September 24th is a CD release day chock full of goodies. The CD from the Buffy musical episode will be released (it’s an “Original Cast Album”!). Bonus tracks include music from some key episodes like “Hush” and a demo of one of the musical’s songs sung by Joss Whedon and his wife. Also on the 24th, the long-awaited Peter Gabriel album will finally see daylight. Check out this collected timeline of events that led to the release of “Up”. And another almost equally long-awaited album (though I didn’t know until today that I was waiting for it) is Alison Moyet‘s first release in 8 years, “Hometime”, which will also hit the shelves that day. And if you can’t wait for those, Aimee Mann‘s new album “Lost In Space” was released today.

If you haven’t been by to visit monkey in a while (and why not?), well he’s developed a new exercise program to supplement his Cuisinart stairmaster routine. Observe the freestyle aerobic and wrestling movements developed expressedly for creating a yummy sorbet in a zippy sack. No doubt monkey wanted to look svelte for his photo exhibit at Artists For Tibet.

On the “new fiction” shelves of our library I noticed many red stickers on the book spines that said “B&T;”. Intrigued, I looked closer and found one book that had a sticker with a full name “Baker & Taylor Leasing“. Ahhh, a clever idea I had not noticed at the other libraries I used to frequent. A library can lease popular titles when everyone wants to read them and not have to buy so many copies. I imagine that with advanced notice, leasing can be planned into a library budget quite effectively. As I was talking about it with my husband we discussed how this would be perfect for computer titles since those often become obsolete as quickly as the processors and software they are written for. When a software package or tool is new and popular, many people would like to learn about it at the same time, and as soon as possible, but later on only one copy is really necessary. So it’s not a surprise to find that Baker & Taylor also provides a “Computer Book Leasing System.”

Good news. The media, apparently realizing that the public is catching on to all those celebrity drug endorsements (I wrote about Rob Lowe shilling for Amgen last month), is starting to be more upfront about their interviewees. The NY Times reports that CNN has a new policy to disclose their guests’ financial ties with companies if they wish to talk about a medical issue. Other networks are considering being more careful as well. A senior vice president at CBS says they will also start asking celebrities to reveal any financial connections to drugs they may be promoting.

At ABC they did ask Peggy Fleming’s representatives if she was pitching a drug when she came on to talk about heart disease. ABC claims they were told she was not, nevertheless, their interviewer was prepared with competing drug brand names when Fleming dropped the name of the cholesterol-reducing drug she takes. The drug company claimed ABC’s producer was clearly told ahead of time, but who can you believe? Luckily, it is easy to always question the validity when a celebrity mentions a name of a product that they claim to use. Don’t take advice from strangers. Celebrities, as much as you may think you know them, aren’t your friends unless you really do know them personally.

PalmPilots may be native, but the trees aren’t
When I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area I didn’t give much thought to the palm trees that dotted the landscape here and there. Hey, it’s California. But when I was told that they were not native to the area, I started taking note of them. These symbols of California life have been imported into the landscape of the Bay Area. The California Fan Palm is the only palm tree native to western North America and its natural range is farther south. But some Californians like their palm trees and they brought them up north to retain that sunny lifestyle. Once I drove a visiting, wide-eyed 12 year old girl around as she pointed out palm trees while exclaiming “Look! I’m really in California!” I didn’t have the heart to tell her they weren’t actually native. So how do these palms get transplanted all over? Palm dealers, of course. Real estate developers, landscapers, hotel builders get their palms from Sea Crest Nursery, “California’s largest palm purveyor”. These dealers also keep an eye out for palms as they travel, watching for mature plants that could use relocation away from power lines or construction. It’s not surprising that the Bay Area’s population diversity extends to the flora. I could go on about the Eucalyptus too.

EphemeraNow.com is a collection of expertly scanned advertising art from the middle of last century (that would be the 1950s era). There are a lot of car brochures and ads, Coca-Cola ads, and products and companies from everyday life. (via dollarshort.org)

From the “learn something new everyday” department, an entry in A Collection of Word Oddities and Trivia gave me a clue to the derivation of the world “algorithm”, which I had never pondered over before. Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Bagdad, which was founded in the 800s for the study of Greek philosophy and science. Al-Khwarizmi lived from approximately 780-850. His work on algebra, Hisab al-jabr w’al-muqabala, gave us the world “algebra”, with “al-jabr” becoming “algebrae” in Latin. He also authored a
treatise on Hindu-Arabic numbers, which had a Latin translation titled “Algoritmi de numero Indorum” or “Al-Khwarizmi on the Hindu Art of Reckoning.” It is that Latin title which gave us the word “algorithm”. (Another spelling of his name is Al-Khowarizmi and there are slightly different spellings of the book titles as well.)

Sew it has come to this…
Bernina’s artista 200 is the first sewing machine powered with Microsoft® Windows®. Actually it’s Windows CE .NET, but that doesn’t make the wisecracks go away. This “sewing system” has a USB port, a CD-ROM drive, an optional modem that attaches via a PC-Card slot, and, of course, that intuitive Windows-based user interface. Seeing this machine makes me very glad that I rescued an old model Singer from the depths of a dumpster near Lake Tahoe.

And now for a snooty restaurant review…
For our first wedding anniversary on Monday we went to Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse in 1971 with her philosophy of serving local, naturally grown food in season. You have her to thank for all the mesclun (that baby greens mix) that is everywhere you turn these days. I’d been to the upstairs Cafe a few years ago and what I remember from that lunch was the profoundly fresh taste of a green leaf of some sort. It was as if I had picked it from a plant outside the window and eaten it immediately. I felt that even if I grew my own vegetables I wouldn’t be able to recreate that vivid, clear flavor.

Our anniversary meal began with two small radishes presented on a dish. They looked exactly like the ones depicted by the art on Alice Waters’ bio page, and were cleanly spicy and crisp. The bread basket had a few slices of a tan sourdough and a two little twin loafs of a wonderfully crusty, narrow bread whose air pockets even seemed to carry flavor. The first course was a ratatouille tourte with frisée salad. The tourte was like a frittata, a fluffy egg mixture with various veggies, and it sat in a yummy sauce of unknown origins. The frisée, also known as curly endive, was dressed with the slightest of vinaigrettes and delectable cherry tomato halves, orange and red. There was a bowl of these tomatoes decorating the table by the door and I wanted to grab a handful when we left.

The main course was called “cassoulet d’ête” (summer cassoulet with shellfish sausage, house-cured halibut, and fresh shell beans). Cassoulet is very traditional French comfort food comprised of sausage, beans, and pieces of meat. Recipes vary, but it’s typical to use white beans, duck (with plenty of duck fat), and pork sausage. In this version, the beans were lima and cannellini (extremely fresh, of course). As I remarked to our waiter, I never dreamed I could enjoy eating beans this much. I’m not a fan of lima beans, but these had a subtle goodness instead of the overpowering flavor of usual lima beans, and no crumbly texture. The sausage was mostly lobster meat, extremely tender and sweet. The halibut was a little salty; I think I would’ve preferred a different preparation, but it was flaky and fresh tasting. There was also one lonely shrimp which I cut into tiny savory pieces to make it last. The entire dish was topped with crunchy bits of a crumbed bread, like panko (the Japanese breadcrumbs).

Dessert was Suncrest peach galette with mulberry ice cream. The galette had a crispy crust, but I almost wished I had been able to sample the peaches fresh as well. The ice cream was tart and a lovely shade of purpley red. We finished off with coffee served with cream and sugar (raw, of course). I actually enjoyed the coffee’s taste without sugar and cream, but habit prevailed and it was even yummier sweetened. Mondays at Chez Panisse are a little cheaper at $45 per person, with 3 courses instead of 4, but I didn’t mind the reduced menu in the least. I do wish I had nabbed a handful of those cherry tomatoes though.

Ever wonder what the Lost & Found department at New York’s Grand Central Terminal must be like? Satisfy your curiousity with the NY Times’ peek into life at what must be one of the country’s busiest Lost and Found offices. There are drug “mules” who come in seeking their lost contraband only to meet their fate with the police. There are “shoppers” who claim they have lost umbrellas (on rainy days), sunglasses (on sunny days) or coats (on cold winter days). Prosthetic legs and arms (more legs than arms) are turned in. As you may expect, there are boxes of cell phones, beepers, and children’s toys. It’s a little slice of life in a gathering of the mundane items of everyday existence.