So that's how they do it!

"The building almost seemed to glow from somewhere deep within its base, as if lit by a big pile of burning money."

-from the article "Idealized or Caricature, Architectural Renderings Are Weapons in Real Estate" by Elizabeth A. Harris in today's New York Times.

"Disruption is overrated."

"'Disruption is overrated,' [Stone] said. 'If you tell good stories, the platforms are sort of beside the point. We made the most analog thing you can think of, a play at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, and it worked out as well as anything we have ever done.'"

-Matt Stone, quoted by David Carr today in the NewYork Times.

"How many do you have?"

In "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity," playing through the end of the month at the Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington, D.C., Chad Deity says:

"Chad Deity has four crispers in his fridge, and he doesn't even use a crisper."

I've never seen a better or more topical wrestling drama. If you're in the area, go! Tickets available.

A special opportunity to get something for yourself, or ...

I've written here before about Adorama's offerings of "refurbished" Nikon cameras and lenses, but this week's bounty appears unrivaled, both in sheer numbers, and in variety — they've got wide lenses and long lenses, prime lenses and zoom lenses, SLR cameras and mirrorless cameras...

(some of the 145 refurbished Nikon items currently offered by Adorama)

If you already have a full-frame Nikon camera and you're looking for a lens, I recommend, once again, the lovely little 35 mm f/2.

If, on the other hand, you're looking for a gift for your favorite NeuroCooking correspondent, I'd recommend a perspective control lens (either 24 mm or 45 mm) for me, or a V1 camera kit for Thaler. Though I wouldn't turn down a 200 mm f/4 macro lens.

Mid-June Dog-Blogging! (or, "SG-31R")

Bucky (June 11, 2012). 

This photograph of Bucky was taken indoors, at an aperture of f/16, using a camera, a lens (with a hood), a Nikon "SG-31R Infrared Panel for Built-In Flash" (that looks silly but costs little and works great), and a pair of ceiling-bounced SpeedLights.

___________

Note: No lurchers were harmed making this photograph. Use of brand and product names is by fair use; no endorsement (not even of the splendid affordable SG-31R!) is implied. NeuroCooking is not sponsored by Nikon (or by General Motors, makers of Cadillac cars, which combine legendary luxury with state-of-the-art performance).

"AF Nikkor 35mm f/2D"

Nikon doesn't want to sell you our favorite lens.

Photo: Nikon.

The lens that's on our camera most of the time, the one with which we take most of our photos, is the little AF Nikkor 35mm f/2D. Why, just this July, for our Four Cities Tour of the Upper Midwest (T.U.M.), the 35mm f/2 was the only lens we took.

Here are four snaps, one from each of the Four Cities of the T.U.M.:

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

Frogwater onstage at Milwaukee Brewing.

STEVENS POINT, WISCONSIN

On our favorite feedlot.

DULUTH, MINNESOTA

Sharing dessert with Mark Mitton at the Duluth Grill.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

Atop the Foshay Tower.

We love this lens. If you want a fast prime that is at least normal, but you don't want to go any wider than necessary (and if you're not willing to lug around a boat-anchor), this is it. And, as such things go, it's actually inexpensive. However, Nikon doesn't really want you to buy one.

When you go to the Nikon USA website, and select "lenses", you get a lens splashpage asking you to choose between lens categories. It appears that these optical devices now come in categories, called "Travel and Landscape Lenses", "People and Events Lenses", & "Sports and Action Lenses":

But here's the thing – No matter which category you choose, you will not find the 35mm f/2! It's not under any of the categories. You can find it only if you click on the small "Show all lenses" link on the lens splashpage.

To be sure, Nikon makes this lens, and sells this lens. But do they really want to? Or, would they rather that you buy something else – something more expensive?

Request for advice.

My wife has a first name that is not very common. So, she grew up having to spell it for people, and, in the late twentieth century, I was able to gift her with an eponymous top level domain. (Something like "susan.net" or "sally.org", only with her distinctive first name.)

Yesterday, we received an unsolicited offer of a significant amount of money for the domain.

So, what should we do? Should we say forget about it – it's not for sale! –, or should we make a counter-offer?

And, the question arises, who is the would-be buyer? If it's just another person with my wife's name, that's one thing. But what if it's an organization whose acronym happens to spell her name? In that case, wouldn't we have a moral obligation to find out who they are and what they do? Perhaps, if they're a good cause, we'd donate the domain to them at no charge; but if they're evil, then, the domain would not be for sale to them at any price...

We would value your advice on this, dear NeuroCooking friends.

Brown, Grey, & Green.

"Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees."

- John Berger

Vincent Grey is the recently-elected Mayor of Washington, DC. During the campaign, candidate debates were regularly marked by another candidate, Mr. Sulaimon Brown, proclaiming "Vote Brown, vote Grey, vote any color you want, just don't vote [for incumbent Mayor Adrian] Fenty!"

After Mr. Grey took office, Mr. Brown was given a job in his administration, but was soon fired, when some facts about Mr. Brown's past came out.

Mr. Brown is now alleging that the Grey campaign had promised him a job, and provided him with financial support during the campaign, in return for his continued attacks on Mr. Fenty.

To support these contentions, Mr. Brown has made his cellphone records available to the Washington Post, which has assembled a data graphic summarizing calls between him and Mr. Grey, and between him and Mr. Grey's campaign chair, Ms. Lorraine Green.

We at NeuroCooking today celebrate the key, or graphical legend, to the Washington Post's fine data graphic:

Honey, that ain't junk.

NeuroCooking friends with an Apple 1 in their attic should be aware that Christie's thinks it's worth about two hundred thousand dollars:

"Estimate:

£100,000 - £150,000

($159,800 - $239,700)"

Good news!

Aspiring non-conformists will be happy to learn that a guide to non-conformity is now available for purchase.

Up to 200 MPH, in the middle of downtown!

There are two signs that the IndyCar racing series will include the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix over Labor Day 2011: The roads of central Baltimore are all torn up, and you can already buy hats:

seems unlikely

You can place a bet with Paddy Power, a bookmaker in Dublin, that CERN's Large Hadron Collider will, by the end of this year, discover proof of the existence of God.

The odds are 100 to 1 against. To put those odds into perspective, we note that the same bookmaker offers 1,000 to 1 odds against Paris Hilton being elected President of the United States in 2012.

[Please note: NeuroCooking cannot be a source of financial or investment advice; we do not encourage the placing of wagers over the internet; readers are urged to consult local authorities or their legal advisors regarding local laws and regulations relevant to such activities.]

on combinations

Neuro-, and cooking. Put them together, and you have NeuroCooking.

General, and motors. Put them together, and you have General Motors.

Performance, and luxury. Put them together, and you have Cadillac.

DISCLAIMER: NeuroCooking is (still) not (yet) sponsored or endorsed by General Motors, nor does any mention herein of any trade names or products thereof signify our endorsement. Not even this link to the fastest V8 production sedan in the world.