Welcome to this week's selection of Picks, where we've been exploring People's Century, a PBS site that examines "the turbulent events of these hundred years through the revealing personal testimony of the people who were there." Surprisingly enough, we've been working on a similar project. Only, ours is an examination of the minor events of these last one hundred years. Here's what we've got so far:
July 16, 1934, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin: Carol Anne Strudelmeyer prepares a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie for her family, to be eaten that evening after dinner. Carol uses a recipe much like the one you can find today at RecipeXchange, an effort dedicated to collecting family-tested recipes and cooking secrets. The site allows you to search for recipes by keyword, or to browse by category, ethnic origin, or date submitted. While making the pie Carol decides that the main course that day will be Beef Tips in Mushroom Sauce, a dish also listed at the RecipeXchange. Go figure.
August 14, 1969, Boston, Massachusetts: Alexander "Lips" Lustberg, an atonal street musician, snaps his E string during the second verse of a shockingly bad rendition of "Sweet Jane." Thus, the first of a million Lou Reed covers in Harvard Square ends in despair and ignominy. Fortunately, Lou Reed is still rocking hard, and his dark, atmospheric web site features a slick layout, punchy content, and a few dazzling Java-fueled surprises. Browse the legendary archive of blistering rock albums, or scroll through the timeline for all the gory historic details. Rock on!
February 17, 1968, Washington, D.C.: Sherwood Clay Randall, Jr., a cow-licked eight-year-old, folds a dollar bill into a butterfly while waiting to walk Cindy Applewood home from school. A talent is born. The Cindy thing doesn't work out, but years later Clay creates the Money Origami site, a masterful display of currency-as-sculpture featuring spiders, eyeglasses, sailboats, and framed portraits. In a kind gesture of goodwill, Clay also includes detailed instructions on how to create these magnificent objects d' art. Take lessons from a monetary origami master.
March 17, 1985, Santa Monica, California: Miranda Banks, a dour 13-year-old with a penchant for excessive eye make-up, suddenly experiences an Intense Moment of Empathetic Connection with the Ally Sheedy character in "The Breakfast Club." At the same instant, thousands of angst-ridden teens are similarly touched by the Brat Pack, a group of young actors who rise to fame in the mid-Eighties with "The Breakfast Club" and "St. Elmo's Fire." Judd Nelson sneers. Molly Ringwald pouts. Anthony Michael Hall reads the "Breakfast Club Manifesto," and everyone sighs.
April 16, 1998, a darkened cube in Santa Clara, California: The Yahoo! Picks team uses calculator.com to figure out how many money origami designs they'll need to create in order to retire comfortably. However, while the site points to many useful personal finance calculators, there's no easy answer to the team's question. After all, the answer depends entirely on each design: some origami figures require more bills than others. It turns out that even the most advanced online calculators can't solve this type of problem.
Thursday of last week, during the Seinfeld finale: Jocko Vanzetti and his cat, Mr. Kittles, drive their '63 Buick coupe (with tan seats) into the lot of a local shopping center and successfully park within 61 seconds. This (according to Science a GoGo's article on the Exacting Science Of Car Parking) makes them no more than average. Read the article for an interesting summary of a study titled "A Probabilistic Approach to Evaluate Strategies for Selecting a Parking Space" and visit the site to be thoroughly entertained by all things scientifical.
Granted, this is a shaky start. Please keep in mind that there have been many insignificant moments in the last hundred years, and cataloging them all is going to be a real chore. Take our word for it. Take our memories. Take your pick(s).