The Equality Trust and Happiness (05/11)
Authors Wilkinson and Pickett work to enact the ideas they put forward in
The Spirit Level on their
Equality Trust website and its campaign for economic equality. Visit this site for blog entries and updates on their work.
Watch a video of Wilkinson and Pickett talking about the ideas in
The Spirit Level:
If money doesn't buy ...
The Mummers of Newfoundland (04/11)
Two vivid and lively scenes in Galore reflect the occasion of mummers performing house-visits in the fictional outport community of Paradise Deep, Newfoundland. The practice of mumming (also known as mummering or janneying) in Newfoundland originated with the early immigrants from Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Mumming ...
Slave Castles & Synthethesia (03/11)
Slave Castles
A pivotal scene in
Amaryllis in Blueberry occurs when the Slepy family visits one of West Africa's slave castles. Though the slave castle in the story isn't mentioned by name, research will lead you to the
Elmina and the Cape Coast region located on the coast of
Ghana.
Castles were constructed along the coveted ...
The Kitchen God (01/11)
The playful yet poignant narrator of Sam Meekings's Under Fishbone Clouds introduces himself as Zao Jun, a being who, before becoming the Kitchen God, was a mortal human. There are many versions of his story spread throughout different regions of China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, coming from both Taoist and Buddhist traditions, though ...
The Omega Point (01/11)
What does Don DeLillo share with Marilyn Manson and Dilbert?
Answer: An interest in the omega point, a theory developed by the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in his book The Phenomenon of Man, which was written in 1938 but was so contested by the Catholic church that it wasn't published until just after his death in 1955.
...
The Chinese Zodiac (09/10)
Author Alison Goodman models her concept of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune after the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Falling in an established order within the cycle, the animals, according to legend, once bickered over who would head the ...
A Beginner's Guide to Mountaineering (05/10)
Mountain climbing, or mountaineering, is the sport of attaining or attempting
to attain high points in mountainous regions, mainly for the pleasure of the
climb. Before the 18th century, climbing for sport was rare. Humans
did ascend high peaks, but generally only out of necessity or for religious
reasons (many ancient religions ...
A Short Lesson in Restaurant Terminology (05/10)
PERSONNEL
Chef: the cook in charge of a restaurant; from the French chef de cuisine, literally the head of the kitchen.
Executive Chef: sometimes called the head cook, he or she is the one responsible for running the food preparation in a kitchen, ordering food and supplies, making staff schedules, dealing with administrative tasks. ...
Candy Bars, Fascinating Facts (04/10)
Chocolate as a drink was a favorite of Montezuma, Emperor of the Aztecs. Hernando Cortez brought the drink back to Spain in 1529. It remained a favorite of the Spanish royalty for many years before being consumed widely throughout Europe.
It was not until three centuries later in England that chocolate was first used as a non-liquid ...
The World's Largest Porch Swing and Nurturing Talent (03/10)
The memory of her family's visits to the
World's Largest Porch Swing in Hebron, Nebraska, sustains Mibs during the bumpy bus ride to Salina where her seriously injured father is hospitalized.
Wackiness like The World's Largest Porch Swing has a sweetness in
Savvy
and has nothing to do with kitschiness. Instead, Law is inviting us to ...
Women and Botany (03/10)
Before her husband forbade her from pursuing any hobbies or interests, Mary Eleanor Bowes devoted considerable time to studying botany and overseeing the gardens at her family estates. She even became the patron of Scottish naturalist William Paterson, funding his expedition to South Africa, from where he brought native plant specimens as...
Traditional Recipes for Preserving the Sweetness of Summer (02/10)
Jane Fielding's home and family are the center of My One Hundred
Adventures. Her mother's inventive, fresh cooking, the gathering of fresh
sea food, berries and greens, and the calm fellowship the Fieldings enjoy at
mealtimes sustain and fortify Jane as she greets each new adventure. Jane's
mother preserves the sweetness of summer...
A Beginner's Guide to Tall Ships (02/10)
The Red Wolf Conspiracy takes place almost entirely aboard an immense
sailing ship (aka 'tall ship') with seven decks and five sails, similar, albeit perhaps on a grander scale, to those one might envision in use during the 18th
century. Although the book is set in a fantasy world, Redick references familiar
ship types and crew ...
The Story of Stamps (01/10)
Great Britain's 'Penny Black' plays a significant role in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. It was the first stamp, first issued on May 6, 1840. It cost one penny, was printed in black, and bore the profile of Queen Victoria. For the next 60 years (until her death in 1901), Queen Victoria's portrait was the only subject allowed on ...
Cooking by Feel (01/10)
Although Lillian calls her cooking classes 'The School of Essential Ingredients' and has been asked what those are, she doesn't keep a list of them, nor are any of her recipes written down. While she does acknowledge that baking requires a more carefully balanced set of ingredients (she also believes that couples should make their own ...
Dog Training Methods & The Seeing Eye (11/09)
Edgar Sawtelle would not have much to say—or sign—to the Dog Whisperer. Cesar Millan, the star of 'The Dog Whisperer' on the National Geographic Channel, is known for his 'pack-oriented' philosophy, which traces canine behavior back to their survival instinct for living in highly organized packs led by a single, strong leader. ...
Everett vs. Chomsky (11/09)
In Don't Sleep, There are Snakes, the elephant in the room—or rather, the elephant in the Amazonian jungle—is the noted American linguist, Noam Chomsky. To put it far too simply, Chomsky and Everett are feuding over which has supremacy in linguistics: genetics or culture, nature or nurture.
Chomsky's theory of universal ...
"Crimes of the Century" (11/09)
Tacking down a precise date for when the term 'Crime of the Century' was first
utilized is not easy, but most scholars would attach the name of Jack the Ripper
to the creation of that notorious slogan. The killing spree in 1888 that resulted in the deaths of at least five accountable victims and possibly ten more was never solved, but...
Norse mythology and Runes (11/09)
Norse mythology is the best preserved version of Germanic paganism,
sharing the same essential pantheon with Anglo-Saxon mythology. Both have
their roots in a hypothetical Indo-European mythology that is believed to be at
the root of most pre-Christian religions in Europe and India (including
Hinduism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism) ...
The Vidocq Society (11/09)
'Legend has it that if you give Vidocq two or three of the details
surrounding a given crime, he will give you back the man who did it---before
you've had time to blink. More than that, he'll describe the man for you, give
you his most recent address, name all his known conspirators, tell you his
favorite cheese. So compendious is...
S&H Green Stamps (10/09)
Chances are if you’re under 40 you might not remember S&H Green Stamps, but since I’m one step over that hill, I clearly remember licking those sticky little stamps and dreaming of all the possibilities they held as I carefully pasted them onto the enticing matching rectangles. For those of you who can recall pressing those ...
Nanotechnology in Medieval Times (10/09)
Though Graceling is certainly set in a magical history, the time
period seems distinctly medieval, based on the descriptions of clothing,
weapons, buildings, and the general atmosphere. A descriptive passage towards
the end of Graceling made me wonder about the science and craft of
stained-glass-making in medieval times. Wielding ...
The Africa-America Institute (09/09)
The work of the airlift organizers continues: The Africa-America Institute is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, non-profit organization with headquarters in New York, and offices in Washington, South Africa, and Mozambique. Founded in 1953, AAI's mission is to promote enlightened engagement between Africa and America through education, ...
Predestination (09/09)
One of the crucial scenes in Home, a scene so important that it repeats and vastly expands on a scene from Gilead, occurs when John Ames and his wife Lila visit the Boughtons for dinner, and Jack discomfits them all by pressing Reverend Ames for his views on the doctrine of predestination. "Do you think some people are intentionally ...
Resurrection Men (09/09)
When we think of grave-robbing, we usually think of dark tales involving
bandits pillaging graves for jewelry or other valuables. But the value of bodies
in the 19th century stretched far beyond that of their adornments.
Before people began donating their bodies to science, the only legal supply of
cadavers in the UK for medical ...
Post-Life Environmentalism (09/09)
Clara has such a detached attitude toward the more clinical aspects of her job as undertaker – removing organs, sewing the mouth shut, applying makeup – that her description of these tasks seems no different than a fishmonger discussing the gutting and filleting of salmon. And MacKinnon includes enough subtle hints as to the ...
Estate Appraisal (08/09)
Jenkins' crackerjack antiques appraiser Sterling Glass unlocks a veritable Pandora's Box when she commences to open doors and snoop around the secret rooms and passageways of Wynderly. She quite literally uncovers ancient family secrets that might be best left unexposed to the harsh light of judgment. The problem is, however, many of the ...
Hakawatis and A Thousand and One Nights (06/09)
Once upon a time, not terribly long ago, hakawatis, or storytellers, were
commonplace fixtures on Middle Eastern streets. As coffee-drinking gained
popularity in Ottoman times, the hakawatis moved from the streets into the
coffee houses. Hakawatis were paid by the owners of the coffee houses to draw
customers, and the best could ...
The Language of Wales (06/09)
Wales, located on the south-west peninsula of Great Britain (the main island of
the United Kingdom)
is one of the four constituent nations of the UK, the others are England,
Northern Ireland and Scotland (
map). Its population is about 3 million (5% of the UK).
For more about the history of Wales, see the sidebar to
The ...
Doppelgangers (05/09)
When Cassie sees a woman lying stabbed to death who looks exactly like her, with an ID that matches the identity she used for years as an undercover detective, it seems clear that she is looking at her own doppelganger.
- The dictionary describes a doppelganger (or doubleganger, from the German for 'doublegoer' or lookalike) as a ghostly...
Donating Dresses (05/09)
Lucky's cover features a lime-green dream dress that
Phoebe plans to wear to her over-the-top 8
th grade graduation party.
That beautiful dress, the way it makes Phoebe feel when she tries it on, and the
way it makes her feel when she realizes that her parents can no longer afford
to buy it for her, embodies Phoebe's expectations ...
The Slow Food Movement (05/09)
The Slow
Food movement began in Italy as a thoughtful protest against the arrival of American fast food in Rome in the 1980's. Seeking to promote an alternative to the Western diet and way of eating, eating slowly in the Slow Food sense means to eat with a full understanding and appreciation of every single step involved in bringing ...
Wolves as Totems (04/09)
Although many in the USA will associate totems - objects, animals or plants revered as a symbol of a tribe and often used in rituals - with Native Americans, totems are found in many cultures throughout the world, tracing far back into prehistory. Google the word and you'll find websites such as
animaltotem.com, devoted to helping one find...
The British Class System (03/09)
As mentioned in the notes at the end of
The House at Riverton, author
Kate Morton is fascinated with the whole concept of nobility and servant classes. I think many people who aren't familiar with such a strict class system, notably Americans and Australians like Morton, are also intrigued by the thought that there could have been a whole...
World War II at the Movies (03/09)
Alfred Day's attempt to face the disillusionment of war on a film set is similar to what society at the time was doing at the movie theaters. The massive movie hits of the 40s and 50s, like
To Hell and Back, allowed moviegoers on both sides of the Atlantic to relive moments of the war, if they had been directly involved, or to understand ...
The AMBER Alert Program (03/09)
The
AMBER
Alert Program is a voluntary partnership between law-enforcement agencies,
broadcasters, transportation agencies, and the wireless industry, to activate an
urgent bulletin in the most serious child-abduction cases. The goal of an AMBER
Alert is to instantly galvanize the entire community to assist in the search for
and...
A Short History of Darts (11/08)
The origin of the game of darts is lost in the mists of time. The game is
known to have been played since at least the Middle Ages in England, but it
seems likely that bored soldiers lounging around the campsite have probably been
throwing arrows at targets for much longer. In fact, it doesn't take much
imagination to trace the ...
The story of Chess (10/08)
Chess is thought to have originated in northern India or Afghanistan. The earliest written references are from around 600 AD but there is some evidence that the game could have existed as early as 100 AD. Interest in chess spread along the trade routes from India, with different
variations found in different countries, such as Shogi in ...
Belief in Ghosts (10/08)
- A recent survey, cited by Boylan, reveals that 48% of people say they believe in ghosts, with women more
likely to say so (56%) than men (38%); overall, more than 1 in 5
Americans say they have seen or been in the presence of a ghost. Having said that, other
polls have put the general figures between 37%-65%, which does make ...
The Linking Threads of God and Gold (10/08)
As you might expect with a book about history such as
God and Gold, there's plenty of interesting points to highlight and even more for readers to birddog; but Mead is so polyhistoric in his knowledge and so profligate with his references, moving easily from Matthew Arnold to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, it's hard to choose where to begin. Do we...
Shopping Malls (07/08)
A shopping mall is defined as a collection of shops usually in one main building
or close series of buildings. It would seem that shopping malls date back to at
least the 10th century when it is said that
Isfahan's Grand Bazaar in Iran was founded (the current buildings date to
the 17th century).
The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, ...
All About Cheese (07/08)
Cheese can be made from the the milk of any mammal capable of being milked. Simply put, cheese making is the process of removing water from milk. The simplest method is to add an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar directly to the milk; an alternative method uses bacteria to create an acid in the milk; the bacteria also provides flavor ...
Some of the CIA's Biggest Blunders (06/08)
The Central Intelligence Agency has been riven by turf battles, political infighting, and the lack of qualified agents and analysts. But just as frequently, the CIA has been brought to its knees by thoroughly avoidable blunders…
from the (somewhat) droll…
In 1994, the station chief in Guatemala accused the American Ambassador, ...
Did you know? The US food supply chain factoids. (05/08)
- The average supermarket food item has traveled 1500 miles to reach our kitchens - that's further than most families go on vacation.
- If every US citizen ate just one meal a week from locally grown meat and roduce we would save 1.1 million barrels of oil every week!
- Six companies now ...
Snooker (03/08)
Snooker is a very British sport, primarily played in the UK and various parts of the former colonies. The game bears some similarity to American Pool in that they both involve cues and balls, but Snooker is played on a table four times larger than the Pool table, the pockets are smaller and snooker players would say that the game is more ...
Flamenco Dancing (11/07)
Flamenco, which can be divided into cante ('the song'), baile ('the dance') and guitarra ('guitar'), is the traditional song and dance of the Gypsies (flamencos) of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is believed to have developed over several centuries from Gypsy, Moorish, Andalusian, and other roots (probably including northern India, as ...
Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS - MI6) (08/07)
According to
SIS's informative website, a formal and permanent British intelligence service was first established in 1909; but the history of British intelligence organizations engaged in foreign intelligence goes back at least to the 15th century (Thomas Cromwell ran secret agents in Europe on behalf of Henry VIII and Sir Francis ...
Household servants in Victorian Times (07/07)
According to
The Victorian Web if a
Victorian household could afford only one servant it would likely be a 'general' maid-of-all-work (usually a girl of 13 or 14) similar to the role Bessy takes on. Next would come a house-maid or nurse-maid, followed by a cook. Only once this female trio was in place would the first manservant be ...
The Better Farming Train and the Mallee (07/07)
The Better Farming Train did exist just as described in
Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living; it steamed out of Melbourne for the first time in October 1924 and returned for the last time in 1935, making about 38 tours in total. At each of its 10 stops between 500 to 2000 farmers and townspeople would attend the exhibits. You can ...
Animals on Trial (06/07)
The idea of canine testimony being accepted in court is not without precedent
(e.g. drug smugglers who are convicted on the evidence of sniffer dogs), but
what about the idea of putting an animal itself on trial?
These days, animals are not tried on the basis that they lack the ability to make moral judgments and therefore cannot be...
