More strange birds

The eastern rivers of Virginia are apparently a gathering place for funny-headed birds. After yesterday's kingfishers, today I saw two types of mergansers. The flock of 14 red-breasted mergansers dove for long times and distances. I only saw one pair of hooded mergansers, but they are even stranger looking to me. The bright white on the side of the male's head is quite striking, and the halo of brown on the female's is also intriguing.

The red-breasted merganser:

by Hilary Chambers via Flickr

The hooded merganser:

by Mr. T in DC via Flickr

Slate breaks my brain

I caught earworms from Slate podcasts today.

Vulture capitalist - It's catchy. Having spent so much time hearing about venture capitalists in silly valley, I am particularly entertained. And, according to the first definition I could find (Investopedia), that's the genesis of the term. I wonder if its application to "agents of creative destruction" signals the breakdown of the support of conservative poor for the financial agenda of the conservative rich (i.e. if presidential candidate Rick Perry believes that breakdown is possible and wants to exploit it by criticizing Mit Romney of being an ally of the wealthy and not the poor).

Brainsicles - A brain on a stick, someone who is unaware or indifferent to their body.

Female belted kingfisher

I saw a belted kingfisher in the late afternoon today on the Chesapeake Bay. I didn't get a photo, but she was kind enough to stay in place for a while. Apparently only the females have the brown on the chest. The mohawk on the one I saw was pretty dramatic, and her head was black all over. Very cool. Photo by Len Blumin

Surprised by fowl longevity

Banding studies show that many species of ducks and geese live to be twenty years old.

http://www.maine.gov/ifw/wildlife/species/waterfowl/index.htm

When yarn attacks

That's aversion therapy, not advertising.

Ill-timed bad news

Is 20 minutes after New Year the time you want to be telling your customers you're likely to decrease the quality of their service?

felted arm warmers

This lady made these excellent arm warmers. Her color and pattern selection is a perfect match with my tastes.

Bicycle tire tube bag

Vaya bags are awesome.

Future Ramen

I can see Ren's Ramen in my future.

A galaxy far, far away

It's been 15 years since I spent fall on the east coast; fall colors seem pretty exotic.

The iceberg of discontent

I came across this clunker of a metaphor referring to American political sentiments. It inexorably reminds me of my favorite metaphor: Salman Rushdie's lyrically dissonant "station wagon of discontent."

http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/npr/141031346/activists-press-obama-to-renew-progressive-stand

I heart enthusiasts

The website seatguru is a great example of the benefits to the non-enthusiast of the enthusiast-based data dump. It tells me that I'm likely to have to put my rollaboard in the hold (which is what I wanted to know) and so much more:

The CRJ is a smaller regional aircraft.

The tray tables are small, making it difficult to use laptops. Overhead storage bins cannot accommodate 18 or 22 inch roll-aboards which will require their airside check-in. The curvature of the plane limits shoulder room for all window seats, taller passengers are advised to sit at aisle seats.

Coveting a pretty handlebar bag

From Po Campo Via design milk

Deviled Egg accessories

Yesterday I made deviled eggs for some guests. I don't have a tray for holding eggs, so I just cut off some of the bottom so they laid flat. The cutting was imprecise, but worked well.

Still, I'd like to have a deviled egg tray eventually. Here are some options:

Vintage Japanese:

















Fiesta egg tray:

















Canonsburg Temporama egg plate:






















Lovely teak:














I love the Canonsburg Temporama one, and I'd love a Franciscan Oasis one more, but I'd have to hunt for the first and the second doesn't even exist.

Telephone anachronisms

It's even more jarring now than 20 years ago to have the phone banged down on the receiver (in this recent case, it was due to callousness rather than ire). It hadn't occurred to me that nearly every telephone conversation I have is ended by software, whether functioning or malfunctioning.

alpha consumer magnet

Mini Steel Earpick and Ear Cleaners Keychain (4-Piece Set)
from Deal To World

Oops.

Tucked my scissors into my windshield wipers yesterday (I was cutting some tape off moving boxes i had brought outside was selling)

Folded paper jewelry

I went to the smithsonian craft show. One of the artists whose work i saw was Francesca Viatali

http://fruccidesign.com/

Here's a picture of one of her pieces:

you know, i have a little prepared speech

so begins veronica's tirade in the movie Heathers. i'm working on a prepared response to craigslist responses like this one:

where is glenmont? is it near germantown?

to the effect of "who do you think i am, google?" in other words, why are you bothering me with questions you can answer yourself. i'd like the response not to be mean, but to basically say,

Lucky you! You are the recipient of my canned response to questions that can easily be answered by a Google search. Like most people who sell things on Craigslist, I am less likely to respond to people who ask questions I've essentially already answered. The ad includes the information you need. Please query Google, and when you find out the answer to your question, or if I have misunderstood your question, I hope to hear from you again.

alternately,

google knows.

The faucet I covet

This faucet turns on and off by touch. Most of the time I use the same water temp and pressure, so I expect I wouldn't need to use the handle much. Why would I spend 10x more on a faucet than nearly anything else in my kitchen? It delights me. And if it delights me daily, I'm in.

(via centennial plumbing)

If I get one, it will live in a less glamorous context, more like this:

(via daily home reno tips)

An entertaining artifact of ownership: universal reports of absent-mindedly touching other faucets and expecting them to respond. That phenomenon reminds me of the effect of tv-time shifting (e.g. pressing pause and rewind while watching recorded or live tv mediated by a DVR): I want to apply that technology to other parts of my life as well and unconsciously expect to be able to.