Food, glorious food…
The Exploratorium in San Francisco has started an Accidental Scientist series which focuses on the science in everyday life. Their first subject is the science of cooking. Now that’s something every kid can really sink his or her teeth into. From little bread yeasties to the bacteria that make the lactic acid in pickles, this website takes a multicultural look at how various foods are produced. There’s a fun tour of a lollipop factory and tips on making good barbecue.

If you weren’t pleased with the updated “Joy of Cooking”, Ethan Becker, the grandson of the book’s original author, agrees with you. He thinks the “committee of 100” approach in the 1997 edition took away much of the book’s family voice and left it less usable. Although he was listed as an author of that edition, he says the editor shoved his contributions aside. Critical information was not included, such as how to use different yeasts and the differences between types of flour. This time around, Becker and his wife will be taking the cookbook back to its family roots. No word on whether the porcupine, armadillo, raccoon, beaver, woodchuck, muskrat, and bear cooking instructions will return, but you know, there’s always the web to turn to. (full L.A. Times article available, registration req’d)

“Boston residents line up for ‘Big Dig’ tour” See, there’s actually something being built under there! 14.6 billion dollars of something. Meanwhile, discussion is open on what to do with the 25 acres of land on top of the tunnel that will be exposed when the Artery comes down.

In response to Monday’s book leasing post, a reader wrote in with the information that Brodart, a library services company in Williamsport, PA, has an outlet store. You can purchase previously leased, almost new books for cheap! So if you’re visiting the home of Little League Baseball you might want to try stopping in (or you know, you could make a special trip).

Dunkin’ Donuts, the ubiquitous New England landmark, used a similar tactic to Starbucks’ store clustering technique. Starbucks cannibalizes their own locations for long term gains. They’ll cheerfully open up stores close to each other and actually experience an increase in sales over time from increased awareness. They are their own advertising, effectively creating demand just by being everywhere. The article does discuss the risks of the tactic of opening too many stores too quickly and ends with a bit on a guy who is trying to visit every Starbucks in the world. I fear it may take several lifetimes.

A Washington Post article runs through the latest happenings with “shelter mags”. Looks like “House Beautiful” is aiming to shed some of its tony image and go after folks in the country too. But “Architectural Digest” and “House & Garden” are sticking to their luxurious guns. There’s a trial issue of a new design magazine called “Living Room” from the publishers of that old standby “Better Homes & Gardens”. This one isn’t for moms though. It’s aimed at single women in a first home of their own. But like its parent, it offers a mix of recipes, gardening tips, decorating, and crafts. Also coming out is “Chic Simple”, designed for a similar audience. This new arrival will likely be little more than a thinly disguised catalog of merchandise, shopping being the purported only way to get your home decorated, of course. It’s neat, though, that there are magazines aimed at women who have their own money to spend on what they want (and it’s not clothes or cosmetics). Fancy that!

September 24th is a CD release day chock full of goodies. The CD from the Buffy musical episode will be released (it’s an “Original Cast Album”!). Bonus tracks include music from some key episodes like “Hush” and a demo of one of the musical’s songs sung by Joss Whedon and his wife. Also on the 24th, the long-awaited Peter Gabriel album will finally see daylight. Check out this collected timeline of events that led to the release of “Up”. And another almost equally long-awaited album (though I didn’t know until today that I was waiting for it) is Alison Moyet‘s first release in 8 years, “Hometime”, which will also hit the shelves that day. And if you can’t wait for those, Aimee Mann‘s new album “Lost In Space” was released today.

If you haven’t been by to visit monkey in a while (and why not?), well he’s developed a new exercise program to supplement his Cuisinart stairmaster routine. Observe the freestyle aerobic and wrestling movements developed expressedly for creating a yummy sorbet in a zippy sack. No doubt monkey wanted to look svelte for his photo exhibit at Artists For Tibet.

On the “new fiction” shelves of our library I noticed many red stickers on the book spines that said “B&T;”. Intrigued, I looked closer and found one book that had a sticker with a full name “Baker & Taylor Leasing“. Ahhh, a clever idea I had not noticed at the other libraries I used to frequent. A library can lease popular titles when everyone wants to read them and not have to buy so many copies. I imagine that with advanced notice, leasing can be planned into a library budget quite effectively. As I was talking about it with my husband we discussed how this would be perfect for computer titles since those often become obsolete as quickly as the processors and software they are written for. When a software package or tool is new and popular, many people would like to learn about it at the same time, and as soon as possible, but later on only one copy is really necessary. So it’s not a surprise to find that Baker & Taylor also provides a “Computer Book Leasing System.”

Good news. The media, apparently realizing that the public is catching on to all those celebrity drug endorsements (I wrote about Rob Lowe shilling for Amgen last month), is starting to be more upfront about their interviewees. The NY Times reports that CNN has a new policy to disclose their guests’ financial ties with companies if they wish to talk about a medical issue. Other networks are considering being more careful as well. A senior vice president at CBS says they will also start asking celebrities to reveal any financial connections to drugs they may be promoting.

At ABC they did ask Peggy Fleming’s representatives if she was pitching a drug when she came on to talk about heart disease. ABC claims they were told she was not, nevertheless, their interviewer was prepared with competing drug brand names when Fleming dropped the name of the cholesterol-reducing drug she takes. The drug company claimed ABC’s producer was clearly told ahead of time, but who can you believe? Luckily, it is easy to always question the validity when a celebrity mentions a name of a product that they claim to use. Don’t take advice from strangers. Celebrities, as much as you may think you know them, aren’t your friends unless you really do know them personally.

PalmPilots may be native, but the trees aren’t
When I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area I didn’t give much thought to the palm trees that dotted the landscape here and there. Hey, it’s California. But when I was told that they were not native to the area, I started taking note of them. These symbols of California life have been imported into the landscape of the Bay Area. The California Fan Palm is the only palm tree native to western North America and its natural range is farther south. But some Californians like their palm trees and they brought them up north to retain that sunny lifestyle. Once I drove a visiting, wide-eyed 12 year old girl around as she pointed out palm trees while exclaiming “Look! I’m really in California!” I didn’t have the heart to tell her they weren’t actually native. So how do these palms get transplanted all over? Palm dealers, of course. Real estate developers, landscapers, hotel builders get their palms from Sea Crest Nursery, “California’s largest palm purveyor”. These dealers also keep an eye out for palms as they travel, watching for mature plants that could use relocation away from power lines or construction. It’s not surprising that the Bay Area’s population diversity extends to the flora. I could go on about the Eucalyptus too.