A little photo tour of the Tillamook Cheese factory from pb. When I don’t supervise the cheddar buying, this ends up in our fridge. It’s not bad.

History of hockey goalie masks from the site of a custom mask painter. Goaltenders were considered cowards to even think of wearing one, but Plante would often say “If you jump from an airplane without a parachute, is that considered an act of bravery?” (via LarkFarm)

Some colleges are building residence halls with an emphasis on private, single rooms. Students unaccustomed to sharing their bedrooms will pay a little more to not have a roommate or two. The college administration would like to keep upperclassmen on campus to be a part of student life instead of moving into apartments. On the other side of the coin, some colleges are emphasizing shared living, trying to counteract students turning to more solitary pursuits on their computers.

Martha speaks! Jeffrey Toobin paid a visit to Martha Stewart at her Westport home for The New Yorker. Toobin is a New Yorker staff writer, legal analyst for ABC News, a Harvard Law School graduate, and author of books covering the scandals of Clinton and O.J. Simpson. One can imagine that if Stewart is dragged into further legal troubles with her unfortunately timely sale of ImClone stock, another Toobin book could be forthcoming. For now, though, the article is enough, with descriptions of his friendly tour of Turkey Hill and a multi-course Chinese meal served with silver chopsticks, interspersed between the background facts and events of the stock sale. Stewart’s publicity advisers, hoping to counteract the negative stories, allowed Toobin to interview her regarding her feelings about the investigation. For those familiar with the Martha persona, there isn’t much new here. Her detailed oriented personality blazes through, as does her pride for her accomplishments and surroundings. Her determination, which brought her riches, will see her through what lies ahead.

Reader Marc sent in a link about an upcoming Food Network series called “Spy Chefs.” No, not “spa chef”, “spy chef.” Penciled in for the 2003 season, the show features Seattle chefs Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau disguised in silly outfits (female impersonation seems to be a favorite), sneaking into top restaurants, and later recreating what they had to eat. Behind the silly hijinks is the concept of taste memory and discovering what needs to be done to prepare a dish in order to recreate something you mainly recall from taste and smell. If the pilot episode works for test audiences, “Spy Chefs” will join Alton Brown on the humorous side of the Food Network.

Marc also sent along Scientific American’s look at the USDA’s Food Pyramid. The article goes into depth on each section of the pyramid, describing simplifications and fallacies. In creating a tool that is easy to use, the pyramid creators left much unsaid about real nutrition and unwittingly created corollaries like “starch is good” and “all fats are bad.” Potato, mostly starch, is listed as a vegetable. Dairy products like milk are over-emphasized. The article’s authors have created an enhanced pyramid which distinguishes between whole grains and processed starches, and different types of oil.

The current space shuttle mission had been delayed for so long that I began to think they wouldn’t get to go until the space station was a bustling community of colonists. Station assembly missions continued taking priority over research. But now that they’re finally up, let’s take a look at what they’re up to. There are over 80 experiments on board, and 30 of those come from NASA’s Office of Biological and Physical Research. Most of their projects, not surprisingly, involve living in space, especially effects on the human body, but there are also experiments that may improve earthquake safety and firefighting techniques. Accompanying the astronauts onboard are an ant colony from Syracuse, NY, spiders from Melbourne, Australia, carpenter bees from Liechtenstein, Medaka fish from Japan, and silkworms from China. Those are all student experiments, mostly studying the effects of weightlessness on the creatures. I doubt they have enough silkworms for this, but wouldn’t it be neat to have a hanky spun in space?

Yesterday’s NY Times’ Patents column concentrated on new cosmetic industry patents. Maybelline has patented their “lash building” mascara, which applies tiny fibers to eyelashes in order to plump them up. It contains “thousands of little tube-shaped rayon fibers about a half-millimeter in length” and is also supposed to lengthen lashes. In 2002, L’Oréal patented a skin lightening cream which is marketed to eliminate under-eye circles. The main ingredients are also used in laundry detergents to brighten colors, and in existing skin bleaching products for liver spots and scars. These two patented products have something more in common than being cosmetics. The mascara is being marketed to Asian women to specifically address our “short, stubby lashes.” And the skin lightener is touted in the patent as being “particularly effective on Asian skin.” They don’t just mean under-eye circles, they mean the entire face. It’s the westernization of Asian beauty as chronicled by the patent office.

Beyond the cats cradle string game, “World-Wide Webs: String Figures From Around the World.” (via Yahoo’s What’s New)

No, it’s not a link to the Borg Collective, it’s a showcase of wearable computing setups. (via Nooface)