Comments on: Dining in the Dark

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 19:11:46 +0000

I got a Google alert on your Dining in the Dark blog & comments – how awesome! My organization (FIRE) actually puts on a fundraiser just like this every year to benefit people who are blind. We were worried about the “blindness tourism” concept, too, but it hasn’t happened here (in Tallahassee, FL) either. We have folks who are blind guide you to your seat, but the food is served by the Sheriff SWAT Team with night vision goggles. I’ll have to ask them about shooting in the dark (LOL!) Great post.

By: L.A.’s Dining in the Dark

L.A.’s Dining in the Dark — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:40:02 +0000

[...] Carroll writes on his blog Cosmic Variance, “Deprived of sight, your other senses rally to the task, and you are more sensitive to the [...]

By: B

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 12:00:54 +0000

A-ha, The recent comment box is back

By: Arun

Arun — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 00:29:06 +0000

Jennifer, I guess one should be thankful for all experiences that make one thankful.

Speaking of eating in the dark, in the epic Mahabharata, the to-be-great archer, boy Arjuna is eating at night when the wind blows out the lamp. Reflecting on the fact that his hand continued to convey food accurately to his mouth, he wondered whether it would be possible to shoot in the dark…..

By: coturnix

coturnix — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:52:29 +0000

Very cool experience. I did eat in the complete dark, though, in my lab. As a circadian researcher, I had to do all sorts of stuff in the complete darkness….

By: Jennifer Ouellette

Jennifer Ouellette — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:49:55 +0000

Arun, I don’t doubt for a minute that people in Baghdad endure meals without light. I lived through more than one blackout in my NYC years. But even in blackout conditions, there’s always some sort of ambient light, SOMEWHERE, even if it’s just the stars twinkling above. The complete absence of any light at all is what made the experience unique. It was so dark that the glow of someone’s wristwatch would seem like a full-power lighthouse beam.

It’s a schtick, to be sure, but it’s a compelling and thought-provoking one, should one be inclined to ponder the experience beyond the “Wow, I can’t see a thing” factor. I, for one, came away with a deeper appreciation for my own sight — and for not suffering the kinds of power outages in places like Baghdad and India.

By: adam

adam — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:54:01 +0000

I read an article about a restaurant like this somewhere in France, a few years back. Not sure if that was the first one, though.

For myself, I hate not being able to clearly see what I’m eating.

By: Neil B.

Neil B. — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:24:43 +0000

Jason, just remember that “IR” covers a wide band, from wavelengths typically emitted by everyday objects (like, around 10 microns) to the near infrared (such as maybe 760-1200 nm), which is not correlated to ordinary temperatures. The latter can produce interesting differences of reflectivity, like the strong reflection from plants that made for those colorful reddish (false color) expanses of plants in pics taken with Infrared Ektachrome (what ever happened to that? Not only did it fade away in general, but I never saw for example picture of Mars taken with it. That would sure disprove the idea of the dark patches being vegetation we know of.)

PS: I saw some recent posts up in the side bar, that I couldn’t get to because of an error message. Now I can’t find them IIRC. Were they lost forever?

PS – I read about two-buck chuck, and how it violates ordinary economic “laws” (something better, that costs less.) Or if it doesn’t then they are kind of circular anyway, since you define the value as whatever people pay etc.

‘Two-Buck Chuck’ Snags Top Wine Prize

Listen to this story…

Morning Edition, June 18, 2004 · When it comes to wine, some consumers still equate quality with price. But at the 28th Annual International Eastern Wine Competition, a $1.99 bottle of California Wine, the 2002 Charles Shaw Shiraz, beat out 2,300 wines to win a prestigious double gold medal.

Sorry, I don’t think economics is a real science either.

By: Arun

Arun — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:17:18 +0000

It doesn’t strike me as clever. People live through meals in the dark in Baghdad and e.g., in India during power-cut season.

By: John Baez

John Baez — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 05:30:31 +0000

I bet this restaurant serves two-buck chuck.