Gloria Steinem’s memoirs were due in 2000 but she had yet to find time to write them. Knowing she had to “do something drastic,” Steinem retreated this summer to HedgeBrook, a 48 acre haven for women writers on Whidbey Island, not far from Seattle. There along with six other residents she has the solitude she needs to put her 35 years at the front lines of the fight for women’s rights into the form of a book. Each evening they share a meal prepared by Hedgebrook’s chef (other meals are also provided) and once a week they share their work. The Seattle Times recently printed another (less famous) author’s experiences at Hedgebrook (free registration to read but cypherpunk/cypherpunk works).

In news sure to shock no one, the Disney Channel movie phenomenon High School Musical is, yup, now a high school musical available for licensing. The first licensed amateur production takes the stage this month at performing arts camp Stagedoor Manor. Other high school aged productions are in the works. Middle school aged fans (the true target demographic for the movie, or at least the one that will readily admit to it) can license a one-act version geared to their abilities.

While I wasn’t paying attention, Knight Ridder, “second-largest newspaper chain in America,” went through some twisty corporate maneuvering and got absorbed out of existence. On top of that one of its crown jewels, the San Jose Mercury News, is now owned by an entirely different company. The summary of events from the Mercury News article (I figure they should know): In November, Knight Ridder’s largest shareholder forces the company to put itself up for sale. The second and third largest shareholders join in, Knight Ridder caves and starts the courting process in January. In March, the McClatchy Company, savvy and profitable owner of 12 U.S. papers, reaches a purchase agreement that in the end totals $4.1 billion plus $2 billion of Knight Ridder debt. McClatchy immediately reveals plans to sell 12 Knight Ridder papers to pay down the debt. MediaNews takes 4 papers, including the Merc, for $1 billion (2 are officially owned by Hearst). McClatchy’s sell-off is a success and still leaves them the second-largest newspaper company in the U.S. The MediaNews deal closed on Wednesday and the Merc can finally settle in with a new owner.

“Attila the Bun” had a messy hairdo and the “Button-Up” bandit wore button-up shirts. Both are now behind bars along with many other bank robbers whose FBI nicknames may have helped cement their identificiation. Catchy criminal names are nothing new, but their continued use helps the FBI gain media attention and public awareness. The names can’t be “too funny” or a motive for retribution and you have to rob three banks to get one. My favorite name from the article is the “Can you hear me now?” bandit who always had a cellphone to his ear.

Architect Frank Gehry’s new jewelry collection for Tiffany & Co. launched recently with celebrity studded parties. There’s a surprising range of styles, six motifs and at least 120 pieces. Most are in silver, but various exotic woods, jade, quartz and of course gold are also featured. There’s a chunky bracelet made entirely of Cachalong opal, a porous stone similar to mother of pearl. I also noticed a ring in “black gold” which was new to me; the alloy can be made by several methods. The dominant motif in the collection seems to be the abstract fish which appears in a multitude of materials. The orchid earrings, however, are selling extremely well.

OK trivia buffs, you all know that The Buggles “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first video aired on MTV, right? To commemorate MTV’s 25th (twenty-five years!) Anniversary you can sacrifice a few more brain cells to memorize #2: Pat Benatar’s “You Better Run.” The entire first hour, including commercials, is available for online viewing at music.mtv.com. You can skip around to segments such as an Atari commercial which features a joystick-wielding dog. VH-1 showed the first 24 hours on Tuesday and will do so again on Saturday.

Pink is my favorite color but I’m nevertheless astounded that each wireless carrier has a completely different shade of pink for their version of the Motorola Razr. Verizon’s is silvery pink, T-Mobile’s is hot pink, and Cingular’s is bubblegum pink. The Seattle PI commented on the pink gadget phenomenon back in March. Of course the target demographic is women and so far it’s working. Target’s back to school circular featured a pink notebook computer.

Old news, but maybe not to everyone out there: Send your saliva (and some money) and get back your own DNA art. I had two thoughts on this: 1. Celebrities should spit and sell their DNA art for charity. 2. Only identical twins can truly surprise each other with this as a gift. (via Luxist)

In Anthony Bourdain’s account of his abbreviated stay in Beirut (Salon access req’d), he mentions “Kwik-Clot” a powder that is used to stop severe bleeding (“Just pour in wound!” says the man who “exfiltrated” them to safety). I did a little searching and found QuikClot, which is a “granulated mineral substance” similar to kitty litter that clots the blood instantly. It is removed once the wound can be repaired. QuikClot was developed by Z-Medica in my homestate of Connecticut and is now standard issue for Marine, Navy, and Air Force personnel in combat. One drawback is it can release enough heat to cause burns, which may be an acceptable side effect for the circumstances. The Army instead issues HemCon, a bandage made of shrimp shells which is not as versatile, leading some Army units to order their own QuikClot supply. Z-Medica is working on a new formulation which will emit less heat and of course they have their eyes on being a part of everyone’s first aid kit in the future.

By the way, Bourdain was evacuated along with other Americans by the USS Nashville, a ship built in my current homestate of Washington.

Bevnet has positive reviews of the new Diet Pepsi Jazz sodas. Pepsi launched the soda alongside results of their National Indulgences Survey which revealed that “Approximately 140 million Americans consider a sweet treat an indulgence and approximately 101 million Americans find it difficult to indulge their sweet tooth without compromising their diet” which basically means they paid a research firm a bunch of money to randomly call a lot of us to find out that we don’t eat what we’d like to because it’s not good for us.