The campaign to use compact fluorescent lightbulbs has somewhat neglected the issue of disposal. Fluorescent bulbs contain mercury and can’t be tossed in the regular trash. Seattle area consumers have found the take-back programs lacking, a few stores will take them but charge a fee and locations for free programs are inconvenient. Local utility Puget Sound Energy announced a disposal plan on Friday that allows bulbs to be dropped off for free at select offices. City Light is trying to work out a program with drugstore chain Bartell’s. But it’s likely people will keep grumbling until that day far in the future when they can simply stick the bulbs into their recycle bin.

I’ve raved about Toscanini’s Ice Cream before. The shop recently made it into the New York Times under unfortunate and fortunate circumstances. The Massachusett’s Revenue Department shut down Toscanini’s a few weeks ago for nonpayment of taxes. Owner Gus Rancatore explained that he had stopped paying taxes for a time when he was undergoing a failed expansion effort. But that has added up to $167,810. Patrons and employees started a fundraising drive to save the store that has netted over $34,000 (like I’ve said, it is amazing ice cream) and allowed Rancatore to set up a workable repayment plan. Critics point out that the money should have gone to charities instead of a for-profit company that had a big lapse in judgement. But Toscanini’s doesn’t just make yummy ice cream. It’s also built a strong community.

I would have guessed that Super Bowl rings were paid for by each individual wearer, but in actuality the NFL pays for 150 rings, up to a $5,000 limit per ring. Jostens and Balfour, well known for their high school and college rings, have both supplied official Super Bowl rings. It is very likely that they charge less than the actual cost to design and customize one, considering the marketing opportunity. ESPN has a nice online gallery of the ring designs throughout the years, illustrating the variation in styles, with a player or coach’s personal ring story for each year. Interestingly, the NFL also buys the losing team jewelry “that can’t exceed the cost of one-half the price set for the winner’s ring.”

The History of Visual Communication. From rocks and caves to the computer. (via xblog)

Local place of yumminess, Top Pot Doughnuts, is going nationwide by expanding their agreement with Starbucks. A selection of their doughnuts, apple fritter and vanilla cake, glazed old-fashioned and chocolate old-fashioned, will be in all company-owned Starbucks (7,087 minus the recently announced closures).

The San Francisco Chronicle has photos (oh, and an article too, of course) of the transformation of a section of Castro Street into how it looked in the 1970s. The movie “Milk” began filming there last week. Sean Penn portrays Harvey Milk in the early 1970s. Gus Van Sant is directing.

An interesting idea for potted plants and cats: a wider drain plate underneath the plant allows you to provide water for cats (and maybe fun for birds too). I’m not sure about having a cat drink water that ran through plant dirt, especially if there were fertilizers used, but it’s a cute idea.

Once I made fun of a friend with a degree in electrical engineering when I noticed he was reading the book “How Computers Work.” He replied in an effective defense that he was reading it to learn how people unfamiliar with computers thought about them and to improve his ability to describe technical details. I was reminded of that conversation when I read this article about Bay Area luthiers. It was frustrating for me to get through the analogies and reasons for why handmade instruments are better for professional musicians “who can perceive tiny differences in sound that hands-on construction can draw forth.” Tiny differences they are not and it’s usually not like buying a custom suit, but more like finding a perfect gown in a vintage shop. But overall the article does a great job of describing the importance of the craft of violin and guitar making to those who aren’t familiar with it.

Comcast is shuttering AZN Television, a channel designed to capture Asian American viewers. This article on the history of Comcast’s ownership of the network reveals the machinations of how Comcast came to own AZN. In a tax-avoidance technique known as a “cash-rich split off,” Comcast gave Liberty Media $1 billion of Liberty Media stock in exchange for the International Channel (the precursor to AZN) and 10% of the E! network. But first, Liberty Media put $545 million into the International Channel’s holding subsidiary. So long as Comcast “engaged in the active conduct of a trade or commerce” for a year after the deal, it had that $545 million tax free in exchange for the stock. Coincidently or not, AZN TV was effectively pared back a few months after that year was up. Liberty Media also used the cash-rich split off to its advantage when it purchased the Atlanta Braves from Time-Warner.

‘Tis the season for skiing, so I shouldn’t be surprised that I came across two related “lost ski trail” mentions. The N.Y. Times ran an article on Vermont’s forgotten trails and lifts and it mentions the New England Lost Ski Area Project which I had learned about recently. There was a simpler time before the large ski resorts and snow-making. Downhill ski areas were mom & pop operations with a T-bar, maybe a simple lodge. Then there was a boom of places to ski, plenty to choose from and interstate highways to get you to them. Eventually skiers focused on the big fancy resorts and the smaller places closed down. But there are still folks who remember the old places or even just the local hill. In the NELSAP site, I found one entry from my hometown for “The Ski Hill.” And at Silvermine golf course in Norwalk, CT, they used to run a rope tow on their largest hill, cost: $1.