Squib has a lot of definitions… freedictionary.com says it can mean

a. A small firecracker.

b. A broken firecracker that burns but does not explode.

By extension, a squib is also a dud round of ammunition, one that doesn’t even quite make it out of the barrel… (and it’s the next shot that’ll really screw things up, see the photo!)

And of course there’s the Potteresque meaning of

“A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn’t got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual.”

—Ron Weasley discussing Argus Filch [link]

Not to mention that they are “a sentient species from Skor II known for collecting, trading, and haggling,” but I know you already knew that.

What Google's Image Search Will Do For You!

‘Course it’s also an historical Bristish film with the unlikely synopsis of:

“In this musical comedy, a Cockney flower girl is in love with a policeman whom she wants to marry. Unfortunately, her father opposes the union because he is involved in a little crooked investing. Fortunately, the young woman wins a lottery and is able to find wealth and marital bliss”

But where I am heading with it is really this:

“A squib is a brief satirical or witty piece of writing or speech, like a lampoon, or a short, sometimes humorous piece in a newspaper or magazine, used as a filler. It can be intended to ignite thinking and discourse by others on topics of theoretical importance – e.g., see MIT Press’s journal, Linguistic Inquiry [1], but is often less substantial than this and just humorous”

Which makes sense if you know that my non-beery background is in linguistics & cognitive science… I remember friends in the linguistic graduate program at the UofA submitting them to LI and I always liked the concept.

Filler, brief, humorous… meant to spark discussion.  On the web, what isn’t a squib, really?

So, I am declaring my intent to write a bunch of squibs for the blog.  What that means is, these spontaneously occurring posts will be like a Tweet, but usually longer.  Or like Tumblr, but more blog-like.  Or not.  Or just, you know… a lot like this:

Facebook:

I just referred to our future as “teh beerz ov CBW” on a friend’s status update.  How do you feel about “teh beerz ov CBW?” as a marketing slogan?  If it makes you think of a band called Sleepchamber, you’re probably me.

http://sleepchamber.info/

I’m not saying CBW’s beers will be brimming with industrial noise and sexmagick; Briess simply doesn’t make any kind of malt yet that really expresses that.  On the other hand, if any brewer can make a beer taste like John Zewizz makes music sound/look/feel, it’s RudyBob, so… Look for our series of genre-defying melchizedeks (hand bottled, corked & caged! Available only by subscription!) soon after opening.