Quotes
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.
There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children
Nelson Mandela, activist, South African president, Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1918)

Chefs are raiding ancient Roman texts, Renaissance manuscripts and 19th-century American cookbooks in search of authentic old recipes with which to tempt jaded foodies. Many of the recipes call for unfamiliar—and somewhat unappetizing—ingredients like songbirds, veal brains, the ancient herb hyssop and "preboggin" (pray-bo-ZHAWN), a fancy name for wild greens, also known as "weeds." Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, open since January in the Mandarin Oriental in London, specializes in dishes from Britain's past: Rice and Flesh (c. 1390), Savoury Porridge (c. 1660), Roast Marrowbone (c. 1720) and Spiced Pigeon (c. 1780). At Next, a creation of Alinea's Grant Achatz that launched earlier this year in Chicago, a rotating prix fixe menu features dishes such as Duck with Blood Sauce, in which duck parts are put through an antique duck press. The dish is based on a 1906 Paris preparation inspired by August Escoffier's 1903 text Le Guide Culinaire. At Pensiero, a modern Italian restaurant in Evanston, Ill., chef Brandon Baltzley is putting together an historic menu for a 10-course, $140-a-person dinner later this month. The inspiration is the 10 tomes of Apicius, a collection of Roman recipes believed to date from 4th and 5th centuries. "[People] are bored," says Mr. Baltzley who found the books in a university library. If some old recipes sound less than scrumptious, here's why. People "ate more parts of the animal and more parts of a plant that today we'd throw away," says Francine Segan, author of "Shakespeare's Kitchen," a 2003 book of updated Renaissance recipes. The idea that cinnamon and nutmeg hid the taste of old meat isn't true, she says. "They wouldn't put expensive spices on top of rotten meat."
Alina Dizik See stories about Bastas Trattoria in Portland, Chicago's Spiaggia restaurant, and America Eats Tavern, a pop-up restaurant in Washington, D.C., whose profits go to the Foundation for the National Archives at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203499704576624851086404190.html

A computional journalism reading list by Jonathan Stray
I’d like to propose a working definition of computational journalism as the application of computer science to the problems of public information, knowledge, and belief, by practitioners who see their mission as outside of both commerce and government. This includes the journalistic mainstay of “reporting” — because information not published is information not known — but my definition is intentionally much broader than that. To succeed, this young discipline will need to draw heavily from social science, computer science, public communications, cognitive psychology and other fields, as well as the traditional values and practices of the journalism profession. “Computational journalism” has no textbooks yet. In fact the term barely is barely recognized. The phrase seems to have emerged at Georgia Tech in 2006 or 2007. This helpful reading list covers, among other things, communications technology and free speech, tracking spread of information and misinformation, linguistics and visualization.
http://jonathanstray.com/a-computational-journalism-reading-list

Muscovites’ usual transportation routes will soon be blocked – all for the sake of theatrical art. The Moscow Metro has announced that the central section of the green line will be temporarily closed in November. All the stations between Belorusskaya and Novokuznetskaya will be affected. The reason for the closure is the need to insulate the Bolshoi Theater from the noise of the subway. The specialists found out that the vibrations caused by passing trains interfere with the theater’s acoustics. No wonder: the distance between the theater’s hall and the Teatralnaya metro station is around 40 meters. To tackle the problem, the theater hired German acoustics pros who came up with a special insulation scheme for the Bolshoi. http://rt.com/news/prime-time/bolshoi-acoustics-moscow-metro-589/

Find a table with roots, con + roots, and variants based on other prefixes at: http://www.laetusinpraesens.org/docs10s/conplaya.php
An example at 1.2 is root: -vers; con + root: converse; and variants: adverse, averse, controverse, diverse, everse, inverse, obverse, perverse, reverse, subverse, transverse, traverse, underverse, universe.

The four-day Circleville (Ohio) Pumpkin Show, beginning October 19, is in its 105th year, has a $300,000 budget, a constitution and its own anthem, "The Punkin Show," for years performed a cappella at the opening ceremony by a quartet of Kiwanis members, most of whom have passed away. Now the high school choir sings, "Take my hand and off we'll go, we're on our way to the Punkin Show." Pumpkin festivals are sprouting across the country this time of year, from South Jersey to Half Moon Bay, Calif., many holding giant pumpkin weigh-offs and vying to host the next world record, which now belongs to a Wisconsin man who produced an 1,810-pounder last year. The Keene Pumpkin Festival, in New Hampshire, goes for quantity of another sort, with 25,000 lit jack-o'-lanterns on its main street, while the Pumpkin Chuckin Festival in Millsboro, Del., goes for distance with its airborne pumpkins. For Circleville, population 14,000, it's the biggest event of the year. City schools are closed most of the week, as are many businesses, since the show occupies eight downtown blocks. Lindsey's Bakery, however, adds two shifts and staffs the kitchen 24 hours a day to make nearly 100,000 pumpkin doughnuts. "We get about 25% of our sales then," says owner Katie Miller, whose parents came up with the recipe in the 1950s. The Rotary sells Pumpkin chili and the Presbyterian Church rents its parking lot. "There's no other fund-raising opportunity bigger than the Pumpkin Show," says Barry Keller, the Pumpkin Show vice president. A recent survey found the show drew visitors from 34 states and 13 foreign countries. Locals trace the show's roots to 1903 when the mayor put pumpkins in front of his home. Decades later, the city's water tower was painted orange and topped with a green metal stem. It was incorporated in 1946 as the nonprofit Circleville Pumpkin Show Inc. Article three of its constitution stipulates the show benefit locals, which is why contestants for all competitions, from top gourd display to best white radishes, must live within a 21-mile radius of Circleville. Clare Ansberry
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203914304576629520379947448.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_10_1

Bon Jovi is opening a new "pay-what-you-can" restaurant, hoping to give low-income families an alternative to unhealthy fast food. The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen opened on Wednesday in Red Bank, New Jersey, near the singer's hometown of Sayreville. After two years of serving meals in various locations, the "community kitchen" has set up a permanent location in a 1,100 sq ft former garage. While customers are welcome to pay for their meals, those who are, er, living on a prayer may instead work as volunteers. "Picture the coolest brasserie in your hometown, that's what this is," Bon Jovi told New York magazine. "It's the hottest-looking restaurant in this town." Indeed, this is hardly a soup kitchen. The bistro's opening menu includes rainbow beet salad, pork chops with fig and apple chutney, and homemade carrot cake with lemon cream cheese frosting. Everything is "organic, healthy, good-for-you food", Bon Jovi said, but don't expect to find him behind the stove. "I'm an expert at washing dishes, but I can cook less than zero." http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oct/20/jon-bon-jovi-restaurant?newsfeed=true