In case you hadn’t noticed, Chicken Run opens today. I’m on my way. Previous Aardman animations are available on video and DVD. Make sure you see them all!

I wish I had done that. A Magic 8 Ball dissection. (via usr/bin/girl)

Crate & Barrel has opened a store called CB2 in the Chicago area. They are, of course, hoping to spread this new concept around the country if all goes well. It’s a lower-priced version of the ol’ Crate, focusing on “new colors, new materials, great value.” So, a younger crowd and whimsier products. Brightly colored extension cords for $2.95 sounds like a fun buy, especially if I don’t have to go through an IKEA-like parking and crowd-control experience. (How about a reconnaissance trip Toni?) And in related news, kitchen-king Williams-Sonoma has plans for a chain called Elm Street which would be to them “what Old Navy is to the Gap.” (I think that also translates to what CB2 is to Crate & Barrel) (info obtained from June issue of House & Garden)

I realized today that if I lived in a house instead of a condo and had weekly trash and recycling pickups to worry about, I probably wouldn’t let the newspapers and plastic bottles pile up in bags for weeks without taking them downstairs. But then I’d have to remember about the weekly pickup. Tradeoffs, tradeoffs.

Harley-Davidson has dropped their 1994 patent application to trademark their engine sound (I noted this in April). Their VP of Marketing says: “frankly, we’re tired of throwing tens of thousands of dollars out the window on litigation.” They have not lost any business from imitators, and I doubt they will. Having a “trademarked sound” is more of a cachet item than a business need for them. No Harley enthusiast is going to settle for a Honda, even if it does go “potato-potato” properly.

I’m getting used to seeing URLs on everything, but I didn’t expect to see one on my cauliflower. OK, it was actually on the plastic wrap around the cauliflower. There is a cottage industry forming around food safety. The company listed on the wrap is PrimusLabs.com. They provide various services for produce suppliers and buyers, such as supermarkets, who need to audit and communicate their food safety requirements. Their web site uses extranets to connect the various companies involved in assuring the quality of produce. It is reassuring to see such a useful application of Internet technologies. We all need food. We’d all prefer safe food.

I loved Eric Wagoner’s comment on how he was able to prepare a wedding ceremony for his sister, not being married himself: “After the wedding, my Grandmother asked how I, a never-married single man, came to know so much about marriage. The answer’s simple: the internet. The internet can make you sound like an expert on almost anything.”

ZDNet has an article on Bungie’s history. I remember playing Marathon on the Mac. I’m glad Microsoft has some stake in Apple’s continued health. Even if they get the Bungie developers busy with XBox, there still may be hope for Mac games.

I may have missed this when the news first came out. Pixo gives their new employees a vacation in Hawaii for their first week on the job. Not only do they get their expenses paid (airfare, hotel, rental car, and spending money) but they also get PAID paid. The dollar amount may come out to less than a signing bonus, but ridding yourself of the hassles of arranging vacation logistics may be worth more than money. Of course, it would be nicer if they paid for someone else to go with you. Pixo has an excellent charter: producing easy-to-use software for wireless phones. Founder, Paul Mercer’s “vision is to add value to consumer electronics devices through advanced software technology that maintains the simplicity of the user experience.” I’m glad someone’s looking out for that.

What an exciting day! My T-Shirt Chronicles site was featured on Yahoo’s Picks of the Week. Wheee! Luckily, someone sent me email about it early in the morning (aka the end of my night), so I didn’t faint from surprise when I made my own weekly visit to the picks page. I’m receiving wonderful email from people all over the world, many say they also have a box of old shirts in their closet that they refuse to throw away.