My goodness, the world is alive with bloggable goodness. As the Style Editor is at a National Academy of Sciences conference, and the Doc is loading a moving van full of Boston Beans, salted cod and rum for his trip to the Land of Lutherans, that puts the burden of blogging on my shoulders.

So here's an item that the Syle Editor will find very interesting. She often complains bitterly that people are starting to use the word "come over to a barbecue" when they mean "come over for a grill in my backyard." Thanks to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, we now have a succinct definition that proves her completely in the right:

Low, indirect heat for long, slow cooking is the key difference between barbecue and grilling. Grilling occurs directly over the heat source, and it's relatively quick because the cooking temperature is high. Barbecue is low and slow, cooking at a temperature hovering just under 212 degrees.

"Water boils at 212 degrees. Because all living things are comprised mostly of water, the water in meats will boil, too. When it does, it causes an explosion of the cell walls and that causes toughness," Hofman explained.

Tenderness and flavor are the chief components of prize-winning barbecue as judged in contests held all over the country.

There you have it. Grilling and barbecuing aren't synonyms, the Physics Says So.

Don't mess with the physics, you damn kids.