Fup, resident cat at Powell's Technical Books, has passed away after 19 comfy years in the company of shelves, staff and shoppers. She will be much missed.
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Homeowners with the means can have their very own firefighting service. Insurance company AIG offers a Wildfire Protection Unit for its most expensive properties, partnering with Firebreak Spray Systems. The company will come out to spray fire retardant around the property when fire is encroaching. It's worth it to AIG when even one multi-million dollar home is saved.
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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Boston's Franklin Park Zoo has named their baby giraffe (cute!) Sox in honor of the World Series Champions. Sox was born the morning after Game 1, measuring in at 154 pounds, 6 feet 2 inches tall.
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I've always considered the miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to be tastier than their regular-sized siblings, and I'm not the only one. These guys actually decided to do scientific testing to figure out the truth behind the better tasting mini-Reese's. After cutting, core samples, and, of course, taste testing, their initial hypothesis was proven: the smaller cups have a larger ratio of chocolate, and are therefore yummier. I suppose if you enjoy the peanut butter more, you may be in favor of the "big cup" instead. (via Candy Addict)
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Monday, October 29, 2007

An employer could take the stance that domestic violence is not their concern, it's a personal matter after all, but there's no argument against the fact that a bad situation at home has a negative affect on employee productivity. The N.Y. Times points to data stating that "one-fifth of all full-time employed adults are or have been victims of domestic violence"and that women "lose nearly eight million days of work annually because they have been threatened, stalked or physically assaulted by current or former partners or spouses." And yet only 4% of employers offer training in dealing with domestic violence. Fashion company Liz Claiborne created a cross-discipline response team (human resources, security, legal) and takes an active role in helping employees who step forward. At a minimum companies can train managers to recognize the signs of domestic violence and the appropriate response.
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Congrats to all you Boston Red Sox fans, you guys really deserve it (and I'm putting aside 25+ rabid years of Mets fandom to say that)... OK, maybe I don't think you needed it as much as you did three years ago, but I'm still a New Englander at heart so I'll give a little here despite my other loyalties. Anyway, it seems a moot topic now, but the Rockies' baseball humidor has been getting a lot of press. They must have toured all the reporters through it. It keeps game balls at a steady 70 degrees, 50 percent relative humidity, away from the dry Denver environment. It may not change the sometimes odd behavior of balls in the thin air up there, but the pitchers are getting a better grip. Officially known as the Environmental Storage Chamber, the humidor went online in 2002. It didn't make the Rockies instantly successful, but for pitchers it's a positive impact.
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Saturday, October 27, 2007

Work has been insanely hectic, but I wanted to get a public service announcement out to Seattle folks that Blade Runner: The Final Cut is now showing at the Seattle Cinerama. Friends who have seen it give it two thumbs, wayyyy up.
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Nice trivia from the space shuttle launch: "In a historic coincidence, both the shuttle and station have women at the helm. Retired Air Force Col. Pamela Melroy is only the second woman to command a shuttle, and biochemist Peggy Whitson is the first female skipper of a space station." It's the first time that two female mission commanders have been in orbit at the same time.
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On the heels of our Herbfarm mushroom extravaganza comes a profile of Jeremy Faber who gathered all the fungi for the Mycologist's Dream menu. Faber is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a former sous-chef for the Herbfarm. He now heads up Foraged and Found Edibles, supplying wild mushrooms to Seattle restaurants. 11 months out of the year he visits the trees, logs, and hills where he has had previous success and keeps an eye out for new finds.
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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

We went back to The Herbfarm on Sunday for a very belated anniversary dinner, joined by our friends Pavel and Kathleen (and by sheer coincidence, Barry, who worked at PlaceWare with Pavel and me was there too. Hi Barry!). Both Chef Jerry Traunfeld, who is leaving soon to open his own restaurant, and incoming Chef Keith Luce were present; both had a hand in the menu. The theme was "A Mycologist's Dream" and I took my usual blurry plate shots (I really need a photography lesson). The mushrooms were the attraction for me, and I have never had so many different, and interesting varieties. (By the way, Pavel sells his very own interesting mechanical puzzles, perfect for holiday gift-giving or anytime.)
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In the Central area of Seattle, the possible loss of a large, neon "Wonder Bread" sign on an old bakery building caused enough concern last year when the property was purchased for development that the New York Times took note. Many assumed the sign was a goner, headed for splitsville and neon collectors. Well, it's coming back. The new apartment building that has taken the place of the home of Twinkies and white bread will have the 11 6-foot-tall letters on top again. The groundbreaking ceremony today will include a display of how the sign will look on its new home.
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Monday, October 22, 2007

When a show's set includes "two mobile pools, a 6-foot-high treadmill and a 20-foot flying curtain" you can understand why the technical director says one of his next productions, setting up the Republican National Convention, will be "a breeze" in comparison. The N.Y. Times looks into the ins-and-outs of the floating swimming pool and the other moving parts of "Fuerzabruta."
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Making 2,000 pounds of tofu each day is hard work. At Chuminh Tofu in Seattle owner Thanh Nga Nguyen calls the process and result "beautiful." Dried soybeans are soaked for 6-8 hours, cleaned multiple times, ground and put in a centrifuge. The resulting soymilk is boiled and coagulated into curds. The curds are pressed into molds and the finished blocks of tofu are then cut and packaged for sale. It may not be glamorous work, but Nguyen considers it an art.
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Friday, October 19, 2007

In June, violinist David Juritz left London with no money and a mission to earn his expenses and much extra for Musequality, a fund that brings music education to children in poor areas of the world. He's been performing Bach's Partitas and Sonatas on streets everywhere, busking his way around the globe. To date he's raised $13,000 from his street performances, and made additional funds from private concerts and other donations, bringing the total to $50,000. He's on his last stop in New York and then he returns to London and his professional musician gigs.
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There's a toothbrush war brewing, at least in court. Proctor & Gamble, owners of the Oral-B brand, sued newcomer Ultreo for false advertising. They also sued Philips-Sonicare. P&G is disputing whether the ultrasound technology, which is the differentiator for the Ultreo brush, is actually as effective at cleaning teeth as Ultreo claims. Their separate tests have shown different results, and now Ultreo is countersuing P&G for disparaging their product. I don't suppose anyone wants to say that they are just as good, and maybe not necessarily better than their competitors. You always have to appear to be the best.
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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

DeBeers, savvy marketer of sparkly dreams, has been working their sales magic in mainland China since 1993. Starting from no foothold in a culture where jade and pure, soft gold dominate the jewelry landscape, the conglomerate is now placing diamond rings on the fingers of 40% of the brides. The average size and price per piece of diamond jewelry is also going up. You can be sure DeBeers won't stop until everyone in the world has a diamond on every appendage, and then they will probably fund experiments that will allow us to grow extra fingers.
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Boeing's Surplus Store is closing on December 21st and the community of regular shoppers isn't willing to let it go. Boeing has told Bruce Lane that they plan to sell surplus in bulk to large buyers in auctions and may sell smaller stuff on eBay.
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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

A revival of Godspell is headed for Broadway in 2008.
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In observation of Serious Eats' National Meatloaf Appreciation Day (October 18th), girlhacker and dadhacker bring you our celebrated Buffy Loaf recipe. Created a few years ago for a season premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this is a buffalo meatloaf from a basic recipe. We used to try to catch the somewhat regular buffalo sale at Fred Meyer and freeze a few pounds. Then we found frozen ground buffalo at Trader Joe's but they stopped carrying it. Now we buy it at QFC and Whole Foods where they always have it in stock, sometimes on sale. It's not cheap ($6-7/lb), but it's healthier than beef, in fact its nutritional content is better than many other meats. That is why we top off our buffalo meatloaf with lots of bacon. Nice, fatty, salty bacon, usually the good stuff from Niman Ranch (available at Trader Joe's). We've also modified the recipe for our son's allergies, so it has no common allergens other than gluten (experienced gluten-free cooks should have no trouble modifying the recipe). Enjoy! Photo on flickr.
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Friday, October 12, 2007

Retailer Target continues to rope in outside designers to keep up a trendy image. Keanan Duffty's new men's line for Target brings one of his role models, David Bowie, into the lower-price chain store. Duffty's men's collection debuts this weekend and includes a tuxedo, vest and pants inspired by the Thin White Duke persona, dress shirts and a trench coat inspired by "The Man Who Fell to Earth," and a button-down shirt imprinted with the lyrics to "Let's Dance." A $4.99 CD compilation of old and remastered Bowie songs will be sold alongside the clothing. (via Pitchfork)
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An enlightening pop-up book, The Book of Lights is a coffee table book that turns into a little lamp when you open it up, designed by Takeshi Ishiguro.
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Thursday, October 11, 2007

About ten years ago, two women in California found the selection of nail polish colors lacking and decided to do something about it. Sandy Lerner, co-founder of Cisco Systems, sought edgy, dark colors to match her alternative tastes. Dineh Mohajer, a pre-med student in L.A., wanted to duplicate the color of her pale-blue sandals onto her nails. The resulting two companies, Urban Decay and Hard Candy, triggered a late '90s nail polish phenomenon that took women far beyond the traditional reds and pinks. Urban Decay went hard core with color names like "Asphyxia" and "Plague", cementing a trend started by Chanel's blood-black Vamp polish, worn by Uma Thurman in 1994's Pulp Fiction (black polish was already of course a signature of certain punk and goth types). Mohajer's Hard Candy went soft and sweet, with a matching plastic pastel ring encircling their bottle tops and Clueless sensation Alicia Silverstone tossing the company a huge free ad with her baby blue nails on David Letterman.

In the years since, Urban Decay and Hard Candy were snapped up, at different times, by LMVH, the luxury goods conglomerate. Both were then sold to the Falic brothers who own Duty Free Americas. As we all know, fashion returns consistently back to old fads, so it's no surprise that Hard Candy has released a "vintage" line that includes their original pastels in new, less toxic formulations. Urban Decay seems to have left the nail polish biz to its sibling brand, but Chanel unveiled Satin Black, a Vamp for the new millenium, to great hype and shortages last fall. As for those two women who wouldn't settle for what was on the makeup shelves, Sandy Lerner retired to a spread in Virginia and Dineh Mohajer founded Goldie cosmetics.
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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Guardian has a spot-on article about the use of classical music in movies. "Handel indicates that the snobs have arrived, Mahler that someone is about to die, but not before pouting about it, and Wagner is a sure sign that big trouble's a-brewing...Vivaldi's ludicrously overplayed Four Seasons invariably indicates that the stuffed shirts are having brunch; Beethoven's Ode to Joy announces that Armageddon may be just around the corner; and anytime an aria by Verdi, Bellini or Puccini is heard, you can bet your bottom dollar that someone is going to get raped, stabbed, blinded, buried alive or impaled." It includes a list of the most overused works, starting unsurprisingly with Carmina Burana: O Fortuna, used "in every film trailer promoting motion pictures involving battle axes" and now "the biggest musical cliche of them all." (Sometimes trailers do get their very own score. Soundtrack.net has a list of the most frequently used trailer music in their database.)
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Much-lauded local restaurant The Herbfarm has redesigned their website and finally added official mention of new executive chef Keith Luce, though outgoing chef Jerry Traunfeld, who is opening is own place in Seattle, is still featured predominantly.
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Tuesday, October 09, 2007

The winner of this year's Half Moon Bay pumpkin weigh-in shattered the old record by almost 300 pounds. Thad Starr's 1,524 pound orange beast hails from Pleasant Hill, Oregon. But it still weighs less than the world record 1,689 pounder from Rhode Island.
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The story of the death of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis is, as the N.Y. Times aptly puts it "a sacred narrative to legions of cultish fans." Twenty-seven years later, Curtis' life and suicide has been made into a movie, Control, directed by Anton Corbijn, the photographer who took the band's iconic 1979 tube station photos (jpg). Sam Riley portrays Curtis, and sings the part as well. Another film being released soon, Joy Division, is a documentary directed by Grant Gee. It includes interviews with the band members who moved forward as New Order and visual proof of the group's role at a turning point of popular music.
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Monday, October 08, 2007

Tiny books, no more than 3 inches in height, width or thickness, are the special interest of the Miniature Book Society. Members are gathering in Seattle this coming weekend for their 25th annual conclave, in conjunction with the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair.
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In 2005, Steve Lopez of the L.A. Times followed the life of former Julliard student Nathaniel Ayers as he survived on the streets of skid row, playing beautiful music on a dirty violin with only two strings. The initial article brought offers of donations, including a cello, Ayers' preferred instrument. Lopez used the donated instruments to gradually guide Ayers into regular visits to a treatment center, hoping to convince him to accept help for the schizophrenia that had caused the promising musician to drop out of Julliard many years earlier. The story behind that series of articles has been turned into a screenplay, The Soloist, with Jamie Foxx signed on for the role of Ayers and Robert Downey Jr. as Lopez. Foxx, a classically trained pianist as his successful portrayal of Ray Charles demonstrated, is taking cello lessons in preparation.
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Friday, October 05, 2007

Serenity/Firefly star Alan Tudyk has raised hopes that a Serenity sequel is under discussion at Universal. Considering the original was a box office flop, the direct-to-DVD market is a likelier prospect. Fans of course don't care how they have to see or obtain it, they just want it to happen. (via every single Firefly blog in the 'verse)
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Most Fabergé eggs were created for the Russian royal family, a new one every Easter from 1885 to 1917. There are however a few that were designed for other clients, and one has surfaced in the French branch of the Rothschild family. Commissioned for the engagement of Germaine Halphen to Baron Edouard de Rothschild in 1902, the pink egg is a clock with a crowing cockerel. It will be auctioned off by Christie's in November, estimated price is £9 million.
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Thursday, October 04, 2007

Alex Ross points out a letter in Science magazine that describes two past studies on the musical preferences of Java sparrows. Birds were given a choice of different perches and picked Bach over the modern composer Schoenberg and silence. Perhaps the birds just weren't in the mood for dissonance.
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It's October, which means Christmas catalogs are arriving, heralding the holidays right around the corner. And right after that comes the New Year with the famous ball dropping in Times Square. That ball has been through various incarnations throughout the years. To celebrate 2008 and the 100th anniversary of the yearly tradition, the ball has gone green. In an upgrade close to my LED-loving heart, the ball is now lit with 9,576 light-emitting diodes. Last year's ball had 600 halogen and colored bulbs giving off 291,541 lumens and using 30,000 watts. The LEDs will shine brightly at 625,033 lumens and use about 15,000 watts. Waterford crystal panels are still being used to reflect and sparkle the light out to the millions who watch each year in person and on television.
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Wednesday, October 03, 2007

The Sankaty Head Lighthouse, a symbol of Nantucket, was in danger of falling into the Atlantic Ocean as the cliff eroded. The Sconset Trust, a local preservation group, has raised $3.5 million to move and restore it. The lighthouse, weighing 450 tons, was lifted off its foundation and is being pushed along on steel beams. At 62 inches every ten minutes it's slow going, but it should reach its new home at the end of the week. The Coast Guard will then put the beacon back into service.
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Why settle for fake, crystal bling when you can purchase a cell phone with 3.30 carats of geniune diamonds? Only 10 will be made of that model, but there are others available, and that very shiny 24 carat gold iPod too.
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A round-up of interesting elevators from deputydog. I'm scared of heights or I would've watched all the illustrative Youtube videos.
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Monday, October 01, 2007

Tutus, clean bathrooms, juice boxes, and bubbles ruled the day at another Baby Loves Disco event in Seattle. (website)
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"ChefDb is an ongoing project aimed at documenting the work history of chefs and restaurateurs from around the world." It's not a restaurant review site or yet another food blog, it's a ongoing documentation project that grew out of its creator's interest in cataloging all the establishments he had visited.
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I love finding news stories about goats being hired out as landscapers. Here's a bit from the NY Times. The National Park Service sent out a mass email in search of a “New York City Goat Herder” to clear brush at Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island. Larry Cihanek, who laughed when he saw the email, has provided goats from his family farm. They've been munching away at the fort's vegetation for a month, and Cihanek hopes to bring them back next year for more.
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