15 things you must do for your baby, the latest science has to offer on infants. (via BabyChic101)

A quick look behind the scenes at the Food Network now located on the upper floors of Chelsea Market. (via Saute Wednesday)

Berkeley bookstore Cody’s is opening a large store in San Francisco near Union Square, next to Virgin Records Megastore. I find this pleasantly surprising considering the economic environment for independent booksellers. It seems that every time my husband makes a trip back to the Bay Area he reports another bookstore closing. We lamented over Stacey’s closing in the South Bay and are agonizing over whether Kepler’s can hang on. On the other coast, my brother reports that Wordsworth, my favorite bookstore in Harvard Square, has closed. Here’s a summary history of bookselling in the U.S.

Update on the stroller skating news…apparently the guy with the microphone was a radio reporter (that makes so much sense now). They posted the story on their website and it took me a while to realize that the person on the right in the fuzzy photograph is ME. See the blurry Blogger logo on my shirt? You can’t see our little munchkin at all but he’s in there. I guess I’ll keep recording KING news to see if they run their story (yay for Tivo).

A TV news camera man and later on a reporter with a microphone were at Bellevue’s Skate King for the stroller skating session I attended Tuesday. If you’re watching local Seattle news and see someone on inline skates roll by wearing a Blogger sweatshirt and pushing a Graco Metrolite, that’s me. Both KOMO and KING were supposed to show up so I’m not sure who was there and if/when they’ll run a story. They interviewed a few moms and the guy with the mike spent some time holding it near the rink floor, perhaps to capture that rolling sound for atmosphere. Apparently they were there last week but with the holidays only 3 skaters attended so they left (we showed up late last week and missed them entirely, but ended up with a “private” skating session since the few people there left early). I was just happy that they played “Dancing Queen” this time!

Celebrities deserve privacy and celebrity babies even more so, but but but … LOOK it’s a photo of David Letterman and his SON!!! Aren’t they cuuuuuute? OK, let’s leave them alone now.

Harvey Fierstein planned to take a lengthy rest after leaving “Hairspray,” but instead he’s stepping into the role of Tevye, “the ultimate Jewish father,” in “Fiddler on the Roof.” In an interview with the NY Times Fierstein recounts auditioning for the creators of the musical and enduring the emotional turmoil of the role.

Food for thought: Can we ever retire the phrase “how would you explain this to your mom?” when asking technology developers to describe their products in easy to understand terms? How about “how would you explain this to your grandmother?” Is there always new technology that the typical mom or grandma won’t understand? Is this used in other fields? And just how sexist is this question?

Shirley O. Corriher, author of “Cookwise,” is four years late delivering “BakeWise.” The reason (from the NY Times)? “For the last two years, she has been stuck on the cake chapter.” She’s taking her sweet time experimenting with goodies like pound cake and tunnel-of-fudge cake, aiming for the perfect concoction with science as her guide. Fans of Alton Brown‘s “Good Eats” will remember Shirley from many episodes, sitting at his counter holding styrofoam balls riddled with tacks or shopping at the market for the most appropriate ingredients. She (and her publisher, I’m sure!) hope the new book will be available in 2005.

$50,000 plus her previous cat’s DNA == a thrilled woman in Texas. Genetic Savings and Clone made their first sale, a Maine Coon cloned for a woman who greatly missed the cat she spent 17 years with. She claims the kitten is just like her previous one, saying it loves water and jumped right into her bath, not very catlike. However, Maine Coons love playing with water, so it’s a trait of the breed not just her cat. Although I’m a “pick a pet at the pound, fer-goodness-sake!” person, it makes more sense to me to clone a difficult to replicate mutt who happened to turn out wonderfully rather than duplicate a purebred. Then again, cats all have their own unique personalities…all the more reason to find a new character to love — at the humane society fer-goodness-sake!