Sandwich Cake

Elsewhere

NY Times Skimmer
from nytimes.com
Reading the New York Times on-line has grown to be a tedious task: enter the Times Skimmer. This new design approach offers multiple home pages for each section. Hint: Select a section from the left column for the full effect. more

The Crash Experience
from theatlantic.com
Those fifty and older grew up hearing stories of the Depression, how life was remade by the crisis. Today’s economic meltdown will likely destroy many of the social structures of the last 30 years; The Atlantic wonders what the future will look like. more

Anthropological Evolution
from timesonline.co.uk
Biological evolution is a scientific fact, but its opponents bring it down with arguments of anthropological relativism, claiming that it is one of many opinions on the subject. Hogwash, says Richard Dawkins. more

The God of Greed
from youtube.com
Milton Friedman was the mouthpiece of unbridled capitalism. His cold and truculent views of man were purely Hobbesian and in this interview he can think of no better way to organize society. Methinks John Milton would say he was doing the devil’s work. more

Billionaire Balloting
from nytimes.com
The billionaire mayor of New York, who has twisted the city’s term limit law to run a previously illegal third term, will once again be spending big bucks on his campaign. This odd experiment in buying a public office smells just as bad as corrupt politician who are bought by big business, the twist is that the buyer simply wants the job for himself. more

The Duke of Hate
from davidduke.com
Why am I not surprised that David Duke has criticized the Republican party for electing a black man as their chairman? Oh, and what’s up with the horrible typography on David’s site. Whoa! more

Origin of Social Equality
from guardian.co.uk
Charles Darwin abhorred the institution of slavery, and a new book argues that he was motivated by this to search for a theory to prove a master was the same as his slave. more

Teenage Wildlife
from guardian.co.uk
He smashed the china, soiled the sheets, sunbathed nude and was either drunk or stoned–Arthur Rimbaud was an impossible house guest, but he liberated the true poet in his lover Verlaine. more

Heretic
from thisamericanlife.org
An evangelical superstar slowly came to the conclusion that the Bible was not the word of God and there is no hell; and the conservative faith leadership declared him a heretic. more

Food Sex
from nytimes.com
Gael Greene bedded Elvis Presley, Clint Eastwood and many famous chefs, and she compared eating with oral sex, she was the reigning food critic at New York magazine for decades until being laid off last week. more

Not City Field
from nypost.com
I heard the New York Mets will play in a new ball park in 2009, City Field and I thought: nice–retro, urban and fitting for a New York ball park. Then I rode by the place on the 7 train and saw that the City in City Field is actually Citi, a corporate naming sponsorship. The Post has a nice take on the paradox. more

S.W.A.T.
from youtube.com
In the new film about Harvey Milk, James Franco plays Milk’s boyfriend. On Letterman, after explaining what his first man-kiss was like, he gives David one on the cheek. more

The Epistemology of the Kitchen

February 18th, 2009 filed in Food, Roman á clef

If epistemology is best defined as a theory of knowledge, then I’d say that the compendium of culinary information represented in a thorough and encyclopedic cookbook like Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking qualifies as epistemology.

The Sparrow

February 17th, 2009 filed in Culture

When a SETI technician confirms that a signal his dish has picked up is coming from Alpha Centauri the political world debates the consequences and can come to no agreement for action; but the Catholic brotherhood of Jesuits, the Society of Jesus, knows exactly what to do. Every time that contact has been made in the past with previously unknown cultures the Jesuits have sent a mission to bring the people into the true faith.

Too Big to Fail

February 12th, 2009 filed in Politics, Roman á clef

Today I ate lunch at a neighborhood pub, the White Horse Tavern, and sat next to two tables of West Village residents, and after listening to their conversation for a few minutes, I had to plug my ears with music from my iPhone earbuds out of disgust.

$2.97

February 10th, 2009 filed in Culture

The good news: Every week the iTunes store offers a few movies at the rental rate of $.99; the bad news: often the movies are not very much to bother with. But this week is all good news: I highly recommend all three of the $.99 movies offered.

Interpretations of Dreams

February 8th, 2009 filed in Roman á clef

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock playing I am the Walrus. The composition is from the late 20th century and the recording is a recent performance of the piece on original instruments from the time of The Beatles. I don’t know who the musicians are, but I can imagine their motivations. I am hungry for authenticity.

Golden Gould

February 8th, 2009 filed in Culture

glengould

There have been many classical music stars in the era of modern recording, but few who created the kind of media storm Glen Gould unleashed.

A Year of Living Musically, 2008

February 2nd, 2009 filed in Culture, Roman á clef

The 365 day of 2008 offered a lot of music, and as always, it was through it that I grew, through it that I coped, through it that I learned just about everything I know about being me.

Chile Colorado

February 1st, 2009 filed in Food

Pot of Pork with Red Chile Sauce

I grew up in a family that ate chile. My mother prepared it regularly and this provided my palate’s first contact with hot food. When I was home for the Christmas holiday I arrived from the airport hungry. And my mother asked, “would you like a bowl of chile?” I did and although I enjoyed it, I realized how far I’d traveled in culinary authenticity. My chile has little in common with hers.

Good Grief!

January 28th, 2009 filed in Food

FDA warnings have continue to warn against peanut products like crackers, but continue to say eating peanut butter itself is safe, but I’m beginning to have doubts. And I write this while holding my jar of YUM crunchy peanut butter manufactured in Quebec and thinking, “surely the Canadians won’t fail us.”

Washeteria

January 17th, 2009 filed in Roman á clef

“The reason New Yorkers all wear black is because they don’t have washing machines.”