Well, that could explain the sloppy bow arm. Itzhak Perlman will be undergoing surgery to repair a tear in his right rotator cuff. It is scheduled for early February and his recovery period will last from six weeks to three months. Unfortunately, not only can he not play violin during that time, he also can’t conduct.

I ran across a mention of this interesting book in the NY Times food section: Tea at the Blue Lantern Inn by Jan Whitaker. In the early 1900s women were opening tea rooms and driving themselves there to partake of lunch and teatime without, horror of horrors, any male escorts. The tea room craze’s role in society is chronicled in this book.

A fascinating Astronomy Picture of the Day: “Lake Vida, buried under Antarctic ice for over 2,500 years, is liquid only because of its high salt content.” Frozen microbes have been found, and if living ones exist it may be possible to find life under sheets of ice on Mars and Europa.

Home Despot. Most of the links don’t go anywhere, but that’s how it always is with despots.

A little photo tour of the Tillamook Cheese factory from pb. When I don’t supervise the cheddar buying, this ends up in our fridge. It’s not bad.

History of hockey goalie masks from the site of a custom mask painter. Goaltenders were considered cowards to even think of wearing one, but Plante would often say “If you jump from an airplane without a parachute, is that considered an act of bravery?” (via LarkFarm)

Some colleges are building residence halls with an emphasis on private, single rooms. Students unaccustomed to sharing their bedrooms will pay a little more to not have a roommate or two. The college administration would like to keep upperclassmen on campus to be a part of student life instead of moving into apartments. On the other side of the coin, some colleges are emphasizing shared living, trying to counteract students turning to more solitary pursuits on their computers.

Martha speaks! Jeffrey Toobin paid a visit to Martha Stewart at her Westport home for The New Yorker. Toobin is a New Yorker staff writer, legal analyst for ABC News, a Harvard Law School graduate, and author of books covering the scandals of Clinton and O.J. Simpson. One can imagine that if Stewart is dragged into further legal troubles with her unfortunately timely sale of ImClone stock, another Toobin book could be forthcoming. For now, though, the article is enough, with descriptions of his friendly tour of Turkey Hill and a multi-course Chinese meal served with silver chopsticks, interspersed between the background facts and events of the stock sale. Stewart’s publicity advisers, hoping to counteract the negative stories, allowed Toobin to interview her regarding her feelings about the investigation. For those familiar with the Martha persona, there isn’t much new here. Her detailed oriented personality blazes through, as does her pride for her accomplishments and surroundings. Her determination, which brought her riches, will see her through what lies ahead.

Reader Marc sent in a link about an upcoming Food Network series called “Spy Chefs.” No, not “spa chef”, “spy chef.” Penciled in for the 2003 season, the show features Seattle chefs Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau disguised in silly outfits (female impersonation seems to be a favorite), sneaking into top restaurants, and later recreating what they had to eat. Behind the silly hijinks is the concept of taste memory and discovering what needs to be done to prepare a dish in order to recreate something you mainly recall from taste and smell. If the pilot episode works for test audiences, “Spy Chefs” will join Alton Brown on the humorous side of the Food Network.

Marc also sent along Scientific American’s look at the USDA’s Food Pyramid. The article goes into depth on each section of the pyramid, describing simplifications and fallacies. In creating a tool that is easy to use, the pyramid creators left much unsaid about real nutrition and unwittingly created corollaries like “starch is good” and “all fats are bad.” Potato, mostly starch, is listed as a vegetable. Dairy products like milk are over-emphasized. The article’s authors have created an enhanced pyramid which distinguishes between whole grains and processed starches, and different types of oil.