The eggheads are learning things from the Hubble Telescope. But even if they weren't, it serves an even greater purpose: you and me are seeing our universe. Nothing compares to the majesty and just plain coolness of seeing a comet breaking up. The closest this comet will come to us is 7.3 million miles away. But the Hubble puts it on our desktop with video like this....
The woman who saved New York City's West Village from Robert Moses's bulldozer has passed away. Jane Jacobs rejected modern architecture's monstrous high rises, with its empty plazas and separation of people from their livelihood. In her book "Death and Life of Great American Cities," written in 1961, Ms. Jacobs's enormous achievement was to transcend her own withering critique of 20th-century urban planning and propose radically new principles for rebuilding cities. At a time when both common and inspired wisdom called for bulldozing slums and opening up city space, Ms. Jacobs's prescription was ever more diversity, density and dynamism...
Ever want to know what goes into that rustic Italian sopressata? Ever want to go to your local greenmarket and drive away with a whole pig carcass draped over your Vespa? Here's a great article by Bill Burford about learning how to butcher a pig from Dario Cecchini, the man who inspired his Babbo-ness, Mario Batali. In one passage, Buford describes an old Tuscan recipe for the pig's hind legs, called proscuitti. You started by breaking the legs down into their major muscles, using your fingers to find “the seams.” The Maestro had taken me through the process and...
Due to a technical maneuver by a Democratic state representative, House Republicans might soon be answering some very uncomfortable allegations that could result in a Bush impeachment: Representative Yarbrough stumbled on a little known and never utlitized rule of the US House of Representatives, Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual of the Rules of the United States House of Representatives, which allows federal impeachment proceedings to be initiated by joint resolution of a state legislature. From there, Illinois House Joint Resolution 125 (hereafter to be referred to as HJR0125) was born. Detailing five specific charges against President Bush including one that...
The Aryan Brotherhood began as a prison organization in the 70's, when race riots were common in prison. It's members call it 'The Brand' and branched out from white prison supremacy to dealing narcotics, racketeering, extortion, murder. They've created a criminal organization that rivals the mafia's. When Gotti wanted to punish the black guy who punched him out in prison, he went to the Brand. Now 40 people have been indicted and four are currently on trial. The Aryan Brotherhood launched a campaign a decade ago to become the most powerful criminal organization in the world, a former high-ranking...
No, not that kind of cheesehead. If you've always been afraid of the word "podcast," it's time to get over it. The husband-and-wife team of Michael Claypool and Sasha Davies are setting out to travel the country and visit artisanal cheesemakers, documenting it on their site Cheese By Hand. And they'll be producing a regular podcast. About cheese. Get those mp3 players fired up now....
The third installment in The Weekly Sir Neglejai is a spastic rooftop voyage on Sunday afternoon in Long Island City, starring the incomparable Anthony Frazzini. Watch here....
