The wonderful thing about the Blogathon is that it is a fundraising endeavor where the very activity that raises money for a cause can call attention to and educate people about the cause. I’ve always had a cynical attitude towards events like charity balls where thousands of dollars are wasted on dresses, limos, and food that could have gone straight to the charitable cause’s coffers instead, though I understand that the fancy trappings are often necessary to raise large sums of money. But with Blogathon there’s an opportunity, if the weblog author chooses, to directly raise awareness about the charity they are collecting donations for. I was honored to have been asked to help judge the awards this year.

The 2003 Bulwer-Lytton (aka “dark and stormy night”) contest results are in, and the winning entry effectively exhibits America’s burgeoning penchant for foodie writing. No, really, it does.

According to the Piano Technicians Guild, there are 10,000 tuners for America’s 18 million pianos. And half of them now use a computer and software such as CyberTuner to adjust strings to the correct pitch. There’s ongoing debate in the tuner community over which method is more effective. Some even say that electronic tuners should be used to save the ear for more fine adjustments. With an electronic tuner and little training, maybe anyone could become a piano tuner, but there’s still the need for experience and learning how and when to make fine adjustments.

It’s rough being part of a major target market. I think I got through the first three decades of my shopping life without mishap, but now that I have disposable income the marketing powers have carefully researched my nostalgic triggers and put them to use. At the new DSW Shoe Warehouse in San Jose, their plethora of shoes and sizes were all conveniently lined up for me to try on at my own browsing speed, just like when I was little and my mom would take me to Shoe Town in Norwalk, Connecticut. And every time I thought that maybe I had had enough of the rows and rows of fashionably cute shoes, another eighties-era song that I hadn’t heard in many years would come on over the sound system and I’d have to stay and listen to it. And try on another pair of sandals. I came out with remarkably little damage, thanks to the discounted clearance racks and my disinclination towards trends.

The official opening date for the long-contested East Palo Alto Ikea has been set and officials are gearing up for the traffic jams. With a prime Highway 101 location the shiny new blue store will likely snarl peninsula traffic in a wide radius. It is also near the Dumbarton Bridge, which spans the bay to Fremont. Opening day is a Wednesday, August 27th and there’s a Labor Day long weekend’s worth of cheap, fun-to-pronounce home improvement acquisition immediately following. Take alternate routes.

Our Bosch dishwasher, which is wonderfully quiet and always cleans the dishes without pre-rinsing, did have one problem. A cycle seemed to take hours and hours. Disturbed by the possible waste of electricity, I plowed through Google looking for an answer, and found it on Usenet. My husband soldered the bad relay connection and now the dishwasher runs great. Since then, I have run into many people who have Bosch dishwashers with the exact same problem. They are always thrilled to hear about the easy (this being Silicon Valley, usually one or both spouses knows how to solder) solution. I almost wish that every time I meet someone new or enter new group situations I could say “Hi! Anyone here have a Bosch dishwasher with a terribly long cycle?” Instead, I’m writing about it here so there will be more search engine visibility than a buried Usenet posting. Note: if you do take yours apart, take a photo of the control panel first; it’ll be easier to put it back together. And the part you need to solder should be easy to spot; it’ll be fried to a lovely dark hue.

I read so voraciously as a child that I was rather stunned when just a couple years ago my husband handed me “I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith and I realized I had never seen it before. With an enticing title like that and my sharp-eyed shelf browsing tactics, how could i have missed it? I’ve decided that my hometown library must not have had a copy, and indeed the sole copy they now have is a 1999 printing which lends some small credence to my theory. Now that I am fully acquainted with the lovely tale of Cassandra Mortmain and her family, the BBC has finally translated it to the silver screen. “Buffy the Vampire” fans will take note that Marc Blucas is appearing as Neil Cotton. “E.T.” star Henry Thomas is Simon.

FingerWorks is pioneering “MultiTouch” keyboards. Their smooth surface input devices use a small electromagnetic field to sense hand and finger movements. Along with key input, there is a large vocabulary of gestures that can be used for everything from file editing and image manipulation to gaming. The aim is to create a natural, relaxing, and therefore ergonomic input environment. No force is necessary and the hand position gestures use less effort than writing out a symbolic gesture. It seems magical, but until I try one myself I can’t be an effective judge.

The fast growing market for artisanal foods brings the artisan producers up against a conundrum. How can they satisfy demand while maintaining the quality that is bringing all the business to their often small operations? Some producers are bringing in hi-tech to help out. Andalusian pig farmers are curing Iberico and Serrano ham year-round in aging rooms with climates carefully controlled by computers. Purists may wish to seek out hams that are cured the old-fashioned way for three years in mountain caves. Hi-tech “caves” are also being used for cheese production at the Artisanal Cheese Center in New York. In France, a continuous olive press is shortening olive oil production time, resulting in better quality and more quantity.

The Guardian asks top British chefs what kitchen gadget they couldn’t live without. There’s not one microplane grater in the bunch, though one is in Delia Smith’s list of essentials available for sale. I have to agree with Ken Hom’s must-have item; a Chinese cleaver is my indispensible kitchen tool. One chef picks his liquidiser, which is British for “blender.”