I’ve flown from Seattle to Los Angeles twice on Virgin America. I was lured in by their fresh marketing of amenities: soothing lighting, leather seats, electrical plugs, and back-of-seat entertainment system (with Internet promised soon). I needed to keep our son entertained and happy. Also it seemed like this airline wanted to project an image of not taking itself too seriously (best illustrated by their safety video featuring a bullfighter and tech savvy nun), which helps in these strict, security-driven air travel times. Oh, and the prices were great. I’ve been worried they would go out of business but this article on CEO David Cush’s strategies for keeping Virgin America afloat in tough times gave me some confidence they can stick it out. Helped with lower fuel costs and a cut in their new airplane orders, Cush is focusing his employees on this message: “In the end, during tough times, what matters is putting out a great product that people want to buy. As long as you are doing that, at the right price, everything is going to be OK.”

The custodial staff of the American Museum of Natural History went through four full vacuum cleaner bags to find the 1-carat diamond lost by a woman who had spent the night there as part of the “Night at the Museum” program. Lucky.

Here’s a fun item from the N.Y. Times about the printing company that won the bid for the Presidential Inauguration invitations. With a union shop and recycled paper, Precise Continental snared the order for 1 million engraved cards to the coveted event in D.C. Located in Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), a Brooklyn neighborhood, Precise Continental rush ordered ink from BuzzInk in Chicago and paper from Neenah Paper in Wisconsin. Employees are thrilled to be a part of history.

The S.F. Chronicle has a nice little music recommendation guide for people who’ve been out of touch with the current music scene, in the format of “if you liked this group from years ago, try this one now.” I’d like to think it works the other way around too, so consider it if you want to introduce something old to someone who knows the new.

He’s the best presidential pet ever, and he’s had a great long life, for a cat. At 19 years, former Clinton cat Socks is suffering from cancer and other ailments of old kitty age. Sadly he won’t be around much longer. The Curries have taken wonderful care of him since the Clintons left the White House.

Reluctantly joining in on the president-elect scrutiny, I was interested to read about Barack Obama’s watches. He wore his trusty TAG-Heuer Series 1500 pretty much daily for 10-15 years, until his Secret Service details (he had 3) presented him with a black Jorg Gray featuring the Secret Service logo. Anyone with a thousand bucks and change to toss away can buy a TAG-Heuer, but only the 5,000 or so members of the Secret Service can buy that watch. The electoral college met on Monday to formalize President-elect Obama’s win.

Copia, Napa Valley’s non-profit center for wine, food, and the arts, has filed Chapter 11 and, after being denied a line of credit, closed its doors. Copia owes $78 million in loans and has several other liabilities. Holiday events have been canceled and the interim president handed in his resignation. The list of creditors reminds me of my times back in Silicon Valley when employees of certain service companies and utilities knew exactly which startups were likely to go under, based on unpaid bills or decreased frequency of payments. PG&E;, newspaper advertising, a paint store, florists. $187,000 is owed to Copia employees.

Tovolo‘s housewares and kitchen gadgets are well-designed and often fun. Their combo measuring cups with measuring spoon handles caught my eye. They come with a little trivet to keep the cups stable since they are rounded for easier cleaning. We have three sets of measuring cups and three sets of measuring spoons — and I still keep looking at new ones! (Tovolo is based in Seattle.)

Robyn Love crocheted a giant pencil cozy for a 10,000 gallon water tank in Manhattan. It was a commission for the D&AD; Awards, took 30 miles of yarn, and was installed over four hours this past Saturday (photos).

Thanks to RadioShackCatalogs.com I found my parents’ Realistic receiver on page 24 of the 1973 Radio Shack catalog. It was $129.95 with a “$24.95 value” Walnut Wood Case, color-changing dial pointer, tape monitor switch, and four-way mode selector. 25-watts in stereo! I ended up with this receiver after they got a new one, and I used it through college and several years afterwards. The on/off + volume switch got flaky and my brother altered it to have a separate on/off toggle and volume knob. I think I still have it somewhere. (via MeFi)