Though she chronicled extraordinary and horrible circumstances, Anne Frank was at heart a writer, and under happier circumstances would have continued to write tales from her life and imaginary lives. The book “Anne Frank’s Tales from the Secret Annex” contains short stories and reminiscences which illustrate the ongoing practice of her writing skills. Now an exhibit at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum will display notebooks and papers of Anne’s writing. Director Sara Bloomfield succeeded in tricky negotiations to allow these works to be part of the 10th anniversary of the museum’s opening. The small, but significant set of papers rescued from the Secret Annex that will be on display include three of her original notebooks, the third volume of her diary, loose pages from her edited diary, and her photo album.

Twenty-five years of that fat, oranged cat with stripes. Yup, Garfield is still with us and celebrating a quarter century. Creator Jim Davis continues on with the lasagna obsessing, spider-smashing, and Odie bashing. His ambition is to “write that one gag that makes the whole world laugh.” Because the Garfield universe is timeless, Davis can work far in advance. He’s currently working on strips for next summer. That’s around the time a feature-length film about the grumpy kitty is scheduled for release.

(It seems to be NY Times week here!) The second article in the NY Times’ series on the creation of a Steinway piano delves into the genesis of the sounding board. Piano No. K0862’s board is comprised of about 15 strips of spruce, selected from a pile of wood, the majority of which was rejected for miniscule imperfections. Only the slowly grown, stronger grained wood is allowed in the soundboard. The article also goes into some history of the Steinway workers and the company’s continued reliance on hand manufacturing while competitors sell pianos, some with higher price tags, made mostly with machines. Last week, the Times also published an article on the pianos exhibited in museums. There is actually a Museum of the American Piano in Manhattan where you can see various incarnations of keyboards and cases.

Who sells peanut butter for $375 a pound, 40 grams of powdered milk for $156, 50 grams of corn starch for $151, and a three-ounce jar of baby food for $58.25? Well, this isn’t any ordinary grocery store. These items are reference materials supplied by The National Institute of Standards and Technology. Their nutritional components have been completely analyzed for fat, fatty acids, elements like copper and calcium, and amino acids. The foodstuffs themselves are unremarkable, having been obtained from the same commercial sources your grocer patronizes. But if a food manufacturer or lab ever needs to check their own analysis against that of The Peanut Butter, they can order Standard Reference Material No. 2387. Of course if you need something a little different, like various types of Gold Bullion, Portland Cement, or perhaps Tomato Leaves, take a skim through their price list. (source: NY Times article)

Sales of men’s clothing has gone down because more women have jobs. That theory sounded counter-intuitive to me at first. But then I realized that women who do not work have more time to shop. They also have more time to think about what their husbands should wear, how they can accessorize, and have time to do laundry and iron (if they enjoy that kind of thing, of course). But the revolution, as it were, came much more recently that I would have thought. According to polls by the NPD Group, three years ago women shopped for 76 percent of men. Now women shop for less than half of men. And the typical male doesn’t treat clothes shopping as entertainment, but more as a chore necessary only when he needs a particular item. It’s a difficult time for retailers and some have scaled back their men’s departments. No one knows if there will be a rebound; perhaps a fashion trend or an improved economy will get more men buying more clothes. It’s unlikely, however, that droves of women will be back to the men’s store. (source: NY Times article)

Urban details are chronicled and explored in Ruavista – Signs of the City. Pretty graphics are found on the manhole covers of Paris and London. The dying art of painted wall advertisements is captured in Paris. And there are twenty-year-old hand-painted ads still attached to the trees of Buenos Aires. (via SixDifferentWays)

Byron Hoyt, a wonderful sheet music store in San Francisco, has put together a Historic American Sheet Music Collection that you can view online. The collection consists of 3.000 pieces of sheet music, published between 1850 and 1920. Each is completely scanned, from cover to back. There are patriotic war songs, pleas for secession, tunes that fight for women’s rights, waltzes, polkas, and many a love song.

Ever wonder how jewelry photographers get rings to seemingly levitate for their close-ups? It’s not clever image manipulation or wires, as I had thought. This guide to photographing jewelry for print and the web says that the answer is “ghee”. No, not clarified butter, but a mixture of kneaded eraser and modeling clay. The two ingredients are combined by the photographer to the proper consistency and a small blob provides a suitable invisible perch for a ring.

It’s unfortunate that the Vienna Philharmonic does not allow its members to speak to the press. It would be useful to get some perspective on the orchestra’s business manager’s statement, “naturally they are shy,” which he made when asked about women auditioning for the orchestra. Six years after the orchestra voted to admit women, there are still very few females. The NY Times fails to get a spectrum of interviewees for this article on the scarcity of women in the Philharmonic. We do not hear from any rejected female musicians who, presumably, do have the right to speak to the press, to get their point of view on whether other women are too “shy” to audition. A better word might be “intimidated” or a better phrase may be “unwilling to deal with the discrimination they will face.”

The NY Times article is incredibly tame when compared to this write-up of the Vienna Philharmonic’s employment practices as of December 2002. In here, it is made very clear that actual orchestra membership is only granted after three years of tenure in the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, and even then it is subject to vote. The women currently performing with the Philharmonic are not members, but are working through their three year Opera terms. This essay also claims that women substitutes are brought along specifically for U.S. tours and not used in other places. For an in-depth look at one woman’s experience in a European orchestra, read through an account of the twelve year legal battle of trombonist Abbie Conant versus the Munich Philharmonic. These last two articles were written by Abbie Conant’s husband, and thus cannot be called completely objective, but he notes his sources and is not using false data, just biased tone.

It’s a good thing basset hounds are so cute and forgiveable. Jewelry store owner Joy Kilner’s basset swallowed an $1,800 diamond. Kilner was transferring the gems to a safe when the dog bit down on the tray and consumed a half-carat, triple ideal cut, round diamond. It has not reappeared, even in x-rays.