Coca-Cola and Pepsi both announced new soda flavors Tuesday that capitalize on already established brands. Coke brand Sprite will be launching Sprite Remix, a tropical flavor. Pepsi’s Mountain Dew will be offering Mountain Dew LiveWire this summer. Their press release terms the flavor “orange-ignited” with the same base ingredients and caffeine content as regular Dew. I’ll be sticking to Trader Joe’s organic lemonade cut with lime sparkling water.

A recent NOVA special on the restoration of ancient monastery paintings in Tibet was fresh in my mind when I read an article about the distaste incurred by artificial siding materials. The monastery restoration was achieved with methods and materials true to the origins of the structure. Sections of paintings which had been completely lost to water damage were not initially replaced, but outlined to achieve the wholeness desired by the worshippers of the depicted deities. But the outlines weren’t enough; they wanted the entire paintings back, and, the foreign restorers implied, the locals didn’t care as much if original materials were used towards those goals. Accustomed to restoring, not recreating, the restoration specialists seemed reluctant, and the discussion was still ongoing at the end of the program. Back in the U.S., where we have much less exhalted, and not ancient, but nonetheless beloved architecture to restore, preservation societies ban the use of “unauthentic building surfaces.” Vinyl siding is especially reviled, as it is, after all, plastic, and the worst plastic of all (environmentally unsound PVC). Authenticity isn’t as much about looks as it is about materials to the purists of restoration. They happily live with any drawbacks the older materials may have. The Tibetan monks have different, perhaps more relaxed, aspirations in their road to enlightment.

I curbed my previously announced ginger chew addiction by graduating to crystallized ginger. That’s the real stuff; actual chunks soaked in sugar. It’s quite yummy and great for traveling. I kept thinking it would be wonderful with chocolate, and now the Ginger People have chocolate-covered ginger buttons. They are dipped in “premium quality dark chocolate” which is, also, the real stuff. Yum.

More images of the Samsung Matrix phone have been uncovered. “The phone will have 65K+ color TFT LCD screen, 40 polyphonic ringtone, automatic sliding earpiece utilizing piezoelectric motors (opens and closes with one touch of the button on the side).” (via many Matrix fansites)

Fun with the CHP Traffic Incident Information Page:
Incident: 1946 Type: Traffic Hazard – Loose Animal Location: CAMINO DIABLO AT MARSH CREEK RD Zoom Map: 636 2D Info as of: 2/24/2003 7:01:50 PM
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
6:29PM – AC 1097 – WILL 1023 FOR CHP
6:29PM – CHP ASSIST – ROUNDING UP COW
6:29PM – ANOTHER COW OO THE FENCE
RESPONDING OFFICERS STATUS
6:45PM – CHP Unit Enroute

On the heels of the Discover 2GO Card comes Bank of America’s mini-card. Designed for your keychain, the card has the account number in a small font so it can’t be easily read, and they claim you are not liable for any unauthorized use if you inform them when it is stolen. Next up, I’d like a credit card that I can paint on periodically with nail polish. I probably won’t lose that and the bottle can stay at home. (via eatonweb)

A very useful battery handbook, for those who are confused about things like whether you should fully drain before charging and whether batteries should be stored fully charged (never fully charge or discharge Li-ion before storage). I am accumulating too many devices with rechargeable batteries, and I’ve already worn out my digital Elph battery. Luckily that one’s easily replaceable, but the one in my Palm isn’t. (via Gizmodo)

Steve reports that the Joe Jackson Band is back with a new album and tour. They’re playing at SXSW. The album release date is March 11th.

There’s nothing like a NY Times food critic to validate an icon of food nostalgia. William Grimes, worried by a report that Times Square’s Howard Johnson restaurant may be closing, made a pilgrimage to relive the old times. Grimes reveals the reason why I was so enamored of the mint chocolate chip ice cream under those orange roofs. In the 1920’s, long before those gourmet brands we know and love today, Mr. Johnson bought an ice cream recipe from a German peddlar. It contained double the butterfat of the typical ice cream and used natural flavorings. I had thought it was yummy mostly because of the treat of eating out, but now I know the real secret, as do those guys Ben & Jerry. Grimes also mentions that Jacques Pépin, one of HoJo’s original consultant chefs, has written a memoir which will include reminiscences of his days at the restaurant. As for the Times Square location, the parent company says it will stay put. But the future for the chain as a whole still seems bleak. The total HoJo’s count is down to 11, plus one in Puerto Rico. (What I wrote about HoJo’s one year ago.)

I spent a good portion of my prime violin practicing years learning a proper vibrato. I had to do finger exercises, retrain my left arm to hold the instrument differently, and waggle my arm up and down over and over until my hand flopped back and forth on my wrist in a graceful undulation instead of a stiff whap. I can now flatten the top joint of my left pinky in a way that my right pinky would fear meant it was broken. All these efforts delayed the advancement of my repertoire, since all else stopped while we concentrated on my vibrato. For without vibrato, a violinist is nothing. Conductor Roger Norrington might disagree, however. He wrote a NY Times article that laments the advent of the modern “vibrato era.” From Fritz Kreisler’s “gentle shimmer” grew the impressive constant warble that is fashionable today. Orchestras started a shift to continuous vibrato in the 1920s, starting with the French, and reaching the German and Austrian groups in the late 1930s. The implication is that during the lifetimes of the classical, romantic, and even many late romantic composers, vibrato was not a constant feature. Norrington argues for the return to pure tone, stating that “Because the sound is not glamorized, phrasing becomes more important. Nowadays symphony orchestras tend to rely on sound rather than shape.” If this belief spreads, musicians will no longer be able to hide poor tuning behind fancy vibrato technique. (andante.com writeup)