FindSounds.com is a search engine for sound effects and sample sound files on the web. You can even do a “sounds like” search. What possibilities! (via Kestrel’s Nest)
From my favorite feature at not martha, “i troll martha stewart so you don’t have to”, here is the amazing, do-it-yourself Cat Hammock. It’s made out of a carpet sample. But you know what, I just don’t have anywhere to hang a cat hammock, so my kitty will just have to make do with all her other many many many many MANY resting places.
Employees of American and United Airlines are running a flag from Boston to Los Angeles, representing the original flight path of American Flight 11 and United Flight 175. It departed from Logan Airport on October 11 and is scheduled to arrive at LAX on November 11.
The server is still flaky. My email was down all Thursday. Sorry if you got bouncies.
The Association of Food Journalists has reprinted articles from their 2001 award winners. I discovered an interesting report on the difficulties of booking a table at popular Bay Area restaurants such as the much lauded French Laundry in Napa Valley. Tips on getting a table are included, but it appears that gentle persistence and a speed dial are the only way to go unless you are a friend of someone who works there.
I had heard that you should not feed babies honey because it may contain botulism. But I wasn’t sure if that meant just raw honey or all honey and things made with honey. I found the exact question and answer I needed on WebMD. I love it when I find exactly what I need on the ‘net. Of course that means I’m less likely to run into other interesting information as I gather up research, but it does save time. Oh, and if you’re short on time: the answer is “no honey at all”. Botulism spores grow best without oxygen and can survive high temperatures.
More colored condiments? I don’t think I’ll be buying any pink or blue margarine when it comes out no matter how much I like pink. And I really don’t think it’s a good idea to encourage kids to eat more of those evil trans-fats.
Jon Carroll thinks we should make our cats be more patriotic. He makes his point in a very amusing fashion, so I guess I can forgive him. Plus he claims it is better for our cats to at least appear patriotic since they look so darn suspicious all the time. But he knows as well as all of us that cats have loyalties only to themselves and, very seldom, their humans (sometimes the can opener too, but not often). Even if it were possible to train our cats to stand at attention while we recited the Pledge of Allegiance or shed little kitty tears while yowling accompaniment to Celine’s rendition of “God Bless America”, well, it just wouldn’t be the same. We’d be losing that which makes a cat … a cat. And isn’t that what liberty and freedom is all about?
Yay for pop-up books! There’s an exhibition of pop-up books, also known as movable books, at the Brooklyn Public Library (various branches) going on now through the end of the year. It was curated by The Movable Book Society and there’s a companion book with a Maurice Sendak cover. Lothar Meggendorfer was an important innovator in the history of this art some call “paper engineering”. Here’s another online exhibit about pop-ups. And the Popuplady has special bonus info on her site: how to deodorize a book using kitty litter. Very handy for us used book shoppers.
Ten years after the devastating fire in the Oaklands hills, a SF Chronicle writer returns to assess the myriad of architectural styles that have sprung up. “The hills now are a smorgasbord — an open textbook for architects.” Although there is an abundance of that stucco “neo-Mediterranean” luxury look, there are some interesting structures sitting in the hills. “A cross between a giant sax and a beached ocean liner”, “A house wrapped in corrugated steel and shaped like an egg”, and something that looks like a spaceship. Considering their previous losses, I suppose the owners deserve the reward of making a solid personal statement.