Corked and Narc'ed

Thought a quick explanation on my blog title was in order. The blog name of Corked and Narc'ed is a take on some things that can happen in winemaking and in scuba diving, things that are not usually harmful but not necessarily helpful either, which seems really appropriate for some reason.

A corked wine is one that has been contaminated by a chemical compound called TCA from a bad cork and gives the wine an off taste. This can happen to any wine using natural cork closures, which is one reason a lot of commercial wineries use synthetic cork or screw tops these days. A corked wine tastes really bad, kind of like like wet cardboard, but is otherwise harmless.

Being Narc'ed (also known as "rapture of the deep") is a scuba term for nitrogen narcosis, an effect of breathing too much nitrogen, usually during deeper dives, which causes an intoxicating feeling not unlike a few too many glasses of wine. It's not usually dangerous and dissipates once the diver ascends to a shallower depth for a few minutes. Not recognizing the effect can cause impaired judgement (see where this is going??) which is probably not a good thing when you're 100 feet below the surface.

So enjoy my ramblings for whatever entertainment value they hold, understanding they will not usually be harmful but not necessarily helpful either. Also remember that while too much of anything can cause unintended consequences, and moderation is usually the key, always keep in mind the words of Mark Twain, "If you must be indiscrete, be discrete in your indiscretion.”