iPodified baby. Except the kid outgrows onesies so quickly that “Only $15.95” is a ridiculous statement.

Elvis Costello is headlining Seattle’s Bumbershoot this year!

Patti LuPone is returning to Broadway in Sweeney Todd. Angela Lansbury will always be the quintessential Mrs. Lovett, but LuPone, the quintessential Evita, will surely put her unique mark on the role.

Hershey’s is buying Scharffen Berger. I don’t know what to say. I still consume Stonyfield Yogurt (Dannon), Ben & Jerry’s (Unilever), and Nantucket Nectars (Cadbury Schweppes) after their mega-corp acquisitions. But I’ll need a little time to digest the Hershey’s and Scharffen Berger news.

When painting walls I find the actual paint application fun but the prep work tedious. 3M now makes their blue painter’s tape in an L-shape for easy corner coverup. That may ease the pain a tiny bit next time I have to spend eons taping before being able have fun with rollers.

There’s a new organ at Brick Presbyterian Church on East 92nd Street in New York City and the NY Times reported on its voicing, the final step of adjusting each individual pipe to emit the perfect sound. The instrument, created in the style of 19th century French master Cavaillé-Coll, is Opus 3837 of Quebec company Casavant Frères. The article claims its the only organ in New York to replicate the style of Cavaillé-Coll which led me to wonder how many organs there are in New York City? Well, The New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists has some idea. Their sampler list, though not comprehensive, is an intriguing gathering of religions, residences, schools, and concert halls with a hospital thrown in too. They even include museum organs at the Frick and the Met. So, how many organs are there in New York City? Let’s just say a heck of a lot.

The latest avocado news…the Mercury News tried a new variety called the Don Gillogly (after its developer) with excellent results: “Tastes like it has twice the oil content of a Haas. Extremely buttery.” “the best guacamole I’ve ever made.” And the meat won’t go dark immediately. The fruit isn’t being sold (yet) but you can try to get a tree from certain nurseries. Over in the UK there are plans to sell a “seedless” avocado, but it’s not a new variety, just “baby” avocados from the end of the season that used to be ignored. I found mention of an actual seedless variety called “Fruta De Oro” (patent link) which is from Costa Rica but is being given a try in the California climate. This NY Times reprint traces avocado varieties in the U.S. along with a choice historical bit: “an archaic anomaly… scientists theorize that this extravagantly rich pulp evolved to entice megafauna like mastodons and ground sloths to swallow the fruit whole and disperse the giant seeds.” Now they have to depend on little kids with their toothpicks and biology projects.

During some typically random surfing I read that Italian fashion designer Emilio Pucci created the Apollo 15 mission patch. This was trivia too interesting to not verify. Along the way I found a site dedicated to the long defunct Braniff Airlines (Pucci designed their uniforms in the 1960s and 70s). There’s a rather jumpy telling of the airline’s final hours as it headed into bankruptcy. But back to Pucci, the story of the Apollo 15 patch can be found on this informative Space Mission Patches site where a quote from Al Worden reveals that Pucci designed an initial version of the patch, with his usual stylish colors, which was then reworked a bit to result in the final red, white, and blue emblem.

That led me to check on the upcoming Space Shuttle mission patch. The best insignia descriptions can be found on a site that sells them. There, I discovered that patches created subsequent to the Challenger disaster often featured 7 stars or 7 rays of sun to commemorate the lost crew members. The emblem for the next scheduled mission does the same for the crew of Columbia.

A “corpse flower” is stenchily blooming in Seattle at the Volunteer Park Conservatory. “Waldo” will peak soon, so get in line now for a prime whiff. In May, Ted from UC Davis added his own special scent to the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco. Ted’s pollen is headed for Waldo. Last summer a number of huge flowers stunk up the country. UConn had its own titan arum, UC Davis nurtured another bloom, Steven F. Austin State U’s Arboretum in Texas joined in, as did Virgina Tech’s Horticulture Garden. Atlanta’s Botanical Garden got in the act along with Walt Disney World. In 2003, Tiffy at the Fullerton Arboretum at Cal State had her moment in the spotlight. And UW-Madison’s record setting 2001 bloomer is at it again this year.

Josh Malina owes his career to Aaron Sorkin, but he’s still going strong on The West Wing post-Sorkin. On a recent visit to Israel he did an interview with The Jerusalem Post. He actually thought he’d be gone after Sorkin left, but the new writing staff kept Will Bailey in.