MetaFilter posts tagged with salt

Infrastructures / Networks / Environments

netbros — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 07:47:21 -0800

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. Recent articles include Greening of Prison Infrastructure where you'll find solar fields used to power the prisons and gardens and greenhouses for nourishment. A three-part article about salt mining (1, 2, 3). About 50% of industrialized salt production is used in cold-climate regions for de-icing. Along with that massive seasonally dependent harvest, is the need to store salt (or sand) in a distributed fashion and at a municipal level. Like little salt banks or mail drop-off boxes, salt facilities dot the highway landscape. The recent volatile nature of the stock market has incited a new type of investment — in farmland, deemed ‘getting rich slow.’ Further, continual land development which encroaches on arable land, coupled with a rising world population — makes farmland an increasingly precious resource. It is currently estimated that 25 million acres of farmland are lost each year.

Blood Tide

Artw — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:15:27 -0800

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.

Salt Sculptures

netbros — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:04:29 -0800

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.

Cornbread Nation

Miko — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:07:03 -0800

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. Tamales previously mentioned here, and Prince's Hot Chicken here, but the whole site is worth a bookmark and a long evening on the porch.

When salting water for cooking use 1 tablespoon of salt for every 4 quarts of water

dersins — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:45:17 -0800

The only recipe for boiling salted water you'll ever need. Well, the reviews are entertaining, anyway.

Down down in the salt mine underneath the ground

dersins — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:20:00 -0800

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.

Bacon Salt

mr_crash_davis — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:48:14 -0800

Because everything should taste like bacon.

Blood, sweat and tears

Brian B. — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 11:06:33 -0800

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."

Salt Crisis

ninazer0 — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 15:29:25 -0800

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?

There's a world going on, underground.

Capn — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 10:18:58 -0800

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.

Salt

MiguelCardoso — Tue, 24 Feb 2004 18:48:07 -0800

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.]

moronsalt.com?

jonson — Thu, 31 Jul 2003 22:51:02 -0800

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.

Salt Mine Under Detroit

NortonDC — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 08:15:18 -0800

The history of the salt mine under the city of Detroit. Mined until 1983.