How something becomes kitsch, Soviet style

Interesting to see how this, from a popular Soviet musical (?!?) of the 1960s (The Blue Spark)

turned into the Brezhnevian version of a Lawrence Welk number:

Food for Thought

An interesting article on the Freakonomics blog regarding the primitive food movement:

Responding to the increasing complexity of food in 1870, John Cowan, author of What to Eat; And How to Cook It, lambasted Americans for eating “conglomerate mixtures”—ingredients “mixed in all shapes, in all measures, and under all conditions.” He insisted that these overly processed foods not only led to “a clogged brain” but also a “sickly and unenjoyable life.

And yes, this is yet another attempt to relaunch this blog.