This year’s Kennedy Center Honorees have been announced: musician James Brown, actress Carol Burnett, singer Loretta Lynn, director Mike Nichols, and violinist Itzhak Perlman. That combo should make for a rousing awards show in December.
People cleverer than I am have checked craigslist and the help wanted classifieds for clues to the Renton Fry’s opening date. Sept 1 is the rumored target day. On our last drive-by, we noticed that signs were going up inside, so they are definitely close.
“Room to rent” ad by a Fry’s employee who says “need a room to rent by Mid August.”
(No, we are not obsessed, we are just geeks.)
A N.Y. Times article on the new designer duds for budget airline Song (part of Delta) reveals some of the requirements for flight attendant uniform design. The designers, Kate and Andy Spade had to choose fire-retardant fabrics and closed-toe, closed-back shoes (they ended up with Mary Janes). The NTSB’s report on the 1995 ValuJet accident (PDF format) includes a short statement on the attire of the flight attendant who received burns. She was wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt and the Safety Board recommended that the FAA advise airlines to make their attendants aware of the passenger clothing guidelines in their “Fly Smart” brochure. According to an Aviation Today article, there are no regulations regarding the flammability flight crew uniforms although there were recommendations and a proposal process for them in 1975-1978 which were dropped in 1981.
Thus, airlines have varying degrees of compliance with the recommendation of the Association of Flight Attendants which states:
4. Uniforms
All flight attendant uniforms, and any part thereof, should be flame retardant and fire resistant, in line with the current state-of-the-art.
a. Those uniform materials known to be highly flammable shall be brought to the attention of the air carrier and it shall be requested that they be discontinued and replaced. A listing of such flammable materials is available and can be obtained by the air carrier or flight attendant from any Regional FAA office or the AFA Air Safety, Health and Security Department. (BOD 2002)
b. Flight attendant uniforms should be distinctly different from the traveling public, convey authority and avoid features that create personal security threats. (BOD 2002)
Bonus link: A CBS Early Show story on the history of Delta’s uniforms. Link from the past: One man’s “stewardess uniform collection“.
3M has been watching me, and probably many other forgetful people, stick Post-It note reminders to all sorts of unsuitable surfaces: purses, TVs, doors, kitchen cabinets. Sometimes they stay up; often they fall off. Sensing the despair and market opportunity, 3M has introduced Post-It Super Sticky notes. These are designed to stick to more difficult surfaces and should still pull off cleanly. Now we just need special super-sticky printer paper for printing online directions to attach to your car dashboard.
The cover story of the September Wired magazine hits straight to the DeBeers diamond cartel jugular. Two U.S. startups are manufacturing diamonds. And these aren’t the ol’ tiny crystals suitable for coating drillbits and sawblads. These are gem quality, perfect diamonds. So perfect, in fact, that some jewelers look for a lack of flaws to distinguish them from natural ones. Gemesis is starting with yellow diamonds which are faster to create than white, and offering gems weighing up to three carats. Their technology comes from Russia; the same machines you may have seen on a Nova’s “Diamond Deception” episode. Apollo Diamond is growing diamonds with a process called chemical vapor deposition. While both companies are dealing with the gem market, their eyes are firmly on the real long term prize: diamond computer chips. The high thermal conductivity of a girl’s best friend means that diamond semiconductors are on the horizon.
Where’s the weather? Here in Seattle, of course. The broadcast meteorologists are in town for their convention. Part entertainer, part scientist, these weather watchers are talking shop and discussing techniques for improving their 90% accuracy rate.
The American Meteorological Society is also holding their annual meeting in Seattle in January. I’ve heard there will be even more weather then, so much so that I’ve been advised to travel to Hawaii.
The latest Blue Man Group project, The Complex, is on the second leg of its tour with three Texas performances sold out this week. It sold out in all eight cities of the first leg, including Seattle. Music videos and a tour journal are on their site.
Kiwifruit are fuzzy on the outside, green on the inside. Right? There are actually many varieties in the family of the “Chinese Gooseberry.” New Zealand farms have been producing the green variety since their import from China in the early 1900s. California began producing quantities of kiwi in the 1970s. A few years ago, the golden kiwi, a fruit with a yellow flesh, was introduced. Created from sibling plants of the green kiwi, the yellow fruit has a pointed top and a slightly sweeter flavor.
There’s gummi bear vitamins and Flintstones vitamins but apparently kids still need incentive to swallow their daily RDA. Enter Vitaball the new vitamin gumball. Chew one for 5-10 minutes and you’re all set. Blow your vitamin-rich bubbles in cherry, grape, watermelon, or bubble gum flavors.
The structure of music may have its roots in the tonal sounds of the human voice. Music theory may be a mathematical activity, but despite differences in the intervals of scales developed by different cultures, “all cultures favour certain intervals from the chromatic scale, and listeners judge these same intervals to create the most harmonious combinations of two tones.” The frequency peaks from samples of human language match the most significant invervals in the scales from many cultures. (report abstract)