curdling

After several decades of speculation—reverting to staple theories of bacteria or nibbling mice in the mix, researchers have determined why what’s classed as Swiss cheese was traditionally riddled with “eyes” but has now more or less become “blind” (in cheese-talk). The lack of the characteristic holes does not affect the flavour of course but their source was an enduring mystery—until, that is, the holes started to disappear. It was not the fermenting agents, however, that carved out these voids but rather other impurities, like splinters of hay, in the customary wooden milking buckets that have been employed for centuries. In fact, it was not really until modern times that the holes were considered desirable at all and cultivated as something of a trademark for foreign markets.  With processes becoming more automated and sanitary, however, large holes are not likely to develop.

hirsute

Via Weird Universe, apparently in the Norwegian navy, male sailors must apply for a special exemption in order to wear a beard (skjegg). The application form (example pictured at the first link) requires a justification and an area to draw a picture of what the proposed facial hair will look like.

five-by-five

imperial units: boss lunch box issued to promote US adoption of the metric system

animatronic: BRETT (Berkeley Robot for the Elimination of Tedious Tasks) learns to put things together

allusive: visual homages in Tarantino films

subterrania: mysterious, amazing sea-shell grotto discovered accidentally

franking privilege: one man’s daily journal in the form of tiny postage stamps for a make-believe country

alles gute zum geburtstag!

Although it’s notoriously, happily difficult to pin down the founding date of human settlements—happily as it allows residents to celebrate the anniversary multiple times, marking legendary or actuarial mention, I am certainly siding with this warm birthday tribute to Leipzig from Deutsch Welle that honours all the highlights of this fair city. When Leipzig was first documented by a church chronicler a thousand years ago as urbs Libzi—the city among the lime trees—there surely must have already been a sizable population and significant commercial activity there for some time, which archaeological evidence attests to. H and I are well acquainted with this storied city and its surroundings and here (Augusteum, Plagwitz, Monument to the Battle of the Nations, Leipziger Zoological Gardens, Weihnachtsmarkt, Russian Orthodox Church) are just a selection of past impressions.