I need to catch up on sleep and work so I'm giving myself a break from daily postings. In the meantime, you can ponder a world that continues to supply us with fancy bottled water just for dogs (hey, this one comes in a bowl-shaped bottle).
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Thursday, June 19, 2008

The French Foreign Legion is keeping its veterans occupied and housed by selling wine from the Legion's vineyards.
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Ever see a Tudor-style house float by on a barge? Ever see any kind of house go by on a barge? On Tuesday in tony Hunts Point, WA a 3,360-square-foot house was taken off its foundation and rolled onto a barge headed for British Columbia. The owners who bought the house and its lakefront lot for $9.4 million decided not to demolish the house even though it wasn't to their liking. They signed a contract with Nickel Brothers House Moving who sold the house to a family on Vancouver Island. The house should arrive there on Thursday and it will then be measured for a new foundation.
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

At the Moses Lake Sand Dunes in Grant County, Washington, the wind thrashed dust around and the rain came and went as NASA scientists field tested equipment designed for the 2020 moon landing. A lunar rover with 12 wheels, purchased locally on the advice of a local farmer, climbed the dunes. A lunar RV that can house astronauts for longer explorations also tried out the challenging terrain. Space suits were also tested, although their test subjects had to contend with the stronger Earth gravity.
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In the early 1960s, private financing enabled a project that put 13 women through the same rigorous testing as the men who became America's first astronauts. Janet Christine Dietrich, who died on June 5th, and her twin sister Marion Dietrich were part of that program. Now known as the Mercury 13, the women were all experienced pilots and most had logged more flight time than their male counterparts. All 13 passed the first set of physical tests and 3 underwent isolation tank and psychological evaluations before the project was abruptly canceled. A hearing before a special Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics had no effect. Despite repeated pleas from female pilots to test women for the program, and even though the Soviets sent a woman into space in 1963, it took NASA until 1978 to accept women into their astronaut candidate program.
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Tuesday, June 17, 2008

There's a lovely set of 16 U.S. stamps out featuring the work of Charles and Ray Eames. Their iconic chairs get the most solo spots, but there is also one of a house of cards. That "house" wasn't built by the Eameses, but by stamp photographer Sally Andersen-Bruce, a resident of Connecticut (yay!). The cards were designed by the couple with all sorts of backs, and Andersen-Bruce put them together for a stamp-suitable photo. Andersen-Bruce has also worked with the stamps' designer Derry Noyes on other projects such as holiday stamps (cookies and Santa ornaments).
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16 eighth graders just graduated from Lake Washington Girls Middle School and their thoughts on why this school meant so much to them illustrate why, for some girls, not having boys around can be such a benefit. "At my old school I was quiet most of the time, and I felt like I was holding all of my real self in. I was waiting to let my true self out at Lake Washington Girls Middle School." "It's a gift that I got to go to this school. I'm much better at sharing my thoughts. I'm always totally myself. I'm not scared of what other people are going to think of me." "Girls at 'L-Dub' are not afraid to express their feelings. No one is there to suppress them." "At Lake Washington Girls Middle School they teach you that it's OK to show who you really are to your friends."
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Monday, June 16, 2008

"Glenn Gould’s Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Piano" is the subtitle of the book "A Romance on Three Legs", reviewed on Sunday in the N.Y. Times. Gould's perfect piano acquired a perfect tuner, Verne Edquist, who was somewhat forced into his career by the limited choice of vocations for someone with congenital cataracts. Edquist earned Gould's respect by refusing to work on a piano that Edquist recommended instead be taken in for a full service. The piano tuner soon became responsible for keeping Steinway grand No. CD 318 in perfect shape.
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Languages evolve over time, but the 80-100 "sleeping" (endangered) California Indian languages have little hope of surviving the dominance of English. A recent "Breath of Life" conference at UC Berkeley brought together speakers and students who want to preserve Native American languages. Parents want to pass this vanishing culture down to their children, the languages lost starting with the Spanish missionaries. Their tools to keep the words alive are old and new: songs, board games, cartoons, and YouTube.
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Friday, June 13, 2008

You've likely seen it many times elsewhere, but I just can't let anyone miss out on the carefully constructed Fifth Avenue apartment featured in the New York Times. 18 clues cleverly built into the furniture and decorative elements of the home created a trail of puzzles for the inhabitants. The finale led to the poem that had triggered the entire project. The owners had requested it be hidden in a wall somewhere. If you don't have time to read the article, take a look through the photo gallery.
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The annual Copper River Salmon run is heralded in Seattle with the airplane arrival of the first salmon, carried down a red carpet at Sea-Tac by an Alaska Airlines pilot. This year the plane wasn't as full of salmon as expected. Fishing has been hampered by bad weather and lower salmon counts. Tack on the higher transportation costs and the prices are sitting at $25 to $35 per pound. The buying public is dealing with higher food prices and fuel costs in their own day-to-day lives so this coveted Copper River Salmon isn't getting as many takers.
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Thursday, June 12, 2008

The San Francisco Chronicle checks back for an update on Starr King Elementary's Mandarin Immersion program. Only one student has left out of the 25 kindergartners who began two years ago. 13 students were added to the first-grade glass, filling the two first-grade classes to capacity. And there are two full kindergarten classes coming up, with the next year's spots completely full. I think that's a pretty good metric of success even if the kids weren't speaking, reading, and writing amazingly great Mandarin already, which they of course are.
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

There's an "artisan, small-batch, homemade ice cream rush" going on in the Seattle area. Ice creameries with shops and often farmer's market stalls include Half-Pint Ice Cream, Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream, Whidbey Island Ice Cream Co., Empire Ice Cream, and the very new Poco Carretto gelato cart from Holly Smith (of Cafe Juanita, fresh winner of a James Beard award). Yet to come, Full Tilt Ice Cream and Peaks Frozen Custard. Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream has been around since 1997 and supplies dairy mixes to some of the newcomers. You'll find variations on vanilla everywhere, but most carry their own specialty exotic flavors such as balsamic strawberry, lemon verbena, fennel seed, honeycomb.
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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The Subaru R1e electric car has been under development for a few years now, under partnership with the Tokyo Electric Power Company. Subaru found another power company partner here in the U.S. with the New York Power Authority agreeing to pilot two of the cars on the streets of Manhattan. It's probably too tiny for the U.S. mass market (though our SUV consumption here is likely to go down!), but the two-seater is a micro-car based on the R1 gas version that is sold in Japan. The battery can be quick-charged to 80% capacity in 15 minutes with a special charger, or it can be plugged into the wall and fully charged in 8 hours.
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A couple of guys I know like to harass their (amazing) bartender about not having egg whites on hand to make proper flips. Not being much of a drinker, I didn't know about egg whites and their contribution to the enjoyment of certain cocktails. After the salmonella scare about a decade ago, the traditional raw egg white addition to certain drinks waned in public bars. But the egg has returned, with San Francisco bars reporting that emulsified drinks are back on their menus and no one is asking them to hold the whites.
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Monday, June 09, 2008

In junior high school our small softcover yearbook was carefully edited by the yearbook adviser who also happened to be the typing instructor. She typed up most of the student provided blurbs which resulted in the removal of all mentions of the band Suicidal Tendencies. This was not a critique of the band, whom she had likely never heard of, but of the phrase. I didn't hear any controversy over our high school yearbooks, but there was likely a strict editing process in place for our senior quotes. This year at Lake City High School in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho the adviser may be wishing she had taken a closer look at the yearbook proofs. With a psychedelic-theme, allusions to drug use and sex, the book has upset many students and parents. They also aren't happy about spelling errors, misidentified photos, and excessive photos of yearbook staff members and friends. But as the Principal put it "There's no do-over on it."
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The PBS series "From the Top at Carnegie Hall" is the television offshoot of pianist Christopher O'Riley's "From the Top" NPR program. Young musicians showcase their serious skills in a light-hearted format. The second season is underway and they've put even more emphasis on the peeks behind-the-scenes, interlacing practice sessions and scenes from homelife into the actual performances, something that may horrify straightlaced classical music aficionados. It works well for the hoped for target audience of the next generation of musicians, who are being raised on fast-cut videos and reality television. The episodes are online and the results of these hard-working kids are mesmerizing, plus they've certainly been selected for personality as well.
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Friday, June 06, 2008

Recipe for a King-Size Eclairs from Flo Braker. SUPER sized ECLAIRS!
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In perhaps the most thoroughly reported building climb ever, two men separately scaled the New York Times Building in Times Square on Thursday and no less than 15 reporters were listed as contributing to the resulting N.Y. Times article written by James Barron. Ample photos and a video are also included. Clearly this is the building to climb if you want coverage for your cause.
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Thursday, June 05, 2008

Aimee Mann "Freeway" Video Contest. Aimee's trying the YouTube marketing route for her new album.
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Back in February I posted an item about Super Bowl rings and how the NFL pays up to $5000 per ring, often designed by Jostens or Balfour, known for providing class rings. Well, for their third Super Bowl ring, the New York Giants went straight to the top of the jeweler hierarchy. Tiffany's created the white gold and diamond rings for about $5500, and has valued them at $25,000. The Giants received the rings last Thursday at a ceremony in the Fifth Avenue flagship store. Tiffany's is no stranger to the NFL as the company also makes the Super Bowl trophy, three of which are depicted on the top of the ring.
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Wednesday, June 04, 2008

DIY not too expensive mini Star Wars toys: buy the Millenium Falcon, TIE Fighter, Y-Wing Fighter Lego "bag charms" which are now $4.99 (originally $9.99) and remove the chains. They're glued together Lego pieces, which is actually a good thing when you are three and your mom doesn't enjoy digging through the vacuum bag. Or you could actually use them as bag charms. Just be aware that our three-year-old managed to remove the Millenium Falcon from a backpack. We don't know how, but we suspect his Y-Wing really needed back-up.
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Alton Kelley in his own words, recounting the Summer of Love. Kelley, a graphic artist, created hundreds of classic psychedelic rock posters with Stanley Mouse. He died on Sunday.
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Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Another brand name will be lost to future generations: Kinko's is being dropped from the Fedex Kinko's name in favor of FedEx Office.
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The Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut built a museum next door in 2003 using money it did not have, with an eye towards an influx of visitors following a Ken Burns film. The hordes of tourists did not arrive, the loan was restructured, staff was reduced to 17 from 50, and the state had to help out with $3.5 million in bond money to pay down the remaining $11 million. And still, the museum is in debt and the cost of utilities are rising. The best path forward may be to forge an alliance with the neighboring Harriet Beecher Stowe House which has an endowment. Harriet Beecher Stowe's grandniece, Katherine Seymour Day, was a member of the group that purchased the Mark Twain residence to save it from demolition in the 1920s.
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Monday, June 02, 2008

To properly crown a high school prom queen and king, you need headgear. Jewelry company Bailey Banks & Biddle saw a marketing opportunity and is now the exclusive provider of tiaras for Southlake Carroll Senior High School in Texas. The company paid $14,540 to the school for advertising and prom tiara exclusivity. The sterling silver tiara that this year's prom queen received was worth $695.
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San Francisco's Ocean Beach was once the setting for an amusement park of some significance. Built up since the arrival of a roller coaster in 1884, by 1934 Playland had 14 rides, 25 concessions and 4 restaurants. After the wars, the park went into decline and was finally torn down in 1972. Certain attractions went to various locations near and far. The carousel went to Long Beach, CA but eventually came back to Yerba Buena Gardens. The notorious Laughing Sal and other fun house mechanicals have recently gone on display at a nonprofit museum, Playland-Not-at-the-Beach. Located in El Cerrito, CA, the museum is open by appointment (to allow for availability of volunteer staff). The 18 rooms are filled with the former Playland relic stashes of Richard Tuck and other collectors.
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