MusicTheory.net has a bunch of nice Flash tutorials on notation, scales, intervals, triads, chord progressions, and other foundations of music.

Around ten years ago, at the ramp-up of the Internet boom, the start-up I was at leased space in the same downtown San Mateo building as Headspace, a company founded by Thomas Dolby (who most people know as the “Blinded Me With Science” guy though there’s more to his music than that catchy fluff). I knew Headspace eventually became Beatnik but I lost track of them in the 100 mph exit ramp of the bust. Turns out they survived and are now the leading provider of audio software for cell phones. Dolby’s been in the news since he’s touring right now (he’s in Portland today, Seattle on Saturday) but has no album plans, releasing what he wants when he wants to on his website. He has an instrumental on the Mission Impossible III soundtrack, and his weblog is good reading with tour notes and this earlier musing on his music shed.

…Oh, you’re still here? What? You’re waiting for celebrity interaction stories? OK, fine. Thomas Dolby showed me how to use the thermostat in our office. Fun times. And after we moved to a different building I ran into him and a colleague at a restaurant and I did a classic “Oh hi! I know you, you’re …” and he looked at me with that guarded “Oh no, she’s an obsessive FAN” look in his eyes, which turned into a happy relieved look when I said “those Headspace guys!” We chatted briefly about how our respective companies were still in business and that was that.

Queen Elizabeth turns 80 this month and the royal website lists 80 facts about Her Majesty. One is that her jewelry collection includes “the largest pink diamond in the world.” I confess that I’ve actually studied her treasure trove of jewelry, thanks to a few books on the subject, and I don’t recall a pink diamond. I’d be one to remember a pink jewel. But the web is its own treasure trove, so this information hole is easy to solve. Assuming she hasn’t recently acquired a new pink stone, the diamond must be the Williamson Pink, nicely set in a flower brooch. The round-cut gem weighs in at 23.6 carats. However, the Darya-i-Nur (Sea of Light) diamond, part of the Iranian royal jewels is estimated to be 182 to 186 carats. The Steinmetz Pink is 59.60 carats, cut down from 100. The Williamson Pink diamond weighed 54.5 carats prior to being cut, so there must be a missing qualifier to that “largest” fact.

Are Robeez and Bobux baby shoe styles a little too sweet for your fashion sense? Perhaps you should peruse the selection at PsychoBaby where you can outfit tiny toes in Mom or Dad tattoo styles, skull and crossbones (the pink ones are wearing a bow), and baby hi-top Chucks. Awwww! (via Blogging Baby)

Creating a claymation computer game seems kinda silly until you realize that kinda silly is fine critera for a good game. I had overlooked The Neverhood, released in 1996, but Pavel told me about it recently. I’m surprised that it escaped my attention since I was actually paying attention to PC games back then and this one was out of the ordinary. It used actual stop-motion clay animation to create an environment for an adventure, puzzle solving game. Platypus, currently available for download, is a shooting game with hand-molded graphics. I’ve got some play-doh on the shelf, so watch out.

A nice lighting blog. LEDs are really catching on.

David Lebovitz (pastry chef and food blogger) visited the KitchenAid factory in Ohio and wrote up a report with photos too. “KitchenAid is the only company in America which still makes countertop appliances in the United States.” I always wonder if there are lots of people out there who buy a new color KitchenAid when they remodel their kitchen. I’m sure there are a few. And is there anyone who actually collects all the colors?

Beverly Cleary turns 90 in April and all her 39 of her books are still in print. She’s sold 91 million copies — so far. She hints that her last book 1999’s “Ramona’s World” may truly be the last saying that although she has some notes on a new one she has no plans to write it and “it’s important to know when to stop.” Cleary has, however, agreed to a Ramona movie.

Operetta for preschoolers? Well it’s not highbrow culture, but the NY Times takes note of Nickelodeon’s new “Wonder Pets” series for its unique all-musical format. Of course music and singing is old hat for children’s shows, but “Wonder Pets” is completely music driven, with the animated characters singing their parts. An orchestra plays the original score, so these are not synthetic or pared down accompaniments. A guinea pig, turtle, and duckling star in the series, helping other animals in need. They have day jobs as classroom pets so the singing rescue gigs take place after school. I have yet to hear “Wonder Pets,” but this makes me think back to the old Looney Tunes use of classical music and those wonderful opera parody episodes.

There were plentiful piles of organic and regular bananas at Trader Joe’s this weekend, but there was also a little sign warning of a “worldwide banana shortage.” Their orders were coming up short but, the sign reassured me, they were doing their best to procure the necessary supply of bananas. Of course what I got out of the sign was “research project!” First, we go to Australia where a cyclone has destroyed 95% of the country’s $350 million banana crop. Sydney is soon expected to suffer from “an acute banana shortage.” But this is a situation I assume is contained to Australia and while I certainly want The Wiggles to always have yummy fruit salad (that was a toddler parent joke), I have selfish motives. So let’s find some news on bananas in the Americas. A November tropical storm destroyed 2100 hectares of bananas in Honduras. Weather has also affected the crop in Ecuador with heavy rainfall and cloud coverage. These conditions also make the plants more prone to the black sigatoka fungus. So it may be a season of higher prices for consumers. By the way, if you’ve heard a rumor about bananas becoming extinct in 10 years, Snopes reveals only a little truth in the tale.