magid

I want to replace my most recent warming tray (now deceased), and the only one I can find locally (so far; I've checked Tag's; Target; Bed, Bath, and Beyond; and Sears) is this one, which (a) doesn't give any idea of what temperature it heats to, (b) doesn't have a way to have it warmer or cooler, and (c) is $100, which just seems high for the kind of thing I want. Apparently I'm being unrealistic, however. Anyway, the question is, where should I try next? In the best of all possible worlds, I'll be able to buy one tomorrow (yeah, I know, the suckiest day of the year to shop) so I'll have it for Shabbat.
Why is it that corn is not an iconic part of Thanksgiving dinner? It was at the first one, since the natives had given the pilgrims corn (aka maize), but it's not in the cornucopia of carbohydrate necessities we make for the meal. Potatoes are totally in, even though they definitely weren't at the first celebrations, being a Central/South American food that, like chocolate, crossed the Atlantic to Spain, the spread around Europe to England, and thence across the Atlantic again to the English colonies, arriving years after they'd been established.

art, both geometric (she uses a 3-D photocopier with a computer rendering, which is just cool), and entertaining (well, when it was up)
consumer goods: gorgeous mirrors and other Moroccan things (link courtesy Tcb), and paper to plant after first use (both links courtesy Rosefox), and sweaters that accommodate tefillin (among other Jewish-themed products I never thought needed to exist)
I read a book about James Holman, an amazing traveler in the early 1800s who was blind by his early 20s, which mentioned blind people today using echolocation, clicking when needed rather than using canes, which allows things like riding bikes (also much more independence in general). Very cool.
two things I want to read: some sf stories, and an article about the Orthodox community's shift to the right

Nov. 22nd, 2007