It's easy these days to quickly feed your family with prepackaged, individually portioned meals. But what about Fido and Fluffy? Well, now there's TravelMeals, "a Disposable Feeding System for Your Pets on the Run". Contents: 8 oz of Iams kibble, two biscuits, a pouch of purified water (what? not Pawier?), and a scoop bag or disposable litter box with litter. The travel container becomes two plastic feeding bowls. What's next? Restaurants and fast-food/drink for your pets. Remember, you heard it here first. A Starbarks on every corner.
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San Francisco's Asian Art Museum recently opened in its new location with much local fanfare. The museum owes its genesis to Chicago millionaire Avery Brundage who donated part of his extensive Asian art collection to San Francisco in the early 1960s. Meeting Brundage's challenge to build a museum to house his donation, the city's voters passed a $2,725,000 bond issue. The first incarnation of the museum opened in 1966. Brundage continued to donate his art and spurred the city to continue providing funds to grow the collection and pay for administration. He died in 1975, leaving the remainder of his collection to the city; his acquisitions comprise half of the museum's 14,000 objects. A 1994 bond measure provided funds to renovate San Francisco's former city library into a new museum building, and Chong-Moon Lee's $15 million contribution kicked off the fundraising drive.

Galas feted top contributers prior to the March 20, 2003 opening. The architecture, by Gae Aulenti, who transformed a train station into Paris' Musee d'Orsay, has been praised, especially for the retention of the library's significant grand staircase and the use of light. Aulenti herself sounds pleased, although certain practical details frustrated her. An L.A. Times critic, however, feels the results lack imagination and that Aulenti did not bring out any tension between the old and the new. But although the building's architecture was a key component of the renovation, display of art was the main goal, and everyone agrees on that success. The museum held a peaceful opening amongst the war protests outside.
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Friday, March 28, 2003

The website for the U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum is chock full of information on the logistics of feeding, clothing, and equipping the Army. As you can imagine, logistics management is key to successful military campaigns and Quartermaster training creates "logistics warriors." Entire companies are focused specifically on areas such as supplying fuel and water, both vital to success in Iraq's harsh environment. The Subsistence and Army Cooks portion of the museum site contains information on the development of rations and the procurement of fresh food from the American Revolution up to current times. (via kiplog)
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I loved this NY Times headline "Sears Reinvents Itself, but What Exactly Is It?" Sears, Roebuck has decided to sell its credit card business, a mainstay of its business since the Depression era. In addition to having the Sears private-label cards, which they may decide to retain, Sears is the third-largest issuer of MasterCards. The business was generating 60 percent of Sears' earnings, however there have been a few wrinkles recently and they want to put a focus back on retail. The profits from a sale of the credit assets could prove useful in repositioning and renovations. But Sears' retail is a dichotomy of new higher end Land's End clothing, affordable clothing, their respected tools and hardware, and appliances. They abandoned their catalog, an American institution, in 1993. There isn't much to bring in shoppers unaccustomed to going to Sears to buy Craftsman tools and vacuum cleaners.
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Thursday, March 27, 2003

An article on Musical Injuries from the Washington Post as archived by andante.com. Hours of practice plus muscle-tightening performance anxieties often result in repetitive strain injuries. I have often been advised by co-workers to switch my mouse (trackball actually) use to my left hand to avoid RSI since I am right-handed. But I won't take the chance of losing any violin fingering capabilities.
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Becoming American: The Chinese Experience is a Bill Moyers special for PBS airing this week. Within its website are full transcripts of his interviews with five prominent Chinese Americans. Among them is a fascinating interview with Maya Lin, best known as the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a competition she won as a senior at Yale. The conversation touches on much more than her Asian American experience. Lin reveals that her design process begins with writing. In creating text she "sketches" what she wants to accomplish with the piece. "If you have the pre-conceived idea of what you think it looks like before you really shape it verbally, then you're trying to stuff function into a pre-existing form." Moyers asks her about the creation of the Civil Rights Memorial and the wonderful Women's Table at Yale. And of course Moyers goes in depth on her experience with the racism and resistance she encountered as the Asian designer of a monument for an Asian war. With culturally typical restraint she reigned in her emotions throughout the controversy, so as to not worry her parents.
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Wednesday, March 26, 2003

You know what they say: "all the good names were taken." The statement comes alive at this site that quantifies the lousy logos of minor league hockey teams. It's a recent work in progress, so there may be more entries to come. After the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies and the Bossier/Shreveport Mudbugs, you have to enjoy the simplicity of the Indianapolis Ice. (tipped to me by snarkout)

In other hockey linkage, Willie O'Ree, the NHL's first black player was honored in Boston yesterday with the Lester Patrick Award for a lifetime of service to hockey.
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"This person is mad" was the surprised thought Margaret Atwood had when a Danish composer contacted her about turning The Handmaid's Tale into a opera. So begins her Guardian essay that touches equally on the history that inspired her, the genesis of the novel, the opening of the opera, and the relevance it all has to current events. Towards the end she writes: "In The Handmaid's Tale, the eye from the American dollar bill is used as a logo by the Gilead secret police, who control people through credit card information. It's the same eye just adopted by the Homeland Security folks, who can now - yes - control people through credit card information." (via calamondin)
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Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Take a journey through TV history with the TV Ticket Gallery. There's even a TWA plane ticket from the 4th anniversary episode of Late Night With David Letterman which was taped on a 747 headed to Miami. (via scrubbles)
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Book Magazine lists America's Biggest Readers who devour 2-20 books a week. I remember whipping through six children's books a week when I was a kid, but now I am lucky if I get to one a week (children's or not). With the Internet around I'm probably reading more words, but not on paper pages. (via Caterina)
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For those of you who despaired over not getting your own Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Games joystick for Christmas, ThinkGeek appears to have them in stock. These were last spotted on Avon.com (no kidding) by Dori right before Christmas, which is when I got a couple for gifts, along with a free bag of makeup samples (no, that's not why I ordered it).
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Monday, March 24, 2003

Lest I start taking it for granted, I get constant reminders that the Internet is great. At 11:30pm on Thursday, Ned posted that he had hunched and gathered a Game Boy Advance SP, in advance of its release date, at Toys R Us. Within minutes of reading his post, I found out the store location from him and looked up their hours. 9:30am on Friday I was at the door of the store. Twenty-four hours after I read the post, my husband had his birthday present in hand. He was supposed to have a review up that I could link to, but I think he was too busy making sure he was, um, gathering quality information for a fully researched review.
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The Boston Globe Magazine's special food edition has an in-depth look at Whole Foods Market. I get to Whole Foods a couple times a month to stock up on my favorite Stonyfield yogurt. We usually enter on the left side of the store, always a terrible mistake as that takes us straight into the bakery section with its chocolate-mint cookies and cute little pies. Who knew tiny little apple pies could be so adorable? It's not as if they have chubby little arms and cheeks like babies, but they may as well have for the time I spend squealing over them. Then comes the ample selection of cheeses, often with bowls of free samples. The friendly butchers happily remove the skin off their free range, meaty chickens for me. I have yet to make it through a quarter of the bulk food bins. And the produce is stacked like the clothes at The Gap. You pay for all this quality. But many keep coming back. As the articles says: "Whole Foods is pushing harder to transform what for most of us is an annoying chore into 'a pleasurable experience.'" It's far from a hippie co-op. Last March the company instituted a new dress code that discourage certain facial piercings, extreme hair color, political messages. It's not a health food store anymore but an upscale yuppie market.
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Friday, March 21, 2003

Remember back in the early days of the web when the New York Times actually listed relevant links at the bottom of their news articles? I'm not making this up, am I? They used to have links, right? Well, I really missed them after reading Dot-Com Saviors, Tilting at the World's Ills, which was, strangely, stuffed into the Fashion & Style section. The article discusses good causes that survivors of the dot com bust have taken on. I had to find the links myself so here they are:

The Sapling Foundation which bought the rights to the TED Conference where most of these items where demonstrated.

Dean Kamen and his portable water purifier, which has a Stirling engine. He's looking to distribute it in Africa.

Energy Innovations from Bill Gross's Idealab, which is making solar collectors.

The Acumen Fund: "pioneering new ways to invest charitable contributions in innovations that promise breakthrough products and services to improve the lives of the poor internationally."

ApproTEC: Appropriate Technology is a non-profit organization that develops and markets new technologies in Africa. Their "MoneyMaker" pumps are allowing small-scale farms in Africa to succeed with micro-irrigation.

Room to Read provides books, libraries and schools to poor Asian countries. They've built 33 schools and 400 school libraries, and provided 200,000 books and 122 scholarships.
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Thursday, March 20, 2003

The redesign of the $20 bill was supposed to be unveiled to the public this month, but we won't be seeing it until May. The new bill will actually make use of colored inks, something the U.S. has been reluctant to adopt despite the prevalent use of colorful bills in other countries. However, the color additions will likely be minimal, keeping us in the green. It would be neat in the future to have to explain to our grandkids why people use the term "greenbacks" to refer to cash though. Of course, by then there may not be any cash to speak off.
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Venture capitalist and violinist Kathryn Gould has been through the ups and downs of Silicon Valley. She understands what makes the real Silicon Valley tick and she's profited well from it (she has the jewels to prove it). Now she's putting her money where her ears are as a patron of the arts. Her Magnum Opus Project is commissioning nine new orchestral works and six new compositions. The orchestral pieces will be performed by three Bay Area orchestras over a few years, allowing audiences to hear the evolution of the work as the composers make adjustments. Negotiations are underway with chamber groups and solo artists to premiere the other compositions. At a time when support for classical music is dwindling, especially in the Bay Area, Gould is demonstrating her belief in a form that many consider outmoded.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Is it April Fool's Day yet? This has got to be a joke: Send Back Liberty.
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I did not know Amanda Davis, nor had I been aware of her writing, but I took note of her obituary because her poignant death resonated with me on many points. She lived across the bay in Oakland, teaching at Mills College, sister school to my alma mater. We were the same age and shared a love of weaving written words into stories and slices of life. After reading the eloquent remembrances of her on McSweeney's, many from well-known writers, I feel that I almost know her, and sadly, wish that I could have known her.
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It's virtual Broadway in Thousand Oaks, California as The NY Times delves into the use of supplemental electronic music in touring productions. In this somewhat scaled down production of Miss Saigon, the actors are non-Equity and live musicans number twelve (including the operator of the Sinfonia system). Equity touring productions typically make the rounds first, with a larger budget, but there is a market for the leaner productions in smaller locales where local theaters are more willing to guarantee the necessary minimums to the producers. The Sinfonia operator points out that it is unlikely producers would hire more musicians to fill out the sound if the virtual system were unavailable. In other words, he doesn't feel he is taking away jobs. But as technology improves, better traveling Broadway will be possible with fewer salaries, and the bean counters, the local theaters, and most audience members are not going to complain.
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Tuesday, March 18, 2003

The NY Times takes a look at the struggle between the caretakers of feral cat colonies and those who want to keep the cat population indoors. Birds and other wildlife are threatened by outdoor cats, and growing feral cat populations. Although the typical purpose of feeding feral colonies is to keep the population in check, the reality is sometimes different. People keep abandoning their pets to the wild, which is something I can not fathom myself.
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Oscar Goody Bag
I've culled together all the news reports and press releases I could find on the contents of this weekend's Oscar gift bags for presenters and nominees. The offerings are generous and tallied by news sources at a value of $20,000 or more (items included vary from presenters to nominees, type of nominee, and gender). The Oscar folks don't release a list (or haven't yet) which seems odd considering the idea is to garner publicity, but most companies heavily publicize their inclusion. This list is not meant to be complete, but it is as accurate as the news reports can be. I gathered the links from Google searches.
It all comes in a Longaberger wicker basket with a specially made gold plaque.
Estee Lauder Oscar Spa package which includes (total value $15,000):
-custom-made Goyard travel case
-Manolo Blahnik sandals ($600)
-Hermes beach towel ($400)
-La Grande Dame Veuve Clicquot champagne, gift ($250) -certificate for spa services
-Estee Lauder cosmetics
Victoria's Secret gem-studded bra and panty set customized with initials and good-luck charm bracelets $5,000
Bi-coastal membership to The Sports Club/LA, $4,000
Valerie Beverly Hills silver vanity makeup kit, $3,000
Dinner party for 10 in the Private Boardroom of any of the 65 Morton's steakhouses and a set of six steak knives, $1,500
Rosewood's Badrutt's Palace Hotel gift certificate, $1,500
Revlon cosmetics, $1,000
Fendi stainless steel wristwatch, $995
Timmy Woods of Beverly Hills handbag, $300-$1,500
Stuart Weitzman shoes, $500 (presented separately)
A pair of Beamer BM80 Phone Video Stations, $499
Gaiam's "Organic Night's Sleep," including organic sateen sheets, natural cotton sleep mask, two sleep CDs, blanket and Zen digital alarm clock, $475
Nicole Miller cashmere halter top, $350
Givere chocolate truffles presented in a limited Waterford crystal vase, $350
Sesna sunglasses by KATA Eyewear, $350
Oliveri Fashion custom shirt, $100-$300
Sama sunglasses designed for the Oscars, for women only. $300
Motorola camera phone and free service for six months, $200
Sprint camera phone with Fendi case.
Tempur-Pedic mattress, any size. Value up to $1,700
La-Z-Boy recliners, choice of four. $539 to $1,199
Three-night stay at Esperanza, a luxury resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. $3,000
Allsteel #19 office chair. $1,195 to $1,495 (Lou Horvitz will direct the Oscars from one made especially for him.)
Hewlett-Packard Photosmart 715 camera. $499.99
Stainless steel Ebel watch. $1,600 for the women with a mother-of-pearl dial, $1,450 for the men with a white roman dial
Flying Fig scarf. $300 to $1,100
90-minute Godiva chocolate body wrap at Ajune, a New York spa. $175
1 lb. Godiva Gold Ballotin, $38
Lancôme gift certificates. $200
Sonya Dakar Skin Clinic gift certificate, $500, and drying potion, $28
Complimentary teeth whitening at Brite Smile. $600
Sebastian International Shaper hair products, $50
Enjoy perfume by Jean Patou, $85
Själ's holistic skin-care products, $230
Dream Couture shampoo and conditioner, which contain extracts from chardonnay champagne grapes and Perigord black truffles (from Charles Worthington), $1,500?
Cargo cosmetics, $600
Custom facial at Kinara Spa in West Hollywood, $120
Giorgio Armani Cosmetics (part of L'Oreal USA): Giorgio Armani Cosmetics Fluid Sheer, Sheer Blush, Lipstick, Eyeshadow, Smooth Silk Eye Pencil, Mascara and Nail Polish in a signature Giorgio Armani Cosmetics makeup bag, $250
Birkenstock gift certificate. $300
Eddie Bauer Limited Edition Skyliner Replica Jacket
Dooney & Bourke mini-tassel handbag in pastel-colored leather
accent table from Thomasville's Bogart Collection, inspired by Humphrey Bogart
Omas 360 Rolling Ball blue resin pen, $250
Kiehl's Academy Collection of skin-care products, $200
World According to Jess handbag, $190
Amy Reiley's Pocket Vineyard and Pocket Gourmet, software for Palm Pilot and pocket PCs, $50
Cross Ion roller ball pens, $35
Danier Leather turquoise leather bistro flask with two shot glasses, $28
Two-night stay at a Fairmont Hotel & Resort with spa treatments and a home spa basket, $1,500
Delphi XM SKYFi portable satellite radio, $229, and one-year subscription to XM Satellite Radio's 100 channels, $120
Gift certificate for SkyMeals, which delivers home-cooked meals to airline travelers, $150
Swoon candle and custom matchbox, $34
Jenni Originals VegeSoy candle, handmade from an exclusive blend of soybean and vegetable waxes. $12.95
Jay Strongwater jewel-encrusted mirror compact (Bloomsbury), hand-enameled and adorned with Swarovski crystals, $275-$325
Invitation for two to international gala premiere of Zumanity, a Cirque du Soleil show at New York-New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Sept. 20 and a two-night stay at the hotel, priceless (no tickets are being sold to this event)
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Monday, March 17, 2003

One-of-a-kind, oil-paint on canvas movie posters from Ghana. Which reminds me, I never did buy a "Room With A View" poster in Italian like I had intended to in college. But at least the book is online. (via memepool)
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Samsung's Matrix phone was shown at CeBIT and there's a closeup shot of it available on Gizmodo. There has been some news coverage regarding Samsung's licensing deal, which they hope will help in their goal to increase cellular phone sales by 20% this year.
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The branding of unique diamond cuts for market differentiation continues as the diamond industry evolves to combat bad publicity from conflict diamonds and accomodate new mine sources. Last week the 13.42 carat "American Star" diamond stopped over in a Orinda, California jewelry store on its tour to drum up publicity for the EightStar Diamond Company. EightStar's story begins with the invention of the "firescope" by a Japanese diamond merchant. Designed to measure how much light leaks out the wrong sides of a cut diamond, the firescope was not a popular tool as it clearly illustrates imperfections in many an expertly cut diamond. EightStar was founded to produce and market diamonds cut to such perfection that a firescope shows no leakage of light. The eight-rayed pattern revealed by the firescope on a perfect diamond inspired the company name. After initially concentrating on the Japanese market, EightStar began focusing its U.S. operations, sending American cutters to train in Japan and, after the conflict diamond issues arose, deciding to buy all their gems weighing under two carats from Canadian mines. They paid a visit to TechTV last year. Priced at $2.4 million, the American Star had no takers in Orinda, but publicity for scientifically perfect diamonds so near to Sili Valley can only help business.
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Friday, March 14, 2003

There are some lovely design photos in the Library of Congress' online exhibition of The Work of Charles and Ray Eames. (via Coudal Partners)
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Did you know? French toast was named after Joseph French who first served it at a roadside tavern in Albany in 1724. (thanks Matt!)

UPDATE: Grant Barrett writes in with the following:

The Oxford English Dictionary has a citation for French toast under the entry for "French," some 64 years before Mr. French of Albany supposedly coined the term in 1724. It appears to be the same food, even if the recipe varies a bit (mainly by the absence of eggs). Today's French call it "pain perdu," for the record.

From the OED, Second Edition: "1660 R. MAY Accomplisht Cook VI. 162 French Toasts. Cut French Bread, and toast it in pretty thick toasts on a clean gridiron, and serve them steeped in claret, sack, or any wine, with sugar and juyce of orange."

Such folk etymologies are common, but worth verifying.

Grant is webmaster at American Dialect Society and edits World New York. He hits one of my hot buttons by writing in his French Toast entry: "The instant I see a dubious etymology posted on a web site as fact, everything else on the page is immediately devalued. It’s a flag for lack of intellectual rigor." I'd like to pass this one off as "lack of sleep resulting in lack of research" but I'll take the blame square across the chin. This type of thing is exactly why I started this weblog. It's too fast and easy to spread misinformation on the Internet. I should take the time to do the research, not take the easy way out.
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Voting for the California quarter is over and the results are in. The governor will choose 3-5 designs to send to the U.S. Mint. None of the steps so far has been binding. The governor doesn't have the follow the poll results and the Mint doesn't have to follow the governor's recommendations, though they will likely refine one of the selections he sends in.
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Thursday, March 13, 2003

Blogger has been out of commission during my regular weblog writing time, so this is not a typical log entry. Instead I want to write a rant about how Google, being a search services company, should understand how to run a software service like Blogger, but I'm not sure how vicious I want to be about it. The Pyra idea is that they are busy moving things to new servers and improving the service. But, as a paying Blogger Pro customer, I have had to deal with continued outages, minimal communication about such outages, and loss of SSL login capability. Running a software service is difficult; I work for such a company myself. You have customers wanting 99.99% reliability while you struggle with resource allocation, growing server CPU and disk space needs, and security concerns. But it is possible to create procedures to guarantee excellent uptime. If Google were down for even an hour, you'd hear about it. If Blogger wants to grow to the point where it's newsworthy that it is down for an hour, they'll need to get their service in better shape. Are any Google veterans even helping the Blogger team out with understanding how a well-run software service should function and how it is possible, with the new resources of Google, to use staging servers and quality assurance procedures to test everything out before it goes live? Based on recent experience, when my "pro" subscription runs out, I am going to seriously consider alternatives. I am trying to be understanding, and I was very forgiving when I knew Pyra did not have the resources for support, but it's a fact that now that I know they have Google behind them, I am expecting more. Much more. They must live up to the Google name and reputation.
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Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Behind the scenes of Seattle's public school kitchen. It's a new, almost $5 million centralized facility of 40,000 square feet to serve all of Seattle Public Schools. Every day: 8,000 breakfasts, 21,000 lunches and 4,000 after-school snacks. The dishwasher runs in five minutes and they claim it could hold a small car.
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I drove by the new IKEA site in East Palo Alto today and they are making visible progress. There are even distinctive IKEA-blue exterior walls up already. The site seems small until you see one of the workers perched on the top of the skeleton, dwarfed by the size of the structure. IKEA has made good on promises to hire local contractors and to conform to city-mandated construction hours to reduce noise. Scheduled opening is this summer.
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A decade after its first issue, Wired gives us a look at the state of the tech culture in 1993. I remember the ads in their first issues were mostly for high-end liquor (fancy bottles of vodka), and I wondered what their target market really was. Eventually the tech and design ads showed up and I felt much better.
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Tuesday, March 11, 2003

Yawn. Can we get a better spin for a Game Developer Conference article than "Attracting more women customers remains a challenge?" I don't mind the continued insight that women don't like playing computer games, but until someone thinks of something new, like making radical efforts to hire female game designers, well, this isn't news to me. And, while I'm carping over this article, it isn't just game developers conferences that have no lines in the women's restrooms. It is like that at all "co-ed" software developer conferences. The only time I've had to wait in line at a technical conference was at the Women In Technology event. Sometimes I wonder if we need more women in tech jobs just to break the cycle of men hiring men. Let's fill up those bathrooms! If it means more female-friendly computer games, I'll happily wait in line.
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I've always felt stuck with my Verizon Wireless phone service. Their coverage is excellent and consistently outranks competitors. But their phone selection has always been lacking. Whereas it seems everyone else carries the cute, stylish phones, Verizon seems to be dragging along with clunky looking models. But this NY Times article on cell phone reception may have the explanation. Verizon Wireless will only carry cellphones with external antennas. Most of the newer, chic models have internal antennas which illustrate the article's point that cute doesn't mean better reception. By dedicating themselves to their exemplary coverage, Verizon has resigned themselves to the fashion doldrums. We'll see how long they hold out -- or if the phone makers will pony up the goods on fancy phones with great reception.
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Monday, March 10, 2003

I've been successfully brainwashed by Thermador's marketing materials for their Star Burner, their star-shaped gas stove burner that efficiently directs heat to the center of the pan. I had not paid much attention to gas burners before, and this collection of burners was enlightening. Artist Raymon Elozua has been collecting these for many years, often pulling them out of appliances abandoned on the streets of New York. Standing on their own they are indeed visually striking. And that Thermador burner loses its innovative edge. (A Yahoo daily pick)
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Virtual Orchestras
If the stagehand union and Actor's Equity had not shown solidarity for the Broadway musician's strike, most producers had "virtual orchestras" ready to keep the shows going. What is a virtual orchestra really, beyond being a computer? And what are the operating costs? The 1987 contract negotiations allowed synthesizers (before the virtual orchestras) into the Broadway orchestra pits and their use has expanded. Orchestrators will often plan them into their scores, which gives you an idea of the mindset that the orchestra union is trying to counteract to salvage their livelihood. The new virtual orchestra systems are already being used for many touring companies, sometimes completely replacing live instruments, sometimes supplementing a few solo players. The striking Local 802 website lists the companies and individuals that it does not wish its members to associate with. These are the virtual orchestra creators.

Music Arts Technology was founded by former union member Brett Sommer. A laptop computer and a piano keyboard are hooked into the theatre's sound system. The show's score is programmed into the software and playing parts on the keyboard triggers the entire playback. Disney has been working with Sommer's technology for their Broadway productions (Aida, Beauty and the Beast). Music Arts quoted Broadway producers costs of $35,000-$50,000 up front, plus fees of $890-$1,000 a week. A conductor or piano player must also be hired to operate the system.

Bianchi & Smith/RealTime Music Solutions' virtual orchestra is more complex than Music Arts'. It uses networked computers and multi-channel speaker playback to more closely approximate the different instruments and their ranges. In a performance of "Evita" at New York Technical College, 35 loudspeakers (16 for the strings) replaced live instruments. A conductor can control the tempo to match the live performance of the singers. Their cost quote: ''$21,000-$50,000 depending on amount of music in show, plus $15,000 to $20,000 in equipment costs, which can berecouped from weekly fee on run of show or subsequent production.'' RealTime's charges a weekly fee of $1,500.

Hiring 24 to 26 musicians for a pit orchestra costs $30,000 to $40,000 a week.
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Friday, March 07, 2003

New York Times writer Martin Arnold has written his final "Making Books" column. Blasted a few years ago by Salon for not having his finger on the pulse of the industry, Arnold wraps up his five years on the column with a few statements on the state of the world of publishing and his hopes for its future. And his final words are meant to ring in the ears of his many critics. He quotes Emerson: "Tis the good reader that makes the good book;...in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear" and then states: "this column has not been for the few hundred in the publishing industry — who often haven't liked it — but for that good reader. I know a woman, who happens to be a writer, who always carries a book with her wherever she goes. This column was written for readers like her."
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A November 2002 Business 2.0 article took a behind the scenes look at Ikea's process for creating new products. The company name comes from founder Ingvar Kamprad's initials, plus the first letters of the names of the family farm and the village where he grew up. Not surprisingly for such a cost-conscious company, Ikea begins with the price. Their three price ranges (high, medium, and low) and four styles (Scandinavian, modern, country, and "young Swede") are used to plot their product line on grids to discover holes that can be filled with new items. Kamprad had such early success with his cheap price points that his Swedish furniture-selling rivals prevented manufacturers from selling to him. So he turned to Polish furniture makers, a fortuitous tactic that led to multiple low-cost manufacturing locations who compete for Ikea business, thereby further reducing costs.

Once a price and manufacturer for a product is defined, internal designers compete to create the new item. Designs may then be further refined to optimize how much product can fit on a pallet, flat pack being the name of the game. Then the store decor is worked into the mix, pushing a frugal but fun lifestyle for its customers. Ikea has been an astounding success, and continues to dominate in each country it enters. The store we patronize has been doing twice the amount of business originally forecast, and two more nearby locations are in the works. Ikea has already conquered what is often the most difficult biggest business boundary to continuing expansion: internationalization.
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Thursday, March 06, 2003

Scripts for un-aired episodes of Firefly were auctioned off on eBay and are being typed up by the (very kind) buyer. An episode called "Hearts of Gold" is on Usenet and more are expected as the manual typing progresses. Note that you could consider these scripts spoilers for any future Firefly offerings, so click at your own discretion. Also I make no claims regarding the legality of the posting (it's copyrighted material of course). (via Whedonesque)
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The Mercury News reports on the rise of products catering to those with lactose intolerance. There's a website, No-Dairy.com, devoted to lactose-free groceries and food products. According to this page: "There are an estimated 50 million lactose intolerant adult Americans, including 70% of the black population, 15% of the white population, and 80 to 97% of Jews of European descent and Asian-Americans. Eskimos, Native Americans, and South American Indians are other highly lactose intolerant groups." Also, there is a correlation with the presence of lactase in populations with a long history of herding animals and relying on their milk for food. No big surprise there!
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Wednesday, March 05, 2003

"Six shades of blush, liquid eyeliner and seven shades of eyeshadow." USA Today reveals the transformation of Harvey Fierstein into Edna Turnblad for the musical Hairspray. He's scheduled to appear as Edna on the Today show this Friday. Previously: rehearsal photos for Hairspray by Jill Krementz I linked to last May. (via Bradlands)
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I'd been wondering when/if Handspring was going to move into their new digs in downtown Sunnyvale (known to me, prior to the foundation going in, as "Oh my gawd, did you see that gigantic hole in the ground?") Turns out they've negotiated out of that $2 million per month lease, but it cost them $75-80 million.
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Dan Bricklin, who in addition to being known for Visicalc also co-founded Slate, described his reactions to the latest round of Tablet PC technology back in November. His essay covers much of the history of pen computing software and hardware from ten years ago up to now. It concentrates on the business productivity software area, as that is what the Tablet PC is oriented towards, rather than the vertical application market that the software I worked on at GRiD was designed for. As a happy user of the good ol' GRiD Convertible, which really was a Tablet PC before there was such a designation, Bricklin was pleased to recover much of that machine's flexibility when he got his Toshiba Tablet PC. He loves portrait mode (it's great for reading and I still miss it myself). His main point is that this new round of Tablet PCs should, and often does, take advantage of what was learned in that last, rather unsuccessful round. Microsoft is getting the technology out into the hands of users (and they can afford a few rounds of failure) to get the information they need to ultimately create a successful tablet and pen environment. They also have the luxury of being able to influence hardware vendors to certain specifications rather than having to sink millions into being a PC developer themselves.
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Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Signs of the times. The price of gas in these parts.
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What is behind the delay in McDonald's plan to roll out their healthier cooking oil? They won't comment on a new target date for switching all their restaurants to the new oil. Their brief words on the matter merely state that their main concern is to focus on customer satisfaction and product quality. A new chairman and chief executive started in mid-January, so perhaps altered goals are forthcoming from the golden arches. Emphasizing the unhealthy nature of their food may not be the best approach. A clever marketing plan will get Americans eating anything. Perhaps a frequent-eater plan that includes a health club membership? Or, eat 100 burgers, get a free treadmill!
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Steinway celebrates its 150th anniversary on Wednesday. This Newsday article on the company was excerpted in many local newspapers. The full version includes more details on the manufacturing flaws that a few people quibble over. But there is no question that the Steinway is still the, well, the Steinway of pianos. Unless you want a Bösendorfer of course, which is celebrating its 175 year.
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Monday, March 03, 2003

Update on that diamond theft: the stolen jewels, gold and securities have been valued at $100 million. The carefully executed plan was marred by a discarded bag found on the side of the road. The bag contained documents that led authorities to suspect an Italian jeweller who had rented offices in the building and carefully observed all the security procedures necessary to gain access to the vaults. Four people have been arrested. (thanks to Steve of snarkout for reminding me to check in on this)
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Note to self: Before using sea salt body scrub, verify that all papercuts are completely healed.
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Broadway musicians, members of Local 802 - American Federation of Musicians, have pushed back their strike date to midnight Thursday. Their contract negotiations with The League of American Theatres and Producers have centered on the stipulations regarding the minimum number of musicians that must be hired for a Broadway musical. Show producers have sometimes cleverly worked around the minimums, counting actors who play instruments on stage to get around having to pay a musician who is not needed. The League finds the minimums ridiculous and restrictive. The musicians are trying to save dwindling jobs as electronic reproductions get ever closer to sounding "live." Talk of using completely electronic music in shows if the musicians do strike is perhaps the realization of the union's worst fears. The League also is petitioning to eliminate music copyists from the union, preferring to hire them as independent contractors. Music copyists have the often thankless job of transcribing the composer's score and ongoing edits to new playable scores.
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