Even more colored soda? Well, you know how marketing works, when one jumps in the pool, everyone else does too for fear of losing market share. Now, the “uncola” is going upside-down as the makers of 7-Up release dnL (turn that over and see the naming inspiration). It’s bright green, caffeinated, fruity, and due out in November. Dr Pepper/Seven-Up was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes in 1995.

What does Mom pack you for lunch if she’s Alice Waters, founder of Chez Panisse? How about a mozzarella, roasted pepper and tapenade sandwich? Or maybe a Greek salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and romaine. Waters would take an hour to prepare her daughter’s fresh lunches and always included fruit, in season of course, cut up and often placed in orange juice, freshly squeezed of course, to prevent browning. Yum.

If you take notice of architectural details as you walk city streets, you’ll enjoy Public Letter, a walk in central London. Created by a teacher of graphic design, it explores the lettering used on buildings, starting with the British Library which, appropriately enough, has a gate made out of letters. (via Follow Me Here)

Take a look at the striking new design for the The Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. The façade will be composed of identically sized vertical planks in transparent glass, translucent glass and opaque metal. The dramatically cantilevered “gallery box” section will be illuminated at night to become a glowing presence in Boston Harbor. A theater on the 2nd and 3rd floors will have back and side walls of glass allowing a backdrop of a clear view of the harbor or controlled filtering down to complete blackout. The planned completion date is 2006.

“a veritable tsunami of umami stories”? Washington Post food writer Robert L. Wolke summarizes what is known about this “fifth taste.” Named umami in 1907 by Kikunae Ikeda, glutamates are difficult to describe as far as their flavor, but then how does one describe any of the other four basic flavors without knowing them? Foods high in glutamates include popular seasonings such as Parmigiano-Reggiano, fermented soy sauce, and fish sauces. The discovery of a specific taste receptor on the human tongue for glutamates in 2000 legitimized its existence as a basic flavor. Findings this year that we have taste receptors for the amino acids found in proteins, of which glutamates are one, support the idea that our tastes provide our basic needs for nourishment. Saltiness is needed for sodium, sweetness for carbohydrates, bitterness to avoid toxic plants, he doesn’t say what sour is for (Vitamin C? :-), and the umami gives us protein.

According to “The Ultimate Brownie Book,” blondies came before brownies. Brownies were a variation. I always thought it was the other way around. The first known brownie recipe from Fannie Farmer’s 1896 “Boston Cooking School Cookbook,” doesn’t include chocolate but has molasses and was “browned” giving it its name. The 1918 edition which is online has a listing for brownies which includes chocolate in the cookies section, but also has a molasses version in Cakes. I’ll have to check the 1896 reprint next time I see it in a bookstore to see if both versions existed then. A search on blondies in the 1918 cookbook doesn’t turn up anything, but there is likely something similar under a different name.

Assembling your own furniture from flat-pack can be rewarding, but is often frustrating. IKEA’s directions, which are graphical so as to be understood in any language, are clear, but not helpful with ambiguities and potential errors. I was toying with the idea of creating an online database of IKEA furniture assembly tips that customers could search before picking up their screwdrivers. It would have tips specific to each item, contributed by past assembers. Comments like: “There are two types of pointy screws, one has a rounded head and the other is flat but they both look flat in the directions. Don’t get them mixed up.” and “The wooden pegs won’t look like they fit in the right holes, but, don’t worry, they will.” Stavros Antifakos from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is working with a team to make the furniture pieces themselves recognize their state of assembly with sensors, microchips and LEDs. If you try to force a piece into the wrong position, an LED may flash to warn you. Would this cut down on frustration or would we just find ourselves arguing with annoying blinking lights? I’d like to be a usability subject for this one if IKEA considers it for production — provided I get to use an electric screwdriver.

In a Guardian article about the disposition of a violin collector’s unexpectedly large trove of instruments, Graham Wells, founder of Sotheby’s musical instruments department is quoted as saying: “The violin trade has always been corrupt. Compared with the rest of the art and collectors’ market, and even with other instruments, only violins, because of their rarity, history and immense value, attract this level of corruption, with auction houses and the trade – and, of course, musicians who cannot afford these instruments – all suffering as a result.” This fact becomes clear in the convoluted tale of Gerald Segelman’s estate, as the lawyers for his charitable trust tussle with the dealer entrusted with selling, at fair market value, the many violins Segelman had collected. Along the way the female companion of the deceased claimed ownership of the collection and it was eventually discovered that there were even more instruments whose existence the dealer never disclosed to the trustees. Multiple lawsuits were filed. The remainder of Segelman’s collection now sits deteriorating in storage at Sotheby’s, awaiting its fate.

Speaking of violins, San Francisco Symphony concertmaster Alexander Barantschik has an arrangement to play Jascha Heifetz’s Guarnerius violin, which he willed (for unknown reasons) to the De Young Museum in San Francisco. The violin is known as “The David” after Ferdinand David, who premiered Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto on it in 1845. Heifetz’s will stated that it be used “on special occasions by worthy performers.” The agreement between the museum and the SF Symphony is for three seasons.

You know you’ve married a geek when you send your husband the URL to the Nerd Watch Museum and he sends you back the URL of the one he had. (via Yahoo Picks)

Useful: capsule information on the U.S. Supreme Court Judges (thanks kitty!).