The smoot is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha by Oliver R. Smoot, who in October 1958 lay down repeatedly on the Harvard Bridge between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, so that his fraternity brothers could use his height to measure the length of the bridge.
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Newton knew that knowledge evolves. He wouldn’t be an adversary to progress, as he saw its natural course, himself.
Ok, I always mistakenly assumed === was the identity operator in JS, too. TIL, thanks! As much as we like to poke fun at JS, every time I’m taught the rationale behind some aspect of it, I find it redeeming and even a little endearing.
This interpretation is valid. But I recently learned to see it a different way.
If you’ll humor me, please consider this. Since Santa knows if you’ve been “bad or good,” he knows the other reindeer have been bullies to poor Rudolph. And, while a red glowing nose is cool, it’s not a useful fog light. It’s just not.
So Santa “uh oh!” had an emergency where, for the first time ever, the fog was going to be too thick all over the world to deliver presents?
Nope, he set up Rudolph in a position to “lead” his peers in a situation that maybe needed a little help but was not, in any way, a true, worldwide magic-assed Santa emergency. Santa knew how to guide his reindeer to accept each other. The story of Rudolph was not about Rudolph doing something to prove himself. It was about recognizing a Rudolph in need and helping him rise to the occasion to bring him closer to his peers in a way that could heal division.
Rudolph isn’t about how to triumph as a Rudolph. It’s about how to be a good Santa.
(Edit: For everyone who already thought this was obvious in the story, thanks for letting this Rudolph have his epiphany anyway.)
There’s one restaurant in my area that has some tables for one. I noticed that, for me, those do feel more complete when I’m dining alone. Instead of extra, conspicuously empty seats around the rest of the table, there’s a table clearly designed for one diner to just enjoy a good meal.
And it’s not enough to have tables with only one chair. If such a table is amidst larger-party tables, I think it still makes the other usual places at the table feel abnormally empty. What makes tables for one feel “right” has something to do with their placement in the restaurant (so as not to feel odd or exceptional), their orientation (so as not to face the diner towards someone else’s gaze–unless mingling is the goal), and then the size and number of seats.
It’s probably difficult for some restaurants to accommodate solo diners due to a need for density, but when a restaurant might have some space that would otherwise not be all that useful (like a little extra space between a planter divider and a walkway, where larger tables just wouldn’t fit), it is an opportunity to attract solo diners who want to enjoy the solo experience of focusing on the meal and their own thoughts rather than bar seating. (And, on that topic, I think it’s becoming more normal for people to not want alcohol displayed prominently in front of them when they’re really just looking for a nice meal.)
I’m loving the inspiration from everyone here for how I might branch out. I usually get tenderloin fillets, sous vide + cast iron seared. Personally, I like a coffee+cocoa rub based on Smith & Wollensky’s recipe, topped with a small sprinkle of fried onion strings, and sometimes a little bleu cheese. (I might be mixing some things that don’t technically go together, but I enjoy it.)
I think I don’t need sous vide for that cut, but it’s a comforting crutch to know I’m not going to overcook it. Now I want to try the oven and reverse-sear method. If that gets me the same forgiveness without plastic waste, plus with the benefit of a drier surface at searing time, that sounds like a promising upgrade.