Serious sports fans with money to burn can buy authentic championship rings and trophies from ChampionshipRings.net. Players and staff who’d rather have the money can sell, on consignment or outright. (Dug out of the “How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke” article in this MeFi thread)

There’s a wonderful story of dedication in The N.Y. Times’ “Scientist at Work” profile on Dr. John Grunsfeld. He’s an astronaut and has held the post of NASA Chief Scientist, but his primary career mission and passion at NASA has been as the unofficial (or maybe it is actually official!) repairman for the Hubble telescope. He’s logged 37 hours and 32 minutes of spacewalks, most of those replacing Hubble parts, many of which weren’t designed to be repaired in space. He also suffered through the abandonment of the Hubble program, a decision that almost led him to resign. But now there’s one last Hubble mission scheduled for May and Dr. Grunsfeld will pay a housecall to the telescope for the final time, allowing it to function for hopefully another 5 years. He describes his repair EVAs as Zen in space:“Once in a while the universe lets you be free alone and in peace.”

I still love paging through physical magazines and reading the comics (plus most of my local news) in newsprint. But I know it can’t compare to experiences like the interesting path I just traveled: 1) visiting Alex Ross’ classical music blog and 2) watching a video of Marion Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial 3) reading Ross’ New Yorker article on Anderson and the 70th anniversary of that defiant concert 4) searching for the Sticks & Drones blog cited in the article and 5) reading the post by conductor William Eddins about why the African-American community is largely absent from classical music. After which I remembered that this morning I had noticed and wanted to read later 6) an article in the N.Y. Times about Julliard cutting back on a music outreach program for minority schoolchildren who can’t afford those fancy music lessons. I just can’t access so much so swiftly on regular paper.

A long time ago at my first Silicon Valley job, I noticed a teeny tiny Soma cube on a co-worker’s desk. He had constructed it out of business cards. Having noticed my appreciation for this little crafty inspiration, he gifted it to me when he left the company. Since that time I’ve accumulated 8 boxes of business cards. I keep them thinking I’ll turn them into a craft project one day. In the meantime they’re slowly becoming notecards and bookmarks as I haven’t had a fantastic idea. There’s plenty of business card origami plans on the web (I’m not going to make an exhaustive list here). Ned Batchelder posted cube instructions, which can be the building blocks for larger projects. Here’s a flickr set of business card origami (no instructions) which includes a Soma cube. And there’s Core 77’s Business Card Hacks design challenge which triggered my remembrances for this post.

It’s been 15 years since Kurt Cobain died. “He was more than a rock star. He was Seattle’s rock star.” 15 years ago I got seriously mad at an opinion piece by a writer (I can’t find a free link to it) who had no idea who Cobain was, thought he was just another fast-living rock star and believed all the kids in mourning were worshipping the druggie lifestyle. I wrote a letter to the editor begging to differ which the San Jose Merc published. And today with the magic of the Internet I can find letters written by other people who felt the same way.

I’ve played a lot of chamber music in my lifetime, but I have to admit I usually don’t go out of my way to attend performances. Like the masses, I get attracted to the the large scale, full emotional experiences and forget to seek out the beauty in the simpler quartets, trios, quintets. Seattle’s Simple Measures chamber music group is on a mission to reacquaint and introduce people to this classical repertory with interactive performances in informal settings. They play in coffee shops, community centers, and in street cars. The audience, sitting up close and clustered around the musicians, can ask questions and give feedback. It’s the brainchild of cellist Rajan Krishnaswami who is, in essence, bringing chamber music back into the intimate settings it was created for.

Seattle Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu is the first Asian-American to manage a major league baseball team. His paternal grandparents, residents of Hood River, Oregon suffered through internment along with 100,000 other Japanese Americans during World War II. They never discussed that time with Wakamatsu until he pressed his grandmother, now 91, about it two years ago. Don’s father was born in the Tule Lake internment camp in California and it was his father’s receipt of a reparations check that clued Don in to the unspoken family history. Two of the walls in his grandparents’ house are built with lumber from their internment camp’s barracks. Wakamatsu’s parents (his mother is of Irish descent) plan to escort the senior Wakamatsu couple to see their grandson’s first home game at Safeco field on April 14th.

Doug Woods, a very clever paramedic in Missouri, has put together CPR training with the concept of Guitar Hero. This mash-up (yes, that was meant to be funny) allows CPR students to see in real-time on a computer screen the effectiveness of their compressions on the mannequin. The depth and frequency of the compressions are measured and colored bars appear on the screen to give instant feedback for adjustments. Woods hopes that the interactive mannequin system, paired with an online presentation and test that he developed will allow for shorter, cheaper CPR training, leading to more people being certified.

Fans of the Pet Shop Boys’ may enjoy their 10-minute medley at the Brit Awards. Costumes (hats and sunglasses of course), many dancers, and big video of their heads. And if you’ve got 4 more minutes to kill, there’s also footage of their rehearsal where you can see the barebones of the set and background video projection.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (a Wellesley alum just like our current Secretary of State) is putting 200 of her (in)famous brooches on display. The Museum of Arts & Design in New York will open “Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection” in September. Albright carefully selected the pins she wore to suit the diplomatic occasion, and she wasn’t afraid to let them express her strong opinions. The Iraqi press called her a serpent in 1994 and when she met the Iraqi Foreign Minister soon after, she wore a snake pin. Albright has written a book to go along with the exhibit and is looking forward to the opportunity to buy more pins while her collection is out on exhibit.