I once had this flash of inspiration to gather up a bunch of friends and inline skate over the Golden Gate Bridge, but I discovered that “Roller Blades, Skateboards and Roller Skates are not permitted” (Seth is now going to send me email telling me to take up unicycling). So I wish I had seen an announcement earlier for this skate from Denmark to Sweden over the brand new Oresund Link. Of course, I don’t know if I can actually skate 11 miles without collapsing, but I would have trained for it. After all, it’s at least ten thousand times cooler to have skated from one country to another rather than merely skating from San Francisco to Marin County (even if it is illegal).

De Beers, surprisingly, has announced that they will start slashing their stockpile of diamonds from $3.9 billion to about $2.5 billion. They’ve been hoarding the gems since the Great Depression, carefully cultivating the aura of scarcity. It is a significant change, but I am not knowledgeable enough to judge the impact it will have on the actual industry as a whole. I doubt anyone is about to let diamond prices drop by releasing a big supply into the marketplace and I am skeptical that De Beers will be happily opening themselves to additional competition. They are also planning to increase their advertising and marketing efforts to boost sales, which makes me wonder what tactics we’ll see next. Perhaps they will go beyond special events (weddings, anniversaries) and try everyday, everyman/everywoman tactics. (info culled from AP report in NY Times)

I will be without Internet access (gasp!) for the next few days, so my incessant daily posting will cease until later in the week. There are many other wonderful things to read in logging-land, so I am sure this absence will not cause any universal constants to shift or anything profound like that. Until I return, you may ration amongst yourself the following GirlHacker special features:

The Driving Compatibility Test – In the spirit of Cosmo, test your compability with your mate (or anyone, really). I used to argue about #2 with an “ex” and that made me think of other driving-related compatibility issues. Remember, this is just a joke. And please, no wagering.

Haiku Contest Entries – Salon is having another Haiku challenge. The theme of this one is “the rise and fall of dot coms”. Only 3 entries allowed per person, but you get to read all my rejects!

and if you still need more to read, you can pop over to my personal site for my page of rants and book reviews.

But maybe you are looking for some neat links instead. Well, here’s Eric’s Chopsticks Gallery, which shows a fabulous collection of those eating utensils. And the Totally Tessellated site, which is self explanatory. And last, a nice page on Girls’ Series Books, a favorite genre of mine. I appreciate everyone’s continued visits here. I’ll be back in a jiffy.

You can make a fashion statement in Diablo II. I’m wondering if my aesthetically challenged friends are running around in mismatched armor, not realizing that chain-mail just doesn’t drape properly over those, um, well-endowed female characters. Can I hire myself out as a Diablo fashion consultant? Seriously, though, when a game arrives that allows you to completely customize the body shape and look of your character, I think I will wander around in a form that looks like a rotund donut baker (or Pillsbury doughboy), but that can actually kick some real ass. Why put anyone on their guard? (n.b. Sapphire baubles purchased for your honey inside Diablo II do not count towards real life bauble-buying points. Unless she is a serious serious gamer, in which case, count yourself lucky.)

Via Metafilter, Bruce Sterling’s 1991 Game Developers Conference speech, “The Wonderful Power of
Storytelling”. It’s tough reading through rambling speeches, but he has some worthy food for thought. Beyond his calling Brenda Laurel “The High Priestess of Weird” (no comment from this ex-Purple Moonie :-), he worries over how science fiction books are shuffled through racks faster and faster (“They’re cliches because cliches are less of a cognitive load.”) and eventually advises that gamers ignore storytelling: “We’re not into science fiction because it’s *good literature,* we’re into it because it’s *weird*. Follow your weird, ladies and gentlemen.” As I look at my stack of Doom clones, no make that Wolfenstein clones, I wonder if the truly innovative designers out there are getting shut out by the “sure to please the masses” games. In ten years have we really only progressed in making everything more realistically 3D in version X+1, instead of trying new, mind-blowing methods of gameplay? Is there an outlet for the “art film” game equivalents?

I’ve been making my way through the “Time-Life Foods of the World” book series (those I’ve gathered from various used bookstores and booksales). They feature excellent writing (M.F.K. Fisher authored one of the France books), and wonderful historical information. In perusing the “The Cooking of Japan”, I learned that tempura was developed after the Portuguese began trading with Japan and sending Jesuit missionaries in the 1500s. “The Portuguese, as good Catholics, rejected meat on Ember Days, which they called by the Latin name of Quattuor Tempora, the ‘four times’ of the year.” They instead requested seafood, especially deep-fried shrimp which came to be known as “tempura”. “Thus, did the ancient Latin word for ‘times’ turn into the Japanese word for shrimp fried in batter.” The frying method was refined by the Japanese into the light, crispy, yummy treat we know today. Etymology can be so enlightening. In all the times I’ve had tempura I’ve never wondered if the word was derived from Latin roots. I often pick out Chinese-derived words, but I never would have guessed where this one came from. The author’s source for this information was Mario Pei’s “Talking Your Way Around the World” (now out of print).

Steve’s link to the Coffee FAQ, which lists the caffeine content of various drinks, reminded me of the page I found a while back on Hershey’s site listing the theobromine content of their various chocolates. Special Dark wins by a landslide (if you don’t count the baking supplies). (Actually, Special Dark can’t hold a candle to serious European dark chocolates, but it’s fine in a pinch.)

I think someone should make a Nike parody t-shirt for software engineers which says “Just ship it”, but I’m not sure how to parody the Nike swoosh logo into something appropriate. Anyone? (It’s very likely that someone has already done this and my brain just believes it has created an original concept!)

Tobacco products sold in Canada will now be required to have graphical warnings on 50 per cent of their packaging. The products must also include inserted information on quitting and further details on the dangers of tobacco. I wonder if the various graphical warning labels will just be ignored after a while, or perhaps the government will rotate new ones in, which would make them harder to get used to. Using visuals is obviously a more effective device than text. My fourth grade teacher quit smoking after seeing human lungs on display at the Boston Museum of Science. They were taken from a smoker and were horribly blackened. She immediately stopped smoking; the image of those nasty lungs was burned into her brain forever.

As if I didn’t worry enough about whether I should rocker my Rollerblades differently, now a new-fangled set of wheels has come along. Parabolics Wheels have four different shapes allowing inline skaters to maneuver more like you can on ice skates. They have wheel sets for outdoor hockey, indoor hockey, and, of course, outdoor whatever.