Teleidoscope

Wed, Aug 01, 2007

I35W

Posted at 11:53 pm MDT to Current Events

A chunk of I35W in Minneapolis has fallen into the Mississippi during rush hour. It's playing hell with communications, as well as killing at least 7 people and injuring at least 60... there are about 50 vehicles still being searched for, and a freight train was crushed when the bridge fell on it.

I think the piece of the highway that fell was farther north than I have ever driven on 35W. When I worked in North Minneapolis and lived in Minnetonka, I used 494 and 694, which go around the outside of the city, for commuting, not 35 where it goes through the center. When I drove back and forth between Denver and Minneapolis I used 35W and 35 for the stretch from Minneapolis to Des Moines, but I'm fairly certain from the reports that the fallen bridge was farther north (or the reporters are confused about Twin Cities geography, which is also possible).

I hope my niece Anna is OK. I don't know what her commute is like.

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McGee's On Food and Cooking

Posted at 10:51 pm MDT to Media

The first edition of Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (1984) was one of the first books aimed at general readers that discussed the scientific aspects of why recipes work the way they do. I read it and enjoyed it a number of years ago, as well as his later book The Curious Cook.

The 2004 revised edition of On Food and Cooking is expanded to include sections on fish and ingredients from all over the world, as well as updating and expanding the earlier information on European and American ingredients and recipes. I'm just working my way into the early chapters on dairy and eggs, but the new edition is as impressive as the first edition.

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Rome

Posted at 10:51 pm MDT to Media

I spent most of yesterday watching the first 9 episodes of Rome, the HBO series, plus the commentaries of episodes that have them. It's a wonderful show and deserves all its awards and nominations. But it is very intense and I think I overdosed slightly: I'm going to wait a few days before I watch the last three episodes of the season. The writer's have done a wonderful job of wrapping people around the events of Caesar's rise to power.

The details in the sets and costumes and props are amazing: interior scenes are lit by extra flames in addition to the ones that are visible, but they don't use regular electric lights when filming the interiors (though I have the feeling that they are showing too many candles vs. olive-oil lamps).

The casting and acting are wonderful, too. And strip well: this show makes I, Claudius (which I need to rewatch when I'm done with Rome) look puritanical. The ancient Romans would consider the depictions of sex, nudity and killing perfectly respectable -- which is part of the point -- but they are a bit stronger than I am used to.

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