German researchers have concluded that singing is good for your health, and as usual with these summaries of scientific studies I’m left wondering what is truly behind the watered down news report. The research compared levels of immunoglobulin A and cortisol in the blood of choir members after singing the Mozart Requiem and after merely listening to a recording of it. Levels were higher after they had sung the Requiem. The mood of the singers was also improved. But singing involves excellent breathing technique which raises oxygen levels. A better or at least additional control would be to have the singers breathe deeply for the same amount of time as the Requiem and see if they have similar improvements.

The New York Times Book Review is seeking a new editor and with it may come significant changes in focus. A summary of an interview with executive editor Bill Keller stated the new direction as: “Emphasize non-fiction books. Demote literary fiction. Promote (judiciously) commercial novels. Cover the book industry more and individual titles less.” Keller was quoted as saying “Because we are a newspaper, we should be more skewed toward nonfiction.” Perhaps he should consider deleting the entire arts & entertainment section while he’s at it, or review only documentary movies. In subsequent interviews he backtracked a bit, and ultimately the decision may belong to the lucky one who takes over the editor vacancy. There is ongoing concern that, with its deep influence, whatever path the Book Review takes, the publishing industry will follow along behind.

Oops. In a performance with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, one of The Flying Karamazov Brothers’ juggling pins got away and landed on a violin. The bridge was snapped in half, no details were given on any further damage to the 270+ year old instrument. The Brothers were appropriately apologetic and are arranging for repairs.

Back in the early 1990s, which used to seem like just yesterday, MTV began airing The Real World which featured a group of twenty-somethings from different backgrounds who had to live together while being filmed constantly. It was the, dare I say, innocent age of reality TV, a far cry from where we are today. Controversy came from racial tension and “naive southern girl adapts to big city” moments. Every episode ended with the production logo of Bunim-Murray. This being MTV, I pictured Mary-Ellis Bunim as a young producer, a fresh-faced Tabitha Soren type. I was wrong. Bunim came from a long history of daytime TV, producing soaps like “Search for Tomorrow” and “As the World Turns.” Her pioneering reality TV work continued through to the current age of the ubiquitous genre. Mary-Ellis Bunim died last week, aged 57, after a long battle against breast cancer. Her many microcosms live on.

Mmmm, tastes like chicken! Well, actually, it’s supposed to taste good with chicken. Samuel Adams is launching a chocolate beer to celebrate Valentine’s Day. In partnership with Scharffen Berger Chocolate, they’ve brewed up a Chocolate Bock using cocoa beans from Ghana. In a random phone sampling of 1019 adults commissioned by Samuel Adams, men chose chocolates and beer as their top Valentine’s Day gifts. No word on whether chicken was on the list of their favorite Valentine’s Day meals.

Who’s got the button? The Keep Homestead Museum in Massachusetts has plenty of them. They inherited the sizeable button collection of Myra Keep Lovell Moulton. Their button of the month archive only scrapes the surface of the multitude of materials and styles.

Five things I’ve learned halfway through a Seattle winter

• Always carry lip balm.
• Zip up jacket before exiting door, not after.
• New wiper blades good. Old wiper blades bad. Rain-X best.
• Finding the parking spot closest to the entrance is not as important as finding the parking spot with the path of optimum rain coverage.
• If you use your turn signal before changing lanes on the highway, cars will magically part to let you in. Don’t forget to return the favor.

Every time I go to Trader Joe’s I wonder who draws the pretty and incredibly detailed chalk drawings of flowers on their blackboards. The answer came in the paper this week: Kirkland artist, Malia McCabe. Using low-oil pastels, she decorates the chalkboard menus and signs of local restaurants, bars, and supermarkets. With a major in advertising and a minor in art, McCabe recreates old masters, product logos, employee portraits, and sometimes just a pretty border to hold the daily specials.

On January 28, 1878 the world’s first commercial telephone exchange opened for business in New Haven, Connecticut. A month later, 50 customers were listed in the world’s first phone directory, distributed on February 21. (One of the listed businesses was the Yale Daily News, which was founded on that very same January 28, 1878.) Reading through the history of the little Connecticut telephone company‘s struggle to grow, it’s fight against Western Union, developing the first New York to Boston line (a financial disaster that was eventually sold to AT&T;), bleak times trying to raise capital with its president taking little salary, dealing with blizzards that tore down lines and poles… it makes me think back to the first struggling startups of the Internet age, some who got to the party a little too early, some who put together luck and technology to create a communication medium so useful that we are starting to take it for granted.

I hadn’t heard of public radio’s The Splendid Table until moving to Seattle. It’s a nationwide program, but it’s not broadcast in the San Francisco area. Luckily, its great website is truly available nationwide (to those with Internet anyway). It contains restaurant listings from contributors Jane and Michael Stern, better known as the Road Food and Gourmet writers. There are answers for all sorts of food and cooking related questions, including a nice suggestion for a dinner to feed 10 you can prepare the night before. And the From Soup to Nuts section is just brimming over with all sorts of advice and resources. Oh, and you can listen to recent shows (in Real Audio format). (via Not Martha)