It’s ironic, but understandable, that when a person is recognized and given personalized attention by a shopkeeper or waiter, they feel special, but when that same person is recognized by name and informed of personalized recommendations on a web site, they feel a little paranoid.

The Boston Globe (and I saw it in the SJ Merc) printed an article about Mattel’s new “Barbie for President” doll. They are producing white, African-American and Latin-American Barbies, but no Asian-American doll. 4% (Asian population) vs 12% (Hispanic) and 13% (African-American) may have a lot to do with that, but Mattel will not give that as a reason. Instead, they claim that Asian girls don’t want look-alike Barbie dolls, but are happy choosing white dolls instead. “That particular community has not expressed interest in a doll that reflects their ethnicity.” I had to think for a while about how I felt about this statement. It’s Barbie, so I don’t really want to care. But Barbie is popular, so I do care. Besides the unrealistic body image Mattel places in little girls’ heads, there’s no reason for them to deprive Asian girls of thin, busty Asian Barbies seeking the presidency just because Mattel thinks Asian girls prefer Caucasian dolls. That’s ridiculous. I’d much rather Mattel take the “not profitable because of 4% population” plea. I’d like to believe that what they say is not true. But I suppose the huge popularity of “give me eyelids, please” plastic surgery amongst Asian women in many countries should make me wonder.

This past Memorial Day there was a fire at my condo complex. The unit across the hall and down one from mine caught fire in the late afternoon. No one was hurt, but it was a little scary for a while. We took pictures of the firefighting efforts, and I put them onto a (sorry, badly designed) web page. I kept the photos at their original quality, so the page is a bit of a hefty download.

While reading through James Gleick’s article on patents for the NY Times Magazine I had a screaming fit. It came when I read this little gem: “Amazon won’t say how many patents it has pending. The one-click patent isn’t its first, as it happens; Jeff Bezos got one in February 1998 for ‘a method and system for securely indicating to a customer one or more credit card numbers that a merchant has on file for the customer when communicating with the customer over a non-secure network.’ The method is this: show the customer only the last few digits of each credit-card number.” The article discusses the concept of “non-obvious”. The fact that this one got through makes me wonder how the term “non-obvious” can be applied when it has everything to do with how naturally creative someone is. When I read patents like those in Amazon’s collection (such as Method and system for placing a purchase order via a communications network) I get the feeling that Bezos said “Let’s just see how many of these we can get through! Heh heh heh.” (articles about him always mention how he laughs a lot.) Gleick’s article gives a fascinating look into the US patent system. I’d like someone to present ideas on what steps are needed to begin an overhaul of the system. (article via metafilter)

Digging through my myriad of writing-related bookmarks, I was happy to remember Margaret Atwood’s humble web site with this nice little “On Writing” page of essays, lectures, miscellaneous. Actually the list on the Table of Contents has more items.

Someone who knows how I feel about my Chinese cleaver sent me the link to this NY Times article. French-trained Molly O’Neill finally realized how useful a cleaver can be in the kitchen. No more fumbling around for the perfect knife for the job. Cleavers are multi-purpose, and once you learn to trust yourself with one, you’ll find yourself dicing, chopping, mincing, scraping, and slicing all sorts of ingredients from tomatoes to chicken without heading to the knife block or gadget drawer. People always ask why I, the garlic fiend, do not own a garlic press. I don’t need one. With one whack and a few minces, the clove is at my mercy. I will confess to owning other knives though: an excellent bread knife (see, Chinese cooks don’t usually need to cut bread), a Henckels paring knife (OK, I won’t peel fruit with my cleaver — well, maybe on a dare), and a Henckels sashimi knife that I got because it was on clearance and I’m a sucker for a bargain. However, when it comes to cleavers, my technique pales in comparison to that of my mother’s. Remember, always keep those knuckles in.

Instead of the customary “flip it over” OPEN/CLOSE sign, I saw a shop door with individually hung letters. When I passed by it read: N O P E. (Hmmm, they could also spell “PEON”, but as I keep saying, who isn’t hiring?)

The National Debt clock is going dark in September. Actually, they’re just covering it with a cloth. I remember it being big news in the late ’80’s. Apparently it got worse: “It had to be turned off for a few months in the mid-’90s when the debt was increasing so fast it crashed the computer that calculates the debt.”

The Who is touring. About ten years ago, my college roommate tied up our phone line for days trying to get tickets to their tour. She ended up without tickets, but went to listen from the parking lot anyway.

Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald. I had no idea!