April 2010
3 posts
Benjamin Franklin: The Flatulent Founding Father
Today, Benjamin Franklin is recognized as one of America’s Founding Fathers, a great inventor, diplomat, and politician. But in in his lifetime, Benjamin Franklin was known for something entirely different: carefully controlled flatulence. Indeed, it was his uncanny ability to control not only the length of his releases, but their pitch and volume that made him famous in the taverns and...
Reagan played bass on 99 Luftballoons
Many consider Ronald Reagan to be one of the most musical presidents in American history. And it’s true. Not since William Howard Taft’s virtuoso tuba solos in the Rose Garden has a president made such an impression on musical evolution of the United States. Reagan played instruments as varied as the sitar, the flutophone and Theremin. During a 1982 visit to Germany, following his...
Gandhi loved BBQ
The father of nonviolent resistance, Mohandas Gandhi made an indelible impression on the course of human history. And he also made an indelible impression on a lot of pork ribs. After a successful career ousting the British from India, he decided to “seek knowledge of wider the world.” Adhering to a philosophy of austere simplicity, be kept all of his possessions in a shoebox...
How to Create a Jesus on a Tortilla
Creating miraculous images on tortillas, tacos and tostadas is an art that I have spent years practicing. And yet, like a Buddhist monk creating an intricate mandala, I am always learning. With every new tortilla comes greater wisdom, greater understanding. Should I have used more browning sauce? Should I have set the heat gun on a higher temperature? Should my gin and tonic have had more...
March 2010
2 posts
Beethoven drank a lot
Everyone knows he was deaf. Big deal. Listen to enough heavy metal (those Romantic-era symphonic orchestras had enormous horn sections) and it happens to everyone. Hardly an achievement. But did you know this fascinating fact: Beethoven’s touching and graceful “Moonlight Sonata” was originally written for kazoo? The melody was based on a drinking song popular in the...