A locomotive floated across New York Harbor yesterday on the way to its new home in Riverside Park South. The sixty year old engine is a model S1 switcher “which sorted out cars and assembled whole trains at all hours and in all weather.” It was manufactured by the American Locomotive Company in 1946 for the Erie Railroad and in 1967 came to work in the Brooklyn harbor yard. To become park-ready the locomotive was stripped of multiple layers of lead paint and given the distinctive black and yellow colors of the New York Central Railroad. It was donated by the Cross Harbor Railroad for $30,000, the engine’s scrap metal cost. Becoming the centerpiece of a new park and a symbol for rail era is a worthy retirement for a hard-working locomotive.

Cutest local news item today: Blue-footed booby sighted in Skagit County. It doesn’t have blue feet because it’s not grown up, but the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says it’s a blue-footed booby. “The first sighting in Washington state since 1935.”

It’s certainly a new weblogging world out there when I receive a press release announcing a new weblog. Vancouver’s Opus Hotel (of Oscar gift bag fame, which is why I’m on their PR list) has started up a blog written by their General Manager, Daniel Craig. When I first read the press release I shrugged it off and almost deleted it (regular readers know my style isn’t to post just any old news item and certainly not any old PR item — oh, and definitely not in hopes of a free hotel room). But the GM’s Blog is interesting reading and while of course he speaks highly of his employer, it’s not marketing speak, just good marketing. He admits that their PR firm has convinced him to sanitize a few postings, so he’s not uncensored, but hopefully they “get” what this is all about. HotelChatter is keeping an eye out for other hotel blogs.

Old technology delivered in a fishwrap? Sounds like an iffy proposition, but IMedia is distributing CD-ROMs in two major newspapers’ Sunday editions. So far the Dallas Morning News is happy with the endeavor. Their first disc was used 302,000 times and their circulation is 625,000. Readers are spending around 20 minutes looking at the CD which focuses on entertainment content such as movie previews, music samples, video games and comics. The New York Daily News is rolling out the discs in October. Apparently in Great Britain the CD strategy is so commonplace that users expect them in their weekend papers. I’d never get around to using the CD, especially since I’m usually on my laptop which doesn’t have a built-in drive. But I’m constantly looking through newspaper websites so I’d rather see efforts put into making those compelling and profitable.

Martha Stewart’s putting her “personal nightmare” to rest having agreed with the SEC to pay $195,000 and limit her executive responsibility at her company. This settlement of the civil insider-trading claims avoids another embarrassing public trial and she did not have to admit to any wrongdoing. Her previous prison time was for lying during the investigation, not punishment for the actual insider trading allegations.

The Seattle Times is running three days of investigative reporting on glass artist Dale Chihuly whose filing of copyright lawsuits has opened his business practices to scrutiny and criticism. Day one focuses on the overall business, the building and marketing of the Chihuly brand, the company’s sales practices and factory production methods. Accompanying material includes an informative slideshow on the different methods of creating glass art. Day two hones in on Chihuly’s clever deals with charitable organizations who purchase his work for resale. Finally, day three gets to the trigger for all of the inquiry, the lawsuits and speculation on why he decided to take two fellow artists to court. The overall message is clear: Chihuly Inc. is a business, a successful one that has taken full opportunity from (some would say advantage of) PBS and philanthropic partnerships. They will protect their assets as a business would and do what it takes to keep the money coming in and their products at high value.

Caterpillars. Lots of them. No, it’s not the 1980s gypsy moth invasion again, it’s just the normal lifecycle of the moths and butterflies in a Connecticut backyard. David Wagner, associate professor of ecology at UConn, seeks out the variety of caterpillars behind his house and claims he’s seen more than 1,000 species out there. The NY Times article includes some of his photos and a video of him beating tree branches to toss insects onto a sheet for study. Caterpillars are difficult to research and catalog; “dead caterpillars do not keep well” and you have to rear them to adulthood to fully identify them. Surprisingly “there are well-known moths whose caterpillars have never been seen by science.” Dr. Wagner’s book “Caterpillars of Eastern North America” covers 600 species. Some entomologists keep online listings of caterpillars of various regions, and then there are the hobbyists such as JavaJane, a Brit who has created a North American version of her popular What’s this Caterpillar site.

Jane & Michael Stern (authors of “Roadfood”, columnists for Gourmet Magazine, etc.) launched Roadfood.com in 2000 and it has flourished: “We are now averaging 1/4 million unique users each month and over 2 million page views per month.” In an email interview with Michael and webmaster Stephen Rushmore, the OJR reveals the genesis of the website, its business model (lack thereof), and content generation. In related discoveries, Jane Stern’s autobiographical book “Ambulance Girl” (which I enjoyed) was actually turned into a TV movie in 2005 starring & directed by Kathy Bates.

Gloria Steinem’s memoirs were due in 2000 but she had yet to find time to write them. Knowing she had to “do something drastic,” Steinem retreated this summer to HedgeBrook, a 48 acre haven for women writers on Whidbey Island, not far from Seattle. There along with six other residents she has the solitude she needs to put her 35 years at the front lines of the fight for women’s rights into the form of a book. Each evening they share a meal prepared by Hedgebrook’s chef (other meals are also provided) and once a week they share their work. The Seattle Times recently printed another (less famous) author’s experiences at Hedgebrook (free registration to read but cypherpunk/cypherpunk works).

In news sure to shock no one, the Disney Channel movie phenomenon High School Musical is, yup, now a high school musical available for licensing. The first licensed amateur production takes the stage this month at performing arts camp Stagedoor Manor. Other high school aged productions are in the works. Middle school aged fans (the true target demographic for the movie, or at least the one that will readily admit to it) can license a one-act version geared to their abilities.