25 Things
There is a meme that’s been going around the World Wide Web for a while now that encourages you to write 25 random things about yourself. Supposedly, this will enable people to get to know you better with the added bonus of them getting to know you without actually having to spend time with you. In other words, it obviates the actual “work” part of a friendship.
While I think many people have done many nice and interesting things with this meme, I find the concept of the meme itself fairly odious. I mean, it’s cool that people want to share and all, but what does that sharing really mean when it’s just a bunch of pixels typed and published in an e-mail or a social networking site? Shouldn’t getting to know someone be done live and in person, preferably over an enjoyable social activity?
Now there’s nothing wrong if you filled out the thing or even if you asked me to do it. I don’t blame you, I blame the concept. That meme is a symptom of what I perceive to be a negative change in how human beings deal with each other. That change is this: I think we know more about each other than ever before but know each other less than ever before. I think we are in contact with far more people than we are in touch with.
Don’t get me wrong – I voluntarily joined one of those social network things to stay in contact with some family members who had divorced themselves from ordinary e-mail. It’s a useful tool to keep tabs on everyone, get the latest news updates on what’s going on in everyone’s everyday life. I enjoy it for that purpose and think it has a place. However, when technology crosses the line of being a useful tool for relationship maintenance and becomes the relationship itself, then I think we’re on dangerous ground.
That all being said, I do like the “25 random things” concept as a way of sharing knowledge about random and hopefully noteworthy subject. I would encourage people to make lists of facts about various subjects and share them with people who might be interested. In that vein, here are….
25 Random Things about Cheese
1. Cheese is made from milk.
2. Cheese can be made from the milk of many different animals.
3. The most common animals whose milk is used for cheese production include cows, water buffalo, sheep, and goats.
4. Some cheeses are soft and some are hard.
5. Some cheeses have rinds and some don’t.
6. Nobody knows who invented cheese. It appears to have been around since before recorded history!
7. Some cheeses have molds in them, and it’s OK to eat the mold.
8. Vegans do not eat cheese since it’s a dairy product.
9. Some cheeses are aged for years while others can be prepared and eaten on the same day.
10. Cheese curds made from unripened cheddar cheese squeak when you bite them.
11. Processed cheese is not worthy of the name “cheese”
12. Monty Python had a famous sketch based around a cheese shop.
13. The animated characters Wallace and Gromit are big fans of cheese. Wensleydale in particular.
14. Eating cheese right out of the refrigerator still cold is not the best way to enjoy its flavor.
15. In restaurants, cheese plates are typically served at room temperature.
16. Walnuts and grapes are common accompaniments to cheese.
17. According to Wikipedia, the United States is the world’s #1 cheese producing country in terms of pure tonnage.
18. Germany is second.
19. In parts of Italy, the use of cheese in fish dishes is considered practically sacrilegious.
20. Cheese sometimes is used in to mean “molded” or “formed”
21. It is that sense that is used in the term “head cheese” which doesn’t contain any dairy cheese at all.
22. If you melt small piles of Parmiggiano-Reggianno on a non-stick surface and let it cool it hardens into crackers.
23. Some murals in ancient Egyptian tombs depict cheese making.
24. American cheese is another term for a cheddar-like type of processed cheese.
25. A cheese course can be served early in a meal or lieu of dessert.
While I think many people have done many nice and interesting things with this meme, I find the concept of the meme itself fairly odious. I mean, it’s cool that people want to share and all, but what does that sharing really mean when it’s just a bunch of pixels typed and published in an e-mail or a social networking site? Shouldn’t getting to know someone be done live and in person, preferably over an enjoyable social activity?
Now there’s nothing wrong if you filled out the thing or even if you asked me to do it. I don’t blame you, I blame the concept. That meme is a symptom of what I perceive to be a negative change in how human beings deal with each other. That change is this: I think we know more about each other than ever before but know each other less than ever before. I think we are in contact with far more people than we are in touch with.
Don’t get me wrong – I voluntarily joined one of those social network things to stay in contact with some family members who had divorced themselves from ordinary e-mail. It’s a useful tool to keep tabs on everyone, get the latest news updates on what’s going on in everyone’s everyday life. I enjoy it for that purpose and think it has a place. However, when technology crosses the line of being a useful tool for relationship maintenance and becomes the relationship itself, then I think we’re on dangerous ground.
That all being said, I do like the “25 random things” concept as a way of sharing knowledge about random and hopefully noteworthy subject. I would encourage people to make lists of facts about various subjects and share them with people who might be interested. In that vein, here are….
25 Random Things about Cheese
1. Cheese is made from milk.
2. Cheese can be made from the milk of many different animals.
3. The most common animals whose milk is used for cheese production include cows, water buffalo, sheep, and goats.
4. Some cheeses are soft and some are hard.
5. Some cheeses have rinds and some don’t.
6. Nobody knows who invented cheese. It appears to have been around since before recorded history!
7. Some cheeses have molds in them, and it’s OK to eat the mold.
8. Vegans do not eat cheese since it’s a dairy product.
9. Some cheeses are aged for years while others can be prepared and eaten on the same day.
10. Cheese curds made from unripened cheddar cheese squeak when you bite them.
11. Processed cheese is not worthy of the name “cheese”
12. Monty Python had a famous sketch based around a cheese shop.
13. The animated characters Wallace and Gromit are big fans of cheese. Wensleydale in particular.
14. Eating cheese right out of the refrigerator still cold is not the best way to enjoy its flavor.
15. In restaurants, cheese plates are typically served at room temperature.
16. Walnuts and grapes are common accompaniments to cheese.
17. According to Wikipedia, the United States is the world’s #1 cheese producing country in terms of pure tonnage.
18. Germany is second.
19. In parts of Italy, the use of cheese in fish dishes is considered practically sacrilegious.
20. Cheese sometimes is used in to mean “molded” or “formed”
21. It is that sense that is used in the term “head cheese” which doesn’t contain any dairy cheese at all.
22. If you melt small piles of Parmiggiano-Reggianno on a non-stick surface and let it cool it hardens into crackers.
23. Some murals in ancient Egyptian tombs depict cheese making.
24. American cheese is another term for a cheddar-like type of processed cheese.
25. A cheese course can be served early in a meal or lieu of dessert.
Comments
You know what cheeses me off, vegans.