From the depths of my ancient browser bookmark folders: "the vital statistics of the perfect chopstick." After testing a dozen pair of chopsticks with experienced users, Swei-Pi Wu of the Hua Fan College of Humanities and Technology in Taipei, Taiwan, determined that "the most efficient chopsticks for general use would have handles of 6 millimetres diameter, tips of 4 millimetres diameter, and a 2 degree tip angle." An earlier study on length, led Wu to recommend that 240 millimetre chopsticks were best for adults and 180 millimetre ones for children. (printed in 1996)
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After a three year search for a new concertmaster, the Seattle Symphony hired four violinists for the job last month. It's a perhaps innovative, certainly unusual, arrangement where three of the concertmasters are actually out-of-towners who have full-time jobs elsewhere. Two are concertmasters of other orchestras. One is a professor at Yale. The fourth is Maria Larionoff, the Seattle Symphony violinist who was acting concertmaster during the search. She originally refused to be considered for the position but has obviously reconsidered now that she has the opportunity to share it with others, giving her a break from the added stress. Some insiders, who would not go on record, believe the shared situation was created to eventually place Larionoff into the role full-time.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

SizeChina.com is creating a database of Chinese head and face shapes using 3D scans. Bicycle and other sports helmets are made to fit European heads, making them uncomfortable sometimes for others.
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Gorgeous shot of the full moon at Astronomy Picture of the Day.
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It's time again for the gigantic, huge, really really big Friends of the Seattle Public Library booksale. Over 200,000 books and other items inside the hangar at Magnuson Park, September 28-30.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

LEDs are replacing flourescent lamps in LCD screen backlights and edgelights. LEDs are more efficient and now the brightness and cost have reached a point where they are the preferred solution.
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Marmalade Pet Care makes curvy scratcher furniture for your cat(s) out of laminated cardboard, hardboard end-panels, and non-toxic adhesives.
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Monday, September 24, 2007

Laura Beckwith, a recent PhD recipient at Oregon State University, wrote her dissertation on how men and women are impacted differently by end-user programming software (such as spreadsheet formulas, Flash programming, CAD). I've only had time to read about 20 pages of it, so I may comment on this more another time (for now I'm relying on the AP article for the summary of her results). Previous research which she cited in her study showed that women studying computer science are less confident in their computer skills than men -- not just men studying computer science, but men in general. I'll assume a probable corollary that women who don't study CS are even less confident. Confidence is a crucial factor for success. More importantly, since I've seen people succeed despite a lack of confidence, its crucial for happiness. If you feel constantly insecure about what you're doing, you don't enjoy it very much. We have to keep more girls interested in computers, and it has to start at an earlier age than college. Remember that scene in the movie "Jurassic Park" when Lex (the girl who screams a lot) sits down in front of the park's mainframe and says "It's Unix! I know this!" and then she kicks some ass (virtually)? That's the feeling. How do we make it happen? Is it improving already with the ubiquity of computers? We shouldn't wait and see. (For those of you who laughed at that scene because you didn't see how Lex knew it was Unix, it actually was a Silicon Graphics machine running a real-life 3D file navigation system on Irix.)
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In Nordstrom's flagship Seattle store, the Perkins family presides over the shoeshine stand in the men's shoe department, practicing the dying art of making leather glossy. The operation started in 1974 on a handshake after Morgan Perkins pitched the idea to Nordstrom's leadership. Since then he's opened stands at several other Nordstrom locations, and his children worked their way through college shining shoes. At $2.50 the price is right, and half of what others usually charge.
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Friday, September 21, 2007

From the depths of the newly available New York Times archives, May 12, 1896 at the bottom of this article (PDF) about Thomas Edison's flouroscope exhibition at the Electrical Exposition. The exhibit allowed visitors to see an x-ray of their hands. "X Rays Aid an Operation. An interesting operation was performed yesterday at Bellevue Hospital. Patrick Lync of 303 East Thirty-first Street, during a saloon row May 4 last, was shot in the left arm. The bullet could not be located and on Saturday night last Lynch was taken by Dr. Hibbard to the electrical show where he had a cathodograph taken of the arm. The bullet was then located and was extracted yesterday."
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Beach Blanket Babylon, San Francisco's very own cabaret show, is still going strong at 34 years. The SF Chronicle took a look at their audition process, which is thankfully not (yet) another reality TV series. 59 hopefuls belted their show tunes and pop numbers, attempting to adapt quickly when directed to be a tired Liza Minnelli, Elvis, Richard Simmons, Barbra Streisand (with crossed eyes). The group is eventually cut to nine who will be called back for a round involving the gigantic hats and wigs that are the show's trademark.
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Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Looks like the NeXTcube is back in style! Just in time for autumn. (larger image)
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I didn't know that the original Slinky was black, not silver (of course I knew it wasn't made out of plastic).
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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

As Hawaii's new SuperFerry continues to run up against legal action keeping it from docking in Kauai and Maui, a smaller passenger ferry, TheBoat, has begun service in Honolulu. Since it's much smaller, not interisland, and is intended to reduce the number of cars, the environmental folks haven't been up in arms.
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There's a nostalgic post on Serious Eats that mentions "a weeklong school trip to a rustic retreat in the Catskills for some kind of environmental education and natural history program" and the pig that ate all the scraps. It brought back memories of a similar (perhaps the same) program I attended in Connecticut known as Nature's Classroom. I remember that week of sixth grade extremely well because for some reason my parents decided not to pay for it, and in order to attend along with my friends I had to dip into my own savings (luckily my aunt gave me $50 every Christmas which I put in the bank). At a couple hundred dollars it was the first significant expense I had taken on myself. I paid for it so I could belong and not be the only kid left out. I wasn't really thinking about any educational value. But I did experience it with a different perspective knowing that I had paid my own way. We made a geodesic dome, cared for fragile egg babies, learned sign language, took long hikes, sang campfire songs, and did skits. I didn't leave much on my plate for the pig to eat.
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Friday, September 14, 2007

Will gas prices, air travel hassles and traffic jams spur funding for high-speed rail in the United States? We've funneled money into cars and highways while other countries developed 200mph rail systems. Of course it will take billions to upgrade our railways to support high speeds. And that money may be better spent on research into alternative sources of power and transportation (but probably not Star Trek transporters...not yet anyway). The Acela Express route from Boston to Washington D.C. is doing well, with a 20% rise in ridership in May thanks to gas costs. And a Philadelphia to Harrisburg 110 mph route also rose 18%. California is still championing plans for a 220 mph train from San Francisco to San Diego (a mere 3 1/2 hour train ride!), but voting on the $10 billion bond issue keeps being postponed.
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I read Judy Blume books just like all the other girls did, but I read them because all the girls did, not because she was a favorite writer. Still, those rites of passage, "Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret" and "Forever" were significant milestones in my reading life. Now almost 70, Blume has been feeling the creative urge again and she has a new book out "Soupy Saturdays With the Pain & the Great One" and is on her first national tour in ten years. Booksellers are hopeful that her new book will spur sales in her back catalog, though her old books still sell quite well anyway. Blume started writing in the 1970s as a creative outlet, and a release from her boredom as a suburban housewife and mother. She says "writing changed my life and saved my life." (Judy Blume's weblog)
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Thursday, September 13, 2007

The typewriter art of Paul Smith, who passed away in June. His spastic cerebral palsy did not impede his artistry. (via Bifurcated Rivets)
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Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels would like to equip the city with motorcycle medics. The faster response time would allow medics to stabilize a patient quickly and await the arrival of an ambulance. As part of his 2008 budget proposal, Nickels has allocated $570,000 for a two-year pilot of four motorcycle medic units. The medics would be equipped with motorcycle airbag vests, reducing their own chance of injury. I used to laugh at my friend You Mon whenever he described his "personal airbag" idea, but he had something there because in addition to the motorcycle airbag vest, Wired has made mention of an Airbag Lifejacket designed for construction workers.
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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Food Network is here in the Seattle area this week casting for the next "The Next Food Network Star." Actual chefs from restaurants I've eaten at actually showed up! I hope they realize this show has little to do with being a good chef, or even a celebrity chef.
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The European Union had been extending Great Britain's deadline for full conversion to the metric system, and now they've completely dropped the requirement, placating sticklers for the mile and pound. EU officials now say that Britain's continued use of imperial measurements won't impede trade, and thus there's no reason for the strict change. But Britain is still further along than the U.S. in adopting the metric system for most products, packaged and bulk. And in 1963 the drachm, scruple, minim, chaldron, quarter, rod, pole and perch were retired.
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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Flat-panel TV maker Vizio seemed to come out of nowhere to take on big players like Sony, Samsung, and Sharp. Founder William Wang's experience selling screens to Gateway Computers gave him a step up in leading the company to success. With only 85 corporate employees, Vizio's strategy has been to sell their TVs primarily through wholesale club stores like Costco. Wang also strategized that although people may purchase an expensive set for their living room, they would likely buy cheaper models for other rooms. However they are building out their line to include higher end models. Recent sales figures place Vizio at the top North American flat-panel sellers. They've added Sears and Circuit City to their retailers.
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René Bibaud's official occupation is "Professional Rope Jumper." The West Seattle resident performs with Cirque du Soleil and can often be found demonstrating her skills at local schools. Check out her dynamic routine on Youtube.
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Saturday, September 08, 2007

Madeleine L'Engle, who passed away on Thursday, was the commencement speaker for my graduation from Wellesley College in 1991. Most people don't remember who spoke at their graduation, even fewer remember what they said. But for a student like me who loved books, loved writing, and always felt outside the mainstream, L'Engle was an ideal speaker, one to remember. I've re-read her speech several times over the last fifteen years and as I grow older I find new themes to relate to. She spoke from her experience as an underrated student, a mother, a career woman, a grandmother, and someone who has learned that to grow you have to take risks, to learn from mistakes. "Nothing that's easy is really worth very much, and just because it's difficult is no reason not to try."
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Thursday, September 06, 2007

"If children are not introduced to music at an early age, I believe something fundamental is actually being taken from them." -Luciano Pavarotti
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Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Many cities have rolled out 311 for non-emergency calls, a companion number to 911 that hopefully reduces the burden of non-critical calls on the actual emergency lines. Baltimore's police department was the first to roll out 311 in 1996 and the FCC approved its nationwide use in 1997. As part of its "On the Job" series, the San Francisco Chronicle paid a visit to the city's 311 customer service representatives. San Francisco's 311 went live in March and handles more than police calls, taking point on all manner of city service queries. About 6,000 calls come in per day, and a significant portion are about the MUNI bus service. The article of course has prime examples of those off-the-wall inquiries, like "how long does it take to build a cable car?" There's a serial caller who takes great pride in reporting graffiti, several times a day. Some people call to ask what time it is.
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In late 2003 I noted here that an artisan cheesemaker had set up shop in Pike Place Market. Four years later, Beecher's Handmade Cheese has flourished. Tourists stop in to watch the cheesemaking process and locals clamor for the insanely rich mac'n'cheese. Beecher's Flagship Reserve, an aged cheddar, was first runner-up for Best in Show at the recent American Cheese Society competition. They've perfected their milk blend, using a mix of lower fat milk from Holsteins and higher fat Jersey cows. And now owner Kurt Dammeier is looking into buying his own farm so he can control his product from cow to cheese. Dammeier supports his local competitors as well, carrying Washington cheeses in the shop and envisioning a future where the state is known for artisan cheeses.
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Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Fans of Aardman Animations's Wallace & Gromit will recall the humorous sheep herd from "A Close Shave," in particular Shaun (whose name I always thought was "shorn", but it is indeed a pun). Shaun has his very own children's show, "Shaun the Sheep" which has been running in the UK since March. The Disney Channel now shows it in the U.S., typically fitting the 5+ minute episodes between 2 Sunday morning shows. A few full episodes can be found at the usual copyright violation locations; here's one about soccer on Google video.
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I would've guessed that the Boeing 747 was the world's largest airplane, though I never had reason to confirm the superlative. Last Friday the actual holder of that title landed at Seattle's Boeing Field on a job for Boeing and GE. With a wingspan over 290 ft, the Antonov An-225 has an empty weight of 385,800 lbs. The giant plane was built to carry the Soviet Buran spacecraft, their version of the Space Shuttle (NASA has modified 747s for the same purpose). The one An-225 that was completed now serves as a commercial cargo plane, thus its Friday appearance to pick up four GE-90 engines for the Boeing 777. With six engines and 32 wheels it made for an impressive photo opportunity for the Seattle PI.
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