(Roughly) Daily

As we prepare ourselves for pumpkin carving, we might pause to recall an era in which other fruits were ornamentally hewn.  As a 1905 issue of American Homes and Gardens magazine put it, “it is surprising what can be done with the conventional orange.”

More table decorating tips at “The Art of Ornamental Orange Peeling.”

* Twyla Tharp

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As we sharpen our knives, we might pause to recall that it was on this date in 2008 that the “Sichuan Guangyuan citrus maggot event” went public; a huge portion of the region’s citrus (ornages and tangerines) were found to be afflicted by small maggot-like worms.  The episode is noteworthy as an relatively early example of the power of Chinese social media:  though the government did its best to support continued citrus sales by censoring any news media mention of the outbreak, BBS forums and SMS messages carried the news– sufficiently successfully (citrus sales in Beijing plummeted) that the official outlets had to relent and report the news, along with assurances that the government was responding…

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