Food for thought: Can we ever retire the phrase "how would you explain this to your mom?" when asking technology developers to describe their products in easy to understand terms? How about "how would you explain this to your grandmother?" Is there always new technology that the typical mom or grandma won't understand? Is this used in other fields? And just how sexist is this question?
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Shirley O. Corriher, author of "Cookwise," is four years late delivering "BakeWise." The reason (from the NY Times)? "For the last two years, she has been stuck on the cake chapter." She's taking her sweet time experimenting with goodies like pound cake and tunnel-of-fudge cake, aiming for the perfect concoction with science as her guide. Fans of Alton Brown's "Good Eats" will remember Shirley from many episodes, sitting at his counter holding styrofoam balls riddled with tacks or shopping at the market for the most appropriate ingredients. She (and her publisher, I'm sure!) hope the new book will be available in 2005.
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Thursday, December 23, 2004

$50,000 plus her previous cat's DNA == a thrilled woman in Texas. Genetic Savings and Clone made their first sale, a Maine Coon cloned for a woman who greatly missed the cat she spent 17 years with. She claims the kitten is just like her previous one, saying it loves water and jumped right into her bath, not very catlike. However, Maine Coons love playing with water, so it's a trait of the breed not just her cat. Although I'm a "pick a pet at the pound, fer-goodness-sake!" person, it makes more sense to me to clone a difficult to replicate mutt who happened to turn out wonderfully rather than duplicate a purebred. Then again, cats all have their own unique personalities...all the more reason to find a new character to love -- at the humane society fer-goodness-sake!
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I don't know what to make of this trend the NY Times is bringing to light (bad pun), the use of gaslights for outdoor ambience. Talk about nostalgia. I'm gonna go invest in a company that delivers huge blocks of ice to keep your groceries cold. Seriously though, the soft glow and attractive flickering of the flame has made the gaslight a decorative touch for "suburban subdivisions, high-end resort communities and downtown renewal projects." It's a nice solution to light pollution.
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I submitted the only cool "Trick of the Trade" that I could think of to Matthew Baldwin's site and it was posted (hooray). Although I titled it "Violinist" it works for violists (in fact the first time I saw it done was by a violist) and probably cellists as well. I tried to think of a programmer trick of the trade, but I figured the Internet is overrun with those and most of them are just fuel for philosophical arguments anyway.
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Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Roller rink Skate King in Bellevue fills Tuesday "dead time" with a session exclusively for parents with strollers. The midday sessions are popular with moms looking for a safe fitness activity without daycare needs, and of course there's socializing and "oldies" (which now means 80s music, sorry all you 30-somethings!) as you circle the floor. And one woman shows up without a kid, just a stroller (and reportedly she used to add a bag of flour), to practice her skating.
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Just once I wish luxury product weblog Luxist would post something I could afford, but then it wouldn't be fulfilling its mission (unless I magically became super rich). This pretty glass sink caught my eye. I don't think those raised basin sinks that are all the designer rage nowadays are practical, but this one has LEDs that change color according to the water temperature. There are currently five sinks in the company's "chromatherapy" product line. And did you know that the color yellow is "hopeful and digestive?" Lucky for the bananas.
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Friday, December 17, 2004

The NY Times pieces together the ideal Connecticut Main Street (or often more appropriately termed "town center") and ends up with a list of the state's interesting places to eat and shop. I've only been to two of them though, Stew Leonard's (often) and Pepe's Pizza (once, which was enough to get friends loyal to Sally's riled up).
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Archie McPhee isn't the founder of Archie McPhee's. Founder Mark Pahlow named the store after his wife's great uncle. As a child, Pahlow sold firecrackers to neighborhood kids at a 9,900% profit. He grew up and sold plastic aliens, acquired at the Pic 'n Save, to ritzy stores in Beverly Hills. Eventually his interest in peddling plastic novelties grew into Archie McPhee's and, more profitably perhaps, Accoutrements, the company that creates all those novelties. There's a booming market for the little amusements and there are 1.5 million Devil Duckies out there to prove it.
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Monday, December 13, 2004

Pet strollers. Yes, pet strollers.
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Just the other day I was commenting to someone on how prevalent Saabs are in New England whereas Subarus are plentiful in the Pacific NW. Now GM has melded a Swedish facade onto a Japanese frame in an odd blending that the NY Times termed the "Saab-aru". The Saab 9-2X is essentially a Subaru Impreza wagon. The front was restyled to look like a Saab but there's no mistaking that rear window treatment for anything but a Subaru. Of course the retooling of models for different brands is nothing new for the automobile industry, but remaking a Subaru into a Saab feels strange. And no, they didn't move the ignition switch down between the seats. Another Saab-aru is in the works. Subaru's first SUV, the B9X, will be introduced at the Detroit Auto Show in January and a Saab version is underway.
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Friday, December 10, 2004

Random Observations from a sleep-deprived mind

• There is no Food Network before 9:30am. Just infomercials.
• If you check online papers in the middle of the night and then again in the morning (thinking, oh it's a new day!), don't expect any new content -- it's only been a few hours!
• Our family now qualifies for the 3 person carpool lane, giving us faster access to our highway exit. Sweet!
• Babies may have to learn how to talk but they don't have to learn how to giggle and laugh.
• I find a certain irony in seeing a parent drive their kid door to door to collect pledges for a walkathon. Then again, maybe it's a tactic to save their little feet for the big event. (But it's not like our driveways are very far apart here!)
• A baby can't tell you why he's crying but at least he can't talk back at you yet.
• Reading while sleep-deprived is so much fun. You see a word like "carpet" and you think "oh so people are keeping cars as pets now, eh!???" and then you think "I'm such an idiot. Of course they mean that there are now cars designed for pets."
• You know that movie theater song that goes something like "Let's go out to the lobby, let's go out to the lobby, let's go out to the lobby, and get ourselves a snack." Well, it's the same tune as "The bear went over the mountain." This is something our baby would have already learned -- if only he understood English.
• When your husband claims the baby can play "rock, paper, scissors" just smile and nod. Do not argue that the baby is actually playing "rock, rock, rock" or at best "rock, paper, rock."

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Tuesday, December 07, 2004

"Hairspray" was a movie. Now it's a Broadway musical. And it's going to be a movie again. Since the original movie wasn't a musical, and Hollywood loves remakes anyway, the musical is going to be a movie, slated for 2005. Other musicals are running after the success of "Chicago" with producers anxiously waiting to see how this month's release of "Phantom of the Opera" will fare. "The Producers," like "Hairspray" has gone from movie to Broadway and is going to movie again. Upcoming in the good old-fashioned stage-to-screen bloodline are "Rent" and "Sweeney Todd" with others twinkling around in the rumor mill. Someone call me when they get around to "Pippin."
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Food stylist JoAnne Naganawa received her home economics degree from the University of Washington while her daughter was in high school. Now she arranges edible plates for magazine and catalog photo shoots. Taking pictures of food may seem easy, after all your subjects aren't usually moving or temperamental, but Naganawa says that three usable shots a day is considered good. The bright lights cause food to wilt and she always has extras on hand for accidents or improved arrangements. She uses powdered sugar mixed with canned frosting to simulate ice cream, but refuses to use inedible ingredients.
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