Wednesday News: Backward books, Net Neutrality, Thanksgiving Pudding, and Women of NASA
Publishing Newsbook displays / FCC / food history / Lego / net neutrality / Thanksgiving / Women of NASA5 Comments
Would you put books backward? This decor trend has people seriously divided – I would never consider myself compulsive about decorating, but OMG just the idea of this makes me want to flinch back. Beyond the inability to actual recognize the books, why in the hell would you expose the pages to more surface dust? Plus it’s ugly. And whose books are all the same hue of white?
“My book collection is huge so it was important to me from a design standpoint to find a creative way to store my accumulation,” [interior designer Natasha Meininger] explained to TODAY Home. “I have read thousands of books. I’ve only reread about 20, so I don’t find it necessary to be able to find a specific title that I’ve already read at the drop of a hat.”
The main argument for why designers like this look is that it shows the whites of the pages, creating a cohesive color palette on your bookshelf. “I love the sculptural effect you get by facing the pages out,” Meininger added. – TODAY
FCC chief moves to eliminate net neutrality regulations – I know we’re all exhausted from, well, everything, but this is pretty much a red alert situation. On December 14th, the FCC will vote on a new proposal to basically gut the regulations that currently protect Net Neutrality. It wasn’t exactly a cake walk last time this fight took place, in 2015, but I suspect this time is going to be even worse. If you read the entire article, you will get a nice chuckle from the Verizon exec who claims that the Internet can be handily managed with “a bipartisan regulatory approach.” Sure it can. Just like health care. And taxes. And women health – wait, why is that being regulated again?
Net neutrality is the principle that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally, whether you’re checking Facebook, posting pictures to Instagram or streaming movies from Netflix or Amazon. It also means that a company like AT&T, which is trying to buy Time Warner, or Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, can’t favor its own content over a competitor’s. It prevents broadband companies from charging a tiny startup trying to break into the streaming video or music business extra to reach customers more quickly. . . .
The heart of the [Trump’s FCC Chair Ajit] Pai’s repeal of the net neutrality rules is rolling back this utility classification of broadband and stripping the FCC of its authority to regulate the internet. In so doing, the proposal undercuts the legal standing for the rest of the rules, even the parts that people agreed on. This means the new proposal eliminates the no-blocking, no-throttling and no paid-prioritization rules, which allowed broadband companies to charge internet companies for speedier access to their customers. – CNET
Why You Won’t See Pudding on the Thanksgiving Table – Growing up in New England, we ate quite a few savory puddings (although not the meat ones), but once I moved west, puddings gave way to casseroles. Looking back, the change was probably less geographical and more temporal, but at the time it wasn’t something I thought about. But with US Thanksgiving just around the corner, this caught my interest, especially given the popularized (and heavily fictionalized) origin story for the holiday. Yet another example of how food is and has always been political, even when we may not want it to be. Also, I really want to make corn and sweet potato puddings now. Yum.
So what happened to pudding? Why did this broad culinary category, a defining part of American cuisine for more than a century, largely disappear?
One reason was food reform. By the early 20th century, new knowledge about nutrition science, combined with an obsessive (but misinformed) interest in digestion, fueled widespread “expert” condemnation of dishes featuring a range of ingredients mixed together. This was due, in large part, to xenophobia; by then, many white Americans had come to associate mixed foods with immigrants.
Instead, reformers insisted with great confidence (but scant evidence) that it was healthier to eat simple foods with few ingredients: meals where meats and plain vegetables were clearly separated. People started to view savory puddings as both unhealthy and old-fashioned. – Smithsonian/The Conversation
Lego’s ‘Women of NASA’ sale lifts off, lands as best-selling toy – I missed this happy little tidbit: The Women of NASA Lego set sold out on Amazon within 24 hours, making it the most popular toy on the site. So what are those arguments again about women not leading product success? Suck it, patriarchy!
Astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, computer scientist Margaret Hamilton, and astronauts Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, the four women who played vital roles in the US space program are now immortalized in a 231-piece Lego set, accompanied by three builds illustrating their areas of expertise.The set went on sale Wednesday morning, at a price of $24.99, and it quickly sold out on Amazon, creating great positive feedback on social media under #WomenofNASA. – CNN
Icelandic Folk Singers Break Into an Impromptu Performance of a 13th Century Hymn in a Train Station, and It’s Delightful – This is just so beautiful. – Open Culture
Hiding the spines looks like something you do when you’re ashamed of what’s on your shelves. I’m offended on behalf of the books and the shelves.
If she’s read those “thousands” of books and has only reread 20, why not just get rid of the books? Give them a better home. What this says is she doesn’t care about her books, they’re just a design prop. I think having books says a lot about a person. This says a lot about the designer, but to me what it says is not good.
@JessP: That’s exactly what I scrolled down to say. I admit I’m terrible at getting rid of books I’m never going to reread, but I’ve never been tempted to do that.
And not only are the page colors going to be different shades, and not just of white, but you’ll still see the edges of hardcovers and book sizes are all over the place. (You can group by size, I suppose, but you can also group by color.)
Reducing books to their lowest common denominator: they’re just paper and cardboard, so make them meaningless props, that’s the gist? Thankfully I am not a designer.
I’m not sure which is more egregious: hiding the spines, or shelving books by colour.