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Acknowledgements
I'm taking a break from posting while I become all domestic for Thanksgiving. But first, I want to note that this weblog turned nine last week. Nine years! There are a few people I want to thank whose popular sites I don't cite here very often: Jason Kottke, Matt Haughey, Andy Baio, thank you for the readership, inspiration, and links. As always, I owe much of this output to my husband and son (who has no idea what mommy stays up doing long after he goes to sleep). Thank you to Seth and Halflab for being marvelous hosts. Thank you secret cabal who shall remain nameless. And a huge thank you to my readers!
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Monday, November 24, 2008
At Wellesley College, the carillon housed in Galen Stone Tower was a lovely addition to my day whenever the bells sounded with the alma mater or, even better, a rendition of a contemporary tune (the Sesame Street theme is one favorite). A student organization plays and maintains the 32-bell carillon and they held an open house this past Halloween (featuring the theme song from the Addams Family). The bells for Wellesley's carillon were made by Cyril Frederick Johnston, an English bell founder. His daughter Jill Johnston has written a biography of his life called "England's Child, The Carillon and the Casting of Big Bells." (Bonus link: play the virtual Yale Carillon in your web browser; Yale also has a student guild of carillonneurs)
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Last week's New Yorker Food issue has a profile (reg req'd) of Bob Kramer, Master Bladesmith. I recalled Greg Atkinson had written about Kramer's knives for the local paper's Sunday magazine a few years ago. While looking that up I discovered that, perhaps spurred on by the New Yorker publicity, the Seattle Times had just run a short write-up and slideshow of him working at his Olympia shop. Kramer used to be a cook, then turned to knife sales and sharpening, and then to knife making. There's a long wait for his pricey chef's knives which are composed of 1,800 layers of metal.
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Friday, November 21, 2008
The American Museum of Natural History in New York is opening a skating rink this weekend. It's made out of synthetic ice (saves energy) and will feature a 17-foot-tall polar bear made out of stainless steel.
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Book your spot on the Legoland Inside Tour, the real deal in Billund, Denmark. June 2009, 3 days of Lego insider info, time with the model designers, behind the scenes at Legoland, and of course a factory tour. (via BrainLog)
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Wednesday, November 19, 2008
A cat spent a weekend on a power pole in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood. Seattle City Light finally dispatched a two utility crews and two bucket trucks to get him down before someone else risked the 26,000 volts of electricity to do it. Photos.
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At Theo Chocolate in Seattle, Andy McShea uses his molecular biology background to make chocolate from actual cocoa beans. Other local chocolate makers are actually chocolatiers who start with purchased chocolate, not beans. He's truly making chocolate, like the folks down at Scharffen Berger (he doesn't have nice things to say about their parent company Hershey's), and he does it with fair trade and organic chocolate beans.
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Despite taking multiple precautions for fire-proofing their house, the Haroutounians of Yorba Linda, California still lost their home in the Orange County fires. A barrel tile roof, boxed eaves, brick and stucco siding and clean rain gutters may have helped stop the fire, but an ember got in an attic vent and all was lost. The vent had a mesh with quarter-inch holes. An eighth-inch hole mesh is recommended. Other fire hazards that can set off a house: wooden patio furniture, ornamental plants, mulch, and palm trees.
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Growing up in Connecticut, the Mystic Seaport was a popular field trip for social studies class. A maritime museum with an emphasis on 19th century seafaring life, the highlight of a Seaport visit is stepping aboard the Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaling ship in the world. At 167 years old, the ship has just been taken out of the water for restoration. The 3 year project actually began 10 years ago with the replacement of the shipyard's lift dock, needed to haul out the 340 ton Morgan. Wood from oak trees felled by Hurricane Katrina will be used for replacement lumber along with yellow pine scavenged from around the southeast. The N.Y. Times has an article and slide show on the impressive haul out.
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Monday, November 17, 2008
2008's Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree is in place in New York City, ready for holiday festivities. The 8-ton, 72-foot Norway Spruce came from New Jersey. After using it as their Christmas tree in a pot indoors for a few years, the Varanyak family planted the tree outside in the early 1930s. It was bundled up and cut down last week, then taken on a secret route out of town and into Manhattan, via the George Washington Bridge (neither tunnel into the city being big enough). I found a "bird's eye" view of the tree at its old home on Live Maps as I did with last year's tree. Popular Mechanics has an explanation of how it was hoisted upright and installed at Rockefeller Center. The tree will be lit on December 3rd.
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It's no surprise that Sharelle Klaus, founder of Seattle's DRY Soda, had just given birth to her fourth child when she came up with the idea of a nonalcoholic, not-so-sweet soda. The significant stretch of pregnancy plus nursing time is the longest I've gone as an adult without alcohol and Klaus was on #4. I mentioned DRY Soda here in 2005 and they've recently added Vanilla Bean and Juniper Berry to their flavor line-up. Their Pioneer Square headquarters has a tasting room with champagne flutes. No ice please. Fun fact: Klaus' signature is part of the minimalist design on the first four flavors, but the two new flavors instead feature the signatures of her first two employees.
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Friday, November 14, 2008
Toscanini’s belt driven ice cream maker heads off the N.Y. Times' tour of places for science lovers in Boston. The museums at MIT and Harvard are noted, alongside the famed Boston Museum of Science (you really can't beat a one million volt Van de Graaff generator demonstration for entertaining science). The recommendations are capped off with suggestions for places to rub shoulders with the local geeks including MIT hangout, Mary Chung's restaurant. (bonus image link: Make Way For Dumplings by Craig Swanson).
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The low tire pressure warning light in my Subaru came on yesterday; we think it's because of the dip in temperature. This was the second time I've seen the light. The first time my tire had picked up a nail. So I finally decided to look up how the sensor works, especially since I was complaining that it couldn't tell me which tire was low. The Subaru "tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS)" consists of a sensor and transmitter in each tire, connected to the valve stem, and a receiver under the driver's seat. The sensor batteries are expected to last 10 years or 100,000 miles. If the receiver doesn't receive four signals, the warning light will flash, and although each sensor does have a separate ID code, there's no method to determine where that tire actually is. All cars sold in the U.S. now must have TPMS and fancier cars do let you know which wheel is low.
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
In time for Thanksgiving, the TSA is adding a family lane to most airport security checkpoints. This line, while slower, will allow families with children to relax and take things at their own pace. Travelers with "medically necessary liquids" above the 3 ounce limit will also use the lanes. Our son became such an expert at removing his own shoes and listening to directions that we'd probably stick to the regular line, but multiply him by 2 or 3 at various ages and the line would be a huge relief.
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There was an actual, working farm close to our house in Mountain View, California. A relic in Silicon Valley's Santa Clara County, where at most you'll find a few acres of fruit trees retained for historical reasons, the farm on Grant Road was held in fond regard by locals. I used to stop by their fruit and veggie stand. Seth told me last week that the farm is now a vacant field. The owners sold it a couple years ago and it will likely become another cluster of too-close-together houses. The good news is that the farm's shiny windmill was dismantled and put back together at the Rengstorff House in Shoreline Park. It stands next to the replica tank house, providing an accurate picture of how water used to be stored for farm irrigation.
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The 'Studio of Exhaustion From Diligent Service' is the fancy name for the retirement home the Qianlong Emperor built within the Forbidden City, but never used much, preferring to keep close watch over his son's rule. The quarters were shut off and neglected when the City became a museum and the artwork within deteriorated over the years. A $3 million restoration, run jointly by the Palace Museum in Beijing and the World Monuments Fund, is now complete and will soon be open to the public. It reveals intricate craftsmanship, amazing both for its antiquity and its handiwork by present day artists who were brought in to recreate almost lost techniques.
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The Star-Spangled Banner, the large flag that reportedly inspired Francis Scott Key to write what became our national anthem, underwent a preservation project that began in 1998. Extensive and painstaking, including the hand removal of 1.7 million stitches to get rid of a linen backing, the restoration concluded in 2005. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, home of the flag, closed in 2006 for major renovations including the creation of a new gallery to display the flag in an environment that will continue to preserve it. The flag has such historical value that the museum was originally designed with it as its centerpiece, and the renovations maintain the flag's role as the primary attraction. Mary Pickersgill, her daughter, and two nieces created the 30 by 42 feet flag which flew at Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. 400 yards of cloth were used, each stripe being two feet wide, and Pickersgill pieced it together on the floor of a brewery. The U.S. Army paid her $405.90. Unlike today's respectful flag keeping, portions of it, including a star and full swath of the fly edge, were clipped off for souvenirs so it's now smaller.
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Monday, November 10, 2008
Asphalt, the sticky stuff used to pave roads, comes from the "bottom of the barrel" of crude oil, what remains after gasoline and other substances are removed. There's currently an asphalt shortage that has delayed road repairs across the U.S. Two factors are cited. One is oil refineries installing cokers which can refine lower grade crude oil into gas and diesel, bringing in more profits than asphalt leftovers. Second, refineries have also cut back production of a polymer that's added to asphalt to increase durability. Concrete producers may find their pricier alternative becoming more in demand for roads.
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Winterizing becomes a daunting challenge when you're in charge of 1,600 towers that carry high-voltage power to customers in New York. Con Edison workers inspect each tower for damage, pilfered grounding wire, damaged ceramic insulators (sometimes shot by frustrated deer hunters), and bird nests. Winter's snow, ice, and wind add extra stress. With the help of Lidar they track the distance between cables and trees and remove any that may take down a line.
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Thursday, November 06, 2008
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma aced his appearance on the Colbert Report. Doesn't everyone know that most classical musicians have a much better sense of humor than your average pop/rock star?
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Liberal Seattle wasn't an American flag-displaying kind of city -- until now. "With newfound patriotism, Seattleites want to wave the flag, hang it from their homes and stick it on their cars." It's everyone's flag again.
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Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Coming soon to the U.S. Iron Chef Wine. It's all about the branding y'know.
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Next year, King County Superior Court will file all legal paperwork electronically. The already dwindling bike courier profession is likely to shrink even further. When the federal courts eliminated paper documents, courier services were not longer used. However as a specialization, the few remaining bike courier companies may be able to charge more for this special service.
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Tuesday, November 04, 2008
A miscellaneous list of links for Election Day diversions. All inappropriately long to keep you from what you really want to be paying attention to:
And please, if you can, vote.
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Monday, November 03, 2008
As liquidation sales entice bargain hunters into "all sales final" deals, the S.F. Chronicle clues shoppers into what is really going on behind the scenes. Don't forget, liquidators are there to get as much money as they can for the creditors. Sometimes liquidators even bring in merchandise that wasn't even sold at the store, presumably to make the inventory look better. Prices aren't all that amazing at the beginning of the liquidation and, of course, the selection gets worse as they go down to true bargain territory. Shop around and don't make quick decisions, especially considering the inability to make returns.
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Berkeley Breathed has sent Opus off to a warm and loving nap spot. Clement Hurd, the illustrator of Goodnight Moon, owed his career in children's books to Margaret Wise Brown, the author of that same bedtime classic. Brown wrote a book, Bumble Bugs and Elephants, in 1938 specifically to showcase Hurd's talents. Their subsequent collaborations on The Runaway Bunny and Goodnight Moon anchored their place of honor in childrens' libraries. Years after his death in 1988, Clement Hurd made news again in 2005 when HarperCollins decided to remove the cigarette from his photo on Goodnight Moon. His estate agreed to the alteration (Hurd quit smoking in the 1950s) but some purists were not amused.
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