Who knew that duck decoys could go for such astronomical prices? At an auction in April a Canadian goose decorative decoy sold for $605,000. Its price probably raised eyebrows back in 1983 when it went for a mere $30,800. But it's not the most expensive decoy sold. In January 2003, a "preening pintail drake" brought $801,500.
archive location

At the "Swellin' with Melon" contest in Ohio, Rich LeFevre consumed 11.22 pounds of watermelon (seedless, precut) in 15 minutes to win the title of World Watermelon Eating Champion. His wife Carlene came in second at 9.78 pounds. It was the first watermelon eating contest sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. Rich is ranked fifth on the eating circuit, Carlene is ninth. First of course is that hot dog eating maniac Takeru Kobayashi.
archive location

Thursday, July 29, 2004

The NY Times reports that the yellow Lance Armstrong Foundation bracelets are selling out in retail locations so I did an eBay search and indeed people are hawking these rubber bracelets online -- probably without those extra proceeds going to the charity they should be. Some listings claim that profits go to the foundation, but how can you tell? On the official order site, all items are back-ordered. How many people will click "Make a Donation" instead? It's a nice bracelet, but it's not about buying a bracelet.
archive location

One way to get readers to visit your site frequently is to have frequent updates. I've been continually frustrated by online newspaper sites that mimic their printed counterpart by updating once a day. While there's value in having the content online, they miss the greater point of the dynamic publishing medium. A study from the University of Texas at Austin tracked updates to the home pages of 30 news sites. Their two week sample took the top 10, the middle 10 and the bottom 10 from a list of the 100 largest circulation newspapers. During a day, 5 made almost no updates, 13 added minimal breaking news and 12 had constant updates. Automated wire feeds were not counted as updates. The researchers did more detailed analysis as well, identifying the types of news and timing of changes. I know where to go when I absolutely need new news, but the old print cycle is still ruling publishing in many news houses.
archive location

Tuesday, July 27, 2004

As a fundraiser for their educational outreach program, the Bellevue Philharmonic Orchestra is holding an "Art of the Violin Auction." Twelve violins, donated by a local music shop, were decorated (most to unplayable extremes...alas) by artists. The instruments go on the auction block in September. Bows and cases were also provided, but photos don't show if anyone took on the challenge of incorporating a bow into their artwork.
archive location

Based on my unscientific guess that most native-born American citizens would not be able to answer all the questions on the U.S. Citizenship test, I always considered it to be difficult. I was surprised to read that the test is being overhauled. Then someone I know told me her parents passed by rote memorization. I thought, well, that's how I passed a lot of exams in school, right? Wasn't I really learning too by memorizing facts? Well, I suppose I wasn't memorizing the exact 100 potential questions and answers, as it is with the citizenship test. Putting aside the questions of whether English, history, and civics are important requirements for a new U.S. citizen to have, the announced goals for the new test sound reasonable. The aim is to reduce dependency on memorization and actually demonstrate a deeper level of understanding and literacy. Inconsistency between examiners, however, may still exist with the new methods.
archive location

Monday, July 26, 2004

It makes so much sense and yet I never would have considered it. You can dehydrate (and rehydrate) your own spaghetti sauce for camping trips. You end up with something like fruit leather which you can roll up and bring along.
archive location

Missed this one (did I even notice Earth Day?): Ben & Jerry's went looking for environmentally friendly ice cream technology and discovered a thermoacoustic freezer being developed at Penn State. They convinced their parent company Unilever to throw in $600,000 of financing. The researchers made excellent progress and demonstrated a device that "uses sound waves in a closed container filled with helium to create cooling." Compression of the helium gas throws off heat and expansion refrigerates. And don't worry about your hearing; although the tone generates 185 decibels it can't be heard. Penn State is working with a startup on commercial development. Ben & Jerry launched a commemorative flavor, Sweet & Sonic, and a Flash demo.
archive location

Friday, July 23, 2004

It needs some sort of advanced image recognition and pattern matching to be instantly useful to the home gardener, but Insect Images is still an interesting resource for pest identification.
archive location

Oh good, I wasn't hallucinating, just not paying attention. As I skimmed over headlines of the Jeopardy! champion who is on his 37th win, I kept thinking "didn't they used to retire them after five days?" Yes, they did, the rules were changed last fall.
archive location

CNN interviews Peter Gabriel on the future (and present) of digital music distribution. Gabriel co-founded On Demand Distribution (OD2) in 2000 and sold it to Loudeye in June. His philosophy on the digital distribution of music is that the artists had better get involved or "they're going to get screwed, like they usually do." He hopes for a future where the record label and artist relationship is a partnership, and realizes that the artists themselves need to take action to make that happen.
archive location

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

With a new Whole Foods nearby, I'm back to enjoying Stonyfield Yogurt on a more regular basis. During my hiatus the company was busy putting up not one, but five separate weblogs. One is even from a third-generation dairy farm. Although Danone owns 85% of the company's stock, the operations continue to be controlled by Stonyfield's president and they have majority control on the board. So they're still getting their milk from local farmers and carrying on with their environmental missions, particularly their support for organic farming.
archive location

Old train cars may be nostalgic but for Amtrak they are a burden that impacts reliability and the bottom line. Only 80% of their cars are in service and on some routes more seats could be filled if they only existed. Their 60 Auto Train cars are also aging, dating from the early 1960s. Track improvements and security concerns are another large expense. But Amtrak is dependent on government funding to carry out its improvement plans and a House of Representatives panel recently proposed cutting funding to the railroad, following the recommendation of the President. The Senate has not made its proposal on funding yet. Critics point out that cuts in funding to VIA Rail Canada resulted in more cost-effective operations. Amtrak continues to lose money despite government help and there appears to be no end in sight.
archive location

Tuesday, July 20, 2004

The 2004 Bulwer-Lytton Contest results are in and of course the winners are difficult to stomach. Culinary references propelled the winner and runner-up to glory with Dave Zobel taking top honors with the phrase "like Martha Stewart ripping the sand vein out of a shrimp's tail."
archive location

This timeline history of IBM typewriters has some nifty old ads. "Actually takes 95.4% less energy to operate than a manual typewriter."
archive location

A miner in Guinea uncovered a 182 carat diamond. It's now safely awaiting further examination in Guinea's Central Bank. The site is leased by the government to miners and it's unclear what kind of compensation the finder will receive.
archive location

Monday, July 19, 2004

The little yellow transponders attached to Tour de France riders' chainstays are AMB Activ Transponders. Official timekeeper MATSPORT mounts the devices 1.2 meters from the leading edge of the front tire and the detection wires at the finish lines are offset by the exact same amount.
archive location

Does your brain play back a distinctive bass line and harmonica tune whenever you see a moose? Moosefest, an annual gathering of Northern Exposure fans, clops into Roslyn, WA this weekend. The town was the model for fictional Cicely, Alaska. Exteriors and some interiors were shot in Roslyn, though over time most interior filming moved to a soundstage in Redmond, WA. Moosefest fundraising supports the Friends of Roslyn charity.
archive location

Friday, July 16, 2004

Periodically I do a little searching to see what new projects Maya Lin is involved with (and sometimes I write up a post about it). There is a two year old New Yorker profile that I don't believe I'd seen before. The middle details the harsh politics she had to cope with in the creation of the Vietnam War Memorial, and it is capped on both ends with her reactions to the World Trade Center disaster which took place soon after her efforts to shed her image as a maker of monuments. More recently Lin has been in the news for her involvement with the Confluence Project, an effort "to explore the history, art, environmental issues and cultures of the Columbia River Basin from the days of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to today and beyond." She has also been working with Yellowstone National Park to help realize her pet project on extinct species. It's been over twenty years since the Yale undergrad became the unlikely winner of the Vietnam War Memorial design competition.
archive location

What's Martha Stewart been doing before her inevitable sentencing? Reportedly, she got her finances in order by selling a West Village luxury condominium for $7 million (don't worry, she still has plenty of real estate to come back to) and also selling $4.36 million worth of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia shares. Socially she enjoyed her last days out on the town at classy restaurants and celebrity events. And she hired a sentencing consultant to advise her on the new lifestyle she's about to face.
archive location

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Wanted: Accordion player. Must be under 35, fit weight requirements, pass physical fitness requirements, and be willing to undergo six weeks of basic training. You will be performing as part of the 22 member United States Air Force Strolling Strings. Federal presidential security clearance required. Salary: $39,652 - $46,416 with full military benefits.
archive location

Directors from diamond giant De Beers can now travel to the United States without fearing arrest. The company settled a 10 year old price fixing charge with the Justice Department this week. De Beers previously chose to not acknowledge U.S. jurisdiction in the matter and faced possible legal action if any board members had entered the country. This settlement is expected to close a major chapter in De Beers' 124 year history as they have encountered antitrust scrutiny from the U.S. for sixty years. Financially, however, it may prove negligible as their sale of diamonds into the U.S. market through indirect channels has been little hindered. But with the diamond market facing higher competition with new mines, manmade gems, and bad PR from conflict diamonds, the company is striving to wipe the slate clean, publishing a standard of ethics. They can now move freely, and more directly into the U.S. to face the new challenges. De Beers and luxury retailer LVMH plan to open a retail store on New York's Fifth Avenue this year.
archive location

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

The blushing Rainier cherry is a local favorite here in Washington state, and I finally bought a bag to try. They are definitely sweeter than Bings and tasty enough, but I missed the tang and went back to the (cheaper) red standby the next time I shopped. The Seattle Times printed a detailed history of the Rainier in its Sunday magazine recently and I also found a shorter but also informative Seattle PI article from 2001. A cross between two varieties, a Bing and a Van, the Rainier was created by Harold Fogle at WSU in 1952 with delicate hand pollination. About 200 seedlings resulted from the cross and the standout "white" colored one was a sweet surprise coming from two dark red parents. It's a picky variety to grow, showing its bruises easily. Much of the crop is sent to Japan where it commands steep prices, as much as 85 cents per cherry, which makes the U.S. $2-$3/pound premium over Bings rather more palatable.
archive location

Just visiting the 30 major league ballparks wasn't enough for Jim and Andrea Siscel. The couple tallied up 55,604 miles crossing the U.S. and Canada to visit every major and minor league park. That totals 170, except two teams moved during their project so they ended up with a grand total of 172. The Mariners fans claim the only place they didn't root root root for the home team was Yankee Stadium, and of course Seattle's Safeco Field is their favorite major league park. The Siscels listed their stops on baseballroadtrip.net.
archive location

Monday, July 12, 2004

The invention of carbonated fruit made news rounds in 2001 and is back again, I suppose for PR reasons. Galen Kaufman discovered that a pear kept cool with dry ice had become carbonated. Enjoying the sensation of the fizzy fruit, he worked with Oregon State University researchers to develop a method to carbonate fruit en masse and market it. After that initial pear, Kaufman successfully carbonated apples, strawberries, peaches, watermelons, and grapes. Their current marketing angle is to encourage kids to eat more fruit.
archive location

It's not just for wine coolers anymore. New packaging options for wine, particularly the "party wine" varieties, are appearing on store shelves. Joining boxed wines in plowing new ground are sparkling wines in single serving cans, sangrias in tetra paks, and more bubblies in beer bottle styles with crown caps. And trying to provide a little more class than screwtops, new closures such as the ZORK are providing alternatives to that old-fashioned cork.
archive location

Friday, July 09, 2004

Seattle's SEAFAIR commences this weekend and the Seafair pirates will storm Alki Beach at noon on Saturday, complete with cannon fire. To better prepare for this event, here's a pirate history site with information on weapons, ships, and other details of pirate life. Also fun is Pirates! Facts & Legend. (pirate history via antenna)
archive location

These two items are popular weblog fodder, but they fit into my sensibilities so well I have to mention them: translucent concrete from LiTraCon on display at the National Building Museum, and the Pokia retro cellphone accessory which is an old-fashioned handset that hooks into a new-fashioned phone, as seen in the N.Y. Times.
archive location

First he gets hit in the eye with a lollipop during a show. Then he cancels his tour because, they tell us, he has a pinched nerve in his shoulder. Now it's revealed that David Bowie underwent emergency angioplasty to clear a blocked artery in his heart. The pinched nerve was a cover-up story or perhaps a faulty initial diagnosis; it's likely he thought it was just shoulder pain as that is a heart attack symptom. Good thing he quit smoking two years ago. A speedy recovery to Mr. Bowie.
archive location

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Gotham, a typeface with a New York provenance, was chosen for the inscription on the Freedom Tower cornerstone at the World Trade Center site. The N.Y. Times reflects on the silver leaf lettering and the significance of the granite block, a herald for what is to come. Commissioned by GQ magazine in 2000, the font "evokes the blocky, no-nonsense, unselfconscious architectural lettering that dominated the streetscape from the 1930's through the 1960's."
archive location

I've called attention here in the past to pipe organs of grandeur. Here's one of more modest proportions and yet its story is compelling. A 500 pipe organ sits wrapped up and quiet in storage, waiting for the funds that will allow its refurbishment and placement in Seattle's renovated Roosevelt High School. Restoring the organ is low on the priority list for the school district's building committee. They see little educational benefit in spending money on an instrument few students will use. A separate group has begun to raise funds with an additional $90,789 needed by October. The organ, dedicated in 1940 as a memorial to the school's first principal, is a custom job by Moller Organ Company and includes some "unique elements." Seattle has another public school organ at Franklin High School.
archive location

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Tour de France trivia from Team CSC: The leader's yellow jersey color was chosen in 1917 because it was the color of the newsprint used by race sponsor newspaper, L'Auto (now L'Equipe). Those stuffed lions the winners receive on the podium are from sponsor Crédit Lyonnaise. The podium itself is mobile and travels with the tour inside a large truck. A publicity caravan leaves two hours before the stage begins and tosses souvenirs to waiting fans.
archive location

Have you always coveted the soapstone counter and Viking appliances that Alton Brown cooks on? The house that Good Eats season 5 and on was filmed in is listed for sale on eBay. The buyer also wins a dinner for 8 prepared by Alton Brown. The listing includes the address (791 Moores Mill Road, Atlanta), so if you're the lucky new resident, you may get some hard core fans peering at your lovely home. (I'm happy to expunge this address if you're the new owner!) (via Good Eats Fan Page)
archive location

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

The 256MB Cat Bar USB drive meows when you plug it in. Unfortunately you need to install software to make this happen so it's really your computer that's meowing. But it's cute nevertheless. (via Engadget)
archive location

"Ducks who never get to swim." After an uncomfortable confrontation with the director of Viva! USA at a stockholder's meeting, John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, set out to learn more about factory farming. The unexpected result, Mackey not only became a vegan (he was a vegetarian; he does eat eggs from his own farm) but also promised to use Whole Foods' influence to improve the living conditions of farm animals. Their duck supplier, Grimaud Farms, is now creating swimming areas for its ducks. Whole Foods' success has made Mackey a "reluctant celebrity CEO" with profiles in prominent journals, such as this one in Fast Company. The company's unorthodox, open book, democratic management policies (pay rates revealed, employee voting on new hires and to pick their health plan) have surprisingly scaled to 26,000 employees. Whole Foods' influence over major food suppliers grows with its success. Dole now carries organic bananas. What started with the ducks will soon spread to pigs and beyond. (via Saute Wednesday)
archive location

Friday, July 02, 2004

The Tour de France pedals off on Saturday and the Seattle Times reveals that Lance Armstrong's entourage descended on the wind tunnel at the University of Washington this past December to test out equipment. Typically host to Boeing aircraft, the tunnel this time blew past Nike's Swift Spin Suit, a Trek bicycle, and Giro helmet. Improvements to the braking system and handlebars were made and Nike enhanced their special mesh suit. Over on the other coast, the Cervélo team used a wind tunnel at MIT to improve the aerodynamics and usage of their time trial bikes.
archive location

Chiquita wants to be "the Starbucks of the produce world" with their flavored banana innovation. The Chiquita CEO has told AP that they are working on bananas "flavored with the hint of another fruit." They hope to increase the popularity of bananas and convince people to pay more for these special flavors. If they really want to go the Starbucks route, though, shouldn't they be creating a coffee flavored banana? Maybe they are! I like bananas the way they taste now...just like bananas. However, thinking over the various mixed juice drinks that are on the market, perhaps a mango or pineapple banana would be an interesting twist.
archive location

Thursday, July 01, 2004

The new $50 bill design uses blue and red background colors, though it is predominantly still the black and green bill we are accustomed to. I don't think I've ever used a $50 so this redesign is unlikely to cross my path. The bill has similar features to the new $20 such as a security thread and color-shifting ink. It will be released on September 28.
archive location

A Reuters article on a shortage of the mineral zircon predicts that cubic zirconium jewelry will go up in price because prices for zirconium have soared. It seemed odd to me since I hadn't given much thought to what raw materials are used to create cubic zirconium; I figured it was something plentiful and cheap. Ironically you can make diamonds out of all sorts of plentiful carbon-containing raw materials, though the process is much more expensive. Zirconium pricing is unlikely to ever surpass the controlled rarity of real diamonds, but synthetics are in the realm of possibility.
archive location