Miscellany

If I thought I was disturbed when, around about Thanksgiving this year, I heard John Madden rambling about some Turducken abomination, I am even more disturbed that you can see upclose-and-personal Turducken photos, from someone who ordered one off the internet and actually served it to their friends. (Of course you can order Turducken off the internet….) [via Anita LOL]

I’m absolutely hopeless with my hair, so I was intruigued by The Traditional Hairdressing Page featuring “classic” hairstyles from the 60’s and 70’s. Most of the diagrams actually show placement and orientation of curlers and lots of people have left notes and tips. I wish I could get stuff like this to work though – it looks fun so long as I didn’t have to do it on a daily basis. Heck, I’m still trying to figure out how hair commercial women with plain straight hair get it to do that shiny single-curtain-of-hair look. They imply it’s the shampoo, but … Continue reading Classic Hair

The banana extinction story has been getting a lot of press today (though mostly in international media, I’ve noticed). I had no idea that edible bananas were sterile. I haven’t seen any explanation of how you breed a sterile fruit; is it a hybrid or something, like with mules?

I don’t know as much about architecture as I feel I should – it seems like an area I should be interested in, with its balance of design and engineering. It’s not a great site for beginning reading, but the collection of images of buildings at The Great Buildings Collection (some of them 3D models, though you need to download special software to view them) is very extensive and detailed. If I get some projects off my plate I might have to order one of the basic books off the bibliography list.

Driving into Pittsburgh from the west today, an official PennDoT lit sign (of the type that normally warns of bad traffic) read “Brownie Fans – Welcome to Mordor”. How nice to see my hometown taking a literary turn to its sports fanaticism. One almost hesitates to point out that in the stories surely being alluded to, those who went into Mordor emerged triumphant.

Looking for a hobby? Why not try Modern Moist Towelette Collecting. You can get a peek at the beauty and variety this hobby could expose you to in this site’s Gallery or enjoy a rousing game of Moist Towelette Concentration!

I’m swiping this directly from Allen but he is very correct in reminding researchers than without dated research notes you may be undermining your ability to receive patents. With so many of us keeping our records electronically, Stamper, a free PGP Digital Timestamping service, is a very useful resource. Thanks for finding this, Allen!

An interesting article on the many, many libraries that Andrew Carnegie founded around the world: Deconstructing the Philanthropic Library. It’s a brief discussion of why Carnegie chose to found libraries in particular; a large part is his own history of self-education and a belief in a meritocracy. I find the background image odd given the content – it gives an unsubtle message that the article is really about the money. I thought the Carnegie libraries I frequented growing up were quite good, though the main branch attached to The Carnegie Institute was intimidating. [via BookPeople]

Last night a friend regailed us with a description of the underground tunnel connecting the concourses in the Detroit Metro Airport, and I hesitantly admit that I was suspicious enough of the bizarrely psychadelic nature of the display that he described that I jumped on line and confirmed that commuters through Detriot do indeed get treated to “a wonderful light and sound show” as they rush from gate to gate (select item 7 in the virtual tour for a poor rendition of the tunnel). I’m almost hoping for a layover there sometime, now.

With minimal artistic license, a snippet of this evening’s conversation: Guy on TV, to skinny girl: You’re a stick figure! Them, to me: You’re not a stick figure. Me: No, I’m three dimensional. Them: I’m so big, I’m four dimensional! Me: Yes, you take up time and space….