Seriously, food coloring is about the worst thing that you can do to beer… including the kind of cheap shitty beer that generally gets food coloring dumped into it this time of the year.  All it is is a green mistake.  If you want to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by having an “Irish” beverage, just have a Guinness.  Or Harp.  Or Killian’s.  Or some Jameson.

I was going to wear a green t-shirt to work today, but ended up not doing so (I wore a salwar tunic top with elbow-length sleeves that kind of had some light green on it instead) because I didn’t have any t-shirts that would cover my bruises.  They may be the right color (they are at the yellow-green healing stage) but the bruises that I got at fencing practice last week just aren’t appropriate accessories for the office.

Ahem.  Now for some important news about the news.

I get my news from three sources – The Daily Show and Colbert Report (yes, it is a comedy news show, but I think that they do a better job of hitting important events and stories and are more “fair and balanced” in their presentation then, say, Fox News), NPR, and the New York Times online.

Starting March 28, the New York Times will begin charging for unlimited access to their web site and mobile apps.

If I don’t subscribe, I will be limited to “20 free articles (including blog posts, slide shows, video and other multimedia features) each calendar month on NYTimes.com, as well as unrestricted access to browse the home page, section fronts, blog fronts and classifieds.”  (This is from the article.  To my understanding, I can look at the headlines on, for example, the home page for free, but if I click on an article, that counts against my monthly allotment.)  I probably read 20 NY Times articles every day.

I will subscribe.  I read the NY Times online daily and I don’t want to lose access to that news source.  (I donate to NPR as well, because I want them to stay on the air and continue to fund shows like Car Talk and News from Lake Wobegone.)

On one hand, I can understand their need to charge something.  I doubt that they make much money from the ads on the site or from the sales of the print papers, and they have to pay their reporters something in order for all of us out in reader-land to continue to enjoy their high-quality content.  On the other hand, I do think that their prices are a little high.

After some additional thought I realize that a year’s subscription to the NY Times online is about how much I donate each year to support NPR.

However.  There is a difference.  I freely give that money to NPR, even though I could continue to enjoy their programming without contributing a red cent.  The NY Times, on the other hand, will cut me off if I don’t pony up.  It is the fundamental difference here between donation and coercion that is sticking a bit in my craw.