More on picking edible mushrooms, the NY Times follows a forager in central Illinois.

Neiman Marcus is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Their famously extravagant Christmas Book has been published since 1939 and one man has amassed a collection of 50 of them. Michael Oxman became intrigued by the catalog that arrived at his home in 1976 and has been seeking out vintage printings primarily on eBay. He’s hoping to acquire all of them one day. Neiman Marcus’ fantasy Christmas Book items for 2007 include a 100 foot dragon topiary, a trip with migrating monarch butterflies on Vico Gutierrez’ Papalotzin Ultralight, a Gem Triton 1000 Submarine, and a 305-carat uncut diamond. Happy shopping.

When Elvis Costello released his first album, “My Aim Is True” in 1977, he was backed by Clover, a band from Marin County, California that just happened to be available. Now, 30 years later, he and the members of Clover are reuniting for two benefit concerts in San Francisco today.

PZEV?
I’ve mentioned here previously that my vehicle wish was for a Subaru hybrid. Their outdoors-y fans make the hybrid market a natural. But the company is, like many of its car owners, also very practical. They decided they were better off investing in a diesel engine for the near-term. So, with my loved ones constantly (and I believe irrationally) pleading for me to replace my 1997 Legacy wagon before I got stranded somewhere (mere minutes away from help!), I decided to go ahead and buy a new Subaru without getting hung up on gas savings. It turns out that I did a little better than I intended. The only car the dealer had in the model and color I wanted was a PZEV. That stands for “partial zero emissions vehicle” (yes, that’s a laughable name). It’s a modification of the term “zero emissions vehicle,” which is what the car manufacturers were supposed to be selling (at 2% by 1998) to comply with California’s ZEV program. But, as politics always goes, the manufacturers won a compromise which allows them to sell hybrids or PZEVs and earn credit points to bank against their ZEV obligations. PZEVs need to meet the Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicles standard (greatly reduced tailpipe emissions, vapor tight fuel tank). There are several on the market from various automakers, but PZEVs aren’t hyped or advertised much. I’m perfectly happy with my car’s performance; Subaru claims to have “the most powerful PZEV engine available in the U.S. market today.” They also like to point out that the tailpipe air may be cleaner than the smog-filled surroundings it is entering. I’m glad I stumbled across my PZEV, even if it isn’t as noble as better MPG and was the result of a bureaucratic deal. (my car on flickr, more on PZEVs from the NY Times)

On the first day of the Writers Guild of America strike, memories of the 1988 strike are returning to me in the form of “Hal Gurnee’s Network Time Killers” on Late Night with David Letterman. After suffering several months of reruns, Letterman returned to Late Night in the odd position of being a striking writer himself, but willing to keep the rest of the show’s staff employed and happily occupied with creative time fillers that kept the random nature of the program at top form. Unfortunately the same strike lowered the coffin lid on my favorite show at the time, Moonlighting, as it ended its 4th season with a rendition of “Wooly Bully” to fill in the remaining time (see it on YouTube).

“The Farnsworth Invention,” Aaron Sorkin’s new play opening on Broadway next week, was originally intended for the silver screen. But Sorkin, whose dialogue-driven style is, at heart, closer to theater than TV or film, decided to write his Farnsworth script using the stage-play format of Final Draft software and soon he and his agent were buying back the movie rights from New Line and preparing for his return to Broadway. The topic, the invention of the television and its champions’ utopian vision for it, is one that Sorkin certainly has the perspective to mine for the outmost of irony. But he considers it “an optimistic story about the spirit of exploration.” The movie rights for the play have already been sold, so Sorkin will have to consider how to get his play back into the screenplay format. (source: NY Times)

Newsweek cover story: kids and food allergies. An accurate article with various studies cited, but nothing new for those of us parents who’ve done our Internet research over and over.

Before I went to college my dad told me that although I was brought up to believe that the world should be a fair place, life would always be more difficult for me just because I’m female. I remember not wanting to believe it at the time, because I wanted so much to change it, not live with it. Since then I’ve realized that it’s not just other people who have to change, I had to change too, in positive ways. This N.Y. Times article, which I hope is making the rounds given that it’s topping the “most emailed” list, touches on every critical realization in my career (and it cites the studies that show I’m not unique). 1) Displaying negative emotions (anger, sadness) at work has more detrimental results for a woman than a man. 2) Women are worse than men at asking for raises and promotions, and often don’t even realize they need to ask or they won’t receive. 3) A woman’s clothes and appearance will get noticed, for better or worse. No, life isn’t fair, but at least we have some clues about how to even the playing field.

Spreading the word, though you’ve probably heard: Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku have an agreement with Fox for 7 episodes of a new series called Dollhouse. Details and interviews with both Joss & Eliza.

This article previews of some of the wacky stunts appearing on Mythbusters in the next couple months. What happens when a plane takes off from a conveyor belt? Can Tory wakeboard from the back of a cruise ship? Will his pants catch on fire while being dragged behind a horse? But no news on whether motion-sickness-prone Grant will have to lose it into a trashcan again all in the name of science.