Quinn + Tonik Vol. 109: Fear Is The Mindkiller
First published to our newsletter recipients on April 19, 2020
"I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days."
Franklin D. Roosevelt's inaugeration speach was a peach. And he nailed 2020. Even though it was 1932.
As usual, scroll to the bottom, mix up that cocktail, then sit and enjoy. If you like it enough please tell your friends and colleagues - the more the merrier.
Cheers!
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the matrix: you are in it
The world has gone mad. But we're all surviving in it.
Before you click the link above and dive head first down the rabbit hole following the white rabbit, make sure you have that cocktail in hand...
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covid: update
You may remember we expressed a view as to the plague which has destroyed the US economy in a matter of weeks. Here is a link to Q+T Vol. 105: Invisible Bullets. One thing is becoming increasingly clear since then: the economic impact and related deaths will far outweigh those attributable to COVID-19.
Here is why we say this. As we had suggested may be the case, it looks as if the real mortality rate is between 0.12% and 0.2%. Seasonal flu is 0.3%. Regardless of the small statistical errors in counting of deaths (either up or down) the elephant in the room is the number of people infected. Which from antibody testing which has begun would appear to be somewhere in the region of 50x - 80x higher than being reported as confirmed cases using the methods and data nearly every predictive model had been using to arrive at their doomsday predictions. And this also has nothing to do with a better outcome through everyone being asked to stay at home (for the record we believe old and sick people should absolutely be protected from this, but in the general healthy populace the risk of death appears less than seasonal flu...)
We're far from out of the woods. But all indicators point to one initial report with badly researched data and worse inferences being propagated as fact by hysterical media reporting, and a cascade of later reports using the same assumptions to present us with a deadly plague. Truly the Black Swan of quantum mathematics. A butterfly opened its wings in China, and a tornado took out the US economy on the other side of the world as a result.
Have a read of these references for some basis for the musings above, and make up your own minds. And remember a bad year of seasonal flu in the US is up to 45,000,000 people infected, 810,000 hospitalized, and 60,000 dead, and also that background all cause mortality in the US averages 7,600 deaths per day in a normal year (2.8M per year.)
Despite our views DQ has been helping source masks for the NYPD and others on the frontlines from our contacts in China. Finally we have reason to respond to the deluge of e-mails we are bombarded with on a daily basis asking to be our suit manufacturing partner. As you know, we only make our suits in NYC, completely by hand, using our own small team. But being able to help those on the front lines is the best reason we could think of to engage in some US-China trade. So we did.
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loungewear: tuxedos
We have a simple dress code for our Quinn + Tonik: Quintessential Cocktails Zoom series (send us a message if you are interested in joining on Friday evenings): Cocktail attire, or pyjamas.
So if you are jones-ing to learn the dark art of cocktail-ing from a grand high wizard and are lacking the tuxedo, we have a couple of ready to wear ones available.
For bespoke just send us an email - we'd be happy to accommodate.
BUY TUXEDOS
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loungewear: pyjamas, nightgowns, and robes
Believe it or not, we've been pondering PJ's, nightgowns and robes for almost a decade. Inspired by a rather splendid robe worn by Sir David Niven in a 1960's movie we even had our silk mill prep a design in 2012. The world wasn't quite ready. But in corona-times it seems they may be just the ticket.
Pre-order now in the pattern above for delivery as soon as the silk is printed, cut, stitched and finished. All handmade, as usual, by our small team in NYC.
PJ'S PRE-ORDER
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join us: Q+T Zoom Cocktail
We've been having a riot of a Friday night.
Quinn + Tonik: Quintessential Cocktails Vol. 2 - "Hanky Panky with Vesper Lynd" was a roaring success. Drinks were mixed, toes curled, banter was had. We even had a direct feed via email from Hunter S. Thompson's former assistants to confirm the prescription of Hanky Panky's by the good Doctor as a hangover cure.
So up next with our James Beard Award Winning guest host William Elliott:
BOURBON or BUST
Please sign up to express an interest.
Cocktail attire or pyjamas are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to inclusion. PMSpirits recommended.
SIGN UP
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read: the scientist as rebel
There are none so blind, as those who will not see.
DQ took a train from Faro to Lisbon in March after testing the new Triumph Rocket 3R for Maxim Magazine. For 3 hours he was indulged in a fascinating discussion with an old gentleman sitting opposite him who happened to be a quantum physicist. And an advisor to the Gates Foundation and governments on the future, infrastructure, and aid.
He was a contemporary of Freeman Dyson. Who passed on to the next place a short while ago. You can read about this absolutely fascinating man in the NYT, or Scientific America.
If you're anything like DQ, this will then whet your whistle to pick up one of Dyson's books, such as, "The Scientist As Rebel." And dive in.
READ THE SCIENTIST AS REBEL
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cocktail: quarantini variation #3
THE HANKY PANKY
As noted on last week's Quinn + Tonik: Quintessential Cocktails Vol. 2 - "Hanky Panky with Vesper Lynd", the Hanky Panky is not for the faint of heart. All booze. All the way. Complete with a generous helping of the secret society of mixologists handshake - Fernet Branca.
Frankly once discovered, they are hard not to revisit. Either with the usual orange twist, or a variation with a dash of Cherry liqueur such as Luxardo or Bordiga.
Here's a little context: Hanky Pankys were one of Hunter S. Thompson's favourite pick me ups for a hangover. And if it was good enough for that lunatic, it is good enough for us. After all, the man's daily regimen of booze and illicit narcotics would have taken down a bull elephant.
Remarkably the drugs didn't take him. Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, aged 67.
"When I think of Hunter, which is often, the floodgates open and I am instantly, easily and willingly overcome by a great deluge of memories. Memories as diverse as the man himself soar through my mind. Images of some of our less publicized adventures:
A dawn shopping expedition for magnum handguns . . .
A 3:00 A.M. head shaving appointment, duly and gingerly performed by the Doctor . . .
Delicately nursing ghastly hang-overs—feeding each other Fernet Branca . . ."
(who spent US$3M shooting Hunter S. Thompson's remains out of a cannon to fulfill his final wish...and also fulfill Hunter's preference to, "Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube.")
Bottoms Up!
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