Behind the scenes at the Omaha World-Herald (Omaha.com) the day of the mall shooting that left nine people dead. President Bush had been in town, with numerous reporters dispatched to cover his various engagements, and his plane had departed only about 40 minutes prior to the shooting. 50 of the 200 person newsroom staff pitched in to cover the incident, working well into the night. The paper’s web server bogged down, additional hardware was brought online while advertisements and video feeds were turned off to reduce unnecessary overhead. (via Romenesko)

The Lighthouse for the Blind in Seattle is a non-profit organization that provides training and employment for the visually impaired. More than just a resource, it’s a manufacturing plant that holds contracts with Boeing and the U.S. military. Incoming CEO Kirk Adams is ready to grow and publicize the Lighthouse which has been operating in obscurity. Along the way he hopes to “redefine to the public what it means to be blind.”

Sublingual immunotherapy is an alternative to allergy shots that is being used in 40% of allergy treatments in Europe. Hayfever sufferers in the U.S. can subject themselves to allergy shots to desensitize their immune systems to pollen, but the sublinqual technique hasn’t caught on yet. Administering the allergen under the tongue may not be as effective as a shot, but a regular doctor’s visit isn’t required to administer it, not to mention the lack of a needle.

Is Subaru about to enter the motorcycle market? Parent company Fuji Heavy Industries has supplied an engine for a “new single-cylinder sportsbike” called the HS500sa. It’s not exactly a high-performance bike, and nobody knows exactly what the story is, but there have been rumors going around for a couple years that there will be Subaru-branded motorcycles in 2008.

Macy’s Herald Square in Manhattan has a few wooden escalators which I mention to friends from time to time. I never describe them adequately, but of course the Internet can come to the rescue with a page devoted to these antiques escalators, including photos.

I felt compelled to comment about this Boston Globe article that was called to my attention regarding the lone male attending Wellesley College. When I started at Wellesley in 1987 we had three “coeds” in our dorm. Yup, we called the male exchange students “coeds”. They were in my dorm, I presumed, because on my housing form I checked off that I would not mind living in the same dorm as males. I figured I grew up in a house with three males, it really wouldn’t be a big deal. And it wasn’t. This guy now at Wellesley is lucky, apparently he gets his very own bathroom (!!??). We shared bathrooms, and, suffice to say, there are plenty of other occasions, best not discussed with the students’ parents, when men were using our bathrooms so that also was not a big deal. Also, there were male MIT students attending classes through the cross-registration program, so the student population wasn’t limited to the coeds. It’s sad to me that the exchange program seems to have dwindled in popularity with men, as this student is the first in a few years. It’s a unique opportunity to attend an excellent college.

It’s not really a revelation that women like to relax by playing games, is it? And that these games happen to be on the computer, Internet, and mobile phone nowadays just comes along with the tools of our era. Casual video gaming is a $2 billion industry with an estimated 200 million players. Women are the dominant players and, according to this article, 74% of the payers.

Steinway & Sons has released a line of luxury watches designed by Fabrizio Cavalca. The watches feature 12 hand-fitted “strings” on a piano-shaped soundboard and a second hand shaped like a tuning fork. (via luxist)

‘Tis the season for the Kennedy Center Honors. On Sunday the following artists were recognized for lifetime achievement: Leon Fleisher, Steve Martin, Diana Ross, Martin Scorsese and Brian Wilson. Fleisher, the pianist who lost use of his right hand but kept on going, has the most compelling story of musicianship.

You may have taken note of the nice story about the 86-year-old woman who finally received a Girl Scout Golden Eaglet award she should have received in 1938. She missed the final requirement, a camping trip, because she had the mumps. But over the years she told everyone in her family about the missed opportunity and a daughter-in-law rallied the local Girl Scout council to make things right. What struck me was what they had to do to get an actual Golden Eaglet pin. After losing an eBay auction that closed at $800 (wow!), they dug a pin out of a mosiac that was in their council office and had it repaired. That $800 had me thinking that I should rescue my Girl Scout pins and insignia from whatever box they are in and hermetically seal them for my great grandchildren. Alas I don’t have a Gold Award, the current equivalent to the Eaglet, but maybe my Silver will be worth a small amount one day.