Goat and chicken are somewhat anomalous
words in our language; often we use separate terms for an animal and
its edible flesh. Maybe because ground cow or thin-sliced salty pig
abs sound a bit off-putting. Or maybe not. We eat fishes and usually
call them by the right name, except Patagonian toothfish which sounds
profoundly inedible. We eat duck and rabbit more often than
sweetbreads or lights, no euphemisms required. This is all because
yesterday I ate a mess of curried goat. Also jerk chicken, which,
isn't it enough to dismember, cook, and devour the bird without the
character assassination?
Monday, April 28, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Omnivoracious
Name any food; somebody you know
doesn't like it. Watermelon? I know these people. Lamb? Again, some
close friends won't touch it. Eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, falafel, and
chocolate. Brussels sprouts, catfish, cilantro, lentils, and
spaghetti. Spaghetti! Seriously, how did these folks ever get born?
What possible evolutionary scenario can explain the persistence of a
tendency to be a picky eater? It's like deciding you don't want to
look at anything red, or you'll listen only to music with all high
notes. Me, I'll eat just about anything. Except mint ice cream.
That's just gross, like a bowl of cold toothpaste.
Monday, April 14, 2014
It's all about the fiber.
They’re selling custom-made rubber mats to protect the carpet in your vehicle. Which, correct me if I’m wrong but wasn’t carpeting a special option not so long ago and rubber mats the default state? I’m going to make a mint selling expensive aftermarket manual window cranks. It’s like how the cheapest bread is the whitest bread, but then you have to pony up for the bran supplement. I know who’s buying those mats though- a generation ago they’d have put clear plastic over their cloth upholstered sofas. So much classier than just buying a plastic sofa in the first place.
Monday, April 7, 2014
The valley remains canny.
Here's some disappointing news: You're
never going to get an Asimov-style humanoid robot. They were only
ever invented (by Karel Capek) as a way to talk about an awakening
laboring class. There's no way anybody is going to ever build a truly autonomous C3PO type robot, because what could you possibly use it
for that would justify the massive R&D investment? Maybe it could
hand out brochures at tradeshows. More bad news. No time machines.
Not ever. Because, look, no matter how far in the future it happened,
if they were ever to be invented we'd have always had them.
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