Monthly Archives: August 2010

DURIAN.

DURIAN. Durian is a controversial Indonesian fruit.This wikipedia article says that: “The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust and has been described variously as almonds, rotten onions, turpentine and gym socks. The odour has led to the … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

CHEESE STORIES.

CHEESE STORIES. Back in the day, Americans were not used to the strong cheeses of Europe, so different from Valveeta and American cheese. A friend told me of being on a train passing through a checkpoint at the East German … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

CASU MARZU.

CASU MARZU. “Maggota” seems to be a popular name for casu marzu, as it is described in this wikipedia article. Casu marzu is derived from Pecorino and is referred to colloquially as “maggot cheese.” A typical casu marzu contains thousands … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

MAGGOT CHEESE.

MAGGOT CHEESE. Kids, you should know that Mary Jane’s mother and grandmother used to eat a cheese they called “maggota” (phonetic spelling). She recalls that it was made from a dry cheese like pecorino. It featured lots of tiny living … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

SURSTROMMING (COMMENT).

SURSTROMMING (COMMENT). When I posted here on garum, the sauce made from rotten fish that was so important in the Roman Empire, Dick Weisfelder commented that I should read up on surstromming. I read up on it in this wikipedia … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

HISTORICAL RESEARCH YET TO BE DONE.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH YET TO BE DONE. I was thrilled by a sentence in a review by Stanley Wells in the Times Literary Supplement (August 13) of a book about Shakespeare authorship controversies. Wells is replying to a contention that every … Continue reading

Posted in History | 3 Comments

COMMERCIALIZING ART MUSEUMS.

COMMERCIALIZING ART MUSEUMS. When my brother Elmer was in law school, he met a girl at a party who was studying to be a museum curator. He wound up in an argument with her because it turned out that he … Continue reading

Posted in art, Economics | 2 Comments

MARKET RESEARCH IN ART GALLERIES.

MARKET RESEARCH IN ART GALLERIES. The Wall Street Journal (August 18) has an article by Isaac Arnsdorf about observers in museums doing the kind of research that supermarkets do. The article focuses on the efforts of the Detroit Institute of … Continue reading

Posted in art, Economics | Leave a comment

COLLECTING MORE MEDICAL DATA.

COLLECTING MORE MEDICAL DATA. This article by Gina Kolata describes the success of a large-scale long-term study of Alzeimer’s patients. The study involved the sharing of a massive data set developed over several years about some 800 patients. What is … Continue reading

Posted in Science | Leave a comment

THE QUIRKINESS OF TARGET FIELD.

THE QUIRKINESS OF TARGET FIELD. About two thirds of the way into the 2010 season, it looks as if Target Field is quirky. I googled “Target Field quirkiness” and got 97,600 hits. I did the search after reading this article … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Baseball, Sports | Leave a comment