Seth's Blog

Here’s the last paragraph of a New York Times book review by Janet Maslin:

“The Publisher” [a biography of Henry Luce] has its parched passages, most notably when it ventures into the thickets of Luce’s “big” ideas. It works best when the man is well within sight. But Mr. Brinkley is dauntless in assessing Luce’s most important accomplishments, like his “American Century” essay and other efforts to tell Americans what American life was like. Life magazine had no temerity about devoting a major series in the 1950s to “Man’s New World: How He Lives in It.” Now that Man’s New World is so different from anything Henry Luce could imagine, his life and times are more poignant than they once seemed.

As I read this, I wondered if English was my native language. It was so hard to understand. Then I wondered if New York Times writers are paid by the big word. “Parched”? “Thickets? At least I know what that sentence means. I don’t know what she means by “Mr. Brinkley is dauntless in assessing…” — dauntless means fearless. Nor do I understand what “Life magazine had no temerity about” means. Temerity means recklessness or boldness. The logic of the last sentence (“Now that . . . “) with its big word poignant also escapes me.

Perhaps Maslin has found that if she writes like this her editors will edit her less, not being quite sure what those words mean. I attended many talks at UC Berkeley in which the speaker left out crucial information, such as the meaning of the y axis of a graph. And, virtually every time, no one asked about it – not even the four or five professors present. Gradually I realized why: They were insecure.

You may remember What does NASA stand for? Need Additional Six Astronauts. This circulated after the Challenger blew up. In contrast, the volcano jokes I’ve heard are curiously bad:

6. Dear Iceland, We said send cash, not ash.

7. Woke this morning to find every surface in the house covered in a layer of dust and a foul stench of sulphur in the air…. Yes, I’ve been married to that bone-idle slob for 20 years.

8. It was the last wish of the Icelandic economy that its ashes were spread all over Europe.

9. There’s no pleasing the English. The last time they got the Ashes they were over the moon.

10. Went outside today and got hit by a bag of frozen sausages, a chocolate gateau and some fish fingers. Someone said it’s a fallout from Iceland.

• Why Strict Churches Are Strong by Laurence Iannaccone, an economist. I liked the data but not the theory. (Increased strictness must have dozens of effects. To say reduces free-riding is the crucial one is a leap of faith.) Unusually well-written. Related to my post North Korea and Penn State.
• JK Rowlings is bad-ass, says a friend
• Are celebrities more narcissistic than MBAs?

Thanks to Eric Meltzer and Ryan Holiday.

Good results.

In 2 months I’ve lost 13 pounds . . .  I have even skipped days due to a hectic work schedule. . . .

I was stopped outside church on Sunday by someone who had noticed the weight loss and wanted to know how I did it. I have still yet to convince my fiercest critic – my loving wife, but at least she’s stopped calling it a placebo!

Here is a list of umami-rich foods. As regular readers of this blog know, I believe we like umami flavor so that we will eat more bacteria-rich foods. In this list, notice that fresh foods tend to have much less umami than older foods. Cured ham (337 units) is much higher than pork (2.5). Cheese (182-1680) is much higher than milk (1-4). Soy sauce (412-1264) is aged; so is fish sauce (621-1383).  Seaweed (kombu) is high (241-3190) but since seaweed is sold dried, I suspect the drying process is at least partly responsible for the high umami content. Marmite (1960) is not aged — but its main ingredient is yeast.

As far as I know, all meat sold commercially in America is aged: it doesn’t taste right until it’s aged. Umami is sometimes described as a “meaty” taste.