How the French Revolution Gave Birth to the Restaurant Business

The next time you’re at your favorite café, raise a glass to the aristocrats who lost their heads so that you could enjoy your foie gras.

France gave birth to restaurants, but it was no civilized affair. In fact, today’s restaurant business is actually a byproduct of the class warfare that arose during the French Revolution.

Back in the Middle Ages, fine dining was a privilege enjoyed exclusively by feudal lords who had their own grand kitchens and personal chefs. The only commercial eateries for the masses were seedy roadside inns, where strangers crowded around mediocre buffets of tepid roasts and over-sauced legumes. But sometime in the 1760s, the merchant class of Paris developed a taste for healthy light broths known as restoratives, or restaurants. By the 1780s, this new Parisian “health food” craze led to a handful of reputable dining halls, where customers could sit at individual tables and choose from a wide range of dishes.

-mental_floss

Did Iran Capture a U.S. Stealth Drone Intact?

For the second time this year, the Iranian government is claiming it forced down a stealthy U.S. Air Force spy drone. Only this time, Iran says it bagged the RQ-170 “with little damage” by jamming its control signal — a potentially worrying development for American forces heavily reliant on remote-controlled aircraft.

-Wired

Being Funny

In the late 1960s, comedy was in transition. The older school told jokes and stories, punctuated with the drummer’s rimshot. Of the new school, Bill Cosby—one of the first to tell stories you actually believed were true—and Bob Newhart—who startled everyone with innovative, low-key delivery and original material—had achieved icon status. Mort Sahl tweaked both sides of the political fence with his college-prof delivery. George Carlin and Richard Pryor, though very funny, were still a few years away from their final artistic breakthroughs. Lenny Bruce had died several years earlier, fighting both the system and drugs, and his work was already in revival because of his caustic brilliance that made authority nervous. Vietnam, the first televised war, split the country, and one’s left or right bent could be recognized by haircuts and clothes.

-Smithsonian

Watch Steve Buscemi as the 'Erotic Chef' on SNL

On the latest episode of Saturday Night Live, there was a fake video promo for "Sex" Ed Vincent's 1980s-style Couples Workshop Sex Intensive class (see the full clip on Hulu). Day two of the program features the guest speaker Dustin Van Kamp — played by actor Steve Buscemi — aka the "Erotic Chef." Says Buscemi, "We tend to think of the kitchen as a boring place, but what if I told you food can be sexy?" This is definitely a little creepy, very fruit and hot dog-y, and probably NSFW.

-Eater

MP3: The Black Keys

Vintage Mugshots from the 1920s [30 Photos]

The Sifter recently stumbled upon an incredible collection of vintage mugshots housed by the Historic Houses Trust. Many of these intriguing photographs are also accompanied by a description of the person and the crime(s) they have committed. For example, the image above of Mr. William Stanley Moore was taken May 1st, 1925. The caption describes him as: an opium dealer operating with large quantities of faked opium and cocaine. Also a wharf labourer and associates with water front thieves and drug traders.

The images themselves are of excellent quality, beautifully composed and in many cases, quite artistic. Please enjoy this curated selection of 30 photographs along with brief descriptions of each when available.

-Twisted Sifter

The Man of My Dream

There is a huge number of single ladies in Novgorod and each of them dreams of a perfect man. So, these are their stories:

In the picture: Alisa Marushchak, 20.

‘There are almost no men here. In the class where I studied, there were 25 girls and just 5 boys. Then I entered the university where I met a guy from Zimbabwe. We were going to get married. I even got a ticket to Zimbabwe but a war started there so I didn’t go.’

In the sketch there is Alisa’s ideal man. Age 27-33. It should be a man of character. A perfect scenario would be if we took a Russian man and added some character traits of an American. She thinks that Russian men are spoiled and do not appreciate the beauty of Russian girls. Besides, they demand too much. A wife should look good, take care of children, go to work and do housekeeping. What do women get in return? Nothing.

-English Russia

Vintage Coffee Bean Bag Chairs

There are a lot of things we want to own that we will, unfortunately, never be able to own. We’re less concerned about the stereotypically museumesque things: fine art, pottery and anything that hangs on a wall, and more concerned about anything with an engine or a comfortable seat. Falling somewhere between those two categories is this set of Vintage Coffee Bean Bag Chairs. Vintage arm chairs covered with vintage coffee bean bags probably aren’t the most comfortable thing to sit on, but damn if they don’t look good regardless. Available only in Ireland, and currently sold out, these chairs will probably never see the inside of any of our places. Even though we can’t buy them, get them shipped to the US or ever sit in them, we’re fine with ogling these beauties from a distance.

-COOL MATERIAL

Awe-Inspiring Octopus Table

This table is absolutely wild! Created by artist Isaac Krauss, this bronze sculpture is amazing in so many ways. Not only is it incredibly detailed, it took over two and half years to make! Krauss' inspiration for this piece stems from his high school days. Trying to think of an interesting ceramic project, Krauss drew up the design but, due to the limitations of the studio and his teacher's unfamiliarity with ceramics, the idea was shelved. However, not before his teacher suggested casting the piece out of bronze.

-My Modern Met

“The sicario: A Juárez hit man speaks”

I am ready for the story of all the dead men who last saw his face.

As I drank coffee and tried to frame questions in my mind, a crime reporter in Juárez was cut down beside his eight-year-old daughter as they sat in his car letting it warm up. This morning as I drove down here, a Toyota passed me with a bumper sticker that read, with a heart symbol, i love love. This morning I tried to remember how I got to this rendezvous.

I was in a distant city and a man told me of the killer and how he had hidden him. He said at first he feared him, but he was so useful. He would clean everything and cook all the time and get on his hands and knees and polish his shoes. I took him on as a favor, he explained.

-World Press

Steamy Summer: The People of New York City in Pictures

Last Friday, July 1, photographer Andrew Piccone traveled to four neighborhoods in New York City. He spent an hour in each, to document the people, the looks and the sultry, lazy heights of summer. He brought back seven photos from each neighborhood, as he moved along from Rockaway Beach to the Upper East Side.

-The AWL

How to Be a New Yorker

How to Be a New Yorker sets out to counter the "most pernicious of Manhattan's myths" that keep "New Yorkers in spirit" from living in New York or cause them to flee all too soon: "You can't get a decent apartment here, can't keep a car, can't get a job without mysterious connections . . . the prices, people, and public transportation are all pure horror, and so on." There are 12 chapters, including "How to keep your dignity on the subway and other unlikely places," "How to happen to meet other charming, attractive people like you," and "How to love thy neighbor even when he's a New Yorker."

Despite its age, the book is relevant, hilarious, bloggy, and entirely New York. From Chapter 1, "Why all New Yorkers should live in New York":

-Village Voice

76-year-old skateboarder rolls through life

This next story will make you get off the couch no matter what your age or at least think about getting off the couch. Here's the inspirational tale of a man on a board.

Lloyd Kahn spends most days at his home studio in Bolinas running Shelter Publications, but when this 76-year-old gets any free time, he's out skateboarding.

-ABC

DOCUMERICA: Images of America in Crisis in the 1970s

As the 1960s came to an end, the rapid development of the American postwar decades had begun to take a noticeable toll on the environment, and the public began calling for action. In November 1971, the newly created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a massive photo documentary project, called DOCUMERICA, to record these changes. More than 100 photographers were hired not only to document specific environmental issues, but to capture images of everyday life, showing how we interacted with the environment and capturing the way parts of America looked at that moment in history. By 1974, more than 80,000 photographs had been produced. The National Archives has made 15,000 of these images available, and I've spent much of the past week combing through those to bring you these 46 glimpses of America in the early 1970s, with an eye toward our then-ailing environment. [46 photos]

-The Atlantic