I was switching stations on my car radio, yesterday morning, and came across the following exchange on WBAL 1050 AM... It went something like this:
Radio Guy 1 is picking up on a news item about a bill in the Calif. legislature to prevent teens from using tanning salons in that state.
"Why would you want to go to a tanning studio in California?!! The sun..."
Radio Guy 2 echoes his exclamation with truncated, sarcasm:
"Why would you want to go to California?!!"
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Gee. There was once a time when everyone wanted to visit The Golden State. It was a land of opportunity, of beaches, of trend-setting culture, of some magnificent natural splendor, and laid-back vibes.
These days, it's a place where gasoline ranges from $2.11 to $2.59 per gallon. Ouch!
Entomophagy is the eating of insects.
Here is a site devoted to cicadas, with a pdf document of recipes for cooking the critters. (Newly-emerged ones, tenerals, are recommended. They should be boiled for 4-5 minutes before using them.)
http://www.urhome.umd.edu/newsdesk/scitech/cicadas.cfm.
Bon appetit!
About 1.5 weeks ago I saw the documentary, "Containment", about the Three Mile Island accident and aftermath (esp. on the lives of folks in Middletown, Pa.). I saw it at MICA's Brown Center (My first time in the new building). The screening was part of the Maryland Film Festival.
Three Mile Island (TMI) happened in March of '79. I was in SF at the time. I remember how horrified folks were in the Bay area (It being a haven for leftist thought and alternative lifestyles, there was already a strong anti-nuke sentiment.).
The public, there, had already been shocked in November of '78, by the news of the Jonestown Massacre in Guyana (and the murder of Congressman Leo Ryan and his party). Jim Jones had moved his People's Temple flock from SF to Guyana, so most of the 913 dead at Jonestown (most from cyanide-laced Kool Aid and some shot by guards) were from the Bay area. The Congressman (from San Mateo?) had flown down with some aides and reporters to investigate complaints about Jim Jones' organization and its coercive culture.
And a week after that tragedy, former SF Supervisor Dan White, shot and killed SF Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk at City Hall.
So when TMI happened, it was easy for folks to get pretty upset. It felt like the sky was falling.
(Of course, 7 years later, the Chernobyl accident would make TMI look like diddly squat.)
In the media discussion about Abu Ghraib, I wish there was more mention of the famous experiments by Milgram, Zimbardo, and others that dealt with obedience to authority and prison roles.
(It's almost like no journalist or commentator took Psych 101 in college.)
from the WRN file:
Saturday, May 8 2004: Radio Australia
Soft shell crabs are considered to be one of the world's greatest seafood delicacies. Cooked, the fresh shells are paper-thin, and slightly crunchy, like a potato crisp. Until now, commercially harvesting soft-shell crabs has been possible only with round-the-clock surveillance by dozens of crab watchers to find that short period when crabs shed their old, hard shells and before the new coat starts to harden. On "Innovations" you hear of an aquaculture specialist in Brisbane, Qld, who has developed an innovative robotic system that detects when a crab has moulted and will then mechanically harvest it.
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And what is the availability and price of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs these days?
Unlike many, I'm not sorrowful about the end of Bob Edwards as host of NPR's "Morning Edition". Since CSPAN acquired the old WDCU frequency, I've been listening to "Washington Journal" (and turning to ME as an alternative).
Since last summer I've realized that it was getting harder to hear Edwards. His voice seemed to dropped into a deep rumbling bass, that was often unintelligible. When I complained to a friend who also listened to the show, he suggested that all you needed to do was turn up the volume. Well you can't do that all the time. Besides, I didn't want to be constantly adjusting the volume.
So when I toured NPR last summer and happened to be led through an area where ME folks worked, and was introduced to someone who worked as a producer or assistant producer for Morning Edition, I suggested with a smile, that Edwards needed a shot of estrogen (something to lift the register of his voice). I was told to beware of making such comments in that area.
Hey, we're all aging. I've nothing against Edwards' personality or style. I think he was fine, in that regard. I just found that it was getting hard to hear him, his voice had changed.