Nepenthe

Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge? A popular video on YouTube shows Kellie Pickler, the adorable platinum blonde from “American Idol,” appearing on the Fox game show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” during celebrity week. Selected from a third-grade geography curriculum, the $25,000 question asked: “Budapest is the capital of what European country?” Ms. Pickler threw up both hands and looked at the large blackboard perplexed. “I thought Europe was a country,” she said. Playing it safe, she chose to copy the answer offered by one of the genuine fifth graders: Hungary. “Hungry?” she said, eyes widening in disbelief. “That’s a country? I’ve heard of Turkey. But Hungry? I’ve never heard of it.” Such, uh, lack of global awareness is the kind of thing that drives Susan Jacoby , author of “The Age of American Unreason,” up a wall. Ms. Jacoby is one of a number of writers with new books that bemoan the state of American culture. Joining the circle of curmudgeons this sea...

"Normally when you see a black man or a woman president, an asteroid is about to hit the Statue of Liberty." "Tonight we look beyond the dark days to focus on happier fare - this year's slate of Oscar-nominated psychopathic killer movies. Does this town need a hug? No Country For Old Men, Sweeney Todd,There Will Be Blood. All I can say is: thank God for teen pregnancy." "There are three pregnant ladies with us tonight. Jessica Alba. Cate Blanchett. Nicole Kidman. And the baby goes to.... Angelina Jolie. I'm stunned. Angelina couldn't be with us tonight, it's tough to get 17 babysitters on Oscar night." "Whoever owns the Boeing 707 parked on La Brea Avenue, your landing lights are on [John Travolta runs on stage and rushes for the door]. "Don't worry, it's a hybrid". "Away From Her is about a woman who forgets about her husband. Hillary Clinton called it the feelgood movie of the year." "You know a...

this one we know about and have enjoyed many times :) Fried Halloumi, native to Cyprus, may be the only food where the word "squeaky" comes up when people are describing this unique cheese. Halloumi is traditionally made from goat and sheep's milk, and is similar to a mozzarella, but denser, saltier, and…squeakier. Let me explain. What makes Halloumi unusual is it's very high melting point. Because of how the curd is heated, then brined and pressed, the cheese can be fried without melting. This makes for a very cool appetizer or meze, as they would call it in Cyprus. This video recipe I did for About.com shows my favorite way of preparing Halloumi. I think it's best when seared in a very hot pan, nice and brown, and then drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette. Check the video at Food Wishes Video Recipes

An example with my favorite food: Figs, raw » Fruits and Fruit Juices Nutrients Visuals Exercises Serving: 100g (100g) cup (145.0g) Energy Sugar Fat A serving of 145.0g contains 107kcal, representing ± 4.3 batteries * . A male female aged 0-15 16-18 19-22 23-50 51-64 65+ requires 2100 kcal ( 83.4 batteries * ) a day. * size D, 1.5V, 19500mAh A serving of 145.0g contains 23.58g sugars, which is comparable to ± 5.3 sugar cubes . A serving of 145.0g contains 0.44g fat, which is comparable to ± 0.0 butter sticks . Compare to: US stick (113g) Non-US (250g)

Unilever ends the use of shark products in its cosmetics In its campaign to end the use of shark squalene, Oceana has received news that the multinational will stop using this product in early 2008, joining other European cosmetic companies that have already done so Madrid -- Oceana, the international marine conservation organisation, is engaged in a campaign to end of the use of shark liver oil, known as squalene, in cosmetics products. Europe is a major force in the production and trade of squalene, and the campaign has included investigative visits to fishing ports and cosmetics shops, and discussions with cosmetic companies and squalene manufacturers, to gather information about uses, trade and markets for this product and the sharks it comes from. Oceana has received notice that Unilever, a multinational company famous for many brands of food, personal care and household products, has decided to remove shark squalene from its cosmetic brands, including Pond’s and Dove, and will ...

The Cult of the Amateur How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture and Assaulting Our Economy by Andrew Keen “If we are all amateurs, there are no experts.” Andrew Keen’s new book, The Cult of the Amateur is the latest addition to the Newsnight book club. In it, the author expresses his concern for the profligacy of online amateurism, spawned by the digital revolution. This, he feels, has had a destructive impact on our culture, economy and values. He says, “[They] can use their networked computers to publish everything from uninformed political commentary, to unseemly home videos, to embarrassingly amateurish music, to unreadable poems, reviews, essays, and novels”. He complains that blogs are “collectively corrupting and confusing popular opinion about everything from politics, to commerce, to arts and culture”. He claims that Wikipedia perpetuates a cycle of misinformation and ignorance, and labels YouTube inane and absurd, “showing poor fools dancing, singing, eating, wash...

For a year, Jeffrey Eugenides read nothing but love stories in order to select the best for an anthology. With the tormented poet Catullus as his guide, he went from Chekhov to Nabokov to Alice Munro and discovered that the greatest works depend on disappointment, boredom and broken hearts The Latin poet Catullus was the first poet in the ancient world to write about a personal love affair in an extended way. Other poets treated the subject of "love", allowing the flushed cheeks or alabaster limbs of this or that inamorata to enter the frame of their poems, but it was Catullus who built his nugae, or trifles, around a single, near-obsessional passion for a woman whose entire presence, body and mind, fills the lines of his poetry. From the first excruciating moments of infatuation with the woman he called "Lesbia", through the torrid transports of physical love, to the betrayals that leave him stricken, Catullus told it all, and, in so doing, did more than anyone to ...

Translators are angels , I whispered into the ear of my guardian angel in King João Library. They stand beside us, hearing out thoughts, only muttering what’s necessary . Smiling slightly, listening carefully to the speaker who’d mentioned my name, she said: We are perfect nobodies; nameless, voiceless, winged incandescence, except when we’re bad . Then she turned to me: Like now, if I don’t tell you what he said — - John Mateer

The art of... Art Wolfe :)

William Andrewes' Longitude Dial tells time—assuming the Sun is shining—but it also does something no other dial can do: it tells place. As the daylight hours pass, the telltale shadow cast by the wire, or gnomon, moves across a laser-etched map; wherever that longitudinal shadow falls, it's noon. Part of what makes this feat possible is that the dial is custom-built for its location, with that very spot serving as the center of a computer-generated map on the dial face. In this dial, customized for a client in New York State, the gnomon's shadow indicates it's 11:45 a.m. at the dial's home base. Wherever the gnomon's shadow falls on the map, it's noon, and where it crosses, the degree scale marks the longitude of those places. The spherical shadow in South America, cast by the round bead on the gnomon, indicates where the Sun is precisely overhead. CALENDAR CIRCLE This ring is encircled with the number of minutes added or subtracted to convert solar time (...

On any of the surprising number of Web sites dedicated entirely to wisdom about cats, one will find quotations like these: "As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat" (attributed to Ellen Perry Berkeley); "The phrase 'domestic cat' is an oxymoron" (attributed to George F. Will); and "A dog is a man's best friend. A cat is a cat's best friend" (attributed to Robet J. Vogel). Of course, there is such a thing as the domestic cat, and cats and humans have enjoyed a mostly symbiotic relationship for thousands of years. But the quips do illuminate a very real ambivalence in the long relationship between cats and humans, as this history of the house cat shows. The Mystery of the Ancient House Cat It has taken a while for scientists to piece together the riddle of just when and where cats first became domesticated. One would think that the archaeological record might answer the question easily, but wild cats and domesticated cats have remarkably...

On the Use of Outside Help In an effort to enhance domestic congress, some couples may seek the services of one professionally trained in the art. However, this is seldom as satisfying as when the man performs the task alone. But in the interest of matrimonial harmony, if both the man and the woman work outside the home, it is acceptable to engage a cleaning person once every two weeks. The Washing of Dishes The woman submerges her dishes in warm, soapy water, rinses them in clear water and passes them to the man. The man employs a slow, clockwise motion to dry them thoroughly with a dish towel. After about 20 minutes, the solicitous partner will switch roles for variety. On Doing Laundry The man is often too hurried and wishes to place the clothes immediately in the washing machine. He must learn patience and be guided by the woman, who will teach him the art of sorting and, in time, even to pre-soak. The slow, deliberate dividing of clothing into piles of whites, lights and col...

On being funny, Smithsonian Magazine and the book Born Standing Up .

The results would make people, who are not Caucasians, probably want to avoid Italy, Muslims to avoid Greece, Jews to avoid Spain, and immigrants as well as homosexuals to stay clear of Northern Ireland. These countries were rated as the least tolerant in the Western world. Human Beliefs and Values Survey experts went about conducting the survey by making people in Western countries answer yes/no to the following statements: I wouldn't want my neighbors to be of " different race " (Least tolerant: 1.Italy 16%, 2. Greece 14%, 3. Belgium 13%) I wouldn't want my neighbors to be " Muslim " (Least tolerant: 1. Greece 21%, 2.Belgium 20%, Norway 19%) I wouldn't want my neighbors to be " Jewish " (Least tolerant: 1. Spain 22%, 2. Greece 18%, 3. Italy 13%) I wouldn't want my neighbors to be " immigrants " (Least tolerant: 1.Northern Ireland 19%, 2. Italy 17%, 3. Belgium 16%) I wouldn't want my neighbors to be " homosexuals ...

From Neatorama ;)

Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler A SEA change in the consumption of a resource that Americans take for granted may be in store — something cheap, plentiful, widely enjoyed and a part of daily life. And it isn’t oil. It’s meat. The two commodities share a great deal: Like oil, meat is subsidized by the federal government. Like oil, meat is subject to accelerating demand as nations become wealthier, and this, in turn, sends prices higher. Finally — like oil — meat is something people are encouraged to consume less of, as the toll exacted by industrial production increases, and becomes increasingly visible. Global demand for meat has multiplied in recent years, encouraged by growing affluence and nourished by the proliferation of huge, confined animal feeding operations. These assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains, a depende...