The National Automatic Merchandising Association has a timeline that chronicles the history of vending machines. It begins in 215 B.C. with a device that dispensed holy water in Egypt. Then in 1076 A.D. there was a coin-operated pencil vending machine in China. But I am having trouble figuring out what they mean by "pencil". I suppose it refers to some sort of writing implement, but I assume brushes were commonly used and certainly not our modern pencil which was invented, most likely, in England. Creators of early Chinese writing made use of carving and sticks, but what was a "pencil" in 1076 A.D.? (thanks eft)
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I was fascinated by this page of moving mechanism blueprints created with Java applets. The illustrations have a lot of appeal even if you aren't into mechanics. The one everyone should recognize is the "hookless fastener" (aka the zipper). I take a lot of things for granted that have to do with amazing mechanical creations. (thanks Pavel)
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Thursday, November 29, 2001

Spreading the geeknews: Need more animals on your shelf? O'Reilly books are 43% off for a limited time at Bookpool. Even if your company pays for 'em, with this economy why not save them some moola? (via BrainLog)
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Elephants are pregnant for 21 months? Wow. The National Zoo has a new Asian elephant and he is a cutie. His father lives at a park in Calgary, Canada; Mom was artificially inseminated. His birth weight was 325 pounds, but he is expected to gain 2 pounds a day so he won't stay itsy bitsy cute for long.
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The NY Times article on the artisanal cheesemakers north of San Francisco made me want to drop everything and go make yummy cheeses for a living. But then I realized that I'd have to get up early to milk the goats and I am just not capable of becoming an early bird. But I do have an unhealthy love for cheese and a healthy curiousity about the wonders of helpful molds.
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Wednesday, November 28, 2001

Space Shuttle Endeavor's countdown to a Thursday launch is underway. "High security" is an understatement in describing the protections in place for this event. "We are going to take all measures to protect ourselves whether it be land, air or sea threats," said Major Mike Rein, a spokesman for the Air Force's 45th Space Wing.
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Over the Thanksgiving weekend, we visited The Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport, Washington. Outside the museum is the Trieste II, which has descended to 20,000 feet. Inside are interesting things like diving outfits, scary looking torpedos, remotely operated vehicles, seafloor maps, ocean ecology exhibits, and the history of the adjoining naval base. It is intimidating to comprehend the amount of warfare that has taken place on (and under) water.
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"How strange!" I thought as I searched in vain through Amazon.com's new magazine category for Cook's Illustrated. They have everything else "Illustrated". I poked around a little more, and then found that Amazon is running a special Cook's Illustrated feature. They have "how to" do things like bake a waffle, kill a lobster, make universal cookie dough. And, mystery solved, there's a link to a "free trial issue" of the magazine. The link goes offsite to a fulfillment company. I assume that Amazon had to omit Cook's Illustrated from their regular magazine database because of this cross-marketing deal. They should've put in a special case for their search engine, though.
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Thursday, November 22, 2001

I'll be taking a break for Thanksgiving. Back next week.
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While searching for what high society calls "social stationery", I stumbled upon a lovely Atlantic essay on engraved writing paper. Corby Cummer, a food and travel writer, expounds on the distinctly personal touch of acquiring and using stationery designed and engraved just for you. He returns to the Italian stationer where he ordered his block capitals in gray ink twenty years earlier. He also visits Crane's in Massachusetts where he had ordered stationery for his sister's new home. He learns that the art of hand-etching engraved dies is fading away as computers and machines have taken over to precisely duplicate the classic fonts. But the process of creating each die still involves much human intervention, with the designs carefully tweaked to perfection before they go to the machines and flaws fixed by hand afterwards. Thermography has taken the place of engraving in most cases now; it is much cheaper. But many discriminating buyers still request engraved papers. It has a definitive look and texture that can not be replaced.
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Wednesday, November 21, 2001

The American Museum of Natural History (that's the one in New York) currently has an exhibit called Pearls. The website, mostly Flash, is informative and beautifully designed.
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The Wall Street Journal reports that Jeff Hawkins, of Palm and Handspring fame, has been keeping up with his interest in neuroscience. Jeff spends one day off a week from Handspring pursuing his theory that a framework for the human brain should be modeled more on pattern recognition than input and output. His plausible theories have been tested a bit by a professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory who studied whether rats recognized patterns of music (I would've started with simple rhythms instead of melody, but I'm no expert on the auditory system). I remember being very uncomfortable with many of the common models for studying the brain; most of my weekly cognitive science "prove you did the reading" assignments resulted in naive critiques of how silly it was to compare the brain to a computer. It is perfectly fine to model a computer after a brain, but to model a brain after a computer still seems short-sighted to me, though it is a useful start for understanding what goes on up there. It surprises me that this article does not mention Jeff's work on his handwriting recognition algorithms, as that activity is pure pattern recognition. It appears that Jeff is planning to put his money where his mind is. It will be interesting to see what progress he can make partnering with academia to alter a primary paradigm of cognition.
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Tuesday, November 20, 2001

I felt the 3.3 quake on Sunday, but it didn't set off my earthquake detector (which is actually a lovely set of windchimes I have hanging indoors).
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The bridal industry has been pleasantly surprised by a rise in business during a traditionally slow season. Dress and ring sales are up. There are more bridal registries being started. It appears that the terror in the world has caused some people to assess their lives and decide that they don't want to wait.
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A father plays Diablo II with his son, has an epiphany that it is all about the shopping, and writes about it for the New York Times. "It's as if you had to slay the Macy's perfume sprayer to get to Bloomingdale's and battle three scarf buyers to move up to Dolce & Gabbana." Ahh but he doesn't mention the jewels! Rubies! Sapphires! Diamonds! Emeralds! Or the jewelry! Rings and amulets! Darn NY Times. Send a man to write about a battle game and all he talks about are the armor and weapons. Feh. :-) (via eatonweb who points out that at level 26, this dad was a mere babe in the Diablo high fashion universe)
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Monday, November 19, 2001

This weblog is now two years old. In Internet years, that is positively ancient.
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If you find yourself fascinated by "road cuts", those paths that have been cut through rock so you can drive more quickly from point A to point B (and sometimes bordered by "Danger: Falling Rocks" signs), you may want to see if any of your travel areas are covered in the Roadside Geology series. With the help of these books and a few geologists, a New York Times writer attempted to identify the rocks he saw as he drove around the New York area. The books, while not written for geologists, do use terms that you may have to pick up from the glossary, but acquiring new vocabulary is one of the joys of learning more about your environment. And it's also a history lesson in the forces that formed the terrain you probably take for granted.
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The Chinese American National Museum and Learning Center had its grand opening this past weekend. Located in the San Francisco Chinatown's YWCA building designed by architect Julia Morgan, the museum will exhibit selections from its 50,000 item collection of art, photos, artifacts, and historical documents related to the history of Chinese in America. The center will provide educational events, particularly for K-12 students.
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Friday, November 16, 2001

Julia Child's Cambridge, MA house (103 Irving Street) was donated to Smith College, her alma mater, and most of her kitchen went to the Smithsonian, but her copper pots & pans, along with their pegboard, went to the restaurant at Copia. Called "The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts", Copia opens this weekend. Julia has moved to a retirement community in Montecito, CA. She's only taking a few cherished items from her Cambridge kitchen (sterling sugar bowl, wooden peppermill, marble egg cup for storing coarse salt), but she has her California kitchen already furnished with her basic necessities like good knives. She claims that she never grew to be a New Englander like her husband was, and is happy to be returning to her home state. I think I know how she feels, but my locales would be reversed. (facts for this entry were gathered from various newspaper articles cached on Google)
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While IKEA continues to make little headway in East Palo Alto, other Bay Area cities have expressed interest in rolling out the red carpet (blue and yellow carpet?). If East Palo Alto does not come to a decision before the end of the year, IKEA can begin courting other locations. Newark, Milpitas, San Jose, and even Rocklin (a Sacramento suburb) have already contacted IKEA's real estate consultant. IKEA says they are committed to sticking with East Palo Alto and the city council is considering putting the matter on a March ballot. But March is a few months into 2002 and other cities could easily cut through any red tape to get IKEA's tax revenues.
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Thursday, November 15, 2001

Alton Brown, creator and star of Good Eats, has launched his own website. It is practically dripping with his charming personality. (thanks TV Picks!)
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Sony Music has entered the U.S. cell phone ring tone business. You can order with a 900 number or use a credit card with a toll-free voice recognition system. There's 80's music, classical tunes, and even a Thanksgiving category.
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Much to my dismay, Caltrain will be ceasing weekend service for two years (two years!) in April. During that time they will be adding high speed rail lines. Two years is long enough for people to get out of the habit of using Caltrain to get into San Francisco for weekend. And it is a real loss for baseball fans who had a convenient way to get up to Giants games. Will the new express trains be worth the two year annoyance? For me, it depends on where they are going to actually stop.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2001

RIP two people with true style and class: Percy Ross, who gave away much of his millions, and Carrie Donovan, fashion editor and, more recently, hawker of Old Navy goods.
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NY Times food writer, Marian Burros, asked First Lady Laura Bush to divulge what will be on the Bush's Thanksgiving table this year. It is a traditional meal with Texas touches, corn bread dressing and maple-butter glaze on the turkey. Roland Mesnier, White House Pastry Chef for over 20 years, is providing pumpkin ginger pie. (One more week 'til the Presidential Turkey Pardon!)
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Even more obscure serving utensils can be found within the pages of these historical catalogues. It seems that for every food item, there was a utensil designed to facilitate it being transported from one place to another. Sardine tongs & forks, trout forks & knives, butter picks (for those little pats), tea caddy spoons (oh my), sandwich tongs, tomato server, pickle fork, chocolate muddler (?!), chips server, relish fork, lemon fork. All this reminds me, no one got us the Chinese Takeout Holder. Good. Let's keep it that way.
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Tuesday, November 13, 2001

Leonid meteor shower estimator. Peek at the peak this weekend.
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I suppose I should not be surprised that someone has done such a thing, but a musical about Princess Diana has opened in southern Germany. Many of the 40 actors are British, but the show is in German, so 6 months of intensive language training preceded their opening this past weekend. Camilla is represented, but Charles is only heard from through Diana's secretary. An English version of the show is scheduled to open next year in other European countries, but London will have to wait longer, "out of respect."
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That stupefyingly disrepectful British series, Absolutely Fabulous, is back on Comedy Central with new episodes and repeats of old ones. I can really use the laughs.
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Monday, November 12, 2001

Iridium, recently saved from certain death by new investors and a large contract with the U.S. Department of Defense, is honing its marketing efforts. Airlines are looking at Qualcomm and Iridium for satellite network systems that can offer tamperproof monitoring of what is happening inside aircraft. Iridium is also concentrating on specific industries such as oil, gas, and maritime. A couple weeks ago, I saw my first Iridium flare. It was much brighter than I expected, but not particularly awe-inspiring.
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A SF Chronicle writer takes a critical look at the Sony Metreon. As an "urban entertainment center", it has failed to meld and blend with the active city life that surrounds it. The architects provided a view of the neighboring park; Sony blocked their views with movie posters and a Starbucks. For most city dwellers it has become more of a one-time curiousity which soon fades into the background as a glorified movie theatre and food court.
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Friday, November 09, 2001

The New York Times has licensed 14 Norman Rockwell paintings to use for ads. Norman Rockwell made good money creating illustrations for companies such as Coca-Cola and Kellogg's, so using his work in advertising is nothing new. But the Times is also altering the paintings so they fit in with current themes: a U.S. flag for a bunch of flowers, a map of Afghanistan for a blackboard, a Manhattan skyline for a sailboat. Rockwell's sons approve of the changes and felt they were consistent with what their father would have done. They knew him better than I do, of course. But I feel that it is somehow wrong for the images to be changed after his death. I would not mind as much if he had made the changes himself. One of the joys of Rockwell's paintings is noticing the details he added. Changing a work of art after the artist is gone feels very wrong to me, especially when the purpose is to sell a product. However, I will agree that the changes are in keeping with the spirit of what Rockwell always tried to do with his patriotic illustrations of American life. (via Media News)
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Thursday, November 08, 2001

At every college campus I visit, there's a Kresge [something]. Kresge Auditorium, Kresge Theatre, Kresge Museum, Kresge Library... I can not even begin to find and link all the examples. But here, once and for all, I am going to figure out who this Kresge person is, because I have often discussed it with friends and yet we've never bothered to look it up. Ready to be enlightened? Here we go.

Sebastian S. Kresge began a business, the S.S. Kresge Company, in 1899 with $8,000 and two five and dime stores. They flourished and the company expanded, opening more and more stores. In 1924, on the 25th anniversary of company, Sebastian Kresge established The Kresge Foundation with $1.3 million. Their charter was "to promote the well-being of mankind." They began by giving grants to colleges in the northeast, where the stores had first become popular. Sebastian died in 1966 (aged 99), having personally contributed over $60 million to the foundation. They have now given out $1.459 billion in grants.

You probably know the S.S. Kresge Company by its current name: the Kmart Corporation. The Kresge Foundation is no longer affiliated with it, remaining private and independent. Thank you Mr. Kresge!
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Continuing our semi-regular topic of "if it exists, someone collects it", here are sites for the International Business Card Collectors, American Business Card Club, and Bluewater Business Card Club. Learn how to store your cards properly (no PVC please), click through some impressive photo galleries (including 3-D popup cards), and then take a look at historic Victorian tradecards. I don't exactly collect business cards, but I can't remember having thrown any out. (IBCC via memepool)
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Wednesday, November 07, 2001

If you happen to be like me and wondered what happened to the band Jesus Jones (of "Right Here, Right Now" fame), you can rejoice for they have a new album out. Called "London", it is available in the U.S. and I've found it online at Amazon and Tower. There's even a used copy at Amazon, which I suppose may not bode well, but the reviews there are positive.
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The San Jose Merc delved a little bit more into the reasons locals have for barring IKEA from East Palo Alto. I admit I was selfishly expecting no resistance to having a more conveniently located source of cheap furniture and household items. But reading the residents' comments made me realize what it would be like to have a monstrous blue and yellow building with a never-ending train of cars in my neighborhood. On the other hand, if any community could use the tax revenue boost and 500 new jobs, it's East PA. The city council will revisit the issue on November 13. I don't need to visit IKEA much, so I can be content with the trek up to Emeryville. After all, a couple years ago, we only had delusions of renting a U-Haul and taking it down to Southern California.
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Tuesday, November 06, 2001

Items that no fine household should be without: cake breaker, salad crescent, asparagus tongs, asparagus server, marrow spoon, caviar spoon, strawberry fork, cranberry and tomato server, ice cream fork, grape scissors. What, you don't have any of those either?
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Wired has a round-up of the latest forays into designing an electronic pen. The newer devices use various technologies to translate movements into digital ink. One uses infrared and ultrasonic signals, another a tiny digital camera on proprietary paper with teeny tiny dots, and here's the coolest sounding one which employs a laser: "The sensor in the VPen measures motion in three dimensions using a technique based on the Doppler effect, the phenomenon created by the shift in the wavelength of light from a moving object. The VPen can write on any surface that reflects light, from paper or cloth to computer screens or even skin."
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Monday, November 05, 2001

The memories of Crystal Pepsi come floating back when I read about Ocean Spray's new White Cranberry Juice Drink. The TV commercial shows a small boy spilling juice all over his white shirt. Maybe Pepsi should've thought of that approach.
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That Harry Potter movie doesn't open until November 16, but tickets are already selling briskly at online sites such as Fandago and MovieFone. And in my daily "duh" moment, I realized that since the book has a different title in the U.S. than the U.K. the movie does too. I hope that's the only difference between the two versions (apparently dialogue that mentions the stone was shot twice).
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I first saw Sara Little Turnbull years ago on The Frugal Gourmet when this remarkable woman made a guest appearance and Jeff Smith lauded her amazing contributions to much of the very fabric of American life. As a longtime designer and consultant to the top creators and marketers of products that alter the way we live (Proctor & Gamble, 3M, Corning, Revlon) Turnbull is very likely the least known woman behind the best known ideas in household products. On Frugal Gourmet, Smith mentioned that he had once visited her at work where she was busily taking containers in and out of a strange device. He later realized she had been researching the use of the microwave oven. Turnbull created Corning Ware in the 1950s, guided women through the major cultural changes of the war and post-war era as an editor at House Beautiful, and contributed untold scads of product guidance to top companies. Sitting at the intersection of truly creative design, cultural anthropology, and commerce, she now heads The Process of Change Laboratory at Stanford and influences the next generation to design products for the way people live, not to expect people to conform to products. By teaching them to find the root cause of problems that the products need to solve, she is probably making her most important contribution to the world: more designers who will create items of true value and usefulness to our culture.
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Friday, November 02, 2001

There are TV show fans and music fans and fans of fans (and other collectibles). And there are web sites for each of them, which provide educational value for people who don't know much about the subject that is worthy of fandom. For example, there's the fan page for intermodal shipping containers. Who knew that there was so much variety to catalog amongst shipping containers? There are all the different styles, materials, and, of course, paint jobs. Whew. (via Lake Effect)
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Customizable cell phone ring tones, a fact of life in other countries, are starting to make a big showing in the United States. Consequently, the music licensing battle here is revving up. ASCAP is starting to crack down on ring tone sellers who are using tunes without permission. Some U.S. ring tone sellers are working out licensing agreements. EMI has already sued and settled with one company. The catch in the U.S. is that "performance rights" must also be paid for, in addition to the right to reproduce a song in a ring tone, and no decision has ever been made on whether a cell phone ring counts as a performance. Now, I wonder, what happens if a cell phone ring is used within a movie or theatre performance?
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Thursday, November 01, 2001

Always scan your master software disks for viruses before duplication and shipping. Otherwise, the PowerPuff Girls will come to your office and make you very sorry that you didn't.
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High security surrounds the next shuttle flight, scheduled for November 29th. Two F-15s accompanied Endeavor's move to the launch pad, and viewing of the launch from within Kennedy Space Center has been tightly restricted. The shuttle will carry the badges of all 23 New York City police officers killed on Sept. 11 and 6,000 small U.S. flags that will be distributed to the families of those killed.
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I once worked with someone who would dress up the concrete goose ornament she had on her front porch. It had a little yellow slicker and hat for rainy days, Halloween stuff in October, Santa clothes for Christmas. You get the picture. I thought she was unique, but it turns out that the Yahoo category for lawn geese is entirely filled with sites that sell clothing for lawn geese. As one item says "everyday, holiday, and special occasion outfits for the fashionable goose." A-yup.
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