Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as the governor of California with wife, Maria Shriver, holding a 192-year-old Kennedy family Bible. However, it was not the bible used when John F. Kennedy took his oath as President. That one was actually a Fitzgerald family Bible, brought over from Ireland. It is described on the Kennedy Library website: “The Bible is an 1850 Edition of the Douay English translation containing a handwritten chronicle of the Fitzgerald family from 1857, including a record of the birth of John Fitzgerald Kennedy on May 29, 1917.”

Tuesday marks the Fourth Anniversary of GirlHacker’s Random Log. That’s a lot of posts. All this week, I’ll be wandering through the archives to follow up on topics that catch my eye.

Four years later, dotslash.org no longer redirects to slashdot.org. However, someone did purchase the domain backslashdot.org, though they haven’t turned it into the “renegade DOS news log” that I facetiously proposed. (original post 12/16/99)

Dateline November 29, 1999: Wired reports that Montblanc refuses to sell pens online. Authorized retailers with online sales operations were ordered to cease selling Montblancs on the Internet. Montblanc marketing exec Eric Werner said: “Luxury by its very nature is not ubiquitous, and that’s why by its very nature it doesn’t make sense for it to be on the Internet.” Any changes four years later? Still plagued by fakes and feeling the need to control their luxury image, Montblanc’s website states that their products can be obtained only through authorized retailers, and that any products purchased online, advertised as Montblanc, may be counterfeit, second-hand, or damaged. I found a few official retailers with online stores who do include Montblanc in their listings, but they are accompanied by directions to “please call for more information.”

However, luxury online retailer, Ashford.com, which survived the dot bomb, at least in name, is still selling discounted Montblanc pens, Cartier & Piaget watches. Ashford survived an SEC scandal in 2002. Amazon.com took a $10 million stake in Ashford in late 1999 and in March of 2000 essentially helped Ashford make their numbers look better by writing up their deal a particular way. The SEC was not amused, but did not charge Amazon with wrongdoing and merely gave them a slap on the wrist. Ashford.com execs paid penalties. The company was eventually purchased by Global Sports (later renamed GSI Commerce) and then sold in 2002 to Odimo Incorporated, owner of sites such as diamond.com. Amazon has just launched a beta of its own jewelry and watch shop. (original posts: 11/29/99 & 12/1/99)

In his Manhattan loft, violinist Joshua Bell has a specially designed round table that pops up to reveal four music stands, perfect for hosting a string quartet. Bell is an avid collector of music memorabilia, with a violinist focus of course. Autographs, photos, letters, and manuscripts are displayed like works of art. He owns a wooden Art Nouveau music stand that belonged to the renowned violin teacher Ivan Galamian. But until he makes a dent in payments for his apartment and $4 million Stradivarius, he’s been holding off on adding much to his collection. (source: N.Y. Times Home & Garden)

For the first time ever, women made up the majority of applicants to U.S. medical schools for the 2003-2004 school year. 17,672 of almost 35,000 applicants were female. Since 1997, the number of male applicants had been declining, but it leveled off this year. The National Library of Medicine has an online exhibit devoted to Elizabeth Blackwell, the first American woman to receive a medical degree.

Blogger’s “scheduled maintenance” of “a few hours” started at 11pm on Wednesday and outlasted even my tolerance for staying up to the wee hours. Here’s my (unarchived) link of the day: A scientist from Spain’s Basque region has invented
electronic finger nails that change color electronically. It’s done with “layers of different electrochromic polymers” and the system includes a color-matching camera and pre-visualization screen. But will it have that perfect pearly shimmer? (via Gizmodo)

Here’s another photo of a cute baby hippo, just six days old.

A new item for my book wishlist: A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove by Laura Schenone is “A History of American Women Told Through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances.” Fifty recipes and numerous historical photos accompany the stories of women throughout the history of America, from various backgrounds, ethnicities, and eras.

Apparently my home state of Connecticut has attracted a number of boutique chocolate makers. The N.Y. Times rounded up five chocolate makers for an article titled “Home Sweet Home to Chocolate Makers.” Closest to my hometown are Deborah Anne’s Homemade Chocolates in Ridgefield where butter crunch, truffles, caramel and turtles are most popular, and Knipschildt Chocolatier in Norwalk where elegant ganache-filled truffles are available to wholesalers. Further afield are the Belgique Patisserie & Chocolatier in Kent, Bridgewater Chocolate in Brookfield and Munson’s Chocolates in Bolton. All hail the chocolate nutmeg state.