Can a computer ever be a sommelier? | Joe Fattorini

Recorded in February 2022, a Brigadoon Monthly Call with Joe Fattorini.

Joe is Managing Director + Behavioural Science Lead @ PixWine and known around the world as "Obi Wine Kenobi", the expert presenter on The Wine Show.

Between researching his MPhil on Food & Religion and teaching Structuralist Food Theory and Hotel Valuation Models, Joe wrote the world’s first textbook on selling and marketing wine in restaurants. A book still used in universities over 20 years later.

In 2016 he was a nominee for the Wine and Spirit Education Trust Outstanding Alumni Award. This is a new annual accolade to celebrate a WSET Diploma graduate who is notably contributing to the industry.

You can follow Joe on Instagram here.

Shownotes:

Obi Wine Kenobi runs Marathon du Médoc.  

PixWine: Pix is the world's first wine discovery platform with a simple matchmaking mission: to pair people with bottles that bring them joy.

Wine choice is situational: "Middle-aged English businessmen, their palates apparently changed at Waterloo Station."

Stated preferences vs. Revealed preferences

Social capital is "the networks of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling that society to function effectively." In The Forms of Capital, Pierre Bourdieu distinguishes between three forms of capital: economic capital, cultural capital, and social capital.

James Bond has saved the world and beaten the bad buys because of his wine knowledge.

James Bond: The wine is quite excellent. Although for such a grand meal, I would have expected a claret.

Mr. Wint: But of course. Unfortunately, our cellar is poorly stocked with clarets.

James Bond: Mouton Rothschild IS a claret. And, I've smelled that aftershave before, and both times - I've smelled a rat.

-- Diamonds Are Forever

Read: Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference - Judea Pearl

"A lot of people aren't looking for the best wine; they are looking for the guaranteed not shit one."

Binge-watching Netflix for a living: How a Netflix tagger helps you discover new shows: The good, the bad, and the boring kids' stuff of metadata analysis for a streaming service. Toms Guide

The most magical place on Earth: Inside the great NBA bubble experiment. GQ - Taylor Rooks

What is mimetic theory? COV&R

Read: Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life - Luke Burgis

Explore vs. Exploit

How people decide what to buy lies in the 'messy middle' of the purchase journey Google

Google's new 'messy middle' — what's it all about? Nick Barthram

Monty Python: The upper-class twit of the year YouTube

Veblen good: Type of luxury good for which the demand for a good increases as the price increases, in apparent (but not actual) contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. The higher prices of Veblen goods may make them desirable as a status symbol in conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure practices.

The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (1899) is a treatise of economics and sociology written by the Norwegian-American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen.

The 1855 Bordeaux Classification: The ranking system put in place by Napoleon III still influences today's market. Wine Spectator

Decanting the meteoric rise of Whispering Angel: Sacha Lichine teaches us all to embrace La Vie En Rosé. Gentleman's Journal

Endurance + Obi-Wan Kenobi | Chad Munitz

On this episode of Brigadoon Radio, Chad Munitz and Marc Ross discuss GQ's 50 holy grails of modern menswear, the appeal of ‘post-industrial parks, the new office and the end of the five-day workweek, Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship, and what they are reading and watching.

Show notes for this episode of Brigadoon Radio:

The 50 holy grails of modern menswear: Men’s fashion is as big and exciting right now as it’s ever been. Which makes it the perfect time to take a look at some of the legendary pieces from fashion history that got us here. GQ

The irresistible appeal of the ‘post-industrial park’: In Parks for Profit, a sociologist argues that glitzy urban parks that rely on private funders can trigger displacement and drain resources from other public spaces. Michael Friedrich

They walked 50 miles in a day, and swear LA is 'very walkable' LAT

Remote-work experts are in demand as return to office begins anew: Business school professors who studied working from home long before it became cool have become sought-after advisers to the C-suite. Bloomberg

83%: A report by Accenture found 83% of workers surveyed preferred a hybrid model — in which they can work remotely at least 25% of the time.

When your boss becomes a hologram: Google, Microsoft, and a slew of startups are experimenting with 3D communications. Bloomberg

The new office: Workers have disconnected from traditional office space, leaning into private escapes for inspiration and team collaboration. WT

Office occupancy rates across the country are creeping up after a January dip: Across 10 major US cities, it was an average of 31 percent of pre-Covid levels earlier this month, up from 23 percent in early January, according to the security firm Kastle Systems.

The five-day workweek is dying: And the implications for work and cities are going to be fascinating. Derek Thompson

Tech companies held 36 of the 100 biggest office leases in 2021, up from 18 in 2020, per a new CBRE analysis.

Explorer Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship, the Endurance, has been found. It sank in 1915 on an Antarctic voyage and was discovered at the weekend.

Obi-Wan Kenobi IMDb

Spider-Gwen: Gwenverse (2022) #1 Marve

The Rewatchables Ringer

Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend Team Coco

Monocle's The Entrepreneurs 

BBC Sounds

You Wanna? - NEZ YouTube

HBD ML #50

For more information on Chad, check out:

LinkedIn

For more information on Marc, check out:

Web

Twitter

LinkedIn

For more information on Kownacki Media Holdings, check out:

Web

2nd-order effects | Gerald Ashley

On this episode of Brigadoon Radio, Gerald Ashley and Marc Ross discuss Ukraine and second-order effects on commodities, shipping, and emerging markets. Plus anti-Russia rhetoric, President Biden's executive order on studying crypto and a Central Bank Digital Currency and what they are reading and watching.

Show notes for this episode of Brigadoon Radio:

The information war isn’t over yet: The online fight between Russia and Ukraine has already surprised propaganda experts. It may only get more chaotic. Charlie Warzel

McDonald’s didn’t just close 850 restaurants in Russia. It froze a whole 30-year investment. WP

‘No off-ramps’: US and European officials don’t see a clear endgame in Ukraine: The situation seems destined to result in an even deadlier and more protracted slog, wreaking devastation in Ukraine and causing a massive humanitarian crisis. WP

Denial of denim: Levi’s Russia pullback sparks memories of Soviet era: Blue 501s jeans from the USA became a potent symbol of dissent behind the Iron Curtain. FT

Egypt to ban exports of staple foods to safeguard reserves Bloomberg

London Metal Exchange halts nickel trading after short squeeze Bloomberg

Food crisis looms as Ukrainian wheat shipments grind to halt: Prices to soar as Black Sea ports at a virtual standstill amid Russian assault. FT

Will the Ukraine war derail the green energy transition? As Europe scrambles to find alternatives to Russian oil and gas and global energy prices soar, coal could be the winner. FT

Anchorage: The little airport on the top of the world: Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is an unassuming cargo hub, equidistant between New York and Tokyo and, as its website declares, just 9.5 hours flying time from 90% of the industrialized world. Now that more than 30 countries have banned Russia from their airspaces, with Russia responding in kind -- and Ukraine and Belarus airspace also closed -- Anchorage could prove strategically important. CNN

Thousands of Ukrainian and Russian sailors remain stuck in ports: Thousands of Ukrainian and Russian seafarers are stuck in ports around the world as the war in Ukraine intensifies and shipowners are scrambling to find replacement crews to keep strained supply chains rolling. Crews from Russia and Ukraine make up a combined 17% of the world’s 1.9 million sailors and at least 60,000 are currently at sea or at ports waiting, according to shipping executives and crewing agencies. WSJ

Cardiff Philharmonic removes Tchaikovsky from program in light of Russian invasion of Ukraine: The orchestra had an all-Tchaikovsky concert scheduled for next week, but has decided to change the program having deemed it to be 'inappropriate' at this time. BBC

Alex Ovechkin Skates Into Canada’s Ukrainian Enclave as a Scorned Star: The Capitals, led by the Russian president’s high-profile supporter, played the Oilers in Edmonton, home to a large concentration of the Ukrainian diaspora. NYT

A wave of anti-Russian hysteria is sweeping across the West Brendan O’Neill

Biden takes big step toward government-backed digital currency: The Biden administration is throwing its support behind further study and development of what would be known as a US Central Bank Digital Currency. NBC News

Bitcoin price surges on Biden’s crypto executive order: President Biden signed an executive order instructing federal agencies to study the possible risks presented by cryptocurrencies and consider the creation of a US digital currency. WSJ

Central bank digital currencies - executive summary BIS

Blockchain and money: This course is for students wishing to explore blockchain technology's potential use—by entrepreneurs and incumbents—to change the world of money and finance. The course begins with a review of Bitcoin and an understanding of the commercial, technical, and public policy fundamentals of blockchain technology, distributed ledgers, and smart contracts. The class then continues on to current and potential blockchain applications in the financial sector.  MIT Sloan School of Management 

The Shirkey Principle (or why you're not just the solution but the problem)  Box of Crayons Blog

The Origin of Financial Crises: Central banks, credit bubbles, and the efficient market fallacy George Cooper

The Courier IMDb

The Dropout IMDb

Drive to Survive IMDb

For more information on Gerald, check out:

Web

Twitter

For more information on Marc, check out:

Web

Twitter

LinkedIn

For more information on Kownacki Media Holdings, check out:

Web

Less logic. More magic. | Rory Sutherland

A Brigadoon Monthly Call with Rory Sutherland - Vice Chairman @ Ogilvy UK and author of Alchemy: The Surprising Power Of Ideas That Don't Make Sense.

Recorded in April 2021, Rory is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, an attractively vague job title that has allowed him to co-found a behavioral science practice within the agency.

He works with a consulting practice of psychology graduates who look for 'unseen opportunities' in consumer behavior - these are the minimal contextual changes that can have enormous effects on the decisions people make - for instance, tripling the sales rate of a call center by adding just a few sentences to the script.

Ghost five + Chicago elites | Chad Munitz

On this episode of Brigadoon Radio, Chad Munitz and Marc Ross discuss Major League Soccer, the James Beard Awards, restaurants and urban revitalization, The Henri, spaghetti tacos, music discovery, the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, Magazine B - Brand Documentary Magazine, and what they are reading and watching.

Here are the show notes and support materials for this episode of Brigadoon Radio:

MLS 2022 Kickoff: Previewing the league and all 28 teams. SBI

Football League Rankings: A list of professional football leagues in the world and their strength. FLR

World Football / Soccer Clubs Ranking FootballDatabase

Which MLS teams are most watchable in 2022? The Athletic

MLB owners could delay Opening Day if there’s no labor deal by Monday CNBC

The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports - Joshua Robinson + Jonathan Clegg Amazon

The full list of James Beard Awards restaurant and chef semifinalists Grub Street

Restaurants and urban revitalization: The case of center city Philadelphia UPenn

If restaurants go, what happens to cities? Restaurants have been crucial in drawing the young and highly educated to live and work in central cities. The pandemic could erode that foundation. NYT

Le Peloton Café: Coffee, community, and cycling culture in central Paris. Instagram

The Henri: A modern bistro featuring communal and private dining spaces located in the heart of Downtown Washington, DC. Instagram

Spaghetti Tacos Food

How a single music discovery platform could change the world HypeBot

Want to delete Spotify? These are the alternatives: Spotify still dominates algorithmic discovery, but others have tricks, too. Ars Technica

How to build and preserve a record collection Digital Trends

KRCW: A National Public Radio member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming from NPR and other affiliates. Web

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio Web

Superchunk Web

Remi Wolf Web

Frightened Rabbit Web

Lord Huron Web

Saga Web

Y: The Last Man Web

Magazine B - Brand Documentary Magazine Web

For more information on Chad, check out:

LinkedIn

For more information on Marc, check out:

Web

Twitter

LinkedIn

For more information on Kownacki Media Holdings, check out:

Web