Many a native will deny that there are any rules, insisting that everyone drinks what they like in Britain and that he drinks pints of lager only because it is thirst-quenching and he happens to like the taste (just as teenagers claim that they wear the latest street-fashion item because it is comfortable)

Sort of an off topic post today. Other blogs pointed me to two very cool sites yesterday that I thought I'd share.

The first is Passport to the Pub: A Guide to British Pub Etiquette written by some anthropologists at Britain's Social Issues Research Centre. I lived in London for a few months and spent quite a bit of time in British pubs - a lot of this resonated with me. Plus, much of it works well for bars in this part of the world too. My favorite thing about it is the writing style - it's written by anthropologists as a real anthropology paper.

The second is a very cool music site. Music Plasma will take a musical artist and graphically show you what other artists are related (in musical style terms) and their relative popularity. I'm not sure how useful it is, but it's a slick interface and fun to play with. Go over there, type in some of your favorite artists, and see what comes out.

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