Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium has acquired a rare blue lobster captured in the Thames River in New London, Connecticut. A genetic defect causes the blue coloring, a result of an excessive production of protein combining with a red caratenoid molecule, astaxanthin. Blue lobsters are one in a million but they still turn red when cooked. This one has escaped that fate.

With the Mariners visiting the Chicago Cubs for the very first time, Seattle Times sportswriter Larry Stone took the opportunity to wax nostalgic about Wrigley Field. They may have added lights, a few ads, and 1,790 seats, but there’s still a hand-operated scoreboard, the absence of Jumbotron and Diamond Vision, and the echoes of a long-suffering but passionate fan base who’ve been waiting since 1908 for another title.

In March, Matt pointed to a photo of a Target knock-off of the LikeABike, a wooden “walking” bike for toddlers. I told my husband, who conveniently works near a Target, and he bought one which is now hidden in our garage, waiting for a 3rd birthday to arrive (our toddler’s currently plenty happy pedaling his tricycle around and careening it down little hills just to shave years off of my life). This past Sunday’s Target circular listed the bike on sale, but I still can’t find it in their online store. It’s a “Play Wonder Walking Trainer bike” and it’s $39.99 this week (that’s 10 bucks off). While I was searching the Target site I did find recumbent tricycles for 4-6 year olds made by Triker.

It took 10 days, 7 people, and 300 truck-loads of sand to create the world’s largest sandcastle in Myrtle Beach this month. Gadling has gathered photos and video of the 49.55 foot tall castle along with other unique sand sculptures from around the world. A long time ago I helped with Mont St Michel in the sand and also the Sphinx but they were tiny in comparison.

Ask Playbill.com got the lowdown on cast album royalties from Kurt Deutsch, president of Sh-K-Boom Records. Royalties are typically $1.50 to $2.00 per album with 60% going to the writers (composer, lyricist, book writer) and 40% going to the producers of the show. 15% or 20% of the producers’ share is split between the performers. However, royalties don’t kick in until the sum of the royalty portion (the $1.50-$2.00) of all albums sold goes over the album’s production & marketing costs. So if an album with a $2 royalty cost $500,000, then 250,000 copies would need to be sold before royalties were paid out. Few cast albums sell enough to make royalties. However, the songwriters do make a “mechanical royalty” on every album (around eight cents a song) and the performers are paid well for their recording time: one week’s salary for an 8 hour recording session and the same rate for every additional hour (1/8 a week’s salary / hour). (via Amazon’s Daily blog)

“The world’s largest operating musical instrument” is in a Macy’s in Philadelphia. Now with 28,543 pipes ranging in size from an inch to 32 feet, the original (still massive) configuration helped to bankrupt the Los Angeles Art Organ Company who created it for the St. Louis International Exposition in 1904. Purchased by the Wanamakers for the store they opened in 1911, the organ passed through several changes in store ownership and became Macy’s property last year. With a curator and organist on staff, Macy’s takes full advantage of this showpiece in their local marketing efforts.

If you’ve got a Concorde airplane sitting around that might need some servicing, an auction of spare parts will be held in Toulouse in September. Proceeds go towards the creation of a museum park featuring the history of Concorde maker Aerospatiale Toulouse (which became Airbus).

One of the dresses in designer Hussein Chalayan’s fall collection features Swarovski crystals and LEDs. It glows and sparkles.

Bob Barker has filmed his final episode of The Price Is Right. He signed off as he’s always done, nothing special. So get those pets spayed or neutered folks!

The Martin guitar company, C. F. Martin & Company to be precise, is still run by the family. Christian F. Martin IV is the sixth generation of guitar makers and, the N.Y. Times points out, “the first to worry about the availability of the distinctive woods needed to build Martin guitars.” The company banded with other guitar makers to raise awareness after Greenpeace brought them the news that, at current logging rates, the Sitka spruces they depend on for their soundboards would be gone in 6-7 years. Instrument makers are a minor consumer of wood compared to the building industry, but they are in a position to rally support and publicity from their celebrity customers. When the time comes, the current C.F. Martin wants to be able to hand off a viable business to his 2-year-old daughter, Claire Frances, the next C.F.