Thursday, September 19, 2013

In the 1920s, New Yorkers grew 2,700 acres of gooseberries. These days, they are a fairly rare sight, even at farmers markets.  In part, that’s because growing gooseberries used to be illegal in New York State.  The law was enacted in the early 1900s to prevent the spread of white pine blister rust.  The federal version of the law was rescinded in 1966, and New York eventually followed suit in 2003.  Joy Y. Wang  Find recipe for  Beekman 1802 Goat Cheese Gooseberry Fool at:  http://www.wnyc.org/articles/last-chance-foods/2013/jul/11/last-chance-foods-getting-know-gooseberries/
Few summer fruits rival the gooseberry for complexity, depth and sheer zesty oomph. These characterful berries have a long association with British cooking. Way back in the 1600s, herbalist Nicholas Culpeper talked of them being scalded, baked or eaten raw; there are recipes for them in Hannah Glasse's Art Of Cookery (1747), in Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery (1845) and Mrs Beeton's Book Of Household Management (1861). Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Learn how to prepare gooseberries and find recipes for tart, ice cream and sauce at: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/29/gooseberry-recipes-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall

 
Fumihiko Maki (born 1928) is a Japanese architect who teaches at Keio University SFC.  In 1993, he received the Pritzker Prize for his work, which often explores pioneering uses of new materials and fuses the cultures of east and west.  Find a list of his works and some pictures of them at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumihiko_Maki 

The Pritzker Architecture Prize is awarded annually to honour "...a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture."  Founded in 1979 by Jay A. Pritzker and his wife Cindy, the award is funded by the Pritzker family and sponsored by the Hyatt Foundation and is considered to be one of the world's premier architecture prizes; it is often referred to as the Nobel Prize of architecture.  The prize is said to be awarded "irrespective of nationality, race, creed, or ideology."  The recipients receive US$100,000, a citation certificate, and since 1987, a bronze medallion.  The designs on the medal are inspired by the work of architect Louis Sullivan, while the Latin inscription on the reverse of the medallion—firmitas, utilitas, venustas (English: durability, utility, and beauty)—is inspired by Roman architect Vitruvius.  Before 1987, a limited edition Henry Moore sculpture accompanied the monetary prize.  The Executive Director of the prize, as of 2009, Martha Thorne, solicits nominations from a range of people, including past Laureates, academics, critics and others "with expertise and interest in the field of architecture".  Any licensed architect can also make a personal application for the prize before 1 November every year.  In 1988 Gordon Bunshaft nominated himself for the award and eventually won it.  The jury, each year consisting of five to nine "experts ... recognized professionals in their own fields of architecture, business, education, publishing.  
Find a list of winners with pictures of the architects and images of their work at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pritzker_Prize 

2013 Library of Congress National Book Festival  Saturday & Sunday, September 21-22, 2013 on the National Mall  Get information and link to a survey to help choose "Books That Shaped the World" at:  http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/ 

Jean Bernard Leon Foucault, French physicist and inventor, was born Sept. 18, 1819.  Thanks for the pendulum.  It may be hard to fathom, but the idea of Earth rotating on its axis, first proposed in the 6th century, took many centuries to gain favor, and many more to be demonstrated.  The Copernican theory of celestial motions was well accepted by science by the time Foucault was born.  It elegantly explained the apparent "rise" and "set" of the sun, but it was difficult to "prove" by experiment.  Foucault built his first pendulum with six feet of wire, an 11-pound ball and a candle that "launched" the ball by burning through a string to which the ball was attached (to prevent any directional effect of pushing the bob).  His pendulum became a sensation, and he constructed several for public displays, the most famous of them at the Pantheon in Paris.  Foucault went on to invent a gyroscope, and he tinkered with light experiments to "prove" light was a wave.  The California Academy of Sciences museum in San Francisco has a massive Foucault pendulum that swings through an arc of about 220 degrees daily.  Why not 360 degrees, you ask?  The pendulum's motion is dependent on the latitude of Earth.  Foucault's likewise moved 270 degrees in 24 hours.  A pendulum at the North Pole would spin the full 360 degrees.  You're probably already wondering why the pendulum doesn't just slow down and stop, eventually.  It does.  In the early Foucault experiments, this didn't matter so much, because it swung long enough to see the floor shift in relation to the arc of the pendulum.  But as the pendulum became more of a sensation, people invented ways to overcome the resistance that slows the bob.  Designers these days use electromagnets near the fastening point for the cable, to overcome that force and keep things swinging.  At the academy, this electromagnet turns on and off when the cable passes a beam of light.  Geoffrey Mohan  http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-google-doodle-foucault-20130918,0,7291758.story 

Sept. 19, 2013  This full Moon corresponds with the time of harvesting corn.  It is also called the Barley Moon, because it is the time to harvest and thresh the ripened barley.  The Harvest Moon is the full Moon nearest the autumnal equinox, which can occur in September or October and is bright enough to allow finishing all the harvest chores.  On Sept. 19 in other years:
1819 --- It was such a beautiful fall day that poet John Keats was inspired to take out pen and pad.  He inked one of the best-loved English poems, Ode to Autumn.
1876 --- Melville Bissell patented the carpet sweeper.
1891 --- "The Merchant of Venice" was performed for the first time at Manchester.
1981 --- For their first concert in years, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunited for a free concert to benefit New York City parks.  The concert attracted a crowd of 500,000 people in Central Park and was broadcast to a TV audience in the millions.

TEDx  Created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading,” the TEDx program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.  Find upcoming events near you at:  http://www.ted.com/tedx   Toledo TEDx is being held Sept. 19, 2013:   http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/7716  TEDxToledoYouth@ToledoLibrary is scheduled for Nov. 16, 2013:  http://www.ted.com/tedx/events/10433

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