Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 14/15, 2014.

A bi-weekly, non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.

Weeks 14/15
30 March - 13 April 2014

• 2014.04.13
  Joseph Bramah was born 266 years ago on 13 April 1748. Considered the 'father' of hydraulic engineering, Bramah would patent several inventions, including the 'beer engine': the hand-pump used to dispense cask-conditioned ale. Via Wikipedia.
  
  
• 2014.04.12
  The recently concluded 2014 World Beer Cup awarded medals in 94 beer styles. If all the sub-styles were added in, the total sytle count would come to 174. That, and the winners, via YFGF.
  
  
• 2014.04.09
  A serious security flaw called Heartbleed is attacking OpenSSL, the security infrastructure of the internet. The vulnerability may affect at least a half a million servers, worldwide. Via Chicago Tribune.
  
  
• 2014.04.08
  Microsoft ends support for Windows XP and Office 2003 on 8 April 2014. The operating system and program will become vulnerable to hacking and security intrusion. Via PC World.
  
  
• 2014.04.08
  The current state of beer journalism, and how to improve it. Via Heather Vandenengel (for The Session: Beer Blogging Friday).
  
  
• 2014.04.08
  "American craft brewing has become a pathetic nation of followers." Beer/whiskey writer Lew Bryson disputes the authenticity of many of the current rash of 'session' beers from U.S. 'craft' breweries. Via The Session Beer Project.
  
  



• 2014.04.07
  Belgium asks the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to recognize its beer culture as a "global cultural heritage." Via NPR.
  
  


• 2014.04.07
  "Life is Too Short." Famous Hollywood actor Mickey Rooney dies at 93. Via Washington Post.
  
  

• 2014.04.07
  7 April 1933 did NOT mark the end of Prohibition. Rather, it was the day that Congress redefined "intoxicating" beverages upward from 0.5% to 3.2% (by weight). The day has recently become known as National Beer Day and as Session Beer Day.
  
  
• 2014.04.05
  Is U.S. 'craft' beer's 'hop-bursting' a new brewing technique? (Via Beervana.) Or is it late-kettle hopping? (Via Zymurgy)
  
  
• 2014.04.05
  Microbiologists track the genomic ancestry of the first known pure lager yeast strain —Saccharomyces carlsbergensis— comparing it to another pure lager strain —Weihenstephan WS34/70. Via the G3 Journal (at Brookston Beer Bulletin).
  
  
• 2014.04.05
  Following Oskar Blues, Sierra Nevada, and New Belgium Brewing, Stone Brewing Company (of Escondido, California) plans to open a brewery on the East Coast. Candidates, in the state of Virginia, include the city of Norfolk and Albemarle County.
  
  
• 2014.04.05
  New York City rediscovers its brewing past, then demolishes it. The former site of Jacob Ruppert’s Knickerbocker Brewery, in Manhattan, to be a 35-story apartment building. Via New York Times.
  
  
• 2014.04.03
  David Letterman to retire in 2015. The late-night television host has had three decades on the air -the longest tenure of any late-night talk show host in U.S. television history- since "Late Night" was launched at NBC in 1982. Via SF Gate.
  
  
• 2014.04.03
  Carlsberg, Bitburger, Warsteiner, and other brewers found guilty of beer price-fixing in Germany. Via Just Drinks.
  
  



• 2014.03.30
  The U.S. Brewers Association says that the rules on spent grains proposed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) create onerous burdens for small breweries and farms.
  
  
• 2014.03.30
  Almost 30% of U.S. adults "consume" their news on Facebook. Via Pew Research (at Mashable).

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• Clamps and Gaskets is a bi-weekly wrap-up of stories not necessarily posted at Yours For Good Fermentables.com. Most deal with beer (or wine, or whisky); some do not. But all are brief, and many are re-posts from twitter.com/cizauskas.
• The Clamps and Gaskets graphic was created by Mike Licht at NotionsCapital.