The Wallaby That Roared Across the Wine Industry - New York Times

The Wallaby That Roared Across the Wine Industry - New York Times:

"The Yellow Tail phenomenon took everyone in the wine business by surprise. In retrospect, however, it was probably inevitable. Interest in wine had been growing steadily in the United States for two decades, but the domestic industry had never had much success in meeting the need for a good, inexpensive wine to attract all these newcomers. 'There were good wines at $15 and up, but nothing between those wines and the jug wines at the bottom of the scale,' said Rich Cartiere, editor of The Wine Market Report. 'Yellow Tail, at $6, was and remains better than most American wines at $8.99 and $10.99.
'When I think of Australian wines, I think of a big, juicy, red apple,' he added, 'and that's what the American wine consumer looks for, too, even if he can't say why. Couple that with a label that's friendly — not a joke, like so many now — and excellent distribution, and you have an unbeatable package.'"

And You Thought Abercrombie & Fitch Was Pushing It? - New York Times

And You Thought Abercrombie & Fitch Was Pushing It? - New York Times:

"Dov Charney proudly refers to himself as a 'Jewish hustler.' But he is quite possibly the most unorthodox Jew in the history of the shmatte business. A complicated, charismatic and occasionally controversial figure — he is currently facing a sexual harassment suit — Charney is so acutely in tune with the cultural moment that he is somehow able to use the plain blank T-shirts that he sells to convey potent messages concerning contemporary sex and politics."

new coolest thing ever (thanks scott!)

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com
to school
café from home
café from school, my usual route

our place

I finally managed to take pictures of the condo we're working on buying in chicago. (link fixed now.)

Win a date with E.J. Dionne. By Michael Kinsley

Win a date with E.J. Dionne. By Michael Kinsley: "Or maybe I should wait and Win a Trip With Maureen Dowd. Maureen writes: 'Are you girl enough to come shopping with me and my best friend, Jill? Can you dis the defense department and find the shoe department at the same time?'"

QMV, the answer to everything!

This is the only way to fix Congress. By Juliet Eilperin: "Under Hirsch's plan, the tie-breaking chairman would be almost a redistricting dictator. He would have more votes than all the other members combined, which would block the kind of bipartisan gerrymander that happened in New Jersey. At the same time it would keep politicians involved in the process, allowing them to provide expertise about campaigning and the electoral nature of individual districts."

Listen to this. Now.

NPR : Out of Hiding, Into the World: Thembi's AIDS Diary: "Ngubane introduces listeners to her boyfriend, Melikhaya -- and recalls when she told him she was HIV-positive: 'I thought, 'What if I've also infected him? Now I've ruined my life, and I've ruined everybody's life.''"

whew

I finished a draft of my paper that was due for Andrew's MLE class. There are lots of loose ends and unfinished business – like the whole fixing the formal model – but it's not horrible, I don't think.

The gist is that strikes are a form of collective action that individuals coördinate on when they believe that their action will be pivotal to bringing about change; and that they observe and interpret imperfect signals about that probability. The empirical part is a count model looking at the number of strikes and strike-days in a given month, with covariates of who's participating and demonstrating. I find that the presence of radicals depresses striking and the presence of students is associated with an increase.

ah delightful bitchy food writing...

Why sauvignon blanc is overrated. By Mike Steinberger: "Simply put, the grape is a dud, producing chirpy little wines wholly devoid of complexity and depth, the very qualities that make wine interesting and worth savoring. For years, this offensively inoffensive grape has escaped criticism while chardonnay and merlot have been scorned. The free ride ends here."

WashU Poster Boy (eeeek!)

My Conflict class with Sunita on Wednesday afternoon, where I ate my pen contemplatively, seems to have been captured by some PR photographer.

Potato Leek Soup, salad, and anarchist pumpernickel

The Soup

Ingredients

• 4 medium potatoes
• ¼ pound bacon
• 2–4 leeks
• 4 shallots
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 quarts chicken stock
• Rosemary
• Parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1½ cups whole milk
• ½ cup heavy cream

Method

Chop the bacon and place in a cold heavy pot. Turn on heat to medium; remove bacon when it's done and has rendered most of its fat. Slice the leeks, shallots, and garlic. Place in the pan and cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and sweat for 20 minutes. You don't want them too brown, but a little caremalization never hurt anyone. Cut the potatoes into about 1-inch cubes.

When everything is soft and smells yummy, add potatoes, bacon, and chicken stock. Cook, uncovered, until potatoes are soft (45 minutes?). Purée in food mill or using a handy immersion blender. Add milk and cream, and heat through without boiling.

About anarchist pumpernickel

Here's the story from the riverfront times back in 2001 about the marvelous breads made by the Black Bear Bakery Collective, including the Lickhalter Pumpernickel pictured above.

Their bread label may show a smiling bruin astride a bicycle, but the bakery's mission statement defines itself as an "anti-authoritarian, anti-ideological collective" that "challenges division-of-labor and capital-based hierarchical business." Aside from producing healthy, affordable food, one of the bakery's primary objectives is "to organize and embrace anarchic grassroots agitation, information and action."

Slashdot | Why Is Data Mining Still A Frontier?

Slashdot | Why Is Data Mining Still A Frontier?: "Scientific (and other) data is still housed in unrelated collections, waiting for some enterprising Relational Database Programmer to unlock the keys to understanding. Is RDBMS still a Brave New Frontier, or will Google make the art obsolete once they finish indexing everything?"

This is what occasioned my finally re-finding the metafilter question below – I work with social scientists who, because of their statistical training and general worldview, call rectangular tables "databases" all the time (god that irks me..) and to whom I've had to (try to) explain why relational data structures are good both theoretically (shifting of unit of analysis, forces explicit decisions at query-writing time) and practically (allows collection of data that you'd like to be able to use in the future but collection cost is high).

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies - Los Angeles Times

Christians Sue for Right Not to Tolerate Policies - Los Angeles Times:

"Critics dismiss such talk as a right-wing fundraising ploy. 'They're trying to develop a persecution complex,' said Jeremy Gunn, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief."

They really do thrive on and try to cultivate this absurd idea that christians don't control congress, the white house, and the courts... that they are in any way not a majority and that America is not the most religious developed country.

The Long-Distance Journey of a Fast-Food Order - New York Times

The Long-Distance Journey of a Fast-Food Order - New York Times:

"While the call-center idea has received some attention since a scattered sampling of McDonald's franchises began testing it 18 months ago, most customers are still in the dark. For Meredith Mejia, a regular at a McDonald's in Pleasant Hill, Calif., near San Francisco, it meant that her lunch came with a small helping of the surreal. When told that she had just ordered her double cheeseburger and small fries from a call center 250 miles away, she said the concept was 'bizarre.'"

Chastity, M.D. By Amanda Schaffer

Chastity, M.D. By Amanda Schaffer:

"As Michael Specter pointed out in The New Yorker last month, the Bush administration spends hundreds of millions of dollars touting the benefits of abstinence. Most abstinence-promoting programs waste the government's money funneling misinformation directly to adolescents. But one such group, the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, has another audience in mind—medical students. With the help of Congress, the institute has finagled $200,000 out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop a sexual-health curriculum for doctors in training. It's a small bit of pork, but it represents the hijacking of a government agency that normally funds research based on merit. And the CDC's imprimatur could persuade medical schools to use the institute's work."

A fellow sufferer!

How can social scientists learn database skills? | Ask MetaFilter:

"I am a computer guy who has been working extensively with a couple of psychologists on a research project. I knew they were more comfortable with single-table (flat-file or spreadsheet) data representation for data storage, but in this case their study generated much data, and so highly-related data, that I convinced them to give a database a shot. Long story short: half a year later, they're still a little mystified by SQL and wouldn't be able to design their own table schemas if their lives depended on it, but they see the very strong advantages databases have over spreadsheets for their needs. Furthermore, we're writing a paper about how to replicate the study we did, and we want to include a bit about why we used a database instead of a spreadsheet and why we think anyone replicating the study should consider doing the same thing. "

Realty Bites By Douglas Gantenbein

Realty Bites By Douglas Gantenbein: "Certainly, most people realize that a 6 percent commission—or even 5 percent—is nuts, given that e-mail alerts, Web-based home tours, and other services can easily give buyers and sellers as much information as their realtors. It will be a painful change for the 1 million real-estate agents out there—alas, a number that is growing rapidly. But a little Darwinism is needed to thin out the herd, and when it happens it won't give me much grief."

Wow. This is brilliant design.

AMEICO INC. - It takes innovation to create a classic.: "Patented desk clocks with 12 slides, each with the name of two major cities; together, the 24 cities represent the 24 global time zones; to find the local hour in another time zone, simply roll the clock so that the city representing that time zone is on top."

current song stuck in my head

Dream Machine, by Mark Farina and Sean Hayes, from the Hôtel Costes 8 album. (iTunes Music Store link).

"Hello, Bangalore? Where's My Unemployment Check?" By Timothy Noah

"Hello, Bangalore? Where's My Unemployment Check?" By Timothy Noah: "The GAO also found that states were offshoring some administration of child support enforcement and—in what seems like a cruel joke at the expense of American workers displaced by cheap foreign labor—unemployment insurance!"

Anyone see the simpsons last night?

Switch Different By Paul Boutin

Switch Different By Paul Boutin:

"As a Mac nerd, I know I'm supposed to gush that this is a brilliant move for Apple and an exciting day for me. Instead, I've been struggling to figure out why a Windows boot from Apple warrants front-page play in the New York Times."

Unusual media coverage of apple was discussed over on slashdot following a Dvorak column a while back too.

Salon | Three Colors

Salon Directory:

"Kieslowski's 'Three Colors' trilogy was more than just the slickest concept album in the history of European cinema. It was a quantum leap for the medium, a reminder not only of what was possible, but what was necessary.

I'm trying at some point in the next couple of months to arrange a showing of the trilogy, since I know a few people to whom I've said, "What? We must, must watch them sometime!" This salon article from 2002 is as glowing as I always am about Kieslowski's masterful work.

The Bjork-Barney Enigma Machine - New York Times

The Bjork-Barney Enigma Machine - New York Times:

"Because the two are so artistically and personally unconventional — for the Cremaster films, Mr. Barney transformed himself into a tap-dancing satyr; for the Academy Awards, Bjork transformed herself, with less success, into a swan — is it hard to imagine them doing something as conventional as dating."

Why is it impossible to mention Björk without making some pathetic mention of the swan dress? It really wasn't bad. It was creative, and more so than most of the crap that passes for 'fashion'.

Is One Museum Honoring Cheese Really Enough? - New York Times

Is One Museum Honoring Cheese Really Enough? - New York Times

botanical garden pictures

Here (went with Alex this afternoon)
I should install Gallery at some point... until then it's just regular photoshop web pages.

menu

• Leek and potato soup with black bear pumpernickel
• Sweet potato and ginger crusted mahi-mahi, over spinach curry
• Tofu and green beans, black pepper sauce
• Something with chicken pieces (risotto? chicken salad?)

Missouri legislative highlights

: Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri

(A.1.7) Present the benefits to individuals, families, and society of a lifelong monogamous marriage between a man and a woman.
(A.1.8) Present scientifically accurate information, consistent with the provisions of sections 1.205, RSMo, and 188.015, RSMo, on the development of the unborn child from fertilization until birth, including but not limited to such developmental milestones and information that:

1. At fertilization an unborn child's life begins;
2. The unborn child's gender is determined at fertilization;
3. An unborn child's heartbeat and brainwaves can be detected during the first trimester of pregnancy;
4. The unborn child has growth and development of various body organs and limbs, fingerprints, and sensory awareness long before birth; and
5. Alcohol, drug, and tobacco use by the mother can be harmful to the developing unborn child.

(A.7) No school district or charter school, or its personnel or agents, shall provide abortion services, or permit a person or entity to offer, sponsor, or furnish in any manner any course materials or instruction relating to human sexuality or sexually transmitted diseases to its students if such person or entity is a provider of abortion services.

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day

OK how funny / wrong is theDictionary.com/Word of the Day for today, my birthday. Yup, it's the last uphill milestone (25, cheaper car insurance!) before the downhill ones (aarp) start. :)

cool stuff i want

V&A - Shop: I saw someone at washu with this – and you know me and stylish, unique bags. I was jealous.

This CMYK shirt is also very much my style.

| a gay typeface? | Typophile

| a gay typeface? | Typophile: "My typographic gaydar could be on the blink."

I was checking typophile to see if anyone yet had commented on NYT's web redesign and the abundant use of Georgia.

um, duh

Long-Awaited Medical Study Questions the Power of Prayer - New York Times: "Analyzing complications in the 30 days after the operations, the researchers found no differences between those patients who were prayed for and those who were not."

hahahaha

Prosecution of Midwife Casts Light on Home Births - New York Times: "Doctors, legislators and prosecutors in Indiana and in the nine other states with laws prohibiting midwifery by people other than doctors and nurses say home births supervised by midwives present grave and unacceptable medical risks."

Dinner: Mandarin Kitchen!

This is a new Chinatown place for us – we usually go to Lao Sze Chuan, Spring World, Penang, or 'Little' Three Happiness.. Branching out, here are lthforum posts about MK. (The other places are of course worth looking up at lthforum and drooling over.)

• link1
• link2
• link3

protests!

Around downtown chicago yesterday we observed a couple demonstrations – one by the AMSA people for universal health care, and another by some group of apparent high schoolers with signs that said "finish our school" and "future voter."

My main observation on American protests: we need more ululating.

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/edacious

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/edacious: "edacious"

Software flaw? County clerk threatens to resign over issue

Salt Lake Tribune - Software flaw? County clerk threatens to resign over issue:

"Funk invited in representatives of Black Box Voting, a Washington state-based nonprofit voter rights group, to inspect the machines earlier this month. Black Box has yet to issue a final report on the machines that are slated to replace Utah's punch card system of voting at a cost of $27 million.

By the end of the Monday meeting, Diebold engineers convinced the county commissioners the discrepancies in the machines' memory are the result of testing and of additional printing fonts.

But Diebold told the commissioners that allowing unauthorized people access to the machines had violated their integrity. "

What a fucking mess! In an ideal world, all these voting machines would be open source and subject to any tests anyone wanted to do to them.

NPR : A Year to Live, A Year to Die

NPR : A Year to Live, A Year to Die: "Stewart Selman had just been told he had a malignant brain tumor, and he said he wanted to keep an audio diary."

My mom died of one of these nasty things, called glioblastoma, which has an infinitesimal survival rate. Since so much of the effects depend on where in the brain the tumor is located, experiences differ vastly.

Mozilla Update :: Extensions -- More Info:Tab X - All Releases

"Mozilla Update :: Extensions -- Tab X: "Adds a close button to each of the browser tabs, and removes the close button at the end of the tab bar."

Pretty themes for Firefox, mac only.

Is Whole Foods Wholesome? - The dark secrets of the organic-food movement. By Field Maloney

Is Whole Foods Wholesome? - The dark secrets of the organic-food movement. By Field Maloney: "Wal-Mart, with its simple "More for Less" credo, might do far more to democratize the nation's food supply than Whole Foods. The organic-food movement is in danger of exacerbating the growing gap between rich and poor in this country by contributing to a two-tiered national food supply, with healthy food for the rich. Could Wal-Mart's populist strategy prove to be more "sustainable" than Whole Foods?" (In general, I agree. My biggest complaint with whole foods is also in this piece: that it privileges this "organic" nonsense over local food in season.)

NPR : Study: Statin Drug Reverses Coronary Artery Disease

NPR : Study: Statin Drug Reverses Coronary Artery Disease: "Researchers at eight U.S. hospitals say they've been able to remove artery deposits with a high dose of a statin drug that cut 'bad cholesterol' levels by half and raised 'good cholesterol' more than any other study has shown. But more research is needed to see if patients suffer fewer heart attacks or deaths."

Independent Online Edition > Science & Technology

How Islamic inventors changed the world
Exhibit site.

Party Like It's 1994 - New York Times

Party Like It's 1994 - New York Times: "It's true that the Democrats have been vowing to retake Congress every two years, while the Republican majority merely waxes and wanes. But 2006 feels different."

Defenders of the Faith - New York Times

Defenders of the Faith - New York Times: "Fundamentalists do what they perceive as good deeds in order to fulfill God's will and to earn salvation; atheists do them simply because it is the right thing to do. Is this also not our most elementary experience of morality? When I do a good deed, I do so not with an eye toward gaining God's favor; I do it because if I did not, I could not look at myself in the mirror. A moral deed is by definition its own reward. David Hume, a believer, made this point in a very poignant way, when he wrote that the only way to show true respect for God is to act morally while ignoring God's existence."

The Physics of Friendship

The Physics of Friendship: "By comparing people to mobile particles randomly bouncing off each other, scientists have developed a new model for social networks. The model fits with empirical data to naturally reproduce the community structure, clustering and evolution of general acquaintances and even sexual contacts."
The paper. (PDF)

The Way We Eat: Rabbit Is Rich - New York Times

The Way We Eat: Rabbit Is Rich - New York Times: "In St. Louis last fall, I finally tracked down some fryers (or young rabbits) at the old Soulard Farmer's Market, and the purveyors, whose stall also included a box of skinned coons and a fresh beaver tail that looked like a prehistoric fish, seemed surprised that I had actually shown up after phoning."

Spanish Architecture - Why does one country seem to have all the coolest buildings?

Spanish Architecture - Why does one country seem to have all the coolest buildings?: "How did modern architecture in Spain get so good?"

Family Fuse - Why the rules about gay parenting are changing under your nose. By Dahlia Lithwick

Family Fuse - Why the rules about gay parenting are changing under your nose. By Dahlia Lithwick: "To defend the current adoption and custody regimes, then, you need to subordinate the practical and emotional interests of these children to the moral preferences of lawmakers. That is precisely what family law prohibits."

CNN.com - New animal resembles furry lobster - Mar 8, 2006

CNN.com - New animal resembles furry lobster - Mar 8, 2006

Many Couples Must Negotiate Terms of 'Brokeback' Marriages - New York Times

Many Couples Must Negotiate Terms of 'Brokeback' Marriages - New York Times

Study: In-flight cell calls pose risk to planes

Study: In-flight cell calls pose risk to planes: "In the past, the FAA has found nothing to indicate that the use of passive devices like laptops or game-playing electronics poses a threat to the aircraft. However, the CMU study concluded otherwise. While the researchers looked primarily at cell phone use, they also discovered that emissions from other portable devices proved 'problematic.'"

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/doula

Dictionary.com/Word of the Day Archive/doula: "Doula derives from Greek doula, 'servant-woman, slave.'"

Visualizing black holes

A Thrill Ride to 'the Other Side of Infinity' - New York Times: "The show is built on the crunching of numbers that even a black hole might envy: some segments produced by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois required 90 hours of supercomputer calculation for each second on screen."

The Underfinanced Production Company - Joyce Wadler - Satire - Movies - New York Times

The Underfinanced Production Company - Joyce Wadler - Satire - Movies - New York Times: "We need firm, thick ice on which to raise our young and show exemplary, self-sacrificing family values in such a way as to attract the Christian right."

The Underfinanced Production Company - Joyce Wadler - Satire - Movies - New York Times

The Underfinanced Production Company - Joyce Wadler - Satire - Movies - New York Times: "Then Jake kinda melts away and you step up to the audience and say, 'And I'm not even gay. But tonight everybody's gay in Hollywood.' I forgot to mention, you're wearing a holster and six shooter. And you shoot at the ceiling and these posters come down. LIBERACE! ROCK HUDSON! MONTOGOMERY CLIFT! MICKEY MOUSE! Big gasp from the audience. You say, 'What's the matter, you didn't believe me?' Mickey comes out, dressed like the cowboy from the Village People. He says, high pitched little mouse voice, 'I leave you alone one minute, you're messing around with that slut Jake???'"

NPR : American Accent Undergoing Great Vowel Shift

NPR : American Accent Undergoing Great Vowel Shift

cooking with monkey!

I probably laughed at all of this way more than I should have.

In Turin, Chocolate's the Champion - New York Times

In Turin, Chocolate's the Champion - New York Times: "The flavor of roasted hazelnuts comes through every bite, with the fruity high notes of fine Central American chocolate in the city's best. The depth of the hazelnuts balances the fruit of the chocolate, and anchors an experience that with the vinification of chocolate has become all too ethereal."

How To Watch the Winter Olympics - I am the ballistic starfruit. By Dana Stevens and Seth Stevenson

How To Watch the Winter Olympics - I am the ballistic starfruit. By Dana Stevens and Seth Stevenson: "China was the one with the most egregious endorsement deal. Their athletes sported an Adidas logo so gigantic, it looked like a monster truck had left tire tracks across their heads. "

On the Matter of Size - The inexact science of penis measurement. By Kent Sepkowitz

On the Matter of Size - The inexact science of penis measurement. By Kent Sepkowitz: "But in case you're still wondering, here is what we know: When self-measured, the median length of a stretched flaccid penis is about 5.1 inches. For an erect penis, most studies come in at 5.5 to 6 inches. The average flaccid penis is in the 3.5- to 4-inch range. If someone else is doing the measuring, well, the numbers come out lower. But go ahead, add a little extra. After all, it's Valentine's Day."

Boycott the Olympics

Boycott the Olympics - Why the United States should skip the Salt Lake City games. By David Plotz: "Curling combines the worst of shuffleboard and housekeeping. " (Recycled, but hilarious.)

At Churches Nationwide, Good Words for Evolution - New York Times

At Churches Nationwide, Good Words for Evolution - New York Times: "'There was a growing need to demonstrate that the loud, shrill voices of fundamentalists claiming that Christians had to choose between modern science and religion were presenting a false dichotomy,' said Michael Zimmerman, dean of the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and the major organizer of the letter project."

OmniNerd - Articles: Extended iTunes Rating

: This turns out to be true, and ratings that are set for any value, even unlucky 13, will be stored by iTunes as that value.

OmniNerd - Articles: Extended iTunes Rating

: This turns out to be true, and ratings that are set for any value, even unlucky 13, will be stored by iTunes as that value.

food

• falafel and mouhamara
• polenta and "shamelessly blue" Texas goat cheese
• chili
• broiled salmon of one sort or another

Doing the Martin Shuffle (with your iPod)

Doing the Martin Shuffle (with your iPod): "Now on your iPod, suppose you want to find something. To make it concrete, suppose you want to find Something. First you listen to the current song long enough to identify it. If it is alphabeticly close (say, Someone to Watch Over Me or Summertime) you press the 'next' or 'previous' song button in sequential (non-shuffle) mode until you arrive at your target. If the current song is far away (say, Funkytown) you go into shuffle mode and hit the 'next' button (thereby randomly jumping to another song) until you do get close; then switch to non-shuffle mode."

NPR : Violinist Roman Totenberg at 95

NPR : Violinist Roman Totenberg at 95. Nina Totenberg's father. has a canary. named Toten-bird.

foodlist

• potato-chorizo soup; salad; bread.
• tortilla española, salad
• jambalaya with soulard spice shop andouille and texas gulf shrimp
• tofu, green beans, black pepper sauce
• cinnamon rolls (breakfast wednesday or thursday)
• macaroni and cheese

Apple launches new 1 GB iPod nano - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com

Apple launches new 1 GB iPod nano - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com: "NEW YORK - Apple Computer Inc. Tuesday cut the price of its cheapest digital music player, the iPod shuffle, and launched a smaller-capacity version of its mid-priced iPod nano, sending its shares up as much as 3 percent."
Also, discussion on /.

A joke no more, quite sadly

Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "What part of this don't you understand? If two blades is good, and three blades is better, obviously five blades would make us the best fucking razor that ever existed. Comprende? We didn't claw our way to the top of the razor game by clinging to the two-blade industry standard. We got here by taking chances. Well, five blades is the biggest chance of all."

Super Bowl Special - The best and worst ads this year. By Seth Stevenson

Super Bowl Special - The best and worst ads this year. By Seth Stevenson: "What if, say, a bisexual mom explained to her kid that—just as the car runs on two kinds of fuel—she's attracted to both men and women? Now, that's the kind of boundary pushing that a Brokeback-loving, hybrid-buying America wants to see."

The New York Review of Books: An Affair to Remember

The New York Review of Books: An Affair to Remember: "Had this been the story of, say, the love between two closeted interior decorators living in New York City in the 1970s, you suspect that there wouldn't be full-page ads in the major papers trumpeting its 'universal' themes."

Listen all the way to the end!

NPR : A Symphony of Truck Horns: "One musical act that didn't make the halftime show at this past weekend's Super Bowl was Alexander Pollack's truck horn symphony."

The Price of Motherhood / Instrumental Variables

The Price of Motherhood - Ready to have a baby? You'll earn 10 percent more if you wait a year. By Steven E. Landsburg
Crooked Timer discussion of same.

How Much for That Kidney Stone? - Can patients keep their excised parts? By David Goldenberg

How Much for That Kidney Stone? - Can patients keep their excised parts? By David Goldenberg: "Generally, yes. Many hospitals are willing to return everything from tonsils to kneecaps."

UroToday

UroToday: "Education and objective methods of penile size evaluation are the best way to remedy this problem."

ugh indeed! hehe

Questions for Daniel C. Dennett - Interview by Deborah Solomon - New York Times: "Ugh. I certainly don't believe in the soul as an enduring entity. Our brains are made of neurons, and nothing else. Nerve cells are very complicated mechanical systems. You take enough of those, and you put them together, and you get a soul."

The New Yorker: The Critics: On Television

The New Yorker: The Critics: On Television: "In an episode a couple of months ago, Brian got a job at The New Yorker. On his first day, he found out that there were no toilets in the bathrooms; the people who worked there, he was told, didn’t need them, because they didn’t have anuses. Later that day, Brian was fired when the editor discovered that he hadn’t graduated from college. We’re all terribly sorry that Brian had such a bad experience, and we’d like him to know that he can come back anytime. There will always be a toilet here for him."

nick paumgarten always makes me smile

The New Yorker: The Talk of the Town:

"Czelusniak explained the frog’s appeal with a statement that sounded like a little poem:
“People are amazed / To see a frog / In a pond / In an office.”"

foodlist

• orzo with chicken ras-el-hanout; romaine and radicchio with blood orange olive oil
• tofu piccata, salad, and ciabatta
• tortilla española with chorizo and more ciabatta
• chile-rubbed red snapper over roasted sweet potatoes; mixed vegtables with tequila-cream sauce; undisclosed chocolate dessert (Birthday dinner for a friend)
• either stir-fried beef with leeks or leek soup and steak fajitas

NPR : Frog in a Can

NPR : Frog in a Can: "In Thailand, a woman is convinced that frog in a can is the next best thing."

The kind of parent I will be.

Generation Pad Thai - New York Times: "Who craves Ho Hos when they've had Scharffen Berger?"

The Bread Is Famously Good, but It Killed McDonald's - New York Times

The Bread Is Famously Good, but It Killed McDonald's - New York Times: "'What took place was a small war between us and McDonald's,' said Onofrio Pepe, a retired journalist who founded an association here devoted to local delicacies. 'Our bullets were focaccia. And sausage. And bread. It was a peaceful war, without any spilling of blood.'"

Federated Is Seeking Buyer for Lord & Taylor Stores - New York Times

Federated Is Seeking Buyer for Lord & Taylor Stores - New York Times: "Moreover, Lord & Taylor's traditional customers are more affluent and contemporary than the typical Macy's shopper, yet not nearly as well-heeled and trendy as Bloomingdale's devotees. Since they do not fit neatly into the demographic groups that Federated is concentrating on, many retail analysts viewed a Lord & Taylor sale as inevitable."

NPR : Trying, and Failing, to Love Lutfisk

NPR : Trying, and Failing, to Love Lutfisk

NPR : Tailor-Made Cartography with Google Maps

NPR : Tailor-Made Cartography with Google Maps: "Some are clearly designed to be useful for everyday life: New York pizza places, Washington, D.C., home prices, and Chicago crime locations. Others are more for fun: find the nearest pub or brewery, peek in on Webcams, or look for a convenient jogging route."

This definitely applies to Scott, I think

CNN.com - Study: Waking up like being drunk - Jan 11, 2006: "'For a short period, at least, the effects of sleep inertia may be as bad as or worse than being legally drunk,' said researcher Kenneth Wright of the University of Colorado at Boulder."

The Media's Crush on Apple

The Media's Crush on Apple: "Half the fun in covering Apple is covering the coverage of Apple. The argument has been made that we in the press are a little nuts about Apple. It's a fact. The highs and lows of Jobs & Co. are so dramatic that the erudite prose practically writes itself. And I can't help but think something is wrong with that."

Non-alternatives to grad school for me:

Bitter Brew - I opened a charming neighborhood coffee shop. Then it destroyed my life. By Michael Idov: "The failure of a small cafe is not a question of competence. It is a sad given."

In Oregon, Thinking Local - New York Times

In Oregon, Thinking Local - New York Times: "Urbanites are just as concerned about open spaces and healthy rural communities as people who live there. When ranchers get to the city, they realize rural areas don't have a corner on values. I think that's what we are most excited about.'"

Down with the fucking realtors association!

Owners' Web Site Gives Realtors Run for Money - New York Times: "'It may be an extension of the 1960's, when we stuck it to the man by protesting the war,' said Mayor David J. Cieslewicz, who notices all the FsboMadison signs around town. 'These days we stick it to the man by selling our own home - and pocketing the 6 percent.'"

Those Weird College Ads - If you like our football team, you'll love our chem labs full of Asian students. By Mike DeBonis

Those Weird College Ads - If you like our football team, you'll love our chem labs full of Asian students. By Mike DeBonis: "To snag applicants who might be worried that Gainesville, Fla., isn't cosmopolitan, the University of Florida plays up its global reach. Florida's ad culminates with a professor arriving at an unnamed Asian airport. As he walks out of the gate, a man shouts to him; the subtitle says, 'Go Gators!' "

Why I'm Happy I Evolved - New York Times

Why I'm Happy I Evolved - New York Times: "More than that, I find that in viewing ourselves as one species out of hundreds of millions, we become more remarkable, not less so. No other animal that I have heard of can live so peaceably in such close quarters with so many individuals that are unrelated. No other animal routinely bothers to help the sick and the dying, or tries to save those hurt in an earthquake or flood."

Gale Gand's Very Red Velvet Cupcakes

recipe stolen from marshall fields

Gale Gand's very red velvet cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening 2 eggs
• 1½ cups sugar
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 oz red food coloring
• 2½ cups cake flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp red or white wine vinegar

Method

Heat oven to 350°. Grease and flour inside of cupcake pan.

Cream the shortening, eggs, and sugar until fluffy. Whisk cocoa and food coloring into a paste and add to other mix.

Sift together dry ingredients. Combine buttermilk, vanilla, and vinegar in a bowl. Alternate adding these and the dry ingredients to the stuff in the mixer.

Fill cups ¾ full and bake until firm to the touch in the center, about 15–20min. Cool in pan, frost, and enjoy.

La sardine!

Ina turned Scott on to La Sardine, a charming French restaurant directly across from Harpo Studios. It's renowned for its unusual Tuesday prix fixe, where instead of a menu of the chef's choosing, you can choose any appetizer, entrée, and dessert for $25. Here's what I had, all from the carte of specials.

• Sautéed frog legs, tomato concassé, potato risotto, garlic butter
• Saddle of rabbit, couscous, julienne of winter vegetables, thyme jus
• Tarte aux pommes with frangipane, caramel sauce, and caramel ice cream

Don we now our gay apparel, falalalala-lalalafel

Scott and I had a lovely gay xmas, which means we shopped the sales at Nordstrom, Saks, and Fields (among others) for ourselves, together.
Here's what we got: Scott | Mike

It's true.

A Brighter View Astern Than Over the Bow - New York Times: "But Mr. Brandhurst, along with plenty of cooks in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, will tell you that what comes from Louisiana waters is the sweetest of all the Gulf shrimp."

And finally he got $2,450 from the Carmel, Calif., chapter of the culinary organization Slow Food. That happened after Poppy Tooker, who runs the Slow Food chapter in New Orleans, saw a newspaper photograph of Mr. Brandhurst trying to save his boat at the same time Gabriela Forte, who runs the Carmel chapter, was looking for a family to help with proceeds from a gumbo fund-raiser.

The Brandhursts, though still puzzled about what Slow Food might be, are in awe of that simple gesture of transcontinental generosity. Without that cash, to repair an engine, they would have missed much of the post-hurricane harvest.

focaccia

We needed a quick bread to go with the cassoulet that Steve and Shane make as their traditional Christmakkah meal. The recipe below makes a 1lb dough.

Focaccia

Ingredients

• 3 cups unbleached flour (tipo 00 if you have it, but not bread flour)
• 1 packet yeast
• pinch sugar
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 cup warm water
• herbs (fresh or dried rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano.. all good)

Method

Combine water, sugar, and yeast and let proof 5–10min. Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Pour foamy yeast into flour and mix. Knead for 5 minutes, incorporating the optional herbs. Add any extra flour very, very sparingly – the dough should threaten to stick to the work surface.

Oil a baking sheet with olive oil. Press the dough into a oval / rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 45 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 425° Dimple the dough with your fingers, spaced about an inch or so apart. Drizzle olive oil and spread gently with your hand. Cover and let rise additional 30 minutes at room temperature.

Sprinkle with coarse or kosher salt. Bake 15–20 minutes. Devour.

MilkandCookies - Chappelle's Show Starring Sarah Silverman

MilkandCookies - Chappelle's Show Starring Sarah Silverman

food

• Quiche with bacon and spinach
• Lamb shoulder roast, marinated in yogurt and herbs
• Jambalaya with Soulard spice shop andouille, chicken, and texas shrimp
• Tortilla española and salad
• Potato-chorizo soup