Miscellanea #7

(Miscellanea: A collection of miscellaneous matters; matters of various kinds (Webster’s 1913). Noteworthy tidbits gleaned from all over, sans commentary.)

If St George wants a party he can pay for it
The English bemoan the lack of time off work and the chance to get patriotically legless on their national day. But are they missing anything, and who would pick up the bill anyway? (BBC News | UK)

Angels-A’s: October preview?
Have you heard enough about the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry yet? So much has been written and said about The Greatest Rivalry in Sports this year that you would think Jessica Simpson and Donald Trump were in the starting rotations. So many reporters crowded the pressbox for The Greatest Rivalry in Sports that it looked like All-U-Can-Eat night at The Sizzler — and that was just for the first spring training game…. (ESPN.com - MLB)

Reader Request 2004 #3: Can Writing Be Taught?
Do you think that writing can be ‘taught’? Art schools exist without raising eyebrows, but when you mention creative writing courses, people give you sardonic grins…. (WHATEVER)

Il panino
Recently I’ve been getting the impression that the simple sandwich has been progressively more under the media spotlight. Just a few days ago I read this interesting article about how the French are embracing the good old sarnie (sandwich for the non British) to come to terms with today’s shorter lunch breaks. The next day, to remain in topic, I received an Italian gastronomic magazine with a panino on the front page. Inside a couple of interesting articles on what panini are today in Italy, how (again) the changing lifestyle has helped making them more popular than ever and the best addresses around the peninsula. It would seem that even in Italy people are noticing how popular panini have become abroad and finally taking pride in that. Stimulated by these articles I decided to write a post on Italian panini. After all, loving bread so much I couldn’t ignore what comes between those delicious slices…. (Il Forno)

Fnord!
Last night I read The Da Vinci Code (detailed review forthcoming). Tonight while idly wanting to see some of the paintings the author describes, I stumbled on this kook’s site… I always assumed that Robert Anton Wilson was joking or exaggerating about conspiracy theorists’ ability to see echoes of their delusions in anything and everything. Bad assumption. (Tea and Peterb)