'Do You Make These Mistakes With Your Blog?' — by Brian Clark
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Here are his "Top 5".
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1. Use user-unfriendly RSS options that you bury at the bottom of the page, and leave out an email subscription option altogether
2. Hope to make money with your blog, and yet rattle on excessively about your personal life, your dog, your goldfish, and your recent appendectomy
3. Agonize over writing a great post, only to slap on some hastily-concocted post title that all but guarantees hardly anyone will read
4. Do what everyone else is doing with their blog in your niche
5. Write for search engines instead of people
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Well, let's see... there is an RSS o...
Source: bookofjoe - July 5, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
File under "Too much information": Pringles are only 42% potato
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That's something I didn't need to read during breakfast today in a brief Wall Street Journal item, which follows.
P&G's Pringles Exempt From Tax
Britain's High Court ruled that Pringles aren't a potato snack, and thus aren't subject to value-added tax.
Friday's ruling by Justice Nicholas Warren is expected to save millions of dollars for the manufacturers, Procter & Gamble Co. Justice Warren overruled a VAT Tribunal decision that Pringles should be subject to the 17.5% tax it met the definition of "potato crisps, potato sticks, potato puffs and similar products made from the potato, or from potato flour, or from potato ...
Source: bookofjoe - July 5, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
All-Wax Candle
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From the website:
All-Wax Julia Candle
From pointed wick to Baroque base, the Julia candles are completely wax.
They’re also completely festive in their candy-colored shades of inky black, hot pink, bright blue and grassy green.
A commentary on our modern lives as we burn the metaphorical candle at both ends?
Or in this case to the upper edge of the “candle holder” where a metal plate extinguishes the flame.
12"H.....................
Two (of the same color): $48.
Source: bookofjoe - July 5, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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crazy things in our new place that i've never had in any place i've lived before(Note: Cannot take credit for any of this, the guy who actually owns the house, from whom we're renting, tricked out the house with all this stuff before he moved out.)1.) A refrigerator that spits out ice for you! And you don't have to keep refilling the ice cube trays! Or yelling at a certain spouse because he chronically underfills them, and what's the point of a sliver-sized slab of ice, I ask you, WHAT? Also, spits out water! However, water is not New York water and therefore tastes funny.2.) A washer and dryer in some back closet next to ...
Source: the underwear drawer - July 5, 2008 Authors: Michelle
Mint Stool
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Designed by Lee J. Rowland for the Mint night club in Leeds, England.
34 cm Ø x 43 cm H (13" Ø x 17"H)
Fiberglass and stainless steel.
50 kg (110 lbs).
£245.
[via pulp.co.nz]
Source: bookofjoe - July 5, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Breakfast in Paris, Dinner in Tokyo: World Map Placemats
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From the website:
....................
World Map Paper Placemats
Lunch in New York, then dine in Tokyo — without leaving your chair.
With these World Map Placemats you can vicariously chart your course through these cities along with London and Paris.
All four cities come in a single tablet of 50 pages.
We love the detail of these paper maps.
They are a great gift (and a mighty subversive way to get kids to learn geography!).
So where do you want to eat tonight?
12" x 16".
....................
Pad of 50 sheets.
$34.
Source: bookofjoe - July 5, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
The secret of success — by Charles Barsotti
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Source: bookofjoe - July 5, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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Very strange sheet set they have at Ikea. How do you say "right bundle branch block" in Swedish?
Source: the underwear drawer - July 5, 2008 Authors: Michelle
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Makeshift breakfast table.
Source: the underwear drawer - July 5, 2008 Authors: Michelle
Tool Bag Airline Carry-On — Cheap at twice the price
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Think outside the workshop and car trunk spaces.
From the website:
Tool Bag & Trunk Organizer
Easily swallows up our tire repair kit, mini air compressor, quarts of oil, tools, tow rope, jumper cables, flashlights, emergency gear and traveling car care kit.
This great bag appeals to my obsessive need for organization (my wife would say a little too obsessive).
Padded handles and adjustable shoulder strap make carrying this bag a long-distance pleasure, too.
7 inner pockets and two rearrangeable Velcro® walls stand items up, further reducing clutter.
A generous pocket on each side of the bag helps keep necessitie...
Source: bookofjoe - July 5, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Fusion Man soars like an eagle over the Swiss Alps
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Craig Whitlock's story in yesterday's Washington Post featured Yves Rossy, who on May 14 of this year in the Swiss Alps achieved his lifelong dream of controlled powered flight, wearing a homemade jet-powered wing suit.
Video highlights of the epic journey appear above.
Here's the article.
Zooming Around the Alps In a Homemade Wing Suit
Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ... Fusion Man!
Make that Yves Rossy, a 48-year-old Swiss daredevil also known as Jet Man, Rocket Man, the Bird Man of the Alps.
Thanks to his homemade, jet-powered wing suit, Rossy can flash through the air at a Superman-like 186 m...
Source: bookofjoe - July 5, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Digital Video DriveCam
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Oh, yeah.
From the website:
....................
Digital Video Camera with 2GB SD Card
Relive your favorite drive anytime with our all-weather digital video camera
Think about all of the great motorsport videos now on YouTube — it's time you made your mark on the world.
It's easier than ever to create insane videos!
Having trouble with a certain track?
See your mistakes by filming your line.
But don't stop there — use this skiing, motorcycle riding, snowboarding, surfing, diving... heck, even attach it to your belt buckle and who knows what you'll film!
With the variety of accessories included in our kit ...
Source: bookofjoe - July 4, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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Hello, gorgeous.
Source: the underwear drawer - July 4, 2008 Authors: Michelle
How do you spell WALL•E?
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Disney and Pixar — who ought to know — say it's "WALL•E."
End of discussion.
Right?
Not quite.
Some media organizations are having difficulty getting their heads around the new world.
For example, the New York Times uses a dash instead of a dot and can't bring itself to capitalize letters after the first:
The Wall Street Journal uses all caps but can't manage the dot, instead opting for the Times-ish dash:
The Washington Post does it right:
Why is it a problem to simply use the name given by the namer?
Simple.
The Grey Lady has its own internal punctuation and style standards that trump the actual nam...
Source: bookofjoe - July 4, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
WorldCat — 1.2 billion items in 10,000 libraries worldwide
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Wouldn't it be nice to be able to see if your local library (or any of 10,000 others around the planet) has a book you're interested in — without leaving your home?
Guess what?
You can do just that, as I learned from J.D. Biersdorfer's "Q&A" column in yesterday's New York Times; the item follows.
Tip of the Week: Look Up Books at Your Library From Home
Summer is a great time to catch up on your reading. You might even be able to look up books available at your library — before you leave the house — with the WorldCat database at www.worldcat.org. Type in a title and follow the screens to supply your address so you...
Source: bookofjoe - July 4, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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intownSo. The new place.Despite the perfectly natural assumption that having moved to Atlanta, we are now ensconced in Southern-fried suburban splendor, we actually ended up choosing to live in a very nice neighborhood in Midtown. This is probably all I should say about it, since Joe is already fairly paranoid that stalkers will one day show up at our doorsteps and kill us all, all the while screaming, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DIDN'T INCLUDE INTERNAL MEDICINE IN YOUR 12 MEDICAL SPECIALTY STEREOTYPES!," I think I can safely say (because it is obvious for anyone who has access to Google Maps) that Midtown is in a fairly urba...
Source: the underwear drawer - July 4, 2008 Authors: Michelle
Clawed Frog Carries a Concealed Weapon
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In Cameroon no license is required, is the long and short of it.
Henry Fountain's June 17, 2008 New York Times Science section story featured the recent discovery of a heretofore little-remarked upon quirk of nature first noted over a century ago; the piece follows.
Frog Keeps Its Claws Hidden Until Needed
David C. Blackburn, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard who studies frogs, knew there was something different about the specimen he encountered one day while doing fieldwork in Cameroon. Not surprisingly, it kicked its hind legs wildly when he picked it up. But then Dr. Blackburn noticed that his arm had been clawed....
Source: bookofjoe - July 4, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Shiatsu to Go
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That's different.
From the website:
Shiatsu to Go
Ancient Eastern massage techniques meet 21st century travel in this portable body soother.
Shiatsu to Go provides relaxing relief for your lower back, neck, legs and feet.
It's great for the airplane, in your hotel room and at your desk, too.
Simply inflate, lean back and enjoy as the four pulsating pressure points gently massage weary muscles.
Deflates fast for easy packing.
Includes two "D" batteries.
12¾" x 11" x 3¾" inflated.
11" x 6½" x 3" folded.
Weight: 19 oz.....................
$24.85.
Source: bookofjoe - July 4, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Shoe Bag
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From the Autumn/Winter 2008 Azumi & David collection.
[via tolin.cn]
Source: bookofjoe - July 4, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
bookofjoe misses golden opportunity for IPO
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Look at the graphic above, published on June 28, 2008 on the front page of the New York Times Business section to illustrate Matt Richtel's article.
What do you see?
Not much when it comes to IPOs during the just-concluded second quarter of this year — because there weren't any.
Not a single one.
Why the heck didn't I act on the knowledge that when the herd goes in one direction — or, in this case, doesn't — that's precisely when Bizarro World types like me strike?
My IPO should've come out last month, thereby securing my place in the pantheon of counterintuitives.
I mean, the smart money's staying in investors...
Source: bookofjoe - July 4, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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I think I've figured out why they call it Hotlanta. This place is like living on the surface of the sun.
Source: the underwear drawer - July 4, 2008 Authors: Michelle
Russian Eye Chart T-Shirt
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"Allows you to test your eyesight without going to the doctor."
Black or White.
$38.13.
Source: bookofjoe - July 4, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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Welcome home.
Source: the underwear drawer - July 3, 2008 Authors: Michelle
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Thank god we got a window seat. It's like free entertainment.
Source: the underwear drawer - July 3, 2008 Authors: Michelle
Kinder, gentler: How to get an innocent person to confess to a crime
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Conclusions: The results of this study offer insight into false confession behaviour, suggesting that individuals who have a tendency to change their responses in the face of negative feedback may be more prone to false confession behaviour. The findings also serve to highlight the dangers of using minimization interrogation techniques and elucidate the limited generalizability of the paradigm to situations in which the alleged transgression is less plausible.
Source: bookofjoe - July 3, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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Just landed.
Source: the underwear drawer - July 3, 2008 Authors: Michelle
LidPunch Jar Opener
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That's different.
I've heard of punching your ticket but this is ridiculous.
From websites:
LidPunch Jar Opener
Simply place this ingenious device on the lid and tap the top.
It punches a tiny hole in the lid, releasing the vacuum seal and relieving pressure on the lid.
Now the lid can be easily unscrewed.
Includes 4 magnetic sealers to seal the hole and an easy-to-use, 4-in-1 can/bottle opener.....................
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall....
$14.99.
Source: bookofjoe - July 3, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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So far, on time.
Source: the underwear drawer - July 3, 2008 Authors: Michelle
Custom European License Plate — Totally illegal in Europe, but we're not there, are we?
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For once something's legal here that's forbidden there.
From the website:
Custom European License Plate
Ever wanted to create your own custom European license plate and install it on the front of your car?
How about your garage or office wall?
Well, I know this guy who has this plate making machine — he uses original plates, has authentic registration stickers, and with one phone call he can make up a few for you.
Of course this would be totally illegal in Europe — but we're not in Europe, so who cares?
Create any plate you want using up to nine letters, numbers or characters.
The best one I've seen yet rea...
Source: bookofjoe - July 3, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Bob Dylan's day job — 'The most interesting radio show to hit the airwaves in decades'
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Who knew?
Not me, that's for sure.
Long story short: Dylan hosts a weekly hour-long show on XM satellite radio, each time choosing a topic out of the air upon which to base the songs and commentary that follow.
Here's Terry Teachout's June 21, 2008 Wall Street Journal story about Dylan's pretty much under-the-radar gig.
Bob Dylan's Day Job
A '60s troubadour turns postmodern disc jockey
Satellite radio is the open secret of the new media. If you're one of the 17 million Americans who owns a satellite-equipped car or home receiver, you have access to a staggeringly diverse variety of round-the-clock programming that ra...
Source: bookofjoe - July 3, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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Source: the underwear drawer - July 3, 2008 Authors: Michelle
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Appeasement.
Source: the underwear drawer - July 3, 2008 Authors: Michelle
bookofjoe visits Google Trends
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Google Trends, the company's latest freebie, is either a game-changing threat to ComScore and its ilk or, if you listen to Comscore CEO Magid Abraham, nothing to worry about.
Above, where Google Trends says I'm most popular.
Good fun.
Free, the way it should be.
Source: bookofjoe - July 3, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
'Log on to...' — How to let everyone know you're not with the program
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Listening to the TV announcers at Wimbledon telling me to "log on to nbcsports.com blah blah blah" it occurred to me that no one under the age of 20 "logs on" to anything.
They're online all the time but they haven't the foggiest what "log on" means.
Time for the majordomos in TV production to pick up the clue phone if they want to retain any portion of the coveted young audience they supposedly crave.
Source: bookofjoe - July 3, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Ammonite Sink
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From Made in Mundo:
Ammonite
Esta publicação é dedicada a todos aqueles que gostam de lavar as mãos.
A HighTech resolveu inovar inspirando-se na beleza arcaica dos Ammonites. Ammonites? O que é isso? Quando não se sabe é necessário procurar, investigar, perguntar. Não há mal nenhum nisso.
Ammonites (ver aqui uma imagem) eram uns moluscos de 100kg e com 1 metro de diâmetro que viveram muito felizes nos mares do Cretáceo, no período Devoniano dos mesmos antepassados que os belemnites (+/- 400 milhões de anos). Perceberam? Ainda bem. Continuando o meu pensamento de copy-paste…os Ammonites ficaram famosos d...
Source: bookofjoe - July 3, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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Made it.
Source: the underwear drawer - July 3, 2008 Authors: Michelle
Wasabi Ice Cream
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Mmmmm.
Falls Church (Virginia) chef Leland Atkinson's super-premium ice cream "... sounds bizarre but is surprisingly delicious," according to an item in yesterday's Washington Post Food section.
$5.99 a pint at at Balducci's, select Whole Foods Markets in Virginia and at Willoughby's Market in Sandy Spring.
Source: bookofjoe - July 3, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Helpless
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On Saturday I was at a popular nationwide-chain arcade/restaurant/bar and playing around trying to win enough tickets to get a stupid little trinket.I heard a bit of a commotion. Apparently a young girl fell to the ground off a seat and her mom and little brother were screaming and crying (respectively). I rushed over because it didn't look like anyone was really helping (though there was a small crowd gathered). The girl seemed unresponsive.... I felt for a pulse and put my ear to her back to see if she was breathing... she was. I asked the mother what happened... she said it looked like she had a seizure, though she was ...
Source: i'm so sleepy - July 2, 2008 Tags: seizures arcade helpless
coworking.pbwiki.com — Co-working headquarters U.S.A.
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Wait a minute, joe — you're going too fast.
I get that all the time — not.
Anyway.
Co-working is the practice of sharing dedicated working space with others who, for one reason or another, don't want to work at home and don't have an office to plunk themselves down in.
Sort of the 21st-century equivalent of ronin — in feudal Japan, samurai who'd lost their master and forever after wandered the countryside, leaderless.
Lisa Belkin wrote about the new new thing in office space in a June 26, 2008 New York Times story, noting that "The defacto Internet co-working headquarters, coworking.pbwiki.com, shows at least on...
Source: bookofjoe - July 2, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Stealth Garment Rack
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From the website:
Hang 'N Hide Wall-Mounted Garment Rack
Hang freshly ironed clothes or create an instant guest closet with a wall-mounted clothes rack
The Hang 'N Hide wall-mounted clothes rack quickly and easily creates extra space for your clothes.
Hang it on the wall or the back of a door to provide guests with a convenient place to hang their clothes or place shirts and slacks after they've been pressed.
Holds up to 17 hangers and folds flat when not in use.
Made of durable chrome and heavy duty plastic, the rack installs easily with the included hardware.
A full 25"-wide, it extends 11-1/8" away from the w...
Source: bookofjoe - July 2, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Notes on the U.S. Olympic Trials
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1) The new Speedo LZR swimsuits (above and below) may be superfast but they're also super ugly — dull grey and black with crazy duct tape-like stripes running helter skelter in every direction. Let's hope the Olympics iteration is tarted up and far more eye candy-ish.
2) Why is it that seemingly every swimming race is a potential world record breaker? Are the new suits that fast? Are the records that soft? I just don't get it.
3) In the past we've heard about how "fast" a pool was when world records fell by the handful. Then how is it that the pool in Omaha, erected in two weeks inside the Qwest arena and scheduled to ...
Source: bookofjoe - July 2, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
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goodbye, hello Not to make this seem like some sort of but-everything-turned-out-OK coda to the entry from yesterday, but...Cal did great last night. He was happy and chatty as always, actually requested bathtime at my parent's house (despite the change in locale from his usual), and happily tucked himself into bed at the end of it all. Kids are so weird. That said, I wish I were three again. Life is easier when you're three. The transition is a little more traumatic in some ways for the adults, I reckon (note: SOUTHERN TALK), despite the wider perspective and the fact that we can rationalize the reasons for diffi...
Source: the underwear drawer - July 2, 2008 Authors: Michelle
iPod Gramophone
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Think different.
From the website:
iPod Gramophone
Handcrafted entirely of slip-cast ceramic to replicate the curvature and passive amplification of a French horn, this iPod gramophone augments sound from an iPod without requiring auxiliary power or speaker components.
The gramophone projects music using authentic horn acoustics — simply place Apple earbuds on the gramophone's integrated cradles and music channels through the coiled tube and resonates out of the flared bell, resulting in warm, amplified sound up to 55 decibels (near the sound level of laptop computer speakers).
The gramophone is compatible with al...
Source: bookofjoe - July 2, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
LED Flashlight with Integrated In-Lens Magnetic Pick-Up Tool
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I mean, I love mashups but this is ridiculous.
I'm still trying to get my head around it.
From the website:
LED Flashlight with Integrated In-Lens Magnetic Pick-Up Tool
This is a cool magnetic pick-up tool that also functions as a flashlight for use under the hood.
It's wonderfully machined from aluminum with a knurled body for grip and a hex head so it doesn't roll.
The six LED lamps last 100,000 hours and last up to 16 hours on fully charged batteries.
But the coolest feature is the high-powered magnet that extends out of the lamp housing.
The 20-inch flexible telescoping rod has a high-powered magnet that wi...
Source: bookofjoe - July 2, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
bookofjoe is a Bayesian website
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Noodling around the internets last night I happened on the following in some obscure tube from five years ago:
"The fundamentally random, statistical/Bayesian structure of quantum reality, which, after all, undergirds our daily existence and all of our world, is a testament to the ultimately unknowable."
Even a blind, anosmic pig finds an acorn every now and then.
Source: bookofjoe - July 2, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
It's in the manual. Wait a minute — where's the manual?
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Of course, that's never a problem for you — you always put your manuals into a drawer or folder so they're always instantly available.
A few people aren't that clever and either throw them away, misplace them or lose them.
There's a difference between misplacing and losing something, by the way: when something is lost it might be found but the implication is that it's gone forever; misplaced means far more likely to turn up unexpectedly.
But I digress.
ManageMyHome.com has a feature called "Find Product Manuals."
Follow the instructions and get access to those that have gone missing.
[via Suzanne Barlyn's June 26, ...
Source: bookofjoe - July 2, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Heart like a ... cucumber?
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From the website:
....................
Heart-Shaped Cucumber Mold Set
First it was square melons but then some creative folks in Yamagata Prefecture made our cucumbers into hearts and changed our salads forever!
If you grow cucumbers at home — or want to give the perfect gift to a gardener friend — these Heart-Shaped Cucumber Molds will let you grow your young cucumbers into perfect heart shapes.
Have unique salads for dinner parties and special occasions or use your imagination to create something else entirely!
Includes three molds along with instructions (in Japanese).
....................
Please tell me ...
Source: bookofjoe - July 2, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Knitted China
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Porcelain teacup and saucer by Dutch designer Madieke Fleuren.
Source: bookofjoe - July 1, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Prime Numbers — by Les Murray
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Normally I live in the country,
work, garden, parry thrusts from the Herald,
but two days a week I fly in
to a cubicle in the Stacked City,
an every-coloured brick university
that is built on top of itself
like a brain's lobes and evolutionary layers
on the last rock before Botany Bay.
The inner streets of this oppidum
are paved with grey carpet, and inmates
lie on them for cool negotiations
or to write in big pads. Footsteps with vocal
animate the stairs and little squares;
odd walls not yet built over
catch sun and frecklings of leaves;
a coffee shop may form round a stairwell...
Back above the racehorse-named streets...
Source: bookofjoe - July 1, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
Drive Like A Spy
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Source: bookofjoe - July 1, 2008 Authors: bookofjoe
