Posts from — December 2008

“Sometimes the customers look at it and think they’re telephone numbers,” says Mahmuda Mukti, manager of Popeye’s, as reported by Jim Dwyer in the New York Times (12/20/08). Many customers at N.Y.C. quick-serve restaurants don’t yet realize that these seven digit numbers are actually calorie counts. Since July, "by city regulation, the chains have been required to disclose the range of calories contained in each item." This can be something of a shocker especially when you find out one meal has almost the "daily recommended amount for many women."

The calorie counts can be surprising. For example, a "totally innocent-looking" pumpkin scone at Starbucks is a whopping 500 calories, "roughly one-quarter of a man’s daily needs."  And even though a glazed donut is "almost all sugar," its 230 calories pales in comparison to the lowly "plain stick" doughnut that delivers 310. Many customers are unaware of how many calories are too many calories. When told her single meal had "at least 1,545, maybe more," calories, Khaliqya Terry, 18 asked, “Is that bad?"

Unless you plan to eat only celery for the rest of the day, most probably. The new menu rules did not come without a fight, of course. Independent restaurants argued that it wasn’t practical to include calorie counts for their menus, which change daily or seasonally, and were let off the hook. The chains, however, tried to argue that calorie disclosure violated their First Amendment rights, but that didn’t fly. Jim Dwyer suggests they cited the wrong Amendment, noting, "The Fifth Amendment, the right to remain silent and not be forced to give evidence against yourself, was what they really needed." ~ Jane Harris, editor

Some 25 million copies of the Bible are sold each year, “largely driven by innovations in design, color, style and the ultimate niche marketing,” reports Stephanie Simon in the Wall Street Journal (12/23/08). “There’s Scripture as accessory, wrapped in hot pink fake leather or glittery psychedelic swirls.” You can buy a “green” Bible, “printed in soy ink on recycled paper” that highlights “passages with an environmental theme.” There are even “gross-out Bibles for boys, which dwell on scenes of mayhem, and glossy teen-magazine-style Bibles for girls, complete with beauty tips.”

There are “Bibles tailored to alcoholics, archaeology buffs, fans of Japanese comics and any number of other interest groups. The Soul Surfer Bible, aimed at teen girls, sprinkles tips on catching a good wave, lists of surfer slang … and life lesson about hope, faith and hard work into the traditional Biblical text. The Golfer’s Bible draws on passages about steadfastness and contemplation to advise duffers on their swings. The Japanese Manga version retells biblical stories in comic-book form, complete with sound effects like, “Biff!” and “Pow!”

Some publishers have “taken to rolling out new covers for their basic Bibles each season, with colors chosen to match the latest fashions.” Some people are offended by this sort of thing, while others just think the better of it. Kurt Fredrickson of the Fuller Theological Seminary was almost taken in by a Bible “bound in fall colors of pumpkin and green.” He was planning it as a gift for his wife, but when he realized she was going to read the Bible, and not wear it, he opted for “classic burgundy leather binding.” He notes that the Bible is “a pretty amazing book” that “should be able to stand on its own.” Amen. ~ Tim Manners, editor

“She was an artist and her canvas was the store,” says Richard Herson, in a New York Times piece by Lily Koppel (12/25/08). Richard is speaking lovingly of his late wife, Leslie, who died last August but began painting her retail masterpiece 42 years ago, “as a psychedelic oasis” in New York’s East Village. She named the store “Love Saves the Day” (images here) in a deliberate reference to L.S.D. As Leslie herself once explained, “You have to understand, everyone was on something back then. And the Beatles had just come out with ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”

Located on the corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street, L.S.D. is mostly about “vintage clothing and bric-a-brac … To say the store is cluttered would be an understatement. Even the ceiling has merchandise hanging from it: prom dresses, ‘Star Wars’ figures, Barbie dolls, Transformers and characters from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse … There are bellbottoms and platform shoes from the ’60s, Fraggle Rock toys and Smurfs that came free with McDonald’s children’s meals, old Playboy magazines, metal lunch boxes and copies of Life magazine … Next to the cash register is a Fisher Price toy register.”

“People come by and it jolts their memory back to their childhood,” says Richard. The store’s customers have included Debbie Harry, Joey Ramone and Tim Burton. Madonna shot a scene there for “Desperately Seeking Susan.” Sadly, the store will all be gone by mid-January. In part, it’s because Richard says he can’t carry on without Leslie (although he intends to continue running another store by the same name located in New Hope, Pa.). The rent is also a factor. When L.S.D. first opened, the space was $95 per month. Today, it’s $11,000. “I can’t believe it, I’m so sad,” says Lauren Levine, who lives above the shop. “It’s like love is leaving the corner.” ~ Tim Manners, editor

“Engineered in the Netherlands and built in Germany, the Carver One is promoted as the world’s only available tilting car,” reports Nick Kurczewski in the New York Times (12/21/08). Well, it’s available if you live in Europe, Japan, South Korea or New Zealand, and have about $68K to spend on it. So far only about 200 have been sold. But the Carver One, a three-wheel, four-cylinder vehicle, leans into corners like a motorcycle, and at the flick of its steering wheel “bobs left and right like a prizefighter dodging jabs.”

It can lean to as much as a 45 degree angle, “which could be handy for picking up dropped change at a toll booth.” Such tricks are made possible by “a high-tech hydraulic system that Carver calls Dynamic Vehicle Control. Linked to steering, it calculates a lean angle based on vehicle speed and the cornering forces on the front wheel.” It won’t work if you’re in reverse or going less than five miles per hour, but when the Carver is up to speed, the effect “feels like an amusement park ride.”

Anton van den Brink came up with the idea while “stuck in a Paris traffic jam about 20 years ago.” Having noticed “that most cars had only a driver inside,” he thought a narrower car would be more efficient. Anton, his sons “and a small group of engineers” worked through 18 different designs for the tilting mechanism. The car itself “looks like a skyscraper-eating insect,” with a windshield that “curves up and over the driver’s head.” Anton “has licensed the tilting technology” to Venture Vehicles in the U.S., which plans to introduce “a more affordable, more aerodynamic, electric-powered version … by 2010 or 2011.” ~ Tim Manners, editor