MIT is still trying to get their paw back. You know that joke about the dog with a lame leg that walks into a bar? I think Tim the Beaver can relate.
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Many SF Bay Area residents would agree that upon moving elsewhere, after getting over the shockingly lower housing costs, the main thing they would miss is the vast array of ethnic cuisines available in this global village. Sure, the weather may be right up there on the "hard to forget" list, but with three meals a day (and snacks!), the loss of food choices can easily come out on top. In many areas of the U.S. you get a choice of the typical selection of cuisines (Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean). But here you also end up with concentrated styles within the general cuisine (Szechuan, Hong Kong dim sum, Southern Indian, chaat houses, Japanese noodles, sushi of course, Korean barbecue and tofu houses). It's not something to take for granted, though many of us do.

The SF Chronicle ran a special last week on "the new ethnic landscape" of Northern California. It goes into detail on subjects such as the Asian supermarket Ranch 99 and the enclave of Indian markets and restaurants that sit half a block away from my condo (they blend in almost seamlessly with a row of Korean restaurants and markets). It says a lot when you can not only pick from multiple ethnic restaurants, but also, with little effort, buy authentic ingredients and recreate the dishes at home.
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Monday, April 29, 2002

I was trying to determine why mention of the automated dog & cat washing machine only now popped up on News of the Weird when I knew I read about it in December 2001 in Wired News. I discovered that News of the Weird lists its sources in its raw version. This information never makes it into my newspaper's edited blurbs, and I'm happy to find that it is available. The item on the pet washer lists the following: National Post, 12-27-01, Irish Examiner, 3-30-02. I believe the latter is for the second mention of a Northern Ireland inventor who was awarded a grant to study mobile dog-washing equipment. So the pet washing news is indeed from December, but is making the official Weird News rounds now (kinda like that neato web site that your co-worker always emails out months after you first see it).
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A NY Times article on the new Williams-Sonoma venture West Elm (note: link resizes window) hints at what happened to Crate & Barrel's venture into the GenX market, CB2, which I mentioned here two years ago. The original concept, perhaps lacking in sophistication, didn't take off as well as expected and was overhauled. Now CB2 may expand into other areas. We'll see if the Elm Street catalog gives it a run for its money. Their target market is similar, but Elm Street is cultivating a New York apartment lifestyle. Senior VP Lisa Versacio pushed for it to be more than a cheaper version of Pottery Barn (a Williams-Sonoma brand). While it will be more affordable than its older sister, it will be decidedly more urban and scaled for small living quarters.
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Friday, April 26, 2002

At the Milan Furniture Fair, the Swedish firm Snowcrash exhibited a portable room aptly named Cloud. It comes in a golf-bag sized case and inflates with a fan when you plug it in. The pillowy room it creates seems rather soothing.
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When wrinkle-free synthetic fabrics came on the market, the cotton growers needed an extra edge to stay competitive. Ruth Rogan Benerito came to their rescue. A pioneering woman in the field of chemistry, Benerito earned her bachelor's degree in 1935 and went on to get a doctorate. While working at the Department of Agriculture, she developed the easy-care cotton process which resulted in a wrinkle-free fabric. This was only one of her numerous inventions. She holds 55 U.S. patents and was recently awarded the Lemelson-MIT Lifetime Achievement Award for Invention.
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Thursday, April 25, 2002

A team at the Tangible Media Group of MIT's Media Lab has developed a cellular phone that transmits vibrations between callers. Made out of latex, their device has pressure sensors for your fingers to squeeze and tiny speakers to vibrate that squeeze to the person on the other end of the line. It's almost like tin can and string phones all over again. I can't imagine using it while conversing with a stranger, but it is an interesting advance in the world of electronic communications. You could probably cobble together something similar using software with the vibrating feedback gaming devices and mice that are already out there. Chatting with someone over the Internet could take on another dimension. Ouch! Stop that!
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When is a credit card like a switchblade? Take a look at the new Discover 2GO card. The patent-pending design is making its first appearance on customer keychains this month, and is sure to raise the eyebrows of the person next in line, if not the cashier. The kidney-shaped card swings out from a protective cover and is designed for those folks who would like to leave the house with just their keys and a credit card. The obvious problem, however, is that common happening: the misplacing of keys. Most people lose their keys more often then their wallet. But this card is another front-runner, like American Express' see-through card, in the trend of attracting credit card users with a style statement. Hmmm, does anyone make a credit card that you can personalize with your own artwork or photos? That would be a real winner! Maybe I should patent that idea. (Update: U.S. Patent 5,746,451 covers a "Customizable credit card overlay")
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Wednesday, April 24, 2002

The rise of insurance claims for mold damage is forcing State Farm to "temporarily", "indefinitely" stop writing California homeowner's policies on May 1st. Allstate is applying for 22% increase in rates. If you're buying a house, don't delay on getting insurance coverage.
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The Museum of Dirt is... a museum of dirt. Behold the little vials of material gathered from places such as Martha Stewart's Turkey Hill home, Watergate, B.F. Skinner's Gravesite, and other places collectors have deemed worthy of sweeping up. Maybe your driveway is next. (via Growlers)
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Tuesday, April 23, 2002

Yamaha has added a nylon string guitar to their line of "silent" instruments. It joins their Silent Violin, Cello, Bass, and Viola.
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A group of scientists has hit upon an ingenious way to get funding for their research: "they have identified the brain region that becomes active as the shopper reaches to the supermarket shelf to make their final choice." Seriously, though, these researchers from the U.K. have been using magnetic encephalography to identify the regions of the brain that are active when people make their shopping choices. These regions may be used in more important life decisions as well. But it's not surprising to me that they picked an experiment that is likely to cause some interest among industries that can generate money from their findings. Will they one day discover how to turn every shopping choice into a "no brainer" decision?
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Monday, April 22, 2002

The Covers Project uses a database of cover songs to create chains of cover songs. "A cover chain is a set of songs in which each song is a cover of a song by the band who covered the preceding song." Another fun place to plow through for favorites. (via xBlog)
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An exhibit of airline memorabilia is opening at the San Mateo County History Museum (note: that link resizes your browser window). It was the personal collection of John Hickey, whose wife donated it to the museum after his death in 1990. Swizzle sticks, posters, signs, Waterford glasses from the inaugural flight of the Concorde, and a multitude of wings, it's all there. The items recall a time when taking a plane flight was a luxurious experience for all involved. I remember seeing similar items exhibited in the mezzanine at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos.
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Friday, April 19, 2002

Can you identify books from their first lines? The children's books are especially fun. The categories definitely help a lot in narrowing things down. I don't recall the exact first lines as much as I can remember names of characters or settings. If I had to recite first lines after being given a book title, I think I could only do one, "Tale of Two Cities". And maybe certain versions of the Bible. (via Provenance Unknown)
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Things I've Learned From Bad Dreams (first in a potential series)

When the president is on every channel of the television, he will continue to appear on the screen even if you turn it off. Unplugging the TV does not help. Throwing bricks at it is not advised.

If two tigers regularly prowl about your property looking for tasty treats, you must disclose this fact if you are selling your home. However, if you are selling a condiminium, you are not legally obligated to tell potential buyers about any tigers.

Never sleep in the dishwasher.
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Thursday, April 18, 2002

The Museum of Ancient Inventions, virtually housed at Smith College, grew out of a course on the history of science. Students in the Ancient Inventions course researched and constructed all the items. Some are surprisingly sophisticated. There's a coin-operated machine that dispenses holy water, a battery, and a steam engine. (via whim & vinegar)
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Did you know that grapefruit juice is not the best way to wash down certain prescription pills? In simplified terms, grapefruit juice increases the absorption of some medicines, which is sometimes not how they are intended to work, and in rare cases can be life-threatening. These pages go into more detail about the science behind the interactions and also some deaths that have resulted from it. Although I can't verify all the information presented by that site, there is a list of references at the end.
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Wednesday, April 17, 2002

Snarkout's latest post has some interesting links for environmentally friendly homes: solar shingles, efficient windows, and bamboo flooring.
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I have not been watching baseball closely enough. I just learned about the traditional ball flip to the first baseman from this article. "In every major-league game, each time the side is retired and the first baseman trots off the field, someone in the dugout tosses him a ball. It is the infield warm-up ball." What other bits of baseball heritage have I been missing and what has been lost to the ages? On the opposite end, new baseball trends, the Oakland A's pitching coach has been working with a sports medicine surgeon to map pitching motions and analyze the movements of good pitching. They hope to reduce injuries and keep the pitching staff in good form.
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Tuesday, April 16, 2002

Violinist Joshua Bell was featured on Prairie Home Companion this past weekend. You can listen to his segments from the show in Real Audio format. Josh has been working with the MIT Media Lab's Hyperinstruments Group on their HyperViolin.
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Product placements of consumer goods in movies are commonplace. And nowadays real-life high-tech devices are advanced enough to be featured in the movies. No more mocked up wristwatch TV when you could have the real thing. So tech companies are pushing product placements like RSA's key-sized ID device. Meanwhile (further down in the article), TiVo is so hot with those in the television industry that it is popping up on all the popular shows as part of the vernacular. The company claims that it hasn't pursued product placement, but I wouldn't be surprised if TiVo units are often a part of those Hollywood party overstuffed goody baskets that I always read about. In fact, a unit was part of the the 2000 Emmys loot.
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Monday, April 15, 2002

Flor de Sal
If you've watched any of the current generation of cooking shows, you are familiar with the ubiquitous pleas from celebrity chefs to use "unsalted butter please", "kosher salt", "unbleached flour", and the everpresent "EVO" (extra virgin olive oil). You also get exposed to ritzy ingredients like Meyer Lemons, Valrhona and Callebaut chocolate, and fleur de sel. This latter ingredient, an expensive finishing touch, is harvested in Brittany. But in the March issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Corby Kummer seeks out a "wonderfully sweet and nuanced" salt, cheaper than the French stuff, harvested from salt marshes in Portugal.

Two graduate students wanted to use these salt marshes to produce algae that creates natural dyes. But they first had to restore the neglected wetlands on the property. So the salt pans were brought back to production quality and a remarkably white "flor de sal" was the result. Unfortunately, Portuguese law places their salt, high in healthy minerals not allowed in Portugal's classification of "table salt", into a category "fit only for dumping on roads." So it cannot be legally sold at prices that will recoup their costs. The government is being petitioned and the two entrepreneurs are hoping to get back to their algae project someday soon. Will we hear about this "flor de sal" in the next crop of cooking shows? Keep an eye out for it.
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Legal Double Eagle
When is a $20 gold coin worth $6 million? Apparently when it is illegal to own it, or, more exactly, was formerly illegal. Sotheby's is holding a single lot auction on July 30th, solely for the purposes of selling "the only 1933 Double Eagle now or ever authorized for private ownership by the United States Government." These 1933 coins were ordered destroyed after Franklin Roosevelt's Executive Order 6260 which prohibited banks from paying out gold, taking the U.S. off of the gold standard. However, ten of them are known to have mysteriously disappeared from the mint. Nine were discovered and destroyed. Another, perhaps this one, surfaced at auction in 1954, but the sale was halted by the U.S. government. The coin was not destroyed, however, and it is believed to be the one that surfaced again in 1996 when a respected British dealer tried to sell it to Secret Service agents posing as coin collectors. After five years of legal bickering, the U.S. is allowing this Sotheby auction, and turning this one coin into legal tender. The sale price will be increased by $20 which will go to the United States Treasury, effectively sealing the legality of this much traveled piece of gold history.
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Friday, April 12, 2002

I've had late rehearsals all week, so I'm taking a day off from the weblog. Have a pleasant weekend!
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Thursday, April 11, 2002

Volkswagen's Transparent Factory "combines the processes of classic industrial-scale automotive production with manual craft tasks." Customers can follow the assembly of their Phaeton, a top of the line sedan, through the facility which has "27,500 square metres of glazed facades in a production area covering 55,000 square meters". No, the car isn't transparent, just the factory.
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Colored plastic cell phone faceplates are a significant moneymaker for companies like Nokia. They cost almost nothing to churn out, and retail for $20 or more. And the target market is teenagers, some of who buy more than one. Wildseed is putting a new twist on the faceplate market by making them "smart". With the help of SIM (subscriber identification module) cards, their "smart skins" will have customizable features. Imagine a Coca-Cola sponsored skin with a special ring tone, marketing offers via text messaging, and custom games. Wildseed will have to get the interest of sponsors, wireless providers, and the cell-toting teens, so they may have a rough road ahead.
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Wednesday, April 10, 2002

The Mercury News ran a business article about the decline of the kimono manufacturing industry. Sales on Muromatchi Street, where the kimono dealers of Kyoto are located, are estimated to have fallen by almost $1 billion in the past five years. A mid-range kimono goes for $3,800 and involves the skilled crafts of weaving, dying, tailoring, and designing. Only those people involved in the traditional ceremonies and professions are still purchasing them. One can hope that the skills will be passed down to a few in the next generation before all the techniques are lost.
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Randy Cohen's weekly NY Times Magazine column, entitled "The Ethicist", was a puzzling amusement to me when I first noticed it reprinted in the Mercury News. It reminded me of Judith Martin's "Miss Manners" in that it imparted advice firmly rooted in common sense with the sparkle of a witty writing style. I wondered "Who is this guy? How did he get this job?" and sometimes on my grumpy days "Who the heck does he think he is anyway?" But I always find his advice sound and reasonable. I figured he was some university ethics professor. Well, as I found in a Yale Daily News article, he's not. Cohen has no formal training in ethics. He was a music composition major. And, here's what really threw me, he spent seven years writing for "Late Night with David Letterman". He wrote for "The Rosie O'Donnell Show". Basically, he's a writer. It makes sense. Many people can tell you what the right thing to do is, and they may indeed be right, but the person that is able to clearly express why it is the right thing to do will win you over. (via MediaNews)
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Tuesday, April 09, 2002

A marvelous site, Gigposters "is dedicated to the artists, designers and musicians who create amazing gig posters to advertise shows and events." It's even fun to browse through bands that you are unfamiliar with to see the various artistic styles. (via xBlog)
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When I was learning grade school math, my brother used to say "chisenbop" whenever he noticed me using my fingers to count. I never investigated what that meant besides "using your fingers to count," which was deemed a bad thing to do. (One of my friends admitted to using her tongue and teeth to keep track of her numbers in an inconspicuous manner.) Well, as we all know, if it exists, the web usually defines it, and chisenbop has been duly described and defined by Andy Harris. There are even streaming media tutorials on how to use this technique. So if I ever take up counting on my hands again, at least I'll know how to do it the proper way. (via Memepool)
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Monday, April 08, 2002

Mike Gunderloy came through, of course, on the ditto sheet and mimeograph topic. He points to the Dead Media Project wherein lies an interesting discussion on "The Difference between Mimeograph, Hectograph, and Spirit Duplication." It actually lists sources in case you want to delve further into the early magic of duplication. Meanwhile I found a page on antique copying machines, including drawings and photos, at the nifty Early Office Museum.
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The Field Museum in Chicago is running an exhibit on chocolate which opened, appropriately enough, on Valentine's Day and runs to the end of the year. They have tie-ins galore, from all angles, with the author of the novel Chocolat lecturing on both the book and movie, lectures on the role of chocolate in history and its place in the environment, and a trip devoted to learning how to make chocolate truffles. They plan to tour the exhibit to other locations, so perhaps it will arrive near you someday. And for the health conscious, remember a bar of chocolate contains more antioxidants than a glass of red wine. But go for the good dark kind which has healthier fats and more antioxidants than milk chocolate which has saturated fats.
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Friday, April 05, 2002

The U.S. Mint has announced that they are cutting back on the production of Sacagawea dollar coins. Not surprised, are you? Banks report little demand from retailers and retailers report little demand from consumers. So much for the multimillion dollar advertising campaign. But if demand does happen to pick up for some reason, no need to fret, the Mint has about 324 million Sacagawea coins in storage. In related news, the Ohio state quarter is now in circulation. Featuring an early aircraft and an astronaut, some of these coins were carried on a recent space shuttle mission. Meanwhile, I haven't gotten my hands on any Tennessee quarters yet. (dollar news via The Other Side)
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Traditional ballet pointe shoes provide foot support with cardboard, paper and/or leather saturated with glues. The care of these slippers is critical to their longevity, and many dancers can't afford a constant supply of new shoes. Dance companies that provide shoes to their members also struggle with funds, often limiting dancers to a certain number of shoes per season. But pointe shoes rarely last more than one performance. Sweat breaks down the glues and the support is lost. Gaynor Minden has brought plastics into the world of ballet. Featured on a recent Tech TV spot, their shoes use a flexible thermoplastic polymeric material (U.S. Patent 5,035,069). The plastic can be heated to help conform to the foot, and is of course longer lasting than traditional materials. But, when given the freedom of an unlimited supply of shoes, one dancer still picks cardboard and glue from Freed of London because they form to her foot better. (via Rebecca's Pocket)
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Thursday, April 04, 2002

I've seen this linked in many places, but it's amusing enough to repeat. Washington D.C.'s low-numbered license plates are special and quite elite since only the mayor and 13 council members can bestow them upon worthy car-owning residents. The lower the number, the more coveted the honored plate. I think I'd rather not have that kind of attention. There's enough politics in D.C.
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If you wanted to take a peek inside the digital pen that hit the tech news sites today, OTM Technologies has a page describing "Optical Translation Measurement" which is their core technology, considering they named the company after it. The components are a laser, detectors, and optics. I won't try to reduce the rest of the technical explanation here.
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Are chalkboards going the way of the ditto sheet (aka mimeograph)? The dusty boards in San Jose Unified are going to be replaced with whiteboards. Newer schools have them built in already. Chalk dust is wreaking havoc on computers, but students also complain of headaches from whiteboard markers. Some teachers say that the experience of chalk on a board helps kinesthetic learners better retain the knowledge. What's next? Perhaps networked computer tablets at each desk so students can write on the "board" without leaving their seats. No chalk or fumes to deal with there. (CORRECTION: Mike Gunderloy has informed me: "Ditto/spirit duplicator is not at all the same process as Mimeograph. The first uses solvents to transfer bits of ink from a master directly to the paper, the second forces ink through holes in a wax-coated stencil on to the paper." I suspect you may see some relevant links on his weblog soon.)
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Wednesday, April 03, 2002

Miso from Massachusetts? Hai! South River Miso has a little photo tour of their miso production facilities. The navigation is awkward; you have to use the dropdown menu at the top of the page. But make sure you make it to the last step of the process where, to my surprise, the beans are mashed by human feet encased in two pairs of organic cotton socks and plastic (yes, the feet are attached to humans, called treaders).
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Dunkin' Donuts is a New England phenomenon. I didn't consider how prolific this chain was until I moved away and was confronted by friends who had driven through Connecticut on vacation: "All we saw were Dunkin' Donuts everywhere!" It never crossed my mind that the "time to make the donuts" company would feel threatened by any competition. But there were people who worried about the effect of one big player: Starbucks. 40% of Dunkin' Donuts' business comes from coffee. The Boston Globe looked into it and found nothing to worry about. The two places are catering to a different clientele, at least in the Boston location they researched. Dunkin' Donuts is getting the fast food style consumers and Starbucks is serving those in need of leisure and luxury. The article also points out that Starbucks' stronger coffees may be a turn-off for New Englanders' milder tastes. Tastes can change, though. Another newcomer on the horizon is Krispy Kreme. Will they also be unattractive to customers looking for a fast breakfast? Will tradition hold fast in New England, will the newcomers win, or will everyone peacefully co-exist? A point to ponder: Dunkin' Donuts just added chai to their menu. Tastes can change. (via Obscure Store)
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Tuesday, April 02, 2002

The Museum of Modern Art is moving to Queens? It's only for three years during reconstruction of the permanent West 53rd location, but you have to wonder how many tourists with outdated guidebooks or intact memories from past visits are going to be disappointed. Shuffling off to Queens when you were expecting to spend a day in Manhattan is quite a change of pace. Yoshio Taniguchi is the architect for the rebuild which "presents an elegant interplay of stone, metal, and glass in which new spaces combine with the original architecture to form a cohesive whole." The Queens location is in an old Swingline staple factory and has ample space and its own designers to make sure it is welcoming and worthy, albeit temporary, housing for the ongoing exhibits. (NY Times article on relocation)
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If you're in need of some reading material on a weekend and are in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland, stop by The Book Thing and see what they've got. You can take it with you for free. Yup, no charge. The catch? The book is stamped "Not For Resale", so if you are intending to profit from this venture, you won't look too good. But otherwise, feel free to browse and pick what you like. As the FAQ says: Q. Is there a limit to how many books I can take? A. You can only take 150,000 per day per person. (From a NY Times article on founder Russell Wattenberg)
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Monday, April 01, 2002

Herein lies The Untold History of Flash. I had no idea that Macromedia Flash has its roots in the somewhat fertile soil of pen computing and the long gone Go operating system. Creating graphics software for a pen environment was a worthy endeavor, perhaps more so than trying to convince business people to adopt the platform for work. After the market completely dried up and AT&T pulled the plug on Go, the SmartSketch team turned the product into animation software, the Internet became an everyday thing, and now the tale is history. (thank you Kathryn!)
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I've seen plenty of "Work from home!" signs nailed to telephone poles and received my share of similar spam as well. Rob Cockerham actually went out of his way to research what exactly was behind all the signs that were littering the city of Sacramento. The short story is that they are the fruits of labor from people trying to "get rich quick" from the already saturated Herbalife market. His study details what is involved in investing yourself in the scheme, why it probably won't do you any good, and what it is that you are actually trying to sell (some formulations contain ephedrine and the newer ones probably don't help you lose weight). Rob would like the sign litter to stop and to get the word out on what is behind it. (Oh, and by the way, he would also like to know how this BART garbage can managed to travel to downtown Sacramento.) (via BrainLog)
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