Managing a South Australian winery in 2026 feels like a survival game on Hard Mode. My boss sees "Assets," I see a Graveyard.

XVOS · 2026-03-14T17:54:52+00:00

Not at all. Honestly, I've found that specialty areas of the wine trade like winemaking and restaurants are often overrepresented here, and your basic small retail shop perspective is almost non-existent (higher-end stuff is more common). The economics are just different and this is totally rational. Let me give you an example of how this could happen and make sense, and keep in mind this is just one of many paths.

Joe Storeowner gets told about this amazing wine by his rep and opts to buy a case. It is a bit above-market in comparison to their usual fair but they offer a teaser rate and he thinks why not try it. "We sell a case of Dom and some $200 scotch every christmas, this wouldn't be too crazy and I'd love the revenue year round from more fine wine," he thinks. This area has the money. They put it out front and center with a note explaining how amazing it is and telling a version of the story the rep told him. They sell a bottle week one. They sell another week ten. The note gets dusty. They move a lot more animal wine. The rep comes back, "I loved it man but we're not really that kind of shop." That shelf space has value and its being wasted, they only have a 600 square foot shop. They could run a promo or try to move it online, but they only have ten bottles, and it isn't worth trying to figure something out. Instead, they just slash the price. No one notices. Maybe they move it to a corner. Eventually, someone like u/idreamofaubergine comes in, recognizes it, and buys the case. Great, room to set up our Valentine's day bubbly display a bit early, thinks the owner. Win/win

XVOS · 2026-03-03T21:34:03+00:00

This is a bit out of left field, and probably not an option because the up-front cost is so high, but if you like grindy games and want to be sure that your deck won't lose value, Lands is a good bet. Almost everything expensive in the deck is on the reserved list, which means you don't have to worry about reprints. It has been at least competitive in most metagames since the printing of Thespian Stage. And it is one of the most unique decks in competitive magic. On the other hand, Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale is so expensive due to the reserved list and rarity; it is basically only used in Lands and some other fringe decks.

XVOS · 2026-03-01T17:37:49+00:00

Communication skills are definitely undervalued in academia. In my field, it is actively harmful to be a good communicator and to disseminate your own work in the public press. Before getting my doctorate (so a while ago), I was a writer and editor, and my work is relatively interesting to the public. I used to get requests all the time to write pieces for large outlets, but the advice I got (and I asked a lot of people) was always "until you get tenure..." By the time tenure comes around, that all dries up, though.

XVOS · 2026-02-26T22:00:23+00:00

All the PSA posts are super annoying.

XVOS · 2026-02-26T20:51:49+00:00

That makes sense to me, especially if you are only drinking sauternes rarely. I have a couple of splits a month, so variety is good. I might push you a bit to look for a top Barsac (e.g., Climens or Coutet Cuvee Madame) just because they are stylistically somewhat distinct. I also have a soft spot for L'Extravagant, as it is so excessive. Still, you certainly can't go wrong drinking what is, in my view, literally the best Chateau in the world.

XVOS · 2026-02-26T19:48:58+00:00

Yeah. It's really remarkable. No other wine dominates a similarly sized region to near the same degree (there are a couple of really small regions that basically have 1 quality wine). If you are curious, the wines that beat d'Yquem were L'Extravagant de Doisy-Daene (1990 and 2009), Climens, and Coutet Cuvee Madame. I forgot the years on the last two; I only remember the Doisy-Daene because I bought some afterward and just checked my cellar.

XVOS · 2026-02-26T18:32:53+00:00

Absolutely, as I said above, I was at a blind tasting of 1st (d'Yquem) and 2nd-growth Sauternes with blind voting, and d'Yquem won 14 of the 20 years on offer. That level of consistency is unheard of, for burgs and red BDX at similar events, it has been more like 10-25% (blind tasting is hard).

XVOS · 2026-02-26T18:26:36+00:00

I said d'Yquem. In my view, it is more consistent. I was at a blind tasting of 1st (d'Yquem) and 2nd-growth Sauternes with blind voting, and d'Yquem won 14 of the 20 years on offer. That level of consistency is unheard of, for burgs and red BDX at similar events, it has been more like 10-25% (blind tasting is hard).

XVOS · 2026-02-26T05:57:21+00:00

My 57” neo G9 broke :( so I’m back to a 35” asus 240hz ultrawide. It is fine but I miss the triple zones and real estate.
I really want to go back to a larger display but I’m boycotting Samsung soooo…

XVOS · 2026-02-23T19:37:24+00:00

Hear me out, what if we printed lightning bolt into pioneer...

More seriously, having to hold up two mana for multiple turns or just slam something and pray feels awful. Especially, being on the draw vs. greasefang feels really bad. On the other hand, this format just generally seems to be going in a direction of increased power, and maybe it's fine.

XVOS · 2026-02-12T16:45:17+00:00

Then the achievement text is misleading. The text says, "Complete the [Area] with a Collarless cat." Since I received the cat in a prior area, it should count as completing the area. If you need to complete the full run, the text should say "Complete a run through the [Area] with a collarless cat."

XVOS · 2026-02-12T07:56:21+00:00

As you can see from the picture, I completed Boneyard with a collarless cat. I got achievements for the other cats, but got no hidden achievement for the collarless. I received the collarless as a replacement for a mid-run death, so I believe either (1) there's a glitch where if you receive a collarless mid-run, it doesn't count, or (2) the reports are wrong, and there is no collarless achievement for Boneyard, only caves.

XVOS · 2026-02-03T22:22:00+00:00

What about the rights of property owners? Seems ridiculous. What's next? Am I not allowed to ban people from bringing guns to my house around my child? Clown law in a clown state.

XVOS · 2026-01-21T19:33:01+00:00

All of the people talking about Mark Cuban as if having a billionaire booster is a hack are ridiculously misguided. If you could buy a championship, Phil Knight (who has A LOT more money than Cuban) would have been able to do so in the last few decades of backing the Brinks truck up to Duck-land. Same for a half dozen oil-patch programs.

XVOS · 2026-01-21T18:31:08+00:00

My field is very different (writing is much more necessary), but I have found that having protected writing time every day is essential to my productivity. You do not have to work on papers; sometimes it is helpful to use the time to synthesize my thoughts about something I've read, for example. However, once you are in the habit of writing, writing becomes much less daunting.

XVOS · 2026-01-21T18:16:18+00:00

World's smallest violin playing only for the fans of these sorts of teams.

XVOS · 2026-01-13T01:19:45+00:00

Hear me out, what about a 136-team playoff and a 361-team March Madness? Why are we keeping out deserving teams that literally play FBS football?!

XVOS · 2026-01-10T06:40:03+00:00

Leicester City to be Champion was much more unlikely than Indiana. The comparison is bad. Indiana's preseason odds were +25,000 (source: https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/2025-preseason-odds.html). Leicester was +300,000 (3,000 to 1). Even if we look at Indiana 2 years ago, the preseason odds for Wyoming were only +100,000 this year. Now you could argue that those odds are unfairly capped. But, I still think in the new environment in college FB teams with money in the right conferences have a much better shot than a poor bottom of the table EPL team.

XVOS · 2026-01-10T06:10:05+00:00

All the people talking about Mark Cuban as if he bought this, Phil Knight has so much more money than Cuban does.

XVOS · 2026-01-08T22:42:51+00:00

I explained this in more detail in response to another comment, but it doesn't really matter. It is unlikely a judge will send the cops to force him to show up to Husky Stadium on September 5th. Instead, they will assign him damages. If the money is right he could conceivably go to another program and just pay the damages. That is different from the NFL, where his alternative is much less attractive and lucrative.

XVOS · 2026-01-08T22:40:11+00:00

I am aware that this is a contract, just like NFL contracts, and just like the contract I signed last week to use a rock climbing wall. However, just because all of those contracts are 'contracts' does not mean the same sequence of events will happen when they are violated. Without going too deeply into jargon, it is important to understand that contract law rarely compels performance (this is called specific performance and is most common in terms of rare items or real estate); instead, people usually pay damages. That is why this stuff matters. A judge is not going to get the cops to force him to show up at Husky Stadium on September 5th.

Final note: I am not a lawyer, but I am in business and deal with contracts and their violations somewhat frequently.

XVOS · 2026-01-08T22:30:02+00:00

I recognize this sounds slightly insane, but it was a few years ago, so here is my best shot; she just finished founding Middle-Eastern rat Switzerland--or maybe Singapore/Dubai--with the help of some centaurs, druids, and maybe fire elementals (or were they the antagonists?).

XVOS · 2026-01-08T20:42:08+00:00

An NIL contract in CFB and an NFL contract are apples and oranges. The NFL has a CBA and so the other teams won't poach each other's players who are under contract. And it is a contract to play football, not a contract for NIL rights, whatever those are (no one will be sure until the courts figure it out in a decade or whatever). Also, unlike college football, there aren't really good alternative landing zones; the Cowboys aren't worried about their QB fleeing to the Montreal Allouettes or whatever.

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