Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia continues to cope with the aftermath of its founder’s legal troubles. Although they were able to sell repeats of “Martha Stewart Living” to In Style television, they are suspending production of new television shows after this season. “Living” magazine will carry on with reducing its Martha-ness. “Everyday Food” is increasing circulation numbers, which could be some positive news. Martha Stewart is scheduled for sentencing on July 8th and is awaiting a response on her request for a new trial. It’s likely her company will have to wait and see what pieces of her shrinking empire can be picked up after her expected 10-16 months in jail.

We visited the new Seattle Public Library this weeekend. It is much bigger and taller inside than I expected. My fear of heights got in the way the higher I went up, but I’d get accustomed to the environment after time. Neat details that stood out: 1st floor maple floor “featuring 12 languages that are predominant in the Library’s collections. The letters are backward in reference to typeface and the way books are printed. The backward letters recreate the experience of learning to read, where abstract symbols become meaningful.” The automated bookdrop with its visible conveyor belt system. Bamboo flooring in certain areas. The book spiral isn’t really a curving spiral as I’d imagined; it’s squared. “Nerf” foam furniture that already is looking a little dirty. And Dewey Decimal numbers on the LED displays in the elevators.

I’ve let the weeds get out of control around our “botanical alcove” (the real estate brochure term used for our front garden) and we gave up mowing our little backyard strip because there wasn’t as much grass there as weeds. You Grow Girl has a few articles that I may have to read and re-read until I do something about the jungle growing outside: Garden of Weedin’ and Getting Your Goat which is about hiring goats to control a rowdy yard.

Back in the college dorm, over ten years ago now, we signed up every year for phone service for our rooms. It was the same as getting residential phone service. We’d pick a plan, typically a flat fee for unlimited local calling (used primarily for calling your friends one floor up to see if they were ready to eat) and a long distance provider. Every year we paid the phone company an annoyingly large setup fee, even though they did little to reconnect service (which was made all too clear by the fact that a room kept the same phone number year after year). Soon after I graduated, the college installed its own campus phone service, the same kind of system that companies purchase. It came with voicemail and students could forward calls to other rooms, conference call, all those fun things people do with their office phone if they can remember the key combinations.

Nowadays I assume many college students get cell phones and don’t bother with land lines no matter who supplies them. But then there’s Darthmouth, always on the cutting edge of campus networking. They merged their data and phone networks and rolled out phone service over campus-networked and wireless computers using voice over IP. Long distance calls are free. Traditional phones remain in the dorms, for now, and its likely that many students will prefer their cell phones as their primary phone. But as cellphones and wireless computers merge, who will own the line in the future?

I always thought male classical soloists had a rather handy advantage in being able to just put on a tuxedo night after night and not worry about the latest fashions. The women have to purchase expensive gowns and matching accessories to keep up with expectations. Well, some of the men actually prefer to break out of the penguin suit mold and dress in their own signature style for performances. Some play it safe in the black and white color ranges, doing away with white tie and black tails, opting instead for vests or flowing shirts. Others go for a color splash and don bright shirts. Meanwhile in the matching regiments of the symphony orchestra, some groups have taken the bold step of adding color to their repertoire with colored cummerbunds for the men and a colored fabric in different styles for the women. If the bright palette orchestra trend catches on, I can imagine the pendulum swinging back in a few years to basic black as the refreshing alternative.

I love correspondence cards, but they are often expensive and of course I do most of my corresponding on the computer. However, I really prefer those nicely heavy cards instead of folded note cards. They are very handy to have around for expressing thanks after a dinner party, jotting a thoughtful message to a friend when email just won’t do, tucking in a note when you package up a gift, and reviving the dead practice of the hand-written RSVP. Crane’s, the king of stationery, is having a semi-annual clearance sale with a nice selection of correspondence cards (and other items) for up to 50% off. (via Pop Culture Junkmail)

Fresh apricots are invariably disappointing unless I take pains to seek out the Blenheim variety. Alas their season is short, and double alas, the SF Chronicle says the growers are vanishing. Blenheims have lost ground to better looking and less fragile apricot varieties. The special care needed to ship and sell ripe Blenheims doesn’t make for a profitable crop. Growers depend on farmer’s market sales, and buyers still need to be educated that the better looking apricot isn’t necessarily the best tasting.

The Seattle P.I. ponders the personalities of the Puget Sound Mycological Society as they hunt for boletes and morels in the spring gathering season. They relate stories of the big ones (specimens and seasons) of years past, share or covet their favorite spots, and respect legendary members with remarkable talent for spotting fungi.

To create the most expensive fashion item of its class (and bask in the accompanying publicity), just borrow a bunch of diamonds and slap ’em on. Victoria’s Secret regularly dresses up their undergarments with stones. Stuart Weitzman made diamond shoes, worn by Alison Krauss to the Oscars. And in the news this week there was “the most expensive hat ever made“, valued at $2,700,000 and designed by Louis Mariette. Also making the news, but taking a step back, singer Charlotte Church was planning to wear a Scott Henshall dress woven with diamonds, “the most expensive dress ever made,” to a movie premiere, but then decided against it.

Did the Chinese use compound machines as early as 552 BC? Spirals on jade rings could have been carved by a machine that used motion conversion. The rings were assumed to have been hand carved, but a Harvard graduate student determined that the uniform Archimedes’ spirals on the rings may provide evidence of early use of compound machines.