The emperor was bald
The sight of Libya’s madman-in-chief muttering nonsense from beneath an umbrella brought to mind many images of world leaders wielding other famous parasols, such as this beaut in which aides of Ukrainian Speaker Volodymyr Litvyn used brollies to deflect eggs being hurled at them. Though the umbrella is folded, this is a nice story out of the UK about how Hitler used to mock Neville Chamberlain for his trademark rain shield. This sudden absorption with umbrellas being displacement activity on a deadline day, I leave it to others to postpone some immediate chore by instead looking for file photos of famous umbrella moments. Ah, but not before adding this bit of umbrella Wiki-trivia that “in the sculptures at Nineveh the parasol appears frequently. Austen Henry Layard gives a picture of a bas-relief representing a king in his chariot, with an attendant holding a parasol over his head. It has a …
Trademark this
LA Observed is the latest to pick up on a spat between a Pasadena family seeking to trademark the term “urban homestead” and the rest of the kitchen gardening world. According to Santa Monica organizers, said family even sent a cease and desist letter to the Santa Monica Public Library/Farmers Market over using the term for a panel discussion last week. There’s now a Facebook page dedicated to shaming the family. Readers, note well: It’s not just wordplay at stake. You may wake up to find your own name trademarked. A designer of spill proof placemats had the temerity to trademark my name some years ago. Given her emphasis on childish appurtenances, it’s a safe guess that I was publicly and commercially using the name long before some toddler knocked over a cup in her presence. Yet taking a patent on a byline never occurred to me. My niece is …
Meet ‘Dekopon’
“I still remember the first time I tasted the legendary fruit the Dekopon. Think of a huge mandarin, easy to peel and seedless, with firm flesh that melts in the mouth, an intense sweetness balanced by refreshing acidity, and a complex, lingering mandarin orange aroma. I’ve tasted more than 1,000 varieties of citrus, and to me the Dekopon is the most delicious,” writes UC Riverside pomologist David Karp in today’s Los Angeles Times.
I have no way of knowing what else Karp has tasted in his many years traveling the country visiting orchards and writing about fruit for his weekly column in the Los Angeles Times and former columns in the New York Times and Gourmet, but I do know that the Dekopon is extraordinary, like a perfect sorbet, except made by a tree instead of a chef. David, pictured above holding a Dekopon, happened to be visiting a …
Yikes
After finding something presentable to wear and taking heavy sedation I will be appearing as part of a panel on urban homesteading tomorrow (Thursday) night at the Santa Monica Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Boulevard at 7pm. Growing food at my old garden in central Los Angeles became less of a priority after most of my “free” time was taken up by a local school project. But count me an expert on what food crops survive 1,400 pairs of feet in an unfenced elementary school courtyard. Latterly, a serious return to growing salads, winter greens, stone fruit and citrus at home has come with a move to a house whose garden is a nice slice of an old fruit farm in the San Gabriel foothills. The challenge here is incorporating those crops in a larger garden that is either un-irrigated or strategically hand watered. Other, far more distinguished panelists include …
Lights, camera, Antonio
The Los Angeles Times reports that after the Los Angeles Unified School District refused to admit ABC’s Jamie Oliver to its cafeterias, the celebrity chef has been granted an audience at West Adams Prep, one of Mayor Villaraigosa’s cluster schools.
If this is not part of the mayor’s long-running political tug-of-war with the school board, then it looks like it.
For how Oliver has used Facebook to urge parents to write school board members to demand that the district accommodate him, click here.
For how the ABC reality TV program opened Oliver’s nutrition ministry in Westwood, many freeway off ramps never mind bus stops from West Adams Prep (or any low income community), click here.
For how Oliver’s been larking around town conducting stunts, including filling a school bus with sand as if it were sugar, click here.
Meanwhile, for a source other than school lunches …
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