I enjoy a research challenge. Ned makes note of the immensity of the upcoming Harry Potter book. But Amazon doesn’t list the hefty tome’s weight. The Canadian edition, printed on 100% post-consumer recycled, processed chlorine free paper, is 768 pages long and weighs 2.09 lbs. The Royal Mail in Great Britain is promising overnight delivery of the 1kg (2.2lbs) book, printed on extra-light paper, and is prepared to cope with the demand. In the U.S. the 896 page book tips the scales at 2.8 lbs.

Everything you could ever want to know about the history and making of butter is in the WebExhibit on butter. Who knew there was so much to know about butter? Farm wives would use butter as cash, exchanging their home-churned product for mechandise at the general store. Butter has been stored and shipped in wooden barrels, casks, tubs, and eventually paraffin paper and parchment. During the Yukon gold rush, butter was packaged in cans to keep fresh for shipment to Alaska. Of course there are butter collectibles: butter molds.

Last year I linked to news of a new tiny watermelon called the PureHeart. Patented by Syngenta Seeds, the PureHeart is now available in 30 states. But it has competition coming up. The Bambino, from Seminis Vegetable Seeds, is expected in stores by the end of the summer. These tiny melons were created the old fashioned way: crossbreeding. Other premium fruits and veggies are under development by the two companies like colorful carrots, sweeter canteloupes, and better tomatoes. (source: NY Times)

I’m on a business trip. Back next week.

A recursive weblog link
There was a “Garfield” Atari video game in the works in 1984, so writes the geeky person I married. Pick up lasagna and other foods, get fatter, avoid Odie and mice. Just like real life.

A tiny bit of sleuthing
Martha’s PR machine had marthatalks.com registered on June 2, 2003, all ready to go for her indictment. The domain is owned by Citigate Sard Verbinnen who provide “strategic corporate, financial and crisis communications counsel and services.” Meanwhile, Sandra Goroff, a publicist for authors had marthaspeaks.com registered on April 1, 2003. It may be a completely different martha, but I was intrigued by possibility that someone had registered a domain in hopes of making a bid to help out. The New York Daily News speculated that the FBI was checking out marthatalks for “juicy tidbits.” The article also claims that Stewart’s attorneys may be gathering information on the right types of people to select for jurors. It’s a strange world wide web sometimes.

It’s difficult to describe the difference between home-cooked ethnic food and typical ethnic restaurant food unless you’ve truly experienced both. I have to blame my mother’s cooking for making my best friend’s first experience at P.F. Chang’s her last. When I eat Indian or Thai food in a restaurant I always wonder what the real home-food experience would be like. Living in the Bay Area with its large population of Indian immigrants, we have a healthy selection and range of Indian foods to try. But even when the place is devoid of Caucasians, I have to wonder: is this anything like home? Even the very popular dosa restaurant we go to is a chain from India, which doesn’t translate to home cooking. Our local paper has pointed out three places that offer “home-style Indian comfort food.” One, Annadaata, is a delivery service offering “$5 meals on wheels.” Popular for lunch delivery to companies and “home before you are” dinners, the meals may not be just like mom’s, but the pricing and convenience make up for any difference.

Though she chronicled extraordinary and horrible circumstances, Anne Frank was at heart a writer, and under happier circumstances would have continued to write tales from her life and imaginary lives. The book “Anne Frank’s Tales from the Secret Annex” contains short stories and reminiscences which illustrate the ongoing practice of her writing skills. Now an exhibit at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will display notebooks and papers of Anne’s writing. Director Sara Bloomfield succeeded in tricky negotiations to allow these works to be part of the 10th anniversary of the museum’s opening. The small, but significant set of papers rescued from the Secret Annex that will be on display include three of her original notebooks, the third volume of her diary, loose pages from her edited diary, and her photo album.

Twenty-five years of that fat, oranged cat with stripes. Yup, Garfield is still with us and celebrating a quarter century. Creator Jim Davis continues on with the lasagna obsessing, spider-smashing, and Odie bashing. His ambition is to “write that one gag that makes the whole world laugh.” Because the Garfield universe is timeless, Davis can work far in advance. He’s currently working on strips for next summer. That’s around the time a feature-length film about the grumpy kitty is scheduled for release.

(It seems to be NY Times week here!) The second article in the NY Times’ series on the creation of a Steinway piano delves into the genesis of the sounding board. Piano No. K0862’s board is comprised of about 15 strips of spruce, selected from a pile of wood, the majority of which was rejected for miniscule imperfections. Only the slowly grown, stronger grained wood is allowed in the soundboard. The article also goes into some history of the Steinway workers and the company’s continued reliance on hand manufacturing while competitors sell pianos, some with higher price tags, made mostly with machines. Last week, the Times also published an article on the pianos exhibited in museums. There is actually a Museum of the American Piano in Manhattan where you can see various incarnations of keyboards and cases.