Newspapers like the NY Times will have obituaries for persons of, shall we say, a certain age, written and ready-to-go. You may recall an incident a few years back when some pre-written obituaries were mistakenly made available on a certain online news site. The SF Chronicle’s “NWZCHIK” points out another interesting possibility with advance obits: when the author dies before the obituary is published. The NY Times’ obituary for James A. Van Allen published last week was written, presumably at least ten years ago, by Walter Sullivan who died in 1996. Bob Hope’s 2003 NYT obituary was written by Vincent Canby who died in 2000.

If you’ve ever questioned the usefulness of “no pulp” orange juice, try serving regular OJ out of a sippy cup to a toddler who knows the word “STUCK!”

A locomotive floated across New York Harbor yesterday on the way to its new home in Riverside Park South. The sixty year old engine is a model S1 switcher “which sorted out cars and assembled whole trains at all hours and in all weather.” It was manufactured by the American Locomotive Company in 1946 for the Erie Railroad and in 1967 came to work in the Brooklyn harbor yard. To become park-ready the locomotive was stripped of multiple layers of lead paint and given the distinctive black and yellow colors of the New York Central Railroad. It was donated by the Cross Harbor Railroad for $30,000, the engine’s scrap metal cost. Becoming the centerpiece of a new park and a symbol for rail era is a worthy retirement for a hard-working locomotive.

Cutest local news item today: Blue-footed booby sighted in Skagit County. It doesn’t have blue feet because it’s not grown up, but the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says it’s a blue-footed booby. “The first sighting in Washington state since 1935.”

It’s certainly a new weblogging world out there when I receive a press release announcing a new weblog. Vancouver’s Opus Hotel (of Oscar gift bag fame, which is why I’m on their PR list) has started up a blog written by their General Manager, Daniel Craig. When I first read the press release I shrugged it off and almost deleted it (regular readers know my style isn’t to post just any old news item and certainly not any old PR item — oh, and definitely not in hopes of a free hotel room). But the GM’s Blog is interesting reading and while of course he speaks highly of his employer, it’s not marketing speak, just good marketing. He admits that their PR firm has convinced him to sanitize a few postings, so he’s not uncensored, but hopefully they “get” what this is all about. HotelChatter is keeping an eye out for other hotel blogs.

Old technology delivered in a fishwrap? Sounds like an iffy proposition, but IMedia is distributing CD-ROMs in two major newspapers’ Sunday editions. So far the Dallas Morning News is happy with the endeavor. Their first disc was used 302,000 times and their circulation is 625,000. Readers are spending around 20 minutes looking at the CD which focuses on entertainment content such as movie previews, music samples, video games and comics. The New York Daily News is rolling out the discs in October. Apparently in Great Britain the CD strategy is so commonplace that users expect them in their weekend papers. I’d never get around to using the CD, especially since I’m usually on my laptop which doesn’t have a built-in drive. But I’m constantly looking through newspaper websites so I’d rather see efforts put into making those compelling and profitable.

Martha Stewart’s putting her “personal nightmare” to rest having agreed with the SEC to pay $195,000 and limit her executive responsibility at her company. This settlement of the civil insider-trading claims avoids another embarrassing public trial and she did not have to admit to any wrongdoing. Her previous prison time was for lying during the investigation, not punishment for the actual insider trading allegations.

The Seattle Times is running three days of investigative reporting on glass artist Dale Chihuly whose filing of copyright lawsuits has opened his business practices to scrutiny and criticism. Day one focuses on the overall business, the building and marketing of the Chihuly brand, the company’s sales practices and factory production methods. Accompanying material includes an informative slideshow on the different methods of creating glass art. Day two hones in on Chihuly’s clever deals with charitable organizations who purchase his work for resale. Finally, day three gets to the trigger for all of the inquiry, the lawsuits and speculation on why he decided to take two fellow artists to court. The overall message is clear: Chihuly Inc. is a business, a successful one that has taken full opportunity from (some would say advantage of) PBS and philanthropic partnerships. They will protect their assets as a business would and do what it takes to keep the money coming in and their products at high value.

Caterpillars. Lots of them. No, it’s not the 1980s gypsy moth invasion again, it’s just the normal lifecycle of the moths and butterflies in a Connecticut backyard. David Wagner, associate professor of ecology at UConn, seeks out the variety of caterpillars behind his house and claims he’s seen more than 1,000 species out there. The NY Times article includes some of his photos and a video of him beating tree branches to toss insects onto a sheet for study. Caterpillars are difficult to research and catalog; “dead caterpillars do not keep well” and you have to rear them to adulthood to fully identify them. Surprisingly “there are well-known moths whose caterpillars have never been seen by science.” Dr. Wagner’s book “Caterpillars of Eastern North America” covers 600 species. Some entomologists keep online listings of caterpillars of various regions, and then there are the hobbyists such as JavaJane, a Brit who has created a North American version of her popular What’s this Caterpillar site.

Jane & Michael Stern (authors of “Roadfood”, columnists for Gourmet Magazine, etc.) launched Roadfood.com in 2000 and it has flourished: “We are now averaging 1/4 million unique users each month and over 2 million page views per month.” In an email interview with Michael and webmaster Stephen Rushmore, the OJR reveals the genesis of the website, its business model (lack thereof), and content generation. In related discoveries, Jane Stern’s autobiographical book “Ambulance Girl” (which I enjoyed) was actually turned into a TV movie in 2005 starring & directed by Kathy Bates.