Local place of yumminess, Top Pot Doughnuts, is going nationwide by expanding their agreement with Starbucks. A selection of their doughnuts, apple fritter and vanilla cake, glazed old-fashioned and chocolate old-fashioned, will be in all company-owned Starbucks (7,087 minus the recently announced closures).

The San Francisco Chronicle has photos (oh, and an article too, of course) of the transformation of a section of Castro Street into how it looked in the 1970s. The movie “Milk” began filming there last week. Sean Penn portrays Harvey Milk in the early 1970s. Gus Van Sant is directing.

An interesting idea for potted plants and cats: a wider drain plate underneath the plant allows you to provide water for cats (and maybe fun for birds too). I’m not sure about having a cat drink water that ran through plant dirt, especially if there were fertilizers used, but it’s a cute idea.

Once I made fun of a friend with a degree in electrical engineering when I noticed he was reading the book “How Computers Work.” He replied in an effective defense that he was reading it to learn how people unfamiliar with computers thought about them and to improve his ability to describe technical details. I was reminded of that conversation when I read this article about Bay Area luthiers. It was frustrating for me to get through the analogies and reasons for why handmade instruments are better for professional musicians “who can perceive tiny differences in sound that hands-on construction can draw forth.” Tiny differences they are not and it’s usually not like buying a custom suit, but more like finding a perfect gown in a vintage shop. But overall the article does a great job of describing the importance of the craft of violin and guitar making to those who aren’t familiar with it.

Comcast is shuttering AZN Television, a channel designed to capture Asian American viewers. This article on the history of Comcast’s ownership of the network reveals the machinations of how Comcast came to own AZN. In a tax-avoidance technique known as a “cash-rich split off,” Comcast gave Liberty Media $1 billion of Liberty Media stock in exchange for the International Channel (the precursor to AZN) and 10% of the E! network. But first, Liberty Media put $545 million into the International Channel’s holding subsidiary. So long as Comcast “engaged in the active conduct of a trade or commerce” for a year after the deal, it had that $545 million tax free in exchange for the stock. Coincidently or not, AZN TV was effectively pared back a few months after that year was up. Liberty Media also used the cash-rich split off to its advantage when it purchased the Atlanta Braves from Time-Warner.

‘Tis the season for skiing, so I shouldn’t be surprised that I came across two related “lost ski trail” mentions. The N.Y. Times ran an article on Vermont’s forgotten trails and lifts and it mentions the New England Lost Ski Area Project which I had learned about recently. There was a simpler time before the large ski resorts and snow-making. Downhill ski areas were mom & pop operations with a T-bar, maybe a simple lodge. Then there was a boom of places to ski, plenty to choose from and interstate highways to get you to them. Eventually skiers focused on the big fancy resorts and the smaller places closed down. But there are still folks who remember the old places or even just the local hill. In the NELSAP site, I found one entry from my hometown for “The Ski Hill.” And at Silvermine golf course in Norwalk, CT, they used to run a rope tow on their largest hill, cost: $1.

It’s challenging enough making a living as a musician in one orchestra, but the members of the so-called “Freeway Philharmonic” cobble together a living by picking up freelance jobs with multiple groups whenever and wherever they can around the S.F. Bay Area. One of the musicians plays in 8 orchestras. They also teach privately and at universities, and do educational outreach to build the next generation of performers and audience members. And in between paying gigs, most of them go to auditions seeking that coveted spot in a full-time orchestra that will give them a respite from their whirlwind schedule and long commutes. Filmmaker Tal Skloot found their nomadic lives and passion for their vocations fascinating enough to create a documentary that aired yesterday on KQED.

Martha Stewart has a blog. (I have no further comment at this time.)

Karl Lagerfeld made a grand statement at Chanel’s haute couture show in the Grand Palais with a 75-foot tall Chanel jacket. This gigantic jacket, with the iconic Chanel braid, was made out of wood and painted to look like concrete. Models made their entrance out of an opening at the bottom.

Most people I know won’t appreciate the nuances of different types of tofu, but the San Francisco Chronicle knows its readers well enough to consider it worthwhile to conduct a tofu tasting. They tasted 15 firm tofus. House tofu came out on top, with its organic tofu placing first.