To be gephyrophobic (afraid of bridges) and live on Staten Island is to be virtually trapped at home. Jan Steers finally left the island after 13 years with the help of therapy and a mild tranquilizer. There are numerous bridges in the New York metropolitan area for the bridge phobic to avoid and the N.Y. Times discovered that you can actually call the New York Thruway Authority to request someone to drive your car over the Tappan Zee bridge. When I saw this article my thoughts went to the see-through walkway at the top of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. With my fear of heights it is impossible for me to walk across it with my eyes open, though I don’t have trouble with other bridges. To my surprise, that same walkway is actually mentioned in the article.

Alton Brown has signed a 3-year deal with Food Network. He’ll be building on all three of his existing shows with new Good Eats episodes, hosting duties on Iron Chef America, and “Feasting on Waves,” a follow-up to his “Feasting on Asphalt” series with time in the Caribbean on a boat instead of a bike.

“It looks like a cross between a barn and a ski chalet with a little Jetsons thrown in.” A former Denny’s restaurant in Ballard, originally a Manning’s Cafeteria & Buffet, had distinctive enough 1960s architecture that the developer owners pre-emptively asked Seattle’s Landmarks Preservation Board to take a look, expecting they would pass it over for landmark status. Instead the board voted to consider designating the distinct structure as a landmark, spurred on by those concerned with the loss of Seattle’s roadside architecture. The developer was likely taken aback and the future of the building, regardless of the decision, is unclear.

For anyone nostalgic for Cambridge, MA in the 1980s, especially Harvard Square, here’s a set of photos of some long-gone Cambridge storefronts. Pizzeria Regina, Paperback Booksmith, the Wursthaus, all gone. Some places I used to frequent are still around: Border Cafe, Bertucci’s, Grendel’s Den. And the Uno‘s chain has managed to still hang on, though it’s evolved. (photo set pulled from a lengthy unrelated Metafilter thread best left unlinked)

A rather large butter sculpture is featured this year’s Pennsylvania Farm Show. 1,000 pounds of butter donated by Land O’ Lakes was carved into a depiction of three students and a cow boarding a school bus. After the show, the butter will be turned into biodiesel at Pennsylvania State University and State College High School.

Mmmmm hot chocolate featured in the Seattle Times: either make it yourself or visit a local hot chocolate spot.

Cunard’s newest ship, the Queen Victoria, christened in December, has finished its maiden voyage in Europe and is on its second in the Canary Islands. In a few days it will commence a transatlantic crossing along with the Queen Elizabeth 2 and both will meet up in New York with the Queen Mary 2. The January 13th gathering of the three ships in New York Harbor will be heralded with fireworks. The Queen Victoria will then depart on an around-the-world cruise, and the QE2, scheduled for retirement in 2008, will leave for its final world cruise (the QM2 only gets to go to the Caribbean, but as the biggest of the three it has enough to gloat about… even if it can’t fit through the Panama Canal).

The mute swans that grace ponds and shorelines are so lovely, so peaceful, so harmless. Really? Not according to some wildlife conservationists who are making some swan cons known. Connecticut now has 1,100 mute swans and critics call them an invasive species that is disrupting the shoreline habitats of native species. The N.Y. Times says they “devour eight pounds of aquatic vegetation per day and, in their daily feeding frenzy, uproot an additional 20 pounds of plants.” Attempts to control the swan population have been met with lawsuits from their supporters. On the west coast, Oregon has the mute swan on its 100 Most Dangerous Invaders list.

With little fanfare, and perhaps none warranted, Boston’s Big Dig project reached its official end as 2007 came to a close. Despite tragedies, lawsuits and unimaginable cost overruns, the city is left with an elegant bridge, a mile-long greenway, and, the point of it all, improved traffic.

It’s been 100 years since Seattle first hired nurses for the public schools. Back then nurses would make house calls to check on ailing students, sometimes even tending to other family members. Scarlet fever and mumps are no longer on their list of concerns, but school nurses still deal with immunization pushback and everyday scrapes. State-mandated health screenings and emergency-care plans for life-threatening situations take up much of their time. The Seattle school district can’t afford a full-time nurse for every school, but some schools hold fundraisers or set aside budget for more hours. The school nursing profession in the U.S. celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2002, 100 years after the successful placement of Lina Rogers Struthers, R.N. in a New York City public school.