Michael Bates: October 2020 Archives
Preservation - Drying a wet book
Valuable advice from the State Library of New South Wales, Australia, for dealing with books that are in various states of wetness, from still in mud and water to mere exterior dampness. Biggest surprise: "Freezing can be used as a method of holding wet material in a stabilised state until it can be treated." Gentle ventilation is important for carrying away damp air.
More information from the Library of Congress: Emergency Drying Procedures for Water Damaged Collections
The Last Lebanese Steakhouse in Tulsa | Saveur
Nice piece on the history of Lebanese steakhouses in and around Tulsa, with links to recipes and memories of beloved restaurants long gone (e.g., The Phoenicia, Eddy's), and an account of some of the rough patches Jamil's has gone through since the restaurant was forced to move by I-44 widening.
"At Jamil's, third-generation owner Jennifer Alcott's feathery blonde hair floats around her face as she checks on diners with a gravelly, worn voice. Her grandfather, Jamil Elias, opened the original Tulsa location in 1946. It has moved three times since then, most recently in 2008 to a nondescript brick building just off I-44 in the southern part of the city. Inside, the faded floral booths, low lights, and endless array of old photos telegraph its age far better than its exterior. But to locals, it's what's on the tables that best evokes nostalgia. They come set with butter and crackers, and soon the hummus will arrive, along with tabbouleh, pita, and a refreshing and retro relish tray of pickles and crudités topped with ice cubes. The warm appetizers follow: barbecue sauce spiced with za'atar and sharp with vinegar and mint comes to the table in a metal creamer jar, and a basket with rib tips and smoked bologna arrives alongside cinnamon-scented cabbage rolls in a pool of tomato-tinged butter. It's a cultural wormhole connecting Beirut and Tulsa. Finally, the entrée arrives--a thick hunk of beef, medium-rare, unadorned, with a foil-wrapped baked potato."
Edward Bernays: Prophet of "Spin" - Law & Liberty
"As Bernays saw it, a healthy democratic society requires the regulation of the beliefs of the many by the work of an unseen few. Such people understand the principles of psychology and the technology of public opinion. 'They pull the wires that control the public mind,' he wrote, and they 'harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world.' They tell us who to admire and who to despise, how our houses should be designed, what food to serve, how to dress, what sports we should play, what entertainments we should prefer, how we should talk, and even what jokes we should laugh at. Government itself depends on knowing how to get the public to acquiesce.
"Doubting that ordinary people possess the ability to think for themselves, Bernays might have relished contemporary political discourse, which often resorts to name-calling and ridicule. Forced to think for themselves, he thought, people could fall back on little more than 'cliches, pat words, and images which stand for a whole group of ideas or experiences.' The propagandist needs merely to 'tag a political candidate with the word "interests' to stampede millions of people into voting against him.' This use of labels to mold opinion has been amplified in the age of social media. Merely categorizing someone or something as communist, capitalist, woke, or systemically racist is all it takes....
"To withstand Bernays' cynical vision, democracies need fewer manipulable consumers and more citizens worthy of self-government. They must care about separating truth from falsehood, be able to recognize spin when they see it, and jealously guard their liberties and responsibilities. Among other things, the development of such citizens would require childrearing and education practices that esteem ends over means, prioritizing knowing and serving the good over merely getting what one wants. One way of fostering an appreciation for the importance of such knowledge is to introduce students to Bernays' work, inviting them to behold life in the dystopia he describes."
