sugar glass
16 Feb 08
ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup light corn syrup
- food colouring (optional)
- cooking oil
tools
- heavy pot with lid
- pie pans
- candy thermometre
Boil the water, add the sugar and syrup (and food colouring, if desired), and return to a boil. Cover for two minutes. Remove cover and boil without stirring until the mixture reaches 310°F (hard crack)*. Remove from the heat immediately and pour a thin layer into a lightly oiled pan. Let cool, at least 90 minutes.
* – To test for hard crack without a thermometre, drop a drop of the mixture into a glass of cold water. The sugar should make long threads that crack.
(adapted from a “Beakman and Jax” comic that ran in the London Free Press in 1998)
Posted by pzed on February 16, 2008 at 11.20am
monophonic
7 Feb 08
From Bryant, 1985:
Critics and music enthusiasts, for whom the performance is often more important than the recording, may feel that the electronically processed stereo effect is less satisfactory by far than the original, but it seems that many collectors will no longer consider buying any disc that is admitted to be monophonic. Indeed, many public libraries have found that their single channel discs are shunned by the majority of borrowers, however great the merits of a performance, however good the recording and however satisfactory the general condition of the record. The time may well come, however, when there will be some slight swing in the pendulum of fashion, in the way that there is now a small but quite lively market for 78rpm discs, with as many youthful collectors as elderly ones.
Despite this, a library is currently unlikely to buy any of these old shellac discs except in special circumstances. Gifts of coursegroove recordings may be offered to a library. For some years the general response was to reject them; indeed, where a collection of discs had been started before the LP era, there was a widespread tendency to withdraw and scrap all the coarsegroove recordings during the 1950s. Belatedly, it is being recognized that almost any old record in playable condition is likely to have some historic and artistic value (or, one imagines, it would never have been issued in the first place [!]), so that the possible importance of an archival collection is slowly being recognized; this matter will be raised again later in the chapter. (273-374)
Posted by pzed on February 7, 2008 at 10.26am
the numerology of Scrabble
2 Feb 08
Time is, of course, flat, like a piece of paper. And if only we weren’t ourselves inscribed on that piece of paper, we could rise above and, looking down, read it. Like a novel. Or perhaps a computer programme.
Time being flat, there’s nothing inconsistent in suggesting that perhaps when Fate (or whoever) was handing out names, she thought about each and checked its Scrabble value for consistency with a variety of conspiracy theories. These are the words of the prophet. Or, if they aren’t, they probably will be.
Do you need evidence? Then try my new ScrabblizeIt! application.
Of course, you can probably guess the value of the name “Jesus Christ”, a coincidence on which this post’s entire hypothesis is based.
Posted by pzed on February 2, 2008 at 7.39pm
music librarianship books found at UGA
1 Feb 08
Organizing music in libraries / by Brian Redfern
Leddy has – ML111 .R4 1978
Systematic discography / by Lewis Foreman
Leddy hasn’t
Brian Rust’s guide to discography / by Brian Rust
Leddy hasn’t
Cataloger’s judgment / by Jay Weitz
Leddy hasn’t
Music librarianship at the turn of the century
MLA technical reports no. 27
Leddy hasn’t
Bibliographic relationships in music catalogs / by Sherry L. Vellucci
Leddy hasn’t
Cataloging phono recordings / by Jay E. Daily
Leddy hasn’t
Music librarianship : a practical guide / by E.T. Bryant
Leddy has – ML111 .B83 1985
Posted by pzed on February 1, 2008 at 6.02pm
