News from NASA

OK, this is good stuff. First and very timely - there will be a solar eclipse tomorrow morning. It will appear full only in very northern places, like Greenland. It's not clear to me if it will be visible as a partial as far south as Chicago or not. Here's the site. (Admittedly, I found this out from my friend's blog - thanks, P.)

Secondly, water has been discovered and tested by the Phoenix rover on Mars.

While we're on the subject of NASA, here's one of my all time favorite pictures: Earth at Night.

Brazil: Country of Tomorrow

There's a bit of dark humor in Brazil that it is always the country of tomorrow, with the implication that tomorrow never seems to come. Here's an article in the NY Times saying that Brazil is experiencing an economic boom. Let's hope it's true at long last.

Obama at U of C

Here's an interesting article in today's NY Times about Obama's time at the University of Chicago's law school. My understanding is that the law school is pretty far to the right, but that by and large they support and like him.

Another Einstein Quote

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.

I'm working in an environment where people talk about programs and initiatives that are "metric-driven." I understand that it is useful to count things, but sometime it's just a bit much.

Semolina Cake

There was an article in a NY Times Magazine section about a month ago on semolina cakes that I'd left out for George to read. It had a Greek version and a French version. G's ideal version should have yogurt in it, so I've searched around and this one, with lemon from a blog called Cooking Adventures, sounds good to me.

I'll let you know how it is if we actually make it. I never bake, so odds are slim even though it sounds so tasty.

Einstein Quote

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom.

English summer pudding

A few days ago I bought both red and white currants at a farmer's market and I did what anyone would do - I started looking for recipes for English summer pudding. And I found one on an English food blog called Becks & Posh. It's very simple, cook a bunch of mixed berries for just a few minutes with a bit of sugar then put into a bowl you've lined with white bread. Refrigerate for a few hours while weighted. Good stuff, especially with cream drizzled over it.

Water Footprint

Have you thought about your water footprint? Global water demand will increase by 40% in the next 20 years. 1 in 5 people in the world do not have access to clean water, and municipal water prices are only increasing, 27% in the US over the past 5 years, 48% in Canada.

So, spend $2 and put an aerator in your faucet, put a brick in your toilet tank, plant indigenous plants in your garden, don't worry about your grass.

So much attention on Afghanistan

Is Afghanistan suddenly everywhere in the news after about 4 years out of the news because Obama thinks it's important?

I'm beginning to wonder about the herd mentality of news organizations - a few years ago, everyone had a cover about avian flu, because everyone else did. It was sensational.

Now, everyone has a cover, or at least an article, on Afghanistan. It's been there all along. Was no one paying attention?

A roadside restaurant anywhere in the world

On the coastal road on the west side of the Peloponnesus in Greece, we stopped for the night in an unpromising village 15 kilometers outside the big, ugly port town looking for a hotel. We found quite a nice, modern guest house just above the municipal beach, with a view of the Ionian Sea and olive trees.

For dinner, the proprietor suggested either of the two tavernas on the main road through the village just 2 blocks away. Both had tables in the open air facing the road with the kitchens at the back. The one we chose was lit by an abundance of florescent lights, making it a pool of white in the black night that was otherwise broken mostly by headlights. As we sat down and ordered a very simple, very Greek dinner of souvlaki in pita it occurred to me that I had eaten at this same place by the dusty side of the road in Panama and in Brazil. Each time I’ve wondered, why would anyone want to eat along the side of the road with exhaust fumes and grit? Why wasn’t the restaurant designed with the outdoor seating to the side, or to the back, protected from the road by the building?

Is it that outdoor seating at the back would isolate the patrons from the people passing by? Is this type of set-up more conducive to drop-ins and impromptu gatherings, thereby benefiting the proprietors? If you can see as you pass by that a group of your friends have gathered for a meal or a drink, you’re likely to join them. If on the other hand they are hidden in the back, you may not realize they are there and therefore will not become another paying customer. Perhaps this outweighs any disadvantage that the patrons might want to be secluded from the hustle-bustle and grit. Besides, if that were the case, they might have just stayed home.

So, does such a roadside restaurant only exist in small communities where one is more likely to pass by and recognize other patrons? Or does it exist on thoroughfares where the outdoor roadside presence is advertising, letting passers-by know that a restaurant exists?

I do know that the ones I’ve eaten at tend to have simple, good fare. Perhaps nothing to write home about, but nothing that’s made me ill either.

There is also a different sense of private space in restaurants in much of Europe and Latin America than in the US or Britain. In the US few restaurants would allow people to wander into the restaurant or even any outdoor seating selling flowers, serenades or sunglasses, but sitting for lunch on a Greek Island the passing hawkers approached the diners both inside and outside. Is the restaurant more of a communal space in Europe and Latin America than it is in the US? And by communal space, I mean that it is accessible to all parts of the community, not just the customers.