Recently read

Among the things read in the last few days ...

Hail, traveller, well met: On the BBC magazine site, a list of recommendations for visitors to consider, all of them going beyond the traditonal stops in the U.K.

Rhubarb, rhubarb: Nearby, I read this article about indoor cultivation of rhubarb. I found this all a bit odd. Rhubarb is bloody easy to grow in Newfoundland - a climate that is not well suited to plenty of things that can go in to jam - so I was curious to learn there was such a thing as indoor rhubarb. Here's the nut graf:

Pink or scarlet, with white flesh, sweet and fragrant in taste, indoor rhubarb is a long-way from the sour, tough, stringy ingredient of the dismal crumbles handed out to recalcitrant public schoolboys of yore.

I guess it depends on how you grow it - or maybe when you cut it. My parents make the definitive killer batch of jam, but my wife and I have been growing rhubarb for years, and I never complain.

A bit o' footie, on demand: Canada beat Scotland Saturday in under-20 play; you can watch the whole game here, via CBC.ca.

That other four-letter word: Patricia Hluchy has an interesting take on the history of the word "slut."

Quote me on it: Ever read those witticisms on the side of a Starbucks cup, and think, "I coulda said that"? Joel Stein of the L.A. Times evidently did; of the suggestions in this column, I like this one best:

"If your mom is drunk at 3 a.m., squirting you and your sister with a water pistol, you're either very rich or very poor."

Sliced: If you're can't get your saying on a coffee cup, imagine your face - particularly if you're a deadbeat parent - on a pizza box.

Press your thumb on the dotted line: I've never been asked for a fingerprint during a commercial transaction; I was curious to read this piece on Utne Online, about what's driving what it sees as a trend.

The inarticulate speech of the Balboa: This video is misleading: it's called All the Rocky Movies in 5 Seconds, but it actually runs a bit longer.

Yep, they called him Sexy Rexy: The Halifax Daily News checks in with Rex Goudie.