Material ConneXion runs what its founder calls a “petting zoo for new materials.” They have a library of 3,000 unusual materials which architects and designers use to find the latest nifty gel, resin, foam, laminate, paneling, etc, for their projects. A recent addition to their archives is a plastic sheeting made with recycled coffee grounds. “You can imagine how much coffee waste there is in America.” (from a NY Times article)

The L.A. Times has a round-up of “roaming gnome” pranks, where objects are taken from their owners and sent around the world, periodically sending postcards and photos back to their home. Marvin the Singing Monkey and someone’s right shoe are featured.

Here’s an uplifting scene from Leigh Weimers of the Mercury News. A man is stopped at LAX by National Guardsmen and told to hold out his hands, palms upwards. Panic strikes. Is he about to be handcuffed? Suddenly, his hands are filled with Hershey’s Kisses and he looks down and realizes he is wearing a t-shirt that reads “Hand Over the Chocolate and Nobody Gets Hurt.”

In the middle of Rome, near the spot where Caesar was stabbed, lies a partially excavated ancient Roman temple. If you’re thinking of adopting an Italian kitty cat, or just meeting a few of them, you might want to pay this location a visit. The Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary makes its home in the underground ruins. It is a no-kill shelter whose sign attracts many cat-loving tourists down to see the cute occupants. Some even leave with an Italian kitty of their own. (original source: Seattle Times article)

Immediately after I read that Impromptu Gourmet was shutting down, I noticed a plug in the Mercury News for FiveLeaf. Both services offer(ed) cook-it-yourself gourmet dinner kits designed by top chefs. Impromptu Gourmet’s roster of chefs consisted mostly of New York City stars like Michael Romano. FiveLeaf’s biggest star is probably Thomas Keller of the much lauded French Laundry. They have his fabled “Mac and Cheese” (lobster with orzo). You can also order the creations of Daniel Boulud and Charlie Trotter. FiveLeaf has already outlasted its competition, but it actually replaced it, so it will be dealing with very similar conditions. Perhaps their chefs will be better recognized across the country by foodies who have no desire to recreate the dishes from scratch themselves.

Paul Brians, Professor of English at Washington State University, has compiled a list of “Common Errors in English.” It includes such oldies as “the principal is your pal” and new gems such as “PIN number”. He states that the term “‘PIN’ was invented to meet the objection that a ‘password’ consisting of nothing but numbers is not a word.” I thought it was a clever marketing gimmick. He also has a list of non-errors, which is just as handy as the errors. (thank you Kathryn!)

Alton Brown was accused of shoplifting at the supermarket where he usually films portions of “Good Eats” (he ate some donut holes and forgot the box in the soda aisle). He kindly does not mention the name of the store, but most fans will remember the name that flashes across the screen when he’s out perusing the aisles for frugal cuts of meat or the perfect blend of flour. Alton’s book will be released very soon and his book tour will bring him to San Jose on June 15. (thanks for the heads up, Backup Brain).

I was pleased as punch to hear that Mark Anderson’s lending library was mentioned in the New York Times! And there’s a nice quote from Judith Zissman! Steve Cook and Vera Tobin helped get the booklend site up and running. The NY Times! Very cool! Great job!

The Columbia Newsblaster “uses natural language processing techniques to read what is written in published news reports” and writes summaries. It is able to identify which category it should place the news item in, and also gathers relevant photographs. This program is not intended to be a replacement for a reporter, but is more of a tool to manage the information glut we can find ourselves in. Trickier things it has to contend with are differences in reported facts, differing numbers of casualties, for instance, and dealing with tone. Improvements are planned. It will be interesting to see if any news summary sites take advantage of its features. (info culled from an OJR article by a not so artificially intelligent being)

The Internet Museum of Flexi / Cardboard / Oddity Records has records on postcards and stamps. Hey, you could put a record stamp on a record postcard. (via Plep)