If this week’s been anything for you like it’s been for us, the wind, rain and unpredictable weather of March has shown itself in all its fury. But it’s finally getting time to put away the snow gear and pull out the umbrellas! To honor National Umbrella Month, Kara and I have come up with a 10-question bumbershoot quiz that we hope you’ll enjoy (even if you’re the type that prefers raincoats).

Click here to take the quiz!

With spring now here and summer just around the corner, let’s talk about a favorite warm-weather food. Ladies and gentlemen, coming in at 92% water, the watermelon! Mark Twain wrote in Puddin’head Wilson that “The true southern watermelon is a boon apart and not to be mentioned with commoner things. It is chief of this world’s luxuries, king by the grace of God over all the fruits of the earth. When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. Now let’s get to some facts.

• According to the Cambridge History of Food, “Archaeological data suggest [watermelons] were first cultivated in ancient Egypt more than 5,000 years ago, where representations of watermelons appeared on wall paintings and watermelon seeds and leaves were deposited in Egyptian tombs […] Their first recorded appearance in Great Britain dates to 1597,” after which they made their way to the Americas where they have enjoyed a rich cultural history. Today, China is the largest producer of watermelons.
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In his 1961 book, The Image, Daniel J. Boorstin noted, “The celebrity is the person who is known for his well-knownness.”

Nearly half a century later, the ever-expanding phenomenon of self-created, self-publicized “expertainers” contains a paradoxical niche profession known as Motivational Speakers—people who are mostly successful at selling books and giving lectures about success. A sort of meta-success.

Let’s take a look at a few examples:

Suze Orman

Suze Orman, Financial Guru with her own show (The Suze Orman Show) on CNBC, was not always a brilliant financial advisor. She started out as a waitress, serving up pastries, cakes, cookies, brownies at the Buttercup Bakery in Berkeley, California. At age 29, she received a business loan of $50,000 to open her own restaurant, and she decided to invest the money in the stock market. Within 4 months, she lost the money to a swindling stock broker at Merrill Lynch. (No problem: to pay back the loan, she, herself, became a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch, and eventually the vice-president of Prudential Bache Securities.) In her 28 years since leaving the bakery, she has gone on to earn $32 million by authoring seven pop-culture financial advice books and hanging out with Oprah all the time. Still no restaurant of her own, though.

Tony Robbins

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Advertising Vs Reality - A Product Comparison Project. You know the food you get is not going to look like the picture on the package, but it’s disturbing to see so many comparisons together.
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Styrofoam cups sent into the depths of the ocean shrink to thimble size and illustrate the crushing pressure of the water. They also make nice souvenirs for divers.
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A chunk of the Antarctic ice shelf the size of Manhattan has broken off. The larger chuck behind it is on thin ice, so to speak.
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You may be tired of Linerider videos by now, but you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen Transcendental. With 126,000 lines, it runs as smoothly as silk.
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The cost of raising a child in the United States is now $204,060. Have one birthday party at home instead of renting a skating rink, and you can save that $60.
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Magic sea anemone in the Philippines. Quite an effective defense strategy!
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What’s the difference between an egg roll and a spring roll? Once you know, you can enjoy both of them in comfort.

The Columbia Journalism Review has posted an excellent long-form interview with documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, entitled Recovering Reality: Errol Morris on Abu Ghraib.

The interview covers Morris’s new project (undertaken with Philip Gourevitch) Standard Operating Procedure, which will examine the infamous Abu Ghraib photographs and their true context. Now, I’ve talked about Morris several times on this blog, so it’s fair to say I’m a fan. But ever since I saw an online video from last October showing Morris and Gourevitch discussing Abu Ghraib for The New Yorker, I’ve been dying to see the new film — but also dreading it, due to its subject matter. The film isn’t here yet (it comes out on April 25), but there’s certainly plenty of discussion with Morris to tide me over in the meantime.

The CJR interview has much to do (unsurprisingly) with issues of journalism and truth. Here’s a representative sample:

None of your films has been particularly concerned with what we might call balanced journalism. In Standard Operating Procedure, the point of view largely belongs to the soldiers who took the photographs and were subsequently indicted. What is your aversion to stories that employ a more traditional weighing of arguments?

I don’t believe that’s journalism. I’m sorry. [laughs] Take a clear example: I made this film, The Thin Blue Line, about a murder case in Dallas. Is the job of a journalist simply to have everybody weigh in on what his or her viewpoint might be? Or should the journalist find out what really happened? Is it a matter of indifference whether [the suspect] is guilty or innocent? Is it just something that we should have a vote on — as if a vote can determine what actually transpired in reality?

That doesn’t mean you don’t interview people with different points of view, different beliefs, different ideas. Of course you do. You interview lots and lots and lots of people, and look at lots of different kinds of evidence. But a journalist’s job — and I do think of myself as a kind of journalist — is to try and ferret out what really happened; to ferret out the truth. Did these soldiers, these “seven bad apples,” create all of this stuff? One of the things that we learn in the movie is that when they arrive at Abu Ghraib, a lot of this stuff is already in place: the stress positions, the cement bags, the hooding, stripping prisoners naked, sleep deprivation. It was there to begin with. It was there when they walked in. I think that is a very, very important detail. People know very little about this place: what happened there, where these policies came from, whether they were in fact policies, what they were hoping to achieve.

After the jump, check out a (beautifully shot) video showing part of the interview.

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Looks like we’re back. Sorry for the delay. As a reward for your patience, here are two ‘Name x in y minutes’ quizzes, courtesy of readers Karen Wise and Mike Duffy.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve dissected three major horror-movie types: the vampire, the zombie and the Thing Without a Name. This week I thought I’d take a little detour and examine a real monster using the same rubric as I’ve been developing here. (Not that he’s really my “favorite,” mind you; having a “favorite” serial killer is pretty gross.) For some reason I’ve found myself thinking a bit about John Wayne Gacy — due largely to the fact, I think, that I’ve had Sufjan Stevens’ Come on Feel the Illinoise stuck on repeat in my car. The haunting track “John Wayne Gacy, Jr.” is an apt introduction to today’s topic, via an unauthorized (an unexpectedly affecting) music video for it:

For those of you unfamiliar with the basic facts of his case, Gacy summed it up himself once when he told a friend, in a kind of half-confession: “”I do a lot of rotten, horrible things, but I do a lot of good things too.” Those “good things” included dressed up like a clown (”Pogo”) to entertain kids in hospitals, throwing huge block parties in his Chicago neighborhood, chairing a local Street Lighting District and serving on his local Democratic Committee. Before moving to Chicago, he managed a KFC in Waterloo Iowa. Here’s an incredible — mundane, but creepy — interview conducted with Gacy at his restaurant: (more…)

Due to technical difficulties, today’s Lunchtime Quiz will be delayed two (2) hours. We apologize for any inconvenience and/or boredom this may cause. Let’s meet back here at 1:30pm Eastern Time, when normal quiz-taking abilities have been restored.

Back in November, I briefly discussed Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in part 1 of “November Artists,” mentioning the last words he uttered to his father before his death. After the Review Session and Exam a few weeks ago, reader Ginny requested some more in-depth coverage of Toulouse-Lautrec. I am more than happy to oblige.

1. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is almost as well known for his physical appearance and health problems as he is for his artwork. At age 13 and age 14, Toulouse-Lautrec fractured his thighs. The legs never fully mended and stopped growing, most likely the results of a genetic disease. As an adult, he was 5 feet, 1 inch tall, with a full-sized torso and child-sized legs. Supposedly, though, he also had hypertrophied genitals.

2. Although he is often considered a post-impressionist, Toulouse-Lautrec said of himself, “I don’t belong to any school. I work in my corner. I admire Degas.” He preferred prostitutes and cabaret dancers to professional models, for the models lacked the natural, unconstrained movement of the prostitutes and dancers. (more…)

When you tell someone they can’t do something, it often serves as a motivation to prove you’re wrong, and disabled people are no exception. Of course, that’s not the only reason they do exactly what they are supposedly not able to do. Some want to prove their abilities to themselves only, some want to set an example or help others, some do what they are good at, and some just do what they love.

Dustin Carter

Dustin Carter contracted a blood disease that cost him parts of all four limb when he was very young. In the eighth grade, he joined the school wrestling team, although no one expected him to excel. And he didn’t for a long time. But hard work and discipline paid off in his senior year. Last month, Carter represented his school at the Ohio state wrestling championships. He placed in the top 16 of his weight class. Watch Carter wrestle in this video.

Lacey Henderson

Lacey Henderson’s right leg was amputated when she was nine years old due to a tumor in her kneecap. But at her mother’s suggestion, she tried out to become a cheerleader in high school. Not only did she make the team, but she worked her way up to captain! Now she’s 18 and cheers for the University of Denver.

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