On Sunday we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with a lengthy dinner at The Herbfarm restaurant in Woodinville. My unedited account is up on both a Flickr photoset (unfortunately I neglected to bring my camera so I had to use my cellphone for photos) and a Vox blog that I’ve been testing.

In recent Seattle Times articles about local accused killers and victims, I’ve noticed photos and information obtained from the news subjects’ postings on social networking sites such as myspace and friendster and also information from personal websites. I had two reactions: 1) How can you fact-check information from a personal or social website? 2) Everything you put on the web is public information. Obvious perhaps, but the intended audience of a personal profile on a networking site is not the million readers of a newspaper. The Seattle Times editor-at-large took note of this new avenue of research and wrote about a brownbag discussion held to discuss use of networking site information. He acknowledges that “one can’t assume the accuracy of the information or even that it was posted by the people listed on the site.” Use of these sites is not discouraged but reporters are urged to be “overly cautious.” He closes his commentary with a list of “Ethical considerations for the press” which seems like overkill for the issue at hand, but certainly illustrates his concern.

Entertainment news is abuzz with the IRS taking action to publicize the tax implications of award show gift bags. Here are some facts to remember, gleaned directly from the IRS and Academy of Motion Pictures press releases:
1. The Academy voluntarily approached the IRS in order to clear up the tax implications of their (substantial and pricey) gift basket.
2. In April, the Academy board voted to discontinue the practice of thanking their presenters and performers with gift baskets.
3. Since the Academy did not want their presenters to get hit directly with any retroactive taxes from past baskets, the Academy worked with the IRS on an agreement to take on past tax obligations (through 2005). However, recipients of this year’s baskets will be responsible for any taxes
4. Other external gift bags and freebie “shopping suites” seem to also be included in the IRS’ taxable income umbrella. So companies setting up gifts in conjunction with an event, but not directly coming from the event producers, will also need to consider the implications of this announcement.
As for me, it looks like my major yearly research (and publicity!) project will be going the way of the dodo. (IRS news release)

When Your Landlord Is a Cat. New York magazine says it really happened. Two sisters died in 1999 and left their house to their cats. The executor/caretaker took in a lot of strays as well and eventually wanted to move to country digs with the animals. By then she wasn’t sure which were the kitty owners, but she was able to cash out anyway. I’m sure the heirs and their friends were fed well and treated royally.

Interesting things for cats:
Hip Chips: for your favorite arthritic feline, contains glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, chicken liver flavored
Flying Bug Jar: glow in the dark bugs swirl around inside a tippy container, ready for batting
Pill Pockets: healthy treats with a patented pocket to safely conceal medication.
KattWALLks: carpeted shelving for cats, including a corner balcony option.

Got a swarm of bees bothering you? Volunteer swarm-catchers may be available in your area to remove them. “Swarms are incredibly safe,” says a local beekeeper. The bees are supposedly full of honey and focused on finding a new home, so stinging is not on their minds.

There’s a neat article on shoes in the September National Geographic. One section discusses the subject of concealed shoes with June Swann, former Keeper of the Boot and Shoe Collection at Northampton Museum in England. Swann started a registry of concealed shoes that have been found in houses all around the world. Hidden deliberately for luck and to ward away spirits, shoes have been found in roofs, next to the chimney, under floorboards, and plastered into ceilings and walls. 1,700 have been catalogued, but many are probably shrugged away by remodelers and never reported. The superstition has no one root explanation, or at least not one that is known to Swann. An article she wrote speculates on several possibilities and also tells haunting tales of situations where previously hidden shoes were taken from the premises and bad events transpired.

Artists for Literacy has a searchable database of songs inspired by literature. Let’s say you remember there’s a Cure song about the book The Stranger but you can’t remember the details. The title and album are a quick search away. I first discovered this organization when good friends gave me the first SIBL CD.

Even if you buy an airplane seat for your carry-on or bottle of water it won’t make it on the plane if security says “no.” Space isn’t the issue. So pity the orchestra musicians who are accustomed to lugging their precious, often antique, and always fragile instruments onto the plane with them for safekeeping. Baggage handling is a crapshoot no matter how many warning labels you put on your case. I once watched tears stream down the face of a friend as her cello was rudely thrown onto a baggage conveyor belt. At our destination it was hand carried off and watched over by a kind baggage handler until she claimed it, but the damage was already done — her bridge had collapsed.

Summer is a heavy travel season for most symphony orchestras and quite a few are headed to London for the BBC Proms, the annual classical music festival. The NY Times looks at how orchestras are coping with the newly tight carry-on restrictions. The Bolshoi, currently in London, is looking into ferry and truck arrangements for the return trip. Orchestras accustomed to travel have their own crates for packing up large instruments and this time around those who would prefer to carry-on may need to join in the crating up. Faced with no crates, no carry-ons, and a canceled flight, New York’s Orchestra of St. Luke’s canceled a British tour that took two years of careful planning.

In downtown Bellevue, just a few minutes from our house, it seems like there’s a construction crane on every block. A Seattle Times editorial last week claimed “Of the estimated 35 construction cranes angling toward the sky in cities west of the Mississippi, 15 are parked in downtown Bellevue.” The 35 estimate is low in comparison to the numbers in the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce. Their interviews of tower crane rental companies brought out estimates of 40 and 50 in the Puget Sound region alone. The construction boom has increased rental lead times to 6-8 months. Tower cranes cost $8,000 – $30,000 a month depending on size, plus $60,000 – $80,000 for preparation and setup. And luffing cranes, which can lower their booms and avoid hitting other buildings in dense locations, are in especially high demand.