Directors from diamond giant De Beers can now travel to the United States without fearing arrest. The company settled a 10 year old price fixing charge with the Justice Department this week. De Beers previously chose to not acknowledge U.S. jurisdiction in the matter and faced possible legal action if any board members had entered the country. This settlement is expected to close a major chapter in De Beers’ 124 year history as they have encountered antitrust scrutiny from the U.S. for sixty years. Financially, however, it may prove negligible as their sale of diamonds into the U.S. market through indirect channels has been little hindered. But with the diamond market facing higher competition with new mines, manmade gems, and bad PR from conflict diamonds, the company is striving to wipe the slate clean, publishing a standard of ethics. They can now move freely, and more directly into the U.S. to face the new challenges. De Beers and luxury retailer LVMH plan to open a retail store on New York’s Fifth Avenue this year.

The blushing Rainier cherry is a local favorite here in Washington state, and I finally bought a bag to try. They are definitely sweeter than Bings and tasty enough, but I missed the tang and went back to the (cheaper) red standby the next time I shopped. The Seattle Times printed a detailed history of the Rainier in its Sunday magazine recently and I also found a shorter but also informative Seattle PI article from 2001. A cross between two varieties, a Bing and a Van, the Rainier was created by Harold Fogle at WSU in 1952 with delicate hand pollination. About 200 seedlings resulted from the cross and the standout “white” colored one was a sweet surprise coming from two dark red parents. It’s a picky variety to grow, showing its bruises easily. Much of the crop is sent to Japan where it commands steep prices, as much as 85 cents per cherry, which makes the U.S. $2-$3/pound premium over Bings rather more palatable.

Just visiting the 30 major league ballparks wasn’t enough for Jim and Andrea Siscel. The couple tallied up 55,604 miles crossing the U.S. and Canada to visit every major and minor league park. That totals 170, except two teams moved during their project so they ended up with a grand total of 172. The Mariners fans claim the only place they didn’t root root root for the home team was Yankee Stadium, and of course Seattle’s Safeco Field is their favorite major league park. The Siscels listed their stops on baseballroadtrip.net.

The invention of carbonated fruit made news rounds in 2001 and is back again, I suppose for PR reasons. Galen Kaufman discovered that a pear kept cool with dry ice had become carbonated. Enjoying the sensation of the fizzy fruit, he worked with Oregon State University researchers to develop a method to carbonate fruit en masse and market it. After that initial pear, Kaufman successfully carbonated apples, strawberries, peaches, watermelons, and grapes. Their current marketing angle is to encourage kids to eat more fruit.

It’s not just for wine coolers anymore. New packaging options for wine, particularly the “party wine” varieties, are appearing on store shelves. Joining boxed wines in plowing new ground are sparkling wines in single serving cans, sangrias in tetra paks, and more bubblies in beer bottle styles with crown caps. And trying to provide a little more class than screwtops, new closures such as the ZORK are providing alternatives to that old-fashioned cork.

These two items are popular weblog fodder, but they fit into my sensibilities so well I have to mention them: translucent concrete from LiTraCon on display at the National Building Museum, and the Pokia retro cellphone accessory which is an old-fashioned handset that hooks into a new-fashioned phone, as seen in the N.Y. Times.

Seattle’s SEAFAIR commences this weekend and the Seafair pirates will storm Alki Beach at noon on Saturday, complete with cannon fire. To better prepare for this event, here’s a pirate history site with information on weapons, ships, and other details of pirate life. Also fun is Pirates! Facts & Legend. (pirate history via antenna)

First he gets hit in the eye with a lollipop during a show. Then he cancels his tour because, they tell us, he has a pinched nerve in his shoulder. Now it’s revealed that David Bowie underwent emergency angioplasty to clear a blocked artery in his heart. The pinched nerve was a cover-up story or perhaps a faulty initial diagnosis; it’s likely he thought it was just shoulder pain as that is a heart attack symptom. Good thing he quit smoking two years ago. A speedy recovery to Mr. Bowie.

Gotham, a typeface with a New York provenance, was chosen for the inscription on the Freedom Tower cornerstone at the World Trade Center site. The N.Y. Times reflects on the silver leaf lettering and the significance of the granite block, a herald for what is to come. Commissioned by GQ magazine in 2000, the font “evokes the blocky, no-nonsense, unselfconscious architectural lettering that dominated the streetscape from the 1930’s through the 1960’s.”

I’ve called attention here in the past to pipe organs of grandeur. Here’s one of more modest proportions and yet its story is compelling. A 500 pipe organ sits wrapped up and quiet in storage, waiting for the funds that will allow its refurbishment and placement in Seattle’s renovated Roosevelt High School. Restoring the organ is low on the priority list for the school district’s building committee. They see little educational benefit in spending money on an instrument few students will use. A separate group has begun to raise funds with an additional $90,789 needed by October. The organ, dedicated in 1940 as a memorial to the school’s first principal, is a custom job by Moller Organ Company and includes some “unique elements.” Seattle has another public school organ at Franklin High School.