News Chum Stew: Food, Frogs, Frames, Battles Big and Small

[cahwyguy]

Now that I’m back from a wonderful CSUN EECS Welcome Back BBQ, time to share some accumulated chum that didn’t theme. That’s right, it’s time for a refrigerator soup news chum stew, starting off with three food items:

• Hydrox Cookies are Coming Back. Now, I was never a superfan of Hydrox like some, although I do remember them from my youth. What memories I have are of a less sweet, more chocolate cookie. In any case, the trademark was abandoned, recovered, and someone is bringing back Hydrox. There was also a great Planet Money podcast on this as well (as well as the previous episode, which explored how Norway engineered Salmon Sushi into popularity)
• Picking a Favorite Apple. What is your favorite apple (and I mean food, not technology or recording company)? Mental Floss purported to guide you with a decision tree on apples, but I object: they completely omitted the best apple of them all: The Pippin. Alas, you can rarely find them these days. If anyone sees them on sale, please let me know.
• Sycophants. One memory from Linguistics 10 is the etymology of sycophant: to show a fig. I mention this because of an interesting NPR piece on how California Fig growers want you to eat more figs, and not just in cookies. They want you to eat more fresh figs; additionally, they are diversifying the use of the fig while introducing it to new consumers. That’s why you can now find figs in chocolate, liquor — even soap.
• 747 Graveyard. I wrote an article a few weeks ago that included a link about the death of the 747. Here’s an interesting article on where 747s go to die. I’ve always found airplane graveyards fascinating places: multimillion dollar chunks of equipment standing empty in a desert, waiting to be choppped for parts, to just disintegrate, or if they are lucky, to be refurbished and fly again… or become a restaurant… or a home. or something else.
• No Lily Pad He. Speaking of homes, Kermit the Frog is back on ABC. Did you realize he is a real estate tycoon. Some things you just don’t think about. But it’s true. The frog’s portfolio is enough to make anyone green: it includes a New York penthouse, an inner-city mansion, trendy repurposed warehouse, a Brooklyn apartment complex and a self-contained living room.
• Breaking the Rule. Frogs owning homes. What’s next? Magicians telling the secret of their magic. Yup. That’s precisely what Penn and Teller are doing these days. Further, they do it without spoiling the magic, but making you appreciate it more.
• Stop the Internet. Stop the Crime. Here’s an interesting correlation for you: as broadband speeds go up, so does racially charged violent crime. It this just correlation? Causation? Misuse of statistics? We’re just beginning to see how the internet can easily harm as well as help.
• Where’s Victor Borge? The internet has changed many things — not just crime statistics. Just consider how the Internet has changed the meeting of everyday punctuation…. I mean… oh, never mind.
• The Battle of the 80s. As we recall the anniversary of the OJ trial, let’s think about another great battle and faceoff: the battle between the musicals “Dreamgirls” and “Nine” regarding the Tony awards.

 

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