Charles Nichols of Stanford has designed a “virtual bow” to allow violinists to create more musical expression with computer generated music. It captures the distance of the bow to the bridge, pressure, speed, and, of course, the angle to determine which string is (or strings are) being played. This also translates to the “vertical, rotational, horizontal and longitudinal motion of the bow.” The hopeful result is a more emotional rendering from a computerized performance. Next up, a touch pad for the “neck” so that the full range of notes can be played. More info, including construction details and photos of the virtual bow are available in PDF format on Nichols’ website.

Things I’ve Learned From Bad Dreams (#2 in a series)

Using a tissue to apply mascara is inefficient and often ineffectual.

If instead of check-in counters they have little check-in kiosks in the middle of airport hallways, you can get a faster running start towards your gate. You’ll still miss the plane, of course.

Asking your waiter to create a pink clam chowder for you by combining Manhattan and New England clam chowder may seem like a good idea, but the end result will be interesting — the bad kind of interesting.

If a friend comes to you and asks “Can I build a Millenium Falcon in your backyard?” don’t think it over too hard. Don’t worry about what the neighbors will think or if you’ll need some sort of permit. Just say “Sure, why not!” (more pictures).

A couple years ago, I was fascinated to hear about the possibility that airplane contrails have an effect on the weather. Those seemingly harmless puffy lines in the sky can expand into impressive cloud cover. But do they significantly change the weather? Climatologists looked at the data from September 11-13, when most jet traffic was grounded. The difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures increased in areas where there is normally heavy contrail traffic. Within those regions of heavy air traffic, the smaller differences between day and night temperatures could affect the environment. For example, maple trees need temperature changes in order to produce sap. In another study, a scientists observed single contrails produced by military jets that were allowed to fly during those days. “He witnessed six contrails, each no wider than an airplane wing, evolve in a matter of hours into cloud banks that covered 20,000 square kilometers.” I bet this doesn’t help the reasons why it always seems to rain on weekends.

A NY Times critic attempts to judge the acoustics of the new Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. The verdict: Carnegie Hall is still tops. Verizon Hall has “a tendency to favor bass tones, a brass-heavy imbalance among the instruments, a sense that that sound, though present, is diffuse.” But there is still fine tuning that can be done. The hall’s canopy and 100 acoustical closets are adjustable, not to mention the orchestra itself is adjusting to the new environment. And, the critic admits, there’s a psychological difference that can’t really be quantified. But not too many people will have the chance, as he did, to hear the same exact program with the same musicians, performed on consecutive nights in the two halls. Verizon Hall will probably do just fine. Bonus: Take a peek at the construction of their immense organ which will eventually have 6,465 pipes. It is scheduled to be completed in 2005; they had the façade installed early so it would be visually ready for the opening of the hall.

And, as they say, now for something completely different… take a peek at rehearsals for Hairspray, the musical based on the John Waters movie of the same name, through the lens of photographer Jill Krementz. Harvey Fierstein plays Tracy Turnblad’s mom, the role Divine had in the movie. Hairspray will have a run in Seattle before heading to Broadway.

The earthquake was probably the worst I’ve been in (I moved here in 1991), and it was scary for a few seconds while we waited to see if it would get worse. But it subsided soon enough. I’ve usually experienced quakes from a few floors up, so it will be interesting to feel one from a ground floor one day. Remember: if the building is swaying, that’s a good sign! They’re designed that way.

“redfox” and “snarkout” always create yummy vegetarian dishes, and now they are publishing their meal exploits in The Hungry Tiger. Who says tigers can’t be satisfied without meat?

There will be no more drive-bys of late night host David Letterman’s New Canaan abode for the present and future students of my former high school. He’s finally moved into the Westchester house he purchased in 1994. Some Connecticut columnists have pulled out their own top 10 lists to celebrate or mourn his departure. His new neighbors report that he doesn’t wave back while he’s jogging. Well, I know he did wave back a couple times in his old neighborhood, so maybe the wavers need to keep trying.

The Minneapolis – St. Paul Star Tribune printed an interesting article on how department store merchandise travels from the full-price displays down to sale and clearance racks, then on to discounters like TJ Maxx and finally charity organizations and the rag company. Retailers prefer to avoid the landfill because of the cost of dumping trash (good!). Some upscale stores don’t like to have drastically reduced merchandise sitting next to their full-priced goods so they ship items off to their outlet stores as soon as it hits a certain price point. Retailers who worry that the merchandise they have unloaded on a liquidator will find their way back to their own returns counter often sell their remainders in a different area of the country. Beyond charities like Goodwill there are thrift stores that actually buy merchandise from charities (selling it for profit), and the “rag man.” (via Bird on a Wire)