Winemakers are itching to sell their product to direct to consumers via the Internet and interstate shipments. Their distributors are fighting back, bringing up arguments such as easy availability of alcohol to underage drinkers. High profile litigators are working both sides. Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater prosecutor, is on tap for the wine industry. Robert Bork, 1987 Supreme Court nominee, has been hired by the liquor distributors. On one side there’s the argument that a ban on direct shipments is unconstitutional, inhibiting the freedom of interstate commerce. On the other, there’s Article 2 of the Constitution’s 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition and gave the states the power to decide how they want to handle the alcohol sales. On both sides, the motivation is clear: money. The fight may ultimately end at the Supreme Court.

Largely forgotten in the American press, the 14th anniversary of the Montreal massacre of 14 women at École Polytechnique was observed on Saturday in Canada. Here, as recounted by CBC News, is what occured on that horrible day:

On Dec. 6, 1989, Marc Lepine, 25, walked into the engineering school with a semi-automatic rifle and, according to witnesses, shouted “I want the women. I hate feminists. You’re all a bunch of feminists!” He separated the men from the women and opened fire on female engineering students. His shooting spree covered three floors and several classrooms. In total, Lepine shot 27 people, 13 of whom survived. He then shot himself.

Source: CBC archives for the Montreal Massacre. Thanks to Chris Corrigan‘s comment on BurningBird.

Unremarkable, boring, faceless, cookie-cutter? Such is the reputation of the ranch house, the most-built style of home in the 1940’s to the early 1970’s. They served to house the growing middle class in utilitarian 3bd/2ba practicality. As this style passes its 50 year mark, proponents of this “underdog of architecture” are pushing a renaissance of sorts. Ranch home owner Katherine Ann Samon wrote the book “Ranch House Style” after an unsuccessful search for reference material for updating her home. She’s become a champion for the style, which she purchased originally only after an unsuccessful attempt to acquire a Tudor house. I’m living in my third ranch house. I grew up in one in Connecticut, purchased one in California, and ended up buying one in the Seattle area. Many owners, myself included, would admit that if the pocketbook would allow, we’d be in different digs, but I have twice chosen the ranch, cookie-cutter of its time, over the cookie-cutter “McMansions” of this era. It’s possible I was attracted by the comfort of the only home I have ever known, but it must be noted that if there were a house to match the practical, no-nonsense nature of our lifestyle, the ranch would be it. (sources: N.Y. Times article on Katherine Ann Samon, Amazon.com details on Ranch House Style, L.A. Times article, read up on house styles at architecture.about.com)

Online luxury shopping is holding its own as the economy moves towards recovery. Retailers seem to be, as they say, cautiously optimistic about this holiday shopping season. BlueNile.com is selling items on the high end of its jewelry line, where one bauble goes for five or six figures. Amazon launched its luxury foods and jewelry stores (no news yet on how well they are doing). Makers of luxury goods with a reputation to uphold are still exerting control over their online retailers. Nambe and Waterford won’t allow merchants to sell their goods online unless they have a physical store where customers can see the merchandise. As the online luxury market grows, the posh brands may want to consider how they can offer superior customer service and retain their cachet in a completely virtual environment.

Is a Babylon 5 follow-up on the way? J. Michael Straczynski has hinted that something is in the works, “something of rather substantial proportion that’s finally gone from talk to money.” That sounds very promising, especially the money part.

Package designs from the early 20th century are displayed online at The American Package Museum. Some include 3-D views. There’s pimento Velveeta (“full of health from milk!”), Tootsie Rolls, the classic Ovaltine, and a McDonald’s coffee cup. (via Yahoo Picks)

Initialed accessories have been showing up on trendy items in stores, and in support of that fashion (and the fact that I finally finished reading Word Freak), the Seattle Times pointed out the availability of Scrabble tile jewelry. In a similar vein, vintage typewriter key jewelry is also available. Of course the typewriter keys include punctuation and symbols, whereas the Scrabble just has letters (and I don’t see any blanks!). Perhaps it’s time to put together some computer keyboard jewelry.

The SizeUSA project has scanned 10,800 men and women and their report on American body sizes is now complete. You can buy the full results for $20,000. Whether or not the clothing industry adjusts its sizing based on this new data remains to be seen. One point of information that the project director was willing to disclose is that although size 8 is considered a baseline size for American women, less than 10% of the women scanned for the survey met the definition for that size. Overall, Americans are getting taller and heavier, but the weight is increasing faster than the height, so the size proportions are no longer a good fit. Size of the machine, cost, and sheer practicality are keeping clothing stores from using the sizing scanner for creating customized clothing. I think we’ll have to cope with squashing or swimming our nonstandard physiques in the standard sizes for a while longer yet. (source: NY Times article)

Leaving California meant leaving the home of “It’s the Cheese” and “Happy Cows” promotions (though I never saw a talking cow and I never hope to see one). The commercials have followed me up north, but I am far away from my favorite places to buy cheese. But cheese is everywhere, and now Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, an artisan cheesemaker, has opened up shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Their milk comes from Cherry Valley Dairy, in Duvall.

The N.Y. Times Magazine published their excellent Design issue this past weekend and I’ll try to refrain from linking to every article. There’s a profile of Amy Smith of MIT who invents gadgets that improve life in developing countries, a slide show on the making of a $5,500 Hermès Kelly bag, examples of designs for political campaigns, a piece on Auldbrass, the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Yemassee, S.C., and an update (for me anyway) on the work designers Andy and Kate Spade are doing for Delta‘s low budget Song Airlines. And best of all, there’s a revealing look at how undergarment maker Warnaco hired design firm IDEO to examine how women shop for bras and suggest improvements for the lingerie department. The revealing part is that Warnaco execs don’t seem to think there is anything wrong with the design and selection of their bras; it’s just that they are hard to find. I say give IDEO a crack at getting rid of underwires.