During all of my school years, I rehearsed on Saturday mornings with the Norwalk Youth Symphony, often in a dusty room of the old Norwalk High School. There were detailed murals on some of the walls, which I thought were extremely ugly, and the layer of spitballs on them didn’t help their appearance. Somewhere along the way, I learned that these murals had been part of The Federal Art Project of the WPA and were part of our depression era history. And some of the murals chronicled now forgotten aspects of Connecticut life (like the Danbury State Fair). Norwalk’s city agencies rescued and restored their murals, and the Transit District has them up on a web site (here are the thumbnails). I don’t find them as ugly as I used to, thanks to the meaning behind them.

I figure that for every type of item, there’s a collector, but now I’ve stumbled across a collectible that I didn’t know was an item. Did that make sense? Anyway, I’ve never heard of “pie birds” (or “pie vents”) before. But they are a hot collectible, at least if the price of some of them are any indication. Pie bakers can stick these little ceramic doohickeys, usually shaped like birds, into their pies so that steam can escape. Usually you just slash vents into the top crust, so they aren’t a necessity. They can be found in many shapes, often cute, making for a perfect collectible category. Right now on eBay they’ve got 315 of them, including a few cats, a dragon, a penguin, a pregnant woman (I kid you not), Disney characters, holiday themes, and of course the ever popular blackbirds baked in a pie. And, as with many collectibles, once you start web searching for them, you find many a quaint web page. This one’s got a pie cow. Which is much different from a cow pie.

The Personal Injury Warning System chronicles Jonathan Corum’s lifetime of injuries, from the creation of his bellybutton to a parasite in his small intestine. Each incident has its own clever warning symbol, which I suppose could be used to warn others away from similar injuries if we were a little more clairvoyant. (Thanks to Lisa, who is working on her own “thumb injured by freak yogurt accident” symbol. Perhaps she needs to eat less pointy yogurt.)

The WB is looking for identical twins, ages 14-20. Perhaps you’re a twin and would like your very own sitcom? Well, you’d have to share it with your twin too.

Already linked from everywhere (but that’s ’cause it is Good and we are all in Buffy withdrawal), The Onion A.V. Club interview with Joss Whedon. Don’t miss the tiny link at the end that leads to even more Q&A; with Joss. He’s been through the Hollywood grind a few times more than I had thought. Hopefully Buffy will be a launching pad to even greater things on the silver screen. From his comments, he seems to want to make movies that I’d actually enjoy paying $8 to see.

I’m a little wary of Kermit the Frog being a spokes-amphibian for the V-Chip. I don’t mind if he is promoting that parents monitor what their children watch. But I guess I’m hoping he’ll be encouraging parents to talk about what is on TV with their kids and educate them about what they should be watching instead of pushing a hands-off screening device. Then again, I may feel much differently when I have children of my own. Time will tell. For now, I’d like to know what Jim Henson would have said.

By March 2001, euro bills and coins will replace local currencies as legal tender in the participating European countries. So certain people who have been hoarding large amounts of marks, francs, or other currencies are scurrying to avoid losing wealth. A NY Times article tells of Germany’s border checks, which are turning up hidden stashes in cars, and a theory that the euro has become weak because of the conversion of billions of mafia-held marks into American dollars. It’s an interesting look into the concept of currency exchange and what “cash” is. (And speaking of exchanging money, I enjoyed this nicely done Flash animation that relates a bureaucratic experience of a Canadian trying to deposit a check in U.S. funds. The sound effects are great. via /usr/bin/girl)

This guy scanned his slide rules and put the results on the web, along with self-deprecating comments (“The following pages have little, ugly images, which are links to big, ugly images. Each page also has some random, completely uninformative text.”) He’s got some interesting old styles, including one in ivory manufactured (we hope) before that became a no-no.

Interesting news from the Tic Tac site. New flavor: Lime Mints. I love lime. I love mint. This could be good. And they also have a website for something I mentioned a year ago, Tic Tac Silvers, which come in the “cute because it’s a big Tic Tac box!” box. The site includes tips on what to use the box for when it’s empty. (via Yahoo’s Daily Picks)

“What news looks like when women matter” is the tagline for Women’s Enews. It doesn’t just have links to women-related news stories on other news sites, it’s actual, researched news stories with a female slant. So it’s a source, not a filter. The ‘net can always use more solid sources. The site is a project of the Women, Policy and Media Program of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.