Bloomberg Businessweek, which is not generally the sort of publication I spend a lot of time reading, has an interesting online feature this issue featuring a series of "how to" tips from people in the know, from Women's World Cup goalie Hope Solo on how to work under pressure to how to give a memorable TED talk. Perhaps the strangest? Former Microsoft smart guy Nathan Myhrvold offering a tip on how to rapidly decant wine...using a blender:

Wine lovers have known for centuries that decanting wine before serving it often improves its flavor. Whatever the dominant process, the traditional decanter is a rather pathetic tool to accomplish it. A few years ago, I found I could get much better results by using an ordinary kitchen blender. I just pour the wine in, frappé away at the highest power setting for 30 to 60 seconds, and then allow the froth to subside (which happens quickly) before serving. I call it "hyperdecanting."

Although torturing an expensive wine in this way may cause sensitive oenophiles to avert their eyes, it almost invariably improves red wines—particularly younger ones, but even a 1982 Château Margaux. Don’t just take my word for it, try it yourself.

But set up a proper blind taste test to avoid subconscious bias among the tasters. That’s a bigger problem than you might imagine. Researchers who examined the voting records of wine judges found that 90  percent of the time they give inconsistent ratings to a particular wine when they judge it on multiple occasions.

To avoid bias, use a "triangle test," which is a scientifically rigorous way to test for a perceptible difference between wine prepared two different ways. Get as many judges as you can—10 is the minimum to get good statistics. Give each judge three identical glasses, and label the glasses X, Y, and Z.

Hyperdecant half a bottle of wine and save the other half of the bottle to use for comparison. Out of view of the judges, pour an ounce or so of wine into each glass. The undecanted wine should go into two of the glasses, the hyperdecanted wine into the third, or vice versa. Vary the order of presentation among the judges so that not all are tasting the hyperdecanted wine first or last. Record which wine goes into which glass, and have the judges guess which two of their wines are the same. You’ll probably find that hyperdecanting does clearly change the flavor of the wine. To determine with scientific rigor whether your tasters prefer the hyperdecanted wine requires a more complex trial called a "paired preference" test, or "square" test. But a blind side-by-side comparison works passably well, too, and requires no math.

I haven't actually played a live game, only on a terrible iPhone app, but I am sincerely very excited for The Onyx Room's forthcoming Bid Whist tournaments:

Cleveland Style Bid Whist Tournament...Sponsored by The Onyx Room and Planet Beach Oro Valley...You think you are the best Bid Whist player around?

Come out and prove it! We supply the cards…You bring the fun! Bring a partner or team up with someone once you are here. Just don’t bring your C game to an A table.

WEDNESDAYS, OCTOBER 19TH— NOVEMBER 9TH, $5 per person per night. Admission includes (1) well drink.

Time is 6p to 10p with games starting promptly at 7p. CASH PRIZE.

Purchase tickets at The Onyx Room located at 106 W. Drachman, Tucson, AZ. Ticket purchases final. Official Rules provided by The Onyx Room. For more information call 520-620-6699.

This gives me nearly a month to become an expert Bid Whist player (not terribly likely), but it would be helpful if I had a partner instead of inflicting a stranger with my poor play. Let me know if you're interested. Mostly, I just like playing cards while drinking.

Good afternoon fair citizens. Allow me to turn your attention to an important fact about today, September 21. Today is not only the day in which millions of people feel torn between thinking it's both the first part of the week and the last part of the week; today it is Bill Murray's birthday. He is 61. Which makes him officially old enough for me to end all these "romantic feelings" I have for him. Right? That's what I'm supposed to do? What, I'm weird. Whatever.

Here are some of my favorite clips that I don't watch over and over again (yes I do).

There's nothing worse than being stuck in an airport. Everything from the overpriced-gaggy-microwaved food to sleeping on ungodly uncomfortable chairs just flat out sucks.

So what did two automotive photographers do when they got stuck in the Dallas Airport one night?
Well they didn't sleep, that's for sure. And the fact that they just happened to have over thirty-grand of video equipment on them is a good excuse for what consequently evolved into complete and utter awesomeness.

The best part is that every clip in the short film is 100 percent real, un-staged, shots.

Jalopnik.com, an automotive blog, interviewed the guys to see if they got in any trouble for dicking-around in the airport all night or stealing beer from a vacant bar. Here's the full interview if you were curious.

• Photo Ryn Gargulinski
• Dehydrating dogs find shade beneath a monster truck in Yuma.

You haven’t been to hell unless you’ve been to Yuma and your car’s air conditioner breaks down.

Actually, we were about 16 miles west of Yuma on our sizzling late-August road trip from Tucson to San Diego when the car’s air conditioner went kaput.

Our options were continuing onward through the upcoming boulders and dust in the 119-degree heat, stopping immediately and playing with the car’s fuse box in the hopes of getting the air conditioner to work or turning around and heading back to Yuma to find a mechanic. When playing with the fuses didn’t work, and continuing onward in the sweltering car would have killed my two dogs in the backseat, we opted to turn back.

By the time we reached Yuma city limits, our faces were bright red and slippery, our hair and clothes were drenched in sweat, and the two big dogs in the back were hyperventilating. One had a white and black tongue.

Hot car, hot air, hot tempers and dying dogs — yes, this must be hell. Our first stop was the first car repair garage we spotted. The three mechanic-looking men hanging around beneath an attached car port did have a giant fan the dogs enjoyed, but they didn’t have the means to help us. They instead sent us down the road to a place they said specialized in air conditioning.

We trudged into a sweltering front office where a scared-looking man apologized the place’s air conditioning was broken and no, he couldn’t help us either. The mechanic was out for the day and they only fixed radiators, anyway.

At this point a little demon man slipped into the hell scenario, advising a quick fix on the car that involved hooking up wires to bypass the switches. The man at the auto supply my beau then visited said sure, the quick fix would work — until it blew up the engine.

All the while my dogs and I crouched in sliver of shade atop hot concrete until they thought it looked cooler beneath a monster truck and proceeded to half-drag me beneath it.

Now you can skip the ragged unprofessionalism of trying to grow out a sad patchy hipster beard that doesn't quite create the aesthetic you hoped for and just jump to a convenient finished product (that you can also carry in your pocket). This is the convenience I was really hoping for from the 21st century. I wish it came in brown, but maybe that's next year's model.

[Archie McPhee]

I would have preferred a version of "Bad Dudes" starring Larry and Balki from Perfect Strangers, but I suppose this will do.

[BWE]

While the weatherman is probably over-reacting a bit, his co-workers are kind of big jerks. And who loses? The people of the city, just wanting to know what the weather will be like. It's sad, really.

[NYMag]

While I'm expressed my general confusion about the rise in My Little Pony fandom among seemingly socially adjusted adults, I'm not above wasting time making my very own super-cute pony online. The number of options available (add your own cutie mark!) are truly staggering and the creator still wants to add "about 20 manes and tails and some more accessories". Can you imagine the possibilities? I can't. It's too much for my brain, to be honest.

Related, but not really:

[Pony Creator]

I wrote some unkind words about Yelp a few weeks ago and loyal Yelpers rushed to their favorite site's defense, telling me I didn't understand the service or wasn't using it correctly. Well, they were right. I've seen the light, because it's clear experts are on Yelp providing their practical expertise based on their own experience:

[Reddit]