Rachel Laudan

Heike Vibrans asks a number of good questions about my earlier post on the human energy required to grind maize the traditional Mexican way before the appearance of mills beginning in the 1920s  but still not in remote villages in the 1990s. Five hours sound too much. You don’t need an almost an hour to [...]

Basket of shrimp empanadas, 5 for $30 pesos (US$2.20) Saturday saw a group of three friends in La Viga, Mexico’s wholesale market, claimed to be the biggest in Latin America and the second biggest in the world.  It’s worthy of several blogs which will be coming along. First, though, is the shrimp empanada.  The market [...]

 A man who died on the killing stone or on the field of battle did not immediately dissolve into nothingness, or rather everythingness, which was the common fate. Instead for four years and for four years only he became a member of the warrior escort of the sun during in its progress across the heavens. [...]