Don't Let The Secret Recipe

In Market Research I Did At Microsoft Corp. In The Early 1990s, I Estimated That The 'wall Street Journal' Took In About 75 Cents Per Copy From Subscribers, $1.25 At The Newsstand And A Whopping $5 Per Copy From Ads. The Ad Revenue Let Them Run A Far Bigger Newsroom Than Subscribers Were Paying For.

Near Marseilles In The South Of France, Bouillabaisse Is A Cult Food. In Toulouse And Carcassonne, The Bean-based Stew Cassoulet Is A Cult Food. Spain Has Paella And A Number Of Others. Italy Has So Many, Its Cuisine Is Practically Defined By Them.

Most Visions Of Extraterrestrial Life Are Actually Steeped In Human Hubris. The Fictional Extraterrestrials Of 'star Trek' Or A Hundred Other Space Operas Are Less Alien Than Many Of My Neighbors. And Funny, The Ones Running The Place Are Mostly Waspish Men.

We're More Familiar With What Economists Call An English Auction - Prices Start Low And Rise As People Bid. However, There Is Also The Dutch Auction, Where Prices Start High And Go Lower Until Somebody Bites. Movies Are Sold To The Audience Via A Very Slow Dutch Auction, Where Each Phase Between Price Drops Can Last Weeks Or Months.

Food, Like Anything Else, Lives In The Physical World And Obeys The Laws Of Physics. When You Whisk Together Some Oil And A Little Bit Of Lemon Juice - Or, In Other Words, Make Mayonnaise - You Are Using The Principles Of Physics And Chemistry. Understanding How Those Principles Affect Cooking Lets You Cook Better.