The globe’s networked ecologies of food, water, energy, and waste have established new infrastructures and forms of urbanism. While these ecologies exist at the service of our contemporary lifestyles, they have typically remained hidden from view and from the public conscience. Infranet Lab is studying the shifting / changing conditions. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Apr 20, 2009 - 2 comments

Blood Falls - The iron rich red liquid gushing from a buried Antarctica lake shows how life may have existed on a snowball Earth, or on Europa.
posted by Artw on Apr 18, 2009 - 52 comments

Following the death of his sister to brain cancer, Motoi Yamamoto adopted salt as his primary artistic medium. In Japanese culture salt is not only a necessary element to sustain human life, but it is also a symbol of purification. He uses salt in loose form to create intricate labyrinth patterns on the gallery floor or in baked brick form to construct large interior structures. As with the labyrinths and unnavigable passageways, Motoi Yamamoto views his installations as exercises which are at once futile yet necessary to his healing.
posted by netbros on Mar 20, 2009 - 25 comments

The Southern Foodways Alliance is one weighed-down church-supper table, full of oral history/blog projects like The Tamale Trail, the Boudin Trail, interviews and recipes from the Bartenders of New Orleans, photo essay/interviews from Birmingham's Greek-Americans, a mess o'homemade films, and a passel of event and BBQ-shack photos on Flickr, all smothered in the tangy-sweet academic goodness of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss. These folks get my vote for most flavorful, funkiest food-loving folklorists in the lower forty-eight. [more inside]
posted by Miko on Apr 28, 2008 - 15 comments

The only recipe for boiling salted water you'll ever need. Well, the reviews are entertaining, anyway.
posted by dersins on Oct 26, 2007 - 57 comments

Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland has been in operation for 800-odd years. Needless to say, this has given the miners plenty of time to carve some pretty amazing things. More photos here and here. Videos here and here. Virtual tour here. Wikipedia.
posted by dersins on Aug 16, 2007 - 36 comments

Because everything should taste like bacon.
posted by mr_crash_davis on Jul 19, 2007 - 113 comments

Is blood plasma salinity the same as seawater? No, but that proves evolution. "The answer is most definitely NOT that oceans were 1/3 as salty back then. It most definitely IS that the earliest vertebrates did evolve in salt water and then moved into fresh water....They have devised an extremely clever trick in kidney structure to allow salt transport pumps which really take salt back INTO the body from the urine but still manage to use them to produce urine much more concentrated that their body fluids and so excrete salt FROM the body."
posted by Brian B. on Feb 10, 2007 - 67 comments

Salt: Not just a condiment, salt is a major force shaping our world. In Australia, what do you get when you combine ancient salt-pans with European farming practices? In one state alone, we're losing a football field an hour to the salinity crisis. What do you farm when all you have is salt?
posted by ninazer0 on Nov 25, 2006 - 33 comments

Detroit: city of auto manufacture, crime, Motown and... mining? Take this with a grain of salt, but beneath the city of Detroit Michigan, there is a vast underground mine.
posted by Capn on Apr 4, 2005 - 13 comments

Is Salt The New Olive Oil? The New York Times [registration required] thinks so and Peter Hertzmann, on his superb a la carte website, offers an expert analysis of the difficulties of seasoning well. Even the greatest chefs feel insecure with salt, even though most of them would consider it to be, by far, the most important ingredient of all. At least those I've asked. [I always ask them what 3 ingredients they couldn't do without]. It's cheap; it's essential and there are now so many kinds to choose from. Will this current brouhaha be enough to convince the larger population that much is lost in using only the industrial, refined stuff? [Of course, for someone from Southern Europe, olive oil and good sea salt aren't exactly new, so take this with a grain of you know what.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Feb 24, 2004 - 28 comments

Talk about holding a grudge. Thirty-six years after its initial publication, the Wacky Pack sticker for "Moron Salt", a toothless parody of Morton Salt, has become perhaps among the more sought after of all non-sports collectible cards. Why? Because to this day, the makers of Morton Salt are vigorously attempting to banish it from the face of the earth, including going so far as to threaten legal action against eBay to get them to delist anyone trying to sell it. Details on the legal battle (as well as much more Wacky Pack goodness) available at MoronSalt.
posted by jonson on Jul 31, 2003 - 18 comments

The history of the salt mine under the city of Detroit. Mined until 1983.
posted by NortonDC on Jun 13, 2003 - 18 comments