OLDE POSTS ADDENDA

   Fall is in the air, but the weather has not been bad enough to force me back inside. It is for that reason that my few readers have returned day-after-day only to  see those same baby chicks staring from the top page of Mulcahy's Miscellany. I will now attempt to put them at the bottom of this post. All 45,000 of them are, by the way, still missing as far as I know.

  I do, of course, come in in the evening, but by then it is usually "5 o'clock Somewhere" and I typically spend more time drinking than writing, or thinking about things about which to write. Perhaps tonight we should all have another Margarita while thinking about Jimmy Buffett. 

  With worse weather perhaps my productivity will increase. For now I will simply offer some updates to old posts. Although I generally leave the "Breaking News" to the many who claim to be offering only news that is breaking, even some of my obscure topics sometimes surface, although not on the first page or screen. Five are presented below and if you combine them with the originals you will have amassed a fair amount of information which you can use to impress those who read only the breaking news. While you are digesting what follows, I will try to work on some new subjects for the dreary days ahead.

BUTTER

  It was late in August of last year that I wrote about BUTTER and told you about the sculptures that were still being carved from it at the Minnesota State Fair. You had already learned about butter sculptures (and palaces made from corn) in an earlier piece about the mysteriously named, “The  Land of Cockaigne.” I am pleased to report that things are still rocking at the Fair in St.Paul and that the likeness of a new “Princess Kay of the Milky Way” has been produced from a 90-pound block of Grade AA Butter at this “agriculture Disneyland.” If you read the article below, you will also learn about “Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar,” where you can get a bucket full of them without depleting her inventory since she can make 44,000 cookies in 12 minutes.
“At Agriculture Disneyland, Butter Princesses Reign Supreme: Where Can You Find Dairy Royalty, Pork Chops on a Stick and Sen. Amy Klobuchar? The Minnesota State Fair,” Natalie. B. Compton, Washington Post, Sept. 2, 2023.
   P.S. Some Canadian content is also provided. In addition to pork chops on a stick you can also get “Pizza-on-a Stick” which is made by Tino Lettieri who was raised in Canada and played for the Montreal Castors, the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Hamilton Steelers. “"Pizza-on-a-Stick" is one of my dearest friends — he was in my wedding,” Rick Born said of Tino’s Pizza-on-a-Stick founder Tino Lettieri. “He’s actually in the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame, and his son plays for the Minnesota Wild.” (I continue to be amazed about what can be learned from MM.)

FINE PRINTING: MR. TOROSIAN AND LUMIERE PRESS

  The relatively unknown Michael Torosian and his Lumiere Press are again profiled in an article in The Globe and Mail: “Printer Savant Pays Homage to Bygone Era of Publishing, Photography,” by Kate Taylor (July 19, 2023.) You can learn more about an earlier profile in the G&M by reading this post from MM in 2018. Mr. Torosian’s archive has been acquired by the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the U. of T. and he has published this book: Lumiere Press: Printer Savant & Other Stories and you can place an order for it here. 

     In the new article, Mr. Torosian is asked questions and here is one, along with the answer: “You trained as a photographer at what is now Toronto Metropolitan University but had no credentials in publishing. How did you start?”

   When I came up in the seventies there were very few galleries, few museums showing photography. It was almost like an underground network where the language was passed on and studied through books rather than through exhibitions. Books were the medium of photography.

It was a matter of finding a way to do it that worked for me. Because the industrial method of trying to compete with big publishers is lunacy. I saw photographer after photographer attempt it and they would end up with a basement full of books they didn’t know what to do with." Lead type and the letterpress disappeared from commercial publishing in the late 1970s, but you don’t fetishize the old technology. You also use digital means to reproduce some photos. Why the letterpress?

It’s indisputable that the most beautiful way of getting words on paper is with lead type on a letterpress. The technology has been around for 500 years and nobody really figured out a way of making it better.

When I discovered it, it wasn’t totally antiquated yet, but it really wasn’t commercially viable for the big companies. Big printing plants, newspapers and book publishers were dumping all their equipment. What had been exorbitantly expensive equipment was being sold for just a bit over scrap value. So, I hit the sweet spot, the moment where I could scoop up all this stuff and set up my own shop."

YOSEF WOSK

     Another person about whom more should be known is Dr. Wosk who lives in Vancouver. I mentioned him when I stumbled into a library named for him at the VanDusen Botanical Gardens, (see: Unexpected Libraries.) Recently Dr. Wosk won the “Freedom of the City Award”, which is the highest award given by Vancouver and “only in exceptional cases to individuals of the highest merit.” (see: Yosef Wosk.)

    Just a  few excerpts from this article will prove that Dr. Wosk (also a rabbi) is worth your attention. 

“Yosef Wosk has a dream. The academic, philanthropist and scion of a famous Vancouver family envisions a conservatory in the back of his Shaughnessy heritage home that will house his extensive collection of art and books….

“I think of the house as an emanation of the spirit,” he says of the home, one of several heritage projects he’s undertaken over the years. He helped restore the B.C. Permanent Building, a temple bank from 1907, filled with stained glass, as well as the first highrises in the West End, the iconic four-building Beach Towers complex he co-owned for 40 years, built in the 60s by midcentury architect Charles Van Norman. He’s a curator, patron of the arts, author and poet. He’s also a major donor to heritage conservation, galleries and museums, and various charities. But lately he’s become more circumspect about the projects he’ll take on, and how he spends his time, which is growing more valuable….

His father, who died in 2002, was also a celebrated philanthropist whose namesake is the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, to which he contributed $3-million. The Wosks left Odessa, Ukraine, in 1928 with next to nothing, and settled in a Jewish community at the time on Parker Street, on the city’s east side, peddling refurbished pots and pans….

He is devoting his time to several volumes of writing and his immense, eclectic art collection. So far in his prolific career, he’s obtained two PhDs, a Masters in theology from Harvard, the Order of Canada, the Order of B.C., the Freedom of the City of Vancouver, several honorary doctorates and accolades too numerous to count. At one point, he received the key to the city of Medford, Mass., for his contributions to that city. He put his work and accomplishments into a curriculum vitae, which is 767 pages long and still not comprehensive…”

These excerpts are from: “Yosef Wosk, Academic, Philanthropist and Art Collector, is Building a Gallery in His Own Backyard,” Kerry Gold, The Globe and Mail, Oct. 21, 2022. Ms Gold also wrote about Wosk more than a decade ago: "A Home With 'Character in Every Corner'," Kerry Gold, The Globe and Mail, April 22, 2010.

Crikey! WORMS AGAIN: But in Australia, Not Africa.

 Five years ago you were told about a gentleman who discovered a worm crossing his eyeball, and also that worms travelling in eye sockets had been spotted and written about by Mary Kingsley many years before in Travels in West Africa. See: "University of the Unusual (3); The Guinea Worm and Assorted Others.")

Here is a more recent headline about worms which have burrowed a little farther in: “She Was Depressed and Forgetful. It Was A Worm in Her Brain” Doctors in Australia Found a Three-inch Parasitic Worm in a Woman’s Brain During Surgery, After They Spent More Than a Year Trying to Find the Cause of Her Distress,” Amanda Holpuch, New York Times, Aug. 29, 2023. That’s the little fella, pictured above.
The explanation:  "An MRI showed that she had a brain lesion and, in June 2022, doctors performed a biopsy.

Inside the lesion, doctors found a “stringlike structure” and removed it. The structure was a red, live parasitic worm, about 3.15 inches long and .04 inches in diameter.

They determined that it was an Ophidascaris robertsi, a type of roundworm that is native to Australia and reproduces in a large snake, the carpet python, which takes its name from its intricate markings. The pythons shed the worm’s eggs in their feces. The eggs are then ingested by small mammals, and the worms can grow inside them….” 

The patient in this case resided near a lake area inhabited by carpet pythons. Despite no direct snake contact, she often collected native vegetation, warrigal greens (Tetragonia tetragonioides), from around the lake to use in cooking. We hypothesized that she inadvertently consumed O. robertsi eggs either directly from the vegetation or indirectly by contamination of her hands or kitchen equipment."

Jersey Girls STILL Don't Have to Pump Gas!

   Last year I pointed out that "Jersey Girls Don't Pump Gas!" and that is still the case. At that time, I also indicated that there was only one other state down in "The Land of the Free" where you were not free to fill up your own car. Oregon was that state, but now you are allowed to serve yourself, although many stations are still required to offer full service as well. So, this recent headline is now correct: "There's Only One State Left Where It's Illegal to Pump Your Own Gas," Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN, August 9, 2023. That state is New Jersey. CNN also reported about the change in Oregon: "Oregon Drivers Are Now Allowed to Pump Their Own Fuel After the State Lifted a Ban Dating Back to 1951," Andy Rose, Aug. 6, 2023.

   If you are older you will remember that gas was always pumped for you and you were not allowed to do so yourself. If you are a youngster you will always have served yourself. This is one of the many benefits of progress. Those in New Jersey are not progressive in this respect since a poll recently revealed that most do not want stations to stop providing full service. I assume that if Canadians were polled on this issue, most would want to revert to the good old days and have an attendant serve them on the many cold and windy days, or the few truly hot ones.

  

   

I have run out of gas on this subject, but if you are now wondering why things changed, see my earlier post and these references:

NACS - "The History of Self-Fueling," Aug. 5, 2023

"First Gas Pump and Service Station," American Oil & Gas Historical Society.

"Filling Station Attendant," Wikipedia.

"Gasoline Stations," Mulcahy's Miscellany," Nov. 19, 2017

The Bonus:

   There are a few full service stations in London. Here is Ron Kraft Auto Care, on Huron Street where you can go if you prefer to be served. What a concept.  You will also find:

-"Gas attendants who serve you at the pump – stay in your vehicle in rain, snow or heat

-Mobile payment machine brought to your car window

-Wheelchair accessibility to accommodate all of our customers

-Auto propane & BBQ tank refills."

"Why have the smell of gas on your hands when we can pump it for you?

At Ron Kraft Auto Care, if you don’t want to leave your vehicle, no matter the weather, our attendant is right there to pump your gas for you. Just pay with the mobile payment machine brought right to your car window."

Butter

  I have plans to increase my production of posts once the hours of daylight and sunshine decrease. While you can be sure that the days will get shorter and the sun will move farther south, you are probably less sure about my ability to stick with my plans. You are not alone in having such thoughts and I admit that it is a rare thing for me to plan anything and, rarer still, for me to accomplish something. 

   There is even a subject category in Mulcahy’s Miscellany relating to “Abandoned Projects”. In it you will find short posts about longer things left behind, such as my inability to read all of the books in “A Dance to the Music of Time,” or write about “Charcoal Fueled Automobiles.” As an indication of my improved intentions, however, I will try now to produce a few blog nuggets before August ends and I begin working harder around Labour Day. Or perhaps, maybe when the snow starts.

About the Butter

  Of all the images and illustrations I have provided to you, it is likely the one of the former Mayor of Toronto, the late Doug Ford, is your favourite. It is a picture of a large sculpture for which he was the model. He is reading a book by Margaret Atwood. The sculpture was carved from a block of butter.

   At a time when the news remains dreadful and statues everywhere are being destroyed, it is good to learn that sculptors still can find employment creating sculptures carved from pure butter. I learned about such activities from an article which is reporting on the Minnesota State Fair. It is also good to learn that State Fairs and Fall Fairs still exist.

   A new artist has been hired to replace Linda Chistensen who butter sculpted for around 50 years. Gerry Kulzer is the new guy and he is now carving from butter, not clay, which I gather is easier than butter to work with. “To capture a person’s likeness is really tough,” said Mr. Kulzer, 53, of Litchfield, Minn. “Especially when you’re in a 40-degree refrigerator.”

   He will carve all aspirants who are competing to be the next Princess Kay of the Milky Way. The princesses and the sculptor are in a glass display cooler that rotates so Fair attendees can witness the operations. He is carving as I write this and will be doing so until September 4th.

What About Margarine?

  As far as I know, real butter, not margarine, is used for sculpting. I realise the subject of margarine is a contentious one and I only raise it here because, so far, this post is too short. I will not say much more since I will soon run the risk of making the post too long and, besides, you surely will already know about the great butter/margarine controversy.

   Basically, margarine is cheaper than butter. People with cows did not wish to see the less expensive product on the grocery shelves. For that reason margarine was illegal for many years in Canada. When it was allowed to be made and sold, it was often highly taxed. Then, there is the colour issue. Those who produced butter did not want margarine to be yellow since it would look like the real thing. In Quebec, yellow margarine like conscription was opposed. There was even a Supreme Court case about it. You may not believe me so I will simply provide sources to keep this short.

Sources:

 You will be most eager to see the Ford Butter Sculpture and you will learn much more about butter sculpting: The Land of Cockaigne. 

  The article about the Minnesota State Fair is this one: "His Medium, Salted Butter. His Craft Sublime," Christina Morales, New York Times, Aug. 23, 2022.

"Gerry Kulzer, the new butter sculptor at the Minnesota State Fair, is ready to capture the likenesses of the dairy princesses, if only he can sculpt their tresses in time....

In 2019, Ms. Christensen and the Midwest Dairy trade group chose Mr. Kulzer as an apprentice from a pool of five applicants because of his skills at sculpting and bronze casting, and because of his personal background. He grew up on a Minnesota grain farm and would help on his cousins’ dairy farm, which gave him an intimate understanding of the fair’s butter-sculpting tradition....

To prepare for this week’s fair, Mr. Kulzer spent several days a week in his studio working on his sculpting speed using clay, the medium he says is closest to butter. When he filled in for Ms. Christensen two years ago, he struggled to finish the hairstyles for the finalists’ busts in the eight hours allotted for each.

Butter sculptures first appeared at the Minnesota State Fair more than a century ago. In 1965, a dairy trade group began the fair’s tradition of sculpting the finalists in Midwest Dairy’s pageant, which began about a decade earlier (the Associated Milk Producers, a trade group, has donated the 900 pounds of butter needed for the art since 1993). The contest honors young female leaders in the state’s dairy industry; the winner is crowned the night before the fair begins, and greets guests at 6 a.m. as they enter the gates.
 The website for the Minnesota State Fair is here and it is still on. 

  For more about Princess Kay of the Milky Way, see this. 

The Great Butter/Margarine Controversy

Here are just a few Canadian sources. It was also controversial elsewhere.

Heick, Welf H. "What Ontario Wants, Canada Gets; The 1886 Margarine Debate," Canadian Papers in Rural History, 1988, Vo. 6, p.240.

Abstract: Traces the margarine debate in Canada, from its origin in Ontario, when that province was experiencing a shift from wheat to mixed farming, to its conclusion in 1886. With soil depletion, dairying became a viable alternative to growing wheat, but acceptable quality butter was to remain a serious problem during the 1860's-70's. Evidence suggests that the appearance of margarine in Canada came in 1878, and by the early 1880's the butter/margarine competition was well developed. Rather than regulation, a ban was advocated in the intensely emotional debate in the Commons. Parliament listened to the arguments of Ontario dairymen who viewed themselves as vulnerable when margarine appeared on the market.

Heick, Welf H. "Margarine in Newfoundland History," Newfoundland Studies, March, 1986, Vol.2, No.1.

Abstract: The Newfoundland margarine industry began in 1883 when emerging industrialization filled the gap caused by the weak agricultural base in the country. The local population neither produced nor imported an adequate amount of butter to maintain a reasonable standard of health and the establishment of the margarine industry not only helped the poorer segments of society, but also aided the colony as a whole by promoting reliance on a locally-produced product. The politicians made sure that confederation with Canada (1949) did not disturb the local right to make the butter substitute. The story of margarine production in Newfoundland is one of people acting soundly to improve and protect their standard of living.

Post Script:

Milk as a subject will not be tackled. I went to buy some the other day and there were rows of different kinds of milks?

The Bonus: 

For more about Minnesota, see my post about The University of Minnesota Press. 

People from Minnesota are called "Minnesotans." If you are going to the Minnesota State Fair and are passing through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the people there are referred to as "Yoopers." For more, see: Unobvious Demonyms.