There’s a park at Ohio University with an art installation designed by Maya Lin to resemble a computer punch card. Lin took programming classes at the university and the work, titled “Input,” is a personal reflection of her time there. There were complaints after the unveiling in 2004 about the cost of the art and that it was a waste of green space.

Amy Winfrey’s Traffic Cone Preservation Society will always make my favorite list of websites, and it is surprising how much nostalgia is wrapped into that feeling as the web has gone so far beyond simple static expressions of random humor. Winfrey’s career has gone beyond as well, as she put her own animations on the web (muffins, a pink bunny, fiends) and worked on South Park. Her Making Fiends series has now become a television cartoon on the Nicktoons Network. It premieres on October 4th in the U.S.

Stephanie Stoughton, A.P. reporter, writes first-hand about her fear of bridges and how she has and has not coped with driving over them. She’s stared into volcanoes, looked down from mountain tops, survived a prop plane ride that took off with the door open, but a bridge crossing takes special coping strategies. Like with most phobias, the cure is to face the fear, over and over. “You want to do it to the point that you’re bored.”

A visit to a factory that makes Red Vines (y’know, the red licorice people buy in a huge tub at Costco?) is encapsulated in an article about whether Bay Area manufacturers will survive the current financial situation. Although other candy manufacturers were moving production to Mexico, the American Licorice Company instead invested in new machinery and cut their workforce from 450 to 240. While some may have criticized the layoffs, the alternative was moving the plant entirely. Plant manager John Nelson says licorice is a comfort food that will hold its own during the downtimes. Red licorice outsells black by 10 to 1. (somewhat unrelated bonus YouTube link: Aimee Mann performing “Red Vines”)

Leatherback sea turtles are enjoying a jellyfish feast off the central California coast. The endangered turtles have been spotted by researchers amongst vast swaths of jellyfish, who are in turn enjoying an abundance of krill and plankton.

This past weekend Macy’s brought the Philadephia Orchestra and the 28,482 pipe Wanamaker Organ together in the store’s Center City Philadelphia grand court to perform Joseph Jongen’s “Symphonie Concertante.” The piece, composed for that specific organ, was originally scheduled to debut in 1928 but various things got in the way of each concert (one of which was the Great Depression). The organ is played for shoppers every day, but a symphony orchestra concert is a rare event. The concert, which also included a Fanfare commissioned by Macy’s from Howard Shore (Lord of the Rings), was a benefit for the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ and a celebration for Macy’s 150th birthday. (bonus YouTube link: the Star Wars Theme on the Wanamaker Organ)

As Mets fans gear up for their goodbyes to Shea Stadium, the N.Y. Times notes that airline pilots will also miss their La Guardia Airport landmark. The stadium is a guidepost for a visual approach to the runway. The airplane noise is a notorious Shea characteristic and it seems some pilots liked hearing their own planes on the local game broadcasts when radios were still used in cockpits: “There were guys who would goose the throttles to make a louder noise so they could hear themselves on the radio.” Gee, thanks for that extra noise.

Three years ago I posted about the cats at the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum. The museum has had an ongoing battle with the U.S. Department of Agriculture since 2003 about the 50 cats on the property. The USDA took issue with the museum not having an animal exhibition license but wouldn’t issue one since they cats weren’t in an enclosure. And they threatened a hefty fine. An independent animal behaviorist (a vet from the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine) was called in to take a look at the situation. A fence has been put around the property so the cats are enclosed and the vet confirmed that they were well-cared for. The museum has reluctantly agreed to operate under an exhibitor’s license so the cats can stay, but intends to fight that necessity in court.

“Twelve little girls in two straight lines…the smallest one was Madeline.” John Bemelmans Marciano, grandson of the author-illustrator of the Madeline books, has written a new book featuring the little French girl. “Madeline and the Cats of Rome” is the first new full-length story in almost 50 years. Marciano studied his grandfather’s drawings carefully before attempting his recreations.

Studio Ghibli (Miyazaki’s animation studio) will provide the animation for a Nintendo DS game from game developer Level 5. Scheduled for release in Japan next year, the game is called Ninokuni and will have a bundled book essential to the gameplay. English-speakers will probably have to wait a while longer.