I stumbled across a nicely done guide to Mountain View, CA. Not only does it have current information, it also has has a great historical perspective on the city that I’ve spent much of my working life in. On this page is a photo from the construction of Mountain Bay Plaza. This is the tallest building in Mountain View and for many miles around. I worked on the 7th floor for a few years. I had been told that it was designed to withstand earthquakes because the building was hung off of the top of its two shafts. A cafe that used to be on the ground floor had photos from the construction, so I was able to see how it was built. But my husband, who coincidentally worked in the same building for a different company (we did not know each other back then), had never seen photos of the construction, though I had told him how the building dangled off the top. He was really surprised when I showed him the photo. The building sways viciously during an earthquake, and that’s a good thing.

I often heard people refer to Mountain Bay Plaza as “The Dog Building”, and the origin of that is chronicled in the text under the photo, except the term used there is “Dog City”. The building remained vacant as it was completed during a recession. The owner put some dogs in the ground floor for protection and they would jump and bark at people going by. Sometimes the tale was exaggerated to claim that there were wolves loose in the building. Downtown Mountain View is still changing these days, with new construction, as usual, started in the boom and ending in a recession. The city planners are trying to maintain their downtown’s character with very specific plans for the future.

My earlier mention of the closing of Impromptu Gourmet and opening of FiveLeaf generated more reader interest than I anticipated. Readers contributed the following meal delivery services: Dining By Design will deliver healthy meals, designed by nutritionists. They offer meals for restricted diets and popular diet plans. bibikitchen (warning, loud music from Flash animation) ships all-vegetarian Indian dishes via FedEx. Main dishes such as chana masala and vegetable kofta come with basmati rice you cook yourself or near-Eastern bread.

Pets Are Wonderful Support (PAWS) is holding their annual Petchitecture benefit this Friday. Bay Area architects design fanciful pet abodes which are auctioned off. Pet owners can also pay to be paired off with an architect who will design a custom house for their pooch, feline, fish, fowl, etc.

Did you know the U.S. had an official National Atlas? I didn’t, nor did Mike of Larkfarm from whom I swiped it. There’s a varied mix of maps in different formats. You can view Shockwave maps that track active volcanoes, the West Nile virus, and avian cholera. There is a printable map of Presidential Election results, 1789-2000. Enjoy the educational browsing.

Here’s another news item on the fun phenomenon of synesthesia. The results of a study done on a man, W.O., who sees colors when he reads and hears words (even when they are in a different language!) have been published (abstract here) and Wired News wrote a piece on it. The researcher, Thomas Palmeri of Vanderbilt University, verified that the subject was able to consistently associate the same colors for words or parts of words. Numbers took on different colors when they were written out instead of represented as numerals. “An image of the number 5 made up of much smaller number 2s, W.O. saw the whole image as a five and it appeared green” … “when he looked at the small 2s that made up the image, each of the numerals was orange.” It is fascinating to consider the richer experience W.O. has when reading the same things I do.

The European Commission is planning a standard sizing system for clothes which would use centimeters instead of the various dress sizes that are currently in place. There are four different dress size systems used in Europe, and all are different from what is used in the U.S. Member countries will conduct national size surveys so that the new measurements will match the population. Size UK has measured 11,000 U.K. residents. Their study utilized high-tech 3D body scans and the old-fashioned tape measure to track 130 separate measurements for each participant.

Material ConneXion runs what its founder calls a “petting zoo for new materials.” They have a library of 3,000 unusual materials which architects and designers use to find the latest nifty gel, resin, foam, laminate, paneling, etc, for their projects. A recent addition to their archives is a plastic sheeting made with recycled coffee grounds. “You can imagine how much coffee waste there is in America.” (from a NY Times article)

The L.A. Times has a round-up of “roaming gnome” pranks, where objects are taken from their owners and sent around the world, periodically sending postcards and photos back to their home. Marvin the Singing Monkey and someone’s right shoe are featured.

Here’s an uplifting scene from Leigh Weimers of the Mercury News. A man is stopped at LAX by National Guardsmen and told to hold out his hands, palms upwards. Panic strikes. Is he about to be handcuffed? Suddenly, his hands are filled with Hershey’s Kisses and he looks down and realizes he is wearing a t-shirt that reads “Hand Over the Chocolate and Nobody Gets Hurt.”

In the middle of Rome, near the spot where Caesar was stabbed, lies a partially excavated ancient Roman temple. If you’re thinking of adopting an Italian kitty cat, or just meeting a few of them, you might want to pay this location a visit. The Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary makes its home in the underground ruins. It is a no-kill shelter whose sign attracts many cat-loving tourists down to see the cute occupants. Some even leave with an Italian kitty of their own. (original source: Seattle Times article)