimi Hendrix (possession of heroin and hashish, 1969), Mel Gibson (DUI, 2006), Nick Nolte (DUI, 2002), OJ Simpson (murder, 1994), Ozzy Osbourne (public intoxication, 1984), Mickey Rourke (DUI, 2007), Vince Vaughn (fighting in public, 2001), Sam Shepard (DUI, 2009), Steve McQueen (DUI, 1972), Steve-O (indecent exposure, 2002), Tupac Shakur (felony sexual abuse of a female fan, 1995), Mike Tyson (misdemeanour criminal damage, 2004), Woody Harrelson (disturbing the peace, 1982).
Key sources: MugshotPictures,  Haven Video