Ad pages in this year’s September Vogue have dropped 36% from last year, leaving 584 total pages in comparison to 798 in 2008. This may come as no surprise given the recession though some have noticed that Elle magazine has, for the first time, surpassed Vogue in ad pages. But Vogue is basking in the current publicity around documentary “The September Issue” which was filmed while they produced the record-breaking 840 page September 2007 issue. I don’t recall anything in that issue about “smart buys” and “makeup for less.”

For a slightly different tourist jaunt through the S.F. Bay Area, how about visiting the cold war missile sites? If you think that won’t take too long, well, there are at least 24 sites related to the Nike missiles. As Jef Poskanzer describes on his comprehensive website: “Each Nike installation was split into a radar/control site, high on a hilltop for good visibility, and a launch site somewhere lower down and a mile or two away for better protection.” Tom Stienstra at the Chronicle has picked his top five Nike sites, all the better for educational hike planning.

Americans bought 31 million pounds of buffalo meat last year, twice the amount they did five years ago. We use ground buffalo for everything we used ground beef for: meatloaf, chili, burgers. When the vacuum packed 1 pound packs are on sale we stack ’em up in the freezer. The article gives tips on cooking this lean, easy to overcook, sustainably raised meat.

A link from the Tour de France last month (the best part of daytime TV while I was home sick): PezCycling News gives us a look at the crazy advertising caravan that accompanies le Tour as it travels around. A bed on wheels, gigantic animals and drink bottles on top of cars, and, of course, huge cyclists. It’s like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade + Super Bowl ads mash-up.

I listened to many wonderful hours of live, acoustic music at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, CA and am happy to see they are ready to move into their new building. It’s still on Addison Street, but much closer to public transportation and parking, across the street from the Berkeley Rep. Advance tickets for the first two shows next week are sold out, but there’s plenty more to come, plus workshops and classes. Meyer Sound Laboratories donated the sound system (you may remember them from Mythbusters’ quacking duck and other audio episodes).

Ice is no simple matter at the Olympic games. There are five ice specialists for Vancouver’s Winter Olympics in charge of five very different slick surfaces. Figure skaters and short-track speedskaters share a 1.75 inch layer of ice at 24 degrees F. Long-track speedskaters get a harder track averaging 1.13 inches at 19.4 degrees. Curling takes place on a pebbled surface over 1.75 inches of ice at 20 degrees. And in the uncontrollable outdoors, the bobsled, luge, and skeleton track is kept at an average of 1.2 inches, 24 degrees. The athletes who are the least picky about the condition of their ice? The hockey players who get 1.1 inches at 20.3 degrees F, and whose medal chances don’t depend on a hundredths of a second time difference or a missed jump.

Update from yesterday: here’s some Candy Land on Lombard Street coverage. They used interlocking rubber mats to cover the street. Plus they had Princess Lolly, Princess Frostine and King Kandy!

The Hope Diamond has been at the Smithsonian for over 50 years and Harry Winston, who donated the gem, is going to put it in a new setting to commemorate the anniversary. The diamond will be on display without a setting starting in September, then reset for display in May. It goes back to the original diamond necklace setting later in 2010.

According to several blogs, the twisty part of Lombard Street in San Francisco is being turned into a giant Candyland board game today for the board game’s 60th anniversary. I can’t find anything on the Hasbro site about this event, but maybe they’re depending on this new-fangled social networking media publicity. I’ll wait for photos.

Turns out I have mono which likes to settle in for a while and really get to know your insides. Forced rest is a strange concept, but I’m trying. Having fun, easy things to do is helpful. John Richards’ KEXP morning show ran a John Hughes tribute this morning and I grabbed the playlist and made a table for posterity (the producer’s list will be on their blog). And thank you John Hughes for the celluloid and soundtrack of my adolescence.