Bruce's Smorsasborg

In the book of the 100 most influential persons in history, author Michael Hart ranks Chinese inventor Ts'ai Lun at number seven for his invention of paper. Paper is so commonplace today, we scarcely give a thought to it or what the world would be like without it. Before its invention around 105 A.D., books were written on parchment (made from animal skin) or bulky papyrus (made into sheets from the pith of the papyrus plant and rolled into scrolls) and were objects only the wealthy and/or the church could afford. And of course, books/documents were hand-written, one at a time. Historians credit Johannes Gutenberg with advancing world literacy with the invention of movable type, but he couldn't have done it without paper. Today, you can buy paper so cheaply (e.g. 500 sheets for $7.49 at Staples, or about 1.5 cents per sheet), we give it little thought.  Here, then, is  Hart's account of  Ts'ai Lun's invention: Ts'ai Lun, the inventor of paper, is a man whose nam...

 By Bruce Shawkey Chicken parmesan, properly prepared, should look something like this: On a recent trip to Las Vegas, Dawn and I went to a supposedly upscale Italian restaurant inside the Venetian Hotel and ordered chicken parmesan and got something that looked like this: Dawn sent hers back; I choked mine down. The waitress looked at her funny as if to say, "What's wrong with it? That's the way we prepare it." They brought her a replacement, and it was just as overcooked. It was basically the consistency of shoe leather. And it wasn't cheap. If I recall, it was around $30. Apparently, this happens quite a bit. I found an article on the Internet titled "You Should Probably Skip These Menu Items At A Restaurant," and one of the items highlighted was chicken parmesan. Said one chef: "I would never, ever order chicken parmesan, It's always frozen before cooked and tastes like a gross version of chicken nuggets." Don't get me wrong. Some r...

 By Bruce Shawkey No one wants to drive a lemon. You know, the car you buy, then as soon as you take it off the lot something fails. The engine goes kaput, or the brakes don't work. The worst thing that could happen goes wrong, and you're left with a huge repair bill, in many instances more the car is worth.  What is there to say about the Peel Trident? It was launched in 1964 at the British Motorcycle Show and was intended to be used as an "occasional two-seater." By 1966, the Peel Engineering Company ended production on the strange little car. The Trident might be gone, but the legend lives on. On Monster Garage, Jesse James got his hands on one and tried to fit it with a motorcycle engine and new frame. The experiment failed and James destroyed the car for his television audience to see. As soon as the Pontiac Aztek was announced, it was universally hated by car lovers. Critics claimed the design of the car itself made no sense, especially its oddly-shaped front en...

 From a 1947 report titled Tropical and Subtropical Fruits The larger cultivated fruits of the northern temperate zone, apples, pears, quinces, plums, peaches and their varieties are not included in this listing. Instead, you will find the principal edible fruits of the tropics. Many have been cultivated since early historic time or before, such are the fig, the date, the pomegranate, spiny jujube, and lime. Scarcely known in northern Europe and not capable of being cultivated there, these did not reach our North American shores with the notable exceptions of oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit which can be cultivate in the South. Of other exotic fruits brought from Mediterranean countries, the principal ones were figs and dates. Though introduced repeatedly in various places in the United States, it is only recently that they can be said to have been well established. The first figs grown in California were black mission figs brought by Franciscans from Spain or Portugal. Banana...