Grab bag

I miss The WeLL.
In the pre-web days, I would turn to the WeLL when I had a technical question. For example, why the hell does the sidebar for my informal learning site disappear in Internet Explorer? Here is the same page viewed in Firefox (left) and IE (right).

After curing that problem with a little bit of help from my fellow WeLL-beings, I would have headed over the the Berkeley Conference to catch up with the folks demanding equal right for their peacocks, announcements of events, and Where To Eat. In the Eat conference, I would have noted a new restaurant:

Taste. Bistro, wine bar, wine store. My former wine merchant, Greg, and his pal Deepak, have opened a delightful place to eat and sip in the front of the Epicurious Garden complex on Shattuck, adjacent to Cesar and across the street from the Cheese Board. You can sit at a sidewalk table, the wine bar, or a table inside. The open kitchen prepares a variety of California cuisine. (I had two salads, a Caesar and a goat cheese.) Greg suggested a glass of Allan Scott sauviignon blanc to accompany. The wine selection is fantastic. For dessert I had a Schloss Vollrads riesling. I really like this place.
Taste could be dangerous for wine tasters on a budget. Several dozen wines are available by the ounce. You stick an in-house debit card in a slot above your bottle and out comes an ounce of wine. Or two. Or three…

For me, The WeLL was a Google for advice and discussion. Life was simpler then: there was nowhere else online to turn. The Web has wiped out totally generalist discussion sites.